Confusing Awakening
Feeling myself getting shaken I wake up to Sher Aka, Rayla, Scarlet, John and papa standing around my bed.
“Uhm…Did something happen?”
John asks me, “How are you feeling right now?”
“Uhm…Tired? Confused. What’s going on? Why are you all here?”
“Do you recognize all of us?”
“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I? John, is something wrong?”
“I wouldn’t say wrong…But don’t you feel like your body is weird?”
“No? I’m just in my small form.”
“Rose…Think about it, since when do you wake up in your male form? Also, doesn’t your back feel weird?”
Stretching my back and moving around a bit I don’t feel anything weird. My wings feel fine too. Wait…
“Eh!? Wings? Do I have wings right now!?”
Trying to look behind me I see the tips of some insect-like rainbow colored wings, they somehow feel both weird and familiar as I move them around.
“Look everyone, I have wings!”
“That’s great, can you move them fine?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good, I’ll ask you some questions now. It’s completely fine if you don’t have an answer so don’t force an answer if you don’t know, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good, what is your father’s name?”
“I don’t know. But his last name is probably also Resplandor.”
“What is the earliest name you remember having?”
“Shara Jahom.”
“Have you ever been to Tera Flora?”
“No. At least I don’t think I have.”
“Alright, I’ll just need to confirm something real quick. Could you stand up real quick? Here I’ll help you.”
After I stand up John says, “Alright, everyone turn around for a sec.”
They then turn around and John continues, “I’ll need to pull your pants down real quick to check something, is that okay?”
“It’s a bit embarrassing but you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important…”
“Alright, I’ll make it quick then. But before I do let me get your tail through the hole in your pants first. Alright there ya go.”
He then pulls down my pants and shortly after pulls them up again, “Alright you can look again. As expected, normal Dragon biology so she doesn’t have either right now.”
Rayla asks, “How is that going to work when she needs to pee?”
“Dragons use the same hole to urinate and defecate out of so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Huh…”
I ask, “What do you mean there is neither? Can you explain, John?”
“So, essentially right now your curse on your body is probably completely lifted.”
“What!? Really!?”
“Yes really, but it’s probably just temporary. Ifrit’s mark is glowing again on your back so you’re probably going through some currently unknown developmental stage.”
“That’s fine! I just want to see, where is the mirror?”
“Rose…I don’t think you should see yourself right now.”
“Why? Am I ugly!?”
“No, you’re actually very pretty. The reason I’m telling you not to look is because your mind seems to be still affected by the curse. There is a chance that seeing your reflection would trigger your curse and give you seizures or worse.”
“So I finally get the chance to be the real me and I can’t even see it!?”
“Yes…I’m sorry.”
“...”
“Then can you at least try to make a painting or something? Maybe with it we can find out who I really was.”
“We…Actually did already find out.”
“What!? When!?”
“When your molt started. Your curse was pretty loose at that point so you just told us.”
“Really!? So who am I?”
“I…I can’t tell you for the same reasons.”
“Do you have any idea how frustrating that is, John?”
“I can imagine, yes.”
“Gaaaaah!!! This sucks so much!”
“I know…I’m sorry.”
“Can you at least tell me if I was a bad person?”
Putting his hand on my shoulder John says, “You were a good person that had to suffer a lot.”
“I-I see…So I guess I really was just a gutter rat before I got cursed…”
“I didn’t say that. I can tell you that you did have a family but that they weren’t good people.”
“I see…But I was a good person?”
“Yes. You were just another innocent victim.”
“I see…So my family are bad people…How bad are they?”
“Not as bad as Rayden but about as bad as the Sheriff.”
Licking my fingers, I think for a bit.
“Then how do you know I wasn’t as cruel as them?”
“I don’t know. But from what I do know I think it’s pretty unlikely. It is possible that you could have learned some cruel ways to see things from them like your idea that people are tools, but I still think it’s very unlikely that you yourself were a bad person.”
“Do you remember what you promised me after we met the Clown Carnival, John?”
“I do and there is no need for it. You weren’t a bad person.”
“Then why…Why does it feel like I was? Why do I feel like I deserve to be punished for who I was, John?”
Giving me a hug, John answers, “Because they were doing horrible things to you. Not because you were bad.”
Leaning into his hug I chuckle, “You don't have to force yourself to do this.”
“Hey, if my best friend needs a hug I’ll give it to her.”
“Thank you, John.”
“You’re welcome, buddy.”
After our hug I look at everyone else, they all seem to share a slightly pained and sad facial expression, “So, am I going to stay in this room until whatever is going on with me is over? Am I allowed to leave?”
Papa answers, “It will depend on how long this lasts. You’re a new race of people so we don't know how long this developmental stage will last or what is going on. If it will just take a day or two you’ll need to stay in this room, if it takes any longer we’ll make sure to get you outside too.”
“Okay…Can I go back to sleep now? It will make time pass faster.”
John answers, “Yeah, that should be fine. Do you want any of us to stay with you?”
“No…I think, right now, I want to be alone.”
“I understand. If you want to meet with any of us or you want to eat or drink something just ring the bell and tell the butler, okay?”
“Yeah…Okay.”
“We’ll leave you then, good night.”
“Good night.”
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Closing the door behind them as they leave, Rayla lets out a huge sigh, “This is so heartbreaking…”
John answers, “I know but if we let her see herself right now she might die from the curse recoil.”
Leaning on the wall as she sits down, Sher Aka asks, “What kind of person does it take to look at that little bundle of joy and lash her?”
“Not a person, it would take a monster,” The King answers.
“Are the wings a sensitive part of the body? Or would they function more as shields from the lashings?”
Scarlet answers, “It depends where you hit them. I’m not sure about Spiritelf wings but for us the bony part feels similar to an arm and the membrane feels like skin. I’d imagine that if the flimsy Spiritelf wings are similar to ours they’d probably rip under the beatings which would cause a lot of pain but wouldn’t be life threatening. So in a sense I guess they function as a shield of pain…”
“I see…” Sher Aka says before suddenly jolting up and vomiting into a nearby vase.
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