Darkness. I was floating in Darkness’s surprisingly warm embrace when I awoke. I don’t know for how long, but for a time, I just floated in the warm, comforting darkness of wherever I was, feeling nothing but peace until my memories began to return, and my most recent memories came back to me with a violent insistence that I recall why I was here. Dad… Mom… Kelly… They were all gone, and something happened to me. I couldn’t quite remember what… just that there was blood.

“Where am I? How long have I been unconscious?” Those nascent thoughts prompted me to send a query to my data implant. There was no response, causing my heartbeat to quicken. “Is the system down somehow due to the Incursion? No, if that was the case, then my implant would have just told me that it couldn’t connect to the system. This feels different, almost as if my implant isn’t even there.”

Everyone in most first-world countries had a data implant these days, they were far more practical and dependable than old-school phones and tablets, or even the newer comm rings that had replaced them before the implants came out a few years back. The small microcomputers were implanted into the brain, and while I wasn’t sure exactly how it worked, it could give the user a realistic holographic computing experience, make simple inquiries directly from the system, send texts, or make phone calls. They didn’t need charging, they were always with you, and always allowed access to the system for general information and alerts as well as the internet, outernet, and the communications network.

The thought that I couldn’t even sense the usual mental link to my implant was alarming enough to make me snap my eyes open, only to be greeted by yet more darkness. Even when I opened my eyes, there was not a trace of light to see by, just the sensation that I was floating, completely immersed in some sort of warm fluid. My heart and mind both raced as fear of drowning claimed me and I began to flail frantically.

In my panic, I brought my fists up to beat my way out of whatever prison held me before I could drown, and my left hand brushed against something, something that tugged at my belly in my struggles. At the time I didn’t really have the time or presence of mind to consider what that might mean, the other strange sensations in my body, or the distant and muffled voice that I could hear from outside my prison. I could only focus on my fear, and the desperate need to escape. If I had the presence of mind to consider those things then I might have also realized that I wasn’t having as much trouble breathing as I was fearing.

All I could think of was getting out though, so much so that I ignored the strange connection that I felt to the fluid surrounding me, until that connection suddenly filled my mind and the fluid of my prison exploded outward. Sudden light blinded me, and I barely had the chance to register that before I was on my hands and knees, coughing up the fluid that had been in my lungs. It was as I was going about that very important task that a massive, booming voice like thunder said, “You’re free now, you’re going to be okay, Elliot. I just need you to get used to breathing again and try to stay calm. You’ve been through quite the ordeal, and I need to explain some things to you.”

Sometime during my coughing fit I registered the use of my name. How did this person know me? Why did it feel like his voice was all around me? I looked around in confusion, seeing what looked like a scene in a horror movie, blood and gore were everywhere and I thought that I could spot some truly massive rib bones around me as well. I looked up, just to tear my eyes away from that stomach-churning sight, and that was when I saw the face of a giant looking down at me.

He could have easily swallowed me whole but looked human with short-cropped black hair, a hooked nose, and a chiseled chin and jaw that was decorated with what was likely a week’s worth of stubble. His eyes were pale blue with flecks of green and covered with thick glasses. I probably would have thought his expression to be one of concern if I wasn’t so damn scared and the right side of his face wasn’t splattered with blood.

I might have screamed. Okay, I did scream, but I challenge anyone else to wake up in a similar situation and not do that. That was when the massive man let out a sigh and leaned closer. “Well, your lungs seem to be working fine,” his voice boomed. “I’m not going to hurt you, Elliot. I’m just going to pick you up, real gentle-like, and get you out of that grisly cocoon so someone can help you wash up and explain things to you.”

I heard the words, but at the moment, I was too scared to really process them. I tried to stand to run away but I felt so weak, and my legs didn’t want to support my weight. My body felt different and strange too, in more ways than I could possibly list. “Listen, Elliot, try not to panic,” the booming voice said, in what probably sounded like a gentle tone to him. “The Vanguard found you in an Incursion Zone and brought you here, you’re Altered now.”

His words were registering now, and that last statement hit me like a sledgehammer to the gut. Altered… he said that I was Altered. I didn’t know much about the Altered, only that they were people who took on the forms and abilities of mythical creatures, though I had heard of some who were just regular-looking humans with superpowers. The Vanguard was supposed to be solely composed of Altered, and there were a few Altered who had become notable super-powered criminals or heroes as well.

Most of the little that I knew about the Altered, I had learned on the outernet, a more streamlined and efficient version of the old internet, and much more tightly regulated. People still used the internet, but mostly for things like conspiracy theories, looking up porn, or other things that were too tightly regulated on the outernet. I had been curious about them, just never curious enough to risk talking to my family about them.

Mom never seemed to be for or against them, but Dad, my grandparents, and my Uncle Pete’s family were all very old-fashioned. They didn’t like or trust the Altered and wouldn’t talk about them except to complain about how ‘sideshow freaks’ shouldn’t be counted on to defend us when they didn’t belong on our world any more than the Titans did. They wouldn’t even call them Altered, the words they used were mutants, monsters, and freaks.

Panic once again swelled in my chest, and I couldn’t breathe as my mind was bombarded with all of the horrible things that I had heard my extended family say about the Altered. What kind of monster had I become? What would I do now? Dad was dead and Mom and Kelly were taken. Mom didn’t have any family since Grandma died a couple of years ago and there was no way that Dad’s family would take me in now. Not only was I not even genetically related to them, but now I was Altered as well.

As I collapsed to the gore beneath me and curled up in a ball to have a truly epic panic attack, all that kept going through my mind, over and over, was, “This can’t be happening.”

I tried to ignore the blood and guts around and on me, the strange sensations coming from my body, and especially that big booming voice as it said, “Shit, she’s panicking. I told her not to panic.” Something about those words seemed oddly nice, but my mind wasn’t able to place quite what it was in my current state while I was trying hard to make the outside world not exist.

“Kevin, it’s Dr. Jameson, the cocoon in room 303 has ‘Sprouted’ so I need you on cleanup duty while I take the new arrival to Jade for orientation… You wish, she’s a Water Sprite and her Sprouting was… explosive. You better bring a mop,” the voice boomed.

Too bad the giant’s voice was so loud to me, but he was apparently talking to someone else, so I could keep trying to ignore him and the rest of this fucked up situation. “Lalalalala… I can’t hear you.” Yup, this was not happening. As long as I could ignore all of the strangeness then I could start to get control of myself.

“Elliot, I’m going to pick you up now and take you somewhere a little less disturbing for you. I’ll be careful to not hurt your wings,” As much trouble as I was having with trying to tune out that big, deep voice it was far more difficult to ignore the massive latex-covered hand that carefully pinched my hips to grip me between thumb and forefinger and then lifted me, which only seemed to make my panic attack worse. I didn’t respond, couldn’t respond as he lifted me up and placed me gently in the palm of his opposite latex-gloved hand and I got a view of my surroundings.

The room was huge, scaled to the massive man that held me, literally in the palm of his hand, and that was something that I couldn’t just ignore or try to explain away. It was like a massive hospital room with the usual bed, bedside table, visitors’ chairs, and stuff, only half of the room was now splattered with blood and gore. On the bed was something vaguely human-shaped, if one ignored that most of the upper torso was now missing and that the rest of the body was covered in a coating of blood-red crystal.

I screamed again as my mind put the pieces together and then started sobbing, my chest heaving and burning with the inability to properly breathe as my heart thrummed furiously in my chest and I lay in the doctor’s hand as he carried me out of the room and into an equally large hallway. No. The room wasn’t any bigger than normal, and neither was the hallway. I was just really small, and that crystal-covered corpse on the bed, that was me, or at least, what was left of me. Eli was dead, and I was… I wasn’t sure what I was, but I was certain that it was some kind of monster.

-You must calm yourself. You are no more a monster than I am. You are pure of body and soul, I could not have claimed the Maiden-bond with you otherwise,- a soothing and comforting feminine voice said. I couldn’t see anyone in the hallway but the doctor who was carrying me though, and the voice didn’t seem to boom like his. It almost sounded like the audio that I would get when I played music or made a call through my implant as if it was coming from inside my head instead of outside.

“Great, and now I’m hearing voices. Insanity confirmed, I wonder how long before it will start telling me to kill people,” I thought bitterly as I wiped away tears and the viscous fluid that was still sticking to me.

-Only a sane person would worry for their sanity,- the feminine voice helpfully suggested. -And why would I ever suggest that you kill someone? I’m a healer, not a killer, and should I need to protect you then it would be far easier and more practical for me to conceal you from mortal sight.-

“Wait? Protect me?” I wondered in confusion at what must surely be my new imaginary friend.

-Yes. As I said before, I have claimed the Maiden-bond with you. You are my Maiden, and I am sworn to protect and nurture you for life, just as you once did for me.-

“Maiden? But I’m not a…”

The voice in my head interrupted that refusal. -You are well aware of the differences in your new body.-

It was a statement of fact, drawing my attention again to how different my tiny new body felt. I had been trying not to look at, or even think about, those changes. There was an odd presence between my shoulder blades that was frankly confusing and weird, but I guess it made sense since I thought I heard the doctor mention something about wings. There was that weird cord-like thing that was connected to my tummy as well, but that was barely a blip on my mental radar. It was the distinct weight on my chest, and the lack of it between my legs, that had me mostly concerned, but not because I was freaking out about them.

My concern was that those two things, in combination with things I had heard from both this voice and the doctor, would indicate that I was now female. Maybe I wasn’t freaking out as much about that because I was now some sort of inches-tall mythical creature (the voice didn’t seem to like it when I called myself a monster). Frankly, that should be a whole lot more disturbing than just being a girl, right?

So then why did my heart suddenly start to race again when I thought about it? Why did this body feel less uncomfortable than my old one, even at my small size and with the unfamiliar presence of my wings starting to flutter unconsciously behind me along with my heart? Why did I feel this brief surge of joy, even as I mourned everything and everyone that I lost? It just didn’t make sense.

My mind wasn’t allowed to dwell on it as the soothing voice in my mind chose that moment to drop another mental bomb on me. -You did not lose everyone; I am still here; we still have one another. You will also become used to your new self, and embrace it in time, as I did. I will be here for you, just as I watched and waited for you to emerge from your long slumber, my Maiden.-

“Wait? I know you? Who…” I began to mentally sputter, only to be hastily interrupted.

- It is possible that the one waiting behind that door will sense my presence. I must leave for now,- the soothing voice stated as the doctor’s free hand reached to push open a door and take me into whatever room lay beyond. -I will be watching and will speak with you again soon. Just know that you are not alone, nor were you the only one changed by the wild magic on that day, my Maiden. I was with you that day. You held me, hid me, and protected me until the Titans left us alone with our fear and grief. My name is Moonlight.-

I was still struggling with that new bit of information as the voice faded from my mind and Doctor Jameson entered the room to say, “Jade? I have a new patient for you.”

The room was different than the hospital room that I had been moved from, as there were none of the regular accouterments for a hospital room. Instead, dozens of what looked like dollhouses lined the wall, some at floor level and others spaced haphazardly as they hung from hooks on the walls with no real pattern to their placement. A large wooden table, set in the middle of the room, had what appeared to be separate areas for bathing, eating, and other necessities, usually through well-placed doll furniture or whatever happened to be handy for the purpose, though I did notice that some of the furniture and dollhouses were twice the size of the others.

Jade turned out to be a woman who was roughly the same size as me with shoulder-length mint green hair, emerald eyes, and green-tinted wings like a dragonfly’s. She wore what looked like a simple mid-thigh-length halter dress to leave her wings free. Both the dress and the slippers that she wore on her feet were of a shade that matched the emerald of her eyes. Her wings blurred and made a faint buzzing sound as she flew toward us from one of the smaller dollhouses.

She hovered above the outstretched hand that I was currently resting on and looked me over, offering a friendly smile that somehow managed to ease my nerves. “And who do we have here? A freshly Sprouted Water Sprite, judging by the fluid and blood on you. How much have you told her, Nathan?”

Dr. Jameson let out a gargantuan sigh. “This is Elliot Pierce, and you should probably give her the whole spiel, Jade. She was panicking and I can’t be sure if she even knows what’s going on.”

I tried not to wince at the name. I didn’t like the name Elliot, it had always grated on my nerves, felt wrong to me, and hurt, like it wasn’t really me that people were talking about. I had always preferred being called Eli, it wasn’t perfect, but it was far more comfortable than having people use my full name. I thought that I might have been too apparent about my discomfort though because Jade quirked an eyebrow as I tried to hide my discomfort and gave the palm of the doctor’s hand a dirty look.

“Welcome to the Fairy Ward of Amethyst Harbour Hospital for Altered Care,” she said with a friendly tone while carefully avoiding the use of my name. Then she turned her attention back to the man holding me and said, “Just place her right in one of the smaller baths so I can help her clean up, Nathan. Then you can give us some privacy. We have a lot to talk about.”