Chapter Text
It was cold.
Very cold.
And hot.
Boiling.
Very cold and very hot at the same time.
Violent shivering and sweating.
Churning stomachs.
Pain.
Curl up.
So much pain.
Exploding out.
Curl up!
Nauseous.
Pain.
Back.
Mouth.
Tails.
Chest.
Everything.
Pain.
Hurts.
Nauseous.
Pain.
Only pain.
Wake up!
Argi jolted awake, barely having the time to roll over and vomit onto the floor instead of all over herself.
She felt absolutely awful .
She was hot and cold and absolutely everything hurt!
Just like her dream…
It wasn't a dream…
She hugged herself and screamed for all the pain to just go away!
A horrible pain exploded across her body, concentrated on her back, her skin burned like it was being torn up from the inside. Something was trying to break out of her skin!
Her skin was moving!
She could feel it being pulled and stretched under her hands, could feel her body changing to accommodate whatever was trying to come in out of her, she could even feel as new blood vessels formed directly off her hearts to feed this new area.
Her mouth was on fire, her head and horns throbbed and her tails screamed at her.
It hurt!
Star shit! It fucking hurt!
She screamed so loudly it was a wonder the whole of the Isles didn't hear her.
Something touched her shoulder.
On instinct she whipped around with a snarl and sent a flurry of barely controlled magic at whoever had attacked her.
Wait… no one attacked her…
She blinked the yellow stinging tears out of her vision.
Hunter stared at her with wide, terrified eyes. A sputtering blast mark was burned into the wall behind him.
She just barely missed him.
She almost hurt her brother .
“Hunter?! Are you okay?! I didn't hurt you, did I?!” She asked.
He nodded slowly. His terror morphed into concern and a different sort of fear.
“Are you okay? What's happening to you?” He asked.
“I don't know! I just woke up-Fuck!” She yelped.
Whatever the fuck was on her back was pushing her shirt. From Hunter’s horribly pale face, it didn't look pretty. Titan, Hunter looked ready to vomit.
“Don't look. I can't even see the big ones and it's already gross.” Hunter warned.
Big ones? There's multiple?!
Argi ignored her brother’s advice and pulled her sleep shirt up over the most agitated part of her back. She heard him gag before she looked to see what was happening to her body.
Four large, twitching, purple bleeding welts were coming out of her back. Two large ones were on her upper back, and a smaller set were on her lower back, above where her tails started.
Speaking of her tails, there was more purple blood on her pants near the base of her tails.
I have a good hunch about what's there. She thought morbidly.
She gagged and vomited again, bile burned her throat.
That horrid pain intensified and her entire body burned .
“It's moving!” Hunter screeched.
She wanted to throw up again.
She reached up to pull on her hair, as she usually did when she didn't feel well, only to find her hair slick with more sticky yellow muck. Her hands instinctively moved for her horns.
“Don't-!”
Hunter's warning came too late, her fingers brushed against the edges of her horns and pain exploded in her skull, she couldn't help the scream.
“They're all… lumpy…” Hunter gagged.
What's happening?
“Am I dying?” She asked no one in particular.
She was probably dying.
The door was thrown open.
“What in the Titan’s name are you shrieking about?! Do you know how late it is?”
Uncle stormed in, Argi glanced up at him as he stopped dead in his tracks. His face paled as he slowly took in what was happening.
“I think I'm dying.” She said stupidly.
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath.
“Neither of you move. I'm getting Nazik.” He sighed.
The turtle demon raced into the room mere seconds after her name was said, shoving past the emperor in her rush to get in. Her mentor stared at her for a moment then sighed as well.
“Well shit.” Miss Nazik cursed.
That's a calmer reaction than I expected. Argi thought.
“What's happening to me?” She asked.
Miss Nazik pinched the bridge of her nose with an agitated grunt.
“Okay, the good news is this isn't something to worry about, it's completely normal.” She started.
Argi glanced at the oozing purple welts then back to the turtle demon.
“And the bad news?”
“The bad news is you're about to have the worst week of your life.” Miss Nazik said bluntly.
“What?!?!” She and Hunter screamed at the same time.
Miss Nazik gave Uncle a pointed side eye, muttering under her breath about him. She knelt down in front of her and took one of her hands, Argi hissed in pain at the contact, her very skin was on fire.
The turtle gave her a sympathetic look and ran her fingers over her irritated skin. A cooling glow from her fingertips soothed the burning pain.
“I should have known this was coming, your symptoms have been showing since your last release.” She said slowly.
“Symptoms?” She echoed.
“Yes, signs of preparation from your body.”
“Like everything hurting?” Hunter guessed.
Miss Nazik glanced at him with a firm nod.
“Yes, there's a lot of things to do to prepare for the metamorphosis, it is a painful experience.” She confirmed.
“Metamorphosis?!” Argi exclaimed.
Miss Nazik sighed again.
“Palisde have their metamorphosis triggered when their Titan's blood matures and begins to circulate. It's a completely normal thing, every Palisde goes through it.” She said.
Argi stared at her mentor.
“ … Titan's blood… in me… ?” she stole a quick glance at Belos, his expression was totally neutral, to an unsettling point.
Miss Nazik followed her gaze and glowered at Uncle.
“I told you it should've been explained years ago.” She snarled.
“It is supposed to take at least thirty years.” Uncle said calmly.
“I already- oh forget it! I can't deal with this again!” She snapped, the nub of her tail twitched in irritation.
“Why's it happening now if it's supposed to take thirty years?” Hunter asked.
She could dimly hear her brother's heart racing over the blood rushing in her ears.
“She's got more blood, that's why her eyes are blue, it's a sign that she will enter metamorphosis earlier, and she's very early.” Miss Nazik said in a rush.
Argi reached up to the yellow liquid dripping down her face, it felt grainy between her fingers. It was a curious substance, it smelled like lightning charred wood.
“Silver! Don't touch it!” Miss Nazik snapped, wiping the yellow substance off her fingers.
“That's your body trying to purge itself of bile toxins build up and impurities, it's dangerous.” She said.
The turtle demon cupped her face with her cool, leathery hands, her dead eye was unusually focused.
“Silver, listen, your body is going to go through an extreme change, there is nothing wrong with you, but it is going to hurt and be challenging for you. Your magic won't respond as well to you, you'll have to be careful with what spells you use. It's recommended that you don't use any magic at all.” Miss Nazik explained.
“Everything will be fine, I can set you up in my study and bring Jayr in to monitor your progress.” She said.
Argi hesitantly glanced towards Uncle. This thing happening to her… it was wild magic, right? Uncle hated when her wild magic made itself known, what did he think about this?
His mouth was set in a hard line, he glared down at her. Wild magic killed his family, it killed Hunter's mom, and probably killed her family too, yet here she was, spewing out untamed bolts of wild magic because her body was changing. No wonder he was angry. She quickly looked away, guilt rising within her.
“Will she stay?” Hunter asked timidly.
That's right. She normally left the castle for all her wild magic stuff, this was different though, so maybe she'd be allowed to stay…? She didn't want to do this alone.
She dared to look up again, barely making eye contact as Uncle stared her down.
“No, her magic will become completely uncontrollable and unstable-” Miss Nazik cut Uncle off but she didn't hear what her mentor said.
Her eyes landed on Hunter, helplessly watching their uncle and her mentor fight.
My magic is unstable… the last time it was unstable I hurt Hunter… I'll hurt him again! I can't hurt him again !
Her chest hurt, everything was hurting but this hurt felt different, tight, constricting.
Oh. She wasn't breathing.
… why wasn't she breathing?
Why wasn't she breathing?!
“Argi?!” Hunter shouted in a high pitched, panicked voice.
She yelped, sucking in a gulp of air before another blast of uncontrolled magic ripped itself from her. Phoebe swooped into action, pulling the magic toward themself, saving everyone from the danger she posed.
“That's exactly why she can't stay, she's dangerous!” Uncle argued to Miss Nazik.
Her mentor snarled at him.
Argi felt her hearts pounding against her ribs, they were beating so fast . If they started skipping beats they'd be out of sync, having her hearts out of sync was never good.
She met Hunter's startled, fearful gaze. He was scared of her, she was sure of it, she'd almost hit him twice in less than ten minutes. She was endangering him!
She was supposed to protect him! Not hurt him!
Argi suddenly pushed herself up, off her mattress.
“Argi…?” Hunter asked, reaching out a hand.
She slapped it away, throwing herself back into the wall, as far as she could get from everyone. She didn't even register the pain from the action.
“Argi, stay calm.” Miss Nazik said, taking a step closer.
Miss Nazik isn't supposed to call me that. She's supposed to call me Silver like everyone else. Argi eyed the turtle demon suspiciously.
“Just calm down, I promise everything will be fine.” She insisted.
Her mentor took one step to close.
“No!” Argi screeched, slashing her hand in the air, sending a burst of magic straight into her mentor.
CRACK!
The five hundred year old demon was sent crashing back into the wall.
All she needed to see was the horror on her brother's face to realize what she'd done.
Blood welled up from the long crack in Miss Nazik’s plastron. She covered her mouth, gagging in disgust at herself.
“I-I'm sorry-!” she said weakly.
Uncle glared down at her, anger in his eyes, no, more than anger, hate . He hated her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the window. She had to get out of here before she hurt someone else.
“Argi don't-”
Her mentor's warning was abruptly cut off, replaced with the wind ripping by as she spiraled through the air.
She crossed her arms over her face, shielding her eyes from the wind. She was heading towards the ground and fast.
Somewhere safe! Think of somewhere safe! She squeezed her eyes shut.
She slammed onto a branch instead of hitting the ground. She tumbled from branch to branch until she hit a structure of some kind.
I hope I'm at the safe house. She blinked open a stinging eye.
A griffin stared down at her.
She landed in a griffin's nest.
Of course she did.
The griffin let out a territorial shriek and lunged for her.
She rolled out of the way and onto her feet. Her magic sparked at her fingertips, the energy was building up and eager to get out. She didn't wanna kill the griffin, it was just responding to her as a threat.
She ducked and weaved through the griffin's attacks, trying to think of a way out without hurting it.
The griffin swiped again, this time it struck her upper arm, sharp claws cut into her burning skin.
Her body reacted by sending out another blast of magic. She lurched away from the now injured and shrieking griffin.
It's claw was burnt black, it held the injured limb close to itself and hissed at her. She neared the edge of the nest, glancing down, it was still a long way to fall.
The griffin swiped at her with its other leg, and she jumped backwards, out of the nest.
She was falling again.
Her magic crackled around her, she managed to teleport herself up into the sky where the burst would do the least amount of damage.
Her built up magic let loose with a massive boom.
Luckily the ongoing thunderstorm covered most of her- wait, there was a storm? Where was she?
Falling.
She teleported without thinking about it.
Her body crashed into branches, snapping the smaller ones as she crashed down.
She hit the ground with a dull thud, the air was knocked out of her.
All she could do was lay there and try to breathe.
It was raining.
She felt a dull sting as the boiling rains fell onto her.
Luckily she landed somewhere half decently sheltered from the onslaught of rain.
She sucked in one shaky breath after another, staring at the sideways world. She couldn't move anymore, all her energy was gone.
The pain persisted.
Her body burned with white hot pain.
She barely registered the fact that her hearts were beating out of sync.
There were dark spots in her vision.
Her eyelids were too heavy to keep open.
She lost consciousness, fading into the dark with the sound of boiling rain falling.