Sylvan's Log

Being face down, I couldn't really add in my say to the chatting my twin was doing with the evil scientist that was about to do who knows what to us. It was official. My twin was crazy. Not that he wasn't before, but this was ridiculous.

"Alright, my experiments," Jezebeth said finally. A pinching feeling in my arm, and I was released, at least fifteen blasters pointed at me. "We'll do you one at a time."

I squirmed, suddenly my back itched a lot. I quietly allowed them to escort me out, and into a separate cell, one with a high ceiling and a few ledges higher up on the walls.

My brother was escorted in a moment later, and we stared at each other for a while.

"Your back itch?" He wondered randomly.

"Yep," I agreed.

We stood there silently for a bit, looking around aimlessly.

I twitched. Less itching now, more hurting. I felt colder air on the skin of my back, and frowned.

"Max, is there something on my back?" I asked, turning around.

He was silent for a moment, probably in shock or something. "Um, yeah, three weird bump thingies. The uniform adapted to go around them."

"Turn around," I told him as I turned back around. He turned around. Well, he did have three largeish bumps on his back, one in between his shoulder blades, one around the middle of his back, and the last one just above the white belt of the uniform. "Weird. Itch anymore?"

"Nope."

"Mine either."

We stood there for a while longer before I noticed a green gas seeping into the room.

"Do I even want to know what that does?" Max asked rhetorically.

"Probably not," I said, sitting down as I began to feel a little dizzy. Or maybe my legs collapsed under me. I'm not sure which happened.

I'm pretty sure I passed out first, but it's very difficult to tell. Especially as my vision went dark after a bit. That probably signaled I was unconscious.

I was on my side on the rather hard and cold floor when I woke up. Which was odd, as I usually both sleep on my bed, and on my back. Needless to say, I don't sleep on my back anymore...

Oddly, I could feel the floor was cold, even though I was wearing my uniform, and that should've kept me warm enough. I sat up, and something bumped against my back. I froze for a moment, then sighed. Hive type, if most species are genetically related to at least one species on earth, what species would fit Hive type? Bees! They live in hives! Ants? They live in colonies, so close enough. So, wings would be the only option. My vision cleared, and I spotted Max, who was still out cold. Sure enough, three pairs of insect like wings were splayed out behind him. I reached behind my back, gently grabbing one of my own wings, and spreading it out to the side so I could see it. It was reddish, and iridescent. A similar color to my hair right then. Max's were a much darker, almost black color. Curious, I shifted the color of my hair to a light brown, and sure enough, the wing I could see turned a light brown as well.

As I knew enough people who had lost or gained new appendages, I figured it out pretty quickly. Yes, they moved, and they folded down, the lowest pair reaching my knees when folded down. I went with them sticking straight out on either side.

At this point, Max began to stir, so I went and crouched next to him.

"What happened?" Max asked groggily.

"We spouted wings," I told him.

"Alright, wake me up when you've figured out how to fly," Max muttered, covering his face with his arm.

I shrugged. "Alright." I glanced up to the platforms, deciding they were there to help us learn how to fly. I glanced over my shoulder at my wings, trying to remember how Bee wings moved. I think they moved similar to hummingbird wings, like treading water.

Based on how natural the movements felt, I assumed it was right, and tried doing it with two pairs at once. It was odd, like splitting my brain in half. I was still concentrating wholy on both sets, but separately. I added my third pair, then sped all three up, and I actually got off the ground for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, after those few seconds, I was breathing hard, my wings still new, and unused to movement.

"Alright," I told Max. "Up, now."

He scrunched up his face, but sat up and looked at me. "So?"

"Like treading water," I panted.

"Like treading water when you've done nothing with your arms for the last year," Max amended, beginning to move his top set back and forth.

"Yeah," I agreed. "How does Onyx just fly? It's tiring to even be off the ground for a couple seconds."

"She has larger wings?" Max guessed. "And has been using them all her life?"

I scrunched up my face. "Hn, annoying. It is going to take forever to build up the stamina necessary to actually fly."

Max shrugged, all three wings moving now. He sped them up, and managed to get off the ground for a bit before landing again, panting.

"Break, then try again," I decided, plopping down. The slot at the bottom of the door opened, and a pair of trays slid in. A sort of grinding noise brought my attention to the wall across from me. A water fountain? How did Jezebeth even know what they looked like? It looked like a standard earth water fountain.

"It's a water fountain," Max said, staring at it in similar disbelief.

"I can see that," I replied mildly. I shrugged, going over to try drinking from it. It worked, and while the water tasted slightly odd, it was the same as the water we had been receiving the entire time.

"Is she gonna put us back in the cell?"

"Maybe once we reach the top of those platforms," I mused.

Max shrugged. "Alright, let's go!"

Alright, Obsidia, I'm coming, jeez! And I have to go. She's not gonna let me narrate forever.