Myths: The Folklore Trilogy

Chapter 11- In Which We Transform

I'm sorry this is so late! I've been really overrun with life in general lately and I usually write a lot on the weekends but I had a dance festival...yeah sorry I'll get to the story now. So here it is. That long-awaited chapter has arrived at last.

~Paint_splatt

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It was here. Finally. The day we had all been waiting for.

Admittedly it was our second day here, but we were excited anyways.

We were going to transform.

At breakfast, we could barely contain our excitement. Even Tess couldn't keep a smile off her face. Talia was practically bouncing off her chair in typical Talia fashion.

"We're going to transform, we're going to transform, AHHH I'm so excited I might die, what do you think we'll transform into gosh I don't even know oh my crackers the suspense is KILLING me!"

"Do you think we'll be mermaids today?" Lydia asked, eyes wide.

"I don't care what," Ashlyn said, "it's awesome either way."

Amy was looking down at her food sadly as the rest of the group chattered on. I frowned and leaned over to her. "Hey are you ok?" I asked.

"I guess," she said softly. She hesitated. "Do you think...my legs...will make it hard to transform? Can I transform at all?"

I suddenly understood everything. Gosh, if she was in a wheelchair, would she need one as other creatures too? That would be awful. Then a thought struck me and I brightened. "Hey Amy," I said. "One of the forms is fairy, right?" I smiled. "They don't use legs to move around. They fly."

Her eyes grew wide, and then her face broke out into a smile. "Hey that's right!" she said excitedly. She threw her arms around me and squeezed me hard. "Thank you Sierra!"

I laughed. "No thanks needed."

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We sat before Ms. Janessa Hawthorn, a scary looking woman with long, wavy brown hair. Every breath in the room was held. She looked is over, and I could actually feel the waves of judgement rolling off of her. Finally, she spoke.

"As you probably know, we are beginning transformations today," she began, sounding bored. "We are starting with the warrior, as it is the closest to human and therefore the easiest."

There were mixed reactions from the class, half sighing with disappointment that we weren't doing something more exciting, the other half (including Audrey) excited anyways.

"Yes," she whispered, doing a small fist pump. "Those guys look freaking awesome."

"Now, what you must understand about transforming," Ms. Hawthorn said sternly, "is that you cannot think of the physical attributes. Everything is purely based on emotion and inner strength." she looked each one of us in the eye, and we nodded vigorously.

We got up and followed her to the courtyard, where she said we would usually be on our first day of transforming. Talia was practically skipping, while Sophie in contrast seemed to get slower with every step.

"Come on!" I said pulling her. "You're going to be fine. And," I added, "I'm going to be right there next to you." She nodded, her head towards the ground.

"Alright," Ms. Hawthorn said, "Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to give you some general instructions, then come around and help you specifically. Now, do you remember what you felt when you saw the warrior vision?" She looked around at us and sighed. "No one? Really?"

"Oh," Audrey whispered, "I thought it was rhetorical." I nodded in agreement. Taylor raised her hand. "Strength, bravery, and...uh, truth." Ms. Hawthorn nodded. "Precisely. Focus on those feelings. Go."

I blinked in surprise. Was that all she was going to tell us? Everyone else must have been thinking the same thing because were all staring at her, dumbstruck. She stared back. "Go!"

Audrey humphed. "Fine then, I can do it without help from you," she muttered. Then she bowed her head on concentration.

I took a deep breath. Focus on strength, bravery, and truth. Strength, bravery,truth. Strength, bravery, truth.

I let out a sigh. This wasn't working.

I thought back to Mrs. Simone explaining the visions we had seen.

Remember them, because they'll help when you're trying to transform later. Hm. What could that mean?

Well, in the vision, we had been the creature, and those were the emotions we had. What if...if we repeated those emotions somehow?

I took another breath, and tried to recall what I had felt in the vision. I had felt...strong....brave....something about taking down armies...

Suddenly, I saw--no, felt--a flash, and I remembered. The emotion, how it moved me, the strength.

I felt it. This energy. Surging through my bones and heightening my senses. I could jump, I could run, I could do anything. My vision was perfect, my hearing heightened, I could even taste the way the wind was blowing. I was stronger, bigger, braver. I could take on an army. And I could win.

I grinned as the memory of power ran through my muscles. I wasn't becoming something new. I was recreating what I had once been. That was the problem with my mentality.

Energy, surging. I am strength itself. I take up more space, for my confidence overflows. I could feel everything around me.

I could hear my heart beating.

Bravery, beyond anything I've known. Loyalty, deep to the core. And truth. There is nothing insincere. Everything rings true to the beat of my heart.

I count the beats.

Strength.

One.

Bravery.

Two.

Truth.

Three.

I'm not a girl. I'm barely human. I am a warrior.

My eyes snapped open. I could see with incredible clarity. A breeze blew from the north. I smelled it. Shrimp. A shrimp boat must have passed there a while ago. I heard a small gasp and turned my head.

Sophie was looking up at me, eyes huge. Her mouth was hanging slightly open. I furrowed my brow. "What?"

Suddenly Tess shrieked and fell over, staring at me. At first I wondered why she fell over. Then I looked at myself and realized why. Then I wondered why I wasn't falling over.

I was dressed in leather and metal armor from my neck to my feet. I had on some wicked awesome combat boots, and my hair was in a braid. But the most surprising change was my body. I was muscular, and a little tanner I think. My posture was better, my stance steadier. I looked, in one word, terrifying.

I almost screamed, but it came out more like a half strangled gasp.

"Oh, good job. Sierra, is it?" Ms. Hawthorn said, walking over. "I'm glad you got to it without my help. Class," she said, raising her voice. "This is what a warrior looks like. Take notes."