Ceri

I'd been out walking some of the neighborhood dogs, making a meager income in my free afternoons. As I walked by a park, it was some sort of freak thing. One of the dogs just starts running towards the park woods, his collar dangling by the end of the leash in my hands. I tied the rest of the dogs to a nearby light post and then chased after the runner.

I was not the best at running through woods. Hell, that wooded park was the closest to "woods" I'd had around home since I was born. Growing up in a big city does that to you. But we had recently moved to this smaller town. The dog-walking job at least gave me something to do. And now I'd lost one. And now I was pounding through the park woods at top speed. I swatted branches away, jumped rocks and logs, the dog still well ahead of me.

I misjudged a log and caught my foot, and sprawled flat among the pine needles. I hit the ground with a grunt, the air knocked clean out of my chest. Groaning, I pulled myself to my hands and knees and shook the cobwebs from my vision. I looked up, and I'll be damned if that stupid mutt wasn't but fifteen feet from me, head cocked as he stared at me. He thought it was a game. I scrambled to my feet just as the dog jolted deeper into the woods, me speeding after it. I will always hate that dog.

Honestly, I couldn't remember the park woods being so big. It felt like I chased that dog forever, going deeper and deeper into the woods I didn't realize were there. And they hadn't been there, not really. I wasn't in Kansas, or wherever, anymore.


I'd lost track of the dog. The woods had just kept going and going, and now they were getting thicker, denser. I slowed to a stop, the woody thorns surrounding me as I turned in a circle to get my bearings. But in that slow circle, I couldn't tell which way I'd come from and which way I was going. The damn woods had closed in around me! My chest heaving, I spun again, hoping the surroundings would change and give me some clue, for the opening to reappear to show me where I had just crashed through. Instead, the thorns simply seemed to close in tighter, their dagger tips stretching towards my skin. I remember crying out as I felt them pierce and scratch, my legs suddenly pumping with adrenaline sending me with a burst of speed through the brush. The thorns continued to reach for me, scratching deeper into my skin, but I ran and ran through the brush, unaware of what direction I ran or what I was running from or to anymore. With each step, the thorns scratched me more, drew more blood. As more blood seeped from my body, the thorns closed in tighter, seeming to hunger for more of my blood. It was a race - how far could I go before the thorns stole my life-force from me completely.

As delirium began to play at the edges of my vision, and my legs began to slow with my draining energy, a bright light shined ahead of me, glimmering through the thorns. It shone for just a moment, then disappeared, but that one shining second gave me something to push for. I took a breath from my heaving, pained chest and struggled towards where the light had shown. My strength waning, I slowed against my will. My body could not be pushed any further, worn out and empty, and I dropped. The thorns taking their opportunity rushed close, their strength as they dug deep into me the only thing holding my body from hitting the hard packed dirt. There I hung, my mind slipping, at the cusp of a small clearing. Before my vision faded completely, I saw the light again, as it reflected off the large scales of a very large white dragon.



Ceri awoke to a sharp breeze, lifting her clothing, seeking its way towards her skin. Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but blue sky. Turning her head to the left and right didn't change the view much. But she lay atop something solid at least. Shaking off the last of the grogginess, she tried to get her bearings and her memories in order. She lay on a stone square, with no walls or ceiling, surrounded completely by open sky. Her, perch, as that was what it was, was atop a very tall tower. Her Lady's tower, she would come to learn later. The tower's walls beneath her were sheer, and nearly perpendicular to the ground she could not see, as its depths disappeared into the clouds she now stood above. She was alone. Nothing but herself and the wind as it buffeted around her pedestal. Although her scrapes and cuts no longer bled, the wind seemed to find each and every gash, surging against it to make it flare, almost seeming to blow into each and into her very soul. The cuts were the openings the wind needed, that She needed, to create the first of the changes.

Ceri was left alone on that pedestal for weeks. She was hungry and thirsty at first, but she never starved or grew dehydrated. The wind was her only companion. No matter how much she wished to die from the loneliness of it, she could never bring herself to jump, and her body never stopped just living. Her mind, on the other hand, was left to its own devices. Slowly, over the course of weeks, months, Ceri's body and mind were changed, molded. Through the scratches caused by the thorns, the wind worked its way inside her. She became the wind. Her skin cooled, thinned, and changed from fair peach to fair gray, reminiscent of the grayish skies on a stormy day. Her lungs expanded, her blood changed, and instead of the oxygen just working through her lungs into her blood, the wind blew through all of her body. She was the wind and the air. And all that she knew was the air that surrounded and flowed through her. For months, that was all that she knew.

At last, She, the Lady, came to visit. Ceri was sitting on her pedestal, the wind swirling around and through her, when a glinting reflected light sparkled in a thin spot of clouds. Ceri had to blink a few times as it had been so long since she had seen something above the clouds. The glinting light flickered, and moved, and became more, until a very large white dragon twisted and rose out of the clouds. Ceri scampered to her feet, moving to the opposite side of the pedestal as the dragon circled and pulled up just above it, its massive wings spread wide. The dragon let its enormous taloned feet just touch on the tower, and with that light touch began to change. Its size, scales, wings, its entire body began melting away. In a whirl of shifting colors and textures that lasted only seconds, the most beautiful of women suddenly stood before Ceri upon the tower. Her silver hair streamed around Her in the wind, framing Her face perfectly. Her eyes held a slight tilt, anchored up along very high cheekbones. She smiled, and a chill ran over Ceri at her expression.

"How are you, my pet? Have you been holding up alright up here? Of course you have, you're still here aren't you. And your new look, I bet my hands would move right through you." She reached out as She said that, but rather than find out the truth of that statement, Ceri stepped to the side out of reach. She was overwhelmed by this Lady, and had no idea what to expect from her.

"Oh, don't want to see the truth of your new form? Ah well, you will learn to appreciate what I have given you as I continue your transformation. That's right, you are not done, my little one. You see, although your current form is useful, the tasks you will perform need a bit more personalization. There are...things...I want. And when they are obtained, well, I want everyone to know that it was I that took them. So, you need a bit more of Me in you. Are you ready? Good. Now lets get you off this tower." And with that, the Lady grabbed Ceri's arm and dragged her off the tower as she jumped. As they fell, the Lady transformed once again into the dragon and Ceri was wrapped in its strong talons. And once the ground began to close up fast, the grip loosened and Ceri fell...

...into the lion pit. And there, Ceri learned to fight. It was suddenly fight or die. So she fought. She used her airy qualities to their fullest, flowing quicker than her opponents, blowing to intangible when she was overwhelmed. And she won that brawl. And the next and the next. With that night's competition won and over, Ceri was worn out. Heaving deeply, she collapsed in the arena. Two hobgoblins stepped in, moving to her to lift her above their heads and moved her out of the circle. Taking her up to the top of the colliseum-like arena, they dropped her on a new, smaller pedestal than the one she had spent so many months upon. This one, was just big enough for her to stand or sit upon, with little movement. They sat her up, positioned her, told her not to move, then left. Exhausted, she struggled to hold this position, but it was not long before she fell. But moments later, severe pain racked through her, shocking her up from her pedestal, straightening her body from head to toe. The pain continued, while the word "Back" echoed in her ears. Struggling through the pain, Ceri pushed herself back into position, at which point the pain immediately stopped. She kept the position as long as she could, and any falter produced the body-racking pain until she was back in the perfect position.

And that became her new existence. She fought for her life in the arena, then sat atop the arena as a gargoyle, looking down on the others' fights. She was forced to learn to fight, using any methods possible. Then she was forced to sit pretty and frightening as a gargoyle atop a castle. And, as before, her body began to change. Her body grew musculature and bone structure that didn't before exist to assist in her fighting. And all of this was formed into a pleasing form which showed off as she held her pose above the arena. She became the form the Lady wanted, an example of her draconic side made visible upon Ceri's body, wings and all.

Her transformation complete, the Lady came to witness one of her battles at last. Ceri struggled against her opponents, winning, as always, by the skin of her teeth. She always won, for if she did not, her existence was over. Upon her win that evening, the arena was silent, except for a faint gloved clapping heard from high above the fighting arena walls. The Lady stood, looking down at Ceri, meeting her eyes, and Ceri knew something about her life was about to change again. The Lady called down across the silent arena, "Meet me in My tower."

Knowing better than to dawdle, Ceri flew up to the highest window in Her tower. But no matter how fast Ceri moved, the Lady, who had been at the arena same as Ceri, beat her there. Ceri landed on the balcony, folded her wings in and knelt just inside the window. "You have come far, Ceri. And now you are exactly what I need. Will you do as I ask of you?" the Lady asked, walking over to Ceri's kneeling form, gracing Her finger over Ceri's white-silvery hair that almost mimicked the Lady's.

"Of course, my Lady. Anything you want." Ceri answered, not raising her head. "Good. The Mistress of Puppets has a serpent trinket she won in a game of chance. I want it. And you will retrieve it for me. Make sure you are seen at least once, and bring it back to me. Do you understand?" the Lady asked as She finished. Her hand, which had been stroking Ceri's hair, suddenly grasped her hair firmly, yanking Ceri's head back so she could look in Her eyes.

"Yes, my Lady."

"Good. Now Go."

That was the first of many runs. Ceri went to collect items from many other Fae, all at the simple whim of her Lady. These runs were not her only life, but rather were an added extra on top of her arena fighting and posing. But it was a relieving change, if extra dangerous. She learned to speak and befriend the other changelings and hobgoblins, as a way to ease the finding of the items. It was a useful skill, and something that kept her spirits up.

It was in a particularly long run that things suddenly changed. The Lady sent her further than she ever had before. Whether the directions she had been given were wrong, or Ceri simply got lost, she was suddenly no longer in Arcadia proper, but instead there was a semblance of real life, a life long left behind, fading into the distance.



Instead of thorns, I saw buildings. And now, here I am. How the hell I actually got away from Her, I have no idea.