“...wake up…”

“...Wake up…”

“Wake up.”

“WAKE UP!”

Like a fish out of water, Chire gulped air greedily as his eyes abruptly shot open.

“Hey, calm down…” a soothing voice spoke, but Chire didn’t hear it. He couldn’t hear anything.

Only his gasping breath echoed through his ears. He couldn’t breathe.

A hand covered his mouth and pushed away the snaking hand that was reaching up to his throat. “Breathe,” the voice commanded. Tears clouded his eyes as he was forced to breathe through the two narrow airways that made up his nostrils.

After a few minutes, Chire was relieved to feel his heartbeat calm as the feeling of hypoxia died down. He collapsed back on the bed, still gasping, but less intensely.

“What…” he said when he could finally speak, “...the fuck was that?”

“Hyperventilation, obviously,” the voice answered.

No, it wasn’t obvious.

“A side effect of the procedure… Hey, no. Lay back down.”

Chire was gently pushed back down on his bed. The owner of the voice finally came into full view. The person who’d been talking to him the whole time. She was one of them. Just like the rest of them, she had on a skin-tight suit that left little to the imagination. Her hair was long - so long if she wasn’t careful, she’d probably trip over it.

It’s over. He could understand their language.

The being smiled down at him warmly then continued, “As I was saying, there are a few side effects of the procedure, including nausea, fever, memory problems…” the being counted a few more with her fingers before smiling again at his obvious discomfort.

“Do you feel any of those effects now, master?”

“Master?” Chire repeated incredulously.

“Of course,” the woman sighed and caressed his face. Her calloused hand traced the side of his face very, very slowly. “A future holder of our eggs has to be treated with respect,” she said.

It was even worse than he’d thought. Chire curled up on the bed, clutching his stomach. It was a dangerous topic they’d been treading on, and the human would rather not go into details he didn’t want to know.

“I’m hungry,” he said meekly. His stomach did feel all shriveled after all of that heaving, and he suspected he hadn’t had a bite of real, human solid food for a while.

The being’s slitted eyes trailed down his face to his stomach. The human clutched it tighter.

“Yes…food” she mumbled to herself and stood from her spot beside the bed. Chire didn’t relax even when the door closed behind the being. He finally took the time to observe his surroundings.

The room he was in now was humongous, albeit bare. The biggest piece of furniture in the room was the bed he lay in that was soft to the touch, and it barely took up 20 percent of the space. The only thing that rivaled the size of the bed was a large tapestry on the opposite wall. There was also an unnecessarily large, circular chandelier hung from the ceiling. In contrast to the clean-looking white carpet that encompassed the floor, the chandelier looked old and like it was about to collapse the next second. Luckily, the room was big enough that he’d be able to avoid walking under it if it came to that.

After taking in the grand room filled with nothing, Chire felt himself up, making sure all of his body was still intact.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Everything seemed to work properly.

With his immediate worries curbed, he curled back up into himself and waited for a click of the door that would signal the return of the woman with something he hoped was edible.