In his dreams, Symon found himself alone in darkness. He was deep underground, with mud and dirt crowded against his body, giving him barely enough clearance to move. Claustrophobia soon overcame him; the air in the cavern felt stale, hot, and suffocating. He had to get out. Through the aerated dirt he could feel the smallest cold air flow, so he started pushing himself in that direction, crawling slowly and clumsily, and clawing at the dirt to move it out of his way. He dug for what seemed like eternity until light began to leak through the small cracks in the dirt. Pushing away that last barrier between him and freedom, he pulled himself up from the hole.

What he found was not the surface, but just a large beam of light that poured down from a hole at the top of a much larger cavern. This beam of light perfectly illuminated a massive boulder. Its surface was decorated with the fossilized remains of a long extinct beetle and surrounding its form were runes engraved onto it in a language he didn’t know. The massive monument had an ominous aura that shook Symon, but he proceeded crawling forward. His body felt far too heavy to even stand up.

When he stepped into the light, he reached up an arm to touch it, only to find that what was supposed to be his arm was a large insectoid claw instead. He looked down in horror at the rest of his body, at his round belly and wiggling legs. He was not human, but a disgusting, lowly cicada nymph. But before he had time to panic, he felt a searing, tearing pain in his back, like something was about to burst out of his body.

He awoke with a yell. He was drenched in sweat and his heart was beating out of his chest. He looked down, hoping that everything was a nightmare, but still found himself with those dark, leathery ‘miinu’ arms. He let out a whimper, realizing that this indeed was his reality now, and sat back up in the bed, hissing at the pain in his back.

“You okay?” Aniso’s voice called from nearby. Symon rubbed his eyes and looked around the room, finding Aniso idly tending to the pot of cooking food, which smelled even tastier than before. It made Symon’s stomach growl ferociously. Aniso gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sounded like you were having some rough sleep there. I thought about waking you but…”

“Aniso..? Where’s… the doctor?” Symon asked weakly.

“Oh he had to go out and get supplies. I offered to do it for him but he insisted I stay and watch over you while he was gone. You were out for a while. It’s already evening”

Symon looked out the window to indeed see the orange hue of the setting sun. “I see. So everything this morning really happened. Fantastic…” His stomach let out another painful growl.

“Sounds like someone is hungry. Good thing I made food.”

Symon slowly propped himself up into a sitting position. “I cannot say for sure, but it certainly feels like it’s been a while since I’ve eaten.” 

“Well then let's not waste any time.” Aniso poured some bowls of the stew and handed one to Symon. The stew had a greenish-yellow color to it, with mushy golden chunks in it. He stared at it for a moment before Aniso nudged him. “Go ahead, it's good I promise,” He assured.

Symon took a bite from the stew, and was immediately impressed by its flavor. It was a savory mix of simple spices, but it popped in his mouth unlike anything he’d ever tasted before. Before he knew it he was shoveling the food in like a starving animal. The feeling of food in his stomach was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

“H-hey… is it that good?” Aniso teased.

Symon sniffed and wiped his eyes. “I-I apologize, I’m not sure what's come over me.”

“Hey, you’re alright. You seem like you’ve been through a lot.”

“It feels like it. I just wish I could remember anything. Say, what is this anyway?”

“Oh it’s huntsman stew!” Aniso beamed.

  Symon thickly swallowed. “ Wh-what? ”

“Oh yeah it’s made with that spider I killed with some chopped basil and a little bit of ginger and salt." He let out a laugh. "You never want to waste a kill,” He explained proudly, but then quickly noticed the growing look of horror on Symon’s face.

Symon’s stomach twisted at the realization of what he just ate. He put the bowl back on the table and tried to hold back the new nauseous feeling in his gut.

“Hey, you still have half a bowl left,” Aniso pointed out. “Is it bad?”

Symon flinched, “Ah-! No I didn’t mean to imply that I- I just.” He placed a hand on his stomach. “I think I need a moment to get used to all of this. This body and world is very strange to me. Everything feels so… wrong.” He hugged himself.

Aniso stared at the man with sympathy for a while, before asking, “Were you really human before?”

“Yes!” Symon answered, as he began to fidget and braid his hair. “I keep trying to tell you, I was born and raised human my whole life and then just yesterday I turned into… this! I don't remember how I got here or how I transformed into a bug.”

“I wanna believe you, but that’s never happened before. I don’t even know if that’s possible.” 

“I understand your doubts. I didn’t know anything like this existed before today. I still wonder if I’m in a very realistic dream. If I had tried to tell myself this story, I wouldn’t have believed me either.” 

Aniso frowned, then had a realization. “Wait, you know what? I just thought of something. We have a legend around here that the Fossil Stones can grant beings the ability to shape-shift. I thought that was just a legend, but hearing your story, there might be more truth to it than I thought.”

Symon blinked awkwardly, “Ah... pardon. Fossil stones are..."

“Oh right. They are like these fossils that are super magical and kinda hold our entire society together by granting us knowledge and speech and stuff.” He shrugged. "At least, that's what they say. I think they just say that to keep the nymphs from touching it."

Symon tilted his head in confusion.

“Hold on, I can show you. Can you stand?” He held out a hand to help Symon off the cot. Symon took it and slowly raised himself to his feet. He was still sore, but he could tell that his back was feeling better than it did earlier. Aniso took him to a back door on the opposite side of the house’s entrance and opened it. 

On the other side was a large hollowed out section of the tree that was bustling with different miinu. The inside was set up like a tower, with winding stairs and platforms that led to other doors and rooms inside the tree. It was set up like a tiny apartment village inside. The other miinu swarmed around about their business, traveling between platforms, speaking with each other, even having a market at the bottom floor where they’d trade food and items. Each miinu looked unique, decorated with vibrant colors and a variety of physical traits that mimicked a wide range of insects. Miinu with fly wings buzzed about the market, gathering supplies sold by beetles with colorful carapaces on their backs. Butterfly and moth miinu with grand, spectacular wings chatted amongst themselves idly. Tiny ant miinu walked in a rhythm with each other scanning the area for trouble. Pale, chubby grub children ran around playing amongst themselves.

Symon watched in awe as these creatures entirely alien to him went about their lives in much the same way humans would. In fact the scene on the first floor reminded him of the market streets he would often find himself in working as a traveling merchant. All the people moving to and fro between stalls of fruits and meat, fabrics and antiquities. The shouting of merchants from the stalls shouting over each other and advertising their wares. People bumping into each other through the tight street. He always thought it was so overwhelming, and the inside of this tree certainly echoed that noise around tenfold. That sound thrummed in his ears and vibrated down his body, giving him goosebumps, and the height of the tower gave him vertigo.

Aniso placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you okay? You’re turning a little green there.”

“I’m turning green? Am I changing again?” Symon panicked.

“N-no that was just a figure of- ah nevermind. You just look a little overwhelmed.”

Symon calmed himself a touch. “I am… I-I’ll be fine though.”

“Well… if you look over there, you’ll see the stone.” Aniso pointed to the center of the bottom of the tree, Nestled in the gnarled roots that curled into an almost perfect spiral around the base of a large fossil stone. The stone had the fossilized remains of a meganeura dragonfly in it, surrounded by runes. The stone was also decorated with torches and flowers left as offerings to it. 

Symon gasped. “Th-that stone! It was in my nightmare!”

“Wait, it was?” Aniso questioned.

“W-well.. not that exact one. The fossil inside was different. But everything else about it was the same!”

“Well maybe it was one of the other ones?” Aniso suggested.

“There’s more?”

“Well, yeah. There’s Miinu settlements all over this region. And five of those villages are chosen to guard one. If you’re dreaming about them, then they must have something to do with what happened to you.” 

“How can you be certain though?”

“Well… to be honest, I can’t. But I know who can! The Stone Keeper!”

“Great, more terms I don’t understand…”

“Hey don’t sweat it, I’ll just introduce you to him.” Aniso proceeded to scoop him up into his arms once more. “Going up!”

“Ah-! Aniso wait I-” 

Symon protested but was cut off Aniso took off upwards towards the higher platforms. After they landed on the one at the very top he gently put Symon down, whose legs were shaking.

“C-couldn’t we have taken the stairs?” Symon complained.

“We could have, but did you wanna walk all the way up here?”

Symon looked down at the steep drop and the endless rows of spiraling platforms below. “F-fair enough…” he resigned. 

Aniso knocked on the door and a voice muffled from the other side shouted "Coming coming" preceded by a lot of loud clattering and clashing. Soon enough the door opened to an elderly looking Miinu with graying hair and pale white butterfly wings that appeared tattered and sagged like a wrinkled heap on the ground. The man leaned against a large wooden twig that was curled into a spiral at the end like a staff and eyed the both of them for a moment. 

"Aniso! What a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting a package from you today." The old man beamed.

"Haha! Nope, no mail today, Mister Papilo. It’s my day off, remember.” He smiled politely.

“Oh yes of course. You’re always buzzing around here all the time it’s hard to tell. I never know what day it is anymore. Would you like some tea? I got some darjeeling on the kettle right now.”

“That sounds lovely, but I kinda came here for some advice. We've acquired a new resident today and he could use your Stone Keeper wisdom."

"I don't recall agreeing to stay here- ow!" Symon was interrupted by a sharp elbowing from Aniso. 

"Hmm…." Papilo stared at Symon for a long moment, almost suspiciously. His demeanor quickly changed to cordial as he suddenly reared his forehead at Symon's, wiggling his long antennae around him. 

Symon sucked in a nervous breath and his body tensed at how close this stranger was to him. "I-I beg y-your pardon. Wh-what.. are you doing?!" He stammered. 

Papilo backed up. "Getting your smell of course! What were you raised under a rock? It's how every Miinu greets a stranger."

"Uhm about that," Aniso interjected. "That's what we meant to talk to you about. Symon here claims that he was born a human and he was ‘changed’ into a human."

Papilo burst out into laughter. "Ahahah-! A human-! That's impossible, it's- Actually wait a minute.” The old man suddenly grabbed Symon’s face, squishing his cheeks and turning his head from side to side. “You haven’t touched any weird rocks have you? Felt sick? Have your insides felt melty recently?”

“Wha I havvun-” Symon pulled the geezer’s hand off of him. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. Strange rocks?”

“Hmm… You don’t remember, do you?” He rubbed a hand through his beard. “One moment, allow me to consult the stone." Papilo then stepped out onto the platform and jumped off, falling straight down like a stone. 

"Oh my god he just-" Symon began to shout, but Aniso stopped him and gestured for him to pay attention.

Just before landing in the center of the tree, Papilo opened his wings and gave one swift thrust which slowed him down just enough to land safely. 

"Oh dear lord..." Symon wheezed. "This place is going to give me a heart attack." Almost as soon as he said that he was once more scooped up and swooped down to join Papilo.

Papilo reached out a hand and touched the stone. The stone reacted by its rune markings glowing, and Papilo’s eyes glowing in turn. He seemed to be whispering some strange incantation into the stone. At first the conversation seemed calm, but eventually Papilo seemed taken back before releasing the stone, which went back to its normal state. 

“Uh huh.. hmm.. yes… very interesting…” He murmured to himself. “I see the problem now.”

Symon blinked. “And…”

Papilo dramatically thrust his staff towards Symon, “You have been cursed!” He shouted dramatically.

Symon narrowed his eyes. “What? Are you just messing with me?”

“Quiet boy!” Papilo smacked the man with the tip of his staff. “I have communed with the stone, and there has been a disturbance in the magic circle!” 

“Ow!” He growled and rubbed his shoulder. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Aniso leaned over and whispered. “All the stones form this big magic circle thing which gives us our magic, you learn this in Grub school! Really basic stuff.”