Symon pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “But how is that possible? I’ve never seen this place or your stones before now!”

Papilo shrugged. “Without your memories, I can’t answer that question. But don’t try forcing them, you’ll only give yourself an aneurysm.”

“So what do I do?” 

“You get comfortable. There’s no undoing the curse, this is your life now.” He let out a laugh that sounded almost mocking, “Don’t look so glum, this is prolly the best place you could’a ended up.”

“No… that can’t be true.” He threw his head into his hands. “What did I do to deserve this!”

"Hey don't worry about it, it’ll be okay!," Aniso assured him.

“No it won’t! My life is ruined!”

Papilo gawked at the scene and took Aniso to the side. "Aniso, may I speak with you in private?" The two began muttering a conversation to themselves. 

Meanwhile Symon found himself eyeing the fossil stone. Something about it was drawing him in, something deep within his soul. While the others weren't paying attention, he stepped closer to the stone. He could almost start to hear a droning hum come from inside the stone, like a heartbeat. He reached out a hand slowly, carefully, and touched the surface. 

It was like an electric shock, as soon as he made contact, a pulse of energy rocked through his body, locking him in place. He let out a choked gasp as unknown whispering and feelings flooded his mind. He was hit with an overwhelming memory of pain and fear and sorrow. He saw flashes of images in his mind. Particularly of himself holding the stone from his dreams and the box he had placed it in.

Suddenly he felt a hand grab him and pull him away from the stone. Just as suddenly all the pain and visions vanished, leaving only a slight tingling in his fingers. He had come back to find himself on the ground with his arm being released from Aniso's hand. The whole crowd of Miinu down there was now staring at him in shock. 

"What do you think you were doing?! Only qualified stone keepers should touch the fossil stones. Didn't I just say that they were powerful magical artifacts? You have to be trained to use them properly!" Papilo scolded. 

"I.. I-I'm s-sorry. I didn't know…" Symon choked out, but he was quickly getting overwhelmed by the shouting. The stares from the crowd, the lights, the stunned murmuring,  they were all making his head spin and his thought was beginning to close up. He felt his heart rate spiking and his breath go shallow. 

Aniso knelt over him in concern. "Hey are you okay? You were screaming when you touched the stone and you still don't look so hot."

"W-was I?" He said between gasps of air. "I… I didn't realize. I'm sorry."

"Hey Aniso, move, I'm not done lecturing the man," Papilo demanded.

"Um, I think he got the point Papilo. It was an honest mistake." He looked back at Symon. "Let's get you out of here. You look like you need air." 

He helped the Symon get back to his feet and guided him slowly away from the stone and out of a hole in the roots that opened outside. Getting away from the crowd relieved a lot of his anxiety but his nerves were still on edge and his stomach reeled. He tried to distract himself with the wonder of the tall flowers and the tiny outdoor decor that the miinu placed outside. Tiny fences marked the border where grass stopped growing freely to leave room for the tiny stone paths. 

"Hey, what happened back there anyway?" Aniso asked. 

"I just got overwhelmed again. It's nothing to worry about," Symon insisted. 

"But the stone."

"Listen, I said I was sorry for touching a sacred object of yours. It won't happen again.”

“I’m not mad at you, ya know. I’m just worried about-”

“Enough-!” Symon snapped. His nerves were raw. “Can we just go somewhere quiet. Please?”

“Uh, sure. You wanna rest at my place?”

“That would be nice.” He said, before realizing “Where is your place?”

“Just over there.” 

He pointed towards the koi pond, which from here felt as massive as a lake. A small dock reached off of the rocks into a house sitting in the middle of the water on support beams. It looked like a cabin made from twigs and bark. The wood of the dock creaked softly as they traversed over it. Symon took another moment to look at his reflection in the water, still not used to the strange, vibrantly banded creature that looked back at him. 

The inside of the cabin was small, cozy even. The furniture inside were also made from scraps of human trash, it seemed to be a theme here. A small, unlit fire pit sat in the middle of the room. A tiny dining table for two in the corner, and in the back, two small hammocks for beds. All things considered, there wasn’t much here other than bare necessities. A rug made from a handkerchief was the only real decor in the space, and it was likely there just to cover the gaps between the wooden floor boards that went right down to the lake below. Twine nets and fishing gear decorated the walls, and there was a mysterious hatch in the middle of the floor. 

Aniso took a seat on one of the lower hanging hammocks and started swinging on it, while Simon sat down on a wooden stool.

“It’s a very… small home you have here. It’s almost the same size as my room back home.”

“You must have a big house, ya know, wherever you’re from.” Ansio laughed, “Both me and my dad are outside a lot. We don’t need to spend time here that often.”

“You live with your father?” 

“For now, I dunno, I just haven’t felt the need to branch out and make my own place yet. I like things the way they are.”

“I have no room to talk, myself. I’ve been living with my parents for a while now, and I’m almost in my 30’s.” He admitted a bit shamefully.

“You’re that old?” Aniso gawked. “I could have sworn you’d be younger than me.”

“Is it my young face?’

“Mmm… More like that fact you just had your metamorphosis yesterday.”

“My meta… what?”

“Look at your wings” He pointed to his back.

Symon attempted to look but it was hard from that angle. He’d almost forgotten they were there. “What about them?”

“They’re all small and scrunched up. They haven’t been pumped out yet.” 

“P-pumped?” Symon stuttered.

“Yeah, when you develop your wings they start off all squished inside your old skin and they gotta pump with blood to get bigger.”

Old skin? Blood? He groaned, the conversation was making him nauseous. 

“Actually, we should probably take care of that. You’re probably having trouble because of your injury.”

“I’m… not sure what to do about that.”

“Oh don’t worry, my dad taught me this massage that you can use to manually get the blood flowing again. I can help you.” He waggled his fingers eagerly.

Symon flinched away from him. “No no. That’s not necessary!”

Aniso frowned. “The longer you wait, the sooner your wings will completely harden and you won’t be able to do it anymore. Your wings will be stuck like that.”

“I just…” He stammered. “I don’t… I’m not sure about it. I’m still not entirely comfortable with this body.” 

Aniso’s face softened. “Look… I get you’re freaked out, but I’ll be careful. I promise you’ll feel a lot better after this.” 

Symon fidgeted his hands anxiously.

“I’ll go slow,” Aniso continued. “And I’ll talk you through it. Would that help?” 

Symon sucked in a nervous breath. “Fine. Only this once.”

“It’ll only need to be once. Now lay down on your stomach.” 

Symon laid down, arms folded under his head as he stared ahead at the window on the wall. He didn’t like not being able to see behind him, and he felt anxious shudders run through him before Aniso had even touched him. Just his presence back there was unnerving.

“I’m just gonna gently press down on these muscles here.” Aniso said before gently pressing his thumbs along the top of his rhomboid muscle and pushing the tissue downwards.

Symon could feel something built up under the skin there, it was sore, and he hissed as it was pushed down. But it was a temporary pain, and soon he could feel the relief of something giving, like popping a pimple. He could feel warm blood and fluid entering the veins of his wings as Aniso worked. He was so gentle and delicate with Symon, reassuring him after time a particular sore spot caused him to spasm. He was even careful around the wound.

His wings were slowly unfolding, and it felt like a pressure was being removed from Symon’s back. It was nice after a while. He hadn’t gotten a massage like this ever, even when his strenuous job caused his back to ache tremendously every day. This was exactly the kind of relaxation he needed. He let out a small, pleased hum, and nearly drifted to sleep.

“All done.” Aniso chimed before Symon could pass out entirely.

“Already?” Symon whined.

“Don’t act like you enjoyed it too much,” Aniso laughed. 

Symon slowly rose. His wings felt longer and slightly heavier, and tickled the base of his torso. His back also felt a lot better, even with his injury. Aniso gestured to a piece of broken mirror leaned up onto the wall.

“Check yourself out.”

Symon stood and viewed his whole body in the mirror. This was the first time he’d gotten a good look at his body in its entirety. He’d truly become just like all the other insect creatures in this village. He slowly traced the seams in his exoskeleton-like skin around his joints. His wings, now on full display and nearly reaching the ground, were black shimmering gold veins throughout. He didn’t recognize himself, and the thought alone brought tears to his eyes. 

Aniso immediately came over, putting an arm on his shoulder. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong? I think you look great!”

“What has happened to my body?” He sobbed. “I don’t want to be like this! I wanna go home.”

Aniso had no words. He just let the man cry.