Biff had some time in her bedroom. The new Sphinx-girl was just resting with her paws and legs deep into the covers of the bed. She glanced at the mirror and saw what was a lioness in her den… she turned away loathing it- until she suddenly felt another itch on her neck. She raised her front paws to try and get at it but it didn’t quite work… almost instinctively she brought her hindquarters up to her ears to try and ease this weird feeling.
“I’m going into heat- I just know it-” she whispered with shaking terror in her throat. What could she do? Just.. wait it out? How would she know when it was over? Maybe it wouldn’t happen. She didn’t feel anything except just very itchy… but she knew she couldn’t tell anyone about it either. How could she? She was already an animal in body she didn’t want to be in mind too! She flopped her head onto the pillow even as the itchy feeling seem to go across her entire torso. She started scratching with greater ferocity yet nothing she did alleviated her symptoms.
Paranoia became exhaustion as she finally closed her eyes feeling utterly defeated.
She just wanted to have her normal life back.. her normal two legs and having a perspective to everyones asses- those damn assholes. Her wing felt a lot better lately after that car accident but she had yet to put herself to fly. Maybe she could? It didn’t seem possible… how could something with the body of a lion fly? Biff was no aeronautical engineer but you couldn’t just put wings on a lion and expect it to fly! All it did was distract and confuse her… extra limbs that served no purpose other then to make her look more freakish.
In the darkness she suddenly… felt something. A strange… place? Wherever this was it was a field of grey. She could see shadows of light and darkness… and shimmering creatures. Strange animals that looked far more fantastical then the ones on Earth… They seemed to exist like… bubbles? Occasionally these bubbles merged and split… but nor randomly. She watched how a lion and a bird mixed together to form a new sphinx template… yet it wouldn’t then merge with another thing as if it realized it was ‘complete’ and didn’t need more. There was a clear defined pattern to the strange place. It was like a tapestry…
She then saw Jon and.. “Sarah?” The sphinx girl blinked as she tried to go towards her. This bubble wasn’t like the others- yet in many ways it was? She could see other things trying to get towards her, as if suddenly magnetically charge, It was attracting certain kinds of 'traits' towards her. The new sphinx template was trying to go towards her.. and another was trying to go towards Jon!
Biff woke up- all itchy. “AAAH!” She cried out as she tried to stop the weird feeling. Somehow in the night she had brought her tail close to her mouth and was actually biting at the fur. Disgusted she spat out the fine hairs and spluttered. “The mist...” She realized. “It’s going to change… it’s going to change Sarah!”
Would that… would that be so bad? If she became a sphinx… they could be together! Was this a force of destiny… or was she crazy? She seemed to always get these impressions of the future but never had it been so clear as now. “I have to save her,” She decided.
The sphinx tried to use her phone to call her. It was… easier said then done. She had not exactly left it to charge given how fiddly it was to do so with paws and to even use the thing now was hard with claws in the way. Her padded paws just barely activated the screen.. she guessed it was calibrated with human skin in mind. Still she persevered and eventually she managed to dial Sarah. Seeing her face for a moment on the screen as it dialed filled her with.. a pang of hope. She knew it was quite late but… she prayed and hoped she would answer. “Please please answer!”
Sarah looked uncertain at the phone. She could see it was Biff… the picture of his old self… it brought a slight tear to her. She guessed the sphinx wanted to talk to her but.. what more was there to say? She sighed. “I’m sorry Biff… I just can’t talk to you now...” Besides whatever it was… it could wait until tomorrow… and would be better in person.
“Please answer!” The sphinx pleaded. No good… she wasn’t answering. “Jon… I have to save Jon...” There was a sentence she never thought she had to. She quickly started to call him. “Jon?”
Jon glanced at the phone hoping it was Mikey. The number was .. Biff? He gulped. Why would she call him? He was kind of curious if a bit worried. The phone clicked and connected. “Yeah? Biff? Are you okay?”
“Jon-” Biff started. “Okay… look this is going to sound really weird but- whatever you’re doing, whatever you thought of doing or about to do, just don’t do it. Get out of the house, go on a random walk- just go!”
“Whoa-” Jon blinked. “Is this about Mikey?”
There was a pause. “Yes. Meet me at Sarah’s house.”
“But it’s almost ten-”
“Do it!” Biff yelled. “Don’t make me knock your head off!”
Jon at that point scrambled to get his clothes on. If this was about Mikey of course he would run.
Biff felt a a little guilty about the lie. He had heard Mikey was missing but in order to save Jon from the Mist he had to get out of the house.. or be somewhere else. He closed his eyes and could almost.. just about see that bubble that was Jon.. it was now distant but- Sarah… “I have to hurry...” Somehow calling Sarah ‘changed’ the attractive forces around her.
In the lands of the giants three girls were now standing on a table. Mikey, Alice and Anne… who was once someone else but now… now the name seemed to elude them. Oro the giant stood above them, his grey beard trailing down the edges of the table. “So, it’s rather late but do you care for some dinner?”
Anne was still recovering from being played with by Oro’s daughter… Talara. Her long snake tail coiled around behind her trying to keep herself together. “Can you get us home...” She pleaded. “I’ll… I’ll do anything...”
“Anything you say?” Oro shook his head. “There are many ways to get home for you… each of them carry a price. One we can’t know… and another we know...” He started to go to a large bookshelf. “Now let me see...” He trailed his hands across until he brought out a tome. It was a grayish speckled book with writings handwritten in black. “Now then… you said you were from a world called… Earth?”
“Yes!” Said Mikey. “We can get back there- through the trees. When I go fast enough and Alice uses her… trick-”
“But the portal is too small for me now!” Anne cried out. “Can you… do something?”
“Oh.. well now that’s quite an easy thing to fix,” Oro said with some thought. “Though yes.. a small price.”
“You’re going to make us pay to just go home?!” Anne gasped. “Isn’t that evil?”
Oro laughed. “Oh you children sure are a funny lot. I do miss it when Talara being your age.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “You’re rather new to dimensional travel… the multiverse does not like… things known,” he tried to explain. “Information is like currency here. It is often exchanged… when you leave here your memories of this place will fade away as if but a dream.”
“Oh… well.. that’s okay… I.. I really rather not remember any of this.” Anne stated. “I just want to have my legs back be a boy again and go home.”
“You can help us?” asked the rabbit-girl Alice.
“You need to travel through the mist… and find the way back.” Oro explained. “That journey you took was through the Mist.. realm of… thought- dreams- it’s hard to explain… think of it like the collective information of everything in the universe. Your human brains attract information like water to a sponge.. the Mist is a natural space between the multiverse where all things exist.”
“Who’s dream...” Mikey asked.
“Ah.. well now, that’s a bit more complicated…” Oro said cryptically. “Sometimes the Mist will send someone to another world… a being made up of dream matter… no doubt one- maybe two of them have walked in your world which is why the Mist is there now. In any case I can send you back easily…”
“How?” asked Anne.
“… I have a shrink spell. If you want to get back home so desperately, I can shrink you down to size… and you’ll be back home in no time.”
“What?!” Anne cried out. “So not only will I have the body of a snake I’ll be the size of a snake?!”
“...yes.” Oro said apologetically. “Pretty much like you are now to me!” He chuckled. “Is it really that bad? You won’t even remember why you are that size… you might not even remember ever being a boy- the mist will re-write you and send you back to your world. If you.. took that path back.”
“Is there any other option?” Mikey asked.
“Sure… you two go back, Anne can stay here with us.. your world will eventually forget about her- such is the way of the Mist.”
“That’s not acceptable!” Alice cried out. “We’re not leaving her she has-”
“He-” Mikey whispered.
“He- she- uh, he’s got a life...” Alice gasped for breath. This was her fault! She didn’t know her ability would jump the very fabric of space time!
Oro looked sadly. “Well.. every portal will have it’s own price. I can’t be entirely sure what would happen… but the Mist usually has a way of working this out.” He got up from the chair. “Now then… step one… you will need to go much faster then before. A necklace of swift-speed should do the trick...” He gave a strange giant necklace but as soon as it was near Alice is started to shrink.
“This.. will make me go faster?”
“For a short time yes…” explained the giant. “I will go to the place you came from… and perhaps we can encourage some of the plants to grow closer together… the portal will be large enough to let you through- though I caution you again… if we don’t shrink Anne something else might happen to her. The mist.. doesn’t exactly allow easy transit… only to the Mistwalkers...”
“The.. Mist walkers?”
“Honestly there is no point telling you you’ll not remember,” Oro shrugged. “Come now, light is fading… let’s get you home...”
