Ethan was a little more apprehensive as the money with the vials were exchanged. He always considered himself a ‘good guy’ and would never do anything ‘illegal’ and while it wasn’t illegal to have the water in a diluted state, it still made him worried to have something that was considered contraband in many places.
He had fifty dollars for his half of the goods and soon enough, became the owner of a ‘Wings FAD’ Water solution… it promised wings for a day.
…A superpower… for just a little while.
The vial of liquid gently glowing on the palm of his hand. It was so tantalising to think about… a chance to fly in the sky just like the most exotic of transformations. To see them on their level… he realised he didn’t just want to fly though, he wanted to meet other flying transformed people. It made him think about when he might have wanted to fly a plane someday but had this horrible fear of heights. It was something he felt he had gotten over with though.
“So… we just drink it?” he asked Rich the seller.
The strange dragon-woman gave a chuckle at that. “Oh yes. Drink. You can. Lots of ways to take. Method might change how wings manifest,” The Dragon-girl explained with a slight flourish of her clawed hands. “Need to prepare you… or prepare yourself. Be prepared either way. Visualise the desire… do not get distracted.”
‘why does she talk like Yoda,’ Ethan wondered. However, he guessed it was good advice to be prepared. “So… should we do this with others?”
Josh nodded. “I’ve seen people splash it, drink it, even get tattoos of it. I think each method is specific to the kind of transformation you want.”
Rich nodded. “Yes. Tattoos of Angel wings to get Angel wings… very popular but very expensive. I don’t have that ability. I just give you the stuff. What you do with it is up to you, yes?” Rich calmly explained. “You do what you do with it, I just sell it. We understand? We never met of course. Don’t want troubles.”
Josh nodded. He knew the score of how it worked having done this before. “Let’s use it right now!”
“Wait- now?!” Ethan felt his hand clutch the vial almost afraid of what it could actually do. “Maybe we should do some tests?”
“Test?” Rich tilted his head. “Yes. It has been tested. It lets you fly. That is all. Though flying itself… can be dangerous.” The dragon proceeded to give them a piece of paper. “Go here… since its your first time. A group… of other enthusiasts. Password is First Star to the Right.”
Josh took the paper and thought about it. “Yeah… okay I suppose we can do this with some others to be safe.”
Ethan wasn’t sure quite ‘what’ he had got himself into. If he was smart he would probably just go home and watch TV… Yet he was worried he was missing out on a great opportunity and held on to that thought if he didn’t continue.
They had an address now and the transformation solution. On Rich’s advice they were to meet others like them who felt the desire to fly. He was actually looking forward to meeting them, thinking it almost like a weird ‘flying club’. It made him feel more ‘normal’. Maybe they could discuss their favourite species they had seen? Maybe they could do a bit of ‘Transformation spotting!’… actually maybe not… they would think him an ‘absolute weirdo.’
The teenage boy was clutching the dilute metamorphic water in his hands, eager to see what it ‘could’ do, shifting in in its various hues and colours. Placing his ear next to it, he could almost ‘hear’ the beating of wings and the sound of wind…
“Hey, don’t flash it dude,” Josh reminded suddenly as a person passed them on the other end of the road. “Keep it hidden.”
“Huh? It’s not illegal though.”
“Well, no… technically.” He whispered cautiously. “It’s just if the cops catch you with it, they’ll look more into you. No smoke without fire, right? They’re illegal to throw on someone else too. You could get done for a year if it was deliberate… and that’s with the dilute stuff. Life is possible with the permanent stuff.”
“Oh- yeah I forgot that.” He had no intention of doing such a thing! Yet when he ‘really’ though about it… it suddenly occurred to him ‘why’ people would throw this water on random people. The transformations it could induce… and for a moment one might see beings of great beauty… though this was superimposed by their horrified screams. Ethan gulped not wanting to indulge in that thought any further. It was a sickening thought, as much as he wondered about it.
“We’re here,” Joshua pointed to the building. “Now be cool and just do what I do.”
The club itself was more like an old, abandoned gymnasium on the south side of town. Likely very spacious on the inside. Joshua gave a knock and the metal side door, which opened for him quickly.
“Password” a shrilled voice called out. Inside was a rather odd-looking teen, with hair that was almost white. He was a bit on the short-side, only about five feet tall and darkened skin.
“First Star to the Left,” Josh answered.
"eh, close enough." The door clicked open, and they were let inside. It looked like a service corridor that lead up to the inside with pale blank walls. “Hey, so, you wanna get high eh?” the white-haired boy smiled faintly. “Not seen you guys before. Take it your dealer sent you here? Come on in, we got everything all set up. We’re gonna get so high hehe…”
“Uh. Yeah. I’m Joshia and this is Ethan. We’re a bit new to it.”
“Heh. Awesome. I’m Paul. Been doing this for a year now. Don’t let the white hair get to you, was a ‘slightly’ higher concentration of Meta-Water then expected,” He chuckled rather darkly looking to Ethan... “so... you got the stuff? We don’t do sharing.” Paul asked quickly.
Josua nodded. “Yep. We brought our own.”
“Good. Good, See, we used to share it out, but these day’s it’s every flyer for themselves.” Paul gestured for them to walk with him down the corridors.
Joshia and Ethan followed, with Ethan getting more apprehensive. Every step felt like it was taking him away from his life of safety and comfort… an instinct to run away from this… Mercifully he saw two double doors that had a large room with small windows to the outside world.
The Gymnasium floor looked almost like a jungle gym had been set up in the middle. Large ladders going up high, to what looked like soft padding down below. Some of them had ropes too, where the ladders were too short. It was enough for Ethan’s stomach to turn in slightly. “Uh… what is all this stuff?”
“You want to fly? You got to tell the water you want to fly. It’s alive!” Paul grinned again as he started setting up the gym area pulling out a large soft mat. “It thinks… its amazing stuff… it responds to what you’re doing to make a transformation happen. We set up you up to fall…”
Josua nodded in thought. “Theres many stories of people using Metamorphic water in serious situations. Like with the astronauts.”
Ethan vaguely recalled that too. Astronauts kept some of the water on hand for an emergency… though they never used it. The general idea was that the water would change them in a form that would suit their environment, even space … there was an incident where it ‘leaked’ but the government kept the results of that secret. People imagined the astronaut turning into some kind of bizarre space monster.
“Hey there,” A girl said with a smile sitting on the side with a slightly vacant look in her eyes. She looked like a typical ‘goth’ girl, with a skull on her shirt. She had purple hair, and for a moment Ethan wasn’t sure if she had dyed it or if like Paul, her hair had changed colour from repeated use of Fads. The girl was a little large with wide hips and small breasts. A small nose and hooped earrings. She glanced to Ethan then towards Josua. “New guy?”
Josua nodded. “Ethan wants to have a shot at flying.”
“Heh, it’s wild… I like to use the water to connect to the Mother Goddess.”
“Uh…huh.” Ethan blinked not really knowing ‘what’ to say to say in reply. Everyone here was certainly ‘out there’ in terms of their personality… he just wanted to have wings for a day! The goth-girl was setting up what looked like an old beat-up sofa against a large high platform. “Jeez- you’re not gonna jump off that are you?!”
“Sure, just watch.”
The Goth-girl splashed herself with the water, while muttering something into an amulet around her neck. She started her ‘trust fall’ into the old sofa from an elevated platform, though with her increased weight it looked a little more dangerous to Ethan then he would have liked. The water’s effects were almost immediate. She started to grow a pair of wings! They seem to emerge from her back like a pair of fairy-wings, way too small to look like they ‘should’ work, and yet they did. She fluttered nicely to the ground with the grace of a Ballerina. “see? Easy… hm… nice wings. Thank you Mother Goddess.”
The goth-woman proceeded to fly around the gymnasium, enjoying the feeling of freedom while those below watched in awe. Her wings seemed to make small sparks of light around her.
“Tsk… always showing off…” Then came the ‘strangest’ person of all. Josua felt the odd ‘slithering’ sound of something crawling out of one of the side rooms. A lamia! She looked quite young, small breasts and a slender body. She had green hair, and was wearing a normal blue skirt and white top. Though not just a snake-girl she appeared to have a pair of wings behind her. Josua found himself staring at her… amazed and in quiet awe of her wings.
The girl noticed the stare and gave a soft wave. “Um- hey.” She said. “I’m here to help you fly.” I’m Kirsty.
“You’re a…”
“A coatl,” The girl said with a quiet smile. “You know, from Mythology?”
Ethan couldn’t believe it! A real actual Coatl... he stared at her strange wings and curious emerald green snake-tail. The mix of it was so strange it was all so overwhelming! He had never been this close to one of the changed before… and certainly nothing this exotic. She was a ‘changed’ right? Diluted water wouldn’t make someone go ‘that’ far, right?
Sensing the question, the Cotyl smiled. “Yeah, I’m an actual Coatl,” she said. “Well, as actual as you can get here. I’ve been one since I was ten years old. I’m Kirsty, nice to meet you,” She slithered over towards him, her snake tail slightly behind the teen as she curled around.
“N-Nice to meet you too…” Ethan blushed at feeling so ‘surrounded’ by her. What should he say?! What could he do? “Uh- do you go to that flying school?”
The girl gave a quiet groan flicking her tail like a kick in the ground. “Urgh, don’t remind me. Yeah, I do… everyone who can fly has to. I’m here to keep an eye on you and help you out if you need it.” She folded her arms appraising the goth-girl flying above them. “Hey Natalie! You haven’t tested your stamina yet! Stay below ten feet!”
“I’ve had these wings before!” She shouted down. “It’s fine I know what they are like.”
“You can’t make that assumption. Each change is a little different sometimes. You got to treat it like it’s the first time every time!”
Natalie groaned and fluttered a bit lower. “Fine…”
The Coatl-woman then looked to Josh and Ethan. “So, is this your first time, hm?”
Josh shrugged. “I’ve used a water Fad before, never used a flying one.”
“I um- yeah.” Ethan replied. “New… completely new. How.. do you help with flying?”
Kirsty nodded. “Being completely new is probably a good thing. Using it too often can result in permanent effects… which I assume you don’t want. Though who knows, you might change your mind,” she giggles. “Well, If your transformation fails I’ll catch you … but mostly I’ll teach you how to use your wings, assuming you get actual wings,” she explained carefully. “Though we do have to be careful. Flying transformations are a bit tricky… I am curious to see what changes will happen to you. Some methods of flights are different to others” She gave a bright smile. “Fads come and go as they say and not always predictable.” She started to help set up what looked like a bungie cord. “Since it’s your first time, I suggest this. Just give me your weight and we can set it up safely.”
A bungee jump? “Well… okay…”
Soon enough, all the people had assembled to get some ‘height’. The idea was to ‘trick’ the Diluted Metamorphic water, into thinking they needed to ‘fly’… The higher one went, the better the flying they might get- at least that was the theory. Though one couldn’t help but think of the… crazier people doing something like this.
“What if you are too high?” Ethan asked suddenly. “I mean… you know if someone…”
Josua sighed. “Well, I heard people have been ‘really stupid’ sometimes… if they are lucky the water will change them before they hit the ground, hopefully in a form that can survive it. We don’t want to do that… though…”
The goth girl- who apparently was called Natalie, gave a soft smile as she fluttered down next to them. “We wish to experience the joy of flight, not the perils of death… if we are in peril, the Mother Goddess ‘will’ intervene out of pity… but not necessarily to give us flight. To fly we must want to live… and find comfort in the rushing of air. You must want to avoid the fall… not desire death… and be above the fear… find that balance within and you will be bestowed Her gift.” She then fluttered away above them.
“Uh…huh.” Ethan was starting to think Natalie was a bit ‘nutty’ at this point. He glanced at the water vial in his hand, he wasn’t sure any of this ‘ritual’ was needed. He was told this water would give flight… why not just slap it on and see? Worse thing was it didn’t work and he’d be stuck with a weird transformation for one day. Still he was glad to have Kirsty the Coatl-woman with them, who seemed to do this often.
“I’ll go first,” said Joshua. “I’ve been through it before, it’s all good to me.”
Josua had decided on a simple jump from a medium height, into a soft mat. It looked like a fairly straight forward if he timed it correctly. He went up the steps holding the water in hand as the others watched intently.
Paul started grinning and cackling like a ‘mad guy’ “Higher! Higher! Higher!”
“Dude come on,” Ethan groaned at the excitable one. He was excited too though, but he didn’t want his friend to get hurt.
“Come on something cool something cool!” Joshua hoped as he splashed the water and jumped.
Ethan felt like he was watching everything in slow motion. His friend didn’t change much but… that was to be expected. Instead, there was a light glow around his feet as he felt himself fall into some kind of flying soft material. A fluffy white cloud! “Whoa- I- I’m flying!” Indeed Ethan was. The cloud seemed to respond to his thoughts, letting him float and move around. With a thought it expanded larger encompassing more of his body as he gently stood up on it. “This is just- amazing!” He slowly stood up on the cloud. A little cautiously he tried to ‘walk’ but the cloud seem to always catch him, the teen boy couldn’t fall even if he tried.
Ethan couldn’t help but be a little envious of that. “How do you feel? Did you really just get a flying nimbus?!” He stared at the cloud. “Please don’t tell me you got Goku powers.”
“Kamehameha!” Joshua mockingly threw out his hands… causing everyone to suddenly duck… but nothing. “Eh, guess not.” Joshua slowly fluttered down. “IT handle’s pretty good. Light as a feather…” Steeping off the cloud felt a bit weird though now and he quickly called the cloud back to his feet letting him rise up again. “I Think I want to keep this. Hope your change is as fun as mine! Though I kind of wished I had changed a bit more…” he knew people might consider this ‘lucky’ but… he wanted more now! A magical cloud wasn’t a bad transformation all things considered.
Ehan shook his head not able to comment… yet he did somewhat agree. “Maybe next time we can try something more concentrated…” he half heartedly thought. They were using the safest solution possible… It was for the best. Light changes to let them test out flying.
Paul went next, splashing his face with the blue water. He climbed up to the highest position.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kirsty the Coatl girl seemed to get ready to catch him. “…the idiot…”
“I’m the King of the World!” He shouted as he doused the water on him. “Let’s fly! Wooo!”
Fortunately Kirsty didn’t have to intervene as she saw very quickly, that Paul’s body was changing. His skin turned a bright green and his hair grew tendrils of strange vines, which grabbed the side of the platform and held him tight. “Huh?” He looked confused as suddenly more strange ‘flowery’ parts began growing, as his body started to lack in any bones to break. The tendrils of his plant-hair started to loosen their grip, as daffodil-like projections seemed to act more like a parachute then actual ‘flight’.
The plant boy looked annoyed as he saw his body had gone a completely different route then expected, with flower-parts to cushion his fall. “Aw nuts!” He groaned. “Not this again!”
“A-Again?! You’ve been a plant before?” Ethan asked eyes widening.
“Eh, a few times yeah. I was once rooted on the ground for a whole day. This aint so bad. Guess I’ll not be flying high though. Maybe next time.”
Ethan sighed. It was certainly an indication that even with all the dices in their favour… a set of wings was not always on the cards.
“It’s your own fault for not focusing on your desire,” Kirsty explained as she slithered around making sure Paul was fine. “Just sit here for a while… soak up some sunlight. Should speed up your return to normal… okay who’s next? Ethan?”
Ethan gulped. He now wondered if he ‘should’ back away. There would be no shame in that right? He was new and he got to see a lot of minor changes, even meeting a coatl. Why not leave it at that? No. He had to try! Joshua got a magical cloud! He might get something magical too.
He did exactly as Kirsty instructed, tying himself to the bungee cord. He felt safe, and in truth this worked well for him due to the ‘slight’ fear of heights he was trying to get away from.
“Just concentrate on what you want from the water… what you need. Don’t think too much about the fall, think more about the air rushing through you…” Kirsty advised.
“Right…” This was it then. Ethan looked down at the ground where some padding had been placed in case the cord broke… but they had tested it… this should work. He looked at the water staring at it for a few seconds. He would never be the same after this… would he? Just splash it on! He steeled himself and did so… then jumped.
The teen fell from the height … feeling the rush of air on his arms... then he felt a tug on his back as his decent fell…
Everyone looked at him with an astonished look. Ethan grew a pair of angelic wings! He felt them move and flex in awe. “I- I have wings!” He gasped. It was exactly what he wanted!
“That is impressive,” Kirsty the coatl grinned. “A partial angel transformation… remember it’s just got a day though.”
