Morphosis
an excerpt

[Prologue]

The name's Skree. That's what my mother called me on my birth, the day I hatched and took my first glimpse of light, my first breath of air. I was still a larv then, one of many in the brood, but to each one we were given names. Whether to tell us apart or help us differ from another I know not.

We spent the early days playing and living together as friends, family. Some grew faster than others, and to them they graduated to the mature phase, not adults but no longer mere children of the pride. The day when they would go out into the world and seek a form that would best suit them. Mother always told us that would be the day we discover who we really are.

And yet, while my legs and body have grown up along with them, and I matured to that phase myself, I am left wondering still: What shall I become in this world? We can take any form we wish, and only then will we become adults, but there is no turning back in the process. Once we've bonded to another life, we become a part of them, them a part of us. It is our gift to give, to give but once; for none, not even the elders can ever repeat the bonding again.

But I digress. I should focus on the now, not the then.