Slowly, as the hours passed, Maelona remained motionless, too deep in slumber to notice the nightmare her own body was becoming.
Time slipped away, lost in the darkness of her unconsciousness.
She had no idea how long she had been asleep… Days, perhaps longer. But then, a voice shattered the silence.
“Elona? What are you doing in there? Aether needs our help! Come out!”
The voice was firm, slightly impatient, followed by a series of loud, forceful bangs against the door.
Maelona stirred at the sound, a groggy haze clouding her thoughts as she struggled to open her heavy eyelids. Her mind felt slow, as if she was trapped in a thick fog, her body refusing to wake up properly.
“arh” A groan slipped past her lips as she shifted slightly, feeling the stiffness in her muscles.
“Huh…? A-Aether…?” she mumbled under her breath, still half-asleep, her voice barely above a whisper.
And then, just as her vision cleared, she saw it, as her pupils widened in horror!!
“WHAT THE FUC–“
Her stomach.
A massive, unnatural bulge stretched her midsection to an impossible size.
Maelona’s breath caught in her throat, her drowsiness instantly wiped away by the sheer horror of what she was seeing.
Her stomach wasn’t just swollen—it was grotesquely large, towering like an unnatural growth that had no right to exist. The skin was pulled tight, stretched to the absolute limit, and covering it was that thick, white silk—layer upon layer of cocoon-like threads wrapped tightly around her abdomen.
It was enormous.
Like a cocoon.
A cocoon?
Was her stomach… a cocoon?
Panic surged through her… Her breath hitched, her pulse hammering in her ears as her trembling hands hovered over the grotesque sight before her.
“What? What happened?” Liora’s voice came again, this time sharper, more concerned. “Elona, I’m coming in—”
“NO!” Maelona’s voice cracked as she shouted, her panic spiraling into sheer terror.
She couldn’t let Liora see this. She couldn’t let anyone see this.
“I… I’m busy!” she blurted out, her voice barely steady, though her mind was anything but calm.
“Busy? But Aethe—”
“JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”
The desperation in her voice was unmistakable. The fear, the hysteria, the sheer helplessness—everything poured into those words, making it clear that she meant it.
A long silence followed.
Then, finally, Liora let out a sigh. “…Okay.”
Her footsteps faded, moving away from the door, but Maelona barely registered it. Her mind was too fixated on the horrifying reality in front of her.
Her stomach.
The cocoon.
Her fingers twitched as she forced herself to move, hesitantly pressing against the stretched skin, feeling the rough texture of the silk and the soft warmth beneath it…. Just as she made contact, she froze.
A movement.
Something shifted inside her.
A slow, deliberate motion.
A deep, crawling sensation that made her entire body break out in cold sweat.
Her breath hitched, her pulse hammering against her ribs.
“W-What is this…?” she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath.
The fear was suffocating, gripping her chest so tightly that she could hardly breathe. This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t anything remotely close to what she had ever experienced before.
She needed to do something…
And then—
Crack.
A sharp, wet sound echoed in the silent room.
Her stomach tensed. The cocoon split. Thin, jagged lines appeared on the surface, spreading like fractures in glass.
Maelona’s entire body went cold.
Her hands shook as she reached out, barely able to process the horror unfolding before her.
“N-No… No, no, no…” she whispered, the panic clawing at her throat.
Something was coming out.
Something was inside her, and it was about to break free.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to do something… Just as she was about to call Aether—
BUFFFF!!!
A sudden, grotesque burst.
Like a punctured balloon, the bulging mass in her stomach deflated instantly. The tension snapped away, her midsection returning to its normal size within seconds.
Pssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!
The silk-like threads that had once encased her stomach now lay limp and lifeless, draped loosely over her bare skin.
Maelona gasped, her hands slowly and hesitantly reached to her abdomen, feeling nothing but smooth, untouched flesh.
No wound?
No scars?
No trace of what had just happened!!
Her mind reeled, struggling to comprehend.
Had she imagined it? Had it all been some twisted hallucination?
And then—
A sound.
A voice.
Small. Soft. Innocent.
“Mama?”
Her breath hitched violently, her body going rigid.
Slowly—terrified—she lifted her head.
Right in front of her face, hovering silently in the air, was a massive butterfly.
Its wings were enormous, shimmering with a mesmerizing, almost ethereal glow. Its delicate body pulsed with a strange warmth, and its eyes—large, bright, and eerily intelligent—stared at her with an unsettling sense of familiarity.
Her heart stopped.
The world spun.
And then—
Thud!
She collapsed on the bed… Unconcious!
…..
…
After what felt like an eternity trapped in darkness, Maelona’s eyes fluttered open, her vision hazy as she struggled to regain awareness. Her body felt weak, her limbs sluggish, but her mind jolted awake in an instant.
“W-What… happened?” she muttered, her voice hoarse, as if she had been screaming in her sleep.
Then, suddenly, her memories crashed back into her like a tidal wave.
That thing.
Her heart pounded as her eyes widened in panic, darting wildly around the room. She barely noticed the sting in her muscles as she quickly scanned her surroundings, desperate to find it—the thing she had seen right before everything went black.
…But there was nothing.
The room was still. Quiet?
Her breathing was uneven as she swallowed down… Everything looked just as it had before.
Her fingers twitched as she hesitantly stepped down from the bed, her bare feet meeting the cold floor.
“W-Where are you…?” she called out, her voice barely above a whisper.
No response.
Her fingers curled into fists as she cautiously moved toward the closet, her pulse drumming in her ears. Each step felt heavy, weighted by fear, but she forced herself to move. With a deep breath, she reached out, gripping the handle with trembling fingers before hesitantly pulling the door open.
Nothing.
The closet was empty.
Her shoulders slumped as she let out a shaky sigh, trying to push down the unease twisting inside her. Maybe… maybe it had just been a dream? A terrifying, vivid dream.
Her lips pressed into a thin line as she slowly turned toward the bathroom.
Her heart pounded harder.
She didn’t know why she felt this way—why her entire body was screaming at her, warning her that something was still here. The rational part of her mind told her she was being paranoid, that she was overthinking things. But deep down, in the core of her instincts, she knew better.
Something was off.
She checked the bathroom, pushing the door open cautiously.
Nothing.
Her chest rose and fell in a slow, shaky exhale as she forced herself to calm down.
“This is ridiculous…” she muttered, running a hand through her hair, fingers gripping the strands as if grounding herself. “I’m just imagining things.”
Sighing, she sat down on the edge of the bed, still feeling a lingering unease gnawing at her, thinking whether she imagined things…
But what she failed to notice—what her vigilant gaze missed as she kept looking up instead of down—was the dark, slithering presence that crept beneath the bed.
A shadow moved.
And then—
Something cold.
A tentacle emerged from the darkness beneath her, slinking forward… It brushed against her foot.
A sharp, electric jolt shot through her body.
“Arh!”
A sudden wave of exhaustion slammed into her, as if something was draining her energy in an instant. A stinging sensation spread from the point of contact, making her skin prickle uncomfortably.
Her brows furrowed. “What… was that?” she murmured, confusion laced in her voice.
And then she looked down.
Her breath hitched. Her eyes widened in horror.
The tentacle instantly coiled tightly around her leg.
Before she could even react—
“N-NOOOOOO—!!”
With a violent yank, she was pulled under the bed.