The cognate Empress

Chapter 5. The true ruler of the Metrican Empire

Terra, the night of the calling

Under the gaze of countless stars, she stood still as she received her legacy, with all of the distant celestial bodies bearing witness to her transformation, with all of them attending the painful metamorphosis. It felt like her head was about to be split in two, as she cried in pain, scared of the slowly woven web that steadily enveloped across her body.

Soon the hard cocoon had wrapped around her whole being, so not having any more contact with the outside sky, she had stopped receiving information, but she still did not feel any better. The large clusters of data she received earlier was archived, or at least that was how it felt like. And having finished downloading, only after was recognized by her brain and expanded inside, remaking the now blank neurons, and creating new synapses.

Accompanied by thousands of cracking sounds, and torturing feelings of rearrangement of every parts of her inner body, not to mention the feeling of her outer skin melting and scalding, the headache should have been the least of her problems, and yet it was actually the worst.

In the outside world several days had passed, but the girl could not keep track of time. In the claustrophobic tight space she could not see, could not hear, could not touch, all she could do was stand still and wonder when would it all end, as by now she did not know who she was anymore.

But just as she had given up hope and submitted to the pain, the constant ache stopped as quickly as it came, and as if by magic she was aware of what she had to do, and more importantly how she was supposed to exit the pupa.

Clawing her way out, she made a small crack in the outer layer, but this was as much as she could muster. Tired of the change, she was not capable of completely exiting the tight space with only her own strength. So she was just about to rest a bit, before continuing to claw at the crack, when her body reacted on its own, controlling her vocal cords and making her voice an insect like buzz, a sound that made her cocoon open up by itself.

Through the large crack that was formed, she could easily come out and so she did. Stepping out she wanted to gaze and check her surroundings, but for some unknown reason she felt that under no circumstances she was to open her eyes, until a certain someone was in front of her.

She did not doubt her instincts, as they were the only ones which made sense to her the one without memories. Her mind was tightly packed, filled to the brim with information, but they were technical ones, instructions compiled in a manual.

As if to confirm she had indeed made the right choice to only open her eyes in front of the man who felt like her own, as soon as she gazed at the tall handsome man it made her feel like he was her entire world, he was her other half.

Her head became clearer with him in front of her, so when he kneeled she had already realized she was his queen and mate, it was clear to her by then her purpose.

But what was odd about this man was the fact that he did not understand her words, even though he was supposed to know them. Left with no other choice, as he did not even understand her when she had given him permission to stand up from his kneeled position, the woman gestured with her hand towards the stars, hoping he would realize she wanted to go home.

At least this particular movement of her hand he understood, making her relieved, but ultimately she was still left feeling a bitter taste. On board of the ship meant to take her home, even some of the crew had known the archaic language, a language a royal as himself was obligated to know.

After exchanging a small greeting with the crew, Nova requested to be led to a room to rest for a bit, as she was starting to feel weak. Passing through the pupa state had been quite a trial for her.