same world, different life

Chapter 13. Imbued with the flora

The family was beginning to see me as what I was, which was human, but one day when we were out in the alien world...

"That sun feels good, doesn't it, Nathan," she told me.

"Yeah, it does, though it's making me thirsty," I replied.

"You just had something to drink," she told me.

"I know, it's just, I hear something calling me to it," I replied as I headed towards the lake.

"Calling? So that would mean... oh no," I heard her say as I laid in the grass near the lake.

I soon felt something force me into my human form, and then what felt like roots penetrate from my skin into the ground. "Nathan!" I heard her shout.

"What's happening?" I murmured before I felt like I was about to pass out. 

"Don't worry, Nathan, I'll get help," I heard her say before I blacked out.

Unconscious and unaware, the only thing probably going through Clair's mind was if Machiavelli would try to overwater the plant in me, which in turn would likely affect me negatively. Though once I regained consciousness, I awoke to others who had a plant on them too.

"Kid, kid, you awake?" One of them said to me.

"Who are you?" I murmured.

"That doesn't matter, can you walk?" He asked me.

"I can barely speak," I replied in a murmur. I looked at my arms to find flowers growing out of my arms and shoulders.

"When nightfall comes, kid, you come with us, ok, but for now, we stay here with you," he told me. They then all laid down around after getting a drink from the lake.

"How long will it be? I..." I paused before feeling like I was being fed. "I want to go home."

"Not much longer, kid, you were out for three weeks with that plant keeping you alive," a creature similar to Clair told me.

After what seemed like hours, I felt the roots retract. with my hunger filled and my thirst quenched, I felt my main focus being changed to find an area for the flowers to spread their alien pollen. "Come on, kid," one of them told me as he reached out his hand. "Let's find where it's telling you to go." The Infested now coving where the roots once were, I reached out and grabbed his hand before trying to stand up. "Careful now," he said as he helped me regain my balance. "Being out for so long doesn't do your kind any good, I see." He helped me walk along before I felt like I could stand again.

"It feels so close, as if..." I stopped there as I walked over to what looked like similar flowers.

"Is this the place?" He asked me. I looked around the area and began to smell the alien flowers. Each one had a distinctive scent, but a particular grouping caught my eye.

"It is," I replied as I laid down to let the pollen spread. "This is where mine will spread." I then saw the pollen scatter, and a weight was off of my mind, but the plant didn't wilt even hours after it spread its pollen.

"It's probably a perinatal kid, but now you can head home," he told me. I headed back into the ship, but on the way to Clair's home, I stopped by the same infested nest that I first had the Infested absorb into my body, which was also near Clair's house.

"Macio, you still here?" I said into the room. No response, but I did see Daniel helping tend to someone else.

"Oh, hey, Nathan. I see an alien plant latched onto you," he said to me.

"Yeah, I'm just glad to be home, and I just want to get some rest in my bed," I replied. I looked around the room to find an area that would shape into a chair and force my Infested over my body. "Is this for me?" I thought to myself. I sat down in the chair, and it's as if I found the potential Machiavelli was talking about.

Suddenly a creature came in with what looked like a bitemark in its arm. "What happened to you?" I asked her. She didn't utter a word and only showed me her wound. I held my hand to it, and the Infested came over her injury.

"Are you the new Infested leader?" She asked me.

"I... I guess I am," I replied.

"We haven't had one in years, and for it to be a human, well, that's a big deal," she told me.

"I'm not even sure if I am or not mam, this has never happened to me before," I replied as the Infested came over my mouth.

"Regardless, you're the leader now, eat up," she said with a giggle.

I soon relaxed into the Infested chair as I was being fed something so tasty that it was as if I was fed royal jelly in a bees nest. I could hear something cheering my name along with others, but in the midst of it, I also heard distress from Daniel as the Infestation came into him. "Nathan, call them off!" I heard Daniel shout. But it would be to no avail as I was completely zoned out.

After what seemed like a night to open my eyes to what I was capable of, I awoke to Daniel in his dragon form in my lap. "Daniel, why are you asleep here? You should be at home," I told him. I noticed then that my voice was muffled somewhat from the Infested over my mouth.  Daniel soon woke up and got off of my lap, but didn't turn into his bipedal form. He instead was looking at me as if he wanted to play.

I then heard something speak to me saying: "Go on, play with him, have a good old time with your friend." I got down on the floor with him and did just that. Right till the ship was beginning to sleep for the night.

"You know Daniel; I haven't felt this happy since what happened to my parents. Whether or not you did this for me, you did some good for me. Thank you to both you, Daniel, and the Infested. This has made my day," I told Daniel. I then laid down and fell asleep as the Infestation wrapped me firmly. Today was the day I felt my worries wash away.