Chapter 6

She stood before the high white walls covered in vines and gulped. Not in fear, but in hunger. She noticed that clear colorless fruits, much like grapes, grew in clusters on the vines. She plucked one fragrant fruit and held it in her hands.

It was smooth, shiny and as big as a watermelon. Her sharp teeth and elongated canines looked menacing as she bit into the grape and swallowed the juicy goodness. It was too delicious. Her round pink eyes brightened.

She hadn't registered before just how hungry she was as the fruit quickly disappeared into her stomach and she directly jumped into the bunch before her. When her small mouth opened and closed, half a grape disappeared, just like magic. She soon ate the whole bunch.

She burped, astonished at how much food could fit in her small stomach. It wasn't bulging yet but she was fully satisfied. She went to the pond to wash her hands and mouth, feeling awkward with her claws.

She sat down on the grass and looked up at the cave entrance. Did she have to climb up the vines to get to all the way up there?

She'd only had the thought when the closest dangling vine suddenly wrapped around her body and lifted her off the ground. She was still screaming when it gently placed her at the entrance of the cave.

The difference between the powerful, cold and bad*ss woman she knew herself to be and the reality unfolding shortcircuited her brain. It had to be said that going from human to cyborg was a level up in existence. But then going from cyborg to... pea-brained alien...

The universe was having a laugh.

She turned her head and looked beyond the entrance, and at the furious snowstorm outside. No, the universe was scr*wing her over.

Surprisingly, she didn't feel too cold so she took her chances and carefully walked out to scope out the situation. Or she tried to.

An invisible barrier separated her from the outside like a brick wall. She was trapped in this cave. No, not a cave.

She was inside a tree. A huge magnificent white tree. It was the biggest tree she had ever seen in her life, and the trees on Gaia grew more than five hundred feet. The thick branches and leaves stretched out wide to block the skies, the leaves reflecting the light azure moonlight.

The snowstorm stopped some distance away from the tree, creating a dome where snow piled up half as high as the tree. She felt like she was inside a tree inside a snow-globe, weather reversed.

The hollow's entrance was higher than the wall of snow, and wide and big enough to give Miranda a clear view. But she could hardly see more than a mile away. She gulped, in fear this time. Was this her divine punishment? A pretty white cage to trap her for all eternity?

A blue moon was faintly discernible through the bright leaves and the raging snow. Miranda didn't know how long she stood there leaning against the barrier and watching the world flow by.

Several days passed and the blizzard looked to be letting up. The snow around the tree was also melting rapidly. Not only was the weather looking up, but her manobots' AI system had possessed a big white tree and was guarding her from the elements.

She wished she could ask God just one question. Did she get the wrong script?

She couldn't go anywhere and things weren't that dire, so she decided not to panic. She spent her time meditating, sleeping, eating, swimming in the pond and improving her plant tailoring skills.

The big glowing butterflies would also flatter around her from time to time. She had truly started to settle in and was thinking that such a laidback life didn't sound too bad after all.

That is, until one evening, when the ivory plants in the cave took on an orange hue instead of the usual blue. The colors slowly continued to deepen until they turned red.

Miranda was dazedly watching the happenings while sucking on the nectar inside a flower. She had discovered that she had a second long retractable tongue that could double as a straw; she hadn't checked her body well enough the first time. She couldn't be phased by anything anymore.

Suddenly, she felt that the temperature in the tree was slowly rising. The sweet rosy scent in the air was also getting stronger than ever.

"Nani?!"

The leaves and flowers wrapped around her body started to feel uncomfortable. They clung onto her and the places they touched burned. She promptly tore everything off, her sharp nails easily clawing them to shreds.

Her throat was dry as she stumbled to the pond. She cupped the clear water in her palms and drank deeply. Feeling that it was too slow, she bowed her head and gulped directly from the pond with her proboscis tongue.

Her whole body looked flushed in the reflection and she felt like she had been set ablaze. Blood rushed to the apex between her thighs and her n*pples stood stiff on her heaving breasts.

The heady scent in the air was like an aphrodisiac that went into her lungs, and flooded her veins with desire. All this actually felt more bearable than the hot tongs that started prodding at her back without warning.

"Aaah!" she screamed.

She flipped over and directly fell into the pond, groaning and twitching at the extreme contradictory sensations. Fire was burning her alive from the inside out but it brought her both intense pain and numbing pleasure. It was much more than she could bear.

She passed out.

When she woke up, she felt like she'd been put through the wringer. Her entire body ached, down to her bones. All her energy had been drained and a ravenous hunger twisted her tummy. It's rumbling was loud even in the huge tree hollow.

A vine mercifully lowered a bunch of fruits to her. She ate two bunches before she finally felt alive again.

She went to get up in satisfaction when she directly floated off the ground. She tried to turn her head to see where the vine was lifting her to this time when she was whipped sideways, thrown in a backflip and dropped on her head.

Her horns were finally showing their true worth.

"What was that for?" she asked Sherlock accusingly. The vines swayed and she could almost see the tree shaking its figurative head. The picture of glowing wings appeared in her mind.

She got up to her feet with an incredulous expression and cast a glance behind her. This time she spun in place and had to sit down to get rid of the diziness.

She quickly floated to the pond to see... nothing. Her reflection was not there. But she was clearly hovering above the water. She desperately wanted to see these wings. Her image then suddenly appeared on the water's surface.

Her pale wavy hair fell around her body like a curtain, down to her thighs. And behind her, two pairs of long clear wings silently but busily flapped, trailing light particles in their wake. They were attached to the empty air about an inch away from her back.