Fear began to show in her eyes and they quivered as they met mine. I don't know what she saw in my eyes, but I was positive that there wasn't a lot of sympathy. Her breathing was fast, her chest rising and falling with increasing rapidity. Mine was even, a product of hours of conditioning and training. Her hands were cold and shaky as they tried to move my arms off her shoulders. Mine were firm, heavy and still as they held her to the ground. Her body was tense, writhing and wriggling, trying to find a way out. Mine was relaxed, letting my weight keep her at a disadvantage. She was weak, I was strong.
And yet, I was in turmoil.
This doesn't feel right. I shouldn't cause her so much pain and fear.
She's a hiems guest, and has more strength than you credit her for.
It feels like I'm bullying a toddler.
She's a world eater, I don't think they come weak.
I should just let her win. I already know who I am, she needs it more.
She won't be able to grow if I do that.
Grow?
Yes, grow. See?
I looked. Isis's aura was calm, curling inward, wrapping itself around something. I squinted at it.
What?
There was a click. I saw the whole. I saw everything that was Isis, though I did not understand it all. The spirit, the soul, the body and the mind, everything was curling inward, quivering like a sprinter waiting for the gunshot.
She wasn't just growing, she was going to explode. Right now.
I pushed away from the ground as hard and as fast as I could. A split second later, Isis was engulfed in a writhing mass of yellow strands. They curled around her, sliding about like thousands of tiny snakes. Some gathered and formed eyes and mouths, others became giant hands, all of them expanding, stretching away from Isis. They did not appear to like me either.
The closest clusters shot towards me the minute I touched the ground, hitting the spot where I had been standing milliseconds after I had sent myself skyward again.
Unable to control my trajectory, I landed rather awkwardly on all fours, tensed like a cornered mouse. The pile of strands that concealed Isis rose slowly. I bit my lip nervously, those mouths were salivating. The yellow strands shivered.
Then they parted.
Hair. All that is her hair.
Isis looked at me, her face unreadable. Her hair slithered about, contacting and curling, extending and tensing, all of it going in different directions.
One set of eyes was not going to be enough anymore.
Email or Devious Download?
Oh well, she deserves it if she does win.
Well, and you've made such a wonderful character too.