Fire crackled alive as Alta emerged from the blood.

For him to be able to shift into a fairy, he needed to reduce his biomass by two-thirds, or even more. So instead of slowly ripping off parts of his body, the chimera just shed it away, akin to a metamorphosis.

His old body became dead, and a new one surged alive. This one was smaller but lighter and more responsive. The more biomass he had, the slower the response was between his mind and body. It wasn’t much, fractions of milliseconds perhaps, but he could perceive such differences.

With a wet and gut-wrenching noise, Alta removed away from the carcass, using his fairy wings to fly upwards. He didn’t have any practice at all, so he was forced to land right away. Blood trickled from his skin, it belonged to his old body.

Alta took a breath, filling his lungs with air, stretching his new shape, and then looked at the other fairy. Icasondra, the Moonlight fairy, had her sights focused on him, looking from below as she was on her knees.

He approached her, but the fairy didn’t react, bewildered at him.

“Did it work?” He asked, but Icasondra still had her eyesight unfocused. Alta snapped his fingers. “Icasondra, do I look like a fairy?”

“Oh, yes.” She wiped a trace of saliva dripping from her mouth. “But your... manhood disappeared.”

At first, he didn’t understand what she meant by ‘manhood’, but after following her gaze, he became aware of the lack of biomass on his crotch.”

“Hmm, I guess I also recreated the gender on the shift,” Alta said. “This is the first time I’ve done a full body shifting, so I didn’t realize these things could happen. I guess, I’m now a female.”

“You aren’t bothered by it?” Icasondra asked.

“No, why shouldn’t I?” The chimera’s wings fluttered slightly.

“Because you were affected before by your lack of... assets,” the fairy blushed a bit, “so I thought now you had lost them you would be mad.”

“Before, I was a man without the organs of a man,” Alta explained. “But now I have shifted into a female with the organs of a female. Why should there be a problem?”

“So, you are telling me you are alright with being a female?” Icasondra asked with much confusion.

“I’m a female, so yes.” She explained.

“I... okay, there’s no need to inquire more about it.” The fairy gave up with a sigh. “But why are you a Blossomflame then? Weren’t you going to shift into me?”

“Blossomflame?” Alta asked. “What’s that?”

“Alta, look at your wings.” Icasondra pointed at them.

The chimera did as told, and instead of seeing blue fairy wings, she saw two sets of flames acting as wings.

“How curious.” Alta mussitated.

“Don’t you know why you became a Blossomflame fairy instead of a Moonlight like me?”

“No idea at all.” She swayed her head. “Well, perhaps I have some. I tried recreating this ‘magic’ of yours because it would be impossible to fly otherwise with your amount of biomass, so I guess it’s the magic that did this to my body.”

“Magic, huh.” Icasondra said in a pensative tone. “It’s likely because of your alignments.”

“Alignments?” Alta tilted her head to the side, her flame wings fluttering with the same confusion.

“Yes, everyone is Touched by an element. Normally not a lot, but if the levels of affinity to that element are really high, they become Aligned. My guess is that you turned into a Blossomflame fairy because you are Touched or Aligned to certain elements. For example, all Moonlight fairies are at least Touched by Light and Arcane, the Primordial aspects of Moonlight.”

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Alta was utterly lost by the words spewed by the fairy, just nodding as if she had understood them. What was Arcane, and what were the Moon and its light? And whilst she could have asked all those questions, only one came to her mind to say aloud.

“What elements am I Aligned to then?”

“Hmm, I have never seen Blossomflame fairies myself, just heard them in stories and you instantly reminded me of them,” Icasondra revealed, “but you can tell the Alignments of fairies by her names. In this case, Blossomflame is a composed word, so two affinities. One related to blossom, and the other to flame. So, if I were to guess them, I’d say Life and Chaos Primordial Alignments.”

Once more, most of the words escaped Alta’s comprehension. She couldn’t understand the concept of chaos, even if some intrinsic knowledge was trying to infiltrate her mind, but she understood Life very well. She felt the energy of the fire coming from her wounds or her back, and that energy was clearly the energy of Life itself.

A desire, an intention, a force that could blossom even surrounded by Death.

“Yes, I’m Life.” Alta acknowledged.

“Well, you aren’t Life, per se. Just Aligned to it.” Icasondra explained. “And even then, we don’t know if you are actually Aligned, you could be simply Touched by it.”

“What’s the difference?” The chimera inquired.

“Em, I don’t know how to explain it...” The Moonlight fairy revealed.

“Useless.” The Blossomflame fairy instantly declared.

“I’m not useless!” Icasondra protested vigorously, her blue wings fluttering rapidly. “I know the difference, but it’s difficult to explain! If I had to say, being Aligned gives you more authority over the element than being Touched.”

Yup, she didn’t understand it.

“And what does this Alignment entail?” Alta was getting more and more confused by the second. If that was the Moonlight fairy’s plan, she had succeeded.

“Besides your race, as it did with your shifting, it affects your magic,” Icasondra explained, finally standing up from her knees. “I don’t know much magic myself, but I can conjure some lights because I’m Touched by Light. And I think your shifting comes from your Alignment. It honestly sounds like something Chaos would do.”

“Chaos, not Life?” Alta said. “I feel more Life than Chaos.”

“I’m no expert in such fields, it would be better to...” Icasondra stopped and gave a scared look at Alta, then continued. “To talk it out with the elder of the village, she most likely will know something about the Primordials.”

“Alright then, what are we waiting for?”

Alta fluttered her wings, trying to lift off the ground but she was too inexperienced to do so.

“Hmm.” The chimera groaned. “How do you fly?”

“You just fly?” Icasondra fluttered her dark blue wings and took to the skies. “If you are a fairy, you know how to fly from birth.” Alta gave her an odious gaze. “Oh, right. Em... I don’t know how to help on this occasion, there’s no ‘fairy flying school’.”

The Blossomflame fairy flayed her wings with more strength, wind gathering up behind her and embers lingering on the air. It wasn’t enough to raise herself from the ground.

How did I do it before? Alta thought. It was... an instinct. Maybe the fairy is right.

Alta stopped moving her wings and took a deep breath. She felt the oxygen flowing through her body, fueling her inner fire, her wings expanding in response. She could feel the magic blossom inside of her.

“Ah.” The fire fairy groaned, flames swaying around as if they had gained a life of their own.

There were no thoughts, only actions.

Alta took to the skies.

She lingered in the air, without moving but flying, nonetheless. The sensation of weightlessness, as if gravity had lost its meaning, was intoxicating.

The wind was dyed by the orange embers, warmth lingering in the surrounding.

That’s what being a Blossomflame means.

Alta felt she was getting closer to understanding what her shifting meant.

The Blossomflame fairy landed after a while, slowly resting her feet on the grass. Her fiery wings decreased in size, no longer fueled by her intention to fly, yet her bloody red hair swayed as if it had become part of the flames.

Flying was tiring, but also incredibly rewarding. She couldn’t wait to try her newfound abilities once more.

The Moonlight fairy stood still looking at her once more, though instead of the ground, she lingered suspended in the air. How does she do it to be immobile in the air? Is this more of the magic she mentioned?

“Icasondra.” Alta said. “Guide me.”

The fairy swayed her head slightly. “Of course, please follow me.”

Icasondra flew for a few meters as Alta followed her from the ground, but out of nowhere, the fairy stopped and jerked back to the chimera.

“Wait!” She cried in panic. “You are naked! Pick up the cloth you were wearing, we can’t have you go around the village naked!”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s indecent!”

“And why were you looking at me with such attention before?” Alta asked with true doubts.

“Em... I... Shut up!” Icasondra responded, or failed to do so, with a red visage worthy of a Blossomflame fairy. “Wear the loincloth!”

Alta couldn’t understand the inconsistent mind of the Moonlight fairy, but she complied. The chimera took the fabric out of the hips of her old body and tied it up around her torso like a makeshift dress. Being three times as small had made the cloth bigger to her now.

“And help me take the bolt of silk!” Icasondra added behind her.

She turned around to see a blue fairy struggling to pick up the red roll. Alta walked toward her and picked up the bolt, finding it incredibly heavier than before. That’s to be expected, I’ve lost a lot of biomass. Nonetheless, she was able to carry the soft fabric on her shoulders without a problem.

“How is it that you can carry the bolt without breaking a sweat if you copied my own body but I can’t even drag it?” The Moonlight fairy commented.

In response, the Blossomflame fairy said, “Useless.”