“You don’t need to tell them if you are not comfortable with doing so,” Verune said.
“No, no,” Lizzie said, breaking out in tears. “I need to say it. I can’t keep it inside anymore. I won’t!” She stepped away from the column, her claws clenched into three-fingered fists. “They burned me,” she said, softly, and then repeated it, louder. “They burned me!”
Verune gasped. “What?!”
Simon was aghast. He flicked his claws in shock. “Why?”
The girl shook her head. “It was all because of that footage from last night. My parents couldn’t handle it. They called me a demon,” she said. “They fled to join those crazy cultists, and they set the house on fire, with me locked inside. I had to break out, using these… claw,” she added, with a gulp, outstretching her claws.
Verune walked up to the poor girl and put his hands on her shoulders. She whipped around to meet him.
“I know monsters when I see them,” Verune said. “You are not a monster, Lizzie; your parents are. They abandoned you in your time of need.” He bit his lip. “My son, Orrin… he was… adopted, shall we say. His birth-parents failed him. They failed him like yours failed you. They’re no different from Orrin’s birth-parents. I know I have not met your parents, Lizzie, but I know this to be true. I know it from the depths of my soul.”
The girl reached her breaking point. Embracing the Lassedite, she sobbed into the hummingbird robes.
“Why does it hurt so much?” she wept. “Why? Why did things have to go wrong?”
“They didn’t want what was best for their children,” Verune said, running his fingers through her hair.
The others nodded.
“Your parents were hard-hearted and resentful.”
Lizzie stepped back. “But… why? I don’t understand.”
Verune put his hand on his chest. “Changelings like us, we are mirrors for the soul. It is like what scripture says of the Palace of the Moonlight Queen. To virtuous, faithful souls, Her Palace is a place of beauty and bliss, filled with gems and light. But to sinners—to the wicked… if they were ever so misfortunate as to be let into Paradise by mistake, the sight of the Moonlight Palace would burn their souls to cinders. They will claw out their eyes and wish that they were never born, if only to be spared the pain of the knowledge of the bliss they would have enjoyed had they believed.” He nodded. “The changelings are divine beasts. To the righteous, we seem glorious and wonderful. But the wicked only see horrors; they see what their damnation has in store for them.” Verune shook his head as he leaned forward to hug the girl. “I’m so sorry, Lizzie. Your parents wanted to destroy your body, because they could not bear its reflections of their sins.” He looked her in the eyes. “My son’s birth-parents wanted to destroy his soul, all because of their arrogance. They loved their heresies more than their child. Whatever love your parents had for you,” Verune said, “it was not rightly ordered. It was sick and twisted. It was not turned toward God.” He sighed. “I promise you, Lizzie, I will always try to do right by you.” He looked up at the others. “The same goes for everyone here. I swear it.”
“That’s why I hid once I woke up feeling dead,” Simon said. “At the time, I thought nothing good would come from it.” He bent his neck in sorrow.
“Please, Lizzie, sit,” Catherine said. “Sit.” She waved her arms, bending down and pointing at one of the sofas encircling the altar. “I imagine your legs are already starting to feel numb.”
Lizzie sat down. Verune joined her, sitting at the edge of the sofa, to avoid crushing his stubby tail.
“It’s truly awful, isn’t it, getting betrayed by the people you trusted.” Catherine said. She shook her head. “Men and women that I once led in worship came here to kill me, and kill the changelings I’ve been sheltering.”
Bending over, Catherine started to reach for one of the nearby corpses, but then thought better of it. Lizzie watched wide-eyed as the changeling priestess made a limbless torso float onto the altar. “Please, eat,” she said. “Eat.”
Verune smiled gently as the girl almost threw herself at the altar, nearly stumbling onto the floor. After a puzzled moment, she started using her claws to cut strips of meat out from the torso, swallowing them in nibbles and slurps. She moaned in pleasure, only to stop and look around, self-conscious.
It’s alright, sweetie, Anne said. You can eat as much as you want.
Smiling, Lizzie plunged into her meal, head first. She didn’t bother using her claws; she bit flesh right off the torso.
A moment later, she screamed.
There was a collective gasp as the ruby aura brightened around Lizzie’s head. For a split second, Verune saw the girl’s face deform. A moment later, her face seemed to melt into the black-oozing wounds on the flank of the torso on the altar.
Verune watched her ruby aura flow into the corpse.
Lizzie pushed against the altar, trying to pull her head free, but the corpse now fused with her head was too heavy for her neck to lift.
Verune was the first to kneel by her side. He put his hands on her shoulders and told her to stay calm.
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“It will pass in a moment. You have nothing to fear.”
She shot out her claws, grasping at the air. Verune grabbed it and held it tight, wrapping his single claw in between hers.
The group watched in fear and awe as ruby-red scales tessellated over the surface of the torso. Its shape distorted, like clay being molded by an unseen hand. It shrank slightly as flesh was diverted down Lizzie’s neck and torso, which broadened and lengthened, brightening as they, too, began to break out in scales. Beautiful, gem-like eyes opened on either side of the torso, though, after a couple seconds, the torso was hardly a torso anymore. It took on a draconic shape—a snout, a lush, fiery mane; ruby, compared to Anne’s emeralds.
Now able to sit up, Lizzie patted her claws on her new head and snout. What happened? she said, speaking—as Anne did—through a language of wordless polyphony. Why is—
“—It’s alright,” Verune said. “You’re like Anne, now.”
Why do I feel so many holes on my face? Where’s my mouth? Where is my mouth!?
As it had been with Anne, at first, Verune found it strange to see Lizzie fretting over her changed head. Even if Lizzie was no longer capable of human speech, he and the others could clearly see her mouth, filled with fearsome, ivory fangs, and her four, beautiful eyes: two on each side of her head.
Anne lowered her snout toward Lizzie. You look lovely, Lizzie. You look like me. Your scales are like rubies. They’re beautiful.
R-Really? the girl asked.
“Trust what you see,” Verune said. “Don’t let yourself fall into temptation. Even though we are becoming divine beasts, we still have our mortal souls. We are still capable of sin. But as long as you believe,” he said, “you will never doubt your glory.”
Lizzie turned to Verune. Is this happening only because I’m eating… people? she asked, softly.
“They’re not people anymore,” Verune answered. “They’re demons. But, to answer your question,” he nodded. “No, it is not.”
“You’re going to change no matter what you eat,” Simon said. “The order seems to vary from person to person. I started out with my horns, and those came in while I was stuffing my face with food from the shelves of the Gilman’s where I worked.”
“You’re lucky to have us, kid,” Steyphan said. “You won’t need to go through this alone.” He shook his head. “I’m just so sorry your parents couldn’t be here to see you through this unique transition.”
Anne nodded. It’s not something you’d want to go through on your own.
“When I started to change,” Simon added, “Lass… I was terrified of what people would do to me if they found me like that. But, even so…” he turned to Lizzie, “leaving your own child to be burned alive?” He shook his head. “What kind of people do that?”
Verune stepped back, sitting on his knees. “Do you want more food?” he asked her.
The dragon-headed girl shook her head. No, I’m good. Her tongue darted out, licking a dollop of black ooze off her snout. I want to get used to this, first, before I take on more changes.
She turned to Simon, who raised his claws up defensively.
“I was just speaking rhetorically,” he said. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.”
I meant what I said, Lizzie replied. She shook her head. I don’t want to keep it trapped inside me any longer. She leaned against the altar, crossing her arms and setting them down atop it. Dad has always been really religious. He joined up this prayer group. They sympathized with those awful Innocents of the Mountain. I told my teachers about it, but there wasn’t anything that they could do. It isn’t illegal to have a belief, you know? She shook her head. Tears flowed down her scales. He tried to drag mom into it, mostly to no avail, but then the plague hit, and mom swallowed that bullshit, hook, line, and sinker. They were begging me to join them, when I passed out. Apparently, I’d had a seizure. When I came to, I started eating, and then, well… she stuck her claws in the air. “hey were both scared of me. Then that horrifying footage was shown on CBN, and they were convinced their little girl had been replaced by fucking hellspawn. She shook he head. Sorry for the language.
Catherine nodded. “The Innocents are terribly dangerous. They’re free to believe what they want about the Church, but as long as they continue kidnapping and murdering, I’ll keep praying for the Hallowed Beast to give them their just desserts.”
“Dammit,” Simon said, “to do that to a kid…” He shook his head. “It makes me want to gouge their eyes out.”
“Who are these Innocents of whom you speak?” Verune asked.
Catherine told him.
“So, an entire movement of little Eustins?” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Catherine said, “there are good people in there. Heck, I know some of them.” She nodded. “They’re absolutely right that the Church has lost its way. Lassedite Bishop’s plan for a Synod on Synodality is tantamount to opening the Church to Neangelical heresies. If every region gets to make their own rules for what counts as orthodoxy, you don’t have a Church, you have a barrel full of schismatics in denial.”
Simon stretched out to his full height. “You know what? I’ve had it. I’m angry as hell, and I can’t take it anymore. I could say that before, but what could I do about it? Nothing, that’s what. But now,” he looked Lizzie in the eyes, and then Verune, “now, I’m a divine-freakin’-beast. If those terrorists think they can get away with convincing parents to try to burn their kids alive, well,” he flexed his claws, “they’ve got another thing coming.”
“If we could get the attention of these Innocents of the Mountain,” Verune said, thinking aloud “and, perhaps, oust their wicked leadership, I wonder if the saner parts of the group might not make for welcome additions to the Last Church. They see the current Church for what it is, and recognize the need for the people to repent.”
What makes you think they would listen? Lizzie asked.
“She’s right,” Catherine said. “Verune, at this very moment, there are people out there roving the city, hunting our kind.” She looked the Lassedite in the eyes. “When I saw you, I knew who you were, and my faith told me that you were Angel-sent. The city has lost its mind. The whole world has lost its mind. People are burning children!”
“Catherine,” Verune said, “we do not keep the Angel’s truth from others for fear of how they would react. We want to save souls, not leave them in the damnation of their ignorance. I am sure the righteous among them will understand what we are if we appear before them, with our powers on full display. Those with eyes will see; those with ears shall hear.” He nodded. “And if not, we are obliged to destroy them, to keep them from being turned by Hell.”
Catherine sighed, snorting out glittering green plumes. “Well, if you insist, I happen to know from a friend of mine that the Innocents are organizing a protest against Mayor Joleston’s declaration of martial law in Harold Square. It should be starting in a couple hours.”
“Harold Square?” Verune said. With a thought, he conjured the map from his memory. The glistening projection hovered in front of him for a moment, unseen by the others. He dismissed it with a nod.
“That community dates back to my era. The community is centuries old. Even if the protestors end up being demon-bound, I am confident we will find more of the faithful there—souls to save, and changelings to join the cause.”
Simon turned to Lizzie. “If we find your parents there, can I eat them?”
The girl stared for a moment, but then smiled. Only if you let me have a piece.