I woke up feeling sore all over. Every joint ached. I didn’t want to move at all. And then I realized I couldn’t. I tried to scream, but my mouth and lungs were full of water. No, something... something else. My body was covered in a thin, but tough film. It was like I was wrapped in plastic. I struggled against it, but the material wouldn’t give, only contracting and tightening around me, pushing down and locking my arms crossed across my chest.

My skin started to itch all over. Then, it started to burn. I felt it peeling off in strips, raw flesh stinging as it came in contact with the liquid and melted away. I was dissolving. My mouth and throat and lungs were on fire. One by one, my arms and legs went numb. Sure. Whatever. At this point, it couldn’t possibly make anything worse.

Somehow, I was still conscious, though the pain gnawed at my mind. I couldn’t think straight. My body tried to move, but muscles and tendons were all but gone. I felt warm, watching my skeleton immobilized in the fluid, and then the bones themselves dissolving too. Melting away into nothingness. That’s what I wanted.

And then I emerged.

The membrane split open down the middle. The fluid drained, quickly evaporating as if it had never been there to begin with. And I got out. I was still in the bar. Instinctively, I tried to take a breath. But I had no lungs. It felt like I was suffocating, but I was fine. My hands flew to my chest. All... four of them? No heartbeat. And what had happened to my skin? My hands and fingers were covered in black, glossy, plates, like I was wearing plastic armour, though they didn’t feel weighed down at all. Rather, they felt light and airy.

“Good morning.” A woman was sitting at the bar, drinking coffee. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with warm brown skin and straight black hair that fell just past her shoulders. She wore a turtleneck sweater and jeans and motorcycle boots, and was... completely unfazed by my appearance. “You’ve got quite a lovely Imago. What brings you here?”

“What did you do to me?” Thankfully, my voice was still my own, though I didn’t think had lips or teeth anymore. Imago? Then this was...

“I didn’t do anything to you.” She smiled, then her eyes widened. “Oh, is this your first time? Oh my. Quite a rude awakening, isn’t it? Take a look at yourself.”

I looked in the mirror behind her. An alien stared back where my reflection should have been. My... what must have been my face was smooth and orange, encased in something resembling a helmet. Where my eyes should have been, there was a large visor, made of small black hexagons. In the middle of my forehead were three shiny black orbs, arranged in a triangle. “Imago. So this is my Imago?”

She smiled. “That’s right, an Imago. A form awakened from Gaia’s life force, to protect this Earth.” Noticing my confused expression, she explained. “You’re a bug, kiddo. Angels transform into insects.”

If she knew all this, then... “You’re an Angel too?”

“Of course. You catch on quick, miss...”

“Quinn,” I said. I stumbled out of the booth. It was like I’d forgotten how to walk. My legs had changed much like the rest of my body, plated in black and orange, with extra joints and thin, tapering feet. Despite their slender profile, claws gripped the floor and supported my body with ease.

“It’s nice to meet you, Quinn.” She hopped off her stool and held out her hand. I still couldn’t get over how comfortable she was with my form. If anything, she seemed a bit too interested in it. “You can call me Nep. You know, it was quite the surprise to see you when I came in last night. We don’t get visitors often.”

“I don’t have a home. Anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”

I nodded. “Demons found out my information. They kidnapped my parents. They removed every trace of them. Every person I knew has forgotten about me. And now... I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “You poor thing.”

“How can I transform back?” Wait, why was I asking her? “Vespa?”

“Oh, what a lovely Imago you have, Quinn. It really suits you. I just love the orange. You know, so many people these days end up with black Imagos and it really gets so monotonous— oh, that’s right. I can show myself to you now.”

A gigantic hornet landed on my hand. “Hello.”

I wasn’t even surprised at this point. Weren’t these like invasive here? “You’re a hornet.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this earlier?”

“You never asked. Also, people tend to reject the offer when they see me. Or when they find out what form exactly the Imago takes.”

“I wonder why,” I said. The girl at the counter laughed. “Any other big things you’re keeping from me?”

“Not that I am aware of, though as I said before, I do not know what constitutes a ‘big thing’ for you. I really did not think any of this was a big deal.”

“To answer your question,” said Nep. “You would normally be able to change back at will. But since you’re giving this Imago a test run, you wont change back until your mind is properly synced with it.”

“I... I see.”

She stepped over and smiled. She was... was I taller in this body? I was nearly a head taller than she was. “Don’t worry, Quinn. Your first run in your Imago is supposed to be fun. Walk around, test out your new body. I suggest you try flying as well. It’s important for proper synchronization.”

Right. Flying. Looking back at my reflection, it was so obvious. Emerging from my back were two pairs of glassy wings, membrane stretched between a network of spidery veins. I’d been so excited at the prospect just a few days ago. Had it really just been a few days since then? It felt like it had been forever ago. “How do I fly?”

“First, let’s go outside.” She put her hands on my shoulders and guided me toward the door. Thankfully, it was early enough that the streets were still mostly empty. I couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if people saw me looking like this. Nep gently pressed behind my shoulders, back and forth. “You just need to, for lack of a better word, shake.”

“Shake?”

“Don’t worry, it’ll come naturally,” said Nep. “As the morning sun hits your wings to warm them up, your body is going to try to fly. Don’t panic.”

My torso began to shake. No. Vibrate. Muscles inside moving like pistons back and forth to within my chest. Behind me, I felt the wings moving, starting slowly but quickly ramping up. My chest hummed like an engine, roaring to life as the wings propelled me into the sky. It felt wonderful. I began to understand why the Imago was the way it was. If I were still in a human body, the rushing wind would’ve taken my breath away. Without the armoured plating the crushing pressure would’ve doubtless injured my arms and legs as I zipped through the air. Instead, it felt effortless. Even flying in my dreams had never been so breezy.

“This is wonderful, Vespa,” I said. But she didn’t respond.

Oh well. Who needed her, anyways.

I wove through the skyscrapers of the Vancouver skyline. The city was beautiful beneath me. The morning sun cast a beautiful magenta glow over the glass and steel of the skyscrapers, dwarfed by the mountains rising in the distance. I soared down to the water, dipping my fingers into the cold waves, before climbing back up into the sky. Flight was so freeing. It was so peaceful and calm. It was almost enough to distract me from the crushing loss still tickling the back of my mind. Mom. Dad. Friends. Everyone I knew.

And my mind was bursting with questions for the other Angel. Nep. Who was she? What was she fighting? Could she teach me? Where was she staying? I wondered what her Imago looked like, what capabilities it had. Was it the same as mine, or was it different? And she was so old. I’d never considered that the other Angels would be anything other than highschoolers like myself.

I felt free. Almost unusually so. Like I... didn’t I want this, after all? Hadn’t I been complaining about how tiresome all those expectations were? Mom and dad, university, all of that didn’t need to be so anymore, if I didn’t want to. There was this whole other world I could escape to, to live as an Angel. To kill Demons. That was more than an escape. That was my purpose. I felt it in every fiber of my being.

No.

That made no sense. That was my life. This was... not. The feeling dissipated. How had I even considered those thoughts? But that brought even more questions. I pushed them all away. No sense lingering on that right now. For now, I could fly. And that was enough.