........^- -^........
.........^ ^.........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... THE FERAL DREAM ----£ ----£ --£ ..........
.......... ..........
.......... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ..........
.......... † EVENT: INGESTION OF THREE HUNDRED † ..........
.......... † AND SIXTY MICROGRAMS OF SELATENINE † ..........
.......... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ..........
.........^ ^.........
........^- A GENTLE TRANSFORMATION OCCURS. -^........
.......^-† †-^.......
......^-†$ FIRST, JUST AN ISOLATED PRICK IN THE $†-^......
.....^-†$% FINGERS, WHICH COULD BE NOTHING. EXCEPT %$†-^.....
....^-†$%@ THERE IS A TENSION THAT WASN'T THERE @%$†-^....
...^-†$%@£ BEFORE. £@%$†-^...
..^-†$%@£# #£@%$†-^..
.^-†$%@£## JOY AS A TELEVISION STATIC SPREADS ##£@%$†-^.
..^-†$%@£# SLOWLY UP THE ARMS. (OLD LIMBS FALLING #£@%$†-^..
...^-†$%@£ ASLEEP FOR THE LAST TIME.) £@%$†-^...
....^-†$%@ @%$†-^....
.....^-†$% NEXT IS A PRIVATE MOMENT, AND WE MUST %$†-^.....
......^-†$ LOOK AWAY FOR A BIT. BUT WHATEVER'S $†-^......
.......^-† HAPPENING DOESN'T SOUND UNPLEASANT. †-^.......
........^- SHORT BREATH, MOANS, BONES BREAKING, -^........
.........^ MAYBE; BUT THESE ARE RAPTOROUS THINGS, ^.........
.......... THEY ARE EXULTATIONS. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... FOR A SPLIT SECOND, THE ROOM IS DEVOID ..........
.......... OF LIFE. BUT THEN, THE EVENING SUN ..........
.......... FINDS SOMETHING NEW ON THE FLOOR. IN A ..........
.......... POOL OF PRIMORDIAL WATER, A SHIVERING ..........
.......... FOURLEGGER OPENS THEIR EYES. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... THERE IS A SECOND BLOOMING, AND A ..........
.........^ THIRD, AND A FOURTH. STRUGGLING TO ^.........
........^- RISE, FINDING THE UNEXPECTED STRENGTH -^........
.......^-† OF THE NEW BODY, FALLING HEADFIRST INTO †-^.......
......^-†$ NEW URGES. $†-^......
.....^-†$% %$†-^.....
....^-†$%@ ESCAPING THROUGH THE GLASSLESS WINDOW. @%$†-^....
...^-†$%@£ OUTSIDE, THE WORLD IS WAITING. £@%$†-^...
..^-†$%@£# #£@%$†-^..
.^-†$%@£## ##£@%$†-^.
..^-†$%@£# #£@%$†-^..
...^-†$%@£ £@%$†-^...
....^-†$%@ @%$†-^....