Lilac Tides Chapter 1 Part 3 (Patreon)

 Vyrg's hand shakily drew over his flesh and gone was the rough tightness  of his muscles pushing against his skin. Hardly baby soft, but the  gliding texture of his skin reminded him of his prepubescence, not  sweaty, not oily, smooth but not overly so. His fingers, a decent cry  from their former roughness, now thinner and tapered and he noted this  as he ran them over his new, alien face.

He was not himself, well  perhaps mentally but not physically. This person whom stared at him in  the mirror was not the person he had passed out as, it was not the  person who had lay waste to Viola's forces, this individual in front of  him was distinctively different.At first glance, Vyrg had noted how  youthful his new shape seemed, though this was more of an illusionary  effect than anything. Little hints, such as subtle lines under the eyes,  or little worn wrinkles on his fingers showed that he was still very  much the same age, but far less hardened and spent. What Vyrg thought  and regrettably so, was that the person in his mirror was perhaps a  incredibly feminine adult male, intersexed, or even a transsexual.Event  though the equipment between his legs was very much masculine, the rest  of his new shape floated somewhere in a valley of androgyny and almost  angelic, as his new face seemed to express a sort of innocence that  almost made him want to choke up... which in and of itself frightened  him. Scaring Vyrge was a rather difficult task in and of itself, his  nerves hardened over the years, so feeling the pounding ache of his own  heartbeat in his chest just enhanced the anxiety he was experiencing.

After  a good twenty or so minutes of self inspection, Vyrg had begun a  serious dialogue with himself. He knew he had to find out what had  happened and fast. A sense of urgency bubbled up inside him and it  reminded him of the time, as a teenager before his basic training, he  was made to microdose psychedelics in order to potentially weed out past  traumas with coinciding therapy. In his first experience with one such  psychedelic, Vyrg remembered a rush of anxiety that was only muted by  the euphoria that exploded in his head when the true effects of the drug  kicked in. It was that moment between anxiety and euphoria that Vyrg  remembered just wanting to get up, run, or walk, or do anything but stay  still, perhaps even run away from himself if all possible.

Here  he was feeling a similar feeling, but with no burst of euphoria to snuff  out the anxiousness. Reaching for his com off his bed, Vyrg had his  physician's mail box 'on the line'. "Micris, I need a-" and he stopped,  his voice... his god damn voice. He couldn't believe it, his inner voice  up until this time was all he had heard but now the sounds coming from  his mouth were alien. This too reminded him of his past, reminded him of  him a childhood friend of his, a tomboy that he was a little smitten  with in his teenage years. She had this sort of raspy, but overall  pleasant voice that was so hard to distinguish a gender from if you did  not see her endearing face while conversing.

He cleared his  throat three times, each time louder and harder "Micris, I need an  appointment. Here, asap, I'm sick. Very sick. Tell no one, come as soon  as you can" and the message was sent through the com. He knew Micris  would come if she heard the urgency in his voice, but he also worried  she might have a hard time recognizing it as well. This served only to  spike his already rushed anxiety. Sure, his voice wasn't completely  different, notes of his old voice was there, but this was definitely  wrong.

But it was one of many issues he pandered for the duration of his wait.

Pacing,  still much in the practical nude, Vyrg spoke to himself and calculated.  He could not understand how this had happened and even with the events  of the prior day taken into account, it didn't seem plausible that this  was something that Viola could have done to him. Vyrg knew that if  Hackers could simply go around screwing with the physical shapes of  other individuals-- well then they'd have no reason to do much of  anything else.

You could transform all opposition into blob like  creatures and rule the day. Physical alteration was not something that  came easy in this world and Vyrg's own training regiment was a testament  to the fact that people still very much had to work hard for their  desired shape.

"Not possible... that couldn't... I don't..." he  repeated and even refurbished the sentence in different orders and  structures. Nothing he could think of could justify this, there was no  way this was even happening. This started to become a mantra for him, a  chant or even a prayer-- "Isn't happening and not possible..." he spoke,  almost on endless loop, gripping his smaller fists with vigor.

"How  and the hell are you doing, baby boy" the door to his room came open  and the person that Vyrg had become stood in relative fear as the woman  entered his room, her voice booming and assertive. "Micris" he shouted,  his voice cracking "knock, for the love of god" he requested with  fervor. Micris was already eyeing Vyrg and had no doubt in her mind of  who the diminished being that stood before her, waving an angry hand at  her was. The biggest giveaway was his knee-jerk reaction to her entering  somewhat unannounced. The way he held his hand out in protest, left  knee slightly lifted "that was Vyrg alright", but what the hell had  happened?

 Micris was a very much trusted member of Vyrg's inner  circle, she had been his physician since he was a very small child. She  had clearance to enter his home and even though Vyrg knew she was  coming-- he had lost time in his little manic episode of vocal  repetition. This left him very much open to her intrusion.

"Wow  wow wow.... Just...hmmm" Micris, a middle aged woman who didn't look a  year over 30 pinched her chin. Her dirty blonde hair put up in a tight  bun, but a stray lock dangled in front of her special made examination  glasses. "What" Vyrg had asked the woman, who by now was pursing her  lips and shrugging "this is kind of a big deal..." she had noted, with  an air of disconnected curiosity in her voice.Vyrg wanted to shout,  of 'course its a big deal', but he restrained, he simply looked at her  in a way she hadn't seen him look at her since he was a kid. "How did  this happen" he asked, so full of doubt and fear that it left him  shaking. "I'm not sure...lets get you in the mobile clinic and run some  tests" she requested, ready to help the young man and Vyrg obliged.