Thyra: Galaxy Lost (Patreon)

Hey all. As I said in my update post yesterday, I'd been working on some very tidious and boring things to get the Sora's Story book ready for a real life book format. I haven't done much creative really all week.So, this afternoon, I wanted to do a bit of writing. Now, when a block of sorts hits you (and yes I know there's many other projects that would be better update) it's good to just write what ever you feel like doing. So, here's Thyra: Galaxy Lost.A potential new story surrounding Grimalkins after the desctruction of Yibixus. A story away from earth, potentailly looking at what happened to the grimalkin people. Well, here we are. Let me know if you find this interesting.Thyra, Galaxy Lost

Vision blurry, feet heavy, and with the same old ache in my back, I step closer to freedom, just beyond those rotating metal doors.  

Well, freedom for the weekend, that is, until I have to come back to the glass tower of shite. At home, I’ve got a box set with my name on it, and it’s not going to watch itself.

I check my watch, and it reads ten to five. My eyes, they dart left, they dart right. The coast is clear. I can get out of this corporate hell.

I take a single, stealth-like step out of the elevator.

“Nigel?” a shrill, but familiar voice calls out from across the expanse of the lobby. “Nigel…!?”

Already I know what’s coming. The gig is up; I’ve been caught by my boss.

Slumping where I stand, I slowly turn to see Jodie steaming rolling towards me. Her expression is full of condescension and spite.

“Hey, Jodie…” I force myself to smile and wave. “I didn’t….” I say through gritted teeth. “I didn’t see you there!”

Jodie stops inches from me, her finger pointed directly at my chest like I’m a naughty child.

“Nigel, what are you doing? You’ve got…” she looks at her own watch. “You’ve got five minutes left and I catch you trying to leave the office early?”

“Y-Yeah….” I rub the back of my neck, trying to think of a reasonable excuse. “It's…umm.”

She pokes at my chest, glaring up at me like a flabby little rottweiler.

“You,” she spits, poking me again. “Are you really trying your luck, young man!”

“I’m just trying to get home after a long week, Jodie. It’s Friday afternoon. I’m not going to be able to get anything finished in the five minutes before everyone else tries to leave. Come on, be nice for once and just let me go home.”

“Be nice!?” Jodie takes offence and puts both her hands on her hips as her glare becomes more intense. “Tell me something, Nigel. Do you have a wife?”

I furrow my brow. “No.”

“Do you have kids?”

I roll my eyes, seeing where this is going. “No,” I reply.

“Do you have a sick family member or a dentist appointment?”

“No,” I say with a drawn-out sigh.

“Hmm. Interesting….” Jodie smiles, becomes smug and mean. “So you have nothing to go home to. You’re all alone and yet you think it’s okay for you to leave early compared to me, a family woman with a cat to look after.”

“Jodie…” I huff, having heard it all before. “Please. I just wanna—”

“Your review is coming up next week, isn’t it, Nigel?” She cuts me off with a smarmy attitude.”

I nod.

“You need this job too, don’t you. Some sort of debt to pay off, huh?”

I nod, this time slower and with an angrier expression.

Jodie tilts her head to one side, and that smug look on her face makes me want to puke. The woman is vile, and this is why no one likes her!

“Tell you what, sweetheart.” She points at the elevator. “How about you finish the Oscar account this weekend, ready for Monday, and we’ll let this tiny little snafu go, huh?”

My heart sinks, and my mouth falls open. “The Oscar account!?” I whine. “Jodie, that’s twenty years of handwritten receipts to input. That would take a team of five to input in two days!”

“Well…” she stares, narrowed-eyed and full of complete bastardry. “You'd best get started then, young man. The quicker you start, the quicker it’ll be finished!”

My shoulders sink. “Jodie, that’s not fair. I’ve got a life too, y’know.”

“Do you?” she raises an eyebrow. “You’re a middle-aged man who lives alone and….as far as I can tell, you have no partner or hope of ever having one, so…” she starts guiding me back towards the elevator. “You don’t really have a life, so how about you make mine easier and….”

She shoves me into the elevator, and as I turn to frown at her, she presses floor ten.

“….go do your fucking work, you fucking fat loser!”

“Jo—”

The metal doors slide closed before I can protest.

Some time later…

“Bitch….” I say, grumbling as I rub my eyes.

I look around the office, and I’m completely alone. Only my single desk lamp indicates life. Even the cleaners have been and gone.

I look at my computer screen. The bright white of an Excel spreadsheet gives me the cold sweats. I rub my eyes again and slump back in my chair.

I let out a long groan before standing. Slowly, I make my way over to the coffee machine. Placing my mug underneath like a zombie, I smash the black coffee button.

Nothing.

I jab it harder.

Still nothing.

The machine wheezes, sputters, and instead of dispensing liquid salvation, it coughs out a sad little puff of steam and goes dead.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” I mutter, pressing the button again. And again. And again. “Come on, you stupid—”

The machine lets out one final pathetic click, like it’s giving me the finger. Instantly, my entire body tenses up, and something inside me snaps.

“Of course. Of course, this piece of shit breaks NOW.”

For a second, I just stand there, trembling with rage. Then I pull my arm back and hurl my mug at the floor. “Fuck this shit!”

It shatters into a dozen ceramic shards.

But instead of just a mess, something else happens. The air above the broken pieces ripples. Like a tear in reality, the air in front of me folds in on itself, humming and buzzing and twirling as if it were water.

“What the…?”

A dark oval tears itself open in the space just before me. Like a perfect mirror, yet nothing is reflected, only shown. It hums low, a deep vibration I can feel in my chest. The hairs on my arms stand on end as I step closer, completely in awe.

I stare into the centre. Then I look around the oval mirror, and everything behind it looks normal. It’s like a one-way mirror to another place entirely.

“Okay… okay, Nigel,” I whisper to myself. “You’ve officially lost it. This sleep deprivation thing is making you go insane.” I rub my eyes, but it remains. “Shit, what is this thing. It looks like a portal from a video game.”

I slap my own cheeks. Hard. Twice.

No change. The portal stays.

A thin breeze drifts out of it, carrying a wave of cold that chills my skin instantly. And then the smell hits me. A rancid, rotten stench. Like damp mixed with spoiled meat and something… chemical.

I cover my face with my sleeve, gagging.

“Christ… what is that?” I waft my other hand.

But despite the smell, despite everything in my brain screaming run, I find myself stepping closer.

From inside, I swear I hear someone saying, ‘Help.’

My heart is pounding so loud I can barely hear myself think. I take a step towards it and reach out to touch it.

Yet again, I hear a whispered ‘Help.’

“Am I seriously doing this?” I mummer as I put my hand directly into the center, expecting to touch something solid, but only grasping at air.

I feel and severe cold on my fingertips as I reach my arm inside. The smell makes my stomach turn, but I step a foot into the breach. Seconds later, blackness. The last thing I remember is the dull drone of humming in my ears.

Voices all around me.

I feel like I’m being dragged.

Then, the loud clunk of something heavy and metallic

“What is that thing?” A rather unfamiliar voice asks.

“How the heck should I know?” Another, more shrill and sarcastic voice replies.

Still shrouded in darkness, my senses are numb, showing little sign of returning. I’m just filled with an overwhelming feeling of numb and unfamiliarity.

“Looks almost like a Grimalkin,” the first voice continues.

“A Grimalkin?” the other voice asks as I try and move even just a single finger. “Nah, can’t be. Its fur isn’t like that other one. Actually, have you ever seen a beast come through here with such little fur?”

As some feeling returns to my limbs, my whole body is on fire with pins and needles. Chillblains crawl across my entire body.

“Look at those ears. It’s just like that other one.”

“Yeah, so… that doesn’t mean shit. There are lots of different species here.”

“Maybe it’s like a rare breed of them? I mean, rumour has it those things can snap in and out of reality at will.”

“Rare?”

“Yeah! I mean, how else do you explain its sudden appearance down here? Maybe we’ve struck it lucky and this creature, whatever it is, will bring us a pretty penny if we sell it.”

As they speak, my vision starts to return. At first, blocks and shapes start to appear in front of me. The room is dark, barely lit, but eventually, I make out that I’m in some sort of cage or holding cell.

“Maybe we should invite the Gamekeeper down to look at it?”

“That’s a great idea. Then we can—”

They immediately stop talking as I move to look in their direction. Unable to see details, only shapes, they appear to be fairly large, whoever they are.

“P-Please…” I speak, but my voice is hoarse and unsteady.

Silence for a moment as I try and sit myself up and gather myself.

“It’s waking up. Give it a shot quickly. We don’t want this thing warping out of reality if it is one of those Grimalkins. I want to get paid!”

“Y-Yeah….”

A flurry of activity follows before I feel a sharp pain in my leg. It burns for only a second before my head feels heavy and darkness once again descends over me. I feel my head hit the floor and then, nothing.

Not knowing how much time has passed, I come to slowly, drifting somewhere between sleep and consciousness. Everything feels soft around the edges, unreal, like I’m trapped inside a dream I can’t quite wake from.

My eyelids are heavy. My head throbs with every pulse of my heartbeat. For a long moment, I think I’m still sitting at my desk, but the cold against my skin and the stench in the air tells me otherwise.

A low hum rises in the air next to me. It’s the same deep, chest-vibrating tremor I felt back in the office when that thing appeared in front of me.

The hum grows louder, enough to rattle the bars of the cage. Light pours across the floor, warping and bending the shadows around me.

I force my eyes open, desperate to understand where I am and what’s going on.

A swirling oval of shimmering dark-blue light hangs in the middle of the room, distorting reality around its edges. The air ripples. Dust lifts from the floor, weightless.

Someone steps through.

A silhouette at first. Tall, slender, moving with a cautious grace. As the portal hangs behind them, I try desperately to make out any details.

I blink hard, trying to bring this person into focus.

They stop dead when she sees me. Their breath catches in her throat with a sharp, startled gasp.

“Oh… No,” a soft, female voice whispers. “No, no, no… you’re not a—” they step closer to me. They’re so close that the sweet fragrance clings to the air around them, slicing clean through the rancid odor that fills the cage.

Their voice washes over me like warm water, gentle yet unsteady, almost confused.

“I-I…I’m sure that portal went to the correct place…? Maybe my Interstellar missed?”

I try to sit up, but my limbs feel like they’re made of wet sand.

“I… where…” My voice cracks and breaks.

She kneels quickly, her movement graceful but urgent. “This isn’t right…. None of this is what I planned for.”

“W-What’s—”

“You’re Grimalkin,” they speak over me. “But, at the same time, you’re not. A Hybrid of sorts.”

My vision is still blurry, but starting to clear, I see the slender shape of what I would describe as a princess. A long flowing dress, glowing bright eyes, and beautifully brushed fur.

Fur!?

“No, no, on….” They hover above me, and for the first time, I see the feline-like blue eyes staring down at me.

“Holy shit!” I squeal, terrified at the sight of a huge cat-like alien.  

“Oh, good,” she smiles, as her fang-like teeth are inches from me. “You can talk. So, not all’s lost then.”

“What the hell are you!?” I ask, terrified and then utterly confused by the odd sound of my own voice.

The cat-like creature above me takes a step back. Their smile remains as I sit up and watch them back away towards the humming portal that hangs in the air.

“You’re not what I wanted,” the creature tells me, backing slowing into breech in reality. “But you’ll have to do.”

“Where am I!?” I ask, lurching forward, only to be bemused by the feeling of my own body.

“I am Liora,” the female cat creature says, now entirely on the other side of the portal that hangs in my cell-like room. “The Gamekeeper will want to purchase you. Let him.”

“W-What!?” I reach out, and my senses go wild. Everything about my body feels wrong.

“Thing…” Liora smiles as the portal shrinks, closing the gap between us. “You are of Grimalkin blood now. I shall call you Thyra.”

“Liora! Wait! What’s going on!?”

“Thrya, trust your instincts. They are your strongest assets, and they will guide you to victory. Then, you must come find me.”

The portal closes with a single flash of light, leaving me alone in darkness, confused and lost.

I blink, trying to process what Liora just said. Grimalkin blood? Me? Thyra? My mind is a tangle of fear, disbelief, and nausea.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, I stand up, uneasy, and look down at my body.

I freeze.

This body… it isn’t mine. My hands, my arms, the narrowed waist, the soft swell of my chest, and every curve declare a femininity I’ve never known. And then the hollow absence between my legs sears through me. What was once there is gone, replaced by something I don’t dare to touch.

I swallow hard, my throat dry. That’s when I realise I have a tail, flicking wildly around behind me.

“No… this can’t be real,” I whisper, my voice trembling. High-pitched and completely alien to my own ears.

I touch my chest. My stomach. My arms. Each motion confirms it: this body… is not mine. This gender….is not mine. Maybe even this world….is not mine!?

Panic rises, and I stumble backward on unsteady legs, almost falling. The world tilts, spinning. My old self, Nigel, feels like a ghost clinging to the edges of my mind.

Then something twitches on the top of my head. I reach up slowly, terrified of what I’ll find, and my fingers brush against soft, fur-covered ears jutting from my skull. I yelp in shock, snatching my hand back. My breath trembles as I move to my chest next, hands closing around the heavy, sensitive curves that pull at my balance. The sensation is overwhelming.

“What in the heck has happened to me!?”

At that moment, a light from across the dimly lit room streams in. Something in my mind screams at me to hide, or to run, or to fight. I’m not exactly sure, but it’s a powerful feeling, almost willing me into action.

However, completely naked and very aware of that fact, I grab what little bedding is afforded to me and wrap it around my slender, now very female body. I tie it up in such a fashion to hide my chest, like any woman would.

“Sir,” one of the voices from early says, approaching from the light. “I’m telling you. It's Grimalkin. I’m sure of it.”

“Show me.” A deep, commanding voice replies.

“This way, ol mighty Gamekeeper. It’s sleeping in here.”

“It better not have escaped!”

“S-Sir, it’s sleeping. B-But it’s a prime example. I’ve never seen one like this. It’s almost hairless. A rare breed for sure.”

“Interesting,” the commanding voice hums in delight, their footsteps get closer and closer. “They are so few and far between these days. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”  

Not knowing what to do, I hide in a corner, scared, panicked, and very confused.

Why am I female now!?

What on earth is a Grimalkin!?

What are those portals!?

Who is the Gamekeeper!?”

Why am I caged like an animal!?

And who the fuck is Liora and what the hell does she want from me!?