A fuzzy place. Somewhere that clung to the edges of his life, but never seemed to be real enough to come into focus. As a child, he quickly came to understand that this was not a place that any one else knew. Did it make him crazy? Or was he stuck in between two places. It always felt as though the gods had been unable to decide where to bring him into being and thus settled on not deciding. But that was foolishness.

Looking out the window at the tree line, the serene swaying Autumn trees began to shift and fog up. He wiped at the glass reflexively, even though he knew it was not condensation from the early dawn's cool kiss. The colors faded to gray. Strange distorted figures stood just outside of truly seeing. He sensed that they were living things with minds akin to his own. Were they as aware of him?

He went to the back door and stepped out onto the porch. The crisp air brought goose flesh over his bare arms and chest. Dressing hadn't seemed important and even now seemed a distant concern. Two steps down and onto the grass. It was wet and wriggled up between his toes. The distance seemed to have stretched out greater than it had been moments before. He went to it. A figure turned and he sensed it regarding him. There was no malice. A curiosity like his own.

They met at the edge. A wavering line that fluxed between them. Frightened, he dared not cross over. Seemed the same trepidation gripped this other creature. The features undulated as though they could not settled on a single state of being. He realized then that it was two figures that stood before him and that they were not regarding him after all, but were engaged in a strange dance. Their bodies came together, pressing their stomachs to each other. One arched its back, letting its arm hand slack while throwing its head back to moan out into the night. It was night there even as the sun rose here. The other stayed more upright and raised its arms up over its head while it continued to face its partner. This felt intimate and he suddenly felt ashamed that he was watching.

He closed his eyes, but was unwilling to leave this place. The cold was creeping over his back and the dew settled over his skin. But he could feel the hot air from this other place warm on his front. He felt awkward and ashamed by the erection that rose up.  He could not even describe or define what had aroused him. Opening his eyes, he again regarded the figures before him. Now there was no doubt that they were aware of him. They had turned and they stood close to him, but did not step over the line. There was only a half an inch between their bodies and his.

It was a breaking sensation that washed over him as the edge fluxed again and he was, for a moment with in their realm. During that time, they had touched him. One had trailed its long fingers down his face and he suddenly was sure that this one was male. He leaned closer and their mouths nearly touched. The other figure, surely female, had caressed his penis. Oddly, it was the male's touch that evoked the greater response.

The desire was too great. Stepping over the edge, he felt himself falling even though the ground remain firmly beneath his feet. The grey ground was sharp yet furred. The heat was immediate and intense. The darkness swallowed him and for a fleeting moment he thought that he had lost his vision forever. But it would be a small price to pay to be here with these creatures.

Their hands were on him and pulled him against their bodies. Like the skin of snakes, they smoothly slid against him, in a similar fashion as they had with each other. Faces now in sharp focus, became menacing and fierce. Their eyes burned with a silver gleam and the opening maws were rowed with long black teeth. He knew then that he price he would pay would be higher then his vision, but he did not fight them.

Mouths came down and he could feel his flesh rend from his bones. Hot blood splashed over them and accented the sharp angles of their previously sinuous bodies. Now ominous and ravenous, they tore him apart. But he did not die. He could feel the muscles tear and the skin flake away. The pain was a tidal force and he lost hold of what was real. As his head felt weakly back, he saw that he was standing on the edge of the place, still anchored in the other place. The other body he owned spasmed with each strike, but remained standing. Would his death here also destroy him there?

"Choose," the male hissed against the mangled flesh of his cheek.

He gurgled, unable to speak and unwilling to comprehend the question.

"No more," the female whispered on the other side. "No being can be of both."

They wound around his body, easily supporting his weight. Each minute made them more like snakes and less beautiful. This darkness and death wooed him more then the beauty had. What would he become here? He imagined becoming one of them, joining their dance. Then he considered the possibility of the permanent nothingness on the other side of his death. Finally, fear found him and gripped tightly onto his chest. The male sensed this change and dug his claws into the place the fear had settled.

"I can take it away forever," he offered.

He attempted to give a reply, but only wheezed and bubbled. There was a change settling over his flesh and he understood that remaining here was consenting to what ever mystery they offered. And it also became clear that his consent was required.

"I consent," he thought and they could hear him despite the lack of his voice.

She dug her fingers into his abdomen and yanked out his intestines, unspooling them onto the ground. Then the male drove his fist up under his ribs and drug out his lung. It was quickly discarded. A different kind of edge was before him now. His eyes fluttered, barely able to see the world that he was leaving behind. The other body, that was no longer his, had dropped onto the grass. The naked flesh had already turned gray. Briefly, he wondered what they would make of it when they found him there laying nude at the tree line with no apparent cause for his death. It would be impossible for them to know that he had discarded that body in the manner that a butterfly eased from its cocoon.

Flesh seethed up over him, crawling onto his feet and surging towards his head. It had a mission. It was what had already been his, but now was something new. Reshaping him in palpitating blows. Moaning, he welcome this strange pleasure. As the meat from his bones finally reclaimed him, the pain eased into a strange enthralling orgasm. There were no structures to yet release this, but his broken mouth made an effort to cry out.

The male scooped him up into his arms and cradled him against his chest as a mother would with her newly born babe. Was that what he had become? No, this was something different. A claiming and a giving up at the same time. He could feel the grief of the male and the indifference of the female. Why was she so cold to him? Perhaps she had always been, but it was beneath the intensity of the male.

He was carefully laid down in a curve of the spiked rock. It was like being held in the palm of a giant hand. Stillness, then he began to move. He rose and looked down upon himself. This limbs had stretched so that he now stood taller then the others. Long fingers ended in wicked blacken claws. His flesh was still marked with fine lines of blood. He wondered if these would remain there forever. He chest was empty and sunken, no breath moved within him. He opened his mouth and knew that it was now a maw like theirs, but somehow more savage. Stretching himself, he felt the thin membrane of his wings catch on the subtle wind.

Looking out into the other place, he knew his purpose. Crashing across the edge and rising up into the sky he bellowed out his rage. This place had held him hostage, but now he would return that pain to it. But unlike his flesh, they would not rise up into a new being.