Full Moon Transformation

I huddled on the straw in the cold barn in fetal position. It was the full moon, the time of transformation. My greed and desire for love had created my own awkward and somewhat painful metamorphosis. Love gone wrong had become a self inflicted curse. The nature and power of my own forces betraying me, had drawn me into the darkness of this once a month spell. I would lie upon the golden palette in my infant like state. I watched my fingers turn into talons. The hair on my skin altered into soft plush down. Feathers evolved where there had once been appendages. My eyes would dilate and my neck vertebrae loosen to facilitate the new nearly 360 degree rotation. My voice was lost except for the who, whooing of its new short and deepened tone. I flew up to the rafters where there was an opening and I could begin my quest for food. The changing of my body from human form to animal had made me ravenous. I would remain in this state until the next full moon when I again would articulate a change back into my being as a human. Human, they say, as if it is some great thing! I was a more gentle, kinder creature as a barn owl than I was as the human body I inhabited on a part time basis.

I had transgressed. I had desired love, and in particular one love so much that I had sinned against myself and the very people that I professed to love. I had always known that I had an unusual power and this ability sometimes led me down dark corridors. My powers were growing all the time, but my knowledge of discernment on how to use them remained stagnant. I could not get past the earthly desires I had to get the divine inspiration I needed.

The tall dark figure whom was to become my betrayal caught the corner of my eye at the ball my father was hosting. That fateful event which was to promise me to a man I did not love. I held nothing against my intended spouse. This union would create an alliance that could bring much needed peace to our war ravished land. I simply felt nothing for him. I am not led to be blindly obedient and frequently expressed my own personal choices. I vocalized the right to dictate my own existence and direction. I know my mind and I was learning the desires of my heart.

The tall dark haired man approached my father extending the customary expression of respect given to ones patriarch. Father acknowledged my presence with an introduction. A momentary interlude was created in a slight bow, the gesture of courtesy. I could see the flecks of amber in his eyes. My heart was igniting with little bonfires from this spectacle, an attraction that I had never known existed. I was driven to inquire further as to his being, status, and purpose in our household. No one, except perhaps my father seemed to be acquainted with my object of growing obsession.

My father, I could not dare to speak to my father about my elusive mystery figure. He would not comprehend my interest and would be furious at my daring since I was soon to be connected to another I cared naught for. I would have to take matters into my own hands. If you want something done then you must do it yourself. The only guarantee one has in life is to count only on yourself. We are generally reluctant to let ourselves down but often do not hesitate much to let others down.

I made my way to the balcony and asked one of the servants to seek out the object of my purposed interrogation. I could hear the sound of smooth striding steps as he approached the balcony. I halfway turned and could see him over my shoulder.

"May I be of some service to you Mistress?"

"Perhaps, what brings you here? I have never seen you in this area before. Were you summoned by my Master?"

"No, it was you who called to me."

"How was it that I brought you here? I have never seen you before."

"Have you not conjured within a description of that which you seek?"

"What do you mean?"

Those eyes were piercing me and drawing me like a magnet close to him, not only physically, but in the sense of becoming one with his soul. I had but only spoken a few brief words to him and yet felt this melting into one being.

"You are aware of your powers , are you not?"

"Powers of what do you speak?"

"I need not answer that for you already know. Now follow me."

He led me outside as if I were a horse he could direct with a good rein. We walked in the brisk night air into the barn. In the middle of the barn we stopped. Those eyes, those yellow golden eyes like the owl in the dead of night. His eyes were haunting me and they were irresistibly potent in their hypnotic force.

"Now, you will lie with me."

"I can not."

I said this, but found myself unlacing the ties that held my dress together. His power over me was not able to be revoked. He held me close and kissed me passionately which led to further arousal. At the end of our conjoining he got up. He was no longer the handsome man with amber flecked eyes. The face and body had changed and he now possessed the beak, eyes, and talons of a barn owl.

"I have watched you use your powers without regard as to the consequences. You have not learned to control them. You have not discerned command of yourself. You have used these powers to disrupt the gifts of others and in so doing have stolen parts of their future destinies. You will long for me and every month upon the full moon you will come here and be transformed. You will seek me the whole month, but to no avail. You will not find me. I will be as a figment of your imagination. You will be shamed because you will bear my child. He will dwell in the night sky and fly with me. Your father will cast you out as a stigma to himself and the manor you have come to know. You will exist alone."

"Mark this as a lesson. Do not disregard the powers of the universe. We must all learn to use the powers within each of us wisely and for the benefit of all."