I Became a Yellowjacket Wasp Queen

As you start reading this text, you feel a sense of dizziness. The world starts to spin, slightly at first, then more fiercely. A surge of panic wells up, but a calming voice whispers in your mind, “Do not fear. Embrace the change, trust in the journey.” Suddenly, you feel your body starting to shrink slightly. It's as though you're being deflated, reducing in height inch by inch. But you do not fear; you embrace this change and trust the transformation process. With each passing minute, your torso starts to reshape, reform, earthen skin giving way to a yellow and black exoskeleton. You instinctively touch where your belly button used to be but find a hard, segmented body instead - an incredible combination of strength and flexibility. As you look down, your legs are changing as well. Looking slender and segmented. Your shoes drift away, leaving your new six insect legs connected to the hard ground. Your arms start to transform next, slenderizing and hardening to mimic the chitinous material your exoskeleton has become. However, you instinctively know those are still your strong arms, just in a different form. Soon, you feel a strange sensation in your back. A rustling, a shifting, a growing. With a soft fluttering, a pair of wings sprout from your thoracic cavity, delicate and yet strong enough to keep you floating in the air. To your amazement, you see your vision changing, darkening and expanding at the same time. The mirror reflects a new face, filled with a pair of large black eyes. Your mouth and nose have receded into mandibles, sharp and powerful, whereas your ears can no longer be seen. The most surprising sensation comes when the base of your spine starts to extend and fatten. When you look back, a long, slender, and subtly threatening abdomen is present. The sudden shift also encompasses your very gender; if you were initially a man, a swift wave of change passes over you, your body elegantly adapting to become a fertile wasp queen. With your physical transformation comes a surge of new memories, a new personality replacing your old one. You feel a strange urge to lay eggs and make a nest. An instinct to protect your colony, to lead, and to feed, rise within you. You still remember your old life. You can recall those memories, but they feel like a grain of sand on an infinite beach, small and distant. Your mind could hold onto them, but it chooses to gently float and focus on your new life. You are no longer who you once were; you are now a queen yellowjacket, proud and powerful. Embrace your new reality. Your transformation is complete. From now on, you are the queen of your world, ruling over your colony with wisdom, strength, and dignity. Your journey is just beginning, the destiny of your species lies in your mandibles. With calmness and determination, you venture into the world, unrecognizable and yet, in many ways, freer than ever before.