Martin dreamed, and soundly at that thanks to the potent strength of the dose of mam’ya that Rob had administered. While his body was being shaken and hauled (and, let’s be honest, dropped a few times), he remained blissfully unaware as his unconscious mind wandered freely.
He could hear the sound of rushing water and giggling children. As his vision began to come into focus, he found himself standing at the edge of a clear, blue river, with the trees rising up high above him and full of brightly colored tropical birds. Running up and down the banks of the river were dozens of young children, wearing nothing but their reddish-brown skin and letting their damp brown locks stick to their damp skin as they jumped in and out of the calm waters of the river.
“Maa’ti! Come swimming with us!” a voice rang out from the water, and Martin turned his head despite being called by an unfamiliar name. He saw a group of young girls treading water and enjoying a break from the heat of the jungle, laughing and playing happily as they splashed and dove beneath the water.
“T-that’s not my name!” Martin called back, flinching a bit when he heard the voice coming from his mouth. It had been a bit higher and much more melodious than he remembered, but most of all the words that came out were in a completely different language, an almost musical and percussive stream of syllables the flowed from his lips effortlessly. “Wha…? N-no, I mean… Naaat maaai nammm…”
Try as he might, he couldn’t manage to speak a single word of English clearly, and he felt panic setting in the more he tried. The girls in the water say the fear on his face and quickly swam over to the shore before walking up to him. Despite Martin being easily a foot and a half taller than the oldest of the girls, they all looked at him reassuringly, like big sisters trying to settle a frightened child.
“Naa-nawame’pe, little one. The sun is making you go totally min’owo, heat-crazy, yes?” the oldest girl cooed, and Martin already felt a bit better hearing her gentle words. The girl took Martin’s hand in hers and gentle pulled him toward the water’s edge. “A little water will make it all better, Maa’ti…”
“Maa’ti…? T-that’s not…” Martin muttered under his breath, suddenly realizing that he was just as naked as everyone else around him. And yet, he didn’t feel any shame of his body being on display. On hot days like this, it was common sense to strip down to stay cool, to let the sun wick the sweat from one’s body and let the jungle take some water back in exchange.
Martin and the girls reached the edge of the water, and he experimentally dipped a toe into the cool, flowing water. He watched with fascination as the pale color of his foot was washed away with the current, revealing beautiful, red-brown skin beneath. The color of rich earth, the color of life. A pleasant tingle spread throughout his foot as he took a full step into the river, watching with fascination as his big, masculine foot slimmed and shrunk to a petite size, while the brown skin continued to spread upward toward his ankle.
“What’s the matter, Maa’ti? Afraid a piranha will bite you?” one of the girls giggled, and Martin let loose a high, musical giggle of his own. How absurd an idea, piranha in the village water hole?
Feeling a surge of confidence, Martin waded deeper into the water, the water coming up to his knees in no time. With every step deeper, more and more of his skin was dyed brown, while his hairy legs became delicate, thin, and completely smooth. He felt a moment of apprehension when the water was nearly lapping at his waist, as if he was about to make a decision that would change him forever. But the gentle, pleasant tingle that affected every place the water touched made him want more, to see what it would do to him next.
With a deep breath, Martin walked deeper, letting the cool water rise up to above his waist, and the gentle tingle suddenly turned intense, so powerful that it nearly knocked him off his feet. He felt an odd yet strangely pleasant shifting under the water, like a hundred hands gently massaging his body into place, taking what had been broken and making it right again. He felt a gentle push that seemed to go deeper and deeper into his body, nudging parts around to sculpt them into the proper form.
In a moment of clarity, Martin began to look down, to try to peer below the blue water of the river to understand what was happened, but in an instant a wave of water knocked him off his feet, sinking him below the surface where he floated suspended in an endless sea of blue…
---------------------------------------
“Hey, this isn’t so bad at all!” Chad exclaimed, no longer feeling his muscles ache quite so much as they hauled Martin’s body through the jungle together. “Maybe I’m getting a little stronger!”
“I hope so… I was worried you were turning into a weakling, Chatok!” Rob replied teasingly, making his friend’s face twist into an annoyed pout. They were so focused on finding the village, they didn’t even notice as Martin’s body began to shrink slightly, slimming down and growing slightly more tanned with each passing minute.
“No way! I’m gonna be a powerful warrior someday, no matter what the Chief has to say about it!” Chad’s eyes slowly shifted to a bright, coppery brown as the jungle boy in him began to emerge and speak through his mouth. “He’s always sayin’ a future chief like me has to balance the male and the female to please the goddess of the jungle, but I just wanna be a boy sometimes!”
“Well, the Chief is supposed to be favored one of the goddess, so it makes sense that you’d have to be a little… umm… girly?” Ruut laughed. “How long does it take to get your hair done every morning again?”
“Don’t remind me… The sun’s halfway to its peak by the time all these braids are done…” Chatok muttered, running his little hands through his delicately decorated hair. It was quite pretty, and he was the envy of both the boys and the girls of the village, not only for his good looks but also because he was destined to one day become the chief, just like his father-
“...Fuck. What the fuck just happened…?” Chad gasped, his entire body shaking as he finally managed to shake off the influence of his jungle boy self. The sudden knowledge had been so intense, it was like he was reliving another person’s memories with vivid perfection, letting another person carve away at his life and fill in the spots with their own experiences. Even now, he wasn’t sure how much of him was left, or how long it would be until Chatok once again began to awaken.
“What’s wrong, Chatok?” Ruut asked innocently, his bright brown eyes glittering in the sun.
“Chad! I’m Chad! And you’re Rob!” Chad snapped angrily, tears welling up with frustration. Ruut looked at him with a look of fright at the sudden outburst, but in an instant, the blue returned to his eyes and Rob shook his head to chase away his own jungle boy thoughts.
“Shit, bro… I’m so sorry… It’s just getting so hard to…” Rob muttered quietly. He didn’t want to admit it, but part of the reason it was so difficult to shake off Ruut was that deep down, he was starting to like the energy and cleverness of that little jungle kid, and even when he was still ‘Rob’ he was always letting little bits of Ruut in to help him out in this wild jungle.
The two boys went silent as they steadily trudged through the bushes with Martin in tow, still unaware of just how much his body was changing while they struggled with their own identity crises. Chad and Rob’s noses twitched as they picked up the scent of smoke nearby, and in moments the sight of cooking fires were visible between the trees.
They’d found the village. Equal parts worry and relief filled them, but before they could come to a decision about whether or not to go any further, they saw a pair of tall, muscular men walking toward them with grim expressions on their faces.
“Ruut, this was your last warning! You were told not to take the chief’s son out on your adventures! The Chief and the medicine man will hear of this, you little devil!”
Rob yelped in fright at the man’s warning, trembling fearfully as the two sentries closed in on them and solemnly escorted them into the village...