(2 minutes into the Bog Queen Coronation)

“Well everyone, it’s been just a couple of minutes and we see a couple of ladies already leaving the Bog eliminated. But we are still very early in the coronation and they’re are still plenty of women left competing.” Brae said over the Mic system set up around the Bog and the festival. Mitra faintly heard Brae’s announcement as a mumble but she got the gist of it. She wasn’t worried though. In a couple more minutes she’s be the last woman remaining.

(13 minutes later)

“Wow folks, this might just be the longest Bog Queen Coronation we have ever witnessed. After an astounding 15 minutes, there are still 5 women remaining in the coronation ceremony.  They are all easily passed the threshold of when the Bogs transformative effects can start to leave its mark. I have to say, I’m a bit jealous I’m not in there with them.” Brae said, legitimately jealous of Mitra and the other 4 competitors. Meanwhile, after about 10 minutes in, Mitra had noticed she really struggled seeing anything or hearing anything through the thick Bog as she assumed some of the sediment had started collecting on her body. She still wasn’t too worried though. She was still going to win the competition and as long as she didn’t ingest any of the bog she would be fine. ‘Wait, that was the only way the Bog could transform her, right?’ She thought to herself as she was unaware of the small changes occurring on the surface of her round body. She mentally shrugged off the fear, and assumed she was fine. Soon she’d hear the gunfire that signals the coronation is over and she would be crowned the winner.

(45 minutes later)

“Ok, it’s official. This will go down as the greatest Bog Queen Coronation in history! We still have two contestants remaining in the Bog and neither has show. Any sign they are giving up anytime soon. With that being said, Let’s take this time to give our other contestants a big round of applause for giving it their all.”  The crowd cheered loudly for the women who had left the Bog too early. The last three women who had left showed off their new mutations proudly. One of them was a green scaly lady that had grown a dorsal fin and gills. Another had developed 6 extra eyes surrounded her original two. And the other one had lost her limbs entirely and mutated into a slug-like being, who was smiling with a lot of pride in her new form.

As everyone looked at the transformed women with envy, Zarel and Rolas looked on with fear. If that is what happened after 15-30 minutes. What is Mitra and this other woman going to look like after a whole hour? As they contemplated what their sister might look like, Brae spoke to the festival once again, “Everyone, look! It appears that Zarpha from the western village was unable to hold out any longer. Let’s give her a round of applause for putting up one heck of a fight. Plus keep the round of applause going for her amazing new transformed body! Isn’t she stunning!” The crowd roared as Zarpha slowly stepped out of the Bog. Once a rather normal looking green skinned, humanoid villager, Zarpha now looked like something made up entirely out of someone’s bizarre dreams. No previous creature has ever looked this way. She still somewhat had a humanoid body from the neck down, albeit, she had hard crusty scales covering her in spots. But everything passed the neck line was vastly different. Zarpha’s new massive head looked like a bizarre combination of a frog, Minotaur, and a turtle. She had horns protruding from her head, and her frog like facial structure appeared like it was made from a hard sediment, almost like a wood carving of a frog’s face. She now had rounded large shoulders with strange designs etched into their hard surface as well.  Again, something no one has ever seen before, and Zarpha loved it. She had always been excited about what might happen to her body after being in a Bog for a long time, and now Zarpha has found out in a very intimate way, celebrating her new form with the rest of the festival goers while they cheered Zarpha on loudly.

After letting Zarpha settle back in on the mainland, Brae approached the pedestal one last time. “Alright, now that Zarpha has been eliminated, that means your winner, and new Bog Queen of Cryzx is our newest contestant and esteemed guest, Mitra!!! Mitra, why don’t you step out of the bog and claim your throne as the one and only Bog Queen!” Everyone had their eyes glued to the Bog, waiting with baited breath for Mitra to surface and reveal her self to the crowd. Sadly, Mitra never surfaced, and after several minutes Brae was briskly walking over to Zarel and Rolas to find out what’s happening. “Hey girls, you wouldn’t by chance know why Mitra isn’t surfacing, right?”

Zarel and Rolas shared a knowing, nervous look. “Umm, we may have tied her lips shut after she puffed herself into a giant sphere full of air.”

“And that stops her from appearing how?”

“Well, she mentioned having a secret weapon that would help her win but we don’t know what that is. We only helped with the ballooning part.”

Brae stood there in front of the sisters not angry, but extremely flustered. One of the greatest Bog Queen Coronations ever could easily become one of the most infamous if she doesn’t figure out why Mitra isn’t surfacing.

Meanwhile, deep at the bottom of the Bog, Mitra had officially woken back up from a momentary slumber she drifted off into after the first 30 minutes of the competition. Now awake, she assumed the competition was over by now, thinking she was asleep for maybe 15 minutes. So she tries to detach her grappling hook that had anchored her to the bottom of the Bog, but oddly it wouldn’t budge. ‘Hm, that’s odd. Must’ve gotten the grappling hook lodged too deep. Oh well, I’ll just slip out of my bodysuit and swim to the surface, no problem.’  She then attempts to move her arms to remove the bodysuit she was wearing but quickly found out that she couldn’t feel any of her limbs anymore. Confused, she decides to try shifting her overinflated body back to a more natural form so she could figure out what’s up, but even that function of her body wasn’t cooperating.  In fact, the thing that made Mitra even more anxious and perplexed was how alien her body felt in general, as though her anatomy had completed shifted and morphed into something new. The only thing keeping her kind of sane was the fact that she had gained her sense of sight back, even if there now seems to be an odd green hue over everything. She still couldn’t hear anything though, only muffled noises.

A little nervous, Mitra frantically attempted to move or shake any part of her body, trying to make sense of what has happened to her. After that didn’t work for the 20th time, she told herself to calm down and breathe. ‘Mitra, it’s ok. You’re just in a pickle right now, so just remember what Zarel would always say. Take a breath, close your eyes, and feel the action that needs to happen and follow that feeling to success.’

Mitra closed her eyes and took a calming breath. She then mentally reached into the core of her essence and focused on what she desired. As she kept focusing she started to feel her body stir, but it still didn’t feel quite right. Nevertheless, Mitra kept focusing and soon she could feel her body ascend towards the surface of the Bog. Excited by the progress, Mitra kept focusing on her movement and soon she was right at the edge of the surface and ready to accept her crown and sash for Bog Queen.

Back on land, it had been another 30 minutes since Mitra had been declared the winner and everyone was looking very sad and nervous. Zarel and Rolas hope their sister was still alive while Brae was more worried that this dark turn of events would ruin arguably the best festival they’ve ever had.  However, all of their prayers were answered as the middle of the Bog began to bubble and make a gurgling sound. “Hey everybody, look! Something is coming out of the Bog!” Bryn yelled at the top of her lungs.

With everybody now gathered to watch, slowly the bubbling in the middle of the Bog was replaced by two large eyes with green, slimy irises  staring back at them. After noticing the crowd of creatures watching, Mitra felt it was all clear to get out of the Bog. However, as she began to emerge from the Bog, she noticed she was only able to move her form vertically. On top of that, she started to feel uncomfortable seeing the confused and concerned looks on everyone’s faces. This only made her panic more and she began to try everything she could to move her body in any way other than up and down, but try as she might, it just wasn’t happening.

‘No, no, no. Why is this happening to me? I can’t talk, I can’t hear, I feel like my body is connected to the Bog by more than just a metal hook. Please, can someone help me out of this damn bog? I don’t even care about Bog Queen anymore. I just want to know what’s happened to me.’ Mitra at this point stopped moving realizing her efforts were useless and so her round, greenish body now sat motionless, about a couple feet above the surface of the Bog. Her new form was held up by a narrow green stem that seemed to connect Mitra’s body to the bottom of the Bog itself.

Everyone looked upon this mysterious creature with a mixture of fascination and confusion. Some were questioning if this new creature was Mitra or if it was something entirely different, but Zarel and Rolas knew.  They knew it was Mitra. From the creatures round shape that matched Mitra’s before going into the Bog, to the fact that this new slimy, swamp creature was attached to the bog by a narrow neck/stem that they assumed used to be an anchor she used to stay under the surface for so long. Nope, it was Mitra, and they were horrified by what had happened to their once gorgeous sister.

Brae sees that Zarel and Rolas are petrified by their sister’s new form so she decides to swim out to the middle of the swamp to greet the probably terrified swamp creature. Once face to face with the large round creature, Brae puts on a smile. “Hi Mitra. You are Mitra, right?”

The swamp creature simply stared at Brae, clearly unable to make out what she was saying.

“Hmm, you don’t have any ears it seems and from what I can tell, your mouth is sealed shut now. That’s gonna make communication difficult.” She thought long about how to communicate with Mitra, until she thought of a very primitive answer. “Ok, new plan.” Brae then used hand gestures to suggest that Mitra blinking once means yes, and twice means no. After getting a yes response, she then pointed over at Zarel and Rolas and then held up two fingers. She then pointed at Mitra and held up a third finger questioningly to which Mitra blinked once, confirming she was in fact Mitra, which brought a tear to Brae’s eyes. “Aww, Mitra. I know this must be a jarring experience for you, and none of what I’m saying makes any sense right now, but let me reassure you that you are still a gorgeous being even in your current state. And you are still going to be crowned the Bog Queen, because even if you are now permanently connected to the Bog, you still won the competition.” Brae let out a soft chuckle realizing something. “You know, in your new form, you truly became THE Bog Queen.”

Again, Mitra had no clue what Brae had just said to her, but as Brae turned and swam back to shore, she internally begged for her to come back and figure out how to free her from the Bog.

Brae along with Bryn and Bree approached Zarel and Rolas, hoping to comfort them and help them through what happened to Mitra. “Girls, I’m so sorry for what happened to Mitra. We understand this sort of transformation must be jarring to you. But rest assured, on our planet, this is an absolute honor.” Brae said hoping to calm Zarel and Rolas who were still in shock.

“So-so she’s what? A Bog monster now. Is my little sister a grotesque Bog creature now?” Zarel shouted.

“Hey, don’t say that about your sister. Her transformation is beautiful and she will now be held in the highest esteem on our planet.” Bryn shouted back.

“Yeah, your sister has officially become the newest and permanent Bog Queen of Cryzx. This is a huge honor bestowed on Mitra and she will be praised and cherished for the rest of her life.” Bree added.

“But she’s not supposed to be the permanent Bog Queen. She’s not supposed to be some big green, slimy ball thing in a Bog. She’s supposed to be our sister. Going on adventures with us to discover the meaning of our prophecy. How is she going to be a part of that now when she’s stuck here as part of a swamp?” Rolas said frustrated and crying.

“Well, maybe this was her destiny to become the Bog Queen. Maybe this is her role to play in the bigger scheme of things. Did you ever think about that?” Bree said sternly yet in a nice tone.

This clearly infuriated Zarel and Rolas  and Brae intervened. “Look, for now there isn’t anything that can be done. Mitra is one with the Bog now and that is the unwavering fact of it. However, we do know of a way that may potentially restore Mitra to her former form.”

Zarel and Rolas sniffled and looked at Brae with a glint of hope. “What’s that?”

“Well, in the past we did have some people request to revert back to their former selves after the Bog had transformed them. Initially we didn’t have a means to do so, until one day while visiting one of our sister planets Cryzxlle, we discovered an herb that reverts your DNA back to its former state.”

“Really? Do you have some of that herb here with you?”

“Sadly, we ran out a couple of years back and since none of the villagers felt the need to revert back to normal, we never got more of it.”

“Damnit! But, if we went to Cryzxlle and got some of this herb, it could save our sister?”

“Potentially. But getting the herb isn’t as easy as it used to be. The only location it grows is on a farm operated by the rather peculiar Swenson Triplets.” Brae said as her sisters shivered thinking about the triplets mentioned.

“Swenson Triplets? Aren’t they the owners of the biggest Cow ranch in this quadrant of the galaxy?” Rolas asked.

“Yes. But they have expanded their ranch to much more than just cows. Let’s just say, they have a very exotic ranch, and leave it at that.”

“Ok, but can’t we just ask them for some of the herb?”

“Yes, but they always want something in return, and it’s almost always a very lopsided transaction. Just promise not to sign any contracts with them unless you read it carefully, promise?”

Zarel and Rolas nodded in agreement with Brae.

“Good. Now look, we will take good care of your sister while you are gone. You have my word. But we will treat her as one of us since that is what she is now. She has embraced the Cryzxian lifestyle more than most ever could and I’m sure in time, she will come to accept and enjoy her new form.”

Zarel and Rolas still weren’t comfortable with the thought of their sister being a Bog Queen slime creature for the rest of their life, but they did feel confident that they were in good hands with the Bisa Sisters, so they accepted Mitra’s fate for now, and packed up some of the festival food for the trip, and made their way back to their ship. With a wave to the villagers and the Bisa Sisters, Zarel and Rolas boarded their ship, determined to find the herb and restore Mitra back to their original body.

As the ship left the atmosphere, Brae and her sisters went over to where the Bog Queen crown sat on its cushion, and carried it out to where Mitra was in the Bog. They turned to address the villagers who had huddled into the Bog around the Bisa Sisters. “Creatures of Cryzx! Today marks the end of our longest running tradition, the coronation of the Bog Queen, for now, we have been blessed with the one true Queen of the Bog!” The crowd waited with eager anticipation as Brae lifted the crown above Mitra’s round body. “I give to you, Mitra! The Queen of the Bog! Protector of Cryzx! All hail Mitra!” Brae placed the wooden crown on top of Mitra’s slimy head and it sunk into the surface slightly, making it stay firmly in place.

With the crown in place, the crowd broke out in loud cheers and clapping, rejoicing in their newfound Queen. “ALL HAIL MITRA! ALL HAIL MITRA! ALL HAIL MITRA!” The crowd cheered in unison while Mitra, for the first time since becoming a Bog creature, was able to hear the loud cheers faintly. Even though it was quiet, she could feel the love and affection conveyed for her through the chants, which brought her to tears. This wasn’t what Mitra had in mind when she sought out to become the Bog Queen, but if she was stuck in this form, she was happy to have such loving creatures to comfort her and take care of her. She just hoped her sisters would grow to accept her new form if they can’t find a way to restore her.