Metamorphosis

Day 27: Metamorphosis (Finale)
The sky grew dark and I soon lost track of everything around me yet again, the only thing visible being a white trail of smoke.

This didn't feel like the typical dark voids that I'd been in before; no, this one was completely different. The air just... felt like it was different...

As I looked around, I heard a woman's voice, much like the one I heard when I was first plunged into the ocean.
"Come follow me...
I'll show you the side of the world, the places that you've never seen; come follow me...

Come follow me...
I'll show you the side of yourself, the person that you've always been, but never dreamed..."

As I heard this, I felt something grab my hand and pull me forward, through the vast emptiness of smoke and other floating particles.
I couldn't make out what these were; they seemed bright like stars, but they were small and nearby, like loose specks of dust.

They swirled around me as the woman sang, as if these particles were how she was embodied within this expanse. As I was being pulled through, I could feel my body get lighter and lighter, as if I were floating higher and higher.
With no reference points as to where I was, I couldn't tell if I was actually moving. Occaisionally, I saw glimpses of the drawings within the pyramid I traversed, of people working together.

What was she talking about? The places I haven't seen? I've seen everything around the world, and even further beyond that... I've even traveled through my own mind and fought my biggest fears... What more could there be to possibly see?
I was even more confused when she talked about the person I've always been but never dreamed. Wasn't that just who I've been this entire time? I've always dreamed of being a different person; was she telling me to look more at myself?

As I was wondering this, the ethereal particles surrounded me and started taking full forms, all of which I remember seeing in some capacity on my way here.
First, they begun to take the shape of the dolphins I saw swimming in formation, their coordinated clicks echoing in my memory.
The particles exploded outwards, changing to the manta rays I saw when I first embarked on this journey, still swimming forward. I followed them forwards, anxious to know what would be at the end of this infinite darkness.

The woman started singing again, as if she read my mind:
"What could you be afraid of, if I'm right here with you? You know everything will change...
Show me what you are made of, 'cause I'm always with you; Come on, we could leave today..."

The particles making up the manta rays around me soon started gravitating towards me, swirling around me again, and took back the forms of the dolphins again.
I was so confused... I know things'll change, but I'm still in the unknown... I don't know what's going on anymore. Even with the woman's supposed security, I couldn't feel comfortable with being here...

I continued to watch as the particles switched between the dolphins and manta rays that I've seen before... Are they just a figment of my imagination?

I don't know how long the cycle lasted, but it ended as the particles started surrounding me yet again. I felt even lighter, like I was only there as a projection. I looked at my hands, and noticed similar-looking particles coming off of them.

Eventually, I started to see the particles completely transform to fish and other various creatures from the deep. They came in large droves, as if each speck was one fish. It reminded me of the many times I was in the ocean, but I didn't feel like I was underwater at all.
As they continued to swim around me, a good chunk of the fish came together, turning into the mermaids who helped send me into the stars. They looked the same, and it seems they were, as they gave me a polite greeting before turning into a flock of birds flying past me.

As this cycle continued, I started to get it... What this all meant.

Though things all look completely different, whether it be living or not, vertebrate or invertebrate, we, as parts of this planet, have the ability to do what we ultimately desire. Some people want self-improvement, others want to be altruistic, and some wish to become different in every way.
What I got from the singing was that I need to be proud of all the decisions that I've made, whether good or bad, as they've brought me to who I am now. One minor tweak and I could've been someone else entirely.
I can't change what I did in the past, but the future is an open book, and if I'm not happy with myself now, I've got all the time ahead to fix that.

Make your decisions with conviction and pride, and shake off your regrets.

I shook every part of my body out, and charged forward into the infinite, feeling lighter and lighter with every second.

As I felt the last parts of my physical form shedding away, I saw all the things I'd run into on this journey; The manta rays, the fish, the horse riders, the hot-air balloons, the jellyfish; quite literally everything was there to give me one final send off.

The last thing I saw before I felt everything fade was the planet we all called home, and then nothing.