The Caterpillar

Once upon a time, on a rosebush, lived a furry green caterpillar. The caterpillar inched its way around the leaves, taking bites here and there, carefully avoiding thorns. One day, as the caterpillar was going about its daily routine, it felt itself and its habitat being sprayed by a caustic substance that made it writhe in pain. The caterpillar's body started to swell, and it grew twice its original size. The caterpillar now needed twice the amount of food, but the leaves would not stay in the caterpillar's stomach. The caterpillar grew weak. At this time, the forces of metamorphosis were also calling upon it to build its chrysallis and move on to the next stage in its life. It needed to eat to gain the energy needed to spin its cucoon. The caterpillar was desperate and resorted to cannibalism. Its massive size allowed it to prey upon the smaller ones of its own species, and soon it had gained enough strength and enclosed itself inside the cottony hard substance, which would be its new home for some time. Inside the chrysallis, metamorphosis of a new kind was taking place. Strands of DNA were twisting and rearranging themselves. Adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thyamine were colliding and intertwining, at war with each other, at war with nature. Talloned wings and fangs ripped and tore apart the chrysallis, and the mutant butterfly emerged, dangerously beautiful with its orange and blue wings revealing a sharp tallon on each side. The butterfly flew from flower to flower, pollinating and disseminating its mutagenic essence. The butterfly looked like a regular butterfly from a distance, but up close, it closely resembled a miniature pterodactyl. It also screamed like a pterodactyl, and the screams summoned the ancestors. The earth trembled, and restless fossils emerged from the ground, piecing together petrified remains of extinct species. The mutant butterfly could have stopped screaming, but it had no free will. A pterodactyl fossil perceived its screams to be a threat, and smashed it into the remains of what appeared to be a wooly mammoth.

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