Leonard Smith. I am sorry to inform you that you are, in fact, deceased.

It was an unfortunate way to go really. I couldn't have imagined your horror and fear as the train came upon you, taking you away from the mortal realm for some time.

But I am happy to tell you that your death was not the end, as you will be given another chance, along with some unique gifts bestowed upon you as a token of apologies for such a horrific accident that was your demise, and as a tool for survival in what will be your new home.

As you obviously know, you were a biologist in your previous life, and as such, I have given you a power that will make use of your knowledge.

That power? Shapeshifting.

You will be given a 24 hour time frame in which you have unlimited control and access to your shapeshifting abilities, after so you will need a moderate amount of time and resources for any remotely large changes to take place. In these first 24 hours you must take notice of what your surroundings are and what you must do in order to survive, both biologically and behavior wise.

I must also inform you that biological limits have been greatly extended as you will see things that could simply not be possible back on earth.

I would also advise that you must not stand out too much from the native fauna as there is, albeit primitive, intelligent life amongst you. This is not to say though that you cannot be unique from your surrounding environment. While there is intelligent life, they are still very early on their societal path, just barely entering the age of castles and empires. So no need to worry about being taken into a lab to be experimented on. So if they take notice of you, at most you will be seen as some beast from their mythology, or in the future be seen as myth.

With these parting words, you shall be let go into the world.

Be responsible.

Don't be stupid.

You are not alone.

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The words stuck in Leonard's mind like some kind of mental note, ever-present in their ability to be remembered and looked over no matter how long it had been. 3 times he had read (thought?) the words over until the reality of the situation took hold. Fear, excitement, and confusion swirled through his head. The last thing he remembered before he was here, sitting underneath the strangest looking trees he has ever seen, was walking to the subway to work and suddenly falling into the tracks and-

Leo cut the thought from his head before they formed, curling into a ball and taking a deep breath.

'Fuck' he thought. 'Is this really happening? Did I actually die and was given a second chance? Who even did this anyways? And it said something about powers, shapeshifting it said." Leo hung on that word. "Shapeshifting..." He mumbled, almost whimsically.

He took a deep breath and uncurled, bring his hand in front of his face.

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'Well, I can't just sit here forever. What the 'Note' said seemed pretty important, only having 24 hours to understand... Any of this.'

"Alright Leo, here's the moment of truth. Shapeshifting huh? I have always wanted that ever since I was a kid."

Steeling himself for the moment to come, he focused on his hand and tried to think of something simple. Easy. Something that wouldn't hurt, if shapeshifting your very flesh and bone even did hurt.

Leo felt his fingernails extend, the keratin rubbing against his fingers and the tips of his nails sharpening gave him goosebumps, but thankfully nothing hurt. He wiggled his fingers, and seeing his elongated nails move with them only cemented the fact further in that yes, Leo now had the power to shapeshift.

Leo brought his left hand up and gave it the same treatment, giving himself claws on each hand. Now that the shock of everything had started to wash off, he was starting to feel very excited.

'Holy shit. I can shapeshift, I can fucking shapeshift!'

He stood up and curled the sleeve of his suit back, giving him full view of his forearm as he grew green, fish-like scales across his arm. Aside from simply feeling it, there was no pain.

Taking a moment to think, Leo extended his arm far out and took a deep breath.

'Now for the moment of truth.'

He flicked his arm to the side and in almost an instant his arm had turned into a giant blade, completely shredding what was previously his sleeve, like something out of Prototype of Parasyte, and once again, without any pain.

Leo giggled like a maniac as he reverted his arm back to normal. It took several minutes for him to calm himself down as he remembered that he only had 24 hours for this kind of shenanigans, and that he should probably focus on surviving wherever the hell he was right now.

'Alright Leonard, focus! This may be really fun but you have your life at stake here, you need to think this through. You should probably see WHERE you even are before trying to adapt.'

Leo rolled his shoulders and finally took his attention to his surroundings.

From what he could understand, he was surrounded by massive trees that stood hundreds of feet high with deep purple and blue foliage that looked like something straight out of a movie, with thick brush covering the ground making it difficult to see more than a dozen feet ahead of him. He looked straight up and saw that it appeared to be morning.

'Well that's a double edged sword. For one, many predators hunt in the morning and evenings so hopefully I wont run into anything particularly nasty. On the other hand though it gives me plenty of time with light on my side, so thankfully I won't be stuck in the dark in my first hours.'

Other than that he was in some kind of massive forest he couldn't exactly say much of where he was, so with a thought he gave himself strong, curved claws and thickened the muscles in his arms, chest, and waist in order to make climbing easier.

Hyping himself up to climb the massive trees Leo jumped and took hold of the massive trees and climbed, trying not to look down the entire time.

The power he felt in his arms and chest left Leo speechless. The ability to climb the distance he was was something extraordinary, he didn't even feel tired yet, after what he could have reckoned to be tens of minutes of climbing. And the way his claws sunk into the bark only added onto the feeling, he imagined he could be able to cut through concrete with them!

'MY claws. Wow that is something else to imagine.'

After what felt like forever he finally reached the top of the tree, and the sights beyond left him both amazed and somewhat sick, given the distance from him and the ground.

A few miles to his right showed what looked to be a massive mountain range, with snow-capped tips and rocky bases, covered in vegetation. To his left and front showed nothing but more jungle with the occasional river, and to his back was a field that started just below the horizon.

Leo took a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts.

'Damn it all, where do I even start?'