Chapter 1
Stirring awake I see the sun peeking through our curtains. I look next to me and notice that Alice is already awake.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“Good morning. Anything you want to do today? We could go to the theatre after shopping around town.” I say after kissing her.
“Mmhh. Yes, that sounds good, but let me sleep a bit longer, first.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that, or you’ll sleep the whole day away.”
I get out of bed, ready my and Alice’s clothes for the day, and half drag my sleepy sister into the shower with me. Once the water hits her face, she startles into proper wakefulness. Glaring at me I hear her murmuring “How mean.”, though I barely register it as I am dwelling on the past.
Alice and I eloped almost half a year ago. We have been together for just over two years, honestly, I find it incredible we managed to hide our relationship for so long, in hindsight our parents probably suspected something for a long time already but chose to ignore it in case theirs fears were real.
We had decided to tell our parents about us the day after she graduated from school. Predictably it did not go well, after all, falling in love with your sibling is morally and socially unacceptable, right? I tried to argue against mom and dad that I didn’t choose to be in love with my sister any more than any other person can choose who they love, but it fell on deaf ears and worse with an “If you’re not going to change your ways, then get out!” and barely enough time to grab a backpack with the biggest of necessities we became homeless.
That night I had to comfort my sister, who was too distraught to think properly, and I made the decision I would not abandon her and if the laws changed, I would marry her in a heartbeat. When I informed her of my decision some hope returned to her expression and she spoke the sweetest words I ever heard, “I would love to marry you, too.”.
I break from my reverie because I start feeling disoriented and a bit lightheaded. I lean against Alice, who seems to have similar problems and leans against me. Barely, propping each other up some lines of light appear in my vision, slowly changing shape until I can make out words.
Congratulations! You have won the grand prize in our lottery and will be a beta-Tester for our new game. Please wait while we prepare for your trip.
…
…Transferring data: 0% complete
…10% complete
…40% complete
…80% complete
…Error, unable to transfer data, reconstituting data
…Error, insufficient data for reconstitution, cancelling the transfer
…Error, transfer already in progress unable to cancel the transfer, substituting lost data
…Error, conflicting data, overwriting previous data.
…Sending error report
Starter gift adjusted. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Welcome to the world of Angholm. Please enjoy your stay.
I do not know when but at some point, I lost awareness of my surroundings. When those messages stop, I am standing in the middle of a forest clearing instead of my bathtub.
Trying to find Alice I immediately am prevented from doing so by some more text blocking my vision.
Welcome, Traveller,
Angholm is a fantasy world of might and magic. Here, our World System ‘Jester’ will enable you to learn many fantastic things like manipulating Mana, gaining Skills, or unlocking Classes. To help you along the way everyone receives a Skill when first entering this world. As you are a Beta-Tester you will be given the Systems’ Blessing in addition to your Skill. Due to an error, your Skill has been adjusted and you have been granted the possibility to change your name if you so choose. To view your Status simply say or think ‘Status’ with the intent of opening your Status. Please test it out now.
After reading I try to look for my sister again but find myself unable to move. Internally I grumble about annoying tutorials while saying Status.
Name: Frederick Rosenstein
Race: Succubus
Health: 112/112 Health Recovery: 128
Stamina: 80/80 Stamina Recovery: 80
Mana: 100/100 Mana Recovery: 100
Class: None
Level: 0
Unused increases: 0
Strength: 8
Agility: 9
Dexterity: 11
Perception: 11
Reaction: 10
Intelligence: 11
Constitution: 11
Vitality: 13
Endurance: 8
Vigour: 8
Willpower: 10
Wisdom: 10
Skills:
Shapeshift - Level 1
After looking over my Status, I have an uncomfortable feeling that something isn’t quite right, the Shapeshifting Skill is suspect, but somehow I don’t think that that is the cause of my unease, so I look over it again and again. By the fifth time, I finally realise that I’ve only given my race a cursory glance before, so I finally find what has been irritating me; my Race is listed as Succubus instead of Human.
With a bit of a panic, I immediately dismiss my Status and look down at my body. My view is cut short my two big breasts. Okay, not a good sign. Leaning forward I look past and spot a distinct lack between my thighs, moving my hand there my hope for it to be an illusion is dashed and I fall to the ground, hugging my knees and I gently sway back and forth while crying.
Once I’ve stopped having a breakdown, I realise that someone is hugging me while gently whispering soothing words into my ear. They must have noticed that I’ve stopped because they pull us apart and I see that it was Alice, who was embracing me and my tension is released as I breathe a sigh of relief, thankful for my sisters’ safety. Though I freeze up again when I hear her next words.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“There, there, little girl everything will be alright. Say, have you seen a tall and handsome young man with red hair and brown eyes around here? He is my brother and I’m looking for him.”
It breaks me and I fiercely hug her, crying “Alice” repeatedly.
The light of recognition shines in her eyes and she softly whispers, “Frederick?”, to me.
Nodding my head my crying abates for a second time, with Alice patting my head. I lean back to look into her eyes and tell her about what I experienced starting with the weird lines of text appearing in our shower.
She nods and tells me that her experience is similar though there was no error message during her transfer. Apparently, it was early morning when we arrived and looking at the sun it seems to be morning still, but noon is not far off.
We stand back up and look around the clearing. There is a small brook in the middle of it and peering at the edge, where bushes are growing, I spot some berries. Taking some of them I return to Alice, only now do I realise that I have to look up to her instead of looking down as I used to.
This reminds me that I have not finished inspecting my new body, so I so. In addition to my changed gender I now have bat-like wings, a long flexible tail slightly thinner than my wrist with a heart-shaped tip, and long hair reaching down to my new tail starting at black from my crown becoming lighter until it’s a dark blue that reminds me of the night sky at the end.
“At least we shouldn’t have to worry too much about finding food and water. Maybe we can even use some of those trees for shelter. At least until we have a better idea of what’s going on.”, I say and show Alice the berries and where I found them.
“Are you sure those are safe to eat? I don’t recognise them. Maybe we should try to find something else first?”
“We could but given that we appear to be in another world, I don’t think we will come across anything we recognise. Besides, apart from the occasional bird, I haven’t seen any wildlife we could hunt and neither of us has any ranged weapon we could use or clothing for that matter.
I’ll try a little bit of one and we’ll see if something happens.”, I say then immediately take a small bite out of one.
You have been poisoned! You take 3 points of damage every 5 seconds for 1 minute.
Inspect - Level 1
You have some knowledge about the world around you. Use this Skill to see what knowledge applies to whatever you are looking at.
“Don’t just eat them like that! What if they’re poisonous?”
“They are. I received a message stating I’ll be taking a bit of damage for the next minute. I’m also starting to feel uncomfortably hot.”
“You idiot. Let’s go maybe we will find something better.”
Alice knocks all the berries out of my hand grabbing my wrist and pulls me towards the forest.
“We should also check if we can find some sharp rocks and sturdy branches if we do, we might be able to fashion ourselves some tools.”
Alice just nods to my statement while pulling me further along and letting me go once we’re amidst the trees. Being unaccustomed to my new body I feel almost claustrophobic among the dense growth after repeatedly hitting a tree or bush with my wings. It’s still awkward to me to have limbs that are broader than my shoulders. At least this foraging trip will help me understand how to better move in a Succubus’s body.
A few hours later, despite our efforts neither Alice nor I were able to find something edible other than the berries at the edge of our clearing, not even some small animal though admittedly being from London with no outdoor hobbies or travels we also didn’t know what to look for or how to sneak up on prey. In the end, we return to the clearing carrying a couple of rocks and about a dozen sticks, with nothing else to help us survive.
Having piled up some of our materials, I now had the problem of what to do with them. I never watched any survival videos or read appropriate books. Thinking about useful tools I first try to create a stone knife bashing stones against each other hoping an edge would form.
During that time, I pondered about what else I could make and decided to craft two spears. Just because we haven’t encountered any beasts yet doesn’t mean they don’t exist and if there are, we could hunt them by throwing our spears, like in the stone age that should be better than just throwing stones. Besides, we might encounter wolves or bears, or other dangerous animals and I will want a weapon nearby to defend myself with if that happens.
When I am convinced, the ‘knife’ won’t become any better I continue smashing rocks, this time into two rough spearheads. After that I shove one of the rocks into a branch with the point facing outward and tie it in place with some of my hair I ripped out and braided into something resembling twine.
Crude Weapon Crafting - Level 1
You have managed to build a crude and crooked spear. With this Skill, your spears will still be crude and crooked but slightly more durable as well.
I blink in surprise before willing the notification to disappear. Making a mental note to talk with Alice about Skills later I start on my second spear after which I don’t receive another notification.
Having finished making our weaponry I walk over to the stream where Alice has set up the rest of our supplies for a campfire, to give her a spear and talk about these Skills. First, though, I quench my thirst that has risen throughout the entire day.
“What do you think we should do?”
“Well, we only have poisonous berries to eat, no clothing, and no shelter. So, we should probably learn how to hunt, make some makeshift underwear and build a shelter.”
“I meant about being in a different world. Do we try to find a way back? What do we do if we encounter people native to this world? How will we earn our livelihoods?”
“I’m not sure, I doubt that even if we found a way back I’d have my old body back as well, and honestly we may be better of here, though that depends on what civilisation is like here. If we meet someone, I think we should just tell them what happened to us and ask for help. We do not know nearly enough to fool them anyway and maybe coming from a different world won’t be so bad. After all, the messages we saw when we came here indicated that it might be pretty common.”
“Ok. I trust you with this. Anyway, what should I call you? Now that you’re a girl having a boy’s name is weird.”
“I agree, but I’m rubbish at picking names. Could you give me some suggestions?”
“Mmhh. How about Fiona or Freia or Fabienne? Or maybe something like Tina or Gabrielle?”
“Thank you, those sound all nice. I think I’ll be Freia. What do you think?”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Freia, my beautiful little sister.”
“Huh? Little sister? I’m your big sister, after all, I’m older than you.”
“Sure, sure, whatever little sister says. More importantly, you remember the night after we told mum and dad about us?”
“Yes, I do what about it?”
“You talked about what you would do if things were different. Now that we are in another world things are as different as they’re ever going to be. I was just wondering if anything changed?
Because I thought about that particular evening this morning it didn’t take me long to figure out what she was alluding to. Barely keeping myself from crying from joy, I say, “You mean you’d still marry me even though I’m not even human anymore?”.
“I was prepared to live with you through sickness and health through the good times and the bad times, do you think my resolve so weak I’d change my mind just because you have a different body now? I want to be with you, and nothing is going to change that, okay?”
I can’t hold my tears anymore and just hug Alice while saying, “Thank you. You truly are too good for me.”
Congratulations yours and Alice Rosenstein’s intention to marry each other has been recognized by Jester.
In accordance with your vows and culture Jester grants you each a ring, magically bound to each other, to symbolise your Union.
May you find happiness and prosperity henceforth.
“Ow, I guess that answers your question Alice.”
Dismissing our unexpected wedding ceremony another notification blocks my view.
Charm - Level 1
You have followed your nature and enticed another being. With this Skill, you are now even more charming than before.
These notifications suddenly blocking my vision is quite annoying. Isn’t there some way to make them less obstructive?
If you wish to alter the form of your notifications, please specify your preferred method.
Okay, so I can change them. How about removing the background and instead of suddenly appearing using a log with a small icon and counting my unread messages in the corner of my vision? That should make things a lot easier.
I immediately notice a small bell with a red “1” in my bottom right field of view and open my log to see what the new message is.
Successfully changed your notifications. For further assistance simply direct your inquiries at Jester.
Having completed my interaction with Jester, for the time being, I inspect the ring that appeared on my left ring finger. It is a plain gold ring with a thin band. When I set to remove the ring, it just soaks into my finger, becoming a golden tattoo.
I resume our conversation again, this time talking about Skills and Jester as I wanted to do earlier.
“Hey, Alice, I’ve been receiving notifications all day. What about you?”
“I only had two one was about a Skill called Inspect the other was our marriage just now.”
“Ok, I received a Skill from crafting these Spears and another called Charm when we married, though not from making this crude knife. I guess it wasn’t good enough to gain a Skill. On a related note, I’ve figured out a way to make the notifications less obstructive.”
I help her change her notification system and we both add three bars for our Health, Stamina, and Mana to our vision, so it is like a Heads-up display from a game.
As the day is starting to fade into the night we try to light a fire, but neither of us was successful so I look for a tree we could use as a windbreak and climb quickly if we need to, luckily there is one close to our clearing and we cuddle together at its trunk.
Finally, the last thing I do before falling asleep is viewing by Status and note that my name changed, my Wisdom, as well as my Mana, increased by one and my Mana Regeneration increased by 9.