On the one hand, Naomi was euphoric to have woken up in the girl body of her dreams. On the other hand, she was staring down a pack of drooling wolves in middle of a strange forest.

She hardly had time to appreciate her soft jawline and expanded chest. Right now she had to find a way to stay alive.

The sun was low in the sky and the leader of the abnormally-large wolf pack snarled. It sniffed the air and let out a howl. Without thinking, Naomi darted up the closest tree and found herself dozens of feet off the ground. The wolves below barked and scratched at the solid trunk to no avail.

That was weird. Moving in a new body was bound to feel strange but Naomi had never been able to climb trees. For one thing, she was afraid of heights. For another thing, she was not exactly physically fit. In her old body–her boy body–Naomi had done everything she could to stop thinking about the corporeal form she’d been saddled with.

It was never too late to start hormone replacement therapy but there was the fact she had been forced to wait until after teen puberty had made her body increasingly alien and the fact that there was no treatment for broad shoulders or being 6 feet tall. Taking hormones had begun a slow reconnection with her body over many years, but she still regretted the things she could never change…

Another howl from below broke her melancholy reminiscence. Still it was useful to know that her new body was not only her ideal feminine form, but also was more physically fit than she was used to.

Temporarily safe from the canine crowd, Naomi could take stock of her new body from a more pragmatic point of view. A long blonde ponytail, a pair of cargo shorts that made her butt look good, and an unbuttoned pink shirt over a white tank top. She almost looked like Laura Dern in Jurassic Park… Naomi used all of her willpower to keep from getting distracted by her excitement. Her pockets appeared empty but when she stuck her hand in, something strange happened. Maybe even more strange than waking up in a different body in the middle of the forest. The world dimmed as a neon blue display appeared before her:

Inventory:

* 5 Gold

* Rusty Knife

For a moment, Naomi wondered if she was dreaming, but that couldn’t be right. Her dreams were never this vivid and usually just wondering if she was dreaming was enough to wake up. Maybe she had finally tried one of those hallucinogenic drugs she’d always been too chicken for. But that didn’t seem right either.

At the risk of being completely insane, Naomi decided to accept that she was probably in a pretty standard Isekai situation where the world followed basic video game rules. Maybe those big wolves were actually Dire Wolves, she thought with equal excitement and fear. To test this she tried thinking menu (no luck), stats (nope), and even pause (nada).

Frustrated she rubber her eyes only for another display to emerge on the backs of her eyelids. It wasn’t like actually on the back of her eyelids. Instead it was floating in that dark void of nothingness when her eyes closed.

》 Naomi

Stats

Skills

Inventory

Settings

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Naomi nearly fell from the tree. This really was some kind of portal fantasy. She had dreamt of having her ideal girl body, but she never thought it would happen.

Again, the barking below reminded her she was in peril. And maybe suggested this was like one of those Souls games where the menu doesn't pause the game. She always found that to be a pain in video games, but with her new body and the fantastic potential bubbling in her mind, she wasn't salty about it. Besides, pausing time in games was meant for balancing the needs of the real world and needs of the game. Here, she only had to focus on survival and that meant getting away from hungry wolves.

Still, she had to take a peak at this Menu, right? She decided to try the first option now and return to the rest once she had a more stable resting place.

As expected, the menu transitioned to a basic information list. She was hoping for something more visually interesting like the Trainer Cards in Pokémon, but it was a pretty simple table.

Name

Naomi

Age

84

Ancestry

Elf

Gender

Woman

Pronouns

She/Her

Birthplace

[ERROR]

Relatives

[ERROR]

Build

5'4" (163cm)

Likes

Cats, video games

Dislikes

sticky stuff, embarrassment

The first thing that caught her attention was her age. 84 years old? Last she checked she was 28!

How did I become three times older, and how– oh wait I’m an elf… I’M AN ELF. She reached up a hand to her ear and realized it was extended horizontally from her head to a point.

Again, she almost fell off the branch. This time, however, the lack of barking alerted her that something had changed. Looking down, she saw the last of the Dire Wolves darting away from the tree with their tails low. Naomi did not know a ton about canines but she was pretty sure that was a sign of fear.

She felt a low and distant thud. Then a closer thud. Then another. In no time, she could see the malformed creature standing half as tall as the trees, eyes appleanty and mouths to spare.

Naomi did not know what it was, but before she knew what she was doing she had descended the tree to the forest floor and was attempting to move perpendicular to the creature. The forest floor was only lightly covered in brush, so she moved carefully from one spot to the next.

One of the mouths opened and a long tongue came panting out. Another mouth rumbled a strange cry. Then it was still for just a moment. Only its eyes blinking. Another mouth opened a snake’s tongue forked out. Naomi remembered that snakes use their tongues to smell. She had no way of knowing if her scent would stand out to this aberration. The creature moved slowly now. Taking a tentative step toward Naomi. Then another.

Crouched under a bush, Naomi dare not move. And to her surprise, she did not move a muscle, literally. Naomi did not feel light of breath or unbalanced or shaky. Her body was so still that even she was having trouble seeing her own hands.

Can’t hit what you can’t see, she thought. And for a second she was confused because the thought felt like it had not come from her but from somewhere else. Before she could think more about it, the aberration stepped just next to where she was hiding. It turned its whole, tumorous body left and right (why it needed to turn at all with so many eyes was not clear to Naomi) when suddenly a large bird with the head of goat took flight from one of the trees, bleating as it fled. The aberration’s many eyes narrowed on the goat-bird and it took off in chase.

Naomi felt a sigh of relief beyond anything she’d ever felt. Then her stomach rumbled. A voice in her head said, Hunger Meter almost empty. The rumble continued and suddenly she felt so hungry she worried she might faint.

Not only did she need a place to rest, but she needed food.