Jun groaned, her head throbbing in pain as a bright light stabbed at her eyes through her closed eyelids. The screen didn't help. "Too bright..." she moaned, raising her hands over her eyes to shade her eyes.
A bird trilled nearby, it's whistling birdsong grating on her ears and making the migraine worse. She'd had some bad hangovers before, but this was by far the worst. Her head felt like it was splitting open, her mouth was dry, and the grass was making her back and legs itch like crazy! Did she get drunk and fall asleep in the woods again? Her father was going to kill her if she didn't get to work. Groaning, Jun pushed herself upright, blades of grass sticking to her back as she did. As she shifted, she felt more long blades of grass ticking against her hips and thighs. Great, I'm not just hungover, I'm naked, she thought to herself.
Jun sat in the grass, trying to recall what had happened the night before. She remembered buying a bottle of whiskey, she and Ash were going to make up after they fought. They were going to meet at the tree, just like old times. Jun remembered rushing to the tree with the bottle of whiskey, but that was when her memory got weird. She remembered running, flames, and then she was on a weird beach playing with rocks. She shook her head carefully, her loose hair tickling against her bare midback as she tried to remember more. She was standing in space, staring at a galaxy, reading a weird menu from an old video game. How much did I drink last night?
A few minutes passed as she sat there, the migraine slowly passing to become a low, dull ache behind her eyes. She braved opening her eyes for the first time since she woke and looked around to get her bearings. She was in a meadow a few dozen feet across, the trees closing it in tall and ancient looking. Where was she? This didn't look like any forest near town that she was familiar with. The trees were too old, and weren't ones she recognized, not that she was any kind of expert on plants in the first place! She was a junior mechanic and country girl who grew up a country boy!
A sudden gust of wind blew across the meadow, shaking the limbs of the trees, rippling across the knee high grass, and causing Jun to shiver, goosebumps appearing across her skin and reminding her she was naked. Of course I'm naked, she thought to herself. Drunk me is always taking my clothes off! "Damnit!" she cursed as she started looking around for her clothes. That was when she noticed her body was different. Her hands were slimmer, smaller, more feminine. The calluses she'd built up from years helping out in her father's auto shop were gone, as were the permanent oil stains under her nails. Her skin was soft and pale, as if she hadn't had a childhood with bare arms getting tanned dark.
Jun squeaked as she stared at her hands. "What the fuck?!" Wait, what? That wasn't her voice. It was higher, softer, cuter than her normal voice. It sounded like the voice she dreamed of having, like what she was aiming for in her secret voice training she did while driving to work! "What's going on?!" She started patting herself as she looked down at her body, sure this had to be a weird dream, or some kind of weird joke, right? Her hands hit two soft mounds on her chest. She leaped to her feet in surprise, running her hands and eyes down her body. Her hips were wider, her waist and shoulders narrower. Her previously shoulder length hair was longer now, falling to the middle of her back and a deep, purplish black color instead of her old dark brown hair. Her legs were smooth and hairless. It was gone!
A surge of panic shot through her. She wasn't ready for this! What would people think?! She'd only just come out to Ash, her best friend! That was why she'd gotten that bottle of whisky, that was why... memories of searing pain, angry sneers, and flames reared up from the depths of her mind. She started to hyperventilate as it all came back to her in a flash. She'd died and went to a weird afterlife that talked about karma, and let her be born again in a new world! There were weird menus and screens about traits and abilities like in a video game!
It felt like the world was crushing in on her, squeezing the air from her lungs. She felt like she was choking on her own tongue! Her stomach heaved, her abs cramping as she felt something hot coming up her throat. Gagging, she collapsed to her hands and knees and retched into the grass. A sharp, acrid taste coated the inside of her mouth as all that came up was stomach acid. She crouched there, alternating between spitting out the residue and gasping for breath. Concentrating on the memories flooding her brain, she imagined them as pieces of paper that she balled up before shoving them into a trash can in the dark corner of her mind. She kept imagining this every time the memories came back, until they no longer did.
Her heart no longer raced and her breathing steadied as she pushed herself up and moved across the meadow, away from her puddle of vomit. As she walked, she carefully thought about those strange menus again and managed to only yelp a bit when a screen popped up in her vision.
Congratulations on your birth!
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Your System Status will unlock in 4,379 days, 23 hours, 59-
[Born of Karma] activated...
System lockout overridden.
Welcome to Merinthia!
Her heart racing, she read each line of the screen with wide eyes. As soon as she'd finished reading it, it closed and was replaced with a new screen!
System Access granted.
To access your System Status page, please say or think "System Status" with the intent to open your page.
"S-System Status," she whispered, her eyes widening as a new screen popped up next to the first.
Karmic Balance: 150,214,661,343 World: Merinthia (Tier 1) Name: - (Assign or be Assigned name) Race: Human (Balance) Gender: Female Mana: 100/100 Stats:
MIND - 15 (+5 from karmic fortification)
CON - 10 STR - 10 AGI - 10 DEX - 10 CHA - 15 SPR - 10 Traits: (5/5) [Touched by Karma] (Hidden) [Born of Karma] (Hidden) [Magic Touched] (Disguised; [Affinity Hoarder]) [Fast Learner] [Charismatic] Skills: [Karma Manipulation]
It's real! All of it really happened! Jun's stomach tossed and her heart began to beat wildly as the memories started to come back from the corner she'd tossed them in. She dutifully willed them back, refusing to acknowledge them. Her heart slowly calmed again, settling on panicked rabbit instead of chugged 4 energy drinks and smelling colors. Staring at her System Status brought back memories of her choosing traits. She eyed her MIND stat, remembering the first time she touched that strange sea and the trait that was forced upon her. If this was anything like the video games she'd played in her past life, then higher stats had to be good right?
"That's an interesting page you have there."
Jun started and instinctively raised her fists up to protect herself as she started looking around the meadow for the source of the voice. All she saw was knee high grass blowing softly in the wind.
"Your stance sucks." Called the voice again, this time from behind. She whirled around, ready to punch, or scream, probably both, but there was no one there.
"What do you want? Where are you?!" she yelled, trying her best to sound intimidating. She grimaced at her cute sounding voice. She sounded more like bratty teen than an intimidating adult.
"You sound like a kitten." The voice came from behind again and Jun whirled around again, trying to catch whoever was tormenting her. The long grass wrapped tightly around her ankles as she turned and pulled her down.
"Aahk!" Jun yelped as she landed on her butt with a soft thump. Wincing, she rubbed her back instinctively as she looked around for her tormentor.
"Down here." The voice called out to her, this time from the tall grass in front of her. As she stared at the grass it began to rustle and part as a dark shape moved through it. Her heart began to race again as she braced for what was surely her first monster encounter in this new world!
The dark shape emerged from the grass! Wide yellowish green eyes with slit pupils stared back at her. Twitching triangular ears moved above its eyes, its entire face covered in deep black fur that seemed to merge with the shadows, The monster slowly emerged from the grass, one paw in front of the other. It swished its tail lazily in the air, as if it had all the time in the world and Jun was completely at its mercy!
"A... cat?" Jun tentatively reached out to the cat in front of her, her fingers clenched in a fist. The cat sniffed her outstretched hand for a moment and blinked at her, before closing its eyes and rubbing up against her hand!
Slowly, she uncurled her fingers and lightly scratched at the cat's furry neck, luxuriating in the soft fluffiness of it's sleek black coat. The cat began to purr as it leaned in to the scratches, its tail curling into a question mark. The black cat moved closer, stepping onto her legs as she petted it, before sitting in her lap and looking up at her.
Jun looked back down at the cute cat in her lap as she ran her fingers down its spine, lightly scratching as it continued to purr.
"At least you know how show some respect." The cat said, flicking it's tail back and forth.
"What?!"