Whenever she closed her eyes, Lauren always found the same, dark place waiting for her. It was consuming, lonely, and endless. But at the same time, it lacked the uncertainty and aimlessness that she often had in the real world. It was a space that she controlled. Nothing appeared there without her say so, and the act of entering that space was so easy that anyone could do it.

But this darkness was different because once she opened her eyes again, there was no going back. The world on the other side of that darkness wasn’t like the one she came from, nor was it the paradise that the Admin promised to her. Beyond this darkness was the world that had taken her sister from her, and made her second chance at life hell.

Maybe that was why she was debating now whether to open her eyes. Even though she had already accepted this course of action, there was a part of her that thought: ‘Maybe…if I just keep my eyes closed, I could stay right here, forever. No second lives. No more people and responsibilities. No more Systems or Administrators. No more going back to having to spend every single day just waiting for the end. This could be my final resting place… Doesn’t seem so bad…right?’

“Your request has been approved,” were among the Admin’s last words to Lauren. “However, it's worth noting that your request has been given special consideration. It would seem that one of the higher-ups personally approved of the action themself. This alone is unheard of, but in addition, you’ve been allowed to keep a portion of your Karma to spend at your discretion.”

At the time, Lauren had been so given into her emotions that the importance of the explanation failed to register in her mind. Even now, she was unsure of what to do with it. ‘Why do I feel like this is going to come back and bite me later?’

The Admin hadn’t said goodbye, hadn’t wished her luck. Lauren presumed that it frankly didn’t know how. Despite its tonal changes and personality, it seemed less like a person and more like a program in a computer: an unfeeling intelligence that only cared about completing its task and sending her on her way. That it even took the time to entertain her plea at all was probably more than she could have counted on.

And so, like before, Lauren settled. Her questions would have to wait. The important thing was that Eden was somewhere in this world, crying out for help and Lauren was the only one capable—no, willing—to answer her.

“I suggest that you endeavor to make contact with the Genesis Matrix as soon as possible,” was the only instruction the Admin had for her. It couldn’t simply tell her where her sister was, as that knowledge was ‘not within its executive purview’. “She will be able to help acclimate you to the world you’ll be starting your new life in, and perhaps might be able to aid you in finding your lost sibling.”

After that, it was gone, and Lauren was alone again. Alone in this self-imposed shell of darkness. Her darkness. And it was there that she had chosen to linger, at least until her mind could process the experience she had just been through. ‘No easy feat, that…’

Still, she knew that she had reached the ‘other side’, so to speak. Though her eyes were shut tight, she could perceive certain things about what was around her. All around her, the was a feeling of enclosed vastness. She could feel a colossal emptiness just like when she had been floating through the stars, but this space had boundaries, which she understood through the reverberating sounds that echoed throughout it. She could tell that there was a floor, walls, a ceiling. It was enormous, but it was contained, which meant that it was safe…or at least, safe enough for her to linger there for a while.

Still, it seemed like she was alone. Or at least, she hadn’t heard anything that sounded like another person, just ambient sounds: water dripping into a pool, something hard falling and crashing into something else. Beyond that, the only thing she knew for sure was wherever she was, it was cold, and a pungent, rancid aroma filled the air.

Eventually, her inner deliberations came to a halt. ‘I can’t keep sitting here. At some point, I’ll need to eat or drink something…probably? But even if not, I can’t just continue to let Eden suffer alone out there…’

But switching her train of thought to addressing her present situation brought with it a whole new line of questioning. ‘Wait…haven’t I been reborn into a new world? In that case, I shouldn’t be an infant, right? If so, why am I alone in this place? Shouldn’t I have parents or some sort of caretaker here to watch over me?’

Then the thought dawned on her. ‘Oh crap, what if I’m not even human?!’ The thought that she should be anything else never occurred to her, and while the idea that she might have to go off in search of her sister in a foreign realm as a frog or a rabbit might have been a comical premise for a book or a video game, but it nevertheless made her swallow gravely.

‘Well, I can feel, at least, and I think I can move around.’ That was a start; it meant she wasn’t a stationary being like a plant or something. ‘And I feel warm on the inside, so I would assume that means I’m a mammal, or at least something warm-blooded.’

There was, however, an obvious lack of breath flowing into her, though at length, she found that she was able to inhale, it just wasn’t automatic. ‘So I can breathe if I want to, but I don’t have to. Well, that’s mildly disturbing. Not sure if I’ll be able to get used to that…’

At length, Lauren decided to perform a few more tests in hopes of revealing more about her new form and began systematically squeezing her muscles. ‘Fingers…arms…shoulders…chest…stomach. Those must be my legs…and that’s my head. Wait, hold on, what’s that…?’

There was a strange, foreign sensation when she squeezed her lower torso, emanating from where her glutes were, or rather just above them. It was a separate muscle, and tensing one also tightened several more that seemed attached to it. A long, line of what felt like very powerful muscles that extended out from her lower back.

'Hold on…’ she realized, ‘Is that what I think it is?! Do I have a tail!?’ And not just any tail, it would see. It felt big, perhaps longer than she was tall and heavier than the whole rest of her body, yet she seemed to have no issue moving it around.

‘Ok…um…yeah,’ Lauren tried to assimilate this new information, ‘I have a tail. No big deal, right? Lots of things have tails. What animals have tails again? Tails…tails… oh! Dogs and cats have tails, right? But they’re usually pretty light and fluffy…’

She was only vacantly aware of the fact that despite how alarming this situation was, there seemed to be an element of enjoyment to this little guessing game, and in her mind, she began to rattle off every animal that she could think of that had arms, legs, and tails.

‘A dolphin? Wait, no, dolphins don’t have fingers. A cow? No way, I’d be much heavier and their tails are tiny. A monkey? I dunno, I don’t feel all that limber.’ She went through several more, and then…

‘Ah-hah! I know! I can only be one thing!’ she thought with excitement, ‘I must be a kangaroo! I mean think about it. Arms, legs, body, and a big, muscular tail! It all fits!’

Of course, all of this could have been easily avoided if she had simply opened her eyes and taken a look at herself, but doing so would mean that she was ready to accept it. And not just the knowledge of what she was, but where she was, and the fact that from this point forward, nothing would ever be the same again.

She drew in a breath. She had gone mostly nose-deaf to the decay by now, but the air was still stale, both coming in and going out. She could smell, taste, feel, and hear. All that was left was to open her eyes and see, for the first time, the world around her.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

But just as she was reaching a stable enough mental state to be willing to do so, something echoed sharply in the space around her: a deep, guttural snarl that brimmed over with aggressive intent. Something else was here after all!

Her eyes reacted without her consent, snapping open. The inky black nothingness that had been her cacoon up until now melted away into a deep, dark blue. The space was indeed vast, but it was interspersed with tall, uneven columns that connected earth and floor, and the ground itself was broken and rigid. She was wholly surrounded by a labyrinth of columns that looked vaguely earthen. A stone forest within a cavernous emptiness.

‘I’m…in a cave…?’ she thought. This was the very last place she expected to be born, but it made sense, and it explained the stagnant air, as well as the frigid cold. The origin of the decay she had scented earlier was still unknown, but everything else seemed mostly accounted for. ‘All except…’

Though she had the feeling that there was a floor beneath her even from the onset of arriving in this reality, she had yet to feel it, and now she understood why. By some means that completely eluded her, she appeared to be suspended in the air some several feet. Below her, there was an incline—a sort of underground hill—that separated her from the rest of the cave.

That she was curled up in the fetal position, on the other hand, was wholly her own doing.

“GRAAHR!” The fierce roar snapped Lauren back from her momentary lapse. Whatever it belonged to, it was getting louder, which she took to mean it was drawing closer.

‘Crap! It sounds huge! I should hide! How do I get down?’ she thought, her human instincts kicking in. Then, she stopped. ‘Wait…what is this…? Why aren’t I…?’

Her body had tensed up, but for whatever reason, she didn’t feel as compelled to flee as she thought she should have been in this situation. ‘My body isn’t responding… Wait, no, that’s not it. I can move fine. It's more like… it's not responding to the fear. Some part of me is rebelling against my human instinct to run.’

Movement amidst the shadowy pillars caught her gaze. Whatever it was, it was big, about the size of a bear. It was low to the ground, moving on four limbs, and had a front-heavy shape that reminded her of some kind of freakish dog or big cat, and the way it stalked through the cavern seemed more reminiscent of the latter.

Moreover, it didn’t appear to realize that she had seen it, and it slunk from one pillar to the other, trying to hide its form behind ridges and crags. Even still, its gaze—eight red glows faceted to its face—was locked on her.

‘Hoooooly hell—what is that?!’ Lauren exclaimed into her mind. ‘It's all black like it's made of shadows.’ Save for some slight similarities, the thing appeared wholly alien to anything she’d ever seen before except maybe something out of a video game or an anime. ‘Well, I guess that makes sense. This isn’t my world anymore, I can’t expect to see animals and creatures that I know. But still! It's like a fantasy monster!’

As the beast drew closer, the sound of its approach ceased, and eventually, it crouched down at the edge of the rise, which made Lauren feel even more uneasy.

‘It’s like this thing is trying to bait me into freaking out and running away so it can chase me down, but even if I wanted to, I can’t make my body move!’

Then, suddenly, the creature lurched forward, and to Lauren’s amazement, its form seemed to flicker and merge with the shadows, becoming a streak of black the surged towards her.

Her thoughts raced, ‘No, no, no, no no! Get away! Get away! Am I seriously about to die right after being reincarnated?! That’s…that’s not fair! I haven’t found my sister yet! I have to get to her! GET OUT OF MY WAY!’

Then, Lauren’s body lurched and she felt a pressure push gently into her, almost like there had been an impact, but there was a mattress between her and whatever it was.

The creature was there now, before her, but instead of striking her, it, too, was now hovering in the air, held in the coiled grip of something long and snake-like. This slithering mass had wound its way tightly around the monster’s body, so much so that the beast seemed completely immobile, and it let out a whine that sounded vaguely lupine.

Even still, Lauren could tell that it was trying to struggle. More accurately, she could feel it struggling, as if she were holding the thing in the palm of her hand. Every attempt to jolt free, every spasm of muscle as the crushing tendril squeezed harder.

Adrenaline had flooded its way into Lauren’s mind at that point. If she had been surprised, it was glazed over by the rage she felt. This thing had almost ended her before she had even gotten started! ‘You’re in my WAY!’

Her thoughts seemed to reach into her body at that point, and the snake-like form that bound the beast clasped even harder. The sickening crunch of countless bones echoed through the cavern, stifling any cry that the monster might have made.

And then, like an angry child throwing a rag doll, the tendril slammed the lifeless carcass to the ground, shattering what was left of its broken form and sending a splatter of red in all directions.

When her composure finally returned, Lauren felt several droplets of the creature’s blood drip down her cheek, and she was immediately horrified by the sight of its tattered remains. It was…dead. More than dead. Mutilated to the point where it was entirely unrecognizable from its previous form—just a slab of black, ichorous meat and shattered bones, like roadkill except it was hit by a train traveling at Mach five.

Lauren began to feel sick almost immediately, and she swallowed hard to try and keep down the bile that she could feel pushing into her throat. Not even the sickest, goriest horror movie could have prepared her for the sheer brutality and carnage she had just witnessed.

As if responding to her emotions, the creeping tendril that had so effortlessly obliterated the shadowy creature drew back, and slowly, gingerly began to coil around her now.

Her arms tightened around her legs. Was it going to squeeze her to death, too?

…but it didn’t. Rather, it did wrap around her, but snugly, holding her in a way that felt reminiscent of a mother’s embrace or being wrapped up in a security blanket.

Lauren opened her mouth to try and release some of the pent-up astonishment, but the newly dead carcass before her seemed to reignite the taste of decay in the air. And now that her eyes had time to focus on what was around her, she saw its origin.

This wasn’t a hill of rock like she had previously thought. It wasn’t stone that she was hovering over, but flesh and bone. A veritable mound of entrails, all of whom seemed to have suffered the same or similar fate as the beast that just attacked her.

A pit of death, and she was the epicenter. She had been the cause.

‘But…why…?’ she thought. Her body was still wrapped up in itself, but she could almost feel her soul shivering. ‘Was that…me…? Did…I…do all this?!’

She squeezed her eyes shut, and the world grew dark again. But even after returning to her cocoon of blackness, she couldn’t escape the question that was now burned into her mind.

‘What…have I become…?’