The world was alive with colours and sounds as a bird squawked its head off and Jim startled awake. Recent memories of the haze of caffeine clouding his mind and the incessant tickets addressed in a violent red nearly seared on his retinas in stark contrast to the current surroundings.
He took a breath looking down not at the RSI riddled hands used to ergonomic keyboards, but at clawed hands coated in fur ending in obsidian points capable of digging into the wooden surface. Still not quite awake he put his ‘hand’ on his face and brought it down over his eyes to clean the sleep out of them but felt that his eyes were further back than usual and the hand unable to cover them.
Stumbling backwards he tripped over the appendage sticking out from his rear, a veritable cushion compared to the impact of falling on his backside and knocking his head against the inside of the tree.
The first thought he had was ‘what the hell was in my coffee, did the intern put some roofies in?’. It was close to Christmas so the office was getting a little rowdy with some parties well into the day but there he was working overtime again.
Peeking out of what looked like a portal to another world in front of him he noticed that in the light his body was covered in fur and closely resembled a squirrel. Strangely there was no dissonance between this form and his previous humanoid one, in fact it was as comfortable and warm underneath the thin coating of velvety fur. Attempting to talk however resulted in squeaks and chirps so there would be no conversation at this moment in time.
Breaking away from his own body for a moment Jim continued to look outside the damp tree hold he found himself in. A green expanse of floating leaves continued as far as the eye could see and continued down into the gloom of the forest below. In the far distance a mountain pierced the sky topped with a helmet of ice and snow; far out of reach and barely able to be blocked out by one diminutive hand.
Fear gripped him as he sensed eyes upon him from the outside world, a feeling like cool down enveloped him as a sensation flowed from his core. The eyes diverted as seeing his hand, it had turned invisible; at least that is the sensation that flowed back to him upon looking at it. It would hardly make sense to turn yourself invisible if the target tripped over themselves in attempting to move or walk, then again nothing else was making sense at the moment.
Stolen novel; please report.
He wanted a coffee or at least something with some semblance of being able to wake him up from this nightmare. Recalling his last assignment on the task board at work it was to find out why data from HR was not being transferred to the management portal. He recalled slipping into slumber at his desk after submitting the final line of changes for review; the noise of the Christmas party down the hall was still audible.
Now no longer afraid of being attacked in his invisible state he dug his claws into the wood and familiarised himself with his new body.
Relatively short legs and grey fur with black accents meant he was not a normal squirrel in any stretch of the word. The almost ghostlike flames dwelling on his body from the invisibility gave an ethereal and almost out of this world feeling. Not that he could get anymore out of this world at this current moment in time, his holiday to peru was nothing in comparison.
Feeling the energy flowing from his core still coursing strongly to his skin he estimated it would last a few hours at least. Sliding his claws into the outside of the tree he dared to venture outside the safety of the tree hole.
Probing the unknown in search of seeds of knowledge, power and friendship? He didn’t really know.
To his as yet untrained nose it smelled like your typical forest but with the earthy scent of something ancient. Continuing to step out of his new home he quickly climbed up and along a branch taking in the sight of a green umbrella sky with peeking specks of blue. Not quite trusting the magical camouflage and seeking something to eat he quickly dashed into the foliage close by.
An instinct baked into the new form he found himself in determined that sustenance would be at the end of the current branch. Taking careful steps along the branch he discovered an unblemished nut similar to an acorn at the end of the branch, twisting and removing the gleaming prize.
This one was not for storing but eating as told by his stomach.
Taking the nut in hand and biting into its buttery exterior the taste hit with a hint of subtle tanginess unlike nuts from earth. A buzz similar to coffee or an energy drink delighted his senses as it hit his tongue, thankful that at least something similar to coffee existed in this world.
Moving along to the next nut in the branch his nut storage sense determined that this was also for consumption instead of storage in the tree hollow. He continued until rather than consumption his instincts tended towards storage and the surroundings were growing dark.
Deciding to return and sleep on today’s experience he curled up inside the hollow, hoping to wake up again to a desk coated in coffee stains with computer monitors full of bugs.