“Welcome back Alex,” my arms jerked up to cover my ears as my AI’s voice boomed out around me. Of course, the lid of the pod was only partially open. Both arms figured this fact out as my hands smashed into the damn thing and bent to an awkward angle.
“God damn it,” I cried out as tears streamed down my face from the sheer amount of pain. “Turn down your fucking volume.”
“Volume adjusted,” the AI responded.
As the pain faded away, I found that the AI wasn’t the only thing that was too loud. Ducts chattered high above as the motors vibrated against their mounts. High-voltage wires and other unidentifiable objects released a litany of buzzing noises. Through the cacophony of modern noise, people in nearby apartments chatted away. Kids laughed, adults cried, and various shows played. It was too much. I would go crazy if nothing changed.
Curled up in the pod, my hand held my new ears as I tried to ignore all of it. As if someone thought I wasn’t getting tortured enough, a new, cutting series of notes filled the air. Surprisingly enough, the noise faded, taking with it the sounds of the modern world with it. “Active noise cancellation protocols in effect.”
My body relaxed as I sighed in relief, “Thank you.” As I said the words, I heard my voice. It was the same as it had been in the game. High pitched and, more importantly, not mine.
If that wasn’t enough to convince me that my body had changed to match my in-game character, the AI spoke up. “Body changes detected. Initiating full body scan.” Lights flickered high above as the system scanned my body. The system eventually spoke up. “Changes have been cataloged. Would you like to hear the results?”
Damn the AI and its need to be helpful. I mean, who would want to hear just how much their body had been changed? Well, then again, maybe I should let it tell me. Just so I know what to expect. “Why the hell not.”
“Gender has been switched. Hormones are off-nominal for someone born female. Possibly due to the nature of the change. I will keep monitoring but I predict that it will stabilize without intervention. Bone structure has morphed from male range to female normal. Anomalies detected; human ears are missing, replaced with fox ears. A fox tail has also been detected. Ovaries are preparing to start the production of eggs. Fertility to be determined.”
Oh, fuck. I had ovaries. I mean, I knew women had them, but I never expected that I would end up with the blasted things. Every one of my girlfriends complained and cursed them, more adamantly at times than others. Wait, did that mean I could get pregnant? Just what did I do to piss the gods off to end up in this situation?
This had to be a coma. Or a nightmare. Please let this be a nightmare. “ALERT! Worldwide broadcast from the developer of the game Ascent to Aetheria. It is recommended that you watch it.”
“Recommended by whom?” and why? I mean, there was no way I had caught anyone’s attention recently.
“The developer,” was the AI’s only words.
Fuck it, what else was there to lose at this point. Maybe they would explain that this was all a big mistake and work to rectify the situation. Sitting up and twisting around to face the windows. “Sure, whatever, put it on the screen.” Before the system did as I asked it to, I saw my reflection in the dark glass. The woman who looked back at me was breathtakingly beautiful. I mean, I knew that people complimented my old feminine looks, but the transformation had kicked it up a notch. Add to that the fox ears and I found myself lusting after my own body.
A moment later, the woman disappeared, replaced with an unkempt man in a cluttered room. From the desks to the chairs, walls to the floor, every surface was covered in an assortment of items, documents, and holograms. But my eyes only glanced over all of that. Instead, they were drawn to the man.
I found that the messy hair, oil-stained and roughened fingers, as well as the tattered overalls, suited him. But what caught my attention and stole my breath was his piercing blue eyes. They were not a normal blue but a mix of both sky and sea coupled with the occasional burst of lightning. “Hi, my name is Hephaestus. I am a god and the creator of Ascent to Aetheria.”
He paused for a moment before continuing. “I created the game, not because I was bored or wanted money, but because it was inevitable that the walls built up around your planet and Paradox would, eventually, fall. Instead of letting the world crumble as monsters and magic ran rampant like they have many times before, I decided to try something else. To prepare as many people as I could.”
The man closed his eyes and sighed. “It has not been as smooth as I had hoped, but that is, in part, my fault. I sometimes forget the level of human greed. Still, despite the setbacks and limitations, a sizable part of the human population has been able to grow and build a place for themselves in another world.”
Wait, was this guy seriously saying that the world in the game was real? He must be crazy to think such a thing is possible. A soft brush of my tail against my bare back reminded me that, if it truly was a game, it would never have affected me as it had.
“I know many people will say I am crazy. There is nothing I can do about them. No matter what evidence I provide, they will come up with some excuse or trick before demanding yet more proof.” His eyes pierced into me as he said, “I will NOT participate in such a pointless exercise. If you want proof, go get your own. I don’t care. What I care about is finding a way to help various species survive as their world joins the rest on the world tree.”
“Now, with that out of the way,” his tone had a tinge of sadness as he continued. “You may have noticed that demons are pushing their way into Paradox. Using the chaos of your arrival to get their claws into the world in a bid to take it over.” That explained the world quest from before. “I and a few others would welcome you into the higher worlds and protect you from the hordes, but the decision was not up to me. A council of gods decided, unanimously, to lock down every portal and connecting between Paradox and the worlds above for as long as the threat of demons climbing the tree exists.”
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I had been wondering why anyone would go to the trouble of creating a system to help us adapt and survive whatever was happening to Earth, but now it made sense. The gods were not trying to help us. They were trying to protect their asses. Using us as little more than cannon fodder in their war against the demons.
“Everything we have provided you with is yours to use and exploit as you wish. This includes all the blessings and changes that some of you have been lucky enough to receive.” Why did I think that he was talking directly to me? “In fact, no power other than that of a god will be able to undo any of the changes.” God damn it, he was.
“Now, I need to return to work. Many things to build and fix.” His sudden swing in tone from serious to cheerful was jarring. “Beat back the hordes and do away with the demonic threat as fast as you can so that you can start to work your way up the tree.” With that, the man disappeared in a flash of light, taking with him everything in the room, including the desks and chairs.
Moments later, the screen turned off, leaving me staring at the glass and my reflection in it, but I didn’t notice it. My mind was going over everything he had said. While I was a bit irked and confused about the way the gods had gone about preparing the world, the information he provided was the light at the end of my tunnel. He had practically told us how to reverse our changes if we wanted, not that it would be easy. We just needed to find a god and convince them to help us. Of course, that would require that we remove the demons from Paradox.
Would that be easy? Probably not, especially when the gods closed various portals to prevent them from moving any farther up the tree. Not that it wouldn’t stop me. If I needed to, I would personally beat back the armies. Well, maybe not yet. I needed to get stronger if I truly wanted to have a chance.
Which meant going back to Paradox. At least there I didn’t need to worry about money, yet. Or did I? What would happen if I lost access to my pod? Would I no longer be able to return to Earth or would it default to some other location?
“Is there any information on what might happen if I lost access to my pod for some reason?” I asked my AI.
“Unknown,” it replied. Not that I expected much. Pretty sure this whole transportation aspect of the pods is a new and hidden feature. Wait, that isn’t quite right. What’s her name had called it a transfer device when helping to set up my account names. She also mentioned that she was a goddess. Likely, she was now gone from wherever that space had been. Joining the rest of the gods in their hiding. Too bad, talk about a missed opportunity to get answers.
As I slid off the edge of the pod I found that woman truly had smaller bladders because mine was already demanding that I relieve it. Moments later, I found myself sitting awkwardly on the toilet as liquid practically gushed out. It wasn’t like the nice stream that came out of my penis. The piss sprayed unpredictably as various pieces of skin got in the way. Before I could find the right position, my bladder was already empty. I would just have to remember to find a position that resulted in a, less messy experience.
Sighing, I didn’t even try to clean the mess up. Turning instead to the shower to clean myself. In the midst of all the other changes, I hadn't even noticed my hair until the water flattened it against my back. The longest strands nearly reached my ass.
Of course, this meant that, when combined with my naturally thick hair, it took a ton of shampoo and conditioner to clean it. Unsure of what to do about my fur, or was it hair, or the large scoops that were my new ears, I worked around them as I tried to avoid letting the chemicals pool inside.
Unable to avoid the inevitable, I grabbed my soap and started to tentatively wash my body. Every time my hands rubbed against my breasts caused me to stop as the sensitive flesh sent pleasure rippling into my core.
Not that it held a candle to the feelings generated as I washed between my legs. I almost couldn’t control myself from exploring my body. It was a fight between my curiosity and my fear. Curiosity because it was a woman's body — how could one not wonder how the other side differed, felt, lived? It wasn’t something most people got a chance to explore and something told me I would be a fool if I didn’t at least give the idea some serious thought.
It didn’t help that my body wanted to keep exploring, but the fear twisting my gut spoke up. Asking me what would happen if I found that I liked the feelings too much. What if I never wanted to change back? Neither were questions I could just outright dismiss, but for now, I had time to think about them. After all, it wasn’t like I had to decide right this moment. So, giving in to the fear, I yanked my hand soap-covered hand away.
My body yearned for my hand to return. In a bid to keep my hand occupied, I grabbed the shower head. Using it to wash everything off as fast as I could before stepping out of the shower.
The one towel I owned was large enough to cover my chest and nether region but it did nothing to help with my hair. Not knowing what to do, I stood in the bathroom as I tried to squeeze every bit of moisture I could out of it. My work wasn’t even passable by my standards when the mirror finally cleared. I found myself frozen as I got an unobstructed, full-color view of my upper body.
My toasted chestnut hair had darkened to something closer to a dark brown with a dark blue undercolor. A strange combination given the rarity of blue in nature. Unfortunately for me, the hair wasn’t the oddest part. Every blue in the color wheel was represented on my tail and ears. They were even sorted from darkest to lightest in color, eventually finishing off with tufts of white at the ends of all three.
Eyes closed, I once again forced myself to move on. To ignore what I saw so that I could get on with what I needed to do. Walking across the apartment was easy given that I was still, miraculously, the same height. Dropping my towel to the ground as I slid into the pod. The only thing I had to be mindful of was my tail so that it didn’t get caught in any of the gaps or edges.
A smooth marble-like object caught my attention as I reached to activate the pod. With a resigned sigh, I opened my eyes to look at the object. It was my ball. You know, the one that Xander gave me just before I exited the game. The one that shouldn't exist on Earth. Apparently, it didn’t get the memo because it had somehow joined me here.
Its smooth surface felt comforting as I rubbed my fingers across it. Almost caressing it as my mind drifted over everything I needed to accomplish. The problem was, my goal was way too large. Absurdly so. I needed to take the advice my teachers always gave me in school.
One of the things my eighth-grade teacher loved to ask was: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Everyone in the class would groan whenever he said it, as he overused the saying. But it was his way of pointing out that no task was too large to tackle; one just needed to break it down into manageable sizes. And that is what I needed to do here: break the goal of reaching the gods into pieces I could accomplish.
First things first, I needed to level up, a lot. Which meant finding a place I could hunt. It also needed to be safe enough for me to experiment with my magic. Finding such a place was going to suck if Xander was busy. I should probably find and talk to the adventurers' guild.
So, first talk to Xander, then the guild before heading to wherever I can to grind away. Satisfied with my initial plans, I pressed the button and allowed the pod to return me to Paradox where, at least for now, I had a goal to accomplish.