Wetness was the first sensation I felt. I tried to open my eyes and move around. What? My body isn’t moving. Oh no, this isn’t a good start. Why do I hear a ringing sound? It sounds like it's raining. That would explain the wetness. Also, The Voice said that it would easily be understandable why I don’t know anything and have a changed personality. Head pain, loss of memory, and potential personality changes make it sound like I have a concussion. Thanks a lot, but why is my body not responding to me? What am I hearing now? Wait, is that light? Are my eyes finally opening? Does that mean I can move my body? Finally!

I could hear people screaming in the distance. Water blurred my vision, and the only thing I could see, I guess, was mud. Mud usually doesn’t have this red of a tint to it. More screams assaulted my ears. This is terrible. It sounds like people are dying.

The screams slowly disappeared and were replaced by the sounds of metal plates banging against each other, followed by loud footsteps coming my way. Now I know I need to get up and see more than this red mud. Um, is that blood? That explains the red. I tried to move my head. It shifted, albeit slightly and with even more pain, but it was better than nothing. I tried to take in my surroundings.

The Voice could have said many things, but it still wouldn't have done anything to prepare me for the horror that lay before me. My first view of the new world I had been sent to was full of blood-soaked mud, burning houses, bodies of animals and headless corpses. Yeah, I don’t think this is a good place to be. I'm in a new world with a new life, and the first thing I wake up to is a village being slaughtered? I think it's safe to guess that this village is being raided. The only thing I could hear clearly was the sound of burning wood.

I looked around and, amongst all the death and destruction, there seemed to be some living people.

Maybe “people” wasn’t the correct word.

They were huge, and their skin was a pale green. Most of them looked like they were wearing armor of some sort, ranging from just simple fur hides to chain mail. Two of the strange beings walked towards me. Did they see me move my head? This will be the shortest reincarnation ever. Worst second-life experience ever, of all time. I demand a do-over. Why is my body not responding? I need to get running or I'm going to die. Come on, I need to do this. I tried to move my arms and legs. Nothing. Well, this is where I die. Again.

Four mud-soaked boots stopped inches away from my face, interrupting my attempt to get my body moving. I wish I got to know you, world. A large hand grabbed me by the back of my neck. Is he using three fingers? How small am I? I know I'm a child now, but come on. How young am I? I was hoisted up to see a horrifying face, one that not even a mother could love—scarred, pale green and so full of teeth that it would be right at home in a shark.

“Looks like we’ve got a live one here, boys.” The face was frightening, but the voice was far worse. It sounded like someone had taken a voice synthesizer and lowered the voice to an unreasonable level. It was deep, horrifyingly deep. Please don’t eat me. "Tie her up and put her in a cage," the creature said as he held me to his partner, who had a rope in his hands.

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“Her?” I'm a girl now? If I ever meet that entity who put me here again, I will have some words with it.

They tightly tied the rope around me, almost to the point of restricting blood flow to my extremities. So I'm a prisoner now. At least I'm not dead. This life keeps getting better and better.

As the creature finished tying me, he held me up by the rope and carried me away from the others of his kind. He took me to a bunch of cages, all of which were empty. I'm the only prisoner they're taking? Lucky me. Or not, I still don’t know where this is going.

My head still felt like it was being split open, but it wasn't as bad as when I first woke up. The jarring movements sent a sharp pain through me every time my captor took a step. The rope was unnecessary. I still have almost no control over my body. But I guess they don’t know that. The cages had a wooden square base with metal bars for the walls and ceiling. The door to the cage was at the top, and it looked to be a simple hook-and-latch system. I admired my new accommodations as he dropped me into them like a sack of potatoes.

I didn’t control my fall, causing more pain to shoot through my legs and side when I landed. As I collided with the wood, I noticed that I had more than enough room to fall and not hit the sides of the cage. Either this cage is large or I'm just that small. As I lay on the floor of the cage, I looked at the carnage that had befallen the village my body was born in. I didn’t see a single human being. All I saw were the pale, green-skinned raiders grabbing sacks, crates and chests as they approached the cage I lay in. I can understand them. Although I'm not sure I'm glad about that. But it looks like The Voice made sure communication wasn’t going to be a problem.

I counted seventeen of the green-skinned raiders. There could have been more, but it was still frightening to know that they sacked this entire village with so few numbers. They might be extraordinarily strong.

All the other bodies on the ground were butchered nearly beyond recognition, but I couldn't find anyone who looked like a raider among the dead. So the villagers didn’t even kill one that I could see. This is a hopeless situation that I've been dropped into. Can this get any worse?

Looking down gave me yet another sight I would never have been ready for. I just had to say something, didn't I? I think I'm getting a little desensitized to these sights. I had on a simple shirt that was long enough to be a dress on me. I knew I was a girl now, so that was within expectations. What was not, however, was the fact that both my arms and legs were completely covered in short hair. It might have been better described as fur. I also had a foot-and-a-half-long tail attached just above my butt. Now I'm not even human anymore. I suddenly felt an emptiness in my heart. I think I'm in shock now. Yay. Why am I still conscious? Can this all be a dream and I wake up soon? Is this an elaborate joke? I can’t do this, nope. I give up.

My cage moved violently as it was picked up by one of the raiders and placed on a sled. They put an empty cage on top of mine and loaded the rest on the sled, stacked two high. Other sleds had several chests and or crates on them, while others had many brown and dirty sacks on them, stacked haphazardly. Then the raiders pulled their sleds by a cord and left the razed village with only one occupant in any of the cages: me. They walked into the night, and, at some point, I finally passed out. Whether from exhaustion or blood loss, it didn’t matter. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare.