Then Phoise woke up.

All she could remember was her tripping on the log and falling. There was only darkness beyond that.

She was in a small clearing in a forest, vastly unlike the one she had run through. Birds were singing, and there was no sign of the soldiers who were chasing her. And the box lay on the ground beside her, seemingly untouched from all the scuffle.

"Ow..." she groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head."Where am I?"

She strained her ears for any suspicious noise, but besides the wind rushing through the trees and some kind of wolf howling far away, there was nothing. The sun was shining down, in a way that was neither too hot nor too cold.

Well. She was certainly in a different place.

She picked herself up and decided to walk around and check out the surroundings. Knowing the lay of the land is an advantage, and she would probably need to find food and water.

Phoise picked herself up off the ground, and without inspecting herself first — which was, in hindsight, a mistake, picked up the box, and started walking.

The sunlight filtering through the dappled green leaves was a beautiful sight, though she was pretty sure that it had been autumn where she had just been. And she, who was "better than average," according to her parents, at identifying plants, did not think that any of the trees or bushes fit in her memory. Oh, sure, maybe they were similar, but subtle differences like leaf shape pop up as she took a closer look.

Remembering her parents, she felt tears well up in her eyes, but she refused to cry. She would be strong for them. They would want her to stay strong, wherever they were.

Taking a deep breath, she noticed that something was not quite right. She thought that she could hear an extra noise, disguised by her footsteps. Could it be someone following her?

She walked for another moment, then gripped the handle of her dagger and whipped around, glaring, but there was nothing.

What happened next was about as hilarious as a Drake finding out they had a tail... oh, wait.

Phoise stared at the tail. It was covered in brass scales, and she thought she could see flecks of gold mixed in.

She moved. The tail moved. Or, rather, her tail moved. She tried to move it voluntarily, and it worked as if she always had a tail.

Then she saw the rest of her body. It was covered in the same scales. Her hands had claws on the tips of her fingers, and by feeling around with her tongue, her teeth were sharper too.

"What?"

Phoise went off to find a stream or lake or river where she could see her reflection.

***

She eventually found a stream by following the faint noise it made through the forest.

She gazed at her reflection in the water. A reptilian face gazed back at her, with yellow-green slitted eyes.

After thinking about it for a bit, she decided that it was not worth freaking out on, that she became a lizard person. There were worse things to be transformed into.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Plus, it gives me a few more advantages in combat," she mused.

Weirdly enough, her armour had also twisted to fit her new body shape. It was the same as before, with boots, greaves, chest piece and shoulder armour, and bracers, but no hood. She had never liked the "assassin" aesthetic.

The box lay unopened beside her. She was too scared to open it, to find out what was in it. She had risked her life for it, and if it was some useless thing...

Phoise sighed. She supposed that it was time to start a fire, since fire is an invaluable tool in the wilderness, being able to drive off beasts, cook food, and more.

Getting fuel was not very difficult, as there were plenty of logs and sticks and other things lying around, and after getting rid of the wettest ones, the newly built fire was crackling and sparking.

She sat down beside it, and the box sat beside her cheerfully, taunting her to open it.

"You know what," she growled at the box, "I'm going to break you in half after I find out what's inside, you stupid container." She even let out a hiss, curtsy to her new biology. She began to wonder if inanimate objects could be smug, as the box reflecting the afternoon sun seemed to think so.

After sitting for what seemed like a very long time, Phoise decided that she did not have time to do a staring contest with a box. After all, she still needed to find food, and the sky was already taking on a deeper tone. Her eyes flickered over to the box again, but she stopped herself. Later, she promised, I'll open it later.

The hunt for food was not even remotely hard or complicated. She just skulked around in the underbrush for a bit until she found a bunny, then stabbed and skinned it with her dagger. It tasted alright and made for a fine lunch. In fact, with all of her consequential tasks done, there was not a lot to do except stare at the box. And think about when to open it.

The box looked very, very, smug.

"Alright," she declared. "I am going to open you up right now and see whatever the hell is inside of you." She thought that the box looked a bit less smug.

She started fiddling with the latch, and she found that her claws were surprisingly nimble for reptilian appendages. Comparable to... a human's fingers. She supposed that was to be expected, and started internally berating herself about why she thought it was going to be different.

The latch popped out and made an interesting clink sound as it hit the wooden box.

Taking a deep breath, it was finally her time to find out whether all of her and her family's sacrifices were worth it. She slowly opened the box.

Several soft fabrics that she thought looked like velvet lined the inside of the box. And atop that, there was... a wand.

A wand. She breathed out. It looked like a wand alright. Smooth dark wood with some kind of polished crystal on the top. A wand which would be useful if she could use magic.

Phoise laughed bitterly. With all this trouble they had gone, for something they could not even use. She snatched the wand from the box and wanted to snap it in half. But she could not. It was the product of all of her family's hard work, and just throwing it away seemed... wasteful. Yes, that was the word. She could almost hear her mother telling her about how even "useless" things they had stolen should be kept, as they represented their work.

She pretended to wave the wand around as she had as a little kid with a stick, but obviously, nothing happened. Perhaps she was slightly hysterical at this point, but she pressed on. Maybe magic needed a concept? After all, the wizards she had seen did not just throw around invisible fireballs. They tossed around tangible, burning, balls of fire.

She gripped the wand so hard that she thought she could see veins bulging on her hand, and she was beginning to sweat, even though it was not that warm. She focused on the concept of fire, but as she delved deeper, she realized that fire was made up of many different aspects. Phoise thought about how flame produced light, and how a single spark could light a bonfire ablaze. Then, as if having a sudden revelation, she focused on the concept of a spark. Just a spark of light, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. She tore the image from her mind and attempted to imprint it on reality.

She lay panting on the ground. Did it work? Phoise stared straight ahead, too tired to turn her head or move around. Nothing seemed to happen, and her heart lurched. Her head drooped a little, as she thought about how stupid she was for believing in the fact that she had magi —.

But before she could finish that train of thought, something flashed near her peripherals. She whipped her head around, then froze as a tiny spark of light appeared, slowly fell into the ground, and dissipated. She looked at the spot where the spark had been, then a smile began to form on her face, then she —

Passed out.

***

[Magic User Class Obtained!]

[Magic User Level 2!]

[Skill – Lesser Mana Reserve learned!]

[Spell – Spark of Light learned!]

[Spell – Spark of Magic obtained!]