Soulforge Legacy Series

“Welcome back, Alex,” my arms jerked up to cover my ears as the AI’s booming voice filled the space around me. In the space of the tiny pod, it almost seemed to echo. I needed to get out of the damned thing before the AI decided to cause me to go prematurely deaf. Unfortunately, both of my arms bent at an awkward angle as my hands smashed into the partially open lid.

“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 at a more reasonable volume.

As the pain faded away, I found that the AI wasn’t the only thing that was louder than normal. Ducts chattered high above as the motors vibrated against their mounts. The sound emitted by various high-voltage wires and other electronics set into the walls and ceiling reminded me of swarming bees, or at least those that people had recorded at one time.

Through the cacophony of modern noise, people in nearby apartments chatted away. Kids laughed, adults cried, and various shows played. It was all 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 being tortured enough, a series of notes cut through the air. At first, the noise increased to the point that I wondered if the old windows would be strong enough to stop me from getting outside. Fortunately for my health and sanity, the notes faded out, taking the sounds of the modern world with them.

“Active noise cancellation protocols in effect,” came the AI’s soft voice.

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 male.

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 AI did whatever it needed to do. As the lights stopped, it 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 when possible, but I predict that it will stabilize without intervention. Bones have been reformed from the male range to female nominal. Anomalies detected; human ears are missing. Viable fox ears detected. Viable fox tail 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 the fucking things, 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. A sharp beep caught my attention, pulling me out of my mind before it could start to spiral. “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 all the AI said in response.

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. I sat up and twisted around to face the windows. With a flick of my hand toward the nearest one I said. “Sure, whatever, put it on the screen.” Before the system turned on the screen, I saw my reflection in the darkened glass. The woman that 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 admiring – even lusting after – my reflection.

As soon as I realized what I was thinking about, I felt disgusted. That was not me. This was not my body. I wanted – no, I needed my body back. But how?

Before I could turn around, the window suddenly brightened as my reflection was 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 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 this world crumble as monsters and magic ran rampant as they have done to many others, I decided to try something else. Something that I hoped would prepare as many people as possible for the change.”

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 it existed. That it wasn’t some prosthetic or hologram. That this ‘game’ had managed to affect reality.

“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 in one breath before demanding more proof with the next.” 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. It is up to the species to adapt, conquer, and thrive.”

“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. The council decided, unanimously, to lock down any portal connecting Paradox and the worlds above for as long as the threat of demons climbing the tree exists.”

I had wondered 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. They would use us as little more than cannon fodder in their war against the demons and then give us a pat on the head before likely kicking us out.

“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.

How did he think that this was a blessing? To be changed into something, someone, that I wasn’t. A change I had never wished for yet was now, apparently, stuck with until I could get one of the gods to reverse this change.

“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. Everything, from the scattered pages to even the desks, vanished with him.

A moment later, I was left to stare at the glass and my reflection as the screen turned off, but I didn’t notice or care. My mind was too busy going over everything he had said. While I was a bit irked and confused that the gods chose to take this route to prepare the world, I was more invested in the other portion of the information he had handed out. The guy handed me, and everyone else, a way to reverse our changes.

Not that it would be easy. First we would have to beat back the demons. My first encounter with the damned creatures nearly ended up with me as their slave, and it wasn’t even one found in the front lines.

The demon had been sent out to scout and infiltrate. Something that required a person to be specialized in such activities which meant they were not really built for war. Yet I rated nothing more than an annoyance to him. Something to play with until I broke or he got bored.

And out there was an army of the creatures. Each of whom were specialized in fighting. Likely so much so that my fight would look like walk in the park in comparison.

Then there was the gods. Not only did I need to find them, I had to convince one to help me. If they were anything like the gods from the old myths, I was fucked. Actually, I was more than fucked, I would likely die simply by asking for help from the wrong god.

Was all that hard? Yes. Hell, it might even be impossible, but it was not like it would stop me. If I needed to, I would personally beat back the armies. Well, maybe not yet. To stand any sort of chance, I needed to get stronger. Which of course meant I would need to learn this cursed body.

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 were to lose 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 she helped to set up my account names. She also mentioned that she was a goddess. Not that it mattered, likely as not, she probably ran away to hide with all the other gods. Too bad, talk about a missed opportunity to get answers.

As I slid off the edge of the pod I found that women 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. My bladder managed to empty itself before I could find the right position. I just hoped that next time I would be able to find the right position so I didn’t create such a fucking mess.

With a long sigh, I didn’t even try to clean myself. I needed to take a shower anyway. As I stepped in, my hair plastered itself to my back. It felt weird, especially considering that sections reached the top of my ass. The longest I had ever grown my hair was maybe three inches.

Of course, this meant that, when combined with my naturally thick hair, it took a ton of shampoo and conditioner to clean. Unsure of what to do about my fur (or was it hair?) as well as the large scoops that were my new ears, I worked around them. No need to get swimmer’s ear or chemical burns after all.

Unable to avoid the inevitable, I grabbed my soap and started to tentatively wash my body. Every time my hands rubbed against my breasts I had to stop as the sensitive flesh sent a bolt of pleasure through my body.

If I thought that was distracting, it didn’t hold a candle to the tingling feelings that emanated from my lower half as I washed between my legs. They were nearly enough to knock my feet out from under me. I almost couldn’t control myself. To stop 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? Especially one as responsive to touch as this one was, given all the new nerves. 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. It repeatedly asked me what would happen if I found that I liked the feelings too much. What if I found that 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, with a reluctant sigh, I gave into the fear and yanked my soap-covered hand away.

My body yearned for my hand to return but if I did that, I was fairly sure it wouldn’t leave any time soon. So, in a bid to keep my hand occupied, I grabbed the shower head and used 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. A stream of water poured out of the strands and down my back as I looked for something, anything, to help dry the long locks. Eventually, I simply tried to squeeze the moisture out of it. My work wasn’t passable even by my standards when the mirror finally cleared.

Fortunately, with the clearing of the mirror, I finally got a full-color view of my upper body. My mind stuttered as my muscles locked up as I took in my new form.

My toasted chestnut hair had darkened to something closer to a dark brown with a dark blue undercolor. It was a pretty 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. The tips of each were topped with tufts of a nearly pure white.

Before my eyes could drop to take in the rest of my body, I forced them closed. To ignore what I saw so that I could get on with what I needed to do. I didn’t bother to open my eyes as I walked across the apartment, not caring whether I stubbed a toe or smacked into something as I made my way through the flat.

Surprisingly enough, I made it to where I thought the pod was without an issue. Sure, such an exercise wouldn’t have been much of a challenge a month ago, but that was before I lost some height and changed genders. Both of which should have affected my stride and foot placement.

I didn’t bother to open my eyes as I dropped the towel and slipped into the pod. I only had to be mindful of my tail so it didn’t catch or snag on any of the gaps or edges. As the pod gently rocked under my shifting weight, something rolled across the plastic surface and into my hand.

It felt like a marble and only took a glance to recognize it as the accursed object that represented my biggest weakness. Something that shouldn’t have been able to follow me given that nothing else had. But here it was, sitting in my hand like it belonged. Like it was meant to be there.

Its smooth surface felt comforting as I rubbed my fingers across it. They caressed it as my mind drifted over everything I needed to accomplish. Only, my problem was too large. My goal was too ambitious. Absurdly so.

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 this, 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. I needed to break down my goal of reaching the gods into pieces I could accomplish.

First things first, I needed to level up, a lot. Which means I need to find a place I could use to hunt. It also needed to be safe enough for me to experiment with my magic. Xander might know a place but if he was busy I would have to find and talk to the adventurers guild. So, first I needed to talk to Xander, then the guild before heading in whatever direction they pointed me to.

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 task to complete and a goal to accomplish.