There was a breeze, one that was far too consistent and peaceful to be real. But it was, and the wind carried the sweet smell of wildflowers as it swept down the expanse of nature that seemed to go forever. There was little disruption in this flat grassland, trees were viewable in the distance many miles away. What disruption was there to mar this pristine scape of natural flora? One, two, three large towering stone structures in a triangular configuration that surrounded the heroes. It was a curious sight to behold, each pillar was of different height and held a different symbol at their summit. The northmost pillar was the tallest and bore the symbol of a shield. The eastmost was a bit more broken down and pieces of it littered the grass below, it bore the symbol of the sun. The southernmost pillar was the smallest and it was seemingly the oldest, nature had fully consumed the stone and covered the symbol at its top.

A faint voice would then be heard, a whisper chanted into each of the heroes’ ears.

“All in one piece. All at the right location. All according to plan. My heroes, adjust yourselves to your new bodies and head south. The Glade is only safe for so long, so don’t you dare slack off.”

The goddess’ words hummed to a silence as her message was conveyed. As her invisible presence dwindled away, so to did that lovely breeze and now instead there was an unnerving silence within The Glade. It was deafening still, strange, not a single creature seemed to dwell within this area. Or perhaps they just avoided these newly summoned “Heroes”. Though the goddess did say that it wasn’t exactly safe, and if that were the case how dare she summon these fresh from the jaws of death youths only to submit them to danger effective immediately. Oh, but that was the case wasn’t it? She said it before they had taken form in Twintania after all, that she needed them to strengthen and take on some generic forces of darkness. Already forces were in motion, the moment they were summoned a great force of mana could be sensed by any with the talents to do so.

---

“Village Elder!”
A young Huma boy no older than ten charged, screaming all the while, aimed at an elderly woman just a few inches taller than himself. She was clad in leather robes, beads, and small bird skulls clung to her waist. Her hair was silver and brown, though most of her head was concealed by a hood and face wrap.

“What is it shrimpy?” She groaned, the boy’s charge not being dissuaded at all, rather making full contact and causing him to fall flat on his rear. She was a solid old geezer.

“There was like, a bunch of lights! And then they fell from the sky? And hit the ground somewhere near the Mandrake Forest! Send scouts! Send me!” He was out of breath, messy black hair falling in his face as he ranted. He was a rough one, probably the son of a farmer or hunter.

“Lights ‘eh? Have you been eating those funny mushrooms again?” The elder’s eyes and nose visibly contorted as she lectured the boy, she was in disbelief. Which he did not respond to well, pushing himself off the ground back onto his feet and hugging as he stomped towards town without her.

“Stupid batty old witch, I’ll go see what those lights were on my own.”

---

The clacking of distant horseshoes could be heard in the distance outside of the military encampment. Two guardsmen clad in red-white mail and cloth garb stood in attention at the drawgate as the movement drew closer, and closer, and then the formation had finally arrived. The guardsmen hastily saluted as plated men and women on horseback tread past them, an aura of fear emitting from the two as they maintained their stillness. As the last white horse galloped on by, it instead came to a halt with a tug of reins and a upset neigh leaving the rider straight between the two guards.

“Fear not the sun for its brightness.” The helmed Rider spat words down at the two, eyes glistening through the skits of their visor. Upon her silver and crimson armor was several markings of rank, they led the calvarymen that entered beforehand. It was a crusader, the most feared presence in all of Melodia, these guardsmen knew this all too well and rather than swallow their tongues and dote in line they blurted out in cowardice.

“But for the flames of its holy grandeur!”
They snapped back into their statue-like posture, stiffened and returned to attention awaiting the crusader’s response. Which was quite amusing in itself, they stared at the two with a hidden smirk beneath the metal cage that shrouded their visage. A pointed sabaton would then quietly tap at the horse’s side to goad them forward, the plated helmet nodding at the two in approval and responding in a metallic echo.
“Goddess watch you.”

The pale horse stepped further into the encampment, the ground was an upturned soil, the walls quickly constructed forest wood and iron. This was truly a forward camp, meant to be deconstructed and reconstructed as advancements were made on the enemy. The facility itself was filled with soldiers, priests, and mostly Bestia slavesworkers. To this figure, it was a glorious sight to behold and the steed continued on towards the largest tent at Rinanis’ center.

“Once the Templar arrives, we will discuss plans to approach the Glade.” A robed bishop with grey-blonde hair spoke, a council of armor-strapped men surrounding a war table.

“I am here, what’s your decisions clergymen?” The plate-helmed figure announced, sliding off the side of their steed and stomping towards the group.

“We’ve decided to send scouts first, and then once we’ve evaluated the situation we will approach the heroes to discuss their role in the campaign.” The bishop looked down at the map with furrowing brows, extending his hand to the small village closest to the Glade. ”As for the rest of the troops, we will occupy Tici.”

Checkmate atheists. There is a God after all.

Of course, Albrecht never had any stake in that particular argument to begin with, considering how a degree in theology was an absolute meme, but it surely was a sign of a freer world that he could have such thoughts to begin with. The air was crisp, the plains were silent, the stone structures were mystifying. In his ears, the Goddess’s whispers reverberated, biding haste and caution in equal measures, her voice the voice of a myriad of individuals, a cacophonous melody that tugged at his heart. But while his faith endeared him towards the deity that freed him from his obligations as ‘Dietrich’, it was the wide open world that truly tugged at his heart.

He jumped up and, like a basketball-loving teen, smacked the top of the ‘shield’ pillar. Grinning wolfishly, he shifted into a cartwheel next, relishing the lightness of a body that still felt so incredibly hefty. There was mass here, muscle and meat so at odds with his former self. Reaching out with an ungloved hand, he plucked a strand of hair and marvelled at how the light green shone almost like gold in the sunlight, before immediately, as boys who suddenly reached the apex of puberty were inclined to do, stretching out the waistband of his dark trousers.

The moment he did so, the Frenzied Saint’s eyes widened.

Oh shit, blessed by the Goddess indeed.

Forget about the magical sword of stardust he could summon to his hand at a whim. Forget about the badass shield that rested on his back like a turtle ninja’s shell. Forget about his gravity-defying hair and the incredibly toned body that he attained without working out for a millisecond. This…this is what privilege was.

“Fuck yeah,” he said, with the slight awkwardness of a teenager who still wasn’t sure if he really should be saying such naughty words. Then he giggle-smirked at how deep and masculine his own voice had become and suddenly felt like jumping up and doing something crazy again. Holy shit this was hype. Holy shit this was awesome. “Holy shit, Goddess, this is actually super awesome. Thanks a lot, cause wowzers, this is gonna be fun!” Another fist-pumping, before Albrecht’s fresh, amber eyes turned to the others.

A fly-infested hobo. A scaly. A mega goth. A midget pirate. And a…oh, hello there, babe~!

Calling it love at first sight was a lie, and a smarter part of Albrecht warned him of the reality of how literally everyone here was still a human on the inside, and not only that, but a human from Kurtzpel University, with an obscene amount of knowledge and zero emotional attachment, but Albrecht was feeling a mixture of supreme confidence and complete recklessness, fuelled by nothing more than the euphoria of having a new body.

With a confident overexaggerated swagger and a surefooted overexaggerated stride, Albrecht promptly ignored all possibility of neighboring danger with the excuse of ‘getting to know his new travelling companions better’ and approached the white-haired elf with killer legs. He placed a hand on her shoulder, tilted his head, and smiled in the same way dudes from mints commercials did, and said one word.

“Hey.”

In a hypothetical future a century later, tales of the Frenzied Saint’s legendary pick-up lines will inspire a million eager youths to replicate the same action, much to the exasperation of the fairer sex.

Well, that’s unfortunate.

For so much of her life, Fae’s entire reason to breathe was to prove others wrong. To prove that she was her own person. To prove that she had no need for her stepfather, that she would be just fine on her own. To prove that she had worked hard for everything, that it wasn’t just given to her by any parental figure or any generous stranger. To show to everyone else that everything she did was earned by her. Not that she was blessed by some stupid goddess with some dumb gift of intelligence or dexterity or strength or stamina or—

“All in one piece. All at the right location. All according to plan. My heroes, adjust yourselves to your new bodies and head south. The Glade is only safe for so long, so don’t you dare slack off.”

Oh. Right. A disappointing realization to make, that’s for sure.

After the voice of the goddess left her ears, the sights before her entered her eyes. Another realization to make; this was real. As in, not some sort of dream. Not some sort of story crafted in the depths of some poor soul’s mind. Certainly not the type of thing Fae herself had ever thought of. It was real life. Unlike the other realization Fae had made, this one filled her with hope. This was an entirely different world, one with completely separate possibilities from the one she was in before. Nobody here knew her, and even if her fellow students who died in the tragic accident were here, they certainly couldn’t recognize her. She had been completely reborn, meaning she would not have any of the old ties she had in the human world. Including the ties to her stepfather.

’Thank you, goddess.’ A phrase Fae thought she’d never think in her life. Fae had lived her entire life with next to zero faith in any sort of gods. The most she did was entertain herself with the idea from time to time, but she ended up deciding for herself that any god wouldn’t care at all for someone like her. She assumed that all gods were too busy doing godly things like creating solar systems and galaxies to entertain themselves with the lives of humans. But if an extremely bored and desperate goddess camping in the outskirts of Glasgow waiting for some smartasses to die was what got her here? She would take it.

She decided to assess her surroundings. She saw three pillars, a shield, a sun, and a... pillar without a symbol. Which, conveniently, was the southernmost pillar. This goddess really didn’t want Fae to know anything about her goal, huh? In fact, Fae didn’t remember much of the details of what the goddess told her besides ‘you have to fight the forces of darkness.’ Fae shook her head and decided to pay no mind to it for now. Like the goddess said, she’d still have to get used to her new body. After doing a quick stretch, she saw the bodies of at least two other people. So there were others, after all. Was it in her best interest to get a glance of them? Probably.

Hm.

Quite the interesting cast the goddess had made up here. There was a cloaked-up mysterious looking guy, a small girl (were there two, or was she actually hallucinating?), a lizard who’s humanoid features reminded Fae of a very interesting group of people, a girl who has definitely screamed and cried for her parents to take her to hot topic, and a boy who was. Looking in his trousers. You would think in her desperate time of need, the goddess would’ve assembled a crew that were all made up out of muscular sword wielding armor-wearing heroes? The only person here who seems to come close to fitting that type is not making the greatest of first impressions.

Oh well. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil-

“Hey.”

Unless the evil came to you.

”Hello there, um...” Fae began, both fighting the urge to call him ‘Trouser Boy’ and also fighting the urge to audibly scream out expletives when she heard her own voice. It wasn’t even close to sounding like her! This weird cloak tunic-thingy wearing girl she was masquerading as had an actual mature woman’s voice. The voice Fae was familiar with was all squeaky and helpless little girl sounding. She absolutely loathed the voice she used to have, but this one? It’s finally one she can get behind.

Oh! She still needed a name for this man she was talking to. Trouser Boy would suffice within the confines of her own mind, but she didn’t want to insult someone who she thinks is supposed to be her ally.

”What would you like me to call you?” Fae replied, trying her best to put on a welcoming-looking face.

She fluttered along the breeze, drifting as weightlessly as a leaf as the world spun below. Her arms tingled, her legs were numb. Fragments of glass glinted in her peripheral vision, and some part of her dully recognized that the shards not spinning with deadly grace through the air must have been stuck in something. Fire glinted in their depths. Widened eyes stared back, her own, reflected precisely as time slowed to a crawl. She couldn't tell if she was descending, she could only spin into a greater haze of disorientation. A passenger to that morbid carnival, the scent of burning diesel and molten rubber blotted out her senses. There was a splash and something wet hit the ground, no consistency to its demise, no resistance against the pavement.

Falling, she could feel it then. The overcast firmament above boiled away, dissolving into the clear indigo of a true sky. The stench of death was washed clean, and the ringing that haunted her ears faded away. A soft voice took their place, a tempest of whispers telling her things. Twintania? Legendary Heroes? Her mind recoiled at the words, a faint, internal growl rising over the pretty voice speaking to her. Conscious thought did not come so easily yet, she tiptoed through her mind, placidly accepting the things she was told until one realization brought with it sobriety.

"Wait... God? God? Hold up..." The light began to fade away. Her sole guidepost became that dreadful feeling, the natural nervousness brought on by falling, falling...



A dreary mess was strewn out across the homely green of The Glade. The shape of a body, lying flat on its face and adorned with the rotted spoils of much scavenging, rested face down in the grass. Limbs spread in every direction, as flat to the ground as one could get. That's not quite right. The creature stirred, gloved hands grasping troughs in the dirt as newly invigorated limbs shriveled towards the body, worming beneath it to prop the disheveled figure up. She drew her legs under herself, raising to all fours in the dirt as rattling bits of armor and jacket descended around her crouched form. A shock of ragged black hair fell into her view. Now that's not right at all.

She teetered unsteadily as she took a hand off the dirt and snapped it right to her chest, clutching into leather and scale mail uncertainly through the thick gloves she felt herself wearing. Trembling digits worked upwards over the shape of the unfamiliar frame they felt, freezing with terror as they happened upon the grit of stubble.

"Porca troia, what is this!?" A voice with a clear default setting of gravely bass squeaked nervously as the texture shocked her to speech. Opening her mouth was a mistake. Drawing that first breath welcomed in an entirely new world. Irene lurched forward, choking, almost retching on her new sense of smell. The acidity of soil and grass, and a floral tint from the surroundings poured onto her. Old stone, cured leather, treated metal. Scents she couldn't identify by instinct crept in, things that she quickly surmised belonged to the other strangers strewn out over the grass in similar fashion. One scent over all grated her the most though, a nagging question that persisted even after taking in the sights around her. What smelled like wet dog? ... Oh God. She raised her wrist, sniffing lightly at the cuff of her coat. Yeah. Focus on other things. Now was not the time to start screaming "What day is it?" to the locals. Act natural.

Armor plates grated in her ears. Gray, bagged eyes tracked to the sight of the knightly looking one waltzing over to the female bundled up in green. Are those elf ears? They both looked straight out of a fantasy. She cast her eyes sideways over the rest. Some kind of overgrown lizard was resting on the ground in the way she imagined all of them had found themselves here. An honest to goodness clown splashed a great deal of red onto the scene. Her gaze drifted down, halfway expecting to see balloon-nosed squeaky shoes only to flutter back up, alarmed. Wasn't there something different about those stripes? It was best not to think. There was a waifish looking girl, the sheer amount of black and white contrast coming from her made Irene's new eyes uncomfortable, even if there was a ghostly sort of majesty about them. Then there was... a third little girl, this one crafted in more earthly colors, and seemingly crushed beneath a set of gigantic arms? Closer inspection revealed them to be floating unnaturally in the air. The two standing, talking, looked a lot more at home here than the rest of them did. For now, she had to covertly glean what could from the other apparent outsiders.

She heaved herself to her feet, rocking on her heels as an unexpected strength powered the action. She felt so light as she moved, muscles responding with a readiness to action that she had never felt as a student with a cushy life. The interrupted words of the Goddess still echoed in her head, somewhat. Already her mind felt fuzzy recalling some of the details, as if the years were prying away the memory with every breath she took. She only needed to understand two things. They were going South, and they were not safe. Step 1: Talk. Step 2: Leave. A confidence she did not feel at all guided her as she took steps towards the others, walking between the awakening forms of the rest of their fubar Fellowship. That bit about legends and heroes didn't really resonate while looking at children.

"Are you..." Her voice felt like rocks in her mouth. Sounded a little like it too, something that would take getting used to. "Alright, little miss?" The looming, cloaked hobo offered a rusted hand down to the closest Fellowship member, the smallest of their small children currently beset by a gigantic set of bronzed arms.

Phann blinked not quite believing her eyes, having spent her life believing that death would simply be the end she was rightfully surprised to find herself standing in a child's body, surrounded by grass and completely alive. After the initial shock of not being dead wore away, Phann couldn't help but grin a little, finding the notion that truly nothing, not even life itself, could be held sacred.

"Well I guess that's atheism out the window... maybe I should just adopt faith in this goddess’s religion..."

Phann paused for a moment, briefly considering her own musings before dismissing the notion entirely, deciding the before she blindly went about enacting some deities will she'd first like to check that she agreed with that will and then might consider enacting it with her eyes wide open. It wasn't like she had any reason to trust this goddess had common interests anyway, if this world had one or more deities then it also stood to reason that her own had had such beings as well and she certainly didn't consider many of their achievements to be things she could get behind.

Still, regardless of whether Phann was going to adopt a faith or not, it was fun to ponder on such topics and she had just been given so much to think on. Did magic exist in this world? It seemed likely given the circumstances... For that matter did the fundamental scientific rules of her old world even apply here? If not then what did... Was whatever divine force that governed this world truly all-powerful? Paradoxes aside it would appear not if they had to rely on summoning the dead to do things for them, though maybe that purpose was amusement... What else made this world different, or was...

Phann was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the goddess whispering into her ear, causing her to frown slightly. The "Don't you dare slack off" part she found more than a little vexing but more so was the fact that the goddess had seemingly dumped her and all these other people, she was somehow only now noticing, into dangerous territory. Still, at least the deity had provided a warning at all and her words had drawn Phann's attention to her surroundings which was probably a good thing.

Phann looked over the pillars with some degree of curiosity, before shifting her attention to the glades more interesting feature, its current occupants. The first people she noticed was a large, gaunt-looking man, whose other features she could not make out many of his other features for the filthy cloak he wore and who seemed to be offering a hand to what seemed to be a very small pirate with a pair of, if she had to guess, giant magitech apendages of some kind extending from her back. Next, she spied a white-haired female in a lolita dress, Phann figured most would consider her conventionally attractive had it not been for the sinister vibe she gave off, honestly Phann couldn’t help but grin at this, the strange part of her mind Phann had spent so long cultivating finding the whole creepy aesthetic strangely pleasing. After that what appeared to be a large, muscular creature, halfway between a man and a lizard, it didn’t seem hostile so Phann assumed it was fine but really wanted to know how something like that even came to exist. Finally, Phann looked over to where what appeared to be an elf and what Phann guessed to be the personification of egotism where having a conversation.

Given the fact that her own appearance seemed to have changed and she wasn't the only one caught in the crash, Phann deemed it entirely likely that at least a few of these people where her fellow classmates or worryingly enough, members of the hijacking group. Pushing that thought aside but maintaining some degree of vigilance, Phann moved on to checking her own self out. Beginning her examination, it became immediately clear that she was at least a couple of years younger than she had previously been, with lighter skin and hair as well. She seemed to be wearing some kind medieval jesters costume. if the hat was anything to go by, and whatever the case it was quite possibly the single most comfortable thing Phann had ever worn. Eventually, Phann reached up to probe her face, searching for the burn scars she'd become so familiar with. Nothing. In spite of liking to think herself as having moved past the matter of physical apperances, Phann couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of joy at the loss of the marker that had burdened her for so long.

Suddenly feeling great about the whole scenario, Phann let her usual too wide grin spread across her face, eyes widening as she began to let out the mad laughter she'd spent so long mastering, slowly rising in intensity from a manic giggle into a full-blown cackle. An image of insanity only made further horrifying by her new childish form. After she'd finished, Phann took one last moment to bask in the giddiness she was feeling before, sufficiently convinced that anyone from Kurtzpel was now aware of her identity, she set about planning her next course of action.

He'd been asleep when it happened. Perhaps it was mercy that his death was quick, and he'd not had to wake up to the terrible pain. But on the other hand, when they all started falling, he was groggy, only for his eyes to jolt open as air cut past. And then, the impact. That left him dazed, and somewhat knocked out. He heard the Goddess, and she seemed...nice. But he had a splitting headache, which soon began to resolve, as the lizardman lay there, flat on his back. Unlike the others, who needed a moment to realize the changes, he'd noticed at once.

"Okay...that's not normal." His vision was weird. Like, he could see more, in a wider range than previously. It was when he lifted an arm, that he noticed...he has scales. His first thought was that yes, he'd been transformed into a dragonborn or something! It was only when he looked a little closer, and started feeling his face, as he pulled himself upright, that he realized that perhaps he was wrong a tad. Sure, it wasn't a normal fantasy race that looked a bit more....appealing? Then again, at the same time, he was stronger than the average human, if he understood basic logic. This was more a lizardman, he thought. He groaned, glancing around, seeing what looked like a colorful jester girl, who was now losing her collective shit, a pervert who was clearly seeking to score with the elf, what looked like a dwarf, some sort of...witch girl? And the last one...he couldn't place. They smelled funny. Oh right, better sense of smell, perhaps?

There was also some sort of humming he could feel in his rear, but a quick check confirmed...it came from the ground. Okay, that was interesting. He took stock. A crossbow, and some sort of bag. It looked familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. Fun. He looked over the group again. Was he the only one of the school here? That...upset Henry internally. Sure, most of them were stuckup pricks, like that one kid who got in through his prestigious status, and let's be honest, that kid hitting on the girl reminded him of the other for some reason. Granted, Henry had always kept to himself, so he didn't know as much as he could about the others. But it upset him...because the thought of being that level of alone, where only you know yourself, and no others, hurt. He didn't want to be alone. If he was here, perhaps he had died or something, and that thought also scared him. But while the guy hit on the elf, and the one girl tried to help the one with arms, and the clown laughed like a pyscho...his attention turned to the last one. The witch girl. Sure, she looked scary, but Henry and her were...the most out there of their group. So unless she did something to repel him, or her mere presence was a problem, he went over, the lizardman looking towards them, his voice, while gravely and reptilian, holding a strange sort of gentleness that had any of the others known who this was, might have been startled by. This was a new world...a chance to be someone. He'd still be a writer, but for now...helping another was what mattered.

"Hey, how are you doing?" He really wasn't sure what to expect, but he held out his hand to the gothic gal, to help her up, if she needed it. Otherwise, he'd just be there, to offer aid as needed. His mind was thinking about the task laid out though. Some sort of threat. This was like a video game, a moltry crew of heroes or anti-heroes, or reformed villains. Either way, he'd do what he could, at least. First step, helping the odd one out. Besides, she couldn't be that scary underneath...it was probably just a side effect of what the goddess had done. Man, that was gonna be interesting to deal with, a goddess, rather than a god or something. Hopefully...she'd be a guiding light when they needed it, or just someone to talk to. He wasn't looking forward to the sleepless nights as he adjusted to this new form. And for a moment, he did wonder, like mister "I'm well endowed" what exactly had happened to his manhood, but he decided it wasn't worth figuring that bit of biology out just yet... So back on point, the hand, out stretched, as warm a smile as he could muster on his reptilian face, yellow eyes gazing out from the sides of his head, down at the girl. Thankfully he had some degree of balance. And could still feel that tingling sensation, but it was now just in his feet. Perhaps there was some sort of energy underground? Be worth looking into later, just what sorts of powers each person had to use. He hoped he'd gotten something useful...that bag was probably it. Right?

Man, what a bunch of misfits, poor goddess, she'd summoned a bunch of children who weren't friends already. This was going to be a steep learning curve. Especially with company on their way...

Dropped.

Was this supposed to happen?

Last thing Jyu-in could remember, she had got on the bus to her new university. If it was just a simple trip across Scotland, why was she hurtling through the air? Right! The kidnappers. There were definitely some kidnappers who took them all hostage. Still didn't really solve most of the mystery, but it helped explain why it happened. Wait a second, no it didn't. If she was on a bus, how did she end up in the sky. Wait, what was she hearing? It was hard to hear over the eardrum bursting wind noise. Rather, she didn't hear it. She felt it. Something about being in one location, with the right piece, having a new southern body, and slacking off in the glade. Still though, the ground approached fast.

Wait, wasn't this exactly how she died in the first place, hurtling at high speed towards an immovable object?

"Oi fuck."

She landed with a splat, two heavy weights smashing on top of her with comedic timing. Before she had a chance to die, the weights seemed to lift off of her back. What was all that about? Before she could get up by herself, an unfamiliar voice emerged from outside the grassy knoll her face was currently deeply implanted in. An unsure inquiry about her health, it was. Jyu-in didn't really feel pain. In fact, besides the grass tickling her on all sides, she didn't really feel much. With a hand on each side, she pulled her head out of the earth.

"Down fucked, I am," her voice seeped out indeterminate accents and booze. It felt as though her jaw had slammed enough spirits to exorcise Ireland. In fact, that wasn't even what she was trying to say. Her brain had sent the signals to her vocal cords to make a sound similar to 'I might be hurt, can't tell, sorry' but it got jumbled along the way. Not really jumbled so much as completely demolished. Instinctively, she covered her mouth and took the strange man's hand. He was a bit smelly, actually. She didn't really say anything about it. That's when she noticed something very important.

"Blimey, why's my head so bloody low?" Again, she spoke in mixed up words. What she meant to say was 'wait, why am I short'. Indeed, she barely reached the smelly cloaked man's (presumed) navel now that she stood up. She turned around to gauge her surroundings. Her other companions, so to speak, were a cackling jester, a paladin-looking fellow doing something to an elf woman, giant metal robot arms, a lizard, and a goth.

Wait hold on a second. A lizard? Wait, no. Why was there a set of massive floating robot arms?

"Oi? Fuck's this shite?" She let go of the smelly man's hand and backed up. The large arms followed her every move. Rather, now that she was focused on them, they mirrored her every move. When she lifted her arms in an extremely useless sense of self-defense, the arms mimicked everything. Finger position, arm shakes, everything. Wait, everything? She stopped moving back and slowly (but surely) made an okay sign with both hands. The arms followed suit, mirroring the exact movements. The arms must either be a massive bellend and was making fun of her, or they were hers. The only words that could come to her mind in the confusion was a simple 뭐.

"Cor blimey..."

---

The pieces were set in motion, the games had begun, now it was only a matter of time for gears to turn as the machinations of destruction came into effect. Or something like that? The heroes had all come to their senses, some enjoyed the new world and the opportunities that Twintania had to offer. Some were less optimistic, more confused and bewildered by the situation. Which was completely reasonable, I mean, they just died after all. And now they were adjusting to their new bodies, The Lizardmen and the Bestia would have the hardest times as their anatomy was completely different than that of your standard humanoid races. They’ll figure it out though, they’re heroes after all.

The traces of mana could be sensed by the sharper heroes, while others would just feel a subtle tingle in the ground beneath them. Though one thing was for certain, this area was coursing with the world’s essence. But that brings us to another question, where was all of the wildlife? Some time would pass as the heroes found their bearings, precious time as the minutes passed and the drawing omens began to grow closer. The first sign of this change was a swarm of blue arcanist butterflies that seemed to approach from the forestline to the north. They calmly scattered across the Glade, landing on pollen-rich flora that decorated the lush green ocean. Some even gathered near our very heroes, being attracted to the witch and elf in particular. It seemed as time went on more life was attracted to the location. And it was only a matter of time until.

“Kahhhhhh!” A loud repilian bellow could be heard, though how far it was couldn’t really be distinguished at this moment. Various species of birds followed the sound with numerous squaws and cries of fear. Something was coming..

---

---

“How far out until we reach the objective?” A bald huma man in basic grey plated armor asked, his brown sights placed anxiously on a young man with snow white hair accompanied by a hawk companion upon his shoulder.

“Nightfall at the earliest. Though they won’t remain there that long if they wish to survive. You know how dangerous mana-rich areas get during the dark hours.” He replies, this scout’s sight remained forward and calm, before firing his left arm forward with an extended hand to direct the avian. The bird took flight on command, outstretching his wings and soaring on ahead to grant information on his return.

They had just scaled a hillside and the journey had just begun. But it was an honor for any who were faithful to the goddess to step foot on the blessed mana-abundant garden that was The Glade. But should things go awry and this mission end in failure, it’ll be their heads on a pike. As is the rule of the grand clergy which acts as the goddess eyes and ears. The bald mercenary nodded quietly, a grimace painted permanently on his midlife crisis face. The two tugged the reins of their steeds steering them forward in the direction the hawk had headed, circling right above a far off forest that separates them from their destination.

“Albrecht Dietrich,” Albrecht Dietrich replied suavely, totally aware that his charm wasn’t working but rolling with it despite the fact. “Aged up quite a bit, haven’t I? And you, da-” rling, holy shit that girl was loud. At the sound of the mad cackling, the fratboi in shining armor immediately whipped around, eyes flickering frenetically towards the source: a crazy clown chick that was definitely Phann. No doubt about it. With the assumption that everyone from 14-A got turned into weirdos…

Jester was definitely Phann, because of course that girl was batshit insane. Goth girl was probably Amaris, judging by her whole aesthetic. Lizard dude was…well, by deduction, it’d certainly be Henry, wouldn’t it? But there was a third guy. Genderswapping was a thing then. The elf had no accent though, so that discounted Jyu-Ni at least…yet the dwarf was belting out a Scottish accent that no one in the class had. Wait, that still worked. Dwarf had to be Jyu-Ni, cause no one else emoted that much (except for Phann, but she was insane). So that left Fae and Irene and Henry to fill the spots of Elf, dirty hobo, and scaly. Rewind a bit though, and you get...'porca troia’. Italian. Who was Italian? Irene. That was a male voice. Which meant that…think a bit further…who was more likely to show concern for someone else, Fae or Henry? In his mind’s eye, Albrecht imagined a coin flipping, and decided to go with his first answer. Henry was the Lizard, Fae was the elf.

With his conclusions made a half-second after he turned away from the beautiful gaze of the elven Fae (wow, imagine that sort of coincidence), Albrecht faced her once more, that lopsided grin on his face again. “And you’re Fae, right? Wild world, isn’t it? New bodies and all. How ‘bout you and I help each other get acq-”

The second roar, reptilian in nature, had the knight whipping his head around again, a mixture of anger and exasperation on his expression as he narrowed his eyes towards Henry, who…wasn’t the source of the roar after all. Wow, for all the praise he heaped unto the Goddess, she was certainly going out of her way to tell them to get the hell out, huh? From the weird butterflies that were flitting around to the roar that came from a long ways away, it was becoming clear now that Albrecht’s fate was to be divinely cockblocked until they went south.

Which was probably the opposite direction of the roar, right?

Hopefully.

Extracting his hand from Fae’s shoulder, the green-haired paladin’s smile became a bit sheepish as he stepped back. “Maybe another time, instead? Cause yeah, that thing sounds like bad news and I don’t want to wait around here for any good news.”

A pause. Right, the others should head over as well.

“Henry, Irene, you two look pretty big. Hold the rear with me. The rest of you girls, head away from the woods ASAP, yeah? Chop chop, let’s get the fuck outta here!”

There were no longer any pauses, as Albrecht unslung his shield from his back, sliding it over his left arm, before marching off with a casual, but purposeful gait. There was no doubt in his mind that they would follow, and even if they didn’t, he had no intention on sticking around for too long.

After all, who knew what other giant frickin’ monsters were going to converge onto this point? Surely not all predators were stupid enough to announce their presence from a decade away?

The moment the butterflies appeared, Phann decided to give them chase, surging forwards with a surprising degree of speed that probably would have resulted in her toppling over had it not been for the fact that her balance also seemed better than usual. It wasn't like her old body had been particularly unfit, but this new one was something else entirely. Momentarily getting distracted, Phann decided to try and see just what her new body could do. For the next few minutes, Phann ran around laughing, performing feats of acrobatics and flexibility she was sure she never could have before and that she reckoned she could further improve with practice.

Finally getting back to the task at hand, Phann looked to the butterflies, deciding to see just how many of them she could capture. Chasing after them she let her self descend into erratic giggling, nowhere near the level of her earlier cackle but still unnerving to behold. Phann had just managed to deftly snatch two butterflies out of the air, one in each hand when what Phann could only describe as the roar of a very large and very angry lizard sounded out from the distance.

"That can't be good..."

Hearing the man she'd spotted talking to the elf earlier, urging her and the others to move away from the forest, Phann couldn't help but wonder if that was truly the best course of action. While she was pretty sure she could outrun at least a few of these people in her new body, what she wasn't so sure of was the speed of whatever it was that was coming. If it happened to be faster than them running around in open terrain would be a less than ideal position to be in and it seemed, at least to Phann, that traveling a wide berth around the creature through the forest where at least they could hide and wait for it to pass, would be a much safer way to go about things. Then again splitting herself off from the rest of the group seemed like a terrible idea in equal part, though not if everyone ended up dead.

Turning her attention back to the creatures she held in their hands, Phann noticed their irreparable damaged wings from where she'd touched them and in spite of the logical part of her brain telling her that as insects they were incapable of suffering, she couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty. Thinking on what to do with them Phanns grin widened a little as her mind wandered back to the time she'd spotted some girls freaking out over a grasshopper and decided to pick it up and eat it right in front of them, their priceless reactions forever etched into her mind. A moment later and Phann had shoved both of the butterflies into her mouth and in spite of the godawful taste managed to put on a rather impressive show of maintaining her grin while she chewed and swallowed the poor creatures, only then stopping to stick her tongue out in disgust.

"Well, I regret every decision I've ever made..."

A voice just as unfamiliar as her own radiated out of the strange... Cockney? Child as Irene pulled her to her feet. Strangely enough, she kind of felt like she understood the stream of profanities coming out of the little girl's mouth.

"Well, You seem alright." Already, intuitively, her brain searched for the telltale scent of blood and illness. Just because those were gone she felt confidence assessing their health, but rationality said otherwise. The way they were arranged, this particular creature's adorable plight in pulling their head from the Earth. They'd fallen. She remembered that much. Given the circumstances maybe it was more of a metaphorical fall, since they were dead and all. No, she'd been literally imprinted in the dirt. As the girl turned and made the same pass over her surroundings that all of them had underwent, Irene quietly flicked some of the dirt from the girl's silly hat. Before she could tell her anything a sinister cackle rattled over the Glade. It was unpleasantly loud. The dogged man's face she had shriveled with discomfort, eyes flickering aside at the crimson fountain of mirth in their midst. There was something hauntingly familiar about that laugh, something that sent had been able to send her danger sense buzzing even back in the real world. With a deep breath, she swiveled back to the armed-one.

"You're not the only one feeling a bit different, then- Woah," She took a step back as what looked like a few tonnes of metal arm spun through the air, following the motions of their owner. Irene watched, enraptured as the enormous, bulky limbs perfectly mimed the dexterous expressions of the child. Were they in science fiction, too? Some kind of special hell for Ivory Tower critics like herself where everything was based on pulp fiction and schlocky movies? Didn't sound too bad. Liberating, even. Better than that laughter, for sure. She continued to step backwards, cloak flapping around her ankles as she put some distance between herself and the girl playing with her deadly alien robot limbs.

There was no rest, no reprieve to sit back and digest all of this new information. If it wasn't a swarm of brightly colored butterflies it was the roar of something distant and rather like... Fucking dinosaurs holy shit. There were even birds scattering off into the air, squawking their alarm and giving the audience a convenient means of determining scale at a distance. At least, they would have, if it were then possible to see the creature that had made the noise. Her attention was piqued, that was a noise that made the hairs of her neck stand on end. Almost as unsettling, hearing her own name. She turned her grizzled face towards the knight, astonished. Her fingers crept up to her chin, feeling the coarse texture of her skin through its resistance on her glove once more. She'd heard him utter a name for himself earlier. Albrecht Dietrich. A student of 14-A. Right, the Goddess had said spoken to them as a group. With what little she heard, what little remained with her memory, the pieces suddenly began to click together. The child doing their best Jack Nicholson popped a butterfly into their mouth. Oh it's Phann. The realization sparked into a sudden optimism. What had made her so recognizable?

"Wait, what do I look like to..." Irene quieted. Albrecht had turned away, and was armoring up. Good point. Smirking to herself, she patted her sides, stopping as she couldn't find so much as a belt pack. The hulking hobo performed a nervous titter, frisking themselves like a someone who'd suddenly found themselves locked out of house and home without a key. Nothing. Still hoping to find so much as a pocket knife or thumbtack if they were swashbuckling through the countryside with sword and shield and clown costume and eyeliner, she jogged to catch up. It was easy to fall into pace behind the one person who looked like they had a plan, occasionally turning around on bouncing steps to make sure the others were trailing too. This was Step 2 in motion, she just hadn't expected to be leaving with everyone present at the pillars. The more the merrier.

"Where is here? What made that noise?" Everything was a question, and she hurled them thoughtlessly at the one who seemed to know something. Their predicament suddenly had the air of a crisis, but unlike on the bus there was no glinting blade in her face to tell her why. She didn't notice the shift in her posture as they walked, that imposing new body of hers hanging its arms at her side as they marched, fingers splayed wide, instinctively ready to claw at the world.

Silently thanking the young child for interrupting T—Albrecht, her eyes had also wandered towards the clown. The circus opening act seemed to be a tad unhinged. Thinking back to how the man had called himself Albrecht, it lead her to believe that the rest of the people around her were the students of 14-A. Out of all her classmates, the only one that would have the (for lack of a better word,) boldness to make such a sound in public was Phann. She began to further examine the others. Not counting Albrecht, Phann, and herself, there were... four people. The girl that Fae had, at a first glance, deemed to be a very dedicated emo kid looked much more interesting than just that. She stood out in a different way than Phann, the lizardman, and the girl with giant robot arms (holy shit, giant robot arms?) did. As if there was an outside force pulling Fae's eyes towards her. A captivating beauty, to be sure, but one that also looked sinister. Fae forced herself to look away, in fear that some dark being would punish her for staring. Unfortunately, her eyes once again met Albrecht's. A pause would be made to the analyzation of her peers.

Oh. He had called her... Fae. Obviously he wasn't wrong, but to hear it out loud and to realize that that was what he was addressing her by felt strange. Not in a strangely good way, or a way that the girl herself could identify as a bad way. It was like hearing it had disconnected herself from reality. Everything the student-turned-egoistic-paladin said after that sounded different. His voice was melting, if voices could melt, and it turned from comprehensible language to white noise. Fae noticed her vision getting fuzzy as well. All of the colors around her that she was seeing began to mesh into one color. Green. Fitting enough, seeing as that was the only color around them. She put her hands up to touch her face. Smoother than before. Then her ears. Pointy? The only species with pointy ears that she knew of were elves. Was she an elf? Something within her told her that logically, it was her sense of touch failing on her just like her sense of sight and hearing. But another voice, one much stronger and louder than the inner voice she had grown to known, told her she was right. Another thing different about her than before. Another thing separating Fae from the person she had been reborn into now. She began questioning herself. Who is she? She was not Fae. At least, not any longer. The Fae from before her rebirth would've adamantly denied being anything but a human, she wouldn't even have entertained the thought. Yet she had just accepted it so easily. It would make sense to just attribute it to her changing, but it felt more than simply her personality changing. She felt as if she was becoming increasingly distant from the identity she once knew.


She had to ask herself the question again, but just thinking about it made her uncomfortable. She started to feel weightless, but not in the 'oh my god this is so amazing' type of way. It was in the 'holy fucking shit what is happening to me this is so scary how do I stop' type of way.

Maybe if she changed her name? But to what?

If it weren't for the roar, she could've easily had lost herself in that trance-like state. F... the girl had turned her head in the general direction of where the roar came almost before the sound had even reached her eyes. Interesting, she thought, but not something for her to dwell on at the moment. There was danger. From which direction, she didn't know. She had pointed out to herself when she woke up that the poles were each pointing in a different cardinal direction, but that had just been from her perspective. The goddess had said to go south, but how could any of them truly be sure which way south was? To trust the nearly broken down pillar to take them to safety seemed foolish. Without a compass (if those even worked in this world), there would be no way to tell. Especially when it was bright, meaning they were without stars.

As with all of her thoughts recently, something had interrupted them. Normally it was harder to divert her attention like this, but there were so many other things to stimulate her in this new world, and the roar sounded far enough away that it wasn't immediate danger as she had first thought. Her eyes became locked on the butterflies, flying closer and closer to her. Thankfully, she'd managed to drown out the sound of Albrecht's voice, so she could focus on these creatures. She held out a finger for one of them to land on so she could closely examine them. 'Beautiful,' she thought. No animal in the human world had given off any aura as strong as theirs. She sensed another force imbued within each of the butterflies, one of life. The one on her finger began to flutter its' wings and fly, much to her disappointment. However, the butterfly stopped and turned around before it got too far away. Unsure of exactly how to take this, the elf decided to walk after the insect. The walk quickly turned into a run after the butterfly began to move again.

It was taking her on a path, one that was making her sense the same energy and life force that she felt from the animal that became her temporary tour guide. This had also confused her. Was it was supposed to tell her that there was some organism beneath the ground that was giving off some sort of power? That didn't feel like the right answer. If not an organism, then it was just energy. Energy that was absolutely everywhere around her. As she followed the butterfly more and more, the energy got even stronger than it was before, like it was building up. To her displeasure, the butterfly began to fly higher and higher. The elf's desire to chase the animal had not faded, however. Out of desperation, she started to jump. As she was jumping, she also began to think. All of this energy around her had to have held some sort of benefit to her. The butterfly had given off the energy when she was holding it, which meant it had to have drawn it in. Setting aside her beliefs that she wouldn't be able to do it, she focused her mind on the energy. It then began to turn from a small tingling sensation into a more prominent vibration in her feet. Think. Think, think, think. What would allow her to get high enough to reach the butterfly? Something that would propel her up into the air. Her first thought—no, her instincts told her it was the air itself. If a strong enough gust of wind could push her off her feet, she could get the elevation required to catch it. Making up her mind, she concentrated on the wind. On creating wind. She felt the energy gather underneath her feet. And as quickly as it gathered, it released even quicker, in the form of the gust of wind she had been thinking of before.

The wind blew away the other butterflies that had flocked to her, leaving them to scatter amongst themselves. It threw her up high above the ground, the wind hitting her face as she flew and blowing both her hair and cloak. As she saw her escort get closer to her face, she stretched out her arms in preparation. Waiting for the perfect moment, she clapped her hands together to catch it. She was careful to not clap them too hard so she wouldn't harm it, but she made sure she was quick enough to not let the bug react. A large grin formed on her face in success, and she felt weightless yet again. This time, it was the good kind of weightless. Followed by the unfortunate realization that what goes up must come down. Even more unfortunately, the thing that went up had decided to come down on a certain elf-dressed-as-a-clown's head.

Whatever. She had more than enough time to think before she inevitably hit the ground. So, how about those names?

Liki? No.

Riki? No.

Rafiki? No.

Tahupotiki? No! ...Maybe?

Her thinking time had run out.

"That's a relief, and you're welcome." While she dusted herself off, Henry had begun to examine both her and himself for any signs of injuries, or odd features. Never judge a book by its cover, it seemed held true. It was weird to walk, sure, what with the factor of a TAIL AND ALL. Anyway, he'd been about to ask her name, when...that happened.

"What the fuck." In another life, he would have been mortified at his curse, as his head whipped in the direction of that roar. He noted the butterflies, he noted finally the three pillars, especially the most broken of them...his heart strings being tugged oddly enough. He almost didn't hear mister "I've got a magic dick, I've got a magic dick" talking, but soon listened in. Only to grumble under his breath. He had a feeling he knew who that was, but didn't care for the moment. If he wanted to run off into possible danger, without first examining their surroundings, hell, figure out just what they'd been brought to the world with before they saw combat, that was on him. Sure, there were probably more to come. Monsters and creatures. If he had to guess, it might be like a game, where when it got dark, more dangerous creatures came. That did make him look again at that third pillar...and he had an idea.

"Yeah, you go on ahead or whatever. I'm gonna do the smart thing, at least make sure there isn't a hidden treasure chest nearby. I could use some backup though." He said this mainly in the direction of Amaris, offering her a warm, gentle smile. Well, as best he could. He didn't care how the guy running off had guessed anything, he had probably jumped to assuming that they were all from the school. Which, while possible, it was just as likely that not everyone was from the school here. That did beg the question...why were they here? Was this all some complex dream? Group hallucination? No...he'd been the first to presumably fall asleep on the bus. So if it was a dream, it was just him. But...this really didn't feel like a dream. Not even his most lucid ones had been like this. Which meant...either they'd all been kidnapped, had swapped bodies or...had died. The last one involuntarily sent a shiver down his spine. He quickly, but lightly, smacked the side of his snout, to make himself feel better. He turned back, walking towards the pillar, the third, broken one. It pained him to see it so, the destruction making him wonder just what had done it, and what they'd all been dragged into. The sense of an energy in the air was immensely strong here, and it seemed to go deeper. Perhaps...there was some sort of magic rock down there? If this turned out to be part of a Rune Factory world...he was going to have a long chat with an Earthmate when the time came, but he doubted they were so lucky as to be flung into a world he knew. Sure as hell didn't feel like something Tolkien would write. But finally,at the stone pillar, he reached out a hand, to brush against it, just to feel it...and then he proceeded to stumble back, twitching from the sudden vision he'd gotten.

A flash, of a giant carving the pillar, which had some sort of snake eating itself...the world serpent came to mind, which made him shudder again as he thought about it. The giant placed some sort of stone into its top. Well, this was getting interesting. Okay, so he had three options. One, dig down towards whatever was down there, two, look for the rock, and three...those stones nearby looked important, he could try using them. Digging made the most sense, what if that energy could help them? Sure, risk of death perhaps, but he had a feeling that the higher power who brought them there had anticipated such a risk, and had taken measures in advance..to prevent everyone from instantly failing. Still, couldn't be too careful. "Oi! If anyone wants to, could use some help digging here!" He mainly fired this towards the girl with the floating arms, who seemed to be fine, if sounding a lot like a Dwarf from Tolkien's work, or an Irish person. Great, that was going to make the adventure fun, reminded him of how people talked funny when holding Thor's hammer in the comics. Great...

Regardless of if anyone helped him, he'd start digging around at the base of the pillar, mindful to y'know, not bring it down on his head. Henry's massive, lizardman hands made shoveling much more effective than if he'd had a human's body...props to that goddess for bringing him back in this form. He'd have to find out more about her later, see if she was the type to offer advice and guidance. Or at least ways to scare everyone. He'd hope that whatever came forward, they wouldn't be too alone as a team. Perhaps the Goddess would send them allies...hopefully the locals weren't too racist. But anyways, he kept digging, until either something happened, or nothing did. This would probably on his own take a wee bit, but with help, go faster. He wanted to be quick, find out what was around, and go from there. Hopefully magic jazz hands would help him, he kept looking at the hands on occasion, feeling...intrigued by them. Anyways, yeah.

//Part 1 of 2. Part 1 is for anyone who wants to help dig, part 2 will be what happens after. GM told me what's happening, you can ask him for more if needed. Edits can be made.

In amazement, Jyu-in continued to play with her new-found fists for a bit. Rapidly, she shifted from jazz hands to the dreaded Kanchou position to more. Having the fists mirror her actions, however, made the fists a bit unruly. She didn't want to move them all the time because, in fact, she could feel a touch of strain every time she moved them. A curious thought entered her mind. Why was the movement entirely somatic? Movement came from the mind and it propagated using half of the nervous system. If that was the case, then wouldn't her mind be able to control them? Carefully, she focused her mind.

Don't move.

That was it. The mantra repeated over and over in her head. Slowly, her hands moved apart from each other. Suddenly, an impulse. She brought her hands together as fast as she could. A tiny, non-metallic clap resounded. It worked! The hands didn't move. The link had been severed! Wait, why did she want that? If that link broke permanently, she'd pretty much lose the use of her newfound arms. That would fucking suck. In a panic, she began to flex every single muscle that she had in an effort to find any trace of the link. Feet, no. Shoulders, no. Kegels, no. She even flexed muscles she didn't have. Invisible muscles, the kind that didn't actually exist on the human body, too. Suddenly, the fist twitched. She flexed the nonexistent muscle again. The arm moved. Rather than be connected to her arms, her arms were only the training wheels. If she focused hard enough on the task, she could have two sets of arms functioning perfectly!

That meant she spent an exorbitant amount of time relearning how to use a second set of arms with an overly complicated explanation. She could control the two sets of arms autonomously and that was what was important.

Suddenly, a roar. A loud one at that. Jyu-in instantly knew what kind of roar it was. All of those days listening to 'Best Friend Takes You On A Surprise Camping Trip - Natural Ambience ASMR' had paid off. It was a reptilian roar. It sounded like a bass-boosted roar. Thankfully, it was far enough to not demolish her eardrums.

Albrecht had commanded everyone. The sturdy ones, Henry and Irene were with him. The rest of them were to go into the forest away from the roar. Wait, Irene was sturdy? From the bus ride, she certainly didn't think of Irene as sturdy. That meant that the smelly hobo was (most likely) Irene. Out of sympathy, Jyu-in walked towards Irene, now a stinky bum, and thought extremely carefully about what she was going to say. My condolences to your new form. I understand how rough it can be. It was that simple. That's all she needed to say. The words ran through her mind at least 5 times. She was ready. Her face saddened, giving off the international sign of 'I understand', sorrow, and empathy.

"Git fucked."

That was definitely not what she meant to say.

With a sudden grimace, she hopped away from Irene. She was on Albrecht's b-team now. Better to, uh, not acknowledge what she just said. Not even realizing that Henry had called her out, she ignored his request for digging aid.

"Oi, 'rite then lassies," Jyu-in commanded to the rag-tag group of weaklings that had all been doing their own thing, "we're 'eading opp'site tha woods. Prolly south, innit? Tha goddess was warning us 'bout the roar. We hit trouble, I hit for ya, ye?"

Was she right? Who knew. It was Albrecht's plan (if you could even call it that). The other weenies actually listening, however, was a bit unreliable. Snobby students definitely weren't the most organized posse. She also really wanted to leave the glade. The grass made her feet tingle and she didn't like it one bit.

Dropped.

“Came from the treeline,” Albrecht replied, slowing down his pace as he realized that half the group hadn’t followed after all. It struck a nerve, very slightly, but ultimately, once Jyu-Ni and her hilariously foul mouth (what was this, a curse?) joined them, the knight decided not to delay any further. “Whatever it is though, I definitely don’t want to be near it…and who knows if this way is south either? Maybe the Goddess wants us to go through a trial by fire, kill some big monster or whatever.”

He paused, and then shrugged, his steps becoming lighter as he discard unnecessary emotions as easily as a snake shed its scales.

“Like hell I’d wanna do that though,” the green haired knight concluded, his mind already bouncing off to other possibilities, other points of consideration. As far as supplies went, they unsurprisingly had no food or water. The plains they found themselves in probably had small game, but they didn’t have the time to set and reap the benefits of traps, nor did they have any convenient method of ranged at- don’t be stupid, Albrecht, of course you did. More important was the lack of water. At this pace, considering the terrain...he nodded to himself slowly. It wasn’t like he ever had to research this topic specifically, but those were all easy enough to consider. Food and water. For now, conserve. Use hills to scout. Look for…places with lotsa plants, maybe? Roads would be good too, if this world was civilized enough.

Got it.

“That’s what I’ll do.”

He cast a backwards glance at the quickly dwindling stone structures, before putting his attention to the people who were under his protection. “Not just about hitting trouble, Jyu-Ni,” Albrecht said, in a softer voice, “We need to make sure our bodies don’t heat up too much, and we’ll have to conserve our energy best as we can as well, or we’ll dehydrate really fast. Doesn’t look like there’s all that much in terms of trees, so that sucks. Don’t exactly trust any of us here to actually know how to track and butcher rabbits or whatever small animals they have here, so food’s off the table too. Just in case though, uh, Irene, go rip a strip of cloth out of your dirty rags and find some rocks. Swing it…counterclockwise and then release it at…fuck it, forty-five degree angle. Maybe if we get good, it’d work out, but for now…”

The knight motioned vaguely towards the hills around them, clearing his throat once more. Goddess may had remade them, but she certainly didn’t work too hard to make sure they were hydrated before this journey began, hm?

“Still our best interest to find civilization. Or water. Preferably both. Climb hills, look around, and if we see a road or a river, we head that way? And mm…,” Albrecht tilted his head towards Jyu-Ni, “If you could have one of those giant ass arms drag against the ground and leave a trail, that’d be good too.”

If Henry’s experiment wrapped up quickly and the rest of them went off to follow, it’d be good to have a clear path for them to travel, after all.

“And yeah, you smart ladies, anything else you want to big brain about?”
@Burger@Epsir

Irene's turns to check on the rest of the party grew more frequent as the realization that the others were not going to follow gradually set in. The remainder seemed to be gathering around one of the pillars that they had fallen in around, the humanoid lizard digging into the soil for some reason she couldn't quite place. The sensation of not knowing why anyone was doing anything was slowly starting to become her default state. It was an indifferent sort of confusion that she only consciously identified after watching the elf-looking one leap through the air after those strangely alluring butterflies. They might have looked like children but if she were to continue operating on the assumption that they were all members of her class and not convenient likenesses, something that the others seemed to embrace as they went around naming each other, they were not what they appeared to be. It didn't feel right to leave them behind nonetheless, her body very nearly rebelled against the steps she was taking to continue along behind Albrecht, but she had already determined herself to follow the best instructions they had. It wasn't assuredly South, but it wasn't laying about. They were in the right to leave, she thought, and backing down to wait for them would only encourage more waiting around. In a crisis you had to hold the initiative, she'd heard that somewhere before.

Taking guilty looks back at the party they were leaving alerted her to the approach of the earthy colored small one and her enormous arms. The childlike face they wore was weighed down with something that appeared to be sorrow, but as Irene locked eyes with them she realized it must have been pity. It didn't take much soul searching to come up with a reason why someone might be sorry for her, although they were all dead. Everyone else looked like the realization of something fantastic or at least well endowed by their new circumstances, and she was now wearing the blanket off of some homeless man.

That said, Irene felt amazing. Moving had never felt so easy, her senses had never felt so sharp. As a man, it was now her divine right to wear shoes without heels and clothing with actual pockets. She could squint like Dirty Harry and once she got the hang of it and a glass of water probably growl like him too. Most people didn't get anything when they lost their body so anything was an upgrade right? Already she prepared modest counter-condolences, ready to crack a joke and move them all forward without the need for any sorrow in what was, without equal, a second chance for them all-

"Git fucked."

"Oh, uh... Ha," She couldn't help but laugh nervously as they skipped away, once more struggling to get out of the way of those passing arms. Maybe that was some strange breakdown in communication, maybe she'd simply met a true expert in gallows humor. As the lizard called out to them specifically, she began to wonder if the armed one wasn't just belligerent on a level Irene had yet to comprehend.

"Leaving a trail of any sort is for the best. I would hate to be leaving them to their own devices."

In the time it took them to move away she spent most of it listening intently to Albrecht. He had a surprisingly large amount of information to relate, but that had been the impression he gave off. The closest thing they had to an authority figure, a knight in shining armor who clearly knew a thing or two about neolithic armament. As he spoke her eyes followed along with his words, looking over the surrounding lands with refreshingly sharp eyes. Grassland and hills, distance and wilderness. Irene took a look down at the hem of her cloak, ragged and torn as it was, she felt it would be simple enough to rip a strip off later for forming a sling... But that would be after they found some nice rocks, she decided. This entire line of thought was something that hadn't occurred to her until it'd been stated, and it brought with it a new level of discomfort. They had been cautioned to move, danger had made itself present... but their very being was as much a threat to their continued living for now. They needed to live, the need for food and water had not been changed, as far as she knew.

"You flatter me, I'd say you've said it all Albrecht. It'd be awful anticlimactic, if we were dropped here just to starve. I'll... Strike out for a hill, then, see about those rocks and roads. Don't break line of sight, alright? I'll holler and run back if I see anything to note."

She picked at random, selecting a distant rise in the land slightly askew of their current line of travel and casually distancing herself from her two traveling companions. She was careful not to quicken too much, eyes ahead and pace even as she envisioned the scouting mission ahead of her.

---

Darkness. A cold darkness embraced his body, inside of which he felt himself falling. So this was what happened when one was dead, huh? An endless fall within an all-encompassing darkness was his new home after that accident. Funny how it works, despite being dead he could still feel his body. He had to be dead, though, since he knows for a fact that he died. He remembers the bus and the crash, although he couldn't really dwell in the details of the event. Before he could delve deeper into the philosophical aspects of the afterlife and what it could mean for him, a whisper began to echo inside of his mind.

“All in one piece. All at the right location. All according to plan. My heroes, adjust yourselves to your new bodies and head south. The Glade is only safe for so long, so don’t you dare slack off.”

New bodies? What could this voice possibly mean? Uriel went to open his mouth and murmur a question to this mysterious interlocutor, but something went wrong. From his lips came not words, but something else entirely. A thing that he felt began to move upwards as it escaped his throat. He thought that it could perhaps his soul escaping his body until a very faint series of pops came muffled from above, only audible due to the minimal echo. Then he realized just how awfully wet the afterlife felt.

Triggered by this realization, Uriel's mind became fully aware of his body and he began to frantically look around, holding whichever air was inside of him. The moment he saw the weak remmants of daylight pouring in from above, his insticts kicked in and he began swimming upwards, mustering a strength and flexibility he never knew he had. He wasn't sure what he had on him, but it was becoming annoyingly cumbersome on his arms as he began his ascents. What a way the goddess gave him to get used to this new body.

Eventually, Uriel reached the surface of the water and gasped for air the moment his head was out, the splatters he made echoing around him. He felt like his voice was a bit odd, but he rationalized that it was because of the place where he was in and because of the lack of air. In all honesty, he couldn't see jackshit except a little bit of sky at the far top. Moving to the side, he reached out and felt smooth, wet stone pressing against his hand. A quick check revealed to him that he wouldn't be able to climb out.

"Guess I'm stuck 'til someone comes for me, huh?" Uriel commented to himself. Then he frowned: his voice was actually different. It was a couple of octaves higher, and it was definitely much more effeminate than his usual tough guy chords. Then he fully processed what the Goddess had said to him, and his eyes slowly widened as the movement of his legs as he kept himself afloat revealed something dreadful between his thighs. Or, rather, the lack of something.

---

In the center of the small and peacefull village of Tici was a well. It was from within it that the villages gathered the water needed for the tasks and needs of their everyday life. It was also from within it that the screams of a woman emerged, bringing words like "WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL IS THIS SHIT!?" to the ears of unsuspecting bystanders.