章 3: Reborn as a... not human

The steady rumble of wagon wheels slowly flushed the murk from my mind, and I struggled to my knees, clutching my head. The residual confusion of the teleportation, if that had been what it was, finally faded, and I opened my eyes. My head felt unusually heavy, and it was dark, but my eyes pierced the shadows with ease.

Steel bars the width of my finger were spaced evenly around me, set within rough planks forming a floor and ceiling. The cage was hardly spacious, my fingers brushing the bars before I had half extended my arms, and the ceiling barely high enough to accompany a low crouch. A ragged canvas tarp secured the cage, concealing whatever lay beyond the wood and steel.

I remained motionless for some time, internally reeling with shock. Of the many circumstances I had imagined, this was far from it, the unexpected bondage sending a thrill of fear through me. My heart raced, each heartbeat ringing in my ears like the call of a trumpet.

Breathe, just breathe. I froze as something constricted about my throat, drawing tight as I leaned back to take a breath. With a gasp, I reached up and pulled at the rigid leather collar bound about my neck, finding a thin chain tethering me to one of the bars.

I clawed at the collar, eyes wide with horror. The rugged leather scraped painfully against the sore, worn flesh of my neck as I tugged, and I began to grow lightheaded, my breath coming in short, erratic gasps.

I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to take long, shaky breaths. "Calm down, just breathe," I whispered. The youthfulness of my voice caught me by surprise, sounding soft and gentle, but broken with fear.

A sudden jolt in the wagon threw me against the nearby bars, and I gasped as the cold steel pressed into my flesh, grinding sharply against my bones. When the wagon righted itself again, I was tossed to the ground with a small cry.

As I picked myself up, I gingerly felt at my side, wincing as I felt the hard ridge of my ribs. My skin was stretched tight over the bones, with hardly any muscle or fat between them. From the terrible gnawing pain in my stomach, it was clear this form hadn't eaten in far too long.

The chilly impact took the edge off my panic, and I managed to regain my reason. An increased curiosity followed, and I began investigating my body. The faster I figured out who I was, the better.

To begin with, I couldn't be more than thirteen years old. I was slight of frame, with slender limbs and little curves. My chest was painfully flat, even for my young age, though the slight swell of my breasts gave me some hope for the future. Countless dark, blotchy bruises and bloody cuts laced my flesh, yet, aside from the wounds, my skin was fair and white, without blemish.

As I stared at my hand, I once again realized it was completely dark, and my stomach sank. No human could see in these conditions, which could only mean--

My hands flew about my body, searching for unfamiliar irregularities. With wide eyes, I discovered several things that certainly set me apart from a regular person.

My hair was short, cut unevenly to my neck. It was tangled and greasy from lack of care, but I ignored that and felt around the crown of my head, where a pair of horns emerged from my hairline and gracefully curved behind my head. They had a hard, ridged texture and were broken up into several segments. I found them unexpectedly sensitive and quickly grew fond of the pleasant, soothing tingles that coursed through my body as I stroked them.

The only other physical difference was also a surprise, taking the form of a tail. The appendage was long and slender, sprouting from my tailbone. It was a dark red with rigid segments similar to my horns, covered entirely by smooth, sensitive scales.

The confines of the cage kept me from standing, but my tail seemed long enough to allow me to walk on the ground. I pinched the fluted tip and winced, a spike of pain shooting up the appendage—a premature warning to keep it away from anyone's feet.

In addition to the physical changes, my senses were much sharper. Never mind that I could see in the dark, but the rattle of chains seemed much louder than I would have guessed, meaning my hearing was sharper. Reaching up, I was surprised to find my ears were long and pointed, parting my hair and jutting out from my head at a flat angle. If my eyes and ears were better, then was my smell?

Unfortunately, yes. I crinkled my nose as I gave myself a sniff, finding it had likely been a week or two since I'd changed clothes or bathed.

From there, I looked at my clothes and quickly blushed. I'd been assaulted and raped more times than I could count, often having my clothes torn off in the process. This, however, was pushing even my sense of shame.

My dress, if you could call it that, had long since been shredded, barely preserving enough integrity to preserve my modesty. The many cuts and scrapes visible through the scraps were sickly and puffy, giving me an idea of just how fragile this body was. Considering the breadth of the abuse, it was amazing a girl this young had survived at all.

Regretfully, I didn't have any memories of how I got here, so explaining my current race or captivity was impossible. Had I taken over someone's body, or had the gods simply created me a new one?

I shuddered to think someone's soul and personality had been extinguished, but another possibility came to mind. Perhaps the girl really hadn't survived the harsh beating, and I got swapped in as she passed on. I nodded, deciding to believe in that theory. Not even the gods could do something crueler than that, right?

Thinking of the outside, I tried peeking under the canvas, but the material was too stiff and heavy to shift. Spotting a sizeable tear, I strained against the collar and forced my eye up, peering outside.

From my vantage, I could make out the inside of a covered wagon. It was enormous, probably thirty feet long, and filled with cages of differing sizes. Mine seemed to be the smallest variation, but some were seven or eight feet tall. They were also covered in tarps, hiding the inhabitants, but I could only imagine what kind of creatures they contained. They had to be enormous if I used the cramped space in my cage as a reference.

Movement on the other side drew my attention to several men relaxing atop some crates. They were dressed unlike anything I had ever seen, wearing metal armor with medieval weapons strapped to their back. The steel was dull and faded, with signs of rust in the joints, but it dispelled any doubt in my mind. I truly was in some sort of fantasy world.

I whimpered as another jolt caused the leather collar to bite into my neck, drawing the attention of one of the guards. Although he couldn't see me through the tarp, I shuddered at the familiar cruelty in his eyes, one I had seen hundreds of times before. There would be no mercy from any of them.

Withdrawing from the hole, I shivered as a breeze penetrated the cage, forcing its way through the rents. Pulling my dress tight about me, I curled up and tried to sleep. The constant bumps and jolts for nothing more than a semi-delirious state, but my exhaustion eventually drove me asleep.

As I drowsed, an idea struck me, and I bolted upright. Excitement forced away any exhaustion as I recalled something rather important. Magic! According to the gods, I should have all sorts of powerful abilities just waiting to be unleashed. Helpless all of my life, I felt no small amount of anticipation to finally receive some sort of power.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. During the council of the gods, my body was relatively insubstantial and light. There had been a peculiar feeling that filled me, giving me energy and focus. That was probably magic. After searching for that feeling for a few minutes, a sudden surge of power surged from nowhere, beginning at my chest and spreading to the tip of my horns and toes. I gasped in pleasure as the energy flowed like a river, bringing rejuvenating strength and heat throughout my body. But, as quickly as it appeared, the rush ended, leaving a cold and empty feeling behind.

I shook it off and tried again and again, persevering for several hours. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to repeat the experience and was left feeling drained. When the sun finally broke, my body was fatigued and sore, and I was plagued by discouragement.

We traveled all the next morning, and I had just started to fall asleep once more when the wagon rumbled to a halt. After a few minutes, the canvas covering the wagon was removed, and light flooded through the rips in the tarp of my cage. A few minutes later, that too was removed, bathing me in the brilliant light of Enusia.

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