Chapter Three

[Unique Ability Unlocked - Tail Magic]

I don’t even want to know. I lie on my stomach on the cold, hard rocky ground just waiting for the strange voice and flying text to allow me to lock this down. I’ve read in forums with certain gacha games that players reroll accounts until they get the characters or stats that they want. I am not one of those diehard gamers. At this point, I don’t want to go through that hell again, so I hover ‘NO’ for the customization option.

[Tail Magic - Choose from a selected assortment of tails to equip.]

That doesn’t sound very PG.

I am holding out my hand with my index finger pointing at the air. It is green. Am I a slime again? I try to let my eyes adjust, but there is a sort of fog blocking my vision. I do manage to capture the hue on my skin as bluish-green. Like if this color was a sibling of teal. Maybe I’m teal?

I test the mobility of my body by putting up multiple fingers and opening and closing my fist. My arms and hands work, so I assume the rest of my motor functions are operating normally. I feel that it is safe to say that I am bipedal again. That’s a step in the right direction.

I push myself off the ground. My mind absorbed at the thought of a chicken sandwich. Something with a bit of spice and a good mayonnaise-based condiment. A side of fries with a fair amount of salt. Am I hungry, or just distracting myself? I don’t know any techniques which will keep me from panicking, but this chicken sandwich thought is not anchoring me down to reality. I have not taken enough psych courses to know what is happening to me. The body horror that I experienced twice should be enough indication that the laws of physics and human anatomy are not the same as Earth.

In any case, knowledge is my current priority, and with knowledge, you need information. I turn to the pond and crawl towards the edge of it. My vision is still a bit blurry, but I do manage to make out the reflection staring back at me. I blink multiple times.

“What the heck!” I screech. The echo rumbles through the cave.

I lower my brow in one eye as I am unsure whether to be thankful or to curse this invisible being. The reflection staring back at me is my regular human face. Except greenish-blue.

I was maybe 3 or 4. Our teachers surprised us with a petting zoo visiting our class. There was a lot of screaming that day; kids that were excited to pet some animals and the other half that were crying in fear that the tortoise might eat them. I remember my friends and I were ecstatic. The snakes and iguanas were fun to hold. And feeding the tortoise was the first time I remember squealing with joy. As soon as I arrived home, instead of tuning in to my daily intake of cartoons, I looted the paint and marker supplies we had. My mom found me half an hour later in the bathroom, blue and green from head to toe. There is a photo in an album somewhere in a closet of the day I wanted to become a lizard.

I bob my head from side to side watching my reflection copy me. My short hair and long side tails waving along. Something of a variant of an octopus haircut. I’m leaning along the gratitude route towards the face I received. I think it helps take the weight off my shoulders. I guess the third time’s the charm.

I take a closer look at my face and I have freckles now. I consider the possibility that I am gaslighting myself whether this was a feature I used to have on my face. I never considered myself a freckles person, but it does not look bad on me. But are freckles also supposed to be so close to my eyes and ears? I ponder and peek closer to the water.

Upon closer inspection, they aren’t freckles. And I notice the same feature on my arms. They are scales. I consider ripping them off. I’ve always had this unhealthy fascination of picking scabs. But I am some sort of lizard, so these are essential to my body, I don’t know what type of function they serve. I focus on my reflection again and notice more animal features. I had somewhat of a blurry vision since this awakening, so now that my eyes are more focused I notice my amber yellow eyes. My hands are a mesh of human and reptile, but thankfully they still strike me as a bit feminine. I ball up a fist again and the shape is spherical. In my mind, I was expecting a bit more triangular due to the nature of my newfound biology.

I am clothed in some type of black leather armor, I’m glad I’m not naked in a strange place.

So all in all, I look similar to my human form, save a few animalistic additions. I could think of it as a social media filter that I can’t take off.

“Well, now that that’s out of the way, I can focus on my magic.” I clap once and hold my hands in a pondering pose.

I’m gonna be honest. While I did start training martial arts as a self-defense precaution, there is a selfish thought in my head. I want to get into a fight. Not like a sparring match or a regulated skirmish, an actual brawl. Street fight rules.

I think I should clarify that I am not combat hungry to get into a fight with a random person, just someone that already is ready to throw down some hands. I am not crazy.

This magic should put me on some adventures or magic tournaments where I can show off what I can do and feel a sort of adrenaline when fighting. Blame cinema for these impure thoughts, but a dozen well choreographed hand-to-hand combat scenes will get a girl excited. Martial art movies are an international treasure and I salute all these directors that make us squeal with a memorable action sequence. I shift my hands interlocking my fingers.

“Now, it’s time to test out my magic.” I say while cracking my knuckles.

[Equipping a tail will start a 15 minute cooldown where no other tail can be equipped during that allotted time. As you can use no other magic, this magic does not require the basic and usual mana system to activate.]

Interesting. With just a thought, I was able to bring up a virtual menu. The UI needs work since I don’t see a health bar or inventory slots. I may not be a hardcore gamer, but I know my stuff. All I have is a wheel selection of animals and question marks.

I turn around and see that I in fact already have a tail. It feels so natural that I’m surprised I didn’t notice it sooner. Like my skin color, it is a sort of lime green. And it has spikes, but not like the sharp and stabby type, more like the aesthetically looks like an art piece type of spikes. Also there are swirls of a faint darker green on it, it sort of reminds me of a fingerprint. A tailprint? Or is that something else?

I try moving it and I’m surprised at its responsiveness. I wag it, slam it on the ground, curl it into a spiral. This behaves like a normal limb! It’s a surreal experience and the complete opposite of the phantom limbs I experienced on my first arrival to this world.

I turn my attention back to the virtual menu. I can rotate the wheel with just my eyes now. It is also kinda cool since I only see a half circle and the options on the menu take a dive before rising again on the other side. It is like an invisible sea that I can’t swim or access. I take two seconds before selecting the canine option.

[Dog Tail Equipped]

Why does it sound like I’m arming a weapon?

My tail glows brightly, seemingly blinding as the shape shifts to a new form. The furry tail appears in the span of a second. I am slightly disappointed since I was expecting a magical girl transformation that would take at least 15 seconds and a theme song. At the very least, there was no pain or grotesque body modifications. This holy light is the MVP of this magic.

I walk up to the pond again and my face is still the same. The tail magic must only affect my tail composition and not the entire body. This is some weird biology but I don’t have to wrap my head around this, I can just dismiss it as magic.

I see a timer in the upper left corner.

[14:49]

This must be the 15 minute time window until I can change tails. The question is, do I keep the tail for the extended period of time, or does it revert back to my gecko tail?

[This will be the last message. Congratulations on completing the tutorial.]

That was a tutorial? I wag my tail. What exciting adventure awaits me now?

The air around me cracks like glass. Like a mirror, reality shatters around me and I am back in the same cave. The pond, the crystals, it’s all back. But there are others here. In the form of monsters.