How to Change

In the morning, after a restless night of heavy thoughts, Ariana woke and stepped out of her pumpkin. While things didn't go entirely well with Koichi the night before, she at least was relatively sure that she wasn't going to run out of magic anymore. 

She sighed and did her best to compose herself for the journey ahead. She was kicking herself for not getting directions from Koichi before he left. No matter, she might be able to figure it out. 

She considered getting rid of the pumpkin in some way, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem, right? Perhaps she should at least move it away from the road; that way, it could feed some animals without disturbing travel. 

She flicked her hand up in the air, and the pumpkin broke itself free from the vine. She went to one side of it and, with her strength, rolled it off towards the edge of the woods. 

With that settled, she walked back to the fork and took a moment to think. 

Koichi came from the left path. His goal is to defeat the demon lord, so he probably hasn't done that yet. She hoped not, anyway. So if he came from the left, where the demon lord isn’t, and the emissary came from Loomholm to go where the demon lord is… that means she should go right? It made sense to her.

She nodded to herself and decided to take the road heading right, to the northeast. 

The road wasn’t terribly busy, but it wasn’t abandoned by any means. A few horse-drawn carts and carriages passed her going the other way. Most people avoided her, either physically or by averting their glances. She hoped that her hair wasn’t a mess. 

Most of the people she encountered looked fully human-like, but she also spotted some folk she recognized based on similar descriptions from books she read in high school. The pointy-eared people were elves, and the stocky short ones were dwarves. 

There were some people she saw that she didn’t quite recognize. Some more imposing folk with tusks traveled in a large ox cart. She couldn’t be sure, but they might have been orcs. The books she read described orcs as pig-like, but the tusks were the only thing she saw that could fit that description for her. 

She also saw some folk that reminded her of werewolves, but they walked more upright like actual people. They must have been the beastfolk that Mirabelle spoke of. While some resembled dogs, she also saw a few that resembled cats, mice, and rabbits. 

Very rarely, she came across the odd Demonfolk. They, like her, traveled light, but they still had much larger packs than she did. Now and then, they stopped to have conversations, and she noticed that they had sharp teeth like a shark. She never thought to look at her teeth, so she wondered if hers looked like that as well. 

She was able to confirm with them that she was headed the right way. As she walked, she placed a finger in her mouth and gave a tender bite. It was indeed sharp. 

Around midday, Ariana took a short break to cut a bit of the cured boar meat and sprout some strawberries by the side of the road. She left the plant there with some strawberries blooming, just in case a traveler would like some. She ate as she walked.

As she went, she saw a raven-haired elven woman being harassed by three or so large boars. They gored at the trunk of a tree she climbed up. The woman screamed in a way that sounded like a raven, too. 

Ariana went through her seed satchel to get one of the seeds that the boars didn’t like. She filled it with a bit of sprouting magic and gave an underhanded toss in their direction. The plant sprouted, flowered, and produced a small bulb, like a miniature red garlic. The end of it popped open, and the boars were thrown into a panic. They fled into the forest. 

The woman sobbed a bit, finally noticing the boars were gone. She lost her grip on the tree and fell with a grunt. She was slim, some might say aerodynamic, and she had overly long sleeves. She had a generally miserable demeanor. Ariana jogged over. “Are you alright?” 

The woman continued to sob and sniffle. “No, I’m not alright, I’ve been running from those stupid pigs for an hour! This world sucks, I wanna go hoooome!”

Ariana goes down on a knee and pats the woman on her shoulder. “I know it can be hard to adjust. I had to make that adjustment, too.” She embraces the woman, and the woman reciprocates, still sobbing loudly. “You’re going to be alright, you can make it.” Ariana ran a reassuring hand down the woman’s head, failing to brush down a very bird-like cowlick that sprang right back up.

Once the woman settled down, Ariana helped her to her feet. “My name’s Ariana. What’s yours?” The woman sniffles a little more. “I… uh… Ellio- um… El… Ellie… I’m Ellie…” Ariana smiled. “Nice to meet you, Ellie. Are you hungry? Do you need something to eat?” Ellie nodded a bit. Her long ears bounced slightly as she nodded. 

Ariana gave a soft giggle. “Let’s rest for a bit, then, I’ll make you something to eat.” 

Ariana planted one of her pumpkin seeds, conjured up some vines, and leveled them like benches or stools. She went through the motions of making a boar and pumpkin stew. She even cooked and served it in a small pumpkin, tenderly fire-roasted and settled in a bowl. 

As Ellie ate, Ariana told her about how lovely Loomholm is and her quest to find her son.

“…and I believe that this Xander person could be my boy, Alexander.”

Ellie thought for a minute. “I mean… the names are close… and if that messenger guy were telling the truth, it would be hard to deny.”

Ariana nodded back. “I can’t be completely certain… but I know it’s him in my heart. It has to be him. If I can reach him, I know I can get through to him.”

Ellie looked at the now-empty bowl in her grasp. “I… want to help you. Even as a Demonfolk, getting all the way to the demon lord’s castle won’t be easy, especially with the war in full swing as it is.”

Ariana smiled. “I’d enjoy the company. Thank you, Ellie.”

As they spoke, Ariana heard someone approach, someone familiar.”

“What? It’s the pumpkin lady!”

She looked over to the voice, and it was Koichi.

Ariana was wary, but maintained her composure. “Koichi?” The boy stood there awkwardly for a moment… then stepped forward. “I… I wanted to say I’m sorry about last night. I was really rude to you. I still plan to stop the demon lord, but… maybe you’re right. Maybe we can… talk it out.” 

Ariana breathed a sigh of relief. 

Koichi laughed a bit. “Do you… happen to have any more of that stew?”

Ariana beamed in response. “I’ll be glad to make some more!” She summoned another bench of pumpkin vines for Koichi. 

As she made more stew and fed Koichi, Ellie spoke about her arrival in this world. 

Ellie was an office worker. She worked for a black company. She regularly worked unpaid overtime, sometimes several days straight. She was kept awake by an unhealthy amount of coffee and energy drinks. 

One day, after another four straight days of work, everything started to look odd. She saw a strange bird in the window. It spoke to her in colors. It told her that she was stuck in a cage, that she should spread her wings and be free. She should fly as he does. 

So she stepped up to the window.

And followed the bird…

She awoke in this new world, with a new body and a new power, one she was still struggling to control. She got stuck in that tree trying to use that power to escape the boars. Ariana was having trouble processing the severity of Ellie's arrival. 

Koichi leaned forward. "So your power is flying?"

Ellie looked to the side. "Technically, yes... but my actual power is turning into a crow."

Koichi pumped both fists forward enthusiastically. "Wow, that's so cool!"

"It's not easy, that's for sure..." 

Koichi's arms settled again. "Have you unlocked any other skills?"

Ellie's head tilted to the side. "Other skills? I don't think I have... I only just arrived this morning, and I haven't done any of those level things."

Koichi grumbled. "Does no one else understand this stuff? You start with skill points. It shows you how many you have. Pull up your status screen, you should have like 3 points already." 

Ellie focused on something, likely what Koichi mentioned. Ariana wondered about it as well. She considered the status display, and it appeared before her. Browsing the display, she found a corner opposite the level that mentioned skills. Upon making note of it, a second display appeared next to it. It looked like a mostly blank page with lines to be filled. There were four skills listed: Plant Growth, Control Plant, Control Water, and Summon Water. At the top left of this new page, she found a line with a point total similar to the previous page. She had three hundred and fourteen points. 

Ariana looked at Koichi. "How do you use the points?" 

Koichi sighed. "Alright... this is a little more complicated than the levels, so listen closely. You can spend the points you have on upgrading the skills you've got, or you can get new skills. There's a list of skills you can get that pops up when you try to spend points, but the skills you already have stay at the top. Just pick skills that work best for your build."

Ariana and Ellie both tilted their heads. "Build?"

Ariana looks back at the skill page. She looked at the point count and considered spending them. With this thought, a long, long, looooooong list appeared. There were entirely too many options. She opted to just put her points into the skills she already had. She put the majority of her points into her existing skills until she couldn't spend any more, but she still had some left over. She combed the list for any skills that cost a lot of points or dealt with farming, not bothering to read any of them, and was able to obtain two new skills she thought sounded useful with most of her leftover points: Reaping and Churning. She seemed happy with her choices, giggling a bit. 

Koichi and Ellie looked at her. Koichi seemed a bit puzzled. "What are you so happy about?" Ariana looked to him. "I found some skills that help with my gardening! I still have five points left over, though, and I'm not sure what else I can get with it." Koichi had a look on his face that suggested he was questioning how well she was. 

After commiserating a while longer, the newly formed group continues along the road.