This choice: …a female humanoid dragon, complete with scales and wings. • Go Back... It’s pretty obvious that the body being shown on the panel isn’t human; even from just the bones you can see how the feet are shaped differently, as is the skull with those teeth and horns, and there is the addition of two wide and sweeping wings and a long serpentine tail. The fact that the image isn’t human is only further confirmed as the additional layers build up, culminating with the final layer of hair and skin, or rather scales it seems, burnished red scales across most of the body. You stand in mute shock looking up at what was supposed to be information about you, but instead shows that…creature. A worried thought crosses your mind and you raise your hand, and nearly slump to the floor in shock as you see the scales that the image shows. Forcing yourself further upright, you find that the image on the “screen” does indeed match yourself, you’ve be granted a new body in this virtual world.
Other information starts to appear on the panel floating in midair, things that look like heart rate, breathing, and other things you only vague recognize, but you continue to focus in on the image of your new body. Tall, leggy, and with a shapely figure, it stirs an odd feeling of envy in you, made even odder in that you are envious of yourself. The almost swimsuit looking “clothing” you are wearing hugs the curves, cupping breasts that put your real ones to shame, and pulled tight around hips that are each nearly as wide as your original waist. Tentatively, you reach up and heft your assets, finding them very realistic to the touch, and sensitive enough to send a slight shiver down your spin…and out along your tail, that part is going to take some getting used to.
Another tremor passing through the walls and floor causes you to tumble forwards into the panel, but rather than hitting it, you pass clean through, scattering the light briefly before you come out the other side. Looking back, you see the panel reform as if you hadn’t disturbed it, as well as the curves of your wings and the long spade-tipped tail, all moving around slightly without any conscious thought. Seemingly realizing that you are on the other side now, the panel quickly redraws so that it is facing you again.
You cock your head as you hear a distant, but still loud whirring groan. As the groan winds down, so do the lights, plunging everything into darkness.
“Hello, are you still there?” you call out, your throat feeling somewhat better.
You don’t get an answer, leaving you alone in the dark in this room that you didn’t even get a chance to explore before the lights went out. You groan a bit, putting your hand out to touch the wall and slowly feeling your way along. Before you get too far, the room is filled with a dim red light; emergency lighting, maybe you suppose. It’s not much, but it’s enough to let you see the hand in front of your face, and not run into everything. Spying a door set into one wall, you make your way over to it, your steps becoming more fluid and stable even in just that short time. As you reach the door though, you realize that there doesn’t seem to be a way to open it; there’s no knob, handle, or hole. There is a small panel set to one side, but it’s dark and doesn’t respond to your touch.
Turning around, you start to look for another way to get out, but turn back when you hear a creak and a groan coming from the door. A gap soon appears down the center of the door, and fingers are jammed into the opening, slowly forcing it wider. With a shout of effort, the door opens wide enough that someone might just be able to squeeze through sideways, but a loud crunching noise signals that it’s reached its limits. In the dim light, you just make out an oddly featureless face peaking through the partially opened door. You wonder if this is supposed to be the “someone” that the voice said would be coming to assist you.
“Thank the maker, you’re already awake. I was afraid that this power outage happened at the wrong time,” it says in a voice with an oddly metallic overtone. “Here, I picked up some spare armor from the guard post, put it on, quickly now. Can’t have you getting hurt again while getting out of here.”
The figure squeezes through the opening, and now you see that the “featureless” face is actually a helmet, all metal plates except for two small lenses where the eyes should be. The rest of the body is similarly covered in thick plates that hide the body beneath, leaving you no clue whether the wearer is male or female. You think it’s human, but then you see that the hands are much longer and thinner than should be, as well as only having three fingers and a thumb each. Pulling a molded plastic looking case from its back, the armored figure starts tossing out small sections of metal, certainly not enough to cover your body. You stand there looking a little dumbfounded after the figure apparently finishes, then turns to the gap in the door, looking up and down the hall outside.
It seems to be aware that you aren’t putting the armor on, as it looks back over one rounded shoulder and barks out, “Well, what are you waiting for?”
“I…I’m not sure…what I’m supposed to be doing,” you admit, recoiling a bit from the venom in the voice.
A growling hiss issues forth from the helmet, before saying “You’re supposed to be getting armored up, like I just said.” You pick up one of the pieces, trying to figure it out, but the figure interrupts, the voice a bit more concerned now, “You have no idea, do you? Gorram, I thought every one of you people past adolescence knew how to put on at least basic armor.”
“My people?” you ask, wondering just what they meant.
“Yes, humans. You really got messed up didn’t you?” even without being able to see the face, you are able to tell there’s more than a little frustration present. They start tapping on the armor plate on their forearm, a small holographic screen popping into place.
“Human?” you ask, looking down at yourself.
“Fine, altered human, I forgot that some are really particular in the word…ing…” the voice trailing off as information starts scrolling across the screen. You can’t make any of it out, but when the person next speaks, their tone has softened slightly, “By the maker, I didn’t realize the injuries were that bad, here, let me help you.”
You open your mouth to ask about the “altered human” bit as well as the injuries that you keep getting told about, but there’s another tremor, though this time you can hear the rumble of what sounds like an explosion accompanying the feeling. With a flick of the arm, the display vanishes, and the armored figure then starts picking up one of the pieces and holding it up to your chest. Suddenly the formerly small plate of metal starts telescoping out and extending around you, surprising you enough that you are left holding your tongue. You see that it is forming something more resembling armor around you, and you briefly wonder how it’s going to handle your wings, but that seems to have been considered, the armor extending out along them till they’re covered in smaller plates that slider over and under each other, allowing your wings full range of motion…if only you could control them. The other portions of the plates work in much the same way, till you’re covered in armor plates that somewhat resemble the other’s. They quickly show you where the helmet control is, and you press it, feeling the helmet closing around your head, giving you a brief feeling of claustrophobia from being sealed with darkness pressing in around you, then light starts leaking in as the helmet apparently kicks in, with little icons overlaying the view.
The other gives a quick nod as you get used to the armor, before moving back to the door way and peeking down both directions, grabbing a boxy shape off of the hip. This shape quickly telescopes out, and soon resembles a rifle of some sort.
Seeing this gives you an idea, “Hey, if this place is still under attack, shouldn’t I have a weapon…to defend myself with, cover your back and all that?”
The other’s helmet looks back, but doesn’t say anything; with the face hidden, you can’t get a feel for the expression or what it might be thinking, but you think it must be weighing the risks of giving you – an inexperienced person with apparently little to no memories – a weapon, whether you might shoot them in the back accidentally or on purpose.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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