Chapter 2 The Room

Evernya walked down the boring, spotless white windowless hallway for over five minutes before coming across the first door. Finally, something other than white walls! Evernya speed walked, almost tripping over her low-hanging tail several times before she reached the white metal door, opening it without thinking.

She froze with terror in her luminous sapphire as her eyes landed on a glass capsule at the center of the room. Vague memories of agony assaulted her mind as she shut down.

Evernya collapsed to the floor, curled up into a fetal position, tears flowing from her terrified eyes. Unnoticed by her, shock waves of force rippled out from her curled body, causing the door frame to rattle. In response, the black bands adhered to her limbs and neck glowed again, weakening the shock waves.

As if they absorbed energy from her, the bands glowed brighter, dimming her eyes and snuffing out the blasts. Less than a minute later she fell unconscious, releasing one last pitiful shock wave before silence returned.

A few hours later, her eyes fluttered open. Evernya blinked several times, disoriented, before the events of her panic attack trickled back into her mind. Tears formed in her eyes, but this time Evernya held her emotions back, just. Keep calm. I have to keep moving forward. I will never find out anything if I stay on the floor, even if my worst nightmare is in front of me. There has to be something to learn in this room. She inhaled multiple deep breaths to calm herself down as she stroked her tail, finding the motion calming. Evernya rose to her feet, hobbling into the room before her fear forced her to back out.

With timid anxiety-filled steps, Evernya tiptoed up to the glass capsule, hoping it wouldn’t swallow her whole. This thing reminds me of a little too much of a coffin for my liking. Why does it fill me with terror just looking at it? I don’t remember ever being in this room.

Evernya scanned the room, seeing various unfamiliar equipment, until she spotted what appeared to be a computer screen on a white metal desk to the right of the room. Maybe I can find some information on the computer, at least I think it is a computer. It has a futuristic design similar to a Mac desktop, hopefully without the over-inflated price tag.

She worked her way around the various strange equipment to the computer. After Evernya failed to find a keyboard or mouse, she tapped the screen. To her surprise, the screen lit up to display an unfamiliar logo and a login. Despite the futility of it, she tried a few random guesses with the touch screen keyboard, but after three tries, the login screen locked her out. Evernya scanned the empty desk, hoping to find the password hidden somewhere but came up empty. With a huff of frustration, she plopped down on the padded, white metal desk chair.

After sitting for a few minutes, Evernya pressed her hand on the desk to help her stand, contacting a gray palm-sized device in front of the monitor. An unknown substance flowed out of her, causing Evernya to freeze in surprise.

A second later, the login screen disappeared to display a screen that resembled a desktop.

Once she recovered from her surprise, Evernya focused on scouring the computer for clues. Weird, I’ve never seen this operating system before. I thought I was up to date on most of them being a system admin I had to be. It appears to be in English, but the icons and layout are unfamiliar. Evernya sat back on the chair as she experimented with the various symbols and file locations. Whoever created this operating system better watch out for a lawsuit from Apple, since it’s essentially a clone with slightly different symbols and icons names. Oh well, not my problem. If anything, I applaud their efforts, plus it makes it a lot easier to figure this computer out. Evernya thought after she poked through the computer for a few minutes.

Evernya delved into the files on the computer, but after thirty minutes, she slammed her hands on the desk in frustration. Dammit, why did they have to wipe the computer! Sure, everything was probably server-based, and of course, this computer doesn’t have a connection to a server, but you would think someone would save something locally.

On a whim Evernya selected the operating system files, finding a folder labeled deleted files backup. Curious but not expecting much, Evernya selected the folder to find one file titled ‘Final log project Rebirth’

Evernya tapped on the file, tail waving in excitement.

Log #1320 year 4282 Era 7, Grade 9 Wizard Johnson.

Dear benefactor,

I tried everything to entice the rest to stay, but after a century of little progress, they lost hope the project will ever reach completion.

I know you were insistent on waiting for the correct soul to arrive, but toward the end, we tried to implant souls from countless races. However, all attempts proved disastrous, with each soul’s destruction, including souls from beings of exceptional power dwarfing the original soul of the body. If an Elder dragon soul cannot handle this body, nothing will besides a soul of her race, but they are nearly impossible to find.

I am ashamed to say this will be my last log as I am leaving as well. By the time you receive this log, the facility will be in standby mode with automated updates.

As you designed, the facility will sustain itself indefinitely. Hopefully, in the future, a development arises, prompting reactivation of the facility. If given another chance, I will happily return to this groundbreaking project even after the mandatory memory wipe.

End log.

Is this body project rebirth? But how did I end up in it? What was this body for? The date of this log doesn’t make sense either. How could it be the year 4282? Did I travel into the future where the creation of a body like this is possible? What about dragons? They don’t exist, no matter how far in the future this could be. Why am I considering time travel? This is crazy! This log only gives me more questions than answers!

At least it answered the question of why I can’t find anyone. It is comforting to know the scientists all left since I don’t want to be some lab rat. Unless they planned for me to find this log and have been watching me all along! This thought caused Evernya’s tail to puff, but her drive to find out more overpowered her panic.

After a few more minutes of searching, Evernya failed to find anything else on the computer, so she moved on. Evernya returned her attention to the strange, futuristic machines surrounding her, making the room feel claustrophobic despite its substantial size. She shivered as her senses took in the combination of the sterile scent and the spotless white room. Afraid to touch anything, Evernya weaved through the packed room with cautious steps. As Evernya wandered through the lab, she peeked at each piece of equipment.

After her investigation of the equipment, Evernya found everything connected to the glass coffin at the center of the room. Despite the visible increase in her shaking, she inched closer to the glass coffin. Evernya circled the large glass contraption big enough to fit three of her inside as she eyed the dozens of wires and tubes connected to the bottom. However, beyond this discovery, no other clues presented themselves.

I won’t get anywhere here. For all I know, one of these things could be some futuristic toaster. Despite knowing staying any longer was futile, Evernya continued to weave through the room until she reached her limit. Her tail puffed to three times its width as every centimeter of her body vibrated with stress.

Unable to take it anymore, Evernya shifted into flight mode. She frantically rushed out of the room, tripping on her tail several times, but somehow remaining upright.

Once Evernya escaped the room, she slammed the door closed before sliding down to the floor. With tears pooled in her eyes, Evernya stroked her puffed tail with trembling hands.

After fifteen minutes’ worth of tail strokes, her shaking subsided enough to continue. Evernya reached up for the door handle to pull herself back to her feet. She glanced in both directions before continuing her journey, now more scared than ever. I have to keep moving forward or I’ll break.

To her relief, the hall changed a few minutes later. The sterile white walls and floor gained some color, with pictures of scenery and plants. The plants especially interested Evernya as they came in various beautiful exotic colors, but what drew her attention was their delicious scent. Her nose twitched, taking in the delectable scent wafting off the vibrant colored plants placed every five meters on both sides of the hall, giving her an almost irresistible urge to devour them.

Evernya tore her eyes away from the delightful smelling plants that somehow appeared healthy despite, according to the log, no one was present to take care of them. As Evernya tried to focus on the many doors dotting both sides of the hall, something sharp pierced her lip. She grimaced as her tongue moved to investigate.

Her tongue discovered two pointy teeth. Fangs!? Why do I have fangs? My teeth were normal a minute ago. Ugh, just what I need! Another mystery and abnormal body part. Accidentally biting my cheek as a human was annoying enough, but now I have to deal with avoiding turning my lip into a pincushion!

As if following her wishes, her fangs receded, turning her teeth to their regular, straight, pearly white, human-like teeth. Instead of happiness or relief, Evernya’s weak hold on her emotions frayed. Where did my fangs go!? Did I hallucinate them? Evernya ran her tongue over her once pierced lip, only to find unbroken skin reinforcing her theory. Let’s just forget about randomly appearing fangs! Evernya thought in denial as she approached the first door to her left, finding an empty room covered in dust.

To distract herself from her missing pointy additions, she opened doors at random, but to her dismay, every room ended up empty.

Calmed by the plants, her nerves washed away, soon replaced with boredom as Evernya continued to find every room she checked empty.

Another goal on the list is to find some clothes I’ve been so distracted I didn’t realize I’m half-naked, though I feel comfortable showing so much skin. Is that a quirk of my new body, or is it just confidence in my appearance? Either way, it could be worse. At least I’m not naked, though the thought of being naked doesn’t appear to bother me anymore.

Evernya paused for a moment, shaking her head as she continued to inspect one room after another. That is definitively coming from this body somehow. I didn’t feel comfortable walking around without at least a shirt and shorts of the non-short short variety, though I wasn’t nearly as attractive as this body. Wasn’t there a dresser in my room? Despite my newfound exhibitionism, I should at least find a shirt to wear. Though no need to rush. I don’t feel cold anyway. Perhaps that’s another strange quirk to my new body. It may be awkward if I run into someone here, but they dressed me this way in the first place, so it’s their fault. At least I’m covered more than most bikinis.

I could probably make a living as a cosplay model or something once I get out of here. I don’t think a regular model job would work with the animal parts, plus it could work as a cover why I have them. Still, I wouldn’t want to be a model. It would feel weird to pose my body for other people. Normal pictures are fine, but modeling for someone to sell in a magazine or something just feels wrong. Even normal pictures are iffy, I can count on one hand how many times I took a picture of myself in my old body. At least it helped keep my phone memory down.

I guess it’s a backup plan since I can’t exactly go back to my old job. If I continue my old career, I would need to go back to school because no one would believe this body has the resume of a thirty-year-old system admin. Evernya rambled in her mind, calmed down with the hall losing its sterile lab feel. Coupled with the comforting feeling she received from the vibrant colored plants. Every couple minutes Evernya glanced at the plants in hunger but refrained as her body long adjusted to the plants, instead basking in the warmth as she wandered down the hall.

About ten minutes later, the hall opened up into a cafeteria and lounge area off to the right of the cafeteria. Wow, a ton of people worked here! This place could fit a ton of people. I’m guessing a thousand plus people could sit comfortably in the cafeteria alone. It’s kind of creepy being alone in such a spacious open area, like being at school during the weekend. It looks like my old college cafeteria. My college cafeteria even had a lounge similar to this, including TVs. At least I think those are TVs. They don’t look like any type of TV I’ve ever seen. Evernya thought as she stood at the entrance of the area.

Evernya ignored the large round tables with red hard plastic chairs in favor of the lounge area couches. To take a break from walking, she moved to sit down on a comfortable looking red leather couch. Before Evernya dropped onto the couch, she adjusted her tail, wrapping it around to her front. It’s going to take a while to get used to having a tail, I can’t just flop on the couch anymore unless I want to sit on it. Hopefully, it will become second nature to account for my tail after a while. If this truly is my new body, I will have to cut holes for my tail in all my future clothes. A tail is so high maintenance, but for some reason, I love my tail. Maybe that’s another quirk of my new body? Enough about my tail. The next goal is to find a remote if this thin glass screen hanging on the wall actually is a TV.

Evernya searched her surroundings for something that looked like a remote. After a few minutes, she found something remote-like, but it was just out of arm’s reach. She tried to reach for it anyway, but her arms were too short, as expected.

Without warning, the remote inched toward her outstretched hand. What!? Why is the remote moving on its own! Okay, maybe it’s some new technology to ensure the remote is never out of reach? Yeah, that is definitely it! It wouldn’t be the craziest thing I’ve dealt with so far, especially with how advanced this place seems. Evernya decided, refusing to believe she moved the remote herself.

How did they hide all these advancements from the world? Evernya questioned before shrugging her shoulders, returning her focus to the remote just within her reach. At least I can reach the remote now! These arms are so much shorter than my old body. I was 180 centimeters before, so I was pretty tall, but the height difference is ridiculous. My new body can’t be taller than 160, maybe even shorter. I have a new respect for short people now that I am one myself. Evernya grabbed the remote-like device, which was now just within her reach.

After a few seconds of inspecting the device, she found a power button and pressed it. The TV turned on but to her dismay, it displayed a black no connection screen.

Seriously!? I can’t even use the TV!? I guess it was a long shot. If the computer didn’t have a connection to their server, I am sure they haven’t kept their cable subscription. I’m surprised there isn’t at least an antenna connection to get local networks. If there even is a local network. This place is completely cut off from the world, at least as far as I can tell. Maybe that’s how they kept these advancements under wraps. Evernya thought after she turned off the TV. With her distraction failed, she tossed the remote back on the side table.

Well, that was a dud. I guess I will continue exploring then. I wonder if there is any food left in the kitchen. Evernya thought as her eyes gravitated toward the kitchen area at the far end of the cafeteria, only to divert away a moment later. Never mind, let’s not find food that has been sitting for an unknown amount of time. I guess I will go through the door on the other side of the cafeteria instead.

After Evernya rested for a few more minutes, she stood up to continue her journey. Evernya wandered across the cafeteria, making sure she missed nothing of interest. Her investigation turned up empty, so she continued toward the broad red metal double door leading to the next area.

Well goody, another long hallway, at least it isn’t the sterile white walls again. More delicious plants to tempt me. Am I an herbivore now? Somehow that feels wrong. Is it the plant itself or something else? Hopefully, I find at least some answers somewhere in this place, but somehow I doubt it as everything appears cleared out. Evernya thought as she walked through the doorway leading toward another hallway of a similar design to the one leading to the cafeteria.