Darkness. That was all I could see. It took me a few moments to regain consciousness when I felt someone calling me. "Miss, are you all right?" a female voice said.
Slowly I started opening my eyes. I was lying down, and in front of me stood a girl with red, almost pink hair and blue eyes. "Miss, are you feeling all right now?" she said with a worried expression as she extended her hand to me. I took it instinctively while thinking, 'Miss? Who's she talking to?' I wanted to ask, but as I stood up, my Instinct started screaming the moment I saw my surroundings.
The sky was red, covered with black clouds. The ground was made of dark sand with streaks of red sand and thin orange liquid beneath it. The ground rose slightly and then slowly descended, as if the earth was breathing. There was also a strong smell of sulfur that burned my nose. And finally, the gigantic volcano that loomed on the horizon.
There were more people—lots of people. Besides the girl who helped me stand up, I noticed hundreds, if not thousands of people, from elders to kids. 'They even brought kids...' I quickly looked for my things on the floor, but as I lowered my gaze, I noticed two mounds that weren't there before.
I froze for a moment at the sight of my own new breasts, then the words from my future self came back like ice water. "The magic of witches requires a price. Only women can use it...." I quickly looked for a mirror, but the only thing I found were the eyes of the red-haired girl.
"Lend me your eyes for a second, girl," I said. I grabbed her by the shoulders, ignoring her surprised reaction and searching for my own reflection. Since I towered over her, I had to move her head a little to look at myself. Then I saw my reflection: the face was familiar but softer, still sharp. My brown short hair was now medium-length; my green eyes were now accompanied by thicker eyelashes, I also noticed the ones on the lower eyelid since I'd never had those before; my lips were fuller, and my trimmed beard was gone, replaced by soft skin.
She's tall... and pretty... Wait, what am I thinking? I just met her and she's being so rude. But those eyes... No, stop it Livia, focus on the situation. Why am I even thinking this right now? I noticed a slight blush on the red-haired girl, but I didn't see her mouth move. These were her thoughts.
"Legemens," I mumbled to myself as I realized the spell had activated by itself when I touched the girl's hand for help. Before I could curse my future self, my chain of thoughts was interrupted by the voices of the other people around me.
"Where are we?!" someone shouted.
"What is this place?" another person asked.
"I was in my store—w-what happened here?" a third voice said.
The number of voices started to increase with the panic of the people. Suddenly, a figure of a woman flying above us appeared. The woman was made of black stone with hair of dripping magma. Some of the magma dropped onto a child's head, killing him almost instantly. The people stepped back as the scene unfolded.
"Welcome, remnants of Earth. My name is Fuel, you may call me the Moderator. I'll now explain—"
My Instinct kicked in. I tied the tablecloth with the books around my waist and started running, ignoring the rock-lady in the sky. The only thought in my head was the advice my future self had given me. "You'll have a few minutes before the volcano erupts. Ignore the message from the Moderator, and don't waste time listening to her. When the volcano erupts, all the abominations will begin to emerge. From beneath the earth, from the rain of fire, from the eruption, and especially from the volcanoes themselves. Turn around and run as fast as you can. You'll find a cave about 7 kilometers away."
As I turned around in opposite direciton of the volcano, giving the back the girl a shockwave of different thougts clashed in my mind. It was from the red-pink haried girl.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! T-that kid... H-He's dead! He's dead! That kid just died! No, no, no, no, no. This isn't real, this can't be real! I'm dreaming, this is just a nightmare right? THIS IS NOT REAL RIGHT? I can't... I need to... Oh God, I'm going to die here too, aren't I? Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God— W-what? Where is she going? Is she running? Maybe... maybe I should follow her?
"Miss?! Wait, where are you going?" I heard the red-pink girl behind me as I started pushing people to clear my way.
"W-wait, what's wrong with you?" one man asked, but I just punched him in the face and moved him aside.
"Move, assholes! Get out of my way!" I yelled as I made my way through the crowd. Most people moved away when they noticed the hatchet and hammer in my hands. Others stood frozen, still looking at the place of the child's death. Others ignored me as they listened intently to the Moderator's explanation with their eyes darting in every direction, grasping the situation. But some—the aggressive ones, panicked or unsure how to react—tried to stop me. Those I hit with the hammer.
OH MY GOD! Okey that's not good at all! I heard the thoughts of the red-pink girl who was following me. I stopped and turned to look at her. She was looking everywhere, not knowing what to do. She looked at the people around us, at the moderator, and then at me with a glint of fear. I sighed and grabbed her shoulder.
"Hey!" The girl froze and looked at me. "We need to get out of here now. Are you coming or not?" I asked urgently.
"E-Eh, YES!" She answered as she stood stiffly with her hands at her side, for some reason it remembered to a hamster i had. I nodded at her response and continued making my way through the people. "My name is Olivia," the girl said as I pushed another man aside.
"I'm Leo," I answered without thinking too much about whether my name matched my current appearance or not.
Leo? Ah! It must be short for Eleonora. But to have such a classy name while acting so tough—it doesn't match, Olivia thought as we moved. Luckily, she had invented a new identity for me.
'This girl's mind is in the clouds. At least she have enough insight to follow me' As I thought that, I noticed that most people were indeed either panicking or froze. A minority was trying to hear the Moderator's explanation about what had happened to planet Earth, but nobody was running. Not like us.
"The gods will now watch and judge you. They will decide decide to support you or not based on your performance here in Vulkris, those lucky enough will be granteed with their 'gifts.' Some of you already have been received a notification, so please check on your stat—" I ignored the Moderator as I kept moving through the crowd.
We made our way out of the last group of people. "Is this really okay? Shouldn't we listen like the rest?" Olivia asked with a worried expression. I handed the hammer to Olivia. And as i picked my hachet, grabbed her free hand, and started running, ignoring her confused gaze.
"Keep running! No matter what, don't stop!" I said as I looked at the massive black desert in front of us.
We started running. For a few minutes, we could only hear the sound of sand being kicked up by our footsteps and our hurried breathing. There were no animals, no trees, just sand and sulfur in the air.
Suddenly I noticed another person running a few meters to our side: a young woman with blonde long hair and sporty clothes, carrying a large piece of wood like it was a sword. She looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Who are you?" we both asked at the same time.
The next moment, the earth began to shake, and the "veins" of the desert began to move. The ground began to split open in front of me. A giant chasm started opening in the middle of our path. Without hesitation, I jumped to one side with Olivia; the blonde jumped to the other as her hair changed to a platinum tint.
At the same time, another big tremor followed by the sound of an explosion forced me to cover my ears. I looked behind and saw a rain of fire coming from the volcano as a wave of black smoke started descending from it.
"H-Hey... that can't be right, right?" Olivia was frozen as she stared at the image of thousands of fireballs flying through the sky.
"Get up!" I forced her to stand as we started running again. The sounds of screams from the crowd we'd left behind were only matched by the sounds of fireballs hitting the ground.
My Instinct kicked in again. I raised my gaze and noticed a fireball in our trajectory. "DODGE!" I yelled as I jumped to my left. The fireball impacted exactly where we'd been, sending us flying in different directions. A creature resembling a giant beetle emerged from the rock of fire, with a red horn and giant pincers. The rest of the creature was completely black and gave off a strong smell of sulfur.
"Shit, how exactly do I have more advantage than you had, old man?" I growled as I tightened my grip on the hatchet and secured the knot of the tablecloth around my waist.
The beetle looked around and focused its gaze on me. "Of course," I cursed as I dodged an onslaught from the creature.
"Leo! Are you okay?!" Olivia yelled as she hurried to my side. She was trembling but held the hammer. Oh God, what do I do, what do I do? Do I run? Do I escape and leave Leo? No! Fuck, I'm already here. What am I thinking? Focus, Livia! Olivia's thoughts entered my mind as she looked at me.
"Cute," I mumbled as I kicked the confused girl in the stomach, sending her flying to avoid another attack from the beetle. I quickly pulled my leg back to avoid having it severed by the creature and swung the hatchet at one of its legs. The sound of flesh being cut brought hope to my ears. "If it bleeds, it can die," I muttered to myself.
But my newfound killer partner had another plan in mind. The beetle raised its body and extracted black wings from its back. The monstrosity now started to elevate as it began opening and closing its pincers.
My Instinct sent shivers through my entire body as the beetle charged me with one of its pincers and managed to cut my thigh before I could dodge in time. I felt adrenaline flood my body as I realized I might not be able to dodge the next attack.
Suddenly, a translucent message in a text box appeared in front of my eyes.
"The Goddess who enjoys battles would like to give you a gift. Do you accept it? Y/N"
My eyes looked at the message for a moment before the beetle charged again. I jumped to my side; this time I managed to dodge since another fireball impacted a few inches from where I'd been, burning my back and sending me flying.
As I tried to stand up, I noticed the beetle that had been fighting me started clashing with a new one from the fireball. I clenched my teeth as I held back the pain. "Finally, something good," I said.
I noticed Olivia quickly approaching me as she helped me stand. She was crying and trembling, her face pale. I could see how she was staring at the beetles clashing. I could read her face, she was in a state of desperation but had somehow decided not to abandon me... yet.
"We need to keep moving, Olivia. There's a cave a few more kilometers away," I said as I started walking in the opposite direction from the volcano.
"Kilometers? H-how are we going to make it?" she asked. I also heard her true thoughts: If it's just a few kilometers... maybe I can reach there, but... Leo... I don't think she can make it... but... I could see the doubt in the girl's eyes. I would think the same if I were in her shoes.
I was a mess, my leg was injured, my back was burned, and a few meters away, two monstrosities twice my size were clashing, not counting the rain of fire and tremors.
"Livia?" I asked her and calling her by it's nickname, hoping to reach her good side, and looked at her. Her shoulders jerked slightly when she heard her nickname. She looked at me with her blue eyes and a an unreadable expression. I waited for her thoughts, but they didn't come, she just spoke.
"O-okay! Yeah! Let's go, Leo," she responded and helped me walk as we started moving again.
I couldn't hide my smile "What a surprise. I was sure you were going to throw me to the beetles," I responded while leaning on her arm as I tried to keep up with our jogging pace.
"I-I thought about it for a moment, but I'm not abandoning you, Leo... not when you could have abandoned me back with the crowd or when the beetle almost killed me," she said, tearing part of her skirt to bandage my leg wound. Then she stopped and looked at me. "And i don't mind if you keep caling me Livia. I don't want to be the only one who is not called by her nickname," she said with a noticeable blush as she looked away.
"Okay, thanks, Livia," I answered calmly. 'It seems that calling her by her nickname worked after all'.
Besides, you're beautiful and look like you know what's happening. I hope I can talk with Leo when we arrive at the cave. Maybe we may know each other better, and maybe we could- No, no. Focus, Livia! First survive, then we see. Livia's thoughts entered my mind, and I managed to smile at the girl's real intentions. 'Maybe too much'.
Suddenly, the translucent message reappeared with floating text boxes.
"The Goddess who enjoys battles would like to give you a Gift. Do you accept it? Y/N"
"The Goddess who does not believe in friendships is interested in you"
'These things must be what my future self warned me about, right?' The Gifts of the gods. My future self had warned me not to take any gift from the gods, or my soul would stop being mine. With that in mind, I looked at Livia and wondered if she had also received gift proposals like me.
Luckily, as we traveled across the hellish desert, the rain of fire didn't catch us again. We had managed to get some distance before the rain started, and now we were reaping the fruits of our efforts.
"You were right, Leo," Livia said, looking back as we could see the fire rain still landing where the crowd had been. "If we had stayed to listen, we might already be..."
"Livia, it's there!" I said, pointing to a mound of sand that rose unnaturally. Livia helped me kneel as I nearly passed out from the pain. We knelt down and entered the cave.
The entrance was small, I almost couldn't fit. My newfound breasts were also a problem, and I hadn't counted on my wider hips.
"Leo, you're too big," Livia whispered as I got stuck in the entrance. God, why is she... huge? S-she wouldn't get mad if I push her, right? I really want to push her, and besides, we can't stay here too long, right? I think I need to push her butt... but... what if she...
"Fuck. Just push me. I don't have any strength left," I said. I felt Livia push my butt and force me inside. I was pretty sure she gripped harder than necessary, but I couldn't care less. I was exhausted.
As we entered the cave, I noticed it was much bigger than the entrance. It was dark, but at least some light could enter from the opening. I sat against the back wall, it was cold. I felt the cold stone touching my burned back and clenched my teeth.
"F-fuck," I groaned.
"Don't sit against the wall, Leo," Livia said, approaching me with a worried look in her eyes. She quickly pulled my back away from the wall. I could hear the sound of flesh peeling away. "We need to treat this... somehow..." she said, looking around. There was nothing of course.
"Yeah, unless you have a medical kit, I don't think so," I said, trying my best to smile.
"Don't say that," Livia answered, her eyes fixed on me. "Let me check if I have something," she said. She checked her pockets and only found her smartphone. It had a pink kitten case. I snorted.
"Leo!" she pouted at me with a slighty pink tint in her cheeks.
"Sorry, it's a cute case," I said. Before Livia could respond, a shadow projected onto the cave entrance. For a moment I froze—my Instinct kicked in again, trying to force me to fight or flee, but my body wouldn't respond. I was at my limit.
Then the figure of a person entered the cave. It was the blonde with now platinum hair. She was emitting a glow that illuminated the cave and was covered in blood from head to toe.
As I tried to grab the hatchet, I felt a sharp blow to my face. I fell to the ground, hearing Livia's voice as she approached me with tears in her eyes. Then my consciousness faded away.