After about an hour of flying Alec had come to an important realization, she had no idea where she was or where she had to go to find human civilization. She decided to perch on a nearby tree, which felt as natural as flying to her, to take a break. That's when she heard a scream. She left her perch and quickly spotted with her harpy eyes the source. A lone girl dressed like a mage was being chased by a small group of goblins. Alec could still be considered new in this world, but was still certain this was a rare view.
“Someone help me! I don't have any mana left! Please!”
That was the perfect situation for Alec. Saving this girl’s life was the perfect way to gain her trust. The girl tripped and Alec saw this as her cue to swoop down and start fighting the goblins. Well, less fighting and more just flailing her sharp talons around. Thankfully the goblins proved to be weak, so Alec was able to scare them off quite easily. Just when she turned around to address the girl, the latter cried, “P-Please spare me. I-I’ll do everything, even carry out your eggs, but please let me live.”
“Oh, no, no, you don't have to worry. I solely came to help you,” Alec was caught off-guard by the sexual tone of her own voice. Over the last few days alone she had completely forgotten how the voice of this body sounded.
The girl’s eyes started to light up. “R-Really?”
Alec hoped the smile she replied with looked non-threatening. “I swear that I don't intend to harm you. My name is Al...” She thought about it for a moment. Would it sound weird if she introduced herself with a male name. Maybe she should come up with something better sounding? Man… the days alone in the caves really did a number on her, didn't they? “...ix. Alix. My name’s Alix. A perfectly normal woman's name.” Smooth.
The harpy held out a wing to help up the mage, who accepted after a moment of hesitation. Her touch felt good. Really good. Alix dismissed that thought and instead focused on the girl’s appearance. She had purple hair in a short braid and a moderately sized chest. She wore what Alix assumed was the standard mage gear, including a witch hat, cape and staff.
“Thanks a lot, I thought I was a goner when I wasted my last mana. I have to be more cautious with my spells in the future. My name is Felka, by the way,” the mage introduced herself. “I have to say, you're a pretty weird harpy. I’ve never heard of one saving a human, at least not without compensation. Not to mention, I’ve never seen a harpy wearing clothes.”
Alix gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, hehe, I’m not your normal run-of-the-mill harpy. It’s a complicated story.”
“Well, then tell it,” Felka responded. “It’s the least I can do for my savior. Thanks to those goblins I pretty much ran half of the way to my destination, so I’ve got some time to spare.”
Alix started to recount her tale to Felka, starting from the day she woke up in this world. She decided to leave out the fact she originally came from another world, as well that she was actually a man for obvious reasons. It was weird that she just opened up so much to the first stranger she met, but she was starved for some human interaction. At some point during her story they had sat down against the closest tree. “And that’s when I happened to find you,” she finished her retelling.
“Wow, that's a story,” Felka replied. “I heard of some pretty crazy special skills, but never one like ‘possession’. And regarding your new appearance, I don't think it should be too much of an issue with the guild. It's quite common that someone gets cursed into a new form and still continues adventuring. You do still have your adventurer card, right?”
Alix nodded. She had kept the card in the pocket of her hotpants as a memento, though hadn't actually looked at it since the incident. Reluctantly she pulled it out. Felka was also curious and after a few attempts blocked by wings managed to get a peak over Alix’ shoulder.
---
Name: Alix
Age: 18
Race: Harpy
Nationality: Unregistered
Stats:
Strength: E
Speed: D
Agility: C
Intelligence: D
Magic: Low
Health: 130/130
Mana: 20/20
Passive: Eagle Eyes
Skills: Flight, Siren’s Voice
Special Skills: Possession
Equipment: Makeshift Bra, Makeshift Hot Pants, Rusty Throwing Knife
---
“There it is, Possession, you really were telling the truth.”
Alix didn't really listen to Felka. Her attention was fully on the hologram the card was projecting. Not only did it list her name as “Alix”, the model shown was of her harpy body, not the human one. She had never taken a good look at her new body aside from her big endowments and her marine-blue wings. Her shoulder length hair had the same color and her facial features were very sharp, almost bird-like… probably bird-like. “Why does it show me as a harpy?”
“You didn’t know? Adventurer Cards are magic, obviously. When it absorbed your blood, it established a connection to your soul and then through it to your body. This is how they can monitor your stats so well and it makes forgery difficult. By the way, if you hold your finger on a stat or skill, it’ll show an explanation,” Felka explained.
Alix gave her a flat look. Then she lifted her other wing.
“It’ll probably work with those, too.”
It wouldn't hurt to try. Alix put one of her wingtips over the “Possession” name and was indeed rewarded with an explanation window popping up.
“Possession: Take over control of someone by sending the user's soul into their body. For the duration User’s original body will be put into a magical sleep-like state, while something similar happens to the soul of the possessed body if it has one. Possessing someone for too long can lead to a melding of personalities between the user and the original host of the possessed body. If the user’s original main body dies while using Possession, the new main body will be the first one the user acknowledges as their own, for example by giving it a new name.”
So by calling herself Alix she pretty much sealed her fate as a harpy? Well, unless she tried killing her main body again, but she wasn't that desperate, right? Felka meanwhile was intrigued by what she saw and wanted to know more. Despite that she noticed Alix’ shift in mood and decided to completely change their topic of conversation to some lighter stuff. She did manage to get Alix into a better mood.
Finally Felka stood up again. “Hey, Alix, I know you just saved my life and all and it’s probably rude to ask for another favor right after, but could you maybe accompany me? At least till I reach my destination. My mana is still pretty low and the sun is setting soon. I’ll make sure to reward you with whatever you want, once we’re there. I could even throw in a good word for you at the guild, even though I haven't been an adventurer for that long either… Anyways, what do you say, Alix? Do you want to join parties?”