Without hesitation a large wolf bounds out of the bushes. It jumps high with incredible speed, coming at you with single-minded determination. You barely have time to react, and at the last second, you leap from the boulder with all your might, trying to jump across the water to the edge of the pond. Thanks to the strength of your new body, you cover the distance easily. However, you have no time to appreciate this fact since, without missing a beat, the wolf lands on and pushes off the very boulder you were sitting on a second ago, following your path.
Hitting the ground rolling, you scarecely manage to get out of the way before the wolf touches down. You grab anything within reach - rocks, sticks - and throw them at the wolf, who dodges easily. Nevertheless, this buys you the time you need to scramble to your feet. You make it to where you cached your sword and manage to grab it. Unsheathing the blade, you turn to face your foe.
Undeterred, the wolf moves around you with terrifying speed and ferocity. You know that it is only thanks to your new body that you are able to keep up with it. The wolf lunges at you repeatedly, but each time you dodge by fractions of an inch. The onslaught is so rapid that even with your new skills you are unable to launch a counter-attack. However, you know you cannot keep this up indefinitely. Steeling yourself, you decide to take on the wolf head-on.
When the wolf makes its next lunge, you feint as if to dodge, but this time you barely move. As it barrels toward you, you hold yourself in check until the last minute, then suddenly pull your blade back and pierce the wolf from the side, going just behind its shoulder and into his ribcage. You are certain it will not survive, but in its dying throes, the beast manages to push its own body up your blade, twist around a bit, and sink its sharp fangs into your forearm. You wince at the pain, but you are surprised at how well your body takes it. In fact, although the dead wolf's jaws are latched onto your arm like a vise, they've barely penetrated the muscle. For once, you are truly grateful for the body you landed in as you pry the wolf off of you and pull your sword from its body.
You have little time to enjoy the victory, however; instead you step back a bit as you are blinded by a sudden flash of light. Next to the wolf's body is what you would describe as a ghost, or a spirit, with a vaguely human shape. Your two sets of memories connect, and you realize the strange being is something akin to an astral projection, and not a phyiscal being. There is no way to identify who the real person behind this projection is.
"How dare you!" the spirit scowls at you. "You and your horde invade my lands, kill and maim my comrades, and you even have the temerity to kill my familiar. However," it continues, as you feel a strange sense of satisfaction emanating from the being, "his death was not in vain. He has marked you, Gorvind the Terror, and now you will suffer under my curse!"
With another flash, the projection disappears, and all that is left of the wolf's body is a pile of ash. You are dumbfounded, and your resentment at your new body quickly returns twice as strong as before.
I'm being blamed again for something this Gorvind did! Who knows how many people he's wronged, and now I get to deal with everyone's revenge! Maybe he was the one who got the good end of the deal by leaving this body! you think to yourself angrily.
Your mind whirling, you don't even bother to consider what the curse might be. Instead, you simply clean your wound, get dressed, and stormily return to camp. It doesn't even occur to you to act as Gorvind would act, but given your mood, you make for a rather convincing Terror. Your underlings have the sense to avoid you as you stride through the army to your tent, and you arrive there with no trouble. Exhausted by the emotions and exertions of the day, you quickly remove your armor and collapse on your cot.
Awakening the next morning, you are disappointed to find it wasn't just some strange nightmare, and you aren't an ordinary young woman out for a drive in your car anymore. You touch the wound you received yesterday and are surprised at how quickly it appears to be healing. You swing your large body out of your cot and stand, only to feel as though something is not quite normal; at least, not normal for this body. Your new memories tell you that you have changed slightly, somehow, although you cannot quite put your finger on how. Grabbing a cloak, you quickly head out of the camp and back to the pond you found yesterday. When you get there, you shed the cloak and inspect your reflection carefully. You do not understand much about this world, but you do understand that whatever is happening to you is not the average experience. You look around at the spot where the wolf's body lay and remember the words of the angry spirit being. Is this what she meant by a curse?
You turn back to the reflection which you studied so carefully yesterday, and although you cannot be certain, you get the impression that you look slightly...