As I step out of the tunnel I appear inside a small narrow cave that I have to squeeze and shimmy my way out of. Once I'm out I take a look around to get my bearings. I'm completely surrounded by nature but I see two large mountains through the gaps in the trees which means I'm somwhere in the Twin Peaks forest. This is only my seventh time out of the city and it's my first time completely on my own. But I know I can't stay in the capital where I would face death or worse on a daily basis. The potion changes my gender but it doesn't completely change my appearance and I'm not foolish enough to think that I won't be recognised, after all, magic is a common occurrence in the kingdom of Vylensia.
I decided last night I would go to the neighbouring country, Helsiak. To get to Helsiak I'll first have to travel to Wedna, a seaside city in my Kingdom. From there I'll be able to board a ship to take me to Helsiak, thankfully we have good relations with all our neighbouring countries.
The reason for choosing Helsiak over other countries was due to the fact that Helsiak is the location of Balix, the greatest school for both academics and magic. I was supposed to go there when my powers awaken at sixteen but I must adapt to my current situation. If I appear anywhere as Princess Selena I have no doubt that I will be plagued by assassins. I must hide my identity until I'm strong enough to protect myself. At that time I'll return to my home, kill my uncle and free my parents. I can only rely on myself for now. I'll have to look for strong and trustworthy allies whilst I train myself.
Luckily Wedna is only a three day journey away...once I've passed the other side of the mountains.
I let out a long sigh before an idea occurs to me and I mentally cross my fingers and rummage through my bag. As I hoped, there's a Mover5000 packed in one of the side pockets. The Mover5000 is the latest hoverboard, it can miniaturize with a touch of a button making it easy to carry around when not travelling. Daddy bought me a dozen for my birthday as I tend to lose things. Being a princess isn't without it's perks.
I press the small button on the little baby blue ball and it transforms into a sleek, metalic blue surfboard and rests on the ground. I jump onto it and command it to start. After voice recognition is confirmed it starts to hover above the ground. A thin film of the board covers my feet and I continue to state my commands. I move through the forest at a steady pace. As it's only a hoverboard I can't fly above the forest meaning there are many obstacles I have to try to avoid making my progress much slower than I'd prefer, but I suck it up and shrug it off because it's still better than walking.
....
About three hours pass and I get the urge to piss. I try to ignore it but after twenty minutes I can no longer hold it in. I stop the hoverboard and rest it against the trunk of a tree whilst I do my business. I lower my zipper, reach in and grab my pussy. Wait, what?! I look down and surprise and joy light up my face as I discover my vagina is still in fact intact. Yay me! Boys are cute but I don't want to be one. Thinking about it, I still haven't seen what I look like yet.
I walk over to the little lake and bend down to look at myself, the stagnant water no longer reflects a pretty--if I do say so myself--12 year old girl but a dashing young boy.
My hair is still brown and my eyes are still violet. I have the same face, I even have my beauty mark under my left eye, but everything is a little more masculine, my brow bone is heavier, my jawline is stronger and my nose is bigger.
My body now has some extra muscle and my once blooming chest is now as flat as a pancake. I've even got an adams-apple.
Mama probably switched back the potions but kept daddy's recording for me...or daddy had another ditzy moment and forgot to change the potions.
A sad smile appears on my face as I think about my parents. How I don't even know how to free them from that cursed rock, how I thought my life was so perfect but I was just an ignorant brat too stupid to figure out that my nest wasn't made of twigs but poisonous snakes. The damn around my heart suddenly bursts and I start sobbing uncontrollably. It gets to the point where I have difficulty breathing. When my chest tightens I ball my hands into fists and dig my nails into my skin.
"AAAAHHHH! YOU MONTER! I TRUSTED YOU. DADDY TRUSTED YOU. WE LOVED YOU AND YOU BETRAYED US. BUT YOU FAILED TO KILL ME. I WILL KILL YOU. YOU HEAR ME? YOU'RE DEAD"
I scream until my throat burns. My sobbing continues but it's a lot less hysterical now. Releasing my pent-up emotions has made me feel lighter. By no means would I call it peaceful but I don't think I'm going to have another breakdown, at least not anytime soon.
I eventually stop crying and take in a deep breath, I immediately decide to do meditate. Time fades away and I find my peace spot. I am calm. I am balanced. I am-HOLY MEATBALLS ON A STICK! I let out a painful scream for the second time today but this time the pain is physical. I open my eyes and look to the source to see a totally big arse snake biting my thigh. It's really big. Huge. Like so big it could eat me whole. and. it's. trying. to.
I try and shake it off but it doesn't work. I try to push it off using my hands but it not only doesn't work it does the opposite and the stupid thing takes an even bigger bite of me.
I don't panic and look over my shoulder. My bag with all my weapons are too far away. That's my second mistake. My first was letting down my guard. Absolutely useless.
The snake starts to move it's body and I realise it's trying to wrap around me to stop me moving. I stop berating myself in time to grab my hoverboard. I'm just close enough to lean over and reach the side of it. Once It's in my grasp I shrink it down and use it as a makeshift knife to stab the snakes head. The first strike just seems to make the snake angry. By this time it has already wraped itself around me and restricts my movement but I don't give up. I can't die is a place like this. So I just start stabbing everywhere. Anywhere. Continuously until I come out of my trance. I look at my hand holding the mini hoverboard and realise I accidently stabbed myself. Oppsies.
I shove the snakes carcass off me and use my remaining strength to slither--the irony, I know, but I can't feel my legs--over to the nearest tree and lean my body against it. I look over to the snake. It's face is just a mushy paste and most of it's body is leaking blood and guts. My eyes start to get heavy and I know it's because of the blood loss. I should try to stop it but I'm too tired to even lift my eyelids. This is the end. A single tear falls down my face as countless regrets enter my mind. Not saving my parents. Not saving my people. Not killing my uncle. Forgetting my training. Dying stupidly. Dying alone. And then my world goes black and I lose consciousness.
...
I wake up and the first thing I notice is the sound of trickling water from a nearby stream. I open my eyes to a clear blue sky and a dazzling sun. I stand up, my wound is gone and I no longer feel drained but weightless and refreshed. As I stand up I happily note that my body has returned to my true form and a quick feel of my face tells me I look like a girl again.
I don't have any idea where I am. I'm in an open field filled with wild flowers that seems endless in all directions. Birds are singing, butterflies are fluttering and the otters in the stream are playing. It's like the perfect scene. Is this the high realm?
"Nope. Just your imagination. Good touch with the otters, they always were one of our favourites" a soothing voice teases from behind me.
I whiz around to see a group of beautiful ladies. There's twelve of them in total, some look only a little older than me, maybe 15 or 16 and the oldest looking of the group couldn't be older than 25. They're all beautiful and have a similar resemblance to me. For a second I wonder if they're my ancestors but I've never seen their pictures in the royal ancestry hall.
"Oh sugar plum, we aren't your ancestors. We're you. Or a part of you. No, that's wrong too. We're dead. You're the reincarnation of us. Well, we're not us-us, we're you. We're just reflective memories of your passed self. We can't be the real us because we're currently you. Not that we're not you cause we are. Wait. What was I saying?" a sweet looking redhead turns to her almost twin next to her.
"Deedee, hun, why don't you tell her, your better at explaining things" the oldest looking beauty looks over to one of the youngest girls in the group.
"It's simple really. We're your preincarnators. Every time we die our soul reincarnates with the memories from our previous existences. But your a bit different. You were born without our information. I don't know if that makes me happy or angry for you." the girl smiles softly at me
"Obviously happy! she got to experience everything for the first time again and she had a normal childhood" the redhead from before squeals is delight
"Don't sugarcoat the situation Missy. If she had our memories then she would have noticed the odd behavior of her uncle and none of this would have happened" another girl pouts
"We don't know that. Let's not bother with the what-ifs, all of us hate that" Deedee calms the arguing girls.
"So if you're me, how come you still exist, shouldn't you just be me?" I ask in confusion.
"Yes and no. We're not really here. It's like when your brain stores memories and then when you remember something you can recall all sorts of details like what you were wearing at the time blah blah blah. It's the same with our soul. We're just figments of the souls recollection, that for some unknown reason you haven't hadaccess to. Are you ready to remember?" Deedee holds out her hand to me.
I hesitate before I eventually place my hand in hers. I gasp involuntarily as a wave of information floods my mind. Knowledge. Skills. Memories. Emotions. Everything comes back to me.
She was my last past-self. Her body was weak from birth making her prone to illness. When she was 5 months old she lost her hearing. Her parents abandoned her and she grew up in the foster system. She knew how to defend herself thanks to the knowledge of her previous lives but her body was still weak and only her luck saved her in certain situations. Eventually she was fostered by a caring woman but that only made her feel guilty. With a weak body she decided that she needed new skills so she turned to computers. She became famous in the virtual world as, Crestfall, the justice hacker. She prefered the term coder. At 16 she had a heart attack and was hospitalised. She knew the end was near and used her skills selfishly for the first time to make sure her foster mother was well taken care of when she was gone.
The images fade, as does deedee. I'm still organising my thoughts when I look up to see all the girls closely surrounding me. Reaching for me. I try to protest but it's too late. As information swarms my mind everything becomes too much and I black out. Again. Fuck my life.