Linda exhaled sharply through her nose - focus, focus - and jabbed at the race selection tab with more force than necessary. The UI rippled like disturbed water, revealing a scrolling list of unfamiliar names alongside miniature holograms. Her eyes darted between "Aelvyn" (lithe and long, pointed ears ) and "Vorrhan" (tusks gleaming under simulated torchlight), her fingers hovering uncertainly.
"So these are...?" Linda prompted, voice thin.
Vael leaned over her shoulder - warmth radiating through Linda’s back - and tapped the "Lycenne" option. The werewolf model snarled silently, claws flexing.
"Standard fare, mostly. But..." Vael murmured, her breath tickling Linda’s ear as she swiped left, landing on "Maluthar." The demon’s hologram flickered, horns wreathed in ember-light. "...some come with complications. Pick a Tholgarn, and doorframes become your nemesis."
Linda’s thumb hovered over "Seraphel" - feathered wings folded gracefully - before freezing at the tooltip: *Racial Trait: +50% divine favor. Drawbacks: Chronic martyr syndrome.* She snorted. "You’re joking."
"Only a little," Vael murmured as she reached past her to expand the "Sylphaine" menu. Tiny, iridescent wings fluttered. "Choose fast, little spark. The longer you look..." Her hand slid down to cover Linda’s on the UI, guiding her cursor toward a glowing "Randomize" button at the bottom. "...the harder it gets."
Linda huffed, jerking her hand back like she’d been burned.
"Definitely not the randomize button," Linda muttered, scrolling past Krithak (goblin), Tinkrel (gnome), and Nocturae (vampire) with increasing agitation.
Her thumb hovered over the latter - pale skin, sharp canines - before she chickened out and swiped back toward Aelvyn.
The elf’s hologram shimmered, long ears twitching as if sensing her indecision.
Beautiful.
Lithe.
Perfect.
"Do... Would this be alright?" Linda asked, trepidation in her voice.
Vael tilted her head, studying the holographic Aelvyn - long ears, elegant features, everything Linda wasn’t - before humming.
"Predictable," Vael mused, tapping Linda’s wrist. "Safe. But..." and her grin turned wicked. "...imagine the chaos as a Krithak. Especially an intersex one. Goblin courtship rituals are... creative."
Linda choked.
"Oh my god, you are perverted." Linda accused, pointing a finger Vael's way and glaring daggers at the goddess.
Vael’s laughter curled like smoke.
"Sweetheart, I saw your browser history." Vael shot back and Linda deflated, her ears and neck now the color of a tomato, her mind racing to all of the porn she'd gotten off to. "But Aelvyn is fine. A lovely choice. Now how about we move on to customizing your new body. First, male, female, a mix of the two, or neither?"
Linda sighed, rubbing her temples.
Even dead she couldn't escape the mortification of her internet habits.
"I...I think I'd like...the mix?" Linda posed, the words coming out barely above a whisper, her cheeks burning as she avoided eye contact with the smug goddess. "I... would like to keep my femininity, but have a... co- thingy..."
Vael's lips curled into a pleased smirk as she silently adjusted the slider to 'Intersex', her fingers moving with practiced ease. The Aelvyn hologram shimmered - its delicate elven curves remained untouched - but between its thighs, a cock formed, flushed and twitching slightly as if alive. Linda made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, her fingers twitching toward the hologram before she snatched them back, mortified.
"Oh, don't be shy," Vael murmured, sliding the size slider upward with mischievous delight. The hologram's length thickened visibly. "Trust me, the ladies in Velmoira will love—"
Linda squeaked as the numbers jumped to twelve inches. She slapped Vael's hand away with more force than necessary, frantically dialing it back down to a more manageable eight.
"Stop! Stop- Oh my god, I swear if you don't stop teasing me I'm going to combust like a malfunctioning android battery. I. Will. Go. BOOM! So, please..." Linda whined, pressing her forehead against the goddesses shoulder to hide her burning face.
Vael chuckled. but mercifully slid the sliders into place. Silver hair cascaded down the hologram's back while its skin deepened to a rich tan. The eyes blinked - verdant green - as the body settled into Linda's chosen height: tall enough to command a room but not enough to duck through doorways. The breasts swelled - generous, heavy - while the nose remained stubbornly hooked, imperfectly perfect.
Linda exhaled sharply before squaring her shoulders. Her fingers hovered over the final confirmation button, trembling slightly. The hologram stared back at her, naked and waiting, its green eyes holding hers with unsettling awareness.
A flicker of doubt curled in her gut…
What if she hated it? What if she regretted…
"Breathe, little spark..." Vael whispered, pressing a kiss to Linda's temple that tasted of thunderstorms. Her hand covered Linda's on the interface before guiding her finger down onto the glowing ‘CONFIRM’ button with deliberate finality.
Linda gasped as the hologram dissolved into golden fractals then let out a shuddering breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"I... I still can't believe this is real," Linda admitted, voice small as her fingers traced the empty air where her new body had hovered moments before.
"You deserve it," Vael murmured, catching Linda's trembling hand between both of hers. The goddess's thumbs rubbed slow circles against Linda's pulse point, steady as a heartbeat. "Not because you're special, or chosen, or fated—" Her lips curled around the words like they tasted bitter. "—but because kindness shouldn't be a rarity."
Linda swallowed hard, her fingers tightening instinctively around Vael's.
"Will you... be there?" Linda asled, the question slipping out before she could stop it, small and desperate as a child's whisper. "In Velmoira, I mean."
Linda's cheeks burned - of course a goddess couldn't babysit her - but Vael's answering smile was softer than moonlight.
"Always," Vael promised, pressing Linda's palm flat against her own chest. Beneath the silk, something pulsed. It wasn't a heartbeat, but deeper, slower, like a star breathing. "Not in flesh or mind, these proverbial chains bite deep, but here." She tapped Linda's sternum once, sharp as a keystroke. "Every step, every scream, every time you forget how to breathe? I'll be the whisper in your ribs saying try again. Do it again. Stand up again. You will be my champion and I will be your motivation. One mind. One heart. One goal, Linda."
Linda swallowed hard.
She liked that.
No, she craved that.
The idea of someone always there, even in the dark.
But dwelling on it made her chest ache, so she pivoted with the grace of a startled programmer.
"S-So! Magic. There's magic, right? Because, Aelvyn and Nocturae, those imply arcane systems. Is it spell-based? Rune-coded? Do incantations function like syntax? Can you—" Linda rambled, her hands twitching like she was mentally flowcharting the logistics. "Override the default magical parameters? Hypothetically."
Vael smirked and tapped Linda's forehead hard enough to make her blink.
"Nice try, little spark. But magic, or Blessings, in Velmoira aren't some API you can brute-force." Vael replied, her fingers trailing down Linda's temple, lingering at the pulse point. "It's alive. It bites back. And it will stay a secret until you are in Velmoira."
Linda pouted - actually pouted - like a child denied dessert.
"That's unfair," Linda whined, crossing her arms over her chest in a huff. "You can't just dangle mystical systems in front of a programmer and expect them not to ask follow-up questions. That's... that's cruel." Her nose scrunched and her eyes glared at Vael, but the goddess just looked amused.
Vael hummed, reaching out to pinch Linda's cheek with playful affection.
"You're cute when you're frustrated," Vael mused. "But some things are worth the wait, little spark. Trust me."
Linda huffed, arms still folded tight across her chest.
It was a posture she'd perfected during too many IT meetings where her solutions were ignored until a male colleague repeated them.
But Linda relented.
"Is there... anything else I need to know?" Linda asked, her fingers tapping a nervous rhythm against her thigh.
Vael's expression darkened - just for a moment - before smoothing back into something calm and unreadable.
"Truthfully? I'm not sure," Vael admitted, folding her hands in her lap. The gesture was strangely human. "When I was free, Velmoira was relatively calm. But even then, it had the usual problems... Greed, betrayal, wars over petty slights..." She exhaled, and the air between them hummed with static. "Sentient life thrives on conflict, little spark. And gods..." Her lips twisted. "...we're no better."
Linda frowned, but her words were coming out of her mouth before she even realized.
"Men ruined Earth," Linda muttered, the words slipping out before she could stop them. "Violence, entitlement, capitalism, religion, rape, pedophilia, misogyny, never listening to anyone but themselves, circle jerking like a bunch of losers..." She bit her lip, glancing away, regulating her anger. "More women need to be lesbian. Or at least stop tolerating men."
Vael laughed loudly before leaning in conspiratorially.
"Oh, darling. You'll love the Aelvyn matriarchies." Vael said in response. "They execute males who break the laws set in place."
Linda's eyes went wide and her lips parted slightly.
"I- I would love to visit there then," Linda breathed, the idea of a world where men didn't hold power sending a shiver down her spine - one part relief, two parts disbelief. She hesitated before asking her next question, voice small but earnest. "Are... are there humans in Velmoira? And—" Linda gestured awkwardly at her soon-to-be elven form. "—what does being Aelvyn actually do? Like, racial traits like the Seraphel? I forgot to look for both..."
"Ardel, humans, are Velmoira's most common people," Vael said, swiping the air to summon a new holographic display. The image flickered to life, showing a scrolling list of racial traits written in elegant, glowing script.
Linda leaned forward, squinting at the entry for *Aelvyn*: *Racial Traits: Enhanced longevity (700+ years).* Below it, in smaller, fainter text: *Drawbacks: Susceptibility to iron toxicity.*
"Iron toxicity?" Linda echoed, her nose wrinkling. "That sounds... inconvenient. Is that going to be a problem?"
Vael waved a dismissive hand.
"Only if you lick swords for fun, little spark." Vael answered, a sly grin appearing on her perfect face. "Though I have known Aelvyn who enjoyed—"
Linda groaned and covered her ears with both hands.
"Nope! No more teasing!" Linda groaned as she peeked through her fingers when Vael laughed. "So, um... what happens now?"
Vael's expression softened.
She reached out, tucking a loose strand of Linda's hair behind her ear, an oddly human gesture.
"Now..." Vael murmured. "...you wake up."
The words barely registered before Linda's vision flooded with searing white light, her pupils contracting violently. She gasped - or tried to - but her lungs refused to obey. The goddess's fingers slipped from hers like melting ice, her voice fading beneath a rising tinnitus hum. Linda clawed at the dissolving couch fabric, her fingers passing through it like smoke.
No no no not yet—
The light thickened.
Her thoughts unraveled like bad code, first syntax errors, then total system failure. Vael's face fractured into glowing fire, her lips still moving in silent reassurance Linda couldn't hear anymore. A final, desperate lunge forward - her hand outstretched - before the white consumed everything.
Darkness.
Silence.
An end...
...but also a beginning.