I awaken to a huge pitch-black room not remembering how I got here.

  "Why I am seeing through my body and where am I?" I say as I look towards the ceiling while I lay on the floor I hear a voice.

  "Your soul is imcomplete, plese select three animals in the Origin Room to fuse to your soul, you have two hours and thirty minutes remaining."

  "Did Virtual Reality get this advanced?" "So this is a game?" I ask as I get off the floor.

  "Please select three animals to fuse to your soul. You have two hours and twenty minutes remaining." The voice replies.

  "I guess I'm not getting an answer." I think looking at the ceiling.

  Looking around the pitch-black room, I see a glowing purple hologram like sphere in the distance.

  "Please select three animals to fuse to your soul. You have two hours and ten minutes remaining." The voice chimed.

  "Alright I GET IT ! So annoying and what's with the timer, anyway!" I yell.

  I run up to the floating sphere, seeing that the purple hologram sphere contains a picture.

  The picture has "Standard Chimera", written on the bottom of it.

  I press on the picture when the voice rings out "This is not available! Please select three different animals to fuse to your soul!"

  I take back my hand from the picture scratching my head I blurt out "Why is it here than!?"

  Silence is my answer, "Like its going to answer me."

  I run over to the other pictures.

  "Please select-- "How annoying !" I shake my fist at the air.

  I turn back to the pictures labeled "Land Animals"

  "A giraffe, a opossum, a jackel, a hyena, a wolf, everything must be in here. Out of everything I'll pick a wolf." I say as I select the wolf picture. The picture disappears.

  "You have selected Grey Wolf, starting the test." The voice says.

  "A test ?" I ask as I am being teleported.

  "Loading room elements." The voice continues.

  I am transported to a room filled with a scent of earth and with a vast amount of trees.

  "A forest room?"

  "Please "tamed" the wolf to obtain it. Loading wolf element."

  "You have obtained mana to "tame" the wolf." The voice chimed in.

  "Mana as in magic?" I ask as my body starts to glow brown.

  The wolf starts to circle me as I ponder.

  I start to gather mana in my left hand "How about this?!"

  The wolf lunges at me

  "Stone Pillar!" I yell as I put my left hand to the floor, making a stone pillar hit the wolf in the stomach.

  "You have "tamed" the wolf element task completed. You have learned "Earth mana and Stone pillar. Now transfeerring to the Origin Room.

  "Yes I defeated it! I said as I jumped into the air.

  "You have selected one animal, please chose two more animals to fuse to your soul. You have an hour left to select."

  The voice snapping me back to reality I turn back to the pictures of the animals to see that everything related the the dog family is gone.

  "Everything else is here? I find myself scrolling through the cat family next . I scroll down to see a cloud leopard, I click on it.

  "Clouded Leopard has been selected. Now transporting and loading elements."

  This time the room is a rocky, and snow covered cliff.

  "Here we go." I tensed as I said that.

  "Please play spot the clouded leopard and hide and go seek with the clouded leopard."

  "You have ten minutes to complete this task."

  "What the heck? Two tasks?" I ask as I cock my head.

  "Starting test now loading cloud leopard elements."

  I duck behind a rock covered in the snow, I look around for the leopard. I now notice I can see better than my usual crap vision as I spot the clouded leopard up a little further near the peak of the cliff.

  I duck down. "Is it waiting for me to move into its line of sight?"

  "Five minutes has eslaped task one of two, pay spot the clouded leopard is completed."

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “All I have to do is sit here, it can’t be that easy.” As I shift in my spot ready to move if necessary.

  “Loading clouded leopard element.” Three minutes has elapsed.”

  “Another one?” I scan around to see it to the left of the rock I am at.

  I look further down the edge of the cliff is out in the open. “Crap, I have no choice the only way is down.”

  “Loading clouded leopard element.” “One minute has elapsed.”

  “Crap, another one.” I glance as I move slowly down the slope towards the cliff, spotting it to the left of where I was. However, the leopard further up on the cliff is steadily gaining ground towards me. The leopard that was to my left is currently at the rock where I just was.

  I continue down towards the slope when I feel a presence near me. I look forward and see another leopard right on the edge of the cliff looking the other way.

  “What about the others?” I look back and they are close behind me too. I duck behind another rock cluster shielding me from all sides. I start to my heart beat starts to increase, I break out in a sweat, and my body starts trembling until I hear the voice chime. “You have completed task 2 of 2, play hide and seek with the clouded leopard. “Transferring you back to the origin room.”

  “You learned stealth movement.” “You have learned beast sense, and beast eyes.”

  “I was lucky that the time ran out, or who knows what would have happened.” As my body untenses but is still shaking from earlier.

  “Please pick an animal with wings to fuse with your soul.” “You have twenty minutes left.”

  “What that time doesn’t make sense.” I stare at the ceiling waiting for an answer that will not come.

  “Please select an animal with wings to fuse you have fifteen minutes left.”

  I walk over to the winged animal’s section.

  I see insects, bats, and birds. Scrolling through the select, I go passed insects.

  “Either a bird or a bat.” I ponder as I continue to scroll through the selection.

  “I guess I’ll go with a random bat.”

  “Brazilian free-tailed Bat has been selected.” “Now transferring you to another room, now loading room elements.”

  This room was similar to the origin room dark but the difference is that it is damp and has it sounds like it echoes. “A cave maybe?”

  “Please locate and capture the Brazilian free-tailed bat. You can only use two senses to locate and only mana to capture it.”

  I walk through the cave concentrating hard to hear the bat’s movements, I put my hand to the wall to get a better sense of where the bat was. I feel the vibrations of the numerous other creatures in the cave but one stood out.

  The one that stood out was a light moving target that took rests on the top of the cave, I was certain it was the bat. I use my stealth to get passed the other creatures in the cave. I come to a wide chamber in the cave and I hear the same sound as I did earlier.

  I hear the voice chime again, “One of two tasks completed locate the Brazilian free-tailed bat.”

  “Yes, I just have to capture it!” I measure its flight path with my hearing, and I start to gather mana in my feet and hands. I ready myself to the floor, “Earth sphere!” I scream in my head as I put my hands to the floor the earth starts to form into a ball to catch the bat. I feel myself graze its wings, “crap not fast enough!”

  I start to gather mana in my feet again as brace myself to jump waiting for the right moment. It stops to rest on the cave roof, that time I also gather my mana into my hands. “Mana net!” I scream into my head as I jump to catch the bat.

  Task two of two completed locate and capture the Brazilian free-tailed bat.” Transferring you back to the Origin room.” “You have learned echolocation” “you have learned Mana net.” “You have learned quick and agile feet.” “You have learned Flight, glide and speed burst.”

  “Wow, more skills what’s next I wonder?”

  “Congrats! You have picked all three animals, now randomizing your body choices please select one.” “You have twelve minutes left.”

  Three choices popped up in front of me.

  They are “A head of a Brazilian free-tailed bat, with a body of a grey wolf and a clouded leopard, with Brazilian free-tailed bat wings.”

  “A head of a clouded leopard, a body of a grey wolf and Brazilian bat wings.”

  “A head of a grey wolf, a body of a clouded leopard and wings of a Brazilian bat.

  I ponder a bit going through the answers in my head I found my answer “How about this one?” I click on the third opinion.

  “Are you sure you want this body?” The voice answers.

  “Yes, I am sure.” I reply with a smile.

  “Congrats you have completed all tasks; your human soul and memories will be restored.” “Time limit is now removed.”

  “Wh-hurk?” I feel like I’m going to hurl as the memories come flooding in.

  “My birth, my first day of kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school. As well as my graduation from high school. The flash backs slow down at age twenty where I look like I am living an unhappy life.

  I hate my job at some sort of company, where I work late hours that I don’t get paid for. It looks like my landlord is angry with me, I must    have back rent to pay. My past self looks over to a picture on the table, I guess my parents died soon after my graduation. My past self was lonely, and grief stricken unable to get passed the mourning faze, to cope she ended up playing video games, and eventually started to stream them to try to earn some more money.

  Sadly, it doesn’t help at all with bringing in money, that’s when it starts effecting my job. In turn my job starts pressuring me to work harder and to cope with the long hours I start doubling down on energy drinks, having three for every meal and barely getting any sleep.

  If I would have to guess I died of huge stress on my body and/or a heart attack, the police found me dead in my apartment after a couple of days. I have no next of kin so, a small funeral was held the only ones to come were the police officers who found me.

  A flood of feelings washed over me, sadness, frustration, and sickly feelings all at once.

  “You can ask six questions before you are transferred to another world.”

  “The time limit is ten minutes.”

  “Where am I?” I asked as my feet start to disappear.

  “You are in the space between your old-world Earth and this new World called Umbra Astra”

  “Five questions and eight minutes remaining.”

  “Can I ever return to my old world?” “I get the feeling I know the answer.” I thought balling my fists.

  “No, you are dead and cremated or burned to ash your soul cannot return to it.” “Three questions and six minutes remaining.”

  “Damn I just wasted a question!” say to myself in frustration as I feel my legs disappearing.

  “I got to think of more questions quick!” “Can I communicate and read the language of this new world?” “Can I become human again?” “Can I have a map and a guide the reading the language of this world?”

  My body becomes less and less as I ask my questions.

  “Yes, you can communicate in this world, with the animals that are fused to your soul.” Humans and different species of animals you will have a hard time with. You are currently unable to read the language”

  “You can become human again for a short time by transforming with your mana.”

  “Uploading a map of the world into your brain.” “Transferring how to read manual into your human inventory.”

  “One question remaining.” “Four minutes remaining.”

  “Who are you?” I ask as only my head was visible.

  “I am one of many higher beings, you will come across on your journey.”

  “Please before you go choose a name for yourself, you have a minute and a half remaining.”

  “A name? I guess since my body has been turned to ash. “Ash, that feels too common.” “This place feels like a dream.” “Dream.” “Something that combines Ash and dream.” “Think damn it, think!”

  “You have ten seconds left!”

  “I remember a name from one of those random name generators!”

  “Aisling!” I cry out as I disappear.

  “Time is now up, now transferring soul and body Aisling onto the world of Umbra Astra. Good Luck and remember this life is not a game.”