I awoke in a small dark space.
My knees pressed against my chest and my arms wrapped about my shins.
My sense of balance told me I was the right way up.

Touch alone was enough to tell me I was naked,
My skin felt soft and hairless.
In contrast, the hair on my head cascaded in heavy locks of over my shoulders and upper back.
The way my thighs pressed together and the way my muscles responded when I squeezed, told me something else.
Just as I was certain that I had ten fingers and ten toes, I was also certain that I was female now.

Even in a fetal position I filled the space of my prison from bottom to top, with scant inches of free space in any direction.
The walls appeared to be of polished stone, but without the coolness that I would have expected.

When I twisted in place, I spotted light.
A circle of stone behind me that seemed to glow like sunlight seen through closed eyelids.
I planted my hands on the floor of my prison and pushed down until my bottom lifted off the stone.
Moving by a few degrees at a time, I turned until I faced the light.

I tapped the stone with my knuckles.
It made an echoing hollow sound.
I hit it harder, clenching my hands into fists and swinging as far as I could, ponding on the stone like a drum.
After a few hits the flesh of my hands stung, but the stone didn't budge.

In desperation I twisted about again until I lay on my back with my feet pressed against the thin patch of stone.
This left my neck cricked and my chin pressed tight against my breast bone.

With a grunt of effort I pushed.
Pushed until my thighs were burning with the effort.
Pushed until I thought my neck would snap from the pressure.
When I thought I could push no more, the stone gave way all at once.

The thin layer of stone shattered like glass.
The blinding light of an alien sun flooded my prison, while I lay there panting with eyes shut tight against the glare.
Hot dry air wicked the sweat from my limbs.

The new light confirmed what my sense of touch had already told me.
My skin was pale and free of hair or blemishes.
I was a girl, and a prepubescent one at that.
I'd kind of assumed that I'd stay the same age when the goddess did whatever she did.
But that wasn't the case.

"Climbing this will suck." I said, just to hear my voice.
The sounds that came out were strange, and had a singsong quality that reminded me of something from northern Europe, Dutch or Finnish perhaps.
Somehow I could not only speak this language but understand it and think even think in it.

The tunnel I had breached extended six feet up and was so smooth that it gleamed.
While not vertical it was steep, with a gradient of at least sixty degrees.
Beyond that I saw nothing but clear blue sky.

Enough lying around Tony, I thought, or this is going to end up being your grave.
I’d probably need a new name, come to think of it, and I wasn’t going to take the copout option of calling myself Toni either.

Taking care to work around the shards of rock I twisted about again until I got my head and shoulders into the tunnel.
If anything, the tunnel was even narrower than the chamber I started in.

With no hand holds to speak off I had to rely on pressure and friction to hold my weight.
First I wedged my arms against the walls and lifted until my knees could go no higher.
Then I wedged my legs similarly and reached up, stretching my torso.

Each such motion saw my end up a few inches further up the stone pipe.
Inch by inch I slivered towards the light.
A quarter hour later my head emerged into a new world.

The stone outcropping I emerged from stuck out of the hillside above a broad valley carpeted with flowers.
The distant ridgeline gave the illusion of a lush meadow.
But the ground beside me told a different story.
The clumps of flowers were somewhat sparse and the ground about them, not grass or loam but sand.

Here and there fingers of stone jutted from the dunes.
Mountains of bare red stone crumpled like a geologist model rose to the North East.
At least I though it was North East, assuming it was before noon and that the sun rose in the east here.

The flowers closest to me were hot pink with dark green foliage, and the next bunch over where ice blue.
It was beautiful, but also deadly.

I'd seen pictures similar to this, of places where for a few weeks per year the desert bloomed.

I pulled myself out of the hole and stretched, arching my back until my hands touched the rock behind me and kicked up into a handstand.

This was new, I'd never done a handstand before, yet now it seemed effortless.
Without a second thought I tucked my knees down and rotated into a piked position parallel to the ground.
Then I swung my legs back under again until my toes brushed the ground and stood on points.

I'd guess my new age at no more than twelve.
Long limbed, strong, and flexible, the body of a dancer or perhaps a gymnast.
No the body of a rogue who could scale walls and sneak through the tinest of openings.

But my skin would be a problem.
Skin this fair didn’t tan, no it burned.
Even in my old life sunscreen had been a necessity, but now, I needed it more than ever, and no convince stores in sight.

Northern Indiana didn't get this hot, but even I knew that going naked in the desert was dangerous.
I needed shelter, and water or this would be a rather short second life.

"Well, my goddess," I said, squinting up at the sky.
"What am I supposed to do now?"

Change, the world echoed in my thoughts of its own accord.
I closed my eyes and focused on it.
What am I supposed to change and how?
Something twisted in my mind and then my eyes opened.

My fingers and toes itched something fierce.
Pins and needles sparked inwards.
The sensation moved up my limbs, triggering nerve endings one after another in a slow burn.

I clenched my jaw, not waiting to advertise my presence by screaming.
Behind the wave of feeling my new body changed, fingers shrinking, toes swelling, and claws extending for every digit.
Fur sprouted from my skin, covering pale pink with patterns of yellows and browns.

I blinked and the entire world changed.
The bright blue sky now seemed washed out.
The vegetation a darker green than it had been a moment ago.
Even the flowers lost their vibrance, fading to near gray coloured with only hints of yellow.
Of red and violet there wasn't even a trace.

Against this drab background something moved.
A scant five yards from where I stood.
My ears flicked from side to side.
I heard the foliage rustle as something crept through it.

Dropping onto all fours I moved forward, half walking, half crawling on the burning sand.
I slipped between the clumps of flowers without disturbing a single petal.

The scent trail told a clear story of how my prey had foraged all over the valley.
Its mouthwatering musk led me even more than the visible signs of passage.

My tail flicked from side to side and then I pounced.
In less than a heartbeat my claws met skin and flesh.
My prey struggled and screeched until my ears hurt, but I held on squeezing the life out of it.
Its ribs cracked, and the screech cut off.
It was some kind rodent, a fair bit larger than a mouse.

I leant close to see it better with no discernible effect.
If anything up close, it looked even less distinct, but the smell.

A quick twist cracked the neck and a single bite separated the head from the body, allowing me to suck the hot blood straight into my mouth.
I ate it raw, stripping skin of flesh with my claws and tearing the meat off the bones with my teeth.

I froze, breath drawn in.
I'd killed it.
I'd killed a rat and ate it raw! Oh god, I thought as I liked the blood from my fingers.
My stomach twisted and bile rose in my throat.
"Goddess what have you done to me?"

If Katia watched, she gave no answer.
Somehow I kept my meal down.
Just when I was getting comfortable in my new skin, the goddess had to pull this trick on me.
Two new bodies in an hour was a bit much.

My new, new eyes seemed farsighted, which made a personal examination kind of difficult.
Despite the killer instinct, I hadn't shifted into an entirely animal form.

I could stand on two legs, though in something a pigion-toed fashion.
Despite the change walking was easily enough and my balance was still perfect.

I stood on one paw and pivoted down to pluck a flower from its stem, only for it to slip through my short fat fingers.
With a sigh of annoyance I grabbed at it again and came away with a flower which I brought to my nose.
Pretty enough but no perfume to speak of.

My ears twitched, tracking a gust of wind as it brushed the foliage and my tail flicked from side to side.
I retracted my claws and used my fingertips to explore my face.

It felt furry, but other than that mostly human.
Well, except for the whiskers, the cleft upper lip and the triangular ears sitting high on my head.
"Myaa!
I'm a freaking catgirl.
That blasted goddess made me into a cat girl!
That was not what I had in mind."

I stomped away from the remains of my meal and shook a fist at the heavens.
"Fuck you, Katia!"

At my words the ground shook.
Before I could move another muscle the very air cracked and my vision faded to white again.
I blinked furiously to clear the green after images from my sight.

Lightening from a clear blue sky., Lightening that had struck only a foot from where I stood with enough force to turn the sand to glass.
Note to self, do not take the goddesses name in vain.
"Sorry my Lady, you surprised me is all." I whispered.

At the edge of the valley I surveyed the wasteland that Katia had dropped me into.
This was indeed a desert, as far as I could see.
Waves of sand interspersed with outcroppings of red rock and patches of wildflowers.

Only the mountains to the North East broke up the monotony.
At least my new form seemed adapted to this land.
Somehow the sand didn't feel as hot against the pads of my paws as it had against my human feet.
The fur also gave at least some protection from the glaring sun.

That’s when I saw the smoke.
At least I through it was smoke, long plums of it rising from some point far to the west.
A forest fire, I reasoned would be more spread out, not rising in dozens of thin tendrils from one small area.

Fire meant people.
perhaps a city or a camp at least and having a landmark to aim at was important.
Otherwise I could well end up walking in circles.

So step one, sneak into an alien city.
Step two, steal some cloths.
I’d have to work out a step three when I got there, but after that step four was always profit.
Oh, yes and somewhere along the way fight evil.
With that I stepped over the ridge line and began my journey.
This would be a long walk.