A swirl of leaves spun infinitely around Ben as she frolicked through the trees. With every step she passed by hordes of flowers and wondrous, lifelike plants. She felt them along with the grass below her with her bare feet. Her entire body was bare, for that matter. She figured it brought her closer to the bare Earth.

The sun atop cast a beautiful light down onto the whole forest. It was a light that was never too strong, with a heat never too overbearing. Just enough to take in its strength and almost loving embrace with the world below. In the distance she saw a waterfall. The constant sound of its water plunging into the depths beneath it was oddly calming and therapeutic.

A branch of a tree had been tilted and lowered, bearing with it a collection of fruit. Ben reached out her hand and grabbed one, raising it to her lips and taking a bite. She reveled in its sweet juices and natural sugar.

The Earth was beautiful. So beautiful. It was such a shame she had never taken the time to notice.

Suddenly, as if following some unspoken command, Ben turned her head upwards. At first she wasn’t sure why, but soon she saw the reason.

The floating island.

She knew in her heart that island held the pinnacle of nature’s beauty. Was she ready to be a part of it?

Ben raised her hand toward the island, desperate to reach it. As she did, she felt her surroundings fade away into non-existence. She just needed to touch it. Even if just to feel its waterfalls again. Just one touch.

Ben felt something get into her eyes. She tried to blink it away, and in doing so she found herself in her bed again, just as she was last night. Under the covers, in her bedroom, with Jacqueline by her side. Nothing out of the ordinary.

At first she felt disappointed, but soon a smile overtook her lips. Perhaps she wasn’t ready to step onto the island yet. That was okay. She’d get there soon. It was only a matter of time.

Ben felt an annoying buzzing around the side of her bed stand. She turned to it and saw a fly. She let out a silent groan. How did that thing even get in here? All the windows were closed.

Not wanting to get out of bed, Ben took a folder and smacked down onto the fly.

To her surprise, she actually caught it. It stopped buzzing around.

She turned the folder over in her hand to see the dead fly stuck to it. Well, looks like she wasted a perfectly good folder. It was a good thing nothing important was in it. Getting out of bed, she went into the bathroom and tossed the folder into the trash bin.

Examining her reflection in the mirror, she found herself puzzled. She couldn’t recall a time when she had killed a fly on the first try. Hell, she couldn’t even recall a time when she had killed a fly on the fifth try. Usually she just gave up. Odd. Perhaps last night had really worked to energize her.

A smile broke onto Ben’s face as last night came back to her mind. She turned to the bed, seeing Jacqueline sleeping peacefully within it. Last night. What a night that was. She never thought pleasure as a woman could feel so good. It was apparent Jacqueline knew the ins and outs of Ben’s current body better than Ben herself did. She was thankful she had Jacqueline’s hand to guide her. She’d be lost otherwise.

Come to think of it, she was feeling really energetic today. This was completely different from how she usually felt in the mornings. It was a welcome change. With a spring in her step, she ran over to the kitchen, already prepared for what she knew would be a very productive day.

***

Groggy, Jacqueline woke up and willed herself to not roll off the side of the bed. She checked the time. The clock read 8:13 AM. Shit, she was going to be late for-

Oh right, it was Saturday. She needed to stop losing track of this stuff.

She turned over to her side and saw that Ben was not in bed. Looks like she got up early this time. A few rooms away she heard searing. Making breakfast already too. Damn, she’s really not giving her any time today.

Slightly annoyed, Jacqueline stepped out of bed. She could have just stayed in bed but if Ben’s already making breakfast she might as well get up now. She huffed, only one day as a woman and already she seems to have gotten over it. That was quick, maybe she should congratulate her.

Jacqueline walked into the kitchen and saw Ben cooking some steak on the stove.

“Good morning.” She said to Jacqueline.

Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. “Steak? For breakfast? Really?”

“Why not?” Ben asked. “Who decided to make rules on what foods should be eaten at each time of day? How much do you want?”

Jacqueline took a seat at the dining room table. “I’m good, not in the mood.” She said.

“Suit yourself.” Ben said, laying another steak onto the skillet.

Jacqueline got out her laptop and took the time to find any remotely interesting news stories to read. She couldn’t find much. Some local school had seen reports of books moving around on their own, and suspected supernatural beings inside. It might make for a good enough plot for an episode of a mediocre teen TV show, but it failed to capture Jacqueline’s attention.

“You seem in a good mood today.” Jacqueline said to Ben. “Already like being a woman? You were really torn up yesterday. What changed?”

“Maybe it was the orgasms.” Ben joked, and Jacqueline huffed alongside her. “But whatever it was, I’m feeling good today. Very good. I don’t think I’ve ever felt better.”

“Ever?”

“Never.” Ben confirmed with a flip of her tongs. “Just bursting with energy, like a kid about to go to recess. Shit, I feel like a million bucks.” She slammed her fist onto the counter to emphasize that last point.

Jacqueline was a bit taken aback by her force. “Woah, calm down. It’s Saturday morning, Ben.”

“I know.” Ben said. “What a time to be active and involved.”

Jacqueline rolled her eyes. If there was some opposite to coffee, Ben could really use it.

***

Ben’s hyperactivity did not tone down as she finished the steak. In fact, it only seemed to grow.

“Look at that.” Ben remarked, sitting down across from Jacqueline. “That is beautiful. A perfect medium well. Just look at how juicy it is. I swear, I’ve never done a steak so well.”

“Turning into a food critic?” Jacqueline asked sarcastically.

“Maybe.” Ben said, taking a bite of the steak. “Who wouldn’t? Food is such an incredible thing. We should savor it.”

Jacqueline hummed, continuing to do her best to tone out Ben’s overactive behavior.

“I knew we had some good butchers around here. Never gave them the recognition they deserved.”

“You seem awful into meat sculpting today.” Jacqueline observed. “When did you suddenly become immersed with the wonders of protein?”

“I mean, it’s just a fascinating concept.” Ben explained. “I’m literally eating something that was a living being before.”

“Umm, yeah? That’s what meat is.”

“Just think about it. This…” Ben pointed down at the steak, “used to be a living, breathing cow. And then its insides were converted into this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Butchers, they take these cows and slaughter them, slicing through all the blood and organs to sculpt their meaty insides into something beautiful.”

“Uh…”

Ben raised her hands and imitated stabbing and slicing. “It’s so brutal. How can we call ourselves a civilized species when we still savagely cut up animals like butter?”

“Ben, I don’t really want to talk about this right now.”

“Hold on!” Ben exclaimed. “Just bear with me for a moment. Could you imagine if it were me in there? Cutting up animals and mutilating them like that? It’s insane to imagine.”

Ben’s smile and laugh held an almost eerie aura as she cheerfully described the experience of butchering animals, while eating, without a hint of hesitation. It was starting to make Jacqueline very uncomfortable.

“Are you okay?” Jacqueline asked, concerned.

“I already said, I’ve never been better.” Ben answered.

“No really, you’re acting weird. More than weird. What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, but whatever it is, I love it.”

Jacqueline examined Ben, taking large bites of her steak and swallowing it oddly quickly. Ben seemed able to tear down a tough steak far faster than anyone Jacqueline had ever seen before. And she was stuffing a lot of meat into her mouth at once. Did she even notice?

If Jacqueline wasn’t creeped out before, she definitely was now. She needed to clear her head.

“You know.” She started. “I just remembered, I have some errands I need to run. I better get to them.”

Jacqueline stood up from her chair, with Ben standing up alongside her.

“Where do you need to go? I’ll help you.”

“Actually, no.” Jacqueline said. “I’d… rather go alone.”

“Why?”

“I- I just need some time alone.” She said. “We all need some time alone. You understand, right?”

Ben’s face held a blank expression for a few seconds, but eventually she voiced agreement.

“Yeah, of course I do.”

Jacqueline nodded uneasily, grabbing her purse and car keys.

“I’ll be back in a few hours.”

***

Ben sat down motionlessly on her bed. Once Jacqueline had left, a deep-seated guilt began to eat away at her.

She’d gotten too excited hadn’t she? She was so wrapped up in her newfound energy that she hadn’t considered if Jacqueline was put off by it. She had driven her away.

She really messed up didn’t she? She was a grown man… woman, she should know better.

Ben rubbed her hands through her face, exasperated and ashamed. She got her phone and began texting an apology.

“I’m sorry about this morning, babe. I got a little too carried away, I know. Promise it won’t happen again.”

Tossing the phone aside, Ben contemplated what she should do to get her mind off what happened that morning. Doing nothing certainly wouldn’t help her guilt, and she had already said to herself this would be a productive day.

Looking out her window, Ben caught sight of the abandoned warehouse at the end of their neighborhood. Seeing it, she got an idea.

Why not put her new energy to the test?

***

Wearing only a sports bra and a pair of athletic shorts she stole from Jacqueline, Ben made her way over to the warehouse, giddy at the thought of seeing just how far this new body of hers could go. As someone who was very physically fit, Ben knew when she was going to have a good day.

And by the looks of it, this was going to be a very good day.

Arriving at the warehouse, Ben was met with a vast, open, empty hall. It was apparent from the look of the place that it had been worn down. Not to the point where it was falling apart, but the metal of the ceiling and walls was undoubtedly weaker than it should have been. Whatever this building was originally used for, Ben had no idea. It had been abandoned when she and Jacqueline first moved into the neighborhood. These days it was mostly just a place for mischievous teens to mess around in.

Staring up at the ceiling above her, an idea suddenly hit Ben’s mind. On the face of it, it sounded really stupid and absurd, but she just… she needed to try it.

She bent her knees down and focused on one of the metal handles on the ceiling. Then, with all her force, she jumped into the air, presumably about thirty feet, to try and grab it.

It was something a child would do, someone with no concept of how the world actually works outside of their overactive imaginations. A twenty-four year old former man had no business trying to jump thirty feet in the air to grab something to hold onto. Ben should be ashamed for even considering it.

And yet, she did it.

And even crazier, she had actually made it to the handle.

“Holy shit.” Ben said, processing what she just did.

Surprisingly, the handle was able to fully support Ben’s weight. She definitely felt lighter than she used to be, which considering her apparent strength, should have been impossible. Magic really was the middle finger to physicists and biologists everywhere

Looking down, she saw the ground below her. Unlike all the times she’d been high up before, it didn’t look the least bit intimidating. Was it because holding onto the bar took barely any effort, or was it because overcoming all her old fears was one of the traits given to her by the transformation? She had no idea.

Wanting to continue moving forward with her experiments, Ben decided to start doing pull ups, just to see how many she could do. As a man, while pull ups were never her specialty, she could still do about eighteen in a minute. People had always told her that was very impressive, but she had a hard time seeing it that way. Compared to most people at the S.I.D., eighteen pull ups was hardly noteworthy.

Being a woman now, realistically she should be doing less than eighteen, but it was already clear that this body did not care about how human biology should work.

Once the ten second mark had passed, Ben had already done fifteen pull ups and counting. She wasn’t even remotely tired, and she was hanging thirty feet in the air!

Twenty seconds passed, and she had reached thirty pull ups. Thirty seconds, forty-four. Forty seconds, fifty-eight. Fifty seconds, seventy-two.

And finally, when the full minute had passed, she had completed eighty-six pull ups. And still, she felt like she barely broke a sweat.

Holy hell, no wonder magic was banned from sports competitions. She just broke the world record for most pull ups in a minute and she barely had to try.

Wait, how did she even know when one full minute had passed? Had she… measured the time in her head? She just seemed to know exactly how much time had passed. Was that also one of her powers now? What wasn’t she capable of?

“Holy shit.” Ben said.

She let go of the metal handle and fell thirty feet to the ground. Her feet hit the metal floor with barely any impact on her body. It was as if she only dropped an inch.

Looking around at all the walls of the warehouse, a grin crept its way onto Ben’s face. Whatever that light in the cave did to her, she was grateful for. This body wasn’t a curse, it was a gift.

And this was only the beginning.