Aubrey awoke to darkness. He felt as if he had been buried alive, there was a consistent pressure from the ceiling that pushed down onto him. Though unlike the dirt he initially expected it wrapped him in a pleasant warmth, he could also push back against the warm wall, though he could not seem to break through it.

  He went to manipute his mana to strengthen his arms, but was surprised with the response. His cultivated mana was several times rger than what he remembered it to be. As a sword master he was already recognized to have a pool of mana far in abundance of the average knight, but now it felt even as much as ten times greater.

  Pushing harder against the pliable roof he felt it stretch further, and from the corner of his eye he spotted the sight of sunlight peaking into the strange cave. He let up on the roof, and began to crawl in the direction that light had appeared.

  Not long after he had come to the cave’s entrance. He pushed off the roof and squeezed his way out. In front of him was a strange forest, green reeds towered higher than buildings. Despite their size they swayed lightly under a breeze.

  Where did that witch send me?

  Aubrey turned his gaze back to look at the cave he escaped from. A thick wool like tarp was draped between the gaps in a rge metallic structure. The silvery metal was polished to a mirror finish. He looked down only to be greeted by the face of a woman.

  Aubrey jumped slightly in surprise, but the woman did so as well. He touched his face, and so did the woman. It was then he remembered the words of the witch.

  Is this me?

  His once muscur body was repced by the petit form of the woman he stared at. She was naked and Aubrey’s eye inclined towards her rge breasts, she brought her hands up to touch them and she felt a pleasure that was alien to her. Aubrey had never had a lover, so far his life had been solely dedicated to training and fighting, naturally a certain curiosity came over him as he inspected the body.

  As the woman’s face turned red she remembered the urgency of the situation and turned her attention to the rest of her body. Aubrey’s blonde hair had grown significantly, what had once been trimmed quite close now stretched all the way down to her butt, which had also taken on a more round effeminate shape.

  The biggest change however was her wings. Four golden wings that poked through the hair stretching down her back. It was then Aubrey started to get a grasp of the situation.

  I’m a faerie?

  She tried to feel her wings, trying to move them. They twitched lightly, but the sensation was strange and disorienting. She feared that if she tried to fly now she would only end up hurting herself.

  Aubrey stared deeply into the reflection. The corner of her eye saw a movement in the polished metal. She turned around to see the grass moving behind her. In the distance she could see a rge tarantu-like monster approaching her.

  Though that was not exactly correct. Considering the circumstances it was just a normal hairy spider, even still it caused a shiver to run down her spine. She realized the reason her mana seemed to have increased so much, was not because it had grown, but the amount of it she could draw on had shrunk significantly.

  Here, without a weapon, she was unsure if she could even handle such a weak foe. She had little time to consider her options. She could hide once more in her shirt and armor, but if she was found there it would be hard to escape.

  Instead she opted to run in the opposite direction. She pushed aside the bdes of grass, but turning back she could already see the spider inch closer to inspect the shining armor.

  The one silver lining seemed to be that her comparatively rge pool of mana, would allow her to maintain her sprint much longer then she could before the transformation. Though as a knight who had reached the rank of Swordmaster stamina was not something she had cked.

  Soon the armor became obscured beyond the sea of grass, though with her heightened senses she could still feel the presence of the tarantu just beyond the green curtain.

  Despite her increased stamina she was soon forced to a stop. Looking back she caught the sight of her new wings snagged on a spider web. It was hardly a web yet, only a few loose strings.

  It seemed that the trap was currently under construction, because not far away was another spider. This one was many times smaller than the tarantu, but still offered a sufficient surprise to Aubrey. She had managed to keep tracking the rger predator, but her senses were not yet used to the smaller scale, shamefully she had been caught off guard.

  The arachnid began to close in on her. She tried to move her wings, but it only served to reaffirm how fragile they were. She worried if she struggled any more they would tear. While that could allow for her immediate survival, it would almost certainly eliminate her chances of escaping the forest. To do so she would need to learn how to fly.

  Maintaining her guard she waited as the spider inched closer. She focused, trying to summon what little mana she could in her diminutive form. The spider reached towards her with one of its long spindly legs. Her hands began to glow a brilliant gold as she focused the mana into her forearms.

  The chitinous limb stretched towards her, but before it could touch her she reached out and grabbed it with both hands. Cracks formed on the carapace and the leg snapped under the pressure. Fluid spewed forth and covered her body, but she did not have the leisure to be disgusted.

  Her foe backed off cautiously, passing through the grass. Aubrey attempted to infuse mana into the severed leg, much like she would do with a sword. Unlike a metal bde, the leg was brittle and quickly began to deteriorate under the pressure of the mana.

  Quickly, before it could be destroyed, she threw it like a spear towards the spider. Sensing the danger the spider began to charge towards her. But before it could reach her the leg pierced through its head.

  Despite the fatal blow the spider did not stop its charge. Continuing to charge ever closer to Aubrey, until it was within her reach. She empowered her fists once more to strike it, but before she could make contact it fell and colpsed right in front of her.

  Whatever joy she was afforded from the victory was short-lived. The commotion had drawn the attention of the much rger tarantu. The bdes parted as it searched within the grass.

  It was then Aubrey’s emotions began to stir. She had been so focused on the strange scenario she found herself in, that she had yet to properly process things. She had finally felt it, fear. There was not much a powerful knight in a prestigious order needed to fear, but it was different now. Even in her fight with witch she had been too preoccupied fighting to fully feel any dread.

  Damn. When was the st time I felt this way?

  Her hairs seemed to stand on end as chill ran through her. Even when facing the Wandering Swordmaster, she had not felt such a freighting aura. Now she was feeling such fear from a mere spider of all things.

  Quickly she turned to the web that bound her wings. She had to twist in an awkward position in order to face it. She pulled on it with her hands, and infused mana into it. Unlike the chitin which crumbled under the pressure of her mana, the strong silk conducted it simir to a knight’s sword.

  With a yank she was able to rip the thread free from the grass and dirt it was anchored to. The movement was enough to draw the predator’s attention away from the sin spider and over towards Aubrey. She held her body still, breathing slowly.

  She was free from the trap, but with her wings still bound and dragging the silk thread, escaping would prove a new challenge. Even without the binds, the tarantu had the advantage of size, it would be difficult to outspeed the longer legs of the creature. It began to reach for her, extending the grasp of its long hairy legs.

  She had only one option left. It was something she had hoped to try in a more controlled environment, but now it seemed to be her only hope. Summoning the strength of her mana once more, Aubrey began to glow with a faint gold hue, but instead of empowering her arms or legs, she instead focused the energy towards her newfound wings.

  The golden wings lit up with a radiance, they seemed to only amplify the light of the mana. The grass before her, and even the head of the spider were painted by the golden glow, but before the beast could act the wings began to twist and twitch.

  The spider went to lunge at her, but Aubrey had already shot upwards, the silk thread falling loosely from her wings and into the dirt. The once clumsy wings managed to gain enough grace to support her flight. Aubrey looked down at the spider, she had managed to fly higher than the tall grass, and now looked out over the clearing.

  Her eyes focused on the discarded armor and sword that id on the ground, though she had little time to think about it. Her movement was still rgely uncontrolled, she flew up, fell back down, shot to the right, spun around. One second she stared up at the sun, and next she was looking straight towards the ground.

  Slowly she staggered to the edge of the clearing. In her stupor she crashed into a bundle of leaves, but managed to grasp a hold of a branch with one of her arms. Resting a second to recover from the dizziness, she went and pulled herself up onto the tree limb.

  She sat, her legs dangling off the branch as she went to regain her breath, but to her surprise her body had hardly tired.

  Is this the effect of the overwhelming mana?

  She thought.

  Not even a drop of sweat. Do faeries sweat?

  Aubrey looked down. There was a mark in the dirt at the tree’s base, and not far from it sat her armor. It was the same tree she had been previously thrown into by the powerful wind magic.

  If I can fly like a faerie, then maybe…

  She held out her hand and concentrated trying to draw out the wind magic faeries commonly used. No magic formed, nothing happened as Aubrey continued to stare at her hand.

  It was not much of a surprise, Aubrey had no knowledge of magic. While knights made use of mana, they did it solely to reinforce physical strength which was a simple endeavor in comparison to structured magic. Learning magic required a much greater focus on schorly study, and colborative research, unlike a knight’s mana reinforcement which was learned more through physical training, will power and instinct.

  Although rare it was not unheard of for a skilled borer or conscripted foot soldier to unknowingly teach themselves mana reinforcement. To learn magic by oneself, without the reference of books and journals was effectively impossible.

  “Hahhhhh.” Aubrey yawned.

  Though her body was not tired she was certainly exhausted. She wanted to immediately focus on lifting her curse, but she had no idea where to even begin, and besides everything would have to wait until after she escaped the forest.

  Well, fuck…