I was walking back home from work when all of a sudden I felt a searing headache. My vision kept blacking out, and I fell to the ground. I looked up at the clouds above, losing consciousness. After that, I remember only blurs. Falling, laughter, the image of a woman, the sound of fire and thunder. And then, just as quick as it started, it ended. I was lying on my back in the middle of a grassy field, staring at a star-filled sky.

My heart was beating fast and my head was still aching. I could barely move my body before two people in armour approached me, one of them taking me in their arms and carrying me inside huge gates. Between few periods of consciousness I could see glimpses of people looking down on me from above. I saw lights, people with animal features like ears and fur, heard a cacophony of voices and noises that were new to me.

I woke up on high alert with a terrified gasp, sitting down on the bed and lifting up my hand in a fist. Once I noticed my surroundings, I instantly calmed down, my fear giving way to confusion. I was in bed, under very warm blankets, and the room around seemed... cozy. The window and curtains were closed, letting a slight bit of sunlight enter. The walls were made of stone and the floor was made of wood. There were only two other pieces of furniture in the room, a wardrobe and a nightstand, the latter with something on top.

There was a glass bottle with red, pinkish liquid. A note sat underneath it, with delicate and elaborate handwriting, reading only the words: "Drink, it will make you feel better". Once I had read those words and the adrenaline wore off the headache returned, this time with increased intensity and apparently only getting worse. Without a second thought I swiped the bottle and drank as quickly as I could. The taste was surprisingly nice, with a slightly sweet aftertaste. The pain went away and I took a deep breath, running my fingers through my hair.

Suddenly I felt something strange on my head. At first I thought it was just my messy hair spiking up, but it was so sensitive at the touch I immediately threw out that possibility. I looked at my reflection on the bottle and realised they were actually cat ears. I leapt out of bed, noticing as well my different clothing. It was simple, looking like the commoner clothes you'd see in TV shows in medieval settings. I had to sit down again, gathering up my thoughts.

I slowly got up and opened the window, almost expecting to see a movie set on the outside. Instead I was met with a castle courtyard, huge walls, and plains that seemed to go on for miles.

"Am I... dreaming?" I asked myself, trying to make sense of the situation.  "Maybe... Maybe I'll wake up soon."

That's when I heard footsteps from outside my room, stopping right at the door. Once again I was alarmed, not quite sure what to expect.

"Hey, I heard you say something." A voice asked politely through the other side of the door. "Are you awake?"

"H-hi...?" I hesitantly replied to the quiet, pleasant voice. "What's happening?"

"May I come in? Or better yet, may you come out? I could easily explain all your doubts and worries! If you want to, of course. I mean, you have to get out of the room eventually... I hope."

I slowly opened the door and was met with a short, silver-haired woman. She looked around the same age as me. Her round, gold rim glasses made her amber eyes look bigger. On the top of her head were two sheep ears, twitching as she saw me. She looked up at me and gently touched the tip of my nose.

"Boop! You look pretty well! Cat ears and whiskers, huh? Been a while since we've seen those around here."

"Huh...?" I touched the whiskers, not realising they were there before. It felt strange. "Are they rare?"

"A little bit, yeah. Now, let me just run by some things really quick. Animal features? Check. Well enough to stay conscious? Check. Hmm... Have you checked your stats?"

"My what? Stats?"

The moment I said that word a small screen showed up in front of me.

Naomi - No Class

STR - 6

WIS - 3

CHA - 4

DEX - 5

MAGIC PROWESS - 15

Current Perks - None

Level - 1

"I... what? What does that mean? Are these numbers good? What does class, and level mean? What-"

"And clearly you've taken the potion, since your eye and hair colors are changing already!"

I looked in the bottle's reflection once more and noticed that my hair and eyes were indeed changing from a dark brown to a light blue, almost cyan. I sat on the bed and tried to think things through, but it didn't take long for me to pass out from the shock.

"Oh! Oh no..." She worriedly unchecked the 'Well enough to stay conscious' box.