Have you ever had one of those dreams where you realize you’re dreaming? I always wake up right after the realization, like the shock of it breaks the illusion. But this dream was different, backwards almost.

I can’t remember how it started, it was like my subconscious pulled my conscious mind into the dream at the moment of realization. My first memory is of saying “This is a dream?” right as it all clicked.

It made sense why I was confused, it was different than any dream I’d ever had before. It almost felt more real than being awake.

It was like all my senses perceived the area around me in perfect clarity; the colors and brush strokes of every painting along the walls, the smell of soap and stale blood lingering under a foreign perfume, the sweat on my own skin. Even my emotions felt heightened, I was afraid.

I was seated in some sort of tattoo chair, my arms and legs restrained with heavy straps. The parlor looked hygienic enough, but it was cluttered with pictures and objects from what must have been decades of use.

Standing over me was the person I intuitively understood to be my captor. We had just been talking, or so I felt, but I had no memory of the conversation.

I couldn’t tell their ethnicity or gender, I wasn’t even sure they were human. They had smooth pale skin with intensely blue eyes. Their ears came up to gentle points, and their hair was a shimmery white-gray, falling flat and straight like a cascade of liquid silver.

They were wearing some sort of long shirt over a pair of short pants, and every visible inch of skin was covered in tattoos and piercings. Most depicted things I had no understanding of. A bemused smirk lingered on their lips.

“Yes and no, you’ve crossed into the realm of night, the land of dreams.” They spoke in a lilting voice that was gratingly condescending.

“But this is a dream, like none of this is real?” I tried to clarify.

My captor let out a chirping laugh “This is very real for me, I live here. But no, we are not in your reality. You’ve been sentenced to a new one, I’m here to guide you there.” They stated matter-of-factly.

“Sentenced, what are you talking about?” I asked, pulling a little against the straps. I was held fast, but they weren’t uncomfortably tight.

“By the Court of Night, they reviewed a plea for justice and granted benefaction in the form of these three rings.” They explained, uncurling the long fingers of their hand to show me three polished golden rings.

“None of that makes sense.” I objected, struggling harder. “What are those rings for, and why am I tied down?”

They must have felt my rising panic, because their demeanor took a sudden shift “I’m so sorry, I didn’t intend to scare you. I know it can be disorienting when you first recover awareness. The rest of this dream will come back with time.” They closed their hand and looked me in the eye. Their irises were impossibly blue, like rings of deep sapphire gemstone. “These rings are attuned to your new reality, once they’re in place your body will adjust to fit.”

They looked to the side and I followed their gaze to a cluttered desk near the back, standing above the papers was a round glass bottle with a stoppered lid. It was filled with something that looked like water, but it gave off a soft pale light. The light cast a shifting mottled pattern that reminded me of the shadows cast by clouds.

“That bottle over there holds the memories and experiences that are missing from your mind.” They held up three slender fingers. “Mind, body, soul. You’re taking the place of yourself in this new reality, so the soul is constant. The rings align your body, and the bottle completes your mind. After that my duty is complete. I’ll escort you back to your body and you can wake up.”

They spelled out the whole process with a simple directness that felt designed to put me at ease. I tried to focus on the content of what they were telling me. “So you’ve got me tied down so you can put those rings on me?” I asked, balling my hands into fists.

The smirk came back to their face “In a sense. These are meant to be worn as piercings.” They said, stepping right up to me. They raised their hand and snapped their fingers. I instantly found myself completely naked.

Honestly I couldn’t remember what I’d been wearing before, dreams can be like that. But suddenly my attention was drawn to my complete lack of clothing. My dick and balls were clearly visible, and the restraints hindered any attempts at modesty. My discomfort seemed to amuse my captor.

“No need to feel shy. I’m a professional.” They lifted one ring from their palm and twisted it. The metal bent in their bare hands, splitting cleanly at the tension point into a sort of spiral shape.

They affixed a hollow needle to one end of the twisted ring. “This is going to pinch a bit.” They warned me.

I balled my fists even tighter and tried to think of something to do or say, but all I could do was watch in shock. My captor moved too fast for me to do much else. In one motion they leaned over my chest, pinched my left nipple between two fingers, and ran the needle through it with their other hand. I felt an intense searing pinch, like stepping on a nail nipple first.

“Augh fuck!” I grunted, but they were absorbed by the task at hand and took no notice. They pulled the ring through and removed the needle, then bent the ring back into place, as effortlessly as bending a paperclip.

The moment the ring was back to its proper shape there was a flash of light, and the metal was whole again, an unbroken loop. At the same instant the pain disappeared, replaced at first with a numbness, and then a growing tingle.

The tingle spread from my nipple and down into my chest. It felt good, too good. Like a hot bath when you’re shivering cold; the shock of heat creates a blissful torture.

“Ooh, fuck.” I groaned and stretched my side. The discomfort was fading, but the pleasure kept building. Deep into my chest, along the muscles, back up through my pec, exploding from the tip of my nipple, where the slim golden ring dangled off me.

My nipple became stiff and swollen, growing larger than I’d ever seen it. As it firmed up, it gripped the ring harder, which intensified the erotic feeling shooting through my chest. My dick responded, stiffening and lengthening as the feeling became more intense.

The flesh under the piercing pulsed in time to my heart beat, swelling and shrinking. Like a rising tide, each swell came larger than the last, until my nipple rested atop a new mound of breast tissue.

“Ooooh…” I moaned as the euphoria waned. My cock was rock hard, and I had been pushed to the precipice of orgasm, but I had no way to stimulate myself over the edge. The ring was still filling me with warm tingles, but they didn’t have the same erotic energy as before.

I looked down at my chest and recoiled at the sight. The right side of my chest looked the same as before, but the left had been transformed. My pec had been replaced with what looked like a woman’s breast. Hairless and bulbous, with a thick erect nipple—the golden ring pierced through the base.

The force of my reaction caused my chest to jiggle. The difference in density between flesh and gold caused the ring to tug a little with each change in direction. “What are you doing to me?” I wailed.

“Preparing you for your new reality.” They replied calmly, moving to my other side. “Your body is quite different there.” They prepared the next ring as they talked, showing little interest in our conversation.

“And in this new reality I’m a woman?” I asked, trying to make sense of what was happening to me.

“It’s a reality where you were born with a very different body.” They said as they pierced my second nipple. There was a brief pause as they fixed the ring and I squirmed in pain. “These rings are enchanted to adjust your self-image.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, still determined to get some answers. My head was fuzzy from the new burst of erotic energy. My dick was leaking precum, but I still hadn’t reached climax. The intense feelings in my chest were holding me at the edge.

“The way you see yourself in your mind’s eye, how you appear in dreams, your subconscious awareness of your own body.” They walked around to stand between my legs.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I pleaded. “Do we need to be in such a rush?” I was stalling for time, but I also wanted more information.

They paused and considered my plea “I guess we have a little time to talk.” Their piercing blue eyes met mine again. Suddenly it became very difficult to think of what to say. There was too much pressure, and my mind was foggy from the disorienting effects of the rings. 

“Why does it feel so good?” I blurted out. It was the biggest question on my mind, but it felt too embarrassing to talk about.

A wry smile briefly crossed their lips “The rings are attuned to your new reality. Self-image is built on experiences and sensation; what you’re feeling is years of sensation all rushing into your mind at once. The enchantment dulls the pain, but the pleasure all comes through.” They stated, like it made everything clear.

They resumed the task at hand. I sat in a panicked silence, trying to think of another question as they prepared the final ring.

“This is a dream though, couldn’t you just snap your fingers and change my body?” I asked, doing my best to think through the haze.

“Yes and no. I could change how you look in this dream, but it would cease the moment you wake up. These change your very concept of self.” They said, gesturing with the last gold ring. “Close your eyes and picture yourself on the beach.” They asked me.

As nervous as I was to close my eyes with them so close to me, I didn’t feel like it was a trick. Even if it was, I was at their mercy regardless. I closed my eyes and pictured myself on the beach.

The waves were crashing on the shore. I was barefoot in the sand. My swim trunks were damp from saltwater, and my top was clinging to my breasts. Wait, that’s not right, I swim shirtless. That made me think about people looking at me, seeing my chest.

“Do you understand now?” They asked me. I opened my eyes, they were placing the needle onto the last ring.

“Where are those thoughts coming from? I don’t think like that.” I stammered, coming up with another question.

“That’s exactly how you think now that you’ve absorbed some of the experiences from your new reality. The rings don’t really change your physical body, they change your self-image. It’s that shift that changes the body of your dream-self.”

I tried not to panic, but I found their explanation very unsettling. I tried to imagine myself with my chest as I remembered it, and it came to mind just fine. Masculine and broad, covered in coarse hair, little bumpy nipples. But it was a memory, like remembering my last haircut.

When I looked down I was confronted with what my chest is now: round bulging breasts, virtually hairless, topped with wide tall nipples—each one gripping a slim golden ring with excited tissue.

I let out a groan of misery, imagining that happening to my dick, existing only as a memory. I looked at it, lifting my head a little to see over my breasts. The tip was almost purple with desire. I was still teetering on the edge of climax. If what they said was true, these could be our last moments together.

“Hey, I know this is a weird request, but is there any way you could help me cum just one more time before it’s gone?” I pleaded. My face must have been beet red in embarrassment. I wanted one more ejaculation to remember it by. And even if it was all just a dream, I really wanted to get off. The suspense was bordering on agony.

“Don’t worry, this will help.” They said, pinching a bit of the skin just under the head of my dick and piercing it in the same instant.

The burst of pain would have normally doused my arousal, but I was so close it was almost a turn-on. I prepared myself for what could be my last orgasm with my penis, as a flash united the final ring.

The tingling energy surged through me even more powerfully than before. It raced down my shaft and settled deep into my balls, making my cock twitch and ache.

The power pushed me even closer to climax, but at the same time it felt like the peak was getting higher. Meanwhile I could see my dick sinking lower, shrinking closer to my body. I craned my head to get a better look at what was happening to me.

My balls were pulled up tight to my body, and my dick was standing straight up, hard as a rock, but no larger than it used to be when flaccid.

The energy was flowing down into my pelvis too, causing the flesh to plump up on either side of my junk. It pushed my balls out, but it made my penis look even smaller.

The pleasure continued to build. I was well past the point where I would have usually shot my load. My hands gripped the padded armrests and my legs tensed. My cock began to twitch involuntarily, pulling on my balls with each contraction. It was like I was cumming, but my arousal was still building.

A particularly strong contraction lasted several seconds, and accompanied the sensation of warm honey flowing up from my balls. It happened twice more, filling me with immense satisfaction. It almost felt like a slow-motion ejaculation in reverse.

Each contraction caused my balls to shrink, until they completely vanished between the sides of my growing mound. Only my penis remained, poking straight out the top of the crack.

A moment later another pulse of contractions made my dick twitch and leak. My precum had become clear and copious, running down my shaft and pooling in my new crevice.

Each time my dick flexed, it pointed a little lower, and flexed a little less, until it was aiming straight down and no longer responded to the contractions.

The vision of my dick sinking away was heart wrenching, but the sensation was utterly orgasmic. Better than orgasmic, I never knew such pleasure was possible. Even though my dick had stopped responding to the clenching pulse, my orgasm kept going, rolling deep into my pelvic floor.

“Oh fuck!” I cried out, as I finally crested the peak. In that same moment I felt my dick come apart. The thin fleshy line that ran from the tip of my dick to the base of my balls unfused, splitting to form my inner lips.

I was too absorbed in the moment to take note of it at the time, but an awareness had blossomed in my mind not only of my new shape, but of my new anatomy. I understood that I no longer had a penis, I had a clitoris. I no longer had a scrotum, I had labia. Even if I looked away or closed my eyes, it wouldn’t have mattered. The change was happening inside my head.

At the absolute zenith of my orgasmic series I felt myself ejaculate. Just one little spurt of thin watery fluid, which promptly leaked down my butt.

I gasped for air, catching my breath after what felt like minutes of blissful torture. My pussy was drenched, and still humming with erotic energy, but it didn’t feel like it was building up to anything now.

I looked down at my crotch. All I could see from my seated position was the very top of my slit, with a little golden ring poking out to mark my clit. I leaned back with a resigned sigh. At least they were done sticking needles through me.

“I’ll remove the restraints now, you’ve been very good.” My captor told me, pressing a lever at the base of the chair with their foot. My hands and feet were suddenly freed.

I rubbed my wrists and looked around. “I guess I’m a woman now.” I grunted, stepping to my feet. I wobbled a bit on my still-shaky legs.

“That’s a question you must answer with your heart.” They told me as they walked over to the desk and retrieved the bottle of memories. “The rings will continue to change your body gradually, but this will hasten it greatly. As your mind absorbs the memories of your new reality, it molds your self-image directly.” They looked from the bottle back to me, and they studied my expression for a moment. “Whether or not you come to know yourself as a woman, you have lived a life as a man, secure and complete in your gender. There will always be that part of you in your mind.”

I could tell they were trying to help, but it only made me feel more confused. I nodded my head and reached for the softly glowing bottle. For a moment I thought about smashing it, even if they had a spell to undo it, I just wanted some way to rebel against this whole scheme.

They must have sensed something was up, because they pulled the bottle back before I could reach it and gave me a warning. “This bottle holds another person’s mind. Be very gentle with it. Once you begin drinking you must continue until you’ve ingested every drop. You can pause if you must, but I will not let you stop until it’s finished.”

They handed the bottle to me with great gravitas. It felt much lighter than I’d expected, as if it was empty. I looked at the mottled glowing water in the bottle and then back to my captor.

“What happens after I finish it?” I asked, feeling nervous about beginning something they wouldn’t let me stop.

“You will lose consciousness.” They answered simply, then continued. “You will dream the memories you’re about to ingest, and then you’ll wake up in your new reality.”

“So there will be another person in my head?” I asked. I didn’t understand how this double-memory situation could work.

“Just one person. One person with two sets of memories. In one you were sentenced to a new reality, in the other you asked for a dream of another life.” They explained. I still wasn’t sure what they were saying.

Seeing my blank stare they continued. “To the person in that bottle, your entire life, up to and including now, is a dream they are currently having.” I nodded and they went on “Once you ingest the memories, you will fall asleep, and you will have a dream that includes their entire life.” I nodded again, so far so good. “Once you wake up you will be one person with two memories of their life.” They finished.

I understood what they were telling me, at least in principle, but I couldn’t understand how that was different from two people sharing one body. I would have to see for myself. It didn’t seem like I had much choice in the matter.

I uncorked the bottle and took a deep breath. “I guess this is goodbye.” I told my captor. They just returned a thin smile.

I held the bottle to my lips and took a cautious sip. It tasted like nothing, like perfectly clear water, but it filled my head with feelings. Events, ideas, things I couldn’t process. It made my head swim, and filled me with a sort of intoxicated feeling.

The fluid trickled down my throat, and the energy from the rings surged. I was covered in a vaguely itchy sensation as nearly all my body hair vanished back into my skin.

“You must keep drinking.” My captor warned, not allowing me to get distracted. I put the bottle to my lips again for a deeper swallow.

This time I felt my hips swell with energy and begin to expand. They pushed outward, changing the shape of my pelvis and widening my stance. I stumbled a little, but regained my composure and took another drink.

This time my musculature rearranged itself, thinning my arms and bolstering my new hips. I could feel my center of gravity shift even further. Another gulp and all the fat on my body flowed into a curvier shape, filling in for lost muscle mass.

All the redistribution of weight made me stumble again, worse this time. I had to brace myself on the chair to remain standing. I wanted to stop drinking, the changes were too intense. I tried to put down the bottle but they grabbed my arm.

“You must keep drinking.” They repeated, much more forcefully this time. I complied, putting the bottle to my lips once more. They held it there for me as I chugged mouthful after mouthful.

My fingers grew slender, my feet shrunk down, my hair cascaded past my shoulders. Gulp after gulp I felt the shape of my new life take form in my mind, bending my image until I became a perfect copy.

I swallowed the last bit as I felt my throat tingle with energy. I knew I’d be asleep soon, or awake, or however it worked. I lowered the bottle and tried to open my mouth to speak, but I found myself falling backwards. My captor waved goodbye as they tilted out of view.

The world spun around me and everything went black. I collapsed onto a distant mattress, at home in my new life.