“Isn’t it beautiful?”

Ben looked all around him as his body rose upward. There wasn’t any voice he could hear that told him that. He only had the knowledge that something, somewhere said there was beauty, and that he should appreciate it.

“So, so beautiful.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed as he took in his surroundings. He could see nothing but the sky and the clouds. The only thing he felt was the wind that occasionally blew past. His body was entirely suspended in the air, and every second he could feel himself slowly ascend toward something.

“Look.”

He focused only on what was above him, and for a while, nothing was there except more of the sky.

But soon, something began to come into view.

“Look.”

He could see an island, floating among the clouds. Waterfalls fell seemingly forever down from it, and if he reached he could feel the water on his fingertips. As he rose higher, he saw the trees and grass were a green richer than any green he’s ever seen before. The entire island was full of life, with birds chirping, frogs croaking, and deer peacefully drinking out of the river.

“Beauty is in all nature. You have been given an opportunity to be a part of it.”

Ben strained to touch the island, but it was always just out of reach.

“Make it count.”

All of a sudden, the island was gone.

Ben saw his surroundings become dark, almost pitch black, as he felt the wind and clouds fade away from him. He felt a hard ground form beneath him as he was brought down to a lying position.

When he blinked, it had all disappeared.

Ben laid idly on the ground, staring at the ceiling above him. It was strange. There shouldn’t have been any light source down in that part of the cave, especially when that sphere of white light was no longer there.

His mind stopped on that thought. Ground. Cave. Light.

It all came back to him. He was still in the Forbidden Cave! And he was still lost in that closed off trap room.

He rose up on his elbows and looked around at the trap room. He was able to confirm that the sphere of white light was indeed gone, but he also found that he was no longer trapped. Behind him was a large opening that led straight outside.

He was confused. He was completely trapped before, but now the cave was letting him leave?

He felt around his outfit for his communication device, before remembering again that it was dropped in the water with the rest of his equipment.

Well at least he hadn’t brought anything especially personal or valuable.

“Wait”, he thought, “water”.

He didn’t notice it before, but he was completely dry now, and on the ground.

He had tried to drown himself.

He looked down beside him and saw the water. He reached out his hand and felt it. It was the same temperature it had been before, still rather cool.

Did the light save him? Did it give him another chance to live?

When he started going unconscious under the water, he thought that was it, the end of his life. But here he was now, as alive as ever.

It must have been the light, nothing else could have done this.

Ben stood up on his knees and took a look down into the pool of water.

What he saw immediately confused him.

The reflection of a woman was looking back at him.

Instinctively he looked behind to see where this woman was, but he was met with nothing but the walls of the cave.

He turned his head back and stared.

It suddenly hit him that his body had been feeling differently, ever since he first woke up. He didn’t think much of it before, but seeing this reflection made every little oddity become blatantly obvious.

His chest was pushing against the front of his uniform, and felt as if it was sticking out. When he clamped his legs together, nothing was in the way making it uncomfortable. And his hair was all the way down to the middle of his back.

Did the light do this too? Change him into a woman? Why?

He looked at his hand and saw it was smaller and more delicate than before. He went to touch the skin on his face and felt the same softness he had on Jacqueline so many times. Not even a trace of stubble was left on it, it was all smooth.

Lower down, he felt compelled to grab the mounds now sticking out from his chest. It was odd, despite the fact that they were there, firmly on his body, they still felt very foreign.

It was all weird, very weird.

But he’s seen far weirder in his career.

Only very few people around the world ever experience life as both a man and a woman. Spells to switch between the two were difficult to pull off and generally not worth the time and effort unless a person plans to stay as that gender afterward.

Ben had a very unique opportunity right in front of him. Should he partake in it?

Probably not, for Jacqueline’s sake. He didn’t want to have to explain this to her.

Luckily, Geisinger was an incredibly skilled magician. He’ll definitely be able to fix this.

Ben finally stood up on his legs, and once he took a step he nearly fell down again. A different center of gravity had left him disorientated and without balance. Slowly, he steadied himself up and slid his feet forward. It took some time and practice, but eventually he worked himself up to being able to walk normally.

That didn’t make it feel any less weird though. Should his hips be swaying this much?

Ben could only guess where to go next to get back to the entrance of the cave. From where he was at, it seemed like he just needed to walk to the left of the opening and he’d see it at some point. Hopefully that line of thinking would work out for him.

***

How much time his walk took he didn’t quite know. It was hard to keep track of time at all where he was, especially when he kept getting distracted every few seconds.

All around him lay endless trees and forest. The Woods of Sin expanded far and wide, throughout multiple different regions. Undoubtedly, there was a ton of wildlife. For some reason that fact was incredibly captivating to him. More so than usual. He had never cared about that in the past but now his mind was stuck on it.

Ben recalled the dream he had, right before he woke up. The island, floating among the clouds. It was so beautiful…

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. It seemed the light had given him some newfound appreciation for nature. And being in these woods only intensified it.

He felt a bit disturbed. He really needed to find some people, and fast.

Luckily, the forest was clearing out, and he could finally see the entrance to the cave. Two S.I.D. workers, a man and a woman, were in front of it.

Ben approached them and the workers turned to face him with confused stares.

“Isn’t that our uniform?” The woman asked. “Where did you get it? Who are you anyway?”

“I’m… uh-” Ben stopped and grabbed his neck, the high, feminine voice coming from his mouth shocking him. “I- wow that sounds weird.”

The two S.I.D. workers continued to stare at him oddly.

Ben forced out a cough. “Uh… what I meant to say is that… I’m Ben.”

The two workers exchanged a glance before the woman took a few steps closer to him. “Ben, huh?” She said. “Don’t you think you have a little too much on your chest to be Ben?”

Ben tilted his head to the side, eye contact not something he wanted to deal with at the moment. “Please just believe me, I don’t have it in me right now to make a witty comeback.”

The woman examined him from head to toe, tracing his entire body with her eyes. It only served to make him more uncomfortable, forcing his feet to shuffle. “Great”, he thought, “I probably look like a fucking toddler”.

The woman stared at him some more, then pulled out a small scanning device with an overly theatrical spin. She pointed it at him and once again traced his entire body. A huff escaped her lips upon seeing the results.

“Well would you look at that, you really are Ben.” She smirked. “I’ll be sure to inform the captain.”

“He really hates it when people call him that.” The man behind her reminded.

“You know, there’s a reason why people like you were thrown into lockers, you fucking nerd.” The woman dialed for Geisinger. “Captain’s the same way too, so I guess I can’t be too surprised.”

She raised the device to her ear, awaiting a response.

“Hello?” Geisinger eventually asked.

“Hey, I got some good news. We found Ben!”

“That’s great! Is he okay?”

“Yep. Completely okay, but…” she laughed dryly, “…you might want to brace yourself. SHE is shaped a little differently than before.”