A Bleak New Reality

Sovenia woke feeling a pleasant warmth suffusing her body.

Drowsily, she opened her eyes to a blood-red sky above. Clouds, like pus oozing from a wound, drifted slowly across the vast expanse.

She turned her head, her gaze falling upon a twisted forest surrounding her.

The tree trunks contorted at unnatural angles, their bark covered in gnarled growths resembling human faces. Their branches, skeletal and devoid of leaves, pointed sharply skyward, like bony fingers reaching towards the heavens.

This was the outskirts of the Demon Queen’s palace.

Though considerably safer than the palace’s interior, it still firmly belonged to the demon realm.

Sovenia sat up, realizing she had been lying on a relatively flat stone. A tattered cloth covered its surface, likely placed there to shield her from the cold rock.

Her body remained profoundly weary, her muscles aching, and the constriction marks on her neck throbbed faintly.

She glanced down at herself. Her attire was still the same tattered top and short skirt, her leather corset cinched tightly around her waist. Her knee-high leather boots were caked with bloodstains and dust, and several scratches marred the rolled edges of their cuffs.

The Moonlit Blade remained sheathed at her hip.

She reached out, her fingers brushing the hilt, and a sigh of relief escaped her as she confirmed her weapon was still there.

As the haze of sleep lifted, her mind cleared, and she gradually recalled the events that had transpired.

The throne room, Wawalde’s monstrous transformation, her embrace of him, that warm embrace.

Sovenia froze.

She looked down at her hands, the slender, pale hands of an elven maiden, now stained with blood.

‘That embrace, that warmth…’

She remembered the beautiful dream that had faded.

She had believed she dreamt of Haelana VII embracing her monstrous self, a tender hug that had never occurred.

‘That was her, playing Haelana, embracing Wawalde, saying “Thank you”.’

She made the comparison.

A profound sense of loss welled up in Sovenia’s chest, the warmth in her heart dissipating, replaced by an unsettling chill.

The feeling of being loved had vanished with her awakening.

Just as the warmth in her arms had faded away.

She sat motionless on the stone, her gaze fixed on her hands.

‘Wait.’

She abruptly lifted her head.

As full consciousness returned, she remembered. ‘Ah, right, Wawalde turned into a monster…’

‘That wasn’t a dream?’

She turned her head, scanning her surroundings, and then she saw him.

“Good morning, Miss Sovenia.”

Wawalde emerged from behind a twisted tree.

Many of his scales had shed, his skin returning to a human complexion, though some grey-black patches still clung to his arms and neck.

The wings on his back had significantly shrunk, now just two fist-sized fleshy nubs pressed against his shoulder blades, still quivering faintly.

He wore no armor.

His armor must have been ripped apart during his transformation.

He was barely covered by a tattered cloth, salvaged from who knew where, its fabric stained with blood and dust, its edges severely frayed and torn in several places.

Traces of his monstrous transformation still marked his face. While the right side had mostly returned to normal, the cheekbone on his left side remained somewhat protruding, and his jawline was sharper than that of a normal human. His eyes had reverted to blue, yet an occasional flash of red light flickered within them.

He looked far more human now, but it was clear he wasn’t entirely so.

Sovenia stared at him, her mind racing.

‘Ah, her sworn enemy, the one who had once cursed her, saying she deserved her fate.’

‘She should have just called him a “monster” back then.’

‘Monsters deserved to die. What was she thinking? Why did she hug him? Why did she say “Thank you”?’

The more Sovenia pondered, the more vexed she became. She raised her hand and, in front of Wawalde, slapped her thigh with considerable force.

“Thwack!”

A sharp sound echoed through the silent forest, and pain instantly surged from her thigh to her brain.

This elven maiden’s body was far too sensitive to pain. Sovenia’s eyes instantly welled up, tears swirling in their depths.

She bit her lip, desperately trying to hold back the tears.

Then something even more infuriating came to mind. This idiotic dog had consumed her head!

While it was most likely Black Claw’s doing, that cursed wish-granting evil artifact must have interfered, but regardless, it was this fool of a dog who had eaten her head!

That was her sole hope of reverting to her male body! That was *her* body! Now, it was all gone!

All consumed by this idiotic dog!

Fine, she hadn’t truly harbored hope of regaining her male body anyway. Yet, much like a dragon hoarding a mountain of useless gold, unwilling to part with it, she would rather have ended her own life with a dagger, dying alongside her head, than watch this idiotic dog devour it.

Sovenia slapped her thigh again with fierce intensity.

“Thwack!”

It hurt even more.

The tears could no longer be held back, streaming down her cheeks.

Wawalde was stunned.

He quickly walked over, kneeling before Sovenia with a look of deep concern.

“Miss Sovenia, why are you hitting your thigh?”

Sovenia lifted her head, her eyes red-rimmed, tears clinging to her lashes.

She said calmly, “Because I’ve discovered that slapping my thigh helps me clear my head.”

Wawalde frowned. “But you’re crying.”

“That’s because I slapped it too hard.”

…

Wawalde remained silent for a moment before saying, “Miss Sovenia, I suggest you refrain from doing that in the future.”

Sovenia wiped her tears, her voice frigid. “I’ll consider it.”

Wawalde stood, the small wings on his back still faintly quivering. He surveyed their surroundings, then turned to Sovenia. “Miss Sovenia, there’s a secret teleportation array nearby that leads directly to the human realm.”

Sovenia nodded.

Wawalde continued, “Once you reach the human realm, what do you intend to do?”

Sovenia froze. ‘Do what? What *could* she do?’

She had lost her strength, her body, everything. She was forever trapped within this elven maiden’s form, with no way to return to her former self.

‘What about her goals? Her plans?’

‘Kill the Demon Queen? Obtain the Book of Worlds, escape enslavement…’

Now, the enslavement was gone.

‘But what about reclaiming her head to regain her male body? Avenge herself on Wawalde?’

All of it was meaningless. Her head was gone.

‘And the Demon Queen, her nightmare…’

She asked, “What about the Demon Queen?”

“She’s dead.”

‘What else could she do?’

Sovenia sighed. Her future felt utterly bleak, like a desolate wasteland shrouded in thick fog, its end nowhere in sight.

Without a goal, there was no reason to live.

Sovenia reached for her waist, but her fingers found no sacrificial dagger. How pathetic, how tragic; its purpose was self-termination, a purpose it had always successfully fulfilled.

The dagger was lost.

It must have been lost during the battle in the throne room.

Sovenia sighed again. ‘Never mind.’

She raised her hands, placing them on her own neck.

‘Perhaps she could strangle herself? But this body was too frail; she probably couldn’t even manage that.’

She lowered her hands, sighing once more.

Wawalde watched her from beside, his face etched with worry. “Miss Sovenia…?”

Sovenia lifted her head, her gaze falling upon the small, faintly quivering wings on Wawalde’s back.

The wings were roughly the size of two fists, their black membrane-like skin almost transparent, their skeletal structure as delicate as twigs. They opened and closed, much like two small animals breathing.

Sovenia frowned.

“Put those wings away. They’re an eyesore.”

Wawalde blinked in surprise. “Put them away?”

“Yes.”

“But… can they retract after a mutation?”

Sovenia said coldly, “Of course. Aren’t you already regaining your human form?”

Wawalde looked down at his hands, then at the lingering grey-black patches on his body.

“I… I thought these would stay forever…”

Sovenia stood, walked over to him, and looked up at his face. “No, you can look human. Trust me, no one understands demons better than I do.”

Wawalde asked, “Can I still turn back into a human? Just like before?”

Sovenia replied, “No.”

“But since my appearance can revert to human form—”

“It’s irreversible,” Sovenia stated. “If a dragon takes on a human form, does that make it not a dragon? You’ve merely changed your shape.”

The light in Wawalde’s eyes dimmed.

Sovenia’s mood improved slightly.