Chapter 3: Descent Into Madness

Feeling oddly relaxed as Cloe searched for answers online, Rachel’s attention was pulled from her soft grumbles to the mass of voices fighting to be heard across campus; it was as if everyone were in the same room, their words crammed into her brain.

It was challenging, but she managed to sort some of them out with a twitch and shift of her ears. There were a few conversations she kept an active tab on. That said, her primary focus was on her own, now less muscular body. Her entire physiology had transformed in seconds, and that took precedence.

She didn’t feel weaker; in fact, it was the opposite. Testing her strength by lifting her bed, she discovered it was practically weightless.

Flexing her fingers while setting it down, she caught Cloe’s shifting eyes with her wide field of view, everything in her periphery showing in perfect clarity. The brunette was studying to see what she might do, and Rachel didn’t blame her. She had practically turned into a different species.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she could trust her own senses; how could she hear conversations over a mile away? Obviously, the answer was her stupidly long ears, which had replaced her human ones. They really were long—nearly 45 cm from the base—and fully prehensile; in addition, she’d completely lost her human ears.

Tilting her head to observe them in Cloe’s mirror, she found it enthralling how the overhead light passed through them, making the inner skin glow orange. Their range of motion was incredible, and they were sensitive to the touch. Her attention was soon pulled to the tufts of fur protecting her ear canal—it was softer than she would have thought.

Examining her changed face, a frown came to her now fuller lips. She traced her higher cheekbones, giving her a more refined and almost haughty impression.

A lot was happening in her eyes, as well; it almost appeared like a double solar eclipse of red moons with pink petals in the shape of a four-leaf clover surrounding them.

It didn’t help that her eyebrows were now white with a subtle pink glow, drawing attention to the celestial phenomena happening inside of her eyes—it was now, by far, her most unique feature, which was saying something.

Another noteworthy change was the thick, white hair that reached past her waist. She’d never worn it this far down her back. Although it did form perfectly around her figure, somehow not obstructing her wide, entirely in-focus vision.

I’ve turned into a monster girl, she internally groaned as Cloe forced a chuckle.

"You do look...stunning! You even have a glow. Does it feel weird?"

"Very..." Rachel muttered, feeling around her thin stomach; she had muscle, but it was toned, not the bulky, hardened steel it was before. That being said, she knew they could take more abuse now, which was frustrating to admit; she had liked her muscle. "My muscles..."

"Yeah... Heh. On the bright side, you could totally be the glamor girl in any magazine now! Oh, maybe you could get a job as a model! That’d be crazy... News channels are just as stumped as us, though—I’ve been looking—and a ton of people look like they changed, not just you. A bunch of sporting events are being thrown into chaos... You don’t feel ill or anything, right?"

"Just hearing everything around us... I can hear people talking a mile away," she mumbled, scratching the base of her right ear as it twitched; it felt hot. "I can even tell the exact distance... A lot of people have changed—probably over a hundred."

"No way!" Cloe straightened, glancing toward the window. "It’s only been a few minutes. Do you think it will happen again? Did everyone turn into animals?"

Rachel shook her head, shifting the back of her shorts to allow her tail some wiggle room from the place it settled while going to the window to stare outside. A few people were gathering around a man who was on fire; he’d settled down and was now laughing as people freaked out.

"People have powers."

"Is that guy on fire?!" Cloe gasped, tossing her laptop to the side to rush to the window. "Why is he... Is he not on fire—a body suit?"

"No. As I said, people are getting powers... He can burn the lawn, though," she muttered as he and a few others started to freak out at a growing fire; someone even came with an extinguisher, blowing him out with the grass. "Can you find anything from the news networks?"

"Ugh. Not really... Only a few that were covering big events are talking about it—places where a lot of people were changing," she said, returning to her laptop after one last look at the embarrassed man who had lost his clothes. "Huh. Well, that’s a view—the power to burn off your clothes, more like. Hehe. Umm. So, you have superhearing?"

"Among other things," Rachel said, remaining by the window to observe the crowds gathering below, but most of their attention was focused on a girl who had partially turned into a bird, who was understandably freaking out about her lost arms. Rachel was suddenly thankful she’d only lost human ears.

It was surprising how many people were utterly unaware of the celestial phenomenon. Rachel tried to steer away from those watching ’adult films’ or engaged in other similar extracurricular activities. A few individuals tripping on mushrooms made her ears itch with their slow monologuing.

News about changed people was spreading rapidly due to the insane antics some were getting up to, such as the flame guy, who dubbed himself The Human Light, to cheers from his friends; most believed a flash cosplay convention had stormed the campus.

Several interesting discussions made her left ear twitch. She pulled her head in the direction of the recreational facility, still a little stunned by the buzz of hundreds of voices that occasionally poked her brain.

Rachel ran her fingers down her arm as goosebumps appeared; for some reason, she felt stronger than ever, and she knew she should be freaking out more than she was, yet panicking would get her nowhere. What would provide a direction was listening to several groups that embraced the change as some kind of fiction-made-reality event—people who seemed to be onto something.

"Hmm... Some boys are talking about figuring it out—he turned into a faekin elf and his friend a champion fighter."

Cloe’s head tilted to the side, still scanning news feeds. "Say what?! A boy turned into an elf—is he hot? Wait, uh...you seeing this, or am I tripping?"

Rachel moved to her bedside again as Cloe brandished the screen. What appeared to be a three-meter-tall ogre woman was screaming and crying in the middle of a basketball game. Dozens of other changed people, who took on more animalistic characteristics, were trying to understand what had happened to them.

A shiver ran from her tail to her ears, making Rachel hug herself, trying to shut out most of the voices to close in on the boys who were experimenting with their new ’powers.’ The shouts and discussion filtered out on desire as she subconsciously fine-tuned her hearing; it was getting easier.

"Ugh..."

Cloe’s eyes widened with concern, watching her fall onto her bed and bring her pillow over her head; even with the slight improvement, it was way more stimulation than she’d ever had before. "You okay? You don’t look okay... Should we go to the hospital? Maybe they’ll know what to do—I don’t know."

Rachel took a deep breath and let it out, shaking her head while tossing her pillow against the wall. "I just...have a small headache—I hear everything within a mile. I’m trying to focus on these boys that discovered something..."

"Okay! Okay! Umm. I’ll be quiet and keep looking online. Take your time! It has to be aliens," she mumbled, going down a bit of a mumble tangent on the topic.

The brunette pushed herself against the wall, bringing up her laptop like a woman on a mission, determined to discover what was happening. Rachel left her to the research, centering on the two boys; a cat-girl joined the mix—seemingly a gaming friend—and they were heading back to her dorm, excited about their sudden change.

"Yo, Zoe, the squad... Whaa—you changed, too? And a loli cat-girl?! Haha!"

"Shut up! I’m not a loli—I just...I shrunk a bit..."

"Nice!" the elf boy cheered, pumping his fist into the air. "I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life, baby. Aye, Adam, I’m a faekin elf mage, bro—I’mma be pumpin’ out that DPS—where’re the monsters?! I’m ready to pop off!"

"Let’s go! What about you, Loli Zoe?"

"You are not calling me that!"

"Aye! Aye! No need to get feisty—ouch! You got claws; watch it!"

"Heh. Yeah, so cut the teasing! Uh... How do you tell—I just got a tail and ears like...five minutes ago—give me a break, guys. Umm, can we hurry? Having my tail tucked down in my shorts is really uncomfortable!"

"We can do that," Adam muttered. "I gotta get a band-aid and stop this bleeding anyway... Thanks for the cut. Healing, Will?"

"No can do, bud. I don’t even know what spells I got. We need to figure that out next. Oh, Zoe, you just need to ask The System what you are. Asking questions seems to get us some answers—I’m still figuring it out. Uh...you doing good with that belt, Zoe?"

"Bah! It won’t go any tighter—why did the System take off a few years... It’s like I’m in middle school again. Eww... I’d rather not."

"Aye, it is what it be, girl," Adam snickered. "I’m just glad you look close enough to what you did before so we could recognize you."

Will cleared his throat. "So, eh-heh, what do you think, guys? I’m totally hot now, right?"

Rachel could almost picture the sly smirk that creased the cat-girl’s eyes with her playful tone. "It’s, umm, an improvement."

"Yo, bro, let’s not catch a case here, askin’ an underage loli that sus question!"

"I’m not underage!"

"Oh, c’mon! Who’s teasing who, now?"

"Heh. You asked for it!" Zoe snickered, likely glaring at Adam. "Wait... I’m a beastkin domestic cat?! Scuffed! I want a reroll!"

"Hahaha!"

"Get rolled! Maybe you could be puss in boots?"

"Hey, I actually love that movie."

Rachel stared up at the ceiling, her headache subsiding as she absently combed through her long white hair, examining the pink hue each strand radiated.

Okay, System... What am I? A mythickin lunar hare.

"Huh."