AnnouncementSmut begins in this chapter-not all chapters will contain smut, but many will. Be ye warned

  I cracked my knuckles nervously as I stared at my reflection.

  "I just... think?"

  The Archon next to me nodded. She'd drifted almost uncomfortably close, and I was acutely aware of the heat of her body, as well as the faint crystalline chime that seemed to just... passively exist around her.

  "Correct, traveler. While rge changes, such as switching your body's gender, are manual changes you select on the mirror, smaller details can be easily made by simply picturing the desired change."

  I took a deep breath, tapping the gss. It felt normal in all ways, ft, smooth, even though the image beyond it was shifting as if under a heat mirage.

  "Ok, well then..." I pictured my hair as a dark bck, and to my shock, the mirror reflected the change. I pulled a strand of hair down, surprised to see it was still brown.

  The angel giggled.

  "To enact your changes, you must pass through the mirror, silly traveler! You make your adjustments, then I will assist you in stepping into a new body!"

  I nodded, hesitating as I made a few more changes. I made myself a bit taller, as an experiment, swiped through the races. They were, overall, pretty standard fantasy material. I didn't necessarily see anything out of the ordinary for someone used to tabletop, or the fantasy genre as a whole. Tieflings, Angelkin, Various animal/ human combinations, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, slime-people,. and more all presented themselves before me, and I honestly found myself at something of a choice paralysis.

  I stopped, the mirror dispying a version of myself as some kind of bark-skinned male dryad.

  "How often will I be able to... change my body? Is this a one time choice or, is this something I can go back and revise ter?"

  The Archon giggled again, floating between myself and my reflection.

  "Most selections can be modified for a fee of in-world currency, traveler. Small things, such as gender, or the scale of your anatomy."

  "Wait - small things like gender?"

  "Oh yes, your comfort is our number one priority. Your species cannot be changed however." the angel pouted, sticking out her bottom lip in a way less than innocent. "That is an integral part of your character. Species with natural markings, such as the beast-kin, the Hamadryad, or the Tieflings will not be able to change or modify fur or skin patterns after this initial creation, either, as such traits are used to identify an individual in their cultures."

  "So...." I swiped the mirror to reveal my Tiefling self. "However I make these horns look, they're stuck that way, but I could just..." I tapped an icon on the gold rim of the mirror, and the image distorted, suddenly a woman stood on the other side, mirroring my exact pose, my exact facial expression. The beard was gone, repced with long, flowing bck hair that parted past two recurved horns that looked almost sharp along their lengths. "Make myself a woman whenever I wanted?"

  The archon practically purred as she spun around me, caressing my shoulders.

  "Oh yes - many travelers cim to greatly enjoy the experience... It's one I, obviously, recommend, being able to embody the four key gender representations of the Worlds Beyond!"

  "Wait, four?"

  "The same as my selection."

  She tapped an icon, leaving the figure looking overall, feminine, but quite noticeably with no breasts to speak of, and also noticeably with a distinctly reduced bulge between the legs.

  I blushed.

  "This variant is... more androgenous. The base model eschews the majority of secondary sexual characteristics. The genetalia presented can also be edited or removed on this model. This is... a baseline meant to have features removed."

  She pressed a second icon, and the Tiefling in the mirror shifted, growing taller, more muscur, two rge breasts sprouting from her chest, and the bulge somehow seeming even more prominent than it had as a male.

  "This variant is meant for the true hedonist." She decred, voice husky with desire. "Equipped with, well, everything! Both male and female genetalia are included on this model. Features can be edited as desired, as with any other baseline gender expression. Many titles exist for such expression, but we do not need to get into that now - just be aware, this expression is... intense! Many travelers have reported neurological overload from overstimution!"

  "Why do you sound so happy about that?"

  She waved a hand dismissively.

  "All experiences are edifying, and only such people can truly say they have experienced the apex of carnal pleasure. Wouldn't you agree?"

  My mouth gaped like a nded fish, and the archon ughed, returning the mirror to the female Tiefling.

  "The two baseline genders are, of course, represented, and are the ones most commonly selected by travelers passing into the worlds for the first time. As such, I would recommend one of these base forms, on your initial entry to the world, though you may wish to try the more... gender-neutral options, ter on as you experience more!"

  I felt my throat tighten. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

  It would be... crazy? Right? Maybe I could just make a few presets, for the different races, see what I would look like as each one, just to be sure.

  I swiped away from the Tiefling woman, heart pounding as heat rose into my chest, to see my human self. My female reflection was slimmer, the clothes seemed to fit just that much better. I stared at the human version of myself, and before I could think twice, I stepped through the mirror, gasping as the previously hard surface parted like water, sending me stumbling into the same crystalline space i had just been in, although inverted.

  The Archon giggled next to me, showing me the mirror again.

  "Your hair style, at your level of realism, will need to be manually maintained, but there are dedicated barbers and hairdressers in the initial city where we send all travelers to the world beyond, so there will be no need to worry. Not to mention, there are plenty of travelers with female bodies of their own, who would doubtlessly be ecstatic to assist you in this need."

  I gasped.

  I didn't even hear her words, as my senses caved in on themselves.

  I pressed my hands to my sides, startled at how much longer it took to actually make contact with my own body. I gnced down at my chest, and cupped my breasts.

  The moan that slept from my lips was the leas manly sound I had ever produced at the unexpected nerve signals that fshed through my brain, and I gasped, shocked yet again.

  "Is that... my voice?"

  I could feel my throat vibrating, I knew I was talking, and yet the voice that sounded in the room sounded more like the voice of an actress, or a singer, than my own.

  "Oh yes, simuted, as best as we can, from projections as to what your actual voicebox would sound like had you developed along the opposing gender lines. It can, of course be modified in a myriad of ways, allowing you to customize your exact sound to... anyone!"

  The angel grinned. "I'll leave you to... familiarize yourself with the system. Should you need me in this space, simply call for me!"

  I blushed, and nodded. I took a step, freezing.

  I felt... inverted.

  I was used to having something outside my body.

  I was not used to having a space inside my body.

  I rubbed my legs together, whimpering in a mix of panic and etion. How many times had I wondered what it would be like? How often had I mused on how the sensations would be different? Could I resist? Should I? This was my own body after all...

  I gnced down at the cing of my simple leather pants. It would be so easy to undo...

  Almost on their own, my fingers, delicate, slender, and nimble, began to untie the cing keeping my pants up and closed. I pulled them apart, letting one hand drift down between my legs.

  Lighting shot straight up to my brain, and my knees buckled, sending me colpsing to the floor, one hand holding me up on the red-cushioned love seat that ringed the space. I rubbed a finger through unfamiliar folds, shuddering and gasping with each touch, with each sensation, as my mind tried to reconcile what it had known my whole life with the foreign signals it was being sent now.

  Out there, in the real world, on on my real bed, I doubtless had an errection.

  Not in here.

  No.... entirely different things were going on in here. I gnced up at the mirror I was leaning against in shock.

  A woman stood before me, hand down her pants.

  That woman was me.

  I whimpered as my fingers hit a bundle of nerves- likely the clitoris, that drew even stronger gasps and shock from my body, leaving me a shaking mess draped across the love-seat. I don't know how or when one of my fingers actually slipped inside, but at that point, I was gone. Not dead, no - but as the French would say "le petti mort" - the little death. I cried out with a shriek of shocked pleasure as my body began to convulse, as I felt my new insides constrict around my fingers as I spasmed in a thoroughly unexpected climax of new sensations, as what was likely my first female orgasm crashed over me like a tidal wave of identity obliterating bliss.

  I couldn't stop chasing that high, kneading my new chest, gasping for air, hair disheveled and spyed around me. I somehow ended up with my pants fully undone, wrist aching, as I moaned, whimpered, and gasped, unable and unwilling to stop.

  Eventually, i just found myself exhausting, slumping limp on the blood-red loveseat. I gnced over, honestly shocked and embarrassed at the sight. My tunic was undone, my left breast fully exposed to the crisp air of this crystal demi-pne. My new pussy was exposed, the dark brown hair above the entrance doing little to preserve my modesty with my legs facing the mirror.

  I blushed, forcing myself to stand, forcing myself to ce up my pants again, and return to the mirror. The weight on my chest was somewhat uncomfortable, so I reduced the size of my chest a fair amount as I brushed my hair back behind me with a cough.

  That had been... a lot. I knew I should just... reset things.

  I re-selected my male body, and dove back through the mirror, gasping again as my voice dropped, as the chest disappeared, leaving me back as my old self.

  "Let's do this for real this time..." I muttered, focusing on the element UI would never be able to chance - the race of my character. I could see now that each one had it's own perks, and in the end I gravitated towards three. Elves were casters, and really, not in my eye. Dwarves, while strong, were... well... short. And I enjoyed the height I had. Not quite tall enough to be intimidating, but tall enough to be able to see over a good chunk of the popution in the supermarket.

  So, I ended up flicking indecisively between three bodies. A Tiefling, dark almost maroon skin, aggressively curved horns that twisted into sharp points in a nearly draconic fashion, with a long tail ending in a simple bony bde, the dryad form that had caught my eye at the beginning of this entire escapade, and a Beast-kin, not really mixed with any one species, but... feral, in a way that definitely appealed to me, with long fangs on the upper and lower jaws, sharply pointed ears, digitigrade legs ending in some wicked looking cws, and a lean physique culminating in a long striped tail with a dark tuft of fur at the end. I imagine there was a light dusting of fur across most of that body, which a quick walk-through test had confirmed, and I really liked the cws both the Tiefling character and the beast-kin character possessed. They looked sharp, they looked effective, and the description said they functioned as true weapons in the game's system.

  I found myself toggling between the male and female forms for each.

  I swallowed hard. I couldn't shake the memory of how intense my orgasms had been, how earth-shattering, how all-encompassing.

  I found myself panting, gripping the sides of the mirror as I locked eyes with the female body of the beast-kin self.

  I stepped through hesitantly, gasping as my body re-shaped itself. My retively small breasts returned, my genitalia inverted, a long tail appeared from my lower spine, my cws flexed as I gasped, whirling to face myself in the mirror.

  My heart raced. I brought up a talon, refining some of the markings on the fur, the pattern of the stripes leading up to the tail.

  On a whim, I stowed my tunic and pants in my inventory, causing them to disappear in motes of light, leaving me naked in front of the mirror. I prowled, selecting a braided hairstyle that let my ears flick, as I took a deep breath and was practically assailed with the clean scent of this pce.

  I made a few more edits to my fur pattern, made my clothes re-appear. I flicked the image back to the male version of this body.

  I loved the way my fangs sat in my mouth. I loved the reflexive extension of my cws as I gripped the side of the mirror.

  I was hyperventiting. Why was I hyperventiting? I just had to step through, just had to step back into my male body, and then pass through the swirling void I assumed was the portal into the game itself. It was easy - two quick steps.

  I couldn't actually join the game as a woman.

  Right?

  The Archon's voice whispered in my ear, the breath hot and stimuting as I felt her fingers caress my shoulders.

  "Before the portal to the Worlds Beyond can fully open, you will need a name for this fragment of your mortal self... What will you choose?"

  My had slid across my toned stomach, tracing the lithe and almost catlike figure of this body, supple and predatory. I panted, leaning against the mirror with one hand as my mouth gaped open. I stared at my fangs, something I had always wanted to some degree, in my dark nightmares, when I ripped into attackers with teeth, when I fought and had to resist the urge to bite down on an enemy.

  "Fang." I ghasped. "This character's name is Fang."

  "Would you like a Surname, Miss Fang?"

  Lighting jolted through me as the Archon whispered into my ear, as her breasts pressed against her back, as her fingers began to trace zy circle around my own.

  "I'll earn one."

  "Very well, Fang... the Traveler..." The Archon disappeared again, leaving me alone, leaning hopelessly against the mirror. Staring at my male reflection, and the closely trimmed facial hair on the other side of the mirror, at the aggressively sharp jawline. I raised a foot, a keening whine slipping from my throat well outside of my control as I tried to take a step through the watery surface, pulse rushing so loudly in my ears it was like a drumbeat that drowned out everything else.

  Before I could think twice I whirled around, taking two long strides as fast as I could across the gss surface of my login-realm, and curled up into a ball as I unched myself through the portal into the Worlds Beyond.

  I could swear, as I dove into the whirlwind, that I could hear my Archon's voice purr with satisfaction.

  "Good Girl."