Wrong Afterlife - Ch.3 - Just Wait For It (Patreon)

*** content warning: violence; death; temporary personality changes; but like the chapter title says, just wait for it ***

"So here's the thing Fiona," Avril said in her soft pretty voice. "There's a few things you need to know up front, and the easiest way to do this is to just get it over with without sugar coating it."

She took a deep breath then began, "First, your injuries are completely healed, you're perfectly healthy, and you've been transformed into a girl just like you always wanted. Even if you kept that wish secret, even if you haven't yet admitted that to yourself. Me and Clara will help you adjust to that by the way, so try not to get too upset about it."

"Second," she continued. "You might have trouble accepting this at first but you're now part of the harem. You'll find a small pink heart tattoo on your left wrist, me and Clara both have the same thing. The tattoo is magic, it binds us all to our lover. And I know you don't even know him yet, but the bottom line is you're already in love with him. I promise he's actually a pretty decent guy, you just caught him on a bad day is all."

"And finally," the gorgeous blonde stated, "We'll look after you, take care of you, and we can train you. You don't have to worry about going hungry or being attacked by monsters or bandits or anything like that. I'm a druid, Clara's a ranger, and our lover's both a swordsman and a mage. And all three of us will be happy to teach you whatever skills you want to learn."

She paused slightly before adding, "I know this is all a big shock, but we're all here for you Fiona. Do you have any questions so far?"

I had plenty, but there were a few that were at the forefront of my mind. And even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answers, I needed to know for sure.

"What if I don't like guys?" I whispered. "Like, if I'm only attracted to girls? And um, why haven't you said his name?"

Avril explained, "If you were attracted to girls before, you're still attracted to girls now. The only exception is you're attracted to him now too, but no other guys. And I've been holding off saying his name because of the effect it'll have on you when you hear it. That'll fade in time, but right now it's going to feel pretty powerful. Our lover's name is Roderick."

I tried to brace myself but it was no use. My heart skipped a beat and a wave of heat passed over my body, then settled in my nipples and between my legs. I hadn't even had a good look down there yet, but I'd read enough gender bender stories to know what that warm wet tingling feeling was. 

My heart fluttered with joy while my stomach churned slightly as I suddenly imagined myself on my knees in front of ♥Roderick♥ again, only this time his pants were down. And it was his other 'sword' I was eagerly facing in my mind's eye.

"Fuck," I mumbled to myself. 

Avril reached out and gave me a few pets on the top of my head then scritched one of my fuzzy ears, "Sorry cutie. You'll get used to it, and when you do it won't feel as overwhelming. And like I said, he's a decent guy once you get to know him."

The pets and scritches felt amazing and my tail unwrapped and started wagging again while I tried to lean my head into her hand.

The gorgeous blonde giggled softly as she gave me a few more scritches, but it stopped all too soon. She got to her feet as she said, "Ok Fiona, let's find you some clothes. Then the four of us will eat, and we'll bring you up to speed on what we're up against."

I suppressed a nervous sigh as I slowly stood up as well. I felt incredibly self-conscious about being nude in this voluptuous new body, but I quickly discovered another benefit of my big floofy tail. I wrapped it around my hips like a short furry skirt, and it kind of worked. My hands stayed over my chest, and I found myself staring wide-eyed up at Avril. She stood well over fifteen centimetres taller than me, much to my surprise.

"Gosh you're cute," she grinned as she gave me a few more pets ontop of my head. "Just wait here a sec while I grab you something to wear."

It wasn't hard to guess she was letting me stand with my back to the others so I didn't have to worry about them gawking, at least until I had something to cover myself. And as promised she was back half a minute later, to hand me two small bundles of fabric.

"These ought to fit for now Fiona," she said. "When we head back to civilization we'll get you some proper clothes."

I mumbled a quiet thank-you while I figured out what she'd given me. The first piece was a very simple brown linen wrap-around skirt. It took me a couple tries before I realized I needed to wrap it under my tail, then I was able to tie the cord by my left hip. The other item was an off-white linen tube-top. It was a little tight across my chest, but at least I was covered. Sort of. My cheeks went red as I realized my large thick nipples were clearly outlined through the thin fabric.

Still, it was better than nothing. And I couldn't exactly complain, so far Avril had been really nice to me. I was afraid to find out what Clara would be like, she didn't sound very nice when they were talking about me earlier. And I was even more scared of facing ♥Roderick♥. It wasn't so much that I was scared of him, although there was a bit of fear considering how easily he'd defeated me. But mostly I was scared of how I'd act around him.

Avril put her arm around my shoulders and slowly turned me so I was facing the others. I was almost holding my breath, but then let it out as I realized they weren't even paying attention to us.

There were three canvas packs on the ground, three bedrolls laid out. ♥Roderick♥ was kneeling by a small campfire, slowly adding bits of wood to it. And Clara was adding diced root vegetables and cubes of dried salted meat to a pot half-full of water. She also had a rustic loaf of dry crusty bread next to her.

Avril led me over to the others and she did the introductions, "Hey friends, this is Fiona. And Fiona, that's Clara and this is Roderick."

Hearing his name again sent my heart fluttering and I subconsciously squeezed my thighs together as I did my best not to stare.

♥Roderick♥ got to his feet and my eyes widened as I found myself looking up at his tall, handsome figure. I never realized how tall he was before, but he practically towered over me in a way that got my heart beating even quicker. He was easily more than thirty centimetres taller than me, his shoulders were broad, his arms strong. And it took all my self-control not to jump into those powerful arms and curl up against his rugged manly chest.

"Hello Fiona," he responded, and hearing him say my name sent chills up and down my spine and left me weak in the knees.

Clara sighed, "She's got it bad. We really don't have time for this right now."

Despite being clearly the most perfect male specimen ever, ♥Roderick♥ seemed to be reluctant to take advantage of my flustered state. He could have bent me over and taken me on the spot, but instead he simply stated "Normally I'd spend some time alone with you to help you get used to everything myself, but we're in dangerous territory here and it's not safe to let our guard down."

"Which brings up another point," Clara stated as she moved closer to the fire and set the pot full of food over the heat. "What was she doing here in the first place? This isn't exactly the sort of area we'd expect to find a lone human wandering around. Especially not an untrained peasant."

♥Roderick♥ shook his head, "We'll get to that. You know as well as I do she's no threat to any of us now, whatever she might have intended before."

Avril still had an arm around my shoulders and she guided me to sit with her on one of the bedrolls. Happily she was in between me and Clara, and better yet I had a good view of ♥Roderick♥ as he sat down across from me on another bedroll.

"So here's what you need to know," he said to me while I tried not to get too lost in his handsome blue-grey eyes. "We're deep in the wildlands, and we're hot on the trail of the Demon Queen. The Gods chose me as their hero and champion, I was given a quest to put an end to her. I, along with my girls, have been hunting her these past two years..."

The next ten or fifteen minutes I listened, probably with a dreamy-eyed expression on my face, as ♥Roderick♥ told his story. It was brave and heroic, there were highs and lows, but their quest was finally nearing the end.

The saddest part of the tale was when Alaris, his childhood best friend and the first member of his harem, was killed by the Demon Queen just two weeks earlier. The queen escaped after that, but rather than leaving ♥Roderick♥ devastated or depressed the cruel act only doubled his resolve. 

I also learned that Clara had been the second girl in the harem and Avril was third, and thanks to his Gods-given gifts ♥Roderick♥ could have as many as four in his harem. Now with Alaris gone that made Clara the number-one girlfriend and Avril was number two, while I was girl number three. Not that ♥Roderick♥ played favourites, he loved each of us just as much as the others. And he hated when we fought with each other, although he wasn't upset with Clara for distrusting me. It was a dangerous situation after all, and both her and Avril were probably still cross with me for trying to hurt him earlier.

Not that I could even dream of harming him now. He was far too perfect, too handsome, I wouldn't dare put so much as a scratch on his beautiful perfect body. Not that I could even if I wanted to, his strength and skills were unmatched. 

By the time their story was over the food was ready, and Clara served it up in little wood bowls. I was given my share along with a spoon, then as we all started to eat the ranger asked me "So we know you're not great with a sword. Do you know any magic? Do you have any other skills, or any other talents that might help here?"

I cringed slightly, "I just have one spell. I can sort of electrify my hand, so there's sparks? I guess it would shock someone if I touched them."

The ranger sighed and gave ♥Roderick♥ a dark look, but he ignored it. He actually smiled at me which made my heart soar. "Don't worry about it, ok Fiona?" 

I suppressed a little moan when he said my name again, and I was positive there'd be a wet spot on my skirt when I got up. As it was my tail was wagging happily and my nipples strained to poke holes in my linen top.

"For now the three of us will take care of any trouble," he continued in his kind loving voice. "You just try to stay out of sight and look after yourself. When we're done here we'll train you. If you can cast one spell you can learn more, we'll figure out where your talents lie and you'll do fine."

I smiled at him, "Thank you ♥Roderick♥, I really appreciate it."

Clara rolled her eyes like she was about to make some unkind comment, but at that moment my ears twitched and locked on to some distant sounds approaching through the woods. My eyes widened and I gestured towards the trees and half-whispered, "Something's coming! From over there!" 

As soon as I said the words my companions were all on their feet. Clara grabbed her bow and quiver, ♥Roderick♥ drew his sword, and Avril picked up a gnarled wooden staff that lay by the packs. They all stood tall and proud, ready to face whatever was coming through the woods at us.

I spotted my rusty old short sword on the grass a few meters away and scrambled over to grab it. That brought me closer to the trees and away from the group, which meant I saw it before they did.

Hearing 'Demon Queen' I sort of expected something like a tall sexy succubus. Someone attractive and alluring, with red skin and horns and a tail. What I didn't expect was the dark leathery-skinned gibbering monstrosity of mouths and eyes and clawed limbs knocking trees out of its way like they were made of straw. It saw me the same moment I saw it, and with an unearthly roar it lunged at me faster than anything that ungainly had a right to move.

I let out a squeal of fear and with my tail between my legs I grabbed my sword and scooted back over to the others. 

Fortunately ♥Roderick♥ was there and ready to save me. An actual literal fireball leapt from his hand and exploded in the side of the horrible monster, while Clara began releasing arrow after arrow into it. She was aiming for the eyes, in an obvious bid to blind it. The main problem was there were just too damn many of them.

Avril was busy too, murmuring strange words as she held her staff before her. Thorn-covered vines sprouted up from the ground to entangle some of the demon's limbs and hold it in place. And through it all, the monster continued to roar and howl. The noises coming out of its many mouths were like fingernails on a chalkboard and sent chills up and down my spine while the fur on my tail puffed up even floofier. 

And while my three companions stood their ground and fought the demon horror, I cowered behind them with my knees shaking and clutched my rusty sword with both hands like the pathetic coward I was.

While I quivered in fear my companions continued the fight without my help. Avril's vines kept it immobilized, with several of its limbs entangled and unable to move. Clara loosed still more arrows into it, almost two dozen of its countless eyes had already been blinded thanks to her efforts. And our brave strong handsome man sent another fireball into the monster's hide, causing it to thrash and roar in anger and pain.

The queen wasn't ready to surrender or yield though, not by a long-shot. It thrashed again, then started to puff up a bit.

♥Roderick♥ called out a warning, "It's going to use its acid!"

At that moment the monstrosity suddenly contracted its body, spewing globs of steaming vile green goo out of its many orifices. My companions and I all leaped in different directions in an attempt to avoid the stuff. 

"I have to destroy its core!" ♥Roderick♥ shouted. "Clara, use my magic to distract it while I get closer!"

His left hand stretched out towards the ranger, who'd already run out of arrows. I remembered saying something about sharing skills to Natasha as part of my elaborate isekai wish, so of course that was among the talents ♥Roderick♥ received. Which was fair, he definitely deserved all that stuff a lot more than I ever did. 

Except at that moment the beast coughed up another glob of virulent goop and Clara was forced to dodge just as ♥Roderick♥ tried to send her his magic. With the ranger out of the way the powers hit me square in the chest and almost knocked me off my feet.

My head was spinning and my body felt kind of tingly all over. I somehow knew I'd just received some phenomenal Gods-given magic powers, but I didn't know how to give it back. Or how to pass it on to Clara. Worse still, ♥Roderick♥ didn't seem to realize his power ended up with the wrong girl. 

"Now, Clara! Cover me!" our brave attractive man shouted as he brandished his sword and charged at the monstrosity.

"Roderick wait!" the ranger cried out, but it was too late.

All three of us watched in horror as our beloved ♥Roderick♥ charged in and immediately impaled himself on a half dozen clawed appendages. Then twice as many mouths sank hundreds of wicked fearsome teeth into his perfect body.

"No!" I screamed. 

He couldn't die, not yet! I hadn't even had the chance to feel his strong embrace or the caress of his lips on my tender quivering flesh! 

I called upon my little shock spell, since it was the only magic I actually knew how to use. But rather than charging up my hand I charged up my sword instead. And this time my spell had the power of the Gods' chosen hero behind it. Rather than a minor annoyance I was now wielding what felt like more energy than a dozen lightning bolts.

I twisted and swung, then let the small heavy sword go. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew throwing it was the wrong move, but between the fear and adrenaline I just went with the first idea that came to mind.

The weapon spun once as it sailed through the air. Then as if to demonstrate how insignificant a threat I was, the monster opened one of its many mouths to swallow my sword whole.

The rusty blade sailed point-first into the beast's open maw, where it buried itself into a strange black orb the size of a basket-ball. It was the monster's core, that ♥Roderick♥ had mentioned. That's when my spell detonated, and the massive electrical charge my rusty sword was carrying unleashed directly into the Demon Queen's heart.

For an instant the meadow lit up like the sun itself had joined us, as the deafening thundercrack knocked me and Clara and Avril off our feet and left the three of us temporarily stunned.

It took a few moments before we all slowly started picking ourselves up off the ground. I found myself staring wide-eyed.

The monster was gone, all that remained was a pile of scorched black goop with my half-melted sword sticking up in the middle. And Mr. Asshole was gone too, some bones and ash and one of his boots marked the spot where he'd been trapped in the monster's clutches. Ironically his sword survived, he must have dropped it when the queen seized him.

I glanced at the others, then down at myself. 

All three of us seemed to be unhurt. I was still a foxgirl though, and my tail started wagging again as I took note of that fact.

"Holy shit," Clara commented, "You killed Roderick."

Avril added, "And the Demon Queen."

Neither of them sounded distraught, or even upset about Mr. Asshole's passing. They were maybe a bit surprised though. Then both of them looked down at their left wrists.

"Huh," Avril frowned. "That's weird."

I looked at my wrist as well, and I was surprised to see two matching light purple hearts, instead of the single pink heart that was there earlier.

Clara looked from Avril to me, then back at her wrist again. "It's similar to the ones Roderick had? He had a purple heart on his wrist for each of us, and now I've got two purple hearts on mine."

Avril smiled as she figured it out, "Roderick's stupid harem bullshit died with him, but the three of us are all still connected. We're all still girlfriends with each other. That's why we've each got two purple heart tattoos, because each of us has two girlfriends."

"So are they magic or something? What do they do?" I asked as I looked down at my wrist. 

Out of curiosity I reached over with my right hand and poked the two hearts on my wrist. To my surprise that seemed to have an immediate effect on both the ranger and the druid. The pair gasped at the same time, and I looked up to see what was wrong.

I found myself facing two tall, strong, beautiful girls as both of them were staring back at me with a mixture of hunger and lust in their eyes. And suddenly I felt very small and vulnerable. 

And maybe a little excited.