Awakening

At first he heard birds chirping, which is what woke him initially. As he began to stir, he felt a few rays of sun hit his face, and then the sensation that he was laying under a bush. Hesitating to open his eyes, he ventured opening one, to find his vision mostly blocked by a large shrubbery of sorts. Opening the other eye, he saw sunlight streaming through the forest canopy. Turning his head slightly, he came face to face with a deer, which bounded off immediately when he moved.

"Where am I?" He said out loud, as he slowly sat up. Looking around, he could just barely make out a road in the far distance, down a rather steep hill. When he looked down at his hands though, he realised there was a more pressing question. He had no idea who he was.

Hearing voices from the road, he decided it would be best to go deeper into the forest for the moment, away from prying eyes who might ask questions he can't answer. As he walked deeper into the forest, paths disappeared, but before he got too far, he found something rather fortunate, an empty cottage that had clearly been abandoned for some time, based on the partially collapsed wall and plants growing out of it. Making his way inside, he spotted what remained of a bed, and opted to sit on it.

After some minutes of wracking his brain, the only thing he could remember was that he knew both shapechange and wildshape, and that he spoke a language called Rozen. But, if he knew shapechange, was this really his body?

"Who am I?" He asked out loud.

He decided to venture checking his pockets, and was surprised to find a lot of money inside. In yet another case of precision amnesia, he knew the names and values of all the coins he pulled out. It was as if the only thing missing was his own past. Figuring there was nothing left to be learned from sitting in this abandoned shack, he was about to leave when he suddenly felt uneasy. As if he was wearing the wrong body.

"Well that's strange." He muttered. He tried to leave again, but the unease got even worse, as if someone was watching him. Determined to not let fear get the best of him, he tried to take a single step out of the door, but was overwhelmed with agoraphobia and retreated back inside. "What in the world?"

Thinking it over for a couple minutes, he decided to use the shapechange spell. He was fairly certain he was an elf, based on the very poor reflection he managed to get of himself off the discarded piece of metal in the cottage, but he had no idea where he was, so he opted for something that might blend in better. Closing his eyes and snapping his fingers twice, he felt a very strange sensation of shrinking, but before he knew it it was over. Opening his eyes again and looking down, he was very relieved to find his clothes changed size with him, but was very surprised to see what were obviously breasts. Panicking, he lifted up his shirt only to confirm that they were breasts. Quickly shoving a hand down the trousers he was wearing confirmed it.

"But I wasn't trying to become a woman!" He moaned in a very feminine voice. "No, wait. This is good, I'll be harder to track." He said, very obviously trying to cope with this insane situation. He somehow knew intuitively he could only cast shapechange four times a day, so he didn't want to waste it trying to get a male form. Right as he was about to leave, he realised he needed a name and stopped. "Well that's easy enough, a name. Let's see... Julius? Wait wait wait, Julia. Right."

Julia peaked her head out of the cottage, and upon seeing nobody around started to walk confidently back toward the road. Her centre of gravity felt strange at first, but it soon passed as she decided to not overthink it. As she walked toward the road, she tested her athleticism, and found she could climb trees with ease, as well as perform acrobatics, making her wonder if maybe she was a ranger.

Putting aside those thoughts for the moment, she regarded the steep hill down to the road with interest. She could likely slide down the hill, but it would be very noisy. Opting for a stealthier approach, she spotted a tree branch and with a running jump, caught her hand on it. Swinging from tree to tree, she descended the hill with grace, making nary a sound until she landed on the cobblestone path.

"Hoy, who goes there?" A man shouted from slightly down the road.

Shit, Julia thought to herself. She forgot there might be people on the road. Seeing the human man coming toward her, sword in hand, she panicked and tried to compose herself.

"J-just a ranger!" She stammered, her hands open and facing outward to indicate she was unarmed. "I've been in the woods for a long time."

"That so?" The man asked, his stance relaxing. "Just startled me I suppose, is all."

"S-Sorry about that." Julia said, still stammering. "I managed to get quite lost over the past few weeks actually, could you tell me what's the nearest town, and which way down this road to go?"

"Must have gotten turned around in the mountains, huh?" He said, giving a very slight chuckle. "We're only 7 hours outside of Valenca. You know, the gateway to the south? It's that way." He continued, pointing the way he had come from.

Julia got a chill up her spine, like the man was lying to her. She didn't voice this to the man, and merely thanked him, walking away down the road in the direction he pointed. The moment she rounded a slight curve in the road, she used wildshape to change into a raven and immediately took flight, her sack of coins in her claws.

Flying back toward the man, her suspicions were proven right, as he came around the bend seconds later with two other men, only to look around confused. The road was in the middle of a cut through some rock, and so was the perfect ambush spot.

"Where the fuck did she go?" The man yelled in frustration.

"She was right there, I saw you talking to her!" One of the other men shouted.

Julia's mind was racing, was she really this close to being ambushed on the road by highwaymen? Her thoughts on what to do next were interrupted by shouting from the far end of the cut.

"I thought I told you guys to fuck off!" A woman's voice could be heard yelling.

"Shit, she's back!" The first man yelled. "Run for it!"

"I don't think so!" The woman yelled, before reappearing in front of them, much to Julia's shock. Was that displacement magic? "I gave you a chance, you know?"

Julia watched in horror as the woman punched one of the men and he fell over dead on the spot. She moved with speed and grace making them appear to be standing still, but the next man she managed to hit simply disappeared, leaving one more.

"So what'll it be? Death now, or jail?" The woman asked, flashing a smile.

The man looked down at his deceased friend, and sighed. Looking back up at the woman, he dropped his sword. "You win, Sirene. I surrender."

Julia watched as the woman smirked before taking his hand and vanishing again, then returning again, this time alone.

"Oh Miss birdie!" The woman yelled, looking straight at Julia. "You don't have to be afraid of me, I'm a friend. Come on down, they were trying to ambush you, right?"

Julia, despite having misgivings about this woman, didn't feel any malice in her words. Landing some distance away, she pondered for a moment if she should take off again, but decided not to, and undid her wildshape form.