Even Becky didn’t fully grasp the kind of world she had sent her friend into. The parameters of the spell was to turn her into an elf warrior and put her in a fantasy world full of transformations. From there the spell made the world, lore and story of the game.

The Fairy Woods covered a large portion of the map and was filled with all sorts of wild and magical effects. If Melanie ate the wrong berry she would grow roots, step on the wrong mushroom, she’d become lighter than air. It was also home to all sorts of creatures, some that could split soul from body, hypnotise her into their personal servant, petrify, paralyse and more.

No plant or creature was more dangerous than the race that called this forest home; The fairies. These mischievous creatures would transform wayward adventurers on a whim and not even a fountain of cure curse could undo them. Even the great sorceresses and wizards feared and fell prey to Fae magic.

It was this last bit of knowledge that encouraged Melanie to journey into the woods, as they could hold the key to beating Rebecca once and for all and freeing her from this world. Being an elf was the only thing that allowed her to stand a chance in the woods, as the fairies tolerated the Elves more than any other race.

When Melanie crossed the border, marked by colourful mushrooms, the whole forest came alive. The wind smelled like candy and rainbows. Swarms of insects, and leaves floated through the trees as if they were dancing. This place had such life to it, it sent goosebumps up Melanie’s spine.

“Who are you?” came a high pitched voice from below. Melanie looked down to see a strange humanoid barely taller than her boot staring up at her. It looked like a bald skinny garden gnome covered in fur, with sloth-like claws. It wasn’t a fairy but it certainly was fae.

‘I am Melaine,’ ‘You’re so cute,’ ‘Get away from me! <Kick the creature>’. Fortunately for Melanie she was in control of her choices for now and chose to greet the creature rather than do anything to offend it.

“I am Lady Melaine, warrior of the wood elves, I come seeking aid.” Melanie bowed before the creature.

“Are you sure you’re an Elf?” The tiny creature climbed up Melanie until it was on her back. It sniffed her hair and her neck. “You smell like a human to me,” its accusation was harsh. “But you do have pointy ears.” It tugged at Melanie’s ears to see if they were real. “The queen will know, you will take me there.”

“But I don’t know the…” *snort* *snort* snort. Melanie was now a large warthog, though she still kept her hair  and her ears remained pointed. The forest creature grabbed onto Melanie’s hair and treated it like they were reigns as it forced Melanie forward. On the journey Melanie changed three more times, once into a skunk, a large lizard and finally a slug big enough for the creature to still be riding her. This made the journey long and annoying as Melanie’s passenger used every second to annoy her in some way.

After what felt like hours, Melanie found herself in the hall of the fairies. Everything there was blinding as the whole place seemed like someone set off a hundred glitterbombs. Even in her slug state Melanie could appreciate the beauty but also found the place too blinding.

“Who goes there?” two fairies in wooden armour blocked Melanie’s way with spears.

“An ‘elven’ envoy to see the queen,” the creature grinned as it petted Melanie’s head.

“Send her in,” The guard demanded, stepping out of Melanie’s way. “You stay here,” they turned their spear onto the creature that rode atop her back.

Melanie was glad to be free of the creature but still displeased in being a slug. Fortunately there was the largest fountain of cure curse that she had ever seen. Melanie made her way over to the water to undo this curse, only to find out she remained a slug.

“Who dares enter my bathing water without permission!” The loud feminine voice shook the halls and even made the light fade away. In her current state Melanie couldn’t answer and began to panic. “I jest with you mortal,” a being almost made of pure light floated off the ground in front of her. “That pool is the mother pool, which all others draw their water from. It’s here to serve as a reminder that nothing can break a fae’s transformation, except for two beings, myself and the fae that caused it.”

To prove her point the fairy queen blew a kiss towards Melanie, transforming her back to her elf form. Melanie was now the second tallest being in the hall, still paling in size to the fairy queen.

“Now why have you come, mortal?” The fairy queen caressed Melanie’s cheek. Her touch felt warm and like a hundred hugs.

“I seek aid in vanquishing the evil Sorceress Rebecca and bringing peace to the land,” Melanie was glad she spoke her words true.

“You seek our aid,” the fairy queen tilted her head with a frown. “The fairy woods are at peace and what do you think the fountains are for? You have been receiving our aid this entire time!” The light of the room dimmed.

“But I….” Melanie began to plead her case but went silent as her mouth disappeared.

“Hush now girl, I am speaking. You will receive no further aid from the fairies than the fountains, not without a great tribute which you have failed to provide, now if there’s nothing further to discuss, you are dismissed.”

Melanie tapped at the skin where her mouth used to be and looked at the fairy queen with pleading eyes.

“Right, you mortals like your mouths, very well I offer you two ways to restore it. Either you give me fifty years of your life, or you go on a perilous journey and sprinkle this dust on your mortal enemy’s food.” The Fairy offered. “And don’t think your guardian spirits Sah-vei or Loh-ad can reverse this spell, not even the Goddess of Death Resp-Awn or the Goddess of Time Newg-Aime can undo my magic.” The fairy queen smiled at Melanie. “So which is it going to be? One; fifty years of your life. Two; poison Rebecca’s food?”

There was no way Melanie was willing to give up fifty years of her life so she picked option two. “Excellent, you picked the more fun option. I will send Sparkflower to assist you on this quest, they’ll help you find any of my fountains and offer you protection against Rebecca’s magic.” The fair queen summoned a smaller fairy with a lavender dress and blue hair.

“It’s interesting you didn’t let me take the fifty years though, that’s like three months in human years for an elf.” The Fairy Queen gave a knowing smile. “Off you go now, back to the beginning.” The Fairy Queen waved her hands and flew around the room in a strange motion. If Melanie could see the UI of the game, she would’ve seen that the Queen was opening up the main menu of the game and starting a new one for Melanie.

Now for the third time Melanie found herself back at the start of the game, all her progress up until this point erased from memory. Though this time she carried three things into the new game, the lack of a mouth, the dust to poison Rebecca’s food, and Sparkflower.

“Hello adventure… oh my!” Joren began his usual greeting. “It appears you have a strange curse, go to Gwaine at once, he’s up that hill.”

Melanie ran up the hill, finding her stamina and stamina recovery to be lower since she only had a nose to breathe through. She wasn’t looking forward to going through the tutorial with the frog curse again but fortunately she didn’t need to. Gwaine threw her out of the hut straight away as soon as he saw her and Sparkflower. It was the first time Melanie had seen fear in his eyes.

“Cheer up, it’s not like you could’ve done the frog curse quest anyway,” Sparkflower tapped Melanie on her blank face. “You wouldn’t be able to drink the potion.” Sparkflower then clicked her fingers and Melanie was down on all webbed fours, turned into a frog once more. “You wouldn’t even be able to eat the flies,” the fairy showed that the mouthless curse continued into this form as well. “Now off you hop.”

Sparkflower left Melanie as a frog for longer than she needed to be, before turning her into a bird so they could fly to Rebecca’s castle. This was only the second time she had been close, the first time was when the game reset on her and she found herself back at the start. As a rat she snuck into the kitchen, and managed to pour the powder on Rebecca’s favourite cake. Sparkflower then had her turn into a random statue in the main hall to see the result.

“Who did this?” Rebecca yelled as she ate her cake. “Who poisoned me!”

That was the queue for Sparkflower to restore Melanie to flesh and for her mouth to return. “It was I,” Melanie cheerfully announced as she drew her blade. “Your reign of terror ends here and now.”

“What are you on about?” Rebecca shook her head. “I’m not dying, you just turned my skin green!” Anger flashed in her eyes as she looked like a traditional witch. “Now I’m going to turn you into a worm.” She flung a spell at Melanie but it did nothing.

“I think it’s best you go now,” Sparkflower came out of Melanie’s chest. “That was a powerful blast even my magic barely held it off.” Sparkflower opened up the menu and started a new game.

Melanie found herself back in the tutorial zone once more, this time with a flower in her hands. ‘If you ever need the help of a fairy, just pull a petal off this flower and I’ll be there to assist.’ Sparkflower’s voice rang through her head. She saw she had eleven petals to use.

Though Sparkflower’s blessing wasn’t the only thing that remained between the new save file. Rebecca’s skin was permanently green now, and she still knew who was responsible.