There was no way Melanie could stay like this. Carrying her head under head arm was too much of an annoyance, and it made drawing her sword an even bigger pain. So she either had to put her head on the ground where it’d be vulnerable to attacks or theft or use it as a weapon. Even with the ring and being able to change perspectives to her body it was still too much to handle.

Melanie knew it was the price to get her body back, but she figured she could always pay a new price to become whole again. So after finishing the starting zone, again, she ventured off to The Fairy Woods.

Despite the dangers, the beauty and the smells of this place would never get old. This time it smelled like Caramel Donuts being baked in the oven and relaxing after a long hard day. She didn’t even know that the second one had a scent or Rainbows for that matter. But that was the way of the Fairy Woods, where the impossible comes alive.

As always the woods also saw Melanie transformed upon crossing the barrier. Her head was now a loaf of bread, while her body was that of an owl. She had to fly quickly and carefully to the palace, hoping not to damage her head loaf too much and keeping the other birds away.

When the Headless owl made her way into the palace, she was restored rather quickly and only had small scratches from her own talons. Those scratches faded rather quickly. Now Melanie was healthy again, minus the fact her head was still detached from her body.

“I see you’ve returned,” The queen fluttered about. “A shame, I was hoping you’d keep this form a little longer,” the queen grabbed Melanie’s head and flew off with it to her private quarters, leaving her body behind.

The Queen’s hands felt as soft as silk and radiated with warm light. She placed Melanie on her vanity desk in front of the mirror and began brushing her hair. Each stroke of the brush made her hair grow longer and longer.

“If you wish to reclaim your head, I offer you three quests, that will take you to the furthest reaches of the land, while your head stays with me,” The queen spoke in a warm gleeful tone. “It’s just so cute I’ve got to keep it a little longer,” she added, booping Melanie on the nose. “First you must bring me a lock of ‘hair’ from the Gorgon Queen Medusa, her lair is on the edge of the Southern Plains. Next you must brave the deep oceans of the Sundered Seas and bring me back a mermaid scale. Finally and this is the most daring challenge of all, you must bring me a clipping of Rebecca’s toenail.” She turned Melanie’s head around and got out her makeup kit. “Now focus on your body and don’t worry about your pretty little head, it’s in good hands. Maybe when you’re back I can also provide some information.”

Melanie wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave her head behind but she didn’t have much of a choice. The Fairy Queen has been kind to Melanie but she was still a bit of a chaotic figure and one that could permanently change her throughout any reset.

When Melanie swapped into her body fully, she found that it was already on the edge of the woods, armed with a scroll detailing each mission in further detail. Why the Fairy Queen wanted a clipping of Rebecca’s toenail was unknown, and she may as well have asked for a snake off Medusa’s head. At least without a head she would hopefully be immune to her petrification gaze. And underwater won’t be an issue without the need to breathe, but it still has plenty of other dangers.

The problem was needing to level up before taking on these challenges, and without her head the townsfolk ran away. So she had to gain experience by slaying animals and bandits, something she still did like doing. When she rested for the night she found herself back in control of her head.

“How goes the adventure,” the Fairy queen asked, as Melanie’s face felt like all the warm emotions in the world. She also looked down at the floor and saw her hair was at least twenty feet long. “Oh don’t worry about that, we’ll cut it off later.” The queen brushed the ridiculous situation off. “So I did find out some information on this ‘Frederick’ you brought to me,” the Queen continued her rant. “It turns out his whole quest chain was a punishment for the use of magic, you had made the game too easy, so it pushed back. I had no idea Rebecca could even bring someone like that bandit into existence,” the queen was almost lost in thought.

“What do you mean?” Melanie asked.

“This whole world is a game made for you, by your friend Becky,” the Queen started. “The goal is to vanquish Rebecca and return to the mortal realm. But it can’t be that easy, this journey was also made to strengthen your mind and spirit, also for Becky to passively have fun with you. The Spell that created this world created Rebecca to be your nemesis, someone that could remember all previous attempts and thwart you. I exist to help when things become impossible, I’m a counterbalance, though my job is not to give you things for free. That’s why these woods deter you with their transformations and why I send you off on long and dangerous quests.”

“But I did defeat Rebecca,” Melanie explained. “She was a wooden cow.”

“And that was too easy, which is why the frog slash bandit was put on your path and made immune to world resets. It was a punishment.”

“This is so unfair, when I get out I’m going to have a serious talk with Becky,” Melanie tried to pout but the make up just made her express happiness instead.

“No negative feelings in my room,” the Fairy queen tapped her hard on the head. “Now time to go to sleep, you have a big battle ahead of you… pardon the pun.”