In the bustling streets of Evermorn City, people rushed from one place to the next, whether they were on the job or just hanging out in general. The city life never died down even late into the night where people would congregate around parks and the many entertainment centres scattered across the many districts, earning Evermorn its title; The City of Insomnia. Not everything was peachy on the surface though, for a city to be seeing this much success, many would have to crunch hard to maintain progress, such people were common sights both in and around Evermourn, from scraggy paper pushers to sweat slick engineers, their jobs at risk by their very contributions, paving the way for machines and hardware that could do their jobs without rest. Although the benefits were plenty; access to some of the best forms of entertainment in the world and high salaries to name a few, strange happenings were commonplace in Evermourn, from disappearances to strange lights and apparitions in various times and places across the city. Unfortunately, most people within the city were more concerned with their daily lives to even care about such matters, a contrivance compared to maintaining their lives against debt and other worrying issues.

One such person was Ethan Kordo, a 22 year old, fresh out of highschool and working a side job as a delivery man for Evermorn’s local delivery company. Using a cheap scooter to fulfill orders sent to him through a local terminal on his phone linked to one of the many AI running the comapny's orders. Although the job was tiring as all hell, at the very least, he got a stack of cash at the end of the day that was enough to sustain himself and his parents living seperately from him while waiting for his entry into college abroad. Although it left a feeling of emptiness that slowly ate away at him inside as he continued the repetitive cycle of picking up parcels at the automated collection centre then proceeding to out and dropping them off in dropboxes. He guessed it was the lack of human communication, he hardly talked with anyone both at the collection centre and while on the job. After all his deliveries were on record and he wasn’t about to risk his pay because he decided to chat a kind face up, making it all the more harder to ignore the many people going about their lives on the streets seemingly without care. Things would soon change for Ethan however, as life in Evermorn wasn’t known to stay quiet for long.

At the end of yet another tiring day of non-stop deliveries and making his return to the pickup centre to log his entries, Ethan decided to take a side route on the way back to check out a well known Chinese noodle store he read up on last night from a blog post on the web. As he’s about to board his scooter, he notices a faint, pulsating light at the corner of his eyes coming from a nearby restroom building around the corner. His curiosity piqued after remembering the rumours and wild claims online about Evermorns strange occurrences, Ethan approaches the open entrance cautiously, hoping to find something he could sell off for a high price or at the very least, a source to all the happenings around the City.

As he steps into the dark restroom, he sees the source of the glow; one of the many mirrors adorning the restroom walls above the basins. Immediately noticing how all of them are in pristine condition besides the one giving off the light, cracked as if hit by something, its web of fractures giving off the pulsating glow of multicolored light Ethan saw from outside the restroom. Moving closer, he activates the sensor lights above, giving him a better look at the unusual mirror, startled at what he sees; Along with Ethan's reflection, the mirror’s individual fragments show multiple people and different places as if staring at a collage of photos by various people. After a moment of awe, Ethan steps closer to take a better look at the individual fragments, seeing various people of various age, gender and occupation go about their lives; from a rugged father applying gel to his hair as his kids surprise him with a birthday cake to the obscene acts of an office lady posing in the mirror taking photos while her superior takes her from behind. Ethan’s eyes are momentarily drawn to a deep blue piece of the gallery, nothing seems to be reflected on it but a deep blue color that ebbs and flows, as if beckoning him. Eyes transfixed, an eager finger reaches out and before he realizes it, Ethan begins to vanish into the mirror, his body melting into white light starting from his fingers. As he panics, he starts to feel other sensations bleed in; pleasure, nervousness, happiness and more as if he were in the shoes of the other people shown in the various fragments, until it folds him over like a blanket of pure emotion. When it's done, Ethan no longer stands in the restroom, now floating in a deep blue void of endless space, bubbles escaping his mouth as he realizes he can still breathe. In wonder, he gazes around and takes in his surroundings. Seeing small fish swim by and broken buildings dot what he can only assume is the sea floor.

After a few minutes of enjoying the surreal situation he finds himself in, Ethan notices his clothing has vanished entirely, leaving him stark naked as he floats in this fantasy water world. His intrigue (and embarassment) is cut short as he hears a muffled groan above him, looking up as a whale like creature with multiple tentacles closes in, with a muffled scream he tries in vain to push away from the direction of the creature but its limbs grab hold of him and draws him into its mouth, swallowing and sending him into its bowels. As Ethan feels himself squeezed and pushed through a moist warm tunnel he assumes to be the creatures guts. He begins to feel a sticky substance coat his body as he feels the wall of flesh around him tremble slightly while excreting a white fluid similar to those he'd seen in hospitals, making him feel sick as he begins to feel new sensations in places he never had before; the tingle of the cold against his now supple smooth skin which has shaved itself of most of his body hair, the squish of his now pudgy chest as it presses against the walls of the monster and most worryingly, his penis twitching as it slowly inverts, his testicles deflating and drawing itself back into his body as the feeling of discomfort from having his balls squeezed tightly between his legs gives way to warmth, eliciting a high pitched moan as he feels the remnants slither into the new lower lips snuggled neatly between his now plump thighs, a inner glow within him signifying the end of his transition into womanhood. Struggling in vain, all Ethan could do was wait as he feels the vibrations in the wall slow to a crawl, After awhile, the vibrations in the walls stop as a hole opens beneath him and he's dropped back into the same rift he was in before, only this time, he's able to move his limbs instead of being stuck floating in the air, noticing he's on the surface of the "ocean" he was in before, seeing the same fish from before swim freely beneath his now dainty feet.

Coughing out the creature’s fluids, Ethan notices how feminine he now sounds, his new slender arms ending in tender digits. Ethan pushes himself to his feet, seeing the whale monster dive back down underneath the water before he sees the same mirror that brought him here in the first place but in pristine condition, floating in front of him. Assuming it to be a way, Ethan reaches out to touch its smooth surface before he stops to examine his, or rather her, new body. Now resembling that of an older female version of her former self but with blonde hair. Entranced with her reflection, Ethan doesn't realize her posture shifting to that of a reserved lady, holding her slender arms over her body in an attempt to cover her privates as her eyes darken and glaze over, changing colors from green to a light shade of blue, she begins to have second thoughts on why she wanted to go back so urgently to Evermorn, wasn’t she brought here unwillingly after losing her cargo to the B.T? No, that wasn’t right, what even was a B.T anyway? As Ethan attempts to fight back against the new memories popping up in her mind, she notices her body now clad in a tight fitting outfit made out of what feels like leather, with a logo emblazoned on it featuring the word FRAGILE on it located just above her right breast. When did this happen?

 Her head stings as the word triggers a new flood of memories within, from  growing up as a young girl to attending her fathers funeral, taking it upon herself at a young age to carry on her family business when her father passed on; Fragile Express. As Ethan tries in vain to put up a fight against the ongoing torrent of memories, trying to think of her memories as Ethan, who worked so hard to support himself along with his parents back in Evermorn, she begins to hesitate, wondering who Ethan was or where Evermorn City was. As the new memories take root within her, the frown of concern over Ethan's pretty face vanishes as they overwhelm the last bit of resistance; The only firm memory she had of any place was the land known as America, left poked with craters after the Death Stranding triggered a string of Voidouts and leaving small communities scattered and alone as the presence of B.T’s and hazardous Timefall prevented easy travel across the country. Her father set up Fragile Express to help those who remained in rebuilding and performing delivery services and eventually grew big enough to rival Bridges, something she was always proud of her father for. That is until she met a man going by the name of Higgs Monaghan after she took over the company, and paid the ultimate price for trusting him. Losing the youth of her body to Timefall after her attempt to stop him and the Homo Demens from nuking South Knot City as he’d done to Middle Knot led to her being forced to carry the bomb out of the city on foot, the sadistic man covering only her head to mark her as a reminder should anyone attempt to cross his path.

Shivering at the memory, Fragile, as she now identified herself as without a doubt, stared at her own reflection, standing confidently, her body wrapped tightly in a special outfit  bothh aiding her in survival and accentuating her curves despite the damage done by Timefall beneath. Satisfied with her appraisal, she clasps the final collar button closed and looks around, frowning at her mistake. She had just jumped from another Beach after a busy day of deliveries for the various people across America, working hard to rebuild the reputation of Fragile Express so it was understandable she’d miscalculated a jump after a tiring day. As she snaps her gloves on, she squints as something in the back of her mind causes her to hesitate like a nagging memory, was she forgetting something? Glancing down at her empty hands, a sudden thought hits her, she needed to be prepared for the jump back to the world of the living so where was her signature device most people called an umbrella? Materializing the device in her hands created to aid her DOOMS in navigating across Beaches put her at ease as she starts to prepare for a jump. Clearing her mind of thought, she focuses on her destination only to come to another distraction; a man going by Sam Bridges she had met recently enters her mind. She was sure she’d see him again soon and from her last meeting, had a feeling the two of them had something in common with one another, maybe they’d be able to hook up together but that was a matter for another time. Shaking off the thoughts and the slight blush on her face, Fragile warps out of the Beach, leaving its blue hazy surroundings empty once more, the weird mirror floating alone in the endless void. Waiting in silence  for its next visitor...

THE END