The Gateway

"Ughhhhhhhh," I groaned, the sound coming out with a small hiss. Wait? A hiss?

Quickly opening my eyes, I looked at my arm, and staring back was black chitin, with holes dotted around its side. So, the transformation at least went well. Need to get off my side though, not exactly comfortable. Ok, just got to stand up, how hard can it be?

Trying to move my muscles, I found that both my front and back limbs bent like legs. Interesting, but not completely surprising. Moving them some more, I managed to push them under my body. Pushing myself up on my four legs, I immediately lost my balance and fell face first to the ground. Ok, so it's a little harder than I anticipated. No big deal. If you don't succeed, try, try again.

And try again I did, many times in fact. I spent the next twenty minutes trying to find my balance, and usually falling face first to the floor a bit after. On the good side, I was getting better. By the twenty fifth minute, and fiftieth try, I managed to stand up without falling over. I still looked like I had one too many drinks, but at least I could stand.

Looking around, I saw that I was still in the same spot the transformation took place, but the Overmind must be busy, as he hasn't greeted me once this entire time.

I've been here the entire time, Hunter. I was just watching how you would go about standing up. To be honest, it was quite amusing, but nonetheless, for getting a new body, you did remarkably well, especially since changelings are quadrupeds, not bipeds.

Ok, so my attempts at standing besides, how are we going to get started. I assume you have something planned for me to do.

Indeed I do, and I think you might like it. You've always been a bit of a nature lover haven't you.

As he finished, the scenery around started to change, the white floor became a lush green grass, the borderless sky became a light blue expanse, dotted with white, fluffy clouds of all sizes. Across the middle of the ground, a clear, bubbling river popped into existence, moving not much more than a snails pace; perfect for wading through while still keeping the water fresh. A little ways away trees and other plant life sprang into view, effectively creating a clearing. On the other side of the river, there was a small patch of fruit trees, mainly apple, that should be ready to be picked soon. Next to me, all my supplies from my travels popped into being, and I think I could begin to see what the Overmind was doing. He was effectively creating a clearing for me to train in, with enough food that I should be able to survive if I'm resourceful and can find more. Out in the distance, in the direction of the river, a waterfall could be seen falling of the side of a steep mountain. Closer to me, a small hill could be seen just peeking over the treetops. Overall, the perfect place for me to train.

I hope you find your scenery pleasant. I know it speaks to you a bit more, and it will be more convenient to train in. I've used the trees to block off certain bits, and will retract them when it is time for you to move on in your training. The first thing I want you to do is merely set up your supplies. I'll give you a hint, your hooves act a bit like hands when you touch things to them. You can figure it out from there. I have matters to attend to, so I will leave you to it. I can't help you anymore than that. Best of luck.

Ok, get my supplies set up. Shouldn't be too hard. Then again, I thought the same thing for standing. Oh yeah, I need to walk around. Might be a problem; and hands. Don't have hands. Okay, this is going to be hard. What did the Overmind say again; something about my hooves acting like hands? Well, better get to it then. This might take awhile.

Stepping forward and going slowly, I managed to move my legs, only to immediately fall forward as soon as my balance point changed. After a couple more falls, I finally managed to start walking; well more like slowly and painstakingly shuffle there. Walking's hard, and I can probably be beat by a snail, but walking is walking, no matter how I do it. Getting to my supplies, I realize a couple major problems. One how am I going to pick this up, and two, how am I going to walk on three legs to carry stuff.

Ok, so hooves are like hands. Uhhhhhhhh, how exactly? Should I just try it? Worth a shot I guess. Although, I should probably learn to walk on three legs; wouldn't be fun to land on my supplies.

Trying to pick up my hoof and leaning back so my weight was more on my 3 hooves than the empty air, I managed to hold it up for a couple of seconds, before falling down. Trying again, I managed to do it for one more second. Slowly, and with a lot of falling, I managed to progress to the point that I could stand up with one hoof balanced. With a bit more practice, I was walking very slowly with only three hooves. With that task accomplished, I need to figure out what the Overmind meant. Do they just pick up stuff automatically? It seems silly, but what else could he mean?

Walking over to my supplies, I rummaged around until I found my sleeping bag. Using my hooves to push it out by the edges, I managed to get it out of the bag. Now, came the problem of unraveling the dam thing. Ok, just act like my hooves are hands, figure out what the Overmind meant. Putting my hoof to the bag, I think of how I want to pick it up. When I pulled my hoof up, it unsurprisingly, didn't work. Ok, so it doesn't act like that. Next try. Putting my hoof to the bag, I tried using the muscles my hands would have used as a human to pick it up, even though they weren't there. Surprisingly, I felt something in my hoof. When I lifted it up, the bag was just sticking to my hoof as if it was glued there, and when I stopped using my imaginary muscles, it fell back down. That went much easier than expected. I thought it would take an hour at least, but it barely took more than a minute. Well, if you count out all the practice I had to do to actually stand on three legs, but still.

Nevertheless, using my newfound "hands", I managed in the next couple of hours to set up my tent, my sleeping bag, and get my food and supplies into my shelter. I did it with a lot of dropping, but at the end of the day I had my shelter, and that's what counts.

Since I have my shelter, I'll need to get a fire up and running. Ok, rocks and wood, shouldn't be too hard to find. I already have extra firewood from my supplies, so all I need to find is rocks. Might be a problem, as I'm stuck to this clearing, but I should be able to find something capable of keeping the flames controlled.

Looking around the area, there wasn't any noticeable places where I could find rocks big enough to hold back the fire. The small hill was an obvious place to look, but after a couple minutes of searching, it seemed that none of the rocks rolled into the clearing. Searching the surrounding area, my search again proved fruitless, as there wasn't a single rock to be found. There seemed to be some rocks on the other side, but the sun was starting to go down, and even besides that, I still wasn't familiar enough with my body that something like a river, no matter how slow moving, would likely upset my balance and send me into the water.

Deciding that the fire would have to wait until another day where I was capable enough of getting some rocks, I made myself a meal of some things I had that would be safe to eat without cooking, and retired for the night. If I was going to get those rocks, I would need to have my energy.