Rick was in his run-down car in the middle of the desert. His water supplies were all gone. The radio was still working even though it was only receiving a signal from a crazy radio host. He had been trying to escape the city for weeks, and the police.

  He was a former bodyguard for a wealthy businessman. It had not been the best job in the world, but it had paid well, and it kept them in shape. You learned how to be a good seamstress again after fixing his suits so many times to stop crazy guys from getting him.

  It had been the same routine over and over again. He was a rge man, trained his whole life, and as strong as an ox. The businessman always wanted to impress him with his fighting skills. Rick picked up a lot on how to deal with other white color types. If he had the money, he thought he could quit this bodyguard business and do something more with his life.

  But it had never come up. He had no wife; his friends had moved away. All he had was himself and his employer. He craved affection, and one day, he found it, but he didn't realize who this woman was. His employer's 19-year-old daughter came on to him when he was off duty at a bar he would go to to blow off steam. He didn't realize it was Cindy when she was all dressed up in the low lights of the bar, and she wanted him. He was surprised by how aggressive she was, and he couldn't help but fall for her charm.

  He got a little too drunk, and they ended up back at her pce. It was the best sex he ever had. But it was the worst night of his life. Because his employer came home early and saw them having sex and was pissed off.

  They tried to expin that it was a mistake, and they were both intoxicated. But he wouldn't have it. He ordered his former coworkers to kill Rick and throw him in the river. He wanted to take Cindy with him and leave the country, but he knew he shouldn't bring her with him, and he took down Bill and Chuck in unarmed combat. That's when Rick heard the sirens in the distance and saw his former employee on his phone with 911.

  So now Rick was running in the desert, and he didn't know where to go next. Then he saw the light. He was sure he was hallucinating after going without water for so long, but he still tried to drive toward it. The light got bigger and bigger until it engulfed him.

  The car flew over a 100-foot cliff and exploded into pieces. Days ter, the authorities found the car mangled up at the bottom of the ravine. Nobody was found in it, and there were no signs of the driver.

  Rick was sure he had died when he saw a bright light. 'Damn... Well, at least dying wasn't as painful as I thought... And things feel so nice and warm... I wonder if this is all there is to the afterlife?'

  Rick felt like he was floating in a liquid. He tried to move his arms and legs, but he couldn't feel them.

  "Hehe! I think you'll do nicely to save humanity!" A cute, feminine voice echoed through his head.

  'Wait, what? Where is this voice coming from? Who said that?'

  "No time to expin. But humanity's popution is in danger of going extinct in the next hundred years. And I believe you can save it."

  'Wait, what does this have to do with me? How can I save humanity? And who are you?' Rick tried to shout, but he had no mouth, and his skinny, long thing wiggled about, causing him to swim through the white fluid.

  "Hahaha! Don't worry, you'll be able to do it! You'll be a hero to these girls! Oh, and don't worry, you'll find out who I am soon enough. Swim to the round thing and get inside, or you'll perish for all eternity."

  Rick looked around and saw a giant sphere floating in some clear liquid above him.

  'Ugh... Dammit... Why does it have to be so far away?'

  He swam to the thing, or what he thought was swimming. He had no real legs or arms, but the way his tail moved in the water and the way his body curved reminded him of a dolphin and how they swam.

  After a minute or two, or maybe hours, he had no sense of time or reality in this existence. His only goal was to get inside this Semi-Translucent globe. He was getting closer, and then he bumped into it.

  'Ow! Well, it doesn't seem too hard. Huh?... It's kind of bouncy...'

  He continued bouncing off the surface of the globe until his head snuck in the thing.

  'Ah, crap! I'm stuck! Grrrr! I can't go backward... Ugh... Why is this so hard? Oh crap, I'm going to drown... No... no, I don't have lungs... Gruh! Fuck!... Well, I guess I had better go through this stupid thing or die. What a pain...'

  He wiggled his tail back and forth until his entire upper torso was inside, and he continued wiggling it until he was through the globe and inside another pool of liquid.

  'I'm in!... That was tiring... But I think this thing is a trap... Haah... Why did I listen to that voice? Anyway, I'd better get out of—huh?... M-My tail? Where did it go?...'

  Rick didn't realize that he was a sperm and was inside the embryo as his essence was fertilizing the egg and was changing. His body was reforming inside the embryo.

  'Gah!?! What's going on!?! This pce is getting tighter; I can't move much, and... I feel so strange!... Huff! Puff!... I don't understand...'

  Rick was getting reborn in a new body, and it was going through a lot of changes. He didn't have the energy to resist, and all he could do was curl up in a fetal position as the world around him seemed to get darker. He would have to wait for nine months before he would see the light again.

  'Wait! I'm in a woman's womb!?!'

  The months went by, and he had time to think. The voice in his head didn't speak anymore since he entered the egg, which made him lonely. But he used this time to reflect on his life and his death. He felt his body grow, but he didn't really understand how. It didn't feel natural to him, but he accepted it. He knew that he was going to be born as a child away, and he wasn't going to make the same mistakes twice.

  ***

  Far away on the pnet Oryon in a distant star system. A group of early 20-year-old female adventurers was making their way down to the final floor of the Outer Pnes Dungeon. The daughter of the Baroness was sent on a mission to clear the dungeon so the Kingdom's farmers could settle there. It would be a big boon to the kingdom to have another source of food.

  "Damn old dungeon... This is the st time we come here." A woman with auburn hair and a short sword said as she swung it in front of her and cut the head off a 3-foot-tall skeleton.

  "Used your mace on those skeletons, Tessa. Pulverize the damn bones." A woman with a crossbow said. She had brown hair and was wearing a green outfit.

  "Shut it, Bethany. Just watch the damn ceiling and shoot anything that falls from it. And let the party's Priestess do her work."

  Isadora sighed as she hired help, bickered with each other as usual when they were on a mission. But this dungeon was a pain. It had so many traps, monsters, and undead that just didn't stay dead.

  Isadora was a 22-year-old woman with raven bck hair in a braid and blood-red eyes. She was the daughter of Baroness Elizabeth of House Estragon. Her mother gave her a mission to clear the Outer Pnes dungeon to secure the area for the Queen, and it was a way to buy time for Isadora's reluctance to go to the Temple of Life to allow the Priestesses to inject the sacred white waters of the fertility pit into her womanhood to hopefully get her pregnant like all eighteen-year-olds must do to keep the all-female popution going.

  But it seems that over the st hundred years or so. Miscarriages have become more common. Even the women of nobility, or the rich, would have problems conceiving. Many have sought the temples of life and would go on pilgrimages to the holy site. Isadora's mother wanted her family line to continue, but Isadora thought it was pointless just to have a miscarriage, as almost every one of her friends did. So, she was buying time to keep the rest of the nobility off her back by taking on dangerous missions to help the kingdom. Normally, no noble would be out on the frontier doing this sort of thing. But Isadora had trained her whole life and could wield a mace and shield with ease. She could defend herself, having been on dozens of quests and even being the leader of this party of adventurers.

  But her team was getting on her nerves as she swiftly smashed a skeleton's skull into the ground with her mace.

  "Tessa, Bethany. Knock it off, and you can't rely on Mel and me for everything if we die in here. You'll be trapped forever as a skeleton."

  "Sorry, Boss."

  "Sorry."

  Tessa was the scout and could use a short sword and a dagger. Bethany was the rogue and could use a crossbow and a short sword. Mel was there, Priestess, and she could repel the undead, but Isadora wanted her to save her Divinity for healing. Isadora was their frontliner and could use a mace and a shield. She had the body of an acrobat and a model, but she had the strength of a minotaur. She was taller than most girls and had a rge bust size. She could take a hit from a mace and swing her weapon harder. But her strength didn't come without its downsides. She could only cast the simplest of magic.

  Isadora could use simple spells to increase her speed and strength, and could create a shield of mana to protect herself. Her most powerful attack was purifying fmes that would erupt from the head of her mace. But she had a bad habit of using her fire attack to light torches and candles.

  Isadora's party was on the final floor of the Outer Pnes dungeon. They were trying to find the boss room and destroy the crystal that would end the dungeon. They had been exploring the endless maze of dark tunnels for over a day now, and they kept getting swarmed by the 3-foot skeletons and two-foot Neuro spiders.

  Isadora didn't have the patience for this pce and had a very bad feeling. She had never been on a quest this long, and the monsters here seemed endless. But after a while, they were finally getting close to the st floor, and she didn't see a spider for a couple of hours.

  "Hey, boss! I see the stairwell over here." Tessa shouted.

  "About time. This pce gives me the creeps. Keep an eye out for the dungeon guardian! Who knows what it might be."

  They made their way down the spiral staircase and saw a room at the bottom. It was a small circur room with a single crystal in the center. Past the floating Crystal was an old statue of a goddess of old, and time had forgotten her name and what she stood for.

  "Well, I guess this is it. Does anyone see any traps or the guardian?" Isadora asked.

  "I don't see anything, boss," Bethany said.

  "Neither do I," Tessa replied.

  Mel was standing there holding her staff with a scared look on her face.

  "Mel, you okay?"

  "Yeah, my Lady. I'm just feeling a bit queasy. It's probably from being cooped up in this dungeon for so long. It's just a little dizziness."

  "It's probably the miasma in the air. We need to move quick," Isadora said.

  Isadora walked into the room and looked around. It was a bit strange. The rge square room had only a single crystal floating in the middle. She looked all around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  "Maybe it's a trap?" Tessa said.

  "Perhaps."

  "Do you want me to smash the crystal?" Bethany said.

  "That sounds good to me; just watch my—MEL! LOOK OUT!" Isadora looked behind her and noticed an Orc sitting on top of the door frame into the room.

  Isadora summoned all the speed she could to run at the door and jump. She pushed Mel out of the way, and the Orc's hammer hit her right in her shield.

  "OOF!" Isadora was sent flying.

  She rolled on the floor and was up in an instant. Her body was sore, but her mace was already in her hand.

  "Tessa, Bethany, distract the boss! I'll deal with the crystal. Mel, use a healing spell on yourself and get behind the others."

  "Yes, my Lady," Mel said as she was rubbing her head.

  Bethany shot her crossbow but missed, and Tessa tried to stab the Orc's leg, but the monster moved out of the way.

  The Orc was a massive creature. It had a gray body and a big gut. The scars on its face told stories of battle. But its most notable feature was its missing left eye. It had a patch over it.

  Isadora didn't have time to worry about the fight her friends were having with the Orc. She had to smash the crystal and get them all out of there.

  Isadora was running over to the crystal and heard the loud thumping of the orc's feet.

  'He's coming after me. Dammit. Well, I better take care of this quick.'

  Isadora got to the crystal and swung her mace at it, but the thing didn't even budge.

  'What!?!'

  The Orc was gaining on her and was going to hit her.

  'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Isadora turned to face the charging Orc.

  "RAH!"

  "AHH!"

  Isadora blocked the hammer with her shield and got ready to hit the orc.

  'Okay, this thing is strong, but I've taken stronger hits.'

  Isadora swung her mace at its head, but the creature moved out of the way, kicked her in the chest, and sent her into the Crystal.

  "ACK! DAMN!"

  Isadora regained her bance, but she saw the menacing hammer coming for her head, and all she could do was roll out of the way as its hammer smashed into the Crystal, destroying it.

  The Orc had a dumbfounded look on its face as it realized its mistake.

  Isadora saw that it was disgusting, and she quickly pivoted on her knees and swung her mace with two hands, smashing the mace's head deep within its belly.

  "Rrrrrraaahhhh! Huh?" The Orc stopped roaring when it smelled something cooking.

  Isadora smirked before saying, "Purifying Fme."

  Her mace erupted into white and yellow fmes. The Orc's face went white, and its guts were sizzling. Fmes shot out of its mouth, and it turned to ash in a second.

  Once the orc was no more, Isadora stumbled backward before falling on her butt.

  "Ugh... You would think that things would get easier. But it never does," She muttered to herself as she looked at her weapon.

  "Wow, boss! That was amazing! You beat the orc all by yourself." Bethany said.

  "Come on. I could have taken it. It just took me by surprise." Tessa pouted.

  Mel was embarrassed by Tessa's behavior while Isadora gred at her.

  "You can't be serious. It was 2 times our size. Suppose it wasn't for the boss's quick thinking. We would have died. You need to respect her more, and if something bad were to happen to the boss, then Baroness Elizabeth would have our heads."

  Tessa looked away and pouted.

  "Whatever... All I'm going to say is—"

  "Oh no, you don't! If their treasure, then it's getting evenly split, Tessa!" Bethany warned her.

  "That's only if you find it before me, Bethany. Ha, Ha!"

  Isadora and Mel watched as Tessa bolted off to find hidden compartments for treasure, and Bethany ran after her. Since Tessa was a trained scout, she found them faster than anyone else in the party.

  "Don't run off too far! We need to get out of here quickly!" Isadora shouted.

  "Okay, boss!"

  Mel was giggling while Isadora let out a sigh.

  "Those two..."

  Isadora picked herself up and dusted off her pants.

  "Yeah... They never change after clearing so many dungeons. But what do you expect? Most of the time, the treasure isn't that great, but they can't help but get excited."

  "They are quite amusing, my Lady. We wouldn't be able to function as a party if they didn't have that kind of spirit."

  "Well, I guess you're right. But aren't you going to join the search for treasure?"

  "Not really, my Lady. I don't really like searching for things. I would rather just wait till they find something."

  "I see... Well, I'm going to check out the old statue while those two are having fun. Keep an eye on them, please."

  "Yes, my Lady."

  Isadora made her way toward the old statue. It had seen better days; time had not been kind to it. But the face was gone, and both arms were missing, but the figure was still majestic—what was left of it, that is.

  "A shame it has fallen into such a state. I wonder who this goddess was?... Hmm?"

  As Isadora was admiring the statue, a light could be seen coming from a crack in the base.

  "Oh, what's this?"

  Isadora bent down and saw that there was a loose brick. She couldn't tell what was inside, so she slowly moved her hand closer. Tessa cheered triumphantly.

  "Found it! I found the treasure chest!" Tessa said as she opened a hidden wall in the middle of the right side wall.

  "Oh no, you don't. It's mine." Bethany shouted.

  "I'll give you 10% of what I've found. Just because I'm a good friend."

  "10%... That's so unfair, and you know it. Come on. You can't do that."

  "10% or nothing. Take it or leave it."

  Isadora sighed and turned to see Tessa pulling out a rge chest that had gems in it. Isadora knew what to say to get Tessa and Bethany to stop fighting.

  "Hey, Tessa! If all that treasure is yours, then you can carry it out yourself. Does that sound good?" Isadora said as she looked at her with a stern expression.

  Tessa looked a bit upset and said, "I... Um... Yeah, I can carry this thing by—GAH!... MYSELF! Oof!" Tessa tried to lift the chest, but her legs and arms were shaking as she struggled.

  "Hahaha! That's so pathetic, Tess." Bethany ughed.

  "Shut it, Bethany... Grrr! FINE! You get half of you help me get this stupid thing out of here."

  "Alright. I guess that's fair. You need help with something. Just ask for it, Tess. That's why you have a party, after all."

  "I know. I know."

  "Come on. Let's get going. It's getting te, and we don't want to spend another night here." Mel said.

  "Well, if you want to help us move this thing, then by all means, Mel. You can." Tessa said in an annoyed tone.

  "Oh? So, you'll split the treasure in three ways instead of two, huh?" Mel said with a smirk.

  Tessa looked at Bethany and looked back at the Priestess. "Nah... We got it. Don't worry."

  "Alright, let's get going. I'll take the lead," Mel said as she led them back to the exit.

  "Come on, Tess. Put your back into it. This isn't so bad." Bethany said as the two struggled to move the heavy treasure chest.

  Isadora couldn't help but snicker at their predicament, 'I'm gd I'm not as greedy as they are. But, I am curious what is inside that crack?'

  Isadora was looking around for a small tool to pry open the brick, so she grabbed her dagger and carefully worked it into the gap. She put a bit of strength into it, and the brick moved.

  "Hey, boss! What are you doing? Come on. We need your help." Tessa yelled.

  "I'll be right there."

  Isadora removed the brick, and a bright light blinded her for a moment.

  'Hmm? What's this?'

  Isadora rubbed her eyes and was able to make out a strange, tiny safe that had beautiful silver trim and what looked like the face of a goddess in the center. She was mesmerized by the craftsmanship.

  "My Lady! Is everything alright!?" Mel asked.

  "Huh? What?" Isadora shook her head.

  "We could really use your help. I don't think we can carry this thing."

  "Ugh! Just give me a second."

  Isadora reached into the safe and pulled out a small gss vial that had white liquid in it. Isadora brought the vial up to her face, which started with excitement at first, but upon further inspection, she noticed what this fluid was, and her expression shifted to annoyance.

  "You got to be kidding me... Sacred Fertility Water?... Is this a statue of Goddess Risphina?" Isadora said as she looked at the carvings on her chest. If it was Risphina, it wasn't one that Isadora had ever seen, and the old statue didn't look anything close to the current depictions in the Temples of Life.

  'Is this a different Goddess of Life? Or is this just a coincidence? Either way. Why would a goddess of life be in a dungeon?'

  Isadora wanted to think more about it, but she heard Tessa and Bethany argue again.

  "Why do I have to hold this thing for so long?"

  "Because you're a scout, and I'm a rogue, and you're the stronger one between the two of us."

  "Bethany, I'm the one carrying this. You're the one just pushing it."

  "Fine! You push, and I'll pull. How does that sound?"

  "Just shut up and do it already."

  Isadora put the vial in her bag and walked over to help them move the chest.

  "Alright, enough fighting. I'll help you guys get it out. Let's go."

  "Thank you, my Lady... I tried to help, but they kept telling me not to." Mel said.

  "That's because we need muscle to lift the chest and not someone who can heal," Tessa said.

  Mel sighed and rolled her eyes.

  Isadora just shook her head and lifted the chest with ease.

  "Alright, let's get moving."

  "Okay, my Lady."

  Tessa and Bethany were impressed, and the three carried the chest out of the room and all the way out of the Dungeon. They made it back to their carriage and made the journey back to the city walls of the Kingdom of Galedad by nightfall.