The snow-covered mountains stretched endlessly before him, their jagged peaks pierg the sky like the frozen fangs of some slumberi. The wind howled through the valley, carrying with it a biting chill that should have made him shiver—but it didn’t.

  Marcus simply stood there, t over the ndscape, his mind a whirlwind of disbelief and frustration.

  ‘Why, of all pces, does it have to be this world…?’

  A deep sigh escaped his beak-like mouth, vanishing into the cold air like a wisp of smoke.

  It had been a few days since he woke up in this strange, unfiving nd.

  The st thing he remembered was driving down the highway after a long shift at work. It was just another exhausting day—until a sudden fsh of white ed his vision. A deafening explosion followed, rattling his very bohen, nothing. Just silend an endless white void where time itself felt meaningless.

  There had been whispers in that void—strange, unintelligible voices murmuring in the distance. He couldn’t recall what they said, nor did he have the presenind to listen. When he finally came to, he found himself lying in a cavern of ice, the cold biting at his body yet ruly sinking in.

  But the cold was the least of his worries.

  Because Marcus quickly realized something was wrong.

  Wandering through the cavern, he had stumbled upon a jagged wall of ice. The refle staring back at him wasn’t his own.

  A t figure loomed in the frozen surface, its face elongated and avian, with pierg eyes that glowed faintly like dying embers. A dense cloak of shifting bck feathers draped over its form, curling at the edges like living shadows, stantly exuding wisps of dark mist.

  It was only when he moved that he realized—the refleoved with him.

  His breath hitched. Slowly, cautiously, he extended an arm. The feathered cloak shifted, unfolding.

  What he thought was just a mantle of feathers was, in fact, a massive pair of wings, stretg out from his back like a storm ready to engulf the sky. Beh the wings, his arms remained humanoid in shape, yet covered in dark, glossy plumage, ending in talon-like hands. His body wasirely solid either, parts of it flickering like a mirage, caught between the physical and something far more unnatural.

  The realizatio a shiver through his mind, even if his new body refused to feel the cold.

  As if that wasn’t enough, there was one more thing that hammered home just how much he had ged.

  Everything around him felt small.

  Or rather, he had bee impossibly tall.

  Outside the cave, the snow-covered forest stretched far into the horizon, but the trees—massive spruce trees that should have towered over any normal person—barely reached his chest. The tallest among them only mao brush against his shoulder. He was a giant, a living titan among the wilderness.

  For a moment, Marcus just stood there, stunned.

  This new height gave him an unparalleled view of the ndscape, allowing him to see miles into the distance, but it also came with a cost. Every moveme cumbersome, every step an effort to avoid toppling trees in his wake.

  And so, he found himself standing atop this frozen peak, staring into the endless white horizon.

  As Marcus wahrough the forest below, he used the time he had to test himself—to test this new body.

  First, his talons.

  The tips of his cws glowed faintly with a soft blue hue, and they were sharp. Too sharp. With just a light swing, he effortlessly sliced through a thick tree, the upper half crashing down with a muffled thud against the snow. He stared at the cut, the smooth surface where bark and wood had been split like butter. Dangerous.

  , his body.

  He quickly discovered that he could trol his size to a degree. When he focused, his form would shift, shrinking rowing at will—but there was a cost. Each transformation drained something from within him, some kind of energy that pulsed through his being. Shrinking himself down took far less of this energy pared t his body. As an experiment, he reduced his size to match that of a passing rabbit, then pushed himself to grow nearly four times his inal height. The strain was immediate.

  Then, his movement.

  Marcus was light. Almost unnaturally so. His steps were eerily silent, as if his body barely disturbed the world around him. The only sounds he made came from the trees parting in his wake. Even his taloned feet, pressing into the snow-cround, left only the fai of marks. No sound. No prese was uling.

  Finally, his wings.

  The moment Marcus unfolded them, instinct took over.

  With one powerful yet silent fp, he was airborne.

  The sensation was unlike anything he had ever experienced—even in his previous life. The wind rushed past, crisp and biting, yet he barely felt the cold. The weightlessness, the sheer freedom—it was exhirating. He soared effortlessly above the treetops, the world stretg out beh him in a vast, unbroken expanse of white.

  And for the first time since arriving in this strange world, Marcus felt something other than fusion or unease.

  He felt alive.

  After an hour or so of flight, Marcus returo the cave where he had first awakened. By now, the sky had darkened, stars flickering to life above the frozen ndscape.

  Despite the night setting in, his vision remained sharp. The darkness didn’t hinder him in the slightest—he could see just as clearly as he had during the day. Yet what stood out even more was the absence of something fual.

  Hunger. Fatigue. The natural needs he had known as a human were simply… gone.

  Instead, there was a differeion.

  It was subtle at first, but as he sat within the icy cavern, he became aware of it—his body was abs something from the air itself. A slow, stant intake of energy. It was almost like he was feeding, nourishing himself without the need for food.

  ‘Maybe… I do that?’ Marcus wondered.

  If he had been reinated into this form, in this world, then surely… there had to be more to him than just his new body. Everything poio the possibility—the whispers he had heard before waking up, the way his energy shifted when he ged size, and now, the way his body naturally reself.

  Magic.

  The thought sent a thrill through him.

  Determio test it, Marcus raised his left hand, fog inward. He searched for something familiar, something hidden within his core. And then—he felt it.

  A presence, a current of energy flowing through his very being, pulsing in his veins like blood. He focused, drawing it forth, willing it ience.

  It came naturally. Effortless.

  A swirling mass of dark blue mist gathered in his palm, shifting and writhing like living smoke. He stared in silent awe.

  It worked.

  ‘Magic… so I use it.’

  Enced, he attempted something more. With a thought, he willed the formless energy to take shape. His focus sharpened as he imagined a spear, its frowing clearer within the mist. It took more effort—more energy—but slowly, the swirling magic solidified into a long, jagged spear of deep blue haze.

  Satisfied, Marcus turned his attention to a nearby rock.

  He wasn’t sure how strong the attack would be, but there was only one way to find out.

  He tossed the spear—not an athletic throw, just a simple motiohe moment it left his grasp, it shot forward—far faster than he had expected. The air cracked as it streaked through the cave, colliding with the rock.

  The result?

  A small explosion.

  The rock shattered, fragments scattering across the cave floor.

  Marcus blinked, stunned.

  He hadn’t even thrown it with any real force—yet the impact was far beyond anything he had ever done as a human.

  A slow gri onto his face.

  This… was going to be iing.