Transference

A loud thud could be heard as I fell out of the light and cast into an unfamiliar place. The ground was firm and ragged, but surprisingly enough I did not feel even an ounce of pain from the fall. My vision was blurry indicating that my glasses were not currently present on my snout. Though even without it I could sense that I was no longer within the security of my room.

I could not grasp a proper understanding of my surroundings due to my poor vision, but I could speculate. Immediately I propped myself up and began reaching around with my bare hands. The terrain was solid and rough indicating that I was touching some type of rock. It could've been the same material all around, so I squinted in a vain attempt to get a better look. Then it hit me. My questions slammed into my brain like a runaway train.

'What was that pain from earlier? That light… That heaviness. All of it was odd. Did the game glitch…malfunction? Am I entitled to compensation now?'

The answers I sought were not presently available to me. My situation was confusing… I desired answers, so as I looked around at my smeared surroundings I began to wonder if I was truly in Infinity Unleashed as I should have been. Much like any MMORPG of the modern era, there should always be a status bar present in the lower left of the player's screen. Any gamer should know that much at least, so that was the third thing that I did.

'What? No status bar?'

As I looked around I could not detect anything resembling a status bar or icon within my limited view of vision. This is just like real life. The level of realness in those games was always high, but it was easy to differentiate false from reality. However, in this case, that line appeared to be as blurred as my vision.

"Hello?!", I called out.

It was universally stupid to call out in an unfamiliar place as I didn't know what dangers could arise, but I just had to check. Sure enough, I could hear my voice repeat and split off into two directions.

'A cave? That must be where I am, but why did I spawn in a cave?'

"Mark? Is that you?!", called a familiar voice.

"Q. Bud, I am glad to hear your voice. I can't see shit right now. My glasses are missing and it's too dark to make stuff out."

"Where the hell are we?", he asks. His voice echoed from what appeared to be my left side.

"Looks like a cave. I think we spawned in a cave.", I answered.

"I'm pretty sure that this is the Hidden Grotto.", called another voice. This one was also familiar but originated from my right.

'Bonner…'

"Bishop, is that you?!", Q called seeking an answer.

Bonner and Q alongside myself all spawned inside of this case. Is that coincidental or perhaps something strange is happening? More importantly, since we were all together in a general area, that meant that we could meet together. Things were looking up for us, and I could feel it.

"Hey Mark. I found your glasses!", Bonner called over to me.

"Q. Bonner. You two follow the sound of my voice and converge on my locations. I will continue to talk about the weather until you-"

Just as I instructed I could hear two figures shuffle towards me from the sides of the tunnel. I remained seated and waited for them until I could hear them get closer. Once differentiating between the two from one another I turned to face Bishop as he declared that he had located my glasses.

Now the reason my glasses were that far from my actual body was a mystery in itself, but we had bigger fish to fry as they say. Quickly receiving the item from the male and thanking him, I could better outline my area and their outlines, but it was still too dark for us to see one another.

"It appears that we are doing some new type of party event. Did you two experience the darkness and light before you arrived here?"

"I didn't experience any darkness, but that light hurt like a bitch. I thought that my game was crashing or something. Next thing I knew it felt like I fell onto a rock and then I heard your voice.", Q explained.

"Same with me. My ears felt like they were being stretched.", Bonner chipped in.

I sighed in relief as I wasn't the only one that underwent that horrific experience. My mind shifted to the location that Bonner had mentioned earlier; The Hidden Grotto. On our way to defeat the Lynx monster that we were planning on doing. There was a cave system on the way referred to by that name.

When we were last logged on we were in a nearby village, so I immediately found it weird that the game would just randomly auto-spawn us into possibly hostile territory. Something like that had not transpired before, so it is extremely uncharacteristic. I was flying in the dark and I was not a fan of this situation.

"Tell me. Have you two been able to access the status bar yet?", I question them, seeking more knowledge on the subject at hand.

Although I couldn't see them entirely, I could tell that they were looking for it. Their audible sounds of confusion confirmed my suspicions. It was not until Bonner spoke up that I came to a solid conclusion.

"Now that you mention it. I haven't been able to access it. The icon is gone on the screen."

"Neither have I.", Q added in.

"Well, that could only mean one thing… We've been Isekai-ed gents."

The sound of their laughter erupted as they didn't take my words seriously, and honestly, I joined in as well. It was rather comical to think that three black guys from Alabama could be teleported to another world. That type of thing only really transpired in Japan and not to guys like us, so I pitched it to them in a joking manner. The two males now stood next to me and thus I moved to join them in standing, but when I did so I was suddenly yanked down.

"What happened, Mark?", Q asks, obvious concern apparent in his voice.

The answer to that question was lost to me as I was just suddenly yanked down as if something was holding me down like a restraint. I reached behind my back to see if I could locate a rope or something, but surprisingly there was not one there. Instead, it was the weirdest thing.

"Hair?", he voiced aloud to the other two. "Step back for a second Q."

Doing as I requested, Q moved backward slightly and I traced my fingers through the tufts of exposed hair. It appeared that a creature of sorts had latched itself onto my back or at least that was my initial thoughts. I reached the tips and it reminded me of fur oddly enough. However, I had no clue why a trail of fur led from my lower back until it fully donned on me. Struck with the idea like a bolt of lightning I blurted only four words to the surprise of my friends,

"OH MA GOD- I have a tail."

"A tail? Like a tail…tail?", Q asks.

Sure enough, I do believe that I now possessed a tail. How I didn't notice until that point was beyond me, but I began to recall my experience in the tunnels of darkness and light. The area that burned in intense pain was the very same area that this tail had so unceremoniously sprouted from.

I was stunned, to say the least, but I stood up to make sure. Once standing I turned and sure enough as I moved and turned about, the soft swish of fur followed my every action.

"I really grew a tail… I do not possess my status bar. I know that I was joking a minute ago but think about it. The tunnels of light and dark. The intense pain. The tail. Did I- Did I mention the tail?"

"Hold up Mark. Do you really think that? This game may have some realistic elements, but it is just a game. See watch this… ", Q responds, aiming to refute my concerns and questions. "Log off."

A minute went by before I physically reached out to touch the male to see if he had indeed logged out. When one issues the command to log out in Infinity Unleashed their avatar turns to dust and returns to the atmosphere until they log in again.

Usually, a person would spawn in a nearby village or set location that the player placed as a specific spawn location. That was the case this time around as Q didn't go anywhere. He was still there even after clearly stating the correct terminology used to leave the server. Bonner was the first to speak up after a moment of awkward silence ensued.

"Hold on. Hold on. First, before we come to some conclusion. I suggest that we try to get into some light. We can't see for shit and I think we are becoming a bit paranoid."

Bonner was right here. Perhaps the pain had thrown off my sense of reason and I have become a bit paranoid. There were some possible explanations now that I thought of it. I agreed to his proposal and together we pooled what little information that we had obtained before making the solid conclusion.

Agreeing that we should head in the direction that Bonner had come from was the plan that we devised. As Bonner arrived from the direction we came to the conclusion that he would be best suited to lead this part.

I was behind him and then Q became our rear. There was no method to the lining, but it just naturally ended up like that. Although traveling in this type of darkness was extremely dangerous in itself, we all came to the same conclusion that it would be safer to move while we still could. Admittedly it was a tough trek in the dark. So much so that we often found ourselves tripping on random fissures in the cave's floor.

Although we couldn't fully see, we could tell that the tunnel that we were traveling was getting narrower by the minute. The tunnel went from the length of my arm span to barely as wide as my shoulders. We would have to turn sideways in order to progress further as we desired.

"Hey Mark. You are the expert here in that fantasy other world shit, right?", Q questioned, looking to spark a conversation.

"Isekai is what they call it in Japan. It's a diverse genre, but I have seen enough to be able to recognize the start of one when it's pushed into my face.", I answered.

While my tastes in anime and manga culture are expansive, there are a few genres that I find myself drawn to. Isekai is one of them alongside Fantasy and Science Fiction. I have seen well over a hundred different Isekai and fantasy stories, so it wouldn't be too hard for someone like myself to recognize the similarities between our predicament and that of your standard Isekai protagonist. Q did not share that taste as he was more into Shounen anime, so I would assume that he desired my specific expertise on the matter.

"The main character rarely gets summoned or transferred to another world with others, but that has been the case on a few occasions. They are usually summoned to a castle by some desperate or often selfish King or something… or by a powerful being like a God or Goddess. I think that we may have something like that on our hands. However, it is just as likely that I am just tripping and we have entered an area where we simply can not log out of. Either way, we are criminally lacking in the information department."

As I explained to him, Bonner suddenly stopped without prior warning causing me to bump into him from behind. Normally I would voice a complaint about the action, but seeing that I was the one at fault for not paying attention, I instead offered an apology. He would promptly shush me when I said so and my brow frowned.

"I hear water and I see a sliver of light up ahead. An opening to this god-forsaken cave is perhaps upon us.", he explains before I get the opportunity to respond.

Although I could not see the light myself there was a strong belief within me that Bonner was correct. After all, I could hear it as well. The rush of water just ahead of us and I grew excited. More speculation filled my mind as I considered that it was likely that a subterranean river just so happened to flow nearby.

That would be our saving grace. Where there is running water then there must be a place where the water must exit. Seeing no reason not to press forward, we followed Bonner through the tightening tunnel out to the other side. We now moved in silence since we did not know what to encounter on the other side. What seemed like several minutes had passed by before Q or I had seen the light that Bonner had mentioned before.

Upon arrival, my eyes naturally adjusted themselves to the light source as we each slipped out of the crevice-like tunnel that we had been traveling through. Honestly speaking due to the darkness and displacement I was unable to firmly grasp the concept of time, so I could only speculate as usual on how long had passed since we first arrived at this cave. Strangely enough, I felt no fatigue after walking as long as we did, so when I was finally free of the confines of the tunnel I merely decided to stretch my limbs. That is when I heard Bonner speak up,

"Oh wow… Mark… You won't believe this, Bud."

I was thrown off by his comments at first, but I soon pieced together what he might be saying when I first laid my eyes on him.

"What? What's going on?', Q asked as he was the last one to exit the tunnel.

It took one look at all three of us before we all just erupted in a fit of laughter. Though it was not out of ill intent, the sheer absurdity that had blessed our eyes. Honestly, I don't know where to start.

"Bonner…You are an elf. You have those long, pointy-ass ears, my friend.", I informed him after my own fit of amusement had subsided, but they continued on with theirs.

The man standing before me did not possess the actual appearance of my friend. In fact, there was no resemblance in the slightest besides their height and voice. The man before me was much slimmer and had noticeably more defined muscles than his real-life counterpart.

His eyes were an emerald green and his hair was actually brown. It was neatly tied up into braids, so his pointy elvish ears were on full display for all to see. The braids were held together by a darker red band that prevented stray braids from getting in his way.

"You know… You look eerily similar to your character on Infinity Unleashed. What did you name him again? Virgil?", Q pointed out.

Now that he mentioned it that statement was actually quite accurate. The longer I stood there and looked at him the more the resemblance became uncanny. Naturally, the same became true for Q.

"Vigilis", Bonner responded.

Vigilis was the alias that Bonner utilized whenever we roleplayed Infinity Unleashed. A dark elf mage with incredible potential and known for his sister complex. He was our trio's resident healer and had several attack-based spells at his disposal, but he often botched otherwise easy missions with his indecision. From the looks of it, It appeared that in some way Bonner and Vigilis had become one and the same.

"The same could be said about you, Q. You look just like… Brass. Your avatar. Though there is a noticeable difference.", I added.

The thing about Q is a bit of a bigger mystery than Bonner's. When we pieced together the resemblances I immediately found it odd that Q's avatar's appearance took a drastic change. Brass was a fairy-human hybrid and as such stood at only four feet tall like his brethren, but now he retains his real-life height.

Not only that but now he's built like a brick house. Brass within the lore of our roleplay was the group's resident tank and powerhouse. He enjoyed pulverizing his enemies and bullying them with his small size.

His eyes remained the same dark brownish color, but his hair changed to a brownish color as well. Though they remained somewhat braided like before. It was quite the transformation, but it paled in comparison to the changes that I undertook.

"I ain't gonna lie Mark, but you look like a freak of nature.", Q stated in a snarky remark.

I laughed at the sentiment thoroughly. According to Q's description, I had obtained canine-like features. My ears had pointed upwards on the side of my head and they were now covered in orange fur with white tips. That very same color scheme matched my tail as well. It resembled that of a fox, but that made sense considering my race.

Although it would be hypocritical to complain about the power of the Kitsune race whilst being a member of them, I was justified in doing so. My avatar went by the name of Roktavor and he was supposed to be a full-breed Kitsune. Much like all of the other races of Infinity Unleashed, Kitsunes had different branches of their race.

Full Breed Kitsunes were ones born to two Kitsune parents, they normally had orange, white, or golden fur to cement their status. Their tail count typically is an indicator of their strength and age, but nine is their limit and their birthright. Halfling or quarter Kitsunes had brown or gray fur covering their fox-like features. While all Kitsunes are adept at magic, only the full breed can achieve the nine-tails state.

Roktavor was one of them that had the potential. There was one problem though, I had retained a mostly human appearance looking more akin to a normal demi-human that one would see populating fantasy manga. Kitsunes in Infinity Unleashed were small creatures that had the appearance of anthropomorphic foxes.

Somehow like Q, I had broken the mold of what was conventional within the laws of that world. Other than my new features, I had remained relatively the same except for the new and honestly unearned muscle mass. My skin tone retained my heritage and my hair had remained black as well, but it had changed and became more spikey around the edges.

Miraculously, my pride and joy had survived. My mustache has refined itself and my goatee has stuck around as well. However there was something notable about the attire that we were all wearing. Looking to my left and to my right, I could tell that we were all wearing some paltry armor. We looked like peasant soldiers as if we were just conscripted to throw our lives away in some rich man's war.

The top of our clothing was a dark brown, leathery material and our pants were barely armored with the same material. The color of our pants was a solid beige though. We all had thick, black, lightly armored boots protecting our feet as well.

"A freak of nature is a tad bit far. We may be dressed like common foot soldiers, but appearance-wise…what you see is what you get… and that is… absolutely perfect.", I mused, admiring my new features.

Surprisingly enough I felt quite vain more so than usual too. As we examined the new features, I instinctively found myself twirling the edges of my mustache as if I were some vaudevillian. However I quickly realized that we had gotten distracted by the aesthetics. This new light didn't come from just anywhere, so I turned and faced the other direction to see if I could locate the source, and I did.

Examining our area even more we found ourselves in what appeared to be a cavern. Large, glowing crystals jut out from various places throughout this cavern. Decorating the floors and walls and even the ceiling in clusters was this unfamiliar crystal. How I managed to miss such an awe-inspiring sight was again beyond me. I was the first to move closer as I had not seen something of this nature in person before, so naturally it had piqued my interest.

"These crystals..", I started, pointing to them as I turned to face my comrades, "These must be new to the update. I don't think that these were always within The Hidden Grotto."

"I agree. I would've heard if there were this many turquoise crystals in this area in a game guide or on the internet.", Bonner says.

"Aquamarine.", I say, correcting him on the color of the crystals.

The color and presence of the crystals were oddly mesmerizing. I just couldn't bear taking my eye off of it and I suppose my friends began to notice as well. I had made my way to the nearest stalagmite of the material that pierced the floor of the cavern. Once close enough my appearance became visible to me as my reflection was presented.

"Mark… You alright over there?", Q called to me, but I didn't offer a response right away.

"It's marvelous. I can see myself in its radiance and I find myself drawn to it. It looks beautiful… I look beautiful."

"Mark…What is it that you see?", Bonner asked me.

"I don't know. I just need to get a bit closer. I need answers."

Without warning, I felt myself being yanked backwards by my tail and prevented from reaching out to touch my goal. A wave of different emotions clouded my mind in one moment. Quickly turning to face the individual responsible I would see both of the males holding onto it.

"What is the meaning of this?", I snapped.

Though before they could respond fully, I felt in my gut that something was wrong. As quick as I snapped against them I had snapped back to reality. My ears flickered around as I heard a loud thud in the distance, and then the ground shook.

I had become so enthralled with the crystal that my sense of reasoning had become dulled to the point that I could barely perceive my surroundings. My eyes shifted to the two males as they attempted to pull me backwards, but surprisingly even with both of them, they were having difficulties.

"Somethings coming, Bud! I don't know how you didn't hear those loud ass stomps, but we were running low on time. We need to take cover before whatever arrives here.", Q explained.

I nodded in agreement and they released my tail from their grip. Frantically we looked around for something to take cover behind, but unfortunately, there wasn't much. The cavern was mostly open space excluding the crystal clusters as well as the running water that cut throughout the floor of the area.

Out of options and nearly out of time, the three of us universally decided to hide behind a large crystal formation to our right. It was spacious enough to hide our respective frames. Luckily for us, we managed to get there in time.

As soon as we arrived behind the crystals the thundering footsteps had grown ever closer and we could feel the shockwaves of its footsteps from its impending arrival.