The same place in England, 2020
Ava Berkley shone her torch at the map again. As an amateur explorer and treasure hunter, she'd come to this far-flung corner of the country to explore some old castle ruins. The hike up the mountain had been pleasant enough during the day. However, she'd spent so longer than planned trying to find the little treasure trove hinted at in the ancient documents that she'd found at her local library more than a fortnight ago. She'd found the hidey-hole, but all that it had yielded to her was some sort of trinket. She couldn't even tell what it was exactly – it was so marred by the ravages of time. The darkness of night didn't help her to discern more either. However, she was pleased with herself, knowing that it would likely prove to be at least somewhat valuable once it was cleaned up and examined.
Unfortunately finding her way down the hillock again in the dark was proving more troublesome. The ruins she had visited were so old and tumbled down that there were no clear trails leading visitors to them. She'd had to blaze her own trail to them using GPS and maps, and now she was forced to create a second trail home since the darkness had hidden the first one from her.
"Ow!" she grunted as she stubbed her toe on a rock.
Her cellphone spotlight wasn't especially powerful, and the growth was thick. The battery was low too, what with it having been used for light until the early hours of the morning.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't packed dinner for her unexpectedly late little adventure. She struggled on in the darkness, fumbling over rocks and tree roots, until she took a small tumble and found herself strewn out on a bed of soft leaf litter in a sort of natural opening. She groaned with annoyance and made to get up. Something crunched underfoot. With dismay she realized that her cellular phone had broken in the tumble.
"Freaking great! With my luck the pendant won't even cover the cost of getting a new mobile!" she grumbled as she helped herself up on a nearby rock. A firefly buzzed past her, then another. Ava glanced up to realize that her tumble had disturbed the quaint little insects. She delighted in the sight of them dancing in the air all around her as she stepped forward haphazardly. They were lighting the way for her somewhat, but the bush was dense and the moon was waning. She let them guide her feet as she felt her way along in the blackness, feeling strangely comforted by their presence. Her hand fell on another rock. This time she realized that it was carved and standing on end. The insects seemed to swarm around her, giving her enough light to see that she'd stumbled on some sort of ancient, druidic circle.
"It's like a mini Stonehenge," she breathed to herself with glee. "I wonder if there are any fables about it at the local town library?"
She blundered into the circle of stones, intrigued. With the help of the soft light of the fireflies, she could see that there were runes carved into the central stone. Plant thicket and moss covered much of the stones in the circle, but it was still very much apparent as it stood quietly in its little hollow.
"I wonder if anyone even knows about this place. I might be able to get a grant or something for listing it with the historical society..."
Ava reached towards the center one and lightly brushed some of the dirt off of it, then laid a reverent hand on it to try and make out some of the runes through touch. Suddenly everything got really bright, then really dark. Then there was nothing.
Not quite the same place in not quite the same time....
Ava groaned and opened her eyes. Her head was throbbing, but the sensation as quickly subsiding. Her mind felt... stuffy? Cramped? She wiped her eyes with her fingers and fought for control of her senses. Something felt... odd. Different? There was a vague sensation down below, like something tugging at her. She lifted her head to look down and froze.
'What... the... heck?!?'
There was some sort of bulge in her trousers. Freaked out at the idea of something having crawled up her trouser leg while she was asleep, Ava started fighting at her clothes to open up and let it out. She paused.
'What the hell am I even wearing?' she wondered with abated breath as her eyes danced over the tunic and belt she'd finally fought out of the way to expose laced up leather breaches. Her eyes danced over her surroundings with one swift glance. She was outdoors – somewhere bushy and damp. There was a circle of stones not far from where she lay.
'The stone circle!'
The sight gave her a flicker of memory of touching the stones and feeling faint.
'Did I... pass out?' she mused with confusion as the nagging sensation in her trousers brought her mind back to the mound within them.
She fought with the laces in a desperate attempt to free the creature that lay hidden there. Her efforts finally met with success and she opened them up wide.
"What... the... fu...?!?"
Her voice tapered off in shock. Of all the creatures she'd thought might be hiding in her trousers, a penis wasn't one of them. She stared at the sight in open-faced horror. It seemed to stare back at her with one-eyed glee. It straightened still more and seemed to stretch itself out with a sort of yawn of awakening. Worse still, Ava could feel it moving. She stared at it blankly, not sure what to think or do. Finally, her curiosity won out and she reached down and prodded it gently with a finger.
"Yup, definitely felt that," she told herself on a little exhale.
She paused. Her voice had sounded strange too... She reached up and touched her face. It was covered with course stubble.
"Oh my god..." she muttered in shock as she finally looked at her hands and realized that they were larger and more manly than she was accustomed to. She clutched at her chest. It was flat and hard. The lovely mounds that she'd grown during puberty were gone. There was no doubt about it. She was somehow trapped inside a man's body!
"Oh my god! What... How..."
She was still trying to grasp the situation as she rolled over to get up. The pressure in her trousers got intense as the fabric of her breeches pressed down on it.
"Argh!" she growled as she reached down to save herself.
Her hand wrapped instinctively around her shaft protectively. She wasn't prepared for delightfulness of the sensation and grunted.
'I don't want to get you more excited. I want you to go away,' she grumbled at her new found friend in her head.
"Ah, old friend. I see you woke up without me again..."
Ava jolted with surprise and glanced around. She couldn't see anyone else in the little clearing. It was barely a clearing, if she was honest. Her hand suddenly tightened around her rod and started moving.
"God... why?" she squeaked as waves of pleasurable sensation started pouring over her. "Make it stop!"
The hand paused.
"Who said that?" a voice demanded to know.
Ava glanced around again. She couldn't see anyone else in the clearing or in the foliage.
"Where are you?" she asked, somewhat anxious.
She cautiously covered her sensitive new friend and shuffled back towards the tree line.
"Whose doing that?" the voice demanded to know.
A hand flew to her sword hilt.
'I have a sword hilt?' she mused, almost spellbound now by the ridiculousness of what she was experiencing.
There was a stunned silence for a while as she glanced around the clearing cautiously. There was nothing there, she was sure of it. What was going on?
"Must be the aftereffects of the wine..."
This time Ava realized it was her new voice that was speaking – except she hadn't tried to voice that thought. She put her hand to her throat in exploration. Her Adam's apple jumped under her fingers, coarse beard rough under her palm.
'How is my hand moving of its own violation? Could it be that I am still so drunk that my body and mind are not congruent with each other?'
This time her throat hadn't reverberated. This time, the voice echoed around her mind – as though it was hers, but it was also not hers at the same time. It was a male voice that matched the sound of her new body. The previous owner?
'Well, if my mind does not know what my hand is doing... my morning duty could get more entertaining!' the voice reasoned gleefully as her hand dove back down into her trousers to stroke her new appendage again.
'Oh lord stop that!' Ava squealed in her head.
The hand paused. There was no doubting that he'd heard her. It seemed, however, that he did not quite understand what was happening either, because his hand started moving again in thoughtful contemplation.
'Ahhhhh... I said stop that you filthy bastard!' Ava growled in desperation.
He paused again. "Thou soundeth as if thee be in my head," he reasoned after a moment's reflection.