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"From Reader to Hero: The Unraveled Identity of Cloud Strife"

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The familiar hum of bustling city life surrounds you. The steady stream of pedestrians, the occasional honking car, and the ambient chatter fade into the background as you immerse yourself in another chapter of your book. Your clothes fit comfortably, a stark contrast to the world of fantasy and adventure you often escape into. Leaning against a lamppost, you take a moment to look up from your book, watching the people pass by, each enveloped in their own daily routines.

Suddenly, the world around you starts to shimmer and change. The streets blur, the buildings waver, and a surreal glow washes over everything. You feel a strange warmth spreading through your body, growing more intense with each heartbeat. Panic sets in as your surroundings twist and morph into an unrecognizable landscape.

Before you can comprehend what's happening, your body begins to shift. Your posture straightens involuntarily, muscles bulging and firming without your command. You lift your hands, watching in horrified fascination as they become stronger, more calloused. Your height increases, causing the once slightly loose hem of your pants to pull taut. Your entire frame adjusts to match the one you know simply from images on your screen—Cloud Strife.

You struggle to catch your breath as your chest tightens and shifts. If you started as a female, you notice your breasts flatten and vanish, an uncomfortable pressure swirling within your lower abdomen until what was once female anatomy has inverted and formed into undeniably male parts. The discomfort is fleeting, leaving a strange, alien normalcy in its wake.

Your clothes morph in rapid succession, fabric tearing and reweaving to become indigo pants and a sleeveless shirt. Hardened gauntlets form around your wrists, and a gear-like armlet tightens on your left forearm. A large pauldron attaches to your left shoulder, and heavy brown boots encase your feet, completing the transformation.

Your hair lightens, the strands pulling away from your scalp to settle into a spiky blond arrangement. The change seems to have penetrated your very skin, a subtle glow of Mako energy reflected in your now bright blue eyes. It's not just your body but your voice that alters. When you try to shout or call for help, an unmistakable confident, masculine voice echoes back.

The real shock comes next. Images flash before your eyes—painful, startling, unavoidable. Memories of a past you never lived flood in—years spent training, battles fought, and friendships forged. You desperately try to cling to your true self, but the onslaught is too powerful.

"This is your real self," a voice whispers within your mind. "You are Cloud Strife."

“No!” You mentally scream, clutching at the fleeting fragments of your life, the faces of your family, your past experiences. "I can't be—"

But it’s futile. The voice is persuasive, authoritative. "You've always been a swordsman, a member of SOLDIER. You belong to the world of Final Fantasy."

Your vision blurs, the edges of reality blending into Cloud's hardened persona—cold, dismissive but deeply loyal to his friends. The memories of your previous existence fade into obscurity, replaced by images of Nibelheim, AVALANCHE's hidden base, and faces you should not recognize but now do—Tifa, Barret, Aerith.

The panic subsides, replaced by an eerie calm. It's as if you are shrouded in a thick fog, drifting away from who you once were. Your mind, once your own, embraces the identity forced upon it.

When the transformation is complete, you find yourself standing in a vastly different world. Midgar looms around you, towering buildings and steel structures casting deep shadows. You shake your head, slightly disoriented.

“What just happened?” you wonder briefly, the thought dissipating like a wisp of smoke in the wind. The strange vision felt like a mere headache, maybe the stress of the latest mission. You have no time for feeble distractions.

You clench the hilt of the massive Buster Sword strapped to your back, feeling its comforting weight, and take a deep breath. You know who you are—Cloud Strife, a warrior, a hero in the fight against Shinra.

"Tifa," you mutter to yourself, "I need to find Tifa." As you march forward, each step resonates with a newfound purpose. The past you fought so hard to remember is now permanently replaced with your true self’s mission, and though Cloud Strife strides through this new reality with familiar ease, you—once a mundane reader—have been completely, irreversibly transformed.

This story was generated by user JesterImps with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.

Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.

AI Prompts

Prompt: Write the POV transformation story of a human reader turning into Cloud Strife (from the Final Fantasy video game series), complete with gender change (if the reader is a female, her breasts vanish as her throat gains an Adam's apple to give her a more masculine voice identical to Cloud Strife's voice and her female privates (vagina, ovaries, and uterus) from her crotch/nether region invert itself and pushes out into male private parts (a penis and testicles); however, this is optional and only if the reader is female), instant clothes change (the reader's clothes instantly turning into Cloud's outfit from the game "Final Fantasy VII"), muscle growth, height change (his/her height changing from whatever height he/she had to those of Cloud Strife's height), age change (the reader instantly becomes 21 years old from whatever age he/she originally was), reality change (the reader's real world becoming the world of Final Fantasy), and mind/mental change (with the reader's personality and memories being completely replaced with Cloud's personality and memories, despite the reader's best effort on fighting them off and despite his best efforts on keeping his own memories or personality (he is scared of losing himself and his life/mind/memories), making him forget all about being a mundane person, he remembers (or rather realizes) that he was and always had been a swordsman and his name has always been Cloud Strife (which is his real/true self)). The transformation is permanent (meaning it its forever) and is completely irreversible. Here is Cloud's appearance (according to Final Fantasy VII); he is a young human (173 centimeters (5'8") tall) with a lean and toned build, and spiky blond hair. Cloud has blue eyes, which glow due to him having being exposed to mako. Because "mako eyes" are iconic to members of SOLDIER, Cloud is often assumed to be one. He also does not have a beard, mustache, or sideburns. Cloud carries a large broadsword as his weapon of choice, with his three trademark weapons being the Buster Sword (a massive sword over five feet long), a set of Fusion Swords (six individual interconnecting swords that form one similar to the Buster Sword), and the Hardedge (another large broadsword with a different shape). He also has a silver earring in his left ear. Cloud's outfit/uniform comprises indigo pants with a sleeveless shirt and a belt. Cloud also wears brown boots, gauntlets with a pauldron over his left shoulder and a SOLDIER band in his right wrist. Unlike the default uniform of the SOLDIER member, his is customized to exclude the right shoulder pauldron, likely to make it easier to draw his sword from behind him, while his left pauldron remains, albeit with protruding screws and bolts due to makeshift repairs. He also wears a gear-like armlet on his left forearm. Here is Cloud's personality; on the surface, Cloud Strife presents himself as a hardened warrior, cocky and headstrong, coldhearted and disinterested in anything beyond completing the hired job at hand. He tells others, often dismissively and with snark, that he has no interest in larger causes, such as the plight of the planet, and appears unshaken by the devastation the bombings he helped carry out cause. He is cool-headed, and mostly carries himself as an expert and professional. Beneath the surface, Cloud is socially awkward, being well-intentioned but unsure how to carry himself in conversations, having difficulties to express himself. Many who are close to him begin to see through the cracks in his hardened persona, recognizing he is softer deep down. Through it all, Cloud is steadfastly loyal to his friends, harboring guilt if he feels he has let them down, and strives to be a hero. He is willing to go through any lengths, from fighting off powerful enemies alone, to crossdressing despite the discomfort to don a disguise, to keep them safe. This, too, does not fool some of his friends, who in turn look out for him when they believe he is out of his depth. Though most traits core to Cloud — battle-hardened attitude, awkwardness, loyalty to his friends, and striving for heroism — do not change, Cloud's surface-level presentation and warmth shifts drastically throughout his life, based on his own yearning for a true identity. Many of these traits began to form as a child (depicted in Final Fantasy VII flashbacks), as seclusion from the others children and guilt at being unable to help Tifa at Mt. Nibel motivated him to better himself and become a hero, inspired by Sephiroth. While serving in Shinra's military (as depicted in Crisis Core), Cloud had a shy but happy-go-lucky attitude, eager to prove himself, and often got excited when Zack, who became a mentor to him, noticed him. Following Hojo's Sephiroth-clone experiments which led to his sense of self being completely shattered, Cloud as a mercenary (depicted in Final Fantasy VII and Remake) developed an arrogant personality, where he presented disinterest in a broader cause beyond collecting a paycheck (though interest in a common good occasionally slipped through and he harbored vengeance toward Shinra). Around this time, he also suffered many mental breakdowns upon being reminded about his past, up to the point of doubting he was even a real person, submitting to being a puppet for Sephiroth. After Tifa repaired his mind, Cloud was finally a fully-formed person, accepting who he was, resolving to being a hero not out of being special, but having a cause to believe in. He became warmer and more open-minded towards others, as well as a more confident leader, though the awkwardness would still shine through at times. Due both to Cloud's awkwardness and his tough presentation, Cloud struggles in forming interpersonal relationships. This is particularly evident with Barret; though Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie take more kindly to Cloud, Barret initially dislikes his attitude and questions his loyalties, leading the two to be rude to one another. After Barret sees through Cloud and gains respect for him, he begins to be able to open up with him and connect with him emotionally. Cloud was also not close with Tifa when the two grew up, although he felt an obligation to protect her. The two became closer and more reliant on one another after losing their home and reconnecting following the Nibelheim Incident. Cloud tried to atone for his perceived failure to protect her at Nibelheim, and Tifa in turn protected him as the last reminder she has of her home, looking out for him when she felt he is out of his depth. Cloud opened up more easily around Aerith, who was more flirtatious and playful with him from the start, though he would often respond stiffly and awkwardly to her advances. He still showed his softer side around her, more willing than others would to entertain her antics when she communicated with her flowers. Cloud is very protective of her and wishes to keep her out of trouble, though this grates on her. By contrast, Cloud trusts Tifa more to handle herself, confident in her combat ability, though he is still concerned for her well-being. It is implied that Cloud may have romantic affection for both Tifa and Aerith, but the extent of his feelings for either is left up to player interpretation. Cloud is greatly haunted by Sephiroth, a man he once idolized who became his bitter enemy. After the Nibelheim Incident, Cloud envisioned Sephiroth mocking him and urging him to make the wrong decision. This led up to Cloud giving in and believing he was little more than a puppet for Sephiroth, though after Tifa repaired his mind, Cloud resolved to rid himself and the world of Sephiroth. Following Sephiroth's defeat, Cloud, as depicted in Advent Children, became a surrogate father to Denzel and Marlene, but had become detached. His guilt at his own perceived failures to save Aerith and Zack, and trauma following his plight against Sephiroth, led him to feel helpless, becoming somber and brooding as he isolated himself from his new family, in contrast to his younger self before where it had fueled him to strive to do better. However, with encouragement from the friends and family he had tried to let go, he came to forgive himself and moved on. Here are Cloud's abilities; his greatest strength is in his swordsmanship. Though Cloud fell short of the standards of candidates admitted into SOLDIER, his swordsmanship nonetheless impressed one of the Turks. As a result of mako experimentation by Hojo, Cloud was greatly enhanced as a supersoldier, with superhuman strength, speed, and agility. This, coupled with him incorporating Zack Fair's fighting abilities into his own, made him capable of easily handling other SOLDIER members and Turks. In time, Cloud developed skills on his own, independently from Zack. Cloud has many swordsmanship techniques, seen most prominently in his limit breaks. The most potent and noteworthy of these is Omnislash (and Omnislash Version 5 with his Fusion Swords), in which Cloud performs a quick succession of powerful strikes from his sword. Cloud's abilities also allow him to use magic from his sword, seen in the form of firing a blast from his sword with Blade Beam, summoning meteors with Meteorain, or a tornado with Finishing Touch. Beyond this, Cloud is potent with using spells, being well-versed in how to use materia; in both Final Fantasy VII and Remake, his in-game stats put him ahead of most party members in spellcasting. Cloud can ride a motorcycle, and demonstrates particular feats of skill with it, able to use his sword while riding and battle nearby drivers. He can also ride a chocobo or a snowboard, and Zack notes he is adept at scaling a snowy mountain. Cloud has also shown himself adaptable in a variety of situations, reviving a drowned girl with CPR in Junon, or dancing at the Honeybee Inn. Cloud's interpersonal skills are initially very poor. When he matures and becomes fully formed, he becomes a confident party leader, motivating the party with speeches before their big battle with Sephiroth. The story is that the reader is minding his/her own business, but then the world changes around him/her before he/she started to transform against his/her will, completely turning his/her body, height, age, voice, and outfit into those of Cloud Strife. Shortly afterwards, his mind becomes swirly as it is becoming foggy or fuzzy, as his personality and memories are being completely replaced by those of Cloud Strife, making him both dizzy and scared. The voice then echoes in his head, telling him that this is his true self, and that his previous self was not real, telling him that he had always been a brave swordsman and his name was always Cloud Strife. The voice continues to rewrite his personality and memories, until the reader's personality and memories had all been completely replaced by Cloud's personality and memories, making the reader, now Cloud Strife, truly confused on what was he doing, why was he just standing and doing nothing, and confused/fully unaware of what just happened a moment ago (he questioned on what just happened), being completely unaware of his previous self or life as a mundane person (Cloud just passed that weird moment as a headache caused by something or a strange daydream while on duty), and he knows that he had always been Cloud Strife (which is his real/true self), how also knows that his hometown has always been a small rural town of Nibelheim (even though he doesn't live there now), and he has always been part of the rebel group AVALANCHE. There should also be quotes from the characters in this story so we know what they're saying and what they're thinking. Also, it is a POV reader story, so it should not be in an author's point of view (my, I, mine, etc), and it should be from the point of view of the reader (you, your, etc).

Response: The familiar hum of bustling city life surrounds you. The steady stream of pedestrians, the occasional honking car, and the ambient chatter fade into the background as you immerse yourself in another chapter of your book. Your clothes fit comfortably, a stark contrast to the world of fantasy and adventure you often escape into. Leaning against a lamppost, you take a moment to look up from your book, watching the people pass by, each enveloped in their own daily routines. Suddenly, the world around you starts to shimmer and change. The streets blur, the buildings waver, and a surreal glow washes over everything. You feel a strange warmth spreading through your body, growing more intense with each heartbeat. Panic sets in as your surroundings twist and morph into an unrecognizable landscape. Before you can comprehend what's happening, your body begins to shift. Your posture straightens involuntarily, muscles bulging and firming without your command. You lift your hands, watching in horrified fascination as they become stronger, more calloused. Your height increases, causing the once slightly loose hem of your pants to pull taut. Your entire frame adjusts to match the one you know simply from images on your screen—Cloud Strife. You struggle to catch your breath as your chest tightens and shifts. If you started as a female, you notice your breasts flatten and vanish, an uncomfortable pressure swirling within your lower abdomen until what was once female anatomy has inverted and formed into undeniably male parts. The discomfort is fleeting, leaving a strange, alien normalcy in its wake. Your clothes morph in rapid succession, fabric tearing and reweaving to become indigo pants and a sleeveless shirt. Hardened gauntlets form around your wrists, and a gear-like armlet tightens on your left forearm. A large pauldron attaches to your left shoulder, and heavy brown boots encase your feet, completing the transformation. Your hair lightens, the strands pulling away from your scalp to settle into a spiky blond arrangement. The change seems to have penetrated your very skin, a subtle glow of Mako energy reflected in your now bright blue eyes. It's not just your body but your voice that alters. When you try to shout or call for help, an unmistakable confident, masculine voice echoes back. The real shock comes next. Images flash before your eyes—painful, startling, unavoidable. Memories of a past you never lived flood in—years spent training, battles fought, and friendships forged. You desperately try to cling to your true self, but the onslaught is too powerful. "This is your real self," a voice whispers within your mind. "You are Cloud Strife." “No!” You mentally scream, clutching at the fleeting fragments of your life, the faces of your family, your past experiences. "I can't be—" But it’s futile. The voice is persuasive, authoritative. "You've always been a swordsman, a member of SOLDIER. You belong to the world of Final Fantasy." Your vision blurs, the edges of reality blending into Cloud's hardened persona—cold, dismissive but deeply loyal to his friends. The memories of your previous existence fade into obscurity, replaced by images of Nibelheim, AVALANCHE's hidden base, and faces you should not recognize but now do—Tifa, Barret, Aerith. The panic subsides, replaced by an eerie calm. It's as if you are shrouded in a thick fog, drifting away from who you once were. Your mind, once your own, embraces the identity forced upon it. When the transformation is complete, you find yourself standing in a vastly different world. Midgar looms around you, towering buildings and steel structures casting deep shadows. You shake your head, slightly disoriented. “What just happened?” you wonder briefly, the thought dissipating like a wisp of smoke in the wind. The strange vision felt like a mere headache, maybe the stress of the latest mission. You have no time for feeble distractions. You clench the hilt of the massive Buster Sword strapped to your back, feeling its comforting weight, and take a deep breath. You know who you are—Cloud Strife, a warrior, a hero in the fight against Shinra. "Tifa," you mutter to yourself, "I need to find Tifa." As you march forward, each step resonates with a newfound purpose. The past you fought so hard to remember is now permanently replaced with your true self’s mission, and though Cloud Strife strides through this new reality with familiar ease, you—once a mundane reader—have been completely, irreversibly transformed.

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