Awaken.

     The echoing voice bounced around the youth’s unconscious mind.

     Awaken, there is more to do.

     Forcing herself awake; a beaten and battered young woman pulled herself out of the gentle stupor of sleep. She expected to be in pain, she expected to not be able to move, what came next was a shock.

     “So, Uhm, Welcome to my dungeon… I’m afraid it’s not ready yet. Oh, and you asked if this is the place where wishes are granted? Yes, if you come to see me in the back, I will do my best. Just, uhm, promise you’re not going to like explode anything or melt anybody.” A voice came from the top of the cave, inside it small patches of glow moss showed seven statues.

     Reading the inscription above, the young woman took in a deep breath, “I want power...”

     Will’s non-organic heart sank; not some new destructive force before their defenses were ready. They had been hoping the young tired girl would want food or clothes, or something nice like a pet guard-bear.

     “I want power, enough to go save the rest… There’s still more back there, and last time I went to the cops they didn’t believe me, thought it was some prank. I want… I need to save the rest of them!” She spoke with determination, the truth rune having taken full effect and the door to the rest area opened.

     Stepping through the door she found herself in a room with a gentle maroon carpet. A lounge was the only acceptable thing to call it. Velvet curtains with ornate chairs and tables let the room be divided for use by multiple parties. Then she saw something that genuinely made her cry.

     A bathroom!

     She rushed inside, taking full advantage of the shower. When she looked at her too thin form in the mirror she noticed several cuts and bruises were gone. A rash on her back from sleeping on that abominable mattress had vanished.

     When she returned to where she had thrown her clothes in the rush to the shower she found an elegant blousey shirt and some loose-fitting pants, complete with a new set of underwear. Will had no underwear template to draw on other than some old boxers in a trunk at the antiques store but she didn’t care one bit.

     She walked through the dimly lit rooms all the way to the back of the first floor, a half-formed beach, a grove of fossilized trees. Many of the walls looked half-carved, incomplete.

     Opening the last room she saw a mining lamp in the middle of the room, the light was somehow coming off of it even though it wasn’t lit.

     “Uhm, hi, I’d like my wish now,” she said unsure, but with confidence. She was in the home stretch now.

     “WHY DO YOU SEEK POWER?!” a booming voice reverberated in the room, not loud enough to cause pain or deafen you, but impossible to ignore.

     “I need to save my family!” She screamed out into the empty room.

     “WHO WILL YOU USE THIS POWER AGAINST?!” The impossible voice beckoned.

     “The wicked.” She said this at almost a whisper. As if the thought of it pained her in an indescribable way.

     Sensing that she meant no ill will, the flame reignited the torch, bursting inside of the glass from all angles, barely contained the light lit up the pillars and the entire cave.

     The cave was carved like the night sky, constellations were given outlines, but there were more than she had seen before. In one a series of three warrior women took down some gigantic furred beast with arms and claws. In another; the entire world was about to be eaten by a goat but was being held back by a large man holding its tail.

     Walking up and touching the lamp she spoke aloud again. “I wish to be reborn. I forsake the flesh of monsters and ask for the power of justice.”

     The words came from her soul, the truest form of her wish possible.

     An invisible line extended from her, connecting to Will through the oil spout. Mana, pure and untainted flowed out of the genie.

     Will screamed inside their own mind as so much was taken for one wish. Even the high elve’s horrendous wish which asked for the most powerful weapon Will could muster, it was still maybe ten percent of their old form. This, this was past thirty, moving to forty percent of the entire pool of mana that made up Will’s very body.

     The swirling red lines around the girl spun faster and faster, getting closer and closer. Then, as they stuck to her body; her silhouette changed. Four pairs of massive wings hung from her back.

     The remnants of magic falling off revealing beautiful rainbow-colored parrot wings. Followed by gigantic bat wings with white webbing and yellow skin. Then came a wyvern’s the largest of all, with a wingspan of over twenty feet when stretched out to the maximum. Finally a swallow’s wings and tail rounded out the sets of flying implements.

     Then the rest of the ribbons of magic fell away, her face was older, mature, reflecting the forced age from years of trauma and responsibility. Her hair was silver tinged with purple, her ears pointed and looking almost like pale leaves. Compact muscular arms and dexterous long fingers were unveiled.

     The outline of hooked digitigrade legs were visible through the soft satin dress she now wore. She was now reborn, she had now undergone the change so few had but many more would follow.

     With a measured voice, sounding like the royalty of a thousand and one cliche video games, she spoke. Her once southern accent having been devolved back to the aristocratic European noble knock off it once was in centuries past.

     “Thank you, mighty genie. I know you have given me much but may I ask for one more thing?”

     Will, exhausted from the amount of power that took from them, groaned out from their lamp, “depends, what is it? One wish per customer, new rule!”

     Bowing her head to the lamp with the now visibly dimmer light, “I need.. a name. Along with the old flesh I’d like to cast off my old one, I hold no joy in it, and who better than… well… you?”

     This is not something Will had considered before. Being asked to rename a person… They supposed it was only right, she came to change who they were, to form themselves out of their own will.

     Bastardising two languages and giving zero cares, Will spoke; “Galatea D’Aubigny.”

     The Girl, the Woman, Galatea stood with a grin on her face. “I like it, I’ll be back in a few days, I get the feeling the last few steps of my plan are coming together.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

     Galatea ran, feeling the strength of her new legs for the first time, sprinting out of the five dungeon rooms and the waiting area in a blink.

     Taking to the air with her new powerful wings and unfurling all four, she decided to take the long way home, instead of taking the portal back to the road near her house. “Well, not anymore I suppose. You’re ‘baby girl’ is on her way home, and there’ll be hell to pay.”

     She let out a powerful chuckle only accomplishable by the insane and the recently liberated.

     ***

     After Galatea left Will called out into the vast sea of darkness that made up the room. “Okay, you can come out now.”

     “I do declare I do, what in the hell was that?” Theodore asked, cleaning this monocle and placing it back over his eye.

     “Shhhh, not you, at least, not yet. We have another visitor. It’s alright, I don’t mean anyone any harm.” Will spoke out, scanning the darkness but only feeling a trace resonance.

     There was a long silence before something happened. Not a voice exactly, but thoughts filtered into Will’s mind, gentle and caring. “Greetings my sibling.”

     Theodore, unable to hear the spirit but still sensing something was happening, “What? What’s going on?”

     “I think I just found… a part of me…” Will said wistfully.

     “At one time, even in the recent past, that was quite true.” The voice continued, a form started appearing inside the treasure chamber with Will and Theodore. Lines of bluish-purple light swirled around, a tiny dust devil formed but never resolved into a solid figure. The storm of Mana just stayed there, unmoving.

     “Then what are you?” Will asked, admiring the swirling form.

     The other being paused inside of Will’s mind. They had not thought of a name, they had barely considered their purpose. Working on instinct alone. “I am… I don’t know. There has not been a force like me in this world for millennia, even before the sundering.”

     “Alright? Then what do you do?” Will asked cheerfully, not having met any of their kind before this was actually quite pleasant. The style and density of the magical dust devil was also quite beautiful to look at with their vision.

     “Order. Justice…” The voice spoke, authority abounding before recoiling. “No… not that…”

     “Well, what did you do last?” Will asked, hoping they were being helpful to their new relative.

     “I unlocked a door and made some ground wet.” The voice said, matter-of-factly.

     “Well… what did you accomplish?” Will further questioned, curious at what a being similar to them would be created for.

     The voice, while unable to form a smile due to not having a mouth. Somehow had a grin in its tone, “It brought her here.”

     Will looked off into the night at the new being, somehow feeling her even though she had already flown so far.

     “The only advice I can give is… Well, to find what makes you unique.”

     ***

     Somewhere, deep in a part of Will’s soul that they have yet to fully access; a tree stood. Four stones of changing colors inset inside of the living wood.

    Seven branches are interwoven yet splayed in outward directions.

     On that tree, only a single branch had flowered.

     The fruit grew.

     ***

     “Hey Zippy, what ya got?” Jamie called as they came down the stairs on day seven of the grand sky-cruise.

     “Just your basic lending rune. Guaranteed to force the person to do their best to return it. Good faith, all that. If they plan on taking the knife or if they try selling it then it’ll become so hot that the it will melt through solid steel in about four seconds.” Zippy said proudly.

     “How will we go get it then?” Jamie asked with exhaustion in their voice.

     “Oh, the copy of the rune you have will turn into a kind of radar to track it down. Oh, and the person who broke their vow will lose consciousness until you reclaim it. Legleze is in this contract I have here for you, got about thirty copies, should do you for a few weeks.”

     Jamie looked down at the rune which looked almost like a target. The entire stack of papers was pretty thick. “Wow, I’m actually really impressed, I didn't know how much you could do with this stuff.”

     “Anyway, rune’s tied to the contract so they gotta sign it in blood, buh-bye.” With every word he spoke just a little faster and was halfway to the door by the time he finished speaking.

     “IN BLOOD?!” Jamie near screeched. “Who’s going to sign a contract in freakin' blood?! What am I some demon?”

     Zippy put their hand to their forehead, feigning being appalled. “No, I assure you you are not. And for an item of this magnificence they should understand even some sort of faustian bargain for such a mighty relic, don’t you agree?” He looked around as if searching for a moment to escape.

     Almost as if on cue Jerome came through the door with a mechanical ‘diiiing-dong.’

     “Headin’ to the mine Will’s holed ‘emself up in. Ya comin’?” The sheriff asked without reading the room.

     Jamie let out a long sigh, deciding it was better to just accept the rules of magic than to argue with a several hundred-year-old spell caster. “Fine, I hope Will’s doing okay. I know that you said they’ll use the wish I made better than I could hope but… They’re so young.”

     Jerome piped back up with a smile on his face, “Yeah, lookin’ to help that out some, take a look outside.”

     Slowly Jamie walked outside along with Zippy where a large cart was filled with… “Why do you have so many old college books?” Jamie asked confusedly.

     “Yeah, buncha these are from like three years ago, so you know, pretty much worthless according to the booksellers. Still, information’s recent and I figure a little science will help magic come a long way.” Jerome said with a big smile, having held a book drive for the last two days for this very purpose.

     “What about the ‘students’ or whatever you’re calling them now? Any of the foreign exchanges coming with us?” Jamie asked, both hopeful and concerned. Terrance had wrought destruction and death, yet Daisuke has been invaluable in consoling the victims and helping Darnell plan the rebuild.

     “Nah, The few that’re here are busy resting, different time zones all over the world and they have to be awake for televoting in their home countries,” Zippy said matter of factly.

     “I’d like to bring Billy Joe,” Jamie said quietly, the two men around them nodded solemnly.

     The trio and their wagon walked toward Billy Joe’s house. The long winding gravel path taking them deep into the wooded side of the mountain as they found her family's old home.

     Jamie knocked and waited… then waited a little longer before using their key. As the two men stood outside with the wagon, Jamie ventured into their friend's den of sulking.

     “Olly Olly Oxenfree Come out wherever you are!” Jamie called out in a childish tone.

     “Let me be,” a slurred voice came from the den.

     Jamie slowly walked into the den, several decades old massive TV still playing.

     Billy Joe lay on the couch in her pajama robe, her entire form a mess while holding a gigantic tub of ice cream. “Come on, you’ve been here for three days, you only came out for the joint funeral. I know this is hard, but at some point, we need to continue on.”

     Jamie’s kind words fell like concrete cinder blocks against her icy grief, cracking it and denting it but not strong enough to make it through the thick layer.

     “They don’t get to continue on. We’re in the freakin sky, there are miracles literally everywhere. Did you hear on the news that necromancers, freaking NECROMANCERS have been going through hospitals and curing cancer?” Billie Joe’s voice got more and more erratic as she spoke, tears running down her eyes she clung to her best friend in the world and just wept.

     After a near half-hour of wordless consolation, of merely being there for a grieving friend Billie Joe didn’t feel much better. But she felt like she could continue on without crying, at least, for a little while.

     Quickly changing her clothes while wiping away her tears; the two friends came outside, Billy Joe covered head to toe in flannel. “Alright? Where we off to?” she spoke in a cheery demeanor. Jamie, standing right beside her, was the only one to catch the cracks in her voice.

     “We’re off to see how Will’s doing. Hop on.” Jerome spoke as he stood up, having found a donkey in the half-hour of free time to pull the wagon the rest of the way.