“Your next witness Mr. Smith,” Trafalgus looked at me with his reptilian eyes as I stood up.

“I’d like to summon the Professor of Transmutation from Urzzats Academy for Wizards.” I watched as my expert witness headed to the stand.

Xin Zho Bo was an ancient wizened asian elf with saggy wrinkled skin. His eyes were empty canvasses of pure white yet he moved as if he could see everything around him. The roiling heat waves of his magic wasn’t as pronounced as Grizzlebats but still it hovered around his shoulders and head as he took the stand. The robes he wore had an ancient depiction of the mighty Kirin on them in red thread over yellow silken cloth. His hands were withered, fingers as crooked as gnarled wood. The points of his ears drooped down heavily.

The bailiff approached and held out an ancient pentagram in a circle. “Do you swear on your magic that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

Like windswept sands his voice rasped out, “I do.” Despite how quiet it was I could hear it clearly from my seat, the amplification crystal doing its job.

Once I was given a nod by the judge I approached Xin. “Good morning Mr. Zho Bo. Is it true that you are the professor of transmutation of your academy?”

“That is correct young one.” His eyes tracked me without flaw as I moved towards him.

“How long have you been working with transmutation magic?” I prompted as I started to establish his qualifying expertise.

“Three hundred and twenty seven years, since the foundation of the school.” Xin relaxed his body, sagging slightly from the strain of sitting so formally.

“Could you walk us through the components of transmutation magic?” I stopped before him and looked at the jury, their attention peaked at learning the secrets of some magic.

Xin nodded, “There are five components to a proper application of transmutation. The circle, symbol of change, symbol of self, symbol of desire, and object to transmute.” He took a deep breath as he went on. “The circle can be temporary or permanent, either sewn in cloth, or carved in stone. The symbol of change has to be something that metamorphs on their own in nature, such as a caterpillar, or larva. Of self, that is part of the caster’s body, hair, nail clipping, blood, those kinds of things. Your desired result of the change, a dusting of metal, mineral, or stone. Lastly, what you are turning into the thing you desire.”

“Can you tell me what happens to temporary circles?” I asked standing as straight as I could.

“The thread turns to dust in the cloth. Without something as durable as stone the amount of magic that travels through it causes it to age thousands of years in a moment.” Those milky white eyes bore into my very core as he talked.

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“Interesting,” I already knew all this but I had to spell it out for the jury. “Is transmutation permanent?”

“No transmutation isn’t permanent on its own. You can feed the changed object magic to keep it that way but without power it will fade and eventually turn back into what you started with.” Xin sounded tired. He was probably the oldest person in this room. Outliving even a dragon.

“What determines how long something stays changed? If you don’t mind elaborating.” I kept myself from pacing or shifting my weight, remaining as confident as possible. I was putting the blocks together. Revealing the puzzle I had completed months ago.

“The rarity of the ingredients, endangered pupa, deep cuts of skin that leaves scars, quality of metal or mineral. Permanent circles help more than temporary ones as well.” He turned his head and looked around the room appraising it. “Finally the amount of magic that is poured into the spell greatly affects how long the change lasts.”

“Is there a limit to how much you can change at once?” Keep building John.

“One solid object at a time. You cannot change more than one thing at a time.” Xin stopped his eyes on Grizzlebats as the air crackled with energy and sent shivers down my spine. I stepped between them as my skin crawled.

“If someone melted the metal and made it into small pieces will the changes remain?” I felt holes being burned into my back keeping the wizards from gazing at one another. In a way protecting Xin Zho Bo from any influence.

“It will shorten the life of the change. Making it revert to its original material twice as fast.” Xin seemed relieved as I reached the end of my questions.

“Thank you Professor Zho Bo. That is all I have for you today.” I returned to my seat and poured myself a tall glass of water feeling suddenly parched from being a shield between the two wizards.

“Bloodgorger, proceed.” Trafalgus seemed interested now that the trial concerned magic. The dragon’s curiosity captured their attention quite strongly.

My opponent stood up and tucked his handkerchief away before he approached the ancient elf. “Do you know much about alchemy? I’ve been told it's very similar to transmutation.”

“I have helped in many advances in alchemy studies as well as my specialty.” Xin’s eyes glimmered with life as he was asked new questions.

“What are the ingredients to a potion of denied changing? The one changelings use in adolescents to keep the same form each month?” Bloodgorger oozed with confidence, like he was about to pull apart the puzzle I had put together.

“Well, those are symbols of change, self, and worth. It is representative of reaching for the nature of a changeling and how they don’t have a sense of self. Instead it gives value to self and lets them change into that desired form. This makes it easy for changelings to remain themselves until they have the will to do so on their own.” I felt my heart drop. I hadn’t considered this kind of riposte to my argument.

Damn, there is something that close to what I’m aiming to establish! It’s damn near identical!

I glanced at Grizzlebats and could see him leering at me. His belief that he was winning strongly inside him. The smile the wizard wore on his face was filled with wickedness and a promise of retribution for this challenge.

My attention snapped back to Bloodgorger as he spoke, “I see, are those the same things as before, pupa, blood etc, and a valuable object?”

“That is correct young orc blood.” Xin looked at the large body of Bloodgorger. “Those would be good examples.”

“As I stated these potions are taken every month, are there ways to make them last longer based on the ingredients?” Bloodgorger looked towards the jury knowing he was about to seal the deal with his argument.

“No, alchemy doesn’t really worry about rarity. The only thing that determines the strength of the potion is the object of worth.” Xin stated simply.

“Thank you for your time, honored one. That will be all my questions, Your Honor.” Bloodgorger glanced at me as he approached his seat. He too sipped some water wetting his whistle.

“Do you have any more questions Mr. Smith?” Trafalgus looked at me with seriousness.

“No questions Your Honor.”

“We will break for the day and reconvene tomorrow at nine am. Court dismissed.” The dragon pounded a gavel twice and sauntered out of the room through the back door.

My own witness might have just given my enemies the keys to flipping my puzzle into something else.