“A new host filled with infinite possibilities. Oh, how exciting! I can feel your magic already pouring out of every point in your body!”
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As dawn approached, flecks of sunlight filtered through the curtains, highlighting the wall and ceiling. Among the mix of colors, a dark-haired youth shuffled through a mess of bed sheets and blankets, pushing both away. With heavy breaths, sapphire orbs fluttered open, taking in the sight of the rising sun. Rising up, the blankets were thrown to the floor, ending up in a tangled blob of blue.
Sitting on the cloud-like mattress, a fire brewed within the youth’s chest, entrapping the heart held within. Meanwhile, every extremity was buzzing. All sense of touch was an electrifying experience to behold. In an attempt to rid themselves of the sensation, the blue-eyed teen swung their legs over the edge of the bed.
Taking a single glance around the room, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. So, the teen stood up, only to stumble forward down to the floor. Landing on their side, they hissed at the pain coursing through their body, but at the very least, the numbness was gone.
“What in the world?” Instantly, sapphire orbs burst open and a hand shot straight toward the teen’s neck. “This is my voice?” The statement, though sounding more like a question, only confirmed newfound horrors.
The pitch of the voice was completely off. It was still not quite a high pitch, but it was higher than it used to be, that was for sure.
Doing the first thing that came to mind, the youth got up and brushed a few locks of unusually long hair out of their eyes. Ignoring it, for the time being, they stumbled to the desk in the corner. Squinting at the drawers, the top one was opened to reveal the organized chaos it held. Taking out a handheld mirror, it was dropped with only enough time to get a single glance off the reflective surface.
Beginning to hyperventilate, another glance was taken. Staring back was the same pair of sapphire eyes, flickering across every other feature of the face it was in. The midnight black hair now flowed down to the teen’s shoulders. Hidden behind those hairs, the same cheekbones jutted over unblemished cheeks. Then, the button nose and pink lips finished off the ensemble.
“This is… me?” Again, the same soft and melodic voice pronounced the words. Dropping the handheld mirror on the desk, the youth took a single glance down. “Impossible,” they whispered, grabbing at the plain white shirt to reveal to fleshy mounds. “Does that mean?” Answering their own question, they confirmed their own gender. “I have the body of a woman. How is that possible? No spell I know of could produce human transfiguration on this scale, but… mother has to know. If she is ignorant of the answer, then I can resort to Illuctos for it.”
Pushing away from her desk, the newfound girl balanced herself on her own two feet before approaching the door. Although now, the doorknob seemed closer to her face. Shaking those thoughts away, she pulled the door open and glanced down the hall.
No one on either side. Letting out a breath she didn’t know she held in, the young woman stepped into the hall while only wearing a pair of shorts and a plain tee. Without paying her clothing any mind, she stalked down the hall, keeping close to the wall for support. All of a sudden, a loud slam sounded from downstairs. Gulping down whatever fears she had, the young girl neared the stairs.
At the foot of the stairs, she could see her mother and her cousin across the room from each other. The former was standing with a book at her feet while the latter was sitting with her arms hugging her head.
“What were you thinking?!” Nikki shouted, her sapphire eyes buzzing with magic and rage. “This is a blacklisted ritual! You could’ve killed my son with all the things you screwed up!”
“Well, how was I supposed to know?! Those things weren’t in the book!” Astral retorted, her arms still over her face. “It’s not like we have classes on this kinda stuff anyway!”
Groaning, the mother scooped the book off the floor, brushing the ragged spine with her thumb. Once she let out a sigh, she answered, “Astral, we come from a family specializing in ancient magic and rituals. The only ones who don’t learn this material are the bastardized children and disgraced members. Last I recall, you’re neither, so you can’t possibly blame this on anyone else.” She spoke sternly, so much so, that the young girl hiding on the stairs was terrified at speaking up.
Nevertheless, she built up the courage and did it.
“Mother? What ritual are you speaking of?” The young girl spoke, trying to deepen her voice enough to make it sound like her old pitch. Sure enough, it failed and only gained two pairs of bewildered blue eyes on her.
Turning to the stairs, both women blinked five whole times before stealing a glance at each other. Going back to eyeing the foreign girl in their home, both took in the shapely legs and arms, molded with muscle. Then, her clothes, both of which were slipping down, unbeknownst to the wearer. Finally, her face.
Her face was a near replica of Nikki’s. From the shade of blue in her eyes to the cheekbones jutting out in all the right places. The only distinction could only be the lack of ear piercings and shorter hair.
“Mirai… Is that you?” Both asked, still mystified at the sight.
Not trusting her voice to soothe their nerves, the toned girl nodded.
“This is… better than I imagined,” Nikki mumbled before walking over to her daughter?—son?—child. Picking up her right arm, the woman combed down the inside of it with two of her fingers. In the end, she could only say, “Your body is in perfect condition. That should be impossible after that dunce’s screw up.”
“Hey! I’m not a dunce!” Astral shouted, now hiding behind the leather chair.
“Shush, you. I’m the expert here.” The woman waved her off.
Stealing a glance at her cousin, Mirai wanted to glare at her. But, at the same time, was too confused to even process how she was healthy. Her numbness may have vanished, though she still felt a fire burning up in her chest with no sign of relenting.
“So… My body is healthy?” Mirai asked, confusion overcoming every other emotion in her voice. When her mother nodded, she asked, “Then, what is this feeling in my chest? It feels as though I am internally incinerating.”
“Incinerating, huh?” Nikki mumbled, still holding onto Mirai’s right arm. Humming, she clasped her hands around her daughter’s. In the blink of an eye, the older woman was blasted back and crashed into the coffee table. “Holy Hecate!” She exclaimed, feeling splinters rubbing against her back from the split in the table.
Whipping her head around, the newly-transformed girl looked between her cousin and mother. Neither had provided the answers to her unspoken questions. Both had merely stared at her incredulously.
Finally, Mirai broke the silence. “Did I do something wrong?” She asked, her eyes still flickering back and forth.
Groaning as she got back up to her feet, Nikki waved her hand at her. “No, not at all. Unless you think having a mana pool as big as mine is a bad thing.” The sarcasm literally oozed out of her voice, but of course…
“How is that possible? My mana reserves were only a mere half that large last week. A sudden growth spurt of that size is impossible, a simple ritual would never bring a high-sage level to a low-grandmaster level. Certainly not a ritual that Astral is capable of performing. Only restricted or war-time rituals would have this capacity for enhancement—”
“Mirai!”
“Huh?” The sapphire eyes locked with the older pair, matching in everything except for emotion. “Oh, forgive me. This ordeal is just mind-boggling with the extent of all the changes. Though, what was the original purpose? I only overheard that Astral had messed the process up.”
Sweeping back her hair, the mother sat down in one of the chairs around the now-broken coffee table. When she motioned for her daughter to sit, the near-replica of herself had complied after her right arm had twitched. Then, Astral switched from hiding behind her chair to sitting in it.
“Now, Astral already knows what she has done, and by the looks of it, the twins have too,” the woman began, her attention focused solely on Mirai, who nodded eagerly. “But remember, what is said here is a private discussion sanctioned by a grandmaster. So, don’t go blabbing what you hear to your brothers or father, got it?”
Mirai nodded, not trusting herself to only speak one word.
Stealing a glance at her troublesome niece, she continued, “Astral and the twins had collaborated on using the Tuning Ritual on you.” Immediately, Mirai’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. “It seems you’ve read about them, but simply put, the ritual gives or takes away the ability to utilize magic.”
“That ritual is forbidden to all but sages and grandmasters. How did Astral come upon it?” Mirai interrupted, her curiosity drawing out her new melodic voice out of its holding place.
Taking a longer glance at her niece, Nikki groaned. “Course, it’s illegal for her to know, but the twins are allowed into my library due to marriage. So, they snuck in and found some of the more illegal rituals. In the end, they gathered up the materials needed and told Astral to handle the ritual since she was from the Senshin family, so she should have known how to properly handle a ritual ceremony. As you can see, she didn’t.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Pausing, Nikki got up and loomed over the split of the table. Rummaging through the wreckage, she picked up a crystal vial and a small blade. Surprisingly, both were intact.
Raising the vial, the mother held it up to her eye. “This contains the blood of a magically-recognized grandmaster, specifically my blood.” She announced to her audience of two, one of which had zoned out in pure shame. “Unfortunately for you, this blood was taken without my knowledge nor consent, making it neutral to magic. As you hopefully know, neutral ingredients give you subpar results, but in this ritual, it appears to have molded your body when you had drunk my blood and your own.”
Setting the glass back in the remnants of the table, she lifted the blade. Though, instead of holding the handle, she pinched the tip of the blade, where a few drops of blood had decided to stain the metal.
Handing the blade to her daughter, she resumed her lecture. “If you can’t tell, not only is that blade cheap, it can’t conduct magic, leaving it as a negative component in a ritual since an extra step would have to be taken to infuse additional mana into the target.”
Stopping, Nikki strolled around the wood scraps on the floor and sat back down in her seat. Then, with a flick of her hand, the table mended itself, leaving no trace of the split save for a thin white line going down the middle of the wood.
“Thankfully, you had more mana than you can even use, so you saved yourself from premature death,” she said solemnly, not meeting eye contact with either of her descendants. “But instead, your magic essentially focused on synergizing my blood and yours while using a phoenix feather to stabilize the entire thing, which left your body open to literally anything.”
Tilting her head to the side, Mirai ignored the strands of hair that moved with the motion and asked, “Did any metaphysical being attempt to possess my body?”
“Not that I can tell,” her mother answered, hands clasped in front of her. “But you’re healthy. That’s all that matters right now.”
When those words left her lips, Nikki looked up and gave her daughter a weak smile. Unfortunately, with thoughts of death and possession still on her mind, Mirai could hardly bear to twitch her lips while attempting to match the look. Not even the resident idiot had spoken up about the problem at hand.
Eventually, the youngest girl rose from her seat on the couch and sauntered into the kitchen. Without any words, she pulled out a cup and filled it with hot water while setting a tea bag in it. Taking that drink, she sat back down in the awkward atmosphere shared between the family.
By the time she took her third sip, Astral bolted up from her seat, hands ruffling through her tangled mess of hair. “Okay! Let’s find something to do! Anything to do!” She exclaimed, her eyes drifting up toward the ceiling.
Sharing the displeasure, Nikki rose and suggested, “Perhaps shopping. Mirai will need a new wardrobe and I need to get my mind off all the things that can go wrong with my life.”
“Sounds great! Let’s go!” Astral hurriedly agreed, stomping her way to the door.
Before joining her niece, the older woman turned to her mini-me. “Mirai, I know it’s… uncomfortable, but I will need to get your measurements.” Seeing the worried depths of those sapphire orbs deepening, she added, “After that, you can just relax for the rest of the day.”
“Fine,” the young girl sighed, setting down her tea. “But go out for food, I’m not cooking for a while.”
“Right, no problem.”
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With her relatives out of the house, Mirai was left alone with her tea, her book, and the curiosity of a hormone-filled teenager. At the very least, if she ever succumbed to those wondrous thoughts, she was alone for another two hours, provided Astral had not screwed up again. Though that was highly likely, so Mirai estimated three hours of loneliness. So, that left the blue-eyed maiden settled down across the couch with her book in her just inches above her face.
Then, the door’s locks had clicked open and a shout of, “Anyone home?!” made her drop the book on her face. At least her nose only hit the pages instead of the hardcover. That did not stop a soft cry of pain though.
Rushing through the house and into the lounge, a pair of redhead twins found a not-so-mysterious, but very surprising sight.
On the couch, Mirai had moved her book off her face and onto the coffee table. However, her legs were on full display as her shorts rode down her thighs. Taking in the sight of the pale, lean legs, the twins had to take a double-take before looking at each other with dread.
Turning back to the girl on the couch, the two asked, “Mimi? That you?”
Recognizing the voices, the mentioned girl sat up with a hand on her nose. Nodding in response, she gave the twins a look of helplessness, yet still conveyed the thought that it was their fault.
“Wow, Dad wasn’t kidding.”
“He had told us—”
“But we didn’t believe it—”
“Now, we have all the evidence we need.”
Pausing the bout of finishing sentences, the two bowed waist-deep to their stepsister. The action was spared of a laugh, at the very least.
“Forgive us, Mirai!” The two exclaimed, heads still lowered.
Making the two troublemakers wait, she dropped her hand from her reddened nose and pulled her legs up to her chest so she could hug them. “All is forgiven,” she spoke softly, “harm did not befall anyone, only a minor fright earlier. Although a warning when you two attempt a dangerous ritual would be appreciated.”
Bolting upright, the two saluted to her with a shout of “Got it, Mimi!” Then, the two landed themselves on either side of the girl. “So, did it work?” Both asked in unison, a stupid grin mirroring the other twin.
Shifting slightly to allow both on the couch, she shook her head. “I have yet to test my abilities. It is safe to say that my reserves had doubled, despite not being the desired result.” Raising her hands palm-up, she suggested, “Can we try the transference spell? My body should retain muscle memory, especially if my old body’s physical fitness is anything to go by.”
Seeing a smile brighten up their step-sister’s face, the left twin grabbed onto her hand, followed shortly after by the other brother. Closing her eyes, the young maiden took a deep breath before letting her mind focus on the spell.
First, her mind trailed onto the thought of her brothers, eventually latching onto the feeling of a warm blaze, yet the core of it eluded her. Nevertheless, she kept that warmth in her mind. Then, she focused on herself, situated between these flames. Yet what she found in herself had boggled her.
Before, she had felt a welcoming light, emanating from what she presumed to be her eyes. It had been that way for years, ever since she had learned to channel her mana. Now, it was different. Instead, it feels like the same welcoming energy, but wrapping around her rather than pulling her toward it. Nevertheless, she made quick work and accepted the change by proceeding to spread the energy out toward the elusive flames.
In an instant, the flames had cut themselves off from her embrace. Snapping her eyes open, Mirai looked back and forth between her brothers, both of which had jumped back toward the edges of the sofa.
“That,” the left twin started.
“Was,” the right twin continued.
“Wicked!” Both shouted in unison, bursting with foreign energy in their systems.
“I presume it worked?” Mirai asked as she wrapped her buzzing hands around her folded-up legs. “Better than usual, I hope,” she added.
Jumping off the couch, the twins nearly attempted to flip but decided against it. Instead, the two landed side-by-side and shot the blue-eyed girl a smug smirk while their arms were crossed.
“Oh, it worked,” the left one began.
“Better than any healer,” Rightie added.
“But now,” Leftie switched the topic.
“It feels like,” Rightie added before both of them paused.
“We can take on dad!” The two finished with another jump and a side-hug.
Eyes sparkling at the energy and enthusiasm the two had just bounced around with, Mirai rubbed at her eyes. When her hands were taken away, her eyes dimmed to the normal sapphire, deep and hard. Noticing this brief change, the more observant twin leaned in, letting the girl get a full look at his green eyes. Soon after, another pair of green eyes joined the other pair, but this one had flecks of brown sprinkled around the pupil. With both peering over to the sapphire orbs held before them, the latter quivering at the closeness.
“Did you see that, ol’ brother of mine?” The left twin asked while his green eyes scanned over his sister.
“See what, my less handsome twin?” The other asked in return, a curious look in his eyes and a playful smirk dawned upon his lips.
“Mimi’s little eyes sparkled,” he answered, gaining two confused looks.
“Since when did my eyes sparkle?” The small girl asked. Letting the room embrace a moment of silence, the three settled into it until the youngest of them finally caught onto something. “Birch, my eyes are only small due to my genetics. Refrain from insulting them if you know what is good for you,” she threatened with a pout sprouting on her lips.
Grins widening at her slow reaction, the two stepped back and mirrored each other while bringing up a hand to their respective chin. “No clue,” the left twin answered, dropping his hand.
“Maybe it’s a side effect,” the other suggested while his hand rubbed the bottom of his chin. “Speaking of which,” he looked to his brother to finish.
“Any other side effects?” He guessed after a few seconds.
“I was thinking how’s the body treating you, but that works too.”
Turning back to their new sister, the two titled their heads in opposite directions, nearly bumping into each other. Holding back a laugh, she bit her tongue with her molars, until she felt the sensation subside.
“As I implied before, my body is healthy, although I am unsure of how much of my health carried over,” she said, ending with a bit of a saddened tone. “Nevertheless, the only noticeable effects are my body and mana reserves. At the moment, my mana feels like a homely embrace rather than a welcoming lull. Plus, since the ritual remained neutral in most aspects, it should be somewhat successful, so I may have attained the abilities of the Attuned.”
“Does that mean you gotta go to school with us?” The—as of yet unnamed—twin asked, both worry and excitement finding a way into his voice.
“Now, that would be wicked,” Birch added, hand still residing on his chin. “Imagine all the pranks we could play. Like, who knew we had a sister or that the Lady of Light had been hiding a daughter for fifteen years? The whole school would be duped!”
“Brilliant! This year will be so much fun!” The other twin agreed, fists at his side and pumped with enthusiasm.
“Birch, Oakland, hold it!” Mirai exclaimed and subsequently quieted her brothers. “Leave your assumptions for later. It is too early to determine my enrollment when the Senshin family would likely attempt to tutor me privately due to my new status. Not to mention, Illuctos—hotheaded as he might be—would think twice about enrolling a victim of the Tuning ritual to the institution.”
“Ah, come on, Mimi,” whined Oakland.
“Think of all the possibilities,” Birch continued.
“You could learn how to use magic,” added Oakland.
“And rise to the top of the leaderboard,” Birch thought aloud.
“That is not the point.” Once again, Mirai’s interruption had silenced the two troublemakers. “Just go to your room and clean it up. Dust will be everywhere by now.”
Groaning at the annoying order, Oakland was about to complain until Birch elbowed his side. Trusting his twin, the more freckled of the two began the journey up to their second home, followed at his tail by his less-freckled clone.