The Mall was crawling with girls in bobcuts and layers of stockings and socks.
Some wore grey hoodies, others styles that Anna barely remembered being inside her wardrobe at all.
It had worked. Every man and woman was now her. Was a copy of her.
Or perhaps...
Even knowing that it was a necessity, the scene made her feel queazy in the stomach.
"I need to lie down," Anna said, putting an arm out and, not finding the wall, tripping onto the Wizard.
"Woah, careful, you've just been through too many changes," He said, catching her and helping her to a seat.
"Oh, it is Anna-Prime," Someone with Anna's voice said. The girl bowed at the waist, saluted, and said, "Thanks for sharing your Perfection with the World, your highness."
The Anna-copy waited for Anna to look up, before scurrying away politely.
The event caused all the Annas in the Mall to start bowing respectfully before going about their business.
The Wizard, with a curious frown, said: "Fascinating. That might... help us figure things out."
"Can it help you make me feel better?"
"Oh, sorry. I get lost in my work. Can you stand?"
"Yeah..." Anna stood, wobbly legs but she stood.
"What now?" Anna asked, eyeing a copy of herself leading two little girl versions of herself as she had her arm wrapped around another copy of herself. They were kissing. The sight was oddly appealing. Like a forest canopy blowing in the wind, or a river flowing downstream. It felt, natural.
"Now, we have to observe and figure out the rules of this world. That way we can reverse what happened and make things... normal, whatever that might be."
The thought, however, left Anna feeling a little anxious and she couldn't figure out why.
