That day, two years ago, stuck in the young slug girl; Ernestine Madison.
She wasn't sure what happened to Gwydion, or how he explained the loss of the magic compass. It was about that point though that the young human child started to 'wear costumes', insisting that he wanted to be an animal changed when he grew up. It was a bit weird, when he turned up to school wearing a fake fluffy tail, or various animal ears- but most didn't see any harm in it. He just wanted to be like his sister.
Abigail was distraught that the magical compass apparently lead her to a book, that said she was part of a 'prophecy' to a church. The three children kept what they found quiet, and Ernestine was convinced it was just some weird story. Maybe the compass didn't work right. Lilly, gifted as she was in the magic circle, didn't always know how her crystals worked. Ernestine knew though she had to help her friend find closure and it was the Madison family that had the ultimate magic item.
Her own family.
Ernestine thought it would be quite easy. All she had to do was sneak into her mother's room, make a quick wish on the stone, and that would be it. Sneaking in was easy, she just waited for her mother to go to the bathroom. Her father was watching television... and of course, her little sister was in her own room playing with dolls. If she was going to do it, it would have to be now. Her heart was beating fast as she crawled through the soft plywood that made up their house, which was a lot easier on their slug-foot.
She rarely went into her mother's room. There seemed to be a lot of odd trinkets here as she scanned the various objects and articles on the wall. There were even pictures of before their new lives, before the sun changed... was that her mom as a human... male? Weird... she certainly didn't think of her mother like that at all. She had to find the stone though."Where would mom keep it?" She asked herself. She decided to crawl towards the bed looking under it, pulling away the green covers. There was a small black box underneath... could that be where the stone is? She carefully opened the lid, hoping she had enough time to make her wish and help Abigail...
"...Looking for something?" her mother's voice rang out from the door.
Abigail turned in shock. "M-mom!"
The young woman crawled slowly to her daughter, leaving a trail of mucus behind the door. Ernestine suddenly realised just how her mother knew she was in her room, by following that trail she left behind too. Jen folded her arms looking quite stern. "I'm surprised at you Ernestine," she said with disappointment in her voice. "What were you going to wish for that we can't get for you? Do you honestly know how dangerous this stone is... what 'I' did to the world when I made a wish on it?" Her voice was calm and measured. Sometimes she regretted that Ernestine knew about the stone, but she felt she had to trust her own family about it.
The young slug girl cast her eyes down ashamed at being caught. She fiddled with her hands nervously. "I-It wasn't for me mom... I.. wanted to help a friend. She doesn't know who her dad is... an'... I thought I could use it to find out for her."
Jen tilted her head. She approached her daughter sadly placing a hand on her shoulder, and sat down on the bed to give her a stern talking to. She picked up the young slug-girl and also placed the box at the bed side as she collected her thoughts. "...You wouldn't have been able to get the stone from it... there's a special lock on it," She explained. "The stone is for serious emergencies. It's not a toy."
"Like all the stars turning into rainbows?" She asked glancing up at the night sky across the window. Each strange pin point of light, was just like their own sun was, ten years ago. At night, it made everything look like it had a strange hue. The stars themselves seemed to move, dancing in the sky like moving fireflies. Occasionally many of them would streak together, forming a drawing of some kind in the sky. Many treated it as a sign in their life for something.
"...yeah, like that." She said. "I still don't understand what happened, and the stone can't give me much information. Something about us being in a 'Prime' universe. I don't know... it keeps telling me that the Earth is hollow now, wrapped up in higher dimensions. I can't work it out. I don't even get why magic girl four is gone from history- not to mention all of Greece having been taken over by dragons." It was crazy... really crazy. History was unravelling...
"But there were only three," Ernestine said confused at the basic history lesson. "My friend thinks there were four too... an'.. she's also really confused when we talk about Greece in our history lesson."
Jen looked sharply at that. "Your friend... from school?"
"Uh huh, Abigail. She's a deer. Um- a doe?"
"... a deer changed, with no father... and knowledge of changed history?" Jen thought aloud. She hugged her daughter and set her back down as she considered the implications. Was it possible? She was aware that the Enemy had spawned one 'child' in the decade old battle but could there be more? If so... what was their interest, given the Enemy was completely gone? These wouldn't be the strange alien 'enemy', but those born with the senses of an extra-dimensional being. It was likely they would see alternative histories much like those touched of magic would... When she talked to Becca, she was also aware of the changed history... some people were aware, others were not. History on Earth was being altered... and she was amongst the few that was aware of it. That and now this.. Abigail.
"What's wrong mom?" Asked Ernestine at her distant look.
"... I might know who her father is," Jen whispered.
Ernestine was about to ask- but then the doorbell rang. The Slug-woman got up, curious to see who it was. The nature of Abigail would have to wait.
Ernestine followed after and gasped when the door opened. "Aunty Michelle!" she squealed happily embracing her.
The robot-woman smiled and gave the young slug-child a hug with her silvery skin pressed upon the warm flesh of the organic body. Michelle was actually a lot warmer then people would think... probably due to the power source she had inside her. Honestly nobody really knew how the artificial changed worked. "Hello cutie," Michelle said in her synthetic voice. "How are you all?" She closed the door after her. She was still dressed in a business suit of sorts from her work in the courtier company.
"I'm good! Oh- an' Madeline made a doll of you," she said.
The youngest slug-girl crawled out slowly hearing her aunt's voice. She was wearing a cute flowery dress that hung over her lower body. "Aunty! Kiss?" said the little girl hopefully.
The robot-girl picked up the youngest slug-girl easily and hugged her with a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"How's the job getting on?" Asked Jen smiling.
The gynoid shook her head. "Well, with all the computer glitches I've been trying to help where I can. I'm not sure I like the company though. I've improved their efficiency but... I think I made a lot of people mad. I talked to the boss on it... I think she's now worried I'm going to leave."
"Oh... are you going to leave? You were so excited to have your first job." Jen asked.
The robot-girl cast her eyes to the side. "... I... I don't know." she admitted. "I like helping out, and it's nice to be paid. It looks like I can get a job just about 'anywhere' though, so I dunno what to do."
The synthetic changed had such high job-prospects it was almost crazy. What they didn't know they could learn... very quickly. However if it is one thing Michelle realised growing up, she didn't like it when people treated her like a machine... and though this company didn't treat 'her' like that, she was ironicly being forced to treat others that way. Her boss said that's just what management was... but... Michelle didn't like it at all.
"How's the internet?" Jen asked.
The robot girl gave an electronic sigh. "Um... not so good. It's being rebuilt from scratch. Would you believe an alien computer tried to upload itself there?"
The slug girl blinked. "...ouch. Uh, no. Didn't hear any of that." Jen admitted.
"That's what the digital fairies are saying." explained Michelle. "It's a giant mess inside there. Also.. well.. they lost one digital fairy... first time a death happened in the digital world I think- so it's really shaken them up. She's become a daemon so..."
Jen was saddened to hear about someone dying like that... "Can... you bring her back? You've brought Daemon's back before."
"Maybe. The thing is, the daemon is our healer... and she can't heal herself."
Jen sighed. The world just seemed to be getting more crazy. However she was about as clueless to what was going on as anyone else. She wasn't even sure if there was something to do. She couldn't use the wishing stone for at least another couple of months to do something like move the Earth back to the solar system... it wasn't even the stone that sent them here in the first place. Neither was it the stone that glitched up the computers... so in a way, Jen didn't feel 'responsible' for this. Otherwise she might as well feel responsible for 'everything' that happened in every life on Earth for eternity.
and that opened a floodgate of emotions she longed to keep closed. She did throw a ripple in the universe, and maybe this was all still resulting from it. Life was interesting enough in trying to take care of her family, why did she need more?
Tim smiled to the group. "I thought I heard the doorbell. Hello Robo-sis," the drow grinned hugging her.
"Hi," She smiled back to Jen's husband. "It's nice to see you Tim." Though her sensors detected that something was amiss.
The Drow glanced to his wife, and to the children. "Uh Jen... I think you might want to check something on the television. Why don't you kids go play with aunty Michelle?"
Michelle nodded. Whatever it was the kids needed to be shielded from. "Come on, I'll initiate 'play mode'," she winked.
For some reason the two slug-girls were suddenly elated and practically dragged Michelle to their play room.
Jen furrowed a brow but went into the living room and looked at the television. It was a little glitchy, as was all their technology. However the signal was reasonably clean at the moment.
"This is the Church of Mankind," said the announcer. He was dressed in the robes of a priest of some kind. It was a white robe, with the symbol of a human hand on the either side. The one on his left was an open palm, while the one on the right depicted a closed fist.
"Oh not these douchbags," groaned Jen. Humans- well- some of them, still had a bit of a superiority complex. the Church of Mankind was a humans only group. Lucas usually kept them in line if they got too crazy, but if she was busy trying to fix the more 'existential issues', she couldn't help with this groups.
"... we are aware of the one that changed the world," said the priest in his grim voice.
Jen arched an eyebrow.
"We also know that this one is protected by devilish forces of false gods and dark magics... but we know the truth. The sun can no longer protect you..."
Jen rolled her eyes as she flicked off the screen. "I'm not worried. They've been spewing a lot of crazy talk. I don't think they are a real church anyway."
Tim shook his head. "I honestly don't get why such groups still exist. We've proven the changed and humans can get on really well together for a decade. Some humans still change... what exactly are they worried about?"
Jen shrugged. "The usual. Loss of humans controlling the world. Never mind the fact that we are human inside anyway."
There was a certain irony that the changed tended to be more human inside then these 'humans'. The drow wasn't sure why but those who were not likely able to learn any lesson... didn't get a change. It was as if the universe simply knew there was nothing one could do with such a person. If they were filled with that much hatred... no bodily transformation could do a thing.
"So, what do we do?" Asked Tim.
"Live on. The things going on are not to do with the stone... Lilly is gone and I'm sure she and Lucas are dealing with it. I'm just going to continue my life." She said that almost defiantly. She had a right to do that, didn't she?
Tim nodded not about to argue. "Well, the stone does let you do a lot of things..."
"It's too dangerous. I can't.. it won't help in this situation anyway. The times when people changed bodies to fix problems is long gone. We're now dealing with the world from the transformations."
"A post transformed world eh," chuckled Tim. "Sounds almost dull."
"... oh I'm sure my first wish is still in effect. Things will always be interesting." She flicked the channel over to another news channel.
The fox-woman on the news looked ecstatic. " and as you can see it's a new giant of some kind. She's huge.. she descended from the sky. There seems to be some kind of hatch in her abdomen... she looks like a living space-ship- it looks like she can take us to other worlds!"
Jen slumped on the sofa, waving out her slug foot. "I rest my case."
