Her name was Kokumari...
A spirit.
What was a spirit? They existed beyond the physical realm, representing a concept... an emotion, a fear... a joy... something of nature that was also 'beyond' this origin. The nature of their existence was often a mystery, though those who practised magic simply said 'it's magic' and left it at that. That's not to say nobody was 'interested' in them, but the interest tended to require a similar interest back to encounter one. Those who gazed into the abyss rarely saw the abyss gaze back at them- though they might think they were important enough that it would be so... of course if the Abyss did look back it might just say 'hello'.
People who were very interested in spirits and sought them out rarely found them. Those that did were less likely to encounter the one that they were hoping to find. Those with no interest at all intrigued these spirits a lot more, such was their capricious nature. Spirits 'grew' from the stories whispered in the life of a mortal. A mortal saw a photon of light and created gods... they felt vices and created demons.
In some ways their existence depended a great deal on this relationship. They would give their gifts, boons and power to a family... and that family link persisted many generations later, inspiring more of their kind to be born.
Now Terry had found one... THE one that was linked to he family his uncle had married into....
Terry stared at the imp... she had never seen a supernatural creature before and didn't really know how to react. Margaret was showing utmost respect and humility bordering on the religious, but the older demon-girl had no desire to show any sign of subservience, given what 'it' did to her! “Get up Margaret,” She ordered and pulled her cousin up by her dress, making the child gasp in fear.
“B-But Terry that's-”
“Yes! I'm Lady Kokumari the Great!” The Imp circled again with a glowing aura of red. “Hello little Maggie! I'm your familiar family patron spirit for the past three hundred years or so- give or take. It's such a pleasure to meet you both-”
“You did this to me!” Terry suddenly flew into rage. “What the hell! What give you the freakin' right to-”
The demon tilted her head to Terry not used to being interrupted. “I think you turned out really well actually little one,” Lady Kokumari appraised her new infused-daughter. “Hm, pretty tail. Yes. Very nice! Welcome to the family Terry. You have my approval.”
Terry glared at her. “... what exactly is the deal here?”
“Deal? Why does there need to be a deal?” She asked. “Your uncle married into the family I protect. You simply share in that bond now as my energy filtered through your spiritual links, it happens sometimes.” She gave a little grin. “You and Maggie are my favourites though. I do have so many!” The imp winked. “So... you wanted to have a chat huh? I guess it can be a bit jarring, no longer being human. You humans are like big empty vessels for us to fill. It's quite a thrill! Even we never know quite how far it goes.”
Terry rushed forward despite Maggie trying to hold her cousin back by the sleeves. “I want you to change me back to normal! Right now!”
“Normal? This is normal!” Kokumari stated circling around Terry's body. “Hm... nice hooves, could do some improvement around the ears maybe. Horns are coming along nicely... such a cute heart shaped tail. That always makes the boys go crazy- some of the girls too!” She giggled.
Margaret slowly approached. Her blue eyes were a bit shy and cautious. “P-Please Great Kokumari-Sama, I don't want Terry unhappy. She really liked being human... I want my cousin to be happy...”
Lady Kokumari looked at Margaret and sighed. “You say that but deep down you really like her like this Maggie. Please don't lie to me.”
Margeret blanched with horror. “I- I mean- I guess but-” She could do nothing but bow low again fearfully. She was happier but... she didn't want that to mean Terry should be unhappy either.
The imp sighed. “Oh come on don't make that face... I'm not going to hurt you kid,” The imp deflated, clearly looking affectionately to the smaller demon-girl. “Urgh, I do have a soft spot for you. You have a big sister figure now and I see lots of nice things for the two of you in this state, with the limits of the futures I can see.”
“But it's not what I'm supposed to be!” Terry insisted. “You can't make me into something I'm not just because it works out in your head!”
Kokumari laughed heartedly at that. “... uh,Terry? I'm a demon spirit. That's our thing. That's your thing now too! We change fates all the time. We even charge a fee for it sometimes. You really want to live in a world where we don't exist?”
“Without demons? Sounds like Heaven...” Terry muttered.
Kokumari laughed. “So witty my daughter.” She flew around her. “What you think of as 'Heaven' would be a world where things are written in stone. Have you ever known a mortal to wish for something that can not be? Perhaps something simple, like to fly? That's a desire that goes against the 'natural order' and yet is such an innocent desire... what's the harm? Well that's what we are. Heck You've already changed one fate- and I think for the better...”
“I did? I didn't do anything! You're evil!” Terry protested. “Your... ilk- they do horrible things!”
There was a great silence at Terry's outburst.
Kokumari seemed stunned as well.. offended even, before calming down. “Huh? Oh. I see. You poor misguided girl... and saying such things in front of little Maggie too... I just can't forgive that.... even if you are my new demon-child.” She shook her head. “I think you need a lesson.” She clicked her fingers.
Terry felt an odd wave of energy pass over her. “W-what...”
“Terry, I'm afraid I am banning you from leaving back to Earth- without my approval. The portals will not take you now.” Kokumari stated softly. “Though with one exception you will find out soon...”
Terry looked at her in shock. “...what... you- you can't! The freedom to travel is-”
“-a human right by the treaty. You ain't human girl!” Kokumari giggled. “Now that that's settled you need to go to a school here and learn more about demons. If you achieve a passing grade I'll remove that block.” She then waved her hand again as Terry felt an odd tingle in her head. “The family, including yourself is not allowed to communicate who you are to anyone outside... be glad I'm allowing that at least. It's not my desire to hurt you. You just need to understand us better, as you are one of us and that comes with certain responsibilities.”
Terry felt like she was slowly getting trapped. Trapped into a life that she never wanted! This.. this was a nightmare. What did he do to deserve his! “Nugh- you can't do-”
“I'm afraid I can. You decided to be this way... it's not always a choice for us, just a thing we do.” The demon-spirited stated matter of factly. “Let's see... you need a new name... hm...” She looked her over. “There's a few good names for you... so hard to choose one among them... but I think the name Tahera suits you quite well.” she smiled again. “Yes, Tahera!”
Terry felt quite afraid now. Maybe Margaret was right and she should have been a bit more careful in talking to a spirit like this. It was ruining her life! “I- look I'm sorry-” He pleaded.
“Oh, a little humility eh? Wonderful! A bit late but that's fine. Anyway, I have now enrolled you into A rather prestigious school of magic. Remember you can't tell anyone who you are! If you try I might get more annoyed. Farewell!”
Terry looked angrily- but then Kokumari spoke- only this time she was using Terry's voice! Try as she might she found herself unable to move of her own violation. “-Oh- one more thing,” She said softly moving Terry's lips. “You seem to be under the impression that you are a human with a tail, red skin and horns. I assure you, you are a demon-girl. Take that warning as you like. I'll see you in another year. Don't disappoint me now!”
The demon-girl gasped as the presence left her body leaving her quite shaken.
Terry- or rather Tahera as she was now going to be called, looked glumly to Margaret. “I'm... so dead.” She sighed. “Your family patron sucks!” as she trotted past the market towards the roads that would take her back 'home'.
Margaret gulped. Despite everything that just happened, Terry was acting so belligerent? Did she even know how fortunate she was that their spirit decided to materialise at all and even speak to them? She had no idea that Lady Kokumari even noticed her at all. Being called a 'favourite' was the kind of thing nobody would ever dare think and yet... their family spirit just said it was so to her. “She's... really not that bad. She gives us magic and powers... she has given you a lot of power. Her knowledge is-”
“I didn't want it though!” The Teenage demon wiped her eyes. She could feel this body driving her crazy... her stupid big breasts and that tail- the hooves she could almost forget about at this point.
“...maybe that's why she gave it to you.” Maggie sighed. “I'm really sorry T- Tahera.” She rubbed her hands knowing her cousin didn't even like her new name. This sort of thing was rare but it did happen. People got used to calling someone new name surprisingly quickly when a spirit was involved. “Well- if you go to this school and get a good grade you can go back home again... I'll even help you!”
“A demon school...” Terry shuddered. “Must be some... weird orgy lesson-” she shuddered.
“What's an orgy?” Margaret asked.
“Huh- uh- nothing... never-mind.” Tahera realized she had to mind her language around her younger cousin. She continued to trot, feeling the.. odd sound of it a little uneasily. “I'm just... worried about being in a school of other demons.”
“There're more then demons! There's the animal folk- oh you might even meet an angel if you... like them so much too.” she offered hopefully finding 'something' the new demon-girl would like about this situation.
Tahera seemed surprised at that. “Wait- you uh... you go to a school with angels? Wouldn't they … want to hurt you- and me though?”
“What? No... of course not.” Margaret seemed surprised at that. “Angel-folk are usually pretty nice. Everyone is really.” The demon-child seemed a bit sad about this. “Demon magic is... um... well... I don't understand it all myself, but I know it can do a lot of things that angels can't do. In some ways they envy us. They say our magic has a lot more...freedom?”
Tahera was now further shocked at that. Magic was... magic. Were there now suddenly limitations and sub-sections of magic? “I'll never get this...” She had no interest in magic and if she had to go to some magic school... well... what was she supposed to do?
Martin shuddered slightly as he wondered through the corridors of the Magic-girl school. Disguised as a girl, he did not expect it to work for as long as it had... and it looked like he was about to get caught. His luck had run out. He passed by a few other students... these ones looked more 'human'. A few weird animal-ears and tails.. but he became more interested in their uniforms and clothing.
Some seemed to have what he considered a 'magical girl' flavour to them. Very colourful, but not necessarily tacky. He did see a few with short skirts- and had to turn his eyes away. Ribbons, different hairstyles...
With the principal wanting to see him, he guessed he had little choice but to present himself for whatever fate is intended to a 'trespasser'. He had yet to even learn anything about magic! Not even a single spell or potion... These magical folk... they took it all for granted. He was like some 'animal' trying to understand fire- ironic given he was a human in the company of a lot of animal or mythological folk.
'Well... that's not true. You have learned something important... Magic can't kill... and it is bound by some kind of promise...' That guess saved him.
… a promise. Why did he want to know magic? Heroic desires... simple childish fantasies, but maybe Zair was right. There was a selfishness to it as well. He never really stood as anyone special. Every boy wanted to in some way... Even nerds had a hierarchy of intelligence, as much as jocks did it through strength- though he longed for friends who didn't care about any of that. He wasn't sure if it was universal for all humans (and humanoids)... and he wasn't entirely sure if it was his driving force in trying to learn magic. There was also simple... curiosity...
...and joy.
...yes... magic was beautiful. These girls were also very beautiful, as if.. they represented the magic innately. Passing one of them he smiled, noticing the weird wolf tail poking out of her dress.
Perhaps he should see it more like art? An art that not many could see or even understand but it was still art... it existed in his heart and was real to him. He couldn't deny that love even if it could not be communicated or explained. They would just call him crazy. He wanted to step into his video game.. into that world of magic and wonder... humans could observe such things but never be 'in them'... but here he was. He was inside.. and he loved it.
The strange lights danced across he walls, supposedly guiding him towards the principal's office. What exactly would she want? He felt like now would be a good time to cut her losses and quickly run out of here. For some reason everyone here thought she was some 'girl' named Mara... but after this he would be discovered and would be thrown back to Earth.
“It's so unfair!” he clenched his fist feeling the wand in his pocket suddenly clenched in his fingers. He looked at it... so many questions in his head. A little wand with a star at the top... it felt... nice. Like it was... important? Could it... do anything? He gave it a bit of a wave out of curiosity but there was nothing happening.
He had not even seen this magical center... this... Well of Power...
Walking down another corridor he was surprised to suddenly find an... entire row of identical clockwork-girls standing eerily to attention on either side like suits of armor. At the very end of this was the principals office. He paused a moment at the sight... the gentle glow of light hovering above the door, then went 'poof' with a spark of energy.
The clockwork... looked so... strange. Alive but not alive? No- not quite that. They looked so close to being alive but they were not doing anything. It hit him that this was because they had no purpose... someone else had to give that to them. They were just standing here because there was nowhere else to be... were they guarding the office?
tick-tock-tock...
“... how sad,” He sighed. They were so intricately designed. Curiously he slowed his steps to see if he could find some difference between the clockwork sisters... He could see them ticking away slowly, clearly conserving their energy in strange unison. Maybe this was where they came for someone to charge them up again? He continued to walk past them but felt... something watching him as he walked past the fifth set.
He turned around. Something was off... he felt like there was a single tick... just one tick out of sequence from the rest.
Tick- tick tock- tock tick- tick tock- tock.
He tried to work out which one... stepping slightly back... eventually identifying the erroneous ticker. A single clockwork girl... not in sync to the others but only by the slimmest of margins. Yet it seemed to stand perfectly still.. trying not to give itself away.
“Um...” Martin looked at her... it. There was nothing physically different from this one compared to the others. The same clothes... the same face... and yet its spring was now a half second off compared to the others. It somehow made it more of an individual... more alive... “Who are you?” he asked, looking into her eyes.
The strange ticking clockwork-girl almost seemed 'embarrassed' to be caught... “Hello. Magic Girl Mara. How may I assist?” she sounded reluctant to speak, as if fearful of the glares from the inanimate clockwork-girls just... ticking away... but this exchange seemed reasonable enough?
The disguised boy looked at her strangely. “Huh?” He looked at her confused. Did this thing think he was a real girl? “Um.. do you have something to do with this?” he brought out the strange star-shaped wand. “What exactly is going on?”
The ticking creature glanced from side to side with audible ticks. “I am simply here to serve, as I always have, my lady.” She answered with a slight ticking downward.
“Ah Mara?” A voice spoke suddenly interrupting them.
Martin glanced towards the door seeing nothing until he... looked a bit lower. It was some kind of...winged sphinx!? Tawny brown fur, with large lion paws. Her face however had curious oriental features, at least that's what would be considered on Earth. Though her ears were those of a cat on top of her head. In sharp contrast to the golden fur, she had sleek black hair going down the sides of her head. Similar in colour to her hair were the dark black wings on the side of her body. Some of her stripes on her paws and back legs also had a darker shade that made her look quite exotic.
“I'm Principal Yuanshi,” she said gesturing to her. “Please come this way. I've been looking forward to meeting you, Mara.” The sphinx walked into the office with a little flick of her tail.
“Uh- okay-” Martin glanced back to the clockwork who seemed to have taken this as a moment to stop speaking. He sighed as he carefully walked... very embarrassed that he was wearing a dress and worse- about to get caught with it. He coughed slightly... keeping his voice as quiet as possible. Though his heart sunk as he knew he could never... ever... fool an actual sphinx!
“I heard you passed your first test with Lalira, congratulations. She tends to send Earth girls away quite quickly. Very few have the insight to understand a single principle of magic...” The sphinx calmly jumped onto the other side of her desk and sat on the office chair with all four of her legs. “How have you come by your understanding? I couldn't find any records of previous study.”
“Uh-” Martin gulped. He wondered if he should just explain now that he was a boy and this was all just a weird set of circumstances. “... I studied as best I could on Earth,” he eventually said. It wasn't a lie... and he felt it was best to at least be honest. Of course there was nothing to study of magic on Earth...
The sphinx tilted her head. “I see. Well, I am quite pleased to welcome you to Stella's school for magic girls. I just have to formalise something...” she gestured taking out what looked like a card. “There's no Iconography of you... and we need one for the records. So if you could take off your hood for me?”
“Um-” Martin gulped.
“No need to be shy,” smiled the sphinx. “The Iconograph is needed for your identity here. Just stand in the magic circle.” She gestured to a prepared area in front of the desk.
Martin realized the game was up. She would see he was a boy and... that was it. “I just... um-” He slowly started to take off his hood... he gave a nervous look. Time to come clean...
“oh... my,” The sphinx-woman looked in surprise.
“I- I can explain-” Martin gulped- but felt something strange. It felt like something tickled the sides of his face and brush against his ears, and another tingle on his shoulders. He touched it- hair? Wait... why was his hair so long? He gasped as he realized that not only was it long, but the strands of hair were pink! There was so much of it! It was spilling into the back of his hood.
Principal Yuanshi just laughed. “I don't know why you hide it, but it's fine. Please, hold still for the Iconograph.”
Martin blinked as some strange circle of energy began to glow around him... there was this tingle on his skin and he could feel the wand in his pocket vibrate somehow to that energy. Before he could understand it he saw a card floating in he air...
“There's your student card my dear,” The sphinx said gently. “So I wish you the best of luck. If you need anything please do let me know.”
Martin slowly took the card and stared at the picture. It was his face.. with pink hair. Very... long pink hair. The girlish face seemed to be smiling happily, which made no sense given he wasn't smiling when the picture was taken! He had to work out what the heck was going on! “Uh- thanks,” he said as he almost stumbled out of the office.
“Take care! Oh- and if you could bring Zair as well? I believe the two of you share a dorm room?”
“I- wha-” This was going too fast for Martin...
Leaving the office, Martin looked at his card... “Name... Mara Robins... Class... Magic-Girl...” This sure looked... official. Certain parts of the card were in strange runes that had no translation. He was very confused by all this. How in the world was this happening! What the heck happened to his hair! He touched it..feeling how silky smooth it was. Pink... and rather girly with the way it felt styled. Why the heck was it pink! He felt so... embarrassed, even more so then just wearing the stupid dress!
He quickly covered up his head in his hooded jacket, trying his best to hide the strange warm pink hair. The whole thing was weird... maybe someone was doing a magic spell on him? This was a magic school after all...
“I need to talk to Zair...”
He guessed it was time to see the dorm room...
