Zair was lying in the bed of this dorm room that was supposedly hers, spread out like she was making snow angels. “So soft!” She glanced to her right. There were unlit candles, ready to provide illumination at night... a cautious reminder that there was no technology here. A little further was a large glass window, showing the outside world and a beautiful blue sky. There were sounds of birds and a cherry blossom tree in the distance, with the main gates of the school in view further ahead, the long winding road back to the main town. The demon girl had her own diary of classes and... she felt happy.
This was so much better then anything she had on Earth.
Something seemed a little strange about all this... but she didn't particularly mind the universe conspiring in her favour. She wanted to go with the flow... maybe it was a mistake but why did it matter?
Her fox-girl friend was looking through all the drawers and using something called the Changing Closet.
As Zair watched, the fox-girl walked into the closet and the door closed behind her tail. There was a ruffling sound and she came back out wearing a green dress, with sandals on her feet and exposed legs. The clothes seemed made to fit her features and fox-tail almost perfectly. She looked to a mirror admiring herself, then walked back in... after a few seconds she returned with a red dress on top, the strange closet changing her clothes instantly.
“That.. sure saves a lot of time changing,” Zair grinned in amusement.
“Yes. You don't have these on Earth? They are pretty common here,” The fox-girl gestured to the magical closet. “It's pretty simple. Clothes you buy are stored and cleaned in the closet and you just think of what you want to wear. It does the rest.”
Zair had to admire such a technology- er- magic. “That is pretty cool. Can you create new clothes too?”
The fox-girl shook her head. “Not with this. Though you can change minor aspects of clothing like the colours and such. You can also adjust clothes to fit extra appendages like tails or something if you were lending it to someone. I'm pretty good altering colours so I can help you with that. It's part of my illusion magic skills.”
The demon-girl wondered what she could do with that. She had never been a 'fashion girl' really... everyone was afraid of her on Earth and she just dressed as she wanted. She never got to wear pretty shoes due to her hooves... and the other girls treated her like she was a freak. Sometimes she even wondered if she should bother to wear clothes.. but her mother insisted she was still half human and certain things were just 'expected'. “Hm... well I suppose I best buy some new clothes. I never got anything like this on Earth...”
“You should get some credit to spend money on for good work. More so, if we defeat monsters.”
'Just like a video game'... Zair felt this was quite a lucky break. She didn't know why this was happening and assumed it was all just 'magic'... but why question a good thing? She was far away from her mother, maybe she even had a chance to find out who her father was... and she appeared to be at the top of her class here. Everyone wanted to be friends with a demon-girl here!
She stared at her room, slowly getting up and looking at all the strange items. “... its perfect.” She smiled thinking on what her future could be like here.
Sarah suddenly hugged her. “I'm so glad too!” she squeaked wrapping her arms around the demon-girl in a sisterly fashion.
“Oof- ah Sarah!” The demon-girl protested, not exactly used to any close contact like that. She nearly stumbled back onto the bed with her hooves off balance.
“Hehe. I'm sorry. I'm just so happy to have someone to study with! We might even be able to form an actual Magic-girl team.” The fox girl was genuinely excited about all this. “It's a silly idea I know. But I really think it will help Mara too. She seems the kind of girl who would benefit with practical experience. We are expected to fight some monsters eventually.”
“Oh.. hehe.. yeah.. Mara.. uh wait- H- She's... our third room-mate?” That was.. going to be an issue wasn't it? She had not yet told Sarah about 'her'... “The thing is-”
Sarah nodded excitedly. “Yes! Isn't that such a wonderful coincidence? It's like fate or something!”
“Heh... fate...” The demon girl had to admit there did seem to be 'something weird' going on. A candle suddenly sparked with fiery blue magic, glowing near her bedside. At first she thought it was some kind of alarm clock but there was this blue smoke that became very thick. It went 'poof'... and a parchment of paper appeared, floating like a leaf onto the beside.
“You got a letter!” said Sarah happily again. “Who's it from?”
“How- uh- what was that?”
“Hot-Mail.” She explained simply.
“Uh.. huh.” Zair slowly opened it. This magic stuff... was weird. Even if she was a demon seeing it around so casually was going to take a lot of getting used to. “Um.. it's from my mom? She says... she's very happy that I've been accepted to this school...” That.. was weird. They didn't exactly part on good terms. She was still quite mad at her! On the other hand... this was a good thing? “How does this mail thing work? Can I send something back to her?”
“Uh...Demon magic I think. I thought you would know better then me,” Sarah looked at the parchment seeing a second letter.... this one was addressed to Mara. “Looks like it's from her mom and dad too. She'll be happy to hear from them!” Sarah set it down on the desk so that Mara could collect it later.
Zair started to look at the magic closet. She had always kind of... dreamed of being like other girls... playing dress-up, being a princess- the memory of it made her blush. Of course she wasn't pretty by human standards but.. she was still a girl. Was it wrong if she just wanted to be... pretty sometimes. “Um... can I...really try it?” The liberating feeling of trying on some new clothes... free of judgement...
“Sure! Maybe best practice first. Try a simple retrieval? Just take off something and put it in there, then retrieve it.” Sarah encouraged gesturing to her top.
Zair was about to do just that... but suddenly Mara burst into the room. “Eep!” she cried out in horror. “Mart-”
The disguised-boy gasped. “Zair! uh- Sarah?” Martin held his breath as he had found their room... but forgot about Sarah.
“Oh hello Mara!” Smiled Sarah. “There's something here for you-”
“Whoa- haven't you heard of knocking!” Zair gave an indignant look. “You should be more careful-”
“It's okay Zair, Mara lives here too now!” Sarah smiled not at all fazed by a 'new girl' coming through the door. She had even been hoping to see her again!
Martin looked at the two. As he had burst into the room his hood had come off, showing the pink spirals of hair that now framed his head. “Ah- Sorry!” he suddenly blushed realizing Zair was changing clothes.
“It's okay,” smiled Sarah rather... confused at the exchange between them. “I'm just glad we're going to be studying together. Where did you go? Do you feel better now?” she tilted her head, noticing the pink hair style of her friend's hair. 'Cute.. maybe she's part fey?' It was quite an unusual color... no wonder she hid it like that. Pink hair was slightly envied as a mark of great mystical power. It added a great air of mystery to her friend... and cemented in her mind that Mara must have a lot of potential... if she just worked hard enough.
Martin glanced at Zair who had her arms still folded looking quite annoyed at him. He shrank a little at the demon-girl's scowling, with firey energy dancing around her horns. It wasn't his fault that he was assigned here too! “Well- I- I saw the Principal.. Yuanshi. She's uh- this.. sphinx lady.”
Sarah grinned happily. “Oh she'd so powerful! She gets her magic from lots of different bloodlines. She's not just part Lion, she's actually a sphinx Liger...”
“A.. Liger?” Asked Martin picturing the strange woman again. “Oh.. yes I think I see it now. She had these black stripes.” Her markings were so strange now that he thought of it.
Sarah nodded. “Yep. She's a master manipulator of the Elements. She can have each part of her juggle one element to near mastery perfection. Her usual Spell-Matrix is for her lion part to deal with Fire, the tiger deals with Water.. her wings deal with the wind, and her human part deals with Earth. She can even change that matrix to do some very unique tricks. I think Mrs Yuanshi is one of the most powerful teachers there is.” It was clear Sarah admired her a lot.
Martin however didn't know how to really react to any of this. He realized his hair was exposed and tried to tuck it back into his hood, very embarrassed by it- but more so by the dress. Now he was in a girl's dorm room... assigned to it. “She uh- gave me my student card.” he said taking the strange material out. It wasn't exactly paper... neither was it plastic. There was a weird energy to it.
“Oh your Iconograph! Let's see!” Sarah giggled and had a look. The beaming face of her friend showed.“Aww... you sure look happy. So lovely!” She looked at it in more detail but.. couldn't see anything else. A small glow? “Hm... I don't see your spirit connection though.”
“Spirit connection? I mean the photo is messed up. I wasn't smiling...” the disguised boy muttered. “The picture doesn't... look much like me.. does it?” It seemed so.. girly.
“It's more like a.. representation of your magic,” Sarah explained. How could she explain it? “Here take a look at mine.” Sarah showed her own picture. It had behind her an anthropomorphic fox-like aura with four tails radiating outward. The aura was orange, with strange lights dancing around. Sarah herself looked 'mostly normal' but there were tendrils of energy showing through her hands. Her eyes had this strange blue glow, reflecting this energy. There were also a few runes running through the energy. It's was kind of like a frozen portrait of her in mid use of her most powerful spell.
“That looks really cool,” Said Zair as they compared pictures. “I can't wait to get mine done. I'm imagining fire... lots of fire.” She giggled. It was going to be awesome!
“I'm sure that's exactly what it would look like!” Sarah laughed. “Yes I can almost picture it now.”
Martin of course.. didn't have any magic power of his own so... his picture didn't show any powerful auras or anything like that. It was just him.. with pink hair now, smiling. Actually, that might make some sense. It was when he saw magic that he was most happy... it only really existed in the magic world... in this world. Oh right- the pink hair. “Zair... uh.. I can guide you to the principal's office... shall we-”
The demon girl sighed. “Eh, it can wait? I really want to look at these clothes-”
“She really wants to see you soon!” Martin said exasperated. “I.. also need to talk to you.”
Zair was slow to take the hint but nodded. “Oh. Sure. See you soon Sarah.”
Sarah smiled. “Good luck! I can't wait to see it!”
Yuanshi quietly processed the latest paperwork to get to her desk. It had been an interesting start to the day. The sphinx-woman had been getting quite a few strange items lately... and she was suspicious. There were ripples in reality but... she couldn't see any reason to act against it. It was her nature to grow the magic, not restrain it, and everything seemed to be going in a 'good' direction, with some promising new students in the wake of the changes.
Suddenly, the Liger Sphinx felt a warm energy fill the air near her. She looked to the side and sensed a Great Spirit manifesting itself. She recognized her almost immediately. “Lady Kokumari...” She said with reverence. “What brings you to our humble school?” She gave a light bow of her head, which came across like a cat stretching herself.
The demon spirit almost cackled in laughter. “Humble? Ha!” Kokumari floated as a ghost, a naked imp that sat cross legged in the air. Her large horns glowing in the ambient magical energy of the school. “This is one of the best magic-girl schools possible. Everyone is so happy to just... be. The love of life is a wonderful source itself you know.”
“They are all girls, with great potential,” The sphinx-woman nodded. “I am sure they will safeguard the balance of magic when they are ready.” The sphinx replied with a lot of hope in her voice.
“Indeed! I just need to formalize a few... arrangements with you.” The demon spirit floated towards the sphinx going serious a moment.
Yuanshi knew that look and furrowed a brow. “There's no trouble is there?”
“Oh, no, nothing serious anyway. Humans seem to come and go... as do the magic folk.”
“Ah yes, my daughter is having a little fun on Earth with her father. They seem to be enjoying themselves.” Yuanshi might get a little worried given her daughter was young, but she trusted her husband. “They should be back next week.”
“Well, perhaps I can introduce you to my spirit-daughter? She is of my family now. Tahera Raes... a nice girl really. I want her to make many friends here.” She floated towards the desk to examine the scroll. “She's very... compatible with the energy of my family so... try to go easy on her. Not too many questions on her past, please. That stuff would only make her unhappy. She's not really allowed to talk about it anyway.”
“Noted... and she is a... Candidate?”
“Yes!” Kokumari grinned. “She may ascend someday... but until then, I need her to learn as much as possible. Please give her a focus on the history of demon-kind too. I need her to learn it all.”
A spirit candidate was considered a highly favoured mortal... to the point that it was sometimes hard to know where the spirit began and they ended. It was like they were avatars of that greater power. Sometimes they resented it, fearing they were losing themselves... but usually the spirits that they channelled were benign enough to the host. It was because they were so similar to each other that the integration could be formed in the first place. If they chose they could even join as part of that spirit, or become a distinct spirit on their own. There were advantages and disadvantages to such a transition.. a great perk was immortality... but there were loses too.
Yuanshi used a little wind magic to manipulate the scrolls like a hand, reading another page. “... Blocked from travel to Earth except for... Oh... so you're really going to let her... be summoned?”
The demon spirit blushed slightly. “Well... I don't see why not. I always allowed such things in the past and... there are some likely benefits. She has already made one pact with another that I approved...”
“I suppose I'll have to major her in the Wish Granting class then,” Yuanshi said ticking a box. “I hope she's ready for that.”
“I'm expecting great things from her!” The spirit giggled.
Martin and Zair were walking through the corridors of the school, heading back towards the Principal's office. Martin tried to adjust his clothing again.. the dress for some reason though was fitting.. a little too well. Not quite so tight as he remembered? How long had he been changing? Why did he only notice it now! He had to tell someone. He looked to Zair trying to make the demon-girl understand. “Look! My hair turned pink! Not only that but it's longer... much longer!” He could feel it trickling down his back. It felt like it was getting longer as the time passed. “What the heck is happening to me!”
“Uh... okay... keep your voice down, you sound weird.” Zair looked at him but her face was just confused. Why was this worrying him so much? “I don't really get it... you mean your hair wasn't always pink?” What the heck was Martin talking about? She stared at him blankly.
“What? No! Wait- you thought it was? Humans don't have pink hair!” He looked very worried now. “What's going on...”
“It wasn't?” The demon girl blinked as some realisation came to her. “Wait.. no it wasn't... was it? Did we add that as a disguise? No I couldn't uh... ” It was like she was half remembering it... half.. and half... her brain trying to process two realities that were contradicting in nature. Perhaps because she was half human and half demon, whatever was trying to change her mind was lagging with the other. “I can't quite remember... um...” She tried to think. This really was very strange. Her memories were being altered? That made the demon girl mad! Some clarity managed to surface though, when she examined the details of the memories. “I feel weird when I think about it. It's like I can't quite picture it.. actually you also look younger.” She stared deeply at him.
“Younger?” Martin had no mirror to look but he seemed to now be shorter.. having lost two inches in height. He felt quietly alarmed at the changes to his body. “I- I need to figure out what's happening. It might be this wand.” He took out the star wand... “Is it like- radioactive or something?”
“Aw, that's cute.” Zair giggled. “Where did you find it?”
“My mana crystal changed into it I think. I don't know. I think it happened when we went through the portal.” He looked at the star-wand waving it gently. It seemed to activate briefly at the motion with small sparks of energy coming out much to his surprise. It wasn't much but there was clearly some kind of glow. “Huh.. if this thing is changing me, maybe you better hold it.”
“Well.. okay... but if this turns me into a turnip or worse, a human, I'm going to be annoyed.” Zair took hold of the wand. It felt kind of strange in her hand as she looked at it. It was becoming lighter as she gripped it, until she could feel no weight at all. “What the..” she held it as best she could but the wand continued to become lighter and even ghostly. Eventually it just... vanished.
“Where... did it go?” Martin frowned. Maybe it was a good thing it was gone but... it didn't 'feel' gone. It was like he could sense it? He felt a strange urging on his hand holding it out.. the wand suddenly just appearing there. “Wow...” He stared at it. “Is it.. cursed?”
“Do you feel cursed? I think you would know if you were.”
Martin shook his head. “Things have become very strange since I arrived here. It's like.. whenever I think I'm about to get caught, something happens and...” Was that it? When he was almost caught his appearance changed.
He was about to speak when he heard that familiar ticking... getting louder. Though he couldn't see where it was coming from. It made him nervous.
A wall suddenly opened... revealing the clockwork girl behind it from some kind of hidden passage way. “My Lady?” it- she said with a humble bow as she stepped onto the corridor. The wall behind her closing almost instantly. “I have a letter for you.” She held out a parchment with strange stylised calligraphy.
Martin looked at the letter. Who would be writing to him? He slowly took it. “Uh.. thank you.”
“I will take my leave now Lady Mara.” The clockwork-girl took a step back as the wall behind her opened at the same time, as if responding to the exact timing. The door sealed and she was gone.
“Seems those weird automations can go between walls,” Thought Zair. “Neat.. but creepy.” She looked at the letter. “I know that... That's a demon seal,” she whispered. “You get that if you.. made a contact with a demon.”
“But I didn't make any contract!” He insisted. “Let me see...” He slowly opened the paper.
“To the Human Mortal, Martin Morrison, who will henceforth be on the path of Magic. In exchange, as per the request of the mortal, Martin Morrison, will exchange 'anything' in return. The proposal has been accepted. If no spirit contract is made, the Mortal will be returned to Earth and this contract will become void.”
“...anything?” Zair tilted her head. “You really made a request to a demon that you would give 'anything', just to do a little magic? Are you crazy! What did they take? Your soul? Your sense of decency?” she recalled him going into the room without a thought.
Martin gulped. “No! Well not to a demon. I um... I think I said that to my friend Terry... I didn't mean 'anything'! I mean I wouldn't do anything stupid. I just... really wanted to learn magic.” That was all he wanted. It was an innocent wish.. he was in a school of magic... was that why it happened? He wasn't lucky he just.. had his wish granted? “At least it.. makes sense now. This is because of some magic happening to me...”
“...and I'm caught in your wake. I knew it was not possible to be this lucky,” Zair sighed. Something sparked in Zair's memory. “Oh. Yes.. Terry... he was the one...” Zair muttered. “The one who ran away... Your friend isn't a demon though, is he?”
“His uncle married into demons. I remember I said he was lucky... that I wished I could go to the magic world and study magic for real.” Yes.. that was the moment everything changed... he was showing his Mana-crystal and wished so heavily he could use it...
Zair nodded. “Ah... so he is associated with our kind, by family links. Well, that's probably why it happened.”
“But... don't I have to sign something?”
“I'm not a lawyer. Maybe you can contest it, if you can find Terry and ask for a refund.”
“Urgh.. he's on Earth... miles away! I'll never find him.”
He paused as another demon-girl started to walk past them. Like Zair, the girl had hooves... but she was also quite buxom. It was certainly enticing to look at her. She appeared to be wearing a rather fetching pencil skirt with a uniform white top.
“Stupid school stupid place stupid-” She muttered as she walked past the disguised boy and Zair. Clearly lost in her own world.
“Friend of yours?” asked Martin curiously. Hoofed demons were kinda rare too.
“Nope. Never met her. She seems cool though,” she giggled. “Kinda want to race her someday. Er- anyway let me have a read of this contract...”
There were some amendment texts that were a little more complicated to follow. However for a demon contract where the person would offer 'anything' it was surprisingly benign. “From what I can guess, your demon contract says that you'll 'give anything'... so I think that means anything can be taken from you if you start to lose your chance to learn magic. It looks like the smallest amount is happening to you to fulfil that... probably influenced by the Spirit Bond that was granted.”
Martin gulped. “So.. as long as I study and get some magic.. nothing more will change?”
“Well.. hopefully. I think if you keep up your disguise for as long as possible, learn a spell- just one spell, that will satisfy the contract. Then you can just drop out and get back to your normal life. There is another get out clause.. you could just 'refuse' the spirit contract... but this wont undo any changes hat have happened to you already.”
“My.. normal life?” Did he... want that? He felt so torn... he was getting everything he wanted but.. it was taking away who he was. What he was. “But this is a girl's school... if they find out I'm a boy-”
“It won't happen.”
Martin sighed in relief. “...Thanks Zair,” Martin sighed feeling glad that she was encouraging for once.
Zair groaned. “... you misunderstand. It won't happen, because your contract wont let it happen. You'll probably turn into a girl if you're found out to be a boy... so you would be a girl and nobody would see anything else.”
Martin gulped. So much for encouragement. “So I have to look as much like a girl.. to not turn into a girl..?” That was twisted.
“Demon contracts, what can you do?” Zair laughed suddenly. “Your friend must have a wonderful sense of humour.”
“I guess.. I'm never going to be able to get to him though...”
Suddenly a parrot started to squawk and speak to the students. “Attention. New Entrants required to perform Binding ritual at the Well of Power!”
Zair and Martin listened. “I guess that's us! I'll sort out my Iconograph then we can do this other spell. Come on 'Mara', Zair winked.
“Yeah... coming.”
