By Jasmine Monica

Sarin gets his instructions from the Goddess and begins to make the arrangements to carry them out. Emily gets too curious and forces the entire story from Sarin. She has a friend with her that helps out with the story.
and Sarin has some difficulties with the assignment

Emily had become so curious about Sarin's time as a girl that she Demanded that Sarin tell her. He knew that he had put the story off for too long and made the preparations. Sarin knew that Vakia had been told the story by his mother. He wanted Vakia there for his support that night. He expected Vakia to be sitting with his sister Emily. What he did not expect was to see her with Actonia when he entered the drawing-room, ready to finally tell her about his time being a girl.

Emily saw seething anger flash in Sarin's eyes when he saw Actonia sitting there. Emily spoke,” Actonia was part of the story, and she wanted to be here to explain her role in the story, Sarin. Vakia allowed it.”

He was still furious.

Actonia said to them, “Sarin activated my memories of those times. Everything Sarin is going to tell you is the truth. But I want to start from my point of view first?”

Sarin nodded to her. “Go Ahead.” Sarin knew whatever Actonia was going to say would probably be demeaning and humiliating to him.

“My part in this began when the Moon first appeared. I had to figure out a plan of action. I knew we couldn't have another male on the throne, so I began looking through all of the spell books to find a way to give Patenia an edge to get the crown. I found it after weeks of searching, and then I made my way to the Capital. I found Patenia in school with her friends and the teachers. I made friends with them all, but Patenia was more difficult. She didn't like me. The teacher liked me and knew why I was there. I spoke briefly to Patenia, and she didn't like me at all. It took a long time for her to warm up to like me. They were so suspicious of me. Her friend Dalala kept wondering if I was harassing her. But I knew she was the fulfillment of the prophecies from the first minute I touched her. I saw her as the King under our three moons. I saw such a great vision, and many of us wanted it to come true so much. We would have done anything to anyone. We have been living under such dark times. Vakia, you simply can't understand what it is like for us to live in areas without a friendly Duke overseeing it. We live in fear for our lives every day. We can be burnt at the stake if we are discovered. You have it great here.”

Vakia snorted rudely. “I do know what that is like. But, I still believe in protecting the innocent. Had I been there I would have stood by him and against all of you. I don't believe in human sacrifices, and neither does our Goddess. That is why your brother is suffering, Actonia. So please don't justify the horror you committed on Sarin and just tell us the events from your point of view, and then we will hear Sarin.”

“I knew it was Patinia from the first second. I saw her future as the King. So I informed Lady Celestia, and we gathered in a small flower shop that doubled as a worship for the Goddess. Celestia snuck in during a vicious rainstorm in which all of the purgatarists were out watching everyone. Aanya was already there waiting when Celestia made her way in. I informed them that Patenia was meant to be King. She was the Vessel of the Goddess And that I had a plan, but Patenia had to be strong to be able to do what was required. We met at school, and I dropped the idea a few times. She was intrigued and giggled at the sight of seeing you in gowns and such. But she turned them down every time. It seemed so cruel to her.”

“What?” Sarin said, so confused. “She seemed to happy I was made a girl, and so eager to keep forcing it on me. and so very cruel, I can't believe she was ever against it.”

“She was so against it,” Actonia stated. “ and loved you,” Actonia said.

“Where did that love go?” Sarin asked nearly in tears. “She enjoyed my suffering and my torment and hurt me so much. I wonder what changed?”

“Probably finally having power over you. And years of pent up anger at Patinea's role in the family and you teasing her. She got to unleash. And we had all agreed that we had to be very harsh on you to force you to live as a young woman. What finally convinced her was...”

“I know, the marriage with Runtek. Yes, I know.” Sarin said. “After father died, and I was backed into a corner and threatened with war, I was not ready for such pressure. I agreed, but I think I would have stopped the marriage. But Patenia knew, and I told her, so that convinced her to take the crown from me and make me a girl. I still have night terrors of it all. Her yelling so proudly with so much emotion. “There is no longer a male heir to the throne. Sarin is female and my younger sister. That makes me the rightful heir.” I have nightmares of her voice, mocking me.”

“And she was so cruel to me. Her cruelty was relentless.” Sarin said, sobbing in tears.

Actonia really didn't expect any of this. She had to ask, “Sarin Can you explain it to me? I don't understand why you think we were so cruel to you. We didn't beat you, we didn't have you physically abused. You weren't tortured. You weren't put on the rack or lashed. We didn't tear your skin off. You were just made to live life as a girl. You had your freedom to go places, meet people, have associations. We didn't keep you imprisoned that entire time. What was so cruel about it? That was how we all lived. And we endured. We did enjoy it, but it wasn't that cruel.”

“You were all desperate enough to destroy my life to end it all,” Sarin snarled through his tightened jaw. “You know it was a cruel life. Don't play that with me. You know many of you were unhappy. But you are a girl, you are all girls. I know it sounds sexist, but I'm not.”

Actonia snorted when Vakia spoke up. “I can personally vouch that Sarin does not have a sexist bone in his body. I saw him interacting with the girls. He was wonderful and very caring. Many of those girls he helped fell in love with his style. You should have seen him. He helped them do everything from the grace courses, personally instructing and demonstrating it himself, to the ritual of feminine force. He is not sexist. He is making a point about the differences between what boys and girls want in life. And he does have a point. So go on, Sarin. Tell her why it was so cruel.”

“You are a girl and like it or not. The corset, gown, makeup, and all of that is what appeals to many girls. We don't force it on you. Men don't force that look on you. You all do it yourself. And even You Actonia, you want to look pretty. But you want more in life than that, Patenia wanted much more and looking pretty didn't appeal to her. But, she doesn't speak for the millions of girls in the world that do want to look little and sexy, and have those clothes. Going out, fighting, getting dirty, being in danger isn't what appeals to many girls. That's a life boys aspire to. When you took that away from me, and made me into a girl and then forced me into the life of a traditional girl who does only aspire to look pretty and host parties. That was the cruelest thing you could have done to me. And it made it worse watching you all aspire to everything you wanted while denying it to me. You and your friends went out with Patinia on her war campaigns, forcing me to stay there. It was so cruel. It was unbearable. It was worse than the beatings and torture. I would have preferred that. I was trained to handle that. But taking away everything I wanted. That was just cruel spite for it happening to her, but she was a girl. It's different.”

Vakia spoke up, “stealing his dreams was one of the cruelest things you all could have possibly done, Actonia. That was a horror. And it's hypocritical to throw what he said about girls not fighting in his face after you made him a weak girl, but all of you girls went out and fought. Proving it all wrong, but you forbid him. Cant, you see how totally sadistic and cruel it was? Actonia, how would you like someone forcing you to remain isolated and controlled? If you are going to operate under the assumption that being a girl makes you stronger and such, then you should have proven it to him by letting him find his own way in life. But you acted like hypocrtics and sadist.”

Then vakia added, “Those men that say girls can't fight aren't entirely wrong either. Could eighteen-year-old patinia have fought well without that magical armor that enhanced her speed and strength, could she had fought with that heavy armor and handled that sword as well as her younger brother did?”

Actonia admitted, “No.”

“Our bodies aren't built to handle that life, Actonia. We are physically weaker. There's a reason men go out to war, not women. Some women can handle it, but even those women often find that even the weakest men can outmatch them on the field. That's why you made Sarin into a girl, and he found the life he wanted was no longer suited for him. That added to his agony and unhappiness. It was so cruel.”

Emily spoke up, “What Sarin said is so right. He makes me fight with him, but I don't enjoy it one bit. I see why Sarin thinks I need to be strong, and I gladly do it for him. Now I know why he feels he needs people protecting him. So you turned him into a girl just so he couldn't become King? But how did another girl become the King?”

Sarin spoke up. “It's like us. I was Patinia's younger brother. The law says the male child gets the throne. I was male, and even though she was older, I was the heir. When she turned me, female, there was no male heir, and it went to the eldest girl. Her. And there was also that they had performed such a display of power, and were all there intimidating and daring anyone to oppose them. It was also a show of force to terrorize the people into obedience. It made their point that their regime was a regime of terror and intimidation. It wasn't by the consent of the people, and it showed that by the repeated attacks on the palace and the rebellions, they kept having
to put down.”

Actonia knew that's what he wanted to think. “We only had that one major rebellion, and that was from the Ansley's. It had less to do with the people's unhappiness as her wanting to be the first female queen. That's why she pushed so hard for her child to marry into the royal family. And the only attacks on the palace were from the priests. They weren't general attacks by the people. The people were thrilled under Patina's rule. But I do understand your point, Sarin. I admit that we were very wrong. I still say we were right to set Patinia up for the throne. You were not ready yet. And we had the prophecy to follow. But we handled it so wrong. We shouldn't have forced you into a life you hated. We should have helped you find the life you wanted and made you a big part of it all.”

“Yes, that was the most painful of all. Actonia,” Sarin said. “I repeatedly told you all that I was loyal. I told my sister I didn't have to be King. I respected and loved her. I was loyal to her. There was no reason to fear me fighting. I wouldn't have fought her. Had anyone tried to rally to me against her, I would have shut them down fast. I would have informed on them, and fought them with my sister. I wanted a place on my sister's side. I told her I loved her. She hated me, she didn't want me to have any place in the new order. She sidelined me, ignored me, and forced me into a powerless life whose only role was to look pretty for her. That was the cruelest thing of all. That's why I did what I did to her, and I'm still not sorry. It makes me happy.”

Vakia glared at Actonia and said, gritting her teeth. “I don't think you understand why Sarin felt what was done was so cruel. I think you need a lesson on what it is like to suddenly lose everything that makes you unique in the world.

Serin had his strength and the training that he worked on all of his life. And lost it all in a second. You have never had to live the traditional life of a girl that you all so willingly forced on Sarin. You never had to endure that because We are witches. We are granted powers that raise us above other women, so we don't have those fears most women live under. So you don't know why those rules exist. You never had to deal with it. We can rise above them, most women cant. How could Pattinia fight without the magic enhancing her?” Vakia laughed. “That's why not many women are warriors. You have given extreme powers that allow you to go where you please, you had no restrictions on you growing up because you never needed them.”

“Actonia, you are so powerful that no one had to worry about you. You always went where you pleased. You had become so powerful as sixteen that the High leader of the Hekatin and the professor at the school often deferred to your judgment. You walked with her as an equal. You even become the chief Adviser to the King. Your power is that extreme. So what if it is all of a sudden taken from you? What kind of life will you live if all you have is stolen from you?

Actonia tried to think about it, but it was such a horror she couldn't even try to imagine it. “I can't even imagine such a thing.”

Vakia grinned at her. It was a wicked chilling grin. “I can do that to you, and I think you badly need a lesson on what it is like to suddenly lose everything that makes you special. Something you worked on all of your life. I know you are only twelve, but it's good you learn it now, so you know what it's like. You will know how cruel it is. We will help your brother, and then I will give you your lesson.”

Then Vakia said, “So, we will go to the capital. Take your brother and the girls we need. And we will see Celestia at the capital.”

Serin tightened. "I have been wanting to see that bitch for so long. I know I gave her a beating, but she forgot it, and that was someone else. It wasn't Sarin. I want to talk to her.”

“She is a different woman,” Actonia said. “Celestia doesn't even know what she did. She won't have many answers.”

“Can you restore her memories of that time?” Serin asked.

“Yes, but do you want her back?” Actonia inquired.

“She is the same, if the situation presents itself, then we will see her do the same thing. It won't, but she would. You may as well restore her memory, so I can talk to her about it. I really want some answers. Like, why did she hate me so much? What did I do to make them want to be so unbelievably cruel to me? Why did she hate me? What did I do?”

“Sarin, you did nothing,” Actonia admitted. “You teased your sister, relentlessly. That made her very spiteful, and she loved throwing all of that teasing back in your face when you were the younger girl instead of, the stronger brother. But that doesn't justify it at all. She should have been the bigger person and let you learn your lesson. But that doesn't explain why the rest of us were so cruel to you. You never did a thing to me, Fawna, Celestia, or the rest of us. Danala liked you. The thing was that you were the heir. That's it. There's no other reason Sarin. We had to prevent you from getting the crown. You getting the crown was such a threat, we felt we had to totally destroy any chance you had of regaining the crown. We felt is you did, we would be killed. We felt if we failed, we would be killed.”

“I may have in the beginning after you did what you did, but not after a few months when I learned all about your religion and the Goddess. I loved her, I loved you all then. There was no longer any threat. As I said, I wouldn't have tolerated it. I kept telling you that. You refused to listen. I would love one chance to do it over, as the prince, and learn it all before that event and prove to you I could have done it. You wouldn't listen and continue your plot. I would have to round you all up that night, and then I get the crown. By the time my rule is established and firm, I release you, and you see the priests all arrested. They no longer are a threat, and your religion is free. And then we can begin the campaign to restore the Goddess. If I was taught about it, I could have done it. I would love to have not been turned into a girl. I know that experience helped me and has endured me to those girls so much. But it's still an experience I could do without.”

“You would lose so much,” Actonia said.

“Yes, I know,” Sarin admitted sadly. “But that experience is still such a horror. I can never really be a man like this. Emily sees it, don't you, Emily?”

“Yeah, You are young, but I don't see you becoming a manly type man. You have so many feminine ways. They have been ingrained in you.”

“I am more feminine than I am masculine. Thank you for that actonia,” Sarin said acidly. “But we have to plan. Actonia, you know the girls we need, so contact them and ask them to help us. We will meet tonight and make our way to the capital. Id really like to see Edwyn.”

“Edwyn is a little younger than four right now. I don't know what you want to talk about. Actually, I think meeting you will be a shock he may not be able to handle. Edwyn has many of your memories that he can't comprehend. He actually thinks they are his at times. Switching places with him has given him some of your experiences. He confronted stone, thinking that Stone was abusing him.”

“So we won't meet Edwyn yet. Let's get through our classes and prepare for our trip tonight.”

Actonia stayed with Emily that night and they slept.

Their sleep was restless, considering all that they needed to do. Then Serin woke up and got himself bathed and dressed. He had to go talk to his mother and then get ready for school.

Edwyn got his carriage ready and traveled back to the Dukes Manor in town, and his mother had been told to be ready to meet him.

Aanya wasn't sure she was ready to see her son yet. She heard all that he had accomplished in the past few months. Sarin's carriage stopped in front of the Manor and he saw Aanya standing up on the steps in front of the large doors ready for him. He got out and walked up the flight of steps to meet his mother once more.

“It's still hard,” Sarin admitted.

“I know,” Aanya said softly.

“But, we need your help. I did the trial, and I passed. I have been made a full member of the Hekatin, and a teacher at the school. I teach the five-year-olds and various ages in the witchcraft classes. I need your help.” Sarin said. “The Goddess has assigned a difficult me a difficult task during the trial. So I need your help.”

xxxxxx

“What do I need to help you with?” Aanya asked.

“There's a boy that I hurt during my time with Lilith. I changed him the way I was changed. I did it for vengeance against Actonia. The boy was her brother. I wanted her to feel the pain of someone close to her. I have to change him back.”

Aanya was horrified. She knew her son had been ruthless, but she feared she had nothing to say about this matter. Anything she said about the sheer cruelty of changing that boy could be thrown right back into her face. Even though, the reasons for the actions had vastly different motives. Aanya turning him was supposed to save his life from assassination, and to help a better person become the King to do good across the Kingdom. It had good motivations, even if it ended up hurting him. Sarin changing Actonia's brother was just revenge. It was cruel spite with no good motives. But she feared Sarin would refuse to see that and simply think they hated him, and that's why they did what they did. It would be hard to blame him for thinking that either. They were all so cruel to him.

So all actonia said was, “What am I supposed to do for that boy?”

“We need many powerful women,” Sarin said. “It required twelve women to change me because I was sealed by Mars, and it took many women to break through that to change me. Jerrica is sealed by Lilith, and it will take a great number of women to break through that. And you are one of them. We also need some women in the capital. Celestia, Fawna, and Danala are also chosen. So we must be ready to go to the capital tonight. Can you be ready?”

Sarin saw the sun starting to peak out. It would be dawn soon. Aanya confirmed, “Yes, I will be ready.”

“Good, I must prepare for my classes. I will meet you tonight, Mother.” Sarin said, and the word hurt him.

He went back into the carriage and went to the girl's school. He met Met May in the classroom and began working out the lesson plans for the day. They were just about the same as the previous day. And they would see if they could build on any of it, or if they had to keep working on the basic language skills and the letters. They were presently on the vowels and how they worked to form the words. Serin thought they may be able to begin full sentences. May was less hopeful. Sarin had confidence in the girls.

As he and May worked on the plans for the day, He began to realize the injustice of all of this. These girls were taught these things, but they were also taught the religion of the Goddess. That topic was snuck in many of their lessons.

The boys were taught different things. And it wasn't really fair, but that's not what really bothered Sarin. He knew it was an injustice that put girls at a disadvantage.

But what Sarin wasn't taught put him at such a massive disadvantage against his sister that it totally blindsided him in such a horrific way. Magic was real, there was a prophecy, and he couldn't ascend to the throne. Not only that, he had to be destroyed, so he couldn't even be considered a threat to her. That was the stakes, and no one taught him. Boys weren't taught about the Goddess, and that destroyed him. This was something that was going to have to be corrected. He wanted Prince Sarin to be educated about the Goddess at a young age. There had to be a way to prepare him if he was the prince so he wouldn't be blindsided by Pattenia and the witches. He could blindside them. The only thing was that if he started learning and knew what they planned, he may consider them the enemy that had to be destroyed.

The girls were so happy to see him when they arrived. He heard squeals and cheers as they ran to him. He greeted them with such a huge smile on his face, and he was all too happy when class began. They started working on the letters again and how they are put together. They worked on the sound each letter made and its name in the alphabet. They worked on that for about fifteen minutes and moved on to the vowels and why they are needed. What were silent vowels? Then they began working on forming full words. Most girls got that by now, they were able to build on yesterday's progress and began working on complete sentences. Sarin would write out sentences on a large sheet of parchment and had the girls read them. Most of them could do it. There were some that were struggling, and Sarin helped them through it, and they were able to read the sentence by the end of the class. May found herself sidelined as Sarin stood in front, leading most of the course. She was amazed at how the girls were able to trust him so much.

The girl that was having trouble with the vowels last class had done her extra work writing them down twenty times. He looked at the paper and passed her. She was so happy that she now knew it.

Then Sarin went to the class for more feminine graces. That class moved from simple walking and sitting, to how a girl presents herself. Hand motions when talking, when moving around. How to hold their head and how to talk to people. They worked on how to speak to men vs. how to talk to other women and how to present themselves. The class worked on a simple greeting, and Sarin went up and greeted one of the girls in a formal, feminine way. It looked so silly for Sarin to greet another girl as a lady, then curtsy by the knee and bow her head. Some girls snickered, and they worked on that. Then they worked on how to greet other men. That had different expectations.

Sarin thought it was so silly that they had different expectations for greeting.

Then the class moved on to graces at the table, and some of that was even worse. It looked even more demeaning for a boy to demonstrate feminine grace at a dinner table. But he did it, and the girls followed. Sarin got a little frustrated with this. It wasn't so much that he had to sit there and demonstrate it. What frustrated him was that he was expected to impart this to a new generation of girls that would be expected to do this, when they shouldn't. Girls shouldn't have to do this. They shouldn't have any different expectations when sitting at the dinner table than boys. They should be able to fill their mouths like boys, slouch, and put their elbows on the table. Why shouldn't they? This was stupid.

Class ended, and Sarin dismissed them. May confronted Sarin and asked, “I see your strain. Do you feel teaching this is beneath you?”

Sarin shook his head. “No. I feel it is beneath them. Does it bother you to teach this to girls? Teach them these expectations that we will place on them and expect them to follow these? Boys aren't held to this at all. Boys can slouch, boys can totally fill their mouths with food. They aren't expected tog reet people any differently. Why do we have to teach girls to?”

So that was his frustration. “I agree, and it is stupid, but that is our society. In a way, girls are held to much higher standards. Some like to say, because we are better and stronger. And much of these standards aren't imposed by men. Its other women that came up with this and expect these things. Most men could not care less how a girl greets them, or if she violates a social grace. It will be the girls that make a deal of it.”

Sarin looked down and said, “Yeah. I wasn't getting mad that I had to do that for the girls. I felt like I was betraying the girls by teaching them to do those things. I had been taught all of this when I was a girl. Those lessons destroyed any masculine pride I had. It showed me a new side of life that I was unaware of and helped me realize my mistakes. I had grown and learned from my experience. But now I feel that I am just reinforcing my previous attitude on those girls. I don't like it.”

“We are all expected to teach the girls these things,” May said to him. “You aren't reinforcing your old attitudes on them. That you realize its injustice is a good thing. Perhaps you can show that to the girls, too, and help them understand while you are teaching them. I will show you how I do it. There's just one little thing that I ask of you.”

Sarin looked up, “What,”

“That you quit showing off all of your feminine graces. I saw how you overdid the books and the table manners flawlessly. You didn't need to go that far.” May smirked and had a twinkle in her eye. Then the two started laughing.

“That's the princess part of me. I was expected to do it all flawlessly. Princess Serinina had very high standards to keep.”

They went through a few more of the classes until Sarin made it to his favorite one to teach. He got to teach the Hekatin courses to those chosen few girls. This was such an honor, and he felt so much pride being able to stand there as a boy and teach these girls. This was much more useful than the feminine grace courses. He began to wonder if there was a way to combine this with the grace courses so he wouldn't feel like he was betraying the girls.

Serin believed in feminine power and was able to say those lines with pride while helping the girls, then he teaches the girl that they have to do these particular graces that almost demean what it means to be female. He hated that. Now he was wondering if he had a chance to avoid being a girl if he would take it. He wouldn't be able to stand here with such pride and instruct these girls without his experience. Sarin began to feel so conflicted

Actonia came in near the end with her brother Jeric and selected four girls from the class and asked them to stay as the rest of the girls left. She many girls and women with her already.

The girls she selected stood there as Actonia told them that they were needed. “We have a special task to accomplish. My sister is really a boy, and we need to turn him back. So we need the help of many girls to combine their power to help Jeric return. That is why you are here. Do you agree to help me restore my beloved brother to his actual sex?”

With Serin there encouraging
them. The girls all agreed. Then Actonia told them. “We will need more powerful witches. We need to travel to the capital tonight. Will you agree to go with us?”

The girls also agreed, so they all got into two large carriages, and Serin, his sister Emily, Actonia, and Vakiya and Aanya all filed into another large carriage, and they started off toward the capital.

The trip was very long. Serin watched outside for some time as they went down the road and through the city gates and off into the wilderness. He watched as they went past the first imposing fortress that defended the way to the dukedoms center of their government and went on as the troops waved to them from the majestic towers. Then they went on into the arid wilderness of their desert lands.

Then they met the next smaller fortress that defended the borders of their land. Those fortresses alone contained a garrison of two thousand troops.

They had been traveling for more than twelve hours at that point and had stopped multiple times for the girls to get a break.

Aanya had become very concerned with her son at this time. She saw the fierce look on his face, and it only turned harder as time went on. She could tell that Serin was having a complicated problem with this. And it was making him furious.

Then out of nowhere, Serin demanded, “Aanya,” Sarin had reverted back to addressing his mother by her name instead of the title mother. “Did you ever love me at all?”

“Yes, my son,” Aanya replied with a pained expression as his question struck at her heart. “I know what we did was difficult, but we did what we did out of love for you. It was the only thing we could do to protect you.”

“Nothing you did protect me.” Sarin replied. “It only made me helpless against those who wanted to kill me. It nearly cost me my life. You did what you did for your religion, and for Patinia. Not out of love for me. So please be honest and just say you had no love for me. Or you would have struggled to protect me from those who wanted to hurt me. You would have sought to educate me on the matter instead of ripping everything from me. And we had Actonia, you could have demanded answers from her. Like who was going to kill me, when would it happen, and how so we would know how to counter it. I bet if she saw someone killing Pat she would have acted to counter it instead of just removing her from her position as they did me. So don't give me that. It's clear you had no love for your son, or you would have protected your son, instead of destroying him.”

vakia said, “Sarin is right. If you really loved him, you would have protected from, and helped him instead of crushing him.”

Then Sarin said, “None of you ever had any intention of restoring my manhood, did you? If you all had your way, I would have lived the rest of my life as a woman. You all lied to me. I know you could have restored me, but you couldn't because you wanted Patinia to be the King, not me. You wanted me to suffer.”

“There was a lot to consider. People wanting to hurt Patinia, and your child you were carrying, but you ended that. We couldn't restore you.”

“Huh,” said Sarin. “I was a boy that was pregnant. That was devastating. Even the Goddess seemed happy with what happened. So, can anyone answer why I should give a rats ass about Actonias brothers suffering or why I should restore him when none of you would have ever restored me? Just one reason?”

Actonia begged, “He was innocent. He never did a thing to hurt anyone, especially you. Why would you not want him restored, especially after knowing what he is going through.”

“I was innocent too. It didn't matter to any of you. My suffering was irrelevant. Especially to you, Actonia, who was the inspiration for the entire thing. To quote you, “I think being female is better. He must be strong, and if he isn't strong, then this will make him stronger.” Sarin smiled evilly.

Those were Actonia's exact words to Patinia to justify the horror they were about to inflict on his life.

Antonia's face lost all of the blood as she went ashen. “You won't do it, will you?” Actonia said. “Even though its a command from the Goddess herself.”

“She didn't care about me,” Sarin quipped. “Why should I care what the Goddess commands. I may do it, but I'm having serious reservations about this.”

“You have devoted yourself to the Goddess as a member of the Hekatin. You must obey her.”

“No, I don't,” sarin said firmly. “I will do what I feel is right. I won't do this unless someone can give me a good reason, and I doubt any of you here can give me any reason to give a damn what any of you say. Not Aanya, not you, Actonia, Perhaps Vakia, since she has been the only one aside from Emily to give a shit about me. So Vakia, can you think of a reason?”

“I know how you feel,” Vakia said softly. “you want to hurt them so much the way they hurt you. But you are hurting an innocent boy. You were an innocent boy, and you feel justified. But you are becoming just as cold and sadistic as those you hate. Please don't let this hated consume you Sarin. You are a great boy, and many of those girls have endured themselves to you in little over a day. They love your sweet nature and how you care. Don't become this person who doesn't care, please.”

“Okay fine, but don't think I'm forgetting about you, Actonia.” Sarin said bitterly.

“I haven't even done anything to you. I am only eleven your ass.” actonia said.

“Yes, you have. You were sixteen before you were eleven. I have one more question for you. Why did you keep addressing her as my prince, and my lord, using male titles when you were all about female empowerment? That doesn't make sense, especially when you said being female was stronger.”

“Seems I was right,” Actonia said. “You were made female and accepted your femininity, and you proved you were stronger than Patinia. Much much stronger. Making you female was our big mistake.”

“No,” Sarin said. “Making me female and then abusing me because I was female was your big mistake.”

They saw Sarin's features soften some but not that much. They all knew that Sarin was going to unleash holy hell once he was in the capital and would confront Celestia. Sarin was getting so angry.

The Carriage made its way into the capital, and two large carriages stopped in front of Celestia's small cottage. The girls all filed out and stretched their limbs. Aanya, Sarin, Actonia, and her brother Jeric as well as Vakia, all went into Celestia's small cottage house.

She was sitting at her small table, sipping tea. She had been made aware that they were coming to ask for a request.

She looked at the little boy that she had been informed had been the youngest child ever, and a boy to pass the witches trials. She stood up and smiled, “I am impressed, young man. What you have achieved is so impressive. I just don't know what to say.”

Sarin glared at her with the most profound look of hate. Celestia didn't back down from the dark glare. She was an imposing woman herself and held her ground. “I don't know what your problem is, a young man. But this is unacceptable.”

“Knowing you the way I do, this is very acceptable.” Sarin countered. “I know you. I know what you did to me. I know you don't know yet. But let me help you with that.”

Then Sarin said a few words in the language of the Goddess, and her power flowed through his entire body in a way it rarely ever did before to anyone else. This boy's power was immense. He locked his mind with hers in a way she wasn't ready to accept. She tried to fight it, but she couldn't resist his power. Suddenly Celestia felt very small and weak.

Sarin found her hidden memories of the unknown past. Then he unlocked her past, and it came flooding through her. She saw everything from the planning stages, her history with Actonia, the planning the coup, teaching Sarin as a girl and how cruel she was to him, and how dismissive she was of his feelings as they destroyed his entire life.

Celestia backed away. “Oh my god, so that's why you are so angry. But I did what I did because it was the will of the Goddess. We had to change you, young man. So much was at stake.”

“Yeah,” Sarin said acidly. “it's not like anyone could have just, oh I don't know, explain it to me. Or even after you changed me, you didn't have to be so cruel. You all could have helped me find my own way instead of forcing me to the sidelines and ignoring me. Patinia, you must force Serenina to live as a young woman and your little sister. Force serenina. Yeah, was that the will of the Goddess, or was it your sadistic pleasure to see the crown prince destroyed and publicly demeaned in front of everyone. Even months later, after her rule had been made very secure. You all never intended to restore me. You were just cruel, Celestia.”

Celestia replied, “I seem to remember a savage beating you gave me to, young man. You showed you were equally as cruel.

“thanks to you. But I guess it's not right to take it all out on a young man who did nothing, or I would be no better than you. We need to restore Actonia's brother Jerrica. That was the command from the Goddess herself. We need your help, and lady Fawna and even Alama.”

Celestia agreed, “Okay, let's go to the girl's conservatory, and I will get the women you need to help this young man. Go on over there.”

Serin gathered all of the girls back into the carriages and traveled over to the girl's conservatory. They did so under the ever so watchful eyes of the vile purgatorists and their flame insignia on their cloaks.

The girls filed into the girl's conservatory and waited until Celestia returned with lady Fawna and Danala. They had been told what they were going to do.

Sarin worked with the women on the spell they were going to use. It didn't sound right at all, but Sarin insisted that it was right. Celestia seriously doubted it.

But they had little choice
as they got Jerica in the middle and started chanting the spell. Then they held their finger up and began feeding their energy into Sarin, and he touched the young girl Jerica. Nothing happened except they saw his features mature as a woman. And it seemed the seal trapping him as a woman strengthened.

Then Sarin suddenly shouted, “I refuse to restore you Jerica. You will never be a man again. You have Actonia to think for your suffering. I refuse to obey a goddess that gave so little consideration to my feelings.

Then Vakia and Celestia started chanting a spell and sent it at Sarin, who easily brushed it away with a flick of his finger. Then suddenly, all of the women were flung back into the wall.

Sarin stood there with his energy shimmering around his body. He smiled wickedly and rose his hand up.

The energy shimmered around Actonia, and Celestia lifting them up into the air. Rings seemed to surround their throat. Then Sarin tightens his hand into a fist.

Actonia and Celestia began gagging violently in the air as their throats constricted. They were unable to gasp for air. They choked and spit dreweled down their faces. The women were dying.

Sarin laughed

Vakia found herself so helpless now. This boy had totally immobalized every girl in the room. She was unable to feel the goddess’s power. She was as helpless as the rest. Vakia tried to call on the Goddess’s power, but she was unable to reach it. Sarin had did something to everyone in the room.

Actonia and Celestia were still withering and gagging as Sarin held them both up in the air.