The Unintended Wish Chapter One by Aurum Copyright © 2021 Aurum All Rights Reserved.

“Remember to pick me up from the airport in two-weeks. I’ll get a ride from someone else since you’re busy.” Michael said.

“Of course, I’ve got you brotha, just message me before you take off so I know when to expect you.” Hunter said while giving his roommate a bro hug.

“Will do. But I have to know, did you work it out with the magic lamp.” he said with his lopsided grin.

“Yeah, for just $50 the next time you see me I’ll be a Greek God or something.”

“Just be careful what you wish for.”

“You only live once.” Hunter yelled before shutting the door to the apartment. He didn’t really expect anything to come of it, how many birthday wishes or silent prayers had gone unanswered? This was the real world and wishes only came true with hard-work or amazing luck. He told the old geezer as much when he insisted on getting $100 for it. Hunter's obvious skepticism allowed him to talk the man down to $50. That was still too much, but the purple and black color combination was unique so that was worth an extra $20.

It was a short-drive to the guy’s house, which was a nice treat since traffic was sure to be bad on I-5. On the side streets it took little effort to arrive make it there, and what a sight it was. ‘I thought it’d be some creepy house, but I could live here.’ Hunter thought when he saw the well-manicured lawn and the large oak door. With a ring of the doorbell he pulled out his wallet so he could get on with his day; there were better things to do than talk with a nutter.

“Good day, Hunter I presume.” Alfred said with a grandiose bow.

“Eh, yeah that’s me.”

“Please come in good chap and I’ll retrieve the lamp.” He said with a British accent.

“That’s okay, I need to run some errands if you could just get the lamp real quick.”

“But good sir, do you not wish to make sure it works.”

“I trust you, but I really am in a hurry.” Hunter lied; he didn't have anything planned for the day, but the guy set off so many red flags. No way was he going into his house.

“Very well then, I shall return in a moment.”

Alfred left without shutting the door. Instead of waiting in the nice parlor, Hunter took a step back and pulled out his phone. ‘Bro, this guy is nuts!’ he texted Michael.

‘You just figured that out lol.’ Michael replied quickly.

‘He thinks he’s like a freaky butler or something, maybe I should have gotten him a Batman costume instead of money.’

Before Michael could reply Alfred returned with the lamp in hand. After handing him the $50 Hunter tried to grab the lamp, but the crazy man held it tight. “Remember what I said; if you make the same wish ten nights in a row it will be granted, but do be careful with your phrasing. She’s worse than any attorney I have ever met.”

“Right, I’ll be sure to be careful.”

“Very good.” Alfred replied before handing it over.

Hunter was quick to get back in his truck, tossing the lamp in the passenger’s seat. Less than two minutes, and it still felt like he was around that freak for far too long. Instead of brooding on it, Hunter played Eminem’s, Careful What You Wish For. The lyrics were just too perfect given what everyone had been saying. “So this is it, this is what I wished for. Just isn’t how I envisioned it…” After the song ended, the music continued with autoplay, which was fine since the drive only lasted one more song.

Upon getting home he went to make sure the lamp worked. Of course, if it didn’t, he’d just eat the loss, no way was he going back to Alfred’s house. ‘If I never see him again, it’d still be too soon.’ Hunter thought, laughing a little at the man’s expense. Despite that, how could he pass on the nonexistent possiblity he wasn’t crazy? Hunter had considered several wishes: money, power, and true love were obvious ideas, but those seemed too dangerous, they always went wrong in movies, maybe the money would be blood money or he’d be busted for laundering if it just appeared in his bank account. Power could get him killed no matter how he worded it. And true love was the worst, what if she was made a mind slave, or only he fell in love? Hunter had even considered making a safer small wish just in case, but Alfred had emphasized that he’d only get one. Hunter could never forgive himself if turned out to be legit and he wasted a wish. Instead, he would wish to be his dream self as he envisioned it. That qualifier should keep it from backfiring and would give amazing benefits if it turned out to be true.

‘My dream self is to be intelligent, biologically immortal, athletic, charismatic, and handsome.’ Hunter affirmed to himself. ‘I mean I’m already smart, but I want true intelligence, the kind that puts me five steps ahead of anyone else. I’m in decent shape, but I want the hand-eye coordination of the greatest athletes and the strength and dexterity to rival all others.’ Charisma and his idea of handsome were easy enough to picture in his mind. With that thought, Hunter grabbed both sides of the lamp and made his wish.

Each day Hunter repeated his mantra, held the idealized vision in his mind, and repeated his wish to the lamp. On the tenth day he felt like an idiot, doing it once was embarrassing, but repeating it for over a week was just pathetic. Thank goodness Michael wasn’t around to catch him or he’d never hear the end of it. Before he grabbed the lamp, he made sure to get his picture his wish clearly, better than any other day since this was the one that would prove he’d wasted his time and mental energy. “I wish I was my dream self, as I envision it.” Hunter said with both hands resting on the glowing lamp.

As expected, nothing happened. That is, until Hunter let go of the lamp and the entire room went dark. Well, it didn’t go dark, but became a negative version of itself with black overtaking the beige walls and his brown sheets turning into a silverish-white color. Even the lamp inverted with the liquid turning into a light purple and the purple plasma becoming jet black. Panicking, Hunter knocked several things off the desk, but they froze in mid-air as a woman popped out of nowhere. She had long black hair, violet eyes, and pale skin. If it weren’t for her black lips and the edges of her eyes being as black as her hair, she could have passed as human. Instead, she looked like a mesmerizing demon.

“I see you truly seek my power. I never give wishes upon the first request, nor do I grant them to those who are unsure of what they desire. It prevents the fickle from getting a great boon while stopping accidental wishes from those who do not realize I reside here.” the woman said. Her voice was seductive, but it was also terrifying. Of course, that could have been because of her appearance and the way the world changed and froze in her presence. “I see you wish to be your dream self as you envision it. Very well.” she said before clapping her hands.

Once she clapped, excruciating pain shot through Hunter. It felt like every bone in his body was breaking and his muscles were tearing as her magic worked through him. But it was worth it, to be a hero among men, a genius even among scholars, and the charm and a nye eternal lifespan was worth this bit of pain. As the pain grew worse Hunter was sure he’d lost consciousness, it was worse than any accident he’d ever been in, and without the adrenaline to keep the pain away, he definitely passed out.

As the pain subsided and he regained consciousness, Hunter imagined he’d be taller and built like a tank. As he opened his eyes, he realized that was not the case. The dresser that used to come up to the bottom of his hips now came up to his chest. His chest, which had not grown the muscular pecs he expected, but a mound of fat larger and softer than anything that belonged on a guy. Panicking, Hunter tried to look in the mirror, but the glossy black surface didn’t show his reflection. The demon snapped her fingers once she realized what Hunter was trying to do and the mirror returned to its normal reflective surface. His breath caught; he wasn’t the idealized version of himself. Instead, the reflection showed a short girl with wavy black hair that went down to the middle of her back, an upturned nose, and a very attractive figure. She had a moderate sized bust with a narrow waist and wide hips, but not overly exaggerated. It was an athlete’s body for sure, but this couldn’t be him, this was not his dream self! To confirm what he already knew to be true, Hunter tried turning and moving, the reflection followed him perfectly. That reflection had the rounded bottom he always thought was sexy, but it was on his reflection. Nothing about that was appropriate for a guy that wanted to be the pinnacle of masculinity.

“What is this?” Hunter demanded before gasping at the sound. Not only was the voice two octaves higher than normal, even the pattern of speech was different; ending with a lilt instead of the deeper note he used while being assertive.

The demon had a mischievous grin as she said, “Is this not the exact body you dream of when pleasuring yourself? Is that not the girl of your dreams you see in the reflection?”

“I didn’t say the person of my dreams…” Hunter paused, the voice still shocking his ears. Ears that were pierced with dangling amethysts that matched her eyes. “I said my dream self as I envisioned it.”

“Exactly, this is body of your dreams as you normally envision it. I know it isn’t the body you intended on getting, nor is it the body you imagined when you made your wish. Too bad you didn’t wish for the ‘perfected body as you were currently envisioning it’ or perhaps even ‘the body I dream of having for myself’.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Ah, but I looked at all of your dreams, fantasies which are really just daydreams, and passing fancies which are really just unrefined dreams. By far this was the most common occurrence, followed by a slightly taller girl with brown hair and green eyes. The vision you intended on was only the sixth most common. How was I to know when you were so vague with your wish?” The demon said with a surprisingly normal laugh.

“Fix it.” Hunter demanded.

“You know what, since you are so unhappy with the result, I will change you back to how you were if you wish for it. You don’t even have to be specific, just say ‘I wish this was just a dream and nothing really happened. Then I’ll undo it.”

“Can’t you give me what I wanted?”

“I don’t give multiple wishes, you’re lucky I’m offering you a chance to undo it. Reworking reality is quite tiring so I cannot and will not do it twice. Turning this into a vivid dream is simple enough, just wish for it.”

“Fine. It beats this. I wish this was just a…” Hunter paused, he wanted to finish, but for some reason he could not continue. “I wish this was just a…” he failed again, “What is this, why can’t I finish the wish.”

“Because the girl of your dreams wouldn’t wish to be such an ordinary guy." the demon said, cackling like a banshee this time.

“You overwrote my personality? What else did you change?” Hunter said as he felt his first panic attack setting in.

“Breathe my girl. You aren’t the kind of person to panic over something like this.” she said, pausing to let Hunter breathe as she’d commanded. To Hunter’s surprise he was able to calm down quickly, but that only replaced panic with dread. “I had to change very little. Luckily you fantasized about shy nerdy girls instead of airheads and bimbos. Therefore, you will find interacting with large groups and strangers quite challenging. On the bright side, your intellect has gone up dramatically. That super-genius 300+ thing would interfere with your fantasies so I had to set it at around a 180, which will still make you one of the most intelligent people of all time. You’ll also notice you’re extremely talented at all the things you imagined in a dream girl such as chess, tennis, and playing the violin.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“No, every pattern you had reinforced in your fantasies is there, things you ‘intended’ are there if they do not interfere with the reinforced fantasies, and everything else is pretty much the same. I filled in the details with minimal intrusion where nothing was specified.”

“What else?” Hunter asked, knowing there had to be more.

“That’s pretty much it. I made you bilingual since you always admired the trait. You’re also an excellent coder and a good mathematician now.”

“What about the biological immortality?”

“That was smart, I made one person immortal, but not invincible, so once he got beheaded, well… you wouldn’t want to be him.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Obviously." she said dryly before continuing in her normal tone. "You will never age or grow, try to be careful or you’ll probably become a lab-rat or something.”

“Will my hair grow at least?”

“Your head will.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow, hoping his thoughts were mistaken. If he could grow his body hair it’d make him feel slightly closer to the guy he was. “I see you don’t like my answer. Well, your dream self never had body hair except for a little patch down there, so your body will always be smooth as a baby’s bottom. Even better, your nails will grow to that length overnight, but will grow no further since she usually had those nails and your eyebrows will always be perfectly sculpted. Isn’t that great, most women would kill for those traits?” she said sadistically.

“But I’m not a woman.”

“Are you sure about that sweetheart.” she said with more sarcasm than Hunter would have thought possible. “If you didn’t want a smooth body then you should have imagined a girl with a hairy body at least once.”

Ignoring her remark, Hunter asked, “And my other intentions like strength, flexibility, and reflexes?”

“You will be very dexterous and have incredible reflexes, but for some reason you usually fantasized about weak girls. You won’t even be able to open a pickle jar by yourself now.”

“Crap, that seemed cute on a girlfriend, but not on me.” Hunter said harshly, “wait does that mean I can’t even bench press the barbell now?”

“Thanks for catching that, it wasn’t in enough of your fantasies for me to be sure.” she said with the snap of her fingers. Hunter could feel his strength wither once she did, although there wasn’t much strength to lose.

“That’s messed up; change it back.”

“I could.” she deadpanned.

Hunter didn’t even bother to ask if she would, he already knew the answer. “Guess I’ll have to spend a lot of time in the gym.” he lamented.

“You remember how I said you couldn’t grow?”

Hunter was afraid of where this was going, but he asked anyways, “and…”

“You can learn and improve skills, but you cannot gain weight or muscle mass. That would ruin your dream figure.”

“Seriously!? What about my intentions and you even said that part wasn’t consistent?”

“That’s a fair point. Fine, I’ll allow you to gain up to 20lbs and you can improve your muscle mass by 50%.” she said with the snap of her fingers, “but it will be very difficult for you to change your physique even with diet and exercise.”

"Where would a 50% improvement put me?" Although that sounded like a lot, considering how weak he felt, that didn't necessarily mean much.

"Using the bench press as a guide, if you reach your peak, you'll be able to bench 60lbs."

"Are you kidding? That basically makes me an invalid."

"Not at all, your legs are much stronger. You can probably squat 145lbs. Aren't you glad you only liked the thought of women being unable to bench an empty bar?"

Hunter let out a feminine huff before whining, "That's not even my body weight."

The demon giggled before proudly proclaiming, "You only weigh 97lbs so that's actually pretty good."

"So what else is this curse going to do to me?"

“I'm glad you asked. As you prefer a certain style on your dream self, I will make it very uncomfortable for you to wear things outside of that. You can, but it’ll never feel right on you, so I doubt you ever will.”

“This is not my dream self." Hunter said emphasizing each word for effect.

"Of course it is, or you wouldn't be this way now."

Hunter let out a roar, which sounded like a kitten's shrill compared to his lion's roar he had not ten minutes ago. "You're such a sadist."

“I am not, I just want to make sure your dream comes true.” she said while fawning mock hurt. “But I will need to mark you as mine since this wish took a lot of energy.”

“Mark me?”

“Right, well I’m claiming your soul unless you want me to undo the wish.” the demon said through a laughing fit since she knew he couldn’t wish to undo it.

“I… I…” Hunter wanted to yell that he hated her, but the confrontation made him so uncomfortable he looked down at his little feet. Instead, he mumbled “what does that mean?” without looking up.

Grinning at his discomfort she said, “that’s my girl. Basically, instead of rejoining the universal consciousness to help humanity grow when you die, I will take that spark. As I am already wise enough, I will consume it for energy. Don’t worry, you won’t suffer nor will you miss out on some blessed afterlife, it will be just like it was before you were born.”

“That’s not as bad as I thought.” Hunter said while looking up again. Although he doubted her, there was nothing he could do to stop it, so he tried to believe in she was telling him the truth.

“It’s really not, but to make sure there are no issues with collection I will need to mark you with my seal. So where do you want it?”

“What seal?”

With another snap of her fingers an elaborate marking with swirling lines forming an open circle appeared. Each line ran in pairs, one violet and one black. It was actually a really pleasing insignia and was perfectly symmetrical despite the random chaos of it. “So do you want it on your lower back or inside your hip?”

“I don’t want a trap stamp!” Hunter gasped.

“Too bad, I want you to have one and it is either there or on your forehead.”

Hunter wanted to argue about it, he really did, but that gave him anxiety. Just thinking about confronting her was beyond terrifying. He tried to pretend it was because she was a powerful demon, but he could tell that wasn’t true. With a sigh, he pointed to his left hip. He felt a burn that kept drilling all the way through his body and then kept going deeper while the insignia formed a perfect tattoo.

“Last things before I go. One, I will always know what you are doing and thinking now that you wear my mark. That is for my amusement and I generally don’t watch because you people are quite boring, but I can spy on you whenever I feel like it. Two, I have rewritten your identity so all documents will show the new you. Congratulations Megan, if you’ll look at your driver’s license, you’ll even see it’s a girl.”

Hunter was shocked to hear that. The demon spying on him was creepy, but not surprising given what she’d just done in an instant. However, the thought of all his documents being rewritten, “what about databases?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be smart? How can your identity be rewritten if I just change your plastic cards and paper documents? However, your friends and family will not have their memories changed because I will enjoy watching you try to convince them you are who you say you are without any proof. Once they truly believe it is the old you without any doubts, then any photos they look at will show you as if you were born this way. Naturally you will see those same pictures as the girl you’ve always been. Any questions?”

"I wasn't always this way, it literally just happened."

"Tell that to your birth certificate." she said through her giggling fit.

Watching an all-powerful demon giggle was off-putting. So he whined his last question, “Why are you making it so hard?”

“Because it’s fun.” and with that she disappeared in a flash of darkness as the world returned to normal. As the colors returned, the papers and pens fell to the floor.