WARNING: ABORTED SUICIDE ATTEMPT

“Discipline, discipline, discipline.” Valin repeated this mantra in his head, over and over as he prepared himself for the practical exam. He was sure that he had gotten a perfect grade on the written portion, not that he expected otherwise, as he had been training himself for it almost his whole life. Not that he hadn’t done the same for the practical, it’s just that the practical required certain innate qualities that Valin didn’t have.

Born into a famous family of mages, Valin’s first and only wish was to join them, to take his place alongside his brother, sister, parents, uncles, aunts and cousins as a part of their clan. But from birth it was apparent that the spark of magic that burned so brightly in the rest of his house was but a bare flicker in him.

That never stopped him though. He had trained himself, every day and every night, for as long as he could remember. One of the first things he learned was that he had an affinity for water magic, unlike the rest of his family, who were fire oriented . This at least made practicing easier- it was much less likely that he would destroy anything as a weak water mage than a weak fire mage.

And so, he had slowly built up his ability to manipulate water up to a point that he was rather proud of. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but he could shatter bottles with a thought now, and even managed to hold in place a fifty-foot wide, ten-foot-deep river for about ten seconds, though it had taken every ounce of mana that he had.

The practical didn’t gauge any specific skill set, it was just meant to determine how much power and control a prospective student had. The written exam was the part meant to judge the hopeful’s ability to learn and their discipline. All one had to do to pass the practical was to demonstrate a sufficiently impressive spell, usually in the form of a loud bang and a puff of smoke. Sometimes the test took as little as five seconds.

Valin was ready. He didn’t have much magic, but he had honed what little he had to a point where he felt he could impress anyone. He jumped slightly when he heard one of the proctors call out “Valin Alethea!” in a dry, bored voice.

He took a deep breath and strode up to the door. He pushed it, and went in.

It was a room typical of any training area meant to handle serious magical use, marble, engraved with runes to help soften the inevitable accidents that cropped up when large amounts of young mages were trying to perform under stress. It looked like there were, at most, five other hopefuls in the room at any given time. Valin took a look to his left and noticed a young, black haired mage, her face turning purple with effort before she produced a loud, neon green bang, and was quickly ushered into the next room, where she would receive her grade.

“You may begin when ready,” Valin’s assigned proctor said to him in a monotonic voice. He didn’t hesitate.

Launching himself into his performance, he began by condensing the water vapor in the air around him. He did not have the power to create water, so he had mastered the ability to pull it from the environment around him. Before long he had gathered a 5’ sphere of water in front of him. The proctor was staring at the ball of liquid with more interest now. Apparently, it was rare to see anyone do anything more than strain really hard to produce a sufficiently loud noise.
Valin took no notice of that. Now that he was using his magic, everything else fell away. He began by gently manipulating the water into a series of basic shapes, slowly becoming more elaborate as time went on, culminating with a series of delicate snowflakes of various sizes. He then returned the water to sphere form before starting again, this time constructing a natural landscape, complete with a mountain, forests, and frolicking wildlife.

He continued like this for an hour, methodically constructing everything from an exact replica of the campus of Cascades, the college that he was hoping to go to after he passed the test, to a water sculpture of his girlfriend Ariadne studying at a desk.

Through it all, he was dimly aware of the crowd that was gathering him. The examinations had come to a record scratch halt- most of the waiting students and proctors had gathered around him in mesmerized amazement. It was only after he had exhausted his strength and finally let the water fall to the ground that he realized the size of his audience.

The crowd burst into riotous applause, and Valin jumped slightly. He had honestly never considered how his art might be perceived by others, besides a way to get the judges to give him a passing grade. He had never shown it to anyone, not even Ariadne. He was never sure exactly why. Maybe it was the fear that it would be judged inadequate, just like everything else magical about him. As he looked at the crowd, praised for his magic for the first time since birth, he felt tears start to well up in his eyes. He wiped them away. Discipline, discipline, discipline. He gave the crowd a wave, before confidently striding into the next room, followed by the thirty-odd examinees who had finished their tests before they had been suspended.

The exams were evaluated by nine judges, all of whom were eminent mages in their own right. Despite the apparent boredom of the proctors, the exam was considered a very serious thing, as it basically determined the future of the magical world and approving someone unsuitable could have dire repercussions. Consequently, being appointed as an examinee panel judge was considered a great honor.

Valin tried to get a read on the judges from their expressions, but they were unreadable. They probably spent years training their poker faces, he thought to himself. He made his way over to the teleport dais and automatically mumbled the coordinates to his home, or at least to a spot close by. Teleporting directly into homes was frowned on, and in the case of his home, completely impossible anyway.

—

It was a week later that he got the news. These types of correspondence always came on bright yellow official stationary, so it was immediately obvious what the letter was. He’d been running out to the mailbox every day in order to check for it.

His heart was hammering a mile a minute as his clammy, trembling hands gingerly peeled open the envelope.

FAIL

Written 100/100

Control 100/100

Power 29/100

If you turn 19 before the next scheduled exam, a representative will be at your place of residence within 24 hours to perform the extraction.

One point short. ONE FUCKING POINT SHORT!

He should have known that it was too good to be true. Why did he assume otherwise, just because he had enchanted a few people in the exam hall? In the end, all he was was a carnival act, juggling balls of water in the air. It was ridiculous to think that it would impress anyone past a few easily distracted teenagers.

Valin could have lived contentedly, if not happily, if failing the exam merely meant that he would be denied entry to magical higher education. But it didn’t. Anyone who failed to pass the entry exam by their 18th birthday would have their magic stripped from them, willingly or not. That was what terrified him. He may have been weak in power, but he truly loved magic. The times when he felt most at peace were when he was carving delicate shapes in the air with water. The thought of that all being snatched away was heartrending.

And so Valin slowly walked towards the house, his head in a fog. He was still in his own head when he opened the kitchen door. Both his parents were there, waiting anxiously. He didn’t meet their eyes, he couldn’t. Not that he needed to. One look at his face told them everything. His mother opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.

“I’d like to be alone.” He said, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

—

The tears streamed down his face as he stared at the ceiling of his room. He thought he had prepared himself. But how can you prepare yourself for losing your only dream? It was the only thing that he ever wanted. From birth he had idolized his parents, his siblings. He was so proud to be part of his family’s legacy. It would have been one thing if his mother and father had pressured him, had expected him to join the family trade. But no… He remembered a moment from his childhood, one of his first waking memories. He wasn’t sure what had prompted it, but he had said to his mother, a big smile on his face, “I want to be like you, mommy. I want to do magic.” She had smiled back at him, but something was different about it. There was a sadness in her eyes, which he recognized even at that age. More and more memories came flooding back. Begging mom and dad to train him whenever he got the chance. Endless nights sneaking out to practice down at the river. And all for what? Nothing. Nothing.

What was left for him now? The mundane world. He thought of all the ordinary colleges that his father had dragged him to, in the hopes of distracting him from his inevitable failure. The thought of going to one of them, of being completely cut off from the world that he so desperately wanted to join made him feel ill. Not that he had much choice in the matter. Tomorrow a member of the Sodality would be here to strip his powers and leave him as banal as any other average human.

He sat up. No. No. Never. He would never allow what little of the sublime that he had managed to achieve to be taken from him. He glanced over at his dresser where his Swiss Army Knife lay. He could feel his heart beating frantically in his chest as he stood up and retrieved the knife. Was he really going to do this?

Was he really going to do this? Yes. Yes. He had no choice. He wouldn’t, couldn’t live a life without his dream. This was the only way. He raised his right hand high over his head and steeled himself for the pain. He had to keep quiet, or he might be heard. It would be simple for them to rush in and…. He imagined the scene tomorrow morning, his corpse in a pool of blood on the floor as his mother rushed in, and he brought the knife down as hard as he could.
He buried it in the mattress, and let out a long, strangled cry, then fell to the ground, his head in his hands. He sobbed for what felt like hours, tears pouring onto his shirt and down to the floor. He couldn’t do it. Beyond the pain that he’d cause his family, he just didn’t want to die.

“I’m sorry.” He heard a soft, feminine voice. He looked up, expecting to see his mother’s
comforting presence. In his grief, it took him a few moments to process what he was seeing.
His bed faced the door into his room, and it was in that direction he was looking. But instead of seeing the front of his bedroom, he saw a forest, blending seamlessly with the walls and floor. He could feel the wind blowing on him and hear the sound of birds chirping, but he barely noticed either. All his attention was drawn to the woman that was striding towards him.

Or was she a woman? From the waist up, she certainly was. She was very shapely, delicate, but not emaciated. She was wearing no clothes, as far as Valin could tell, and no jewelry. He felt a familiar stirring between his legs as he stared at her large, pendulous breasts topped with prominent chocolate nipples. Her skin was a light pinkish brown. Her face was an immaculate oval, framed by her voluminous chestnut hair which flowed all the way down to her lower half. All this was typical… well, maybe not typical, but certainly within the realm of possibility for a human. The only unusual thing about her upper body were a pair of long, pointed ears that poked through her brown locks. It was her lower body that was the real wonder.

From the waist down, she wasn’t human, but had the body of a deer, on top of four skinny legs tipped with even toed cloven hooves. Her fur was a subdued red with white spots running across her lower body’s back and sides, with a little tail at the end. Valin had never seen or heard of anything like her in his life.

His thoughts immediately turned to the earliest warnings that his parents had given him about magic, about the devils and their realm. But this creature was nothing like the descriptions of devils that he had been taught or read about. Devils were completely alien, made up of animated non-living matter, like rocks or water, and never formed human shapes. Their realm was a wasteland, completely inimical to organic life. The very air there would kill a living creature within moments. Volcanos dotted the landscape, and hypercanes flitted across the oceans daily. In other words, nothing like the idyllic scene that the deer-woman was striding out of.

She was staring into his eyes as she moved towards him, a gentle smile on her lips. “I can feel your despair… your longing.” Valin nodded, and he felt a few more tears flow down his cheeks.
She had reached the threshold that separated her reality from his, and as she did, her body started to change. Valin gasped as he saw her forelegs thicken, while her back half wafted away into nothingness. Soon she had the lower body of a human, a pert butt and shapely legs. She seemed momentarily surprised by this, breaking her eye contact to examine her new body. She nodded, as if in approval. All that was left to suggest she was anything but a human girl was the pair of pointed ears, which seemed to have diminished slightly.

She sat on his bed and patted the spot next to her, as if to invite Valin over. He hesitated, but only for a moment. This may have been a bad idea, but short of running into an alien world he knew nothing about or jumping out a third-floor window, there was nowhere he could escape to.
He sat on the bed next to her, blushing slightly as his gaze momentarily fixed on the spot between her legs and her breasts. She seemed to expect this and giggled before placing a delicate hand underneath his chin and gently moving his head so that his eyes were staring into hers. For the first time he noticed that her eyes were amber-gold, another otherworldly quality.
“Your desire… Your craving called me here. Tell me… What is it you lust for so desperately that it can reach all the way from your world and into mine?” She asked. Valin didn’t question howthis extraplanar visitor could speak his language.

“Magic. I want magic.” He said it without hesitation.

“Very well.” She replied, and before he could react, she leaned forward, pressed her hands to his chest, and kissed him on the lips.

From the moment of contact, Valin could feel something being pushed into him. He recognized it as magic, but it was unlike the little dribble that he had spent 18 years building up. This was a flood, a torrent, a waterfall. He couldn’t have produced this much if he had a hundred lifetimes, and she was pouring it into him in seconds!

Before long they were rolling around on the bed, passionately making out, the woman stuffing him full of mana all the while. Normally, filling a vessel with more magic than it could handle would result in a large explosion and glowing pile of ash. But as the energy penetrated Valin, he felt it transmuting, reshaping, expanding something deep within his soul, a place he had never noticed before. Every cell in his body felt alive, set afire by his extradimensional lover.

Eventually, the deluge started to subside, and their ardor cooled off. The woman rolled off of Valin and gave him a mischievous smile.

“Was that good for you?” She asked playfully.

Valin found himself staring at the ceiling again, but this time he was crying tears of joy. He had never felt more vital, more awake in his life. The woman’s energy was throbbing, pulsating inside of him, and now it was his energy.

He was so enraptured from the woman’s gift that it took him a while to notice that his clothes had somehow evaporated! He blushed deeply, and reached down to cover himself. He was completely soft; It had been a different sort of lust that wracked his body as he’d made out with his new friend.

“It only seemed fair,” She said with a giggle, lazily waving a hand to indicate her nude body. Valin couldn’t help but stare at it, but she didn’t seem to mind. She was doing the same to him, in fact.

Valin felt his cock starting to stir again, when the woman shook her head, as if to throw off a daze.

“Not that that doesn’t sound like fun, but don’t you want to try out your new gift?” She asked. She seemed genuinely curious about it.

Valin nodded. He didn’t want to cheat on Ariadne anyway. He waved his arms like he had a hundred times before, and attempted to produce a ball of water.

Naturally, it did not happen like a hundred times before. Instead of the usual ball, a massive torrent of water erupted from a vertical plane the size of Valin’s room. It was as if someone had connected a portal from his room to the nearby river.

It was glorious, but at the same time, terrifying, especially when it didn’t stop when Valin turned off the magic. Luckily, he wasn’t the only mage in the room. The woman jumped up, made a few motions of her own, and the water was soon disappearing as fast as it was being conjured.
It wasn’t too much longer before the deluge stopped, and the portal disappeared. Valin sat on the bed, open mouthed, while the woman was now standing next to him with a satisfied expression on her face. Neither of them were wet, but there was a yard wide strip in the center of the room that was absolutely drenched.

“Well, I’d say that that was a success, don’t y-“ The woman spoke, but she cut off as she turned to Valin. She stared at his hair curiously.

Valin was just about to ask what the matter was, when he felt something strange. A sensation on his skin, as if someone or something was gently pouring water over his body. The feeling started to turn inward, and as it did, he began to change.

The first thing that Valin noticed was a tickling on his neck as his hair started to grow. He reached up to grab a handful of it, and he noticed to his shock that it was a vivid purplish blue.

That must have been what the woman noticed, he realized. It wasn’t stopping, either, it was getting longer and longer until it started pooling in his lap. It was lustrous, shiny and beautiful. The color of it changed as it flowed downward too, starting with an almost purple color at the root, and shifting to a glacial pale blue at the tip. It was absolutely gorgeous, though Valin would have appreciated it more if it was on someone else’s head.

Next, the feeling spread out over his skin from his head downwards, like a little wave spreading over the sand at the beach. Valin watched in horrified fascination as his skin softened, all the little bumps and imperfections smoothing out and disappearing. As he watched the change spread down his body, he noticed that his skin was lightening a few shades, from pink to pale. As it traveled down his arm, he watched his freckles evaporate into nothingness.

When the change reached his toes, he felt it rebound and start back up his body. As it moved up his calves to his thighs he noticed that the hair on his legs was disappearing, leaving them completely smooth. He snatched his new hair off his crotch and stared as his pubic hair receded. He shivered slightly as he felt the cool air of the room waft across his penis and scrotum. It felt kind of nice. Soon the change reached his stomach, chest, arms, and finally his face. He didn’t have to shave much; His hair was fairly light colored and fine, but it had been a long time since he had had a completely smooth face.

Through this all, the woman was watching as intently as he was. Valin looked up at her, and she looked back.

“What’s happening to me?” He asked, his voice shaking. He was trying not to let his panic show.
Her eyes snapped up. She stared at him piercingly for a few moments. “I-“

She cut herself off again, and Valin instantly knew why. He could feel a pressure surging behind his face as it started to shift. Valin’s face was unquestionably masculine. He had a strong jaw and a large forehead. But not for long.

The first thing that changed was his nose. He couldn’t help but reach to feel it as it shrunk down, becoming dainty and slightly upturned. His forehead was next, the prominent ridge of bone slowly receding into nothing. He felt a small tickle as his hairline crept forward, leaving his forehead small and feminine. The reshaping of his face made his eye sockets shallower, and his eyes look larger and more expressive. His eyebrows tickled slightly as they thinned and moved slightly higher on his forehead. They were now the same purple color as his roots.

Valin’s cheeks were the next to change, swelling from their original, slightly gaunt shape to round, feminine plumpness. His lips puffed up slightly, forming a sexy pout. As he was experimentally smacking his new lips together, his jaw shifted, becoming rounder, the angles gentler. His chin reshaped, becoming slightly more pointed and narrow. He was now blessed with a delicate, beautifully feminine face.

Desperate to see what it now looked like, he crawled across the bed toward the full length mirror on the right wall. As he did so, he could feel the changes surging down his throat. His Adam’s apple shrank away into nothingness. His vocal cords started to tighten, as if an invisible hand was tuning a guitar in his larynx. When he finally wiggled his way in front of the mirror, he let out a gasp, and his mouth formed a perfect O of surprise.

His face was beautiful. Soft, sensual and erotic, it literally took his breath away. He blushed deeply as he felt his cock come to life. He was getting aroused by his own reflection! His eyes had changed color as well; They had taken on a glacial blue, just like the end of his hair.
The next thing he felt was a coolness on his ears. He reached up to brush his new hair away and noticed that they were shrinking slightly… but also that the tips were narrowing into points just like the woman who’s magic was presumably transforming him. He could see her reflection in the mirror- she seemed just as surprised as he was.

The magic was surging more intensely now within him. The waves were cresting, piling up, one on top of the other. It felt as if every atom in his body had come to life. It was heady, almost exhilarating. He would have enjoyed it if he wasn’t in the process of becoming a girl.
Because that was surely what was happening to him. He was changing sex, becoming female. He felt his whole body being compressed as he watched his reflection in the mirror shrink smaller and smaller. He was fairly tall for a guy, but he soon realized that he wouldn’t be as a girl. He lost one inch… three inches… six inches… He started to feel dizzy as the whole world shifted out of its usual perspective. In the end, he lost more than a foot in height.

The magic turned inward next. Valin watched as it moved down his arms, the toned muscles that he had built up becoming barely noticeable. His hands became small and delicate; The nails became longer and more rounded. It moved to his torso next. Valin half expected to feel boobs ballooning out of his chest, but apparently that was for later. His upper body became daintier, and then his waist started to cinch. The six-pack he had been working on withered away until all that was left was a smooth tummy. His taut butt came after that, becoming round and heart shaped, and one again losing the muscle it had had. His hips widened nicely, giving him a lovely hourglass figure. The only thing left were his legs, which became shapely and beautiful. Just like his arms, the muscle on them disappeared into supple softness. His feet shrank down until they were delicate and dainty.

Valin’s heart started hammering as the magic disappeared from his toes. There were only two things left to change. He had seen plenty of breasts and pussies before, though almost all of them belonged to girls on the internet. He never imagined that he’d have a set of his own.
Sure enough, he felt the energy start to pool behind his newly shrunken pecs. The first thing to change were his nipples, which became larger and darker. He couldn’t help but reach up and touch them. They surged with arousal as they became erect. He let out an involuntary moan of pleasure, then turned a deep shade of crimson as he heard his changed voice for the first time. It was so melodic and sensual! He briefly wondered what it would sound like if he tried to sing, but was soon distracted by the flesh behind his nipples slowly filling out. He watched in awe as they swelled bigger and bigger underneath his newly delicate hands. When they finally stopped, they were large and pendulous, but still in proportion.

Immediately, the energy poured from his breasts to his penis. Valin immediately spread his legs and stared in wonder as his cock rose to its full length. He watched, both horrified and enthralled as it slowly started to shrink. He could feel it more clearly than he ever had in his life; Every air molecule seemed to stimulate it as it got smaller and smaller, until all that was left was a tiny nub of a clitoris. Below his new clit, he could feel his scrotum and testicles pull closer to his body. His balls withdrew completely, and it was a decidedly odd sensation feeling them wiggle around through his abdomen until they happily settled in place as his new ovaries. A shiver ran down his spine as he realized that he had truly become female. What was left of his former scrotum split down the middle and formed a pair of soft lips that completed his new vagina.

Finally, it was over. Valin lay there on the bed, still staring at the spot where his cock had once been, where his pussy was now. It took him a few moments to shake himself out of his reverie. He slowly pushed himself off the bed and got to his feet, fighting off another wave of dizziness from the change in height. He had stood in this same spot before, countless times. His brain expected one thing, but her eyes told her another. He turned to the mirror, and finally got a good look at his reflection.

He was stunned. He had become an otherworldly vision of feminine perfection. His long purple blue hair flowed down his back and tickled his ass and the tops of his thighs. His large, rounded breasts jiggled gently on his chest. His deliciously curvy hips flowed into lovely, shapely legs. He was beautiful, sexy, erotic, and whatever other synonyms you could think of.

He stared into the mirror for what seemed like hours, enraptured by his own reflection. It was only when he heard a noise behind him that he remembered that there was someone else in the room.

Valin turned around to see his transformer staring intently at her own hand. Valin tilted his head curiously at the other woman, before the otherworldly intruder turned to Valin, gave him a small smile, and said, “You might want to cover yourself.” And just like that, she faded out of existence as suddenly as she appeared.

Valin had only a few seconds to blink before a massive fiery blast obliterated the wall in front of him.