Mirror Changed Chapter 11

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~Courtney~

The last week had been a frustrating lesson in patience for the dangerous and well dressed Courtney. Though ultimately vindicated by the others of her small grouping, she still felt angry at herself for losing the young magus in the local mall. She swore that the other Chosen had fled into the theater, but after making a bit of a ruckus she had been forced to give up. The threat of the breeders police force didn’t really scare her off. There was little they could possibly do that would more than inconvenience her.

It was near to where her quarry had been most of the evenings this week that she once more found herself. She had been there just at the right time to luck out and the little youngling had wandered cluelessly back into her sights. Of course that was lucky for her, not lucky for the little wastrel. It was her own fault though and she knew it. Wouldn’t admit it, even to herself, yet still she knew it. Self rationalization was a good thing through the years for Courtney, it let her do things that an otherwise closer to sane person would not.

She had wanted to deliver the newly born magus to the clan. She was determined to bring in the Magus no matter what, even though before she had been following the strictures that her clan imposed. Sure the breeders that comprised all but the smallest percentage of this planets intelligent species, that did not make them the true dominant though. It was her kind that were truly dominant, the true Apex of what was and could be. They just did not yet know it. If Gaia was to have its way then they would given time.

For now all Courtney needed to do was to wait for the appropriate moment. In fact it was with ridiculous ease that she was able to track the other Changed individual.

Courtney didn’t think much of her, she was always so distracted and oblivious to her surroundings while in her birth form. The newborn Chosen may as well have been standing still like a deer in the headlights for all the good that it would do.

‘These new Changed were like so much sheep,’ Courtney thought to herself. Not much better than lower humanity that Balance strove so hard to keep the veil of ignorance pulled over their eyes. Making them not much more than mere animals. Yet in their arrogance they lost their place and put themselves far and above all other species. It was not balance as far as the Changed of Gaia felt, but rather incredible imbalance that would only result in the end of life on this wonderful planet.

When she had first taken the Gift of Gaia and made her first Change the world had been different. At least the lower humans had a fire in their guts and were not afraid to fight for what they believed in. She often sneared at the pampered and brain dead existence most of humanity lead these last few decades. Her quarry seemed to be cut whole cloth from that mold. Such a waste of the Gift. Yet, it was supposed to be an opportunity according to her Elder. To bring this weak minded Magus in, so that she may be swayed to her Clans way of thought. And if she was not? Well, that would just be a shame was her malicious thought on the matter.

Unlike the youth she followed and derided, the flame haired woman did not completely lose herself in thought. She was focused on her prey, regardless of any errant observation or introspection. So when the youth once again entered the mall in which Courtney had lost her last she was properly in place to follow. Due to the late hour almost all the stores were closed. So it was with no surprise that the Magus entered into the cinema again. It was the same one where she had lost her prior.

Not this time though, instead she was closer to her prey. Almost entering on the heals of her target in fact. The only people left in the mall were the guards, the hangers on, and the movie goers that would soon head back to their tired and dismal lives.  The less people around the better. If Courtney could force the young Magus to follow her then it would be better. If not? Then she would force the Magus to Change and then carry her out. That would be fine as well.

The youth seemed to finally clue in to how close she was. Courtney had felt that the Magus had known she was being pursued, but now that awareness became much more apparent.

‘Good.’

Now the real encounter could begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Jayde~

So far so good. Especially now that the creepy slasher movie poster had been taken down in the lobby. If I survive this I am never letting anyone take me to one of those. Nope, never again. Never ever.

The entrance lobby was nice and quiet. Some people were hanging out, like I was attempting to do. Others either in line to get snacks or possibly waiting on someone else. So, with a good view of the mall hallway outside through the semi mirrored windows I could cover both entrances and be able to avoid nasty creepy stalker chick.

I was really tired of this weirdness popping up in my life. Hopefully things could go back to the old rigamarole. I almost laughed at how I had been grousing about conformity and mundane comfort not long ago. Perhaps there was a lot more to be said about the comfort of being a fast food worker. At least I knew what to expect from it.

“Shit!”

She was already inside.

How had I missed her? Seeing the psycho close up once more I was stunned by her looks. Her skin had a light sheen of moisture on it. Like either from sweat or the mist from outside lingering after the weather. Her current outfit was the same cut as before except that both the halter vest and the tight leather pants were a dark blood red. She had some type of leather bands on her forearms. From wrist to just below the elbow, and a bronze coiled band on her upper right arm.

Her expression matched her predatory appearance. She was an Amazonian Huntress come to life. All that was missing was the cheesy theme music to go with this surreal situation.

I felt my muscles tighten. My fight or flight body reactions demanding I move. For just the small amount of time I think my body almost moved to confront her. Instead common sense reigned my actions as I ran out the other door as fast as possible. The restroom had worked before to avoid her so I ran in there once again. For all of her stockings she at least seemed somewhat to follow the law prior.

Once inside a let out the breath I had not realized I had been holding.

The room was a standard modern mall aesthetically pleasing room. Heh, aesthetically pleasing. Of all the things to notice while running from a potentially very bad no good ending.

I walked further into the main area of the restroom, doing so I caught myself staring at the tomboy wearing my clothes reflected in the mirror. Perspiration visible on her face the sweat showing on the skin on her chest. The shirt was still damp from the rain outside clinging to her torso. Outlining her small but shapely breasts and taught belly. A frightened expression on her cute pixielike face. Eyes wide with a level of fear and lips parted as she panted breathlessly. Her eyes dilated wide as she looked back at me.

As it was in the reflection I knew that I showed the same fear on me. I still felt shame looking at the pretty girl in the mirror though. With her face flushed with the same adrenaline as mine was. I turned my gaze away, feeling dirty as if I was a voyeur steeling her image from someone else. I really did not need this distraction with a crazy person chasing after me.

No matter of how I felt about my reflection I was here, in this restroom, having a near meltdown. It would be best if I could calm down a little while I waited the psycho amazon out. There was even the convenience of the sinks to quickly rinse the sweat and rainwater off. Moving into the front of one I did my best to keep my gaze downward and off of Her.

I took a few calming breaths as I brace myself on the porcelain fixture before I splashed some cold water on my face. Habit made me look up as I did so. Only to catch a full down blouse sight of Her. Embarrassed, I stood fully upright and covered my chest so that I wouldn’t see her hardened nipples. I wasn’t sure how long I waited at that point. I turned around to look at the empty restroom as well as keep watch on the entrance. Across the small area was another set of sinks and their mirrors. Set up so that their reflective surfaces didn’t give that eerie infinite effect.

While I waited I contemplated Her again. Sometimes looking her in the eye, sometimes looking away. To me She was someone else. I don’t know why this was happening. I didn’t think I was perverted or had some form of dementia. I didn’t have any problems with my masculinity contrary to Suzi’s implications earlier. I turned to the mirror closest to me and reached up to touch her face in the reflection. Her hand making the same movements to mine. I could almost feel her hand behind the Mirror. Something was there, beneath the glass. An energy, a warmth I could barely perceive.

I stood there on the brink of some epiphany. The edge of some understanding. To be shattered by the door opening. Around the privacy break at the entrance stepped the person I was both dreading and somehow deep inside hoping to see.

The mirror I was looking at her with showed me the terrifyingly beautiful avenging Angel. Her fiery glowing hair backlit by some unknown nimbus of light. The kestrel-like wings of pearlesque white feathers tipped in crimson hearts blood flexed and rippled in an invisible wind. The edges of which seemed to be both whisper soft and sharpened to a lethal knifes edge. Her alabaster skin aglow with Holy Wrath that only made her sapphire eyes piercing and laser bright as they stared into my soul.

There was no point keeping my back to here, but I was almost more scared to turn around and have my back to her reflection. Still I managed to tear myself from her mesmerizing reflection.

“I swear, it’s like chasing a groundhog into its den.” She said with a flippant waive of her hand. “Ok Magus, let’s see it.”

I had no clue what she was talking about. Her posture and expression was that of impatience. Like it was me who was wasting her time, that I was a difficult child rather than being stalked.

This scene truly belonged much more in one of Bryans games than as something happening to me. I was still gawking at her when her patience wore out.

“Alright, so you’re a bit slow. You are just an itty-bitty tadpole after all.” She rolled her eyes at me before she reached out towards the nearest reflective surface.

Her stance was wide. Both feet just past shoulders width apart. Left arm held out and fingers stretched claw like, just like how the talons showed in her image. Her head was tilted forward, some of the crimson locks flowing to frame her face. She looked at me through hair and beneath sinister eyebrows. An evil visage that pulled the breath right out of my body.

“This is how you do it.”

She touched the mirror, then seemed to reach through the glass to the Angel who grasped her hand. Fingers entwined as a moment outside of time began. Static filled the room as an energy connected her and her reflection. Behind me I felt the same pull towards my own female doppelganger. The energy pulsed. Filled the entire room. A nonphysical explosion shifted along her body rapidly overtaking her entire form. It sprang outwards from her eyes as well as where the Angel grasped her hand. Moving in a wave until in its wake it was the Angel that stood in front of me rather than the woman.

A backlash of the event flung me back against the sink and wall. Not a true blast or explosion, just the push from what had happened. I braced myself back up with both arms, one to the tiled panels and the other touched the mirror.

The epiphany returned. Something coalesced into being inside my core. The mirror was no longer a mirror for me. No longer cold glass. I felt Her hand, the fingers splayed beneath mine. Flesh to flesh, rather than the teasing ‘almost’ sensations of the last few days.

“Yes little Magus. You can finally feel it, can’t you?” Her voice venomous, cold and cruel. She flexed her wings, a shushing sound came forth. Like the whispering flutter of a bird of prey readying for flight. She took a step towards me, both arms low and out to the side, the taloned fingers wide as if readying to slash through my flesh. To gut me like the small animal I was.

“You can feel what has awakened.”

The aggression and hate emanating from her was palpable as she took another step.

“Go on Magus. Change. Do it so we can begin. You will leave with me one way or another, and I’ll be damned by Gaia if I have to haul your filthy breeder birth form back with me.

Ok. Scared now.

Like pee in my pants frightened. I could not face her like this. I was too weak. Incapable of giving a normal person a bruise let alone take on an honest to God supernatural winged and very pissed off Angel.

The echo of her next footstep rang with the finality of oblivion. My panic rose, the bile biting the back of my throat.

“NO!” I finally managed to break the stasis imposed by my fright. The fingers of Her slid in-between my own. For just a moment I felt perfectly calm. That now that She was taking over that I would be able to work on the same level of the being in front of me.

My yell seemed to shatter my reality once more. Time moved back into proper flow. I felt ‘Her’ energy reaching into me. The world shifted and almost seemed to invert. Then, like in the Dream, I was Her. Everything was slightly larger. I was no longer looking across to my tall adversary, now I was looking up at her. I felt my male sides fingers slip from mine, retreating back into the mirror. At the same time my now very baggy clothes made themselves know. Unfortunately in the form of my pants dropping around my ankles before I could think to reach for them.

Angel lady let loose a nasty barking laugh at my predicament. She stood up tall and folded her arms under her ample breasts. “Now you can come with me you elusive tart.”

The glass under my hand once more felt like glass. I leaned down, as calmly as my frightened muscles allowed, and pulled my pants up. I almost stumbled doing so and ended up out of one of my shoes. I wanted to process this more, first though I was just going to ignore that I was ‘Her’ for now. It would only fuck with me hard core. Perhaps the clarity that was falling over me was just shock. Perhaps not. I was not going to waste it either way.

“No…”

I put my fingers to my lips. My voice was wrong. Too high, to soft. My lips felt soft and sensitive underneath my now petite fingertips. “No. Not now.” I continued while the Angel looked on with derisive condemnation. “I don’t want to go with you. I won’t.”

“Well, that is just too bad tadpole. You aren’t protected by any group. Unclaimed. Worthless to anyone as things stand. So be a good little girl and come with me.” How she talked was so hurtful. She practically sneered the words at me. As if talking to a slave or a death row murderer.

My panic began to rise again. A pressure in my chest causing my extremities to tingle and burn. Vision narrowed towards her, the sides of it grayed out into a tunnel with the Angel in the center. I was sure now that if I went with her that I would end up as just one more statistic. Just one more disappeared person. Another poster on a lamp post if anyone would even bother with that. My fear lent me the strength to resist. To at least try whatever I could do to get free.

With that resolution I could feel a gentle warmth in my hands. Like the growing life in a mountains meadow beneath a warm sun. The gentle summers breeze blowing moisture from winters melting snow. All except that the energy of the green growth was in my hands. Pulsing through my veins and rushing along the synapses of my brain.

The psycho Angel was not happy. Not with my defiance, not with my pause. She coiled up and leaned forward. Wings out slightly, arms forward readying to pounce. “You will submit weak little Magus. You will do so now or you WILL regret it.”

Of a sudden the energy I had grabbed a hold of spiked. No longer a gentle springs day, now a raging torrent turning my vision green. As if looking through tinted glasses. My arms drew up of their own volition, time once more slowing down as some form of liquified Emerald flame began to flow around my forearms down to my fingertips. Reaching for her in tendrils of Eldritch energy. Her eyes grew large as the flowing fire raced in her direction.

She managed to duck down and to the right in a tuck and roll motion. Just in time. Her movements quick enough that I could almost see ripples in the air in her wake. The blast continued on past where she had just been. Into the fixtures and wall she had changed at. The Emerald flame moving in a slowed form, a great rushing sound like a river running over its banks in a flood. Everything the fire touched liquified to crumble and fall. Much like mud that was being washed away by a powerful firehose.

I did my best not to stare or pause in the aftermath as time and space resumed their natural states. I ignored all rationality then, I could be startled later, I could cringe and hide in the corner of my room under my bed some other time. I had watched the wall, sink, pipes, and mirror just fall apart. Just disintegrate. Was this why she wanted me? I almost fell down as the ramifications of my actions caught up.

“No….” I said in a whisper.

A harpies screech broke me out of that reverie. So loud and monstrous I really did almost pee right then and there.

Had to get out.

Get out right now.

C’mon Jayde. MOVE!

Another screech and I bolted like a rabbit. With no care as to how I fled. A gathering of cloth seemed to attempt to entangle my legs so I kicked it free. A couple more strides and I could feel my legs bare and free. Finally. The tile of the malls floor cold and smooth beneath my now bare feet.

I just ran. My t-shirt was already soaked and clung to my skin. Uncomfortable but so much better than trying to face that woman.

She was no Angel. A Harpy, a Demon!

This had to be another Dream! There was no way it was real. I had finally cracked.

There was a mad cackle trying to break free from within my chest.

The green flame, the Angel slash Harpy. My change. The bathroom wall flowing like loose sand. My breast moving uncomfortably on my now smaller torso. It could not be real, only a dream.

I was chanting this as I ran, the mall was a blur, the doorways too as I found myself once more outside. All gone from awareness. I had taken a couple hard turns somewhere and the rain was on my skin. Not a normal Seattle drizzle, no this was an actual full on drown me like a rat downpour.

Over and over I kept repeating ‘Just a dream, not happening, just a dream, can’t be real…’ A rhythm to my feet, aloud to whoever may be able to wake me up. Rationality was leaving my world. If this was a dream I would eventually wake up. All I had to do was run until I woke up.

If it was a dream.

“SHIT!”

I had run into something. It was sturdy and unmoving, in my panic I had somehow screamed out. Everything halted in place as I windmilled my ass attempting not to fall onto my now tiny ass. A hand materialized out of the darkness onto my shoulder, large and comforting. Gentle and yet still firm. The sturdy limb it was attached to had steadied me much better than I could have done. It looked huge, attached to a man that looked to my new perspective to be a hulking giant. I looked up and up to see he was well dressed, over a full head taller than I was. His expression was of worry and concern. Though with an underlying anger that seemed to be barely suppressed.

Why would he seem concerned and still look so angry at me?

Then it broke through my panic induced haze. This wasn’t a dream, it was reality. Somehow I really had become ‘Her’. My reflection and I had switched just like in the Dream. Before I could react further I also realized what his expression was for.

It was the same as the one I would have worn whenever I saw a woman child or friend abused and hurt. That they had been put in danger or harmed. He was looking at me like he was a white night and I was the damsel he had come to rescue. It was my appearance. My attire, or lack there of, and rain soaked body that had triggered his protective instincts.

That brought everything to current. I could now feel everything I had been shunting to the side during my flight. The shock fled my system leaving in its wake a cold that was bone deep. The feelings and hurts my panic had protected me from all returned causing a new panic to come forth. A panic based in shame and embarrassment. I could feel every inch of my body now. How it had shifted and changed. No longer were my shoulders broad, no longer were my hands large. My angular and somewhat gangly physique had fled, leaving in its place a petite frame with soft and supple flesh. Many times more sensitive to touch and texture. Every portion of it feeling exposed under this man’s gaze.

Drenched from the rain wearing only my old and threadbare t-shirt.

The conscious realization that I had literally ran out of the rest of my clothes, including my underwear, left me feeling more naked than I had ever felt in my entire life.

“Are you alright miss? Tell us who did this to you. You are safe with us.” He sounded kind and sincere. A well meaning stranger, dark mahogany skin. Likely an athlete like a basketball player.

The last part of his question struck. ‘Us.’

With him were three other people. Two other men and a woman. All dressed like they were going to a nice restaurant or a bar. Friends out on the town underneath their umbrellas. All with nearly identical expressions of compassion mixed with rage.

What he had said stung. Brought tears to my already strung out and weary eyes. No one had ever tried to help me like this since my mother left. To help because it was the Right thing to do without wanting anything in return. Back when my mother had abandoned me and my worthless father had turned into an alcoholic.

The worst part? The part that cut to the quick? I had to become a tiny young woman to find anyone willing to be kind. Like a protector should. It made me feel even more shamed and helpless than before. The way I could feel the cold and damp of the very loose shirt as it clung to me. How my shilled thighs were touching each other with no jeans or anything in between. To the gapping emptiness, where something should be.

I could not face myself right now, let alone a stranger.

His shout of concern was loud and incoherent to me as I reversed course and rabbitted away. Fear and shame now the driving force adding to my speed. Some other voices joined in as he and others pursued what they most likely believed was a victimized young girl. They would not be wrong, but it was a fear of a different type of danger that even I could not comprehend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Courtney~

“Damned…Magus…. BITCH!!!”

Courtney was screaming as she picked herself up out of the dust and debri left in the wake of the Eldrance blast. A couple of pipes in the wall had been severed in the firestorm. The water that sprayed for the turned some of the extremely fine dust into a sort of plaster. She calmed herself and took further stock of the room. Her outfit was a total write off. The fine particulates were already into the pores of the leather. And her beautiful wings… She felt like she had gone a few tumbles in a dust filled cement mixer.

“Well, isn’t this just some fine happy horseshite. I’m going to bloody kill her.”

She considered what had happened. Somehow the newly born Magus had drawn forth Alchemical Fire. Something that many of the Chosen of Balance have a hard time achieving. Even at the peak of their powers. The damage couldn’t have been much worse if the waif had tossed a grenade at the sink. There would not be any of the chemical traces or scorch marks though. The damage done was of a different sort. Instead of an explosion the emerald flames had torn the molecular bonds of matter, breaking them down into their constituent particle elements. The resulting debris was finer than volcanic ash or talcum powder.

“I bet the fuckuin breeder cops are going to have a fucking pretty peach of a time figuring this out.” Courtney was extra careful not to further disturb any of the piles of dust or the spraying water. As it was, the small air movements in the room from her wings had already upset some of the superfine dust. She had absolutely no wish to get a lungful of this crap. It’d be worse than that asbestos crap that some dim witted human had developed. In her opinion that was one for the idiot pile.

“Ok little missy, let’s see who you are.” Said in a cruel sing song voice. Her taloned fingers hands flexed, as if in anticipation of rending flesh from bone. No matter how dangerous those hands may be, they fished up the youths pants with ease. She pulled out a wad of papers and some plastic cards.

“Seriously? The guppy doesn’t even have a wallet?” She groused as she discarded the detritus, cash, and random papers. She got down to a state ID and a few pictures of people. These she put in a vest pocket that could be barely seen due to how tight the leather of her outfit was.

“Jayde… what a plebian name. Odd spelling for a breeder.”

In another pocket she pulled out a slightly used cell phone and a pair of keys. She pocked the keys and tossed the phone in the garbage. “Useless piece of civilization junk.”

“Damn.” She looked down at herself as she turned to the entranceway. “This outfit is trashed. I just got it too…. pooh  on that.” She sighed. “Oh well, may as well fly in it since it’s ruined anyway.”

Her flippant tone did not match her angry footsteps as she left. A grimace of distance as she had to walk briefly through one of the spraying ruptures to get to the exit.

Once outside of the restroom a security guard spotted her. His comments or demands frozen on his lips at the sight of the dust covered angel who snarled at him. Putting him in his place as if he was a worm she would gladly grind beneath her booted heal. If a woman could look more like a bird of prey the guard did not know. Outside of the mall Courtney took to the sky. Free of the constraints of both ground and the civilized world she launched herself into the heavens.

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End Chapter 11

Back at it on a Regular Basis. Yayness.

The tune to “Another One Bites the Dust” popped into my head as I did my final save. Then I could only groan as I just dad-joked myself.

Shameless Self Insert!

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TTFN and good luck to all in their lives and pursuits!