“I’m losing my mind. I’m talking to a cat, in a body that isn’t mine, and my own kingdom doesn’t know me anymore. What… What happened?!” It was a struggle for breath for a few moments, as the panic wracked me. The panic eventually subsided, leaving me with a very deep anxiety and a determination. I looked at the cat and questioned. “Do you know what’s happened to me?” I tried to anxiously tug on my hair, but I couldn’t reach it. it was so much shorter than I remembered.
A slow shake of the fuzzy head made clear I needed to find answers elsewhere for now. My hands began searching my skin in the places where I still looked mostly like my old self. A few scars appeared. One that caught my attention on my arm, looked like a circular rune. I showed it to Dale as I slid up the sleeve of my robe. He pawed at it and nodded.
“I guess maybe you know more than you let on?” I met the cat’s eyes with a sliver of hope. I sighed as he remained quiet. “I hope you have a good reason for clamming up on me all of a sudden. We are alone here.” Looking around as I growled at the cat, and realizing just how deep my voice had become for the first time. I hadn’t noticed it at first, because I felt sick when I first woke up in the tower, and stayed quiet until Dale after the first few days. The voice I realized was clearly different, but like my body, it hadn’t been noticeable until I focused on it. I spent some minutes there on the ground on the outside of the wall that separated my home from the turmoil I found myself in. “I’m going to fly up to the castle. Are you coming with me?” I asked the cat. He quickly hopped onto my shoulder. I nodded and we vanished from sight before lifting up over the wall. The city below stretched for a ways before the castle grounds overtook them. Another wall separated the city and the castle grounds which was placed in the dead center of the bustling metropolis.
Invisibility was simple enough. Hardly needed any movements of my body to achieve it. From there, I could move my hands all I wanted without drawing any attention, to push the wind below me upward, with enough force to propel me and my feline passenger through the air. I knew where my room was, and that’s where I needed to go. I flew and landed carefully at the window, pulling the pane of glass open to allow access to the room. It was empty. I didn’t lower my invisibility though. If I wasn’t me, I didn’t want any guards catching me as this boy in the princess’s room. It could be a death sentence. If not for me, then for the guards I would have to fight to escape. My magic was powerful, but I was sure I could be overwhelmed easily with the might of the castle’s full forces. I let out a sudden gasp, as the door was practically kicked in, and I was staring at my own face. My REAL face. My body walked in through the door, trailed by my maid and a guard who was being actively dragged into the room by my doppelganger.
“Please Your-“
My maid hardly got a word in before the other me had turned around to face her, and in a sass that was entirely unlike me, my body had borderline screamed “I can do what I want and YOU have NO RIGHT to tell me who I can and can’t have in my chambers! You know who CAN decide who’s allowed in my chambers?! IT’s ME! AND I don’t want YOU here!” The evil creature had turned my face red with strain by the end of her tirade. Then she slammed the door shut on the poor woman who stood as shell shocked as I would have appeared, if I hadn’t been invisible.
What followed, only made the situation worse. So much worse. The guard was horrified, he was young and knew much better than to be in the princess’ bedroom alone, but he knew just as well not to deny the princess’ requests. His absolute terror was only growing, as my body shoved him onto my bed. Then more fear as she began to disrobe him. I turned from her and the horror that filled my mind was almost enough to keep me from noticing the rounded rune scar on her arm that I recognized, but certainly never from my own time in that skin. It stood out against the soft, perfect skin that I had always worn, so different from the frequent scars of the skin I was now adorned within.
Though one other thing felt out of place on the false princess. It was a red, but definitely healing scratch that looked like it had come from a thin set of claws, that went from near her eye, almost all the way down to her chin. Her face no longer turned this way, I could only see the guard with a confused and scared look, still plastered on his face as she began to take advantage of him. I could take no more, I stumbled back to the window, hardly managing to keep the invisibility up, let alone quiet my feet on the stone floor. I reached the opening, and heard a “Who’s there?” in a soft and sultry version of the voice I had once heard from a different perspective. Then I tipped out the window, and I fell. I fell straight down.
The wind would not have caught me if the cat hadn’t buried his claws in my shoulder to hold on, snapping me out of my daze. I pulled us back up into the air, and found myself looking back towards the window I had come in through, only to see my naked body examining the air. I watched myself shrug and pull the pane closed again. Then she went back towards the bed. Back to her hedonistic practices of defiling the body she stole from me. Or maybe the body HE stole from me. Had we simply swapped? How could this have happened? How had nobody noticed, this wasn’t ME?! I wasn’t that terrible, that I could be mistaken for that… Monster… Right?! The questions and the fear and the horror filled me to my core. There was no room for anything. I simply flew in the air, letting the magic take control. Floating in a sea of worry. Then the cat spoke.
“Let’s go back to the tower. We have to discuss what we’ve seen, but first, you need to sleep. Please…”
The cat’s words did not shake me from my trance, but some part of me had listened to him. I was flying back to the tower before I could even partially process what I had just witnessed. We landed at the base of the tower, and the cat hopped from my shoulder. He pressed his paw to a block on the base of the tower and stepped through the doorway as it appeared before him. I was through the door shortly after, then one more burst of flight sent me from the central area of the tower, up and crashing down into the bed. Then I cried. I cried and I cried until I didn’t think there was any tears left in my body. At a few points, I sobbed so violently I almost threw up. And then I cried some more.
I woke up the next day around noon, with a splitting headache. My mouth was dry and my throat was raspy, but somehow I had a glass of water next to the bed when I woke up. I didn’t drink it. This may be my pain, but it was not my body. It was not my fault. My tears running down not my face. It was too much to think about. It was too devastating to put into words. As my crying started up once more, the cat leapt onto the foot of the bed. “Hello there princess.” he said, quietly as if he didn’t want to scare me, though I felt him land on the covers before I heard his voice, and neither had scared me. I was too numb for fear. “It’s going to be okay.” He said, slowly padding his way up the bed, towards my motionless face. I was staring at the ceiling much too intently as the tears rolled down the sides of my face, to care what he had to say. That was until he said “I recognized that scar on your arm and her… His arm. The same iconography was etched into a magical artifact that was lost a long time ago.”
“Could you put us back in the right bodies?” I asked, still sniffling. The sound of my deep and masculine voice was off putting and overwhelming to my ears. This was not my body, it reminded me with every syllable I sputtered out.
“I would need the device. And both of your bodies. But since you don’t know where it is, and I was unable to find notes of it’s location here while searching through the night… I do think I can safely say that …. HE has to know where it is.” Dale nearly spat the word, as it came out with such disdain as if to rot the very essence of the pronoun. One deep breath later, and his words were smoother and more relaxed. “Should we give him a name? Something to differentiate between you and this false princess?”
“The beast. The Monster. The FUCKING ANIMAL!” I shouted, as the least human things came to mind. Because no human could do this to me. No human could be so cruel. And I saw just how cruel he was. His gross neglect for the world around him. His contempt for the people who cared for me… My maid.. I couldn’t imagine he could have spoken this way to my father and gotten away with it, until I realized my father likely thought he was me. It didn’t matter how rotten I got, he would never lay a finger on me. He was too good a man to me. And that made him weak as a king for our people. And that young guard… I can’t even begin to understand what had been going through his head.
“I won’t take offense to the derogatory use of animal, since I know you meant it not in reference to me. Though I think we’ll stick with Monster for now. Easy enough to remember and only dehumanizing to the monster in question… If you don’t mind limiting your dialogue on the subject, that is.”
Shawn Grone
The princess had walked down this hall a thousand times, and never given me a second glance. I was new. Not one of the respected guardsmen who often found themselves in this hall, but lately she had caused quite a few to request they have their post swapped, or they would quit. Quitting the king’s guard was unheard of. Quitting the princess’ guard was unfathomable. In all the years I had spent training to be a guard for the king’s manor, I had never heard cases of either. Men were more likely to retire or simply die than they would to quit. It was impossible. The cushy job had amazing perks. It hardly had the risk of guarding the gates or the castle’s lower floors. If intruders managed to infiltrate the castle, we simply locked the king and his daughter in the most fortified room and defended it with our life… Something that had never happened in all the years I’d been alive.
In fact, the last time an intruder even made it through the gates was 50 years ago, when the king was but a babe, and not but the prince. The stories tell that the guard at the gate didn’t lose a single soldier fighting them off, but I knew that was wrong. My grandfather was the only casualty. He was given a grand sendoff, though he was only 27, they treated him like royalty for the day. I always hoped my death would be so honorable… Now here I was with the naked princess, alone in her room, and a terror that any second I would be beheaded without so much as a trial. And worse, if I stopped her, she made it clear I would lose my head for that too.
I was stuck. Then, there was a noise. It sounded like a piece of cloth, dragging over stone. The princess removed herself from her degrading position and turned. She said in a seductive tone, “Who’s there?” as the sound grew more distant, and then vanished as a gust of wind crossed the only open window in the room. “Did someone climb up the tower just to join us?” The princess giggled, with a soft and genuine tone that didn’t belong to the nightmare I was living. I began to pull my pants back on, and tried to sneak away, as she shrugged and closed the window. She turned those hungry eyes back to me as I was padding towards the door. “Where do you think you’re going? Grabbing some backup? I could take another soldier or two at once… But that’s for another night.” She simply pointed back to the bed.
Understanding I was caught, I trudged back to the bed and stood rigid at the end, uncomfortably shifting from one foot to the other. “You make it seem like you weren’t enjoying yourself” her voice came from behind me, hands shoving me to the bed, which I resisted only enough to make it clear I was not indeed enjoying myself. “You aren’t fooling anyone, sir. I felt the change in your… Posture. You may have been sitting, but at least part of you was standing up straight.” She whispered in my ear, having climbed over me to straddle my waist from behind. She then rolled me over to face her, and the wicked look in her eyes was unlike anything I had ever seen. It didn’t take a genius to realize why the other guards left their posts near her, even if I had been the only one to get THIS treatment. This was NOT the princess we had sworn our oath to. This was not the princess who had smiled whenever she passed through the gate I was guarding only months before. The wicked woman spoke softly once more as she pulled at my clothes. “You’re too handsome for war. I think I’ll keep you for myself. You’ll guard my room from now on. From in here. Chained to the wall, if I must.” Her hand was gentle while she was speaking, she was rough, all at once. I was speechless and terrified, and she clearly had no intention of stopping there.
Several hours, and a few force feedings of some flowers of vigor later, and she was laying next to me, curled up and content, while I remained chained, gagged and still under the effects of the drugs she had used to ply me. I was numb mentally, sore physically, and just as horrified of what was to come as when this whole thing started. But after my slight resistance on a few too many occasions, I learned that she hadn’t been joking about the chains. I didn’t think she would be letting me out of them either. Not for a very long time, if her words were to be believed. I didn’t mind in that moment to be beheaded… It felt deserved. And somehow, while it had been entirely out of my own control, I had lost hope of ever finding as honorable a death as my grandfather. Not now, as she called me her toy. I’d been relegated to a princess’ plaything. I would never see my family again at this rate. And I don’t know if I could ever face them after all of… This. I heard a snore, and closed my eyes. I may be bound and gagged, but at least she was leaving me alone now. I should rest before she wakes and changes her mind…
Calistra Silvercrest
It was several weeks before I was even functional enough to be considered okay again. Laying around in the tower with nothing to occupy me but my mind, some faint magic that would flicker up as my emotions flared, and of course Dale. He was doing his best to console me in my time of anguish, but he could only help as much as a talking cat could help the forgotten princess of a kingdom who likely hated her now. And it was all too likely I was hated. The monster had taken my face and erased my honor. I would never be a loved queen, even if I did find my way back to my body. And that would require that I find this magical item that may or may not even exist, as far as Dale was concerned. He was by far my best ally and a good friend to me while I was depressed beyond reason. I did think I scared the poor thing when I set my mug at the table next to him.
“Princess!” his eyes turned from slight shock, to glee in an instant. “Glad to see you’re out of bed. How are you holding up?”
A deep sigh was all I could express, before sitting and digging into the plate of food that would disappear shortly if I didn’t begin to feast. I had been using magic to pull them up to bed before. Now I simply felt a need to do something, to be a little less useless. I began to eat, then instead of making my way back to bed, I went over and grabbed a book from the shelf. Keep my mind occupied to avoid facing the dread I had been deep within for the last weeks, and the book happened to be about fire magic and it’s connection to powerful emotions. I floated back up to the bed area, then sat myself in the window. I figured, if I fall asleep here while reading, I had a 50/50 chance of landing in bed, or smashing my head on the ground a hundred feet below. Sounded like good odds to me. The book made me tired, but I didn’t fall asleep. I finished three more books that day, then the next day I started again. I was invested in the books more than I had been when I first arrived at the tower and was searching for a way out. Now, I was fine being here physically, but I needed a way out of my head. I didn’t practice much, simply sat and read. I read every day and every night until I was on the last bookshelf.
It had been a year and a half since I had seen myself. It was a year and I still felt just as numb as the day I found someone sleeping around in my bed. And as my magical knowledge grew, I found my desire to cast this thief out of existence grew with it. I would consider myself adept at any type of magic now. I even began practicing again near the last 4 months. Practicing spells that would have blown this whole tower apart, if I hadn’t practiced in the magically enclosed space. Even Dale said this was the most power he’s ever seen a human expend. And it was nothing. I felt nothing. I simply gave in to the magical teachings. The teachings Dale said he didn’t think could be used in the ways I had used them. He was impressed, but I was disgusted. I was livid. And I would NOT stop until the monster had been killed. But to do that, it was very clear I needed to find the artifact, or I would lose my kingdom and my hope forever.
Dale had called the artifact “The Bender” as it bent the trajectory of two souls into their opposing bodies. He said it was a simple enough magic, but too powerful to accomplish without the artifact itself, as soul magic was innately unstable. I didn’t believe him after he repeated how much stronger I was than I had any right to be. It seemed more like he was unaware of what I was capable of. And yet, I knew my best bet was still to find this artifact, just in case. I had begun to find my male body rather mundane at this point. Dale suggested I find a nice girl to get my angst out with… I blew him off for more training. I wouldn’t get stronger from blowing off steam, so why would I bother? Being a man didn’t do much to change my interests anyways. Revenge was the most important thing to me at the moment. Dale seemed all too preoccupied about anything besides revenge when it came down to it of course. It seemed like he was trying to be the “Good cop” to my “Murderous revenge-focused rage-filled cop” and a few times, it started to grate on me. He was a great guy. He was a sweetheart even, but he was getting on my nerves when it came to him trying to “talk sense into me”. And it felt weird how he would call me princess, while my body looked the way it did. I even had a bit of a beard within a few months. Simple enough to wipe from my face with magic. I started requesting he call me Cali, but he would simply reply with a “Princess Calistra, I would never defile your name in such a manor.” I eventually stopped acknowledging he was even there when he would start on that, and he learned to stop trying pretty quick. It was more of an impasse than an agreement.
I had finished the books. I had learned all the spells. I had mastered all the enchantments. I had memorized every scroll. And I had a plan. It wouldn’t be easy. And it would make for a rather interesting story, if I survived it… But at this point, death would be preferable to letting him win. And I knew from scrying on him that he thought he had won. The monster figured I had died in the tower. Lonely, afraid, broken, and he laughed when he remembered I was in HIS body. He didn’t mind. He didn’t want this body back. He was perfectly content as a princess, even if he and I knew he was a fake. What I hadn’t expected to see was what he had done to the poor guard I had found him with when I first made it back. The boy was treated like an object. He stayed in my closet, chained behind my clothes. He would only be dragged out, naked and afraid, when she needed a quick release. Sometimes it was sexual. Sometimes it was physical. Sometimes even just verbal. but always it was abuse, plain and simple. Always he was crying through his gag by the end. Always the monster slept more peacefully to the sounds of those whimpers and sobs. I would make him regret the way he treated my people, if it was the last thing I ever did.
I spent the next few days cleaning up the tower; putting books in order, repairing the magic barrier that I had managed to blow a few holes in with one of my more powerful spells. Dale had repeated how scary I was after that as if trying to make me tone down my approach, but he had agreed to this plan and it was significantly toned down from my original desires. On my way out, I took a bit of extra time to reset the magic that kept the tower invisible. It would automatically allow anyone who stepped inside to view it whenever in sight, but anyone who had previously been inside before the reset, and not after, would lose sight of it until they were once again invited in. My room, I knew faced this tower. He would notice it vanish, without a doubt. With that done, I started my way towards my home. The home I would take back by force, and cunning. I had a plan, and it was so well thought out, so many contingencies planned and accounted for, so tailored to the monster’s personality that he could never avoid it, no matter what card he played, I would be ready. I would have my traps set, and he would not know what happened.
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