A Summoning: Part XV

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Part XV
~Chariot~

“I can't believe we're just standing outside of a creepy shack in the middle of the woods.” Thomas was leaning back against a tree trunk. “...At sunset. This is begging for the 'first victim of horror movie monster' treatment. How'd anyone ever join a cult with this as the main place to meet?”

“You didn't have to come, you know,” Daisuke said, putting on a brave face but clearly shaking with nerves and a touch of fear.

“Yeah, right. I'm the one with a car. You gonna walk the whole way here?”
“Hey, I'm sure Zeke coulda, like, 'zapped' me here with her if she needed to, right?”

At this point, the front door opened. “Hey you two,” the goddess's voice came as she poked her head out. “Don't knock the place before you see the inside!”

“Uh..hey again,” Thomas said, standing up straight. The interior did look much nicer, he thought; but the incongruity made it obvious this was some sort of recent magical remodeling, and not its look under the cult's previous leader (now their...what?...co-leader? Vice leader?). Dai just waved at her nervously.
“Please, c'mon in,” she waved, pulling away from the door while it opened itself wider still.
“Said spider to fly,” Thomas muttered.
His overweight friend turned an irritated look back his way. “Dude, not cool!” Then he drew himself up, making himself run inside before he could run the other way.

After following at a more normal pace, Thomas stopped in front of Zotha. “You know I'm kidding.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she nodded, heading inside herself. “Humor's another way to stave off fear. But really, you two have nothing to worry about. It's me, after all.” The door shut itself once they were inside; a few comfy chairs occupied the center of the room in a little triangle all facing inward, and the goddess moved gracefully over to one to take a seat.
“Since you were wondering, I'm pretty sure this place's remote location, and general atmosphere, was chosen very much on purpose. Jerod wanted people too scared to say anything or leave, like—'ooh, you'll get dragged out to the shack and nobody will ever see you again if you step out of line'. Diiidn't turn out that way for the one who did,” she said with an almost savage grin.

“To be clear, you did get dragged out here, though,” Thomas said, going over and taking one of the chairs himself.

Daisuke was still standing up over on another side of the shack—keeping his distance from Zotha the whole time. “What're you doing way over there?” his bespectacled friend said, waving.
“Oh, uh, n-nothing.”
Zotha gave a tiny sigh. “You really have nothing to worry about here, Dai. What's wrong?”
“Okay okay, it's just, uh. It occurred to me that I was kinda flippant about the way I asked for what I want at lunch. A-and the whole 'spooky woods' thing has me on edge, too. So like—you're not gonna 'King Midas' me, are you?”

The goddess tilted her head just slightly in a way that invited a further explanation of the metaphor.
“You know—'be careful what you wish for', woo. Like, you make me buff but also gigantic, or like, expand my muscles so much I can't move and starve to death...”

“Dai, come on. You're my friend. And I thrive on gratitude, not ironic punishments. If anything, I brought up your most obvious wish pretty casually myself. I won't do anything if you don't want me to, but in your position I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to become better, even if only physically.”

“Okay...” He nodded, mostly to himself. “Okay.” Then he took several steps over to behind the remaining unoccupied chair, leaning forward with his hands on the back of it. “Sorry, um, about all that. This is still pretty weird, right?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Zotha agreed with a cheerful nod. “Honestly, a lot of my 'worshipers' have been experiencing similar emotions today. Something about what I became makes it a lot easier for me to roll with it. So you'd still like me to make you fit?”
“Yeah!” He nodded, standing up a little straighter again. “Totally!”

“Okay. Allow me to do a little checking first; a benefit I granted this afternoon had a kind of side-effect—not a bad one, but unexpected—and I'd rather give advance warning of such a thing where I can.”

“Uuhmm...sure?”
The goddess nodded, leaning forward slightly. Her eyes gained a fiery, bright-purple glow for a moment, which snuffed itself out afterward. “Interesting.”
“What?”
“Wee~ell, my 'scan' has informed me that you have Oni ancestry, I think on your mother's side. Oni being: A race of sort-of-demons—it's complicated—with the natural ability to channel magic into their bodies to make them stronger, faster, tougher and so on, heavy resistance to getting drunk and a general appreciation for alcohol in all its forms to go with it. Usually come with horns near the front of the head,” she added, pointing at a spot on her own forehead to demonstrate.

“Ookay...what's that mean, exactly?”

“If I ask my power to physically alter your body—especially toward something 'favorable' for an Oni, like being muscular—it might 'awaken' you as one. Aaand it would be difficult for you to stop being one afterward.”

“Well, uh...are there any downsides to being an Oni, then?” Daisuke asked next.

“You might experience especially strong urges to compete, especially in physical activities, and a desire to stay in at least good physical condition, if not peak. It seems 'traditional' Oni like to satisfy all that by sparring with each other all the time, but I get the impression violence isn't a necessary component at all. Oh, also if my power awakens you, there's a good chance it'll make you female in the process, but I can undo that.”

During most of this explanation, Dai leaned in slightly, almost eagerly, but he recoiled slightly at the last bit. “You think you maybe could've led with that one?”
Zotha shrugged. “I'm starting to take that tendency of my power for granted, I guess. But, again, I can undo it. Surely you could stand to be a girl for five minutes if it lets you have everything else you want?”
“Well..yeah. Yeah! Totally,” he nodded. “I would love to just feel motivated to keep myself fit and healthy. And that, like, super-strength thing sounds awesome too!”

“Okay then,” Zotha said cheerfully. “Let me know when you're ready, and I can give the order.”

“'The order'?” Thomas repeated.
“Oh, yes. I give commands, like a proper deity,” she said. “I'm not sure what I'm commanding—maybe my own power, or reality, or whoever I'm affecting with my power carrying it out—but it's pretty neat. It comes out in a special voice and everything.”

“Uuh, I'm ready now,” Dai said, unsure whether interrupting her was proper but starting to worry he'd second-guess himself if his wish was put off any longer. He was standing in the center of the three chairs, as straight and as serious-looking as he could manage.

“Heheh, okay,” Zotha giggled softly. “Here we go then: Bᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ sᴛʀᴏɴɢ.”

---

Jess headed out to the lawn after the supper—while Zotha was busy warping off to their worship center to await her friends, and Prama went on back to her own room for now to await news. Once she arrived, it wasn't hard to find the black-haired, golden-eyed Kitsune waiting for her in an open space, so she went over that way, drawing a drop of her goddess's power to make the meeting a totally private one. “Hello,” she said, stopping in conversational distance from him.

He fixed her with a long, searching gaze, clearly assessing her in some way. “...Huh. Your eyes really do glow nonstop, huh? That make it hard to sleep?”
“It's not actually in my vision, even when my eyes are open,” she said with a small shake of her head. “I'm Jess—formerly Jerod—priestess to Lady Zotha.”
“Steph,” he replied with a small nod. “Andrew's roommate. I had an eye on your cult for a little while, but I really didn't expect it to turn out this interesting.”
“Mmh...we're committed to doing a lot less harm these days, if possible,” she said. “..And hopefully making up for what I did before.” He nodded in response to this, but didn't look entirely convinced—which was fair enough, given how much he probably knew of her previous behavior.

“So..you know an alchemist?” she asked.

“Ssorta. Look, I only know this guy because I buy from him every few months or so, and sometimes I point people who need a potion for stuff his way. It's not like we're buddies or anything. So all I'm doing is some talking, giving your friend and him some info about each other,” Steph said. “So I figure it's a fair trade if you'll give me some info too. I want you to answer just one question for me, that I know you're able to, truthfully.”
The priestess's glowing eyes fixed on him for a moment. “That's...fair enough. But I don't know if what I want is worth the price of answering unless I know what the question is.”

“Let's just agree that the deal's off if I ask you and you decide answering isn't worth it, then. Otherwise, I ask, you tell, and I'll help ya girl out,” the Kitsune concluded.

“That seems fair.” She reached out a hand. “I understand we're meant to shake on this, or something?”
“You've been studying, eh? Yeah, that'll do.” Steph came just close enough to take it, and shook it. After hearing Zotha's explanation—taken from her 'inherent' knowledge—of Kitsune “Deals”—she had expected this to activate some sort of magical geas on one or both of them, but the shake was just that—a handshake. If magic was involved here at all, it wasn't in the making of the agreement.

After they let go and stood back from each other again, Steph took in a slow, deep breath. “Hhhokay. So I know that your goddess 'blessed' Andrew by turning him into a fox, basically 'gifting' him a tail. I know he has four tails, which is a lot for someone under a century old. And I don't think he had some amazing magic talent beforehand.”
“None of those are questions,” the priestess pointed out, crossing her arms.

“Yeah yeah, I'm gettin' to it. If she just pumped him with energy to get so many tails, I have to guess that was enough to count as 'cheating', and then the Ruler would have to punish him for it. Based on what I've seen the past day or two..I guess his punishment is being turned into a chick, and stuck that way until the next tail. My question is: Is that right?”

“Mmnnh.” Jess hesitated a moment, part of her mind debating whether selling out Anika to someone she'd more or less said would torment her about this curse if he found out was worth helping Prama with what she wanted. On the balance, it was obviously not worth it, as there were undoubtedly several others who could introduce this or another alchemist to the genius girl. But then the rest of her mind clicked together to inform her that the decision didn't matter at this point—because she had already hesitated.

The priestess narrowed her eyes a bit. “You already...know my answer.”
“Yeah, now I do. Are you planning on giving it?”

“Yes, but—why do it this way, then? If you'd just waited until after asking to make the Deal, I wouldn't be able to oblige you to help Prama at all.”

“That's exactly why,” Steph said. “What you want is easy, and I'd rather be in the good graces of the most powerful being in the tristate area, probably. Buuut, I also wanted the satisfaction of tricking you into confirming it for me before you answered for real, and I knew that this would get the truth out of you even if you decided that telling it wasn't worth it. It seemed like a good compromise,” he shrugged.

“Alright then. Yes, your guess is spot-on. Andrew was cursed to stay a girl until she earns another tail. At first there was more, too, like she couldn't refer to herself as male or make her illusions hide it, but those were loosened after she made a Deal with Fox. Uh, your 'Ruler', I mean.” She glared slightly at him. “Now look, if you really want to stay on Zotha's good side, you won't bully her about it! The first thing she worried about apart from being stuck that way was you tormenting her over it.”

“Really? I didn't know he cared about my opinion that much,” Steph said in a slightly contemplative tone. “Okay, anyway, she's now a lot more fun as a friend than a victim from my perspective, so I won't even tell her I know until she reveals it to me herself. And she won't find out you told me unless she figures that out all on her own.”

“What makes you so sure she actually will reveal it?” Jess said.
“I have a couple ideas,” he shrugged. “I just didn't want to try them until I was certain, because if I was wrong, they'd make me look pret-ty stupid.

“Anyway, that's your end of the bargain held up. I have some time tomorrow afternoon if your friend's free; I'll call that alchemist in the morning, make sure he's open, and bring her to the shop. What happens from there is out of my hands, but I can at least try to sell her to him a little bit after I've gotten to know her by some conversation on the way there.”

“That's fair enough,” Jess nodded.

---

Once the command was given, a small fragment of Zotha's power went out through her palms in the usual way, streams of glowing purple making their way over to her overweight friend, just spreading itself straight into the front of his body. “W-whoa..” Dai mumbled, “warm...” He looked down toward some sensation to see his belly already beginning to shrink a bit before her power was even finished entering. “Oh, wow..!” He pressed a hand against it like he didn't quite believe it was real, and had to keep pushing in as the fat retreated away from it, slinking steadily inward as the last of the goddess's power finished its journey into him.

“Mmh, mmnh...” Daisuke twitched oddly a couple of times, his body's muscles tensing themselves; his hair spilled out a little longer, the bangs edging close to his eyes while all the rest tumbled out to just a bit shy of his shoulders. His shirt and jacket, already becoming rather loose and long on him from the shrinking belly, slipped down from his shoulders a bit as his frame began to cave inward at the sides too, narrowing and slimming.

“Mmngh..o-oh, yeah..” Dai's arms and legs began to rapidly slim down as he flexed and tensed once again; his face became smaller and rounder, the skin softening as it quickly took an effeminate form further enhanced by the blond tresses framing it at the sides. His shirt and jeans suddenly tightened, the latter pulling abruptly short and beginning to pull its hem up off of the remaining pudge of his still-shrinking belly. “Oo~ooo~ooh..!” His voice rapidly changed as his head leaned back slightly, the pants pulling tighter still between the legs as a bulge down there suddenly shrank much smaller than it had been before.

He panted at the end of this, his body seeming to relax as the last of the fat disappeared from his belly, giving his shirt a soft, flat, slim midriff to show off as its hem finally quit crawling upward just at the bottom of his chest. Its collar began to widen now, showing off a smooth, delicate neckline matching the cute, girlish look of all the rest of his skin. No sooner did he catch his breath than another wave of tensing coursed across Dai's body, drawing out a surprised “Aah—!” followed by a longer “Mm~mmMMNNnn~nngh...!” during which his voice swiftly rose out of male range entirely, hitting a high alto note before ending—as the tensing visibly formed muscle all down his torso, faint abs appearing on the exposed midriff and the last vestiges of fat dissipating from his limbs save for a bit of extra roundness to his hips, thighs, and bottom, and as the little bump between his legs shrank away to nothing, just like the fat, and Daisuke experienced a fairly abrupt change in sex.

She gasped in air that came out in voiced huffs, her face starting to turn red with a blush at the new sensations down there. Then she drew in a sudden, high-pitched gasp and let it out in an excited “Who~ooaah, yeeEEAAH..!” as her body tensed one last time, the faint abs tightening into rock-solid muscle at the same time as her greatly-diminished top found itself suddenly filling with a pair of small bumps which just as quickly expanded out into some mid-sized breasts, just big enough to push the top tight, give a tiny bit of cleavage for its open neck to show off, and more than cement the new girl's mild curves alongside her visibly strong, fit muscles.

“Fffh..heheeeh,” Dai yanked her arms out of her jacket and pulled at it, clearly feeling a bit warm. She caught her breath surprisingly fast, and even the blush faded from her cheeks pretty quickly. “This is great! I feel I was supposed to be this strong my whole life!”

“Glad you like it,” the goddess said with a satisfied grin.

“You're also a girl now,” Thomas said, feeling obliged to point out the obvious.
“Well duh!” she said with an energetic wave that, only semi-accidentally, tossed her jacket off to a distant part of the room. “Who cares about that when you're this ripped?” She flexed her arms, which—while they were fairly slim—showed off a hint of the muscular strength she was actually feeling. But after a moment she dropped her arms and exhaled slightly. “Okay, yeah, it miight take some getting used to.”

“You don't have to stay female if you don't want it,” Zotha said. “Hey, if you enjoy it but don't want to be stuck with it, I can easily just give you the power to go back and forth.”
“I'd still be a buff Oni as a guy, though, right?”
“Wait, is she an Oni?” Thomas interjected. “She still looks pretty human to me.”
“Nope!” Dai flipped her bangs up, revealing a pair of small, nubby black horns coming out of her forehead a short ways above the outer side of each of her eyes. “Think they'll probably get bigger over time,” she added, rubbing one a bit with a finger.

“So you're a demon now?”
“Well—not exactly,” Zotha answered. “Some people refer to Oni as demons, or 'yokai' or whatever, but they're not technically demons because their magic isn't 'demonic' in nature. There's a similar thing with a few other races, which is why I said 'sort-of' before.”

“Either way, who cares? It feels grreat,” Daisuke said. “But—yeah, I'd, love to be able to be a guy again sometimes, I think. At least it'd be a li-ttle less awkward if I only look buff tomorrow instead of buff with boobs.”

“Heheh, all right, done.” Having done it before, Zotha was able to instantly grant this power with a literal snap of a finger. Daisuke shuddered slightly at the sensation of the new power appearing in her, then tested it out right away. Her top changed into a longer, still-tight tank top as her chest flattened, her jeans hugged her lower body just as closely but reshaped enough to stay comfortable on a male form, and she gained just a couple of inches of height which her original male self hadn't had before. Other than that, the male Dai looked muscular, but still slender and kind of effeminate, especially since his face had only changed a little and his hair not at all.

“Phew.” His voice was nearly the same as his original one, maybe a touch less deep. “Whooa, testosterone rush,” he said, fanning his face a bit with a hand. “This feels pretty good too, kinda still different from the 'old' me, but I love it.” Then he shrank back down again, immediately going back to being a girl. “Whoo! Just that easy,” she nodded once it was done, and sort of twirled over to sit down in the empty chair, leaning back and crossing her legs in a relaxed posture.