The goddess Is In Another Avatar
"What is this!?"
You slam the golden statue down on the counter in front of the man who calls himself a wizard, and to your surprise it falls over, almost crumbling in your hand. Has turning into Bast (or whoever you are supposed to be) made you that strong? No, the statue seems to be corroding rapidly. It must have started after you took it from the shelf, for it looked nice and shiny then. Not that that is your prime concern right now...
He looks at you. He stares. "Wow!"
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" you bristle.
"Answer me!"
"This..." he points to the crumbling statue, "is, or rather will soon have been, a summoning statue for the goddess Bast. It was used of old to call down the goddess to our material plane. Whoever touched the statue in a special ceremony would be possessed by the form and spirit of the goddess. That was before, though. After she lost her worshipers, Bast's power waned until she simply ceased to be. A few statues remained, though. Looks like this one had just one more transformation in it. Excuse me."
He whips out a cell phone, punches what appears to be a speed dial number, waits for an answer, and speaks into the phone.
"It's me. That statue of Bast? I win!"
He holds up the phone to snap a picture of you, then punches a few more keys, presumably sending the snapshot to the same number.
"Now this," he continues as if nothing happened, pointing at you this time, "is the physical manifestation of Bast's avatar.
Albeit, alas, without her spirit."
You reach over the counter and collar him. "I'll show you some spirit!" you snarl. "Turn me back! Now!"
"You don't need me for that," he assures you. "Just do as you just did. Touch the statue enchanted with your physical form."
You let go of him and step back, staring at him. Did he just say...?
"I..." You shake your head and speak slowly, as if to a child or someone with one braincell. "I. Do. Not. HAVE. A. Statue. With. My. Physic... What you said. Call me crazy, but it never occurred to me that I might need one!"
He shrugs. "Too bad. If you had known in time, I could have made you one."
"Well, hindsight is 24/7."
"Surely you mean 20/20?"
"No, it means I think about my mistakes all the time."
You look at the counter. There is nothing there now but a thin layer of dust.
"What happened to the statue anyway?"
"That last transformation broke its morphic field.
It's gone now. Don't worry, you helped me win a bet, so I won't exercise the 'you broke it, you bought it' option."
"How generous of you!" you say in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "What about me?"
"You, you, you! Is that all you think about?"
"I'm an egoist. So sue me!"
He comes out behind the counter and walks slowly around you, studying you intently.
"Well?"
"You are very beautiful. For a cat goddess."
"I look like a freak!"
*BANG!* The impact of his fist on the counter sends the last speck of statue dust scurrying to who knows where. "You look like a goddess of old!" he thunders. "Show some respect!"
You jump back and snarl at the sudden outburst. You are a hair's breadth from attacking him - after all you are the one with fangs and claws...
Then you realize that even though he can't change you back, he is still the one with magic and a whole deck of wildcards. You back down and try to relax.
"I'm sorry. But what can I do now? Say, do you have any other transformation magic here?"
"I do, but nothing that will make you human. Besides divine magic is about the strongest there is, I doubt I have anything that can overcome it."
Silence falls as you both run out of things to say, and after a while the wizard goes back to doing inventory or whatever he was doing when you interrupted him.
You just sit around moping. What can you do? You can't go home or to school or anything. You're not you any more. Your old life is as dead as Bast herself - and right now you think she was the lucky one of you two...
Written by Won-Tolla on 31 May 2007
