You are standing by a tree
There are 3 paths.
One appears to go to a jungle,
one appears to go to a cave,
one appears to go to a beach,
you could try and climb the tree,
there is a nearby shop you could go in,
or you could do something else.
So what's its going to be?
Written by catprog on 01 April 2003
In the shop
There is a table with a sign saying
<strong>Free Sample:</strong>
Take one
On the table there is a fridge with a range of liquids. Also on the table are various magical trinkets including costumes. What would you like to take, or would you like to buy something?
Written by catprog on 10 April 2003
Into the shop
You decide to go into the shop to look around.
Inside it is very dusty and is crammed with shelves. There is lots of products that overflow from the shelves and are lying on the floor.
You notice the counter and the old man in a bathrobe behind it. "Welcome <<your name here>>" he says. "How do you know my name?" you ask the old man "Simple, I am a wizard" he responds "Have a look around too see if there is anything you would like to buy".
Written by catprog on 13 December 2005
Bast
You see a small statue on one of the shelves, it appears to be a small golden cat.
Picking it up, you feel a slight tingle run through your body. Shrugging it off, you put the statue back. Soon, though, you feel you legs start to cramp up.
You sit down and pull your shoes off to see them cover in short golden fur as they slowly shift. Soon both legs are unrecognizable as your own, and look like those of a large cat, almost the same colour as the statue.
The gold fur spreads it's way up your body to your waist, and a sharp pain marks the arrival of your tail, which rapidly grows from the base of you spine. You swish it from side to side, and marvel at the feeling. The fur continues to spread across your chest and back, and soon travels down your arms.
With some relief you notice your hands aren't changing into paws, but do notice as claws push their way painfully out of your fingertips. Only your head is left, but it too is covered in fur. Your notice your ears begin to grow larger pointy, and grow to the top of your head through your hair, which has turned a slightly darker than your skin. You notice your vision get distorted as your nose and mouth push out into a short cat-like muzzle, with your tongue lengthening to match. The change is nearly complete as your old teeth fall out to be replaced with a much sharper set, and you feel whiskers grow and twitch on the sides of your face.
You look at yourself in a mirror, and notice you look like many depictions of the Egyptian goddess Bast, although your clothing doesn't suit your new form...
Written by Vanghar on 18 October 2006
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
And I Think it's Gonna Be A Long Long Time
You find a chair, sit down sideways to leave your tail free, and let your mind wander. Unfortunately it just keeps moving in circles.
You have lost track of time, but it's starting to get dark when the wizard comes over and speaks to you again.
"I am closing now. I can't have people roaming around (or sitting in a corner for that matter) here at night, so you have to leave now unless you want to become an exhibit."
You look up. "I still have no place to go."
"I am afraid I can not help you. Please leave now."
"It was your stupid statue that did this to me!"
"Actually it was your stupid hand that did this to the statue. I told you I'm a wizard, didn't I?"
"Yes?"
"And your failure to make the connection "wizard -> possibly dangerous magic lying around" is my fault in which way exactly? Or did I accidentally leave the statue prominently displayed right inside the door with a sign saying 'Please Touch Me'?"
You shake your head, momentarily distracted by the realization that you actually heard the arrow in his 'connection' statement. Guess it takes a wizard to talk like that...
A clock strikes.
"Final warning. Please leave."
You stand up and hesitate as the wizard walks away. A few minutes he is back carrying what appears to be a rolled up sheet of black velvet, and a small beaker with a shiny liquid in it. He puts the roll on the counter, reaches out with his free hand and leads you over to what looks like a block of marble lying on the floor. You notice idly that it looks a bit like the pedestal the Bast statue was standing on, only bigger. This one is a couple inches thick and big enough for a person to stand on.
The person in question turns out to be you. The wizard motions for you to climb up on the block and assume a cat-sitting position just like the statue. You start getting an idea about what's going to happen, but you just don't care anymore, and you are not exactly surprised when, after making some corrections to your pose he holds out the beaker and says "Drink this."
You don't even want to ask what it's for - you'll find out soon enough. You shift your weight so you can raise a hand to grasp the beaker. Your pointed lips make it a bit hard to drink like a human, so you just raise your head and pour the liquid into your mouth.
You shudder at the vile taste as you hand the beaker back and reassume the position. Feeling a warm numbness spread within you, you try to speak but only manage to make a few deep grating noises before your voice disappears.
The wizard says something, but his voice sounds very faint and distant, then everything gets really quiet. The vile taste disappears from your mouth, in fact you can't even feel your mouth - or any other part of your body for that matter. Soon all senses are gone except for sight, and you can only see straight ahead. You can't close or move your eyes, or feel them for that matter. Neither can you feel or move anything else.
The wizard appears in your limited field of vision carrying a mirror, which he puts down in front of you and adjusts so yo can see yourself.
You see a bigger version of the statue that crumbled to dust a few hours ago. Its unblinking eyes are blue sapphires, and the rest of its body seems made of a material that looks more like golden fur than rock or metal, but it is probably one of the last two.
And this, you realize, is you. Somehow you can't really get upset about it. The wizard did after all give you fair warning that he was going to make an exhibit of you. He just didn't specify a statue.
After a while he takes the rolled up velvet sheet, unrolls it with a flourish and tosses it over you.
You are in darkness. Total darkness. You lose track of time, but when the cloth is removed you notice the daylight coming from a different angle, so it must be morning.
If you still had a voice you would have screamed at the sight of the giant wizard looming over you. Then you notice everything around you looks bigger as well, and realize it's you that has grown smaller. As the wizard bends over to pick you up, you notice you must be about the size of the old statue.
He puts you on a shelf and carefully adjusts your position so you can see the door and the counter and follow what little action there is in the area. Then he starts going abut his daily business, leaving you with your own thoughts.
It looks like a pretty quiet day. The wizard spends most of it doing inventory and looking up things in old dusty tomes. Now and then someone comes in, looks over the free sample table and leaves again, some of them carrying some selection with them. You want to warn them, but what can you do?
Around noon the wizard disappears into the back room and comes back with a cup of some steaming liquid, which he proceeds to sip while sitting behind the counter. Suddenly he looks up at you, moves his lips and shrugs apologetically. Maybe he said he's sorry he can't offer you a drink.
The afternoon is also quiet, except for the arrival of a truck with some boxes which unfortunately get unpacked out of your sight, so you have no idea what's in them.
The night is dark and quiet, but occasionally you seem to catch a glimpse of something dark moving around on the floor. Maybe the wizard has some kind of creatures guarding his shop at night? Well, that would explain why you couldn't stay there overnight before the last change!
The next day is mostly the same, only a while after lunch someone comes in, gabs a costume from the sample table and heads for the changing rooms. They don't come back.
You begin to wonder how many transformations this shop is responsible for, and what becomes of all the changelings. Some of them are probably worse off than you. This isn't so bad really - you have shelter and don't really need anything else (except for company, though you do seem to have lost your capacity for being bored), and you can't feel pain or other discomfort. All in all this could be a pretty acceptable way to spend eternity. You are probably pretty indestructible too, unless some madman should come around with a sledgehammer.
You ponder the meaning of it all, and figure that if the wizard just wanted to replace the statue he would have shut down your mind or something. He doesn't strike you as the kind who enjoys torturing people. He's just a business man who isn't falling over his feet to help undeserving people.
Undeserving people... like you. He really didn't deserve the way you treated him, and you wish you had a voice again so you could apologies.
The third day he takes you down from the shelf and gives you a polish. You enjoy the attention, but would probably enjoy it even more if you could feel his touch. Skin contact, you reflect, is probably what you're going to miss most as a statue.
The wizard leaves you on the counter to dry, and while it's fine to be closer to him, you can't see the door or the sample table from that angle. A couple of times he seems to be talking to someone (but you still can't hear) and points in the direction of the changing rooms.
During teatime (or whatever he's drinking) another old man comes by with an old book they both study intently for some time. When the guest leaves, you go back on the shelf, and soon closing time comes again.
That night you catch yourself wondering if the old statue had a mind trapped in it just like you, and what happened to it.
The next day the shop remains closed. The day after is the same. When the wizard returns on the third day, you see him turn a page on the calendar and realize it must be Monday. So the shop was close over the weekend - quite normal.
Days go by, with tea and polish as regular anchors. You figure it's tea the old wizard is drinking because you see him talking about it, and it seems to be a short word. Weeks turn to months, months to years, years become a blur. You watch the old man grow older still, and realize that you would have been middle aged now yourself if you had remained human. But here you are, eternal as ever.
One day the old, old man sits down with his tea and doesn't get up again. He sits motionless for hours before someone walks in, looks at him and runs out again. An ambulance crew rushes in and puts him on a stretcher, then after a brief examination they cover his face and cart him slowly out. A bit later someone comes by to put out the lights and lock up the store. It doesn't open again for a long, long time.
It takes a while before it sinks in. The old wizard is dead. To your knowledge, he never told anyone about you. Nobody in the whole wide world knows you exist.
You are all alone now.
Written by Won-Tolla on 02 June 2007
