Trickery #2
What? That cannot be right! How can you have a tail? Leaping to your feet and whirling around in a dizzying tight circle, you realise that you are on all fours. Something has happened to your limbs and you're walking like an animal! Are you an animal? It's not a ridiculous conclusion if you have a tail. Can you still talk? What if you cannot talk? Are you a simple beast now? What happened?
"H...hello?" You try cautiously and are relieved to hear a voice of sorts, although it does not seem like your voice; the voice that comes from your lips is lighter and of a higher pitch. At least you can talk and that is all that matters in this instance, that you are not a dumb, mute animal.
"Having fun, are we?"
To your left, near a spindly cactus with extraordinarily long spines, the man from the alleyway appears. Blue from head to...well...he dissipates into nothingness at the waist, but he has striking blue skin and a toned body that induces a jealous wish in you to have those hours, which you spent in the gym, returned to you.
"You?!" You shriek, rearing on to your hind legs and striking the air warningly with your paws, which you see are tipped with dangerous, sharp claws. "You did this to me? Just who the hell do you think you are? What have you turned me into? What are you?"
"Now, now," he chuckles, his attempt at placating you falling terribly flat with his amusement. "You should not have taken the liberty of insulting a genie now, should you, little sphinx?"
Sphinx?
You crane your head back over your shoulder and yelp to see the broad pair of feathery wings resting against your back, the fur coating your animal body like to the tawny fur of a lion. Jaw slack with astonishment, you flap the wings experimentally, surprised at the strength in your he new muscles, and stir up a cloud of sand with just a single down stroke, your lion-like tail waving as if with a mind of its own beyond them. Your face still appears human though, as you can talk, even if there is something not quite right that you cannot put your finger on. Unbelievable... Wait, he is a genie? Are they real after all then?
"Oh, and I made the decision to make a small change to your gender...none of the traditional sphinxes look male after all," the genie remarks, breaking into your stream of thought and looking up expectantly to enjoy your reaction.
"You...you what? But I'm not female!" You shout, baring your teeth and advancing towards the genie, who struggles to banish a growing look of alarm from his expression. That's right, you think, that's good: he should be afraid of you!
Written by Amethyst Mare on 27 June 2012