Epilogue: Newborns & New Beginnings 

It had been a couple weeks since the tear had been repaired, unfreezing the pause and instead of immediately disappearing the witches Ester and Blythe had decided to stick around in the interim.

Which worked out for me, as I would have been extremely lost and confused if I had woken up back in my own bed with them gone. That said I never got a chance to learn the sorcerer’s story or what he’d been trying to achieve, as he’d been dragged off to stand before a tribunal, before I’d woken up. 

The witches however had been staying in his penthouse as they dredged their way through years of experimental notes and mouldy manuscripts. That and fully inventorying and investigating the entirety of his ritual room and monitoring the now healed tear to ensure there wasn’t any lasting damage. All part of their ongoing investigation into his motives and the full extent of his crimes.

It wasn’t until a week after I’d blacked out that I woke up in one of the penthouse's bedrooms, not recognising where I was. Oh and before I forget to mention it… I was more than a little unnerved to wake up in a bed that had been pulled away from the wall into the middle of the room, where it had been encircled with a chalk circle and a baffling array of runes in chalk.

And even more unnerved again, when I found myself unable to leave the circle to go to the bathroom upon waking.

You see, I’d immediately fallen unconscious after pulling myself back into reality and no longer able to recognise me, they’d put me to bed and they woven around that bed a number of monitoring, healing and containment spells. Medical aid because of the falling unconscious and precautions in case I’d been an invasive extraplanar entity. 

Then upon waking, I was subjected to a series of magical scans and tests, before a pretty thorough interrogation that left all involved pretty confident I was who I said I was. That said, telling the story from my point of view along with a running commentary of my thoughts at the time earned me quite a scolding.

“I still can’t believe you walked into that thing! ‘Look at me trying to save the Titanic with this bandaid!’ You know that shouldn’t have worked, miss duct tape and you had no way of knowing it could work before you jumped in and tried to be a hero! It's a miracle you could do what you did, instead of just coming apart without even closing it,” chided Blythe before she punched my upper arm. “You scared me, dummy!”

“I’m sorry!” I apologised, rubbing my arm.

I was too! It didn’t even take me long to start crying either, I was a complete and utter emotional mess. Shame and guilt, intermingled with relief.

Turns out my years of being an emotional null hadn’t prepared me for being able to handle experiencing the full scope of my emotions. This whole last week has been a whirlwind of crying, stomping, slammed doors, burning blushes, squeals and dancing on the spot out of excitement or happiness. More than once Ester needed to sit me down and make me concentrate on breathing until I managed to recognise what I was feeling and then calm down somewhat. 

It’s not my fault! Technically speaking I am only eight years old going off how long I’ve lived and not my physical or mental maturity. Ester keeps teasing me saying I’m only a week old and I’m not sure she is referencing my metamorphosis and not just poking fun at my lagging emotional maturity.

But aside from a few sneaky amused smiles at my antics and light teasing, they’d been extremely patient and non-judgemental when dealing with my emotional turbulence.

I could kinda see the humor of it. A large emotionally-dulled guy steps through a rift doing a heroic sacrifice play, saves the town and emerges as an almost full foot shorter, purple haired, iridescent glowing eyed girl struggling to learn how to deal with basic emotions.

Oh right!

If it wasn’t apparent before, well… I’m a girl now and I did not see this coming when I was trying to solve the mystery of my discomfort. Good thing though, I solved the mystery why I was uncomfortable with my previous form! And I was honestly feeling great, this body felt like me. Well, aside from the moodswings that were sending me bouncing between fits of hyperactive joy, grumbly anger and crying at the drop of a hat.

I might have maybe been playing up the tantrums and crying just a little. The comforting hugs were sorta addicting.

After I’d awoken another witch called Theresa showed up and took over the investigation alongside the older Ester. Which left Blythe to babysit the baby. Or more correctly, help me learn to live with a normal full range of emotions so they could start proper magic lessons.

And…

Umm… Well stop me accidentally making things out of thin air when I was too emotional or distracted. Among the more memorable examples, the chocolate might have been appreciated and the two tailed cat an interesting surprise, but the snowy winter wonderland in one of the guest rooms was a step too far. Especially considering that the microclimate ended at the doorway, resulting in any snow that found its way out of the room becoming a wet slushy mess.

Weaving an internal reservoir of potential into the core of my new form had downsides I needed to learn how to control on top of any lessons in normal magic. I still wasn’t entirely human. Nor was I at all like the hollow I started as, but as I liked to see it I was something with the benefits of both.

I’m rambling aren’t I?

Sorry, kinda excited right now. I’m going to be leaving with the witches three soon.

They’re taking me with them when they finish their investigation, Ester agreed to take me on as another apprentice. Between Blythe begging her teacher to take me on and Ester and Theresa deciding that leaving me behind with these powers in the wreckage of my old life would be a bad idea, they’d all agreed. 

I was struggling not to disturb Ester and Theresa from their investigations in the ritual room by asking them endless questions. I was doing my best not to accidentally poof a bunch of things into existence. It was like there was this storm of energy within me that wanted to get out and I had to do something. No, not that energy!

A hand shot out to grab me by the shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. Blythe!

“Woah Alex! Slow down there, you’ve already done about a dozen laps of the penthouse. Don’t forget there’s a gym here if you need to burn off energy,” she smirked.

“Sorry, I’ve just been thinking about our plans to leave. I’ve never been outside the town before barring a few day excursions back in highschool.”

I hadn’t, it had never really occurred to me outside of activities decided by others. On second thought, I had probably been subconsciously tethered to the town and the tear I was linked to.

I must have been frowning in thought because all of a sudden Blythe was wearing a concerned expression. “You’re not scared are you?”

“No... I’m excited!” I replied, stretching out my words as I excitedly seized her by the shoulders. “It's like I will be going on an adventure! I keep thinking about what I’ll see, the people I’ll meet, maybe even make friends with! All the stuff I’ll get to experience, learning to be a witch like you and Ester.”

“It’s all like a new beginning for you isn't it?”

“It is!” I exclaimed, blushing.

It really was like a new beginning. My life was no longer on pause and I was going to make the most of it!