“Okay, now repeat after me…”

The masked man chanted in the strange tongue as they stood in the courtyard on a beautiful sunny day. The incantation must have taken around five minutes, each word phonetically different than the last. If the Levitate spell was a sentence, this was a small novel.

Finally completing the spell, there was no apparent effect, nor should there have been. “Do you understand?”

Sara did not know where to start. “Wouldn’t it be easier to learn the language you spoke and then go into spells from there?”

“Do you have more than a century to get your revenge?” The Eternal replied coldly.

Pinching her brow, Sara weighed the option of going over to Merle herself and just strangling him with her only remaining hand. To make matters worse, having slept in the guest bedroom left her antsy without a mirror to assist her fully. She barely had enough sleep, making the process of speedreading an entire discipline quite the headache.

“Fine. But go slower so I can at least copy it down.”

“No need.” Tracing a circle in the air and with a slight incantation, a tome appeared in his hand, “It’s all copied here, just make sure not to lose it.”

Handing the thick book over, the cover implied it was a form of religious text tied to the Goddesses. “What is this, a church session?”

A glass table and chair manifested themselves for The Eternal to sit, “No. But the act of regenerating a limb is something that would be far more difficult than without any light mana. Mind you, you could accomplish such a feat, but it would be more of a prosthetic, since your soul would be unable to fully reincorporate to the graft.”

“Why don’t we start with something…!” Sara fell onto the grass, failing her Levitate spell, “Something easier?”

“And what did you have in mind, my student?”

The masked man was certainly overqualified for teaching a complete novice like her. His idea of ‘simple’ existed in another dimension. “How about disguising my appearance so I can go shopping in town for us?”

In truth, she was just as curious about the state of Thistlebrook now that she had fully examined her mansion.

“I guess we can start there, but your missing limb could not be hidden by this spell. All it does is let you replicate a humanoid form, but only in looks alone as the illusion is just that, an illusion.”

It was enough, “Sounds good. I just want to lose these horns and tail.”

- - - -

Though it was far simpler, memorizing the incantation and performing the somatic components of the spell with only one hand took around 4 hours before she could reliably accomplish the casting.

With another circle in the air, The Eternal made the mirror he kept for himself appear. “Make sure you are particular with your shapes, whatever you don’t cover will still exist, but simply be invisible.”

Sara looked down at her ever present chest. She was hoping to be free from their tempting forms always hanging in her periphery and pulling on her back. Regardless, she was just excited to see people again after the time within the past two weeks had been spent wholly with magical weirdos.

Casting the spell, she checked her work in the mirror. The tallman woman looking back was quite different. She was as plain as one could get, a far cry from the devilish caramel buxom enchantress who normally looked back at her. Long brunette locks tied into a working woman’s bun, fair skin with a touch of sun, almond eyes surrounding her light brown irises and a rounder face, denoting her to be potentially around her mid-twenties. Her left arm still remained a stump but her voluptuous figure was instead replaced by a more boxy frame.

The disguised succubus touched her face in the mirror. The tips of her fingers disappeared beneath the skin, a sure sign that she was simply just draped by an illusion. Opening her mouth, the illusion being reflected failed to do the same, instead stretching her face slightly to match the taller area the face beneath inhabited. More importantly, her horns, breasts and tail were invisible, but still physically present.

“Not too bad to start with. You still have issues with seams in the illusion nor get the fitting to the clothes right, but it is just barely passable.” A tall elven man, his skin as dark as coal, poked his head in behind the woman in the mirror. His hair was luminously white, much similar to Sarakiel’s true form, contrasting much more with the whites of his eyes. “It’s curious, yet expected, that a succubus would pick up this spell fairly quickly.”

Sara turned around in shock. The masked man had been replaced with a tall, svelte figure. Compared to her still wearing the same modified clothing, The Eternal appeared to be an entirely different figure altogether.

“You certainly need to work on the expressions as well.” He noted, his eyebrows drawing closer in concentration, “Still, that makes little logical sense. Typical succubi are mostly aligned with water mana whereas this spell requires a higher articulation of both fire and air mana to properly form the illusions…”

The now plain woman shrugged, her face unmoving, “I told you, I’m apparently good at all four. Don’t ask me anything beyond that.”

While her illusion seemingly was an ill-fitted mask, The Eternal’s appeared to be an entire transformation, even appearing to be a bit taller than his normal height. Watching his tight muscles move beneath the simple tunic he now wore drew Sara’s attention.

“Curious.” The elven man began to walk back to the house, “Why don’t you take an hour to see where you can improve and then we will conduct a field test in the town over?”

The hour given yielded hardly any improvement. It was a miracle she was able to cover herself with a convincing humanoid shape, but the articulation and attention to various details proved to even be beyond that.

She managed to get the hands right, with the proper amount of fingers and even palm lines added, but facial details and specific female anatomical proportions were either blurry or noticeable at a glance.

“It is a general rule of thumb that a man’s shoulders is approximately three heads wide while a female’s is only two in non-elven and dwarven races.” The Eternal noted from the sidelines, walking back out in his masked form. “In addition, you may want to keep the hair length short, as rendering convincing hair is an artform in and of itself.”

Looking over his student, he appeared neither impressed nor disappointed in her progress. “How are you doing on mana? I understand your contract makes it difficult to regenerate much on your own properly.”

“It’s fine. Are we leaving?” In truth, her stomach had been growling all day. It appeared that two men’s worth of bodily fluids could only sustain her for around four days before discomfort began to settle in.

With a shrug, the sage began to head towards the main gates, “If you feel confident in your progress. Just do not ask for me to help.”

- - - -

Thistlebrook was alive with movement and sounds.

Men shouting as crates were moved up and down river ferries, babies crying, women out buying the fresh wares to bring home. Tallmen, halflings and a few dwarves moved to and fro, each with their own objectives and motivations pushed them around each other with some warm contact inbetween.

Adopting the look of a dwarven woman, The Eternal appeared beautiful. Matching his contemporary, long brown locks crested past her wide proud ivory horns, each adorned with silver jewelry. Her pale complexion made her appear ethereal, as her flawless snow white skin glimmered in the sunlight. Most striking of all was her bust. Just as large as the woman’s true size she traveled with, the plunging neckline in her exquisite dress and low hanging necklace threatening to fall within her ample cleavage certainly accomplished their goal of drawing their eyes to her as much as possible.

“What in the seven hells were you thinking, mage?” In a panic, Sara cleaned up her form, using the same she practiced, but improved the facial articulation.

The beautiful short woman looked over her shoulder at her taller compatriot, “What’s wrong, succubus? Upset that someone could play your game better than you can?”

Sara rolled her eyes, something that her illusion could not fully convey, “No, idiot. I thought the plan was to not draw attention.”

“That,” The short dwarf turned around, her hair twirling flawlessly along with her wide flowing dress, “was your intention. I never mentioned anything of the sort.”

“Ugh.” Managing to get the scowl down, the plain woman conceded, “Fine. We’re just here for a few supplies anyways.”

Stopping at a fruit stall, the old halfling behind looked up and down at the dwarven goddess that deigned to look over his wares, “And where are you from?” He forced a more cheerful tone through his gravelly voice.

“Oh, my sister and I are stopping by. The ferry is going through some quick repairs, you see…” The voice coming out of The Eternal’s disguised mouth was somehow also changed alongside his appearance, now sounding like a noble woman from the north of the continent. She fluttered her eyes at the man going ga-ga.

Clearing his throat, he sat upright on his stool, “Well, welcome to Thistlebrook! Since you both are new to town, I’ll cut you a deal...” The balding storekeeper leaned into the disguised mage, “If you tell me your name, pretty lady, I’ll sell anything ya want for half off!”

“Oh my…” Pulling a fan from her cleavage and opening it to hide her blush, the dwarven woman subtly flashed it open, a soft giggle emanating from behind the ornate obstruction, “Such a kind man! I wouldn’t want to take away from your trade…”

It was the old man’s turn to blush, “Not at all! Speaking to a gorgeous woman such as yourself is easily the highlight of my day!”

“Well, if you insist, my name is Ashara…”

Picking a few of the best hammersquash and spicy melons from the man’s display, the dwarven Eternal motioned to his still disguised student, “Sara, darling, will you pay this kind gentleman for his wonderful wares?”

Sara stopped. “I don’t have any money.”

The dwarf’s eyes grew wide. With a slight cough, she drew behind the fan once more, this time hiding a different expression. “An excellent joke, dear sister! You simply love pulling my leg!”

Leaning into the man, making sure to give him a display of her own, she whispered, “Pardon my sister, she’s part tallman, so all the blood never reaches the top, if you know what I mean…”

“Mhmm!” The man was locked in, his eyes unable to look away from the abyss. “I getcha, my twelfth sister’s got a weakness for tallmen, each one goofier than the last.”

She pulled away from the stall keeper, feigning laughter, “Right? So, Sara, enough with the jokes! Please, pay the man!”

“I seriously don’t have any money.” Sara lifted her arms in resignation.

As if coming out of a spell, the halfling looked over at the disguised succubus for the first time, “Well, I did say I’d only give ya half off…” He looked over to the equally broke dwarf, “If neither of ya can pay, then please put my fruit back.”

The two women sighed in resignation.

With the fruit rightfully returned, they stepped away from the stall. “What do you mean you do not have any money? How did you make it here from The Archivist?”

Sara looked down at the angry dwarf, thankful to not have to look around her typical obstructions, “I walked, you freaky fuck!”

The Eternal, still disguised, ran a gloved hand over the dwarf’s flawless visage, her nose pressing beneath the weight of the hand convincingly, “And she failed to give you any currency?”

“Why don’t you just cast a spell to take something or make him give it to us for free?”

The short dwarf crossed her arms, pushing up her large breasts, “Because I’m currently concentrating on five spells! I cannot work on another currently! Just do your succubus charm on the man!”

Sara raised her hands, “How? He never so much as looked at me! Plus, I still don’t really get how that shit works!” She crossed her arms herself, having to take a step back to look at her supposed ‘sister’. “What are you casting that’s so important anyways?”

“I have this illusion,” She held up a tiny finger, “I’ve got three sending spells going on right now,” only her thumb remained down, “And one that you are not privy to!”

Pinching her brow, fingers passing through the illusion on her forehead, Sara sighed. The main body’s stomach growled again, hungry for more than just fruit. “And why don’t you have any money if you’re so important, then?”

The dwarf stood taller, her hands on her hips, “Because I never need it! My retainers and familiar take care of all my needs! They do so, so I may focus all my time, effort and energy to the development of magic as we know it!”

“So just drop one of your sending spells!”

“A simpleton like you simply would not understand what I have ongoing at any moment.” She shook her fist in frustration, “Besides, monster, you need to support your teacher and not scrutinize their ongoing work!”

The two fought until the sky turned orange. In addition to their bickering growing louder, their stomachs pitched up as well.

With the stores closing down for the night, the two returned to Proudmane Manor hungry.