Magic of Ash

What Is Going On?

I swallowed hard. I didn't realize what I was stepping into. I didn't know that the price on my head was so high. All I knew was that this finally felt like I had found my purpose. Throughout my life I had felt lost. I never really made friends, everyone thought that I was odd. The people I thought were my friends were only there because of my famous mother. The only friends I had ever had were the animals that I cared for in the forest. Now I was someone with a purpose, a kingdom, a title. I was this princess who was meant to save everyone. What could go wrong?

"Might I mention that our arrival wasn't exactly a silent one. Everyone in the magical world can sense your presence here. A true royal hasn't been present for over fifteen years. The kingdom is sure to notice the large amounts of magic that you bring."

"Magic? I don't have any of that. The most magical thing I can do is probably calculus." I said laughing.

"Every royal in the Nightfell family has magic. Why wouldn't you? Have you never noticed anything odd about your life in the human world? Oddly blooming flowers? Animals responding to you? These are some of the many things your family can do."

Truth be told I had noticed these things. The way the plants in my home always bloomed even in the coldest of winters. How good I was with animals and how they always came to me when injured. I thought that it was a simple coincidence. Could it be that what he was saying was true? We continued walking through the forest and I pondered over my life. By the time we reached the home of Orion's friend I was already too deep in thought to pay any attention to what he was saying to the man in the doorway.

"Dian, this is Princess Andromeda Nightfell. Princess, this is our key to getting you home." Orion said, waving his hand between us.

I stretched my hand out in greeting and Dian grabbed it, kneeling to the ground.

"Oh! You don't have to do that! Please stand up." I said quickly.

"Please princess, it is my greatest honor to meet you. I will assist you in any way that I can." Dian responded bowing his head low.

"Well let's get this show on the road." Orion said, ushering us back into the house.

"First things first, we need to get you a disguise and an alias. How do you feel about being a blonde?" Dian asked, looking at my hair curiously.

"Aw hell no. I am not bleaching my hair blonde." I responded, crossing my arms.

"Hmm, maybe black? Perhaps red?"

"Yes, dear princess, you'd look smashing as a ginger." Orion whispered.

I huffed in response and nodded to Dian. He moved across his home, grabbing potion bottles. He picked some up, inspected, then shook his head and put it down. By the time he was finished he had three potions of various sizes and shapes and set them on the table in the middle of the room. Dian began mixing the ingredients together, humming an unfamiliar tune. He gestured at me to come over as he poured the mixture into a small green glass.

"You want me to drink this? How do I know I can trust you?" I questioned.

"You don't." he shrugged.

"Fair enough." was my only response. I knocked the cup back like a shot of tequila, and it almost tasted the same. The warm, burning sensation ran down my throat, familiar in its discomfort. I waited a moment and looked back and forth between the two men.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I laughed nervously.

"Ummm. I may or may not have messed that up. Haha." Dian said, running a hand through his hair.

I ran to the mirror hanging above the sink and screamed. Everything had changed. My eyes were now a shocking shade of violet. My hair wasn't ginger, it was blue. Very, very blue. So many shades now grew from my head and two pointed ears now poked through. Not only was it now the wrong color, but it now stretched down to the middle of my thighs. I turned around slowly to look at Dian.

"What. The fuck. Did you do to me?!"

"Well I thought that I mixed a simple color change potion," he grabbed the bottles and looked closer, "but it looks like I accidentally made a true form potion. Oops?"

"How do you mess up that bad?" I yelled.

"The only difference between the two potions is crushed tera petals and whole petals. Guess I used the whole ones."

"I have blue hair and pointed ears and all you're going to say is oops?" I said, my eyes widening in shock.

"On the bright side, this is your true form!" Dian said smiling.

This day was a damned disaster. I had to leave my world, my home, my mother, and everything I knew. I was in a mystical world where I had a bounty on my head, and now I looked like a character from a YA fantasy novel. This was going to be a very long day.