Larry's skin lost its hair, turning green, before the skin itself turned hard and rubbery. His ears became like those of a bat's, his nose stretching out to a point, while his mouth filled with fangs. His pupils shrank away until his eyes were a solid red. His finger nails darkened into tiny black claws. His head shape became squashed and pulled back. He shrank down, his body becoming more muscular as he took on a short stack appearance. His was still most definitely male, but Mia noticed that he was definitely missing something, nothing but smooth green skin was between his legs. You also noticed he was missing nipples.
Larry didn't say anything as he finished getting out of his clothes, tossing them aside. Then he knelt to you saying,
"Mistress, command me."
"Wha-what?!" Then you remembered, Saphira had told you the book of myths enabled you to control mythical creatures, and the book said the rules for transforming people were the same as summoning them from scratch. And what could be easier to control than a Lesser Monster?
"Larry, get up!"
"Yes, Mistress, I shall obey."
"And stop it with the 'mistress' stuff."
"As you command my lady."
"Ugh! Not what I meant!" You thought of ordering him to just act normal, but that would actually be legitimately creepy because you'd know he was just play acting being normal. "Larry, are you still in there?"
"Yes my lady, I'm still Larry, but I am now a loyal goblin under your command." He assumed an 'at attention' pose. "Exploit my abilities as you see fit!"
You sighed. "Okay, let's get you wearing something."
"I have nothing to hide my lady."
"You're right, but you're also completely generic, you might be able to pass off as a costume better than me, but as a 'costume' you need some work."
"Yes my lady."
"And enough with the 'my lady.'"
"Your wish is my command my dark overlord."
"Ya know, just stick with Mia?"
"Yes, My Lady Mia."
"You HAVE to be doing this on purpose!"
"My purpose is now to serve you my lady." Larry said proudly. "You deserve respect!"
In your bedroom, you took the clothes from another of your kobold plushies that was a perfect fit for Larry. Giving him a leather belt and chest strap, as Larry said, he had nothing to hide. You gave him a toy hammer and shield, the helmet didn't fit his head sadly.
"You're not going to complain about those weapons not being real are you?"
"Complain Lady Mia? Never! Besides, this is a cosplay event at Planet Comics, not a battle! I may be a perfect obedient goblin but I'm not stupid!"
Besides to add some extra flare to complete Larry's look, you took your sister's make-up kit again, and looking up online, you painted some runes on him that translated as 'minion' 'servant' 'obey' or things like that, you figured they fit given his attitude.
Larry meanwhile, felt stronger as the runes were painted on him, more confident, more sure of himself. He was Mia's goblin minion, he'd obey her, and take care of anything that got in the way of her plans. He wouldn't set fire to the noisy's neighbor's house or something, that would just trigger a police's investigation. He might have been bound to her will, but again, that didn't make him stupid.
"I am your perfect disposable pawn!"
"Ugh! Larry, you're not disposable. Second, speak your mind freely."
"Very well Mistress, Dark Lord, I mean Lady Mia. I think it nonsensical and strange that an entire planet, or possible universe's continued existence is confined to seven objects being kept in seven particular locations. How could such a world even come to be?"
"Oh that," Mia blinked. "I didn't exactly ask her those kinda questions. But it's not as hard as you think. Look, maybe they formed their entire world, maybe a pocket universe, maybe they terraformed a barren planet or universe, WITH those magic tomes, and they're constantly casting the spells needed to keep the entire thing stable? And the temples are the transmitter points FOR those spells to spread them over the entire planet? OR! Their world was left in complete ruins at some point, and the seven books used their magic to restore the place, and if they're removed, the damage or ruin outside of their range will rush right in. After all, in OUR WORLD, how quickly would the world implode if central servers stopped working or power planets shut down?"
"I see, thank you for your enlightenment mistress, also, the book has less than a dozens spells, and take no effort or training for you to cast them, and yet it takes up an entire book, and is written in the same language as we use? Or the girl spoke to you in our language?"
"I... didn't think about that." Mia flipped through the pages, finding after the descriptions of the spells on the first couple pages, it as row after row after row of aliens runes he couldn't begin to understand, all tightly packed. "I'm guessing Saphira translated her thoughts somehow, and the books do the same. Maybe they adjust to whoever is using them so they can user friendly for whoever uses them at the temples to keep the world from falling apart."
"That is another thing mistress, she failed to give you any time table on how long you have before her world is destroyed. She said if the books were removed from the temple, the world would be destroyed, but she wants them returned. So is there nothing left of her reality now except the temples? Or is there a time limit until they can be returned? Will her world fall into decay, entropy devouring everything, or dissolve into dust, or instantly go poof? As you said in your wisdom mistress, ugh, my lady Mia, the world is big. The books could have fallen into the ocean for all we know. It might take eons for anyone to find the books, if at all.
"And since you asked me to be open in my thought mistress, why have a spell in the book listed as 'impossible'? What is even the point of that?"
Mia thought for a minute, "Maybe it's not 'impossible' in the actual sense, but Saphira's people couldn't gather enough power to cast it AT THE TIME the book was made?"
"That... is possible mistress... but what even IS a 'small' amount of power compared to a 'great' amount of power?"
"Well, I didn't feel drained at all with the kobold TF, nor do I feel tired at all casting the goblin spell on you. So we list 'small' under 'trivial' amount... even if we don't exactly what kinda 'energy' the spell uses."
"And forgive me my great and glorious mistress for whom my life is yours to command as you see fit... BUT ARE YOU STUPID?! Why didn't you take the time book?! If there is someone who has it now, we face someone who is immune to paradoxes, could kill our grandfather in the cradle. Or freeze it in time and leave it drifting in outer space forever. Or drop us into a volcano and THEN unfreeze us! On top of the typical 'regress us into a single cell, or age us into dust! The person with the time book could practice something for a life time, age themselves back to their youth, and travel back in time to resume their life, or freeze time and practice, age themselves back to normal and restart time as MANY TIMES AS THEY WANT! Any mistake that make they can just undo as long as they have the book... which as we've seen with you My Mistress, that is not a guarantee, if you could just write the runes on yourself to cast the spells without needing the book directly on you, then what is keep anyone of the other six from doing the same?!"
"... I'm sorry Larry, I thought it was all just a meaningless dream. A fantasy. A game. I wasn't think strategically of what book would grant me the most advantage in finding the others. But like you said, there's no proof anyone has found or will find the books, and if anyone does, there's no proof it's going to be a psychopath."
"Power corrupts My Mistress. And what of the lunatic who stole the books in the first place, sentencing a world to death in exchange for absolute power, bungled, and scattered them in our world? HE is certainly looking for them My Mistress!"
Mia felt enough was enough, she'd just... she'd just... "Oh crude!"
"Mistress! What is it?!"
"THERE IS NO 'turn to human, or reversion spell in the book!!!!"
Larry didn't say out loud that was a relief to him, that meant he could continue to serve Mistress. But he knew that would just cause her worse stress. "Mistress! It is fine! Remember! There is nothing saying the form is permanent! After the cosplay is over, you can just say turn us into creatures that more closely resemble humans, and simply hide the telltale features." Larry wanted to suggest to Mistress that if she ruled the world, then she could be whatever she wanted to be, but knew mistress would tell him to shut up and never think about that again if he did.
"That... that's right. Thank you Larry!" Mia hugged him. "There's a million 'fantasy creatures' that look perfectly human except for having super-powers."
"I live to serve." Larry said with a fanged smile.
Mia rubbed her temples. "Okay, I guess we're lucky the cosplay event is today. Let's show up early. Given how these kinda stories go, maybe fate will lead people to the books, and then to each other. Or we'll live out our lives never running into the other six... but that would feel too cheap... let's have some breakfast already."
"Yes Mistress."
The two made their way to the kitchen... only to find Mia's sister Audrey having already had breakfast, and checking their social media... oh right... you lived with your sister. You wouldn't have her make-up case there just because.
"Hey Larry, did you finally get Mia to, WHAT THE HELL?!" Audrey exclaimed. She reached for her phone, and began dialing 911.
You freaked out. You panicked. They said a scared person with a loaded gun is all the more dangerous because you'll do something stupid without thinking about it.
Before she could hit send... you reached up your arm... and the magic hit your big sister... Her body shrank down as golden scales covered her body, and instead of batwings, butterfly wings grew from her back, her neck stretched out, her face pulled into a snout. A lizard tail curled behind her as her hands and feet gained claws. She fell into her pile of clothes.
A golden fairy dragon struggled out of the tent of her clothes. Unlike you, she was like Larry, with no visible sexual traits, like most lizards. She fluttered up in spite of there being no logical way her wings could support her weight.
"Mistress! I am ready to serve... uh, can you tell me who you are mistress?"
You rubbed her eyebrows. "Audrey, it's me, Mia, and this is Larry."
"Oh! Sorry for not recognizing you mistress!"
"It's... it's fine." You realized maybe having the runes on you was a double edged sword. You had to discipline yourself.
"Mistress, how did this happen?"
You sighed. Too bad this transformation didn't come with a 'exposition dump beam.'
You spent the next few minutes explaining everything to Audrey, AGAIN about the dream, the books, the other world. You also took time to get breakfast out of the way, bacon and eggs appealed to you way more than fruits and oats this morning.
"Mistress shall be powerful!" Audrey said with a smile.
"Mistress shall be unbeatable!" Larry added.
"Mistress doesn't need that kinda praise!"
"Sorry Mistress," the two echoed.
"Mistress is finally doing something with herself instead of her dumb fantasy role playing," Audrey said instead.
"Maybe not that kind either," Mia said. "Audrey, let me change you into something that people can think is a costume... our adventure party needs a rogue or a healer anyway."
"No need mistress," Audrey twirled around, and sparkles formed around her. Her body took on a more plastic tone, her motions became more stiff, and the faint whirl of a motor was heard.
"Audrey!!! You ... you robotocized yourself?"
"Of course not mistress! That magic is beyond something as weak and pathetic as me!" Audrey said, her mouth not moving. She moved in close. "Touch and understand."
Bewildered, you did. You felt scales that most definitely flesh, and felt the muscles and warmth underneath.
"It is merely an illusion mistress! I can be a animatronic for all to see, and still be at your side for your quest!"
"How did... how did you know how to do that?"
"I.... I don't know mistress... it was... instinct? I just knew how to fool the senses of others. The illusion is not perfect, anyone can touch me and feel the truth, it is just an image, like a hologram. I cannot fool the sense of touch, time, balance, distance, you get the idea. And I must remain conscious to project the spell... Don't ask me how I know that either, I just sense I'm exerting some effort, not much, but it's there, like standing."
You nodded. "Okay. That works out... So anyone you were planning this weekend?"
"Thankfully no mistress. None of my friends and I had any plans."
"Good! Larry?"
"My family knew already I'd be with you all day Mistress."
"One less thing to worry about... well, and a million others... let's go cosplay."
"It is not really much cosplay mistress, since our forms are not costumes."
You took a hood from one of your cloth fantasy figures on the shelf in the living room and placed it on Audrey's head. "There. Now you're cosplaying too our little fairy/dragon illusionist thief. We'll figure out our healer later. Let's go!"
"Yes, Mistress!" The two echoed proudly.
"And don't call me Mistress!"
----
"Like, that costume is so cheap, I can see the seamlines and everything," said a blond woman to Maia in a white 'sexy elf' costume with obvious fake boobs in front of the adventure party.
Camping out outside the Planet Comic before the micro-convention officially began, Mia got her first taste of fandom social events.
No one questioned how Mia and Larry were three feet tall. Or Mia was dressed in a costume that wasn't as 'child friendly' as she thought in retrospect. Maybe they thought they were all just short people there for fun and games too? Whatever. Mia wasn't going to let one jerk in line ruin her first comic-con, even if it was held by the local store and not some big name company or convention center. She'd turned her best friend and her sister into her minions, had no clue to find the six other books, one of which could kill her before the fight even started (literally), but she was gonna ENJOY this comic con dangit!
The doors opened.