James was hit by a blast of energy of pure magic. He tried to scream out his innocence but the wizard's spell quickly overtook him. His voice dwindled to a high-pitched low squeak, rather ridiculous, really, as he saw the world around him loom and get bigger. James knew better by now that he was shrinking and the world was not getting impossibly larger. Oh, the effects, ultimately, were just the same. He now inhabited a world of giants. He shrunk drastically and he thought with terror how much tinier he could possible get. He was already way past everyone' knees! Then he was eye-level with everyone's shoes! This did not bode well at all! And that was not the only change in his transformation. James could feel soft wet bumps emerging from his forehead and something moist and tights surrounding his body. His body that suddenly snapped his limbs together, his legs fusing and his arms uncontrollably sticking to the side of his body, disturbingly merging with it, his flesh becoming one and the entirety getting covered by the moist material. He could feel his very bones becoming just a fleshy mass, with the odd sensation of a tube going from his mouth to his anus. In fact, only his head retained bone and features. When he realized he had stopped shrinking, he saw that he was eye-level with everyone's ankles and no more! He tried running, moving, but try as he might, his body, although seemingly made of one big fleshy muscle, could only go forwards. Or rather, move in minuscule pathetic gliding movements forward. He stared upwards and saw the giant faces staring at him. The wizard was smirking and the three witches looked disgusted. Gilda did not look at him with her repulsive love-sick eyes now and just that filled James with worry. It was like he was wrapped in a wet sleeping-bag!
"Help! What have you done to me? Change me back!"
He had his voice but it was squeaky. Puny. Befitting his tiny size. This made him look even more grotesque, adding to whatever he looked like now.
"Still enamoured, Gilda?" laughed Magnus.
The witch scowled but Hilda could not resist crudely mocking her.
"She can still thrust him up there!" she cackled. "A nice little wet sausage to replace a penis!"
All but Gilda laughed and James wanted to vomit at the very notion of what the old hag was suggesting, also fearing the implications of her words. Thank goodness, Gilda looked just as repulsed as before, if not more so.
"I didn't do anything! Change me back!" he yelled again in his puny voice.
"You might be a little innocent, yes," conceded Magnus. "Hence my leaving of your face and speech."
He bent down to pick up James who was completely powerless getting out of his grasp and presented him to a mirror. James wanted to scream. This was as bad as it had appeared! He was a slug! A huge brown slug with a human face and two antennas darting from his forehead, slowly darting around and lazily going about checking the environment without him being able to stop them! He was a grotesque, ridiculous monster! He begged to be changed back and cried and sluggishly moved his body around but Magnus laughed, making a terrarium appear and plopping him there. James' new home.
James came to appreciate all the implications of being 'sluggish' since that's all he was. The terrarium was warm, leafy, very earthy and he could drink, absorb moisture and be under a UV lamp all day. He had salad leaves everyday. All his needs were close by which was a relief because he could only glide at a frustratingly slow pace. And he had to munch on leaves with his own mouth, limiting his dexterity. And things were so boring! No wonder real slugs had tiny brains! They'd die of boredom otherwise! He kept napping and going from a leaf to eat to another all day! The height of his days, shamefully enough, was passing dejections. Because he'd been right. He was composed of flesh and a tube. A digestive tube. That's all he was now. He didn't even have genitals anymore. Magnus had made that clear. James first thought he didn't know where they were on his invertebrate body but in fact, the wizard took care to specify that he made him without. He was as neutered slug. First of his kind. And a subject of mockery, the witches or wizard tapping the glass of his new home and taunting him by asking how life was. He could only insult them back with his non-threatening puny voice that only made them shriek in laughter and cackle louder.
Then, one day, after what sounded like an eternity but in truth he had no idea precisely how much time had passed, another wizard came, and he was younger but bigger than Magnus. He came for a dinner and all through the afternoon the house had rang with the sounds of pots and plates while delicious food smells had wafted to James' nostrils. It was awful because he would not partake in any of it. Everyone was so busy that they even forgot to give him his usual salad leaves. Not that he missed them that much, as he'd been eating them for so long he could not even remember since when he'd started. From the conversatIons of the long dinner, he gathered that Magnus' friend was residing in the fairylands and did trade in spells and gathered human things from 6he mortal world to sell in the fairylands. James zoned out until he heard a very loud, unknown voice right above him. He jolted awake and saw a stranger's face looking at him, huge and with Magnus next to him, sipping a cup of coffee.
"So that's him? Good job," smiled the big wizard.
"Indeed," said Magnus. "Don't know what I'll do with him in the long run, though. But I'll think of something for lover-boy."
The other wizard guffawed.
"Are you considering selling him?"
Magnus raised an eyebrow.
"No. What for? What are you thinking about, Norak?"
"Well, humans are very malleable in terms of transformations, as you know full well. I could take him to the fairylands and change him to my customers' desires. Humans are in high demand for offspring and pets because of that. Could make a hefty profit. We've got a good basis clay to mold here. I'll share, even. Whadaya think?"
The wizard rubbed his chin and Norak reached inside to poke at James, who of course was powerless to avoid the fat fingers. Norak, smiling, poked and prodded him, eliciting a few giggles from the human slug. James was just as surprised to hear this. How come he was ticklish? Yet he was and Norak took a real delight in gliding his finger along James' body, tickling his ears and under his chin, revelling in his tiny high-pitched giggles. He cooed at him, uttered 'coochie coochie coos' in a baby voice and tickled him remorselessly. James begged him to stop but it only egged Norak on. He could only twitch and wriggle about like a worm. Or a slug. Norak then called him "Twitchy" and "Wriggly" and thought the slug's high-pitched giggles and squirms were "just plain adorable". He then went on about how just Wriggly's ticklishness and tiny giggles would attract many buyers, and that by keeping him as a slug to simply leave around and taunt, his friend was not considering the gold coins he could earn, especially if both of them combined their powers for James' transformation. Magnus hummed in thought. James, for one, wanted to plea for no more transformations. He was scared to remain a slug. He was scared to be submitted to the whim of buyers in the Fairylands. He did not know which was worse! He just wanted his human form back! He attempted to say as much but Norak continued to wriggle his fingers at his repulsive body, eliciting only more giggles and words impossible to understand. In the meantime, he cast desperate glances at Magnus, hoping against hope that his decision, whatever it might be, would be better for him, even if it was a blessing in disguise.