Cassia had been so involved in the idea of changing that she had not noticed the decrease in her stride as she had run towards the edge of the lake. It was only upon the sight of her own relfection that she realized just how small she had become. Instead of a lovely, 18-year-old princess staring back at her, the body she was now in appeared to be no more than 10 years of age, with muscles and build to match. She was still female, but the dress that had once been form-fitting now hung from her wiry frame, and her luxurious, curly hair made her look almost like a doll. Furious that all her efforts seemed to have backfired, Cassia felt hot tears creep into her eyes.
Pulling out the short knife she had brought along to cut the wireweed, she grabbed her long, beautiful tresses, which now hung nearly to the ground. With an angry swipe, sliced through her hair, leaving it looking short, messy and almost boyish. Throwing the hair and the knife down, she paced back and forth a bit, her frustration rising.
Why?!! she screamed inwardly. Why can't I do ANYTHING?!!
She was certain she had now made her position even weaker, since a child would stand even less chance against a tyrant than a young woman. She was past the point of caring, however, and began to almost believe that she would be better off dead. Irritated with herself for all her mistakes, she brought her little fist down as hard as she could upon a large boulder sitting next to her, almost wishing that she would hurt physically, since it would be better than the internal pain of being impotent. She was so worked up, it didn't even register for a second when her hand passed through the boulder like a knife through warm butter, cracking it into pieces as though it had been hit with a sledgehammer.
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Cassia stared at her own tiny fist, unsure whether to believe what had just happened. How could a child's body possess strength surpassing that of any known human? Why change her into a child in the first place, instead of just making her old body stronger? The questions whirled around in her brain, but there was also a glimmer of hope. Despite her size change, she now had power; more power than she had dreamed possible. However, she did not know exactly what that power was, and what its limits were. Trying to be a bit rational, she decided to test her abilities somewhat.
She walked back over to the lakeside and chose a small, hard rock which fit nicely into her hand. Holding it out in front of her, she began to squeeze. With minimal effort, her hand closed around the stone and fragments began to fall. When she opened up her fist, a fine powder which blew away in the wind was all that was left of the remnants of the rock. Wide-eyed, Cassia nearly laughed in childlish abandon, for the first time in years. Deciding to take a risk, she picked up the knife with which she had cut her hair. Closing her hand around the blade, and closing her eyes in anticipation of possible pain, she gave it a slight squeeze. Feeling nothing pierce her skin, she opened her eyes and her hand. Instead of blood flowing over her palm, she saw that the knife's blade had four neat semi-circlular dents on one side where her fingers had been placed, and one slightly larger semi-circle on the other from her thumb. Although she was not sure why the blade could cut her hair and not her body, she was overjoyed to find that weapons would not have much effect on her.
While she considered the possibilities opened thanks to her new strength, she began to wonder what else she could do with it. After all, if her arms were stronger, what about her legs? Tearing off the bottom of her dress to improve her mobility, Cassia used a piece from the bottom as a rope to turn the remainder into a long tunic. Glancing around to ensure she was alone, she crouched slightly, then pushed off from the ground, trying to put enough effort into the jump without over-doing it. Although she only expected to rise a foot or two, she was shocked to suddenly find herself at the level of the treetops. Reaching the top of her arc, she hung there for an instant, then came down rather quickly. Cassia managed to recover her sense enough to absorb the impact by bending her knees, but she found she barely felt it at all, although there was a bit of a depression in the earth where she came down.
The thought occurred to her that if her legs had that much strength when moving vertically, there must be improvement horizontally as well. Since the edge of the lake was clear of trees and brush, she decided to use it as a track. Cassia readied herself, then ran with all her might around the lake. She found she had to hold her speed down when turning to match the curves of the lake, since her strength was such that the speed might send her veering off path. Feeling slightly more appreciative of her new body, Cassia returned to her starting point, and finally began to consider what to do next.
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Cassia pondered her options. She could return to the palace, but how would she explain her change? Should she even explain? With her new stength, couldn't she just take over Kasergrov? However, she knew that the palace was full of her father's toadies. Even if she did have super-human strength, she didn't think it made her immortal, and one of them would surely find a way to kill her eventually. There was even the possibility that the magic could be reversed. She could, of course, just leave, but where would she go? Who could she turn to? She had always lived in the palace, and even though her strength might allow her to survive, she was certain she didn't have many of the skills necessary to live completely on her own.
Cassie stared at her reflection in the calm lake waters for a moment, then turned resolutely. She decided to...