As the restored boys looked at each other in bewilderment, a hand shot up in the back of the audience. Madame Illusia saw it and raised an eyebrow. "You have a request? Come forward so we can see you."
A dark-haired man in his middle thirties pushed his way through the crowd, hesitating a moment before finally moving to stand in front of the Witch. He was pretty average-looking, wearing jeans and a golf shirt. Unlike the unruly boys who were now being guided offstage by Stephan, he was obviously very respectful and even a little afraid of the woman.
"What is your name?" Madame Illusia stared at the man with a slight smile. "And what is it you wish of me? Youth, sexual prowess, powerful muscles, stunning good looks?"
The man flushed. "Well, yes. But not the way you might think. And my name is Brian"
She snorted. "All of the above? And just how is your desire different from any other middle-aged male I see looking to be a handsome youth?"
"I don't want to be human. I want to be a horse." The man's voice had dropped to a near-whisper. "A Clydesdale."
"Speak up, Brian! Let the audience hear you!" Madame Illusia glared down at him. "You do not mumble your wishes to me!"
He straightened and looked her in the eye. "I want to be a Clydesdale stallion!" His voice was firm and clear, and this time some of the audience laughed.
"That is much better." The witch looked him over. "A horse? You seek some vacation from work, a sordid romp with willing mares to laugh about with your friends later?"
"Not a vacation. Permanent." This stopped the laughter, and the audience looked at Brian with renewed interest. "I want to become a horse for real, and for good."
So, what are you trying to escape?" Madame Illusia looked at the man intently. "Are you running form the law? A hateful wife or girlfriend? Financial ruin?"
"No. I just want to be a horse." The man flushed as jeers started up in the audience.
"And just how do you expect to pay me for such a service? My demonstrations are free - but I charge as much as a million dollars to transform someone as a custom order. Can you pay me a million dollars?"
Brian shook his head and sighed. "No. I'm not rich. Never mind. I just saw that you could do what I have always thought was impossible, and I had to ask." He turned away, looking dejected, as the audience laughed and made rude noises.
"I'm not done with you yet, Brian!" Madame Illusia smiled darkly. "Tell me - you truly want to give up your voice, your hands, to trade your human soul for that of an animal forever?"
Brian stopped and turned back to her, nodding silently.
"Speak up! I want the audience to hear your answer!"
He tried to speak, but what emerged was a loud and powerful horse's whinny that startled both him and the audience. And when he started to cover his mouth in surprise, he nearly clobbered himself with one of the massive hooves that had replaced his hands.
"Good answer, Brian!" The witch grinned and gestured to the stage beside her. "Come up here so that these fine folks can witness this desire of yours."
Still stunned by the sudden changes, Brian stumbled up onto the stage. He kept trying to talk, making whinnies and whickers.
"Ah, you seem to be having some trouble with your mouth. Maybe I can help." Madame Illusia made a gesture, and the man's lips and nose darkened and swelled outward. His eyes got larger and shifted further apart as the skull behind them deflated. His ears moved up and got pointed, and his hair lengthened into a coarse mane that ran doenthe back of his head and neck, while a cover of golden hair swept over what was now the full head of a Clydesdale horse.
The audience laughed at him - a man with the hooves and head of a horse. The witch stepped back. "Rather silly looking, isn't he? And I do hate unfinished work." She gestured again, and Brian's clothes tightened around him, and then became golden hair over thickening hide. Brian's eyes were wide now, showing fear, but he remained where he was.
"Now then. Some more adjustments." Madame Illusia stepped back as Brian started to gain mass - his body thickened and rose up on powerful equine hind legs. His moderate human penis and testicles swelled out into the massive equipment of a Clydesdale stallion, a three-foot black hose dropping down to swing in front of a leathery sack that looked like it had two baseballs in it.
"Almost there." She gestured again, and Brian fell forward as his body swelled and changed, making the ground shake as his forehooves hit the stage. The audience applauded as Brian twisted around to look at himself. He appeared to be totally changed into a huge golden-brown and white Clydesdale.
"Is this what you desired, Brian? You are a perfect Clydesdale, the kind of animal breeders will pay top dollar for. Four years old, powerful and healthy. But you now have maybe 20 years before you die of old age, not 40 or 50. Are you willing to pay any price I name? Willing to accept whatever fate I decree? Will you become a gelded show horse? Pull wagons and plows for the rest of your days? Become a brood mare to carry foals? Think carefully, for once you answer there is no second chance."
Brian's large head nodded up and down without a moment's hesitation.
"Very well." Madame Illusia smiled again. "I have taken your voice and your hands. Ah! But I have forgotten the most important part. You are still a transformed human, with the intelligence and soul you were born with. In order to be a true Clydesdale, your essence must match." She concentrated a moment, and a ghostly image of Brian as a human rose up above him.
"You willingly give up your human soul, and doom yourself forever to be a beast, a dumb animal for all eternity. You renounce any god there might be, shut yourself off from any human heaven or hell, and join the pool of life as a herd animal, an equine in body, mind and soul."
As she spoke, the image wavered and changed until it had become a match to the great horse below it. Brian's eyes were wide with fear now - perhaps he had not thought about the long-term costs. But as his equine soul sank back into his body, the former human's eyes dulled, confusion replacing fear. And then the Clydesdale that had been Brian snorted, and dropped its head to snuffle the stage hopefully for a bit of grass or hay.
Madame Illusia looked over the silent audience. "Now, for the price. What do you think I should do with him? Do any of your want to suggest a fate?"