Mika fidgeted nervously as he wondered what to do next. The stone was getting warm in his hand, and he unexpectedly felt his head clearing up. The dull stableboy that he had become so comfortable with began to fade as the wizard part of him reasserted itself, and he suddenly found himself acutely conscious of his nakedness and child-sized body. Wait, this wasn’t right, he wasn’t supposed to be a stableboy, he was a wizard’s apprentice! With that thought, a sudden pulse of energy shot from the stone through his body, and when he blinked, he was back in his robes and towering over the boys around him.
“You did it!” Tobias shouted with glee. “Now turn us back too!”
“So, which one of you is Aubrey?” Mika looked around.
“Tis me.” the smallest boy piped up. “Ya’ a sup-ah wee-zard.” He looked up at Mika with admiring eyes.
Mika toyed with the idea of leaving Aubrey as he was, at least for a while. The little boy looked obedient & submissive, and would make a great familiar for himself. Then he caught a sidelong glance from Tobias, and relenting, raised the stone in his hand & restored Audrey back to her warrior form.
“Mika! I’ve been looking all over for you!” she exclaimed. “I was just asking the innkeeper where you were…wait, how did I get here? And why are you surrounded by these filthy urchins?”
“They used to be travelers like us, until the innkeeper changed them into little boys.”
Audrey looked blankly at him for a while, then her eyes abruptly narrowed when she finally connected the dots. “Oh I’m so going to cleave that fat bastard in half…” she growled, her face turning a beet red.
“Me next!” “No, ME next!” a chorus of small voices broke out, making Mika feel like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. He turned around and pointed the stone towards Tobias. To his surprise, nothing happened. Mika tried again, but without any effect. “Maybe you need to strike a more flamboyant pose.” Audrey said sarcastically.
Mika gave her a sharp look as he pulled out a pouch and scattered its glittery contents over Tobias, but that only caused him to sneeze violently. Next, he tried dropping an orb that engulfed the boy in a plume of smoke, but that promptly dissipated without any impact whatsoever. Finally, he traced a rune circle under the boy and raised a cylinder of blinding white light around him. But Tobias stubbornly remained a naked little boy.
Frustrated, Mika clapped his hands and summoned an enormous leathery spell book. As he searched frenetically through its pages, he thought he heard a sniffle. Looking up, he saw tears welling up in Tobias’ eyes. “I’m going to be stuck like this forever!” he sobbed, his body shaking uncontrollably as tears poured down his face.
Mika looked expectantly at Audrey, who just glared back at him. “Look, I’m a warrior, not a babysitter. Never been good with wailing brats.” she snapped.
“You’re… doing it …wrong.” Mika turned – it was Luka, speaking with great effort. “He’s… changed for too long. Can’t… reverse. But… you can…turn him… into something else.”
Mika took the weeping boy into his arms and comforted him the best he could. “Look, Tobias. If you can become anything you want, what would you choose to be?”
“Anything?” Tobias stopped crying and thought for a moment. “Well, I’ve always wanted to be…”