A hand quickly went up in the air. Ryan was surprised to see that it was coming from his group of friends sitting midway back in the crowd.
His friend Albert suddenly stood up. He had been the shorter friend who had egged Ryan on to the stage.
“I’ll volunteer!” he called out to the sorceress from his place, trying to sound as firm as possible but with emotion tangible in his voice.
Madame Illusia’s mouth contorted into a wicked smile as she saw his silhouette.
“You’re the one who had urged our twig-like Ryan to seek my services, aren’t you?” she said looking up and down the now corpulent Ryan, as the audience sniggered at the irony.
“So even you desire to be transfigured? Come now! Come to the stage and tell us what you desire!”
Albert made his way through the crowd to the aisle in the centre dividing the crowd into two halves. He walked up to the stage, where Illusia could finally see him clearly.
Illusia divined that Albert was in his mid-twenties, around Ryan’s age, but he could have passed for someone 5 years younger. He looked fresh-faced and smooth, with a pale complexion and being devoid of any significant body hair that gave him a cute boyish look. He had a full head of raven-black hair, cut into a short undercut. Albert was short, standing around 5’7” at best. Although he looked less thin than Ryan had been, he still had a slight build at best. He looked positively child-like now standing around the new Ryan who was now big in all senses of the word.
“So you egged me on because even you wanted to change?!” Ryan exclaimed, somewhat hurt that his friend had been deceitful in his intentions earlier.
“Quiet!” Illusia interjected before Albert could reply.
“And you Paul, I think you can join the audience, in your new trimmer proportions!” as she motioned Paul to leave the stage. Paul swiftly walked off the stage, his now light steps no longer making the old wooden stage creak under his weight.
Ryan was about to walk down the stage as well, when Illusia suddenly held out her arm blocking his path.
“You, young man can stay. If as you’re claiming your friend had urged you to seek my help because he wasn’t courageous enough to speak out himself about his own insecurities, I think it’s a fitting penance that you get to observe his transformation up close!” Illusia added with a wicked grin.
It was now Ryan’s turn to smile, as he looked expectantly at Albert, seeing how he would react.
Albert blushed a deep red.
“So now young man, what is your name?”
“I, I’m Albert”
“Okay Albert, so how old are you?”
“I’m 25.” The audience broke yet once again into murmur, as they couldn’t believe the fresh-faced youth in front of them was actually in his mid-twenties already.
“So Albert, tell me what do you desire?”
“I, well, I want to look manlier! I’m sick of looking younger than my peers, to still be asked for my ID every time I walk into a bar. I want to be bigger, to have presence when I walk into a room and to command respect. I’m sick of being this short and lean!”
Ryan smirked as he heard Albert’s deepest, darkest desire. No wonder the little guy had always jeered at him for being so thin – it was because he had been so insecure about his looks and height himself!
“Now that you finally got that off your chest… is there someone in the audience who wants to help the young Albert reach his goals? Maybe someone who would like to look younger and lose some of their size?”