These are crazy times we live in, you know?
I mean, think about how much the world has changed since Archmage Calton came up with his system to distribute magic more evenly. I imagine he must have known what it would do. Magic wasn't restricted to a few elite anymore; suddenly every farmer and dockhand could use it. With a little study and practice, anyone could do amazing things.
Of course, not everyone understands the importance of that study and practice. Sometimes people use magic without thinking about the potential consequences, which is how we end up with some of the crazier things our world has to offer. Did you hear about that mage who was trying to make a self-moving carriage, and he ended up turning himself into a carriage? I hear he still gives rides in the city square.
Okay, sorry, I'm rambling. This is important, I swear. All I'm saying is, there are some crazy things out there, and not everything is what it appears to be. I... I want to tell you the story of one of the crazier things out there.
This all happened about ten years ago. There was a small band of Mage Warders - you know, the mercenaries that get hired to stop people who use magic improperly? This is the story of four of them: a Mink named Lora, a Feline named Roc, a Rabbit named Lin, and a Fox named Tami. A bit of a motley arrangement: Lora and Roc were both lowlanders, Lin was a monk from one of the monasteries up north who knew a lot about magical creatures, and Tami was a thief they had picked up on the streets. Still, good friends, they were, working mostly out in the frontier, taking on jobs from small villages. Here in the mainland, the use of magic is more regulated, but out there, villages are left to fend for themselves and more or less make their own laws. Occasionally, you'd get some maniac with a lot of magical power who would try to take over a village, or destroy it, or whatever.
It made them feel good, you know? Saving a town from some crazy warlock who thought he'd go unopposed out there on the frontier. So what if the villages couldn't pay them with more than a little food or a place to sleep? They were good at what they did and owed allegiance to no one. Not a bad life, and certainly never a boring one.
Anyway, they had just been hired by one of those little villages to take out a witch. She was a female Feline that had taken up residence in an abandoned castle nearby, and was demanding sacrifices from the villagers. No one knew what she was doing with the sacrifices, but they never came back, so it couldn't be good. They all assumed she was conducting magical experiments on them. Whatever she was doing, it had to be stopped, which is why they hired the heroes of my story.
Lora was the one who always devised the strategy, so this time, she decided that subterfuge would be a good idea. Rather than assault the castle directly, which would surely cause them to run afoul of whatever magical traps the witch had set up, they would send one of their own as the next sacrifice. Magic or not, everyone responded the same to a good rap on the head; they just had to get someone close enough without getting fried by whatever magical traps the witch had set up. Roc was a big, strong male, so he was the obvious choice.
Of course, it wouldn't be a good story if things worked out that easy.
When Roc didn't come back, the others knew something had gone wrong. He might not be the brightest Feline they had ever met, but he was fiercely loyal; he would never have betrayed them.
So they went to the witch's castle. Tami picked the lock of a side door, and they crept inside.
They were expecting to find the witch torturing Roc, or at least holding him hostage. They were not expecting to find her in bed with him. Thankfully, they weren't in the act of actually doing anything when they walked in, but still, it was a surprise.
Perhaps even more of a surprise, though, was how Tami reacted. Like I said, she wasn't much of a fighter, but while everyone else was staring at the pair in bed, Tami leaped onto the bed, pulled out her dagger, and slashed the witch across the face.
Tami, you see, kind of had a thing for Roc. Seeing the witch lying in bed with him had made her just a little bit angry, even though she could see that Roc was in some sort of trance. So she kind of acted without thinking.
The witch, of course didn't take very kindly to that. She kicked Tami backwards, knocking her off the bed. But then, since the witch's concentration had been broken, Roc woke up from his trance. He grabbed the witch by the neck, and... well, like I said, that was pretty much the end of the fight.
They escorted the witch back to the town, with Roc apologizing the whole way. It turned out that the witch had actually been in heat, and when a big, strong male like Roc had been sent as a sacrifice, she had decided to try out a seduction spell on him. The others agreed that it wasn't his fault, of course. The townsfolk locked up the witch, and gave the Warders four rooms at the local inn to rest for the night.
And here's where things get weird.
The townsfolk threw a party for their new heroes, but Tami wasn't really one for parties, so she went back to her room early. And to her surprise, who was waiting for her there but the witch. Apparently, the townsfolk hadn't put the right magic wards on her cell, and she had gotten out and was looking for revenge on Tami for messing up her face.
Tami tried to run, of course, but the witch was ready for her. A burst of magic hit the Fox, and Tami crumpled to the ground.
She felt... strange. Like all her insides were being pushed outward. She tried to move, but couldn't seem to conjure up enough strength to move her limbs. She heard the witch approach her.
Then suddenly, she was looking in a floor-length mirror that had been set up in the room. Except she wasn't looking at herself: she was looking at the witch, who was holding... something. At first, Tami couldn't tell what it was. Some kind of rug, maybe? Except it was split in a couple places. And it had a bushy tail coming off the back of it. And at the top, something that sort of looked like a face...
And then Tami realized what she was looking at: herself. Except... empty. The witch was holding Tami's fur. Somehow, the witch had used her magic to skin Tami alive.
The witch was holding the Tami fur up, like one might hold up a dress. "You're very pretty," she said. She stroked her fingers through the fur. "Such a nice Fox fur. All empty and hollow." She held up Tami's head, and Tami could see that the eyes and mouth were, indeed, completely hollow. "If my spell worked, though, you should still be able to see all of this, even though you don't have any eyes anymore. The magic will keep you alive, even though your insides are all gone. Now... let's see how you fit!"
The witch then bent over, lowering Tami to the ground, and stuck her leg in the Fox's mouth. She proceeded to put the Fox's fur on like a dress, pulling it up to her waist, her legs filling up the Fox's legs. Then she stretched her arms inside, one at a time, pulling the fur up to her neck, and finally pulled the empty muzzle around her own, snapping it in place.
"Mmm... perfect."
It was perfect... too perfect. The witch didn't have exactly the same build as Tami; she had even been a little taller than the Fox. The skin should have been loose in some places and tight in others. But it wasn't: standing in front of the mirror was, to all appearances, Tami. The only visible difference was the eyes; the witch's had been a slightly darker shade of green than Tami's. But other than that, she looked exactly like the Fox: even her voice had been Tami's, though Tami had definitely not spoken the words herself.
Tami didn't feel empty anymore, either, but when she tried to move, she found she couldn't. Instead, the witch moved her arm for her, tracing the curve of her side with one hand. Tami could feel it, as though she herself had done it, except she hadn't done it.
"I can feel that," the witch purred. "Just the slightest little flutter. Guess my spell did work," The witch said, turning to admire herself in the mirror. "Not bad at all. Maybe a little short, but I can live with that. Now, I hope you're ready to party, girl, because I'm looking to get another shot at that male of yours."
The witch, still wearing Tami's skin, left the room and went to find Roc. The male Feline had also retired from the party and was resting in his own room.
He looked surprised when the witch came in. "Tami? I didn't realize you were still awake."
"I just couldn't stop thinking about you," the witch said, using Tami's voice. "I felt like I almost lost you today."
"Lost me?"
"I care a lot about you," she said, and she started to climb into bed with him. "I just... want to show you how much."
Tami tried to scream, tried to move her arms. "It's not really me!" She cried in her head. "It's not me!" But she was like a puppet, forced to do whatever the witch wanted.
And not only would the witch trick Roc into being with her, Tami would have to not only watch, but experience it, too. Tami could still feel everything. She felt Roc's hand on her waist as the witch straddled him; she felt his tongue in her mouth as the witch kissed him.
And then she felt his hand wrapping around her throat, pushing the witch back and pinning her to the bed.
Roc looked angry. "You are not Tami."
"But..." the witch started to say, but Roc tightened his grip, cutting off her air.
"What did you do to Tami!?" Roc was shouting now.
The witch struggled, but couldn't get out of his grip. The others must have been nearby and heard the commotion, because Lora and Lin came bursting in. Can you imagine how confused they must have been? They tried to pull Roc off of what they thought was Tami, but Roc just pushed them away. Then he jammed his hand into Tami's mouth, and, after a bit of searching, found the "seam" between her teeth and lips. Once he had a grip on the witch, he was able to yank her out of Tami's skin, reducing Tami to an empty shell again. Tami felt incredibly relieved: her friends had figured it out!
Lin and Lora were surprised, of course, but they quickly regained their composure. Lora ended up grabbing the witch and holding her sword to her throat, while Roc was left holding the skin.
"How did you know she wasn't Tami?" Lin asked.
"She kissed me. She didn't feel right." Roc turned to look at the witch. "What did you do with our friend?"
"What do you mean?" The witch asked, her voice sweet. "You're holding her right now!"
Roc looked down at the skin in his hands, and there was a moment of silence as it dawned on all of them what she meant. Aghast, Roc dropped Tami to the floor, and Lora growled deep in her throat.
"You monster!" She shouted. "That was our friend!"
"She was alive when I skinned her," the witch said. "The screams were beautiful."
At first Tami didn't understand; the spell she had used to transform her hadn't been painful at all. Why was she lying?
Then she realized: if the witch didn't tell the others, they had no way of knowing she was still alive.
The witch didn't tell them, of course. Roc wanted to kill her immediately, but Lin convinced him that it wouldn't bring Tami back, and he finally conceded to return the witch to her cell and make sure the magic wards were set up properly this time.
And, to Tami's horror, they put her skin - put her - into a box, so they could find an appropriate place to bury her.
Tami wasn't sure how long she was in the box. It didn't take long for her to wonder if they had buried her already, and she had just missed it, and now she was doomed to spend an eternity alone and unable to move in the darkness. But then the lid of the box opened, and she saw a familiar face peeking inside. Lin pulled her out, holding her up.
They were in what looked like a small storage room, probably where the group's things were being held while they spent the night in whatever inn they happened to be in right now. Lin looked at Tami for a long time before she finally spoke. "Tami? Are you still there?"
She knew! Tami tried to respond, but just as before, she was unable to move or speak.
"I just... I can't shake the feeling that you're not really gone," Lin said. "We never found any of the rest of your body, and that witch was using transformation magic on some of her test subjects. I just can't help but wonder... hm, but if you are still there, maybe you don't have any way of telling me?" Lin glanced around the room, checking to make sure she was alone. "Alright," she said, "I'm really hoping I'm right about this, because if I'm not, this is going to be really gross."
Lin then stripped off her clothes, and, just like the witch had, put Tami on, sliding the skin up over her legs, chest, and then finally fitting her over her head.
Tami tried to move, and Lin jumped. "I felt that! You are still there, aren't you!? Okay, I'm gonna try something. As part of my training to be a monk, I learned some meditation techniques. I'm going to try one now." Lin took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stood very still.
And suddenly, Tami could move again! She brought her hand up and touched her face. She felt exactly like normal! "Lin? Are you still there?"
"It worked!" Lin answered, in Tami's voice. "I just kind of had to... get out of your way so you could be in control. Come on, let's go show the others!"
Lora and Roc were surprised, of course, when Tami suddenly came walking up to them. But they explained what had happened, that Tami was still alive, and that Lin was able to give her control.
Unfortunately, they couldn't just get the witch to reverse the spell: she had already been executed. The others had taken her back to the capitol and turned her over to royal guard, and the king doesn't look kindly on those who use magic irresponsibly.
They searched for a while, trying to find a mage that could undo the spell, but magic like that is finicky, and it's very hard for a mage to reverse another mage's spell. After a while, they sort of gave up, and Tami and Lin just kind of agreed to share Lin's body, as it were. Lin would use her monk training to "step aside" and let Tami take over for a while, and then she would take the skin off when it was her turn.
Tami tried to make a relationship with Roc work, but it didn't end up working out. Roc couldn't get over the thought that he could never really be alone with Tami, because Lin was always there, too. Tami could respect that, so they parted ways friends.
At first, Lin kept switching back and forth between wearing Tami's skin and not, but eventually, she found it easier to just wear the Fox skin all the time. She could just take control when it was her turn, and that way Tami didn't have to spend half her time stuck in some box or closet somewhere.
And then their "turns" started to become less clear. It was easy for them to switch back and forth between which one was in control, after all. And the more time they spent like that, the more in tune they got with each other, too. They reached the point where they were, quite literally, finishing each other's sentences. Eventually, they stopped introducing themselves as two separate people. It no longer mattered which one was which, because they had practically become one person. They stopped referring to themselves as a "we" and started saying "I." They came up with a new name for the two of them, and started going by that.
And that brings us back to us.
I'm sure you've figured it out by now. And to be honest, I'm not even sure which one I am any more. I'm pretty sure I'm Tami, and that the other voice in my head is Lin, but to be honest, I can't be certain. We never take control from each other unwillingly, and I'm not even sure the skin can come off at this point, after it being on for so long. Both of us have accepted this... we're content with being two minds sharing one body.
But now you've come into the picture. We've been friends for a while, but recently our relationship has started to get more... serious. So we... I... decided that before this goes any further, you should know what you're getting into. I haven't been in a relationship since Roc, so I don't know how this will go, though I'm sure it will take some adjustments on both sides. But if you're willing to try to be with someone that has two voices in one head - well, both of those voices feel something for you. If that's not okay with you, we can stop this now, go back to just being friends, no hard feelings. But I'm willing to give this a chance if you are.
So what do you say? Should we try to face these crazy times together?
