I used to be one of the greatest mercenaries in the Yborean Army. I was known as The Destroyer! I was feared and respected. I towered over my fellow soldiers. With one swing of my blade, I could destroy a platoon of enemy forces. I was a one man cavalry! The people would talk about my battles and how I helped expand the empire that hired me.
But when the orders came to fight a new enemy in an unexplored land. I jumped at the chance to join the Yborean empire's aggressive plans for expansion. I had heard tales and warnings of fellow mercenaries passing through towns on the way to battle. The new enemies have fearsome magics. All their prisoners of war disappear. Nothing is heard about them. They do not negotiate to give up their captured prisoners of war. They are eaten or sacrificed to some dark god. For us to win, we would have to strike first and strike hard. The enemy shows no mercy on the battlefield.
Hearsay and rumors I thought. The enemy will fall under my blade. When we finally clashed, I was on the battlefield I was quickly slaying my enemies. Left and right they died before my blade. It was a tough battle that we were winning. That is until their magical reinforcements came to help them. A group of enemy magicians chanted and moaned. They summoned their fierce magics. Their magical blasts fell like rain. I looked around and saw my allies felled by enemy magic. I ran. I zigged and zagged, but I could not avoid it. I was struck down by their devious magic....
When I awoke. I found myself in some big room. The bed I lay in seemed huge! I turned my head and looked outside the window. I found myself in some huge mansion in the middle of an even bigger city. No doubt, I was deep inside enemy territory. I could not recognize the mountains and other landmarks outside. But not only that. I felt scared and weak. I've never felt this way before. I wasn't afraid of anything. I looked down on my body. My heart stopped. Gone was my former self. I was replaced by a little elf girl. I was in tiny sleepwear never meant for a man like me. I was shocked by my new body! I felt so tiny and alien. I wanted to scream in anger, but no words escaped my tiny little mouth.
As I looked around the room. There was a man and a bunch of maids. They all had elf-like ears, and features. Just like me. I felt a strange energy as I locked eyes with the man. Whatever curse that was upon me, he knew something about it. I sensed that this man was my captor and also my new father. My father died years ago in battle. The maids by his side had the same strange power over me but it wasn't as strong as my fathers spell. I stood there and hoped that I could find some way, any way to escape my captors.
For a moment I found myself broken from the spell. I screamed and wailed and ran around the room. All I could do is scratch and slap my captors. But I was quickly subdued. The maids grabbed me and sat me back down on the bed. Whatever strength I had as a man was quickly gone. The maids weren't strong either. But being in this new body, all of my abilities were gone. I once could kill a man with my bare hands. But I had no power to fight against any of them. A little girl has no chance. I looked at my father. I could tell that he lifted the curse just for a second. To show me the futility of escape. A wry, evil smile shone in his face.
Every morning, without fail I jumped out of bed and screamed! I hoped that my nightmare would be over?! But I would wake up in the same petite, girlish body. How could they do this to me? My
muscles! Gone. Replaced by soft, scrawny girl flesh. My rough, calloused giant man hands, now soft pink digits with tiny oval nails. These tiny hands, they've never seen any hard work. My thick, muscular legs that ran through the battlefields unchecked, now replaced by the soft thighs of a little girl. Each day, the maids would come up and feed me and dress me. They would bathe me too. They would not speak of what I used to be and would ignore my pleads to change me back. I hated my weak defenseless body. Later, I would spend time in the mansion and do nothing. I was like a doll. I'm sure that I was a prisoner. But instead of cages and chains, My prison was this home. Surrounded by maids and fancy things. Not only that, I was a prisoner in my own body too.
As the weeks went by, I found myself with a little bit more freedom. No longer confined to my room. I would wander around the mansion and talk to the servants. Some would give me a little candy. I was still treated like a child. Some of the normal maids heard about what I really was but were forbidden to speak about it. But others simply saw me as the master's child. I would sneak in to places and I would get caught. I would test my captors patience. With time I earned more freedoms. I found a library one day, and I asked if they would let me read some of my fathers books. They thought I couldn't read, so they let me take a few. I had a hard time reading the language but I soon picked it up. I guess this new body is useful for other things. I would carry different books to my room and read them. I pretended to the maids that I would just stare at the pictures. And I would play with the books, so they paid me no mind. But reading all of my father's tomes gave me important intel and insight into my enemies territory. Was there something in these books that will give me clues to my freedom?
When my father would come back, and check on me. I would make sure that the books were back in their proper place. I'm sure he still considers me an enemy and I don't think I should be looking at his things. He would come and look at me sometimes. Or he would just stare at me when we eat at the dinner table. He was a cold, indifferent man. I could not see how a man like him could be a father. I seemed to be like a piece of furniture in his mansion. Does he have any plans for me? If any? The servants here gave me more attention than he ever could.
As time went on, I gathered some more information on where I was at. I was in the second biggest city-state. The mansion I was in was quite the affluent neighborhood. But I still couldn't find a way to escape. But I talked to the servants who had spell I felt that time I awoke here. I would throw subtle, innocent questions at them to gauge their answers. Some would answer a bit But others would laugh at me. They told me I was a permanently a little girl. They had control over the spell put on me. If I ever became rowdy or violent They could say a few magic words and cause me great pain. But they never used it. I was an obedient little girl. But also they were confident that I had no chance of escape. I told them they were right. I would giggle and joke with them. I told them that I was a happy little girl now. They would smile and pat my head. But I'll never forget. Deep inside me I'm still a man. I guess I would have to play along with them. I will find some way to become a free man.
Less and less. I would feel the presence of my father the captor. He would be gone for days at a time. I would hear stories of battles and invaders from a far away lands. The battles were getting more fierce. Rumors from the workers at the mansion. Over time I learned how to sense where and when the maids were at. Even the ones that had that partial spell over me. This was a useful trick. It must be some elfish sixth sense. It was harder to sense my father. I figured that my father was gone, off on some battle or tormenting other cursed people like me. I still felt like a prisoner. But there were days where I just let myself be a little girl. I was making more memories again. I had a chance to learn new things that I never would have done in my former life. I actually learned to swim! The maids and other help showed me how. We would take a swim in my father's private pool. When I was a man, I never bothered to learn that ability. I figured since I would always be on land killing my enemies I would have no reason to swim. But with my new body I took to water just like a fish. I was proud. I like how my swimsuit felt when I wore it too. I guess it cant be all bad, being a girl.
As the months passed by, I really thought there would be no escape. I was becoming complacent. But I shook my head in denial. There must be some way to get out? I was slowly forgetting about who I used to be. The maids would come and dress me some more. I always had plenty of clothes. One of them would spend some time combing my growing hair. Long locks of hair swished and streaked across my dainty, girlish face. The maid would leave it styled different every day. But I liked it when she gave me ponytails. Back when I was a man I shaved my head bald. It scared people. My enemies feared me more that way. I stood there for a second as the maids left the room I don't know why that memory came back to me. It reminded me of who I used to be. I would still get random dreams of the man I used to be. I would day-dream about the adventures and kills I did back when I was the fearsome warrior, 'The Destroyer'
But the worst thing the enemy could have done to me is to leave me like a tiny pre-pubescent little girl. Weird little feelings were coming more often. I guess I get to go through puberty a second time. My body started showing signs of the budding femininity in me. I take it I've been a prisoner for a few years now. My body is changing. I feel some growing pains that I haven't felt since I was a little boy all those years ago. A memory came back to me. I hated it back then. Once my family knew I was growing up. They sent me away to train me in the life of battle. I never got to grow up like the common folk. My life soon became one of battle and death. I grew up into a warrior. I became a mercenary to the highest bidder.
As I look in the bedroom mirror. I notice my growing breasts. My dainty girlish mound. My soft little butt. I can see the beauty I was going to be each time I see my reflection. I was becoming a woman. I was growing up more and more. The first time I had my period, the maids were more excited than I was. They complimented me on my journey into womanhood. I was scared every month when the bleeding came around. But I soon got used to it. The monthly visit became routine. Just like the other things I did in the mansion. As I notice more new things every day, I realize I am going to turn out into one beautiful girl. The etiquette classes they made me take reinforced the fact that I was a girl in some nobleman's family. I actually started to like how pretty I looked every day. Especially with the dresses they got me....
Wait. Was this their plan all along? To break my will by trapping me in this female form? If I'm a woman now. Then one day I'm going to be betrothed to someone. Some man! Back when I was a man, Noble families wanted me to marry their daughters. My seed for their women. They wanted a strong child to improve their family legacy. I never wanted to marry, but I've given plenty of women in various cities the gift of a child. Now that I'm a growing woman with her own womb. Surely they'll do the same to me? Knowing my creepy father, he would do that. I'm reminded that I'm still a prisoner. I'll just be transferred to another warden. It sent a scary shiver down my spine.
No wonder there have been more visitors to the mansion lately. Why didn't I notice it before? We've been having all these fancy dinners. The maids have been working a lot feeding and entertaining all the guests. Even my father's been home more lately. I've been introduced to all sorts of people. Young and old. I would curtsy to them and they would bow back. It felt creepy as a few of them stared at me. I knew they were here for something else. I simply thought all of these parties were to celebrate my father coming home. But now I realize that these parties are meant for me. My father is courting me, finding a suitor. I remember once when I was a man I was at a party similar to this. I hated wearing proper attire. My former size made it impossible to wear fancy clothes properly. I had to wear clothes like that because I was a bodyguard to some woman who was to be betrothed to some rich bigshot. I was protecting the girl from unwanted men who lusted for the rich mans daughter. Now I was that rich mans daughter. I felt sick.
One day at one of these special parties. I met up with a boy. He was a child of another noble family. His older brother was a potential suitor for me. But I don't remember him. But I did hit it off with the other brother. We would talk about things, or more likely he would talk more about himself. He's learning how to fence and fight. He loves to explore the lands the empire has given to his family. He boasts that he is smarter than his older brother. Stuff a teenager would say to impress a girl like me. I liked the attention he gave me. But something was off about him. Whatever that was, it made me more interested in him.
On another occasion and another party. We met up again. He compliments me on my dress. He wants to know more about me. There was not much I could say anyways. Living the sheltered life of a captured warrior turned little girl, what would I contribute? That I loved swimming? That I love the clothes the maids make me wear? I was still a little shy around him, but to me he seemed so brave. So boyish. I felt something stirring inside me, something different. He was the boy I could have been? Adventurous and brave? I admired him. It was a strange new sensation. Did my girly body finally have a crush on a boy?
As we sat in the courtyard away from the snooty crowds and bustle of the party. We held hands and stared at the night sky. I felt some more of that strangeness. We looked into each others eyes. Totally out of character, I kissed him. I felt like it was the right thing to do. On that night. I gave up on what I used to be. I cant go back to that berzerker I once was. What life do I have to go back to? I've been dead for years. The kingdom who hired me has already replaced me with someone else. Do I really want to go back to a life of killing? Swirling thoughts of pain and hope were muddling my brain. Do I want to accept this new femininity? But then, the boy who stole my first kiss spoke to me.
"I know what you are. For I am like you too. I am...I was a captured prisoner. We are given a new chance in life. This kiss proved to me my suspicions." The boys face was dead serious. Like if a veil was removed from both our heads. I finally found someone just like me.
"I don't think you'll like what I used to be." I answered shyly. "My former life is something I've now decided not to go back to. I've changed so much I don't know what to do. How can I exist when I have a whole 'nother lifetime inside of me?" I cried. For the first time in my new life. I cried. I always thought of myself as a tough guy. But, crying was like a strange release. It made me feel better. I could only guess that I've just opened up my girl side even more. A hormonal release. I wiped my tears on a handkerchief the boy gave me. I liked how it smelled. Like him.
"I don't care what you used to be," the boy said. "I care about what you are now. You see I was once someone else too. I was captured in battle and turned young again. I used to be a general in a kingdom far east of here. I was sixty years old. But now I am but a nobleman's child. I realize now what was done to me and to you. I learned that this country nobility has some fertility issues. It's reproduction rate is falling. Too many miscarriages. The countries leaders are dying. Its enemies don't know that. In a few years the royalty will have no children to carry on its legacy. This kingdom figured out a devious way to replenish some of its people. They've captured prisoners and re-purposed them for breeding. Trying to make more citizens. But it's a futile effort. The common folk will soon revolt. They are only furthering the seeds of their own destruction!"
"So that's why I was turned into a girl!" I shouted. "I felt so weak in my new body, I thought this was cruel torture! And I guess it was! I used to be a man...and I'm a woman now. And now I'm going to be a prize for some some dull nobleman to mate with?" I couldn't tell, but I'm sure I was completely red in the face, both angry and embarrassed.
"Oh man! I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't think them to be capable of doing that to someone!" The boy replied. "I was captured in a tremendously tough battle many years ago. I was turned into a baby. I would have completely forgotten about who I used to be, until one day when I was four, in a bazaar, a slave servant fell on me and we accidentally kissed. That simple act unlocked all of my memories. You see he was a prisoner too. It seems like us transformed people are unconsciously attracted to each other. It's something our captors didn't factor in when they devised this horrible spell."
My face was completely locked. I don't know how many times I gasped in surprise. I was in rapt attention I was fixated on my companions conversation. Not only did he reveal the world to me, I couldn't help but notice other things about him too. I was infatuated with him. My new boyfriend. His nose, his chin his blonde hair. My girly thoughts were on overdrive. I wanted to see all of him. But I focused back on his story....
"My adopted family never knew I broke their spell. My only guess is that the magic lessons I studied back in my former life, helped me. Being a general, I always had contingency plans. I studied lots of things. But I never was good at magic, but I guess I picked up enough ability to counter their spell. I've kept up the charade. I've learned more magic spells this time and they can never steal my mind anymore. In a few more months your father would have cemented his spell and you would have been completely a girl. All parts of your former life would have been erased. My father did the same spell on me, some sort of coming of age mumbo jumbo he said. But I faked it. I'm pretending to be the second son of the nobleman. I still am. But I've spent this past decade collecting intel and preparing another spell to break the hold they have over us prisoners. A future battle against our enemies. But I need more allies. I have gathered a few. But something about you feels different. Feels right."
"Thank you, I don't know what I can help you with. But I'll try." But I was certainly more impressed with my new boyfriends resolve. It pales to what little bit of 'studying' I did in the past. This guy has a better plan, something I could never do. It must be because he used to be a general. My girly heart is falling even deeper in love with him. I feel a strange tickle between my thighs. He brings out new sensations in me! Am I his now?
"Girl, Do I have your trust?" The boy said, "I'm a little scared that I said too much. I don't want my plans ruined. Are you with me? I plan to take down this country. Free our brothers and sisters. Grow and deploy an army from the inside. Maybe build a new country from its ashes?" The boy was standing proud, pumping his fist into the air!
"Yes!" I blurted. I responded like the lovestruck girlfriend that I am. But a thought of feminine doubt entered my mind. I still dreamed of escape. Could the boy help me? "But cant we just run away? Right now? Surely you've seen the mansion from the outside? Is there a way for me to escape? For both of us to escape? I promise to go anywhere with you! I love you! Lets take our chances and escape these lands. Lets forget about everything and make a new life together?" I was dead serious.
"I've thought that over many times over the years, girl." The boy replied. "But I've weighed the options. This country is too big and we would not have the resources to escape. We could make new lives and live hidden among the people, but in a few years, the wars that are coming would not help us. We have been given the best opportunities. We've already been put in rich peoples hands. We are nobles. We have the ability to take over from the inside. Not now, but in a few years. We can rebel and free ourselves. Revolutions take time. And I would be honored to spend that time with you."
I never knew I could swoon, but I almost fainted. My girlish heart skipped a beat. I know he's just a kid like me. But his words swayed my young teenage heart. He was right too. I'm just a kid. If I escaped I would be caught quickly. All my basic freedoms would be taken away and I really would be a prisoner. "So what do I do now?"
The boy came closer and held my hand. "I will declare my desire to court you once we go back into the party. My father wanted to marry off my older brother, his real son. But I don't think he's ready. He desires a life of war and conquest. He's going to Knight academy in the summer. He's not ready to commit to a wife let alone a young beautiful girl like you. Your father isn't that wealthy. All he has is this mansion. He got lucky that the empire gave you to him. He wants to improve his status amid the elite. Marrying you off has surely been his plan since the beginning. My family can do that. Respond to me at the party, and I will get everything in motion. Can you do this for me love?"
"Yes! I'll do anything to escape! I was never so truthful in this life and my former one. I have a reason to push forward. My new life doesn't have to be full of pain and dreariness. I found someone that accepts me, you. Sooner or later we will find a way to break free. I'll do anything you ask me for. I'll wait patiently for the day I'll walk out these mansion's doors with you by my side."
"That day will come sooner than you think girl." The boy replied. "I know it must be painful for you. but when I come back to visit I'll have a spell to keep you from losing your memories. They may be painful and foreign. But they are still yours. Your father and this country may have changed your body but not your mind. Your father still owns you. He still has your name. That's a part of the spell that's on you. When you have your coming of age ceremony and you are given to me as my wife. He will give you your name. Don't lose hope. The spell will help you like it helped me." My boyfriend looks straight at me, "As a token of my love I'll give you my name. It seems that this nation finds giving people their names to be quite honorable. Miss, you can call me Razel."
"Razel," I said aloud, "Razel. I never knew a name could be so beautiful. I shall treasure it forever."
We both hold hands and make our way to the glass doors of the dancehall. Our plan is in motion. My true life has begun anew.
