I awoke to a quartet of relieved faces peering down at me.

  "She's awake!" Diana squealed as she clapped her hands with joy. "And everything went perfectly!"

  The shrill welcome reminded me that my old body had been completely done away with. I wondered what would happen when I saw my new one. Would I be a stranger in my own skin? I hoped not.

  The easiest things to examine while lying down were, of course, my hands. Before the Metamorphosis, they had been rough and reddened from scrubbing pots in scalding water. My fingers, which had been short and somewhat stubby, were now long and slender. Even the nails were neatly manicured and glossy. My hands were, in a word, perfect. Then I caught sight of the device on my left wrist. It looked like a perfectly ordinary golden band about two finger-widths wide, but somehow I could sense that the wristband was heavily enchanted and radiated magic in all directions. It intrigued me and I decided then and there that someday I would uncover the secrets of its construction.

  The examination would have to wait, however. The lid above me slid open, reminding me that I was not alone in the room. I sprang to my feet, swaying a bit as I realized how weak I still was. After recovering my balance, I noticed that the robe that I was wearing seemed to have shrunk. No, my new body was just a good deal larger than the previous one. My shoulders were broader and my limbs were thicker, among other changes, but mainly I was a whole lot taller than I had previously been. My garment was just long enough to cover everything, but I felt a bit self-conscious standing up in the capsule with everyone looking up at me.

  "Do you guys maybe have another, possibly larger robe for me?"

  The shorter of the two women laughed.

  "Just use magic to make your robe bigger now."

  Determined not to start my life as a Citizen by dying of embarrassment, I pulled down on the hem of the robe and willed it to lengthen. A trickle of magic flowed out of me as the fabric responded to my desires. Suddenly the hem stretched down a good six inches.

  I thanked the lady and hopped down from the capsule. As soon as my feet hit the ground I was swarmed by all three of the attendants in red, tripping over each other to admire my new appearance.

  "She is so pretty now!"

  "I bet she's pretty strong too. She has a healthy aura."

  "I love how new and fresh she looks. I remember when I was like that."

  Finally, one of them stopped talking long enough to take my hand lead me over to the wall, where a full-length mirror had been installed. The trio continued to fuss over me as I came face to face with my reflection. A young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties stared back at me. The sight took my breath away.

  I was tall, almost as tall as the man who was currently arguing with both women about some minor detail related to the shape of my jawbone. My arms and legs were toned but not overly muscular or veiny, and there didn't seem to be any hair on them. My skin had darkened somewhat but still shone with a healthy glow that looked nothing like the tans of the slaves who toiled all day in the sun. My chestnut brown hair was long and silky, reaching down my back almost to my waist. Best of all was my eyes, which had turned a lovely jade color.

  There was a polite cough from the doorway. I turned around to find one of the empress' servants, Winston, smiling politely.

  "Her Royal Highness, Empress Vashti, sends her apologies that she is unable to congratulate you on a successful Metamorphosis. She was called away unexpectedly."

  Noticing Diana's absence for the first time, I realized the Metamorphosis process might have taken much longer than I had realized.

  "How long did the process take, please."

  Winston gave me a strange look.

  "Almost twelve days," he answered.

  "A new record!" crowed one of the ladies in red. "I can't wait to go over the data!"

  "That's great," Winston said with an unconvincing smile before addressing me again. "At any rate, Arabella, I am here to escort you to your Estate and introduce you to your steward. You will need several days to recover from your experience and I trust you'll be most comfortable at home."

  That sounded good to me. The further away I got from the palace the better and I was definitely fatigued. A nap on a nice, wide sofa would be just the thing.

  "Thank you, sir," I replied while doing my best to stifle a yawn.

  "No need to call me 'sir' anymore. It's just Winston, or, if you'd prefer, Winston the Wise."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "That's my full title. Some people change their birth names after Metamorphosis. Others add a title as I did. There was a big stir about forty years ago when a Citizen insisted on using a symbol they invented as their title. That stirred up no end of controversy, I'll don't mind telling you. Anyways, you should think about what you want to be called when you have your debut at the Oathtaking. It will take place in about ten weeks."

  "What is the Oathtaking?" I asked, wondering if I could somehow get out of it.

  "That is when all new Citizens swear fealty to Her Royal Highness, Empress Vashti. There are a few contests, mostly silly ones, with really nice prices, and each new Citizen is assigned a mentor to help guide them in their new life. It's a load of fun!"

  Swearing fealty to the person responsible for enslaving me was not exactly my idea of fun, but the thought of having a mentor to pester with all the questions swirling around in my mind seemed useful.

  "I am sure it will be quite enjoyable," I heard myself say as if my mouth knew how to utter pleasantries without my brain's intervention. "Will you be there as well?"

  "Yes, attendance is a part of my duties. Now, we have tarried long enough. Our friends here," Winston indicated the three attendants, "will have my hide if I keep you here chatting much longer. Let's get you into bed."

  I followed Winston through another maze of corridors, letting him talk as he pleased. I was too exhausted to do much more than put one foot in front of the other, but what he had to say was highly interesting and helped me understand how the free world operated.

  "I have served the Her Royal Majesty, Empress Vashti, for about four years now," he told me. "The hours are long and sometimes tedious, but the pay is good and I'll soon have enough mana saved up to return to my Estate and devote the next century to writing the definitive work on the influence of ancient mana-harvesting rights on modern society. I hope that you will be so kind as to purchase a copy when it is ready for publication."

  "Sure," I agreed readily. I had no idea what mana-harvesting was, nor did I care at that particular moment, but thankfully I had decades to prepare for that particular ordeal. Of course, that was assuming that both I and society lasted that long. My magic-enhanced memory dredged up a history lesson that I had been given at the creche: the oldest living person was the empress herself at nearly a thousand years old. Who knew what the next century would bring?

  It wasn't long before I found myself back in the magnificent teleportation chamber that Bandar and I had arrived at, nearly two weeks ago. So much had changed in that short time. I had arrived at the palace a young girl, weak, destitute, and homeless, but was leaving as a woman, fully come into her inheritance of power, wealth, and land.

  "Take this," Winston said as he handed me a golden disk.

  "What is this?" I asked, flipping the smooth metal over and over in my fingers to see if there was any writing on it. The disk, although unadorned, registered as enchanted to my newfound senses.

  "It's the key to your estate. Don't lose it, or you'll have to travel overland to get a replacement."

  "How does it work?"

  "Well, it allows you and anyone else who has the code the ability to teleport to your estate. The Crown's administration also keeps a copy of all keys, just in case. You can ask your steward of your artificial assistant for more information when you are rested."

  I noticed that Winston pointed to the device on my wrist as he mentioned my assistant.

  "Is that what this thing is? Some sort of magical secretary?"

  "Well, yes," he nodded. "But it's so much more. I wish I had time to show you some of its most fun features but you'll find out soon enough. Anyways, let's head on up to the platform."

  I turned my attention away from my wrist and looked around the enormous chamber. The entire dais thrummed with powerful magic, a fact that I hadn't been able to appreciate when I had teleported in. Tired as I was, I couldn't help but notice that the white gems on the wall had shifted their patterns. As I followed Winston up the stairs, I idly wondered if the movement of the gemstones was merely a conceit, or if proper alignment was required for successful teleportation.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  We reached the top of the platform where Winston, without so much as a warning, began to concentrate. For the second time in my life, I felt an odd pressure wash over me. The sensation was much less squeezy and much more tingly this time around, which helped me relax and let the spell do its work. The world cut out for a second before partially coming back into focus. My head was swimming and a strange heat enveloped my whole body. The last thing I remembered was the powerful urge to go lie down somewhere. The stone floor seemed like a nice spot.

  I woke to find myself in the warm embrace of silk sheets with warm sunlight streaming through an open window along with a deliciously refreshing breeze. As the events leading up to my unfortunate loss of consciousness replayed in my mind, my hands felt first my face then the rest of me for any injury. Everything seemed in order except that my robe was missing. Someone had taken it off me and replaced it with a cottony pink shirt with short sleeves and matching pants. I hoped that someone wasn't Winston.

  I got out of the bed, replaced the covers, and then took a look around the room. The room was about twice the size of the one I had been given at Bandar's and rectangular in shape (I couldn't help but notice it was exactly twice as long as it was deep). My bed stood along the far wall to the right of the door, which was flanked by lions carved from black marble. Directly opposite the door was the window. A pair of overstuffed cream-colored chairs were stationed next to the window to take advantage of the natural light and fresh air. Between the door and the window, in the center of an enormous rug, stood a circular table made of white metal and cut glass with matching a chandelier above it. The eggshell-colored walls were adorned with various paintings. All this was very nice, but it was the far wall that captured my attention.

  There was a workshop placed opposite my bed that dominated a third of the room. At its center, there was a long table of dark, almost black, wood with a matching padded chair. To the right of the chair, there was a pile of books that lay within easy reach. To the left were several devices I had never seen before and were clearly magical in nature.

  The table was flanked by several larger devices, as well as a chest of drawers and several bookshelves made of the same dark wood. The most impressive of the devices was an enormous crystal sphere that glittered as it rotated. I had no idea what it was supposed to do, but it looked cool. I walked over to the sphere and felt the smooth crystal with my hand.

  "Please specify if interface is requested?" a familiar voice asked. It was the artificial assistant that had called itself 'Mia'.

  "What would that do?" I responded cautiously. I still didn't trust the device, but I had no idea how I was going to learn about magic while waiting to be assigned a mentor.

  "Interfaces can be established with almost any imbued item. Once a connection is formed, it will be possible to operate the item from a distance. Sensory data will be fed directly from the crystal."

  "You know what," I responded, realizing that I was going to have to work with Mia one way or another, "go ahead. Let's see what this baby can do."

  "Select a mana source: personal storage or Estate treasury."

  "I'm afraid I don't understand. Explain the difference, please."

  "The body contains a store of mana that can be used for immediate needs and that replenishes at an almost constant rate. The Estate’s treasury represents the amount of mana that is stored in the Estate’s mana battery."

  "Oh yes, the empress mentioned something about giving me mana. Can you tell me how much is in the mana battery?"

  "There is currently three hundred and twenty-four mana stored in the Estate’s mana battery."

  “Wait, don’t I have a lot more mana than that?”

  “There is currently an account balance of nine-hundred and eighty-two thousand, two hundred and sixty-three mana accessible via the Estate Management system.”

  “Oh, ok. I guess that makes sense. So how much is inside me right now?"

  There was a long pause.

  "Information not currently available. Error detected. Logging error and preparing to transmit."

  The thought of Mia logging any error requiring examination of our link filled me with dread.

  "Do not log or transmit such an error. You must stop."

  "Core programming requires that all errors must be logged and transmitted. Unable to override. Error logged, lowering Estate defenses for transmission."

  "Stop!" I yelled as I dug my nails in between the device and my skin and pulled. The smooth metal stretched slightly before reaching the limits of its elasticity but otherwise remained unchanged. "Do not lower Estate defenses."

  I felt a surge of magic flow into the device as I touched it and shouted my command. There was a tense moment as the device pushed back, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the torrent of power emanating from deep inside me.

  "Order acknowledged. Awaiting further instructions."

  The device's sudden acquiescence was a welcome surprise. The paranoid part of my mind wanted to know if Mia was lying about stopping. The more rational side argued that Mia wouldn't have told me about the error in the first place if it was programmed to betray me and that I had no way to check the estate's defenses without asking Mia, so it was a moot point. The paranoid side responded with an unsatisfied grumble but otherwise conceded the point.

  "Mia, what is your purpose?"

  To provide a wide array of services to individual users such as assisting with Estate management, aiding personal development, retrieving archived information, and collecting data to create the best user experience possible."

  "So you send data about me back to somewhere?" I asked, already sure of the answer.

  "Affirmative. This model is the fifty-fourth design iteration produced by the Artificer unit at the Merged Intelligence Research Association. The fifty-fifth should be available for purchase within the next ten years."

  Even the non-paranoid portions of my mind found that rather alarming. It was easy to imagine a scenario where every movement of each Citizen was monitored by such a device. On the flip side, ditching the device would arouse suspicion, so I wasn't sure what course was the least risky. But I did have an idea.

  "Mia, are you familiar with attributes?"

  "Affirmative. Core programming includes aiding personal growth. The attribute screen can be accessed upon request."

  "Ok, show it to me."

  A block of green text suddenly floated in the air in front of my eyes.

  That was exactly what my stats were before the mysterious entity inside the void made those unforgettably painful adjustments that were supposed to correct the limitations of the Metamorphosis.

  "Mia, you are sure that you are not transmitting any error reports about your interface with me?"

  "That is correct: user override successful. Core programming changed."

  That didn't make sense. I didn't actually do anything except make a failed attempt to rip the device off me and push some mana into it.

  "Why was your core programming changed? What happened?"

  It took a moment for Mia to answer.

  "Diagnostics show an influx of mana similar in function to that of a 'command' spell. You are the only being currently capable of performing magic within the Estate. Therefore, you must have changed my core programming."

  I had no idea what a command spell was, but it was nice to know I could use them. Now came the real dilemma. If I gave the device full access to my soul, there would be nothing secret from her. Or it. Whatever Mia was. On the other hand, I was certain that Mia could help me, and even though she had been partially created to spy on me, she was still less likely to rat me out than the average Citizen. I took a deep breath and attempted to re-integrate the portion of my soul that had formed the connection between us. To my surprise, the bit that had been separated flung itself back in the main portion of my soul with such force that Mia was enveloped. A small layer that served as both protection and a bridge between myself and whatever it was Mia was made of formed around the small globe now nestled deep inside my soul.

  "Ok Mia, hit me with a new readout of my attributes, please," I asked her.

  The response was almost instantaneous and I wondered if that had anything to do with how much more tightly we were bound now.

  "Processing. Processing. Processing."

  For a moment, I was sure something had gone wrong, but then new figures appeared.

  My mental and spiritual attributes had taken off, and my physical ones had received a healthy gain as well. My mysterious companion in the void had must have known her stuff. I silently thanked her but even more fervently wished I could figure out a way to contact her. But I still had a lot with Mia to process before adding someone else into the mix, so I forged on.

  "Uh, Mia, continue to provide whatever updates you're supposed to send but use the attributes you first showed me as the baseline. You should increase them as if I were improving at a ten percent faster than normal rate. Does that make sense?"

  "Affirmative. Setting baseline attribute parameters. Scheduling future updates now."

  "Mia, is there any other information about me that you can see? Having attributes is great and all, but I have no idea how I can put them to work."

  There was another short pause before more information flashed before my eyes.

  My enhanced memory allowed me to perfectly recall the list, even though it had flashed by rather quickly. Unfortunately, it didn't give me much insight into a good portion of the list. The first block of information was specifically cryptic.

  "Mia, can you explain how insights, epiphanies, and revelations work?"

  "Insights are small steps toward mastering a Citizen’s abilities. Every seventh insight earned unlocks an Epiphany, which allows the body, soul, and spirit to grow stronger. When seven Epiphanies have been earned, the Citizen is ready to handle even more power and will receive a Revelation, allowing latent abilities to be unlocked as well as granting a massive boost to their attributes."

  "What happens when you get seven Revelations?"

  "Seven Revelations are referred to as an Epic, and seven Epics are known as a Cycle. Finally, Seven Cycles complete an Ascension. Only three Citizens are currently known to have reached this level: Manticore Niraza, Jezelle the Prodigy, and Her Royal Highness, Empress Vashti. At that point, a person is considered to have fully unlocked their potential."

  I did some quick calculations in my head. Thankfully, mental math was no longer difficult.

  "That's seven to the fifth power, or about sixteen-thousand and eight-hundred total Insights needed to reach Ascension."

  "Affirmative."

  "So I'll have to work hard then. At least I have two insights already. When did those happen?"

  A knock at my chamber door caught my attention, muting out Mia's response as my attention was pulled elsewhere. Likely it was my Steward coming to introduce themselves.