48 Changing

What shall I be today?

I stand before the mirror, holding up one choice then another, but none of them satisfy me.  I've worn all these things before and they all bore me.  I want something new, something exciting, something wildly different to anything I've worn before.

Turning my back on the mirror, leaving all those myriad options scattered on the floor, I sit at the table in the centre of the room.  I pick out my scrying bowl from amongst the detritus, clearing a space for it by simply shoving all the other items away from me.  Something thumps to the floor but I ignore it; I'll deal with it later.

I look into the bowl for inspiration but it’s empty.  Irritation builds as I stand, scraping my chair back against the polished stone floor.  If the whole thing wasn’t an illusion, I'd be annoyed by the mark it leaves but I ignore that, too, scanning the room for something to pour into the bowl.  On the table next to my bed is a silver flagon – with any luck, it still contains some wine.

Crossing the room in a few steps I snatch up the flagon, hearing a gratifying sloshing sound as I do so.  Back at the table, I pour the dregs into the bowl; red wine – even better.  There isn’t quite as much as I’d like, but at this stage I’ll take what I can get.  Letting the flagon drop to the floor with a clang, I sit down again and stare into the dark liquid.

A face shimmers on the surface and a voice speaks somewhere at the back of my brain.

“What is your wish, O Mistress?”

“I wish to be changed.”

“In what way do you wish to be changed?  Your appearance, your personality, your being?”

“Yes!  All of them!  I want to be something wholly and completely new.”

A confused frown appears between the brows of the face in the wine.  “Forgive me, O Mistress, but these instructions are too vague.  What does ‘something wholly and completely new’ mean?”

I glare at the face.  “You are my daemon, it is your job to serve me, to satisfy my every whim.  That is the sole purpose of your existence!”

“I am aware, O Mistress.”  The dryness of its voice only serves to irritate me more.  “And yet, I can only work in specifics.  Such is the nature of my being, the being that you called forth from the abyss.”

“And don’t forget that I can send you back there,” I snap back, even though we both know I won’t.  It’s a troublesome business, extracting a daemon, and not one I wish to repeat this side of eternity.

After a short silence, the daemon speaks again.  “Perhaps, O Mistress, you could tell me what you have already tried?  That might narrow down the available options.”

“That’s actually a sensible suggestion.  Well...  I’ve been beautiful and dull, and plain and fascinating.  I’ve been musical, I've been artistic, I've been winsome, I've been charming.  I was a dancer on the Paris stage for one ecstatic night...  I have lived with kings and beggars, and every gradation in between.  I've soared on the wings of an eagle, and crept through the walls as a mouse.  I have been a lover, a parent, a child; I’ve been a warrior, a mage, a thief, and even a healer.

“I have been and done everything!”

The face is thoughtful for a moment, then brightens.  “It appears, O Mistress, that you have sampled everything life can offer except one thing...”

I lean closer to the bowl, eager to hear what it has to suggest.  “What?  Tell me!”

“Death...”

For a moment, I am struck dumb, an unusual occurrence.  I turn the idea over in my mind, considering it from every angle.  “How?  How do I ‘sample’ death?”

The face breaks into a fearsome grin.  “Simply put yourself in my hands, as in all other cases, O, Mistress...”

“And you can...”

“Give you the experience to end all others... O, Mistress...”

“Yes!  Do it!”

“Your wish is my command.  Ready?  Good.  By the way, I should probably have mentioned this before but... this is a one way trip...”

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A/N - this one gave me chills!  What about you?