Anna could not resist the mysterious pull of the necklace. She slid it on over her head and arranged it to prettily fall over her collarbones. It was so beautiful, so enchanting- she couldn't stop touching and fiddling with it. She felt like a little girl playing dress-up again.
'Am I a princess now?'
She giggled at her foolish thought.
'I could get any handsome I want with this, I bet!'
She hadn't noticed the necklace heating up to a lukewarm temperature. All of a sudden a searing pain ignited her every nerve as the necklace burned into her skin. Anna let out a piercing scream, her eyes ripped open and instantaneously moist with tears.
The pain was indescribable and it only got worse.
The necklace started to shine even brighter, blinding her with its blue light as it sank into her flesh. It was like a hot iron burning away her skin and muscle. The sensation was too strong. Her legs gave out and her consciousness wavered.
Anna's screams were blood-curdling but she refused to pass out.
'I need to get this off of me!!'
Her fingers clawed at the necklace trying to rip it off of her, even digging into her own wound to pull it out. For a brief moment, she wondered, 'Is this hell? Did I enter a place I shouldn't have and am now being punished?'
It was a futile struggle. The pain eventually overwhelmed her senses and she fell to the cold, stone floor, her fingers covered in her own blood.
———
An unidentifiable amount of time later, a small figure stirred in a brightly lit hall. The walls were lined with flickering torches that basked the stones in a warm, yellow light. In the middle of the room was a podium but whatever it had been holding before, it wasn't there anymore. The figure lay at the foot of that podium, curled into a ball.
It was a young boy with shoulder-length blonde hair and long, thick lashes of the same colour. He had two large cat ears matching the colour of his hair and a long fluffy tail that curled around his slender legs. The boy's ears twitching each time he furrowed his brows or grit his teeth. He seemed in pain.
He was wearing a plain cotton dress too large for him. It fell loosely around his frame and had slipped off a shoulder, revealing pale smooth skin beneath.
It was Anna.
———
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
Little droplets of water collecting at a stalactite splashed down into a small puddle just beside her head. The steady sound infiltrated the nightmare she was having, calming her and also rousing her. Her large eyes opened with a flash.
'I'm alive?'
She pressed her palm against her collarbone, feeling for a deep open wound, a necklace or even just a scratch. She found nothing. Her heartbeat quickened and her brows furrowed once more in confusion.
'Why can't I feel anything? It can't have been a dream.'
The reasoning behind her thoughts was simple. She was in a hall, and although it was now brightly illuminated, brightly enough to make her squint, she knew it to be the place she entered. She recognised the foot of the podium and layout of the room.
Anna was relieved that the pain was gone but the necklace had vanished too and the only place she could think it might be was inside of her. Not exactly a comforting thought.
Her hands were trembling.
She shuffled and sat up, for the first time since awakening looking down at herself. Flat chest, small childlike hands, slender white thighs peeking out from under the folds of her dress that was threatening to slip off her body at any moment.
'…Eh?'
The hand at her collarbone patted further down her torso, confirming that where two soft mounds had been, there was now nothing but air. Anna blinked repeatedly, flustered and unsure of what to think or what to do.
She slowly raised her small hands up, examining it. Then her gaze drifted to the colour of her skin. It was lighter than it should be.
'This isn't my body!'
Anna pursed her lips in thought. What exactly should she do in this situation? Pinch herself? She wanted to go home- what was this? She didn't understand anything! Her hand weakly fell back into her lap and, upon impact, touched something.
'…?'
It was small but it was there- and it was a bit squishy. Right at her crotch.
ThErE wAs SoMeThInG tHeRe.
Anna paled. Her throat suddenly felt parched.
'No, no, it can't be.'
Her hands resumed their tremble as they grabbed the hem of her dress and slowly pulled it up towards her torso. The higher it rose the stronger the dread within her grew. Finally… it was revealed.
"KYAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"
Anna squeezed her eyes shut, praying softly that what she had seen was just an illusion and it wasn't actually there. She opened her eyes again.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!"
'Oh God, Oh God, Oh God No No No No No! Give me my vagina back!!!'
Her body lost all strength and fell dramatically to the floor. Her arms were shaking, and her usually steady gaze quivering.
"I'M A MONSTER!"
The sound of her heartbroken sobs rang through the hall all the way up the staircase. Outside birds, frightened by the sound, flew away hurriedly.
Unwilling and incapable of accepting this injustice, Anna reached between her legs only for her hand to jerk back immediately upon contact. Her sobs continued.
She could see her dream turn to dust before her eyes- All the stories the big sisters next door had told her… A man's touch… his hand enveloping her supple skin… how the skin heats up… sweet pants shared between the two of them… their solid muscle pushing into her wet flesh, parting her soft, rippled walls-
Fat tears streamed from her new, strikingly coloured eyes. The left was an amber shade, the right side was the pale blue of the necklace.
Turning into a child she could accept, she just had to wait a bit to grow up. A different body was something she could get used to… but this?
'The necklace did this to me.'
The emptiness inside her was suddenly filled with a boiling rage.
Anna jumped up to her feet, snarling and kicked the podium forcefully. It turned out to be a bad idea, the hard stone hurting a foot and sparking a deep, throbbing pain. It didn't stop her and she kicked it again, her desperate act of violence now accompanied by an infuriated roar.
Her outburst ended when her foot started bruising and turned red with pain. Flying into a blind rage had tired her out, mentally and emotionally.
'This is ridiculous. Let's see what else this thing did to me-'
Anna moved towards the puddle and stared down at her reflection. The large ears on her head were impossible not to notice. Confirming her suspicion, when she reached back she found a fluffy tail.
Her lips twitched awkwardly. Finally, they stretched into a sneer. Anna looked up in hopes of seeing the sky but settled for a damp ceiling.
'How ridiculous. I have cat ears and a tail…'
Well, she had two tails technically - front and back - but her heart hurt too much for her to formulate that thought.
Regarding her animal traits, Anna couldn't even be bothered to be surprised anymore.
'How ridiculous.'
The podium which had reached her waist before now reached her chin. It was an odd feeling, the whole room seemed larger now. It was a bit intimidating.
'Hm? What's that?'
Beyond the podium, she saw a pile of things shoved into a hole in the wall, like garbage being tossed away. She stepped around the podium and moved towards the pile. It was a whole bunch of brown sacks messily thrown into the ditch.
'How odd- I didn't expect this place to have its very own trashcan…'
Once again, curiosity got the best of her. She squatted down, reaching out to grab one of the sacks with her slender arms and promptly emptied its contents on the floor. What fell out went far, far beyond anything she had expected.
Instead of trash, out came jewels - real jewels, not nasty ones that radiated light - and gold coins, a dagger, a pearl necklace and… a flower? It looked freshly plucked but that was impossible. Anna reached out to pick up the flower but upon contact, it suddenly started shining.
"Noo!!", she screamed and pulled away but it was too late. The flower turned into a wisp of pink air and flowed into the back of her hand.
Anna squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the pain and to maybe turn into a dog this time- but 5 seconds… 10seconds… 30seconds… nothing happened.
Cautiously, she opened one eye and peered down at her hand, turning it over several times. There was nothing so she didn't dwell on the matter.
'Hm. Oh well, who knows what that was-'
Anna was quick to return her focus to the piles of riches. She hurriedly shovelled everything back into the bag and tied it shut. Besides this one there were two more. She grabbed all three without checking the rest of the bags, and after throwing another cursory glance across the hall, ran towards the stairs. After all this, she was very eager to get out.
As she ran up the stairs a little note fluttered to the ground. On it, it said: Junk I don't need anymore. Help yourself~