Madis and Amera

           Once upon a time, there lived a couple who tried very hard to live happily ever after.  It was always said in their youths that they were meant to be, both being sorcerers gifted with powerful magics.  Unfortunately, though their powerful magics afforded them many methods to enhance their lives, the spell of eternal youth was unknown to them.  So it was that they grew old together and as they grew older their skills in magic grew stronger and more lofty with each passing year until they had become distant towards one another, absorbed in their own quest for knowledge in increasingly more powerful magics.  And in each passing kiss they parted, they knew more and more of the demarcation of age.  This frustrated the couple greatly, as they had mastery over many primal forces, unbound by the limits of man, yet still eternally trapped by the trappings of old age.  They lived in a small cottage which had perched atop the narrow hillside overlooking the town of Gramen for ninety-nine years and a day, until, after spending almost the entirety of their lives together, the poor couple, having grown tired of looking into each other's aging faces, the sorcerers decided it was time to learn all they could about youth and beauty.  So it was, in the hopes that they might master their own eternal youth, the couple donned disguises of poor beggars with an effortless wave of their arms and a few simple incantations.

           In the town of Gramen there lived many a youth, some of which beautiful, and many a beauty, some of which young, but of them all, no two were as infallibly gorgeous as the butcher's daughter, Amera and the glass maker's son, Madis.  The two shared golden eyes, pooled from beads of honey, cream-colored skin of an unnatural alabaster white, and luminous sheets of hair which danced alight in the softest breeze like loosened spools of silk.  The two had never known each other and never walked together, but the comparison was always drawn by the townsfolk, when beauty was brought into conversation.  Everyone knew of the exceptional beauty of both the glass maker's son and the butcher's daughter, but none could decipher which of the two were more radiant, so often the townspeople would break into arguments over the matter, and it was during one such debate that the sorcerer and sorceress had been walking past, in their guises of elderly old beggars (though their true visage were just as decrepit.)  They stood, listening to the men and women describe this account of such beauty, so impossible and breathtaking that it must have been divine.  The couple glanced at one another and both knew what must happen next.  The old man cleared his rusty throat and extended a bony hand into the gathering, getting their attention.

           "Why, surely these being are as angels?"  The man croaked.
           "An angel's sight would be crude if you aim to compare how pleasing the forms are to the eye," spoke a man.
           "Well, surely they stumble when they walk and do not seek their homes among the clouds?"  Said the old man.
           "Sure enough, they may as well live in God's kingdom—how often we may rest our eyes on their grace."
           "How do you mean?" Scratched the old throat of the beggar woman.
           "'Tis a feast for the senses, their supple forms, but, alas, our joy in watching them grows farther apart with each blessing," said a woman.
           "Aye, always a shame when the wealthy keep their riches to themselves.  You'd think their parents would understand the whole point of owning treasure is to show it off," complained some old Sea-Hand.
           It was true as it was unfortunate, but the parents of each child had both lost their spouses to the West Leak wars, and have since become hardened and shied away from the world.  It was the unnatural beauty of these offspring that poured their parents fear and love into a mighty river, sweeping their children safely away from the world.

It was in the late September when Amera's father had fiercely twisted his ankle and despite his wholehearted pleas not to, Amera insisted that she run his deliveries for the day.  She was soon on her way, delivering an unremarkable brown paper wrapper.  She had rang the doorbell expecting nothing in particular, but when Madis peered from behind the door, slowly peeling it back, she realized her life had changed forever.  Standing before her was the most inexplicably handsome man she had ever laid her eyes upon.  Her eyes swallowed back tears as she presented the box towards him with a slow, shaking motion.  He, in turn, had opened the door, expecting little, but being astounded by no less the absolute pinnacle of physical attainment, this unerring goddess of resplendence.  He stood in admiration and silence for but a moment before speaking "I think I'm falling in love with you."To which the young girl replied "I know I'm falling in love with you."

           They stared lovingly into each others eyes before the girl had to part to finish her deliveries.  The couple vowed to see each other again.  The girl tries to kiss the boy, but he turns away and blushes, his face turning bright red.

           It was soon after this that the sorceress came upon Madis's house.  She peered inside, and seeing the most remarkable looking boy inside, her interests in attaining such beauty were forgotten.  Suddenly she desired only the taste of his lips and she vowed she would have it.  She decided her disguise was likely to repulse the young man, and so she took the shape of a beautiful young lady, but the magic would last but a half-minute, so when he came to the door she burst over his threshold, wrapped her arms around him and slathered him with wet, lustful kisses for thirty seconds, before running away, giggling.  The boy was blood-red in the face when she left, and he quite protested the whole ordeal, or would have, had his lips been free to do so.

           Meanwhile, the sorcerer had found out the address of the girl who he heard so much about, and without even hesitating, hid behind the door to ambush Amera with kisses when she returned.  Amera entered the door and was covered in the lips and tongue of an amorous old lecher.  He didn't even bother to use magic to hide his face for he was but a few quick moments and then gone out the door, the poor girl left dazed and humiliated.

           The old sorcerer ran gleefully down the road until he ran into a giggling old woman.  He immediately recognized his wife and become concerned with her laughter.  "What brings you into so good a mood?" He asked.  "Have you found the secret to eternal beauty?"

           "If I ever had a need for such a thing," exclaimed the sorceress.

           "What mean you by this?  Have you not the knowledge we came to attain?"

           "I have failed, husband. And I have laid my eyes on another."

           "What say you?  You have abandoned your task, woman?"

           "I have found it!"

           "How are we to be rid ourselves of these shattered shells if you cannot comply?"

           "I have need no longer of your old bones or decrepit disposition, for I have found my breast alight with a new love!"

           "But you are nothing without me!"

           "You are nothing, even with yourself!"

           "A plague on your head, woman!  I too have little need for your forked tongue and meager offerings, for I have also found a lover beyond compare!"

           "Go have it, then, if you think any will take your dusty old tome."

           "As you have not the skill or mind to master youth magics, surely your efforts will be doubled to mine!"

           And so the two stormed off, each seeking their new lovers, but before either reached their destination, they paused in reflection of what the other had said.  They both resolved that they were unlikely to ever woo the boy or girl by their own merit, and both fell into depression.  However, like most magic married couples, they both refused to be bested by the other, and so resolved to disrupt the each other's affairs, rather than intend to commit their own.

            And so it was that they left, each to commit their jealous acts, intent to hurt or trap the poor children.  It was not long before the Amera, remembering her vow to see Madis once more, left the safety of her father’s house to go looking for flowers to pick for the boy.  But soon she became forlorn, for none of the flowers she had gathered bare any semblance of beauty she beheld in Madis.  It was at this time that the sorceress had caught up with her, and, intending to trick the girl, approached.  The old woman’s visage at first frightened Amera, but seeing the posture and frailty of the old woman, Amera felt no threat.

           “Good morrow, kind youngster,” rasped the old woman.

           “Good morrow, ma’am.”  Amera knelt beside the woman draped in beggar’s clothes.  “Is there anything I might help you with?”

           “Nay!” barked the hag.  “But I can divine through my magics that you are in need.”

           “You have powers, true, if you can see so.”

           “Ah, yes, you seek a flower whose beauty drives the eyes and nose mad with delight?”

           “Yes, yes!  If there were such a thing, gladly I would seek it.”

           “Ah, then luck be yours, young thing!  I am the sorceress, Hitna!  Surely you have heard of my renown as a conjurer of the highest caliber?  Being a diviner of many sacred and hidden artifacts, I happen to have in my knowledge the only known whereabouts of the shuck-skinned cannabra, the rarest of flowers whose rareness is only outmatched by its breathtaking beauty.  If you will seek it, I have no qualms in telling you the location, for I see you may only intend to use it for good.”

Amera agreed, and Hitna began to describe in great detail how she will find the grounds where the flower grows.  Amera went off in search of the plant, following the paths behind the hills and walking where the water runs upstream, just as instructed, until she came across a great clearing, veiled as it was by a thick shroud of fog, and just as she was entering the clearing, she was set upon by some lashing beast.  It pushed her to the ground and lashed at her with its whip-like tendrils, embracing and beating her all at once, until, once it was certain the fight had gone from her, it chucked her into a large, wooden cage, suspended above its head, curled up beneath the cage and fell fast asleep.  Hitna had come to learn that the Side-Eyes Mistfiend was a monster of unsual strength that ate only the flesh and hearts of beautiful virgin women.

           Madis went out the following morning, looking for the girl he loved, but could not seem to find her.  He went to her father’s house but she hadn’t been home all night.  This filled the boy with an overwhelming sadness that sunk his heart deep into an ocean of heavy black abyss.  It was at this time that the old sorcerer had found Madis, and had overheard that Amera was missing, he also overheard Madis confess his love for the butcher’s daughter.  So, the sorcerer approached.

           “Young man,” he snarled.

           “Yes, o beggar?”

           “I fear the graveness of whatever it could be that would turn so pretty a face into such a sullen mess.  Is there a matter with which I may assist you?”

           “Yay, though there be little a beggar man like you may do.”

           “Ah, bolster thyself, young man, for you are in the presence of Feral, the strongest magician in all the land, and surely in Gramen.  Through my powers of manipulation I may see that is at hand, and no matter of even the smallest importance may pass me by.  For instance I know you seek a beautiful young maiden, do you not?”
           The boy was astounded, and after a few tricky words, Feral told Madis that the girl he seeks was captured by a neighboring village of Beram and forced to work in their brothel of some prestige.  In a mad rage and fit of passion, Madis set off, running full speed to the next town over.  When he arrived he headed straight for the golden-gilded gate of Beram’s Brothel.  He confronted the guard who told him that he was under strict orders not to let anyone enter who isn’t a client or a girl working there.  Madis pleaded with the guard but to no avail.  Heartbroken, he began to return home.

Feral had followed him there, intending to gut his belly and leave him for dead along the road between towns, but every time he had seen the boy in sillouette, something powerful rose from inside him, pangs of guilt at the thought of destroying so beautiful a creature.  And so the sorcerer resolved that the wouldn’t kill the boy.

“Has the fire in your belly been so easily put out?”  Came a voice.  “Surely you did not think my magic limited to mere soothsaying?  Here, I have a gift, only for you, and to ensure your entrance into the house that you have been bared from.” Said Feral, as he extended a hand to the young man, demanding something to grasp.  The magic demands a sacrifice, you must understand.

           “Of what sort?” the boy retorted.  Feral told him that he required few items, all of which are easily parted with.  First the sorcerer asked for the boy’s hunting knife, and in return gave him a wooden bowl.  The sorcerer instructed him to sing a song into the bowl, and as his did, Madis felt his height fall as he became shorter.  Then Feral told him to remove his shoes, and being so desperate to free Amera, he complied.  In return he was given a bracelet, which he was asked to wear.  Immediately after slipping it on, he felt his face stubble shrink into his cheeks and his arms and legs grew longer.  Finally, he was given a brush, and told to brush his hair ninety nine times.  At this point he was leery of the magic being employed by this old man, but having given his heart to Amera, he vowed to finish.  He did as was instructed, and in doing so, his body gradually shifted out into rising buttocks, conforming hips and an amble bosom began to sprout on his form.

           “What’s happening to me?!” His voice shrieked in a shrill crack he wasn’t used to.

           “You’ve done well away with your old life,” cackled the old man, grabbing Madis by the arm.

           “I don’t understand, what is happening to me?” Cried the girl.

           “You are not to be her prize, I won’t have it.  I’ll sooner see you condemned to a life of lewdness.”

           Feral dragged the screaming young woman past the guard and sold her permanent companionship to the brothel’s owner.  The owner set her to work right away, to be trained in the arts of lovemaking.  The sorcerer was sad to see her go, however.  For as Madis had been the most extraordinary beauty as a man, so to was he as a woman, and the poor old sorcerer was finding himself regretting having sold her.  He soon resolved to have this new astonishing beauty for his own.  So, intending to don the guise of a prince, the old man first took the shape of a random passerby, being sure to let the guard within earshot when he talked of the young prince from a neighboring province being quite keen on buying women from famous Brothels in the region.

           Hitna had knowingly deceived Amera, tricking her to wander the hunting grounds of the dreaded Side-Eyes Mistfiend. The Side-Eyes Mistfiend is a tall blue creature made of sinew and tight flesh draped over the carcass of some rotten thing.  It had six eyes, all on the same side of its toothy face.  One eye has the power to see everything there is in the dark, but can only see in the dark.  Another can see through and only in the day.  One in and only in the mud, one in blizzards, one in water, and his sixth eye never opened.

           Hitna soon, however, felt herself set upon by some pangs of grief and regret, and even as she schemed to have Amera’s life taken by the beast, she fondly remembered the immaculate beauty she beheld in Amera, and in doing so resolved she would save such a gift, not allow her to die, but be of no interest to her husband.

So Hitna returned the morning after and seeing the sobbing Amera, cloaked her form in magic as to appear as if a toad of unusual size and told her this: “Dear child, have you need?”

           “Yes,” sobbed the girl.  “I have been caught by this wicked fiend and fear my end draws near.”

           “Fear not,” croaked the giant toad, for I know of this creature’s ways and may help you find yourself free of such a prison.  I am a toad and have very little to be glad for, but if you are willing to part with some pointless parcels, I will give you all I know.”

           Amera agreed and the toad took out from behind its back a small sack, gilded with satin and a golden weave.  It asked her for her jade earrings, and she promptly gave them up.  The toad reached into the sack and pulled out a giant leaf, many times larger than the sack, covered with a thick pile of black powder and began to fan it furiously.  A black cloud overcame the thicket and it was pitch black and dark as night.

“Now the creature will not stir today, for it sleeps always in the night, and will be duly fooled for a day-and-a-half.  But this will not keep you safe, girl.  I need another thing,” said the Toad.  He asked for her silver ring, and throwing it to the ground, the girl complied.  Now the toad took out a single pomegranate seed and, squeezing it, out poured the most radiant clouds of luminous light, cascading through the clearing and mixing with the darkness to cast over the whole scene a stage of the dusty, dim light of dawn.

           “Now the creature will not rouse sight in any eyes, as he will not see outside the light of day nor the dark of night, caught in perpetual blindness.”  Now the Toad asked Amera to remove a lock of hair, which the girl reluctantly did.  Out of the sack the Toad gave her a necklace of the most vibrant green.  It was covered in a waxy shell and was rather heavy for the girl to lift up with her into the cage.  “Put it on, round your neck,” instructed the Toad, and she did so.  “Now, my dear, I need you to remove your fine dress, if you please.”

           “Filthy old frog!” the girl exclaimed, “you’ve come to take advantage of a girl in her dire moment of need.”

           The Toad calmed her down and assured her that this plan was bound to succeed.  She slowly disrobed, unsure of the Toad’s intentions.  She dropped the dress down, and the Toad threw her up a comb.  “Comb your hair ninety-nine times, and you will be freed of your prison.”  With that the Toad leapt off into the fog of dawn, and finally bounded out of sight.  The girl, now alone and filled with fear, began to weep as she combed her hair.  And as her tears spilt she combed and as she combed her hair grew shorter, her arms and legs bulged with new mass, and her supple bosom was replaced with broad shoulder and a chiseled jaw.  She was so blinded by her tears that she hadn’t been able to notice, but as her combing reached an end, so too did her tears dry up, and then, stopped entirely.

           She looked at her new form, noticing the changes, she was at first disgusted at what had been taken, letting out a scream of anger in her fury.  This sudden cry awakened the Side-Eyes Mistfiend, who awoke with a horrid whine, then stood as if stunned before slowly circling beneath the cage where it had trapped Amera.  It was indeed blinded, for it groped madly at the air in the hopes to catch the corner of the cage.  Finally it had grabbed the cage and ripped it down, entirely.  It threw open the door and reached-in a singly sinewy claw.  Blinded, it groped Amera’s body, suspicious of her low-toned screaming, and when it felt that she had no breasts, it became enraged.  The beast pounced upon the poor boy, opening its mouth and gripping Amera’s neck like a vice.  Suddenly the beast let out a whimper and then a sigh, and fell limp at the boy’s feet.  It was foaming at the lips, and was the necklace Amera had been wearing.  He removed the warm and foaming necklace carefully and set it beside the Mistfiend.  He had remembered the smell.  Hemlock.

           The beast was breathing slow and heavy and the boy approached.  Suddenly the sixth eye that never opened flew wide and an eye shimmering with the light of a thousand mirrors stared to look directly at the boy.  “For the first time, I know you.” Came a deep, rumbling voice from behind the forked teeth.  “The person you seek is in the brothel in Barem.  This is what I see, and all I can see.”

           “Why tell me this, monster?” asked Amera.

           “Because I was cursed by a hateful sorceress to live in this form until the day I die.  My release is pain, but also pleasure.”  And with that the creature gurgled on last spurt of life, and sighed away its final breath.

           The boy stood, now with new resolve to save his love.  Hitna had hid in the fog, watching the girl transform and the Mistfiend die, but when she had seen Amera become a man, she instantly fell madly in love with this new form, for as Amera had been the most amazing beauty found in a girl, so too was this beauty affirmed evenly as a man.  The old woman vowed she must be as close as she can to this sculpted and stunningly handsome creature.  So the sorceress, being very skilled at assuming the guise of animals, and knowing that the young boy’s resolve would drive him through any danger and at any distance, she resolved the boy’s heart to another, and tempered her form into that of a regal stallion: a horse of the purest white with a flowing mane and saddle trussed with the finest silks and satins and laces, and conjured a fine robe of the most delicate cottons, gilded with beads and jewels—all the things Hitna knew would appeal to the heart of a young girl.  Amera spotted the lone mare and mounted it, sidesaddle, delighted in the dainty decorations and flattering clothes and rode towards the town of Beram.

           When the boy arrived, he headed straight for the Brothel.  When the guard who had been working at the gate caught the sight of a man dressed in decedent attire and riding a bejeweled white horse sidesaddle, he had remembered mention of a prince making his way to town.  So when this man arrogantly demanded he be shown all the workers, the guard knew this must be a prince.

           Amera went in and demanded to see everyone working.  He looked upon them all, but insisted none of them were what he wanted.

           “Well we do have a newer girl,” said the owner.  She isn’t much to do with, though, she refused to perform even the easiest of tasks asked of her.”

           “Bring her to me,” demanded the boy.

           Out came a girl with the most amazing eyes and hair of gold, and an unnatural alabaster skin.  The boy stepped down from his horse, looked deep into the girl’s eyes and gave her a kiss.  She pulled away as her face turned an impossible shade of bright red.

           “My love, at last I’ve found you!”  Exclaimed the boy, and the two embraced each other in their arms.

           “My love, my longing, at long last, I am saved!  You who I have longed for since the moment we met, pray, tell me, what is your name, my dearest?”

           “Amera,” said the boy.  And yours?

           “Madis,” said the girl.
 The two embraced for three full days before the two finally returned home to Gramen, to the delight of the townsfolk and especially their parents.  Plans were quickly drawn up for the two houses to unite, and the town was blessed with the most amazing display of love and merriment seen in any wedding before or since.  Even the cruel couple, the sorcerer Feral and the sorceress Hitna, looked upon their young love, born full bloom in the union of their lives, and declared that they were bested by the perfection of already-attained beauties.  The old couple came to their union, and as a wedding gift, gave them all their incantations and spell books, gifting them with powers far beyond those possessed by others, to allow Madis and Amera many methods to enhance their lives, and so the couple tried very hard to live happily ever after.