After a few minutes, she heard Elise groaning, and turned around. The two other women had finished their transformations, and, curiously enough, their clothes and weapons had changed with them.
“What…happened?” Elise groaned. Her eyes had turned dark amber, and while she had retained her brown hair, two white horns now peeked out from in front, distinctive traits of what Maia instinctually knew to be an oni. More notably than that, though, her body had become visibly muscled, rivaling even the most built men Maia had ever seen.
The knife she had held had metamorphosed into a sturdy axe, clearly built to withstand the strength of her new form, and her clothes had altered, becoming slightly larger in order to fit her new frame. The baggy tunic she had worn had split into a shirt and pants that fit her perfectly, though, for some odd reason the shirt showed off her stomach, leaving her perfectly toned abs on display.
“I feel…better. Like…my mind was foggy, but everything feels so clear now.” Violet had undergone an even more drastic change; while her physique was mostly the same, her hair had turned a dark cyan, and she had gained cat ears and a thick tail of matching color. The pitchfork she had held was gone, and in its place was a sleek sword. Her clothes had undergone a similar transformation to Elise’s but they covered her stomach and had changed in color to match her hair.
Suddenly, Violet blushed fiercely and hid her head in her hands. “I can’t believe I did all that.” She mumbled. “Elise, Michael, I am so, so sorry, I didn’t really mean it. It was just Aira’s Fervor talking, and now I’m afraid that I might have ruined your marriage.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me, Violet.” Elise soothed. “I was as much to blame as you. And, Michael, I’m sorry as well. Though I was affected by Aira’s Fervor, I still had relations with someone else without your knowledge or consent. I’ll…do whatever it takes to make it up to you.”
“Me too.” Violet added. “I knew she was your wife, and I propositioned her without you.”
Maia gave them a smile. “I know what it’s like to have your mind altered. When you’re like that, you can’t be held totally responsible for your actions, so I think there’s nothing to forgive. Still…I believe we should have a brief talk about the future before we go on.”
“Ah, your…whatever happened to you, right?” Elise said. “I…huh, I still feel…you know, attracted to you. Just not…in that insatiable way that I did while I had Aira’s Fervor.”
“I seem to remain attracted to women too.” Violet said. “Do you know why that is?”
Maia nodded. “Monster girls like us are female as a rule, so we’re all attracted to women. Or, at least, that’s what the goddesses said. And, before I forget, the goddesses gave me the name Maia; apparently, history as we know it is deeply flawed.”
A heavy knock sounded on the door. “You alright in there?” A gruff voice asked. “Some people said they heard some loud crashes and I figured I’d better check it out. Just gotta make sure it was loud sex and not anything serious, you know?”
That was Evan, the blacksmith. He was the de facto head of the village and one of its most capable fighters, Maia excepted. Maia didn’t want to get into a conflict with him yet, so she lowered her voice to a whisper as she spoke to the others. “I’ll explain more later. Quick, focus on your monster parts disappearing and they will. I’ll get out of sight so as to not draw attention.”
As the other women returned to their old human appearances, Maia noted with some surprise that even their clothes went back to how they had been before their transformations. That…wasn’t actually that surprising; many monster girls had reportedly had decidedly inhuman shapes, and Maia doubted the goddesses would want people to be half naked when turning to their human appearances.
“If I don’t get an answer within a minute, I’m going to have to break this door down!” Evan called out.
That was something to think about later, though; Maia slunk close to the door so she wouldn’t be in sight when if it was opened, and signaled for the others to deal with it. Elise stepped up to the door and pulled it open a crack. “We’re fine, Evan.” She said. “Michael just knocked down a shelf.”
“Ah, he’s back?” Evan said. “I was hoping to talk with him about a commission the merchants brought me.”
“He’s all loopy from Deepwood magic, and isn’t really fit to be seen at the moment. Can it wait until morning?”
“Shame. Still, this is important, and the merchants brought some curatives with them, so you sit tight, I’m going to go grab them. Then we can talk business and…pleasure. These curatives aren’t free, and I have a few ideas for your payment in mind…”
“Alright, Evan.” Elise said. “I’ll get him ready for the medicine.”
She shut the door, and Maia waited until she heard him leave before letting out a sigh of relief. “Good work, Elise.” She said. “I was afraid he was going to force his way in and…you know, try something.”
Elise returned to her monster girl form and clapped a bicep with a smirk. “With this new body? I’d like to see him try. Still…I wouldn’t put it past him. Or, wouldn’t put it past Aira’s Fervor, we all know Evan wouldn’t do something like that normally.”
“Is it that potent?” Maia asked. “I figured it was just, you know, the two of you have known each other for a while and there was probably already some sort of spark there…”
“Yes.” Violet said. “Everything I had believed to be good was suddenly so…unimportant. If I physicallycould, then, morally speaking, there was no problem with it. And my libido was increased by…quite a bit. I shudder to think what people with power will be like now that they’re going to be…unshackled.”
“Let’s talk about this later.” Elise said. “What’s the plan? We’ve got twenty minutes at most before Evan gets back, and I don’t think he’s going to be any more receptive to a cure than we were.”
“He won’t be. No one will. The goddesses said that the curse will make everyone fight tooth and nail against being cured and against monster girls in general. Right now, our only option is to fight everyone in the village who’s capable of fighting, and cure them.”
“Can we manage that?” Violet asked. “I feel much stronger, and I’m sure Elise does too, but…there are what, thirty or forty people we’ll have to fight? How will we manage that?”
Maia grimaced. “I think the curse might empower them to some extent as well, but…I think we can handle it. The goddesses gave me healing magic and the ability to use spells, so if we try to sneak around as quietly as possible and take people out in groups it should be doable.”
“We’ll follow your lead, then.” Elise said. “You’re better with this sort of thing than us. Where to first?”
Maia thought on that for a moment. “We take care of anyone in the immediate area then go to the church.” She said. “It’s close, and if we end up needing to fall back then it’s probably the most defensible place in town.”
“Most of the people who live nearby are in the town square right now, I think.” Elise said. “But there’s probably some kids or a couple like Violet and I in the area, someone alerted Evan.”
“I’ll scout the area.” Violet volunteered. “I feel much faster and sneakier than I was before, even while I’m in human form. And if anyone sees me, it won’t be an immediate giveaway.”
“Thank you.” Maia said. “If you’re not back in five minutes or there’s a big commotion, we’re going to come out and start looking for you.”
“Got it. I’ll be back soon.”
Violet slipped out of the house, leaving Maia alone with her wife. “So…” Elise began hesitantly, “the goddesses chose to give you the name Maia?” She asked. “Even if history is messed up in some places, the Heretic Empress is supposed to be like…the root of all evil, right? How did they get that wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Maia said. “They said there wasn’t time to explain now, and that we’d discover more within the Deepwood.”
Elise frowned. “But no one’s ever been there.” She pointed out. “You haven’t seen any signs of civilization other than the shrine, right?”
“I can’t dismiss the possibility of some ancient sage stashing knowledge deep within.” Maia said. “But, yes, I haven’t seen any signs of civilization other than the shrine, and I’m not even sure humans made that. The goddesses said that it is ‘a conduit they use to suppress the Deepwood’, whatever that means.”
“Well…the Deepwood doesn’t grow outside its borders, right?” Elise said. “Plants and trees inside grow back really fast, but it doesn’t expand.”
“You may be onto something there. I think–” Maia cut herself off and readied her spear as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. “Someone’s coming.”
Elise grabbed her axe. “I can’t hear them, but I trust you.”
The door opened, and Violet stepped inside. “The butcher and his wife and kid are at home. They’re probably the ones who told Evan about us. No one else is around as far as I can tell.”
“Let’s go, then.” Maia said. “Let’s try and catch them unaware.”
And, they did. The butcher and his wife were in the middle of what sounded like incredibly loud sex for a couple with a child at home, and the child was asleep. Violet, as the village handywoman, had experience picking locks, and the sound of the door opening was drowned out by the couple’s raucous activity. They were able to slip in, quickly knock the couple unconscious, then start curing both them and their daughter.
With that taken care of, they made their way to the church. The doors, as always, were unlocked, and, to Maia’s surprise, the town’s priest, Stephen, was inside praying at the altar.
“Here to give your praises to Aira for her blessing? I’m sure she would be delighted if you were to indulge in her gift here. I can even help –” As Stephen turned to look at them, his eyes widened. “Violet? Elise? And…Michael, if I had to guess? What happened to you?! Hurry, we can come and get you fixed, and we’ll talk ‘payment’ later.”
“Sorry, you’re the one who needs fixing.” Elise said, hefting her axe and rushing forward. “Hold still, we don’t want to hurt you more than necessary.”
“What are you talking about?! I don’t – put that down!”
He held up his arms as if to shield himself, and Elise brought the axe down, using the large, flat portion of it as an impromptu bludgeon. Stephen was thrown off-guard by the blow, stumbling backwards and falling to his butt as he scooched towards the altar. And, in a flash, Violet was there, grabbing his arms and holding him down. A moment later Elise had his legs, and Maia had almost reached him.
“Violet, are you in there?” Stephen asked desperately. “You seem part beast, can you still speak? Do you understand me?”
“There’s no point in talking while you’re like this.” Violet said flatly. “Maia, the cure.”
“Maia?!” Stephen exclaimed, beginning to thrash violently against Elise and Violet. “Don’t come closer!”
Maia sighed as she finished closing the distance. “I’ll explain later. Sorry, you’re not in a condition to really understand what’s going on right now.” She put a hand on his forehead and willed him to be cured, and his thrashing quieted for a brief moment before his body began to writhe and undulate as he transformed.
“Gross.” Violet said, taking her hands off of him. “I didn’t get a good look at the others, is this what we looked like when we were cured?”
“Yeah.” Maia confirmed. “I’m clearly not as good at this as the goddesses, sorry. Best I could do was to look away and give you some privacy.”
“Well, if you were as good as the goddesses, we’d be done with this village already.” Violet snorted. “That’s an unrealistic expectation.”
“Right.” Elise agreed. “How long does this take? I think Stephen has some tomes and knows magic, right?”
“I wasn’t keeping track.” Maia admitted. “It felt like five to ten minutes, though.”
“Probably not enough time to bring him along to help with Evan, then…” Elise mused.
“Yeah.” Maia agreed. “I think we should be on our way. The more we can get done before we’re discovered, the easier this will be. Let’s avoid the center of town for now and focus on the outlying houses. We’ll deal with Evan when he starts causing trouble. The goddesses said that we can leave people transforming alone for a few hours, that the enemy will prefer to capture rather than kill for that time, to…use their captives before killing them.
“We might have some time before something terrible happens if Evan doesn’t check the other houses after finding us away. I hate to even consider just leaving them to fend for themselves, but…we can’t take on the whole village at once, you know?”
“Actually…Evan’s almost certainly going to pass by here on his way to your house, right?” Violet pointed out. “Why don’t we just jump him then?”
“That’s a good idea, but what about the people we’ve already cured?” Elise argued. “They might wake up, panic, and reveal us prematurely. If we rush, we can probably get through half the village before they finish.”
“I’m with Elise.” Maia said. “Chances are we run into Evan at some point during our sweep of the village anyway.”
“Alright.” Violet said, shrugging. “You’re the expert here.”
So, they left the relative safety of the church and began to methodically work their way through the outlying houses, praying that they could do this as swiftly and easily as possible.