This story is intended to be wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*This story features LGBTQ characters, with numerous transgender characters.
*There is a magical affirming transgender transformation.

A Whisper from the Past… (Part 2)

She bowed. “I am. Is that you, Daniel? You grew so big!”

“Ah, yes, I’m surprised you remembered me!”

“Oh, how could I forget? You were so energetic and carefree back when I was serving your father. You were just the cutest!”

Daniel turned to Ariel. “So, she’s another genie, I take it?”

“Yup! I’m Eris’s new trainee. I heard your prayer! I recognize your voice from it,” Ariel answered.

“She’s what we call an Angelic Genie. She’s more powerful than I am, but she’s only been one for a year now. She still has much to learn. Still, it’s an extraordinary honor for one like myself,” Eris explained.

“And the fact that both of you walk among the world… You’re both free now, I take it?” he asked.

“Yes. I know the Order of Eris is still looking after me and my vessel in this time. I know there’s another me – still enslaved to my lamp – at this time.”

“So you know about that…”

“It came to light when I needed to hear it, from your descendants. Keep doing what your family is doing, Daniel!”

He nodded.

“So… Why did you need to reach Eris so badly?” Ariel asked.

“It’s Richard, my father, Eris. He’s old. He doesn’t have a lot of time left. He hoped to one day see you again…”

Eris nodded. She followed Daniel inside, Ariel in tow. The home was lit by the open windows, with torches and candles for when night falls. Whereas Eris was focused on the task at hand, Ariel was looking around, trying to absorb the sights. Daniel noticed this.

“Curiosity, Lady Ariel?”

Ariel turned to Eris. Eris understood what she was about to ask and nodded. “As you’ve likely figured out, we’re from the future. This is… very different from what I’m used to in my time.”

“The year 2023,” Eris stated, “almost 800 years from now.”

“I can hardly imagine…” Daniel muttered. “How long have you been free, Eris?”

“About 500 years now. So yes, I spent a lot of time in the lamp.”

“I’m sorry to hear, but it seems your life is now much better, for which I’m glad to hear. And Richard will love to hear it too… Let me tell him you’re here…” Daniel walked into another room.

“We came all this way to meet… Who, again?” Ariel asked.

“Sir Richard. He was my right-hand man when I was king of this land. I was able to stop him from making a bad wish when I came into his hands… He was… A very good man.” Eris was starting to show tears. Clearly, he meant a lot to her.

“Eris, I-“

Daniel returned. “He’s ready for you, Eris.”

Eris nodded and followed Daniel into an inner chamber. Lying on the bed was a wrinkled old man, in his 70’s. There was a priest beside him. Eris recognized him immediately, despite the passage of time.

“Richard… I’m here now…” she said as she knelt beside his bed.

“Ah… My Lady… I had hoped to one day see you again, and now, here you are…” he said. His voice was raspy and quiet. “Time has been good to you, I hear. You mentor another in the ways of magic.” He turned to Ariel and smiled. “Such a beauty you are.”

“Th-thank you! It’s really nice to hear that from you. I didn’t get it a lot before…” Ariel responded.

“May you have once been like Lady Eris herself? Have you not been a woman all your life?” Richard asked.

Ariel was stunned. “H-how did you figure it out?”

“I always kept my eyes and ears open, especially after Lady Eris here. I knew before fate made her what she is,” Richard explained.

“When I was serving him, he told me he always had his suspicions about me. I thought I hid it so well, but he saw right through the façade the whole time…” Eris recounted.

Richard turned to the priest, who nodded. “It’s time I confess to you what only those in this room know: I envy you both.”

“No… Of course, how did I not see that before!?” Eris realized. “You had me figured out because you were always looking for someone like yourself! Gosh, I am so sorry, my friend, for never figuring that out…”

“Oh my gosh, you’re trans too!?” Ariel asked, shocked.

“Ariel, they wouldn’t know what that means,“ Eris reminded her, “but to answer, yes.”

“We’ve taken to trying to call her by women’s titles to give her some comfort in her final days. And the priest here has sworn to secrecy, knowing what it could do to the family’s reputation,” Daniel explained. “But she has always asked to see you again.”

“And I know why you’ve been calling for me… And why it reached me in the distant future, through my Angelic student here…” Eris said to her.

“That one wish…” Richard whispered. “I never stopped thinking about it.”

“I remember it to this day. Me stopping you, trying to have you live a full human life, rather than being stuck with an enslaved genie for eternity. ‘I wish to serve you, my Lady.’ I was able to stop you from completing the wish, but I knew what it was. Do you… Regret any of it?”

“No, my Lady. The words you said at that time were wise. And other than my longing, it was a good life. How about you?”

“I don’t regret it, but I do admit it was lonely at times. And I always missed you, my friend. We grew up together. You helped me secure my status as king, then turned around and helped me undo my sins when I became a genie. You were better to me than I sometimes deserved…”

“You were my friend then, and it seems you still remember me fondly…”

“So… You still want to make the wish, don’t you? And now that I’m free, you’d have freedoms too. I’d… I would be honored to have you join me, my friend. And while I don’t have to grant the wish anymore, I can. All you have to do is make the wish you wanted to all those years ago…”

Richard looked to her son. And to the priest. Her wife had passed away years before. Everyone that still knew her was in this room, and they knew what she wanted more than anything, especially now.

“I have lived a full life. It’s time. Lady Eris, I wish to serve you for all time, to begin a new life.”

Eris nodded. A purple glow emanated from her, with sparkles shimmering all around. Ariel was able to sense the absolutely intense magic that was emanating from her. This was an extremely powerful spell. It was one to rewrite a mortal existence into a magic one – and bind that person to the one who cast the spell. “Richard” would live so long as Eris did now. But it was clear why Eris hesitated so much to complete this wish before: Eris understood as Ariel was now grasping that this binds someone to her forever. They’re forced to heed all of the calls of their genie until either the genie lets them go or is no more.

Eris knew that meant – as an enslaved genie at the time – that “Richard” would have been stuck within Eris’s vessel even when Eris was summoned. She would have been perpetually stuck in the lamp until Eris gained her freedom. Now that Eris was free, “Richard” would be afforded much more freedom, being capable of living a life of her own outside Eris's vessel until she needed her. However, not being fully versed in the ways of genie magic, Ariel wasn’t sure how this could benefit Eris; her new assistant cannot not grant wishes with this spell, although she will have magic she can use for her own purposes… Perhaps Eris could explain this dynamic another time.

The room filled with Eris’s magic until a more intense concentration of it started moving towards and enveloping “Richard.” Magic purple flames enveloped her body, burning away all traces of her mortal body while leaving everything else around her untouched. Eventually, a new form took shape, a wispy, flaming female body of purple.

She looked at her hands, her face showing awe. “That was… Intense…” a new feminine voice said from the being. “But not unpleasant.” She got up out of the bed, revealing her new form was draped in a dress (although it was hard to tell, given she was mostly a walking flame of various purples).

“So begins your new life…” Eris said, smiling (but appearing somber all at once).

Daniel looked at the priest, who nodded. “On this day, Sir Richard has passed away, which will be recorded for all time,” the priest declared. “However, a new life begins for you, one that spans across time and hopefully, in service of our Lord.”

The new being nodded. “I’m sure that’s what Eris strives for. I feel it…”

“We share a deeper connection now, my friend. In a way, we’re now pieces of a whole.”

“Even being what I am, I cannot fathom what this is like for either of you…” Ariel muttered in awe.

“Don’t worry about us, Ariel. We’ll be fine,” Eris reassured her.

“M-mother, can I give you one last hug goodbye, now that you’re in that form?” Daniel asked.

“I would love that, my son… Don’t worry, I may appear as flame, but I am not dangerous.” Her arms opened up. Daniel hesitantly came close. When he felt he wasn’t going to be burned, he wrapped his arms around her. They both smiled contently.

“I can feel it radiating through you; you’re so much happier now!” Daniel noted.

“Thank you!”

“Goodbye, my mother, and good luck!”

“Indeed, may you have a blessed life, my son!”

With a final hug, Daniel and the new magic being parted ways. Eris and Ariel guided her out into the fields nearby. Still a being of magical flames, she was enjoying the breeze on her new form.

“So, what now?” Ariel asked.

“There’s plenty my new partner and I need to discuss. This is a new experience for her, and I need to explain to her what isn’t already apparent.”

“I already feel like we share our minds a little. I’m still distinctively me, but I also feel her as a part of me…” said the former human, trying to wrap her mind around it.

“But I can explain more to you later. Just know what I did here isn’t the easiest thing to do. There’s a stigma around it among well-meaning genies, given it’s been abused in the past. You could do it too, but your partners would have to go through a vetting process of sorts…”

“So I likely will not be able to, I’m assuming. I felt what this does, and I think I understand why. That’s a serious choice to make.”

“Exactly. Now, I can continue from here without you, I think. You can return to Heather now.”

Ariel nodded. She was able to grasp quickly how Eris was able to time-travel. She picked a couple of seconds after they left, so that Heather would see them disappear, then she would reappear moments later – instead of it appearing Eris disappeared but Ariel did not. In a flash of blue, she was gone.

“Heather… Trans… Girl… From the year 2023?” asked Eris’s partner.

“You’re piecing it together?”

“Sort of. There’s a lot…”

“Let’s return to my vessel. It’s in the same time period as Ariel came from.” Eris snapped her fingers, and in an instant, both of them were in her mansion within her vessel. “So, as you’re picking up, we are now bound together. You’re a part of me, and I’m a part of you. We’re each distinctive parts to a whole. Although we can tell whose memories are whose, we can now recall each other’s memories as well. You are what is referred to as a-“

“Genie’s wisp. How do I know that?”

“You’re already building a knowledge bank of magic capabilities. While you can’t grant wishes yourself, at least not easily, you can use magic to make small changes to the world around you… And you can change yourself into whatever you desire. Go ahead, why don’t you settle into a skin you like?”

The wisp slowly settled into a more solid state, her skin no longer a flame, but still purple. The dress gained form too, taking on an orange and red flame-like pattern – but being reminiscent of Ariel’s silk dress.

“I could tell you liked Ariel’s dress…” Eris suggested with a sly grin.

“It was pretty…” the new wisp admitted.

“No, I don’t blame you. The girl has a certain elegance about her… While we’re at it, did you ever come up with a name for yourself? I’m trying to look, but-”

“Gwenevere… Or Gwen works too,” she suggested as her skin settled into a light tan. Her irises still shimmered with the purple flames of her transformation – something she loved, so she decided to keep it somewhere. Her hair was still the same pale blonde it was as a human, but it was now much longer, past her behind.

“Well, Gwen, you’re very pretty!”

Gwen blushed. “So… A genie’s wisp now…”

“Yes. You act as a guide to me now. While you don’t grant people’s wishes – not without a lot of time on your hands, anyway – you serve as a magical database of sorts. Things I can do with my magic, ways I can achieve wishes, you have the knowledge I ordinarily have to stumble upon or be taught by another genie. Right now, as my only wisp, you contain it all. If I were to pick up more wisps in the future, each one would develop distinct knowledge based on their interests and personality, hence why individuality is preserved. But…”

“You’ve actively avoided having others serve you. Other genies have forced servitude in the past.”

“Exactly. You wanted to serve me, and that desire never went away in forty years. But now, you’re bound to me unless I say otherwise – forever. Or if I am destroyed. That is the price. But you know me; if you ever wanted out, I would let you go, my friend.”

“I know. But I’m here for the long-haul, Eris. I had a feeling of what this entailed, thinking about it for all those years. And I’m fine with it. I lived a human life. Now it’s time to be something different.”

“I’m glad you understand what you’re getting into. But because you waited, you are not permanently bound to this place. If you wanted, you could come and go as you please. The only caveat is that if I summon you, you’ll be drawn to me no matter what. I’ll make sure I don’t do that unless it’s really necessary. I want you to be as independent as you can be.”

“Thanks, Eris!”

Eris smiled. She felt Gwen’s happiness as part of her own emotions now. “You’re welcome, Gwen!”

END OF PART 2

By Erica Chrisman (CrystalSeaDragon44)