A witch has been the top of her class at her magic academy for years. She doesn’t have many friends and she’s noticed people think of her as stuck up and snippy. But one day she overhears people talking about her and learns the truth: everyone hates her. They hate how good she is at magic, and how little she cares for her peers’ success. How she’s outshining them.
She’s shocked, she’s never been rude on purpose. She’s at her cauldron, stirring furiously. How ridiculous and sexist and lasy these people are. Hating her for her abilities. And worse, she cared about their opinions. But not anymore, no longer will she keep being polite, docile, quiet. If nobody liked her when she was trying so hard to get them to, what was the point in trying at all?
She haphazardly throws ingredients into a potion that’s bubbling. She’s worked so hard to soften herself, push parts of herself down to make them comfortable, and still they resent her. It’s obvious they are so insecure they cannot handle never being in reach of valedictorian. She throws one last herb in and the bubbles turn to fractals, shifting colors like an oil spill. She’d done it: an authenticity potion with a touch of unapologeticness.
She scoops the ladle to her mouth and sips. Immediately her head spins, she falls to her knees and places her hands firmly on the ground. She takes deep breaths before
Blackness
Then
In the blackness a little light, wizzing around her mind. Circling until it gently lands at the center. Its heat is purple and electric in nature. It comes forth and presents a question:
Is this what you want?
She finds herself replying in her mind
MORE THAN ANYTHING!
He wakes abruptly and stands slowly. A giggle bubbles up in his chest as he experiences his new body. He peers at the looking glass and a wild laugh tears out of him, deeper than he was used to. He can’t stop laughing, so much joy springing up out of his broad chest at the sight of himself. A strong, confident man.
No longer bound by expectation, he finds a new well of power in himself, a stronger one. The will to live a magical life revitalizes his veins. A new man, ready to be himself.