Lugh had been angry for over a year. Alexandria had devastated his nation, his entire species. Brahne was dead, and Garnet was Queen, but that didn't make up for the fact that the Burmecian people were decimated. Cleyra all but wiped out. And everyone was meant to accept peace?
Well, Lugh had a plan. He'd been one of those who had reached Daguerro, through means even he was unsure of. He'd pored through text after text, tome after tome, looking into powerful magic. He'd at first thought it may have been possible to learn summoning, but was soon proven wrong. He'd researched Ultima, but it appeared to be nothing more than a myth. A stronger version of Meteor able to flatten the castle.... No luck.
And then, he realised, as he came across one thread of research - if you can't beat them, make them join you.
He'd reached Alexandria without much fuss. The Alexandrians made a good show of ignoring all they'd done.He slipped through the late evening streets, the crowds of Alexandrian peasants ignoring him as just another face in the crowd mostly, but a few gave him a glance. Mostly non-humans, as it happened.
Entering the castle grounds was trickier, but he was a good swimmer, and the moat was fed from a river. He managed to slip in underwater, removing his robes and swimming in the fur, only a sealed waterproofed bag to add any weight or resistance as he swam. He managed to land in the castle's vast gardens, letting himself warm up a little and sniff quietly for any nearby guards as he let himself use a small drying spell to get rid of the water.
Now came the worst part of the plan - his disguise. He knew a few things about Alexandria - the army and society was mostly matriarchal, what few males were in the castle as permanent residents were either part of the small Knights of Pluto, servant staff, or family of the previous two. He soon found a secluded spot, and pulled out the soldier's uniform from the bag. Female, and designed for humans.
Still, his discomfort at changing gender and near-revulsion at changing species was a small price to pay for justice. He cast his spell, feeling his stomach churn a little as his grey fur shrank away, and his nose flattened down into the stubby blob atop a smooth human face. His head hair shifted to blonde, and elongated, while his male features altered, chest expanding and below, something else being replaced.
He, or now she, quickly dressed in the uniform. The reflection on the sword in his bag of supplies confirmed that Lugh now looked the perfect image of an Alexandrian soldier, to the point an urge to punch him/herself had to be resisted.
Especially since she has a sword, he thought to himself with amusement.
The difficult part was up ahead - actually managing to slip through. At least the huge sword-shape of the castle was a good landmark, but finding a way without looking lost was crucial. Any human getting too suspicious, well, it could raise an alarm.
He soon found a route that should have led to the castle, but there was a single sentry who looked like she may challenge him. Still, it seemed she was fairly isolated, and he readied another spell.
"Stop," he whispered, casting it weakly, but effectively.
The soldier had been standing still, but now not even the rise and fall of breathing could be noticed. Frozen in time, she saw and heard nothing as he slipped past long before it would wear off in a few moments, barely even noticeable to the guard. And after that, it was almost laughably easy. The main entrance seemed swarming with soldiers to his eyes, but none even acknowledged him beyond quick greetings as he passed.
He found his way towards the Queen's chambers, opting to find a spot to hide and wait for midnight, and hopefully less patrols or guards. Indeed, slipping out he only found two guards outside the door to Garnet's bedroom, timestopping the pair and quietly slipping in after checking the keyhole to note that there was a slumbering shape in the bed, lying on her side.
He neared his target, the Queen of Alexandria. Daughter of Brahne the Monster. And soon to be transformed into what she surely hated. He cast sleep to ensure she would not wake, pulling the silken sheets down carefully to find her in a... pair of chocobo-print pyjamas? That seemed somewhat strange even for human royalty. He'd somewhat expected something like a nightgown, but then again, the idea of seeing an ugly human half-naked didn't appeal. Still, she wasn't to be human for long.
Quietly, he chanted, the tendrils of the powerful magic leaking out slowly as a pale glowing shape. A casual transmogrification wasn't easy, but certainly wasn't as complex as the spell he had. It would take almost all his reserves to cast. They reached the slumbering Queen, and as they slowly slid over her, fur began to sprout, black like her hair. It flowed like treacle, up her legs as they began to shift from Human to Burmecian, upwards and upwards. A tail sprouted from just above the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. The transformation grew and grew, shifting her and making her grow taller and thinner than she was. Her nose elongated into a far more beautiful face. It was done. The Queen of Alexandria was now a Burmecian, forever. But the spell was not over.
Glowing the pale white still, Garnet's changed form was to be a beacon. First the glow became a little brighter, and then raced outwards. As it flew past the castles walls, everything it touched that was human fell into slumber if not already asleep. Guards collapsed, barmaids mopping up after closing time fell, and drunks tottering home dropped. Each sleeping form across the kingdom began to glow, shifting like their Queen.
Lugh felt exhausted, but was well aware that he was the only one still human. Undoing that part of his transformation, he rushed outside to hide amongst the fallen guards, lying down in a corridor. Someone would wake soon, and begin the alert. And when they began patrolling and found just another transformed Guard lying down, well. And to seal the deal, he produced a letter and left it lying beside a high-ranking looking officer on his way to find a spot to sleep...
A brief period of startled shrieks as the newly-transformed populace began awakening was soon replaced with confusion and panic. Reports began arriving that whatever had happened had affected the entire city-kingdom. Some recalled a glow in the castle, but other than that, no one knew what had happened.
And so it was that at dawn, a very irate Garnet, with lack of sleep and a sudden species swap, was trying to stay awake as her soldiers reported.
"And no cure has worked at all?" Garnet asked.
"No, Your Majesty. None of the White Mages have managed to cure it in the city that we know of. Given that you are our most skilled white mage, it is hardly surprising," Steiner said, twitching his new whiskers, and looking rather out of place - his armour no longer fit his Burmecian form.
Instead, he was simply wearing a pair of breeches and a shirt, his usual sword-belt tightened up as far as it could go.
Garnet sighed.
"So, someone has managed to transform every human man, woman, and child in Alexandria into Burmecians, apparently beyond cure, and probably permanently."
"It seems so," Beatrix, slightly luckier with her usual uniform,though her leggings had not been designed for the shape of Burmecian legs.
"Well, we'll need to contact Freya and King Puck, of course. And let Lindblum and Treno know. The motive of whoever did this may have been the war my mother waged, but we cannot rule out they may simply have sought to transform the whole continent's humans. No non-humans were affected?"
"Indeed, the family that manages the Inn remain their Hippo selves."
"Well, until someone finds a lead or a cure, I feel we need to focus on the problems of keeping the populace calm. Are there any other issues?"
"We may face a shortage of cheese, tailors and seamstresses may be very busy altering clothes, and we also have to figure out a way to stop everyone jumping on the roofs. Not as common in Burmecia because of the rain, but with our climate, it'll be like there's no need for roads once everyone figures out how high the average Burmecian can jump."
Garnet raised a ratty eyebrow, glanced up at the chandelier, and gave a soft hum of pondering.
"Your Majesty, please don-" Steiner began, but it was too late.
He and Beatrix both facepalmed, as the doors to Garnets chambers slammed open, Blutzen of the Knights of Pluto racing in.
"General, Captain, Your Majesty, we have found a letter! It was... Why is the Queen in the chandelier?"
"Ahem, sorry, Knight, just testing something. Report," She said, dropping down.
The Knight blinked his newly-rattified eyes, now confused by the chocobo-pattern pyjamas on his Monarch.
"I like them, and they still fit me, now report."
"Oh, er, the letter. Yes. It claims this was done as, I quote 'retribution for the slaughter of Cleyra and decimation of Burmecia, to remove all Alexandrian humans as they sought to remove all Burmecians, but unlike the barbaric humans, the anonymous writer of the letter chose to merely transform them into what they hate' and then it rambles about how the writer spent many months researching spells and should be thanked for his mercy," Blutzen reported.
"Is that all the letter says?" Beatrix asked, as Steiner studied the note.
"Well, the 'his' replaced a crossed-out 'her' so my assumption is the culprit is a female who sought to try and cover her tracks."
"Or it's a bluff, Sir, to make us think that."
"Maybe a double bluff?" Beatrix wondered.
"So.... a whackjob did it. Male or female, and not really all that important since last I checked it only narrows it down to about half of the entire planet either way, apart from Qu and other species with either ambiguous genders or different gender pronouns," Garnet then said.
"It would seem so," Steiner agreed.
"Alright then. Send out messages, and dip into the treasury to start ordering more cheese as well as maybe helping pay for all the clothes altering we're going to need done now everyone's taller and thinner. Oh, and get someone researching the roofs thing. And a cure. Even if jumping that high is pretty fun," Garnet ordered.
"...Maybe have whoever we task with solving the roofs research a solution to the chandeliers too," Beatrix whispered to Steiner.
"I heard that!"