“Oh hey, Joey! I didn't know you were taking this class too!” I greeted as my friend walked up. We’d had adjacent dorm rooms as freshmen, but hadn't seen much of each other since.

“Yah, I needed one more class and figured I’d take something artsy. I thought this might apply more than most of the other courses,” the Engineering Magic major said with a shrug.

“Well, you made the right choice then. I’ve heard this class is a blast!” I responded enthusiastically. I hadn't really, no one had heard anything about this class as far as I could tell.

He nodded and checked his watch. “Shouldn’t it have started by now?”

As if by uttering those words, Joey disappeared. No, he didn't disappear, he shrunk. With a loud *pop* appeared a set of keys, which rocketed into the lock on the door and turned. The door slowly creaked open. Beyond the door was a forest. I wasn't sure how to react.

“W-What the heck?” Said a voice from behind me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden sound. I turned to find someone I didn't recognize. He was a full head shorter than me, had a dark mop of dark, curly hair and wide eyes. That last one might have been a product of the situation.

“How could a forest be there? We’re like in the middle of a massive building!” He exclaimed.

“And who transfigured Joey into a set of keys to unlock their classroom!?” it was more of an exclamation than a question, to be honest.

“Is... this what all of the classes are like here?” He asked.

“I’ve been here for two years now and this is already the weirdest class I have ever taken,” I said, which reassured him. “Also, I think that forest is our classroom. Maybe we should go in?”

He nodded, “alright, so long as I don't get turned into a pair of keys!”

After stepping through the door it slammed closed behind us. I turned to find the door fading away and a set of keys zipping towards my hand. I nearly fumbled them as I saw what was behind the door. A gargantuan stone tower stretched upwards, flaring out at the top with a big pointy roof. It loomed over us, dark stone rising into the sky. The thing was definitely taller than the art building.

“Look!” My new companion exclaimed from behind me.

I turned to see him pointing at the sky. It wasn't hard to figure out what he was pointing at. A massive digital clock, reading 1:21 rested in the sky like a spaceship right out of star wars. Above it were the words “Get to the top!” As we watched the number changed to 1:20.

“It’s a timer!” I exclaimed. When you just discovered an entire forest and massive wizard tower everything seemed surprising. Weird how that works.

“Is this like some sort of test?” He asked.

“I suppose so. I think we should follow those instructions.” I said, pointing towards the clock.

“Then let’s go!” He exclaimed. We ran over to the base of the tower, which could not have possibly fit in any sized room (even a large lecture hall), and yet here it was. I reached down for my wand. A quick flight or spider climb spell would get us to the top of the tower in no time. However, after rooting through my singular pocket, I discovered that my wand was gone.

“I think I forgot my wand!” I exclaimed. How had I forgotten it? That was like a nearsighted person forgetting their glasses.

“Here you can borrow mine.” My companion offered, reaching into his pocket, “wait! My wand is gone too!”

“We’ll have to go up the hard way,” I said. In the absence of our wands, the stairs were the most straightforward path.

“You’re not the least bit worried about where our wands are?”

“Well, they’re probably safe, because either we both forgot them somewhere, or it has something to do with Joey turning into a pair of keys,” I explained. I hoped it was true.

“That’s going to be a lot of stairs.” He said, pointing towards the top of the tower.

“Hopefully there’s an evil wizard tower elevator.” I joked, pulling open the door.

The first floor was a tall room with bookshelves lining the walls. In the center was a table with two chairs and a crystal ball resting in the center. Candles lit the room, and just like before, as soon as we entered the door closed behind us and disappeared, fading to smooth stone.

“Oh yeah, I’m Sam by the way.” my new friend said as we took in the room.

“I’m Maddison, but most people call me Maddy,” I said, looking at the bookshelves.

“Is that a real crystal ball?” Sam asked, walking up to the glowing orb.

“I don't know,” I said with a shrug. I had never given divination much credence (at least the looking into the future part). Instead, I turned to the bookshelves. None of the books had titles, but they were all different colors. Every so often there was some sort of trinket on the shelf. A ship in a bottle, a skull, the usual sort of evil wizard stuff. I pulled one of the books from the shelf. It was larger than most of the others, but thinner too. On the front was the word “Paladin” and nothing else. I opened the book, curious. The pages exploded with light and heat. I dropped the book in surprise as it began to kindle to flame. In moments not even a black smudge was left on the wooden floor.

I was about to say something when my shoes felt funny. I looked down to see a wave of light traveling up my leg. As it did my clothing was replaced with steel armor. The armor traveled up my body, coating me in medieval mail and plate. I felt a glowing warmth as the light traveled up my body, coating it in steel armor. Seel gauntlets and a helm appeared atop my head. From my hands the Joey-keys expanded, lengthening into a long two-handed sword.

The armor was, surprisingly, not very heavy. Then that weight suddenly reduced to almost nothing. I found that even the massive sword felt light in my fingers. I slid him into a sheath on my side before pulling my helmet off. My long hair had been wrapped up into a bun. I felt like I had just leveled up or something like I was ready to take on any challenge before me.

Behind me stood Sam, but his clothing had undergone a radical change too. Instead of the casual modern hoodie and jeans, he was wearing a fancy golden robe stretched down to his shoes. It looked a little like the robes worn by mythical wizards of old.

“Well, that was interesting,” I said, tucking my helmet under my arm.

“Yah no kidding. I think I’m a sorcerer, like in dungeons and dragons.” He said, looking down at his robe.

“Shouldn't you be able to do magic then?” I asked. Maybe I could do magic too? Holy magic? That only existed in fairy tales, but at this point, anything could happen. There was lots of magic that looks like holy magic anyways.

“I think so,” he said, “but I don't know how without a wand.”

I shrugged and motioned towards the nonexistent door, “Well, we probably have to go up the hard way now.”

Our conversation was cut off as an elevator descended from a hole in the ceiling, coming to rest on the opposite side of the room. Above the door was a plaque which read, “Elevator of EVIL.”

After a good laugh, we found ourselves on a new floor. Of course, once we exited the elevator and the doors closed it faded away. We found ourselves in a lounge of sorts. A carpet decorated the floor and several comfy-looking couches sat in the center of the room. There were two small windows, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. On one side of the room was a table and a few chairs. On the other side was a large painting.

Sam stepped over to the painting. I just sat down on the sofa, placing my helmet next to the magazines on the table. Somewhere in here, there was a puzzle that would unlock the next floor. Behind the painting? At the table? Out the windows? I noticed that fifteen minutes had passed since we had entered the tower. We had a little over an hour left to get to the top.

I grabbed a magazine and opened it. The insides were full of pictures of monster trucks. This seemed to be some sort of technology magazine, with lots of detail and technical illustrations. It was exactly the sort of thing Joey might be interested in but definitely wasn't for me. More of a guy thing really.

I flipped through the thing for a few seconds, then I realized I felt slightly different. It was hard to describe. More solid I suppose. The feeling clued me in. What does a crystal ball do? It tells fortunes. What did you do in lounges and waiting rooms? Read crappy magazines.

“Hey! I think these magazines are the key to this room!” I exclaimed, tossing one towards Sam. He caught it, a fancy-looking magazine with a model practically filling the cover.

“They are?” He asked, opening it and flipping through disinterestedly.

“I think so,” I said. My voice sounded odd, deeper almost. I turned back to the magazine. More boring stuff. I was really losing focus. Maybe that was the test. Learning to focus on topics you’re not interested in.

I started reading one of the articles. Something about suspension. I didn't follow it very well. However, when I finished I definitely felt different. I looked down to discover that my chestplate was much flatter than I remembered. Weird. It should have been constricting but felt perfectly fine.

I turned back to the magazine to examine one of the diagrams. This too I didn't find very interesting, but no way out of the room had appeared yet. However, when I examined my body again something was defiantly off. I swear, while I was not the curviest girl, I had more than this! My legs felt larger too, and my chest wider. Then I felt down lower.

I threw the magazine down in panic, but it was too late. I also turned to warn Sam, but it was too late for that either. The sorcerer was now decisively female. Her robe outlined her curves like only fantasy appeal could. The magazines had swapped our genders!

I didn't even know what to say, but I settled with, “Hey Sam! Look down.” my voice was much deeper than it had been before.

He - er - she let out a girly shriek and dropped the magazine. “I-I’m a girl!”

“Yeah, and look, the elevator of EVIL is back,” I said, pointing to the machine descending from the ceiling.

“But I don't want to be a girl!” She exclaimed.

“Then let’s go before this gets any worse!” I pulled Sam by the hand to the elevator.

As we ascended to the next floor I said, “I think there’s a transformation in each room, and we have to find it before the elevator will return.”

Sam looked up. I had gained at least a couple inches on her. “Yeah, probably.” She said, “I just hope they don't get any weirder.”

The third room was a dining room. The table was set with a feast larger than anything I had ever seen. Out the window, the clock read 0:47. Forty-seven minutes. Luckily it was fairly clear what was supposed to happen in this room.

“I think we are supposed to eat some of this,” I said, picking up a cupcake from the table and taking a bite. Sugary flavor exploded in my mouth. It combined with an incredibly soft cake and tasted way better than any cupcake I had ever eaten before. I stuffed the rest into my mouth greedily.

Sam also grabbed something, but I wasn't paying attention anymore. The food smelled and tasted amazing! Soon I was eating everything within reach. Pies, sandwiches, entire turkeys. I pulled them towards me with one pair of arms and ate it with the other. Wait. Two pairs of arms?

I looked down and discovered a second pair of arms resting below my first. The armor had expanded to include two extra gloves and arm plates. I shook off the daze the food had induced and looked over at Sam. She was stuffing pastries into two heads worth of mouths.

“Sam!” I exclaimed.

“Wha?” One head said while the other continued eating.

I waved my arms (all four of them) at her. She looked confused, then seemed to realize what she was doing.

“I have two heads!” Both heads shouted at once.

“Yah! Let’s get to the next room quick before anything else happens!” I exclaimed, pointing towards the elevator.

QuIcky we ascended to the fourth room, which was clearly a laboratory. Beakers, vials, and all sorts of twisty tubes and lab equipment decorated the room. There were no windows, but we probably only had about thirty to forty minutes left, and from the looks of things, we were barely halfway up the tower.

“Drink the potions?” Sam’s heads suggested in stereo.

“Probably.” I took a glowing red beaker off the shelf.

“On three, ready?” I counted down, then we downed our potions. My stomach churned. It felt as if my insides were boiling into steam. My body started to swell. This time, the armor didn't expand with it, quickly becoming uncomfortable. A pressure began to build in my rear. My tailbone felt like it was trying to escape, pulling and twisting around. The painful sensation ended abruptly when, all of a sudden, the armor gave way, and a long scaly tail burst from my rear. That was just the beginning though. My legs twisted painfully, and I stumbled, falling to the floor. My gauntlets and arm armor burst off, revealing bright red scales. I gritted my teeth as wicked claws pushed their way from my fingers. My legs shifted, and their armor began to fall off too. The shifting and cracking of bones was almost too much to bear. My legs felt nothing like they had before, almost like an animal’s.

I didn't have time to contemplate that, because my lower set of arms was also changing, just in a completely different way. They snapped to the top of my back, growing thinner. My fingers splayed out, growing massively long with sheets of hide between them. The process felt like someone was fusing my fingers together with a hot iron. The leathery material stretched to my torso, where it split my armor as it attached itself to the red scales there. To support this new attachment, my chest barreled out with muscle, sending my breastplate skittering across the floor. My underside was covered with large golden plates, and my new wings felt strong and flexible.

Then my neck began to extend, the scales racing up it and over my head. Each new scale poked through my skin like a needle. My hair, shortened during my transition from female to male, now disappeared altogether. Horns grew in atop my head and my face pushed out into a long snout. My teeth sharpened painfully into points as my tongue split into a fork as if it had been cut by a knife. I finally screamed as my face pushed out horrifically, becoming a long snout with wide nostrils.

I lay panting on the floor for what felt like a very long time. My body felt alien, and yet familiar.

I lifted my new head to examine my body. Spines ran down my back, growing smaller and disappearing before my tail flared into a spade shape. My legs had completely reshaped and now looked more like the legs of a cat than the legs of a human. I had large, leathery wings, and lots of red scales. My underside was coated with gold plates. My arms were also different. Their range of motion didn't feel as complete, and my hands were more like paws than anything I could properly grip with.

I got up on all fours and confirmed that it was indeed the way I had to walk now. It took a few tries to get the cadence right, but my stumbling steps quickly became more confident. Despite the awful transformation, this was a little neat. I was now less than half the height I had been before, and significantly shorter than the workstations around me due to being on all fours. I flexed my wings. This was actually really cool. I was a dragon! I had always dreamed of riding one as a child, but to actually be one? Totally different and unique.

I looked around for Sam, but she found me first. I heard a gasp from behind, “Maddy? Is that you?”

I flushed, realizing I was completely naked and turned to find a grey cat-woman with two heads wearing Sam’s robes. It was probably Sam. I quickly got over my embarrassment. I was a dragon! “Yah! Look I’m a dragon!”

Sam laughed, “Uh... Yah you are. That’s actually super cool. I just got turned into a cat-person.”

“Hey, that’s cool too!” I said. It was though, just not as cool as being a dragon.

We almost entered the elevator before I realized, “Wait! What about Joey?”

I raced back to where I had transformed to discover the sword laying on the floor. I grabbed the hilt in my mouth, then had an idea.

“Sam! You have opposable thumbs, try pouring a potion on Joey!” I commanded, dropping the sword.

As soon as the light blue liquid touched the sword it began to expand, growing limbs and fur. In moments a red fox stood where the sword had been a moment before. He was a full animal, like me.

“I can move again!” He exclaimed, stretching.

I laughed and nudged him with a wing. “We don't have much time left. We need to keep moving, otherwise, we might not reach the top of the tower in time.”

As we ascended once more I asked, “What was it like? Being a sword I mean.”

“It was interesting. I couldn't see, but I could feel and hear everything. Your transformation into a dragon sounded scary. Being a sword was much better than being keys. That was super disorienting. At least as a sword, I didn't flop around all over the place,” he jumped from one thought to the next. Being unable to say anything for a while would probably do that to anyone.

“Would you do it again?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Only if I had to, but it’s not like it’s the end of the word,” Joey said.

The elevator doors opened up to what looked like a study. There were a couple of bookshelves, a filing cabinet, and a desk covered with papers. However, the main feature of the room was the several glowing magical circles. In fact, the elevator deposited us right in the middle of one such circle.

An electric rush filled the air. I felt like I was being pulled towards the other two. I sprang into the air, flapping my new wings hard to escape the force. Suddenly I broke free and rocketed up towards the ceiling, nearly smashing into it. The other two couldn't fly though. They fell towards each other with surprised shouts. I clung to a wooden beam and watched from above as they slammed into each other, literally into each other. When their bodies made contact they melded through each other. Their bodies connected and shifted, and soon, only one creature stood in the circle. Finally, the circle disappeared and I dropped to the floor.

“What the heck just happened!?” Exclaimed a head in Joey's voice.

“Hey! Get out of my head!” Exclaimed the other head in Sam’s voice.

The creature was like a centaur, with Joey’s four-legged fox body attached to Sam’s feline torso. The robe had shortened to just a top.

While the two bickered I examined the remaining circles. There were four more that were still glowing. Around each circle, there were inactive runes, not real ones, but complete nonsense.

Suddenly a pair of furry arms wrapped around my torso.

“Then let’s fix that.” Sam’s voice said.

I was lifted from the ground and tossed into one of the circles. With an exclamation of, “hey!” I immediately tried to leap back out. However, instead of deftly landing outside of the circle I slammed face-first into an invisible barrier. The runes had lit, and already the room was starting to shrink. I felt like I was being stretched from every direction.

“Sorry! But you need to transform before we can move on to the next room! We’re almost at the top!” Sam exclaimed. Joey nodded. Apparently, I hadn't been paying enough attention to their conversation.

Around me, the room shrunk. In no time I was taller than the other two and still expanding. My tail struck the invisible barrier and I realized that I was getting too large for the circle. My head hit a barrier above me, so I curled up as best I could. I was now over twice as tall as they were, and still, it felt like a force was pushing my body outwards. Soon the barrier pressed around me from all sides. I was curled as tightly as I could, but even so, the room kept shrinking. My head was as large as their entire body. Moments later, I could have eaten them in one bite. I was feeling so squished that when the growth finally stopped, I felt like a sardine.

Then the barrier turned off and I fell out of the now deactivated circle. The room was way too small for me, and I had to curl around just to give the others some space.

“Seriously?” My voice boomed. I switched to a whisper, “Did you seriously have to do that!?”

“We’re running out of time! We have to get to the top of the tower before the timer runs out.”

“I would have done it if you had warned me first!” I huffed.

There was no time. The elevator was back, and we probably had about ten minutes left. I had no idea how I was going to fit into it. So, instead, I grabbed on and held on tight, my claws digging into the metal. Sam and Joey rode on the inside.

The elevator lurched upwards, struggling to lift me. A swirling portal appeared in the ceiling. It was far too small for me to fit through. I was scraped off of the elevator and toppled back to the floor. I watched as the swirling vortex shrunk and closed. I had been left behind!

I looked around the room. The other three rings glowed softly. Perhaps one of them would make me smaller? I wasn't ready to find out yet. No. There was another way. I had wings now!

I swept my tail at the wall, smashing through it instantly. The whole tower shook, and for a moment I thought it was all about to come toppling down. Luckily it didn't, and now I had a way out. I poked my head out of the hole, looking up, then down. I was nearly at the top. That was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The room was too small for my wings, but I had flown before. It had been a clumsy attempt, and I wasn't totally sure I could do it again. However, I couldn't think of any other way.

I took a deep breath and avoided thinking about how much more air that was than before.
My stomach fell, even though I did not. A few flaps and I was soaring over the trees. It wasn't a particularly stable flight, but it was flying nonetheless. I was flying! I let out a whoop of joy and circled back around towards the tower. It looked so much smaller now, well, I supposed it was smaller compared to me. The clock in the sky proclaimed four minutes left.

Only when I was approaching the pointy hat-like top of the tower did I realized something. How the heck was I supposed to stop? I slammed into the tower at a startling velocity, plowing the tip right off. I scrambled for the shingles as the top of the tower slammed into the ground below, splintering into a million pieces. I slipped a little, my claws gouging tiles from the roof.

Below me, someone was laughing, and it wasn't Sam or Joey. Once I gained purchase I twisted my long neck around and peered down into the new hole in the tower. Below me the tiny Sam/Joey was staring up at me, mouths agape. Standing next to them was a man in black robes. He held a staff in one hand and the other was picking a hat from the ground.

“I suppose my evil wizard facade is up.” He chucked. “Marvelous flying Maddison! You’re a natural! Now you better come down here..”

The staff waved through the air, and a black mist shot from it, leaping towards me. I found myself flying down through the hole I had just made, despite the fact that it was far too large for me. In fact, everything was just getting bigger. By the time I landed in the wizard's arms, he was the massive one and I was so small I could stand on his hand!

“Now, I suppose I should introduce you to this course!” He said, waving his wand. Suddenly Sam/Joey appeared next to me.

“Welcome to The Art of Transfiguration! As you have experienced, there is far more to transfiguration than a quick poof you’re a frog. In this class, we will explore all the ways to make transfiguration more interesting. However, there are a few rules you need to know before class is over.

“First, show up to class. There are only four people taking it this semester. Maybe if Mr. Birchheart decides to show up on Thursday we’ll make that name a little more literal…

“Anyway, rule two is have fun! This class is all about creativity, so don't be afraid to go wild with your projects!” He chuckled.

“And finally, you’ll be practicing rule three for homework! When you wake up you’ll have something you didn't have before the class started. Your goal is to make sure no one notices it until our next class on Thursday. If someone finds out, whatever it is will disappear! Don't tell anyone you’re taking this class, or what we do in here. If they ask, say it’s something boring like art history. Trust me, it will make some of your assignments much easier.”

“What do you mean ‘when we wake up?’” Sam asked.

The professor chuckled, “You beat my game! All three of you got to the top of the tower in under an hour and twenty-five minutes. Now, my evil plan foiled, I must make an escape!”

He dumped us onto the floor and we rapidly expanded to full size. I staggered to my feet. I wasn't a massive dragon again, more like the size of a small horse.

“Oh no! The heroes made it to the top of my tower! Fortunately, I prepared for just such an occasion!” The wizard waved his staff.

A light blue most shot through the air. It sprung between us before expanding in a cloud of light blue fog. It smelled soft. If that was even possible. However, that smell made me very drowsy. A classic sleep cloud spell. I just barely spotted the wizard teleport away before I crashed to the floor, fast asleep.

Moments later I found myself lying on the floor in the clothing I had arrived in. I was female again too, which was a relief. I quickly got up, and something felt off.

I twisted, trying to figure out what it was. Then I felt them, two limbs attached to my back. I still had wings! I had practically forgotten how weird it was to have the extra limbs. They were folded tightly against my back, and my shirt was plenty to conceal them. However, if anyone touched my back they would definitely feel something weird.

I looked around for the others and discovered them laying on the floor, fast asleep. Sam had cat ears and Joey had a fox tail. Both probably wouldn't be too hard to hide. Then again, we had to keep them secret for two days. How was I supposed to sleep with wings? Then again, maybe I could find someplace private to test them out. Just the thought of flying like that again was thrilling.

I stepped out of the completely normal classroom (except for the animal-part toting humans). This was going to be a very interesting year.