"I got you something," said Anna. "I think you'll like it."

She went over to her desk and picked up a long black box.

"Oh, why thank you!"

My name is Jake. I'd only known Anna a couple weeks, but I liked the direction this friendship was going. All the right signals and that sort of thing. And now a present? Supposing it wasn't a cobra ready to bite me, we were in pretty good shape.

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I had my misgivings. The last dinner date we went on, Anna told me she believed in magic. Not only believed but practiced. Not even new age "magick" but magic like you see on TV.

In principle, I find myself someone who doesn't play with superstitious nonsense. Much in the same way as I'm in no hurry to hand my life savings over to the Church of Scientology, and I wouldn't blow 50 grand on a Hummer. Because I'm not a sucker. But she was pretty and smart, and aside from this 'magic' thing, apparently sane. So it was a good thing overall.

The box was made of smooth black steel, about two feet long. It had a good heft to it, something that suggested real quality. I opened it, and drew a bit of a gasp.

It was a sword. But not just a sword, a beautiful sword. Polished steel, well made, clearly one piece throughout. I wasn't a true swordsman or anything, but I'd been collecting swords for about 5 years. Ever since I landed the big software engineer job and had money to spend on toys again.

"You like it?" she asked. Her tone alone answered that, yes I did.

I picked it up. It had very nice balance, a perfect edge. The style and make, I couldn't really identify. I certainly was an amateur of bladed weapons in the truest sense, meaning 'one who loves'. It was non-descript in form, just a straight blade that tapered to a quick point. But, in that it was only that, it was a flawless example of what it was.

And it had … an energy to it. I could feel it in my hand. I didn't know if it was just me or…

"It's a magic sword."

I gave her a skeptical look. "What, it adds +2 to my Charisma?"

She giggled. "Yes… And also, it cuts magically. Anything it slices can be put back together again."

I frowned at the sword. "How does that … What good is a sword that's only temporary?"

"Well," she said, "It's safe to use on people."

"Feels plenty sharp to me."

"Yes! It needs to be very sharp, or it won't cut."

She took the sword from me and very casually hacked off her left hand.

"You … uh …" I said, quite helpfully.

"See?" she held up her arm stump. The end of it was covered in what seemed like skin. "It's like we're just play-doh or something."
I bent over and picked up her severed hand. It was warm but limp.

"All it does is cut," she said, inspecting the sword. "So I can't feel my hand. We need relays for that, and it gets … complicated."

"There's no blood," I said. "It's just like skin."

"Yea, we established that."

"I know, it's just… a lot to take in."

"Take your time. Hey, I'll trade you your sword for my hand back."

I took the sword and handed her hand back to her. That's a strange bit of english to type, isn't it?

She stuck her hand against the stump of her wrist and flexed it. It seemed to be restored.

"So?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"So…"

"Aren't you going to hack me up?"

"Is that what you had in mind? Isn't that a bit … gruesome?"

"Look, I know you like swords. I like magic. This seems like a good compromise between those things."

"I'm still… it just works anywhere?"

"Try it out! Anywhere you want." She held out her arms to the side. "Or do you want me to cut you up instead?"

I poked the tip of the blade into her right shoulder. It stuck there but didn't seem to cause any pain. So, I drove it a little deeper.

"Anything?" I said.

"My arm feels a little numb. Keep going!"

I flicked the sword downwards, completing the cut. Her arm dropped to the ground. The whole thing was surprisingly easy. Like play-doh.

She examined the stump. "Not bad. I like them a little smoother usually. But we can work on that. It works better if you cut up and in instead of down.  Do the other one!"

I held her other arm in my hand and traced the edge of her shoulder up from her armpit, leaving her completely armless.

"Nice!" she said, shrugging her empty shoulders. "What do you think? You haven't run screaming out of the room yet, so that's a plus."

"Well, when you mentioned magic the other night, I kinda wondered what you meant…"

"Yea, I got that vibe, so I figured now is a good time to show you."

"You said something about being headless…"

"Yes! I love being headless!"

"So I just slice off your head?"

"Then I'll be only a head, which is kind of like the opposite of being headless. But it's still fun. You want to try it?"

She held up her hair with one hand and sat down on the bed. A moment later I was holding her living head in my hands. The rest of her lay still on the bed.

"So how long can you last like this?" I asked.

"Uh… days at least. My friend Carrie and I used to mail our heads back and forth for visits."

I burst out laughing. "Like through FedEx?"

"Cheaper than flying!"

"You know what," I said, "You're actually pretty cute like this."

"Thanks! I really like it actually. I just love being in pieces."

"Ever lost a piece?"

"Yep. Spent two weeks without legs once."

"Where did you leave them?"

"Drunk at a party, in my friends basement. The next morning, this girl picked them up by mistake, thinking they were her friends legs."

"So you weren't the only one in bits."

"Yea, they were all amateur magicians like me. A lot of sword fights and drinking. It's a blast."

"That actually sounds awesome!"

"Good! I was hoping there was more to your sword thing than just some obsessive collection."

"It's not obsessive!"

"How man swords do you own?"

"Like… a dozen. Or twenty. Ish."

"And how many hands do you have?"

"Two. Fine, I get it. But yea, I have a 'thing' for swords. I think they're cool, I like how they feel in my hands, I like practicing with them. But I'm not like an expert on them or anything."

"Relax, I'm just teasing. Want to put me together and practice?"

"Yea, let's do that."

I laid her body down on the bed and stuck her arms back on. Then I picked up her head and decided that I had to kiss her first.

"Thank you," I said. "This is a great gift."

"Your welcome. Do that again."

A couple minutes later, I stuck her head back on, and felt her body 'come back to life' as it was. Not that it was 'dead' or anything. Her body was warm, and her heart had kept beating the whole time. For that matter, her head also had a pulse. And could talk. Magic. Go figure.

Her arms wrapped around me for a hug. "That always feels great," she said.

"Getting your body back?"

"It's like this rush, all of it coming back at once. Especially if you've been a head for a while. You should try it."

"Maybe in a minute. I wanna hack you up first."

"Oh, please be my guest."

We went into the living room where there was more space. I closed the blinds, because this really isn't the kind of thing you want your neighbors to witness.

At first I just swung wildly. Straight down through the middle of her left shoulder. The sword went through with surprising ease, so I took a step forward and kept it going out by her hip and through her left knee. I managed to catch her around the waist with my other arm to keep the rest of her from falling over.

I also succeeded in cutting off the left side of her t-shirt, which flapped to the ground on its own.

She just started laughing.

"You really haven't done this much have you?" she said.

"What?"

"Your stance, your swing, they're all wrong."

"You're in two pieces! I cut your whole left side off!"

"I was un-armed! And offering no resistance. But if you knew how, you could do the whole thing in one motion. You changed grips when the sword was in my stomach, too. Put me together again and I'll show you."

I laid her pieces next to one another, and she squirmed a bit until she re-fused.

"Now," she said, getting up. "Oh wait."

She picked up the piece of her shirt and looked at me, smirking.

"You owe me a t-shirt," she said, and then removed the remains of her top entirely.

"Okay. Give me the sword. And you better take off your shirt too if you don't want it to suffer the same fate."

I took off my t-shirt and stood there, waiting for her to take a swing.

"Now. This is a smaller sword. It's not really good for hacking straight through someone's torso. So if you do it, you need to step with the swing, use your core for power, and attack the narrowest part. Watch this."

She took a step towards me and swung the sword with two hands all the way through my waist and out the other side. It happened in such a fluid motion that I actually kept my balance.

A second later, I started to topple over. She caught my upper half under my arms. Then she grinned at me and set me down on my waist.

"That was pretty cool," I said.

"Thanks! I'll let you try in a second. But here, next lesson. You need to be really close to someone to do that. So if you have a sword too, it wouldn't be so easy. It's a bit easier and faster with extremities, and you can swing with one hand that way. Also, as I'm sure you noticed, this sword cuts sharper than a regular one, so you can just use your wrist to flick it forwards."
In two quick strokes, she cut off both my arms.

"The black knight is invincible!" I shouted. Anna laughed.

"The way we do it, after the fight is won, you get to claim your trophy," she said, grinning.

She with one hand she took a fistful of my hair, and with a much slower stroke, she made a show of cutting off my head. She held me up in front of her face, dangling for a moment, before she dropped the sword, and clutching my face with two hands, gave me a long kiss.
She put me together again after that. I was almost disappointed it hadn't led to more. I knew some tricks with my tongue that I hadn't had the chance to show just yet.

"Now I've got another sword, if you think you're ready."

She won the first three times. For the first two, I overextended on a swing, and she caught my hand, and then came in close with her sword. The first time she only cut off my sword arm, then jumped on my and shover her sword through my throat. The next time I lost both legs in one swipe, she grabbed me around the neck and sliced off the top of my head.

The third time I was just too careful. Not aggressive enough. I was holding the sword out, pointed with two hands. She made a fake thrust, then jumped forward and whisked the sword through both my wrists. After that she very casually whacked off my head and caught it on its way down.

But the fourth time, I was a little more relaxed, focused. I stayed still with the sword down again, and she tried to swing hard from above. I moved to the left, and the chance was mine. I took off both her arms at the elbow in one swipe.

"Very nice!" she said. "But if you want my head you'll have to catch me first!"

She ducked away before I could get her. That followed with a brief chase around the living room, until I leapt over the couch and tackled her. With her pinned, she looked up at me and grinned.

I decided for a bit more fun first. I turned around and cut off her legs, right at the hips.

She didn't speak, but the look she had in her eyes said it all. Her chest heaved up and down. My eyes drifted to her tits.

That gave me another idea. I cut through her chest right underneath her boobs, then finished off my work by removing her arms. What followed was a long bit of fondling and making out. We were rounding second base, and I was trying to determine where third might be.

"Take off your shorts," she said. "And I want to show you something. Bring my ass over here."

I removed both my shorts and hers.

"Cut off my stomach," she said. "We just need my hips."

I obliged.

"But you can't feel it this way," I said, giving her ass a squeeze.

"I can if you put me together. Stick my waist on under my tits."

I had a moment of 'Aha!' as I did this. Not only could we cut each other to bits, but we could rearrange ourselves however we wanted. It really was like human play-doh.

"Mmmm, feels good to have that again," she said. She squired about as much as she could, wiggling her ass back and forth.

"I didn't realize you could put someone together any way you wanted…" I said.

"We haven't even gotten to swapping pieces," she said.

"You mean we're also interchangeable?"

"Magic is pretty cool isn't it? By the way, it looks like I have everything I need."