It was an ordinary Saturday afternoon in Melbourne, and Amy was on her phone, completely bored. She didn’t have work or school to go to, and her housemate Nita was out. She had caught up on all the streaming shows that interested her, and there was nothing left to do anymore.

Amy and Nita had been living together in the same rental house for three months, and they couldn’t be more different - Amy was third-generation Greek, while Nita was second-generation Indian. For the most part, they generally got along, but Amy sometimes got on Nita’s nerves just by her dietary choices; Nita was a strict vegetarian and occasionally lectured Amy with the “your body is a temple” speech. Amy, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about what she put in her body and frequently consumed a good deal of junk food now and then, much to the chagrin of Nita. Amy usually brushed off Nita’s concerns, claiming that her weekly pump classes kept her from developing anything serious, plus she was 5’1 and had a relatively slim figure, compared to Nita’s toned figure and slightly taller stature.

Despite this conflict, Amy and Nita generally preferred to put aside their differences and engaged in activities they enjoyed together - video games, gym sessions, streaming, etc. For the past few days, Nita had gone away to visit her family that lived interstate, and Amy was left to her own devices. And even though Nita had something of a “live and let live” attitude towards Amy’s diet, Amy had to admit that eating steak just wasn’t the same without the potential of annoying Nita.

Little did Amy know that her life was about to change, and it all started with a strange noise outside. A low, thunderous rumble erupted in the backyard, and while this didn’t cause an earthquake as such, she still felt it reverberate throughout her whole body. Amy stood up, put down her phone, and went out back to see what was going on. Sure, it was a nice sunny day without a cloud in the sky, but knowing Melbourne, who knew how the weather would turn out? When Amy pushed the sliding back door open, however, she could not have guessed what she’d find.

At first glance, it looked like a large tree had instantly sprouted out of the ground. But it was a strange tree - it had no bark, the trunk was perfectly round and straight, and there were no forming branches. Amy walked around to inspect it and just wasn’t sure what to make of it. She looked up at the tree, but instead of a series of branches and leaves, there was a huge hunk of pointed metal at the top, which she estimated must have been at least twelve feet high. It was no tree but a spear.

Amy was puzzled - a spear that size couldn’t have been practical as a weapon or for sport. Furthermore, how it got in the backyard didn’t seem logical - it was standing up perfectly straight, and the head pointed towards the sky instead of being embedded in the ground. Amy shrugged, and tried to pull it out of the ground, but no sooner has she touched it that it unexpectedly, for lack of a better word, zapped her. Momentarily forgetting that wood wasn’t supposed to conduct electricity, Amy rubbed her hand until the pain subsided.

Screw this, I’m gonna call a logger, she thought. But the instant she turned her back on the spear, she heard a loud KRAKATHOOM. Everything seemed to go dark. She looked up. Where previously there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, dark clouds were enveloping it. The rumble of thunder was omnipresent, and that just sounded ominous. Lightning was visible within the clouds. Sure, a wooden stick wasn’t exactly what one might call a lightning rod, but the spear at the end could be, depending on what it was made of.

Suddenly, a bright light shone out of the head of the spear, and luminescent words started appearing on the shaft. It looked like an ancient Greek alphabet, but despite her heritage, Amy wasn’t exactly fluent in that language. As if in response to her thoughts, the letters shifted again, this time in plain English, and Amy was struck dumb by it.

WHOSOEVER POSSESSES THIS SPEAR, IF THEY ARE WORTHY, SHALL BECOME AN AVATAR OF THE GODDESS ARTEMIS, WITH ALL HER POWER.

Amy gulped. Suddenly, a colossal crack erupted from the clouds, and before she could react, a cosmic bolt of lightning struck the spear, causing it to surge with power before another bolt appeared out of it, hitting Amy. That split second, Amy’s life seemed to flash before her eyes before everything went black.

The backyard came into focus. Amy felt like she had just woken up from a bad dream. The last thing she remembered was getting struck by the lightning, but she felt fine, if just a little groggy. In her field of view, the spear was still embedded in her backyard. Then she remembered she wanted to call a logger to remove it, and stood up. But as she did so, she couldn’t help but wonder if the spear shrank, because once she stood upright, the head was now visible in her peripheral vision, as if it were a normal-sized spear. Amy looked down, and was shocked how high off the ground she was. What’s more, she noticed that her casual T-shirt and track pants were replaced by a perfectly white toga with golden trims, and her flats had been replaced by gladiator sandals. While she didn’t have access to a mirror, she could tell her arms definitely looked more toned. She looked around further and nearly jumped - the tall fence now came up to her waist, and the house looked smaller. Amy had felt small all her life, but this was one heck of a growth spurt. Oh my god, Amy thought. I’m an Amazon.

Instinctively, Amy pulled the spear out of the ground, and it came out effortlessly. Well, no point calling the logger, she thought. But what do I tell Nita when she gets back?

Suddenly, she heard a ringing, a familiar ringing. Despite the phone being inside, she could hear it as clearly as if she was in the same room. Without thinking, Amy rushed back inside, bumping her head on the doorframe so bad it caused a crack. Carefully, she ducked through the remaining doorway and went into the living room, putting down the spear and picking up her phone. Of course, the phone in her hands was now teeny-tiny, and her fingers were too fat to use it properly, and she missed the call. After she received a text message informing her of a voicemail, Amy picked up a stray pen, and used it as a stylus rod to carefully open her voicemail to hear a message.

“Hey, it’s Nita. I’ll be back in about ten minutes. I need to talk to you about something, bye.”

Amy dropped the phone and slumped down on the couch, which groaned beneath her weight. Nita was returning sooner than expected, and Amy was afraid of the potential reaction she’d get from her housemate. First things first, Amy needed a change of clothes. She stood up, and promptly hit her head on the ceiling. Next house I move to, I’m going to be on the lookout for high ceilings, she thought. Going through her wardrobe, she changed from her toga to another casual T-shirt and track pants, only on her gargantuan frame, they looked more like a crop top and capris pants.

As soon as she heard the doorbell, Amy carefully made her way to the front door, but despite her best efforts, she didn’t so much open it as rip it off its hinges. But as soon as she crouched down, she was eye to eye with something she didn’t expect.

Nita was at the front door, but unusually, she was wearing a hoodie over what looked like a maxi skirt with jewellery, and a few things were bulging under it. A jewelled bindi was adorning her forehead.

“Amy, you’re not going to believe what happened to me while I was driving back home. Something appeared in the glove box, and oh my word, what happened to you?”

Amy blushed.

“Well, see…I found something called the Spear of Artemis in the backyard, and then lightning struck, and now I’ve had a growth spurt. Uh, sorry in advance, there might be a bit of…collateral damage. You said you had to talk to me about something?”

Nita shrugged.

“Oh well,” said Nita. “I guess it’s about on par with your thing.”

And with that, Nita unzipped her hoodie, revealing a traditional Indian sari with jewelled trimmings. But most unusual of all was that she now had three pairs of arms, all of which were stretching out.

“Whoa,” said Amy. “You’re like an octopus.”

“Very funny,” said Nita. “You know, it’s not as easy to control these things. I feel like a congenital amputee who just got a limb transplant.”
Nita then massaged her forehead with one of her hands.

“Ugh, can you get me an aspirin? I’m not used to these extra neurons.”

Amy looked over at the kitchen. Even when they were normal human beings, it was too cramped to allow more than one person to properly function at a time.

“I think if I tried to go to the kitchen, we’d need a new one. Also, a huge plumbing bill.”

“Oh. Right.” Nita said. “I guess any damage you’d cause would fall under ‘act of god’”

The two of them chuckled.

“So, what exactly happened that turned you into a Hindu goddess?” Amy asked. “I know they had multiple arms, but dang.”

“Well, see…while I was on my way back, there was a puff of smoke from the glovebox in my car. When I stopped for some gas, I opened it, and there was an envelope with no return address on it. Then, when I opened the envelope, I noticed a little bindi.” Nita pointed to the jewel adorning her forehead.

“You put it on?” Amy asked.

“That’s the strangest thing…I didn’t. It didn’t look like anything too out of the ordinary. I thought one of my family members put it there while I was visiting them. But once I filled the car up and paid, I was about to get back here, when it suddenly stuck to my forehead like a magnet. And then poof!”

Nita presented all six of her arms in a “ta-da” pose.

“I presume the change of clothes was part of that little transformation too?” Amy said. “Lightning struck me, and I woke up wearing a toga and sandals.”

“Aside from the hoodie, yes” said Nita. “Put that on over my new sari. Question is, what if I need a change of clothes? I can’t exactly get plus-size clothing like you.”

“Well, we’re avatars. Surely there’s more to us than just physical mutations, right?” Amy said.

Nita picked up the hoodie and wondered how many more of these things she’d have to buy just to pass for “normal”. All of a sudden, a laser shot out of her bindi, and in an instant, the hoodie now had six sleeves.

“How did you do that?” Amy said.

“I dunno. I just thought about having my clothes modified, and then…that happened.”

A gleam appeared in Amy’s eye.

“Hold on a minute, I have an idea.”

Amy then picked up the spear, while Nita sat down on the couch, wondering what Amy was planning to do with it. Suddenly, a huge crash of thunder erupted, and the lights briefly went out, before they came back on, and suddenly, the ceiling seemed a good deal higher, not to mention all the collateral damage was cleaned up. Amy’s clothes had also expanded in size, perfectly fitting her as if they were tailor-made for her.

“Did you just use the spear to redecorate the house?” Nita asked.

“Just made a few mods. Reinforced furniture, higher ceilings and doorways, basically now the house is fit for a giant,” said Amy.

“Well, I guess having connections to gods has its perks,” said Nita.

A few minutes later, Nita had changed into a more casual T-shirt (modded with six sleeves) and jeans, and she and Amy were just sitting on the couch. Aside from their unusual forms, things were largely back to normal.

“So,” said Nita. “You wanna order anything?”

“Honestly, I could eat a horse.”

Nita playfully slapped Amy with her hands.

“Sorry,” said Amy. “Maybe just a few extra-large pizzas.”