A Troubled Transformation

The best way to do that seemed to be turning Dark Astra into a Blue Faerie herself. Transforming one form of magic into another was the most impossibly difficult form of magic at all, impossibly difficult even for the Blue Faeries. (Faerie Astra was a little disconcerted that, presumably due to the enchantment, she already knew so much about her new people without even having seen another member of her species.) Dark Astra would have to be transformed into something inherently magical, and ransforming her into something Faerie Astra already understood was the safest option.

Of course, there were problems. Was it magic that had taken her over from without, or magic she had used willingly? Or some combination of both? If she had willingly chosen this magic, the darkness within her could not be removed without destroying her free will. Her Blue Faerie nature might keep that darkness in check. Before becoming a Blue Faerie, Faerie Astra had thought that the Blue Faeries were pacifist due to some sort of geis that lay over their whole race. But now she knew that it was due to the fact that Blue Faeries had the power to see all things as they truly are. The members of some of the peoples older than man, such as the Elves and Dragons, could see those who were their true loves in such a way. They called it Eye Meets Eye. But the Blue Faeries saw everyone in that way. She could see the beauty of their natures that lay beneath the scars that all souls in this world bear. She had always been taught to respect her enemies, so she had not been utterly paralyzed in the face of this knowledge as another might have been. But it went far deeper now. Perhaps Dark Astra would gain a knew knowledge of the value of light, and gain the strength to turn away from the darkness.

But if that darkness was rooted in her own choices, the spell might backfire and make that darkness even more powerful. Among the elves and dragons, Eye Meets Eye always lead to one of two things. Either the one seeing would fall utterly in love with the one they saw, or they would reject them and utterly hate them. Such hatred could be overcome, just as love gained through Eye Meets Eye could be lost, but the shadow of it that hatred would always lay over htem. Dark Astra might see the souls of all as they truly were, and choose to hate them, pushing her even farther into the darkness than she would have gone otherwise. She might become a being with all the power of a Blue Faerie and none of the reluctance to use it--or something even worse.

But Dark Astra was beginning to come to, and Faerie Astra knew she was running out of time. Once again, she closed her eyes and began to hum. But the notes sounded more discordant this time. There was a noise like stone cracking, and then Dark Astra's skin began to glow blue. She screamed as she opened her eyes, seeing the world in a new way...

1. But then the light fades, and there seems to be no effect on her.
2. Dark Astra indeed turns into a Blue Faerie, though there is still a whif of dark magic about her.
3. The spell backfires. Dark Astra turns into a Fomorian, one of a species of dark magic beings though to have died out long ago.

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