From the first day he saw her, he was enamored. In love with her poise, her voice, her performance… The very moment the songstress Dorothea took the stage, it was clear that she was something special. Then she sang a song, a melody many heard but none like him. A song for his ears alone. When he heard her voice, he wondered how he had lead a life so empty before now, like his previous experiences were irrelevant. Only then did he truly come alive.
Though he was but a boy, he did everything he could to see her performances. Hiding in opera theatres, sneaking in, bribing the guards… It mattered not. Her operas were all that were important to him. The rare times he was forced to miss them, he felt like he had failed her. But when he did make it in, he experienced something like nothing else in the world.
Alas, it was simply too good to last. Amidst the turmoil in the empire, his minor noble house was torn apart. In the depths of an autumn night, when the earliest chill tinged the air, his mother smuggled him and his siblings away. He was beyond reluctant to leave, of course. Yet staying would mean his death, and that the previous week’s opera would be the last he ever heard. The moment he saw Enbarr recede into the distance from his carriage, he swore to return. No matter what it took, he would visit the opera again.
Life after that was difficult. What remained of his family fled all the way to the alliance. For a time, they faced poverty, struggling to survive from one meal to the next. His promise was all that kept him going, the silent oath he made to the songstress that had captured his heart, and the dream of their reunion. But in the days that followed, more and more of his siblings perished.
Fortune alone saved him. The luck to catch the notice of a minor alliance noble. He was a cruel man, teaching him many harsh lessons under the pretense of care. But he kept him alive, for his abilities and the minor crest that dwelled in his blood if nothing else. After enduring ordeal after ordeal, he was back on the path towards his dream. The first step- his recommendation to join the Officer’s Academy at Garreg Mach, to get the education he would need to lead his new house to greatness.
However, fate decided their reunion to be years sooner than he anticipated. For it was on his very first day, as a student of the Golden Deer house, that he saw her again. The songstress Dorothea herself. It had to be nothing short of divine intervention, that the two of them join in the same year. He felt like his heart might burst at the mere thought of hearing her song again.
Yet, the feeling was not the same as before. He burned with a different, stronger desire to that of the future he dreamed. Above all else, he desired that she be his, and his alone. That she sang only for him. Every part of her being, his to possess. Her songs, or rather, her performances, were not enough. He needed her. And he would do anything to claim what was rightfully his.
For the months that followed, he did not dare to speak to Dorothea. That would not be enough. He believed that things were better as they were, with her oblivious to even his presence, before the time was right.
The goddess saw fit to intervene once more. In the form of a traveling merchant, one who visited the outskirts of Garreg Mach. He claimed that the monastery itself was too busy for him, that there was no space to sell his wares. But the student knew the true reason to be that these goods had been branded illegal by the Church of Seiros. From this man, he procured a particular item. A substance that would surely grant him what he desired. With something so powerful, it took but moments to concoct a plan. With his entire being, he prayed to the goddess, that she might grant him just one more favor…
***
With a yawn and a stretch, Dorothea strolled back to her dormitory. It was Saturday morning, and she had plans. Having worked throughout the week, this was her chance to work on what she had really come to the monastery for. Target someone, preferably a noble with some money, then spend the day out, her standard plan of attack. But she had forgotten something she needed- her purse. Well, not that she was intending to open it today, but it would not be wise for her to leave without it. So here she was, wandering back to her room, wasting time she could better spend on something else.
Every time she saw her bedroom door, she was reminded she was a commoner. Dorothea was on the first floor, below the nobles that inhabited the upper level of the dormitory. Most of the nobles she had met here were just like all the others. That dimmed her hope of ever finding the right person.
As she walked closer and closer, Dorothea spotted something. A small box, sitting right in front of her bedroom door. She knew what it was right away- a gift. This was just one of many she had received, more and more as the year continued. Usually the givers were brave enough to give them to her face-to-face, but she had her fair share of shier fans too. So this was nothing unusual.
Dorothea continued until her boots were mere centimeters from the box. Then she crouched down, plucking it from the ground. It was a small enough for her to hold in a single hand. As she tilted it, a small tag fell out from under the lid, dangling by a thread.
“From a secret admirer…” Dorothea sighed. Not exactly original. But that could be forgiven if the gift itself was good. She opened her door and stepped inside, electing to open her present inside her room.
Dorothea slipped off the lid of the box. Nestled inside a bed of fabric was a glass bottle. Its slight blue tint distorted the color of the liquid swirling inside the circular glass, and there was a small nozzle at the top.
Ooh, this could be handy. Some perfume! Dorothea thought. She had been wanting to try a fresh scent today. This one seemed as good as any.
Not wanting to trust it on her skin just yet, she grabbed a cloth and squeezed the nozzle into the fabric. As she did so, she noticed it was oddly stiff, the nozzle almost locking as she pressed down. It seemed like only a certain amount of the fluid could be loosed at once. More than enough to soak the cloth. She lifted it to her nose and caught its scent.
Smells like a flower. Not one that I’m familiar with. She thought. It’s quite nice. Maybe I should use it now? Using a gift from one admirer on a date with another is fine, right?
Dorothea moved the nozzle to her wrist, before squeezing. A discrete volume of liquid flowed out, seeping onto her skin. She involuntarily shivered a little as she felt the fluid, significantly colder than she had expected. She put the bottle down on her desk, before rubbing the liquid into her skin. The cool feeling spread, outpacing the liquid as it flowed down her arm and into her shoulder.
Oh! I’ve never used a perfume like this before! Dorothea flinched. I wonder, is this some new, magic-augmented scent? Will this mean the skin of my entire arm will release the smell? That’s kind of nifty.
Before she knew it, she could feel it across her whole body, from the top of her head all the way down to the end of her toes. It felt very cold, making her wonder if using the perfume was a mistake, though she believed the feeling would soon pass. She decided not to wait for that however, and went about retrieving her purse.
One as cautious as Dorothea would never leave such a valuable thing out in the open. She opened one of her desk drawers and reached in to the very back. She felt her purse, grabbing it and pulling it out, but noticed something odd. Was it just her imagination, or was it heavier than before?
Huh. I must have more gold than I thought.
She lifted it out of the drawer, only to notice another odd thing. Her purse seemed oddly large and bulky in her hand. Puzzled, she stared down at it for a moment.
I guess I’m not quite awake yet. She thought, dismissing the observation. She stood back up, but… something else was off. She wasn’t sure how to describe it, but she felt rather short.
“Huh?” she uttered, looking up. “Was the ceiling always that high?”
She didn’t know what to make of that. So she just stared.
No, it isn’t just high, it’s getting higher…
Staring straight up like that made her feel a little woozy, so she looked down. It took her a moment to orient herself. But when she did, she saw that her desk was almost up to her chest.
“This is totally weird…” Dorothea didn’t know what to make of this. Looking around, everything she saw was larger. The walls, her bed, her desk, her purse, even that bottle of perfume.
The perfume! Did that do this? She wondered. No. Maybe I’m just dreaming this.
“Ow!”
She pinched herself.
“OK, definitely not dreaming. The perfume… Ah!”
Just now, she noticed yet another strange thing. Her voice was much higher-pitched than normal! She realized it had been for a while now, and it had only been getting more so as time went on. This concerned her greatly, even more than everything else she had seen. Clutching at her throat, she worried her one gift was leaving her.
“Did that perfume do something to me?” she said aloud, to test her squeakier voice, “not just my voice, but I feel… kind of little. Huh.”
She said that on a whim, not really thinking before speaking. But the more Dorothea thought on it, the more it made sense. She was small now, rather than everything else being bigger. A strange occurrence from a dream, but not something that happened in real life. Yet she already knew she wasn’t dreaming.
At once, panic seized her heart. She was small, and judging from how things were still changing, she was shrinking. Dream, illusion or otherwise, she had to do something. But what? Dorothea had no idea, frantically looking around as her height crept below that of her desk…
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author