The Adventures of Astuko, the Naked Warlock
Hi, I'm Atusko Nigiri. I'm also a warlock with magical powers...that always come with some sort of cost, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let me start with how it all began: I'm a Japanese-American girl born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. My dad's in the Air Force and is stationed at an airbase in a town a few hours from here, and my mom spent most of her time raising me as I was growing up. Growing up, I was always pretty good at school but never made many friends. Most of the people who became my "friends" mostly used me to help them with homework throughout high school. Then, I graduated and moved on to a community college.
Saying I was a late bloomer is an understatement. I never really bloomed at all. Even though I was already eighteen and in college and had gone through puberty, I grew very sparse hair...down there, and my breasts didn't even really fill an A-cup. Even my butt is pretty flat, and I topped out at 5 feet even; for all the world, if you saw me naked, you'd probably think I was younger than I was.
This, of course, earned me no small amount of bullying from other students at school. Most of the abuse was just name-calling and teasing, but one girl in particular had it out for me: Tanya Ngyuen. I don't know WHY she made me her target so often, but she was merciless. Her favorite prank was stealing my clothes when I'd shower after working out at the campus gym and making me beg for them back. She'd eventually give them back to me, but not before having me call myself one of the many humiliating nicknames she came up with Tiny-Tits Tsuko, Nigiri No Ass, or the one that stung the most, Little Atsu.
Then, it all came to a head one day. She took my clothes, but instead of making me beg, she snatched my towel, pushed me out of the locker room, and had one of her friends pull the fire alarm. I was seen by dozens of strangers and fellow students before campus police came to my aid and got me covered up. To the school's credit, the administration did believe me when I said I wasn't naked on purpose. Still, when I wouldn't tell them who did it to me out of fear, they had no choice but to give me community service. That meant I'd have to work under supervision in the library for a whole week, all while keeping up with my regular classwork, which was a relief since I wouldn't have to face too many of my fellow students.
Thankfully, the administration knew I was a model student, and they weren't as harsh as they would have been with an average student. When I finished my work, I was allowed to wander the library most days. That's when I found the book that would change my life forever. Don't ask me how something like this ended up in a community college library in Louisiana. Still, I found a book with strange symbols on the cover and even stranger symbols within. When I brought it to the librarian, she seemed perplexed, as if it was just an ordinary book and she couldn't see the symbols. So, I did what any curious young adult who craved solitude would do: I checked it out and took it home to study.
Upon arriving home after school, I quickly said hi to my mom and went to my room, locking the door behind me. She knew what transpired at school, so locking myself up wasn't too strange. I eagerly pored over the odd book, and the symbols finally made sense. It's not like I could make heads or tails of them, but it seemed like the book wanted to be understood. I read through it until I got to a passage: "If you lack the confidence in yourself and want the power to change that, all you have to do is ask for it."
I had no idea what that meant, but having the power to change myself felt too good to pass up. I looked at the book, unsure how to do it, and just muttered, "If you can give me the power to change things for me...that would be cool, I guess."
Suddenly, the book's pages began whipping forward, and then it landed on what looked like the last page. A single sentence, "To claim this power, all you need to do is sign below," and a line appeared out of thin air at the bottom. I nervously fumbled in my bag, looking for a pen, and finally found one. My hands trembling, I signed my full name along the line. My name glowed on the page, and the book slammed shut, the symbols on the cover glowing. A warm wind rushed around me, slightly lifting my skirt. I hurriedly tried to brush it down. Even if nobody could see my underwear, it was still embarrassing. Then I felt a warmth in my chest and heard a voice, barely a whisper, "Hello, Atsuko. I see that you want the power to change things for yourself. I can help with that; just tell me what you want."
Shocked, I fell backward onto my bed and said, "Who's there? Who said that?"
The voice sighed, "I know this might seem alarming, but I am a being bound to that book. Or rather, I bound myself to it to help people like yourself who lack self-esteem but just need a little push to help grab it. You don't have to talk aloud; you can merely think in your head, and I will hear it."
Still stunned that this could be real, I asked, "How do I know this is real? How do I know I'm not hallucinating all of this in some sort of weird fugue state?" I felt my body lifted from my bed as if on cue: I was floating freely in the air.
"Does that satisfy you, or do you want further demonstration of my powers?"
Hesitantly, I asked, "Like, what other things can you do?" With the sound of a snap, I felt the zipper on my skirt come undone and fall off my body. I gasped and blushed furiously as my panties came into view.
"Aww, those are cute," the voice said.
"Okay, okay, I believe you. Can I please put my skirt on?"
Silence filled the room before the voice said, "Oh that's right, you can't see me. I nodded, so yes, you can pull your skirt back up." Pulling my skirt up, my mind races at the possibilities. One, magic is real, and two, the Being said, they can give me the power to improve my self-confidence. "Okay, so, are you some sort of genie that grants wishes, and I only have a limited amount of them or what?"
The Being explained the rules of how its magic worked: One) No, it wasn't wish-based. Its power could be freely given, though I would only have access to a limited amount of power at the moment. Two) Its power was limited, so as I used it, the Being itself would feed off my magical deeds and grow in turn. Three) I wasn't a wizard or sorceress, but I was something called a warlock. My power is granted through the contract I signed. I could negotiate with the Being, i.e., my patron, to gain more power. Four) Finally, all magic has an inherent cost to it. The way it was explained basically was that there was a sort of "tax" to be paid. Five) The Being specialized in using magic to embarrass people. Particularly people it deems deserve it, though it isn't TOO picky with my choice of target. Finally, there was rule number Six) I wouldn't be allowed to use my magic to permanently alter my body.
I frowned at that part, "Why can't I alter my body? You said you help people get their self-esteem through power and making myself...um, bigger would do that for me."