At first, I only used my power for small things. I know Verus told me I would accomplish great things with it, but I felt I had already accomplished great things without using it at all. With nothing more than my own words, and a little courage, I had convinced my father to finally stand up to my abusive mother. In the process I also managed to improve my relationship with him. After a childhood spent with him mostly absent, he was finally present in my life.
Speaking of which, the next time I saw my mother after that fateful evening, she had a visible black eye, though this was nothing next to the changes in her demeanor. She looked at me with a new quality that I had never seen in her eyes before. I think it was humility.
Now that I had mended my family situation somewhat, I wanted to go earn myself some better friends, and I wanted to do it through the same means. Verus had told me to use my magic subtly at first, so that my powers might remain a secret, however I quickly decided I would try to do this without using the power at all. I wanted to earn their respect the right way; I wanted them to like me for who I was.
That didn't mean I couldn't use the power at all, however. I could practice its use, and I could use it for my own amusement in secret. If there was a book I wanted, I could make an identical copy of it in an instant without even having to borrow it from its owner. I duplicated a large mirror. They were unbelievably expensive in those days. I had a few other trifles and trinkets that I could enjoy by myself in my room or out in the woods. The best part was that I could make them vanish as quickly as I had conjured them. It wouldn't matter; the Oculus still had the object's configuration in its memory, so I could conjure it right up again when I wanted it next. That way, I never risked my parents finding me with so many toys we couldn't have ever afforded.
The only thing I couldn't hide by temporarily removing it from existence was the Oculus itself. It was the one thing in all the world that seemed to be immune to its own power. My otherwise all-seeing eye saw nothing but a black void wherever it sat, as if the universe itself ceased to exist in the small space it occupied. It's actually rather unnerving, in fact. What IS that thing? Is it even made of matter, or does it just mimic the concepts of size, substance, and weight? Thankfully, the Oculus is mostly unremarkable to the natural senses. It looks and feels like a pretty rock I might have found by the river. Even the black facet that seems to open to infinity isn't very apparent unless you know to look right at it. If one of my parents were to find it in my room, I doubt they would have paid it much mind.
I never made gold for myself or my family, though. That might have been too obvious of a change. Others might figure out that I had been spending more money than we were known to have. That would have brought up many questions, none of which I wanted being asked about us. Beyond that, it just felt petty to squander such other-worldly magic on something so fleeting as material wealth, which I never desired in the first place. I don't know how conjuring toys and trinkets for my amusement counted as a worthier use, but it did. At least in my mind, it did.
Well, there was one other thing I used my new magic for. I used it to make myself prettier. Even though I had decided not to use my magic to affect my relations with others, the temptation to finally have the body and features I had always coveted was too great to resist for long. Besides, I knew it was a sad fact of life that good looking people are generally more loved and more influential. My parents were supposed to love me unconditionally, however making new friends is another matter. Therefore, I decided some subtle changes would be needed on that front.
One morning, when both my parents were away for the day, I shut my bedroom door and conjured up my full-length mirror.
I looked at my own image as I had seldom seen myself. I was pretty; not as beautiful as some of the girls like Susan or that bitch Rebecca who had stolen Joseph's heart from me, but I could recognize the youthful look in my face, my long, black hair that hung neatly down my back, and my bright, intelligent eyes.
Of course, there were more than a few things lacking. My breasts were tiny, and I didn't have much hip to show off. I was a frail slip of a girl. I would have loved to give myself a large pair of breasts to rival Susan's, however, even if I could figure out how to do it, the change would have been too sudden for people not to suspect magic. Any changes I made had to be subtle, so I was fairly limited in how beautiful I could make myself in one day.
And so, I would have to be content with making small changes over time. I tapped into the Oculus and looked at the structure of my flesh. I had done this before to heal my injuries, so making a few alterations couldn't be that much more difficult. I started simple by correcting a few blemishes. I erased a few pimples here and there, made my skin smoother, straightened my teeth to my liking. When I looked back in the mirror from a few feet away, I still looked like me. That was a good thing. The last thing I wanted to do was to make me not myself anymore. I decided I was quite done with my face.
I took my clothes off and looked at my naked body. Joseph had loved me in this body, however I was much less pleased with what I saw. At least here, underneath my clothes, I could afford to be more liberal with the changes I made. Only Joseph had seen me naked before, and it was very unlikely I would get a chance to show my body to him again.
I had always been jealous of Susan's protruding breasts, so I worked on those first. I focused the Oculus on them, noting the structure of my skin, the fat underneath it, and some structures that must have been the milk glands. When I was confident in how the changes should be made, I expanded the fatty tissue between the milk glands and expanded the skin outside as needed. It was just a small increase, but I liked it! I looked at myself in the mirror, examining myself from several angles. I cupped my breasts in my hands and felt their new volume. A tiny change, but if I did this once every few weeks I would soon have the ample breasts I had always coveted, and the growth would appear natural enough that people wouldn't question it. Maybe I had just developed later than other girls. So what of it?
I loved them! But how big should I eventually make them? I could make any temporary changes I wanted, as long as I didn't leave the room with anything drastically different, so why not plan out what I ultimately wanted to do? I made note of my breasts' current configuration, or rather had the Oculus make note, and began growing them with reckless abandon.
I watched in glee as my breasts swelled before my eyes in the mirror! This was something I had always coveted. I felt them with my hands. It felt so wonderful to be able to hold that much flesh in my hands, to knead it between my fingers. I pinched my nipples between my fingers and felt a jolt of pleasure run through them.
I had to create more! I kept expanding them until they were even larger than Susan's. Soon they were bigger than my head, then the size of watermelons. I expanded them until they were inhumanly large and my breasts felt so heavy I thought their weight alone would rip them from my chest. I had to support them with my hands.
