Lilia: A New Dawn

James awoke to the morning sun streaming in through his bedroom window. For a moment he just lay there, staring up at the ceiling, thinking over the strange encounter with Lilia inside his dreams. Her words had been oddly comforting, easing some of his anxieties.

Sitting up, James looked down at himself and sighed. The transformation had progressed even further overnight. His breasts were now a quite noticeable in size, straining slightly against his pyjama top. His shoulders had narrowed while his hips and rear end now had a definite feminine curve to them. Tracing a hand along his thigh, the muscle tone was gone, replaced by soft smooth skin.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, James stood and walked over to the mirror. Turning sideways, he could see the small but visible bulge just above his backside where it seemed a tail was starting to form. And protruding from his forehead were sleek horns, not yet the full length of Lilia's but still unmistakably longer than before.

James' gaze travelled up, taking in the light blue hue his skin had adopted. The only feature that still marked him unmistakably as male was hidden beneath his pyjama bottoms, though even that had diminished greatly in size. By all appearances, he now looked like a less voluptuous sister of Lilia.

Strangely, the dramatic changes didn't elicit the same sense of shock and unease as they had previously, only a sense of melancholy. He knew fighting the transformation would only cause unnecessary pain in the long run.

Checking his phone, James saw that Ren had messaged asking when he could drop by so she could upgrade his watch to help mask the changes. He typed a quick reply saying he would swing by after school today.

First things first, it was time for his morning injection to revert the changes. James prepared the serum Dr. Wolf had provided, wincing slightly as the strange substance entered his bloodstream. He didn't have to wait long before his features shifted back toward a more masculine appearance albeit at a much slower pace than usual.

Moreover, the changes weren't fully reversed, his eyes retaining their slit pupils and violet irises for example. But the overall femininity was diminished enough that he could pass for his normal self at a first glance.

After showering and getting dressed, James headed downstairs. His mother May was already bustling about in the kitchen.

"Morning sweetie, you're looking much better than yesterday," she said warmly, handing him a plate of eggs and toast.

"I'm feeling better for sure," James replied with a smile, taking a seat at the table. His mother's cooking skills were mediocre at best, but it was the thought that counted.

"Any big plans for today?" May asked, sitting down across from him with her own plate and a steaming mug of coffee.

James shook his head, mouth full of rubbery egg. After swallowing he answered, "Nah, just school then hanging out with Ren later on. She wanted my help testing out some new tech thing she's working on."

May nodded, sipping her coffee. "Well, I'm glad she's keeping you involved. Siblings need to stick together."

They chatted idly about mundane topics as James finished up his breakfast. He kept the conversation focused on school and other normal teenage concerns.

After rinsing his plate and putting on his shoes, James grabbed his backpack and headed out the door, calling over his shoulder, "See you later mom!"

The walk to school was uneventful, James keeping his head down to avoid meeting anyone's gaze directly. The serum kept the changes subtle enough to escape notice unless scrutinized up close. He breathed a small sigh of relief once the school building came into view.

James settled into his usual seat just as the morning bell rang, signalling the start of first period. His math teacher, Mrs. Lin, breezed into the classroom, greying hair pulled back in a severe bun.

"Alright students, let's pick up where we left off yesterday," she declared, turning to scribble equations across the blackboard.

 

James sighed as Mrs. Lin droned on about quadratic equations, idly doodling in his notebook instead of taking notes. His mind kept drifting to the magic lessons with his friends that would have to be postponed.

When the teacher's back was turned, he discretely leaned over and tapped Nathan on the shoulder. "Hey, just wanted to let you guys know I can't meet with you after the school," he whispered.

Nathan glanced back with a nod of understanding. "No worries man, family stuff comes first," he replied casually before returning his attention to the blackboard.

A moment later, a crumpled-up note landed on James' desk. Unfolding it, he saw Nathan's messy scrawl:

'its cool bro we can just chill instead, lmk when ur free afterward'

James smiled and scribbled back: 'Sounds good, I'll join you guys once I'm done with Ren. Shouldn't take too long.'

Just then, Mrs. Lin's voice cut through the classroom. "Mr. Brooks, since you seem to find other matters more worthy of your attention, perhaps you'd care to come solve this equation?"

James' head jerked up to see the teacher watching him with an unamused expression, chalk poised by a complicated cubic formula she had written.

"Oh, um, of course Mrs. Lin." James stood quickly, feeling his cheeks flush as he made his way to the front amidst snickers from some of his classmates.

To James' own surprise, he examined the complex equation and solved it after only a few seconds of concentration, the methodology coming almost intuitively. He explained his working out calmly under the teacher's scrutinizing gaze before writing the final simplified solution with a flourish.

"Hmm, correct," Mrs. Lin conceded, though her tone remained stern. "Now take your seat and kindly refrain from distracting other students."

James nodded, returning to his desk with relief. It seemed that even with serum Lilia intellect and analytical abilities rubbed off on him quite a bit.

The rest of the morning passed without incident. James found focusing on the lessons almost easy now, absorbing and retaining the material with minimal effort. No longer mortified by the changes, he made a note to himself to start reading more advanced texts in his spare time to further take advantage of his enhanced cognitive capabilities.

When lunch period finally arrived, James grabbed his meal and sat at his usual table, his friends still picking food. He was just about to dig into the unappetizing cafeteria pizza when he noticed Akari approaching, looking serious as always.

"We need to talk," she said without preamble, taking a seat across from him.

James tensed slightly, having a feeling he knew what this was about. "Did something happen?"

Akari nodded. "Ace reappeared last night, alive but oddly unharmed. He has zero recollection of his abduction or what transpired." Her expression turned grim. "Yet there has been no further sign of Mordecai. He has vanished back into the ether, it seems."

"So, he just...let Ace go unharmed?" James questioned, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

"Indeed. His motives remain inscrutable." Akari folded her arms. "In any case, I advise you to be vigilant. Mordecai is still at large and undoubtedly seeking you out."

James nodded. "I understand. And thank you for the warning."

Akari held his gaze for a moment before standing abruptly. "See that you heed it," was all she said before turning on her heel and strode off.

James watched her depart, heart sinking. The threat of Mordecai still loomed like a shadow over him. He had hoped Akari might have uncovered some new information about the angel's origins or purpose here. But it seemed they were still frustratingly in the dark.

With his appetite diminished, James tossed out the remainder of his lunch and headed to his next class early.

 

When the final bell rang at last, James quickly gathered up his belongings and headed out to where his friends lingered near the entrance. He bid them a hasty goodbye, citing his plans with Ren as the reason for his swift departure.

Nathan gave him a good-natured clap on the back. "Tell your sis I said hey! Catch you later bro."

James smiled. "Will do, see you guys tomorrow." With a final wave, he set off toward Ren's apartment at a brisk pace. While not an emergency, he was eager to see if her modifications to the watch would work as intended.

The bus ride to Ren's place passed uneventfully. James spent the time gazing out the window, lost in thought. He replayed the vision with Mordecai over and over, searching for any small clues about the angel he might have overlooked. But no fresh insights came to him.

Finally, he arrived at the modern high-rise apartment building where his sister resided. Ren buzzed him up immediately, greeting James at the door to her tidy apartment with a warm hug.

"Hey kiddo, glad you could make it over today," she said, ushering him inside. "How was school?"

James chuckled wryly. "Oh, nothing exciting, just algebra, history, and brooding over a rogue angel from another dimension looking to kill me. You know, normal teenage stuff."

Ren laughed as they sat down at her cluttered workbench. "Well, brooding is practically a required class for high schoolers. But in all seriousness, let me take a look at that watch of yours."

James nodded and handed over the hero device Ren had previously given him to help with his wardrobe. She inspected it closely, humming thoughtfully.

"Seems functional still...now for the moment of truth!" From her toolbox Ren produced a small metallic chip, which she carefully slotted into place on the watch's underside.

"This should allow you to harness Lilia's glamour ability through the watch," Ren explained. She made a few minute tweaks using miniature tools. "Alright, that should do it! Go ahead and change forms so we can test this baby out."

Taking a deep breath, James triggered the transformation. In a flash he stood before Ren as Lilia, feeling the now familiar rush of power.

"Okay, here goes nothing..." Lilia activated the glamour that normally concealed her demonic nature. The watch face glowed softly. Slowly, the projected image began morphing - her feminine curves straightening subtly, shoulders broadening. For a moment it seemed to be working!

Then sparks erupted from the watch in a small flash, and the projected image reverted back to Lilia's normal human guise. "Darn, so much for that idea," Lilia sighed.

Before Ren could respond, a strange rumbling sound came from within the watch. Lilia stared at it in confusion which quickly changed to shock as the watch looked as if it was about to explode!

In a swift motion, she unclasped the watch and flung it away. The timing was impeccable; an explosion of clothes burst forth in a torrent, shooting out from the watch's small screen. Lilia yelped, instinctively grabbing Ren and ducking behind a desk for cover as the barrage of fabric whirled around them.

When the chaos finally stopped, Lilia lowered her arms and gaped at the scene. Ren's apartment was now littered with clothes, scattered everywhere by the watch's violent expulsion.

"What...just happened?" Lilia asked, utterly bewildered.

"Well, looks like the pocket storage got overloaded when the projection matrix fried," Ren mused. "I'm guessing these are all the spare outfits you had stored in there?"

Lilia nodded mutely, still stunned. Now that she looked closer, the strewn clothes seemed to be a mix of both Lilia and James' usual attire. Despite her disappointment over the failed experiment, Lilia couldn't help an amused smile at the sheer absurdity of the situation. Trust her genius sister to create an outfit-spewing watch.

Rifling through a drawer, Ren dug out a standard model of the watch from her supplies. "Here, you can use this for now. Unfortunately, it can only hold 1 outfit at a time."

Lilia strapped on the watch with a rueful smile. "Thanks." She glanced around at the substantial pile of clothes. "Guess I'll be keeping the rest in my inventory for now. Not as convenient, but it has unlimited capacity at least."

After the dust has settled, Lilia and Ren proceeded to clean up the apartment together, gathering all the strewn clothes and sorting through them. Many pieces had rips or scorch marks from being violently expelled from the malfunctioning watch.

"Well, looks like I'll have to go shopping to replace some of these," Lilia remarked, holding up singed jeans ruefully.

Ren winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. I really didn't anticipate it failing so spectacularly."

"I'll need to run diagnostics and figure out where it overloaded. Harnessing your powers is clearly more complex than I realized." She added.

Lilia placed a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, I know you did your best. And it was still pretty amazing seeing all those outfits shoot out like that," she added with a laugh.

Ren chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah, I admit it was kind of hilarious, once the initial shock wore off."

As they continued tidying up, Ren came across the slinky dress and heels Lilia had worn for the undercover mission at Delgado's estate. She held up the risqué outfit with a raised eyebrow.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Ren teased.

Lilia felt her cheeks flush. "Oh, uh, that was just a gift, you know, I didn't buy it," she mumbled, quickly taking the outfit from Ren's hand and shoving it into her shadow inventory.

"Uh huh," Ren replied, clearly enjoying her sibling's embarrassment. But she relented with an easy grin. "I'm just messing with you. But you have to admit, pretty wild seeing my little brother in an outfit like that."

Soon the room was tidied up and order restored. Lilia stored the outfits in her shadow while Ren boxed up damaged clothes to dispose of.

"So what will you do about school?" Ren asked as they took a break on the couch. "Your changes are really accelerating lately. Don't think you'll be able to keep up the illusion much longer as just plain old James."

Lilia nodded resignedly. "I know. I'll probably just tough it out these last few months as Lily. Only my close friends know the truth anyway." She sighed. "I just hope I can still graduate properly after everything."

Ren gave her a reassuring pat on the back. "Hey, no matter what, you'll get that diploma. I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks, sis," Lilia replied, managing a small smile at the encouragement. "It'll definitely take some getting used to, waltzing into school like that. But I guess I don't have much choice."

That coaxed a small laugh from Ren. "Well, look on the bright side - at least you'll get to experience senior year from a girl's perspective too."

"Gee, you really know how to cheer someone up, sis." Lilia replied with a face sarcasm in her tone.

Inwardly, Lilia was gradually accepting the possibility of fully embodying her avatar. The prospect no longer filled her with the same sense of dread and loss it once did. She was still James at her core, even if her exterior might eventually reflect someone entirely new.

After spending a little more time chatting, Lilia said goodbye to her sister and set off. She sent a quick text to her friends to let them know she was on her way to meet them. Although the experimental technology had failed, she was thankful for the time with Ren. Her sister's steadfast support was a beacon preventing her from losing hope.