Chapter 2 of the Ageless takes a surprising turn.  It is a really weird chapter, but I think its a good one.  Again I apologize for the text positioning problems, it wont happen again. 

       --------------Chapter 2: The search.---------------- 

       I have a fairly large home at the edge of the city of Elmdor, pretty much a pseudo 
city built around the college I worked at.  Just about everyone who lived here was Elmdor 
alunimi. 
      After being at that school for seventy years,  I watched many generations of students 
come out of school as young, wild, and ambitious kids.  I watched their triumphs and 
failures as they tried to find their places in life.  Ive watched them find husbands and 
wives, have children, and have me teach them when they went off to college.  Every now 
and then I met former students who said I was teaching their kid and if my fathers name 
was Locke who was also a teacher here.  I have been my own son at no less than a 
hundred separate occasions. 
   It grows hard when I see them as old, retired furs that watch the younger generations as 
I have for so many years.  Its even harder when I watch a generation die off, because I 
saw them playing hide and seek as kids.  In a way, I feel jealous for those who die 
peacefuly, for I know that no Talis can leave this world in peace.  I watched the elder 
generation cry for the death of each other, and I would cry with them, usualy at their 
feuneral posing as my own grandson. 
    Having ever lasting life is quite difficult.  An immortal has to constantly find ways to 
make life more interesting.  My difficulty ended about two hundred thousand years ago 
when humans brought the concept of video games to our planet, I have over one hundred 
systems and thousands of compat discs for them,  I have to keep them on the plane of 
stasis when Im not using them, otherwise they would age and deteriorate. 
     When I got to the front door of my house, I saw nothing out of the ordinary.  But when 
I disabled the locks on the house, I began to feel a familiar old feeling.  The feeling I get 
whenever my current spouse passes on, I feel extremely lonely, as if theres no point in 
even going inside. I knew that there would be no wife waiting for me, whether she was 
getting home from from her own job with take-out meals, or whether she had a homeade 
meal cooked and was dressed in lingere making it a 'special night'.  I knew with a 
depressed mood that the house would be empty and quiet. 
     I have no children of my own, because the genes of a Talis are so much more different 
from that of a prime.  I could only hope to succesfuly have offspring with a female Talis.  I 
can, however, succeed in mateing with Primes, which opens up hundreds of opportunities 
to our species whenever we feel like being promiscuous. 
    As I opened my front door and brought the black box into my welcoming room, I felt 
like I was bringing Eva herself into my home.  I felt proud of what I had made myself to 
be in that day and age. 
        I didnt bother eating that night. Instead I went straight upstairs to the second floor, 
to my computer room.  The computer, probobly one of the greatest inventions in all of 
humankind.  From there I logged onto the Astralnet: a massive network of information 
that linked all the known civilized planets through interplanar cables on a star-sized server 
located in the astral plane. 
      The desktop on my computer was a nude picture of Celestia, she was a pink furred 
rabbit.  The picture was taken while she was a super model, while we were still dateing. 
She was lying on a mat of grass with her arm hugging her breasts, nipples poking out from 
under it.  The other arm lazily resting away from her.  She had an incredible body. 
       Once on Astralnet, I input the web adress that I saw on Eva's buisness card. 
      Homepage:Alto://PWN.Iva.Evacon.biz 
      One the site was a picture of the same vixen as on the buisness card.  Eva was smart 
not to try to actualy use her illusion as the spokeslady.  I spent that night looking up her 
past, I had to know what she had been up to these past few thousand years. 
      She had graduated from Stinson Buisness college about seven years ago, and at the 
top of her class.  If nothing she was a smart girl.  Now she was the owner and operator of 
a major consulting firm that aided several world class corporations, she already had over 
fifty employees.  Because of my isolated life as a professor, all of this stuck me as new. 
     Now I needed a plan on how to somehow contact her.  Because of her status not just 
anyone could talk to her.  I thought for a few hours.  I went over many plans and tactics in 
my head, excuses, aliases, I even thought about unsing charm spells on the secretary 
through the phone line to put me through.  Eventualy I realized it would be too much 
trouble if I did. 
   At first hour that morning, I had an idea that was foolproof.  But it required one of the 
biggest performances of my entire career as a professor.  I was going to be long, but it 
was also going to be a lot of fun. 
         I shut down my computer and left the room.  My house seemed so dark and empty 
at night.  The halls seemed to grow larger, getting longer,  filling with uncertainty.  It was 
cold, and empty, like my heart.  My house had many rooms, they all were dark.  I felt 
frozen inside, but it was not a physical feeling.  It was a lot like living in a cave, and Ive 
done that before.  Except caves tend to have ice covering them. 
        Ever since Celestia died the house was like this. I never felt alone whenever I walked 
the halls at night, no matter how much I wanted to be.  The chilling walls seemed to 
conjure up dark shadows that played with my tired mind.  They would play scenes from 
my darkest hours, scenes I would rather forget.  Sometimes I beleive that Celestia follows 
me around when I take these 'night journeys'.  I know that she does come visit sometimes, 
and it scares me.  Even with immortality, ghosts send chills down the spine, especialy 
when its 
someone you loved, the pain of longing is nearly unbearable. I swallowed my fears and 
went down the stairs to the ground floor. 
        The kitchen was across the hall from my front door.  As I came to the front door I 
peeked outside a window built into the wood.  My street was pretty quiet, I often felt 
alone here.  Lonliness tends to be a constant companion to immortality.  We just cant 
maintain a lasting relationship with anyone. 
        The kitchen itself was probobly the coldest room in the entire house.  The tiles on 
the floor felt like ice as my padded feet shuffled across them.  Next to my refridgerator 
was the door to my basement.  I put my hand over the knob, it was warm.  Good, that 
meant everything was working properly.  I opened the door and a rush of warm air 
whirled up from down the stairs to greet me.  It was a refreshing feeling.  I began to feel a 
bit guilty as I walked downstairs.  Celestia would surely turn in her grave when she found 
out what I had in plan. 
        My basement used to be a little 12x12 storage room.  While we were married, 
Celestia and I accumulated various items during our fifty years together.  Basicaly they 
would sit down in the basement and collect dust. When she died, I got rid of most of it 
leaving a big empty 
room at the bottom of my house. Soon afterwards I began to feel as if I needed to start 
practicing the old arts again.  In two years I converted the little 12x12 storage room into a 
subterranian cave that serves as an arcane laboratory.  It is one of the last places on all 
three planets where magic energy flows freely.  It is so large that a small portion of the 
energy that flows through there is expended into keeping my neighbors houses from 
caving in the roof. 
     Within my codex of wisdom I had collected over a thousand ancient tomes that 
comtained long lost arcane lore and seemingly mundane mind strengthening exercises.  In 
one far corner of the cave I hand crafted two statues to my patron dieties. I had one for 
Vaosio: The god of magic who brings my art into the world.  And one for Appala: The 
god/goddess of love, bringing the charm line of spell into magic. 
     I went over to the statue of Appala, next to it was a mirror that I used when I wanted 
to change features of my shapeshipting spells.  I stared at myself, at Locke the Talis 
Enchanter.  I was dressed only in a pair of generic male underwear,  I hadnt planned on 
doing this tonight, but I had to.  I promptly removed them, clothing myself only in what I 
was born with, it would be necessary once I had started the ritual. 
     Torches around a small stretch of flat soil burned brightly with mulit colored flames.  I 
stood there taking up the warmth of their fire, nostalgia bred in my nose.  Long ago when 
towns were little more then huts made of dead plant material, shamans searched for ways 
to keep their people safe.  They drew symbols in dirt and danced around fires.  It was 
these small longings for security that built the basic foundations of magic. Now thousands 
of millenia later, I was one of the last practitioners of their beautiful discoveries. 
     Also next to Appala's statue was a wooden chest containing the necessary focus items 
I would need for this particular spell, it was surely one of the most difficult ones to cast.  I 
undid the lock by placing my thumb into a pawprint lock.  The chest opened with an 
antique creeking sound. It contained four items within. 
     I first reached in and pulled our a jar filled with preserving fluids.  Floating inside the 
jar were two small round things that looked like avacados.  They were, in fact, the ovaries 
of the late Blanchette the Assasain.  The rogue bat died around the year 251000, I was the 
one who removed her fruits of life, but not the one who killed her. 
     One night I was sleeping in a rented room, she had snuk into my room and tried to kill 
me.  Our struggle was surpisingly quiet, I stunned her with a martial arts chop to the back 
of her neck.  As she lay there I had cast a spell that put her into a deeply hypnotic state. 
Then, I dug into her body and removed her ovum.  She lived, but no one ever heard from 
her again.  I kept the two ovaries as a trophy, and it was not until much later that I 
discovered that I could use them for this ritual. 
     The next item was a bottle of holy water I pilfered from the temple of Venus, the birth 
goddess. 
     Third was a red pearl that had cost me over three million gold pieces.  I had found it 
on earth during a short trip there while disguised as a human (Furs arent allowed on Earth 
except for special circumstances, and humans arent allowed on Alto under any 
circumstances, the planet that the two meet is called Pegasus 14). 
     All of the torches around the statues began to shoot out heavy flames as I removed the 
objects from the chest.  They acted like chained pets begging for their food, the flames 
pointed towards my bare back, sending their warmth deep into my fur. 
     The final item was a prized possesion of mine, it was the sword of Fii'amatrixdidjar 
(Talis names are amazingly complicated). He was a Talis warrior, and one of my only true 
friends until he was killed defending our race.  I kept the sword he had made for himself 
and learned that the energies held within it were compatabe for channeling the magiks 
needed for this. 
     Finaly I closed the chest, it creeked shut.  With a sigh I placed all the items except the 
sword into the cradleing arms of Appala. I walked over to the statue of Vaisio and drove 
the sword into the ground before his feet. The torches let out a sudden burst of flame and 
I felt a wave of heat roll over me, I began to sweat. 
     Then the necessary signs had to be made,  I took a broken off broom handle and began 
to trace signs that were embedded in my memory.  The ground at my feet was shredded 
topsoil, so it was a relatively easy task.  Yet the complexity of these signs took up one 
hour of my time, I began to feel as if I was doing something that was morally wrong.  I 
forceflly shook off that feeling, I lived forever,  I had no need to worry about final 
judgement. 
     I looked at my watch one last time, it read 3:03.  Loosening the strap on my wrist, I 
tossed the watch away from everything.  It landed on the groun with a familiar clinking 
sound. 
     The torches were now burning as such that I had begun panting.  The heat was almost 
unbearable, yet I stayed because I knew I could not die of dehydration.  The symbols I 
drew in the soil began to glow with tantalizing colors. A sleepy green light was cast on the 
walls of the cave. 
     The final step now had to be taken, I had to dance.  I knew Appala was with me when 
I heard the sound of etherial music enter my mind.  My god/goddess apparently kept up 
with the times, as I had heard this tune played in the automobiles of students at Elmdor. 
     The beat of the music in my head was dead on with the moves necessary, I found 
myself actualy enjoying the dance.  It was an ancient ritual with pirmitive moves, but it felt 
just like a regular club dance now.   The flames around me burned brighter, and I was 
surrounded with even more intense heat.   I barely felt it, my eyes were closed, the outside 
world tuned out. 
     A tingling sensation surrounded my body, it was subtle at first, but it slowly grew 
more intense.  I began to feel weaker, but I didnt feel tired. 
    I suddenly stopped dancing, I could already feel my body changeing.  It was a strange, 
strange feeling.  I held my right arm out from my body, a huge gust of air nearly blew all 
the fur off my body.  Certain places on me were already feeling numb, some places were 
experiencing more intense feeling.  If not prepeared, one would be rendered completely 
disoriented. 
   The green light grew in intensity, it became as bright as the center of a fire.  I was in 
fact, being bathed in fire.  A column of green flime was soaring towards the top of the 
cave, but I felt no burning. 
    I clenched my right hand into a fist and extended my first two fingers. I concentrated 
deeply, I had to do this very quickly or the ritual would be ruined.  What I was doing was 
not a part of it, and already the magical energy was beginning to fade. 
    "VIE ANYATU EN ORATU YLEM!!" I shouted as loud as I could.  I felt my 
personal mana drain a bit.  The sensations in my body arose to a mind numbing amount, 
already several parts of it had been consumed by the fire, but I felt no pain.  I quickly grew 
taller, my tail shortened from eight feet down to only three and a half, the hair on it puffed 
out.  I grew a bit taller, and my fur grew thicker.  The colors of my fur became orange and 
white with brown at the hands.  My nose grew into a muzzle and turned black.  The 
vulpine transformation was complete. 
     Quickly I began dancing again.  The enrgy around me started to surge once more.  My 
body coninuted to change.  The music in my head reached its peak, there was one last 
step. 
     "VIE ANYATU DE CORELLE!"  I shouted.  I felt myself be lifted off my feet, my 
entire body felt numb.  The intensity of the energy around me consumed my senses, I felt 
myself going under.  I saw my eyes going into the back of my head.  My soul was torn 
from my body, I could see myself lying amongst the pillar of flame. Not dead, but in stasis, 
no longer affected by the space around it.  Every hair and fur on it was still despite the 
ragins wings and energies that flowed around it. 
     Suddenly I felt a new sensation,  I felt as if I was being put into a new body.  Feelings 
surged all around me, I felt my heart beat like it was the first time in ages.  Then 
everything went black. 


       I woke up hearing the sound of my watch beeping.  I reached over and examined it. 
The time was 3:30, my watch beeped every half an hour. Everything in the cave was back 
to normal, almost as if it had never been disturbed.  The torches were burning innocently, 
the symbols on the floor were gone.  The only difference was the statue of Appala.  When 
I crafted the statue, it was of a female Talis, now it was a male one. 
   I felt weird, theres just no word to explain it.  I felt my body, the ritual had worked. 
My waist was thin, my hips wide.  My legs and arms were soft and silky to the eye and 
touch.  My hair had grown down, and in a squatting position, it covered my entire body 
and had changed from aqua to a maroon color.  My chest felt like two huge globs of clay 
were stuck to it.  Between my legs my anatomy had changed too.  I smiled as I felt it, 
because I had completed the most exhausting ritual I knew of.  The ritual to turn myself 
into a female, a vulpine one at that. 
   I attempted to bring myself to my feet, but I felt so wobbly I collapsed on the ground 
with an oomph.  My voice was soft and smooth, and it felt pleasing to speak.  I felt 
awkward as I kept trying to stand up, my legs felt so different.  After about fifteen minutes 
I finaly stood up and was able to walk.  My entire body felt shredded, it ached all over 
from the massive change I had went through. 
     I went over first and took out the sword from the ground next to Vaisio's feet.  At the 
statue of Appala, the jar of preserving fluid had shattered.  I picked up the two squishy 
ovums, they were warm, and almost seemed alive.  It felt a little bit disturbing.  I placed 
them in the cradle of Appala's arms where the perserving fliud was pooled.  The odor of 
formaldihyde filled my nostrils, it was a very unpleasant smell. 
   Thankfuly the bottle of holy water was not shattered.  I took it and the red pearl and 
placed them in the chest.  I would find a new bottle for the ovums, but I would do it next 
time I woke up.  The time was around 3:50.  I still had ten hours to sleep before I needed 
to do anything at all.  My college class did not begin till 15:00.  When that time came I 
would just pretend to be a substitute.  I had just recently gotten a new bunch of students, 
and luckily none of them would be familiar with my teaching style. 
   I laughed to myself, I was a brand new fur now.  My name was no longer Locke.  I was 
now known as Miss Amber Corelle, or just simply Corelle.  I stared at my new self in the 
mirror, gazing in awe at the sheer beauty of my body.  This form was the result of years of 
research and experimentation, because I wanted to be just perfect.  And I was. 
   My figure was now slimmer, sexier and healthier than any super model in the entire 
world.  My breats were perfectly rounded, and even made a d-cup strain.  I felt proud, 
confident, and spoiled. 
   Picking up my watch and guy underwear from the ground, I went upstairs.  The house 
felt less cold, my personal ghosts were nowhere to be found.  I strolled over to the 
window in my front door, everything was still, I was sure I had woken up the neigbors 
with all that noise.  On the second floor was a room I had made especialy for when I was 
Corelle. 
   This wasnt the first time I had become this, but had been so long since last time, I 
forgot what she looked like.  In that room I had everything that Celestia kept when she 
was  Modeling: Perfume, fur liner, fur powder, hair products, combs, panties, bras, 
clothes, even some suits that I had bought recently just in case I wanted to ever change my 
gender again. 
    The process was reversable, the reversal being much easier.  As I walked down the 
halls of my house, it was still dark, but it didnt feel so lonely.  My body seemed to glow 
with heat from the ritual I completed, I still felt hot and sweaty, but I could always bathe 
when I next awoke.  I felt very sleepy as I reached my new bedroom.  A vanity mirror on 
the left wall to the door seemed to relfect my new self like a lake in full moon light.  The 
faint smell of perfune permeated my nose.  Groggy, I flopped down on the ladies bed I had 
set up in that room.  Snuggling into the covers, it was no time before I fell fast asleep. 


    The question now is why Locke went through with changing his gender?   All will be explained in 
                  Chapter 3:  Locke's master plan