You can buy this story here: The Trouble With Magic Part 2
The Story So Far:
(Because chapter one came out 1.5 years ago, this recap will be extra long. I will try to make the story itself a bit longer to compensate! The recap, like many of my recaps, should be detailed enough that even someone who has never read chapter 1 can jump right in with a bit of reading comprehension =)
I would also like to address a couple of small things:
– Yes, my writing style is quite a bit different (imo) from what it was back then. Hopefully you prefer what it is today.
– As a result, the way I handle characterizations and dialogue is different too. I can’t help but feel like they were a bit ‘shallow’ back then.
– Adding onto the last two point, Chapter 2 will feel quite different than the first one. Hopefully the change isn’t too jarring.
– I also realize that this will have quite a few parallels to Proteus Effect in a few respects (wimpy main character, buff step-mother/step-sister, buff teacher, buff cheerleader). I wrote this a verrry long time ago, and I actually did not create the outline or characters at all for Proteus. The characters in this story are still quite different, and once more magic is introduced, the stories will have much less in common.)
Milo was an average high school sophomore in almost every respect, aside from his below-average stature. Born to small parents, it seemed that his fate was sealed, and another growth spurt to propel him past 5’6” was unlikely. His father, Howie, a single dad, somehow landed an Amazonian beauty of a wife, a 5’11” beauty with long, toned legs named Diana. They got married, prompting Diana’s 13 year old daughter, Athena, to become Milo’s new step-sister.
Despite her young age, Athena was already fairly tall, standing at 5’5”, and strong too. During one of their first encounters, Milo witnessed the teen perform 40 push-ups in a row. Eager to impress her and display his masculinity, Milo proclaimed he could easily perform 60; this was a lie, as later that night, in the privacy of his own room, he realized he could barely do 10. Despite this, Milo exercised every day, performing more and more push-ups with each passing week.
Months later, Milo performed the 60 push-ups he promised he could in front of Athena, only for her to best him by cranking out 100 with ease, implying that she could actually do far more than that. Milo was crushed. Desperate to overtake his younger step-sister, he asked for weights to be installed in the house. His wish was granted, but this ended up backfiring: While he did build himself up a little, Athena also used the weights, and outstripped his strength by a further margin.
His frustrations mounting, Milo proceeded to delve into more and more outlandish ways to possibly increase his strength. Eventually, he discovered magic. Specifically, he realized he was one of the few individuals in the world with a latent ‘spark’ to cast spells. Milo attempted to create an amulet that would empower him, but found that it had no effect on him.
The next day, a beautiful freshmen girl standing at 5’9” named Claire conned Milo out of the amulet. During a scuffle at lunch, a female senior athlete, who stood 6’ tall, named Alex gained possession of the amulet. Alex soon discovered that the amulet made her stronger; specifically, working out seemed to grant her instant results.
The following day, Alex, who now possessed the body of a top-tier Olympic athlete, was accosted by school security. In particular, a teacher from the school, Mrs. Ashmore, 5’4” tall, had created a scheme to steal the amulet. Specifically, she had watched the school’s security cameras, and came to understand that the amulet was originally Milo’s, and that it made the wearer more powerful. Ashmore coerced Alex into handing over the magical item, bluffing her with potential jail time for thievery and assault over the kerfuffle in the cafeteria.
With the amulet in her possession, Mrs. Ashmore proceeded to use the school’s gym until she reached a tremendous size, donning 23” biceps to be precise. It was after seeing her teacher with these muscles, and wearing that amulet, that Claire realized how badly she had messed up.
Claire tracked Milo down, and got him to spill the beans: that he had created the amulet with magic. She then convinced him to enchant another amulet, and even persuaded him to cast the spell three times on it, thus making it far more effective than the original. With this new super-amulet, Claire goaded her teacher into wrestling with her; during this match, Claire grew to outrageous musculature, and the match caused one of the school’s walls to literally break.
Having bested Ashmore, Claire seized the first amulet and donned both at the same time. She began to gain strength without the need to even exert herself.
Feeling conned out of both his talents and his love, Milo finally stood up to Claire. He cast a dispel on the amulets, which actually worked, and Claire stopped gaining strength. Instead of killing him for his act of insubordination, Claire found herself unusually attracted to Milo, for he was likely the only man alive that would challenge her. Placing Milo on her shoulders, she bounded off towards the local movie theater, where the newly formed couple would go on their first date.
1.)
Things had never quite been the same since “The Incident”, which was the school’s unoriginal way of referring to the day Claire wrestled with Mrs. Ashmore and became a muscle-bound goddess in the process.
First there was the media frenzy: reporters and journalists from all around wanted the inside scoop on what happened. Fortunately for Milo, Claire and Ashmore remained fairly silent, as did Alex. With the three of them tight-lipped, the fact that a pair of magic amulets had granted these women their incredible strength remained a secret.
The school proposed to fire Mrs. Ashmore, and expel Claire, but a few strategically placed displays of strength (for example: Ashmore digging her fingers into the metal desk of the superintendent, permanently warping the steel with her grip), managed to dissuade any action from taking place.
Despite this, Mrs. Ashmore departed from the school a mere week after The Incident. There were two primary reasons:
1.) She was now the second most muscular woman alive, and far stronger than any man; this granted her a great deal of potential celebrity status.
2.) A more secret reason, it absolutely killed her to see Claire’s smirking face each day in her class, as Claire was a good deal stronger.
After leaving, Mrs. Ashmore left for Hollywood, where she was immediately paraded around on all manner of television shows, and contracts were signed for her to star in movies.
–
Alex, one of the other girls who was significantly affected by the amulet, benefitted quite a bit. She was already the school’s star volleyball player, but now she absolutely dominated the court. After a few tournaments, she had been approached and successfully scouted to join the most prestigious university team in the nation – the men’s team at that. Turns out that women were never excluded from playing in that league, and Alex would go on to become a dominant figure even there. Fortunately for her, no drug test in the world could ever prove she wasn’t entirely natural.
Better yet, Alex found she could continue to develop her muscles at a faster rate than she could before.
–
Finally, there was Claire. Claire had arguably physically benefitted the most from the amulet. She was so huge, so powerful, and so muscular, that it was actually difficult for Claire to go through the motions of day to day life. Her arms, a bit over 30 inches in circumference, were still packed on a 5’9” frame; the rest of her muscles were similarly tremendous. This meant that all of her clothing had to be custom tailored to fit her body.
While she had difficulty scratching her back, Claire found plenty of assistance from her new boyfriend: Milo. The size difference between them was comical to say the least.
The initial weeks after The Incident was one of the best times of Milo’s life. It was during this period that Milo discovered that he actually loved female muscles, along with very many firsts in his life that will go unmentioned. More pertinent to the story: Milo spent many afternoons and evenings groping Claire’s muscles; squeezing her biceps, kneading her back, futilely punching her abs, riding on her shoulders. There seemed to be no end to Claire’s strength.
–
Three weeks into their relationship, Claire visited Milo’s house. It just so happened that Athena was there. She had just finished a particularly grueling workout, and as a result looked even more pumped than usual in her tank-top. A pair of biceps thicker than Milo’s sat beneath deltoids and a back that emasculated her older step-brother. Athena had generally felt like ‘hot stuff’ around Milo, as her body continued to grow and grow while his remained mostly the same.
That day however, her perspective shifted. Athena had heard rumors of the hyper-muscular Claire, and had seen Mrs. Ashmore on television, but to witness Claire in the flesh – that was something entirely different.
“And who is this?” Claire asked with her usual condescending air.
“Oh, yeah. That’s uh… That’s my step-sister Athena.” Milo explained.
“Quite the name. How old is she?” Claire replied.
“She’s-“ Milo started, but was cut off.
“I can speak for myself. I’m thirteen. Thanks.” Athena curtly replied.
Claire bent down slightly and looked Athena directly in the eye. “I see that you and your step-brother share the same unique quality: You’re two of the only people I’ve ever met after ascending that show no fear towards me.”
“Why would I be scared of you?” Athena challenged.
“Uhhh, maybe because I can literally throw cars like they’re baseballs?” Claire laughed.
“That’s fine. I’m going to become stronger than you someday, so I’m not too stressed out about it.” Athena was entirely nonplussed in her delivery.
“W-what?!” Milo sputtered, “What on Earth are you talking about step-sis?”
“I don’t see what’s so confusing about what I said.” Athena put her arms on her hips, “I’m going to become far stronger than your girlfriend here. Might take some time, but I’m going to do it. Simple as that.”
Claire burst out into laughter, doubling over slightly, “You MUST be joking dear. That’s simply impossible!”
“It has to be possible. You got that strong after all.” Athena retorted. “So I’ll get that strong too, and go even further.”
“Yes, but… my power… it’s not meant for mere mortals.” Despite possessing dozens, if not hundreds, times more strength than Athena, Claire felt… unnerved.
Athena’s resolve strengthened. “Mere mortals?” She let out a laugh, “That’s bullshit. Whatever you did, I’ll figure it out. Hell, I’ll find an even better way. I’m going to make you look like a weakling.”
“You’re going to make THIS look weak!?” Claire flexed both of her arms with such ferocity that her shirt, which barely fit in the first place, ripped a few threads.
“Well, I dunno. I don’t think I actually want muscles THAT big. Like, you can’t even scratch your back. Seems impractical. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to get huge, jacked, and yolked; but I’ll find a way to keep it more functional.”
Claire cocked a brow, “Go on…”
Athena continued, “Yeah, that’s right. I’m not sure if I’ll be as huge as you, but I’m going to be much, much stronger. Faster too. And tougher. Maybe even smarter. You’ll be kissing my feet, so will everyone else.”
Claire shook her head. “You insolent little runt. I could end your little life with a single slap. Why shouldn’t I?”
Athena shrugged, “My idiot step-brother is still alive AND you’re dating him. That alone tells me you won’t do jack.”
Claire bit her tongue and collected herself. “Well, you’ve certainly got guts. I’ll grant you that. Now, Milo, how about we go do something. Elsewhere.”
Milo nodded and the couple took off.
–
While this verbal showdown may have seen innocuous enough, it was, in truth, a large turning point for all three of the teenagers involved.
For Athena, this marked the point in time where she became somewhat obsessed with gaining as much strength and power as possible. She began pushing herself even harder in the home gym, and also would stay after school to use the weight room there.
Claire also started to train herself, for the first time since The Incident. She would often visit scrapyards, and hauled tremendous amounts of weight. To the blonde’s surprise, her body continued to gain muscle and strength, though at a much more ‘natural’ rate than what was possible with the amulet.
And Milo… Milo had to deal with even more female muscle in his life, along with various intrusive thoughts. Athena’s workouts and overall drive became so intense that he could oftentimes hear her grunting and panting from the home-gym. Claire’s already immense body became even more so.
One thing that concerned Milo was his mind would often drift to Athena. It was hard not to whenever they were both home together, but he still sometimes imagined her when he was with Claire. In particular, he’d think about Athena’s rant about how she was going to surpass Claire. It was an audacious, absurd, and impossible claim; after all, Claire only had her body thanks to literal magic. Still, Milo’s active imagination would wander and envision Athena the way she claimed she would become: Extremely muscular and strong, though still physically smaller than Claire, but with far more strength.
Milo considered a battle between this empowered Athena and his girlfriend, with his step-sister overpowering and dominating Claire. He thought of one scene in particular, where Claire would wind back her 30+ inch arm, and drive her fist directly into Athena’s rippling midsection, only for the blow to accomplish nothing at all. After this, Athena would casually loose a half-hearted blow of her own, sending Claire sprawling back hundreds of feet.
It was a terrifying and… intriguing prospect.
2.)
Throughout November and most of December, things continued fairly smoothly for Milo and Claire, though another conversation of interest did take place.
In November, Milo came across Athena drinking whole milk out of a glass, the jug sitting next to her. The young teen kept chugging an entire glass and refilling it before draining it.
“What… are you doing?” Milo asked.
“Drinking milk. Duh.” Athena shot back before taking another swig.
“Well, yeah, but… why so much?”
“I’m a growing girl. Just a matter of time until my big growth spurt. Plus, gotta feed these babies.” Athena flexed her arms forcing a pair of lemon-sized biceps to erupt. “Get over here and give them a feel.” She ordered.
Milo shuffled towards her. “You HAVE seen my girlfriend, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah. Feel ‘em.”
Milo sighed and complied, bringing his hand up and squeezing the limb. To his surprise, it was incredibly hard, far harder than his own. In fact, the only muscles he had felt like those were –
His train of thought was interrupted, “I know what you’re thinking.” Athena cut in, “The only muscles as hard as those are Claire’s. Maybe Mrs. Ashmore’s as well, but you aren’t sure since you never felt those. Isn’t it amazing Milo? I’m so young, but I’m already so buff with muscle of this quality.”
Milo retracted his hand and took a step back.
Athena continued, “I know there’s something special about me Milo. Thirteen year old girls don’t have arms like these. Thirteen year old girls don’t build muscle as fast as I do. So chew on that for a while. Think about what’s going to happen once my growth spurts kick in. I’m going to end up taller and hotter than my mother, with the buffest natural body ever. It’s going to be a fun, fun ride.” She grinned mischievously.
Milo turned around and quickly left the room.
–
During Christmas break, Milo and Claire exchanged gifts that each were somewhat unwhelmed with. Their relationship had been fizzling out. Despite being with a girl who was far out of his league in many more ways than one, Milo still couldn’t help but feel like Claire didn’t truly fulfill him. Sure, she was fun, thrilling, and insanely powerful (an attribute he found himself more and more attracted to), but that was about it. They had no real similar interests, and could barely hold a conversation together.
Claire on the other hand, the spark of lust from Milo’s act of defiance had mostly faded. Milo was very complacent and subservient now. Anytime she demanded something, he obeyed. All except for one thing: She asked for him to grant her more power with his magic, but Milo refused. He lied, explaining that anything he did would have no effect, or could potentially be dangerous, because Claire had “developed a resistance to magic from her exposure to it” in his words. Milo was, of course, entirely bluffing, as he had no idea what would really happen if he cast more spells on Claire.
The truth was, Milo simply didn’t want to give Claire more power. She had plenty, and he worried that she would someday abuse what she already had.
On January 1st, Claire had decided that enough was enough. She bid Milo farewell, and for the first time, genuinely thanked him for the gift of her incredible strength. The blonde had recently turned 15, and was having a teenage crisis of identity. Why did she bother sitting around in class when she could literally lift a truck into the air? She was (probably) bulletproof, possessed endless endurance, and knew that she could increase her tremendous gifts even further.
Sometime before winter break, Claire did a bit of research, and discovered that Mrs. Ashmore was making money. A lot of money. Money that Claire should’ve be earning. One of her teachers claimed that a high school diploma alone could earn her some $200,000 extra over her life; that same class touted that going on and earning a bachelor’s could be worth $800,000 over her working career.
“The hell is the point of this when I could star in a single movie and make multiple times that?” she literally asked out loud after hearing those figures, her teacher daring not to respond out of fear for the seemingly endless power her body contained.
During their farewell, Claire explained to Milo that she really did care for him, although she wasn’t sure if it was truly love. After all, what was love really? She figured she was too young to truly understand it. She gave him one last night of fun, and in the morning packed her belongings and literally ran to Hollywood.
3.)
Things began to change in Milo’s life, and not in a way he particularly enjoyed. First, he felt fairly lonely without Claire, and resorted to his prior ways of hanging out on his computer all day. He had all but abandoned trying to physically train himself, as it seemed pointless. None of the girls at his school could compete with Claire, who had in a sense spoiled him during their relationship, and he couldn’t help but mentally associate physical exercise with his step-sister.
Milo’s step-sister was the other big (and growing) thorn in his side. Before Claire left, during Christmas, Athena received a tremendous upgrade to the weight-room as her holiday present, along with myriad tubs of protein and body-building supplements (this, incidentally, ended up costing far more than Milo’s present, although he didn’t seem to care since he presumed his new video game console was costlier). Christmas day conferred another gift to Athena as well: it was revealed that she had grown an inch and a half, and was now a hair taller than Milo.
Howie, not really thinking about his son’s feelings, had himself, Milo, and Athena all line up together. Athena sat between the two perfectly in terms of height, but had both of the men outstripped in sheer muscularity. Her arms and legs were larger, and her back was wider. The only area that Athena was smaller was in her waist, which was noticeably trimmer than the guys’. Diana and her husband merely laughed at how whimsical it was that the 13 year old girl was not only bigger than Milo, but her step-father as well.
–
A routine settled in over the next month. Milo mostly hung out in his room, while Athena pushed herself beyond her limits each day. With ample supplements, protein, and an improved home-gym, she had nearly limitless opportunity to grow.
And grow she did. In February, on her 14th birthday, it was revealed that Athena had grown another inch since the last comparison on Christmas. She was now a bit taller than Howie, and noticeably higher than Milo. Her muscles had all similarly expanded, and upon wearing a sleeveless athletic outfit given to her for her birthday, the extent of her development became clear to the family.
Athena’s arms were easily 14 inches in circumference, and the rest of her body was similarly proportioned. Her muscular development surpassed that of what any reasonable 14 year old should look like, and her strength was similarly abnormally high. She also had begun maturing into a woman at a surprisingly fast rate, and had developed a noticeably wide pair of hips and impressive bust.
“You know dear, I was initially worried about letting you lift weights, but it seems that letting you do so was one of the best parenting decisions I ever made.” Diana said with a warm grin as she squeezed her daughter’s tensed arms.
Howie piped in: “I’ve gotta agree. Athie here is easily the healthiest fourteen year old girl I’ve seen. She’s like one of those Olympic gymnasts, but without the, like, stunted stature and delayed puberty.”
Milo shot his father a puzzled look. Diana shook her head and giggled, “Classic Howie.” A few moments of silence passed, and Diana spoke again, “Say, what do you boys think about me getting in on the weight lifting action? I think the muscle looks pretty good on Athena. Think I could pull it off too? I know that squat booties are all the rage these days, and those women from Milo’s school going to Hollywood is really popularizing the strong female look.”
“Oooh, are you serious, or just pulling my leg?” Howie cut in.
Diana let out one of her breathy feminine laughs that sent chills down the spines of all men in its vicinity. “I think it’d be fun. I’ll give it a try, and worst comes to worst, I just stop. Still, can you imagine it boys? My long luscious legs getting nice big quads, and my butt growing bigger? My toned arms developing sexy pythons of power? I’d probably have to start wearing more revealing clothing around the house once my back got all nice and ripped up.”
Howie and Milo were practically drooling.
Diana giggled again, “I think that settles it. It might be a little strange with the women of the household being taller and more muscular, but I think that things will work out for the best. Don’t you agree?”
Howie gave an enthusiastic reply while Milo cowered backwards, and Athena gave a knowing smirk.
That conversation marked another seemingly mundane event that would change Milo’s life forever.
You can buy this story here: The Trouble With Magic Part 2