Pheona woke to a strange laughter echoing through the cave, the tingling sensation of strong magic being cast waking her up fully with a yell of shock. She quickly formed a ward in the air in front of her, only able to surround herself as well as Prism before a bright golden flash suddenly lit up the cave. The sheer force of the spell sent Pheona tumbling toward the back wall, hitting her head on a rock before blacking out.

"Hey- wake up." A strange voice said, making Pheona groan in pain. "Are you alright?" The voice said, sounding concerned. It was deep and rich, sounding somehow familiar, but foreign.
"I think so." Pheona said, keeping her eyes closed as she rubbed her head- a small smear of blood covering her palm.
"W-wait. You can hear me?" The man said in shock, continued by a yell of horror. Pheona opened her eyes to see a handsome man with pale skin and golden hair looking down at himself in absolute shock, staring at his hands as he flexed his fingers. "What the hell happened? How am I a human?"
Pheona blushed, realizing the man was completely naked as he sat in front of her, looking absolutely terrified. "And… you are…?" Pheona asked, looking automatically for Lir for backup… but saw that he was gone.
"What do you mean? You should know who I am- who else would have hair like this?" Lir grabbed fistfuls of his metallic golden hair, his golden eyes wide. "How did this happen? Did you cast a spell or something?"
Pheona almost choked with shock at the sight of her unicorn turning into a human. The description fit- his white fur had turned into pale white skin, a small golden star on his head where his horn would be. "No, I didn't cast anything! Where's Rynu, is he alright?" Pheona looked past Lir, seeing that Rynu had also vanished.
"What would I care? I'm a human!" Lir shouted. "If Althea finds out about this, she'll freak!" Lir said, looking stricken. "Or go with that damn stallion from the forest! Change me back!" Lir grabbed Pheona by the shoulders.
"I can't! I'm sorry, but this magic is way more powerful than I can do." Pheona said, not liking to see Lir so upset.
Lir let go of her, his eyes wide. "Then I'm stuck like this?" he asked sadly.
"Until we find out what's going on, yes. I really am sorry." Pheona said softly. "We need to find Rynu though- if this happened to you, maybe it happened to him too."
Lir looked over at the spot Rynu had been sleeping, seeing only discarded clothing. "Well wherever he is, I'm sure he's getting plenty of odd looks without his clothes."
Pheona tried not to look at Lir's nakedness and blushed. "I'm sure." She muttered.
Lir looked at her in confusion and looked down at himself, sighing in exasperation. "I suppose I should put something on." He said, crawling on his hands and knees over to Rynu's clothing, picking up his pants and yelling in shock when a hiss sounded from the clothes. The basilisk lying on a rock on the other side of the cave looked up in surprise, slithering over to the pile of clothing and tilting its head in confusion.
"Found him." Lir said, holding up a black tienko, which was thrashing angrily in his grip, letting out yowls of protest. It swiped at Lir with its claws, making Lir drop the animal as he hissed in pain.
The tienko stood on the ground, its green eyes wide as it stared at its paws before screeching in shock.
"Rynu- calm down. We have to figure out how this happened." Pheona held her head, trying to stand but falling back against the cave wall as her head started spinning.
"I don't think you should be standing." Lir said, trying to pull his other leg through the pair of pants. It was way too short- Lir's legs were apparently much longer than Rynu's. He stood, making a strange face at how uncomfortable the tight pants were. Prism landed on Pheona's shoulder, whispering to her before fluttering off toward Lir. The butterfly landed on the pale man's nose, staring at him with bug eyes before laughing as he flew off.
"Laugh it up, you little twerp." Lir growled angrily. "This could have happened to you too, you know."
"That was a quick ward spell you put up." A voice said from the entrance of the cave, making them all turn at the new voice. A blond haired man stood grinning in amusement. He wore a long blue and white ornately embroidered robe with fur along the edges, the hood pulled back so he could see them.
"Are you the one that did this?" Lir yelled, attempting to stand but wobbling on his feet before falling back down.
"Yep, and I'm quite proud for turning you human- you have no idea how hard it is to mess with a light unicorn- especially one as large as you. That took quite a bit of magic, you know." The man said, as if it had been an accomplishment for him.
Lir bared his teeth at the man, letting out a string of harsh swear words, shocking Pheona. She had never known Lir was so easily flustered.
"Hey hey now, you're supposed to be a unicorn. No need to get so hostile." The man's grin widened. "Imagine my shock at seeing two magi walking through my pass. It was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up."
"Will you change them back?" Pheona asked, trying not to feel dizzy anymore.
"Sorry, no can do. I'm out of magic, and it'll probably take a while to build it back up. Why are you out here, anyway?"
"The balance is changing- we need to stop whoever is killing creatures." Lir said, trying to stand again and yelling in anger when he fell back down.
The stranger blinked in surprise. "THE balance? How do you know this?"
"It's the only thing that would make a frost unicorn die like that." Lir growled. "His mate was killed by a hunter in Silva forest. We have to get there to find them and stop them."
"Wait- he's dying?" Pheona asked in horror. He had looked bad, but… she had hoped he wouldn't die.
"He will unless we solve this problem quickly." Lir said, finally managing to balance on two feet. "How do you people manage to walk like this? It's like rearing with no hooves." He grumbled.
The man stayed silent for a minute, looking thoughtful. "I'm coming with you."
"What?" Pheona looked at him in shock. "No you won't- not after you did this." She hissed, Rynu hissing in protest as well.
"You'll need me if they're killing frost unicorns. My name's Keisin. I'm the sorcerer in these mountains."
"You're a sorcerer?" Pheona stared at him, her eyes wide. "Now you're definitely not coming with us."
"Oh please." The man waved a hand in dismissal. "It's not like I'm evil or anything. Besides, with that knock to your head you guys aren't going anywhere."
Pheona growled in frustration as her head started spinning again, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the ground again. "Fine- but if you so much as make one bad move, I'll burn you alive."
"I figured as much." The man rolled his eyes.