The book sat undisturbed atop Gaia’s bed, having been left there by some mysterious, grey-furred visitor. Gaia was away for a whole weekend and so only realized it was there when he returned Sunday evening. Throwing his coat over a chair the green deer made his way to the bedroom. What a crazy visit with friends. It was fun to see all his buddies again after so long, but cons were absolutely exhausting. The only thing Gaia wanted to do right now was sleep.

He was putting his PJs on when he finally noticed the book. Strange, he’d never seen this one before. And normally he kept books on the shelves anyway. There was a small post-it note stuck to the cover. Someone scrawled in pen, “For my favorite deer. Hope you can find a whole new you this year. From, Alkali.”

Ahh, that would explain it. The kangaroo was fond of sending him experiments or gifts to try out occasionally. He’d never received a book before though. The cover looked worn, wrinkled all over and the spine was broken all up and down its body. It felt like a hundred other hands had touched the grainy cover. Clearly this thing had seen some loving days in the past. There wasn’t anything written on the outside though, no title or author. Just a plain black book. Gaia flipped open to a random page and scanned the writing.

The text was in a language he didn’t understand though. Didn’t look like Latin, or any other kind of old script. Just a bunch of symbols and glyphs he couldn’t make out. Gaia flipped through the pages, scanning each for anything that he could even pronounce. But there was nothing- wait. There, at the top of one of the pages, a single phrase written in plain English.

“Weight gain spell?” Gaia said aloud. Apparently that was all the book needed to start working its magic. The words on the page flashed a bright green, glowing in the dim evening light. Gaia gasped and dropped the book with a start. The pages began to flip through of their own accord as if a wind were blowing through them. Glowing glyphs floated out from between the pages, forming a set of writing in the air. Gaia still couldn’t understand what they meant but he was getting more worried now. Was this supposed to happen? Alkali usually had some scheme up his sleeve with his gifts but this was a little extreme even for him.

The deer was slowly becoming aware of a stretching tightness across his clothes. He’d been so captivated by what was going on with the book that he almost didn’t notice it. Only once he heard the popping of seams did he look down. The green and white fur of his gut greeted him, peeking out from under his hoodie. He yelped and pulled at his sweatshirt but it wouldn’t go down any further. In fact it seemed to be covering less and less of him all the time. His belly vibrated and wobbled with the struggling.

It didn’t take much for Gaia to put two and two together. Somehow that book was making him fatter. And not slowly either; that much was obvious by the way his jeans squirmed against his butt, tearing between his buttcheeks. He’d formed quite the muffintop over his pants, hips widening with extra mass all over.

“No no no, stop!” Gaia said, walking forward. Well, waddling forward. He still had to get used to the new weight. Those green symbols were still glowing in the air, maybe that was causing it. Setting a thickened hand on his bed to steady himself he waved at the magic writing. “Shoo, stop it!” And disappear they did like smoke when his fingers passed through, but only for a second before reforming. There was no time to try it again. Gaia had to hold his pants up as his butt thickened with soft poundage, tearing all the way across his booty. He blushed heavily as his pants covered less and less of his rump. Thank god no one was here to see it.

He wanted to lean down and pick up the book, to look through it again and stop the magic, but that only sounded the death knell for his jeans. Bending was hard enough as his belly pressed heavily into his thighs… no wait, his knees now. His jeans practically exploded apart when the final seam ripped, letting loose the green and white fur that had been spilling over. Gaia panted, struggling to reach down toward the floor but it was so far away. Just a little further, before he got too large to do anything about it…

And finally the magic stopped. On its own, without warning, the glowing text dissipated and the trembling pages ceased moving. Gaia was left in his room alone with only his thoughts and a good several hundred pounds more on his body. Well, he could finally grab the book at least. After much struggle he grabbed the cover and pulled it back up. The jumbo beachball sized gut hanging in front of him swayed back and forth with the movement, threatening to pull him down to the ground entirely. That would take some getting used to.

The deer slammed the book shut with a heavy thump. “What the heck was that all about?” he mused. Alkali probably could explain what was going on. Gaia shuffled through his torn jeans for his cell phone and sent a text.

[22:21]Gaia1234: Hey Alkali! Did you send me a book?

While he waited, Gaia debated just what to do now. He was sure Alkali had a way to undo the magic, but… well he was kinda curious how much weight he’d packed on. It did feel pretty warm and soft to the touch. The green deer carefully walked his way to his bathroom scale and his phone tweeted.

[22:26]AlkaliRoo: Oh you got it huh? Did you open it yet? Tell me how it went

So he did know what the book would do. Hmmph. Gaia still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. On one hand, getting tricked like that wasn’t very pleasant. But he couldn’t argue with the results. He looked over his shoulder at the mirror, and at his deer tail sitting upon a doublewide booty. He’d probably need two chairs to sit on now; a butt like that would easily fill and spill over the sides of just one. Oof. He blushed while his tail twitched just a bit.

[22:28]Gaia1234: Well it was pretty crazy. You knew this would happen didn’t you

[22:28]AlkaliRoo: :3c

He sighed and stepped onto the scale. Once both feet were on top of it Gaia realized there was a problem. His white belly was too far out to see over. His feet were completely invisible now; there was only the horizon of white and green in front. It didn’t sound like it would matter even if he could see down there though. The scale cracked and crunched ominously under his hooves. Well, so much for figuring out how much weight he’d gained.

[22:30]Gaia1234: Well, how do I get back to normal anyway?

[22:31]AlkaliRoo: Oh, you don’t. There’s no reversal spell in that book. You’d always said you wanted to try being fatter right? Well here you go!

[22:32]Gaia1234: :x

[22:32]Gaia1234: What am I gonna do for work tomorrow? None of my clothes will fit!

[22:33]AlkaliRoo: Put on some sweatpants? I mean, it won’t fit over the whole thing, but guess you’ll have to get used to showing off that deer rump more often anyway.