As Kellie now followed Bob, she wondered what exactly Lilith and Circe had in store for her. She had already had some lessons in the dark arts, whIch made her skin crawl. Shadow manipulation, necromancy, and transformation had all been lessons she had learned already. What exactly did they have in store for her today? As she now approached the fiberglass castle she stopped short as an animatronic emerged.
“Lady Kellie thank you for coming my goddess will be happy to see you.”
Kellie gaped at the animatronic Fox. The robot was in perfect working order. It’s face was cartoonish yet still maintained a realistic quality to it. Even it’s artific fur was painstakingly applied to its surprisingly curvy animatronic body. Kellie would even go so far as to say the animatronic was a beautiful representation of both flesh and steel. Listening to the melodic, if not somewhat flighty voice, Kellie immediately knew who it was.
“Vixi,” she gasped.
“In the flesh,” Vixi smiled, her perfectly white mechanical teeth forming into a surprisingly pleasant smile. “Well so to speak.”
“Kellie smiled at the animatronic fox. Vixi’s death had been a tragedy. The furry turned anthro fox had been killed for no other reason than Liliths paranoia and evil ambitions. At the time the demon witch and Circe had engaged in a tit for tat in which neither one would yield. As a result Vixi became a tragic consequence. Now that the hourglass had been used, and reality had been altered for both Lilith and Circe, it appeared a truce now existed. A truce that had given Vixi’s soul a new body. “So good to see ya u Vixi,” Kellie smiled. “Are you Okay?”
The animatronic shrugged, a small smile spreading across its face. “Lady Lilith and my goddess have given me this form as payment so that I may continue to serve,” she said. “I am quite happy with this new body. It is so much stronger than my old body and allows me to be in my truest form to serve my goddess.”
Kellie could only nod, Vixi at least seemed happy to have been reborn as a anthro fox animatronic, perhaps the idea of not having been human at any point in this body allowed her to look at herself as a true vision of Circes ideals. “Vixi Your Okay with this body,” she asked. “You don’t miss your old body, it doesn’t bother you that you died?”
Th cartoonish face of the animatronic dropped mechanically, it’s false eyebrows lowering over half closed lids. “Their was an adjustment period,” she shuddered. “My death, it does haunt me. However I was able to be reborn and my family is accepting of this change. It will take time I suppose it I am still able to serve my goddess.”
“If their is anything I can do to help you just have to ask,” Kellie said, placing a hand on the fox robots shoulder. Vixi smiled cartoonishly as she now ushered Kellie inside. As Kellie, Vixi, and Bob now entered the throne room of Circe, Kellie was astounded by what she saw.
The throne room still sported the colorful unicorns and other childish drawings both Lilith and Circe had drawn when the hourglass reduced them to children. To compensate for the soothing pastels and happy drawings, Lilith had removed the lights instead having the throne room illuminated by torches in pitch black holders. “Kellie,” Lilith stated solemnly as she now approached. “I was expecting you.” Lilith now turned to Bob, the anthro demon dropping to one knee in obedience. “Is she capable of completing these lessons demon,” she asked. “She appears to be close to birth.”
“I have examined her my queen,” Bob states. “She may be close to the birth of the child but she is quite capable and in good health.”
“Why do you always ask Bob about me,” Kellie asked as the two turned away from Bob and Vixi. “That demon that you refer to as Bob is quite skilled in deterring the constitution of an individual,” Lilith stated. “Bob as you call him is an expert at torturing damned souls. Determine the endurance and pain tolerance of an individual is as easy for him as you tying your shoes. Now let us begin?”
After 30 minute of practice Kellie dropped down to a knee, wiping the sweat from her brow. Lilith and Circe were teaching Kellie mental domination today. Kellie was to manipulate the mind of her partner and make him submit to he really will. As she gazed at the anthro lion man before her, she realized it was proving to be quite a chore.
“If you can manipulate the mind of Circes servant then you should be able to dominate the wills of any mortal,” Lilith stated. “A lions heart and his will power are two of his greatest assists. They are incredibly difficult to manipulate. Couple that with his incredible strength and you understand why my dear Circe employs them as her personal guards.”
Kellie nodded standing once more in an attempt to focus her will power and dominate the large anthro lion before her. As she now made another attempt she was surprised to see a portal beginning to form inside the throne room. “Are you two doing that,” she asked.
“No,” Lilith frowned. Turning to Circe she could see her fiend now motion towards the anthro lion to investigate.
Ann now desperately tried to catch her breath as she exited the portal. The goth teen knew in her heart of hearts that her sister Katie was dead. Ann was despondent now, her family dead and her timeline destroyed. The only ones that could help her now were her displaced teen parents. As she now tied to gain her bearings she was startled to see a massive anthro lion approach her. Letting out a frightened scream the teen activated her two Rings of Age.
The changes to the anthro lion were sudden. A confused look spreading across his face as he felt the power of the rings envelope him. The anthro lion guard gasped as he stared at his paws, watching as they began to grow smaller in front of his eyes. Kellie watched as the lions body began to grow smaller, his body losing mass as he grew younger. Th adult anthro became skinnier, his face becoming rounder as he journeyed from full grown adult to anthro cub. Soon enough a skinny teenage anthro lion stood before them. The teenage anthro didn’t last long as he grew steadily younger, his majestic mane retreating into his skin. A childish anthro lion gazed in wonder at the throne room, his body growing steadily smaller. As the spell dissipated the once mighty anthro lion guard was replaced by an anthro toddler, his body pudgy and small. Plopping onto his rear the anthro now stuck the thumb of his paw into his mouth.
“Ann,” Kellie exclaimed, coming out of her shock. The teenage goth whipped her head around, practically weeping as she sprinted towards her mother. “Mom,” she whimpered. “Mom it’s awful. They’re gone. Everyone is gone.” The teenage Ann now began to sob as Kellie hugged the girl.
Lilith and Circe narrowed her brows as they exchanged a worried Look with one another. Both had been surprised to see the teenage girl appeared and immediately used their powers to read her mind. After doing so they realized this girl existed in a third timeline, one Jack had mentioned to them in the past. That timeline though was now cut off from this one and the timeline where Katie and Gloria lived. What was most concerning for the two witches was what had attacked that timeline. Both Lilith and Circe had seen what had attacked and felt their power. Now they needed to discover what threat these creatures posed to them.