"Could you put something on please?" Julio moaned covering his eyes as
Janice/Tabra sat down cross legged. "Know that you both used to be guys in
there kinda ruins the image."
"If it makes you feel better I don't -have- a real gender, my species was made
before gender was invented." That was T', no wait, Tabra. Even since that
japanese cartoon came out everyone thought of -that- angel of free will. Much
to T's own vexing.
"Not really."
"Sorry." said the angel fox in a different tone of voice, "With nothing but ...
well... -other- furry vixens around it hasn't really been that much of an issue.
Let me try."
Light shimmered around the angel fox as matter in storage was shifted and
bound around her body. What became of it was a simple one piece dress that
was thankfully long enough to hide the view from Julio. The dress had an
open back to allow for her wings and tail.
The fox angel looked at herself. "And you did that totally without my help. You
are improving. But no pants this time?"
The fox then hugged herself. "I'm kinda loosing hope of getting my old species
and gender back."
She suddenly put both hands to the side of her, leaned back and laughed
kindly. "I've been every gender, and nearly every sentient species under
every sun to generate life! And well..." The fox tapped her chin clearly trying to
think of something comforting. "At least..." The vixen thought some more,
knowing that she said next could easily blow up in her face. "You still have
everything that actually makes you, you."
"For now." The fox's expression suddenly down, then became focused.
"Incorrect. Fusions don't work that way. She'll still have everything that makes
you, you, just like she'll have everything that makes me, me. Why do you think
we need to figure out an equilibrium between each other if we want our...
heh... -child- to be rational thinking."
The vixen's expression turned soft. "Ya know, rational thinking was -never-
something I related to ladies before this all happened, they never acted in a
way that made sense to me."
The expression stayed the same but the body language suddenly became
more casual. "You'd be surprised how often ladies think the same about men."
"Geez." Said Julio. "You two really are having trouble prepping for this, I can
tell whose in control just by looking at you."
"It's not as bad during fights thankfully." The formal tone meant Tabra. "The
adrenaline rush and the intensity of the moment pretty much means we -have-
to think along the same lines, but things shift back out of sync once the blood
stops pumping like a race horse."
"So talk to me." She leaned foreword looking at him. "What's this about you
being over two thousand years old?"
Julio breathed in deep, he had told this story so many times, he had it down to
a science.
"Once upon a time,"
"Of course,"
"Of course. I was a scholar. A thinker. A youth eager for knowledge while my
friends were more interested in displaying achievements of physical might."
"You were a geek."
"I was a geek. A greek geek to be precise. The Israelites' faith meant little to
me, it was just some more information, some more history for me to dig out of
the sea of myths and tall tales. My particular passion was -history-! And thus I
search for the oldest historical volumes I could. Many I just kept since I lacked
at the time the skill or knowledge to translate them. Then came the night I
dared actually leave our family house, mostly because my parents were sick
of me spending all my time indoors, and long story short I was press ganged
to working on a salvage ship. I got more than a few lumps and bruises and
let's just skip that part. The point is, one time when I was diving, I happened
on a piece of sand-script. I was impossible, completely impossible, it should
have by all logic and reason dissolved into nothing long ago. But it hadn't all
the same. Curious I touched it, and I nearly drowned. Images, thought and
ideas that were totally alien to me slammed into my brain. I'm just lucky my
crew mates decided to bring me back on ship when they found me floating on
the surface. I don't know what happened to that piece of sand-script, but my
dreams were chaotic, maddening, my crew-mates began to consider I had
gone crazy when I tried to describe one of my dreams to them. I dreamed I
could see a series of circles interconnected."
"For historical reference, that's where the jews got their blue print for the
universe." The fox angel said.
Julio ignored the interruption this time. " I dreamed I curiously twisted and
pulled at the lowest of the lines that connected the lowest circle to the bigger
ones . . . I woke up screaming as what I could only describe as a tidal wave
rushed outwards right at me from me. For a time I swore never to do that
again. It was only years later that any of it began to make sense, when I
finally got off that awful boat. That my friends became men when I still teetered
on the middle ground between youth and man."
"Actually, he was a bit younger than that." That -had- to be Tabra.
"Whose telling this story?"
"Get your facts straight."
"Anyway, I was totally confused, I wondered if I was cursed, or just a freak of
nature. But all the while my dreams began to make more and more sense.
Until finally I -remembered- the war between loyalists and revolutionaries,
better known to you as the war between angels and demons. As well as . .
other things that no human should be able to remember. Eventually I also
realized, that seal I had undone if even for a moment.. it had temporally
slowed down my aging. Then I had epiphany, I wanted to -see- God, I wanted
to -meet- God, the all knowing, the all knowledge, my old quest reborn! But I
didn't want to meet him when I was dead, I wanted to meet Jehovah when I
was still a living man! So continued to open the first seal, carefully, never
leaving it open for long."
"And?" She asked.
"And I got curious about what the other seals did . . . I wanted more
knowledge, more information, and that little piece of sand-script I now -
remembered- was just part of a whole."
"So you started looking for it?"
"Very much so... and I sort of ... lost track of time... when I came back for what
was supposed to be a visit, I found my parents had died of old age, and all my
friends were all elderly men. They couldn't stand the sight of me, like my very
presence mocked that they their time would soon be up."
"And yours almost was, wasn't it?" That was Tabra.
"Yes. That was when -he- came to me."
"Azrael, has a name." The fox said coldly. The fox then blinked. "Who?" Then
answered herself. "The Angel of Death." The fox shuddered.
"He told me my time was up. He told me that I had run my race and that it was
time for my post job assessment."
"Let me guess, skeleton in a black robe?" The fox asked. Then she spoke to
herself sternly. "Please don't make that stereo type. Azrael, has always hated
his given task and the stereo types that have gone along with it. You'll met an
angel with more restraint. If you ever see an angel with a huge scythe called
Pain's End, and looks like he doesn't get much sleep, that's him." She tilted
her head. "Not much sleep?" She said calmly. "Would you get much sleep if
you were the one whose task was to end the lives of others?" The fox became
sullen. "No, I wouldn't."
"Excuse me." Said Julio getting back their attention. "He tried to do his job, but
I was way too stubborn to give up that easily. It also turned that the seals I had
been working on, were inside every human in some form, when they say 'God
made man in his image' they meant it spiritually, basically a weaker copy of
his own self design is in every human soul. But after eating from the Tree of
Knowledge."
"The what?"
"The tree Adam and Eve ate from, it proved too dangerous to keep around,
due to human nature to abuse power. So God put a seal as complex as the
universe on it so humans wouldn't accidently blow themselves up unless they
really, really, -really- tried hard at it the old fashioned way. Since I had
partially undone the first part of the seal, my life was extended. Of course I
found this all out later, over the decades I spent hiding and running for my life
from a divine entity, as I learned to carefully undo the seal more. By the time
Azrael, caught up with me, it turned out that my soul had become too altered
to be reset, while Azrael, could reap me all the same, I think he didn't mind an
excuse to spare someone."
"That's Azrael all right."
"I think also God was worried an all out fight with Azrael might break one of
the particular parts of the seal." The words just hung in the air.
"Will you stop with the dramatic pause?" She interrupted herself. "He has a
good reason for it this time. Remember what happened when I opened my
real wings for just a moment? Well, maybe you don't, but the point is, using
divine power unfiltered on the material universe, it would result in an
extinction level event."
"Pretty much, so in exchange for being allowed to seek out more fragments of
The Knowledge, I promised not to try and conquer the world, -nor- take part in
any high stakes super battles."
"So you're, what? Immortal?"
"Hardly, leaking the open seal's power into my body is what keeps my body
from aging quickly, I've never been able to stop it completely. I was a teen
when I touched that piece of sand-script, now I look and feel thirty. Though
back when I was a teen... that was already considered elderly by some. With
the other seals I learned some other tricks, creating matter from nothing, like
being immune to soul and mind alteration, and I can reset my body to it's
original form if I'm infected by a lycantherope or nusferatu and other cursed
forms of transformation, back when they were still around of course. But I
need to actually concentrate on that last one to pull it off."
"So what's this 'seal' on him?" Janice asked out load, not bothering to do it
mentally at the moment. Tabra answered with the same mouth in the same
voice. "It's similar to the one that's used to bind my wings before I'm made to
take a living form. Except mine comes with an emergency release switch. His
he's basically had to hot-wire to open it up as much as he has."
"Okay, I think I got that. So how do you two know each other?" She paused
then spoke. "I was there when Nero burned the Christians, and they made the
-choice- to stand by their faith rather than denounce it and live." She pointed.
"He was there hoping the early catholic wisemen there could give him some
clues to where the rest of The Knowledge was. The last time we met was in a
castle in Germany during world war two, I was hanging out with some GIs.
We've had a bad habit of running into each other over the centuries."
"You have no idea how tempted I've been to fight some times." Julio said.
"Consequences for breaking my word or no."
The fox angel said. "And you have no idea how tempted I've been to directly
screw with someone's else choices sometimes. Promise or no."
Who had to be Janice said. "So you guys put this kinda force inside a piece of
sand-script?"
Who had to be Tabra answered. "We didn't put anything in anything. It
changed shape when it accidently got dropped into the material universe,
those terrible lizards sure never saw it coming let me tell you. That piece of it
looked like sand-script because that's what Julio perceived it as."
"Dropped?" The fox asked herself.
"We were in the middle of the first and most intense battle in a war over
creation, don't you think some things would have slipped through the cracks?"
"I didn't think it was even real... now I find out that the final proof has been
carried around by human beings inside them this whole time... so what
happens if he, or you, broke your promise?"
"Janice. If you trust me in any shape or form," Who had to be Tabra said.
"You'll wait until we're one person before learning that, otherwise it'll give you
nightmares for the time you have left."
"You make it sound like I'm terminally ill."
"You'll be surprised when you learn how much death and birth are alike. Take
it from someone whose been through it a couple of times. And as for you
Julio... mind explaining just how in the hades you came to be here, and what
the **** you're doing in MY -home-?!"
Julio was taken totally back by the sudden change in the angel vixen's
demeanor, and actually felt a -little- small for -just- a moment.
Julio said his next words -almost- meekly. "I... I was looking for a friend."
The fox girl blinked. "You have friends?"
Julio opened his mouth to correct Tabra on the subject but,
"Janice, not now."
Julio started... guess he wasn't able to tell them apart perfectly after all.
"I mean, if you live forever, I'd figure you not want to get emotionally
connected to open." Janice continued anyway.
Julio answered, "Actually, it's one of the few things that's kept me sane,
believe it or not."
The vixen tone and posture changed. "I still think you screwed yourself over
when you foolish extended your life like this, but back to my question, -how-
did you get in here? This place was tailor made to be detect proof."
Julio felt embarrassed. "Well... heheh.. I didn't really detect it."
+++++++++
The heartless desert sun beat down on Julio as he marched across the sand.
The horizon creating the illusion of water no matter what way he looked. He
closed his eyes against the head as he felt sweat come down his face like
bullets. There was no moisture in the air to condense into water, taking away
that simple solution.
Dammit, he could feel it, like the string of fate in japanese folk lore. When his
friend had been spirited away, in front of his eyes, by magic he didn't
recognize, Julio had dropped what he had been doing and began the long
distance (nearly half way around the world) to this middle eastern desert. Now
he was so close he could actually begin to make out the source or rather,
detect the source of the magic rather than just following it's 'vapor trail.'
"I should have rented out a jeep." He sighed. Well, he was out of other
options, and unless he wanted to die of thirst and have his body keep
regenerating him in agony until the next fog bank rolled in he could condense
into a glass of ice water, he needed to pull out the bigger guns. Well, water
was just hydrogen and oxygen right? There was oxygen in the air, and
hydrogen was the most base element of the periodic table, should be simple
and easy.
Beware any situation in which the word "should" is mentioned instead of "will."
Julio used the most abundant thing around him, sand, and got to work on
altering the matter... he didn't quite get the formula right in his brain heated
state.
Quicksand! And Julio's sudden panic pulled him down faster! Weird though
was too... there didn't seem to be... any... support .. under... the now... very
loose ... saaaaand!!!
He fell, hit hard sand, looked around, and wondered if Jehovah had finally
gotten him and he was in heaven, well, before the vixens all got a look at him
and started screaming in panic and fear.
+++++++++
Janice starred, unbelieving (though that was coming a lot harder to do as of
late). "You -fell- in here?"
"I'll admit, falling into a quicksand trap of my own creation and landing in a
gaggle of humanoid fox women wasn't the worst landing I've ever had."
The fox angel spoke thoughtfully. "At least this place's self repair spell should
have closed the hole back up, and the wards around this place would have
prevented anyone from noticing us anyway in the short time it was exposed to
the outside world... still. I know you're not lying, but I don't believe in
coincidence." The angel fox laughed. "I wouldn't put it past Jehovah to pull the
strings for this to happen!" Janice/Tabra sighed. "It's a safe bet now that one
of the vixen or foxes at the castle is or was your friend."
Julio nodded. "I figured as much. Still, I'm sure that no matter what Karther did,
he couldn't have erased a person's personality totally!"
The fox angel nodded. "I agree. The fact I was able to free Janice and the
others is proof of that." Her face was intense. "Tammy is still in there as well,
the sane generally well meaning human male who Tammy was. He's just
buried in there deeper thanks to Karther's magic, the life force she absorbed
from Janice's living body, and the two sides of Karther that she then absorbed.
He'd never do these horrible things if he was in his right mind."
Julio realized he couldn't tell who had said that last sentence, he decided -
not- to ask.
+++++++++
Tamthis was very pleased with herself, very pleased indeed.
Things went perfectly smooth. Of course to be careful she had to make the
curse so those her children changed couldn't transform others as well, this
was so she didn't appear to be growing like a cancer, which Karther had
clearly wanted to avoid happening greatly.
It had been a rather sweet sight as her children had used their newfound
magic to transform their family and neighbors into wolfen creatures, giggling.
Some had pleaded, some had run, some had even dared try to harm their
own children. It didn't matter, them of them could escape her sand wolves,
and Lucy and Natalie proved quick effective at holding the humans in place
for the littler ones could work their curse on their birth parents.
A couple of her children still needed to be house broken so to speak, but that
task could be left to their mothers. The amplification of the natural wildness in
children was made apparent as the her children had torn their own clothes
off, many of their parents quickly following suit.
And of course they all revered and honored her beautiful, sweet, dear, and
wonderful Karther.
Queen Tamthis however was surprised when the girls among the children
she had changed all changed into kitesune with one to three tails and the
people they changed became the species accordingly.
However they remained loyal to Karther all the same, so it was nothing to
worry about. The inhabitant of the village she had raided mass relocated to
within or outside Karther's castle. Their presence enabling her to alter the
landscape around the castle, purely fueled and fed by magic into something
resembling farmland. The kitesune proved useful in using their illusion in
hiding this from cameras in the sky, and travelers. As was part of Karther's
plan, she needed to establish themselves as part of the world as quickly as
possible before Karther's abuse of the rules crossed the line. But she needed
the numbers and the presence before that happened.
Her children now stood eagerly at attention in her presence, the cute little
things all grinning at her waiting to know what she wanted of them next, truly,
if this didn't know they were brainwashed nothing would. Tamthis didn't see it
this way of course, she say it simply as 'helping them along.' And in her
insane mind, it was truth.
Like an invisible army, she'd have her children go to the next village, then the
next, then all the nomad caravans, then entire cities... it would take time, but
she was knew, in spite of having an unknown time restraint, that once she had
things underway, she couldn't be stopped! And her Karther's dream would
come true! She hugged her children who automatically hugged her back.
Roberta stood calmly at her side, all four of her swords at rest for she was not
being ordered to kill anything, while Laura just clapped in approval by
reaction alone.
While Karther's kingdom great larger, in a way, it was still just as empty.
+++++++
When Julio began to ask around the vixen for his friend, (after being told for
the tenth time he wasn't with Karther), he was dismayed to learn that most of
the vixen could only remember their original names, let alone their lives
before Karther had brainwashed them into slaves. He couldn't be sure which
of them if any where his transfigured friend, or if his friend was still with
Tamthis. He felt cheated, or worse, the victim of some inside joke.
He was surprised when Tabra/Janice hugged him from behind, wrapping
their wings around both of them. "It's okay." She said, "I know what it's like to
lose a friend, believe me, I've seen it happen right in front of my eyes."
Julio started, not sure how to react to this tenderness, but managed to reply,
"Thank you."
"I'll save your friend, I'll save Tammy, I'll save -everyone- who Karther's greed
has ruined. I promise."
Julio shivered, in his two thousand plus life, he had never been hugged by an
angel! He had to admit it didn't feel that bad, kinda good actually... too bad he
couldn't be sure just -who- was hugging him! Then there was the rather
important fact that both of the females who were inhabiting this body were
supposed to be male! He stiffened as this settled in. The angelic fox sensed
this and let go of him gently.
"Sorry." She apologized. "Don't know what came over me. Wait, I do. It's called
sympathy, half of me isn't used to dealing with how painfully high an angel's
empathy can get sometimes. Don't call me half of you. Sorry. Just because
you-Janice, please, don't. Just don't. I didn't want this to happen," Julio saw,
tears? "I wish it hadn't happened, because you had a life too, and maybe if I
had been faster or smarter you could have just returned to that life. But now
both our existences are going to eventually come to an end, in a way that's
deader than dead, and in a way that's more alive than life, but you didn't -
chose- anything of this, but it's happening anyway... and... " The angel fox
didn't run, only because she couldn't run from herself. "I failed." She leaned
against a way, wrapping her wings around herself.
Everyone stared for a few seconds before Janice/Tabra blinked and looked at
everyone before standing straight up scratching her hair and shaking her
head.
"Emotionally barrier between you two break down?" Julio asked.
"For a little bit," Janice/Tabra a little groggily, "Neither of us have really, well,
been one who wanted to show off our feelings, I think having the two walls
pressing against each other caused the foundation on both to break apart for
a second."
"Sis?" Vicki asked, reminding them that the vixen were still there with them,
"Are ya gonna be okay?"
The angelic fox put on a reassuring face. "Don't worry sister I'll be fine."
"Sister?" Julio asked. Had Karther kidnapped entire families?
"It's all we can really bring to call each other." Vicki explained, "We've been
together for so long it feels strange treating each other like strangers. Even if
we weren't ourselves for most of that time."
Julio didn't have anything to say to that, he hadn't had any direct family in over
a thousand years, and had been out of contact with whatever blood
descendants he might have even longer! He had managed to remake friends
as his old ones died off, but family was something he had never been able to
replace.
+++++++
As Queen Tamthis over saw Karther's city for him, Alexandra looked over her
master. He was clearly still drained from having loaned his power to his
Queen, for he hadn't even bothered from change the female form he was in.
Alexandra hoped he bothered to change back into his male shape soon, for it
was not Alexandra's place to say what form her master should take.
Jennifer originally Gene, the shiva vixen, had been loaned to Alexandra by
her queen. Jennifer never spoke at all, she merely followed Alexandra's
orders precisely and immediately. She made a suitable bodyguard for their
master, unlike Alexandra. Alexandra hoped the queen saw fit to change her
again soon into something that could protect her master without fail, so she
wouldn't have to rely on Jennifer to protect the both of them, not that
Alexandra would think twice about sacrificing her own life for her master.
Jennifer hung over Alexandra like a shadow, as Alexandra tended to their
master. Karther was didn't once command Alexandra to pleasure him,
perhaps he had simply decided that no one could match his queen now that
he had enjoyed her. Alexandra wasn't about to challenge that decision.
Master Karther of course, didn't stop talking about how lovely his new queen
was, and Alexandra fought back pangs of jealously. She would not question
the master's choices, if she was to be queen he would have made her queen.
She would have been eager to serve him even as a mere concubine, a
reasonable request since almost his entire harem had been stolen from him
by the intruder and the two that remains had been reassigned as warriors and
protectors of the castle. But Karther it seemed had no need of other women
besides his queen as of now.
Since waiting on Karther hand and foot came naturally to Alexandra, she
didn't question if Karther seemed rather passive compared to his normal
hyperactive self. She made note of her master's decision to use female
postures and motions, she wondered what would happen if her master asked
her to service him in his female form. Alexandra made a shuddered that
echoed in her joints, if asked to service her master while he was female, she
would do her duty, even if it wasn't how she wished to be with him.
At least the master had gotten over his previously unknown fear of wolves,
since there were now so many in his service within his kingdom.
Maybe since her queen was currently going around in her female form while
having quality time with the children of the latest additions to their kingdom,
her master would see fit to make himself male again. Alexandra was happy at
the idea.
+++++++
"So after losing Lucy and Natalie that leaves eight of us." Said Vicki looking at
her other seven sisters not counting Janice.
"So now we're just gonna stick down here waiting for the world to end?" Lisa
asked.
"If that's going to happen, I want to at least be with my family." Barbera said. "I
don't care if I have breasts and fur, they're still my parents!"
"Might be better this way if we are." Keiko said. Everyone looked at her.
"It's just..." Keiko started then began again. "I'm not sure I can go back to being
male... not after what Karther did, what he kept on doing. I don't think I'd be
able to look at myself in the mirror again if I got my old body back."
Luna laid back and looked at the ceiling. "I don't know about the rest of you
but I still owe that little thorn Karther, he's not turning everyone I know into a
bunch of empty headed love dolls if I can have a say in it!"
Anna hadn't stopped looking at herself since their escape spoke up, "I don't
know, there's something, well, almost exciting about all this, now that I have
my own mind and I'm not someone's puppet."
Luna asked, "You were a transvestite weren't you?"
"No I wasn't!" Anna retorted. "I don't know what the whole deal is here, but I've
always been a thrill seeker. Now that I'm not a slave, this is just the next ride."
"This ride might not end all that good." Charlene said, "Personally, I want off
now."
"So that's it?" Erica had her say, "We're just going to break up, crazy fox prince
is out to conquer the world, and two of our sisters are still his slaves, and
you're just going to pack up and go home? I know we're not this way by
choice, but weirdo magic and brainwashing or no, you girls are all still family
to me, and we still have two family members to save."
"We each have to make our own choices." Vicki said. "None of us can make
them for each other. I'm going to go see Janice."
++++++++