Jasmine in her new female human form spoke calmly and evenly spaced to the then
thousand djinn, "The kitsune, has been dealt with. The threat to Allah's people is no
more." This caused level of disappointment and vexing among the power beings, "your
invasion, is no longer required. Abu Haj?"
"Yes... Princess, Jasim?"
"You will address me as 'Jasmine' in this shell shape."
The senior djinn bowed respectively, "Yes Princess Jasmine."
The islamic angel nodded in approval, "Thank you for keeping the army in check while we
were disconnected. You have served Allah well in my opinion."
"Thank you princess Jasmine." The djinn bowed again.
"You are welcome." Jasmine looked at the assembled massive army of genies, "Thank you
all for answering the call to arms, regardless of your reasons for doing so. Those who
stand at attention at the ready also serve."
The ten thousand djinn kept those mouths shut and their faces neutral.
"As it is, the city of Karthis has fallen under new management. And with the advent of
Operation Return, you presence as a standing military force has become counter
productive. Allah thanks you all for your time and service."
Some of the djinn began to exclaim to one another.
"Operation Return-?!"
"Impossible!"
"It's can't be!"
"How did -that- get through-?!"
Jasmine moaned, "I am so happy to see you've all been so perceptive, that out of ten
thousand of you, that not one of you managed to pick up on this fine detail."
Abu Haj bowed, "We were merely focusing on the kitsune's city princess Jasmine, nothing
more."
"I see. Be that as it may or not, the need for this army has, for now, passed, so, as it
stands, you are all, --DISMISSED!"
Nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-nine djinn were in an instant teleported away.
Some were returned to their native plane of reality, many were simply returned back to
their prison cells of mundane objects, (lamps, gems, bottles and the like), the rest
resumed their task of creating one universe after another, to fully explore the absolute
truth of all possibilities.
This left a lot of foot prints in the desert with many bunks, tents and the like, something
for archeologists to wonder over. Jasmine neither knew nor cared if this was to be
considered littering or not.
"Abu Haj."
"Yes Princess Jasmine?"
"What is YOUR opinion of Operation Return? I am curious."
"If Allah believes that the ants should know that elephants exists, then I shall give no
contradiction."
"I see Abu Haj... you are free to go as you will. Your power and that of your kind is still
bound, but you may go where you wish, as Tabris would say, 'the age of illusions has
ended.' "
"Where is the Nazarene anyway?"
"He no longer exists. He and the human spirit he was co-habitating with congealed at last
into one entity. The cherub aided in the elimination of the threat of Karther's madness. She
and the four other new angels will be properly introduced into the Host."
"I see. Till we meet again Princess Jasmine." Abu Haj bowed once more and teleported
away in the space of an eye blink.
'The new kitsune agreed to make the barrier only one way permeable. While I might be
able to force my way through, the kitsune and their city are no longer my concern. My
only true concern is the children of Allah's still within it's walls. As much as I should return
to the Host: for the sake of Allah's children I shall wait outside the city walls, to insure
those who stay or go do so of their own will. Kyriel is a new angel of free will after all. I
shall also insure Iblis' rebels do not attempt to harm the newborn Messengers. ... Having
been born from mortals of course, they'll need some prodding to realizing that they no
longer belong to the material universe.' Jasmine teleported away from the camp, leaving it
to the desert sands.
And out of the desert sands, came a tiny handful of large eared foxes on four legs who
had been in fearful hiding of their not-in-the-fun-way-mad prince.
Jasmine also appeared before the family of transformed humans who were being kept in
the safe arms of the Peri. Jasmine told the humanoid foxes they would have to find the
courage to meet the NEW king of the fennec kitsune if they wished to return to the forms
they had been born in, at which point the Peri returned them to the settlement the family
had been stolen from, to make their own decisions as they would.
++++++++++
In a tired weary voice Keiko managed, "I want to go home."
"Eh?" Akira raised a non-existent eyebrow, having turned male again for the moment.
"I think... I've had a little too much fun. I want to go home now." 'I can smell it in the air,
the veil has been torn down... maybe I'll visit my parents as a vision.'
"Wha'? Keiko! We win! It's time for celebration!" With a leaf on top of his head and a puff of
smoke later the five tailed fox was dancing around, not humanoid in the least but dancing
on his hind legs with noise makers in his paws and puzzle, a party hat topping it off.
Keiko didn't react to Akira's shenanigans. "Okay Keiko, that is decidedly non-kitsune."
Julio spoke up.
"You're awake?" Keiko asked.
"Thanks to that nasty power surge that went through the city yes. Oh, and you guys'
bodies are hard to look after when you're not in them."
"No harm no foul." Quoted Akira.
"At any rate, what you do with yourself is your own business Miss Kitsune, but if you do
wish to depart, and seeing that Tamthis' influence in his city has utterly vanished." A
kitsune ran by them backwards on his arms that had feet and waved with his legs that had
hands. "At least in terms of more damage, this means that our bargain has reached it's
conclusion."
Keiko asked, "You aren't worried about Jasmine sensing you?"
"Naw. I can't sense her now, which means even if my aura is exposed, she can't sense me,
I felt her teleport out of here, and the barrier around this place is still intact mostly,
which'll give me plenty of warning she choses to come back for a revisit. ... So kitsune,
shall you?"
"A deal's a deal." Keiko conceded, and in a puff of smoke, Julio, human and male appeared
in place of a tick on her ear... only without his clothes.
"Heh, very funny, and rather down to Earth for a kitsune prank."
"Which is what it unpredictable."
"Granted. However." Julio hacked his form and he was now a male fennec humanoid. A few
more hacks and he had on a white loincloth and white turban. "There we go. With the way
this city is screwed up in term of population, no one is going to notice one more extra
fennec. And given how much time it's gonna take this place's new authority to get things
organized and sane again around here, I've got enough time for a nice stroll through
Karther's personal library, I'll likely get a much greater use out of it than he did."
Both former concubines of the fox prince nodded at this.
"I'll be stepping out of context now, as I always do in the end. This was a very interesting
set of twists and turns. Decidedly the most trouble I've ever gone through for a piece of
Knowledge, rather refreshing. May the day be kind to you." Julio bowed and walked
towards where the map he had hacked out of the city's threads of magic told him the
great library was located, tripping slightly as he got used to the body.
"So! Keiko! Come on!" Akira said pushing Julio instantly out of his mind. Sounding as
cheerful as he felt. "We've got a victory celebration to have! Our angelic siblings are likely
waiting for us!" He took her paws in his. "Let's go sis!"
"I thought you'd be halfway around the world the moment our family was out of danger to
give our niece a magic charm or something to turn her into a Magical Girl, fox boy, or a
European kitsune.... assuming you couldn't find a way to make it all three of course."
The 'gaijin otaku' who had been used to create Anna, Karther's slave had always been
alienated with his family, and had few if any real friends, this fresh blank slate of
existence, and having become somethings whose only real purpose in existence was to act
like a spiritual watch dog over a small population in exchange for being allowed to play
his fun and games with the random person, was the most liberating thing he could have
asked for...
"There's plenty of time for that later! Our family just saved a bunch of people from
remaining zombies, kept a bunch of genies from blowing up half the country, restored a
very dear friend of Janice's to himself, AND we've obliterated the last traces of bastard
Kather's existence! If that doesn't call for a celebration! I don't know what does!" Still,
there was the tiniest bit of allure to a family that accepted him as he was.
+++++++++++
When the band of seven had burst into the throne room, they hadn't know what to expect,
but finding Jasmine not present, Kyriel now a child, and Erica and Lisa cheerfully chatting
with a fox king hadn't been one of them. Thankfully, the two angels of the entering group
weren't limited to mundane senses and could see as plain as day that the person chatting
with their three sisters was -not- the Kitesune King Tamthis they had heard about. They
hadn't had spiritual senses to memorize Tommy's soul, but they did very much note the
absence of the stink that had permeated this entire city up until a very short time ago, and
the slightest hint of Kyriel's within the fox king before them.
Kathy was in silent shock. The city had suddenly ceased twisting back upon itself, and at
least the structures had repaired themselves as they had made their way through the
twisting mass of living clay the palace had become. Kathy was still wired to the city,
though she had been given much more flexibility than Tamthis' other 'creations' ironically
enough sparing her from going mad as the city had gone mad. And now, Kathy sensed her
king, all his traits were there, where they belonged, and maybe one or two she didn't
recognize, but they all seemed to be in a different order. It was like reading the rough
draft of a story, thinking it the final version, then reading the published work, and
realizing the full scale of the differences between the versions. Kathy had never thought of
her king as being incomplete or disarrayed, but the feeling radiating from him now, a
small part of felt that indeed he felt -more- complete, -more- in order than he had been.
Jennifer/Gene, Natalie and Lucy were no longer hard wired into the city, and thus had no
way to know this. They also had no way to know that the Angel's minds couldn't be
rewired into slaves like their mortal selves had been.
Alexandra, was just confused by the scene. The city decidedly wasn't going mad anymore,
which meant it had avoided the fate of the first castle when Tammia had assimilated it all,
magic and madness and all. She remembered that Tamthis was supposed to cease to
exist... so why wasn't Tamthis nice little Tammy again? The vixen she had helped out wit a
couple too eager guards (Gean and Robert) on that fateful night? Was Karther's murderer
gone?
Lucy, Jennifer and Natalie charged at Tamthis, Jennifer and Lucy sure the three angels
were now zombies and Natalie just smelling the fox king's scent knowing the fox king had
been the enemy. Jennifer and Natalie fell foreword limp as Vicki had quickly applied some
quick pressure point from behind. Of course Lucy fell too but quickly just dissolved her
nerve clusters into sand and continued her charge. Before Luna could cleave Lucy in two
('She'll get better,' Luna would have thought), Lucy was stopped dead in her tracks by the
short distance teleport by the cherub she didn't recognize (though she did bare a passing
resemblance to Janice) which distracted her for a second.
Kyriel of -course- recognized Lucy from Janice's memories.
"It's okay, it's over, the person who turned you into a slave doesn't exist anymore, and the
parts of him that found their way into Tommy have been put in their place as part of the
whole rather than being the whole."
If it was just the words Kyriel had spoken, Lucy would have knocked her aside. But an
influx of the cherub's aura waved through the sand anthro vixen, and calmed her
considerably and making her feel, yes, everything WAS all right, if just for this moment,
just this moment. Kyriel's kind words and loving feelings mollified Jennifer and Natalie as
well.
Lucy's summoned weapons dissolved back into sand and her stance went slack.
"Tommy?" Alexandra repeated the name as if it was a foreign language.
"Tommy." Kryiel nodded, floating off the ground to be eye level with the adult women.
"The person who he was before Karther turned him into just another concubine. And
before the additional modifications Karther did to her began to feed upon themselves."
Kathy just heard of all this, and understood none of it. "My King are you well?" Kathy asked
hoping for some kind of stability in this sea of complexity and confusion her simple
existence had been thrown into.
Tommy looked at Kathy, knowing precisely who she was, and who she wasn't. "I'm fine
Kathy, I am better than fine. The angels have -saved- me. Oh, and by royal command, you
and all others shall address me as Tommy, the name Tamthis is nothing more than dust in
the wind."
Kathy was started by this, but was nothing if not obedient, "As you command of me my
king..."
"Tommy?"Luna blinked, "I know you just got your identity back and everything but... isn't
that kinda a under-whelming name for a king?"
"Insolent!" Said Kathy right to the messengers face, "If King Tommy decrees that his name
is Tommy then his name shall be Tommy! If my Tommy should declare his name shall be
'Susan' than I shall address him as such!"
Luna looked at the others and pointed at Kathy, "Is she still zombified?"
"There is nothing to de-zombifiy Luna," Erica said reminding everyone the other two
angels were there, "It's just the way Tamthis made her, utter devotion is just who she is..."
"The name Tamthis tiss no longer to be spoken!" Kathy snapped at her defender.
"Works more than well enough for me." Jennifier said, using her collection of arms to prop
herself up. Vicki having undone her disabling in under a minute. The shiva vixen also
finally took a look around. "Oh sheat."
The war veteran in the body of a massive near super natural warrior woman rushed over to
the decapitated corpse next to the room's long dinning table.
"Oh sheat! Oh sheat! Rob!" She saw Roberta's lifeless head several yard away, dead eyes
looking at nothing.
Kyriel decided not to mention who had killed her.
"Yer angels! Do somethin'!" Jennifer called out desperately glaring at the six winged
figures present.
"We're angels of war," Lisa said apologetically, "We can't call back the dead. I'm sorry."
Luna felt vexed, 'Jasmine just -had- to have her army of ten thousand genies make us
push our adjustment time foreword.' Still, she couldn't herself to curse the senior
messenger of Jehovah. She was after all, Luna's elder and wiser.
"They're angels of war, I am not." Kyriel said teleporting from her spot next to Lucy next to
Roberta's head. The cherub floated down and touched her digigraded feet onto the sand
stone floor.
Kyriel didn't need to touch the corpse, after all, it was not Roberta, it was just the flesh
and blood container Robert had lived his life in. Instead, she prayed. The angels of course
could see the sliver of spiritual presence that connected to her like an umbilical cord, then
after a few moments disconnected. Jennifer just saw a little fox girl holding her hand
together like at Sunday school.
"I'm sorry. Robert is at peace. He has what he wants now. He's with those who have gone
before him. But he did have a message he wanted you Gean to deliver to his grandson."
Skeptical of the whole ordeal, the Shiva vixen crossed all of her arms, "And that would be?
"
"'That girl Suzie is decidedly your type, but that job just isn't for you.' Oh! And Rob' said
your mother said she's glade you finally broke that awful habit of biting your lip when
agitated."
Jennifer was stunned silent, as her brain twist around this little piece of information, "How
could did you... know that?"
Erica laughed, "We're Messengers, duh," She twirled a piece of her short hair, "Delivering
messages is what we -do-!"
Jennifer shook her head, the weight of her friend's death still holding on her, but she
could keep it in check for the moment. "Can ya.. can ya at least make Rob' look like Rob'
again? I know it's not like I can tell his family but--"
"What makes you say that?" Kyriel asked out of the blue.
"Well, no one is gonna believe me, assuming you can make ME normal so I can go back
home to my poker buddies at the retirement home."
Kyriel laughed, she sounded like silver bells. before Jennifer could demand what so funny
Kyriel said, "Gean', as of today... the illusions and perception filters and techno black
boxes that were keeping humans ignorant of the world around them shut down. There is
nothing keeping anyone from finding out what's happened here today, or anyone not
believing you."
"?!... You're kiddin'!"
"Not in the least Gean!"
"Kid, I'm happy ya keep callin' me by my real name, but how do ya know my name?"
"My mother, Janice, told me everything about you."
"Jance-?! I was wondering what happened to her, when I was allowed to wonder... so
where is anyway?"
".... She's dead.. she... died giving birth to me." Kyriel said honestly.
"Geeze-us! Kid I'm sorry... so how'd you get involved in all this? But.. no offense, but I saw
Janice alive a while back and... you don't look THAT young."
"I'm an angel, some rules just don't apply. And I felt it was my responsibility to save my
aunts who were still under the control of-" Kyriel remembered Kathy, "-of this city's
madness."
"Thank you." Lucy said in a demure tone. Natalie struggled to say something, but all that
out were animal sounds.
King Tommy spoke in a voice that gave him an impressive sense of presence, "Natalie,
Lucy... I'm going to need your help."
The alpha-she-wolf and sand vixen looked at the new king of the fennec kitsune.
"If either of you would do so of your own choices... I would like Natalie to have her wolf
pack begin to escort citizens to the palace, so I can begin to remove Tamthis and Karther's
curses and restore their real selves, memories and forms... And Lucy, if you'd do so... I'd
like you to help the angels release the souls that have been ingrained into the palace and
city walls so they can find rest...."
Kathy herself found most of these commands confusing, contradicting, and odd. But it
was improper for her to say so in front of her king. That was what time alone with other
women was for.
"What about YOUR life?" Erica asked in a clip.
"The fennec kitsune are a mess... and there is no one else around to help clean it up... it
wouldn't feel right to just leave them just yet...I'll see my family when I can."
Alexandra didn't know what to think... what happened when her turn was up? And of
Kathy? Would the two of them simply serve this new king in an empty and depowered city?
Or would they in the end be alone within this hollow city?
King Tommy wasn't done however speaking to Natalie and Lucy. "Or, I may restore both of
you... male, human, and to the homes you came from... that is within my power and
authority now as not only the king of fennec but also as part of Project Return."
Kyriel said floating between them, "It is your choice to make."