Kyriel blinked a few times, then stared for a few moment, then burst out laughing as she
floated backwards hugging her sides.
As a rule, only the lowest of the angelic host could solidly manifest in the material
universe least the collateral damage from the exercise of their power resulted in a
extinction level event. As such, Michael had never had a face, mouth, eyes or other things
related to having a spiritual self image developed as a side effect of physical life. But he
was as easily able to convey his emotions and concepts easier than any mortal form of
communication and in less than a nano-second Kyriel fully understood the archangels'
confusion, and in the same nano-second Michael felt Kyriel meant no disrespect or slight.
"What is so humorous?"
"Charlene, that is the name Karther gave to one if his victims when he kidnapped men to
get around his agreement to not kidnap any women for his harem. She one of the two who
chose to return to her old life such as it was." Why did they all go along with the names
Karther chose for them? Well, except for Anne whose now Akira/Akane... It was just one
more branding and mark authority the fox prince had over them. Perhaps because they
had all become a sisterhood -with- those name so there was no point in alienating each
other by changing them. That's what Janice/Jack's memories imply at least.'
Michael then also laughed, "So it is, so it is, and you believe out of all the women in
London that this is the same Charlene?"
The cherub put her hands on her hips and floated up to even sight with the superior angel,
"One of my parents might have been a human soul, but I'm a Messenger through and
through. I can see the identity that exists beyond a tack on sound as well as any
Messenger." Kyriel said a microgram insulted.
"So you can, so you can. And I did not speak to imply otherwise. But do not blindly
assume your other parent's heritage and memories do not effect you cherub."
"Yes sir. So I am to be assigned to one of my aunts?"
"Yes. One of the ones you have yet to meet face to face. You may chose to manifest
materially to her at the time of your choosing."
"What of my aunts who had chosen to become Messengers?"
"They are each considering the best way to tell their loved ones fair well for now."
"For now?"
"Until their human loved ones die of course."
"Oh of course." Kyriel nodded in perfect understanding and acceptance. Though she fully
knew Janice/Jack would be very disturbed by at the causal way it was talked of, and that in
of itself disturbed her. She had HAD inherited traits from Jack/Jance as Michael as said
right? She hadn't been born completely from Tabra/Tabris right? She'd be nothing but a
thief if all of Jack/Janice's traits had been lost to the winds.
"Kyriel."
"Yes sir?"
"If you do not wish others to hear your thoughts then do not speak so loudly. There is
nothing remotely human about your four aunts save for their memories. -YOU- have more
human traits than they do. Do not distract yourself by thinking you are somehow not also
your parent's child, you were born in conflict and one of your parents often found himself
in conflict, it is natural you would rely more on his traits when you were first born."
"Yes sir." Kyriel crossing her hands folded her wings closed her eyes and bowed. "No
assignment is given at random, so I assume I've been assigned to my aunt with another
purpose?"
"That purpose if it does so exist for you to find and discover. Your supervisor's purpose
shall be to teach and support you, but all interaction with the material universe shall be up
to you entirely save in case of emergency or in defense of you from rogues and rebels."
"Yes sir."
"And learn an acknowledgment other than 'yes sir' silly cherub!"
"Shall be done." A lingering thought occurred to Kyriel. 'What about my grandparents? I
should meet them just once at least. I know Tommy gave his word that he'd tell them what
happened to Jack personally, but, they're my grandparents all the same, I should honor
them by seeing them at least once while they're still alive. Maybe once Charlene gives birth
and her offspring proves healthy I can ask for a short stand in to visit my grandparents in
a vision.'
"Mind on task at hand silly cherub!"
"Y-yes sir!... Oops."
Michael ruffled her hair. "Knowledge you may have cherub, but you have much to
experience first hand."
+++++++
It was a beautiful day on the roof of the shrine. The flower garden everyone was sure was
going to die of disease had spring back to life now in the colors of the rainbow. A con
man who had come through the settlement hoping for a quick buck was exposed when his
own money revealed him to be a snake oil salesman. Then, to the con man's eyes at least,
everyone in town was suddenly a giant snake and felt in terror leaving his 'talking' money
behind. And of course there was the boy whose kite go caught in the tree and the tree
handed it back to him! Keiko knew she could have changed the boy into a monkey to get
his kite back, but Keiko saw no reason to disrupt the peaceful simple lives of the humans
and mortal mythicals under her jurisdiction. they provided her with offerings in return for
good fortune, and Keiko was allowed free run of the settlement visible or not. It was even
stranger was how she didn't mind the lack of twenty first century technology. Besides
medical techniques, and the introductions of practical appliances such as the oven, this
settlement had barely changed a twinkle in the last fifty years if not twice that!
Keiko knew all this for she had formed a connection with this place the more she stayed
here, the more she understood it, and the more it understood her. Already the people
spoke of the kitsune spirit that walked among them.
<I> But while I wasn't too happy about having my self being taken away, it was
still, well, -fun- being with Karther, and now that I'm well, me again, I don't
think I want to return working at a video store and being a weekend warrior." </I>
Keiko remembered Akira's words. And how the otaku had been relatively impressive at his
culture shock at actual japanese culture.
Keiko honestly wondered if Akira/Akane/Anne had even bothered to appear before his
parents back in America. Regardless of any liberation that had been granted to her mind
due to her new species, she still felt emotional endearment to her own family. She knew
she had been putting it off for far too long. And she'd rather not wait until they died of old
age... mortal lives were so brief... 'And when I do, I'm also going to make sure that
Akira/Akane tells her parents and friend what happened to her/him if I have to drag him
across the bottom of the Pacific ocean by his tails!'
"Hey Sister dearest! Great weather we're havin' isn't it?" 'Speak of the devil.'
"Hello Akira." She said not turning around hearing his effeminate voice. "Finally managed
to pull together our family gather for all ten of us sisters?"
"Naw. But that is technically eleven ya know, Tammy was a sister too, even if she wasn't
part of the harem fer long. Though I wonder if it should be twelve and have Kyriel sit in
honor of Janice's place..."
Keiko wondered if she should tell the bees that there was honey in Akane's ears again, she
grinned at the mental image. She knew fully (and correctly) that Akane would take it with
good humor. "So there a reason for your visit sister or did you just get bored with the
games you play with the humans under you?"
"Naw. Give me a thousand years and -maybe- I'll get bored. I came here to tell ya! Seems
like a developer or something is planning to push the locals off their homestead for
whatever reason, thought they might try your place too so I'd give you the heads up!"
"By the time I'd be done with them they wouldn't come within sight of this place ever
again. So how'd you find this out?"
"Oh just heard some guys talking?"
"And what did you do?" Keiko asked without missing a beat.
Akira told her.
Keiko instantly replied, "I'll be back in a few minutes! You keep an eye on things! And if
you do anything I wouldn't have done: I'll place a curse so powerful on your village, that
every drop of saki in it and within a mile of it now and forever more will turn into water!"
Seeing Akira's tails stiffen she grinned knowing that threat was more than enough to keep
him in line for the short amount of time she planned to be gone.
In a swirl of leaves she vanished.
Of course Keiko couldn't undo the curse Akira placed on the new girl who had chatted
about knowing women better (Akane had let that slip too), that would give Akira the
justification he needed to play games on people in the insignificant settlement of Japan
Keiko had been sent to by Tabra/Janice that people still reversed spirits such as herself
with respect and reverence. 'Such as myself.' It never ceased to intrigue Keiko how easy it
was to see humans and males purely from an outsider's point view. Perhaps it was mostly
psychology.
Keiko knew she should have felt more upset and angry at Akira for playing on a passing
teen's choice of words as an excuse to curse him. But all she felt was a pang of annoyance,
she and Akira were both now creatures of chaos after all. She just felt Akira's game felt like
Karther's, and for her, this feeling the same as if a sibling of hers was imitating something
they saw on TV with little consideration, not something very proper at all, but at the same
time not something to get terribly upset about.
And in a bit of justification, the girl still had her voice and hands, perhaps she could play
to Akira's ego or love of saki enough and trick him into giving her her Y chromosome back,
and if not, it was not impossible for her to find happiness as she was.
Keiko knew she danced a dangerous line of slipping into sanity with her actions, a a heavy
burden no kitsune regardless of current mental state had any desired to carry.
Keiko strolled over to the man who had been reduce to a human faced tree. He looked
down at her in a clear amount of fear, maybe he thought she was going to 'mark' him or
something. Either way, she put her forepaws against the tree's bark and looking up at the
still human face, "Hello there dearie."
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"
Keiko magically maintained her composure. "Now I can't really do the latter if I do the
former, but since you asked for the first one first-"
"Nonononono! Please! Please don't go away! Please! Change me back! Change me back!"
"Now if I do that, how can I possibly know you won't do something like I was told you were
doing ever again?"
"Whoever told you was doing it was lying! I wasn't doin' nothin!"
"Don't try to lie to a kitsune... and just for that I'm going to tell you that I can't really undo
your curse since it was done onto you by another kitsune, would be a break of protocol
and professional courtesy. But I can make certain... modifications... like..."
"Like?"
"LIKE MAKING YOU A TOTAL TREE!" Keiko cackled for dramatic effect, and it worked
perfectly.
"No no no! Please! Don't!" the man was crying now, clearly finding the prospect something
new to be terrified of.
"Well, if you don't want that, I -suppose- I could do some other modification instead."
"Please! I don't want my boss to be angry at me! He's a corporate vampire!"
"And you were stupid enough to work for something like that?"
"I didn't know that was what he was at the time!"
"What did you think?"
"Nobody knew HOW people who crossed him disappeared! Just that they did! The boss got
banished from Europe AND the USA when the press found out what he was! Just cause
that's what he was! Wasn't fair I tell ya."
'That explains the gaijin accent.' "When you said banished, you meant fled church
sanctioned vampire hunters, and you say different, you mean prefers to turn anyone who
gets in his way into corpse puppets right?"
"Yes...."
"Well... what if I could make you able to get out of the nasty problem you're in right now,
and not have to worry about your boss draining you dry, and able to live a life?"
"You're not gonna kill me or turn me into a rat and eat me are ya?"
"Do I LOOK like a genie? No, I won't, I can do this WITH or WITHOUT your consent, I'd
rather just have your opinion first."
Not wanting to anger or upset his only possible way out the man agreed quickly, "Yeah!
Yeah! Sure! Just please fix me!"
"Oh-oh-oh-oh. I'll fix you all right. I'll fix you so you can't have kittens!" Keiko words
again got just the right scared rootless look that she had been hoping for. Cackling some,
Keiko brushed her tails against the tree trunk. She couldn't go changing the man back into
a human without breaking Akira's curse, and that would be in violation of their mutual
agreement, but she could still the sentient being to have a functional life.
A humanoid shape, like a figure through taunt silk began to step out of the tree trunk with
Keiko's waving tails leading the way. The man's face was covered over by bark but
remained in it's proper shape as the figured stepped out of the tree trunk.
In a matter of seconds the figure solidified shrinking several inches losing muscles tone
along the way. Dark green tendrils grew long behind the bark shaped creatures head and
down it's backside, looking perfectly like long hair. The bark became smooth and a light
green tone. A flower bloomed on the side of the head of the being as hands and feet
became dainty. Meanwhile, the tree behind the man changed into a sakura, and the figure
lost more height.
The figure blinked and looked down at herself and yelped at her naked body. "What what-
what's this?! Huh?! That's my voice?!"
"Yes it came out of your mouth so yes it's your voice. This is your manifest form. You're a
dyraid, a magical manifestation of a botanic life form. You're a plant, and trees don't HAVE
blood so your boss can't harm you, and now you have a vested interest in this place, if
that tree dies, you die because you ARE that tree, the eyes you're seeing out of and the
ears you're hearing with are just an avatar you're creating with with the magic ingrained in
you."
"Why-why do I look like a dame who couldn't even be in collage!"
Keiko assumed her most majestic, regal and awe inspiring stance on her four paws and
her tails spread out like a fan. "Simple. You were around I'd say thirty years old before, and
you're thirty years old still, I didn't bother translating your life span to tree years, so you're
going to live a few CENTURIES now."
"Centuries?" The new dyraid was crying now.
"Yip! Yep! So get used to your body. I could have left you as a human face on a tree, but I
felt my brother was being too cruel. I couldn't make you human without crossing him so
that was out. I could have rewritten your mind so you thought you had always been a
dryaid but I've had WAY too much personal experience in having my identity treated like
play-dough. If you want to be human again ever, I suggest you treat my brother with
respect, as much as he deserve as any rate. If you want company, I suggest you talk to the
OTHER trees around here, maybe if you try hard enough you'll 'awaken' them and they'll
spawn dryaids of their own, no promises of course. You're free to interact with the locals of
course, with Project Return, and I'm sure they'll treat you with love and kindness since you
don't look or sound a thing like you did before. Oh and be careful how far you stray from
yourself, your avatar will grow weaker the farther you go until it becomes immobile
though the presence of other trees will extend your range.... "
"What about my ID, my keys, my-"
"They're somewhere inside you right now I imagine along with your clothes... go luck
getting them out of yourself, ha-ha! Well, have a nice life! Maybe you'll get your head on
straight and your priorities together eventually being one with nature, and if you somehow
DO butter up my brother enough in a lifetime or two, maybe you'll be a wiser human. And
if you're thinking of betraying anyone here... don't, I have placed a curse on you that shall
smite if you betray them to your old vampire boss." A lie but she wasn't an angel. "... good
luck..." Keiko said the last part sweetly as she vanished into a swirl of leaves again.
The young teenage dryaid fell to her knees and began to cry again in lament.
The locals would be quite joyful to have another spirit be their alley and friend, though the
dryaid would not say what upset her, they would be determined to lift up the spirits of
their new resident.
+++++++
Julio calmly and happily worked in the library. Karther had inherited a surprisingly large
volume of written knowledge, ninety nine percent of Julio was very certain the desert
prince had never once even looked at!
The one percent was unsurprisingly porno. Julio didn't think he had ever been a librarian
in all his centuries of life. it was actually a rather relaxing and calming change of pace
compared to all he had endured before through wars and run ins with Jasim, who Julio
knew regardless of anyone would STILL greet Julio with "DIE ABOMINATION" if they ever
met face to face.
So at the moment the fly was hiding on the base of the fly swatter, right in the middle
east, the place Jasim was the most active, but within the walls of the kitsune city where
Jasim had no desire or obligation to enter.
Of course no one questioned where the librarian came from. Julio had told 'his king' when
his turn in line was up that the fox man had no desire to become human at this time and
fully remembered every trace of his human life and would inform 'his king' if he needed
King Tommy's help at any point with becoming human again. Of course Julio could do that
himself. Of course he had to invent an arab alias to go along with supposedly being among
the people Tamthis had suckered or recruited in mass. 'Junaid' had made a point of trying
to form a friendship with the apparently elderly fennec kitsune Gean. Maybe it would
work, maybe it wouldn't, but as a sacred rule, Julio had made a point of making a friend to
distract himself whenever he planned to stay someplace for a relatively long amount of
time. And Gean always had something to say or speak about when properly prodded.
'Quite a good distraction, quite a good distraction indeed, just what I needed to encourage
my quest even more so.' Julian thought, thinking of the events surrounding Karther then
Tamthis.
He looked at the great library, it would take him years, if not decades or perhaps a century
or beyond to read through everything here, but the desert foxes has quite a collection of
unique knowledge, and within it, buried, where bits and pieces of The Knowledge that Julio
sought to claim while still within his mortal coil. And he would have it all, he would
understand all, and the whereabouts of Truth would be his. He was not anything, if not
patient.
'At the end of the day, this will be just another step for me, I out lived the Roman and
Ottoman empires, and I've seen the creation of the veil and it's tearing down. All a very
very good distraction indeed. Here's hoping His Majesty, Kyriel and the rest can keep me
distracted from boredom for eons to come...'