"What's a Kitsune?" Zelipe asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Amy looked up from her prayers to see her brother still there. With their father and her mother and aunts injured, and Zelipe's mother helping Fran and the nurses, Zelipe was likely to cling to those he felt the most secure with, which was apparently his sister.
"Powerful shape-shifters of legend in Japan," Amy explained, "they are foxes that have great powers in magic and live for a very long time."
"Like the witches? The Curse?"
"Not necessarily," Amy answered, "Kitsune are regarded as tricksters, but as with many things can be considered dangerous. And with their natural magic, that danger is increased... especially as they get along in years. They grow an additional tail every hundred years, representing a proportional increase in their powers... though the most tails a Kitsune can have is nine, and at that point the individual has acquired near "god-like" power."
Zelipe immediately felt thankful that the game didn't create any Kitsune either, though he still wondered what his sister was talking about... creating new species? Hadn't everyone always been?
++++++
"Evil, evil, evil," Maddex shook his head as he listened to Marie's story of what the witches were doing, "essentially killing people to replace a person that they had doomed in the first place, by hiding her in spot where she didn't belong, and then attacking the one who was only doing his duty."
"Remember that they saw rules as evil, even before they had crossed the point of no return," Marie spoke, "they honestly saw what they were doing as good, and even with things that seemed "bad" to them, it was more of a "the ends justify the means" response."
"They'd destroy the world to save it," Lawrence summarized, noticing Lilly and Cassandra standing within the protective embrace of their father.
"Pretty much," Marie nodded.
++++++++
Fall 1686, Glendale
"What do you want with me?" a lone woman whimpered as she stood in the bedroom of a strange house surrounded by three other women, each of them having an animal with them.
One had a large snake which had to have come from some far off country. She had never seen snakes like that in Glendale before. Another had a black house cat and the third had what looked like a crow or a raven, she could never tell the two birds apart.
"You are going to be Joella," Golgotha said firmly while Gaal and Gomorrah used their own powers to hold woman in place, making it impossible for her to hide her nudity.
The woman only gulped as she didn't know what that meant. Were these women some supernatural deviant? God forbade such unions, and she would not let them carry out their fantasy.
"No, you can't do this! God has forbidden it!" the woman screamed and struggled, but to no avail.
"God? Nothing but a lying monster that wants to oppress people with awful rules," Golgotha answered, "We are BETTER then him!"
And with that, Golgotha raised her and seemed to point directly to the woman. As she did so, Herodias's eyes glowed an evil looking shade of green as the witch channeled her magic through her.
What hit the woman was a strange tingling sensation. Images assaulted her mind, images of a young woman... no a young girl, or was it her as a young girl? No! She was Madeline Yulle not this... Joella... but those images filled her mind...
And as she tried to resist this, her body began to change. She seemed to be getting shorter. With no clothes it was slightly difficult, but she could feel it. As her bones shrank into the size of that of a young girl, it produced a rather uncomfortable sensation. She looked down to watch her breasts deflate into her chest, and her hips narrowed a bit, but nothing happened indicate any change in her gender, it was as if they were turning her into a child... but then she also noticed as she looked into a mirror behind Golgotha she could see that her hair color had changed colors.
"Almost done Joella," Golgotha spoke.
The images in her mind now increased in intensity. It made her head hurt a little as those images conflicted with what she knew about herself. But now the images of her own past were starting to fade, being replaced by nothing but the images that were being forced into her mind. As her original mind finally faded, she dropped to the ground grasping her head as everything in her mind seemed to go "white".
"Joella?" Golgotha asked, as Gaal and Gomorrah had finally released their grip on the girl.
"Goldwyn?" the girl asked back, "is that you?"
"Yes, it is me," Golgotha smiled, "It is good to have you back Joella."
"What have you done with your hair?"
"It's a new style," Golgotha answered, "and I prefer my hair this way."
"Okay."
The young girl came forward and hugged Golgotha. Her previous mind and self identity erased and made a white-board on which Golgotha had written her memories of Joella on. It was and wasn't Joella, but they were tired of waiting to be strong enough reanimate the real Joella. So, she would happily settle for the "clone" to thwart the rule following Lupmen...
+++++++
"And they hug?" Maddex asked.
"Golgotha had insured that their new Joella would be friendly," Marie answered, "Once Madeline's mind was whitewashed, the body would do exactly as the witches wanted."
"You said that Golgotha gave her her memories of Joella," Lawrence commented, "shouldn't that be Joella's memories? Not Golgotha's memories of Joella."
"And if they had Joella's memories they would have done that," Marie sighed, "but they didn't. They only had their memories of Joella to go on. And that is what they used... remember, while they were powerful, they were not omnipotent or omniscient. Only God is those things."
"I'm surprised they weren't killed by a bolt of lightning for claiming to be better then God," Maddex grumbled, "that is sacrilegious and sinful... and I'm not the most religious member of our pack..."
"But if God killed them, what chance would they have for redemption?" Marie countered, "Father Gabriel was very much right when he told Marie that God's creation of unfair world was to see how "fair" humanity could be. If he just killed everyone who sinned against him, no one there would be no forgiveness, no redemption, and ultimately, the forgiveness of sin was the very reason Christ was sent to this world. I would tend to think that God let them live in the hopes that they, like Saul outside Damascus, would see the error of their ways... sadly they did not..."
"And they would have to fight Marie and her companions," Betty finished.
Marie only nodded.
+++++++
Many miles away from Glendale inside an old oak tree, which lived on despite having much of its inside hollowed out, a lone being stood near a relatively small sized hole that allowed those that lived within the tree to fly out into the forest around the tree, which to the outside world had been left alone for years without anyone's intervention. The figure was clearly female with large breasts and fairly wide hips. A pair of antennae rose from her head, and a pair of butterfly-like wings beat slowly on her back.
"It's over," the Fae sighed, "the pain in my mind... it's finally gone."
"Olga!" came a voice from deeper inside the tree, "what are you doing out here?"
The Fae female turned to see the eldest Fae flutter up to her, her body, just as nude as Olga was.
"Just feeling the warm breeze, Pucca," Olga answered, "as it's felt appropriate. The evil that those witches unleashed is finally dying. I can feel it."
Pucca approached nervously, as Olga had always acted somewhat strange for a Fae... but she and Titania had vowed to protect Olga no matter what.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, Pucca," Olga smiled and pulled the slightly shorter fey into a strong hug, "for the first time in a LONG time I feel wonderful."
"That's wonderful," Pucca smiled and hugged her.