I looked around the room they had put me in once they had booked me and given me a shirt and pants that were an awful green color. Sitting down on the little cot I sighed and asked no one in particular, "Why is this happening?"
"You know why," a girl's voice said making me jump. "You have set yourself against Isis and Inari."
I looked at the girl, who appeared to be four, with a surprised look on my face. She was wearing the same type of clothes as I was except they were smaller. I had a moment of anger that they would arrest a four year old and then I thought it through. Of course they wouldn't arrest a four year old. Also she seemed to be more intelligent than a four year old would be. That and the fact that she wasn't here before talking to me. "Who are you?" I asked feeling love for this girl. Though that was ridiculous and I needed to banish it from my mind since I shouldn't feel this way toward a little girl.
"I have no name at the moment," the girl replied with a smile, "though you knew the body that I was a part of for a short time. Then I was called Janet but I think the next time you see me I'll have a new body and different name. Though I do like the name Crystal so if you need to call me something you can use that."
"Wait a minute are you saying that Janet had a soul?" I asked shaking my head. "How could that be when she was a golem? Golems don't have souls."
"That's true in most cases," Crystal said looking thoughtful. "There is the possibility of a golem growing beyond what it originally was. It doesn't happen very often but sometimes things just align and a golem becomes more than what it was. Unfortunately I don't know what aligned to cause me to come into being."
"How can I know that you're telling the truth?" I asked trying to wrap my head around it. I was pretty much convinced that she was telling the truth but these emotions I was feeling could be clouding my judgement.
"I have no reason to lie to you for one," Crystal said shrugging her shoulders. "For another you already know that I'm telling the truth."
"Why am I so attracted to you?" I asked not having anything else to say at the moment.
"Because you truly love me," Crystal said with a little smile. "True love is a very deep connection between two souls or sparks of life. Mothers tend to have this same deep connection with their children although it's a little different."
"So is this how you'll look when you have a body again?" I asked thinking that it would be torture for me to see her like that and have these feelings.
"Probably not," Crystal said shrugging. "This is just the form I chose to appear to you as. I should be closer in physical age to you when I have a new body though. That's about the only thing I can be reasonably sure of."
I heard footsteps approach and I quickly asked, "Were you the one following me?"
"No but I need to tell you something important before I go," Crystal said talking a bit more rapidly. "Don't try to escape. Isis and Inari need to believe that they've won so they'll let their guard down. Besides you can no longer shift so you can't escape like that." As soon as she said that last part she just blinked out.
"Put your hands through the slot," a female guard commanded me opening the slot on the door.
------
I sighed as I sat in the backseat in-between the two Quondams who had taken guardianship of me until my trial. That was a long way down the road since they had to do decide if I would be tried as a juvenile or as an adult. To that end I knew I had to see psychiatrists or psychologists or whatever you called them. I did not want to see any as I'm sure I would eventually come across as crazy. As we pulled up to what looked a little like a small hotel the Quondam on my right said, "This is the last sight you'll see before the ritual."
I was about to ask what he meant though I feared that I already knew but before I could I felt something prick my left arm and looking over I saw the last of some sort of fluid being injected into me. I began to feel dizzy and my body wouldn't respond to what I wanted it to do. I was aware of the Quondams taking me out of the car and carrying me toward whatever the building was before I sunk into darkness.
------
When I started coming out of that darkness I could feel the last of my clothes being taken off leaving me completely naked. That didn't last long though as my legs were lifted up and something slid under my butt. When my legs were lowered once again I knew that the object was a diaper and I had the feeling that the ritual would involve me more than likely peeing myself and possible shitting myself as well. I started thinking that I should do something to escape and tried to shift into some sort of monster. I couldn't shift however and I could have kicked myself if I could have. Of course I couldn't shift since Crystal had told me I couldn't shift anymore. I thought about trying to enter the minds of whoever had me and seeing what I could do but I didn't know what they looked like and something told me it wasn't time for that yet. I didn't know what the ritual would be but I was betting I wouldn't like it.
I was picked up by the arms and legs and carried to what felt like a stone table. The knowledge that this was some type of altar came popping into my mind. Something was drawn across my ankles, wrists, and neck so I was bound to the table with my legs spread a bit apart. I was able to open my eyes but my vision was blurry and all I could see were two shadows. I could hear them and others talking in a rhythmic way though I couldn't make out what they were saying. I saw one of the figures holding what looked like maybe a swimsuit or a leotard, I couldn't really tell. They were bringing it closer to me as I began to understand what they were saying.
"Ripped from flesh; Bound to cloth; Remove her from the before; Remove her from the now; Remove from that which is to come; Protect her forever; Unable to be destroyed; Take her from us; Place her in the farthest dimension; The dimension of Illusion and Science; Keep her forever from the prophecy; This is our will; Let it be done"
On the last word the figure, which had to be either Isis or Inari, placed what it was holding on my body and there was a sudden burning sensation throughout my body. It quickly escalated and I screamed in pure agony. It was like my body was being torn apart but I understood it to be that my soul was being ripped from my body. I was sure that I would blackout or something from the pain but I didn't. It seemed like it went on for an eternity but it might have only been a few seconds. Then the pain suddenly ceased and I felt like I was being flung somewhere. As I drifted into something other than awareness I wondered if I would ever get back into my body.