Roderick had been on the force for a number of years and thought he had seen everything he was likely to see. At his mid forties he had rose up the ranks into being a negotiator and trained for the things he hoped never to see. This situation however was not exactly covered by the rule book. Not even in the furthest depths of his imagination.
He was being lead into an empty hospital by a mouse-girl in a maid outfit. He thought it some kind of costume at first, but it was clearly real. People were being changed into … animals? There was a welcoming click from his radio, to allow broadcast to his commanding officer outside. The assurance was not just that his situation was being broadcast but that something of this was at least expected and grounded in reality. First things first; Roderick knew he had to somehow earn the trust of these people then lead them back outside. “So, Miss.. Belle was it?” His voice was practiced and calm, he observed the twitch of her mouse ears and made a mental note to speak softer.
“You can call me Bell, Roderick. I don’t have a last name.” The mouse girl squeaked a bit. Her facial features distinctly more human then rodent, though with that slightly larger nose.. it was all quite surreal.
“Ah, because you used to be a mouse?” Roderick asked gently.
“Yes exactly!” Belle smiled. “Not many people I explained that to believed me right away.” She smiled happily. This ‘policeman’ seemed just so easy to get along with.
In order to earn their trust, one had to entertain the world this person lived in… Roderick continued to follow her as they talked. “I’m.. quite quick to learn. How were you turned into a human..ish person? That is if you don’t mind my asking.”
“A squirrel did it” she stated matter-of-factly.
Roderick stared down at her. “...a squirrel, turned you into a humanoid?” He tried not to show any emotion in that statement. Trying to call her crazy wasn't likely to help. He had to find some way into their strange.. world view.
“Yes! Right after I touched her tail. She was once human herself though. She’s cuter now though in my opinion and will be a great mate to someone one day.” she giggled. “I hope you meet her. Maybe she’ll turn you into a mouse-boy for me, but she can’t seem to control her magic that well- unlike my mistress.”
“Uh huh...” Roderick digested this as best he could. Still at least he seemed to have more then earned the trust of the mouse-maid. He processed what they were saying; magic.. transformation… perhaps this was a strange cult? He continued to follow the mouse-maid along the corridors of the building. The hospital was very quiet, there were only two floors for the small town. Most of this area covered minor accidents only as well as a few routine operations so nobody was in any life threatening danger- fortunately. He walked past the empty reception area and towards the stairwell. What was that other woman doing? What would he find.. he made a note in his book though of this.. ‘other’ one… ‘So there are at least three...’
Michelle stood calmly before the unconscious human as he rested in bed, sedated. He looked quite normal just having been prepared for some surgery. The fox woman stood beside him, glowing a strange white. Her fox tails- this time five of them, shimmered behind her.
The man before her had white skin, with dark short blond hair. Slightly obese… If she were to guess she guessed he had to be in his late thirties or possibly forties. His weight made it difficult to tell. Of course she didn't have to guess on who he was, not with magic. The Name of the man hovered over her in curious magical script. “Your name... is Anthony Daniels. Thirty seven years old...Hm, let’s see. It seems you broke the tendons of your leg while playing football.” She shook her head. “You quit exercise for five years and really let yourself go- then thought you could get right back into it. Poor guy, you were going to endure months of therapy while they stitched what remained of broken muscle parts. The drug they put on you will keep you sleeping for at least another six hours… well, let’s fix you up with magic instead.”
The easiest way to fix this was to turn him into something that didn't have those pesky legs. A ring of light appeared around the man’s waist. His clothes shimmered and disappeared as a snake tail took it’s place. Green and scaly, it ended to a point that was touching the hospital floor. The man himself kept resting, not realizing what was happening.
“Yes, that’s not bad. Hm, a cute snake-boy if I ever saw one.” The kitsune smiled. “Let’s also turn the clock back a bit for you. Maybe you’ll keep up the exercise this time.” With a gesture of her hand, the man started to de-age, losing about half his age and becoming eighteen. He started to lose a lot of his weight too. What probably caught her off guard was the new fangs in his mouth and slightly snake-like eyes and the changes to his mouth. “Oh well. Perfect!”
She then went to the next one on the bed. A young woman suffering from an infection? “Oh dear, blood infection. Hm, you need to become something that has no blood. That’s going to be slightly more complicated.”
Instantly, the woman began sprouting leaves from her body. A petals of flowers formed around her wrists and ankles. “You’ll make a nice Tree-nymph. Oh right, you need a tree to be bound to.” A small tree appeared by her bedside. “Just make sure to keep it watered!”
Michelle was starting to get exhausted. So many people here needed her help, and providing these miracles one at a time was mentally draining if not physically. “Maybe I could make a few ‘automatic’ spells...” she pondered if she could define a set of instructions to the spell to make sure everyone was healed in the right way… For everyone in this entire hospital? For everyone that came -to- this hospital maybe?
Then Belle came into the ward followed by another human. This could be a good distraction. “Hello Belle. Ah, this must be the policeman from outside. How are you?” The fox-woman curled her five tails behind her in anticipation. What to do with the policeman.. well.. he wouldn't leave the way he came thats for sure. As long as he was courteous though she might go easy on him.. maybe.
Roderick stared at the various people in the hospital. Each had been changed, given animal parts to replace the parts that were probably giving them issue. The snake-boy, some kind of Nymph… what other horrors had she done before he came here? He was appalled at the situation and somewhat sickened. Who was this -thing- to do such to the innocent? “My name is Roderick.. I would like to ask you to consider turning yourself in.” He switched to his ‘negotiation’ training. Maybe the damage could be undone.. but for now… he had to bring them in for questioning and to stop what they were doing.
Michelle laughed. An eerie spiteful laugh, as if someone had just told her it was time to go to bed. “Well you've got some big balls!” She shook her head.
Roderick remained emotionless. “Consider it miss… these people didn't consent to you changing them, did they?”
“Heh.” The fox woman grinned, gesturing to the people in the hospital. “I’m almost done here. I did a few people individually because I wanted that experience… I wanted to see what I could do. however, I think I can change everyone at once now and be done with this.” Michelle placed her hands together. Instantly, another fox tail appeared behind her, totaling six. “Yes.. I can sense all their pains.. by this power hear me now. All who suffer an ailment within this dwelling will be cured...”
“You’re not curing them!” Roderick exclaimed. “You’re… You’re just mutating them. Changing them. This is not a cure for anything!” He grimaced angrily. “You’re no goddess-”
Michelle’s eyes suddenly burned white in fury. With a gesture she pushed Roderick into the wall.
“Urhg!” He couldn't move. What the-
“… I’m going to forgive that outburst. Since you have never seen a real goddess before, and I would have a hard time believing it myself. However.. I -am- a goddess. A kind one though. These people’s lives will be made better once I’m done, that I promise.” Roderick felt himself released, falling to the floor in a heap.
Belle seemed a bit concerned and gently helped him up. She turned back to Michelle and bowed. “Please Mistress, he means no harm. I think he’s a very nice human really. He’s just worried about the children and people here.”
Michelle felt her fury drain at Belle’s words. Such a gentle mouse… it drained her annoyance at the human. “Urgh.. Sweety, there is honestly nothing I won’t do for you. Would you like me to make him into a mouse for you?”
Roderick’s eyes widened “Wait- no-”
“Oh yes please!” Belle smiled.
Michelle inspected Roderick’s ‘position’ in the ‘soul map’ as she was seeing it. The alignments and curious patterns that weaved his soul in the ‘magical’ world. Changing people into something based on how they were injured was easy. It was like pushing them down a gentle sloping hill. They were already ‘turned’ in that place… However to actually instill a transformation on Roderick there were… aspects she couldn't change. Constants that would be retained depending on the change… she saw the ‘branch’ that would take him towards ‘mouse’, yet the soul existed in a multitude of dimensions. Age, sex, type, humanity, it was all up for debate on how much of this he would retain. She could only specify one part of this journey… “Become a mouse...”
Roderick suddenly became smaller. A great deal smaller. The whole world, the two woman were towering over him, as was the bed and.. the floor was now just inches down from his legs. This was a different world… a world of… of... the small. He gasped in panic as a cute blue dress appeared around him with white lacy trimmings at the bottom. He felt confusion as small tiny breasts appeared on his chest lightly curving the soft material, as highly mouse-like features formed on his face. Fur spread everywhere, and a long slender tail appeared behind him under the dress. The dress was very light on the fur thankfully. His feet enlarged into claw-like toes. He still had humanish hands, with long nails.
“Hm, I guess that’s your mouse form.” Michelle thought. “Maybe I should have tried a rat. Though who knows where that would have taken you. Is this to your liking Belle?”
“She’s perfect mistress!” the mouse-girl nodded. “I’ll take care of her. Though I was hoping for a mouse boy. However a little baby mouse to take care of will also be fun!”
“I’ll fine a nice boyfriend for you eventually sweetie…” Michelle smiled. Tiffany could- no- she was not going to ask her for help in that! If she couldn't do it it simply wasn't meant to be.
Roderick squeaked as he- well- she was picked up by Belle. “Urgh- you can’t- no- this has got to be a weird dream!” The woman cupped her small form into her hands. His voice was so girly and squeaky! Her limp mouse tail hanging out behind her.
“Don’t worry Roderick. Hm, I’m going to call you Rikki!” Belle smiled. “Is that okay mistress?”
The fox woman was distracted by something as she looked back to the two of them. “That’s fine. I need to go upstairs… I .. sense something very odd.”
It was.. a strange feeling. Everyone in the hospital had been changed now, their illness cured by a transformation. Maimed body parts replaced by animal or other parts or otherwise discarded. However something wasn't right… there was a...
Resistance…
somehow, someone… had resisted her power. There was a glowing aura of darkness… Someone was not cured of their ailment... she could sense the soul, unmoved by her power. She had to investigate this. If her power was not absolute, then nobody would be convinced she was a goddess..
Was there a limit after all, to her power? She had to know...
Michelle wasn't sure what to expect on the next floor. She had passed a few of the sleeping children, each of them now changed so that their injuries or ailments had been repaired. They would enjoy a long full life as a mermaid, or robot-girl.. hm, a harpy? That one must have not been able to use her arms for some reason. Still all this was a good thing in her mind. They were better, they were cured… they just were not human any more, but then neither was she- they will be so much better off in the new world she was making.
She found one large room, with one single bed in the corner. A single window open a tiny crack. There was something on the window, some kind of creature made out of play dough. The boy looked to be of mixed race from what she could tell. Short black hair, somewhat pale brown skin.
“Show me what injury he has.” The magic glowed like a window before her eyes. Odd… Michelle could sense nothing ‘life threatening’. However something still felt odd and unsettling to her magical senses. She didn't feel magic exactly, but there was something about the way the boy’s soul was unmoved by.. anything.
“Awaken,” Michelle placed her hand on his head.
The boy woke up instantly. The nausea and feeling of drugs in his system taken away magically. However he then closed his eyes. “… don’t .. want to..” he mumbled. Just as suddenly, the drugs magically returned. Michelle’s magic was instantly circumvented, blocked and undone.
The kitsune gasped in surprise. How was this possible? She had never encountered anyone that could resist her magic. “Come on kid, you’re not making this easy for me. What’s your illness? I’m going to fix it.”
Michelle placed her hand on his head. Maybe she could enter his dream- only this time, something pushed her away. She looked in alarm at the strange aura emanating from the boy. “What the heck is going on...” Was this some sort of psychic boy?
Michelle then realized the aura was not coming out from the boy, but from the figurine at the window. She approached it carefully… warily. The only sources of magic so far had been herself, Tiffany and.. Skylar's magical pendent. Clearly humans could ‘make’ magic… even if they didn't know it. “Did you make this?” She asked glancing to the boy.
“Yes...” He whispered.
“Ah.. you’re awake.. sort of,” Michelle smiled finally glad to talk to him. “Well he’s a pretty powerful protector. Seems I can’t do anything to you. Can you tell me why you feel you need protecting from me?”
“No.. not you.” The boy sighed glancing away. “It was to stop.. them. The ones who would hurt me.”
Michelle looked at the figurine. It took a lot of work to figure out just what it was. Just a lump of something that could easily be a mouse, a fox, or some dog maybe.. however her magical sense told her it was something even more powerful. A sphinx.. a guardian sphinx. The fox girl picked it up, placing it by the bedside. “It is only play dough,” she mulled. “So.. you want to tell me what happened to you?”
The boy looked hesitant for a moment. Then slowly lifted the covers of his bed to show why he was here.
“Oh...” Michelle bit her lip. She found herself frozen in shock looking at… at...
“They did this to me.” The boy whispered. Michelle could see his soul fracturing… his spirit was broken. “My father’s religion.. demanded it. I was circumcised.” He whispered it heartbreakingly. “I- I tried to make the doctors stop but then- I- I tried to fight going to sleep and- I- I-” he swallowed closing his eyes.. shutting down.
Michelle glanced quietly surveyed the result of the operation. Scared tissue running around the shaft where bits of it were riddled and cut. It was stitched with red surgical thread at thick as twine and looked like the head was wearing a thorny crown. Michelle composed herself again as she turned away from the sight, back to the window outside and at the flickering lights of the police waiting for her. “Hm… how can I help you...” she asked softly. “Kid.. I want to help you...”
The boy looked to her. “… you can’t...” He wrapped the covers back around him, the acute sensations of it all causing him more pain. Pain that was mixed with the sensation of pleasure, causing even more confusion to him. “It hurts...”
Michelle.. realized that this was something out of her league. This was not an ‘injury’ in the same sense… it was laced with religious dogma and perhaps it was a form of ‘ancient’ magic. If one could describe such things as a magic. “… I.. need to talk to someone.” Michelle’s tails unfurled, Now she had seven tails waving behind her… she closed her eyes and felt herself drift.. into another world.
Michelle glanced around. She was back in this strange ‘soul world’. She looked around for the soul belonging to the boy. It was easy to find. Souls here moved like raindrops on the terrain. They all glowed in different colours. This one however… she attempted to pick it up, realizing it was like a stone. It was hard as metal on the outside, yet on the inside it was all fractured like a great mirror.. a broken mirror.
“Daughter...” A voice like thunder reigned above. The sky lit by a giant fox… the great thousand tail. Mother of all Kitsune. It looked down at Michelle with curiosity.
“I am trying to change this one,” she gestured. “Why can’t I?”
The thousand tail in the sky poked her head down, staring at Michelle. It landed on the ground, its tail like mountains in the distance. It gave a light growl… the vibrations moving many of the souls around it in a myriad of directions, all except for the metal mirror like one.
“That soul is... traumatized...” she explained calmly. “We can not effect a being so distressed and broken. Draw it closer to your eye… and you will see...”
Michelle looked at the stone, and brought it closer. She saw blackness inside.. odd..unsettling...“What do these.. colours mean?”
“Internal Emotions...this is Darkness… emptiness… Now use your other eye...”
Michelle did so. There was so much she wanted to learn from the Kitsune. This time she was ‘feeling’ things. “I don’t… understand...” There was such a mix… of sensations. She saw a great white energy, and a pulse of red rings like a chain all around it.
“External feelings...” The Kitsune explained. “These are… his discomfort… sexual sensations... layered with pain… linked together in a chain. He can not feel one, without feeling the other… He can not stop feeling them… As I gaze into the future he will choose to deny both in his mature life… avoiding pleasure is to also avoid pain...” The kitsune observed the future as did Michelle with small snippets of the boy’s life. “Humans are.. curious in what they do to their children… are they not?”
“… I want to cure him.” Michelle demanded. “Let me fix this...” She had no time to really debate about the ethics of what humans did but in -this- case… it wasn't good for the child. It was going to cripple him emotionally. She could see that! “I’m going to make the doctors pay… the parents will pay… society will pay!”
The Thousand Tail continued to gently prod and push at the soul with its mind, taking it from Michelle’s hand, letting it drop onto the strange ocean underneath them where it sank to the bottom. The two floated down following it into the darkest depths of the soul-world. The great Fox observed it like a curious puzzle. “Difficult my child… this is … not an injury done by accident… which could be fixed... neither was it done with malice or hate… which could be undone… It was done with love… he was hurt by love… it can not be undone so easily. Love protects all from magic...”
“... is there something I can do? I've a lot riding on this.”
“..Possibly. I will grant you temporary access to the eight tail.. I am curious to see what you will do… but take heed… all actions have a consequence…”
“I really don’t care. I will help him…” Michelle growled.
