Charm 2023 - Part 5

“I honestly didn’t know,” a voice said at my side, and my eyes burst open to see Destiny nearby.

Blinking and then shaking my head to clear my mind, I tried to process what had happened. “You betrayed me?”

“No, no, no…” She inched closer, but then hesitated and glanced over her shoulder. “They’ll be back any minute. I don’t know why they’re doing this, but… I’m sorry.”

A quick struggle told me that I wasn’t getting out of this easily. My body was trapped inside of a sort of sarcophagus-looking box, vertical, only my head sticking out. A breathing mask was over my face—likely to keep me from hitting my enemy with charms. That at least told me they were familiar with what I was capable of, but I wasn’t sure how such knowledge would help me yet.

Unease settled over me as I took in the room. It was dark, a dim light in the halls ahead and flickering torches mounted on the walls barely visible around the bend. They cast long shadows across the rough stone floor. Water dripped in the distance in a steady drip… drip… drip. Stone walls were adorned with trinkets and relics that made me imagine long-forgotten civilizations. Among them was a human skull, its eye sockets containing rubies that sparkled in the faint torchlight and gazed at me with as if in warning.

In the middle of the room a metal table held several cannisters of the purple liquid I had seen in the fortress. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. I couldn't help but wonder who, or what, might be lurking in the shadows, waiting to make their presence known.

Trying to move, I found that I was unable. Sobs told me Destiny was crying. The nerve of her, to get me trapped here and then cry!

“What did you use on me?” I asked, hating how muffled my voice sounded through this mask. No matter how much I scrunched my face or contorted my jaw, I couldn’t shake the damned thing.

“I told you, it wasn’t…” Her eyes went wide and she spun, then quickly stepped out of the way.

Two figures stood behind her. How they had entered without me noticing was baffling. Was I this out of it? Trying to struggle proved fruitless, and I could already tell that any sort of charm breath would only affect me. One wore a blue and purple dress with gold lines that gave it the appearance of a military dress uniform, her face completely covered with a fox mask. Only, her mask had digital lines with glowing eyes and covered her face and head completely, only her wavy hair showing at the back where it flowed out.

“Destiny, leave,” this one said, voice harsh and mechanical.

The woman at her side wore a uniform of blue with a white cape and matching white fox mask that, like Destiny, left her mouth uncovered.

Turning to me to mouth, “Sorry,” Destiny quickly ducked out of there, leaving me with these two.

“After so long of ignoring our call, you finally show up,” the first said, stepping up to me and giving me a once over. “Unfortunately, you’re too late.”

“Too late for what?” I demanded.

Her companion moved to my side, making adjustments on the tank that held me in place. “Our dear leader, Naya, is telling you that we had no choice. Our gods abandoned us, so now we have done what’s necessary for survival.”

“All because you couldn’t bother to respond,” Naya added, continuing to stare at me through her glowing, mechanical eyes. “You couldn’t follow through on your promises.”

“There were no messages. Nothing got through… at least that I’m aware of.”

“Lies!”

“Also… Could you let me out of this? No? Well, you should know I’m not so much with the Kitsune Planet people these days, so… yeah.”

“Reyen, begin extraction,” Naya said, apparently addressing the woman in white.

A click sounded and I tried to turn what Reyen was up to, but found that my mobility didn’t allow for it as she was to my side and behind. Movement registered, but not much more before a flood of purple and pink hit me—all within the tank. At first it came as a burst of liquid through the tube and I thought my end would come from drowning on this muck, then mist poured in from around me and the tube, filled with gas.

As I gasped for air, I consumed the gas and found my head spinning. The last thing I saw before the visions took me was a glisten of what looked like a tear from the one called Reyen.

Having visions while trapped on an alien planet wasn’t optimal, but at least they were pleasant visions. Not at first, when I found myself in a similar situation, trapped on the prison ship. I was back in those first few days, rattling my bars, kicking and punching walls, trying to remember why I had been put there. Even in my memory days past, maybe months or years, I couldn't be sure. Fights and horrible interactions with other inmates, sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling wishing I could be gone from that horrible place.

And one day, cells opening and powers returning. Then came the good visions. That first day when I had been sneaking around, cloaked as I tried to figure out why my powers were starting to return and what this meant for the rest of the villains. I had just started down one of the main halls after exiting a room of cheering and howling super villains, when I saw this guy standing there talking to himself. Naturally I assumed he was insane.

This was of course the man that became known to me as Breaker. visions of the two of us navigating that space prison, then of my hands navigating his flesh... I imagine a moment of ecstasy escaped my lips as I set trapped in that dungeon prison envisioning this. What would the strange fox colt people think? I didn't care. I was occupied with my imagination, focused on the first time Breaker's hand had slid down my pants, the way his lips felt as they pressed against my neck, or his tongue elsewhere.

Then I was flashing forward, Breaker and the rest of our team at my side as we fought enemies. my power was increasing and I could feel it now as I had then, watching myself as if from afar as new tales appeared from my rear.

It hit me then that somehow this fox cult was causing me to relive the memories of my progression. In doing so, it was entirely possible they were somehow trying to use that against me.

I had to make it stop.

With deep breaths I diverted my thoughts, focusing instead on the mundane and the emotional. I was taken back to they spent on the hillside overlooking Supralines superhero academy. Then two the moment I had wed Breaker, and skipping forward to the moment that I met my father.

A small metallic fox took over my vision, pink energy swirling around it. That was it. My answer to escaping this situation. I was more than the shape that I normally held.

All I needed to do was wake up and put my new plan into action. While I had never actually transformed my body, it wasn't as if I would be the first to do so. When I was awake the best way to fall asleep was to find complete satisfaction, so I decided that while pretty much asleep, the best way to wake up was to do the same.

My entire focus turned to moments with Breaker and the others, to my hand stroking him, to his tongue flicking across mine. At one moment I had his head between my legs, my hands burning through his hair and pulling his head down, pressing harder and harder, then I was on all fours with my tails in the air, him taking me from behind. Others from our team joined, and as real as these memories were, I soon found myself huffing and puffing as if I were about to blow the whole ship down. Climax came with the power of a raging storm, and as bliss took hold and I lost track of all thoughts, darkness came over me until my eyes opened.

Waking up, I grinned. It felt good to be awake again, even if I was already missing those moments from my visions.

These members of the fox cult were discussing how they would use my powers—how stealing my blood and essence would give them great powers. But that wasn’t why I felt a sense of hope and excitement—no, that was because my visions had given me a way out.

“She’s awake,” the shorter of the two said, and stepped over to check on the machinery and likely up my dosage. Big mistake.

With a quick breath and focus on all of the colors at once, I morphed the image of those colors in my head into a tight ball. It appeared like metal swirling, expanding and shapes and various ways like it was liquid, and then I said, “I am the fox.”

Having never transformed like this before it was a strange sensation. my entire body shifted and shook, then sunk in on itself. But it wasn't painful. Instead it was like I was becoming aware oversight of me that I hadn't known of before. Before I knew it my body had changed shape—not quite the metallic being I had in mind, but corporeal, like somewhere between a spirit and the metal fox I’d had in mind. While not free of the glass tank, I was free of all other constraints.

I charged forward and, in spite of the slight push the glass gave me, managed to pass through it, flying through the air on explosive bursts of light. Free.