We both see it. A stone monolith with an arch that leads to nowhere but a wall. It looks rugged and pristine at the same time, not like it’s worn, but rather each part was deliberately chosen to be this way. From the smooth marble-like outer arch, to the cobblestone looking inner arch, a foundation looking like a completely natural rock formation, but embedded with jewels and large crystals. Most striking of all, however, has to be the monolith in the center of the arch: pure black with a loose stone… gem… thing in the middle. My eyes can’t look away. I feel Cat right next to me, staring as well. The thing in the center, it’s not as though it’s shifting between states of change and statis before our eyes, but rather, it is both at the same time. It’s difficult to explain, and even harder to comprehend, as if the object’s appearance is more of a feeling than something perceivable. At last, the both of us regain our focus, looking at each other and sweating.

“Do… Do you feel that too…?” I whisper, eyes constantly switching from Cat to the stone and back.

“I… I’m not even sure. I feel something, but…also I don’t. I don’t understand, yet it feels like I get everything…” Their hand begins to reach out once their gentle voice trails off. 

I go to stop them, only to find my hand following their’s, both of us reaching out for the gem. What’s…what’s happening?! I’m scared. I’m so deeply terrified, yet I feel these butterflies in my gut. Underneath the immense, oppressive fear, there lies those feelings I constantly push down. Closer and closer, we step onto the foundation and our hands are almost at the groove in the monolith where the thing sits loosely. Why? Why?! Why now?! My entire body is trembling, I look over to Cat and they’re…smiling…? What…? I don’t have time to process anything, not myself, not Cat, not what we’re doing or what unknown consequence we might face. Because it happens: both of our hands grasp at either end of the rod-like stone and we pull it free.

 

Instantly, shining dots appear at the top and bottom of the monolith before zipping along it to meet in the center, creating paths of light in their wake. The straight line of light down the middle of the dark seems to quiver, like a wave. It spreads wider, as if someone is tearing a hole in the middle of the air, and with each inch it widens, more and more light begins to spill out. From the tear I hear what I can only describe as the sound of a glimmering star, shimmering and radiant, but in the form of a sound that isn’t truly there. The light is loud and so incredibly bright, shining a heavenly, golden hue as it reaches the edges of the stone gate. Cat and I both drop whatever it is we took from the arch, our eyes widening despite the brightness, a brightness that dispels no darkness, yet reveals all in its grace. And from that grace, appears…someone. A figure unlike anything I’d ever imagined.

She radiates the same light as that engulfing the space around us, bright but not blinding, her body like a sun burning so intensely yet harming nothing. Her head is like a wisp of flame, adorned with a tiara with a single gem in its center. The tiara is made of the same golden material as the armour they wear over their chest, angular and sharp. It leads downwards into a flowing dress, layered thrice over. Nothing but light could be seen from under it, and from her long sleeves came fingers, pointed and sharp, made of the same gold as before. Their eyes are wide and piercing, filled with that glowing light which sees all in their purity.

They’re the most beautiful being I’ve ever seen. Well, that may not be entirely true, but in this moment, their glowing beautify is all I can think about. 

She floats before us, smiling at us without a mouth. “My children… For over a thousand years, I have awaited you, seeking my freedom from this mortal prison and finally, in answering my calls, you have granted me life anew.”

Just as the light is bright yet banishes no darkness, they speak with no voice yet each word fills our head like a booming shout that somehow caresses instead of shatters us. This whole time, we’ve stood here, not moving an inch. Time feels slower as we gaze at them, their entirety becoming our entire world in this instance.

“I am Yombroila, Goddess of Truth,” she says, introducing us while placing her hand over her chest. “I seek only to show those lost in the shadows of doubt and despair their true selves, and for so long, this world has been without my aid. My powers needs be restored with time, but in this instance, I would grant the children that have freed me and ushered in a new era of truth a gift beyond the capabilities any mortal may possess”

 

It’s happening.

I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s happening and I understand that it’s happening. I can’t comprehend this experience of knowing exactly what she’s about to offer and what it means yet not being able to understand any of it. The fear in me tries again and again to beat its way through my heart, but the feeling in my gut, this light inside me, it reaches out past the darkness of fear and doubt.

 

“Will you accept Ascension?”

 

Cat

 

“Yes. Yes! Oh, god, yes! I’ve never wanted anything more in my life! I accept Ascension!” My heart is pounding out of my chest to a rhythm new yet my own, my mind races with thoughts I didn’t even know I had, and I embrace it all. Tears begin to flow before anything has even happened!

“You have waited for so long, my child, and endured so much. Feel inside of you the truth of your self, and allow your soul to flourish, for it is my love and light which shows you the way to your own.”

I watch as she gently places a hand on each of our heads. She is barely touching our bodies, yet I can feel her light washing over my soul. Light beams forth from my eyes-- I see none of it, but feel it, the truth of my soul and self shining through. Between that light, the tears shine through, tears of unbridled joy, my whole body setting ablaze with the light of my soul. I feel weightless almost, yet I feel everything. My body is beginning to change…

The straight line from my chest to my hips would no longer be so, as I feel the shape of it curve. What I thought would be the painful shifting of my bones feels as though my body is simply moulding itself to match my soul. As I experience the filling out of my chest (holy crap I didn’t think I wanted them this big?!), another sensation runs through me. My limbs elongate, pulling me towards the ceiling until I stand a foot taller than I was just a moment ago! Then the little details kick in from my shoulders narrowing to my face rounding out, losing its rough edges in favour of a cute, feminine face. I look down over myself, sobbing so happily. This is my body! I feel right, for the first time in my life, I feel like me! 

Yet my soul still glows bright. There’s more? But I don’t need to wonder. I know there’s more because I know who I am. A shiver runs through my spine…and runs further and further, poofing out into a long tail that snakes about my body, covered in yellow fur. Above I feel my ears tingle stretching and pointing outwards, then upwards! Up they go, rounding out into little cat ears. From there, I can feel the rest of me change. Fur sprouts further from my tail and my ears, covering the rest of my body swiftly so that it can shift with ease, my longer legs bending from the bottom as they take the form of paws, and my hands follow, though they retain most of the flexibility of human hands. My nose shrinks and below it a small little muzzle forms. Finally, I feel my hair bursting out in length from the back of my head and reaching down to my hips.

 

I don’t even need to ask for a mirror. I know exactly what I look like. And I’ve never been happier.

 

Fox

 

“...”

It’s almost there.

“...”

I can feel it inside, clawing its way out of the depths of my pain.

“...!”

She’s waiting for me. I’m waiting for me. This hesitance is my doubt, all the filth burying the repressed emotions I’ve crammed down there for years and years, they won’t let me answer, not right away. But as soon as that light shines through…

“Yes. Give me your gift. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I accept your Ascension.”

“My Ascension? It appears I will need to help you just a bit more. This is Your Ascension. Fear not, my child. I see it all: all your pain, all your numbness, all of the desires buried deep under unanswered questions and doubt. I am so deeply sorry I could not have tended to you sooner, but you will know soon who you are and what you desire, I promise you that.”

Another promise to keep up with. I almost laugh to myself. At least this time I’m not the one making it. No, Yombroila, her majesty and grace…she’s doing it all. Her hands reach down as she approaches, placing one on my head, and the other on Cat’s. It’s barely a pat at all, yet it feels like so much more. I feel her grazing my hair while somehow holding my very being as well. And it begins. Light gushes from my eyes like rays of sunlight, though I can’t see or feel a thing. I know it, it’s suddenly something I just know. I barely manage to hold it all back, the tears, the sobs, all the emotions. I can’t handle feeling them all at once. Instead, as the waterworks just narrowly escapes my eyes, I feel something different, yet familiar.

It’s spreading all over my body, not at once, but following a rhythm. I feel it, my soul, changing my body. It knows what to do, beyond my cognition, yet it feels so right. The once bulky body I cursed with such vitriol slims right down, from my arms to my torso. I cease to feel so blocky and obtuse, instead, experiencing a daintiness, a nimbleness, a litheness that feels so good! My legs, however, take their own direction. While my calves seem to slender as well, my thighs… Good lord my thighs take up more space now. Of course, only then is that followed by my chest beginning to grant me curvature as well. As soon as I feel I should be embarrassed, the light washes the feeling away. No, this isn’t something to be ashamed of. This is me. This is right. My face begins to shift next, gone is the square-ish face from before, making way for a slender, sharp, feminine look. Even if I know what I look like from the perspective of my soul, I can’t wait to see myself in a mirror finally. Just as I think it is over, my soul has made time for more surprises, and I find myself rapidly shrinking down. My god, I must be a foot shorter now. It’s…cute. And nice. For some reason, I like it. Like, a lot. But I know it’s not over now. The fear continues to fight against the light, but I accept who I am in this moment.

It feels like a rush of wind down my spine, gliding smoothly along my body as it extends into a tail. A huge tail, it must be taller than myself at this point with a swirly orange pattern right at the tip of the bushel of red fur. My ears follow, and immediately point up. And up. Way up. These…I have a fox tail and ears now, all proportionally very big compared to the rest of me. Then, another gust of wind making the hairs on my body stand up, only to begin taking on the same red hue as my tail and ears, which happened to be the same colour as my hair. Or, what my hair used to be, for it quickly corrected itself, shining bright before settling on a bright orange, same as the tip of my tail. With my body covered in fur, the transformation takes over one last time, morphing my hands into claws, my feet into paws, and my face being gifted a pointy snout with a cute little nose.

 

It’s done. I’ve changed.

 

Yombroila smiles at us once again. “I apologize in advance for the gradual process you will both take, for my powers are not yet acclimatized to this world. However, I see that one of you may need the extra time.”

Only at this point can we finally muster the will to turn our heads to each other. Oh my god Cat is beautiful…! I-I mean…dammit. The goddess’ light appears to be wearing off on me at least, the repression of feelings returning in full force. Well, perhaps not full force. We want to spend more time looking at ourselves and each other, but that idea is thrown out the window as time around us returns to its normal flow and the goddess begins to usher us away as her image fades.

“Now go, lest you find yourselves in grave danger. We shall speak again soon.” 

Her image fades fully, leaving us alone with each other and her final message. Deciding not to go against the advice of a truth goddess, we--no, wait, before we rush out, I grab the gem that seems to power Yombroila’s cell. If we’re in trouble anyways, might as well take something. And with that, we dash out the door, still silent from our work earlier, though our escape is not as easy as that as the thunderous footsteps trailing behind us quickly prove. Just as we’re about to reach the window we entered from, a voice booms from behind us. One that sends a chill down my spine.

“What have you DONE?! You createns!! You’ve tampered with the natural order!!” 

Okay, chill down my spine might be an exaggeration. It’s hard to be scared when they’re standing atop the upper floor balcony in what looks like a wizard’s bathrobe, shouting like a cartoon villain. What does concern me is the tone of their voice, how shrill and enraged it is…it’s not the voice of someone to be trifled with. And we just pissed that person off royally.

“You say that, while wearing that? Please, nothing’s natural unless something’s out of place~” I cup my hand over my mouth. 

What did I just say?! And my voice, it’s…pretty?! A deep, rich, sultry voice, sounding like the kind of woman that elopes with a globe trotting criminal. And it came out of my mouth and said something so…hammy? I just shot a one-liner at the person who’s most likely out to end our lives.

 

And it felt amazing.

 

The lady up top, however, would not agree. So much so she pulls out a staff of some kind, adorned with engravings and silver models of mythological creatures. She waves it in front of herself while chanting what I can only assume is the name of a spell. 

“Inferno rise, release the hounds of hell!”

Hellhounds.

Just as she utters the command, three pillars of flame burst from the ground floor. Molten dogs fly free from the fires, their back legs resembling talons rather than paws. And we’re out. We book it the HELL out. I leap for the nearest closed window first. As I fly towards the window, I shut my eyes, mind and heart racing as I imagine the sound of shattering glass soon to follow the impact, and what intense pain would come after, but as I do…the shattering has already happened? There is a flash of whirling green that looks like a battering ram made of wind, and then the glass is smashed and I’m outside. Despite their awe at whatever the hell is happening right now, Cat follows me through the window and we make our escape.

“What did you just do?!”

I wish I could answer them properly right now, but the dogs are outside too and they’re fast. We just keep running, completely disregarding the statues which for the most part weren’t facing us anyways. Except for the last one. The statue of a small dragon with even smaller wings (I think Cat described something like that as a kobold?) beginning to crack and quake before erupting into a real live one. It’s only as that kobold seems to quickly become more and more distant that I also notice just how fast we are! We’re outspeeding everything with ease but that won’t stop the kobold, who begins taking a deep breath of what’s probably some kind of fire or deadly gas. Whatever it is, I don’t want to be around to find out! Unfortunately, the kobold releases its attack, shooting a ball of noxious gas towards us.

“Dang it-- GO AWAY!!”

I’m not sure why Cat commanded a projectile to stop flying towards us, but as I see a blink from the direction of the moon above, I start to believe it was instinctual on their part. What appears to be a firework hurtles from the sky, colliding with the kobold’s attack on the way down and--

BOOM!!

Okay, definitely a firework if the exploding, fiery lights mean anything. The lights fade, then the smoke, and we see a MASSIVE crater tearing a huge chunk of the manor’s fencing apart. Three dogs and a kobold lay unconscious in the middle of it all.

“Hot damn!! Nice one, Cat!”
“Th-that was me?”

 

We continue to book it, taking even more caution to hide ourselves considering our new forms. The two of us are panting and sweating under our new fur as we make it to a random alleyway for a brief moment of respite.

“Hah… Haaahhh… Okay… Oh my god that actually happened!” The enthusiasm in Cat’s voice is so much stronger than just moments ago. Cat’s clear, cute, unrestrained and excited voice.

Even so, I can’t help but feel…bothered. “Y-yeah… I guess it did…”

“Like… Oh my god. Just… Oh my god! I have to-- We have to explore this, oh my god!” Cat throws their paws up and holds their head in disbelief of all that’s happened, but for me it’s just too much.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa…” I hold my claws up and wave them at Cat. “Can…can this wait until we’re home…? I’d much prefer privacy over standing in a dark alley checking out my…my…oh my god I have tits. Oh my fucking god-- WHAT THE FUCK?!”

My breathing begins to get erratic until Cat lowers themselves and pulls me in, chest to chest and chin over the others’ shoulder. “Fox, it’s okay. It’s okay…we’ll work this out, okay?” 

They were always caring and concerned before, but they’re really letting it out now… And I’m glad it’s working. “First off, let’s find a way home. We can’t take the train, not looking like this.”

As my mind begins to calm down, I remember something. “Feet.”

“Feet?”
“Err, paws, whatever. FUCK, I’M AN ACTUAL FOX NOW-- I’m okay. Okay. We were running really fast earlier. I don’t know about you, but I’m sure I’ve got enough stamina as long as I’m not being chased by goddamn hell hounds--” I take some deep breaths. Now’s not the time to freak out. We’ve gotta get home.

“I think you’re right. Honestly, it might be faster than the train, I hadn’t really registered how fast we were going, but either way, it’s probably our safest bet.”

I nod to Cat, taking one last breath before walking out of the alley way, the two of us finding our way out of the city through the shadows, so that we can begin to make a mad dash home.