This story is meant to be fairly wholesome, however…
*This story has LGBTQ characters in it, with several transgender characters.
*There’s implied gender transformation shenaniganry - as well as the consequences of these changes.

The Legend of Darumond

Ariel shuddered as her leg sank into the swampy mud. She could have easily turned her ability to sense this off, but the last time she did that, everything felt numb, which felt worse to her than dealing with the feeling of the murk now entering her shoes.

“Everything alright back there?” asked Eris, who was floating a foot above the swamp, with her wispy purple genie tail on full display. “You know you can just float over this like me, right?”

Ariel used her magical strength to free her foot, which was covered in slimy muck. “Still learning… Eeeew…”

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there…” Eris reassured her.

Where, exactly? As genies, both could sense a vast multiverse of alternate realities, some that were nearly identical to their own, save for maybe one person’s snack choice one morning, and some that were bewilderingly different. This was the latter, and yet one of the closest universes to their own… It was called the Hallow, an alternate Earth that was brimming with magic. Those sensitive to magic could often feel its presence, as it lies practically overtop the “regular” Earth realm.

Portals to this strange realm could be found all over their own Earth, but they were often hidden in places that were wild and hard to access by humans. This was by design… And poor Ariel, still not yet a year into her existence as a genie, was ill-equipped to reach this particular portal.

It took a few more minutes of walking (or floating) through this mud soup for the two of them to reach a strange, small hill with a tree on top of it. It wouldn’t have looked so out of place had it not been for the perfectly circular indent – about five feet in diameter – on one side of the hill.

“That’s it,” Eris said, gesturing to the odd spot. “This is a portal to the Hallow.”

“Seems so random… Is it just here naturally, or…?”

“No, the kitsunes made this one. There have been natural portals in the past, but they were sealed up when the kitsunes started to fear humans accessing their world’s magic. It was intentionally put here so that humans would have a hard time accessing it.”

“Well, they nailed that one…” Ariel muttered as she pulled off her ballet shoes and emptied mud out onto the ground.

Eris put her hand near the circle. The spot began to glow. A feminine voice rang out: “I sense there are two near this gateway. A genie is activating the portal, but who is the other? I sense intense magic…”

“I’m Eris. You were expecting me. I have brought along with me a relatively new Angelic Genie named Ariel, who I have been mentoring since her transformation,” Eris answered.

“Ah, Eris, it has been some time. Tell me, has this Ariel experienced the Hallow yet?”

Eris looked at Ariel, who shook her head. “No, she has not.”

“Well, then, Ariel the Angelic Genie-“

“Actually, can we drop the title and call me Ariel Hope?” she asked.

“Sure thing! Ariel Hope, welcome to our realm of the Hallow! Please, both of you, step through the gate…”

The circle appeared to start shimmering, like a puddle of glowing water. Eris reached out to Ariel. “Careful, the first time stepping through a portal like this can be disorienting, even for a genie.”

Ariel reached out and grabbed Eris’s hand. Eris moved through the portal, dragging Ariel along. As soon as her face made it into the portal, her eyes were overwhelmed by all sorts of colors and lights she wasn’t expecting. It was like having a rainbow sandblasted into your eyes. Even for all her power, Ariel quickly became disoriented and dizzy.

All of it happened in a fraction of a second, and they were on the other side. Ariel lost her balance and fell forward onto the ground.

“Ah, so she hasn’t even visited another universe yet, let alone ours,” suggested the feminine voice.

“I remember my first time. It looked something like that.” Eris reached down and pulled Ariel up. Ariel sat down again as her eyes were still spinning. “Don’t worry, Ariel, you’ll get used to it. First time’s always the hardest.”

Slowly, Ariel regained her senses. She looked around at the new surroundings. The trees had pink trunks and teal leaves, vastly different from her home dimension. The leaves even had a soft glow to them. To her left was a woman… A fox woman, in some kind of armor, with blue fur and green hair, sporting six tails, with one or two twitching on occasion. She sensed a different kind of magic – one that felt wild in nature – flowing through the fox woman’s veins.

“You’re a kitsune, I take it?” Ariel asked.

“Indeed I am. I never know what to expect with a djinn, but you’re very cute!” said the kitsune woman. “And I forget that genies like yourself have that special aura in our world…”

“Huh?” Ariel asked as she turned to Eris, only to see Eris was glowing! She was enveloped in a light purple aura.

“Oh, yeah, our magic resonates with the magic of the Hallow, so we have this glowing aura around us at all times – we can’t hide it even if we tried,” Eris explained. “That said…” She conjured a mirror and showed Ariel her reflection. “This is what you look like!”

Indeed, like Eris, Ariel was glowing too! But unlike Eris, there were additional details to her aura; hers was light blue, but she could also see something akin to a halo over her head and a pair of glowing wings. "Oh wow..." Ariel muttered as she gazed at her glowing reflection.

“You certainly weren’t kidding about her being an Angelic Genie! The resonating aura gives it away.”

“So, Ariel, we still have to travel a little to reach the kitsune settlement. Ready to go?”

Ariel stood up and nodded.

“Alright then, I will be here to open the portal for you two when you return!” said the kitsune woman. “Until then, safe travels, and I hope you enjoy our world!”

=== The kitsune settlement. ===

Ariel spent the trip trying to absorb all the sights in this strange world. It was so colorful and full of wonder. She even once wondered if the world was simply one child’s overactive imagination made real…

Before long, the two genies were in the midst of a village. Or at least, that’s what it was called; quite frankly, this was a city, albeit one that was made of trees and mud houses, but it was intricate and well thought out. There were even cords to suggest electrical power (or something equivalent). And the kitsunes, they were themselves as colorful as their world. No two were alike; each one had different colored fur, hair, and eyes, and each had varying numbers of tails – one or two had no tails at all!

And a part of her became envious of this society, as she began noting some of the kitsunes didn’t seem to abide by the same gender roles; she was pretty sure some were trans to all sorts of degrees, and no one around here seemed to bat an eye. She wondered if gender roles were even enforced to any degree when she saw a couple of clearly masculine kitsunes wearing dresses.

Eris caught Ariel’s glance at one of these kitsunes. “Trying to figure things out?”

“Yeah, trying to wrap my head around this. It seems like kitsunes haven’t developed rigid gender roles like in our world…”

“You seem jealous, and I don’t blame you. The kitsunes learned a long time ago that forcing people into gender roles leads to disaster. In a world filled with magic, the last thing you want is an angry person in pain… It can be a lot harder to clean up the mess that results and subdue them.”

“Dangit, why couldn’t I have been born here?” Ariel muttered aloud.

“Heh, yeah, you and me both… That said, you’d have been a kitsune. Would you be okay with that?”

Ariel kept staring at the kitsunes, who – other than a curious glance – usually went back to their own devices. “You know, they’re kinda pretty… I might make myself a kitsune form one of these days…”

Interesting… Eris thought. Not something I ever considered for myself.

It took a few minutes for them to reach the center of the city, which had a grand tree, serving as a building. Standing before it was a kitsune man with nine tails, orange fur and golden blonde hair. Eris and Ariel felt him radiate magic power unlike any other kitsune they’d been near so far. He was their leader here, and he was beyond powerful.

He noticed them coming up and moved up to them. “Welcome back, Eris!” he said with a bow. He turned to Ariel. “You must be the other one who came with her, an apprentice of sorts?”

“Ah, yes, I’m Ariel. Ariel Hope, an Angelic Genie.”

The kitsune bowed. “A pleasure to have one such as yourself. I am Temporah, Changemaker kitsune of time. I lead this particular settlement of our people.”

Ariel tilted her head. “Changemaker? And you control time?”

“You didn’t tell her?”

“This was kind of sudden, Temporah. Orders from above and whatnot,” Eris replied. A slight blush of embarrassment could be seen. She knew she probably should have prepped Ariel more for her first meeting with kitsunes.

"Fair enough, I know full well that genies can get blindsided with divine orders.” Temporah turned to Ariel. “You see, I am a kitsune with nine tails. Usually, those of us who develop this number of tails during puberty also develop powers that can shape foundational aspects of a universe. In my case, time. That’s why those with nine tails are called ‘Changemakers,’ as we can change the universe itself if needed. Each of the tail numbers you’ve seen on the way here has a meaning, which drives the kitsune in question.”

“Sounds complicated…” Ariel admitted.

“Certainly, but we learned to live with it.”

“Actually, I’ve been really intrigued by what I’m noticing about your society. As a trans girl from Earth, I’ve been victim to hurt and hate. And yet…”

“Ah, yes. And yet you see all around you kitsunes that are freely living their gender identities, whatever form it takes. I can see why you might have taken notice. To answer, we allow ourselves free expression, and we’re encouraged to explore who we are at all times. It helps ease our people, and it is particularly helpful for those who wind up with the greatest of burdens…” Eris knew what Temporah meant by the last part…

… But it flew over Ariel’s head. “Can I live here?” she asked.

Temporah let out a hearty laugh. “What an enthusiastic young genie we have here! Certainly, you’re free to live in the Hallow as you please. But knowing you’re angelic, doesn’t that mean you have duties to others you must attend to?”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’re about two months away from me coming to my first holder…” Ariel sighed.

“No worries, knowing you’re angelic, you’ll always be welcome to our realm, Ariel!” Temporah said with a smile.

Ariel blushed in turn.

He turned to Eris. “So, you’re here about the Couple’s Lamp, correct?”

“Yes I am. And Ariel, we’ll need you to help.”

“You will?”

“Angelic Genies can sense deep curses, so you can spot any leftover curses that we haven’t yet undone. And it’s a time-honored tradition that they also unshackle enslaved genies when their time comes, although it’s not necessarily required.”

“Gotcha. But ‘Couple’s Lamp?’”

“Did you not tell her anything?” Temporah asked, shaking his head. “It is a lamp containing a couple, two who did not want to be separated by the forces of your world at the time. So Darumond decided to make them both genies and share the same lamp…”

“Him again?” Ariel sighed.

“This is where the story I told you on your first day comes together, actually” Eris informed her. “You see, there’s a reason most genies can only grant three wishes to someone before needing to recharge; it’s a buffer of sorts to prevent stress on the universe. To forcibly bind two genies together, that means they can grant six wishes total, which could lead to disaster. And being enslaved, it means they must grant the wishes. We had to hide their lamp here, where the kitsunes don’t care about getting their wishes granted by genies…”

“Because we usually can solve our problems with our own magic,” Temporah added.

“Exactly, and it’s worth noting that the relationship between magic beings and Earth governments hasn’t always been so chummy… There are actually still remnants of a government organization running around that seeks to exploit magic. The Couple’s Lamp in the wrong hands could destroy the Earth!”

“Yikes, but we’re here to solve that, right? Free them, finally?” Ariel asked.

“Yup! So, Temporah, you have it, right?”

“We had a scare recently, a human investigator got close to the portal on your side. We moved the lamp to another location as a precaution.”

“Darn. We’ll need to fetch it again. Ariel, let’s-“

“Actually, if this is Ariel’s first time here, why not let her stay? I can send a kitsune with you to guide you, while Ariel learns more here,” Temporah suggested.

“I actually like that idea too! Think it’d be okay, Eris?”

“It’s not a bad idea. You probably need to learn more about the kitsunes and Darumond anyway. It will be a couple of days, so don’t cause trouble!” Eris said with a wink.

“With that settled, I will send out for those each of you will need. Until then, sit tight…” said Temporah as he walked into the tree building.

=== The next day, the nearby mountains. ===

While Eris was going to the next city over to retrieve the Couple’s Lamp, Ariel was paired with a kitsune by the name of Frua. For as feminine as Frua appeared, they insisted on she and them pronouns. Their appearance reflected this, with shorter bright red hair (which combined with orange fur gave Ariel the feel of a fire or flame), and baggier women’s pants and shirt. Ariel couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was, but she sensed Frua had been touched by some extraordinary power. It left marks Ariel could sense. She also sensed Frua had lived a lot longer than the 150-year lifespan that was the average among kitsunes. There was a weariness about her…

But her analysis came to a halt as the railcar itself did, jolting to a halt and knocking both of them over.

“Dang it all!” yelled Frua. “No one ever uses this anymore. Hang on…” She reached up and popped a hatch. Their hands glowed as they fiddled with the hanging car’s pulley system. In a few minutes, it whirred back to life, and Frua closed the hatch. “Sorry about that, this thing sits idle for years at a time now. Used to be visited every day by those wanting a spectacular view, but those views are long gone. No one comes anymore, except to keep an eye on things.”

“Why is that?” Ariel asked.

“Heard of Darumond?”

“His name keeps popping up around here. Eris told me about him on my first day as a genie…”

“Short answer, the mess he caused… The longer answer is why I’m taking you up here today.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I heard he caused a genocide that the genies were allowed to correct. This was the kitsunes, wasn’t it?”

Frua nodded. “He waged war on us the moment he found our world. He wanted us all gone. I was there personally.”

“Wait, this happened hundreds of years ago! I sensed you were older than you appeared, but…”

“Yes, if we go by that strange human calendar of yours, I was born in the early 1600’s. I’m one of the oldest living kitsunes… And for much of it, it’s been a struggle.”

“How so?”

“Do you know what it’s like to be in a body different from what you were born to?”

“Uh, kinda. I was born a boy, but I wanted to be a girl.”

“Ah, transgender yourself. Long story short, I was born a boy too, but I didn’t really have a say on whether I became a biological female or not…”

“What? Were you cursed or something?”

The railcar stopped at the top of the mountain. “Perhaps it would be better to explain with a visual aide…” Fura stepped out of the car, with Ariel following behind. They stepped onto a scenic terrace overlooking the land on the other side of the mountain, and Ariel gasped.

It was a desolate, sandy desert as far as the eye could see.

“Do you see it, what lies hidden from most eyes?”

Ariel could see red… Symbols? No, it was a language, sharp and jagged and hurtful. It was a demonic curse that seeped into the very planet. She could feel what it was doing, and her eyes started to water…

“Your world… It’s dying…”

“Thanks to Darumond’s last wish. You see, he felt the Hallow and the kitsunes were an existential threat to him, so he began to wipe us out.”

“But how was he stopped?”

“That Couple’s Lamp you’re looking for was one key. When he created it, it gave off a massive magic signature the genies were alerted to. They immediately came for him and followed him to this realm. But by that point, he was already at war with us. But we had a few surprises up our sleeves…”

“So it wasn’t an easy fight for him after all.”

“Right. The first was our six-tailed kind. For centuries past, they were cast out from our society, due to a penchant for violence and corruption. We didn’t fully understand their needs then, but rather than harbor ill will for it, these voracious fighters came to the aid of the people struggling against Darumond. Their penchant for battle and strategy turned the tide against Darumond enough that at least some parts of the world knew peace.”

“I saw a six-tailed woman guarding the portal…”

“They make the best guards, competitors, and warriors. They have a relentless drive for competition and growing stronger. We used to call them Beast kitsunes because of the stigma, but they’re now our Warrior kitsunes. But even with them, Darumond wouldn’t fall. Djinns are too powerful even for Changemakers. So we needed something stronger…”

“How can something be stronger than someone who can manipulate time or space?”

“One who can break them… And this is where I come in…” There was some reservation in Frua’s voice. They didn’t like recounting this, it sounded like.

“Break time and space?” Ariel asked, shocked.

Frua nodded. “You didn’t see a kitsune with thirteen tails, but they’re possible. In fact, they’re the only kind that can come from a kitsune that already went through puberty once before. We call them Luckbreakers…”

“You know, we have ‘Friday the Thirteenths’ that are supposedly bad luck days… Anyway, how does that work?”

“It is said when the world is in grave danger, a thirteen-tailed kitsune will appear to restore balance. They get powers to basically do anything they can imagine. Laws of physics that can still constrain Changemakers are mere suggestions to Luckbreakers. Magic stands no chance either.”

Frua closed their eyes. “And I was the one seemingly chosen for the role. One day, my life turns upside down, and I undergo a second puberty. I had spent my days just fine as a male kitsune, and… Within minutes, my fur, hair, and eyes had changed colors, and my biological sex had flipped. It was tremendously painful… And when I could open my eyes, I saw a different person staring back at me in my own reflection…”

“Frua… I’m so sorry.”

“… And after that, I had a power that’s hard to comprehend, with dysphoria filling my mind. And all I could do was blame him.” Frua tensed up as they recounted the memories, their claws digging into the wood railing. “He couldn’t leave our world alone, and someone had to fight him. And that someone was me. I had to do it. No one else could. Everything I knew about my life was taken from me… And I threw every ounce of that rage at him for it… There was even a time he got to understand my pain…”

“You gender-flipped him? From what I understand, he usually did that to his victims!”

Frua opened their eyes and looked at her. “You’re joking, really?”

“That’s what Eris told me. Heck, she was trans, so she took to the change better than most.”

Frua let out a restrained chuckle. “I didn’t know that! I guess karma came to bite him hard, huh?”

“What happened next? Just how did he manage to cause this decaying curse?”

“Well, first, we fought in a battle that few can even comprehend. Although, it was more like a one-sided beat-up, given I could ignore his attempts to manipulate physics and any form of magic he could throw at me. In the end, I had effectively made him mortal, and the genies took him away. With the need for a Luckbreaker gone, the extra tails fell away…”

“I was wondering why you only had five now…”

“I wasn’t a Pathfinder before, I was a Guardian. Guardians have four tails, usually ones who help others through tough times…”

“In a way, it makes sense why you were picked, in that case. You just needed a lot more power than you had at the time,” Ariel suggested.

“The thought had crossed my mind. Along those lines, it also made sense that afterward, I was going to figure out the way my people needed to go in the future… Being touched by Luckbreaker power often has side-effects, one of them being longevity. I still may have hundreds of years before I even start aging again – plenty of time to chart a course for what’s next.”

“What is next, anyway?”

“Exodus. We’ve been planning to move out of the Hallow for some time. After all, the curse Darumond laid will strip the planet of all its magic and life before too long… We have 150 to 200 years at the most.”

“You said when your powers faded, he was still alive. That’s when he did it, I take it?”

Frua nodded. “The genies were preparing a ritual to sap him of his remaining magic before incarcerating him. However, before they could make their move, he made one to expel nearly everything left to infect our world with the decaying curse. We all felt it move across the land at the time. We knew what Darumond did. And I was furious at the forces that be for taking the Luckbreaker power away from me – the one thing that might have been able to remove the curse…”

“Did the genies try to help?”

“After they shredded what remained of him for his final crime, they did. Unfortunately, even all the angelic genies they could spare, dozens of them, couldn’t break the curse. It’s insidious; if even one letter of the curse remains, it replicates itself like a virus and continues its course. And it’s a very complex curse. We’ve taken to studying it so that maybe one day, another world can be spared. Ours… We’ve resigned ourselves to letting it run its course. After which, it will expire, and we can at least try to repair the planet…”

“But where are you going to live while that’s happening? I can’t imagine that, even with magic, repairing your world is going to be fast…”

“We currently have some of our own living on the Earth. It isn’t new, but we’re looking into the serious possibility of migrating there… Although not yet public, we have met with your world’s leaders in this regard. Research between our people is ongoing into whether this is even feasible. We’re hoping cooperation between our peoples will make your world capable of handling supporting us too…”

“I hate to burst your bubble on that idea, but…”

“’Humans are a bunch of hateful jerks that can’t accept members of their own kind for the pettiest of reasons?’ I heard it myself… But, if I may… It was a human who told me that, out of concern, and you also came from them, did you not?”

“I did.”

“Then not all humans are bad. Likewise, not all kitsunes or genies are good, for that matter. It’s just about whether we decide we want the good aspects of our kind to win. I think a lot of people underestimate humanity. Things can seem like a mess at any given time, but when you have the benefit of hundreds of years… You see something different.”

This got Ariel to think hard for a moment. Sure, her biological parents were monsters (and as she’s learned, not just because they threw out their kid for being trans…), but when she was living on the streets, a lot of people reciprocated her kindness, paid her back however they could. Even when the worst got dropped on her, that she was declared dead and thus legally a ghost, people were trying to support her as best as possible. She might not have made it that final month without their help…

“You know… I may not even be here now if it weren’t for the help of others… Thank you.”

“For?”

“Reminding me of the good of humans.”

“Don’t mention it!” Frua said, smiling.

“As for you… What, exactly, do you identify as? You look kind of feminine with your clothes and body, but you still use ‘they’ pronouns, and you said yourself the gender swap hit you really hard…”

“Even after several hundred years, I still don’t have a real answer to that… After my return to being a normal kitsune, I was reassured that I could return to my life as a man if I chose to, and I would get any assistance I needed in that regard. But I couldn’t discount that fate had made me female with my transformation…”

“Frua, a lot of people try to use that rationalization on Earth. It doesn’t end well when you force it…”

“I know, but there was some part of me that was, at times, okay with it. I don’t know, maybe I’m gender-fluid to some degree? But at first, it was hard to let go of a fully male identity. I determined that I was going to try to live with my new body for a time, see if I could live with it. The first couple of decades were the hardest… I would be fine some days, then I had to bind my chest for weeks. I cried, well, a lot. But I think it was the suddenness of my change. It was hard to accept because in so short a time, I went from what I knew to something I didn’t. It was scary. But it opened a door, and well… These days, I find myself enjoying looking feminine more. I’m okay now. I don’t need to bind my chest anymore. Some days, like today, I just need a baggier look, but otherwise, I’m okay.”

“That’s good to hear. I didn’t want you forcing yourself into anything you weren’t okay with.”

“Thank you. And is it just me, or are you really easy to talk to? I don’t usually share that with just anyone, especially not someone I just met…” Frua wondered.

“I got that a lot as a human. Been getting that a lot as a genie too, for that matter…” Ariel realized.

“I suppose that helps for one whose job it is to help others… Anyway, my home was an inland peninsula surrounded by lakes.” Frua pointed into the distance to their right. “Long gone now, dried up and sand just like the rest of what you see here. I wish you could have seen it back then…”

“I think I know what you’re talking about. The place I come from is the same way! It’s called Michigan, and it’s surrounded by the Great Lakes! Maybe I can take you there one day!”

Frua closed her eyes and smiled. “You know, it would be good to see a place like that again… Thank you, Ariel.”

“You’re welcome, Frua!” responded with a glowing smile of her own.

Ariel and Frua both knew it then; they had become friends already. They agreed to stay and see the sights from here just a little while longer…

=== Two days later, the kitsune city.  ===

Eris was finally back in Temporah’s city. In her hands, a golden oil lamp with entwined spouts, a ring holding the twin spouts at the end together. This was the Couple’s Lamp. Within, there were two full-powered genies. She had met these two many times over the centuries, giving them the comfort she never had during her own enslavement… But at least they had each other. Their bond never faded over the centuries, and the things they created within their world… Well, Ariel would see soon enough.

But it made her think of her own time. Hundreds of years ago, she passed through many hands. Apparently, an entire order built itself around her, recognizing that she wanted to undo the ills of her mortal life. It all started when she came upon her second master, her right-hand man as king. He had almost made the wish to serve her in her genie life, but she stopped him. It would have been for eternity, a member of her vessel forever. Given what she dealt with at the time, she couldn’t let another suffer her fate.

But even if he couldn’t serve her like that, he made sure that, for the most part, she was protected. The order he created while she was stuck in her vessel helped guide her to trustworthy hands that could help her undo the damage she caused in life (and with her first master, while she was a magic drone incapable of thought). Even his descendants, many centuries later, would help her see the good she did, even when she was at her lowest…

But even with the centuries passed, and all that transpired because of it, she still missed him. Still, she couldn’t discount the friends she made in her time as a genie, mortal and otherwise, carrying their memories with her wherever she went. She hoped Ariel could do the same…

Eris caught a glance at Ariel, who was with the kitsune hero, Frua. They were talking, and even smiling. Frua was notably reserved because of all they had gone through. And yet, here they were, smiling.

I think Ariel will be just fine, if she can get someone like Frua to open up… Eris thought, relaxing a little at the sight.

Ariel spotted Eris, waved to Frua, and ran up to Eris. “Welcome back, Eris! I take it that’s the Couple’s Lamp?” she asked.

Eris nodded. “Yes it is. Before we take this somewhere private, did you befriend Frua?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s really nice once she opens up! She’s got lots of stories to tell, and she’s an avid gamer too! I honestly didn’t expect that…”

Eris smiled. “It’s good to see you making friends. Even if you may one day outlast them, friendships are important to genies. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.”

“But you got Frua to open up? You have a gift, Ariel.”

“Heh, thanks. I can’t wait to meet her again!”

“Anyway, we should take this elsewhere. It’s best to have privacy when doing this, even if the kitsunes won’t interfere.”

“Fair enough. Lead the way!”

The two traveled into the forest surrounding the city. They didn’t go far, as the sounds of the city could still be heard.

“Alright, let’s just lay them down gently, and…” Eris grabbed Ariel’s hand and proceeded to have her start rubbing the lamp. Eris did the same, and before too long, their legs morphed into their genie tails and connected themselves to the spouts.

“Woah, what’s going on!?” Ariel yelped.

“This is how you get into a vessel containing an enslaved genie. A moral summons, while a genie gains entry…”

Ariel could feel it. She could now go in if she wanted, or she could cancel it and return to normal. She had a choice here, even if the transformation was unexpected. She nodded to Eris before allowing herself to be drawn in. Eris quickly followed suit.

Within… Ariel couldn’t believe her eyes. Planetoids and stars flew around her! The two contained in this lamp had created their own mini-universe, with each planet a verdant paradise!

“Oh… My…” Ariel started.

“Impressive, right?” Eris asked, floating behind her.

“I don’t know what I expected…”

“In half the time, they created more than I did, that’s for sure. I got a little mansion. They have a few solar systems.”

“W-wow. This is what we’re capable of in our vessels!? I mean, you said as much on my first day, but…”

“You don’t really believe it until you see it, right?”

“Yeah, no kidding!”

“Anyway, they should be waiting for us. I let them know we were both coming, so they should have picked a place we can meet them…”

“How do we even…” But before Ariel could finish her thought, she spotted one of the planets being wrapped by an aurora of pink and purple. “Well, that’s pretty obvious…”

Both of the genies flew over to the planetoid, descending to its surface. Their legs reformed as they reached the ground. Before them, a pair of women, one with pale skin, the other with near ebony, holding hands.

“Welcome back, Eris,” said the lighter skinned one.

“And this would be Ariel, correct?” asked the darker skinned one.

“That I am!” she replied. That’s when she noticed the glowing tether, a pair of chains for each of them, connected to their bangles (or rather, shackles), snaking their way to the vessel’s portal. It did not matter how large the vessel’s dimension was on the inside; these magic chains would always bind them to the portal, to be summoned at a moment’s notice. “Oh my…” escaped her lips.

“Don’t worry, Ariel, that’s what we’re here to fix,” Eris reassured her, realizing she was seeing the binding chains.

“Anyway, what are your names?” Ariel asked them. “I never learned your names yet…”

“Emmaska…” the lighter skinned one said, bowing.

“Eternia…” replied the ebony one, holding out her hand for Ariel to shake. Ariel grabbed it with a smile.

“I would assume you both chose names for yourselves after becoming genies?” Ariel asked.

“Of course!” replied Emmaska. “After all, it’s not like we were going back to our old lives anyway.”

“Indeed, I was a slave before. What life was there for me to go back to?” added Eternia.

“So, we decided a couple of years in to change our names to whatever we wanted,” Emmaska replied. “And I got to say, you picked a great name, my love,” she added as she kissed Eternia on the cheek. Eternia blushed in turn.

“Knowing what I know about history, I can see why you were so afraid of being torn away from each other…” Ariel said, looking down. “And that monster… What he did to you…”

“As much as it pains me to admit, he did us a kindness. We were able to stay together. We’ve been able to live to a time where women of different skins can still live together and not be punished so harshly for it,” Eternia suggested.

“And we were able to withstand this trial together, to keep loving each other no matter what was thrown our way,” Emmaska added, hugging her partner as she did.

“Well, I don’t know if you know everything about the current time, but…” Ariel began.

“They know,” Eris interrupted. “I kept them up to date on all sorts of things. They should be ready for the present day. They just don’t know you. Why don’t you introduce yourself first?”

“Okay. Well, I’m Ariel Hope. About eleven months ago, I was a trans girl, homeless, on the streets… And… Dying. Eris delivered the Golden Edict to me, and I became an Angelic Genie. I’m still… I’m learning, so be patient with me.”

“No pressure. We have all the time in the universe,” suggested Emmaska, smiling. It put Ariel at ease.

“Indeed, you may be a novice, but you cannot learn without doing. I imagine Eris has taught you well, as she has taught us,” added Eternia.

“Thank you. It, umm, doesn’t bother you that I’m trans, right?” Ariel asked.

“Where I came from, we celebrated that, we believed that you were proof of the spiritual world. Those who showed genuine signs of expressing that were given high honors,” explained Eternia.

“It took me longer, but between Eternia’s culture and Eris explaining things as they developed, I’ve learned long ago to accept it. You’re okay, Ariel!” said Emmaska with a bow.

“Th-thank you…” Ariel stuttered.

“Anyway, Ariel, can you see any curses on them?” Eris asked. “We’ve worked tirelessly over the centuries to remove all of Darumond’s vile curses, but only Angelic Genies can catch the most subtle spells. I imagine that you saw the curse affecting the Hallow?”

“I did.”

“Only a handful are able to see that curse. Frua, some other kitsunes, and Angelic Genies. Maybe a lucky light witch or two. It’s a part of your protections as an Angelic Genie; you can see any curse as a means to avoid or break it, no concentration or training required. Go ahead,” Eris explained, gesturing to Eternia and Emmaska.

Ariel gazed at them, trying to spot anything that looked out of place. It seemed there were a couple of spells on them, but it was clear the spells weren’t malicious in nature (and were of their own doing – she could see their magic signatures, something she was learning to read). There wasn’t a single trace of Darumond’s curses left, at least not ones that were modified by the pair for their own gain. Not a single demonic letter could be found.

“As far as I can tell, they’re clean,” Ariel suggested, “and if I may, you both have really pretty auras. I can’t imagine you two abusing your powers with the auras you give off!”

“That settles it for me. Emmaska, Eternia, by decree of the genies, you can now be freed! Ariel, if you may do the honors…”

Ariel looked at the shackles. She grabbed their arms to get a feel for them. It was strange; they looked like metal, but as she felt them, she didn’t sense material. It was more like… Words, given form. Bound, stuck, subservient, imprisoned. Try as they might, neither of them could escape this; the words were imprinted on their very spirits.  Even if they concentrated and thought as hard as they could, these words were a part of them. On their own, they cannot overcome it.

She realized in that moment how this worked. She was free, so she could undo the bindings by sharing her own spirit with them. She let this flow into the shackles that bound them, and they began to crack. The chains to the portal disintegrated away, and before long, the shackles popped off with a couple of tings, falling to the ground.

Both of them rubbed their arms. It was an unfamiliar sensation, having nothing there after hundreds of years. But they both knew it. They could feel it, the world beyond calling them, welcoming them back to it, on their own terms now.

“So, Eternia and Emmaska, how about we go out there, together?”

They both smiled. They had been freed a couple of times in the past, to grant some wishes for mortals (under supervision from other genies), but for the most part, they’ve been inside the lamp for four centuries, give or take.

“It isn’t the Earth you know, mind you, it’s-“ Ariel began.

“The Hallow, we know,” they said in unison.

“Still, it will be nice to breathe air beyond our confines for the first time in centuries…” Emmaska sighed with relief.

“Indeed,” Eternia agreed with her.

All four of them dematerialized and headed for the portal. On the outside, the lamp shook and leapt around violently as it tried to process four genies being expelled at once. The portal under pressure, it fired them out like cannon shots. Eris was able to catch herself quickly and float gently out. Eternia and Emmaska flew a few feet, but they grabbed for each other and braced themselves, their shared willpower keeping them from going too far. Ariel wound up flying into a tree. She was in good shape, but the tree snapped in half.

“She really is that new, isn’t she?” Eternia asked.

“All of us were at some point…” Eris sighed as she floated over to pick Ariel off the ground.

Emmaska and Eternia held each other’s hands as they looked around, taking in the sights around them. The otherworldly yet familiar foliage, the sounds of the forest and the city nearby. They closed their eyes at the same time, breathing in deeply before exhaling contently.

They were free.

“Thank you, both of you!” they said in unison.

“You’re very welcome!” Ariel replied with a grin, loving the energy these two were giving off.

“It’s been a pleasure all these years, you two,” Eris said with a bow.

“So, what now?” Ariel asked.

They looked at each other. They had to admit, they had longed for this day for so long. And yet, the only thing they thought of doing when they were free was to get that first breath of air.

“You know, we hadn’t thought of that,” Eternia admitted.

Emmaska turned to her partner. “Umm, now that we’re out, I’m not so sure about… Returning to our home world right away.”

“Honestly, I don’t blame you. It’s going to be a very different world, and I’m not sure I’m ready for what we’ll see…” Eternia agreed.

“Well, why don’t you stay here, in the Hallow?” Ariel suggested, getting Eris to raise a brow. Eris wanted to see where this was going.

“I mean, if it scares you that much to return home, why not make a new one among the kitsunes? I imagine they’ll accept you. Heck, just earlier, I asked if I could stay, and they said I could if I wanted!”

They looked at each other. “You know, you might be onto something…” Emmaska said.

“We had discussed before about shedding our human forms at one point, thanks to our skin being such a driver in the world we came from, but we never knew where to take it, so we just stayed as our human selves…” Eternia explained.

“I hear the kitsunes come in all colors. We could really let ourselves shine as kitsune genies!”

“Well, there’s a city just over there! You could get to know them, and you could figure out how you want to look based off them!” Ariel suggested.

They looked at each other and smiled. “Ariel, I think we’ll take your suggestion! Thank you!” Emmaska replied gleefully.

They wrapped their arms around each other and started to walk towards the city…

“Wait!” Eris yelled as she grabbed their lamp and handed it to them. “You don’t want to forget this! While it’s no longer your prison, it still makes for a good home. And now that you’re free, you can shape the outside as you please! Heck, if you want it to look like a regular house on the outside, you can do that.”

They took it from Eris’s hands and bowed. With a final smile and wave, they headed into the kitsune city to begin their new life…

=== The gateway. ===

Ariel and Eris arrived at the portal spot they used to enter the Hallow. With their business done, it was time for the two of them to return home. By this point, the sky had turned a deep red, as the sun was setting.

Frua was there, surprisingly, talking with the guard. She was now wearing a more elegant dress, no doubt feeling more feminine than she was the other day. She noticed Ariel and smiled. “Hey there! it looks like you two are going home?”

“As much as I want to stay, I have to be there for my first holder in a couple of months. And I still have some things I need to learn and take care of before I’m ready,” Ariel admitted.

“That’s okay. Besides…” Frua walked up and gave Ariel a glowing ball. It was a ball of pure magic, Frua’s own kitsune signature. “I know genies can communicate with magic. Kitsunes have to learn this over many years, but I’ve had plenty of time to learn. We can stay in touch, even in different worlds!”

“Thanks, Frua! Maybe we can game together when we have some time!”

Frua smiled.

“Well, then, if you two are ready…” said the guard.

Ariel and Eris nodded. The guard swirled her hand, causing the portal to swirl in tandem, activating it. Eris stepped in first, dropping in like it was a pool of water. Ariel turned back, giving Frua a smile and a wave while taking in the sights of the Hallow one more time. She proceeded into the portal home.

After all, she had to be there for Heather. But she knew this wasn’t going to be the last time she would see the Hallow or Frua, either. She knew she would be back another day… For now, she had a job to get ready for.

THE END, FOR TODAY.

By CrystalSeaDragon44