When Worlds Collide - Part 2

Early the next morning, Crystal got up to prepare her gear. Blaze was lying on the chair beside the table and curiously checked out what was going on.

“Sorry Blaze, today I have to go alone.” She told him, while his ears went down. “Don’t worry, there are a lot of other opportunities in the future for you to help.” She continued while patting him on the head.

And with that, she left the building and went back to the foot of the mountain where she found the stairs up the day before. On the way there, she saw Ms. Coraline standing beside the road.

“It’s the fourth day. Today is the day. Soon it will happen!” She yelled after she recognized Crystal.

Crystal tried to ignore her the best she could, but Ms. Coraline continued to yell the same things. She only stopped after Crystal was out of her sight.

[What is wrong with these people here?] Crystal thought to herself.

A few minutes later she arrived at the bottom of the stone stairs. She checked her equipment again, just to be sure she had everything she needed, before ascending.

There she was, standing again before the gate. Crystal waited a few minutes and checked out the whole property before she slowly started walking in the direction of the house. At the halfway point, there was again this feeling like someone was trying to lure her in. But this time she was prepared and was able to avoid it. Immediately her view went up to the second floor. Again there was a figure in white standing at the window before it disappeared.

Crystal thought to recognize a young woman smiling. But there was something else. She thought she had seen animal ears on her head. This couldn’t be. She stopped for a second, before continuing her way to the entry.

The house was in a worse shape than it looked from far away. Crystal circled the mansion to see if there was a good entry point, but it looked like the safest way in for now was through the gap in the front door that was created through the tree that grew through it. The opening was just big enough for her to slip through.

After entering the hallway, Crystal dropped from the tree and shooed up some birds that were nesting there. After her surroundings quiet down and the last leaves from the trees reached the ground, she took a more detailed look around.

The whole building was overgrown with different kind of plants and trees. The roof was partly missing, and you were able to watch into the sky from the hallway. The main stairs were collapsed, and the doors mostly were already missing. The wooden floors were rotten, and you had to be cautious with every step you took. And in every corner, you could hear the creaking noises.

Crystals first agenda was checking out the room where she thought she saw that woman. She slowly made her way over the unstable floor in direction of the collapsed stairs. There was a tree growing from the side of the room, that gave her a great option to get up to the first floor. She cautiously climbed the first few stairs that looked still strong enough to hold her weight, before reaching up to the lowest branch she deemed stable enough to use as a ladder. And with a few jumps up the tree, she reached the first floor.

With every step Crystal did, the floorboards underneath her creaked. It was like, the would have given up every second, but keeping at the wall and walking slowly helped her reach the room where she saw the woman in white.

The door was blocked through an old cabinet and there was no way someone could get through it.

“Is anyone in there?” Crystal shouted through the opening.

But the only thing that happened was that she disturbed some birds in the room who flew through the opening in her direction. She stumbled back and broke through a rotten wall behind her. Luckily behind it was an old bed, so the only thing that was hurt was her pride.

She dusted herself off and went back to the room and tried again to call out to someone. But there was no response. The room was empty. Did she checked the wrong room? This couldn’t be, from the layout of the house, at least from what she could make out, this was the right room. Even the big gate was visible through the opening and the window. How was someone able to be in here?

Suddenly Crystal froze in place. It felt like someone was touching her hand and shoulders, but when she looked there was nothing. She tried to stay calm, but she had to admit this was going far and beyond of what she had experienced in her life. Then there was this voice again.
“Please help me.”

It was loud and clear this time. It was the voice of a woman who sounded sad and lonely.

“Who are you? Where are you hiding?” Crystal just called into the corridor.

“Please help me. Find me.”

With that, everything went quiet and normal again. It took a few seconds for Crystal to calm down and get back to find out what went on here.

“What is going on in this place? This is like those ghost stories from our campfires. But this can’t be, there doesn’t exist something like ghosts. There must be a rational explanation.” She said to herself, but something in her was still questioning this.

For the next two hours, she explored the whole mansion. It looked bigger than it really was, but because in what a bad state the whole building was, Crystal had to be very careful to not injure herself. A few times it looked like she might break through the floor, but it mostly was just a small floorboard that just bent more than others under her weight. Once a while she stopped and checked out if she could make out any more noises that might gave her some clue where someone could have hidden, but nothing came up again.

“There is nothing here. Did I just imagine this whole thing? Did someone drug me while I was sleeping?” she asked herself “When I get back I have to check out my water and food supply.”
And with that, she was on the way to the main hall. She just wanted to get back, clean herself up and wait until later to get to the tavern.

Nearly at the front door, there was a loud noise that came from the upper floor. Crystal looked up and was able to take a step to the left just in time before one of the rotten roof beams came crashing down. It slammed on the floor and a second later the whole thing gave up and opened a hole to a dungeon-like cellar.

Crystal was able to avoid the beam crushing down, but when the floor gave away it took her with it and a second later she found herself a few meters deeper.

“Ouch, that was a hard fall. Can’t believe that this just happened. This will leave some bruises.”

She stood up again and examined the place she now stood in, trying to make something out in this dark place. Through the light that came from the hole above her, she was able to make out that she fell on a combination of sandheap and bushes. The debris of the floor and everything around it missed her and was now laying around her on the stone floor.

“That was quite a fall. I don’t think my rope will help me here to get back up. I have to find another way out.”

Scanning the place where she was now standing for another exit, she found a passage on the other side. It looked like there was light coming from it, but it wasn’t going up, it seemed like it would bring her even deeper into this dungeon.

“No risk no fun!” she told herself “Maybe there is something valuable down there that I can sell later. Then this whole disaster wouldn’t be for vain.” And with that, she went down the corridor.

The small tunnel, which was neatly carved into the hard rock, went deeper and deeper into the mountain. Crystal was not only amazed how something like this could have been done in such a smooth way, but also was wondering who lit all the torches on the walls the whole way down.

A short while later the corridor ended in front of an old massive wooden door. Crystal reached for the big old handle, took a deep breath, and pulled the door slowly open. The massive door creaked but opened without a problem.

“What the hell is this place?”

After stepping through the door, Crystal found herself in a large underground cave system, but nothing she has ever seen in her life. There was something that looked like a massive underground city. Going from the state this place was in, this had to been build a very long time ago. The buildings were partly destroyed, others looked like they could crumble any minute.

This place fascinated Crystal in many ways. Even if it was built deep into the mountain, through some big crystal looking rocks at the ceiling the place was lit in a very nice light. The architecture was something she couldn’t recognize, even after traveling so many years through the world. The material that was used to build looked like a combination of marble some kind of crystal. The houses were connected through smaller bridges and were between three-five stories high. Everything had a clean feel to it, even after all the destruction that came upon this place. And the language and symbols that survived all this time, were what made Crystal even more curious.

“This is such an amazing place. Who built it and where are the people who lived here?” Crystal was wondering while examining the place with a sparkle in her eyes.

After a while, she arrived at a large open place with a three-story fountain. It had similarities to the marketplace in bigger cities. Being in this place, Crystal forgot why she initially was down here, but she soon was brought back to reality after noticing a small flaming blue sphere flying through one of the alleyways.

“There you are again. Let’s find out what is up with you.”

Crystal followed the light through the streets to one of the biggest buildings that were near the center. She still couldn’t shake this feeling that whatever this thing was, it wanted her to follow it. But she had to be careful, like she learned in the past, that being too trustworthy could be your downfall.

Entering the building, she looked around and carefully progressed through the hallways. The place looked like it belonged to someone high. She followed the light until it vanished in a stairwell. Following it down, Crystal had the feeling of dread, like something was going to happen any second. She started inspecting her surroundings but couldn’t find anything.

Arriving at the bottom she immediately spotted something strange on the floor. The floor was badly damaged in many places from falling ruble but underneath of some of the floorboards Crystal made out small holes with metal spikes.

[So, you tried to lure me into a trap? Now I am really pissed off. When I get my hands on who or whatever you are, you will get a hell of a beating, I swear.] She thought to herself, trying to not give away she found out about the traps.

She was lucky that the mechanism for these floor traps was damaged so there were parts she was able to stand on, and others she was able to release with some of the debris lying around. But even with this technique, it wasn’t a walk in the park to get through this hall.

[This place is a maze, let's hope this blue thing knows where it wants to go.] She told herself and continued [I can’t let my guard down. I don’t believe the spikes at the entry were the only ones.]

She worked her way through different rooms, always on the watch that nothing jumped her. The few traps on her way were mostly inactive, due to their age, but some were still dangerous, even inactive.

A few turns later she arrived in a room, that reminded Crystal of a treasure room. It was secured with a thick gate-like doors and had high secure looking shelves in it. But they were all empty, except one small glass cabinet in the middle of it. The small orb was circling around it and when Crystal approached, it just vanished.

She examined the cabinet. In it was a wonderful looking amulet in form of a fox. Crystal was entranced by it. Something in her called out to take it out, but she hesitated. There was still the feeling that this might be a trap, but the thief part in her told her to get it out. It was the only valuable in this place, and she didn’t want to get out here empty-handed.

Crystal checked the cabinet for invisible pressure switches or other traps that could get her in trouble. Going around she found a small wire, that went down to the floor to some very nasty looking acid jars, who if not defused, would break, and spray their nasty content around her bottom and legs. Luckily for her, this trap was only built in a way that it would only be activated if you lift the glass cabinet, so she cut the wire and was able to open it.  

Again, staring at the amulet, Crystal had the feeling it started glowing. Suddenly she twitched after a loud rumbling came out of the back of the room. Looking up she saw that a staircase was twisting its way up to the ceiling of the room. The way it was built it looked like It was for emergency purposes, but why was it activated right now? She didn’t touch anything, or did she?

After it locked itself in place and she was sure nothing else was going on, her view locked again on the amulet in front of her and she took it out of its place. Looking at it closely she could see, it was a very fine carved and polished crystal, that shimmered in different colors. It had to be made from the same material that was lighting up this cave, or so she thought.

A second later there was a small clicking noise and she suddenly felt something slicing her leg. Instinctively she put her hand to the place where she felt the pain. There was blood on her hand, and a small arrow lay on the floor. Taking the amulet from its pedestal, she accidentally activated another trap she hasn’t seen. She was angry with herself, for letting her guard down in the end.

She took the amulet with her bloody hand to put it in her stash, not noticing how it absorbed the blood on it. With a small bandage from one of her satchels on her belt, she quickly bandaged her leg, before climbing up the stairs in the back.

Arriving at the top she found herself in a throne room. She took a few steps before she felt like she was getting weaker with every step until she collapsed.

[Shit. Was that arrow laced with poison?] She thought, not knowing what was going on.

Her body started to betray her, and she started to lose the feeling in the leg she was hit.

“No, I refuse to let this be the end of me.” She tried to somehow stand up, to continue. But she was only able to crawl along the floor. “I need to get out of here, I need to get help.” She shouted aloud, hoping to get the attention of someone.

Suddenly there was the voice of a woman.

“I am impressed you are still able to move. The poison that is normally used in these darts doesn’t take long to kill a human. But you are still fighting. You can call me impressed.”

“Who are you? Why are you mocking me and why did you want me dead?” Crystal shouted into the darkness.

“Dead? Why would I want you dead? I hoped you were the first human that could get me out of this hell after all of these idiots around just thought of me as some kind of monster who wanted to haunt them.” The voice said angrily.

“And my name? You can call me Aiko.” She continued.

From the darkness, slowly a young woman with long black hair emerged. She wore a black kimono with white and red details and black tight high socks. But what surprised Crystal was that she had white fox ears and a white fox tail with black tips.

“I tried to warn you from everything and helped you.” She held up her hand and a blue flaming sphere appeared. “I used my last reserves to somehow get you in the right direction and you got here. But how did you overlook such a dumb trap in the last second?”

“I am dead, I must be. How can be explained that I am lying in a cave and getting scolded by some kind of fox looking demon.” Crystal started laughing, slowly losing the feeling in her complete lower body.

“Hey who do you call demon? You ungrateful human.” The fox woman pouted. “I am not a demon. I am a higher fox spirit!” She continued “If I knew what kind of person you were, I would have saved all of my strength to try to find someone else.”

“Aiko, that was your name, right? I am sorry should I offended you, but this cant be real. I don’t feel my lower body and something like spirits, magical flaming spheres don’t exist in reality.” Crystal lay down her head, feeling her strength leaving. “And I believe you are just an imagination before I die, something created from all of my experiences and loves.”

“Listen, I know there is no reason to trust me, but we two need each other. Since you touched that amulet with your bloody hand, we are bounded. If you die, there is a big chance I will die with you. And I am honest with you, I don’t want to die, and I believe you are also not ready for death.” She said with a sad tone in her voice. “I saw it in your eyes, I feel how much you fight against the darkness, even if you don’t want to admit it. I have enough energy left to heal you, but this will only strengthen our bond and will make us inseparable for quite some time. But I don’t want to do it when you don’t agree. I am not a monster who wants to enslave someone against their will.”

Crystal somehow had this feeling, that the woman in front of her, told the truth and doesn’t meant her any harm. She heard the sadness in her voice, and she was right, Crystal didn’t want to die here, especially not this way. She wanted to live.

“Ok, I will trust you. But I warn you, should you not be honest with me, I will haunt you until the end of your life and beyond.“ She smiled with pain in her expression. “And call me Crystal.”

Aiko’s sad expression vanished after hearing this and she started smiling again.

“Then let’s not waste any time,” Aiko said with confidence.

Crystal could see a blue aura started to glow around Aiko, it looked like she began to burst into flames. Aiko closed her eyes and slowly circled her hands around Crystals chest and let the energy flow into her. She felt the pain starting to disappear and a warmth flowing through her, which slowly gave her back the feeling in her body and limbs, before she lost consciousness.

Crystal found herself in a white surrounding. She saw blurred pictures from someone, who she made out was Aiko. There where scenes from Aiko sitting between kids on a grassy hill, helping people out somewhere, fighting against something. Then the pictures started to take a different turn, and she saw different kinds of demons and spirits, some just like ordinary people following their everyday life and others who went to war. Also, all the signs and symbol she saw before while strolling through this old underground town started to become understandable, and she saw they showed what kind of shop or building they were. Suddenly there was someone calling her in the distance.

“Crystal. Please wake up.”

 It sounded like a sweet but worrying voice. That got louder, the nearer Crystal floated into its direction.

“Was I already too late? What will happen now?”

Crystal woke up, slightly groggy and her whole body was aching. Slowly she opened her eyes and could see Aiko sitting beside her and looking desperate, having her ears lowered and tail very lifeless lying beside her, something she has seen from Blaze when he got sad. She was surprised to somehow know how Aiko felt. Aiko was in pain, she was lonely, did everything to get out of here, and it looked like her only way to leave just died.

“You know you look quite cute with your lowered ears.” Crystal said jokingly.

Aiko’s ears suddenly straightened up. She wiped the tears from her face and jumped back to Crystal with a smile on her face.

“You survived. You have no idea how great this is.” Aiko said. “And I will let the “cute” comment slide, this time, next time you will feel my wrath.”

“That is something I have to think about.” Crystal replied smiling.

“How do you feel?” Aiko wanted to know “You were out for quite a while, I feared we were already too late. Like I said, the poison that was used is normally working its way very quickly through a human system and would kill them immediately. It was designed to teach thieving demons a lesson, so they still could tell the tale.”

“I can feel my body again, but it still hurts a lot.” Crystal replied, “But what is this with demons and what are you exactly?”

“Take it slow, even my magic needs a while to bond with you. And what do you mean?” Aiko asked surprised. “I am a guardian fox spirit. I am looking after humans and help them find their way. We and the demons are just another species in this world. You must have met a lot on the surface.”

“No, something like demons and spirits don’t exist in this world. Therefore, I still am not sure if you are playing a prank on me or if I am still in a delirium.”

“What do you mean “don’t exist”?” Aiko’s eyes widened in shock hearing this.

“Like I said it. On the surface, there are only humans, but no other races.”

“In what year are we living?”

Crystal started to tell Aiko the year and how it looks on the surface. Aiko got shocked with every new information she got, and suddenly she said.

“Crystal… can we go to the surface… I need to see it with my own eyes.” There was a serious tone in her voice.

“Ok, I think I can walk again.” Crystal said while she tried to stand up again.

Crystal had still some trouble to get back on her feet, but with the help of Aiko, it was possible to get forward. Leaning at her shoulder, Crystal also felt how real Aiko was and that what is just happening wasn’t a dream at all.

“I don’t want to be a killjoy, but how do we leave? The way I came in, was a drop from several meters and in my state, I don’t see any way to climb out of that hole.” Crystal asked.

“There is a little tunnel on the backside that brings us up to a small hidden entrance behind the mansion. Its very level, so you are able to walk it in your condition.”

And with that, both women started to get back to the surface. Crystal still weak from her injuries leaned on the shoulders of Aiko, who didn’t mind it. Crystal even had the feeling, she enjoyed it, having someone around her.

“Aiko? Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, what do you want to know?”

“Why were you down here and what did you mean when you said, “getting you out of this hell”?”

“I…” Her voice started shaking “...I can’t tell you. To be honest I don’t really know. One day I woke up in this place, no one around and everything destroyed. I tried to get out of this place, but every time I tried, I found myself back in the room you found the amulet. Over time I found out that I somehow been bound to the amulet, but I have no idea who did this and why. Every time I try to remember things about my past, it is like I walk against a wall. The only thing I know is who I am and what I am able to do, but nothing more.” Her voice saddens.

Crystal could make out a tear rolling down her face while her ears drop again. She feels how just talking about this hurts Aiko in many ways.

“One day I found out that I could project myself out there, but not for long and not really far away from this place. So, I started to look if there is someone who might help me but there was no one in sight.” She continued.

“There was an old farm, at the foot of this mountain, but no one really was living there. The farmers only came at daylight, and I wasn’t able to really project myself in daylight as much as I tried. A few years later the farm seemed to be sold, and some people started building small gardens down there. It took a while until they were finished, but these people seemed to even stay at night there.”

Crystal wanted to stop Aiko, she felt how hard it is for her to talk about this time. She couldn’t believe how long she lived in total loneliness in this cave system. No one around her and not been able to leave this place. But then she continued.

“One day I started sending fox fires out. I just wanted to call out to the people, I wanted them to come to this place and help me. And they came. But instead of helping me they thought I was a ghost haunting them and wanted something bad from them.” She started crying “They thought I was a monster and tried to appease me with some little altar in front of the mansion with offers. No one really ever tried to talk with me, they all just feared me.” She shouted out in anger, tears flowed down her face. “There was even a time where people tried to hunt me down in the evenings.”

[So, there was actually a real story behind this strange tavern sign.] Crystal thought.

“And then, as a last insult, this old hag started to tell some kind of prophecy about how to get rid of me.”

They suddenly stopped, Aiko let everything out in one large cry. Not knowing what to say, Crystal hugged her. She knew what It meant to let so much out at once. Aiko never had someone to talk about everything that was going on the past years, and all this anger and sadness just started to pile up. Crystal was actually impressed how Aiko was able to suppress all of this without going crazy.

“Let it out.” Was all Crystal could say. She felt how Aiko slowly started getting better and how she pulled Crystal closer. It was like she was trying to convince herself that there was actually someone standing in front of her.

They stood there for a while until Aiko calmed down a little bit.

“Sorry. I didn’t want you to see me this way.” She wiped her tears away “This proud fox spirit must look like a total mess at the moment.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone” Crystal smiled at her “Sometimes you need an outlet, and I can imagine, after such a long time, it was just waiting to get out.”

Aiko’s ears flicked back up after hearing that and she smiled and nodded at Crystal.

“Thank you,” Aiko replied very quietly.

Crystal just smiled at her. And with that, both were back on their way. After a while, they reached a dead end. Aiko waved at a small crystal on the side and a small rock in front of them came to live and slowly moved out of the way and let the moonlight from outside into the tunnel. Crystal wondered how long she was down in this cave. Suddenly she could hear some commotion outside the opening.

“Aiko, are you able to hide? If it’s true what you told me, then these people out there don’t take to kindly to your kind.”
“Why should I hide, they should know who I am, and what I think about their view on me.” She said angry but in a proud way.

“Please. Now it's your turn to trust me.” Crystal replied.

Aiko wanted to say something, but then reluctantly nodded and vanished. Crystal didn’t see her, but she felt she was near.

Crystal left the tunnel and was greeted by the light of Dave and Peter who put up a search party after they weren’t able to find Crystal anywhere after she vanished that morning.

“Crystal, I am so glad to see you are ok. After Peter told me what happened and what you had planned I really was worried, something happened to you, after you didn’t show up in the tavern in the evening.” Dave said relieved. “And after we found out part of this old house collapsed, we feared the worse has happened to you.”

“I am ok. A little bit bruised but nothing more.” She said with a slight angry undertone. Not letting out what happened to her.

“I think we owe you an apology Crystal. This didn’t go like we had planned.” Peter began. “Like you already have found out there are some strange people in our little community. Especially Ms. Coraline. They believe all of these old fairytales about ghosts and magic and believed this place was haunted, or some kind of monster will kill them if they don’t appease it.”

Crystal felt the anger in Aiko rise, but she didn’t react.

“They made up some kind of prophecy, about a chosen one, who could be identified by a big scar on his or her hand, went overboard with it and started to annoy the rest of us with these tales. We started to form a plan, to not only get them to be a little bit quieter but also keep to this place.”

Dave continued. “We thought to somehow find someone, put them into this garden and let them just see that we might found their prophet and that now everything will be good. Still, we didn’t know how to find someone without them noticing, Roger is one of them, but through the accident at the pass, this was our opportunity to maybe find someone or at least get someone who would play this little game with us. And when you suddenly arrived in front of me, and I saw the scar on your hand, I took this opportunity.”

“We never thought they would start trying anything or get to you. We really believed they would just stay still and celebrate that now everything will be better.” XXX said.

“Stop!” Crystal suddenly went between them “I don’t care what your motivation was, or what kind of idiocy and craziness is going on in here. But what you did here, was careless and could have ended in a big disaster.” She started scolding them. “There are crazy people out there. You just must learn to live with them and not feed their craziness even more. Like you said, you never thought about how far they might go, and now you saw it.”

Crystal was angry. She understood why they did it, but this didn’t mean they just could use any unexpected visitor for this game. She continued:
“What would you have done if I died here? Did you ever think about this in your plan? Have you ever thought maybe somehow inform me? I am here since how many days, and you never thought there would have been a time where one of you could have come to me and just, what do I know, just wanted to speak in private at some place.”

Crystal got into a rage that even Aiko surprised.

“Now all I want is get a bath, then a good night of sleep, and when I wake up I will just want to get away from this crazy place. I will throw the key of the shed in the postbox of your tavern.” And with that Crystal went on her way, leaving the two men with surprised faces back at the mansion.

After arriving at the bottom of the stairs, Aiko materialized again and looked at Crystal with a surprised face.

“I knew you could get really feisty, but I have to say I am surprised how angry you got at these two. Especially after what really happened,” Aiko said.

Crystal still shaking a little bit after her outburst started:

“Believe me, I know they didn’t mean it bad, but there are better ways to do this. Ok, I will admit, in this case, it’s a little bit different because you somehow were part of this. But still, I had a lot of trouble getting to you, and I am a trained athlete, just think what could have happened if they found just your everyday person. This might have ended in a very different kind of way.”

Crystal slowly coming back from her anger high.

“And I didn’t want to hear any more explanations from them up there. I will leave them now with the aftermath. I just want to get away from this place as quick as possible. And I believe you are also not as keen to stay any bit longer here, am I right?”

“You have no idea,” Aiko replied relieved, beginning to understand that she might be bound with Crystal for now, but she wasn’t alone anymore.

They walked a few meters before Aiko started speaking again:

“Crystal?”

“Yes?”

“I know this might be a little bit strange and with everything that happened, this might be a little bit selfish, but can I ask you for a favor?”

“What do you need?”

“I want to know what happened to me, why I was held captive in that place. Also, I want to know what happened to all the other races in this world. Would it be possible, that we can maybe find out more and visit some libraries around the world?”

“I am honest with you, this actually sounds like a fun plan.” Crystal smiled “I am traveling a lot around and after seeing this massive town, meeting you and what you told me, I am kind of interested myself. And I am also in your debt for saving me down there, even if it helped you to survive.”

“You are sure? You mean it?” Aiko`s eyes lit up after hearing this.

“Yes, don’t worry.” Crystal replied, “But I will warn you, I am a very restless spirit.”

“I think I can live with that,” Aiko replied.

They soon arrived at the shed. Luckily for them, the place wasn’t that well-lit at night, and they could get into the plot from the backside, so Aiko didn’t need to hide. Entering the room, Blaze jumped from the bed and ran to Crystal but suddenly stopped after Aiko stepped through the door. With a haste, he jumped behind the bed to hide and started to whimper.

“What in the hell is going on with you, Blaze?”

“I think he reacted the same way when I looked through your window that one night” Aiko replied.
“Oh, right.” Crystal holds her hand to her head and then gave Aiko a punch on the shoulder.

“Ouch, what was that for?” Aiko said surprised.

“I promised Blaze to find whoever scared the shit out of him. And you just admitted you were the one responsible for this.”

“Ok, I think I deserve this,” Aiko replied. She then sat down on the bed, letting her tail fall down on the side and holding her hand flat in direction of Blaze who still hold his ears down, but curiously started sniffing in her direction.

“Sorry little one, I didn’t want to scare you the day before. Can you forgive me?” She asked in direction of Blaze. He was still a little bit hesitating, but in the end, jumped up on the bed and let Aiko pet him. After he felt that she is no danger he lay down on her lap.

“I never have seen him do this.” Crystal said a little bit surprised.

“It is my aura. It took him a while to see it, but in the end, he saw I am no threat and mean him no harm.” She said smiling.

Crystal smiled, seeing these two sitting there on the bed. She could see both of them enjoying this situation. Aiko, because she was out of this hole and had someone around her who didn’t see her as a monster and Blaze for having someone else who takes care of him.

“You two are just so cute together.” She said.

Aiko`s ears went up hearing this and she mischievous looked at Crystal. “What did you say?”

Aiko gave Crystal a harsh look, and Crystal immediately remembered what she said in the cave. But it was too late, suddenly Crystal felt something growing out of her spine and her ears vanish just to appear a second later as a set of black fox ears with white tips on her head. She then turned around and saw a black fox tail with white tip behind her.

“What the hell…” Crystal was surprised seeing this. “What did you do to me?”

“You said I look cute in this way, so I thought I will give you the opportunity to see how it feels and looks on you.” Aiko smiled mischievously “And I believe this will get you to remember what to never call me again.” She laughed while still petting Blaze who looked a little bit confused at Crystal.

Crystal knew, that her quiet life as a thief is over and a new world opened up to her.

The End.