Interlude

Finn took a deep breath as he stared up at the words ‘Cheshireburough Asylum. Large metal letters bolted in an arc over the gate leading into the large, luxurious grounds. Finn had been there once before, when he was very young, with his mother. He was too young for it to strike him then, but it struck him on this trip that the Asylum, inside and out, was very luxurious and grande for something meant to hold crazy people. As he approached the gate-house the guard in his blue uniform and badge leaned over, staring at him with a brow raised.

“Uhm. I’m here for-”

He held up his hand. “Got something right… Here.” He trailed off, pointing to his own neck.

Finn squinted in the glass and blushed deeply as he noticed something that had not been there when he checked. A light red mark on his neck where the skin had been sucked. He had made a habit of trying to check himself whenever he could to avoid feeling crazy. Things would often appear on him, or disappear and he would gain consciousness in unusual places, doing unusual things. He was getting a reputation in places he’d never been, for things he never remembered doing.

Maybe I belong here? Finn wondered. The guard was still staring at him.

“Uhm… Just a bruise. I bruise easily.”

The man shrugged. “Okay.”

He doesn’t care. Finn sighed.

“I’m here to see my Dad.”

The guard nodded. “Name?”

“Finn Robair. My Dad is here. His name is John Robair.” The guard continued to just stare at Finn quizzically.

“I was hoping to see him?”

After a moment the guard looked down at something. “That person has ‘no contact’ set for their stay. No one is allowed to visit.”

Finn grimaced. “Listen!” he raised his voice for the first time. The guard seemed amused.

“If you just ask him, I’m sure he’ll want to see me!”

“Okay. Let me make a call.” The guard reluctantly dialled a number on his phone and held the receiver up to his ear.

“Mhm.. Request from the gate. Finn Robair. His son. Right… Understood.” He pulled the phone away and said:

“Yeah he’s not seeing visitors.”

Finn looked through the gate at the giant asylum. Before the phone could be hung up he added:

“Tell him that there’s weird stuff happening! Maybe I’m going crazy. I need to talk to him…”

“Hmm. Hear that? understood.” The guard asked. He hung up the phone. Finn hung his head.

“He says you can go in.” A button was pressed and the gate began to squeak and clatter as it rolled open.

“Great!” Then it hit him.

“Wait… ‘He?’” Finn wondered if the guard was talking and taking directions directly from his dad, a patient.

The meeting room was a sterile white area with a few tables set up. Finn waited for his dad to come out patiently, but at least a half-hour had passed with him waiting, and no sign or information as to when he would come out. As Finn stood up, the door at the opposite end of the room opened. He sat down. It was his dad. He knew him from pictures, mainly. The missing figure in his life. John was a surprisingly youthful-looking man with short, messy dark hair; as if he never bothered doing anything with it after waking up. He wore glasses and despite Finn’s suspicions, he was in fact wearing a white patient’s outfit.

John sauntered over to the table where Finn was seated and plopped down across from him. “Dad! Thank god you met with me. I-I need you to help me Mom and Fionna are-”

John sighed. He leaned onto the table on his elbow. “Strange things?”

“Uhm…” Finn felt very put on the spot. It was what he was getting at, but the way he was asking felt cold and uncaring. Like the focus was not on him, his mother or his sister but on the events themselves.

“Lost time… Weird things happening to my head. Mom has a man at the house he-”

“Yes yes. Your mother is free to do what she likes.” John waved his hand dismissively.

“Missing time: Do you feel like you are performing actions when you are not conscious, or are you simply losing time as if you are passing out with nothing in between?”

“The first. Dad… Do you know what’s happening?”

“A new man at the house, hm?” John asked lazily.

Finn smiled. Finally they were getting to what was important. “Yes! He’s doing things to me and Fionna and mom, I know it! He’s-”

“Right. That makes sense.” John stood up.

“I will try to have someone handle that problem. For goodness-sake. The one thing I told that woman NOT to allow and she let it happen…”

“What do you mean? You’re going to get Jacob out of the house, right?”

“Probably not. I imagine he’ll still be there. Don’t worry. The events will stop.”

“But he’s definitely doing shady stuff! Even without all that happening, we’re still vulnerable at home. Mom and Fionna are now obsessed with him and I could feel him starting to mess with my head as well.” Finn looked down shamefully.

“I’m having other problems… I was doing well in school to make you and mom proud, but now I have to run errands for some boy or get beat up and blackmailed. Everything is bad. I need your help.”

John stopped, sat back down and leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. “Are you in despair?”

“Uhm… Y-yeah? I guess/ Dad?”

John smiled. “Do you want power? Do you want to solve things for yourself without having to rely on anyone?”

“Yes! Yes, of course. But I’m-”

“Weak. I know. It’s fine.” John chuckled lightly.

“You’re only human. Finn… I want you to go into the attic in the house. If it is intact, look for the circle painted into the floor. If it is intact, push the chest onto its back. The bottom opens into drawers. Pull out twelve crystals, colour does not matter. Place them at the five points of the star and at the centre points on the outer circle between those six points EXACTLY. Place one in the direct centre and the last somewhere on your person. Stand in the circle anywhere and drip blood on any of the lines.”

“W-what? Dad, that’s so much. Can you write it down?”

“No need. You will not forget.” John asserted. Somehow Finn felt it to be true.

“What is that? What will it do? Will it help me?”

John smirked. “Of course it will help you.”

Finn breathed. “Thank you!”

“It is important that you focus your mind on your desperation and desire to ESCAPE the situation. Understand?” Finn nodded, feeling a bit lightheaded for the moment. It was like the words were being engraved in his mind.

“As if you want to LEAVE your own body. You want to FADE. This… Will help you. You will no longer have these problems, I promise.”

Fin blinked as John stopped talking. “Thanks, dad. Can I… Call you or talk to you again?”

John shrugged. “After you do what I ask.”

Finn got everything ready. The attic was a mess. He had checked the chest his dad talked about. The inside was all sorted through with anything valuable snatched. The thing his dad was probably referring to was likely pilfered by Jacob from this chest. Just as John described, pushing it over allowed the bottom to open into shallow drawers with many, many crystals. They gave off a weird, tingling feeling, like they were vibrating without any actual movement. Finn put one in his pocket, then arrayed them as John described. His hands moved almost automatically, finding the most precise points to place them without even needing to measure.

Th-this is crazy… Is this a pentagram? I know we’re descended from John Dee but this is wild… Actual magic? What’s it going to do- Fin’s expression became slightly blank. His emotions flared up. His desire to get out. His need to leave. He wanted to flee. His problems could be solved. He stood up and took a pin to his thumb, dripping blood onto the line as he stood inside. There was a bright light.

You open your eyes slowly at first. You were laying down. No I wasn’t? What happened? You groaned.

“Fin? Fin!” You shouted, searching your surroundings for him. As you shouted, you realised something quite frightening. Your voice was soft. Mildly masculine, but far too soft to be yours. If you were to describe the voice in simple terms, the conclusion you came to was:

My type… You stood up slowly and panned your gaze across the dark attic. Your eyes rested on a dusty mirror. You approached and wiped it with your hand. You were shocked to see how small and frail and… Human it was.

Definitely my type! You would be turned on if it wasn’t you who was in the body. You confirmed by turning your head left and right and moving your hand to wave.

This is me somehow? Is this some kinda joke? You, the imposing Djir, an eight foot Gnoll weighing in at over a quarter of a ton, had become a male or below-average human height and built Downright weak, in fact. It was your type after all. In appearance, at least. You did not actually get off on weaklings.

“Not that I’m weak.” You chuckled.

“Even in this body with this embarrassing voice, I’m still Djir.” You grinned, holding up your hand and feeling… Nothing. Energy did not course through you. Aura did not surround you. You felt completely disempowered.

“You gotta be kidding me!”

You suddenly felt something heat up in your pocket. You closed your hand around something warm and round, picking it up only to be forced to drop it when it became incredibly hot.

“Ow!” You rung out your hand, blowing on it.

“I’m burned by something that wouldn’t even phase me, usually. Great… Such soft skin.”

You stared at the gem as it glowed. “Is this Aura? I can’t even feel it all that well.”

Suddenly an image appeared over it. “Greetings, Turasian. If you are seeing this message-”

“It’s you! That bastard that made Fin angry.” You gritted your teeth.

“My Aura embedded within this is coded to detect speech but not respond to it. Please simply LISTEN without speaking, or this message will repeat.” It said. You piped down and begrudgingly waited.

“If you are seeing this message, you have been granted passage from your world to this one in a very particular way, which means you SHOULD have been specially selected for your usefulness to our cause.”

“Bullshit.” You could not resist. You waited through the repeated warning message to stay quiet.

Alright, it’s more annoying each time. I’ll just stop talking. You stuffed your hands into your pockets. You could not help but think:

These clothes feel weird… You opened your jacket and stared down your shirt, eyes widening as you noticed lingerie strapped around your chest. It was then you realised what lacy, constrictive items you were wearing for underwear.

This is a guy, right? Definitely, I can feel the prick on me… So why the hell am I-

“This message is set to play if I can tell the one that SHOULD be listening is not. Please PAY ATTENTION to everything that is being said.” You stuck your tongue out, letting him continue.

“The life for those who travel here is typically not pretty. Most simply fade away. Luckily for you, I have prepared this form for just this occasion. The circle you are standing on is a confluence point. A summoning was performed to pull you into the body you now inhabit. You may be thinking that it is incredibly weak.” Djir nodded.

“That is normal. You have not yet ‘rooted’ within. To correctly possess a body and begin re-gaining your power you must ‘root’ your Soma in the host’s mind. I have prepared a diagram of a human brain on a page over the mirror. Observe that diagram carefully, focus on a section and imagine that within your own head. Then… try and utilize your Energy as you would have in our world. It will be exhausting, but you should be able to do it. I would expect that my partners would not send someone so useless and unprepared over to this side for me to manage…”

You began to follow the instructions. Everything this guy says pisses me off. as much as you hated to admit it, the diagram was good, and the instructions were useful. You were not useless. On the contrary. You could intuitively feel the energy by focusing on all of it as a whole. It was strange using so much on such a singular point, but you immediately got that the body you inhabited was devoid of Soma. You had zero feeling, zero sensation, and your perception was stunted. You were dizzy and lightheaded from having a sub-bar connection to the body because, as explained on the other side, you were simply a ball of Soma and Aura floating within an empty shell containing a Soul. You felt something happen at the end of your concentration. A clicking point. You were suddenly more steady and in control of yourself. Your ears opened up and your eyes became better. Not as good as your own, naturally, but better. You were still weak, but you could move around like something better than the baby you were before, basically. Moreover, you could suddenly sense Aura and Soma in your surroundings. The only things that contained such were things contained within the chest, and the gem was rapidly draining, but it had a good amount left. You smirked.

“I can detect that the process was a success. Congratulations are not needed for something that is ex-”

You picked up the hot gem and closed it between both hands, focusing on it. “Gimme.” You asked, shaking and sweating from the pain and burns you were sustaining as you pulled what Aura and Soma remained in the gem into your Core. It went dark.

“Didn’t know I could do that. Is it a quality of the body or-”

Oi! Are you listening, finally? It was Fin’s voice. You looked around excitedly. You felt a phantom sensation of sorts as the tail you used to have would be wagging if you still had it.

“Fin? Fin! Where are you?” You walked around the room quickly.

I’m in your head, idiot… Look, you have some small Aura now. Focus on your internal space. I have something I need to show you.

“Internal…” You blinked.

“Got it!” You shut your eyes tight, breathed deep and opened them. An internal space was a place within an Mage’s mind formed out of Aura. With increasing levels of Mana, the mage could move their physical form into the space, along with other things. For the moment, it was just your consciousness entering a dreamlike space. The place looked strange, like a mish-mash of yours and someone else’s thoughts. You saw the streets of Garm, but also the stone from the palace in Demonkine, since most of your memories had returned. Vines grow along the floor. Around, you also saw grass, and the smell of an unusual place. There was a small, two-story manor-house in view within the jarring mix of features. You stepped over a unique stone surface. Black with yellow lines, and found a sign bent at an angle. As you stepped into the house the interior did not match the exterior. There were sleek lines, matte colours, materials and items that should not be. Then, sitting on the stairs you saw him. Fin in all his glory. He sighed and stood up, dusting himself off.

“Hey there.”

You rushed forward and tried to pick him up and hug him like you could before. Instead, you couldn’t fit your arms around him all the way, easily, and you could not pick him up. He looked down at you with an unimpressed stare.

Down? You looked down at yourself. You were small, like the body you had outside.

“I’m small!?”

“Cute, too.” He smirked, patting you on the head between your ears. You were less a gnoll, and more a beastfolk. Long, fox-like pointed ears black fur and light brown markings,Your hair was much the same. Looking back over your shoulder you saw a similarly coloured bushy fox tail. Your body was small and twinkish, though you had a tail, at least. Looking more like the person you loved wasn’t terrible, you decided instantly.

“C-cute?” You blushed deeply.

“You were the one that jumped in first, with me on your shoulder. I think it’s pretty easy to say that it is NOT supposed to happen, you know?” Fin smiled, but you could tell he was very annoyed.

“Hey...” You gulped, beginning to sweat as he cocked his head to one side.

“Are you stupid?”

“I think he is stupid, Master.” A woman with long black hair said. She had the appearance of Fin, but she was human and female.

“I-I didn’t wanna lose you!” You shouted.

Fin sighed. “I know. That’s what’s frustrating. You basically can’t help yourself. It’s like looking after a kid. Though I guess you’re small enough to be one, now.” He scoffed.

“That’s not what’s important. The reason you're small is also the problem we have. Your soul mixed imperfectly with mine, Mirra’s, and one other. Mostly the one other. This is why you looked like a mix between your outer body and your old body, even here.”

“Why don’t you look more like me, then?”

Fin looked at you smugly, crossing his arms. “Because I’m a god that has lived for over a thousand years. You are simply not on my level-”

“Oi…” Your ears flattened against your head and your fur stood up.

“In terms of Aura and the strength of my Soul. You’re not bad in every other respect, Djir. There there.” He said, placating you by patting you on the head.

You huffed. “Good. What is it you wanted to show me?”

“Follow.” He led you up the stairs of the modern-looking home and opened one of the doors into a dark room. Wrapped in covers was a person that looked strikingly similar to how you looked on the outside.

“Is that-”

“He wont talk to me, but I know enough from context clues. This… Is just one more victim of my Father. I don’t want to talk about it too much in his presence. I eventually want him to try and open up a bit. For the moment, however, it seems like you will have uncontested control over the body.”

“Hold on! You should have control. You’re the Hero.” You exclaimed.

“I’m… More or less the villain. Kinda.” You offered bashfully.

“Besides, wouldn’t getting to open up challenge our control of this body?”

“Yes. That’s the point.” He lifted a brow at you.

“Because regardless of the outcome, I am going to behave like a Hero and you are, too, Djir. We are going to help this guy, fight my dad and… We’ll figure the rest out as we go.”

“Why me?”

“Because your soul mixed the most with his. It’s obviously going to be you. Besides…” Fin glared at you.

“What?” You leaned back.

“I don’t wanna.”

“What!?”

He scoffed at you incredulously. “This is all literally your fault. I’ll deal with this stuff here, you deal with everything else. I think this guy's soul is weakened by things that are happening around him. We need to solve his problems, live his life and make it all better so that he can get his body back.”

“If it’s up to me, give me one reason why I should help this guy at all when I can just take his body?”

“His name is Finn.”

“W… What?” You gulped.

“His name is Finn. He is my father’s child. Directly, as far as I can tell.”

Even you, as much of a cold villain as you were, felt gutted. “That’s so messed up. He-” Fin stopped you, placing a finger over his lips. He guided you out and closed the door. You continued, whispering.

“He sacrificed his own child? For this? The fact that he called his kid FInn… I hate him. I hate him so much.” You were close to pulling your hair out.

“Feel motivated now? Stealing this body is part of his plan. Do you want to play into that?” Fin smiled at you, already knowing the answer.

“Fuck no!”

Fin chuckled and leaned down, kissing you on the forehead. You blushed. “There’ll be more of that if you do well. I’ll reward you with kisses, headpats, love, affection and… Other things the better you do so make me proud O. K?” Fin winked at you. You felt steam coming out your ears and off your face.

“Y-yes! I will do my best!”