Click.
The doors were closed. We were safe.
My ear flicked as I heard a sigh from Psarea's direction.
"The roots of their hate indeed have grown," he stated solemnly, walking towards the back of the chapel with his hands clasped behind his back.
I looked from him back to the door, then to the window. I could still see angry faces glaring in.
"Come, now, child. Lest they change their minds…"
With no desire to see what might occur if they did, I scurried after him.
The Reverend led me into a narrow back room made of stone; it seemed to be his living quarters. The door was nearly against the wall, to the right upon entering from the chapel and to the left on exiting into it. There was another colorful see-through part in the center of the wall here, thinner than the ones at the front of the chapel, in addition to a similar section a ways to the left which was smaller, shaped like a square, and without color. Reverend Psarea saw me staring at the colored part of the wall and told me it was called a…"stayned… glas… windo?"
I then glanced back up at the shiny, reflective things covering his eyes. He chuckled. "Yes, I have a pair of much smaller panes of glass on my face, child. They, however, are to help me see. They are part of an item called 'glasses.'"
Glass…
It's shiny…and pretty.
Though it might look better cracked.
I shook my head briefly to clear my mind.
As I continued to look around the small space, I noticed a few more things. There was a plain bed taking up the corner of an elevated, curved stone platform that sat along the entire left wall and extended far enough against the back to pass beneath the simple glass window. In addition, there was a set of simple half-spiral stone stairs which curved in the corner against the right and back walls, ending a relatively fair distance from the stained glass window in the middle and leading to a second level in this tower-like section of the building. Under the staircase was a tall, reflective, glass-laden object which the Reverend identified as a "mirror." He also told me the upper level was a space he mostly used for storage. Finally, there was a deep red, oval-shaped rug taking up the center of the room, rounded end facing into the curved stone rise.
"I know it may not be much, but this is my home. And now yours, I might add. I do not see you being safe outside for a while, and there are not many trustworthy people who would take you in and protect you from being harmed by the others."
I slowly wandered over to the mirror, gazing at my reflection.
The first thing I saw was smooth, pale skin.
My eyes flicked up to my head. Neatly messy black hair with white highlights in the front cascaded more than halfway down my back; it parted between my eyes and left a few strands hanging loosely over my right eye.
Shifting my gaze down slightly, I found myself staring into burning crimson irises with an inner golden pool around slit pupils. Brilliant, striking eyes, naturally capable of seeing and glowing in the darkness.
My ear flicked, half a pair of fluffy black fox ears with red tips and an outline of red tracing the outward-facing sides. They were matched by a black fox tail with a red tip that swayed gently behind me.
I brought my hands up to my face, careful not to scratch myself as I gazed briefly at a set of onyx-black claws that still bore flecks of blood. Lowering them, I turned my eyes to my clothes.
I was thinly shielded by ragged attire resembling that of an unwanted test subject: I was barefoot, with a pair of pastel gray shorts and a long-sleeved pastel gray top that hung loosely off my body and left my lightly bandaged waist exposed. The right shoulder was shredded, revealing the other underlying bandages.
Unbeknownst to me, it was a wonder the townspeople didn't have an even more intense reaction to my unusual appearance.
I glanced back at Reverend Psarea over the shoulder of my reflection, before turning around to face him.
He was giving me an odd look. It was as if he was contemplating something he had never encountered before.
"I think I need another look at your status, my child. There were some… 'irregular details' I noticed."
I looked at him quizzically.
"Fortunately, we need not return to the checkpoint to use the mana reader at the fountain. I have a special handheld mana reader that will do the job just fine. I simply need to collect it from upstairs."
A few minutes later, we were sitting on the ledge by the bed. Reverend Psarea held a small tablet-like device that projected my status in a similar fashion to the orb by the fountain, though without showing my stats.
[Status Info]
[Name: None]
[Race: Kitsune (Demi-Human)]
[Age: 10]
[Class: None]
[Level: 6] [XP until Level-Up: 538]
[Status: Curious]
[Affliction Status: Weakened, Feeble]
[Titles: Summon, Forged Soul, Child of Shadow]
[Affinities: Darkness]
[Skills]
[Passive: Night Vision]
[Active: Self-Analysis, Simple Body Modification]
There were abnormalities in my titles now, too. There now seemed to be a flickering condition attached to two of my titles and even one such title itself wasn't all there.
Wait…did I always have that title…?
[Titles: Summon, Forged Soul, Child of Shadow [Suppressed], Demonic Element [Suppressed]]
In addition, not only was the [Status Masking] skill that had originally drawn our attention still there and flashing slowly, there was another skill flickering out of sync next to it.
[Identity Distortion]
"Only the so-called masking skill from before is flashing in a stable manner…the new entries are appearing and disappearing much more erratically," commented Psarea. "I wonder… Perhaps the Status Masking skill has been discreetly attempting to conceal parts of your status from us and the townspeople to limit awareness of you and hide the true nature of your skill set. If that is what the skill can do, it must be quite a unique and high-grade ability."
He glanced over at me. "Child, do you think you can utilize it to change what this device can view?"
I had been somewhat fixated on the previously hidden title. "Demonic element"… the words glared in my mind. I wasn't sure what "demonic" meant, but this being didn't seem to care. I shook my head to clear my mind, nodded to his question, and decided to try focusing on the entry for the skill itself first.
It didn't take much for the entry to stop flashing and become a stable fixture on the screen.
He chuckled. "Interesting. Very good, child." He patted me on the head, and my tail swished behind me.
Next, I looked to my titles. I decided that while I may not have known what they meant, maybe my soul wasn't so "forged" after all.
"Oh? Your Forged Soul title vanished."
Heheheh. On second thought, maybe it was?
"It came back. Are you enjoying this? Having fun, perhaps?" He smirked at me in amusement.
When I looked up at him, the expression on my face must have confirmed this. He chuckled and patted my head once more.
"It would seem you have a very useful skill, my child. One that could help you blend in and avoid drawing unwanted attention with your status. I expect it will be quite valuable to you. I wonder about this "Identity Distortion" skill that appeared, but that can be explored at a later date."
He switched off the handheld mana reader and set it down before turning to face me.
"Now," he began. "I believe there are questions that need answering."