October 27th, 2023

Alastar

After eating the first bag of Cheetos Alastar already felt full. It wasn’t a real kind of full, it was a fullness that filled him, it was the kind of fullness brought on from eating after a long time. He wasn’t as used to it as someone who’d grown up on the streets, but Alastar’s ADHD tendencies had sometimes landed him in similar situations, where he forgot to eat for hours or even a day at a time. This was far more, but it gave him the perk he needed and his body shivered with recognition as he felt the sugar fill him with enough energy to keep going.

“This way Vajra” Alastar said, standing up. He had to hold himself a little because his head was dizzy, but he pointed in the right direction. “Be careful with the collections… please?”

Yes sir. Vajra projected at him with a level of sarcasm filled within their voice. The Fox moved ahead of him and around the corner, leading down the stairs to the bottom where the exhibit Alastar wanted was. Are you sure about this? I mean, I do think you are doing something interesting with this build of yours but I don’t know what to really prepare. I want to make sure you arn’t making mistakes.

“I need to protect our history.” Alastar said, frowning. “Even if it just means finding things and selling them, I want to make sure those outside our world remember our histories. You wouldn’t understand, you are from a universe too broad to have such memories. We remember… strongly.”

You are right. Vajra said, considering. However they were interrupted when a small creature came into the light and Vajra had to protect Alastar.

Alastar stared at it, it was an odd creature. It wasn’t what he had expected from the museum. He supposed he had expected more of the exhibits to come to life, but he supposed that coming down to the first floor had made that much less likely. He wasn’t really close to the exhibits that had names or bodies, though there was the human evolution exhibit on the other side of the building. Instead, what he was confronted by wasn’t an exhibit piece, but instead what looked like a golem. It was made out of… Glass.

“Careful, that’s sharp.” He said and called over to his companion. The creature was made of a lot of glass, it was a solid 8 feet tall and looked almost like one of the orcs from the Warcraft games, but made out of broken glass which ade it hard to really see the outline. The glass was shards, some large and some small, but it was there. There was even a Gemstone floating in the center of it’s head, moving as if it was an eye.

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I know that you stupid… just let me work. Vajra said. Alastar did as the fox asked and stared, watching his friend get cut a few times before the fox pinned the creature down and ripped out it’s throat. The creature had a throat? Alastar was distracted as Vajra walked back to him, staring at the thing trying to figure out where that throat had been.

It took Alastar a few seconds to notice, but suddenly he was looking at Vajra once more. “Are you okay? You look hurt.” That was an understatement. The creature’s glass had fallen to the ground. Alastar picked up the Gemstone, noticing it was one of the prettiest that was at the museum, the Star of India.

I am. I don’t sense any more monsters ahead, so I’ll need you to try and get to the subway without me. Vajra moved close, their body was clearly covered in cuts. Their fur stained red with blood that seemed to seep from every moment and place. Hugging them tight, Alastar felt Vajra slowly merge with him again. He felt the second set of ears pop out of his head which was mostly fine, and then he felt as the tail exited his pants which was much less comfortable.

“Well, okay, I’m sure I can do that.” Alastar said as he walked into the gem room. It was clearly ransacked, or at least that’s what it looked like. Almost all of the glass had fallen to the ground and been scattered. He assumed it had been the glass golem thing, but he had no way of verifying that and it wasn’t obvious to anyone who hadn’t just fought the creature.

Walking through the room he looked to see if any of the gemstones were out of place. Most were fine, however many had been knocked down, particularly the more complicated pieces that had many stones near eachother. Finally, after a few minutes, he saw what he was looking for. The subway garnet.

Walking through the rubble, Alastar picked up the subway garnet and palmed it. It was large, a bit larger than a softball, and somewhat heavy. He started to walk away with it and felt a whisper in his mind. Put it in storage. “Oh, right.” He murmured, placing the gemstone in his ring and grinning. He really should have done that back at the food, but this was more important. He started to move as quietly as he could towards the next room.

As quietly as he could wasn’t really much, he felt as he had to walk over the glass on the ground. Many sounds came, and he was practically unsurprised when he found the figures from the evolution of man exhibit standing and baring his way forward. He was surprised when one of them raised a hand and spoke.

“You. Keep safe?” It was Lucy, the most famous figure there.

“Yes, I will keep this place safe.” Alastar said, trying his best to parse her meaning.

“We no attack.” Lucy said, and the rest of the figures moved aside. “If you attack. We kill.”

“Uh, alright.” Alastar said, running past and finally reaching the entrance to the subway. He was so close to finishing his task!