Long ass backstory

How long had it been? No one could remember anymore. Not even Rena herself could remember how long it's been since she was free. 
Centuries ago, the word seemed so much calmer as a young kit. Her troubles were non-existent in those days before she had been exposed to humans. Her mother and father had warned her to be wary of them. They were weak but violent and stupid, a volatile combination. Back then, she was free to wander the forests, swim the rivers, and sleep under the stars. It was such a simple existence, one she missed dearly. It all changed the day a child wandered into her midst. It was the first human she had ever seen, and the only two words that came to mind were fat and bald. Sure it looked stupid, but not at all like the beast her parents warned her about. Rena summoned a will-o'-the-wisp to lure it deeper into the woods where she could get a better look at it. It was rather small. When it finally dawned on Rena that it was just an adolescent, she came out of her hiding place in the bushes and sniffed the strange creature in front of her. He immediately latched onto her pink fur and stroked her head much to her delight. Rena was undeniably soft, and the boy's chubby fingers felt wonderful. 

As it became apparent that he wasn't dangerous and as she got more comfortable with this child, they even began to play. But when the sun sank below the horizon, the torches in the village beyond the forest were lit, and voices were raised. They were looking for the missing boy, but when they found him, both boy and kit were curled up together asleep. When the adult humans approached, Rena was able to wake before they could reach her and ran, but not before those very adults had fully taken in the scene before them.  Rena had protected and even guarded the boy against predators, and the humans were... Grateful. 

They began leaving offerings at the edge of the forest for her, and while Rena was hesitant at first, she began accepting them. They didn't seem to mean her any harm. The boy returned to her in the forest every chance he could sneak away, and Rena began venturing into the village late at night. These humans seemed peaceful enough, and Rena began using her shapeshifting abilities to walk among them. The boy's parents gave her clothes and helped her perfect her human illusion, how to hide her tail and ears and pass as human. In return, she used her abilities to help the villagers. She had a sixth sense for danger and would provide a warning to the village before every major catastrophe, weather bandits, wildfires...

But as those around her grew older, Rena stayed the same. Sure, she aged, but a full generation passed before she sprouted a second tail, and time left her features untouched. Much to everyone's surprise, the boy stopped growing older when he reached adulthood as well. He was the human with whom she spent the most time, and over the years, they grew closer and closer until the night came when he asked her to marry him. She had learned that among the humans, this was a rather significant exchanging of vows, binding two people together in love. He gave her a ring, and she gave him her heart...  In the form of a small pink gem that he promised to guard with his life.


They had decades of marital bliss. For Rena, it was true heaven on earth, but it all came crashing down around her. One oppressively hot summer, Rena could sense imminent danger approaching for weeks, but she couldn't figure out what was coming. She had served the village faithfully for years and never suspected the danger would come from within her own family. Her first taste of betrayal would come at the hands of her brother-in-law. While her husband had stopped aging, his younger brother had become old and feeble. Throughout his adult life, he had coveted Rena and her beauty, but as he grew older, he began to covet her power. While she tried her best, healing magic was not Rena's forte, but the old timer realized that there was some attribute to her affections that kept her brother from aging, something she only gave to him and no one else in the village. 

One night during a new moon, when Rena's powers were at their weakest, the brother came and slew her husband in their sleep. When Rena awoke to find her husband's throat slit beside her, it sent her into a rage. Her third tail sprouted, and in her anger, she began to engulf their house in flames, fully expecting to burn the village and all its inhabitants to the ground. It wasn't until the brother commanded her to stop that she learned the hard way that which is given cannot be taken back. Against her will, the magic fueling the flames died, and the fire with it. 

Upon her husband's death, his next of kin, his little brother, inherited the gem containing her heart. While they lived together, her husband had never asked anything of Rena that she wasn't prepared to give willingly, but his brother was quite different. When it became clear he had absolute control over Rena, the very first thing he tried to do was command her to reverse his aging and then stop it completely. She did try her hardest, but when it became clear it was an impossible task, even for her, he turned her on his enemies. The brother commanded her to slaughter anyone who had slighted him in his lifetime. With her power, he became a force to be reckoned with, but her physical proximity and even possession of her heart didn't stop time from affecting him. He died of old age, and Rena's heart was passed down once again to his son. 

Unfortunately for her, the son was just as conniving as his father though he didn't like to rely on brute force. He taught Rena to use her mastery of illusion to deceive and infiltrate. Under his cruel tutelage, she became quite the assassin, torturing her heart until the first imperfection began to appear in the once clear gem. Eventually, he took her as a mistress, and when he died, her heart was passed on once more. On and on it went, her heart being passed down, sold, stolen, tainted.

Eventually, she was forced to leave the village with her new master. The land changed. In place of great ancient forests, skyscrapers were erected. Plains were paved, mountains were leveled, and digital currency became king.

Once during a great depression, she had come so close to seducing a bachelor that had come into possession of the little pink gem into gifting it back to her... Until he met the love of his life. Instead, he kept her on as a slave. Occasionally he would send her to seduce his business rivals and blackmail them with the evidence she either discovered or planted. Sometimes she would be commanded to kill them outright or burn their business to the ground. 

It was annoying, to say the least. 

Today, she sits at a bar in a beautiful black cocktail dress, staring at the bottom of her glass, contemplating what she might do with the few weeks of freedom she had left while her previous master's will was being contested by his spoiled offspring. It was a miserable existence she led, and alcohol managed to make it ever so slightly bearable. How long had it been since she was able to freely galavant in the woods as a free fox? The forest she used to roam didn't even exist anymore. Perhaps it was the wine or the rain that left her feeling nostalgic while her eyes were fixated out the window, not really watching anything in particular.