I woke up in my room in the palace, rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes. I remember the scolding we got from our mothers last night. I got off my bed and pain shot through my body, I remembered peeling potatoes and crashing through a wall. I wondered what happened after that but I dropped the thought because I felt adventurous.
I hypothesized that my mother used some light golden flames on me. I brushed my tail a bit and got ready to adventure. I would have to get to my friends first because I am not going alone on adventures, the more the merrier. Although more than me, Ted, Gregory, and Raishin would definitely be too many.
The Palace was divided into 3 wings, one for my family, the Hourai family, led by my mother Edea the empress else known as Amaterasu the golden sun goddess, another wing for my buddy Raishin and his family, the Torai family led by Felicia Torai, known as the Yellow Raijin and another wing for my buddy Gregory’s and his family, the Sheru family led by Nadila Sheru also known as the Goddess of Death. The capital was named after her while the empire was named after my mother. Felicia didn't want any naming after her so there is nothing there. My mother and Nadila aren't actual gods but that's the moniker they got. I heard stories that they fought actual gods and kicked their asses.
Anyway, I need to sneak out and find Ted. Ted's family is from the brown war bears, I don't know how they got into this side dimension with mythical and legendary creatures living here but I'm glad they are. Ted is like an older brother to us; he is 2 years older than us and his family is like bodyguards for our families. I think it's a formality since most mythical beings here can wipe the floor with them but they are not completely hopeless in a fight. Ted's room is closer to the Torai wing than it is to my room so I have to be careful. Our mothers tripled the surveillance on us so I can't be careless...
Oh, there is a fourth family that helps rule this empire but it's kind of a secret since they do spying and intelligence gathering but also take care of the dirty jobs. They are the Mikazuki family, led by Viridian Mikazuki. I learned about sneaking from him but I haven't seen him in a while. He has a daughter that used to babysit me a lot but I haven't seen her around either.
The biggest problem is that my room is next to the room of my big sisters Xelia and Yuna. Phoenixes can detect slight changes in airflow so I will have to become serious about this because it won't be funny if one of them finds me. I love them and they are really nice, maybe Yuna less so, but I think they forgot how to have fun because they have some years behind them. Xelia is turning 391 years old in July and Yuna turned 189 last month in May. I am the baby here with only 7 years behind me, but that's not going to stop me! I remember Viridian’s teachings and go into stealth and cloak myself in a double-layered illusion.
The best I can do is 3 layers but I will pass out from exhaustion and will get hit by a nasty backlash after 5 minutes if I do that. I am not sure if 2 layers can fool my sisters but I just need to put enough distance between myself and them. I activate my Elgards eyes but weakly look around. If I activate them strongly my sisters will notice I am looking at them. I made that mistake before and I'm not gonna repeat that! The number of potatoes I had to peel as punishment for trying to escape. I shudder at the memory and put some more effort into masking my presence.
I sneak out of my room and walk about 10 meters through the corridor, heading for the corner 30m further up when I spot something odd. I need to pass Xelia's room to make it through the corridor but in front of her door, which is opened slightly, is a quite chunky rooster. I look at the rooster in confusion. A lot of things go through my mind. Did my sister own a rooster? What is it doing here? Is it lost? What does she feed it? And why is it wearing a top hat? Realizing I'm getting distracted I try to sneak past the rooster but despite my masterful illusions for a 7-year-old, the rooster still seems to spot me since it followed me with its eyes. Terror traveled through my body, imagining what would happen if the rooster went cuckle doodle doo, or however, the sound is called that roosters make.
I started to break out in cold sweat, imagining peeling a whole warehouse's worth of potatoes. We don't even eat that many potatoes! I thought while becoming slightly frustrated. At that moment I decided to swear off potatoes, they were a nine-tailed spirit fox arch nemesis number 1! I slowed down trying to up my stealth a bit more but the chunky rooster didn't seem to care.
A malicious glint flashed into its eyes and it opened its beak about to make a loud rooster sound! The options flashed through my mind. I could go back to my room and pretend I wasn't here, dash through, fry the rooster, teleport the rooster to a random spot, and teleport something into the rooster's beak. I crossed off the options that required magic since they definitely would be picked up by my sisters. I decided to rush through when the rooster made his sound
"Ffrrrlut!" I fell and face planted by the sheer surprise of the sound the rooster made. This was not what I expected. I rubbed my nose in pain and saw my sisters come out of their room. The sound the rooster made was quite soft but my face planting was loud and on top of that, it broke my stealth.
“What is this rooster doing here?” Xelia asked puzzled while looking at the chunky rooster.
Wait, he's not yours? I asked while still rubbing my nose. “Hmm, can’t say he is”. Xelia said with an aloof expression and then directed her gaze to me, “By the way, Agnis what are you doing here, shouldn't you be resting? You had us worried by crashing into that wall.” I tried to come up with an excuse when Yuna picked me up.
“I'm sure he tried to sneak out again but this chunky rooster is a problem, like how does a rooster get so chunky?" Yuna asked.
I, eh, sensed this rooster and went to investigate it!
I lied.
“Hmm but this rooster isn't giving off any magical or natural energy whatsoever,” Xelia said while crouching down and poking the chunky chicken. “Hey try looking at it with your Elgards eyes”. I did as my elder sister said and looked at it looking for any energy flow. A really weak flow of energy went from the rooster through the corridor. I pointed in the direction of where the trail was leading. Yuna threw me over her left shoulder with my head pointing forward so I could look at the trail and point.
Xelia picked up the rooster and both my sisters followed the trail I pointed out. It went down the stairs to the 4th floor and went through some corridors entering the Torai family wing. Shortly after entering the Torai family wing, I heard an explosion and a familiar voice making a ruckus.
C'mere you big chicken, I'm craving some honey-roasted chicken breast!
I saw Raishin chasing a chunky rooster setting off explosions that kept missing the rooster since this chicken was running for its life.
That is one agile chunky chicken.
Xelia laughed softly and asked me to check this chicken too. The magic trail of my chicken and Raishin’s chicken combined and made a bit more distinct trail.
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The trail led outside and we were met with some cool outside air. It was a bit past midnight and the night sky was like an obsidian sea adorned with silver gems wrapped in a purple cloud. As I looked into the capital, I saw a lot of magic trails converging outside the city. The city has a protective barrier but these trails seemed to get through it with no issue. I started to get an ominous feeling. As I said this to Xelia, her normal calm aura turned into a serious one.
She took me off Yuna’s shoulder and flew me into the air instructing me to tell me exactly what I saw, the properties of the magic trails, and if I saw anything else which could be important. I realized how serious this phenomenon was, and poured all my energy into putting various filters on in my Elgards eye. It's like if I want to see magic energy flow, I put that filter on and I only see magic energy flow but I can add filters for airflow, non-magic energy signatures, infrared, etc. but these take a lot of energy.
Xelia covered me in light golden flames which recovered my energy and stamina so I could keep it up for a time longer than I ever could by myself. I noticed the magical traces were accompanied by a certain non-magical energy I couldn't identify; I could see it but not identify what it was. Different signatures of this energy indicated that different users created it but it was the same type of energy. I followed the trails with my eyes and they ended up with some individuals at the edge of the barrier I also saw some cracks forming at the edge of the barrier, but they were minuscule and they spanned quite a sizable area. I noticed something peculiar though, though the individuals on the north side got their energy from something. I tried to trace it further but lost focus when I found the source for a bit. And the backlash of using the Elgards' eyes so long and not keeping up focus made my eyes bleed a bit.
“Are you ok?” Xelia asked. “Was it too much for you?”
It's ok, I lost focus.
I told her what I saw.
“Hmm an eight-tailed monkey on the north side supplying energy to individuals to break the barrier”, she said while banking sideways and making a turn to return to the palace. Xelia still sounded calm and a bit aloof but I could feel she switched to serious mode. “Mom went to subjugate a group of extra-dimensional monsters so she isn't in the capital yet. We might need her, Felicia, and Nadila’s help because if that monkey is who I think he is this might not be a simple attack but an invasion.” Xelia said while putting me down. She stroked my hair and called Yuna over. “Yuna, take Agnis, Raishin, Gregory, and Ted and take them to safety, I will tell Tallys to get Viridian and after that, I will mobilize our city defense and lead the defense until mother returns.” Yuna nodded, turned into her half-phoenix form, grabbed Raishin and me who were already outside, and flew inside to look for Ted and Greg. Yuna sped through the corridors while talking to herself.
“How did they even get so close to the capital?”
They seem to use some special energy that bypasses every system we have in place it seems. But this energy doesn't feel natural like it's not from this world.
Hmm, what's going on, where is my fried chicken?
Shut up please Raishin, I think our city is under attack.
Wait? Really? Then why aren't we going there and kicking their asses! I'll show them not to mess with my fried chicken!
Yuna and I both sighed while rolling our eyes and ignored Raishin. Yuna sped to the Sheru wing in no time and encountered Ted and Gregory fighting a huge ugly chicken. They were struggling a bit because the chicken knocked down a pillar and they were fighting in a cramped space. Yuna went in and instantly fried the big chicken. Ted and Greg thanked her and Raishin went to cut some meat out of the chicken. I handed him some salt and we started munching on some fried chicken. Yuna looked at us in disbelief.
Whud? I'm hungry!
Yuna picked all four of us up and started flying again.
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While chomping on some chicken I see various trails combine. These probably originate from chickens scattered throughout the palace.
Big chicken up ahead!
I just realized, isn't Yuna practically a big fried chicken?
Uh oh.
Oh no.
“Could you repeat that? I might have misheard you!” Yuna said in a very irritated and angry tone. At the same time, her flames flared up and they started to become quite hot. I have high fire resistance but my buddies don't really.
I was wondering…
Oh no, Yuna you misheard him! Gregory said hastily while putting his tail into Raishin’s mouth, gagging him and preventing him from finishing his sentence.
Hot, hot, hot yowch, could you turn down the heat Yuna? I'm not a big fan of spicy! Ted said as he wasn't helping with calming my sister down.
Yuna reminds me of spicy hot wings. Raishin said after freeing his mouth after a struggle with Gregory.
Aight buds, you’re on your own. I said as I covered myself in frost to protect myself from what was to come.
Agnis, could I get some of that ice of yours?
Yuna’s flames flared up a split second after I covered Gregory with some frost.
“I hope you guys have a high tolerance for spicy because imma make you sweat!” Yuna said angrily as she flared up yet again and her flames turned bluish.
Aargh!
Ow ow ow.
Idiots. That’s what you get.
We reached the huge chicken I spotted earlier but he got vaporized the moment Yuna in her blazing rage blasted it. I was wondering if I should use my special technique to calm Yuna down.
Can you turn the heat down Yuna? We’re about to turn into well-done steaks!
I’m sorry for calling you a fried chicken! I was wrong! You’re... Yes, you are not food you’re graceful like uhm a pigeon?
You do know that pigeons also get eaten?
Really? Does it taste like fried chicken?
Yup, not helping those idiots out. Yuna’s rage hit its zenith and the corridor walls she was flying through started to melt. I was hanging on comfy covered with frost, as was Gregory. Meanwhile, Ted and Raishin were doing their best to enhance themselves with magic but they were still getting fried. Being in the proximity of my ice helped them to not get vaporized but that's all it did. Yuna, trying to control her rage, was putting a lot of effort in to shut up and focus on getting us to safety.
Agnis and I will kick their asses later, is that fine Yuna?
I will make you some high-quality ice cream, sis, so please calm down, I'll even make some ice sculptures of them on which you can vent when this is all over ok?
“Do you have the ingredients on you?” Yuna asked, clearly calming down and even a little bit excited.
Of course, but I can't make it if you’re too hot.
Yuna’s mood and flames stabilized and I took the ingredients for the Agnis Special: deep-frozen sugar apple ice cream, out of my dimensional pocket. Nine-tail spirit foxes had control over time and space to a limited extent. I’m of course a noob in all this but the first thing I learned and kept using was making a dimensional space or pocket as I call it and storing whatever I find useful in it. Nobody has the time and energy to physically lug all those around! I lifted the frost from Gregory who was starting to shiver and started making some ice cream.
Ted and Raishin looked at me making ice cream.
This is not for you guys, you should reflect.
Fair.
But I also want ice cream!
I finished the ice cream and gave it all to Yuna, putting her in a cheery mood...