Chapter XC (90) - Aurora

Mae protested and pouted about how little time they had together. Anata wasn’t much better, her bottom lip quivering as she looked up at him with big, mismatched eyes. But Kizu held steadfast to his resolve. He crossed Mae off as a threat, but he didn’t feel the same about the other Kitsune. While only Kon remained openly hostile, Kizu still felt extremely unwelcome.

And Mort, perched on his shoulder, didn’t help the emotion as he sent a steady stream of distrust through the bond. Monkeys might usually be absent in the diet of most foxes, but the canines were notorious for killing for fun. And the hostile looks Kumiho shot Mort’s way only reinforced his discomfort.

Mae, in her human form, decided to follow them as far as her mother would let her. And, by proxy, Kon slinked along beside her as a fox. He acted like Mae’s bodyguard, untrusting of strangers near his sister. Mae whispered to Anata as they walked and he heard her get a few giggles out of the usually silent girl.

The other foxes avoided looking in his direction. He suspected that they didn’t like that he had been allowed to trespass on their home without punishment. But he didn’t like letting them get away with kidnapping his niece without punishment. So they were all leaving unhappy.

Occasionally, Kumiho led them around a gulf or trap in the path, but for the most part they stuck to one main corridor that led up.

When they exited through the doorway, Kizu let out a breath he’d been holding. He had recovered Anata and Mort and they’d all made it out alive. The yetis still hung out at the entrance and were grunting at one another. If they noticed or cared that Kizu exited the dungeon alongside the others, they showed no sign of it. Instead, they zeroed in on Anata. They almost looked nervous as they shifted their weight and glanced at one another.

That was as far as the Kitsune retinue could follow. Kept back by an invisible barrier, they patiently sat back on their haunches to wait. Mae, however, pushed herself through the doorway with visible effort. Only having a quarter of human ancestry really seemed to make penetrating the exit a great deal more difficult for her and Kon. But they both persevered.

Kumiho acknowledged the large, hairy yetis before walking out of the cavern with the rest of them following. While they walked, Kizu discreetly removed his necklace and stuffed it in a pocket. He needed Professor Grove able to detect his presence if he had any hope of finding his way back to camp.

The first thing Kizu noticed was that the blizzard had completely vanished, leaving the tundra in peace. Not just their little pocket around the ruins, but as far as the eye could see.

“At least we don’t need to walk back in the snow and wind,” Kizu said to Anata.

“Of course not,” Kumiho said. “I asked the yetis to release their storm. I don’t want my cousin dying out there.”

In hindsight, it made sense that the yetis created the blizzard. He used their hair earlier in a brew to create a freezing potion, so they obviously had magical properties. But disrupting the weather to that degree…that was powerful.

Kizu looked up at the sky and found himself breathless. In place of stars, a brilliant sprawl of greens and indigos lit up the sky overhead. Like someone painted the skies in long brushstrokes. He watched it as it ebbed and flowed like a river.

Before he managed to say anything about the marvelous sight, he felt it swell forward, engulfing him in the luminous hues. Everything else around him vanished as the aurora consumed his senses.

Half-formed figures swelled up from the river of color all around him. Hundreds of creatures half formed before dipping back down below, clutching at him and whispering as they tugged at his soul.

“A champion?”

“Doesn’t look like much.”

“There’s potential there.”

“Missing a piece of soul. Sekai’s work?”

“An opening regardless.”

“Enter it.”

“Can he kill her?”

“Will he kill her?”

“No reason not to attempt.”

“Timeline is sped up.”

“Other options?”

“Perhaps. The prince from before?”

“Yes. For the best.”

“That one held a strong spirit.”

“And was very receptive.”

“But first, we act on this one.”

“Agreed. A truly inimitable opportunity.”

“Child, you want power?”

“Advance beyond mortals.”

“Wield strength of a thousand mages.”

“Live a hundred lifetimes.”

“Grandiose titles?”

“Harbinger Slayer.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“The Savior of Humanity.”

“Destroyer of Evil.”

“Join us.”

“Kill her.”

“Kill her.”

“Kill her.”

“KILL HER.”

The last demand shook Kizu to the core, implanting itself in his brain. It echoed over and over as he floated as if suspended underwater with the colors of the aurora streaming all around him. He forgot how to breathe. He forgot all other thoughts. Only their demand remained.

Yes. He would kill. It was singularly important to him.

“Ignore them,” a quiet voice said beside him. He felt something sliver its way under the demanding impression, as if prying up the command from his mind and sliding into its place. “Follow your own path. Our decisions were our own. We left the world better off than we found it. But you…decide for yourself. Forge a unique future for your time. Create a new world.”

“Who…are you?” Kizu managed to choke out.

The form solidified into that of a young man with shaggy hair and a sad smile. His incorporeal body swirled with the colors of the aurora. He set a hand on Kizu’s shoulder.

“It’s a…difficult question. Individuality is so foreign now. Knowledge of who we were exists, but me as a single entity? That’s lost.”

The man’s neck folded, as if an origami kite collapsing its form in the wind. He plummeted into the surrounding void.

Kizu gasped, suddenly back in the snow laying next to Anata. Kumiho and Mae looked down at him with worry written on their faces. His body was cold in a way unrelated to the weather. It reminded him of when Anata used to tear him out of his body when he slept.

Beside him, Anata remained passed out on the ground. He felt sick looking at her. As if she was toxic and needed to be removed from the world. Unnatural. He raised a shaking hand to touch her pale neck, compelled by the demand branded into him. Then he sucked in a breath of the crisp air and brought his hand back, clenching it in a fist. It was like shaking off a dream as the compulsion faded.

In its place, he felt nauseous disgust with himself. What had he just been about to do there? That disgust quickly transformed into rage.

“What did you see?” Mae asked. She looked giddy with excitement. If she noticed anything odd about his actions, she let nothing on. She sat back on her haunches in her fox form, but her tail flicked back and forth, sweeping the snow and showing a poorly contained restlessness.

“Nothing,” Kizu snapped, accidentally redirecting his anger into his words. “Just fainted.”

Kumiho’s eye twitched. Kizu knew the lie was incredibly feeble, but he lacked the emotional energy to care.

“How long was I out?” he asked.

“A minute,” Kumiho answered.

Kizu pressed his fingers against Anata’s neck again, this time feeling for the rapid thumping of her pulse. Alive. He scooped her up. She hung limp in his arms. Even after over a month in his care eating a healthy diet, she was so light.

“Do you know where to go now?” Kumiho asked.

Kizu hesitated. He planned to just wait and hope Professor Grove arrived soon. His lack of an active strategy must have shown, because Kumiho continued.

“I will show you back to your camp, I know the way. But I wish for you to loosen your lips in exchange for the favor.”

“I…saw some people in the aurora.” He clenched his jaw and ground his teeth while his heart rate picked up at the thought of them. Closing his eyes, he composed himself well enough to continue. “They offered me power. I didn’t accept it.”

“Good. Those deals rarely end well. My mother told me about the last mage foolish enough to accept. What impossible task did they ask of you?”

“Kill the Harbingers.”

“Not a surprise. You’re in an ideal position to do so. In close contact with three of the five.”

“Three?” Kizu asked, confused.

Again, Kumiho narrowed her eyes and looked at him like this was something he should already be aware of.

“Yes, one of your classmates. I mentioned earlier that he visited last week.”

Kizu wanted to ask who, but Anata stirred in his arms. All his attention immediately went to her. Her mismatching eyes fluttered open and stared up at the aurora above them before shifting over to meet his. She smiled and fidgeted, indicating that she wanted to be set down.

“Anata!” Mae said, running up and circling her a dozen times in excitement. “I was really worried about you! Are you okay? What did you see?”

Kizu half expected her to speak like earlier. Instead, she simply pointed out into the tundra.

“That’s not the direction of your camp,” Kumiho said.

Anata pointed three more times to emphasize the direction.

“There’s something out there? What did you see, little cousin?”

Visibly frustrated. Anata closed her eyes and focused. Then, an image split itself into Kizu’s mind, causing him to wince and grip the side of his head. She showed him a massive azure crystal, buried under a mass of ice the size of a city. Judging by everyone else’s reactions, they also received the image. Mae yelped in pain and Kon buried his face in the snow.

“The seal!” Kumiho cried out. Her face broke into a broad smile. As the older Kitsune woman beamed at Anata, Mae’s humanoid resemblance really shone. “You found it! You actually found it! I had hoped you might bring some news of it, but I never thought– I mean, you did it!”

“We get to finally go break the seal?” Mae asked, swiftly recovering from the mental blow and swishing her tail again in excitement.

“You do not,” Kumiho said sternly. “You are going to join my retinue and return home immediately. Say your goodbyes to Anata and Kizu for now. Unfortunately, they’ll need to decide if they want to wait here for my return or find their way to their camp without me. I am leaving to attend to this immediately.”

Mae pouted and complained, but Kumiho was unrelenting. And Kon backed his mother’s every word. Eventually, Mae returned down into the dungeon with Kon on her heels while she sulked. That left Kizu with just Anata, Mort, and Kumiho standing beside him in the tundra.

Kizu remained silent. On one hand, breaking a seal of the World Dungeon was altogether a horrible idea. He knew what had happened to the gnomes when their local seal broke. Rationally, he should challenge her now that she stood in front of him alone. She stole Anata, causing him to travel out into a blizzard and down into the World Dungeon. Now she wanted to unleash something from the dungeon out into the world. Kizu viewed the Kitsune woman as unstable and unreliable. A dangerous woman and a threat to civilization.

But his vision from the aurora planted a seed of doubt in his mind. Those…creatures had tried to force him into killing Anata. They tried to make him kill Anna’s daughter. The anger rekindled into a blaze. How dare they? They attempted to dominate his autonomy to commit something utterly despicable. They tried to snuff out the life of someone he loved. Using his hands. Kizu forgave a lot in his life. Ulric breaking his leg. Finn’s horrible behavior. Even the crone’s abuse. But this was not on the list of forgivable sins. He barely contained his boiling rage as he stared up at the aurora’s churning colors. He wanted to counter them. More than that, he wished to tear down the sky.

Create a new world.

Kizu didn’t understand what the man had meant by the vague instruction. But that implied there was something else. A new direction. He wasn’t shackled to any past. Tross didn’t need to turn out like Ilosin-Don. Despite his misgivings and initial hostile introduction, the Kitsune appeared to genuinely feel love and wanderlust. Mae simply wanted to see cherry blossoms.

Who was he to stand in her way?

“We’ll join you.”