Chapter 16:

I looked down at my sister as she tossed in her sleep with fear, concern, trepidation, and mostly a burning kernel of Rage.

Kintsuji had said it was only because my mind and soul were so mature that I was able to handle a Quickening as well as I had. Mia may have been older than me physically, but she was just a child, and the Trial she had been thrown into was a nightmare. Literally: it was designed, as far as I could tell, to terrify people with monsters, darkness, frigid cold, and their worst fears.

When I had raced from where the portal out of the Trial of Intellect had dropped me, and into the Trial of Courage, I had been pulled up short notice by what i saw this time, but what I felt and heard. I knew with almost certainly that my sister would be inside the trial of Courage. The feathered serpent had told me to be brave, and that was the only thing I could image they meant.

While my eyes adjusted to the darkness and the sheeting rain, I had started to hear taunting whistles and shouts. The pounding of leather shoes on concrete. The beating of fists and boots against dustbins like an urban drum march, the shattering of glass, and the calls. The voices had yelled every slur they could that had come from my old world. Screamed what they were going to do to me when they caught me. Cackled as they told me not to run, that it would only make things worse. Shattered glass and rocks cracking against the pavement had filled my ears.

The fear had been so overwhelming I think I stopped breathing. My heart began beating so fast that my rib-cage ached.

The sounds of pursuit, of hatred for my very existence. The trailing sounds of my oncoming death. They were something I and Kintsuji had packed away so tight into the corners of my memory that I had sincerely hoped to never hear them again. Everything in my body and brain had gone into overdrive at those sounds, and I had wanted to run. I had needed to run, and hide, and cower, and get away from the people who wanted to hurt me. I nearly, very nearly gave in to that primal need.

Then something else began to bubble up from deep within me. Rage. A burning, fiery anger started to kindle in my gut and sent out flaming tendrils into every quivering muscle, every nerve stuck in flight response, every single gland pushing out adrenaline and other unhelpful chemicals. My jaw tightened, my fists clenched. I had stood up from the instinctive crouch I had assumed and squared my shoulders, and even my new tail joined in, the curve rising above my head and raising the ball of [Dawnslight] into the air, and I had roared back at the pervading darkness.

“No!” I had yelled, And the fury burned across my tongue. “You will not take me back there. Never again! I am worth more than that. I can do more than that. You will never make me afraid like that again!” With the last syllable, the ball of light on top of my tail had pulsed, and a flood of essence had cracked the air around me with enough energy that even the drenching rain had stopped for a minute. Then, suddenly, the angry, taunting voices had ceased, falling to the silent static of nothing but falling water on leaves. There was no fear anymore, and my mind settled, apart from the burning coal of anger at the feeling of being manipulated. A message had flashed up in my vision, then, and I had suddenly known what the point of this trial was.

Ability [Dawnslight] dispels [Terror Aura] in local vicinity. You and your soul bonded companion will be immune to the effects of [Terror Aura] for 24 local hours.

(0/4) Focus Towers destroyed. Until all Focus Towers in the local vicinity have been destroyed, any anti-fear effect will only be classed as a temporary buff.

It was then that I had realised that if Mia was in this trial, if Mia had been given the same sort of quest I had, then while she might have a single Constellation Stone, it was very likely that she didn't have a way to defend against mental attacks. So for as long as she had been in here, she had likely been utterly terrified. Boone could feel the boiling lava of rage bubbling up in me and even he became somewhat wary of me. At that point, I don't think I had ever been that angry about anything. I think if my Body Attribute hadn’t already been increased to Wood 2, I would have been in danger of bursting a blood vessel.

“We’re going to find my sister, and we’re going to punish whoever did this to her.” I ground out between my teeth, and I could feel Boones’ eager agreement with my statement, even if he was still concerned for me.

I didn't know what to expect in these woods, however, and even back when I had entered I had been below half my essence, despite the feeling that with the unlocking of my Mind Attribute, my capacity had risen slightly, if not by an entire level. It just felt there was slightly more space in there now.

I needed a decent weapon, and I remembered I had one, and possibly something I could wear to keep the rain out of my eyes and away from my cold, bare skin:

Shining Spear: [Wood 5]

* This enchanted spear is always sharp, is flexible despite its apparent metal construction, and is lighter than it should be considering it's materials. The spear will adjust itself to be the optimal size for the wielder.

Hide of the Hunter: [Wood 5]

* This enchanted tiger hide armour will protect from blows as though it were hammered steel, while remaining light and easy to move in. It will also protect from extremes of temperature, and will adjust to the optimal size of the wearer.

I had grinned savagely at the descriptions for both items, when I threw an Identify at them, before I had thrown the tiger hide around my shoulders and done up the golden clasp. The hide was absolutely massive on me at first, drowning me in fragrant leather, before the enchantments kicked in and it began to shrink until it fit as though it were made for me. The spear, as well, lost a good few feet until it would barely be a short spear for an adult, but was just about usable by me.

I'm ready when you are Arcadia, let's find Mia and get done with this. I find I am very much not a fan of the rain. Poor Boone had looked like a drowned sand rabbit in the heavy downpour, and if I hadn't been feeling quite so angry, it would have been hilarious. I found myself agreeing with my friend though. Even with the tiger fur cloak wrapped around me, the downpour was so heavy that it was quickly becoming drenched. At least it protected my head though. My supernaturally thick hair was an utter pain to dry if i got it truly drenched, and often i had found it easier to simply cut it off than try. It grew back in a month, so it wasn’t as though it was a great loss.

We had raced through the forest for what seemed like hours after that, avoiding those monster we could, or killing from range those we couldn’t. During that time I started to grow accustomed to the new appendage that had been grafted above my bum. The thick, muscular tail was semi-autonomous, and moved on its own to where it thought my best balance would be, but that often meant I over-thought my next step and over-corrected, and more than once I fell flat on my face because of the damned thing. Still, I had just about gotten used to it - and even found some advantages - when Boone picked up Mias’ scent and we had started to charge pell mell through the dark and the rain to find her.

Now we were here. Mia had passed out when we had defeated the wolves that had been chasing her. We had carried her to a nearby cave that Boone found, and I had blocked the entrance with loose branches and leaves, while Boone had managed to shift a large stone in front of the entrance until only a sliver of space was visible near the top.

I had removed the healing potion bottle from my bag and drank a couple of mouthfuls, beginning to heal the wound I had taken from the zombie wolf, and pouring small amounts into Mias’ mouth and working her throat until she swallowed enough that it began to work for her too. My own wound smelled funny, though I had tried to clean it out as best I could, and I just had to hope the wolf bite had just been foul and not infectious. I was just lucky the armour from the tiger cloak had stopped the top teeth from penetrating, and it was only the bottom row of broken fangs that had carved runnels in my flesh.

I had removed the tiger cloak and it had returned to its original size, so I had laid it down on the floor and wrapped Mia in it, making sure not to fasten the clasp. Boone crawled in the skin beside my sister and cuddled against her back. His warm body should help to warm her through, even if I couldn't get do anything about her soaking wet hair and clothes. Or mine for that matter.

She looked different, and I wasn’t just talking about the ears, though they were rather distracting. Pure white furred the same color as her hair, with a pale pink interior, they moved slightly with every sound in the cave and Mia often twitched half awake when she heard something that worried her. Her teeth were different as well. They looked sharper and her canines were slightly bigger. The most unnerving change though were her eyes. Where Mia had always had strangely coloured, pale yellow eyes, now her irises were gold, but the white had turned completely black. They looked like two gold rings in a void when her eyes slid open briefly in her sleep, and I didn't know how she would react to the news if she didn't already know. She was also thinner, paler, and looked haggard, with deep dirty lines carved into her face by stress, but I doubted they had resulted from a Constellation.

Racial changes were an uncommon side effect of unlocking an Attribute or a class, but they did happen - our own mother was a Foxkin, after all, but her main change had been her tail. Neither were the most extreme changes we had seen, either. I had once seen a full, anthropomorphic panther man, and a woman with the head of a falcon. I guessed, even if I could dispel my tail and send it back to my spiritual body, most people would assume it was a change from my Constellations, and I wondered briefly if that's what I should tell people.

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Still, even though it was a large space hog in the small cave, I kept the tail out, as it provided light while I worked. I had taken from my bag my engraver, and was in the process of scribing a series of large runes into the cave floor. It took a while, as I had to make the lines wider, which normally would take a specialist wide nibbed engraving tool, which didn't have, but i made do with scraping the engraver back and forth between two lines until the entire rune was filled with electrum to a depth of about a tenth of a millimetre. Then, nearly two hours after I had started, cold and still and with an aching back, I poured essence into the rune and watched as it lit with a soft gold light - and warmth, blessed warmth.

[Flawed] Campfire Runic Circle. Duration: 8 hours. [Non Rechargeable].

This campfire rune has been created with substandard tools or improper construction. It may be used to heat and light a room, and works as a cooking surface. It contains a circuit breaker emergency protocol. Due to its flawed nature, the rune cannot be recharged and must instead be repaired and re enchanted once the duration has expired.

I had never made a campfire rune before, but I had seen it done by my parents thousands of times. It was lucky that I had, as without the correct inscriber, my rune was barely functional, but at least it was stable. The rune circle was a basic survival rune that anyone with an engraver and access to essence could make, but it was like the holy grail here. It provided the heat and light of a campfire, while being entirely smokeless, powered itself for about eight hours on a charge of essence, and had a safety feature built in so that if anyone fell into it it wouldn't burn them. You could also cook on it.

I still had two days of basic rations in my bag, which could be eaten cold, but with a little ingenuity could be made much better with a little preparation. I found the flattest piece of stone I could, and pulled out a very small pot from my pack, that I'd thrown in there when I had broken the handle and didn't want my mother to find out - the automatic reaction of any child in trouble: hide the evidence.

I also pulled out some of the bacon I had stored, a couple of eggs, a vegetable called Chilok, which was similar to white cabbage if a bit sweeter, some onion and a root that tasted like garlic, and was used for pretty much the same purpose. Then I removed a small pouch of beans and some salt, pepper and dried flakes of chilli that I kept in tiny pots with screw tops and had pilfered from the main kitchen supply. Food keeping without spoiling was a great thing about my bag, but cooking food without even basic spices rubbed my old world self the wrong way.

I also pulled out a tiny glass bottle of oil and a canteen of water. I used the flat stone while it was cold, and my - cleaned - dagger to cut the Chilok plant and the roots, and added them to the pot with some of the water and the beans,candy the eggs still in the shell, before placing the flat rock in the middle of the heating rune and the pot on the edge so it would simmer to a good heat slowly.

On the rock I cooked the bacon - which woke Boone and I placed another couple of strips on for him - before cutting it into small pieces and putting it in the pot with the salt, pepper, and chilli. Then I used my hand wrapped in the wet remains of my shirt to swap the rock and the pot, and sat back with my back against the wall. Boone emerged from the cloak briefly to gobble his bacon with a grateful look to me, before he climbed back under the fur and closed his eyes.

My own eyes wanted to droop while I sat there, my trousers and hair slowly steaming as the water was boiled off of my skin, but I had the distinct impression allowing myself to sleep right now would be a bad idea. Instead I watched the light soup bubble away and felt the flaming coal of my anger match it bubble for bubble.

“Child, may we talk?” A rich, baritone voice came from beyond the stone pulled in front of our shelter, and I sighed so long and deeply that I could feel my lungs flatten.

“Who are you?” I said a last, not looking away from the soup, which was starting to let out a pleasant aroma into the air.

“I am the guardian of this realm, and the master of this trial. You may call me the Namean Lion. May we speak, face to face?” I looked at the covered entrance that was only blocked by a rock and some branches. If the lion was anywhere near as powerful as the Feathered Serpent, I doubted it needed my permission, which meant it was trying to be diplomatic. At that moment, I didn't care.

“No, you can stay out there. My sister needs to sleep and rest, and I am making dinner.” I used a stick to stir the soup so it didn't stick, and rested back against the warming stone of the cave when I was done.

“What if I told you by throwing off your fear, you had already passed my trial, and could take your reward now and leave for the trial of Brawn?”

I looked again at the rock blocking me from seeing my visitor, and I'm sure he couldn't see the look of disgust on my face, but I hope he felt it. “And what about Mia? Has she also passed, and can she leave?”

“She has not, and she cannot until she does, no. But I would like to offer my apologies. When I created this trial, I did so with the intention of it being used by an adult, with life experience and a developed mind. It was not meant for children.” The voice said, sounding contrite, but I called bullshit.

“If it wasn't meant for her and you made a mistake, then you should be able to let her go. This trial has nearly killed her. She looks like she's been in here for a month, not a few hours!” My voice started to raise towards the middle, and Mia stirred fitfully, causing me to lower my voice and hiss the second half.

“It has been nearly two weeks for her. Again, you have my apologies. Where my sister is a master of the manipulation of space, I am a manipulator of time. Time within my trial is stretched thin and passes much more slowly. This is meant to be a trial of survival, not a sprint to the finish.” He sighed again, and I heard him settle on the other side of the stone. “But once a trial ground is sealed to a participant, it is locked until they complete the trial. Those are rules that far supersede my or even my mistresses’ command of this dungeon, seeded in the past so far that it may as well be myth.”

“If Mia hasn't passed her trial, then I haven't either, and I'd thank you not to attempt to persuade me otherwise again. She is my sister and I WILL protect her. Even from Kintsuji. Now, if you'd kindly leave, I intend to get my sister to eat some warm food before we are inevitably attacked.”

“Your courage is more than worthy, Little Fox, trust in that. You may not see me in a good light right now, but trust me when I say I am proud of you for taking a stand.”

“With all due respect, and frankly knowing that you could kill me if you wanted to, I could not care less what you think of me.” I removed the only bowl I owned from my bag, a cheap wooden thing that had been carved from something close to a coconut shell and once held shaved ice in a bazaar, and filled it with hot soup while I heard the lion gets to its feet and leave.

“I know you are comfortable there, Boone, but would you mind climbing out while I wake Mia? She hasn’t seen you yet and I don't want to scare her any more than she already is.” The fox whined at me as I crawled over to the tiger skin, but complied, and went instead to lie by the campfire rune. I set down the soup to one side and slid under the covers to give Mia my recovered body heat, shaking her gently when I was settled.

“Are you sure you want me to remain visible? It might be easier if I disappear.” The fox asked me, looking at Mia with concern.

“I think it's best, Boone. We’re all stuck here together and she’s going to find out about you one way or another. Better to rip the band-aid off all at once.”

“What's a Band-aid?” He asked, perplexed, but quieted down and lay down to watch the doorway in case something tried to squeeze through the air gap. I often found myself using phrases and slang from my last world without thinking, almost like an unconscious tick. The phrases often made little sense, even to me, but it was a habit I found myself doing less and less as i aged more fully into this world. Still, it was usually particularly vexing as I often didn't know the meaning behind the phrase myself. In this case, I knew a band-aid was something that was meant to help, but it had to be removed, and the pain it caused often felt worse than the original hurt did. It was better to pull it off quickly than prolong the pain. But that still didn’t tll me what a band-aid actually was.

The now fox-eared nine year old came awake with a start and, completely to my surprise, grabbed at a shadow on the wall and ripped it away with her hand, the darkness forming into a long and slender blade. Her eyes were wild and she tried to stab at me until I caught her Arm and made her eyes meet mine.

“Mia, please, calm down, it's me. Arcadia.” I tried to sound as soothing as I could, and kept repeating the soft phrases and repetitions of “you're okay, you're safe now” in between each.

Her wild eyes finally settled on my raggedy pink hair and dirty face and seemed to drink in every detail, before her face scrunched up and tears spring from her eyes. With surprising speed and strength, she wrapped her arms around me and held herself to me as she began to bawl.”Arcadia, you came! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should have never come here.”

I stroked her hair, and went almost automatically to stroke her ears like I would Boone, but she flinched at the first touch of them and covered them with her hands. “Please don't…don't touch them. I'm not used to it yet and they are really sensitive.” I smiled at her and nodded, before carefully shifting her so I could reach the soup, which had gone slightly cold by now, but was still warmer than anything I imagined she had had for a while. While I was doing so I exposed the tail hanging out from the covers and still lit up with the glow of [Dawnslight], and she stared at it with extremely wide, black eyes. “And I thought Kintsugi screwed me over. What is that!?”

“Ah, that…” I concentrated and dismissed the tail, to a shocked gasp of outrage from my sister. “That is a power from a Constellation, not a race change. Sorry.” I could see muted surprise and some small amount of jealousy in her eyes, but mostly it was just fear. Her heart was still beating like a jack rabbit where she held herself against me. I passed her the soup and her nose caught a whiff of it.

“Where..?” She started to ask, before I think she realised she didn't care and began to practically inhale the bowl of beans and bacon. Across the room, Boone chuckled softly. With a mouthful of food, my sister stared across the fire at Boone and I saw the fear turn to terror, and she nearly threw the bowl at my friend - if I hadn't been there to stop it and gently take it from her hand.

“It's okay, Mia - that's Boone. He's a friend. He’s going to help me protect you.” The fox tried to make himself look as cute as possible, and stayed far away from my sister, to let her get used to him.

“It’s very nice to be able to finally say hello.” He said quietly, smiling a foxy smile and wagging his tail. I would say he looked suitably adorable, but Mia gripped my arm painfully tight and her breathing sped up again. “It talks. The lion talked too.” she said shakily, and tried to back further into me and the stone wall behind us. “It's alright, MiMi. It's okay. He's a really good friend, and he's been looking after both of us for a really long time, okay?” I handed her back the bowl of soup and she took it with shaking hands.

“What do you mean?” I looked at Boone, looked at my sister, and knew I had to distract her. With a deep sigh, I started to tell the only story I could think of.

“A long time ago, I saw a River…”