A strong gust of wind blew through the forest, but it was not a natural wind. Rather it was being conjured with magic by two nine-tailed foxes as they raced through the woods. They barely even noticed the leaves brushing against them as they sped past, dodging around trees as they went.
One of the foxes spotted an outcrop of stone and saw an opportunity to gain an advantage over her opponent. She leapt up onto the stone and launched herself off of its highest point, hoping to catch the other fox unaware and tackle him from above, only for the other fox to dart to the side and evade her at the last moment.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Sister,” he called back telepathically as he continued to dash away from her.
“I'm not giving up yet.” She retorted, also using telepathy as that was their primary means of communication, still chasing after her brother.
They had always been very competitive and even more so now that they were out on their own. She continued to give chase but she just wasn't able to catch her brother. After weaving in and out of the trees until she was exhausted and panting heavily she called out for a break. Not far away, she saw a slight shimmer in the air and approached it curiously. Her brother soon returned to her side and looked around to find what had caught her attention.
“What is it? Did you find something?” He asked.
“I think it is one of those weird gravity places,” she replied.
“Ooh, is it the fun kind?”
She created another gust of wind to kick up some debris from the forest floor and watched as it slowly floated back down.
“Looks like it,” she confirmed.
He did not hesitate to jump right into the gravity distortion. Taking advantage of the lower gravity to bounce high into the air and fall slowly, only to jump up again as soon as he reached the ground.
“What are you waiting for?’ He asked as he slowly floated to the ground upside down.
Needing no further invitation, she entered the distortion field and sprang off the ground, aiming for the nearest tree. Kicking off that tree, she was able to vault even higher. Seeing that, the other fox emulated her actions and it soon became a competition between the two to see who could reach the greatest height.
They continued moving higher, bouncing from one branch to another until they reached the highest point of the distortion. From there it was more difficult to continue higher without the benefit of the lower gravity. Yet they climbed higher towards the tree tops regardless.
“Perhaps we should stop, it might be dangerous to go any higher.” The female fox said as she balanced on a branch and looked up at the forest canopy.
“Does that mean you’re giving up?” Her brother responded mockingly.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? But no, I am genuinely concerned about safety, the gravity up here is normal, if we fell from up here we would not necessarily slow down when we hit the low gravity again,” she entreated.
“We might though, but if not, there are plenty of branches to slow our fall and we can use magic. Come on, we’ll be fine,” he insisted, jumping up to an even higher branch.
“It’s not worth the risk,” she retorted.
She descended carefully, dropping to lower branches one at a time, using wind magic a few times to slow and guide her fall, much as her brother had suggested. When she once again felt the effects of the gravity distortion, she allowed herself to slowly float down to the ground. Soon after, her brother followed her example and landed beside her.
“I’m counting that as my win,” he declared smugly.
“Honestly Brother, I think you’re too reckless at times,” she chided.
“Yeah, so you’ve told me before. That’s why I usually win,” he countered.
“If you consider doing dangerously stupid things as winning,” she said with a huff.
“Come now Sister, jealousy is unbecoming.” He teased as he continued to bounce in the low gravity. She sighed at his antics.
“Shall we continue?” She asked flatly. Her brother stopped bouncing in front of her and raised a paw. She eyed him suspiciously until he tapped her on the nose.
“You’re it,” he declared before darting off through the forest once more, his many tails trailing behind him. Despite her irritation, she could not help also being amused as she chased after him again.
Their intention was to explore the forest, but there was no reason they could not also have fun while doing so. Despite having lived in this forest for their entire lives, they did not know how vast it truly was. Even though they had been traveling for several cycles of the moon now, they had yet to find its edge.
What they had found instead was an area where the ambient mana was much higher than anywhere else they had yet been. The mana density was so great that their bodies had actually started absorbing mana from the environment, something they had never experienced before.
The feeling was invigorating, like they had boundless energy. Not only that, they felt stronger, lighter and faster, like their bodies had been improved in every way. Maybe it was not really as significant as all that, but it felt incredible…most of the time. The mana density was not uniform; it was much higher in some areas than others. High enough to be uncomfortable or even painful if they lingered in such places too long.
They had also encountered unusual environmental phenomena that the two foxes suspected were caused by the high mana as well. These phenomena included effects such as strange, lingering mist with no apparent source, illusions that altered their perceptions and localized gravity distortions.
While they did enjoy playing in the low gravity, these distortions weren’t always harmless or fun. The mist was sometimes unsafe to breathe, the illusions could disguise real and sometimes extreme dangers and the altered gravity was not always lowered. In one high gravity area they had even seen corpses of creatures that had seemingly been crushed under their own weight.
But those weren’t the only dangers, other creatures in this area had been similarly empowered as they were. They hadn’t yet encountered anything they considered a serious threat, at least not against the two of them together, but they wouldn’t ignore the possibility that there still could be. Even so, this place was as fascinating as it was dangerous and they were both excited to learn what secrets it may hold, if any.
So it was that the male fox came to a sudden halt in his dash through the forest, kicking up a spray of dirt and debris. So immediate was his stop that his sister did not react in time and crashed into him, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
“What are you doing?” She demanded, glaring down at her brother as she got back up to her feet, but he did not acknowledge her question.
“Do you feel that, Sister?” He asked, staring off into the distance.
“What are y-” she began, but stopped mid-sentance and turned to look in the same direction as her brother. “What is that?” She asked aloud, not that she expected her brother to have the answer any more than she did. There was a strange feeling in the air…or perhaps in the mana pervading the area. She could feel a tingling sensation and it felt like something was tugging on her mind
“I don’t know, but doesn’t it kind of feel like it’s…calling us?” He replied.
“Whatever it is, I don’t like it. We should leave.” She insisted.
“But aren’t you curious? Don’t you think we should investigate?” he retorted.
“No. I don’t think we should. We have no idea what it is and it could be dangerous. It’s not worth the risk,” she replied sharply.
The male fox found his sister’s overabundance of caution terribly irksome at times, though he could not deny it had saved them more than once. But this was far too intriguing to ignore.
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“This entire area is dangerous, but we continue to explore it anyway because we are hoping to find something interesting. Well this is something interesting; we can’t just walk away from it.” He implored.
She stared at him silently for a long while, her ears slowly lowering backwards and her tails fanning out as she considered trying to force him to give up on this foolish idea. But she knew how stubborn he could get when his curiosity was piqued; this isn’t something he would just let go of, not without a fight.
“Fine, but we leave at the first sign of danger,” she capitulated, bringing her tails back down.
“Excellent, let’s go!” He jumped to his feet and they continued their journey through the forest, though at a much slower pace this time. Though it was no longer directionless wandering as it had been in the past.
As they followed the call of…whatever it was, they eventually felt the mana density become lower. It was still high enough that they continued to absorb mana from the environment, though it was noticeably less than before. They soon found themselves standing in a large clearing, bereft of trees or any other vegetation, save for one single tree of gargantuan size at its center. It was a tree so large that they had never seen its like before, with thick roots visible above the ground spreading out from its base in all directions.
“That’s a really big tree.” The male fox said, sitting and staring up, dumbfounded. The trunk was as thick as approximately ten of the nearest trees combined and it was so tall that even its lowest branches were still higher than the canopy of the surrounding forest.
“‘Big’ is an understatement. It’s incredible. I didn’t know trees could get this large.”
“Was it the tree that was calling us?” He wondered aloud.
“Perhaps, I can’t feel it anymore so maybe this is it.” She replied.
“I can still feel something though, but it’s not the same as before.”
“Like a slight pressure pushing down on your mind?” She suggested.
“Yeah, something like that. What do you think it is?” He asked.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think we should hang around here too long.”
The male fox investigated the base of the tree, sniffing at its roots, but other than how big it was, he couldn't detect anything unusual about it.
“Is this it? Its size is impressive but it still just looks like a tree. Why would a tree call us?” He wondered.
“Maybe there’s something more here. Let’s look around; I’ll go this way, you go that way,” she instructed.
The two foxes split up to search around the tree, following its circumference in opposite directions, intending to meet on the other side. They didn’t make it that far though before the male fox called out to his sibling.
“Sister, I think I’ve found something!” He exclaimed.
She rushed around to investigate and saw her brother standing over a hole at the base of the tree and staring into it. Nestled between some of the large roots radiating from the tree’s base, it was well hidden and would likely be easily overlooked by anyone who was not actively searching for it. It had been dug at an angle and led under the tree. The hole was small in diameter but also quite deep. She suspected it was likely a burrow for some kind of small animal.
Her brother attempted to enter the burrow but couldn’t get much more than his head in. Perhaps an unevolved fox could have squeezed in, being only half their size, but for nine-tailed mystic foxes such as the two siblings, the burrow would need to be dug out if they wanted to investigate it further. The male started digging, but soon let out a loud yelp and backed out of the hole.
“What happened? Is there something in there?” The female asked.
“There was a rabbit…It bit me,” her brother complained.
“You were bitten by a rabbit? You let a rabbit bite you…Honestly Brother, that’s just sad,” she teased, unable to contain her amusement.
“Shut up! It wasn’t my fault. The thing was fast and it was cramped and I could hardly move,” he explained, attempting to defend himself.
“That’s what you get for being reckless again and sticking your head into a hole without knowing if there’s anything inside first.” She continued to tease while he glared at her, his ears lowering backwards, indicating his displeasure.
“I’m eating that thing as soon as I get in there and I'm not sharing it with you.”
“Come now Brother, pettiness is unbecoming,” she quipped, mimicking his own words from earlier.
He ignored her and went back to digging. This time, when the rabbit attacked again, he was ready for it. He snapped at it, but it backed away out of his reach. The little creature did not give up though and kept darting in to attack. He had never encountered a rabbit so aggressive before. Eventually it got a little too close and he managed to clamp his jaws around one of its legs.
It squealed as he dragged it out of its burrow. He let go of its leg and bit down on its neck before it had a chance to scurry back to its den. He tore into the rabbit’s flesh and despite his earlier declaration that he wasn’t going to share, he didn’t stop his sister from joining him as they devoured it together.
Once they had finished off the rabbit, the male returned to his digging. It was much easier to dig when he was no longer being harassed by an angry little fluff ball. The tunnel soon opened up into a larger cavern. He entered it and found it was large enough for him to stand comfortably.
“Sister, you should come down here. I think I’ve found what we were looking for.” He called out and she quickly joined him in the burrow.
Even with the two of them, there was still room for them to move around, though only a little. The sides and ceiling of the cavern were lined with roots from the tree above. At the back of the room, furthest from the entrance, was a faintly glowing green crystal with multiple jagged points protruding from its sides. The crystal was about as large as the rabbit that had been its guardian and it was wrapped in many more tree roots.
They could both feel the mana emanating from the crystal; the entire room was saturated with it. But despite the high mana density, they were absorbing very little. Much less than they expected, based on past experience.
“What is it?” The male asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it,” his sister replied.
“Look at the roots around it. Do you think this is the reason the tree got so big?” He suggested.
“Maybe, if it’s been feeding off the mana from that crystal for who knows how long, it’s possible.” She slowly approached the crystal and prodded it with her nose and felt a rush of mana enter her body the moment she touched it. “Whatever it is, it’s got a lot of mana.”
“Do you think it could be a dungeon core?” He pondered. She perked up and turned to look at her brother.
“A dungeon core? How’d you figure that?” She asked.
“Well, remember what our parents told us about dungeons? An area of really high mana that calls all manner of creatures to defend it, centered around a crystal core. Doesn’t that sound a lot like what we’ve found here?” He explained.
The female fox looked around the small cavern curiously, then turned back to her brother.
“It’s a bit small for a dungeon, isn’t it? And that rabbit seems to have been the only creature here defending it.” She stated.
“Maybe it’s relatively new and hasn’t had time to grow?” He offered.
“That seems unlikely. Look at the roots,” she rebutted, turning back to the core, “not to mention the tree above us; I’d guess it’s been here for quite a long time.”
“Maybe it’s just a small dungeon then?”
“Didn’t our parents also say that a dungeon is supposed to have a controller?” They both thoroughly examined the inside of the borrow, but they could not see any evidence or detect any scents that would suggest that anything other than the rabbit had been down here.
“Maybe it doesn’t have a controller yet because we are the first to find it. What if one of us can take control of it? Think of what we could do with it. Our parents said that a dungeon can help accelerate a creature’s evolution!” He exclaimed, bouncing on the spot in excitement.
“You want to use the dungeon to evolve faster?” She asked. He stopped bouncing and shook his head.
“No, not us. But other foxes.” He insisted.
“You mean to help other foxes evolve into mystic foxes like us?”
“Yes, exactly. So we won’t have to be alone anymore. And then maybe we’ll actually have a chance at finding mates one day.” He stated, feeling slightly embarrassed at admitting his desires.
It is something he had been thinking about for a while now. Perhaps it was something that all creatures thought about at some point. But foxes of their kind were quite rare. The only available female he had encountered so far in his life was his own sister and that is not something he would consider.
There had been times when they had encountered lesser foxes who had shown interest and while he had been tempted, his father had once told him that mystic foxes could not produce offspring with their unevolved cousins
But if they could gather some of the lesser foxes and help them evolve, then both he and his sister could actually have an opportunity to find suitable mates. But that’s not all, if they could help enough foxes to evolve, they could ensure that none others of their kind would ever have to face this difficulty again.
His sister considered his suggestion for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
“That’s an excellent idea. I should be the one to control the dungeon though; I’m sure you’ll just do something stupid with it otherwise.” She declared.
“No way! If you’re in control, you’ll just make everything lame and boring,” he retorted.
“Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?” She demanded, folding her ears back and glaring at him.
“You’re always trying to dismiss all of my best ideas, claiming they’re ‘reckless’ or ‘stupid’,” he complained.
“That’s because they usually are. I’m just trying to keep us both safe and alive,” she insisted.
“Yeah, by sucking the fun out of everything,” he snapped, his tails fanning out behind him.
“Well what do you want to do then? We can’t both control the dungeon,” she argued, fanning her tails out as well in preparation for a fight.
Her brother just blinked at her. He looked towards the green crystal, then back to her.
“Why not?” He asked, his ears perking up. The question caught her off guard and she tilted her head a little in confusion.
“What?”
“Why can’t we both control it? Is there a reason why there has to be only one controller? Did our parents say anything like that?” He inquired, dropping all signs of hostility as he sat on his haunches.
“I…uh, I don’t think they did. I guess I just kind of assumed,” she replied, lowering her tails and also sitting.
“Yeah, me too. But now that I think about it, do we know for a fact that a dungeon can only have one controller? Maybe we can do it together,” he theorized.
“It’s certainly worth a try,” she agreed, “but do you actually know how to gain control of a dungeon?”
“Not a clue. I don’t think our parents ever explained that part,” he lamented.
“They probably didn’t know either. They weren’t the ones in control of the dungeon they came from.”
“Maybe we just need to touch it?”
“I don’t think so, I touched it earlier and I just gained some mana from it. If that’s all it took then I would already be in control.”
“Should we try urinating on it to mark it as ours?” He suggested. She considered that for a moment but shook her head.
“That works for marking territory, but I don’t think that's the answer here. This crystal is obviously magical in nature, so it probably requires a more magical solution. I suggest we try injecting some of our own mana into it,” she proposed.
The two foxes approach the crystal and on the female’s signal they touch their noses to it and begin pushing their mana into it even as the crystal’s mana pushed against them and tried to enter their bodies through the contact.
After a few seconds the faint glow emanating from the crystal intensified to a blinding light. A wave of energy was released from it that pushed the foxes back as it spread throughout the burrow. When the two recovered from the flash they stared at the crystal in awe. The pressure pushing on their minds that they had felt earlier was gone, replaced instead by a magical tether linking them both to the core and to each other. The male fox was the first to speak.
“It worked!” He exclaimed, his tails swaying slightly from side to side in excitement. “I mean, it did work right?” He asked, looking towards his sister for confirmation.
“I believe so. Close your eyes and concentrate and you can actually feel the full extent of the dungeon,” she replied.
He did as she instructed and and felt as his senses expanded beyond the little cavern they were now in to encompass the entire clearing above. He could not ‘see’ it, but he could still sense everything within that area, most notable was the tree. Apparently it counted as part of the dungeon because he could feel its entire structure. Even being able to sense it like this, he could hardly comprehend the enormity of it. It towered over the rest of the forest like a mountain. His mind raced with thoughts of climbing to the top and staring down at the world below.
“This is amazing. So what do we do now?”