Celeste’s words struck me like a meteorite, searing through every nerve. My chest tightened, breaths turning shallow as the weight of her confession pressed down—how many threads of my fractured life had she spun with those celestial hands? The air around us seemed to vibrate with the echo of her power, a hum that made my teeth ache.

I clenched my fists, the ghost of my mother’s laughter suddenly sharp in my memory. “Did you know?” My voice cracked, raw as an open wound. “About the manor… about her?”

The goddess’s sigh unfurled like a dying star, its resonance trembling through the cosmos. Stardust spiraled from her fingertips, dissolving into shadows as she cupped my face.

Her touch was glacial, yet it burned—a paradox that mirrored the storm inside me. “I saw only fragments.” she murmured, her eyes a galaxy of sorrow. “A path leading you to Elaria’s embrace, nothing more.” Her thumb brushed my hair, alabaster strands glowing faintly under her gaze. “Forgive me, my child. Even a whisper could have unraveled it all.”

Forgive me. The plea curdled in my gut. Forgiveness? When every step I’d taken reeked of her design? When my mother’s face blurred into a question mark etched in ash? I swallowed the bitterness, sharp as shattered glass. “Tell me how to find her. Please.”

A crescent moon of a smile curved her lips, too serene, too knowing. “Patience, Kane. Your reunion is written in the roots of fate.” Her hand swept upward, and the void itself shuddered. Light erupted, coalescing into a tree—no, a colossus—its trunk a labyrinth of pulsating nebulas, branches clawing at the heavens. Leaves shimmered, each a tiny supernova, casting prismatic fractals across the infinite dark.

“The Great Tree of Elaria.” she intoned, voice echoing as if from the depths of a well. “Its fruit once nourished the nine-tailed monarchs of the canopy. Now?” Her brow darkened, stars dimming. “The crimson rot festers in its heart. Parasites. They drain its light… and your monkeys wither to shadows.”

“Six-Tails.” I breathed, recalling the creature with alabaster fur, and their dark-furred adversaries that were slowly whittling themselves away from conflict. “They fight tooth and nail for celestial fruits that are dwindling more with every passing year. He said the monkeys of the forest used to have many more tails, but now they’re.. starving.”

“And you will feed them.” Her golden irises flashed, twin supermassive voids. “Lure the foxes to the Rootwell, where the tree’s veins converge. Spill their falsefire blood into the soil. This will serve to rejuvenate the tree, enabling it to bear fruit once more.”

Ice flooded my veins. Spill their blood. The words slithered, serpentine. I’d fought, killed—survival’s ugly arithmetic—but this? A calculated culling? “The alpha with five tails.” I said hoarsely. “That old thing has been living for hundreds of years, he’ll obliterate me before I blink.”

Celeste’s laughter tinkled, discordant as broken chimes. She gestured, and a mirror materialized between us—its surface a liquid obsidian, swallowing the starlight. My reflection was absent, as though the glass peeled back the flesh to gnaw at the soul beneath. I’d previously pried it from the seven-tailed monkey’s crypt, its aura whispering of drowned screams.

“The Divine Reflector.” she said, trailing a finger over its frame. Gold filigree writhed under her touch, alive. “A… gift for the fox king. When his kin gaze into it, their souls will bare themselves. A feast of vulnerability.” Her smile turned feral. “And you will strike as one.”

The mirror throbbed in my hand, a heartbeat not my own. “What if it breaks?”

“It is older than time. It will endure.” She leaned closer, her breath a solar wind scented with ozone and iron. “They will gather, drawn by its song. And you, my blade, will end their heresy.”

The void began to fray, edges curling like burning parchment. Blue light seeped through the cracks—the chamber’s cold bioluminescence, reality reasserting itself. Panic spiked. “Wait! Where do I go after? How do I—”

“North.” she whispered, disintegrating into stardust. “Seek the storm-eyed wolves. They… know your scent.”

Then she was gone. The wooden cup struck the floor with a hollow thud, jolting me back to the dim glow of the chamber. Time had warped—minutes spent unraveling Celeste’s cosmic web collapsed into a single heartbeat here.

The core of the Great Tree loomed above, a sapphire sun thrumming with ancient fury. Slaughter as salvation. The tree’s roots pulsed beneath my feet, hungry. And I, someone blessed by a celestial entity, would have to feed them.

My fingers tingled, still humming with a strange energy, while the fox’s sapphire eyes gleamed at me like twin diamonds in the dark.

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“That good, eh?” The five-tailed fox rumbled, his voice a blend of gravel and velvet. He lounged against a moss-crusted root, tails flicking lazily. “First taste of celestial dew’s always a trip. Had me seeing fractal rainbows for weeks.” His grin widened, fangs glinting.

I forced a laugh, sharp and too loud. “Couldn’t help myself!” A tendril of aether—translucent, serpentine—coiled from my form, lifting the cup. The fox watched, pupils slitting as my power brushed his clawed hand. Careful, I warned myself. He’s no fool.

“No harm, no foul!” he boomed, though his nostrils flared slightly, scenting the air, “Glad your head’s clear, sprout. You were muttering about stars earlier. Odd, for a critter who claims he’s just… hungry.”

I floated closer, aether cradling me like a current. The pool of Aleria’s essence shimmered below, its surface rippling with trapped constellations. “Hunger makes beasts of us all.” I said, sweetening my tone. “But let’s start fresh. I’m Kane.”

The fox leaned in, muscle rippling beneath crimson fur. “Names are currency here, boy. Mine’s Vyrrin.” His tails lashed—a calculated rhythm. “And you… spared my kin when you could’ve carved through ’em. Curious.”

Guilt pricked my throat like a thorn. He’s thanking me. Trusting me. I shoved the feeling down. “Consider this a gesture of goodwill, a taste. This wouldn’t be a very fair trade if I didn’t give you something in return.” With a flourish of my arm, blue light flashed from my silver bracelet.

I summoned a chest from the storage dimension—a token from the seven-tailed monkey’s hoard. It erupted into being with a crack, gems and golden coins cascading across the stone, the chamber’s ethereal glow highlighting their luster.

Vyrrin went still, his eyes widened in shock “A taste, you say?” He crouched, claws tracing a gem’s edge. “Generous. For a squirt.”

“Think of it as… collateral.” I purred, stepping into his shadow. “For the partnership we’re about to forge.”

His ear twitched. “Partnerships require honesty, Kane.” The words hung, weighted. Behind us, the pool’s light pulsed—once, twice—as if the tree itself held its breath.

I mirrored his grin, all teeth, although most of mine had yet to grow out, “Then let’s drink to truth.”

The fox suddenly let out a laugh, dipping the wooden cup into the pool to retrieve some celestial dew for himself, “To truth!”

The crimson fox’s throat bobbed as he drained the cup, his blue eyes sparking. His ruby aura erupted around him, rippling outward in waves that made the nearby shrine’s ancient wood groan. He exhaled, long and content, before setting the cup down with exaggerated care. The shrine’s surface hissed where residual droplets fell, tiny tendrils of smoke curling upward.

“Best gather my scattered kin.” he said, though his gaze lingered on the empty cup. “You’ve a flair for dramatics, bursting in like a comet.” His light chuckle showed his amusement, as he scaled the chamber’s roots. They trembled under his weight, sap oozing from fresh cracks.

I floated behind, silent as a specter. His once-stooped frame now moved with predatory grace, muscles coiled beneath crimson fur. When he reached the jagged fissure in the ceiling, he paused, tails flicking in a rhythm that felt like counting. Perhaps he was wondering how many of his kind had escaped.

“False alarm!” His roar shuddered through the labyrinth, shaking loose bioluminescent spores. They drifted like dying stars around me, dissolving against the aether that was surrounding my form. Somewhere in the dark, a kit yipped—a sound swiftly muffled.

I rose higher, the lie smooth and practiced. “I’m sorry for the ruckus.”

Vyrrin waved a clawed hand, his smile not reaching those glacial eyes. “Return anytime, trader. Our doors are… adaptable.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” My grin mirrored his—sharp, fleeting. My silver bracelet sat faintly against my wrist, its stored treasure—the divine reflector—thrummed with latent purpose.

I chose a narrow tunnel at random, one that almost scraped my shoulders raw as I flew. The roots here pulsed faintly, their celestial glow dimming as if recoiling from my presence. Ten minutes in, the air began to freshen as the tang of overripe magic faded. My fingers brushed the walls; feeling the ever-so-fading roots of the tree.

The light from the roots continued to dim, and behind me, the tunnel’s mouth had vanished. Ahead, a sliver of indigo night waited.

I emerged into the cool embrace of twilight, the great tree’s crown towering behind me. Its leaves shimmered with unwavering celestial blue, each one a pinprick of starlight woven into the canopy. The sight should have been breathtaking, but now it only felt like a taunt—a monument to the power I’d bargained with, and the blood yet to spill.

‘They’re not just clever—they’re good-natured.’ The realization coiled in my gut like spoiled meat. I’d come hunting a meal, not a moral dilemma. The old fox’s sapphire eyes haunted me—sharp with wit, softened by trust. Fools. Or perhaps I was the fool, tangled in Celeste’s webs.

My silver bracelet weighed heavier than the hoard it stored, it's cold metal biting into my arm. Stolen mirrors. Stolen time. I took flight, the wind whipping my white hair wildly as I refused to acknowledge the guilt welling up within me.

I flew faster, and my aether carried me further from the tree’s celestial glow, closer to Seven-Tails’ skeletal pyramid. Its shadow already clawed at the horizon, a jagged scar on the land. Vyrrin's parting grin replayed in my mind—filled with kindness and unknown motives. Did he suspect? Or was that another layer of his game?

‘I need to tread lightly, but light steps wont shield me from what comes next.’ I mused, sparing a glance back at the monumental tree. Tonight, I’d bury my hesitation with Seven-Tails’ relics. Tomorrow?

Tomorrow, I’d have to become a monster the old fox believed he could bargain with.