image [https://i.imgur.com/DKj8I92.png]

Eighteen years after the birth of John.

John stared at the open meadow in front of him. The grass was orange instead of green, and the surrounding trees were tall with orange leaves. Within the clearing, a large, furry, white mass slept.

“Is that what I think it is?” John could feel his heartbeat quicken. He stared at the creature sleeping in the field. Reddish orange markings covered its body, and a symbol like the sun adorned its forehead.

It was a Mythical Sun Fox.

And it was beautiful.

image [https://i.imgur.com/1vcQvYL.jpg]

John steadied his breathing. The sigh of such a legendary creature made something stir within him. He had never seen a sight so beautiful. The Fox’s patterns enraptured his eyes and mind.

A single ear twitched, and the Sun Fox turned its head to stare directly at John. Two deep, black, canid pupils stared directly at him. John picked his bow behind him, ready to fight, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

The fox went back to sleep.

“It doesn’t want to fight me?” John put his bow down, frowning. The creature was clearly powerful, and John could feel faint vibrations through the ground even as it slept. This may be a Rank 1, or even Rank 2 magical beast.

If it was a Rank 2, John thought. It could level his entire village with ease. John’s own rank was only 0.3, after all. He would be talented in his village, but that never mattered to him. He preferred to spend his time in the woods, tracking.

Tracking beasts and tracking men.

What for?

He did not know.

Before long, the sun began to set. John set up camp on the outskirts of the meadow. The Fox took no notice of him. He pulled out a bar of meat jerky pounded and covered in animal fats for preservation. It wasn’t magical beast meat, but it stopped him from going hungry. Watching the fox, John fell asleep.

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John awoke in the middle of the night to see a pair of deep black canid pupils staring right at him.

John’s eyes widened, and he screamed in fear. His body was being weighed down by something, and he couldn’t move. He tried desperately to reach for his bow, but it was too far away.

When had the fox pinned him? Had he let his guard down?

The fox on top of him cocked its head to the side. Through its breaths, John could see fangs that looked like they could shred through a man’s body with ease.

The fox licked him.

John stared up in confusion. What was it doing?

The fox got off John’s body and sat at the side where it began scratching its ear with its back leg.

John slowly got up, his heart still pumping. He strained his eyes to see the fox under the twinkling moonlight, but he noticed two things.

The tiny, not much bigger than John himself.

It had none of the markings of the Sun Fox this morning.

“This must be a juvenile,” John thought. “So where is the big one…”

As if to answer his question. A chirpy growl came from behind him, John felt every hair on his body stand on end. He could feel hot, putrid breath down his neck, and every fibre in his body screamed at him to run.

But his legs would not move.

John’s teeth chattered. He just rotated his head to stare at what was behind him.

A pupil of the size of his entire head, or what felt like the size of his entire head, stared back at him. Golden light swirled within, and John gulped.

They were nocturnal this whole time, John thought in self mirth. No wonder why they are so hard to spot…

Gradually, the giant pupil moved further away from John, revealing a fox whose head was the size of his entire body. Reddish orange markings emblazoned its body. Up close, the marking emitted light, making the fox glow almost like the sun.

John was terrified.

But the creature was beautiful.

The Sun Fox walked past John, approaching the cub. It pawed the cub, who was busy taking a piss on John’s armour.

The cub dashed away from its mother, leaving a white afterimage as it moved

“Such speed!” John’s eyes widened.

The mother’s body flashed, and it reappeared with the cub held gently by the nape in its mouth. Not paying any heed to John, it walked off, carrying its child away.

John fell to the ground, sweating and panting. His whole body ached from being pinned by the Sun Fox cub, and he struggled to catch his breath.

“How was the juvenile so powerful?” John said.

He picked up his armour and held it up from himself at a distance, only pinching it between the tips of his fingers. John’s face contorted as he got a whiff.

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“I’m definitely going to need to wash my hands after this…”

Twenty years after the birth of John

Since that day, John has spent nearly every day with the pair of Sun Fox’s. The Juvenile kept growing bigger, and the duo made regular visits to his campsite. Initially, it was just the Juvenile. But soon the mother started pawing him and waking him up.

Currently, the Juvenile was chasing a purple butterfly in his campsite during the day. Its mother was busy sleeping in the meadow. Jumping up, it snapped its jaw shut, catching the butterfly in its mouth.

John’s eyes widened. That was poisonous!

He grabbed hold of the Juvenile's face, trying to pry its mouth open. Despite his efforts, it kept its jaws tightly shut.

The juvenile swallowed.

“You’re definitely getting a stomach ache after this,” John said.

It wagged its tail happily, looking at him.

John sighed.

“Fine, good job, okay?” He patted the fox cub on the head.

Though, this “Cub” was currently larger than him, and faint red markings were appearing on its body.

Later that night, the Juvenile pooped all over John’s armour.

“I told you not to eat that damn butterfly!” He screamed.

Twenty-five years after the birth of John

John arrived back at the campsite. He had just travelled back to the village to get some supplies. It was currently daytime, and he looked down at the meadow.

The Sun Foxes weren't there.

Strange, John thought. They had never left the meadow before. Even when they hunted, they never went far from the meadow.

Had they left?

They were magical beasts, after all.

Something about the thought made John feel a sense of pain in his chest.

What had he spent the last seven years doing?

Not giving him time to mull over his emotions. A howl of pain filled the surroundings. John recognised the voice immediately as that of the Juveniles.

His eyes widened in shock. He hurriedly picked up his bow and dashed toward the howl.

That was when John saw it.

The Mother’s body lay on the floor. Its body was full of wounds, and its blood trickled out of its mouth.

“No…” John’s eyes widened.

The Juvenile stood in front of the mother’s body, growling at three men who smiled at the creature. It had since grown to double the size of a human, and the men looked at it wearily.

It was poachers.

“Let’s kill them quick and take them away from here,” one eyepatch wearing man said. “The shouting may attract other beasts.”

He pulled out a scimitar and advanced on the Sun Fox Cub. It growled at the man, and in that growl, John thought he could sense multitudes of pain. Vibrations travelled from the trio's feet, and John could tell each of them was above Rank 1.

They were multitudes more powerful than him.

I should run, John thought.

They were just magical beasts, weren’t they?

His life was more important.

He would die if he fought the three of them.

The cub pounced at the one eyed man, who blocked its bite with his scimitar.

While it was distracted, one of his lackeys forcefully drove a While it was distracted, one of his lackeys forcefully plunged a knife into the cub's side.

His father had told him to treasure his life–

“Damn it!” John grabbed his bow. Taking a deep breath, he channelled magical energy into his fingers. It formed into a green arrow made of life energy, which he aimed at a female poacher.

He shot his arrow, sending it straight into the woman’s shoulder. She screamed in pain.

“Who the FUCK did that?” She turned her head, staring directly at John.

Not good, John thought.

“Get that brat!” she screamed in rage.

Before John could react, a man appeared behind him. It was the one who stabbed the Cub prior. He punched John in the head, and he felt his entire world spin. The pain shocked John, and he fell to the ground. The man grabbed John by the hair and dragged him in front of the other two.

John could feel his vision swimming.

“Look what I found!” He said to the others.

“That’s the bitch that shot me,” the woman said. John couldn’t make out her face clearly, but he could see her take out what looked to be a knife from her jacket.

“I’m going to skin you alive, brat,” she snarled.

“Julia, quit wasting time,” the eye patched man said, “we need to focus on the fox–”

A howl of fury came from nearby, and John could sense vibrations travelling through the ground into his body. The light in the surroundings dissipated, and darkness took over the area. The vibrations turned into rumbling, which John felt throughout his body.

He looked forward, his eyes finally focusing.

As it howled, the young Sun Fox sucked the light in the surroundings into it like a black hole. The markings on its body went from faint red to deep crimson, and its body glowed with the light of the Sun. The nearby body of its mother glowed resplendently, and as the markings on the child grew, the markings on the mother faded.

“It’s absorbing her magical energy!” The woman dropped her knife, falling to the ground from the vibrations.

“Fools!” the eye patched man shouted. “Kill that thing!”

“Boss,” the larger man who had hit John around the head said. “We only had that one magic core bomb—”

The Sun Fox growled. Before the man could finish his sentence, it swiped him down the back. The man’s body erupted in flames, and the other two turned around in fear.

“S–Stay back!” The woman scrambled to pick up her knife. She grabbed a hold of John by the hair, and she put it towards his throat.

John stared into the eyes of the young Sun Fox, the light of the sun nearly making it impossible to see.

“Take your revenge,” John said.

The fox cocked its head to the side.

“She killed your mother,” John said. “Take your revenge, end the poison before it consumes you.” John smiled, but his eyes betrayed his sadness. He struggled, making the woman drop the knife. He pinned her to the ground. “Burn us, and burn the poison away along with it.”

“Brat, what are you–”

The Sun Fox opened its maw and brought its face closer to the two of them.

John closed his eyes.

I threw away the life you gave me, mother, father.

But I hope it was worth it.

“W–wait!” the woman shrieked.

John felt heat coming from around his body. The woman he’d pinned screamed. “My eyes!” John opened his eyes, and the woman’s eyes were bleeding, burnt out by the fox’s light.

John stood up, turning to the last eye patched man, who turned and ran.

He picked up his bow, aiming an arrow at his back. Firing the arrow, the man fell to the ground.

Eventually, light returned to the surroundings, and the young Sun Fox’s marking faded back to their original light.

John stared at the body of the mother.

Just like that, he lost someone else.

John felt something nudging the side of his body. He turned to see the young Sun Fox nuzzling it’s mother. It’s eyes were glossy.

Was it crying?

John knelt down next to the creature.

“I know what it’s like to lose someone, " he said, placing a hand on his back.

The Sun Fox whined in response. John picked up his bow, standing up. He beckoned at the Sun Fox.

“Come with me,” he said. “You need not be alone. From now on, it’s me and you. We will not leave each other.”

The Fox followed him.

“From now on,” he said. “Your name will be Kitsu.”