It was all wrong. Everything that had happened since she crashed through the canopy, everything she had seen or smelled or done had just been wrong.

Sofi frowned as her footsteps rustled through the grass. Had she always been this noisy? She had prided herself on being one of the sneakier of her sisters when they first arrived. She could get within arm’s reach of a deer, pinch the ears of a rabbit, move at will and unnoticed whenever she wished.

But now her steps were heavy, like everything in the forest she had held so dear in her memories was heavy. She felt it as soon as she had caught a branch to break her fall and swung to safety, a feeling of something pressing in around her, that she was not alone. It was Shaxi, she’d assumed, or one of their sisters keeping watch at her order, but neither of those reasons explained the smell.

At first she had thought she’d gone noseblind from the hallowed air of their heavenly home, but the stench of the forest still lingered in her nose. She had tarried in the treetops for too long puzzling over the riddle, how the fresh green of the leaves and the healthy brown soil could fill her nose with rot. Yet the human behind her seemed not to even notice.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Hou Hanshin several steps behind her. He moved skillfully enough so that he made no more noise than she did, and had yet to show any sign that he knew how thoroughly he had frightened her. That sense she had of being watched, the fact that her attacker had come straight for her, the fact that she had even let the thing get that close to her in the first place, it all made her glad for his company.

He met her gaze and stopped where he was, shifting his grip and dropping into a ready stance, casting furtive looks all around them. She almost cursed herself for her carelessness. He was as tall as a man, but still slender as a sapling. Sofi guessed he was no more than twenty years old, and he had still faced down an enemy she had never seen in all of her existence.

What a pair they made. The hunter that never threw his spear, and the guardian leading him blindly against a threat she didn’t understand.

“I just need to get my bearings,” she said. “Rest a moment. You’ve come farther than I have today.” She reached up to grab a branch and hoisted herself up into the tree and out of sight before he could say a word.

Sofi regretted it instantly. It was another mistake, just leaving him like that when his nerves were on high alert. But her nerves were too. She remembered the blast of fetid breath on her face, the wicked teeth grazing her fur as they snapped shut. She had trained to fight, most Celestials did, but she was no soldier, had never even stood on guard duty. Feeling her life on the line in the chaos of the fight, that it could be torn away from her in a heartbeat, was as oppressive a feeling as the forest around her. Could she have killed that beast alone?

Burying her face in her hands, Sofi tried to bring herself back to her senses, tried to make a plan. But her hands trembled and gave her no sanctuary. She had never--not once in her centuries of existence--seen any being, creature, spirit, or demon that was truly unique. One of a kind. Alone.

There were more of those things waiting for them.

How many more she couldn’t say. How to find them she couldn’t say. Where they had come from, what they were doing here, how it had found her so quickly, all questions she could not answer. She had never seen a creature quite like that ever before, not in the first days she and her sisters had explored the forest, nor had she ever caught a glimpse of one through a viewing portal, nor had she even heard a vague description of one from her sisters.

She would call it impossible if she hadn’t felt its cold grip on her skin. If she hadn’t heard one quick footstep so close to her she had already jumped before turning to face the monster leaping for her.

It didn’t make any sense, but it was real all the same. Someone must have known. Someone must have seen these things lurking around and filed a report about them, but how did the word not reach her? No one had ever kept a secret like that before, nor could she see how Shaxi would allow such things to spread through their forest unchecked.

Weighing her options left her with one conclusion: Shaxi had to know what was going on. If she didn’t already know, she needed to know. Sofi could return and report what she had seen, lead Hou Hanshin back to safety and warn him not to return to the forest until she came back with more of her sisters to clear it out together.

But could she trust that to happen? She growled to herself and shook her head as the thought filtered through her head. She didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t say for sure. Shaxi might just order them to observe instead, to wait and see what these new creatures were and what they could do. Not to mention whatever punishment might be waiting for her outburst earlier. If Sofi went back home, she might never return.

She lifted her nose and took in a long breath to try and filter through the scents around her. Hou Hanshin still waited below, the cleanest scent around her by far. The wind brought the worst of it from deeper into the forest. Perhaps it would be wiser to press on so she could return with more information. If Shaxi decided to confine her to the Heaven, at least her sisters would have a better chance of dealing with this mess.

Sofi hugged her knees to her chest. There was a line in this decision that might prove dangerous to cross. She was not the Overseer. Disagreement was one thing, but if she pushed forward, usurpation of duty was quite another. And there was more at stake than just a spat between sisters. Hou Hanshin was trusting her to lead him safely. She was supposed to be a guardian. She had no right to gamble his life away hunting monsters in defiance of her Overseer. That decision was just as likely to cost her own life as well if they were overwhelmed before she decided to turn back.

But if she died, that might only help. She couldn’t imagine the uproar the Inquisitors would raise trying to find out how the soul of a Celestial met her end in a secluded corner of the world. Whatever secret lay at the heart of the forest would be found and set right before she ever opened her eyes again.

Spittle burst from her lips before she could slap a hand to her mouth, but the limp excuse of a laugh swept some of the clouds from her thoughts. Though she doubted her new friend below would be amused by such a jest, it was enough to get her back on her feet. She still had feet to get back on, after all. Not like the creature they had left laying back in the clearing.

Sofi drew in a long, calming breath and nodded to herself. It was time to find that fire again, the spark that pushed her to walk through that portal. Whatever waited at the end of this path, she wasn’t facing it alone. Which surprised her, now that she thought of it. She would have figured Shaxi would have sent someone to check on her by now after witnessing her being attacked. Unless she decided to ignore Sofi entirely and leave her to her own devices. Maybe that was it, giving them both time to cooldown after a fight.

After collecting herself, Sofi climbed down from her perch and found Hanshin seated at the base of the trunk drinking from his canteen. He wiped his mouth and reached out to offer her a drink, but stopped himself halfway, furrowing his brow as he glanced between her and the offered water. “Do you... even drink at all?”

“Yes, I do.” She smiled and took it from his hand. “Celestial beings are still beings. We drink, we sleep, and we can bleed just like mortals.” She gauged the weight of the canteen in her grasp and took a modest mouthful. No need to drain it dry at the start of their journey. Sofi fastened the seal and handed it back to him. “I never thanked you, did I? You came rushing to help me even before you knew what you were up against. That was brave of you.”

A shadow flicked over his face, leaving his mouth a thin pressed line and his eyes lowered from her so that Sofi thought she had embarrassed him somehow. “My father... he always told me how unforgiving the forest could be. If we ever found someone in trouble, helping them was just the merciful thing to do.” Hanshin grinned, a sudden but pleasant change to his demeanor, and reached into a pouch before holding out a strip of dried meat. “He also said that keeping your companions strong made you stronger.”

Sofi giggled and took the offered food. “Then I thank you twice, Hanshin.” The meat was tough and chewy, salted and smoked so much that she couldn’t guess what animal it came from.

He chewed on a strip of his own, and they enjoyed a minute of peace together. Though it was a brief time, Sofi noticed that Hanshin’s eyes never lingered on her for long, always scanning their surroundings until he said softly, “Are we cursed?”

Not knowing how to answer, Sofi waited until she finished her bit of food. The creature’s origin was just as mysterious to her as it would have been to any villager. “I don’t know. Was this the first one of those things you’ve seen? It might help if I knew how long it was skulking around out here.”

“There have been whispers of some kind of twisted things prowling around our village. I thought they were just childrens’ stories, but some of the other hunters have said that’s why there’s no more game to find. That all the animals have been killed or driven out.”

“Driven out, I can believe,” she said. “I could smell something off about the forest immediately. Animals that live their entire lives here, morning to night, birth to death, would be attuned to any change in the air or the water.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the tree, lowering her eyes to puzzle over the start of it all. One creature, even a group of them, did not seem capable of causing enough pain to befoul everything around them. “When did those whispers you mentioned start?”

Hanshin chewed in silence, an intent look on his face where his eyes stared straight ahead but focused on nothing. “A month,” he said, his voice sounding like it was dragged over stones. “They say Shaxi has turned her back on us. That she no longer listens to our prayers.”

The words sent a stabbing pain through her heart. How could she tell him they were true? But even then, she didn’t see how it would be possible for any of her sisters to reach out and twist at the nature of their forest like this without someone sniffing it out. “I can promise you Hanshin,” she spoke slowly and chose her words carefully, “that whatever is happening here did not come from us. Shaxi knows your people pray to her. We’ve noticed the animals have been dwindling, and I came from her to find out why.”

She grimaced as the half-truth passed her lips. Deceiving her only ally did not sit well with her, nor did Sofi understand this little game she found herself in. His demeanor was odd, too morose for the young man he was. She could smell a secret he was holding back from her as well, but she couldn’t blame him for hiding something when she was doing the same.

Be that as it may, she had come to learn the truth of what was happening. She decided to press. “What happened in your village? Why do you think we’ve turned our back on you?”

“I don’t!” he blurted out. “I honor Shaxi. My father honored Shaxi. He was the most reverent man I knew. He taught me to honor the gods around us, and when he was killed it just made no sense!” He leapt to his feet, hands wrapped tight around his spear, and Sofi backed away. His sudden anger broke as he saw her retreat, and she watched his eyes slowly lower to the ground in shame. “I-I didn’t... I meant no disrespect.” He bowed to her. “Forgive me. Please.”

“I... I am no god, Hanshin. You don’t have to ask me for forgiveness.” Wrong. Wrong. It was all so wrong. Sofi staggered back another step as the full weight of the truth fell on her. His father, killed in the forest. Recently, for the wound was still raw. Had Shaxi kept that from her, from all their sisters? Could it have been her fault? If she had taken her duties more seriously, could she have seen what happened? Could she have seen one of the beasts long before today? “Your father... I’m sorry. I should have known.”

The words rang hollow and limp to her, and Hanshin showed no reaction to them. “Those beasts killed him. I know it. His wound, no one had seen it before. The demons--they say when demons kill you, they take your soul. They pull you from the Wheel of Life and--”

“No.” Sofi went to him, and put a hand on his arm. “No, Hanshin. Look at me. He did not suffer. Life is stronger than that. As the rain enters the soil, as the river enters the sea, the soul of a good man will flow into a new life. He will live again. He already lives again. I promise you, he did not suffer.”

His eyes seemed to regain some of their light, and he offered a short nod. “His... his bow string snapped. It snapped, and he died, and that was the start of everything. I thought if I could find an animal on my hunt today I could prove to everyone there was no curse, and that might set things right. If I can do that by helping you, then I want to help you. What do we do now?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We keep moving, and if we can solve this mystery together I will walk arm-in-arm with you right into the middle of your village and tell everyone you killed every monster single handedly if you want.” She smiled warmly and jerked her head behind her. “Whatever is happening is centered at the heart of the forest. I’ve smelled nothing but sickness and rot since I got here, and there’s a strong stench of it that way. I think that’s our best bet.”

“Then I think we should head this way,” Hanshin said and pointed to the side. “There’s a stream we need to cross, and the bridge is closer to our main trail.”

“That works for me. Lead the way, Hanshin.”

So they set out again, the hunter with a clear focus she now understood, even if she still didn’t know where their path would lead them yet. Sofi watched Hanshin pick his way through the drooping branches before them and silently thanked him for being there. She felt a clarity that was unfamiliar to her, but set her heart at ease. She was going to do her duty. She was going to be a guardian. With all that had gone wrong, she was sure their path together would be what set things right.

And she swore to set things right.

----------------------------------------

Hanshin looked over his shoulder every so often to keep proving that Shaxi’s envoy was still with him. Sofi, she had said, but he could scarcely bring himself to think her name without feeling a shudder of guilt. He had already blurted out the name of a goddess in front of her, both carelessly and angrily. Though he recognized the hand of friendship she offered by using his more familiar name, she must have done it to set him at ease because she sensed his trepidation.

Prayers, sacrifices, that was how he interacted with the spirits around him. The annual village feast in Shaxi’s honor always had a place at the table left empty for her, but only the smallest of children would ask if she would actually appear. It was just done. It was just something that was done. As the farmers knew their crops would grow, as the fishermen expected a bite on their lines, so too the gods would watch and guide and work from a distance.

Shaxi was around the next tree, his father would tell him. She was always there, unseen but ever seeing. She would guide the worthy, the clever to their bounty.

But now he found himself in the midst of a playwright’s drama. This hunt already proved more than he bargained for, and now he walked with the servant of a goddess. The Heavens and Earth were meant to mingle in the Imperial City, at great battles of destiny, where the great men--the powerful, the wise, the brave--would be brought into the Heavens’ counsel. Not while they trudged together through the undergrowth sweeping aside vines and crawling over tree roots.

The next time he looked back, the spirit behind him huffed and quickened her pace to walk side by side with him. She met his eyes with a slight, defiant lift of her chin to go with a small smile.

He bowed his head. “I meant no disrespect.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because... because you serve Shaxi. You are here to help us. I don’t want to offend.”

“Is that so?” Her face softened. “Well, you are one of the few. Would everyone in your village think the same of me and my sisters?”

He fidgeted, shifting the weight of the spear in his grip. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know you existed until I ran into you. How many sisters do you have?”

She chuckled and shrugged. “I don’t know. We foxes call all of our brethren sisters. Shaxi is the most powerful of us, but not all of us work for her. We’re scattered throughout all of the Heavens.”

An image came unbidden to his mind of a great fox splayed out on the ground in a sunbeam with a group of other spirits like the one next to him standing to the side, waiting for orders that never came from the sleeping deity. Hanshin stifled a laugh, but saw her pointed ears twitch in his direction. “What is Shaxi like?”

“Smart,” she answered with no hesitation. “The smartest being I know in Creation. I don’t even know how much she sleeps. She just reads everything she can get her hands on, and she writes just as often.”

“Her hands?” He frowned and dropped his eyes down to her black fingers. “Does she look like you then? Our shrine has a carving of a four-legged fox.”

It was her turn to frown, and she looked over to him with her face scrunched. “Four legs? Why would she walk on four legs?”

“You--” He waved a hand at her. Her tail, her feet, her snout, all of her. “You are a fox. You both are. Aren’t you?”

Her teeth flashed white as her lips pulled over them, but it was only for a wide smile, and she threw her head back in laughter. “I suppose we do see you humans more than you see us. Yes, she is like me. She has the nine tails, but other than that, just like me. How much do you know about the Celestials?”

“Almost nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “A traveling scholar came to our village when I was a boy. I listened to him trade stories with the elders for a time. And he wrote for us. He collected our tales of Shaxi and left a scroll for us before he travelled on.”

She hummed a note to herself. “That was a thoughtful gift. What kind of stories do you tell about us anyway? What made you think Shaxi could transform? I’ve never seen her do that before.”

“Just... stories we’ve all heard over the years. Fox Spirits are tricksters, jokesters. They can take the form of a human to spread lies and deceit, even turn families and friends against each other. Weichin, the city downriver, they hold festivals every year, and I would go with my family as a boy. There would be actors there, plays, poets, and storytellers.”

“Not the most reliable sources,” she teased. “Should I judge you based on the prayers I overhear from the man sloshing his sixth bowl of wine over himself?”

“They weren’t all bad,” he said, smiling. “I remember one where two boys loved the same girl, and a fox started taking her form to entertain herself by leading them on. Both she and the girl ended up falling in love with a different boy, and it all worked out in the end.”

“Ah, that sounds more like it. We do enjoy a good prank. When the time is right for it, of course.”

They came to the beaten, familiar trail, and they followed it in silence. He noticed Sofi looking deeper into the trees, her ears perked, and even the occasional sniff of the air, but the only signs of life he could detect were the bitter sighs she let out.

The bridge was a simple thing, a gentle arch of old wood stained as much by the elements as by the dirty footsteps of the hunters wearing a smooth tread up and down its center. Hanshin guessed it had been several years since any of the men organized an effort to come and make any repairs. He could already see splotches of discoloration that, if they were lucky, would only leave them with splinters in their feet if they stepped on them rather than sending them down into the rushing water.

Sofi stopped in her tracks. She stared straight ahead, her face going back to the stoic, serene blankness that he couldn’t decipher.

“It will hold,” he promised. “We might have to watch our step, but this bridge has never failed us.”

Her nose twitched, and she bared her fangs. “We’re too late.”

The sound of creaks and groans of wood came from the bridge before he heard the unmistakable thud of footsteps. The bridge shook under their weight, and Hanshin saw a set of jagged horns rise into sight from the other side of the arch. A head followed, narrow and pointed in a shape he knew well: a deer.

Its face was nothing but bare skin pulled tight over its skull, so tight that Hanshin could see flat teeth clenched together in the exposed mouth. Another few steps brought the creature to the crest of the bridge, and it towered over them as it stood upright on its hind legs. He had seen deer stand like that before when they reared up, but this stance was different. The forelegs would be held stiff in front of the animal, but now, impossibly, the forelegs dangled at its sides from two alien lumps, where shoulders would be for a man.

He lowered into a fighting crouch and readied his spear. “Friend or foe?”

“What? Why would you even ask that?”

He glanced at her, staring back at him, incredulous, and looked again at the creature as it took a slow, heavy step towards them. “He almost looks like you. An animal walking on two legs. Can you convince him to move out of our way?”

She shook her head. “No. He smells just like the other one.”

The deer let out a long call that echoed around them, rising and falling like a song, and it lurched forward another step. Its legs were long and powerful, covered in remnant patches of brown coat, and both of them ended in thick, broad hooves that seemed to struggle to find purchase on the uneven bridge. Perhaps that would be their advantage one more time. This monster was going to be larger and stronger than the other, but if they could keep it off balance just the same, keep it vulnerable long enough to land a vital strike, they would have a chance.

Another call answered the deer from behind them, quickly followed by a second and a third. Hanshin whirled around at each one, all of them coming from a different direction and all of them far, far too close. “What do we do?”

“We cross the bridge. Now.”

She darted forward before he could so much as blink, and he turned to face the battle just in time to hear the thud of her fist drive into the monstrous deer’s chest. Hanshin charged to her side, watching as the beast staggered back only to lurch forward again. Its wild swing for Sofi left him a clear view of its flank, and Hanshin aimed his thrust through its ribs, the shaft trembling in his hands as it struck against hard bone.

The beast turned on him, stared down at him with large eyes milky white, and its hands wrapped around the spear to yank it out of its flesh. Hanshin tried to pull back, but the beast’s strength kept him in place, each of its hands scraping against the wood with three claws of rough bonelike fingers as if its natural hooves had been hewn and ripped wide open.

Back and forth Hanshin flailed about as he failed the test of strength, but he refused to relinquish his only weapon to the monster. He kicked at its legs in vain, the blows nowhere near as effective as he hoped. From the corner of his eye he saw the beast move its head, and then all he saw were the spikes of its horns coming for him. He tried to move, tripped over his feet, and crumpled to his knees.

Sofi was there before it could strike again, and she doubled over the beast with a powerful kick. She grabbed Hanshin by the shoulder and dragged him back, the spear somehow still in his hands. “Save your energy. This isn’t the real threat. Listen.” More cries echoed around them as she helped him to his feet. “We can’t get surrounded. Let him come to us, and away from the bridge before we try to get around him.”

He gave a limp, numb nod. He dropped into a ready crouch and watched the beast lumber towards them. Sofi made the first move again, darting in and dancing away from the beast’s grasp. Now that he saw the game, he could play it just as well. Hanshin lunged forward a step and jabbed his spear into the thick hide again. It was a weak strike, but it was all he needed to do. He pulled back before getting entangled in another wrestling match and retreated.

A rock sailed in from the side and smacked the deer’s long snout. It turned to face Sofi, and Hanshin seized his chance to run behind it. He stuck out the spear tip and slashed at the exposed back, giving Sofi the same chance as the deer took a wild swing for him. They made it to the bridge together, and he said, “I think we can outrun it now. Maybe we can lose it in the trees.”

“I’m worried about the ones following. Let’s just cross for now.” She pushed him towards the other side and followed a step behind. He had just set foot on the ground before the bridge trembled under the heavy step of the beast following them, and Sofi turned back to face it. “Sorry about this,” she called over her shoulder.

“What are you--” Hanshin could only watch as her fist slammed into, and then right through, the wood under her feet. And he felt something else, like a clap of thunder washing over him. With a groan and several sharp cracks like gasps of pain, the entire bridge collapsed. She fell, and so did the beast, and so did a shower of debris all around the pair of them. Splinters and cracked boards hit the water only to be thrown aside by the crash of the two fighters, the plume of their splash nearly reaching the heights the old bridge had, and their waves carried smaller pieces all the way to the bank.

Hanshin raced along the water’s edge, following the wood carried by the flow. The surface was utter chaos as limbs thrashed about both under and above, both Sofi and the beast managing to lift their heads for air before sinking down once more. He waved, hoping she saw him, but he couldn’t say for sure.

Regardless, he gripped the spear near its tip, resting the blade flat against his forearm. Sofi rose above the water one more time, closer to shore, and he thrust the blunt end of the shaft for her. Her head slipped under before it reached, and he swept it back and forth in desperation before he felt a sharp tug pull him for the water. He squatted down, braced on a dry patch of grass, and pulled Sofi in hand over hand.

The deer bleated a shrill and desperate cry as it thrashed its legs, even its arms pumping back and forth in some instinctive kick to keep it above water, but its animalistic struggles were useless with its form. It bobbed helplessly as the stream carried it away.

Sofi collapsed and rolled onto her back. “Thank all the Heavens.” She gasped for air, shaking her head after her chest had stopped heaving so much. “That poor thing. It was like me, you said? I wonder. It just... it was just a deer. That poor thing. What could have done that?”

Hanshin bit his tongue as he watched her stand up. He had been trying not to think about what exactly would be waiting for them, trusting her to have some idea. Some magic, perhaps, or some insight that would guide them. But now, it was like he was seeing her for the first time. Drenched as she was, with all her hair matted down to cling to her skin, she looked so small to him, like a twig or a stem stripped off a stave of wood and left to lie where they fell. He had never thought a god could look vulnerable before.

But she wasn’t a god. That was what she said.

“Could you--ugh.” She shivered and crossed her arms over her bare chest. “Could you turn around, please?”

He snapped to attention straight as an arrow and faced the other way, a thousand apologies on his lips and trying to decide on one. He hadn’t meant to stare like that, nor had he meant anything by the stare.

Before he could say a word, he heard a rustling, whipping sound, and a small spray of water droplets hit his back.

He turned, and Sofi just stood there behind him, her hair looking much dryer and much bushier. She ran a hand down her arm to try and smooth some of it out, and she offered a shy, sheepish smile.

They shared a brief, quiet laugh together before setting out into the heart of the forest.