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Neither hot nor cold, a strangely comfortable tingling feeling spreads through my body. The faint aches of today’s bruises seem to fizzle out of existence. The feeling seems to seep into every pore on my body, mending my injured self.

My eyes slowly open, hazily but surely, to see my mother, whispering out the words to a spell as she lovingly pets my head, paying extra close attention to my ears petting the backside of each right where the fur just begins to grow.

“Good morning.” she says after finishing her spell. Even though I wasn’t so graced with a smile from her, I know it isn’t because she is unhappy but rather because she doesn’t smile often.

I begin to stir, giving her a signal that I plan to get up in a moment, and she tilts back a bit. I lift myself up from her lap with a weak push.

“So I guess that means I passed out during training again,” my voice noticeably drops an octave the further I get into the statement. She nods in response, maintaining stable eye contact.

“So what should I do now?” I try to maintain formal speech but it never really feels right. I stand up and pat down my training clothes, the once pure white gi is now covered in layers of dirt and blood, unfortunately all of it is mine.

“It’s time to teach you … magic,” she pauses for a moment when using the word “magic” which probably means that that word isn’t very accurate. I smile, hoping for a teacher who wasn’t disgusted with my very presence like Tera.

She stands and begins walking out of the room prompting me to follow. The home my mother and I live in can be described using many words, but certain terms , such as “house” definitely wouldn’t fit the Japanese Villa style home; yet even that couldn’t be compared the magnanimity of the building she led me to.  This building is located far off and away from the bustling center portion of the township where most foxkin live and about a quarter mile from the shrine my mother frequents.

While the building isn’t quite a castle, I doubt the owner would take offense if it was considered as such, to be completely honest. The building looks like a giant tower, or rather a chinese pagoda wide enough to fit five football fields within and still have the space for a mall.

My mother and I continue towards it, reaching the tall, pale, iron gate within minutes. As we approach, the gates open themselves welcoming us.

“The tower is big… don’t wander, you might die.”

I nod and follow behind my mother. We walk quietly up around thirty floors. Upon leaving the thirtieth floor staircase we make our way through the floor in earnest, passing by many life-sized sculptures carved from fine jewels. After walking on the thirtieth floor for another hour we stop before a simple wooden door without any of the extravagant decorations that the floor is so garnished with. It is a almost surreal sight in how awfully it contrasts the entire floor I’ve seen thus far. The door is so discreet that I would’ve missed it in its entirety if not prompted prior.

My mother opens the door, revealing a world of nature completely opposite of the snow covered mountainscape on the outside of the tower. Warm beams of sunlight pour their dazzling influence over the steppe. A gentle wind whistles warmly past my face as I stand in awe of the seemingly alternate dimension beyond the door.

“Come, your teacher is inside.” My mom speaks after giving me a moment to take in the sights.

After another half-hour of walking, my mother’s pace slows. She turns to me and says, “be respectful,” before pointing ahead at the woman who would become my magic instructor, a familiar face. Familiar may not be the right phrase; for while I have seen her before, it was at an age where I rightfully shouldn’t have been able to recall her, or at least the average child wouldn’t.

“Umi, what hath kept this one waiting?” A woman calls out to my mother, her moonlight silver hair is further emphasized as it contrasts the vibrant green of the plain. The Fox-clan elder Shiki.

Upon reaching the tiny elder my mother bowed respectfully. I followed suit, the expression of displeasure on her face eased.

“Grandmother, might this be the mutt in question?” A new voice chimes in, killing the quiet of deference. A young girl points her finger at me, tracing my outline with her eyes. My own silver hair stained with strips of black imperfections is reflected in her eyes, down to my stature, a thin body reminiscent of reed branches pulled back and held strong with tension. Compared to my teacher Tera who is built as thickly as a penitentiary door and whose muscles could put steel girders to shame; I am of a small stature, not quite stocky, not quite scrawny, just of a simple nearly womanly type of frailty. A being of dainty strength, possibly due to my age, or perhaps my mother’s enamorous beauty.  

As she uses her gaze to appraise me, I respond in kind. A small child, easily fitting the role of Shiki’s relative, her delicate features a near perfect match to the elderly foxkin: perfect molten gold eyes, a miniature figure donning a flowery yellow kimono, four tails the colour of twinkling stars each with a tiny indention of another color mixed into it like watercolor paint.

“Child of Umi, sit. This one hath not the time for trivialities.” Shiki says slightly annoyed, I follow her order. My mother takes this chance to leave.

“Hark, filthy Mutt, this one’s name is Vera. We art kind enough to allow one as pathetic as thee to become our servant.” The young girl perks up as she spits out her outrageous introduction.

I remain quiet, unsure if I should ignore her statement and blame it on childish immaturity. Yet even doing so much, it would still feel over the top.

“May I ask who you are?” I speak politely, doing my best to avoid giving Shiki a reason to kill me.

“We gave our name only a moment ago, dare not tell us, thee hath maggots in thine ears t’would explain thy mental inefficiencies.” Vera switches from subtle derision to more corrosive diction in the blink of an eye.

“Well then, Vera-”

“Mistress Vera! We doth not recall giving a pathetic pup such as thee the right to call upon us with such familiarity.”

I shake my head and ignore her. “Elder Shiki, I am eternally grateful for you giving me the opportunity to learn from you.”  I bow deeply.

“How insolent! What gives a mutt like thee the right to ignore us?” Vera shouts in response to me ignoring her.

“Silence! The lecture shall begin immediately.” Shiki roars, quieting Vera.

“Elder Shiki, would you mind teaching magic from the very basics? I’ve spent my life so far in physical training so I’m not sure if I’ll understand later concepts if I don’t learn from the beginning.”

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She frowns for a moment, crinkling her brows and most likely contemplating on giving me the evil eye, but chooses not to.

“Magic, or rather spells, art separated into several categories: the first separation is between spells that govern Living spirit essence and Non-living spirit essence, these spells art respectively Creation Magic’ and ‘Destruction Magic.” She takes a deep breath, fully preparing to tap into the various intricacies of magic. (Shiki)

“We’ll break with Creation and Destruction magic later, anon we’ll move to the next separation, spiritual energy and elements. Both Life and Destruction hast an infinite amount of elements that make them up, within them there art around eight primary elements that combine into many complex ones. The primary elements art Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Wood, Metal, Light, and Darkness; among them thou hast good affinity for seven of the eight, the exception being wood.” Shiki peers over towards her expression a mix of boredom and assurance in her intellectual observation.

“If I recall correctly I have superior affinity to Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, and above average affinity for  Metal, all together that’s only five of the eight.” (Rune)

“Fox-clan members naturally hast superior affinity to Light and Darkness,” the old fox says with a frown as if only now realizing that I didn’t know, Vera scoffs loudly.

“What exactly is an elemental affinity?” I ask knowing that now is the time to get a few questions answered. Hearing my inquiry, her ears perked up in a terrifying mix of anger and an ungodly desire to lecture, “Wh- what’s wrong?” I awkwardly mutter.

“Thy elemental affinity is how well thy soul reacts to certain elements; when trying to cast a spell if thou hast an affinity that is positively inclined towards the spells element than the effect will be more pronounced, if we lay-to the Fireball spell for example, a person with a higher elemental affinity t’would be able to conjure a more pure, more hot flame as well as being able to cast the spell quicker as compared to someone with a lesser affinity.” She speaks quickly as trying to use all of the air in her lungs without wasting a bit of it.

“If that’s the case then a higher affinity is good, right?”

“‘Tis” She affirms strongly.

“Am I able to use magic?”  I urged her for an answer but am rewarded with a frown.

“‘Tis possible,” her face grows more unkind as she speaks and avoids a direct answer.

 “Magic, thee truly hath nay a bit of pride, ‘tis only fitting for an untalented mongrel. If one truly had any sense of pride in thy fox blood one t’wouldn’t hast any thought to lay-to the human construct of magic.” Vera leashed her displeasure on me, causing me to flinch.

“So, there’s a difference between human magic and fox spells?”

“It seems that yea a mongrel such as thee hath a brain in its skull.” I endure the tongue lashing from Vera hoping for an actual explanation.

“Aye child,” Shiki answered with exhaustion. “Magic is an ability used by humans in a vain attempt to recreate natural phenomena. There art also beings such as elves, fairies, wood nymphs and other such beings who can directly request nature to assist them. We foxes art above such things, fox spells art able to directly manipulate nature.” As she speaks the old silver fox walks toward me and moves her hand in my direction, directly touching my forehead.

Light flashes, my vision is beginning to flicker, the image of a woman crying while holding a disfigured body.  “Dim,” she languidly screams between long sobs and gags holding the corpse and drawing it closer and closer to herself. There was no one in the area to see her, to hear her cries, to help her, to console her. Just an empty forest, bare aside from the newly fallen snow that continued to fall, as if to consume her. I want to help, to come close, to tell her that everything will be okay, but I can’t.

An old question comes to mind, “if a tree falls in the middle of a forest and nobody's around to hear, does it make a sound?” My answer is yes, does grief disappear simply because no one can see your tears, does pain vanish because a smile is painted on one’s face?

A star has fallen from the sky, and all I can do is watch. Maybe I don’t have the right to be sad, after all I’ve never met this person and their passing doesn’t affect me in the slightest, but I know how important he must be. I take a step closer to her, the lone woman overcome with sadness. I want to help her. I want to give her strength. I can’t. I know it. I know this vision, though not this memory in particular.

The image flickers away,  sorrow ebbs to its conclusion, frosty snowfall becomes a cool, wispy springtime breeze.

“Pray tell wherefore thou hath begun spilling tears,” Shiki asks in a tone that could almost be mistaken for genuine concern.

“She… was so alone…” I stutter out on reflex, only now realizing the tears that have begun rolling off of my face.

Shiki’s face near instantaneously becomes a tone whiter as she recalls her delicate fingers from my body in a single stroke of lightning.

“Child, betoken me with thy vision,” she requests with a stern face.

“Grandmother? What hath the mongrel done?”

“Done… haply nothing but be born under an absolutely horrid star.”

“I saw a woman, disfigured by her grief, alone on a snowy field… she kept screaming ‘Dim’ I assumed it was once the name of the corpse she cradled in her arms.”

The old fox grips my collar, rage coating her eyes.

“Grandmother… what.. what has gotten into you?” Vera questions fearfully.

“Tepid Devil’s Final Gaze,” Shiki says in her silky voice, anger flushing off of her face. Vera may have just saved my life. The small elder releases me from her grasp and begins to trace my body with her eyes, as if before this moment she’d never actually gotten a good look at me.

“Thee wilt be a paragon in the ways of misfortune to be born with so much talent and so little ability to use it.” Shiki says, shaking her head in dismay.

“Grandmother, what is this ‘Tepid Devil’s Final Gaze?’”

Shiki turns her head to the young lady and before responding shoots her a warm smile that lasts for but an instant.

“Tis an ability that only the chosen few art born with, referred to by humans as ‘Psychometry,’ the ability to see another being’s memories.”