Fox

 

The second we and Niamh are through the portal, we get a glimpse of the Radiant World for the first time, any sneaky peeks we’d snuck in before doing no justice for the shadow bled landscape.

The serpent soars us through a golden sky, too bright even for daytime, and so clear that distant planets and other cosmic objects are clearly visible high and far above the brilliant blue stardust clouds we swim through. There’s no sun to see though, light instead seeming to radiate from the land below, lighting up the entire sky with its odd glow, faint enough to stare at, yet so plentiful that no matter what colour the ground is below us, the sky remains golden and true.

Speaking of below us, that which we soar over shimmers just as fantastically as the sky, what would be green instead taking on various hues of blue, from the grass, to the leaves of the trees. Some of those trees jut out of the canopy far higher than the others, but upon closer inspection, those trees actually seem to be buildings akin to skyscrapers, windows making up most of their surface area. People of all shapes and sizes from within and outside the buildings go about their business, some staring up and watching us the same way someone from our world might gaze up at an airplane zipping overhead. The out-of-this-world look of the people living here, in the building, atop the trees, soaring past us, they all fit the strange world they take part in…

…Which is nothing compared to where we find ourselves moments later, leaving the trees behind to find a grassy plain, pink instead of blue, structures dug into the ground, only visible by the clear roofs separating them from the earth. Gazing into them, I can see a twisting maze of stairs and…non-Euclidian hallways, as I think I heard Sue-Zee say once? They twist and turn around one another, travelling deeper and deeper, contrasting the simple flower fields making up the grassy hills they burrow into.

We pass by more and more environments completely distinct from one another, each equally as odd as the last, all while zipping past other airborne travellers, including a whole ass moon that spins slowly over the world. The closer it comes, the darker things seem to become until its glimmering moonlight casts the entire world below in silhouette, kind of like how Cat and I look when submerged in shadow. Or, just how my Shadow looks.

I have so, so many questions for Niamh, each stifled by this speechless muzzle…This world is just…amazing! Maybe she can take us back sometime, once we’re past all of this. What do you think?

…That’s fine. I guess. I doubt I’ll fit all too well into earthly society anyways.

Kind of funny considering that’s the World of Shade, huh?

Shut up.

Heheheh…

 

Unfortunately, the ride through a sea of light is anything but smooth sailing, soon enough we are approached by one of those flocks of fellow flyers. A group of small machine-riding folks, shaped like adult humans scaled down to half size, their entire bodies glowing, made of some kind of energy that trails off their bodies in wisps. Each is formed of a different colour of concentrated light, and can be further distinguished by one defining feature, whether that’s a pair of long pointy ears, wispy hair, eyes, or claws, though each and everyone of them share a permanently grinning mouth. They zip around us in their shoddy little miniature planes and helicopters and even a hot air balloon, looking poised to attack us. Niamh seems to try reasoning with them but is clearly tired of talking after just a few moments, looking down at me and nudging her head at the circling swarm. If it’s a fight they want, then it’s a fight they’ll get…and with how drained our ride is, we’ll have to pick up the pace!

The serpent tosses us into the air spinning, already ducking out of the way as the raiders blast various elemental bolts at us: fire, ice, lightning, even tiny black holes trying to pull us in. Their machines seem to channel the power from their bodies. Niamh makes good distance thankfully, while I launch our tail at the plane hailing ice upon us, absorbing the painful cold into my darkness as I latch onto the vehicle. My tail claw makes dents in the plane as I pull us towards one another, crashing into it and cutting through it, still spinning to the sound of a buzzsaw before…ugh, cutting it out as Niamh catches us from below. You don’t HAVE to make puns you know.

The machine of the raider we just attacked falters, sputtering and smoking as its pilot frantically tries to repair it, giving us a bit of leeway with one less foe to deal with. The fraction of breathing space means we only just now notice Coyotl’s ghostly hands and sword floating around us, deflecting blasts of fire and slashing back, keeping the helicopter at a distance. Taking this opportunity, Niamh reels us back, coating our body in cloud before chucking us at the lightning shooting plane, our new fluffiness absorbing the shocking offense and allowing us to easily make contact, nose pointed forward and windy smoke trailing behind us, crashing into the plane like a missile!

With the momentum we have left, my tail claw latches onto the damaged vehicle, spinning midair and hurling it towards the gravity manipulating air balloon, its pull making the impact all the deadlier. Thankfully, all the totalled raiders are able to float down safely with parachutes, unable to bother us as they slowly drift towards the world below. From there, it becomes a rhythm of catching the fox, hurling us at another flyer, then chucking that one at another, Coyotl dashing from one stray attacker to the next, making our job all the smoother until the skies are clear of all but ourselves.

Niamh sighs as we’re caught one last time, gliding downwards to a seemingly abandoned city, its buildings made of jagged crystals of all different colours, and its roads a worn marble. We must be approaching our destination…which means it’s my turn to take over, darkness coating our body to hide our light from the ravenous void presumably roaming these barren streets.

 

The snake lands on an amethyst rooftop, placing us down and petting me, which I absolutely hate, just despise it.

Her tail is wagging.

Be quiet. Regardless of my clear displeasure, Niamh takes a seat and a deep breath, looking up at the golden sky, tail coiled around herself. She looks so sad and pathetic that I decide to stay with her a moment longer, alert and ready, not paying attention to her claw stroking my velvety coat. Taking this moment of calm to observe the city itself, surrounded by walls of rugged mountain and shifting stone, I loom over the empty buildings, noting small crystalline creatures scurrying about its streets like sea urchins, occasionally stopping for its eye stalks to poke out and look both ways before crossing. A smaller one even finds its way up here, undulating its rocky spines, hearing the sound of crystals snapping and reshaping as it moves, finally leaping towards us, only for the serpent to flap her wings and send it flying away with a sigh.

It’s been too long by the time Niamh stands up and stretches her wings, giving me one more agonizing pet before smiling down at me, giving our scarf a squeeze, then taking flight, leaving us to ourselves.

The two of us spend a moment longer gazing down at the city, each building standing slightly askew, a faint glow emanating from every inch of crystal, but most intensely from the ground itself, those sentient crystals seeking stronger pockets of light to seemingly feed from them. This could be a problem if our understanding of Ascended is correct…giving that beast all the more reason to be here of all places.

With no reason to wait any longer, I leap from the top of the building, kicking off the sides of two buildings before releasing Fox’s tail, allowing me to spin it, the sound of a propeller slowing our fall thanks to my wind. Unfortunately, the moment even a part of me is exposed, all of the crystal creatures spin to face us, clearly interested in the light within me. Even as I coat it in shadow once more, creatures of all sizes, smaller and larger than us, approach curiously, Coyotl’s hands manifesting to push some of them back and swat others away that my tail doesn’t reach before she does. With more reason to run, I gallop and weave around the crystalline spines of the radiant creatures, ignoring our reflection bouncing from building to building, their uneven walls distorting our form.

Thankfully beyond the initial swarm, we traverse the city relatively unbothered, needing to swat away some of the duller coloured ones that are particularly light starved…noticing a growing number of these hungry crystals, following the trail of famine, fleeing from an increasingly agitated city until their hunger turns to desperation, finding the most pitiful of them almost completely grey. Some lay dormant in this dull, lifeless sector of the city, waiting for the earth to replenish them, while others cling to what remains of their light, shuddering and lunging towards us, forcing me to fight back.

The pain of their edges seeps into the darkness of my tail before its claw grips and bears through it all, crushing them, sparing them a fate of lightless agony before spinning around, tail extending and growing, smashing into the crystalline street like a flail. Furious as the glint of a predator’s eye, they’re no match for us as they’re flung into the air, easily plucked and pulled back down, smashing into the earth as I use this force to hurl myself up. Latching onto another, I whirl like a wheel, launching it into another and watching them shatter, pulling myself towards the next closest and body checking it, sending them flying into the wall with the sharp pain of their spines reflecting into a propulsion. It’s not long before I find myself…alone. Left to observe the fragmented reflection of a monster refracted all around me. I sigh, stepping slowly towards a crystal wall, looking at myself…seeing her.

                                                                                                                                                                       …seeing her.

    A grim reminder…

    A pitiful reminder…

                 …of everything I feared…

                 …of the weakness at my core…

                                     …just as afraid as me.

                                     …feeling all I wished to know.

                                                      …

                                                         …

…That’s not the entire picture though is it.

…There is a rift.

One I need to see. To know.

One which I must tear through to feel.

And to do this…

…We seek it.

But steps away, we see it. The writhing mass of nightmares.

…Azathoth…

 

Immediately, fear seizes our body from within. The creature, having been feeding on a rather large crystal, turns to us, not hungrily, but curiously. Its starving aura seeps into our soul, or perhaps it is the tension in our chest that feels as though our heart is being held still. Despite the clear weight to each step, it makes no sound, a void of senses and endless consumption, approaching the ground I stand firmly upon despite her fear within. The gaping entity brushes its tendril-like clumps of fur against me, but I– Let me out.

Are you mad?! I’m the only thing protecting us from this ceaseless void! I can feel you trembling within, you’d not even have the strength to run away! Listen to yourself– Listen to ME.

…

I can feel that you want to protect me. I can feel the instinct to push me back, keep me safe from this impending doom…and I want your protection. But you need to understand what it is you’re protecting, and why. You’re numbing all of this feeling…you’re not allowing us to understand one another.

So let me out.

Know me and my feelings.

And let me understand yours.

…

I…I shed the darkness…and reveal light. Vulnerable. Shaking and afraid. The fear of death, the fear of not knowing, the fear of never seeing the day I might learn to live…it all manifests, and I see it in the darkness encroaching, slowly enveloping. My breath ceases to move within this nothingness, silent tears streaming down my cheeks as the creature consumes me, my fear takes hold. Fear…which I accept. More than accept, our lives flashing before our eyes, from which I see a future.

…Do you see it?

…A future I’d never believed could be real. A future in which I exist…a life…with you.

…More than see it, I feel your fear now. A fear I only proved to you was more real than ever…

…I’m sorry.

Why are you apologizing, idiot? As we’re torn limb from limb within this endlessly chewing void…I should be the one saying sorry. After all the pain I’ve caused us…

But you’re not my pain! You’ve felt it, you’re feeling it all now…it is not you. You were born of it, but more importantly, you’ve become a part of me. I’m sorry because, even if all I knew to feel was fear, it was a fear that spurned you. I…couldn’t accept you as a part of me, because I saw you as something that could never accept me. But…

    I can see you now…

    I can feel you now…

             And in you, I see a future beyond what I could ever see.

             I feel that spark of life I’ve only just come to feel myself!

                          Beyond all of the pain and turmoil. Beyond it, we walk…

                          I want to bask in this joy of a brighter future with you.

                                           So no longer can I protect you with stagnation.

                                           You are a part of me. You deserve love. And…

                                                        I must walk with you…I want to be with you…

                                                     I love you…as a part of me, and as you…

                                                                  …my Light.

                                                               …my Shadow.

 

And through light and shadow, we refuse to be controlled by this void, refusing to bend to its whims…yet not refusing it. With her light, we can reshape ourselves how we see fit, and with her darkness, mend our body to be whole once more. At last…we are free.

 

…Fox.

Hmm?

My name…

I want to be called Violet…

Violet Vixen.

Hehe…then Violet you are.

Come on, Vi. Let’s go home.