Hello there readers! I'm happy to bring to you Chapter 12 of The Fox's Path! As always, feel free to leave me a review, and please enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fox's Path (Chapter 12)

 

by

 

Elite Shade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor was totally immersed in the dark world of Ironhart, currently reading a short story titled The Scream Beyond Infinity, about a scientist listening to a radio-like device in his dreams, with a strange and unintelligible voice screaming in a language all it's own. Each passing week, the voice coming out of the dream radio was becoming louder and more unintelligible, all the while in the waking world, the scientist was experiencing visions of horribly marvelous landscapes and mind-bendingly terrifying creatures inhabiting it, which all seemed to be aware of his existence. What's more, whatever these hallucinated creatures do in this landscape of geometric impossibility that constantly threatened to overwhelm his sanity, seemed to have an affect in the "real" world.

Taylor was just finishing up a paragraph where it was implied that when he observed a floating jellyfish-looking entity's tentacle brushing through his wife, without her seeing or feeling anything, that that was the cause of her sudden and mysterious illness; when there was a knock on her open doorway. Taylor looked up from her book to see Shaun entering, with a smile on his muzzle.

"Seems like you're really enjoying that book." He said as Taylor marked the page and closed it, beckoning Shaun to enter. He walked over to her bed and sat down on the side of it.

"What's up?" Taylor asked as she sat up straighter.

"Not much, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out, assuming you weren't too busy with homework." During the past week since she had started school on this world, Taylor had been, best described, aggressively studying. She was fairly caught up on some of her subjects, mainly the ones that were similar to ones she had back on Earth, and she was making very good progress on her other courses.

"Sure!" Taylor said excitedly, her tail wagging as she stood up, setting her Ironhart book on her nightstand.

"Great!" Shaun said, his tail wagging as well.

"So where're we goin'?" Lily asked as she poked her head in, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Aren't you still grounded?" Shaun asked. Ever since his announcement, Lily had been acting out more often. Most recently, she had apparently, somehow, slipped a homemade potion into a certain red dragon security guard's coffee, and now his scales had taken on a series of different colors, giving him a psychedelic look, which were changing every few minutes. Needless to say, he had not been too happy, and neither was Laura.

"Lily!" Laura's stern voice was heard. The younger wolf's expression was one of shock and then disappointment as she quickly scurried away, her tail between her legs.

"I think that it's safe to say that that's a yes," Shaun said with a sigh before flashing Taylor a grin. Taylor smiled back before following him out the door. Laura, in addition to scolding Lily for something else that she had apparently done, told the two to have fun and to remember to be back before sunset. As they exited the front gate, the two were glared at the entire time by Mr. McHale, whose scales still shifted in color randomly.

"So, what'd you have in mind?" Taylor asked as they waited at a crosswalk.

"Well, we could go see a movie," Shaun offered.

"Okay, what's playing?"

"To be honest, I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I just wanted to get out of the house for a little bit," he explained as the signal indicated that they could cross.

"Lily still giving you a hard time about your upcoming trip?"

"Yeah, but I can deal with her pulling stuff, I always have. Granted, she is being a bigger pain right now than usual. But it's also Mom."

Taylor looked sidelong at him after they made it to the other sidewalk and continued through the throngs of people.

"She hasn't said anything directly, not since that night, but she's been making it really clear that she's still upset that I'm going." Shaun said, his ears laying back a little.

"Well, they're both really worried." Taylor said as she saw what was clearly a movie theater come into view further down the way they were heading.

"... I know... I just thought that..." Shaun trailed off.

"Thought what?" Taylor asked.

"I dunno... that maybe they'd be impressed..."

"It's a little hard to be impressed with someone you love when you can't stop imagining them being ripped apart by some kind of a walking nightmare..."

"... So I take it that you read about those too," Shaun said to a now puzzled-looking Taylor.

"Read about what?"

"The Nightmares... the creatures?" Shaun replied, noting Taylor's quirked eyebrow.

"An entity made up of darkness, that was given life and form from a scary dream?" He explained.

"Uhhh... I don't think that I'm that far ahead with my Magical Creature course..."

"Oh... well... they can only come out at night, when there is absolutely no moonlight, and since the trip is only going to be during daylight hours, they aren't going to be an issue."

"Plus Ben and all those other chaperones are probably great fighters," Taylor added, making Shaun smile.

"Exactly! Besides, I've always wanted to visit some Sargael ruins!" Shaun said, his tail wagging excitedly once again.

"Sargael?"

"An ancient empire that tried to take over the world," Shaun said as they continued to walk, Taylor now seeing that the theater was another three crosswalks away.

"The Badlands were created when it fell."

"Really?"

"Yup! You see, when they were trying to bring what they thought of as order to the world, they started experimenting with types of magic and science that the guilds, which have been around even longer, had expressly forbade, way back even further in history. They all tend to bicker, like all the time, but that was one thing that every single guild agreed upon."

"And this magic and science is what made all of the monsters in the Badlands too?"

"Not quite. Some were other types of magical creatures that were changed somehow into entire different species. Others, like the Nightmares, are actually native to other... uh, how do I explain it... levels of reality." Taylor just nodded at that, deciding to look for a further explanation from her encyclopedia later on that day, allowing Shaun to continue.

"A few, uhm, species though, were created entirely by the Sargael experiments. Basically, they wanted to bring absolute order to the entire world the way that they thought was best, regardless of what everyone else thought."

"And I take it that this was their ultimate downfall?"

"That is kinda the cliche, isn't it? But yeah. Of course, that wasn't until a long and costly war that touched and devastated just about every country on the planet. Then, one day, during a counter-invasion led by our School's Guild, the Magi warriors at the time recorded some very grisly sights within the Sargael borders. Basically, despite all their bluster about order out of chaos and such, their own towns and cities were nothing but chaos. All kinds of monsters, some that the Magi had never heard of before at the time were running amok. They themselves would have been overwhelmed had they not retreated, which it turns out was a very smart idea, because they had to outrun a sudden blast that erupted from the very capitol of the empire itself, and spread out to the very edges of the borders."

"Woah... so... was the blast nuclear or something?"

"No, no one's used nuclear power in ages. How do you know about it?"

"Uh... the encyclopedia..."

"Oh... well, nuclear power was quickly dismissed shortly after its discovery, about a hundred years ago."

"Huh... so, what happened after the blast?"

"Well, it started a chain reaction with every one of their territories all over the world, even the ones they had overseas. Apparently, whatever they had was now tainted, and that created the warped landscapes and environments now known as the Badlands."

"So, does that mean that there are Badlands on every continent?"

"Yup."

"Woah... so, what happened to the people of the Sargael?"

"Well, those at the center of the blasts died... sorta... I mean, there is still kinda a zombie problem near the center of the original blast... others were burned, scarred, disfigured, or mutated into other horrible creatures. Only those living close enough to be evacuated in time avoided the worst of it... for the most part. For a couple of generations, the remnants of the Sargaels would have people spontaneously combust, have disfigured babies, go insane for no apparent reason, stuff like that. After seeing all of this, the surrendered Sargael's renounced their former homeland, as well as all modern magic and science, and secluded themselves, eventually becoming the Lescht groups today."

"Woah... you sure know a lot about it."

Shaun nodded.

"Those chosen are required to learn everything that there is currently known about the Badlands."

"That makes sense."

"Doesn't surprise me that you didn't know all this yourself. According to Uncle Ben, only a select few members are allowed to know the full history, and the rest are just told that everything outside their compounds is evil. Sorry," Shaun said, tucking his tail back between his legs. "I probably could have been a little more sensitive about how I said that..."

 

"I'm fine, Shaun, I promise," Taylor said, feeling a pang of guilt at still not telling him the truth, now noticing that they had finally reached the theater.

"So... after all this talk about monsters and sad history... how does a comedy sound?" Shaun asked as he looked at the titles.

"Sounds good to me," Taylor said, smiling at his brightened mood. Shaun walked up to the silver dragon woman at the booth.

"Two for Treasure Hunt please," he said, paying for both, despite Taylor's protests.

 

One Hilarious Movie Later...

 

Taylor and Shaun were both still giggling as they exited the theater, with Shaun checking his watch.

"We still got a few more hours until sunset, still feel up to something else?"

"Sure!" Taylor said, her tail wagging, making Shaun chuckle a little.

"Okay, well, got any ideas about what to do next?"

"Uh... well, I've only been to the mall with you and Lily, the school, the bookstore, and the frozen yogurt shop... so I don't know what else there is to do."

"Well... I was hoping to also check out a nearby game shop... I've got a game on pre-order that I'm still paying off."

"Sounds good to me."

"Really?" Shaun asked.

"Yup!"

"Alright then!" The two started heading down the sidewalk, going further past the theater, and around the corner, and Taylor ran right into a solid wall of muscle, falling back onto her tail.

"OW!"

"Sorry about that foxy," said a voice Taylor recognized. She looked up to see Barry staring right down at her on the sidewalk with a wide grin.

"Really glad that I ran into you though. How's about you and me go off somewhere fun today?"

"I'm hanging out with Shaun today, so no." Taylor said, only now noticing Shaun squaring his shoulders and staring at Barry, but with a slight blush on his face. Looking down, Taylor realized that her green plaid miniskirt had hiked all the way up, showing off her bright pink and frilly panties completely. She squeaked in embarrassment as she made her way to her feet, smoothing out her skirt in the process. Taylor felt her face heating up as Shaun stood in front of her, staring Barry right in the eyes.

"What part of she's not interested aren't you getting, Barry?!" Shaun tensed. Barry growled and tensed himself, looking like he was going to spring at the wolf. However, several people, including a nearby officer, were eyeing the three of us, so e thought better of it.

"If you keep getting in my way like this, Spring, I'm gonna get mad," was all he said, in a low voice, before flashing Taylor another smile and a wink, and stalking off. Shaun exhaled before turning around.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah... just kinda embarrassed is all..."

"Well, let's not let that incident ruin our day!" Shaun said, blushing once more. Taylor couldn't stop herself from giggling, internally still hating how girly it sounded. They continued on their way past a few shops, before Shaun pulled them to a stop in front of an electric blue colored store.

"Gamerverse?" Taylor read aloud as her magic glasses translated for her. During the past week as well, she had been getting better and better at understanding this language's alphabet, and found that she was using her glasses less and less.

"This is the place! Maybe we'll find something here for you too," he said, holding the door open for Taylor. She blushed again as she entered, and looked around.

 

Later...

 

"C'mon, Taylor, we gotta hurry!" Shaun said as he and the vixen both sprinted up the sidewalk toward the large gates. Shaun and Taylor had gotten so distracted, mostly by Shaun showing off different games and gaming devices to Taylor, who looked on in wide-eyed wonder, that they had completely lost track of time. As they were nearing the entrance to the gated community, said gates were starting to slowly swing closed. With their bags of purchases banging against their sides, they both just barely made it through the gates in time, with Shaun pulling Taylor along by the paw.

"Hey!" They both turned to see a security guard, this one an overtly musclebound panther, call out to them from the nearby security booth. "You two are cutting it close! Next time, try to get here earlier, okay?"

"Uh, o-okay," Shaun said, having been expecting McHale to really lay into him. "Uhm, where's Mr. McHale, by the way?"

"Oh, he took off early to go see some specialist about his scale problem, so I'm filling in for him."

"Ah okay." Shaun said, nodding as he and Taylor continued on to home. After they made their way through the front door, they were greeted by Lily, sprawled out on the couch, watching some tv, who looked up and snickered, making kissing noises at the two of them. That's when Taylor and Shaun both realized that they were still hold each other's paw, letting go immediately, blushing again.

"I don't really gotta say anything at this point, you two are already embarrassed enough," she said as she stretched and sat up, before practically leaping up and dragging Taylor with her up the stairs.

"Girl talk!" Lily shouted down behind her to the stunned Shaun.

"Lily!" Taylor complained as she was pushed into the wolf girl's room, with Lily shutting and locking the door behind them.

"So... how was your first date?"

"LILY! It wasn't a date!" Taylor said.

"Ooooooh, suuuuure." Lily said with a wink. "So, whatcha get?" She said, poking at the Gamerverse bag. Taylor rolled her eyes and pulled out the small cube-shaped plastic box containing the game. "Tale? Wow, I didn't guess you to be a RPG nerd!" Lily said with a smirk.

"Ha-ha," Taylor said as she snatched it back. "I like what I like Lily, and I don't need anyone's approval on that." Taylor defended.

"Woah, reign it in there, I was only just kidding Tay-Tay." Lily threw her paws up in mock surrender, making Taylor giggle. "Soooooo," Lily started, looking away.

"What?"

"Sooooo, earlier, mom got a call from Molly, our older sister," Taylor nodded and Lily continued, "and she's going to be coming to visit for about a week, next week, before she ships back out."

"Oh, that's cool. It'll be nice to meet her," Taylor said. Lily smiled, again with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Right, but see, I wanted to see your reaction."

"My reaction?"

"Yeah, 'cause uncle Ben's in the guest room, and you're in Molly's old room..." Lily trailed off with a smirk.

"Wait, but then... does that mean?"

"YUP! For the next week, you and me are going to be roommates! And don't you worry, I've got some serious plans! Think of next week as your girly girl training cram session!" Lily giggled at Taylor's shocked expression.

Oh no... please no...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that, dear readers, is the end of chapter 12! I sure do hope that you enjoyed it, and as another reminder, feel free to leave me a review!