Chapter 14

The exhaustion together with blood loss made me feel woozy and tired and I soon lost consciousness.

Thankfully when I open my eyes I am relieved to find myself in Ira’s domain. The place hasn't changed, it’s still a grand, gilded, comfy temple, though some of the foxes are now looking at me, some with interest, others with jealousy.

<Don’t mind them, child, their time will come, maybe you’ll be able to bring one of them into your plane… But now it's your time, come here let me give you your reward> Ira says in her usual motherly tone and motions me to come to her.

I walk up to her and she picks me up in her lap and says: <So… was my task too hard?> she asks mischievously.

I shake my head and say: <well… given the fact I almost died could have gone worse, thankfully he wasn’t strong.>

Ira chuckles and says: <I still have to see a cat kill a fox, I really hoped you wouldn't set the precedent, and you didn’t, I’m very proud, now...> She pulls my necklace out of thin air, I touch my neck where I was wearing it and indeed is not there anymore, she shows it to me, one of the pearls is shining white and she continues: <As you can see you didn't need all that much energy to fill up yourself to the brim, if I didn't give you this artifact to store the excess, you would have already died of magic poisoning. Now, on a happier note, It's time to start the process to turn you into a proper fox, and I will also teach you how to use illusions since I don't know how reliable your instincts are magic whise. If you are ready that is, I’m pretty sure you don't care about not having a human soul anymore>

<Will changing my soul change who I am?> I ask not knowing how to feel.

<Depends, but for now, it will change what you are, you might feel less kinship towards humans, but well, that is not a bad thing from my point of view. Just know that humans are dangerous, especially until your soul has changed enough to recreate its body. You might meet as many nice humans as you want, but you only need one of them to slit your throat in a moment of weakness and you’ll become someone’s magical item. That said your life is your own, and your soul only dictates what you are, if your willpower is strong your personality won’t change, but you might see things in a different light, more like a fox and less like a human> She cautions me.

I sigh, humans see me as dangerous, and foxes see them as dangerous… Surely something might be done about this.

<Thanks for the tip Ira, I will make sure to always watch my back, still, closing myself in a fortress waiting for someone to come seal me away, seems like a boring prospect>

Ira laughs and says <come back and tell me that in like 500 years child...> she motions to the foxes around the room <Do you believe all of these foxes are dead foxes? some chose to give up their energy out of fear or boredom and come back here with their mother, to forget their life and start anew, and in doing that I use the energy to bring a new fox in the world, I expected the owner of your body to join me here instead of leaving for good… But I guess not every child can be grateful to its mother, plus you already behave better than it did anyways> she pats me on the head and then says jokingly: <now we can continue speaking after I reward you before you blindside me again with questions.>

She picks me up with her arms as if I was a baby, given the proportions I might as well have been, she then raises me above herself and then lets me go, I flail expecting to fall but I'm instead floating in the air.

<Now my child, this will hurt, but only a bit, focus on me and all will be fine...> and as she tries to soothe me a wave of energy washes over me and I close my eyes, searing pain schorces me as if I just got hit by a fire wave, but as soon as it came it went away, so I opened my eyes.

What I saw was my fox body floating in front of me, so I looked at myself and I was human again, but not for long as pain flashes in my mind again. I do my best to resist yelling as I felt like Dried blood was getting removed from an unhealed wound except on my whole body. I quickly notice my body changing, my hands become furred and I grow claws, the same as my fox body, then my feet do the same, but nothing in between, next I feel 2 tails grow out of my back, and lastly I feel my ears moving to the top of my head as a fox would. At last, the transformation seemed to have stopped.

<I am done for the time being, anymore and I fear I might damage something> Ira says.

I feel myself being moved back inside my fox body, again searing pain only for a second and finally peace.

Ira picks me up again this time cradling me and reassuring me everything was alright now. I am still feeling very much in pain but is just lingering, and being held close to her feels comfortable enough to make the pain fade away… She might not be my mother, but I'm pretty sure anyone would want a stepmom like Ira.

I raise still in her embrace and only muster a: <That was awful..> in a pitiful voice.

Ira nods and says: <I know, having one soul tampered with is always painful, sadly I cannot change that, feel free to rest until the pain has left you completely.>

<I am fine already… just a bit… I dunno queasy? traumatized? probably multiple things I don't know how to name> I say jokingly, but also still feeling a bit sick, but it’s nothing to be alarmed about, It must probably feel like when you drink too much alcohol.

Ira smiles at me and says: <well we got time, your battle exhausted you and your servant went to get your human friend so they can stop the bleeding, you might not have noticed it, but the knife the cat was using gives wounds that won't heal naturally, accidentally, cauterizing the 1st stab might have saved your fight.>

<Servant? Dento?> I ask and she nods so I continue: <I’m lucky to have him.>

<Undoubtedly> she says and gives me a caress on my cheek.

She doesn't seem to want to start teaching me stuff for now so I take time to relax and I look at myself, something seems off and after a solid minute of staring at my pelt, I find that my pelt seems to have changed to a slightly more red hue.

<did my pelt change color?> I ask alarmed.

<It does indeed seem so, I admit, I have never turned a human into a fox before, but I think it is that as you are becoming more of a fox, your body changes to be more yours. You seem rested enough it's time for you to learn the art of illusions.>

She puts me down and I weave a little but steady myself and look at Ira and ask: <what do I need to do?>

<It is similar to when you use your fire, but you need to give it sense and shape before casting it, how you do it is having a clear imagine of what you want it to do, the best way to explain it is that your illusions are a shell, and you can put that shell on anything, yourself, someone else, the ground. As always the limit is your imagination.>

I nod, already having a few things in mind. To test to what extent I could use illusions I started with making a doppelganger, basically something that looked like me and mirrored everything I did perfectly. I concentrated fixing my mind on myself looking at a mirror and the reflection in it, and with that clear image in mind, I cast my magic. The magic takes its time to take shape, but in the end, something looking almost like me appears, eye color doesn't match and a few parts seem to fade away, but when I move it moves with me, so I call it a win.

<Good work child! already with a moving illusion as your 1st try and most of it looks right, you are quite precocious aren't you?> Ira says seemingly genuinely happy about me.

I am embarrassed and say: <In my world I was a pretty passive person… Imagination was the only escape to the dullness of the world around me… this world though it's different, everything is so different and so am I, it rekindled my will to experience things.>

Ira picks me up again and starts petting me and says: <aww, you were such a pitiful creature when you were a human… Well, I am glad that your change in body gave you life back, being a fox must be way better than a godless human after all> boasting.

I laugh and say: <I can't speak for humans in this world, only in mine, and my world doesn’t have magic or magical creatures, and the only danger was to not be good enough to compete with other humans for work.>

Ira laughs and says: <well you don't need to worry about it anymore, tell you what, since you clearly don't need more training, only practice I’ll give you your next task. I want you to find and befriend another one of my children, most of us are solitary, but I would like my children to get along better, so find one you get along with.>

<Just that? Friends?> I ask to clarify

<Yes, just friends, it's not like I’m trying to arrange a marriage here, just having you seek out more of my children, who knows, maybe you’ll learn to be more of a fox that way> she answers me, then she puts me down and says: <Well my child, I’m afraid that if I keep you any longer they will ditch you somewhere, so it's time for you to awaken, but before that, one last thing. To feed and gather life energy, you don't need to kill someone, one can willingly give up their life energy to you, you just need to touch them and you will find that if they are willing their life energy will be within reach> Then she claps her hands and everything goes white.