In my hideout, I was left alone with the little fox. It looked miserable, with his left front leg broken it could only hop forward bringing his dirty body forward. It was covered by dirt, and blood and some injuries could be seen under its originally white fur.

The little fox looked warily at the sculptures of humans, that we're standing along the hall. It did not dare to move forward, as it bared its teeth at them Progressively.

It will often turn his head to look behind if it had been followed, before glancing menacingly at the immobile sculpture once more.

There was nothing to worry about as someone needed to have a strong enough spiritual sense to find the entrance, which seemed unlikely seeing how the party of warriors acted.

No one could accidentally find the place either, as I could direct the person far away with a simple trick of illusion.

It worked on animals, and most animals just fine. It was an art of illusions that I had found in a jade slip before modifying it to my need.

I often wondered, what the original creator would think if he knew that I had modified his technique just to get rid Of pests and flies...

As for the spirit fox, its presence could not be related to luck as I was the one who had attracted It to this place.

Making an illusion of a small pit appear in the ground not far away from it. It was tough that it was a good place to hide, so it came.

Only to discover that it was just an entrance to a strange place.

Seeing how much the little fox looked exhausted, I decided to proceed to the next part of my plan.

" do not be an afraid little fox. These sculptures are not living things. They can not kill you" I lied to the little fox...

It took me a great amount of time to create these statues and they were not here just for show. They were my first line of defense in case something ever happened after all.

I never thought that the fox will answer, I was not even sure whether or not, it could hear me. 

" Who are you?" The fox asked with a girly voice, standing readily on its three legs, looking warily around it.

" you can talk?" I asked, failing to contain my shock...

I was somewhat shocked. Sure, some crazy thing had already happened to me. The warriors from earlier were talking in an unfamiliar language that I could strangely understand. But it was my first time hearing an animal talk.

" What a dumb question! Sure I can talk, I am a spirit beast after all"    The little fox said naturally, her voice like candy to the ears. But I could see her fur standing on end, I could also feel her body emitting distress signals as she tried to maintain her highest state of vigilance.

Never in my life had I saw, an animal so human-like. Even her expression, we're much like that of my kind.

" do not worry. I was the one who attracted you to this place. I just saw your situation and tried to help" I said, trying to be as convincing as possible.

" you still had not told me who you are," the little fox asked me coldly and I started to think.

As of now, I did not know, what I, was, a human, a ghost, an artifact spirit. It was not the first time I found myself, thinking about this question. I remembered my name, Manim Frey. I was still attending college when I found a strange silver ring that mysteriously brought me into what seemed like a new world. Since that day, many years passed. I rarely got the chance to see another human being. Most of my time was spent, trying to create artifacts, practice alchemy, or strengthen my spiritual sense, and observe the world around me.

I was a soul trapped inside the ring, I wanted to escape, I was curious about the world and a certain part wanted to obtain reparation over what seemed like a cruel fate.

I remained silent for a while not answering. The little fox looked across the dark corridor from where my voices seemed to come from. I was communicating with it using my spiritual sense, and if I wanted to I could make it feel like my voice was coming from wherever I wanted, just like a ghost.

" if you want to know who I am, you just have to come" my tone was more a tad more serious.

As I finished talking, the light lit up inside the corridor.

The crystal in the ceiling started to shine, forming constellations that the little fox had never seen. She had the feeling that she was walking in the middle of the starry sky. Using every once of her remaining strength she dragged her body forward in the direction where the voice seemed to come from.

She felt pain, as she moved. Pain coming from her sore muscles, from the poison burning inside her flesh. She also felt pain, as the torrent of emotion inside her burned like charcoal.

She moved forward looking at each sculpture and engraving their image in their mind.

" human..." She said while looking at them with disgust and hatred.

Humans were cruel, they were a species unable to keep their promise.

They had killed her mother and had cried to capture her. They had used the most devious method while doing so.

" poison..." She tough

" poisonous human..." She felt dumb during that period of her life where she could not align words properly.

A part of her told her to retreat. It was a logical choice as the person that she was going to meet seemed favorable to humans and his intentions were unknown.

But another part of her, told her that she could not leave, she had to meet him otherwise she was going to suffer a fate worse than death. The voice was coming from inside her, like a gut feeling.

It was not the first time that she managed to hear that voice. Her mothers had always told her to follow that voices. Some beings were born with it and we're this destined to accomplish great things. In the middle of disasters, they were the ones able to see opportunities.

Dragging her body, the spirit wolf arrived at the end of the corridor that brought her to a brightly lit hall.

On the other side of the hall was a throne hid behind a curtain. Even though it attracted her attention for a while, she quickly turned her head as her gaze was brought to the altar standing in the middle of the hall.

There were also four statues standing conspicuously in front of each of the walls inside the halls.

There was a ring on the altar that looked rusty. But her guts told her that the ring was hiding a terrible mystery.

" I am honored to meet you," Manim said politely.

The little fox was now sure that she had not been mistaken. The voice was coming from inside the ring of ordinary appearance.

" you are an artifact spirit" the little fox could not help but shout at the realization.

Manim sighed it could feel the girl despise against humans. It seemed like she took him for a real artifact spirit. She was not going to help him if she knew the truth.

'guess..., I am going to create another lie' manim could only think so