As Fhesiah opened the vial, Jake and Fhesiah’s state was a strange one. Their hearths were connected, their hearts and minds one. Like when Jake and Tanda found harmony, it was hard to tell where one person’s thoughts and feelings ended, and the other’s began.

Both Jake and Fhesiah were enjoying the feeling of being one. Fhesiah was harmonizing her body and soul with the heavens, and Jake couldn’t help but feel like this had some sort of impact on himself.

Energy was always traversing from his wives and into himself, the energies being pulled from the void and into their cores and filtered into their beings. Fhesiah did not generate Qi from the void, her spirit unattuned, but heavenly energy was present in all of their hearths as it was burned and sacrificed into energy they could use.

The Source Energy was released into the room as the stopper was removed, a weight and pressure unlike anything Jake ever felt before. The transparent energy surged into Fhesiah’s dantian and spiritual temple–but also the painting.

Something else shifted, but Jake wasn’t sure what–until Fhesiah’s and his eyes landed on the painting, together. They were both drawn into the image, as the colors swirled before them.

It was like Fhesiah and Jake were there in the scene, sitting next to each other and witnessing the events as they occurred. The scene had rewound somewhat as the fox family arrived in the valley, the Matriarch’s massive body towering over them. Even the smaller kitsune were larger than Bloodberri, the mother the size of a massive hill.

The two could see and even feel the emotions in the creature’s eyes as they gazed covetously at the rich valley, filled with vast amounts of Qi. 

Hunger. Desperation.

It was these needs and emotions that drove the family of kitsunes here, to this valley. Fleeing their home from various challenges, they were forced into this desperate move to obtain a new one.

The matriarch was of the nascent soul realm, more than capable of rational thought. She and her patriarch both knew they were the aggressors, that this creature had claim over its den for thousands of years. 

They were trespassing on this plant’s sacred ground, risking their everything in the hopes of changing their own fate.

While they had risen beyond the baser instincts of beasts, calamity loomed. Without a den to call their own, their family would decline and eventually fall, their flesh or cores consumed by another cultivator, another creature’s path of ascension. 

Instead, they would go out in a blaze of glory. It was either kill or be killed, consume, or be consumed. It was then that the kitsune began their attack, gathering up flames around themselves. 

They were trespassing in the plant’s domain, and like a beast, this plant was territorial. It surged from hiding, its tendrils ripping through the ground and trees alike, sending dust and debris into the air and toppling trees. 

Gaping maws approached filled with acidic bile tipped the plant tendrils, dozens of plant mouths more than large enough to swallow the smaller kitsunes in a single bite.  

The matriarch of the kitsune family stood at the forefront, her immense purple-furred body with seven tails billowing around her in a graceful dance. Her eyes blazed with determination as she channeled the power of her ruinous yin flames, wreathing herself in an aura of destructive energy, before sending it into the oncoming storm of plant maws. 

With each mysterious movement of her tails, the flames licked outwards, consuming everything in their path with relentless ferocity. The flames climbed the tendrils rapidly and halted their advance. 

Each movement and spark of the kitsune’s flames held the truths of the dao, their very essence a part of the heavenly laws that governed their reality. Damaging the creature more than a mere hot flame,  

Fhesiah gazed at the matriarch in a trance, the ruinous flames consuming the plant monster’s flesh. While the yin flames of ruin appeared to be completely destructive, there was a profound duality taking place as the plant’s tendrils were burned.

The plant’s green vines were filled with an endless vitality, and coated with a red aura of savagery. But while the kitsune’s ruinous flames destroyed the red aura, it transformed the plant’s powerful vitality into fuel for the creation of more black and purple flames. 

The Yin flames embodied the decaying power of destruction, but contained within them the transformative nature which consumed and propagated the flames even further. A truly formidable flame.

Consumption and transformation.

And what was left from the flames were ashes rich with vitality. The matriarch’s hungry, destructive flames were paving the way for creation and growth. Fhesiah’s yang flames of creation were similar, but there was a fundamental difference.

The yang flames of her heritage contained boundless vitality, and would destroy to pave the way for creation just the same. But they would bring order to the chaos by destroying through purification and renewal, while these kitsune yin flames could destroy and create chaos through consumption and transformation. 

At first, the kitsune flames had climbed the plant’s tendrils, pushing them back and creating an area of safety near the family. The trees in a wide arc were lit aflame into a flaming barrier, the area in front of them devastated. 

But within the plant monster was an endless vitality, and the savagery of a beast.

The plant too held a feral intelligence, along with a drive to evolve and overcome all challenges. Newly spawned tendrils approached from below the ground as they surged through uncontested by the barrier of flames, and others cut off the invading flames by cutting itself, ending their consumption and propagation.

Many tendrils now encroached the family, and the matriarch growled in frustration as the maws approached. She prepared her claws, and the other kitsunes now drew up their own flames, preparing to join in the battle, their tails all swaying.

Beside the massive kitsune matriarch, the patriarch was much smaller yet stood strong and resolute, his canine expression a mix of pride and sorrow. 

A profound, transparent aura was released, a weight on reality filled with the patriarch’s will as his lustrous purple mane of fur whitened in age. The domain of a father and leader, a pride filled wish for the success of his brood.

Flames crawled up his own body, and grew in intensity, before being sent to join the matriarch’s flames which surrounded her. The family’s flames quickly followed, joining into the matriarch’s tails, the flames becoming brighter, Jake and Fhesiah’s vision blurring from the heat as they watched.

The patriarch knew this battle would cost them dearly, but still made the ultimate sacrifice, pouring his own life force into his mate's flames. His actions bolstered their intensity to unprecedented levels, and he directed the family’s combined flames all in the hopes they could obtain a new home. 

His sacrifice fueled the matriarch’s power, amplifying it to unimaginable heights as they faced off against the monstrous plant creature. The matriarch’s mysterious tail movements continued as new flames joined the others to burn the oncoming plant. The cut-off tendril’s flames re-ignited from the scorching hot flames, and as if alive, leapt and spread among the replacement and regrown tendrils.

The flames even pierced into the ground, surging toward the heart of the plant monster. In a final effort, the carnivorous plant’s main head burst forth from the ground, its massive maw enough to swallow the matriarch and the rest of the family in a single bite.

The plant monster loomed over them in its approach, its massive tendrils thrashing wildly as it unleashed waves of savage vitality to counter the flames. But the kitsune family refused to yield, their resolve unshaken even in the face of overwhelming adversity. 

More flames were drawn forth, the many auras of the family working together as one. With each strike of their ruinous flames, they carved deep wounds into the creature's plant flesh and pushed away its giant maw, unraveling its savage vitality and exposing its weakness. 

The plant was burned down to its core as the black and purple flames reached its base, the matriarch charging up a much larger flaming spear. She delivered the final blow with a lancing flame straight through the ground, the earth shattering in front of them, and the vision coming to an end.

As it came to an end, an aura was released from the painting, though Jake and Fhesiah had little mind to notice this. Source energy was released and surged toward them, containing an ancient tranquility beyond that which was contained in the vial they used–the painting empowering it.

Fhesiah had been watching the flames with rapt attention, and as she understood the profound truths of the matriarch’s flames, the Source energy surged into her being, and merged with her very spirit. 

The bloodline flames within her spiritual temple took on an even more powerful ruinous and consuming quality, her truths, her dao, changing forever. 

Jake was in a trance of his own, but he was not watching the matriarch. Despite being a mere fraction of the matriarch’s strength, the patriarch of the kitsune stood proudly, protecting and guiding his fox family’s efforts. 

When the fighting became fierce, it sacrificed its own lifespan, its life and vitality to enhance the matriarchs flames, pushing them beyond the monster’s tremendous life energy’s ability to evolve and regrow. The patriarch didn’t appear to have long to live after the battle, but it had watched on with pride as its brood’s success was assured. The fox family had captured its new lair, something that would serve them for generations to come.   

At the heart of every family, in the end, what held all successful families together was two things.

Love and sacrifice.

Humans of Earth may experience or demonstrate this differently than the fox family did, but it was a fundamental truth for all families. Whether it be late nights at work for making money, or a tired early morning to take the kids to school, or an endless sink of dirty dishes, loving parents would give up things important to them in return for the stability and success of their children and families. Their sacrifices were driven by love, the two intertwined.

Without these two things, a family was nothing more than a group of people in proximity to one another. Sooner or later, they were destined to fail completely or drift apart.          

Jake’s focus or role had long since been to support others and enhance them. He made his wives’ dreams his own, his primary goal and purpose in life to help his wives, and his kingdom–his extended family to flourish and evolve.

He was the cornerstone of his family, one that sacrificed his own desires, his goals and dreams into nothingness in exchange for a single overarching one: his family’s success.

Jake was an emptiness that nurtured and protected. Like the emptiness that allowed for the manifestation of all things, the void, his actions were driven by a desire to nurture and support his family members, without expecting anything in return. 

He held his family together with both his love and his sacrifice, and his diverse family was better able to find harmony and balance thanks to his efforts.

While each wife in the Hart family got along well, it was because each had complete freedom to pursue their own goals and dreams. If Jake had conflicting goals or desires of his own, odds were, conflict within their great family would occur. 

The selfless nature of Jake’s guidance was reflected the essence of the void. The glue of the void held his family together, helping them weather the storm of adversity. As Jake understood these truths of both himself and the void, Source energy surged toward Jake’s Hearth Core.

Within the aperture of his soul, lied the many hearth enchantments Jake had created–along with Hestia’s modifications during her hearthforging. The demonic runes contained his personal truths and knowledge, his special hearth mana as the glue, and even divine energy from his earned sparks and the goddess.

The emptiness that nurtured was solidified as a part of his path as the Source energy joined him at the center of his very being. This part of his soul harmonized with the heavens, taking on the fundamental truths of family and the void.

Jake wasn’t sure how long he was in that trance, but when he came to, for a moment, he thought he was wrapped tightly by his snake wife–but it was Fhesiah’s tails and arms hugging him snugly instead.

Fhesiah was beaming, her smile wide and her eyes filled with excitement. He could feel over their bond that her heart swelled with pride, a satisfaction that reached deep within her–her warmth filled him, just the same as her soft body and tails enveloping him. 

“You really did it, husband! I really hoped you could do it, some day!”

Jake chuckled, and hugged her back. Her pride was his own, his own heart filled with warmth. “I… guess I did. What did I do, exactly?”

She snorted. “What do you mean? You made the heavens a part of you! You’ve taken your first true steps of walking the path of a cultivator! Why, many do not truly make a dao a part of them until the golden core realm, so you are right on track!”

“I felt that, but I meant… functionally. I’m not sure I feel…different, really? Can I do something new now?”

Fhesiah hummed. “It’s strange that you don’t really feel different, yourself. Your Hearthian Presence has shifted ever so slightly, but a cultivator would feel the difference, normally. For example, if they merged with the dao of the sword, their very body would take on this truth. Their hands could cut like one, with their will alone.”

Jake laughed. “That example is terrible for me. What will my body do with the truth of family, or… some kind of emptiness? I guess thanks to the void I’m…different.”

Fhesiah was stricken, frowning in thought. She pulled away, and tapped her lips. “Why don’t you try it? Remember your Advanced Energy Manipulation training, and Auril Manifestation? The feeling of manifesting your Dao is quite similar to this, you are using your will to paint reality with your path–just do it while holding on to the feeling you had during the vision.”

Jake nodded, and focused his thoughts. Drawing up his will, much like as she said, he shoved like before, following her instructions.

An odd stillness filled the room, the sound of his breathing and even color somewhat washed away near Jake. But overall, nothing really happened.

Fhesiah frowned. “Your Hearthian Presence shifted. Maybe try with auril now? You couldn’t get anything out of your manifestation before, either.”

Jake started trying each energy, pushing his will as he did his best to focus on the nurturing stillness, his dao of family.

What Fhesiah mentioned was a detail that had somewhat alarmed them, but Jake wasn’t the only one, at least at first. Ophelia had manifested her death shield first, and Berri her death ball rather rapidly once Tanda’s deathly auril joined them, after they reached the hearth bonded level. 

But Blood could not manifest anything either, until she obtained her Hearthian Presence. Now, her presence was boosted in terms of control when she manifested her will using auril, enhancing her commanding aura.

As Jake’s thoughts shifted to his Devoted Queen, his Hearth shifted. From what Jake could feel, it felt a lot like Blood’s commanding presence.

“There! That’s Blood’s manifestation! Oh, try Ophelia now!”

Jake managed to conjure up Ophelia’s deathly shield, and Tanda’s wolf bite–and then Berri’s baseball, by focusing on each of his wives.

Borrowing Fhesiah’s bloodline Qi through his Energy Sharing, he managed to manifest her dao of dragon flames, and her brand new dao of kitsune flames.

They were but a shadow of the original, but he was excited to potentially join her in her dao-infused attacks.

Fhesiah’s smile was still beaming. “How amazing! This is the best farewell gift I could ask for. But this also means with more Source energy, you may be able to grasp more of the heavens in the future!”

She bowled into him as she molded into his lap, the two having separated slightly to do his tests. She kissed him on the lips, and her adoration was felt both in her actions and over their bond.

Their two hearths connected once more, the two’s minds synchronizing once more. The two’s hands roamed each other’s bodies in passion, a different kind of heat rising in the room. 

Her hand began snaking into his robes towards his waist, before she gave him a coy smile. “Well, maybe there’s something else I’d like as a farewell gift?”

Jake chuckled, as he twisted her body onto her back so that he was now above her, causing her to squeal in surprise as he began undoing her robes, instead. “Our desires are one and the same. I’m not letting you go until I have enough.”

Fhesiah gave a husky hum as their lips met once more, the two enjoying each other’s embrace.