Kitsune of the Blue Sun

[Keeno POV]

Waiting for a week after our meeting with Margaret felt like forever. We did not have all that much to do while we waited for Huginn and Muninn’s chaos to unfold and Eblana had only come back once to tell us that the king was sending her around the city to look for us.  While she would usually deny this command, she wanted to accept it so she could thin out the number of people guarding the castle and Dead Zone as much as possible. She did, however, give me regular reports on what she was doing.

 

Seeing as we couldn’t really do much else, I started to teach Mostima more about Runes. She was able to pick up the symbols and their meanings rather quickly, but struggled when it came to the more advanced concepts like formations and arrays.  Another thing she had a hard time with was when I started to teach her about Seiðr Runes. Even when I didn’t put any Divinity into them, she said that just looking at them gave her a bad feeling.  I could understand why, seeing as those particular Runes were shaped in a way that made people equate them with things like curses, and while some WERE, they were neutral, like all other Runes. All that was needed to change their alignment and meaning was the intent behind them.

 

While Mostima and I did this, Pram was working on refining her Life Magic.  Ama helped her a lot by teaching her more about what she could do beyond healing, though Pram seemed to struggle with some of the concepts she was being taught. We did find out, however, that Pram had a natural affinity for using Life Magic to grow plants. This would be helpful in the future if we ever ran into a situation where certain medicinal plants were needed over outright healing magic…and it would be an easy way to make money from the Guild somewhat quickly.  The thought of exploiting the Guild aside, I came up with a somewhat fitting idea for something in the future and asked to see if Pram was able to do it.  After a few days she managed to grow a spear made of mistletoe.

 

Freya was also doing her own thing, mostly working more on her mana control. In her own words, she felt like she hadn’t been able to do all that much, so she wanted to improve on anything to make herself more useful.  We did try to tell her that she was an invaluable member of our group, but she still said she felt like all she had to contribute was her speed.  Eventually Pram was able to distract her from this way of thinking, but I knew we’d need to address this at some point soon before it caused an irreparable rift between her and the rest of us.

 

Now, it was the night seven days after our meeting. Huginn, Muninn, and their myriad of minions had wreaked as much havoc as they could. I’d received word from Eblana that those in the castle had finally gotten so fed up with them that they were preparing a barrier that would basically cut the entire castle off from the outside world, so now would the the opportune time to strike for the Dead Zone. She also said that she’d be coming back for a short time to rest before we set everything in motion for the confrontation.  The tone of her voice in this particular message was quite strained with a mix of emotions.  She’d arrived around midnight, looking tired and angry. She flopped onto her bed, the end of her tail twitching in agitation.

 

“What’s wrong, Eblana?” (Keeno)

 

“I finally remembered why I truly hate working with most people.  All these idiots that are supposed to actually provide security are lazy mongrels that care only about their chosen vices than doing anything productive. Even though I wasn’t trying in the slightest to actually find any of you, being the one doing all the work while others were making comments on how they’d like to bed me becomes grating rather quickly.” (Eblana)

 

“That’s understandable. But at least you shouldn’t have to worry about that for much longer.  Rest and recover, we’re going to finish things tonight.” (Keeno)

 

“Alright.” (Eblana)

 

Eblana fell into a light sleep while the rest of us mentally prepared ourselves for whatever was to come.  Three hours later Eblana was up and waiting.

 

“There are two major objectives tonight; get the Dead Zone and find out what’s in that secret room under the castle.  We have three options for this. Either we take the Dead Zone first and, in the chaos caused by that, we head to that room from there, we go to that room first and deal with whatever is there and then go to the Dead Zone, or we four head to the Dead Zone while Eblana goes to that room.” (Keeno)

 

“That second option is no good.  It’s a one-way trip to that place and we’d have to fight our way out. We would inevitably lose one or more of us in that confrontation. The first option is also out of the question as, knowing the king, he’ll most likely hole himself up there in panic once the Dead Zone falls.” (Eblana)

 

“Since the third option is all that’s left, we’ll go with it. But why is Eblana going alone?” (Freya)

 

“I’m sending the Death Spirits with her, so she isn’t alone.  Also, Eblana, if you do happen to be the one to run into the king, don’t kill him on the spot.  I want to witness it with my own eyes.” (Keeno)

 

“I’ll do my best, but I make no promises.” (Eblana)

 

“That’s fine.” (Keeno)

 

I walked over to a corner of the room and picked up one of two mistletoe spears. Pram had made a second one at my behest.

 

“If you can’t hold back or the situation calls for his immediate departure from the land of the living, kill him with this.  It’s nothing special, but I like to think he has some conceptual weakness to mistletoe.” (Keeno)

“Alright.  Never heard of that plant before, but if you say that much, then I’ll do what needs to be done.” (Eblana)

 

I nodded and stood up.

 

“Shall we go then?” (Keeno)

 

Silent nods of approval from everyone were all I got so we left the room. Eblana led the way through tunnels and passages until we hit a fork.

 

“This is where we part for now. Take the left passage and four more lefts. After that you’ll find a ladder carved into the stone. Climb it and you’ll be as near to the Dead Zone as any of the tunnels will get you. After that I don’t really need to give you any directions since it’s not really something you can miss unless you’re blind.” (Eblana)

 

“Four more lefts and a stone ladder.  Easy enough.” (Keeno)

 

We faced our passage and I looked at Eblana over my shoulder.

 

“Good luck and don’t die.” (Keeno)

 

“Hahaha!  Same to all of you!” (Eblana)

 

She turned and walked down the right passage, the purple light from her core and the flames in her tail lighting her way.  We started walking down the left passage. Following Eblana’s directions we took four more lefts and started to look for the stone ladder. It wasn’t easy to find since the walls in this part of the tunnels were covered in moss and slick with water, like we were under an aqueduct.  Mostima was the one to find the ladder which was more just divots carved into the stone to make climbing out easier. I burned up the moss on the rest of them and we started climbing out. Once we were outside under the moonlight I took a deep breath.  While Eblana’s place was fine, it could have used better air circulation because the fresh air in my skin was wonderful.  It also smelled like it had just rained, making many places slick with water.

 

Once we were all out of the tunnels we looked around until we saw the giant glowing wall not too far away from us.  Looking up it was like it took up the entire sky.  Just looking at it made me feel a pulling sensation.

 

“Ama…are you sure this will only give me one tail?  If that’s the core, then…” (Keeno)

 

{Yes.  When you are absorbing this one, I want you to focus on your Runes. There is enough Divinity there that it should be able to make it a proper Authority and a tail.}

 

“Alright.” (Keeno)

 

We left the place we were standing and made our way to the Dead Zone. To make the traversal easier, Mostima used her gravity magic to let us jump to the roofs of the buildings and hop across them. It didn’t take us five minutes to reach the last building at the very edge of the core.  There was a space separating the core from the buildings and standing in that space was a group of people wearing silver armor that gleamed in the light of the Dead Zone.

 

“…” (Keeno)

 

“Keeno, we’ll distract them and keep them busy, you just focus on what you have to do.” (Freya)

 

“Are you sure?  I don’t mind fighting them.” (Keeno)

 

“We don’t know how long it will take for you to absorb that or what will happen directly after, so it’s best if you don’t exhaust yourself beforehand.  Put your faith in us and go.” (Mostima)

 

“Don’t worry, none of us will even get a scratch.” (Pram)

 

“Heh.  I’ll hold you to that. Huginn, Muninn, help them out too.” (Keeno)

 

My two feathered friends had appeared and landed on the ground next to me as they had once again grown in size and could no longer ride on my shoulders. After taking a second to mentally prepare myself, I jumped down from the building’s roof and sprinted toward the Dead Zone core while summoning my swords. Several of the shiny armored knights looked in my direction and summoned their Soul Weapons.

 

“Halt!  In the name of the Goddess of Life, none may tread on the sanctity of this area without express-gaaaaahhhhh!”

 

I didn’t have time to really listen to his rambling, so I cut him down before he swung at me. This shocked his companions who froze as their friend crumpled to the ground nearly headless. I picked up the pace even more and blitzed past them.

 

{Serves you right, you annoying people. Using my name to push your agenda.}

 

My ear twitched and I wanted to turn around and cut them down for what Ama just said, but I continued on. When I reached the wall of light I leapt into it. For a moment all I could see was white before an overly lush grassy landscape was in front of me. While the grass was soft, it towered above me as tall as trees.  They waved softly and slowly like a breeze was blowing when, in actuality, it felt like time stopped.  At the same time my senses felt both dulled and hyper focused, it was a bit overwhelming.  I tried walking forward and it felt like walking underwater while pushing against a current.

 

After a while I managed to get used to the feeling and made my way as deep as I could into the core.  Along the way I saw a myriad of Death Spirits floating around like specters. They were all moving in the same direction. I decided following them would be a good idea, so I did so. Eventually I found them circling around something like vultures. When I approached, I found an orb floating between two pillars that reminded me of stalactites and stalagmites. Several other orbs were orbiting around this big one like a small solar system.  I looked at one of these and it shied away from me and ended up too close to the core of the core. It then got sucked inside and vanished. The Death Spirits seemed to cheer silently at this as their floating speed increased.

 

I neared another one and the same thing happened. Deciding it was probably a good idea to get rid of all of these, I moved toward them and pushed them into the core’s core. I looked around to see if I could find any more only to stumble on something that reminded me of mum’s Spirit Realm, though this one was much smaller, barely even noticeable even. It also projected a feeling similar to Eblana.

 

“Spirits, make sure this one stays safe. I don’t want it purified or taken over there.” (Keeno)

 

Two spirits floated over to me, gently picked up the fledgling Spirit Realm and left, leaving me to what needed to be done.  I walked up to the orb being held between the two formations of power and touched it. I heard a loud heartbeat and then the sound of a pipe organ being played started up with a triumphant yet somber tone.  Closing my eyes and focusing on what I needed to do, I began absorbing the core. In my mind I pictured Runes and my intentions for them and the Divinity making up the core and the rest of the space around me resonated. Then the familiar burning sensation I’d come to expect from doing this started. It raced down my arms into my very soul.  There, the power started to condense as it merged within me. I felt some resistance but before it became too much an unknown pressure descended on me and the resistance crumbled like sand.  After that happened it was a smooth process, almost too smooth since I didn’t really know what I was doing.  What felt like an hour, or several passed and the condensing slowed down, I felt something fit together like a missing piece of a puzzle.

 

{It worked, Keeno!  Now just focus on absorbing the rest of it.}

 

I nodded my head and opened my eyes only to find I was somehow floating. The shining walls of the Dead Zone were rapidly fading, and some parts were gone, allowing me to see outside.  The constant influx of power was giving me that feeling of drunkenness and before I knew it, I was falling to the ground. I landed unsteadily on my feet and nearly fell over due to the unfamiliar weight of a fourth tail.

 

“Hehehehe.” (Keeno)

 

Soon after landing, all the light making up the Dead Zone had vanished within me, and I was teetering.  I put one of my hands on my head in a vain attempt to make the world stop spinning only to feel sharp flames.

 

“Ama…” (Keeno)

 

{Yes, your horns are out.  Now, I’d suggest you use a bit of Divinity, your dragon core is trying to absorb as much as it can but it’s going to get overloaded.}

 

“Eheheh.  Time for some fun, then.” (Keeno)

 

I stumbled a bit as I tried walking forward.  It felt like trying to move after eating too much.  I gradually got used to it while walking until I finally got fed up with the tall grass. Apparently this much was enough for a burst of flames to erupt from me, razing all of it in what used to be the Dead Zone and leaving molding patches of blue fire around me.  This surprised me, but it also felt interesting.

 

“Hehehe.  It went fwoosh.” (Keeno)

 

Walking more I finally reached where the others were. They were surrounded by those shiny armored people. There were several corpses around them and from what I could see my friends weren’t touched. I still hadn’t been noticed so I decided to try something. I stomped my foot on the ground and, using some of the excess Divinity, conjured a Rune array around all of them. I excluded my companions from the effects and after solidifying the array, golden lightning shot up from the array, either killing or disabling the shiny armor people.  After the array vanished, I walked up to the others.

 

“Keeno, what in the world was that!?” (Pram)

 

“Full Authority of Runes, my dear friend, ehehe.” (Keeno)

 

“…Why do you sound drunk?  Now isn’t really the time to be inebriated.” (Mostima)

 

“Ehehehe.  It won’t last long, just all the power swirling in me.  Too much right now, hehe, gotta use up a lot of it soon or my core’s gonna go boom.” (Keeno)

 

“Then what are you waiting for?” (Freya)

 

“We need to find Eblana.  I think I found her sister’s Spirit Realm, so if we’re gonna resurrect her, I need to have enough Divinity.  Now, Eblana, situation update!” (Keeno)

 

“…Keeno, I humbly request you and everyone else get to the castle as fast as possible.  I’ve done the hard work and have gotten everything from that room to the throne room, but I’m having such a hard time holding back from killing this mongrel.” (Eblana)

 

The tone of absolute hate and sadness in her voice instantly sobered me up.

 

“Let’s go.  You two spirits, follow us and keep that Spirit Realm safe from everything.” (Keeno)

 

With that order given, we began rushing toward the castle while chaos started to erupt in the city due to the Dead Zone’s disappearance.

 

Chaos Realm:

Well, that was easier than allowing Stars.

Luna: Why?

Probably because Runes are, in one meaning, language, so there was a basis that was able to be taken to the extreme.  In your case, that world had no stars at all, even with you and other summoned people talking about them, they didn’t really make an impact to be fully recorded in your world’s mythos and reality.

Luna: Sounds complicated.

You have no idea how much work it is to do that stuff.  If I had to compare it to something, it’d be like if a caveman had to create a hydrogen bomb that didn’t produce any fallout from exploding.

Luna: …

Exactly.

Luna: I’m going to borrow your kitchen.  I suddenly feel like cooking you something for all the problems I must have caused you.

I won’t turn that down, but you really don’t have to be worried about that.  It’s much easier than some of my other jobs.

Luna: Not really helping, but I’ll at least stop worrying about it.

Alright.  Feel free to use anything you find in there.

Luna: Hehehe.  Since I’m doing this, can you invite Keeno and Amaterasu for when I’m done.  I feel like celebrating an Acolyte of Fluff’s newest fluff.

Will  do.