Chapter Thirteen[XIII]: Training, That's the Plan (IV)

Xenos Waters furrows his brows. "What do you mean by that?" Is his familiar extremely powerful? Otherworldly? Beastly? Rare?

Mr. Balanius looks at the cage Xenos' familiar is in. "Well, she's a fox." Xenos blinks. "A regular fox with no mana to speak of. We don't actually know how she got to Vaedreola in the first place, much less how she survived in the Gehénnam Cavern region before we found her."

All of Xenos' expectations fly out the window, but still, he isn't disappointed, because it appears that his familiar is unique and very resilient. "Doesn't 'Gehanna' mean hell?"

"Yes," Mr. Balanius says with a smile, "and 'gehénnam' means hellfire. Pretty sure you can infer from there why it's a surprise that she survived."

Xenos nods, feeling the heartbeat in the back of his mind get antsy, eager to get out. "Could you open the door, Mr. Balanius?"

"Of course." Mr. Balanius walks over to the door, placing his hand on the metal door before sending what appears to be a pulse of golden mana into it. There's a soft click, and Mr. Balanius motions for Xenos to get close to the door, opening it just enough for Xenos to slip inside. He can feel both his heartbeat and his familiar's rise as the door closes.

In the back left corner of the cell, there lays a ball of fur with sharp teeth but deceptively cute small, round eyes. Xenos approaches carefully, hopefully sending soothing emotions down the bond. The heartbeat of his familiar calms as Xenos kneels in front of them, patting his lap with his hands in an attempt to entice his familiar to come closer to him.

The fox rises from its curled position, standing up fully before sniffing slightly and coming closer. They sit down in front of Xenos, still a little bit away but close enough that Xenos could pet them if he wanted. The fox sniffs again, tilting their head to the side in what appears to be contemplation before pointing their snout towards Xenos' armoured hand.

Xenos realizes what his familiar wants and takes off the gauntlet, revealing his scale-covered hand. The fox growls a little, and Xenos hurries to explain, knowing that they'll understand, "I'm, um, trying to assimilate with it since I'm a Shifter," wow, that's still weird to say, "so there's no need to worry, it can't harm you."

His familiar nods their head, letting out a yip that probably means "okay". Xenos smiles widely, shifting into a more comfortable position as he takes off his mask, placing it gently on the floor.

"So, are you a dog or a vixen?" His familiar yips, but considering he can't understand, he rephrases, "Two yips for dog, one for vixen." His familiar yips once. So, he has a vixen as a familiar, he doesn't mind that at all. "Then, would you like a name?" The fox nods her head, fluffy tail swishing against the floor. "Okay, um, let me think."

Xenos squints with concentration, determined to give her the best name ever. Ozza? No, that seems lame. Lisa? Who's he kidding, that's just stupid. Are there any fox characters he's heard about in fairy tales? His eyes shine at the sudden thought that occurs to him: mythology! He had a phase back in middle school where he was obsessed with Japanese and Chinese mythology, and if he remembers correctly, there are literal fox gods in both.

"One yip for Huxian," the Chinese fox immortal," two for Inari," the Japanese god of foxes and quite a few other things, "or three for neither." His familiar narrowed her eyes, he could feel her deep concentration from the bond. After a while, she gives two barks, wagging her tail with satisfaction. Xenos smiles. "Inari it is. Oh, right, I never did tell you my name. I'm Xenos Waters, nice to meet you, Inari."

Inari stood up, pressing her forehead against Xenos' scaled hand before he could stop her. He freezes for a moment, fearing for the worst before he realizes that the only thing he can feel is Inari's soft fur, no blood. Xenos lets out a sigh of relief, grateful that she can't be hurt by the scales like everyone else. Maybe it's because she's technically a part of him? Yes, that must be it.

Xenos scoops Inari up into his arms so she's laying on her back, his clawed hand carefully scratching behind her ears. She's smaller than he originally thought. Inari yips happily, wiggling as a puppy would. Xenos can only smile, he doesn't think he's ever been so happy in his life, it feels like something that he didn't even know was missing is now found.

The feeling fills him up to the very brim, and when he feels that he's going to explode with it, there's a soft shattering sound that comes from within him, like a glass dam breaking apart into millions of pieces. A new feeling surrounds him now, one that makes his body feel as light as a feather and his mind clear a pond, his body warming up slightly.

He tries to grasp onto the feeling but fails, the sensation going away like it never existed in the first place. Xenos sits there, stunned, before he feels Inari gently poke him with her wet nose. "So, that's mana," Xenos mumbles, still in awe. Pushing away his bafflement, Xenos looks down at Inari and asks, "Would you like to leave now?"

She yips excitedly, nodding her furry head as she wiggles out of Xenos' grip, lithely jumping onto Xenos' shoulders and draping herself over them like a scarf. Xenos can't help but give a gleeful laugh, completely giddy just like Inari. He puts his gauntlet back on along with his mask, carefully getting up so he won't accidentally knock Inari down.

Xenos turns toward the door, knocking on it loudly to get Mr. Balanius' attention. After a little while, Mr. Balanius opens the door, letting Xenos step outside. His red-tinted night vision goes away, and he turns his head to look at Inari properly. Her fur is patterned just like normal red foxes, the orange parts of her fur are dark amber and her eyes a rich orange-brown.

"Are you happy?" Mr. Balanius asks, a knowing smile on his face.

"Of course!" Xenos says immediately, grinning like a moron under his mask. "She's all that I could have possibly asked for, I named her Inari."

Mr. Balanius raises a brow. "Like the god of foxes and fertility?"

"Oh, you know about mythology too?" Xenos blinks in surprise, somehow not expecting that.

"Well, yes?" Mr. Balanius laughs awkwardly. "This will probably come as a surprise to you, but most of the gods that come from Greek, Roman, Korean, and other mythologies actually come from here." Xenos can feel his eyes blow wide.

"Seriously? What's Cantonia from, then?"

Mr. Balanius responds easily, "Well, Cantonia is technically the original version of all gods related to chaos and destruction. So, Apep, the Egyptian deity of Chaos, Batara Kala, the Indonesian god of the underworld, time, and destruction, Perses, the Greek god of destruction, Shiva, a principal deity associated with the destruction in Hinduism, Angra Mainyu, a destructive spirit from Zoroastrian lore, and a few others."

"Are most of the gods here a combination of a few other gods?" Xenos asks, genuinely interested.

"Yes," Mr. Balanius says while nodding, "we have eight major gods: Anahita, the Goddess of Water, Hakan, God of Fire, Eyvindr, God of Wind, Zaltana, Goddess of Earth, Cantonia, Goddess of Chaos, Odisia, Goddess of Order, Lucian, God of Light, and Ciaran, God of Darkness. There are other minor gods related to things like fertility, Inari, as you know, and war, which is Hadúr, the name of the Hungarian God of War."

Xenos takes a moment to process that. "That's. . . really cool?" He becomes quite excited, petting Inari on the back of the head with his good hand. "Don't you know a lot about this?"

Mr. Balanius shrugs with a smile, winking as he says, "I'll tell why later, for now, if you want to know more, feel free to go to the public library. It'll be very good for you to learn about Vaedreola."

"I'll keep that in mind," Xenos says genuinely. He's very interested in learning about this other realm, particularly because that will make his life way easier and also since he feels the need to research different beasts and bloodlines so he can use his Shifter abilities easier. "Oh, right, what happened to Felix? I'm sure Inari would love to meet Felix's familiar."

"He's just downstairs, you'll be in for quite the surprise."