Aristocracy

The cohort slowly arrived one at a time in front of the metal wall. Willow first, Blood and Emile second, and Roy showed up last.

Taking a seat against the canyon wall, Emile rubbed his leg while waiting for Milo to appear. Shortly after, a handful of pebbles came rolling down the canyon wall; crashing into one another as they fell before shattering against the ground.

Looking up, Emile saw Milo's hooded figure above them. He was leaning over the edge, observing the cohort momentarily before stepping off and gliding down.

"Hello!" He exclaimed with fervor.

While they traveled to their destination, a back entrance to Underneath, Emile and the rest of them took advantage of this opportunity to bombard Milo with questions:

Is there a King Fox?

How long have you lived underground?

What is your history? How old is fox civilization?

Unfortunately, Milo wasn't able to answer many of the questions. He didn't know their history, how long they've been around and been under the forest, or why they chose to live underground in the first place.

Of course, Emile and the rest believed in their assumption that they moved underground once the Dead Tree was established long ago after the war, but they could be wrong.

Also, the foxes lacked a king, actually they lacked a position of power entirely. Rather than practicing a monarchy they opted to enact an aristocracy, meaning a small group of surviving nobles rule them rather than a specific royal family.

When asked why, Milo said it's because their royal family perished long ago. Unlike with human kingdoms and bloodlines, in which the royal family can be replaced, the same can't be said for the foxes.

The royal foxes are said to possess special characteristics and without those characteristics it's against their beliefs to elect anyone else king, hence ruling via aristocracy.

About an hour later the group arrived at the edge of the canyon. Sometime during their journey, they climbed the canyon walls like Milo and began exploring the top of the canyon.

Up there, the miasma persisted and invaded the land, but luckily the back entrance leaned towards the lighter side of the miasma so it wasn't much of a big deal.

The miasma was another thing Milo didn't know much about. It's been there since he was born, things that exist from birth tend to go unquestioned; they simply are the way they are.

As they stood atop the edge of the canyon, they received a spectacular view of the forest beyond. Long open fields, divots in the land that used to be rivers, and far off in the distance, removed from the forest and past the icy snow erected a second mountain range.

But even Willow didn't know anything about the new mountains, it was more than far enough to exist outside of everyone's range of importance.

Milo pointed down, down the wall of the canyon, and spoke:

"The entrance is in the middle of the wall. It's a tunnel dug through the canyon, you just have to climb down a bit and we'll be there."

With that, Milo went first. He stepped off the edge and fluttered down, slowly falling until his pawed foot landed casually on the gaping hole in the canyon.

Next, Willow slid down. She pierced the stone wall with her fingers and used it to climb down like a ladder.

Then they tossed Roy over, dropping him straight into Willow's outstretched arms.

Blood swung down easily as well. He created a rope of blood and pierced the ground with it and then slowly made his way into the hole before Emile followed suit, using the same rope Blood had.

The hole was small, smaller than comfortable. Willow and Emile were unable to stand fully, forced to hunch over and join the eye level of the genetically inferior.

And surprisingly, the tunnel got even smaller as they descended. The deeper into the stone they traveled the tighter the tunnel walls, until eventually all four of them were crawling on their hands and knees behind Milo.

Oddly enough, the fox was the only one walking normally while the humans walked on all fours. At some point the light also faded, leaving them in pitch blackness while they crawled in line.

Thankfully, Milo finally stopped moving forward. Willow bumped into his back and so too did the rest of them. Trying to figure out what happened, Emile asked why they stopped.

"We're here —" Milo replied, "I'm waiting for Skipper to let us in."

"Skipper?"

But before Milo could reply the tunnel began to vibrate. A wall of stone in front of them began turning clockwise, revealing a hole of light that pierced their eyes.

Milo entered first and soon the rest exited as well. They entered a single room, perfectly square. The walls were sanded smooth, constructed from large stone tiles.

At the opposite side of the room stood a doorway, a four foot tall break between the tiles. The walls were barren, as was the floor.

Rubbing his eyes, Emile adjusted to the light and looked around. The room was light gray and perfectly lit, although Emile couldn't find a light source.

Standing away from them and talking to Milo, Skipper continued to eyeball Emile and the rest. Skipper was also a fox, but he wasn't a red fox like Milo.

Instead, Skipper was completely white. His tail, ears, paws, from top to bottom the only color fur Skipper had was pure snow white. If it wasn't for his deep green eyes he'd almost be a ghost.

Wanting to make a positive impression, Emile stepped towards Milo and Skipper:

"Hello —" he began, "my name is Spright and I'm here on behalf of the Fallen Sky kingdom."