A Walk to Memory Lane

The last thing I remembered was power building up inside of me and then it just exploded. I could also remember a vague image of a pillar of light, but after that, everything went dark. But all of a sudden, my vision was flooded with light and I found myself in a place I never thought I would ever step inside ever again.

I cautiously looked around and swallowed the nonexistent lump on my throat. I found myself inside the peach blossom forest in Liada, the fourth level of the Celestial Realm as well as the home of the fox clan that I belonged to.

I couldn’t believe I was there at all, after all the peach blossom forest of Liada fell into ruins when the entire Fox Clan was executed, apart from me.

-This has to be a dream. No, maybe it’s even worse.

I immediately knew I was inside a dream, no, it was more like a flashback. I remembered the memory very well, it was a few years after we suppressed a rebellion of the sea-folk. My sister and I were having a drink in peach blossom forest, after all, the place was our usual hideout and the peach trees were planted by me and my siblings.

As a fox deity, I had red hair that had the shade of blood, an unusual color even among my family who had brightly red colored fur. Apart from that, both my nine tails and ears had white fur at the tip, which made me a dual-colored fox deity. I always thought having two colors was because my father was a red fox while my mother was a white fox, so I never really bothered with it. Among my seven siblings (I was the eighth child and therefore the youngest), three were red foxes, another three were white foxes, and lastly, my eldest and only sister, Elthesia, was a dual-colored fox like me. But her color was reversed; she mostly had white fur with scarlet fur at the tips.

Elthesia and I were the odd ones in the family, and we were also the ones very much inclined to fighting so we were more known as goddesses of wars than being princesses of the Fox Clan.

Back to the dream, I remember the memory very well, it was a very scary one. We were in the middle of drinking my second uncle’s famous peach wines when a regular member of the fox clan suddenly arrived.

“Your highnesses, the head of the Celestials’ royal guards have arrived.”

“What is Rixki doing here?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Maybe the Celestial King wants us to go to war again?” Elthesia answered and sighed. “I should really think of retiring soon. The human realm would be a nice place to stay.”

The scene changed and suddenly I was seeing Elthesia being dragged in chains by Rixki. They said Elthesia was being suspected for stealing a sacred fruit from the garden of the Celestial King’s palace. Of course, I knew they were lying after all, my sister would never do such a thing. I remembered threatening the commander of the royal guards that day but my parents stopped me. They assured me that my sister would get herself out of it and would be fine.

Days later, Elthesia was punished to be hit with seven strikes of divine lightning and to be thrown into the Lake of Oblivion for the sin of stealing a sacred fruit and treason.

I remembered that I felt like my world shattered that time. I felt so lost at the loss of my sister due to unfair and suspicious circumstances.

It didn’t take long for the Celestial King to order the massacre the Fox Clan in the name of treason and planning a revolt.

In my opinion, he was just being paranoid. My sister had been getting a lot of achievement and spotlight due to the various troubles the Celestial Realm had encountered, and by extension, our Fox Clan was also being recognized. I guess, his paranoia turned for the worse when a certain rumor started.

There was a rumor going around after the arrival of the foreigners of earth that the original ruler of Celestial Realm and all of Afasia was a fox deity, the ancestor of the Fox Clan, Inari.

We managed to turn the tables about the rumor by fighting for the Celestials, but my sister and our clan had been growing more powerful and more influential.

Now that I realize it, I think the Celestial King was afraid our Fox Clan would really rise to power and take over as rulers of the Celestial Realm. But the Fox Clan never really had such a thought. We enjoyed our peaceful and laidback ways of living. Apart from me and my sister, those who belonged to the Fox Clan didn’t even participate in any fighting, unless it threatens Liada since it was our territory. My parents, the king and queen of the Fox Clan, also did not participate in court meetings since they weren’t fond of politics as long as they would leave our clan alone.

But I guess it’s true that fear is a very effective motivation.

The scene of my dream changed all of a sudden and I was in the middle of a sea of blood. Corpses of my family and kin were everywhere and Liada was in flames. All I remembered that day was my parents telling me to escape and Chylhae dragging me somewhere to hide.

Chylhae was one of the princes of the Celestials, and also my former fiancé. He was one of those that believed my sister and our clan were innocent, but he did not have much influence in the court of the Celestial Realm, and not even his own father favored him.

The scene of my dream changed again and I was back to the cliff where I was fighting Rixki after being on the run for more than a month. After fighting him and his men, I fell to the chasm and everything went dark.

***

I woke up screaming and I vaguely remembered attacking the one closest to me which turned out to be senior Leo. When the fog of sleepiness finally lifted away from my mind, I found myself pinning senior Leo to the wall and a bunch of imperial guards (presumably his guards) pointing their weapons at me.

“Se-senior Leo?” I called, shaken and unable to believe at the situation I woke up into.

“H-hey… Pl-please let… go.”

I immediately retracted the arm I was using to pin him and he started coughing out.

“Oh my gods! I am so sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine.”

Well he said that but his bodyguards did not retract their weapons and were still aimed at me. Thankfully, he noticed my uneasiness and immediately asked them to withdraw. Well, that was finally solved, but I was still wondering about something…

“Senior Leo, why are you the one here? Where are my friends? How are they?” I asked.

I was starting to panic again since I couldn’t find my friends anywhere. We got into trouble together and yet they were nowhere to be found.

“Your friends are fine. They’re resting in their respective dorm rooms since their presence is needed for the investigation of the incident in the northern forest.” Senior Leo answered and then motioned for me to return to my bed which I obliged to do so. “Anyway, they just have a few cuts and bruises. In fact, you were the one in the worst condition and the last one to wake up.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been asleep for two days, winter break already started. According to the headmaster, there was a sudden surge of power inside of you and your body was unable to handle it, so it put your life in danger. Just what happened in there?”

“Well, a lot of things happened.”

My mind drifted on my fox core to which I was just reunited.

-Right. The core of a fox deity in the body of a mortal. Of course it would be too much for this body to handle.

“Anyway,” senior Leo said which cut me off from my thoughts. “Peter, Kai and the rest of your friends that were with you in the northern forest already gave their statement about what happened. So far, everything checks out, but I will need your statement as well.”

“Very well…”

“Before you do that, you have to do one thing first.”

“What is it?”

“Your familiar, has been restless ever since it woke up yesterday. So far, Torii is keeping it in line but I assume it will not calm down unless you tell it to.”

“My familiar has a name and she’s not an ‘it’.” I pointed out, a little annoyed at his choice of words.

“I apologize… She has been restless all this time so… By the way, how many familiars do you have?”

“One. Just Vyfal.”

“But Vyfal is a fox cub.”

Realization settled down inside my mind and I immediately bolted to the window.

-Don’t tell me she did not transform back to a fox?