The end of a beginning, or the beginning of an ending.

I never was that great at anything unique. I never pioneered a new form of sword fighting; nor have I ever excelled in my classes. Instead, I always could take that which is already made, and use it in creative ways that perhaps wasn't expected. To learn lessons where none were intended.

Turns out this skill isn't much good when the teachers who push you to excel want you to learn their lessons in particular. The idea that a student could read a book about tactics, and comment that the general had no faith in their men rather than the position of troops... The fact that I always cared more about the morale and feelings of a story rather than the moral of the story.

It's probably why I'm an academy drop out in all honesty. I blow up and push my brown bangs out of the way of my vision as I lean back in the wagon. I have barely a few gold to my name, a beginner's understanding of sword fighting, and I've memorized a bunch of bargain-basement spells you can learn in any book, "Hey, Gramps, how far until we're in Windgate?"

The old man riding the cart looks back at me with his tired eyes. Normally I'd probably come off as disrespectful referring to him that way, but he did smack me with his shepherd's staff the last time I called him sir, "We're traveling at a human's pace. We'll get there in human time."

".. What the hell does that mean?" I ask incredulously as I lean forwards. I've lived around humans all my life despite being a beastkin and never heard the phrase before. It's not as though our lifespans are dramatically different.

The old man gives me a toothy grin, "It means we get there when we get there. Are ya afraid of dyin' of old age?" He laughs wheezing a bit as he seems to overextend himself. Strange sense of humor, but what else is new in the world. War, monsters, political machinations, differing philosophies, love... It never truly changes it just swaps up costumes, "... You look like you're having a deep moment to yourself. I'll let you finish."

He clears his throat as his joke flies over my head, and I blink a few times to center myself, "Sorry, just feeling a bit lost. Like I'm starting from square one, and not much is funny right now." I say with a grimace. She met the old man in the town she came from, an overpopulated human city called Veva, "By now you know what happened."

The old man laughs again at my expense as he tosses me something metal, a flask, "Then swallow your damn regrets and move on already. You're goin' home right?" With my sensitive nose, I can smell the contents as they make my nose burn.

"Are you seriously suggesting I get drunk? Didn't you hire me for an escort?" I ask as I point the flask at him with a glare. While the roads weren't so plagued with danger, as they are bad enough that you don't want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere without a sword arm.

The old man guffaws again as he vigorously moves the reins and almost drops his staff that holds his lantern, "I said I was moving out on my rounds! You're the one who made it about a job for ya!"

"You're either crazy, brave, or both... I have to respect it though. Most humans cling to safety." I smile at him and he motions his eyes to the flask as I sigh and take a drink. I know enough about human culture that refusing a drink offered is quite rude. It tastes like sweet tea left out for too long, and I gag as it isn't exactly what I'd call refreshing.

"You snap out of it then?" He asks as he reaches for and easily takes back his flask... Not that I want to have another sip of that vile liquid.

"Sure." I can feel my face start to warm up as I take out my water skin and start to drink, "Sorry for being so harsh just... It's hard to trust people after..."

"After you tried to steal the answer key to a quiz for brownie points with your friends?" He asks as I feel a cold chill run down my back, "You know I thought foxes were supposed to be clever."

I swish around my tail irritatedly as my ears push up against my hood, "And I thought old men were supposed to keep to themselves." I say rather snarkily as I look away from him with a scowl. It's one thing to mock my nature and another thing to attack my genus.

"Fair enough... Fair enough... Just we've been on this trip this whole time and the only word I heard out of you was when it rained yesterday. You haven't even told me your name." He comments as the sun starts to dip below the horizon and the first moon begins to appear in the sky as it turns from a bright blue to shades of black blue orange and red, "You not plannin' on seeing me again, that it? Gonna live out the rest of your life in your hometown?"

"You sure are persistent. Why the sudden interest in my personal life? You've not exactly been talkative yourself." I say with a glare, and intentionally deflect his desire for my name, "By now you know that I'm a nobody with no skills who failed to cheat at a modicum of success."

"Isn't failing badly enough that everyone knows your face in one of the largest cities enough glory for ya?" He asks with such a sincere tone as he looks back at me. The trees giving off a light glow as the moon draws their mana towards the sky, "I mean at least someone wants to know your name, kid."

"It's... Kumiko." I say as I look up at the sky and take in a deep breath, "And Windgate isn't exactly home. I'm only going back there for my sister."

"You know as an old man that lives out of a cart that my definition of home may not exactly be your own. That sister sounds like home to me, more of a home than an empty cart filled with things to sell." He sounds rather weary now that he has my name, or maybe he just used whatever jovial energy he had to break the ice, "Only reason I ask is that the spirits seem to be watching you."

".. The what?" I ask incredulously as the road has been silent this whole time. Spirits fall into three categories. The will of those who have died and have business to complete, heroic essences that give divine quests, and mana itself which has no will, "Are you okay... ?"

"Ah... I see. You're blind." He starts to laugh as he pulls his cart to a stop. As he turns to face me his face is wreathed in shadows as his eyes glow red. He goes to swing his staff at me again, and not expecting it I get knocked out of the cart. My face felt like it was glowing red after the impact as my head was ringing. The dirt road is dry and dusty and I can't quite see as I hear the reins snap and the cart moves forwards.

'The hell?!' I think as I move to my feet disoriented, and stumble off the road falling into a gulch struggling to not drown in the inch tall water in my disorientation, "... Why... ?"

The mana floating above me seems to melt into a stream of colors as it begins to almost look like a rainbow or an aurora borealis is flowing above me. My disorientation, the water, tears, and the dust causing it all to melt into a kaleidoscopic effect as all I can hear is rushing water before I fall asleep with my nose and mouth pointed up towards the sky.

-.-.-.-

In this world, there are no dreams, and having a dream is a bad portent. However... it's in this horrible situation that Kumiko has one. She can see white dots all above and around herself. She can feel pressure close in around me as if she were falling below water. Part of her tries to struggle afraid that she was drowning in reality, and that this was a hallucination, but instead, all her struggling managed to do was to make those white dots warp and melt together.

"Can you not?" A soft-spoken voice calls out in the darkness. The voice is barely above a whisper, "I'm trying to hide..."

"Hide?" Kumiko asks as she realizes she doesn't even have a body in this limbo she's found herself in, "From who?"

"... You..." The voice isn't scared so much as it sounds shy, "I don't want to be seen."

Kumiko normally isn't much of a people person, but something about that makes her feel regret, "Hey, come on now. Don't be like that... I don't bite." She notes as she realizes she doesn't even have a mouth anymore.

"... If you see me I'll exist..." They say as it sounds like their voice is behind Kumiko as she tries to shift their perspective towards them, "I said I'm trying to hide... I only want to watch."

"Well, I don't want a peeping tom in my head! If you want to spy on me at least do it where I can see you!" As she raises her voice getting a bit exasperated with the rather pathetic voice she feels her body start to flare up as she grows arms made of purple mist and the stars start to flare up.

"Well, I don't want to watch some pathetic crybaby mope over every failure!" Kumiko blinks as the once pathetic voice yells back at her just as aggressively and she feels the by now pastel smear of light and void shatter like glass as she feels herself start to fall. First she sees deep dark blue, then clouds... Then she starts to panic, "See who's tough now?!"

"Hey! If I hit the ground with a splat you won't have anything to watch anymore! Relax!" She cries out as she starts to struggle.

"Well, you should've thought about that before you messed everything up!" She feels her body collide with the ground she feels her body enveloped in ice-cold water as her eyes suddenly open in reality.

-.-.-.-

I gasp for air out of that hellish limbo and look around. It's now morning I note as I see the sun rising, and the mana in the air is slowly being pushed back down by the radiant light. Her clothes are soaked and dingey with dust, and she feels something in her lap, Did the old man throw my stuff at me..?

I look down and see a small canine in my lap seeming asleep, "You broke it..." The voice from my dream says with a grumble of indignation as the creature seems to be crying in my lap, "I was going to make a pretty place for us to live forever, and you broke it."

"... Excuse me?" I look down at the small pathetic canine and pick it up as it refuses to make eye contact with me. It has a snow-white pelt. Glowing white eyes that lightly shimmer even with their eyes closed, and it turns into mist as it leaves her hands and passes into my body, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"I'm going to sleep since you're too important to play with me forever, and construct a soul space I'll just have to do it by myself..." My perspective shifts and I start to feel my head spin as I feel something fundamentally changes before I catch myself from falling back into the river.

o.o.o.o

Kumiko pats herself as she tries to stop the strange creature but only manages to make a fool out of herself. The water splashing seeming to have drawn some attention to herself. The first thing she notices is that her senses have become far keener. If the old man saw the world like this then it is quite accurate to say that she was blind before this. She now felt herself as a part of this world, just like that water is a part of the world rather than as a consequence of its existence.

"Yo! You alright down there?" She hears a loud mouth yell above her. Her ears now far more sensitive to sound as she pulls her hood over her head, "Is this bag on the road your's? I helped myself to your rations already, I was starvin'!"

Kumiko bares her teeth as she stands up in the river, "What?! I had to hunt all last afternoon for that shit!" She growls as she stalks up the hill. Perhaps it's the adrenaline, or maybe it's the strange creature that seemed to fuse with her... But she stalks up it faster than any normal person could without being a graduate. Something that doesn't escape the pretty boy's attention as he backs away from the edge and actively hides behind her bag.

"Hey, hey, hey! I just saw a bag on the side of the road! Was I supposed to starve?" He yells out defensively as he skittishly hides behind the bag looking too pathetic for Kumiko to aggress on him any further, "Damn it this crazy chick gets me thrown out of the academy now this!"

Kumiko can't help but feel a twinge of regret as she pulls her scarf over her face and pulls her hood down. Her brown hair, and red fur standing out as enough of a contrast as she hopes he won't identify her by her red tail alone, "As you can tell I've had a bad day and got knocked in the river by a mad man... Don't grovel and hide from me, I won't hurt you."

She sighs as she starts using magic to clean her leather jacket and the sackcloth pants with leather knee guards and boots, "Ah, you got caught up in that too... Silver?" He asks curiously as he picks himself up. Silver?

"Hm?" I ask as I finish my task and reach out to grab my bag back from him. He clutches the bag tightly for a moment before letting it go, "You better not be calling me old..."

"I mean you have that shiny silver fur so it's the best I got right now." He says as she backs away from me with his hands in the air. He looks almost scared of me as I sling my bag over my shoulders, "Easy now... I meant no harm eating your food... I can understand being pissed, you must've been right on the cusp of graduating. I bet you didn't even need the answer sheet."

'What the hell is he on about?' Kumiko thinks to herself as she narrows her eyes at him. She notices that her vision seems far more focused. As her eyes dart around her eyes catch key details more easily as she looks over his possessions... 'Knife, holy symbol, a human god, and a cute face. Empty head though... Maybe color blind too.'

"Ah, checking me out, eh?" He flexes as Kumiko scoffs and turns her back on him, "Damn, you're cold. Must be why I never heard of you. I thought I met every beast girl at the academy."

'Oh god, it's him...' She thinks to herself as she starts to move forwards, "Oh it's the... What did you call yourself? The God Hand?" Kumiko scoffs no longer feeling the need to hide her disdain.

The boy wasn't an innocent victim of her failure. He was the one who paid her to arrange it because he spent the entire semester writing notes on girls in class."Uh... I see my reputation precedes me! I can say my hands aren't as good as people say... People talk too kindly of me." He comments as Kumiko fights the urge to swing on him when his voice whispers huskily into her ear.

'I can't let this guy follow me to Windgate. I will kill him if he tries to pull this shit on my sister.' The fox girl thinks to herself as she gets ready to turn on a dime and chase him off with her fists if she has to. However, she hears the snarling of some form of a beast as her vision is obscured by mist. By the time the mist clears the man is pinned to the ground being attacked by a white canine, "Woah! Hey!" She draws her sword ready to fight off the creature. It pulls out cleanly in one pull as the creature turns and stares at her.

She hears it whimper as it puts its paws on its muzzle, "I was just doing what you asked me to..." She hears a voice in her head as she blinks. The blonde pretty boy is already booking it in the opposite direction, "You said we needed to kill him before we get to Windgate.."

"No... I didn't... I..." She realizes this is the same pathetic white canine from earlier as she stands there frozen. It shrinks back into its rather tiny form.

"Am I bad?" It looks up at her, its white eyes now a sky blue as Kumiko feels her heartbreak a little. Her stern expression melting into a pathetic mix of adoration and mild regret.

"N... No... Of course not... Just... Don't take my thoughts so literally alright?" Kumiko asks softly as she reaches out to the white spirit and it jumps back into her. 'Alright... Can you speak to me in my thoughts?'

She hears the voice respond even without the corporeal form, "Yes... Are you going to get rid of me?"

'Could I even do that if I wanted to?' Kumiko asks in her thoughts experimentally as she starts to move down the road again on foot.

"How am I supposed to know? Just don't... Please..." The voice asks rather needily as she can hear a puppy-like whine in her head as Kumiko realizes that even if she could... She probably wouldn't have the will to chase away this potentially dangerous spirit.

'Just hold back and let me solve things until I call on you... What do I call you anyway?' The girl asks in her mind as the road seems rather effortless to traverse now.

"Just call me what I am." The voice responds rather monotone.

'... Wolf?'

"Seek. I am what I do." The voice responds almost proudly, "I sought you and found you." Kumiko feels her lips curl into a smile against her will as she clears her throat and fights off the urge.

'And what am I to you?'

"Hmmm... Wife? Home?" Kumiko feels her face turn pale as she begins to have second thoughts, "Alright... Master?"

"Uh... Last one, please... Those first two scared me a little..." She says out loud as she struggles to catch her breath.

She feels an explosion of happy and almost manic energy as she gets the urge to run down the road. Usually a bad idea given the long journey, but she can't help but give in to the instinct. She feels her body move effortlessly as she runs, and soon she feels her feet leave the ground as she is riding on the back of this... Seek.

The wolf almost being the size of a horse as it starts to run. Oddly enough this wouldn't be too out of place in this world. You can tame almost any creature if you have the guts for it, and well this canine isn't really that large. That's before even getting into summoned spirits... "You think a lot. It must be tiring. Don't you get tired of worrying about appearances? You're special."

As the spirit speaks Kumiko feels herself fall asleep on its back. She doesn't know it yet, but next time she wakes it'll be in Windgate.