Tails of a Kitsune - Life or Love

Chapter Four

Iris found herself in a clearing near the border between Vine Den and Shadow Den. She slunk towards the ground, eyeing her surroundings suspiciously. Why was she here?

Suddenly, she heard a twig snap. She jumped so high up into the air it would've made her Leaping Trainer proud. When she fell back down to the earth, she circled around cautiously, pulling her lips back to show her teeth, and growled at every shadow. Then, she noticed the snapped stick right next to her.

I'm such a fool, I must have stepped on it without realizi-

Her thoughts cut off as she was viciously tackled from behind by a familiar russet orange fox.

Rose...

"Wait! Please!" Iris pleaded. "I'm not doing anything wrong!" The lie resounded in her head. Wrong, wrong, wrong...

"You were going to cross the border." Rose sneered, the robotic words echoing through the trees. Iris shrank back, looking around for an escape. More of the kitsunes appeared, encircling Iris. Kitsunes of all shapes and sizes, so many colors, so many foxes she knew... But she didn't think of that then. All she knew was that she was trapped.

"Looking for an escape?" chuckled Rose. The words sounded wrong, the laugh forced. "Too bad. There isn't one. Get her." She growled to the other kitsunes, and they all started closing in.

"I-I..." stuttered Iris, eyeing her surroundings. "I..."

That's when something inside her snapped. She bit into the nearest fox, kicked another in the face, and tried to take off running.

She looked around frantically as the profusion of kitsunes started flailing and attacking everything that moved, like a swarm of piranhas. Limbs were thrashing all around her, preventing her from escaping. A fox clawed at her, another biting her leg. Iris clamped her teeth on her nearest attacker, fighting her throbbing pain. She launched herself towards a small opening in between the thrashing bodies, right before someone bit into her tail.

Whipping around, she desperately kicked her attacker, knocking him off before feeling despair settle into her heart as the opening closed.

Looking for another way out, she stumbled on a fox, and suddenly there was pain flooding through her body as fire spread through the clearing, consuming everything in its path. The fox shot fireballs towards her, and suddenly there were walls of fire enclosing everyone, making the world go bright with flames.

Foxes shrieking, foxes falling, and pain, pain, pain...

Iris stumbled around, searching for a water source, right before spotting Rose's body. Shrieking, she flailed back, landing on a fox covered in flames. The fox grasped her with their jaws, holding on tight. Even though the fox was dying, they still tried with all their might to bring Iris down with them.

Pain, pain, pain... Iris desperately kicked at them, trying to get away from their grasp, but the fox clamped on with an impossible strength...

Screaming, crying out, Iris searched for the stars in this world of flame... and found one. A thing of beauty before she left the world... She let go of her hold on life and fell into eternal darkness...

And then she woke up. She was still on the Hill Where Flowers Sprout, but rather disoriented. She must have fallen asleep... Oracle's claws! she cursed. It must be near midnight!

She heard footsteps in the distance, as a mass of foxes spread out. She knew that the Den Council kept track of your family and your age, but not that they checked to see if you're a kitsune based on that. Interesting... A good theory... Teeth of the Oracle, Iris, stay on track! They're looking for you! Remember what happened in your dream? Well, you don't want that to actually happen! Now, get moving!