Ember Valley

Chapter 1 - The Dawn of A New Age

Swift, an anthropomorphic red fox with shining blue eyes and wearing blue jeans trotted into Ember Valley - his newly-established camp - tiredly with bundles of sticks piled in his arms. Collecting firewood was the last task of the day, and he was more relieved than ever to be almost finished with it.

He groaned out in pain as his shin collided with the side of the tree trunk planter boxes he made - they took him most of the second day to make, and despite them being his worst enemy at the time, he was incredibly proud of them. After taking a moment to recuperate himself, he chuckled and moved on. He dropped the sticks next to the planter box on the left of the crackling firepit he had sourced them for and sat down on one of the logs that he had fashioned into campfire-side seats. As the sun began to dim more, the crickets grew louder and the shadows that the writhing flame from the fire threw out were becoming far more apparent, lighting up the immediate area.

After a moment, he looked up at his work - a week's worth of long, hard labour that he opted into doing alone. He had plenty of tents with space for multiple people in each - though they all only had one bed, which was an issue for later - he had the firepit with carved logs around it for seats, and he had the two sets of planter boxes - located on each side of the campfire, opposite the first line of tents he built.

He smiled upon viewing his week's worth of hard labour - it wasn't a village yet, but as soon as the people from his home sent the word out to the rest of the forest, it would be. He knew it.

The forests that surrounded Ember Valley Camp were unpredictable, and so were the people that came from it. This wasn't untold news to Swift though, as he was from the forests, and knew of the races that lurked in it.

"Hey!" A gruff, male voice sounded from somewhere in the darkened treeline behind Swift. "Nice place you got here!"

Swift spun around in surprise to find the source of the voice, but all he could see in the darkness were two faintly glowing stars, roughly six feet off the ground. He stood up and waved toward the luminous stars, offering a welcoming smile despite knowing the man wouldn't see it.

"Oh, hello!" He called back, his tone bright and chirpy despite his tired state. He wanted to be as inviting as possible - a passerby could always turn into a permanent resident, and he needed some company - the week of solitude, since he left his village, was beginning to take its toll on him.

The man from the forest stepped into the dancing light of the campfire, revealing himself to the young fox. He was a little over six feet, looking to be almost the exact height that Swift was, and wore quite western-looking clothes. His shirt was a collared orange button-up, his pants were brown with a black belt and glistening gold buckle, and he had shin-length boots on. He also wore a cowboy hat, which - along with a bandana-like mask - hid his face from view. From beneath the rim of the hat shone two golden stars.

Swift was used to such an unusual appearance - he had not met someone who looked like this man before, but he had seen things far stranger. The man stuck his hand out to the young fox, who took it gratefully in his paw.

"It's a pleasure to be meetin' you on such a fine night." He said, his voice conveying clear hints of Southern American descent. "I'm Cassidy Hombergstein, but you can call me Cassidy."

"It's nice to see another face after a week of setting all this up," Swift said cheerily in response, shaking Cassidy's hand with a firm, yet gentle grip. "So, were you out here lookin' for me, or just wandering a little?" Swift asked, letting go of the man's hand and turning to look at the firepit.

Cassidy let his hand fall back to his side as Swift directed his visual attention back to the fire, though continued to study the fox with a careful eye. "I was just taking a stroll back towards my own home, an' saw your fire through the trees." He explained, his eyes shifting from Swift to the forest beyond his shoulder. "Thought I might as well scope it out - this place can be a little rough when it comes to fire."