Chapter 216: a Minor story
The snow crunched under Kat's feet as she followed Minor towards the campsite. She was still trying to wrap her head around the whole thing. *So… I can sort of see how the logic works here. You have a tiny fireplace, and instead of it being tiny and in Minor's hand it's large and far away*
*But how does this help as move on? And why does it work? Are all dreams like this? Or is it just how Major's works. And if that is true, this is just how Major's dream works, is that because Minor is here inside her head as well, or would my dreams work like this?*
Kat watched Minor walk through the snow in a strange fashion. She almost seemed to be standing on it. She sunk just barely through the top layer of snow but left no footprints. *Is that another part of her not really being affected by the dream? Or is she just that light? Actually, maybe that makes more sense than anything else*
*Because sure I seem to have weight here, but is that just because I think I have weight? It does really seem like how we are thinking about this has a large effect on the surroundings… or at least how Minor thinks about things does…*
"So, how will this fire help us leave?" asked Kat
"Well, this particular scene is an endless blizzard. However, if we have a warm fire to huddle around the logic follows that it will stop snowing eventually, because we are nice and warm. This should break the scene, or at least give us a way out" said Minor
"Wait… are we trying to break the scene now? Like the Nightmares?" asked Kat
Minor paused in her stride at that. It was a good thirty seconds before she starting moving again, and when she spoke, it was with a heavy voice. "Actually, that might not be too far off. We are the invaders this time. That might be why the gunk didn't fill me with fear, because I'm the one who doesn't belong…"
"Hey, Minor it's ok" said Kat
Minor nodded but her voice was still heavy when she spoke "No I understand. This is the Nightmare Major is stuck in and we need to free her from it whether she likes it or not"
Kat nodded "Yes we do. I'm a little worried that we might be doing some damage, but I guess we are past the point of worry. Damage can be fixed, but if her body dies out in the real world it's the end"
Minor gulped "Yes. We've already had one second chance. I doubt the great fox would see fit to give us another"
"Great fox? What's that? I've heard you curse in the name of everfrost… or Major might have done that, but not the Great Fox" said Kat
"Well, actually this is perfect" said Minor as she reached the edge of the fire "Sit down and I'll tell you about the Great Fox and why we don't curse its name"
"So, how much do you know about beast people?" asked Minor
"Nothing really" said Kat "My home dimension doesn't really have them"
Minor nodded "Ok, well I might have to go a bit broader with my explanation then but that's fine. So, you may notice that kitsune are not part of the beast kingdom. There is a reason for this, and the main one is that we aren't all that compatible with each other.
"See, a standard beast person may choose to have children with any other. In this case, the child will be able to draw traits from both parents mostly randomly along with what race they are. Now, this doesn't happen often because beast people tend to find people of the exact type more appealing but things can change
"Kitsune however, are always born kitsune. It doesn't matter who we choose to take as our significant other. Some even say we don't need a partner at all, but I'm not sure about that. Now the main reason for this difference is in how we each began as a sentient race.
"The beast people are descended from the great beasts. It is said that as they reached for further strength, they found their bestial forms limiting, and so they came together to perform a major ritual to provide them the chance to shift into a more human form… well, actually they sought to emulate the elves, or so the stories go, but some debate this.
"That is mainly because they ended up sharing significantly more traits with humans and each other than the elves, which causes questions of who they wanted to emulate, but that is neither here nor there.
"So, they performed this grand ritual, hoping to grant them the gift of shapeshifting, and allowing them to switch between their two forms at will. Now once again, accounts differ as to if they succeeded in this or not, but what we do know is that it did not transfer between generations
"Either over time, or because of the ritual, the tribes became locked in their two-legged forms. Now, they still have remnants of their old physical strength, but nothing compared to what great beasts were supposed to have"
Minor paused to take a short breather. As she did this Kat noticed that the snow had slowed its fall and was now falling straight down as if the wind had died out almost completely but chose not to mention it.
"Now, the kitsune, we are different. According to legend, we were always one of the greater existences of the realm. We did not yearn for a human like form unlike the beast people. We were content with our growing territory, and what is now our kingdom.
"This however, all changed when the Queen of our people fell in love with someone from one of the other races. Sadly we don't actually know which of said races it was. Our records even include the great beasts, so we know this happened before their ritual, so we know it wasn't a member of the beast tribes…
"But quite a few of the oldest records have been destroyed or lost over time, or even just mistranslated as our language has shifted over time closer towards common. Anyway, apparently this Queen was the strongest kitsune to have ever been born at this point
"And one of our main abilities was to take on a battle form, a giant fox that for the greatest of us was even larger than the mountains. This Queen was a master of this art and decided to stretch her powers and managed to construct a human form.
"Now, she happily married her chosen husband with no issues. That was until she wanted to have children. She found that she couldn't alter her form during this time. Still, she was strong and this wasn't a real problem.
"Until the children were born in that humanoid form. Now this might not sound bad, but please understand that we don't gain our transformation abilities till at least our fourth tail, and usually at our fifth.
"This meant that their children were locked in their human forms. This was initially considered a negative until it was revealed that they were even stronger than any other kitsune of the same tail rank.
"And so more and more kitsune decided to follow in the Queen's footsteps. Now, the issue with this was, the transformation actually weakens kitsune children, it was the Queen's bloodline that kept her children strong.
"This was realised too late as multiple generations of kitsune that rarely made it to the fifth tail, and even rarer could transform. That's allegedly how we transformed into a humanoid race and some say we lost the ability to transform into foxes completely"
"The Great Fox, I was speaking of earlier is said to be that Queen's oldest answer, the first of our kind. But honestly we don't really know anything about her, or him. It's just a story unlike that of the Queen's which we can be relatively certain is true"
"Huh" said Kat "So did you guys actually lose that ability?"
Minor bit her lip. "Look Kat, I shouldn't answer that… but you're my friend. MINE. The first I've ever really had that I can call my own… and I really really want to answer you… but I'm just…"
Kat cut in "I swear on my demonic energy that I shall not reveal to anyone the truth of the kitsune without your prior approval"
As Kat said this, chains started to snake out of her body, they poised as if ready to strike. Minor looked between them and Kat and said "No. I reject your vow"
The chains rapidly vanished as if they were never there at all, but before Kat could say anything Minor held up a hand "I'll tell you anyway. I trust you. The truth is, we have never lost that power. We keep it as secrets and legends but it can be done"
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m