“You are the first human to hear this, and live,” Minori began, and Liliana would’ve taken that statement as a threat if it wasn’t for Polaris’ snide remark.

‘She likes to play with her food, and she loves the sound of her own voice,’ his voice sounded almost whispered, but Minori’s chiding snarl and Polaris’ yipping laugh showed it wasn’t quiet enough.

“I doubt you humans have figured this out, but it’s well known among beasts. When we reach Rank 1 and higher, we begin to emit Mana. It’s why many of us have our own territories that are particularly Mana rich. I know humans theorize we chose such areas to live, but that is incorrect. We are the ones who generate the Mana. This is not something shared by humans or other mortal races, with the exceptions of Beastmen, because of their beast blood. As a result of the Mana we emit, creatures are born of that Mana, usually something relating to us,” Minori began her story and Liliana found herself almost lulled by the sound of her voice. It had taken a softer, more smooth lilt. It still moved through her, but it was a soothing sensation, like being rocked to sleep in a mother’s arms.

“Some of the others take great delight in twisting their Mana to create new children. Some have cloistered themselves for hundreds of years to perfect it. When you’ve lived as long as some of us, it is easy to grow bored. There are few threats that can cause us concern, other than each other, and many of us abstain from combat. Some still revel in testing their mettle, but many wish nothing more than to be left be.” Minori continued and Liliana perked up a little.

Beasts Rank 1 or above were rare creatures of myth and legend. Several were end-game bosses in Realm of Hope, but Liliana had heard or read myths of some she’d never fought in the game. She hadn’t realized that they knew of each other, or communicated. She’d assumed, perhaps foolishly, that they were still animalistic and prone towards violence. It seemed they were far more civilized than she’d considered. Enough to be able to pursue hobbies, if you could call creating beings a hobby, and had a form of community or at least communication they employed to keep up with each other.

This was perhaps the greatest deviation from the game she’d seen. The high rank beasts in the game had been harder fights, but it had never been even implied they had intelligence matching or even exceeding humans.

“Some pursue knowledge, though that hasn’t been my preference. I was born here, and when I first lived, it was a common place for adventurers to bloody their blade. I saw my family murdered by a group of adventurers after our coats. Blizzard Fox fur is sought after for its beauty and insulation. You can go to the ice seas to the north and stay warm if you’re dressed in it.” Minori sounded equal parts, disgusted and proud as she spoke.

“Luck, cunning, and cold calculation saved my own hide. I grew in power, feasting on the bodies of dumb men waving around swords and beasts with even less intelligence. My one goal was to turn my homeland into an area where humans would fear stepping foot. To teach them the terror they’d ingrained in the beasts who sheltered in these mountains,” Minori’s voice took a sharper tone and Liliana shrank into Polaris’ side as Minori talked, it was obvious there was no love lost between the Kitsune and humanity. Liliana wondered if Nemesis would have turned out like the Kitsune, had Liliana not bonded to her. Would Timberborn have turned into some dangerous territory fueled by the Mana of a serpent full of hatred for humanity in a hundred years?

“When I had the power, I built this domain, a safe place where no human has stepped before. Vengeance and anger had sustained me, but I grew lonely. I’d been taught by other higher ranked beasts how to create a domain protected from others and how to force the Mana to birth creatures. I decided to try it, to make a companion to make my days less lonesome. At first I made nothing but small, simple foxes with little intelligence. It took decades before I found out how to ensure they came into existence with the same level of intelligence as a born beast.” Minori’s voice had grown soft again, though Liliana could almost feel the loneliness the Kitsune had suffered from, it had soaked through her words.

“That was two hundred years ago. Since then I’ve had many children. When they reach their first decade, I chase them from the domain. I found that if they stayed here, never seeing the world, they grew up wrong. Twisted in a way I could not fix, those had to be destroyed, for they eventually tried to turn on me.” Minori’s voice had taken on an almost pained sadness, the voice of a mother speaking of culling her own children. Something a human could never empathize with, yet something common in the animal and beast kingdoms. Minori had not wanted to kill her children. Her tone made it obvious.

“I’m not sure if the overabundance of Mana twisted them, or if the lack of perspective did. But now all my children leave me, some come back, some do not. It hurt at first, sending my children out and never knowing if I’d see them again. I love all of my children, but the life of a beast is harsh and I can not shelter them from that. It has grown easier, and the ones who return bring me stories and knowledge from the world that I could not gather myself. Some die out in the world, and some find their own homes.” Minori’s voice had lost some of the sadness tinting it as she titled her head at Liliana in a nod.

“You are not the first human to bond with one of my children, though you are the first I’ve met. My children fear bringing their bonds to me, knowing my views on humans.” Minori did not confirm if her children’s fears were justified or not, and Liliana felt a shiver down her spine. She knew her safety was tenuous at best here, depending only on the Kitsune’s whims.

“You are the first that let one of my children break a bond and return to me. I have heard of your story as well, and what you did to save the life of a fox you had a weak bond with. I have heard of the deal you struck with a goddess, child from another world,” Minori let Liliana absorb that. Horror and fear slammed into her, robbing her of breath. Sharp fangs flashed as Minori grinned a slow, vulpine smile at her.

“Oh, I will not impede you. I pity you, tied so strongly to a god’s whims. I do ask that if you survive the impossible quest, that you agree to that you come back and tell me the story. You are not the first god touched human I’ve come across, though they died much as any other mortal two-legged would. I find the gods intriguing, for they do not often commune with beasts.” Minori tilted her head as if pondering a curious puzzle.

“Perhaps because many of us do not have the intelligence to worship them, and by the time we do, we have no need of their ‘aid’. Beasts live and die by their own fang and claw. We need no god or goddess to beseech. What we have, we made ourselves,” Minori seemed proud of her lack of need of the gods, and almost derogatory in regards to them.

Liliana relaxed slightly. She would never have chosen for the Kitsune to know her story, but she was glad it would not negatively affect her. In fact, it seemed to be partially why she was still alive. She was a curiosity to the Kitsune, and that was better than being dinner.

“Polaris is the youngest of my current progeny, and he perhaps got a bit too much intelligence when I made him. For few others of my making have vexed me as mightily as he. I was glad to see him back, and to hear the stories he told me. Though I shall not cry when he leaves, and perhaps I shall finally have a full night’s sleep without him lurking around waiting to pull one of my tails,” Minori flicked her tails at her last comment and Polaris yipped out a quiet snicker, standing tall as if proud of how he had harassed his mother.

“Shouldn’t there be nine?” The words slipped out before Liliana could think, and her eyes widened as her hands slapped to her face, covering her mouth as if it would retract the words.

“We gain our ninth tail when we pass level 700,” Minori answered the question easily, though there was amusement in her tone. As if she found Liliana’s question cute, the way Liliana would find Flint asking her why she had blue eyes cute.

“Are all foxes Kitsunes?” Liliana asked her the next question, emboldened by Minori’s apparent willingness to answer.

“They are. They gain their second tail at Rank 8, and gain a Kitsune Species at that time,” Minori answered this question as easily as she had the first, and Liliana filed the information away.

It wasn’t groundbreaking, and was information Polaris could’ve just as easily provided to her, but there was something about asking a question of a being that by all right should’ve killed her hours ago and getting an answer from her that was almost… empowering. How many others could boast a similar experience? Then again, Liliana’s life since she’d died had been nothing but one of a kind experiences others could not imagine, in their dreams or their nightmares.

“The Verity Bloom,” Liliana asked next, though her question was more of a statement. Minori seemed to understand it nonetheless, and Liliana almost had to wonder if somewhere in the Kitsune’s bag of tricks was a mind reading skill. They existed, she assumed, though she had not read of or seen one in use. But she was talking to a giant fox that couldn’t seem to settle on a single size or appearance, so the word ‘impossible’ had long since fled her vocabulary.

“A side effect of the Mana concentration here, though not my creation. You’ll find similar things sprout up around any beasts of a similar power level,” Minori answered, though this time Liliana could almost taste that there was so much left unsaid. Information that Liliana was apparently not worthy of. Secrets held by beings who had seen centuries, who played with power Liliana could only imagine. Liliana searched for another question.

Some part of her didn’t want to leave. Didn’t want this peaceful feeling that surrounded her like a comforting blanket to retreat from her. Didn’t want to wake up from this almost dreamlike state where the pain and anger had become muted. Despite the fact she was in the most danger she’d been in, in either life, she felt more peaceful than she had been in so very long.

“It’s time,” Minori stated and Liliana wanted to protest, wanted to beg for a few more minutes, but she knew it was the truth. She couldn’t avoid her problems. Even now, as she sat there in grass that didn’t even feel like grass, Imogen was out there. Plotting, scheming. Free. Her father remained in his home, tugging at uncountable strings as he shifted events to fit his desires.

Alistair remained ignorant of the viper that had wrapped around his neck, poison leeching slowly into his bloodstream. Emyr sat in the dark, weighed down by secrets and truths he couldn’t reveal to the person closest to him. Letting them eat away at his heart and soul as they had Liliana. And it was time, not just to leave this peaceful territory, but to finally face the demon that terrorized her for almost a year now. To bring to an end the pain, death and blood that Imogen left in the wake of her every step.

She had everything she needed now. Almost more than she’d hoped to achieve when she set out on this suicidal quest. It was time to move the last piece into check, to end this twisted game she’d been playing. First as a pawn, pushed around by stronger forces, and now finally as a true player, moving the pieces around until she had the enemy queen trapped and the king in check. Liliana nodded and stood. Even as it felt like the grass was calling her, like the aura of this place was gripping tighter to her. As unwilling to let her leave as she was to go, but she took a step forward, regardless. Because even if her hate, her anger, was damped, her determination was not. And it burned through the invisible ropes holding her down.

Soft fur met her fingers as Polaris pressed to her side, matching her steps, and she felt through their irrevocable connection that he understood, and his determination fueled hers, building between them until it became something ferocious and undefeatable. Two halves of a single whole, united in a goal that didn’t need to be spoken, it was simply understood through a bond that goes deeper than blood and bone.

“Don’t let humans find this place,” Liliana told Minori, perhaps the last thing she’d ever say to the Kitsune.

It’s important, though, a burning truth, a pleading request. This place, it was pure. Untainted by the darkness that seems to lurk inside every human Liliana has met. This place is a sanctuary, and one that humans and other mortal beings would quickly taint and degrade, rotting it with their touches and wants and dark desires. Liliana had seen what humanity can do in this world and her last. The way they’ll take and take and take until there’s nothing but ash and dust left in their wake. And she knew humans can find this place, if the game spoke any truth.

“Never,” Minori told her, and her voice was once again world shattering, soul shredding as it raged through Liliana seconds before everything turned black.