Chapter One

“You recognize my form. Yes, boy, I’m a Kitsune. The pinnacle of perfection in our multiverse, and I’ve come to adopt you,” were the words that reverberated around the cavern as Jay sat wide eyed before the massive fox beast. Several moments of silence continued as the massive fox beast hummed contentedly at what he viewed to be an appropriate level of awe, which then continued several more moments and became stiflingly awkward as Jay simply continued to stare in wide eyed silence.

“Well? I assumed you would have questions, or are you simply going to sit there like a disabled child?” the beast chided. Jay finally found his voice, low, soft, and strained from weeks of abuse and scarring.

“How… and… why?”

“The why is easier to explain than how. The simple explanation is you’re a fateless. The longer explanation; that meddling lower goddess dragged you over to this universe, messed up, and let you escape what was to be your new fate line in this world. When you didn’t meet with the head priest and instead left the city, you snapped the tenuous thread that the universe attempted to attach after your original thread was broken upon arriving here.

“Essentially, you accidentally escaped a rather boring and ultimately unfulfilling life as a lower god of this universe. It also made you somewhat of a rarity, as fateless don’t pop up all too often… relatively anyway. Fateless also have a tendency to fray and snap other Fate lines. That’s something you’ll learn later though, assuming you accept my wish to adopt you.

“Now, the how is a bit more complicated. It has an easy answer, which I’m going to give you, along with the details of my expectations should you accept and become one of my sons. You can consider it a contract, just binding in blood and soul, instead of words and paper.

“The simple explanation is that I’ll be taking one of my mate’s fertilized eggs, using a bunch of really powerful magic in a pocket dimension to reincarnate your soul into my own progeny. Understand?” he paused here, as he had been talking for quite some time. It had been a long time since he’d had any semblance of a normal conversation beyond his wife. Jay simply nodded in agreement.

“Understood. What of this contract?” he asked in his low, raspy whisper.

“As our son, you’ll be held to certain expectations. Not dying is primary. We’d be the laughingstock of the multiverse if our offspring died, and even we can’t bring you back, but you are also going to be on your own, beyond a few things I’ll set up to help keep you progressing.

“So first, you’re not allowed to die. Second, the first fifteen years of your new life, your memories and bloodline will be locked away until you’ve had a chance to grow back into a normal functioning adult. The reincarnation process will also fix that instability in your mind. I believe your previous world called it sociopathy, so these first fifteen years will give you a normal development period to cultivate a proper mindset and emotions. That’s pretty much all. No dying, normal growth for a period of time. You’ll stop aging once you reach a minimum power threshold, so dying of old age won’t be a concern.” After dumping so much information at once, the old fox peered down at Jay as he processed everything.

“Alright,” he rasped out. “I agree, however, I need a couple favors to help tie up a few loose ends from this life until I can pick them back up in the next. That won’t be a problem, will it, Dad?” he said with marginal amounts of mocking, humor, and gravity. The fox snorted.

“Of course not. I already have plans laid to handle most of what you’re probably worrying about. Your little elven soulbond will be maintained, though you most likely didn’t realize it even happened, or the significance of a souldbond with a universe avatar. Have fun with that, by the way. You’ll be in for a surprise later, it’ll be fun to watch. She’ll be kept safe, along with your Drenz siblings.” The fox rambled on.

“To answer a few more of your unasked questions, or perhaps questions you haven’t yet thought to ask, yes, you were pulled over to this universe by the lower goddess Shira. You’ll get to meet her after you acquire your third tail. Ah, that reminds me, you’ll receive ancestral memories from my bloodline that explains how being a Kitsune works once you turn fifteen. You’re fortunate, as I’ll be doing a lot of the initial heavy lifting for you.

“Despite ultimately screwing up her plans for you, she did accidentally stumble into something useful for my own plans. She placed a seal on your mana pool that put it into a similar state that is found during child development. Essentially, it allowed it to continue growing from the moment you entered this universe till now. I think she meant to dispel it when you reconnected with her at a temple, but you never visited, so it kept growing.

“The seal itself encompasses your entire body now, it’s why you survived the lightning blast from your little mage buddy, why the Prince’s guards and wards didn’t detect you when you assassinated him, and, from what I can tell, she artificially expanded it on your initial foray into this world, which is the reason you suddenly acquired superior reflexes during combat, and were able to live on such little food and water yet still manage to fight off a grown Drenz. The mana was being subconsciously utilized to nourish and bolster your body.

“What this means, in layman terms, is you have a lot of unrefined, raw mana floating around inside you, on top of what you’ve already acquired from killing so many magical creatures. You really did work on those ogres. I’ll be able to sacrifice much of it to instill you with law memories for whatever your primary affinities are. You have enough for the entirety of a single law, and parts of another, but that will depend almost entirely on what type of Kitsune you become. I’m a Sun Fox, hence the glowing suns for eyes, and perfectly luxurious golden fur, but you most likely won’t be the same thing. There are a million different possibilities, it’ll be fun to see what a fateless becomes.”

“You certainly enjoy teaching, Dad, or is it lecturing? What’s your actual name, by the way? And my soon to be mother’s?”

“Oh! I do, indeed. It’s been some time since I’ve been able to have so much fun. Vacations are great! I should do this more often! War is such a drag after all. I’m known as Vixtoriion. Most people just call me Vix, while your mother goes by Daniella. Her real name is impossible. That’s Mom and Dad to you though. I can’t wait to see you call her that, her reaction will be priceless!” Deep rumbling chuckles rolled throughout the cavern at Vix’ mental image.

“Ah, you also don’t need to worry about any more “divine” meddling. I wiped all their little influence leeches off of you during the ship wreck, and as a superior magic being, you’ll be immune to them from now on.

“Just… try not to get too angry with the lower deities, it’s incredibly boring to spend eternity in such a backwater universe so they can be a bit… overzealous when something new or interesting comes along and shakes things up. Shira was well intentioned, however, she’s still rather young and is being pressured to find a spouse. I’ll let her explain it to you herself once you reach that level.

“I believe that answers most of the things you’ve been dwelling on for the past few years, both consciously and subconsciously. Also, yes, I can read your mind. You’ll learn to shield your thoughts as part of your ancestral memories later on. Now, are you ready?”

Jay was spaced out, still processing all of this new information, slumped against the cave wall in data overload. Several minutes passed before he finally came out of his glassy eyed stare.

“Yes, I’m ready. I’ll deal with all of these revelations when I have normal emotions and know how I’m supposed to feel. Hopefully learning all of those social cues and how to fake emotions will be a helpful skill even in my next life.”

The giant fox nodded in appreciation of Jay’s practicality. Logic and reasoning at the forefront of a cost-benefit analysis with little to no emotional input. Truly, sociopathy could be frightening, though it worked in Vix’ favor in this deal. Jay had nothing to lose, and everything to gain; and without the nudging of all those little leaches, his mind was clear to reach that evaluation on its own, which was important to establish for trust and willing acceptance.

“Good, then we’ll start. You’ll be slipping into unconsciousness as I gently remove your soul from your body and shift it to our egg. The type of fox you’ll become will be revealed after your soul firmly takes hold of its new home.”

His new father’s rolling, rumbling speech resonated within his mind as Jay’s eyes slowly began to close, slipping slowly, blissfully into unconsciousness as promised.

~ ~ ~

“Alright you little twerp, you can come out now, and stop bopping against my ear!” Vix’ voice sounded out as he manipulated a slightly glowing, ethereal liquid from Jay’s orifices.

“Yes, yes, I’m being gentle, now stop bouncing on my head! Your beloved Jay is in good hands, the best hands! Only my wife is more powerful and more skilled at this than me in this multiverse!

“Oh, please, would you stop? Of course we could bring him back from death if we needed to, but it’s much better if we don’t have to. It’s really energy intensive. Resurrecting you is going to be enough of a pain, and you’re a mortal, but I’ll do it as a surprise present for my soon-to-be son. Of course, we’re going to have to keep you separated so he stays properly motivated until he’s powerful enough to meet us in the center of the multiverse.

“That reminds me, I should make a list of all his little family members so I can give them purification methods so they can be of use to him later on.” Vix continued muttering, “The Drenz, Kara and Bane, Talli, you, of course, though you’ll be with my wife, depending on how she handles the situation, maybe Shira…”

The ectoplasmic goop finished flowing into a translucent orb floating before the giant fox.

“Eh? The island itself is the pocket dimension, why else would I so freely use so much magic on the beach? The cavern is just for dramatic effect! You’re such a pest! I can see why he was so affectionate towards you despite having almost no emotions! Fiery little brat!

“Oh. Oh! OH! Ohhhhhhh! This is good!” He broke out into maddening, raucous laughter. “This is too good!” Vix laughter continued, shaking the chamber. “I can’t believe he became this subspecies of all the potential outcomes! Maybe the Grand Fate is playing some sort of trick here but the irony is too good!” His laughter continued for a long while after before finally sighing as he recovered from his hysterics.

“I haven’t laughed so hard in a few eons! Let’s add Elise to the list, payment for services rendered, or something, and we can go ahead and channel all this raw mana into him to jumpstart the process for… let’s do his simplest primary affinity, and part of his most complex. Three primaries, not too shabby. Of course, it should be expected.” The reminder sent him into another giggling fit of hysterics. The little glowing blue orb that had been pestering him hovered uncertainly around his head.

“The next few millennia will be the most interesting in recent cycles, I’m sure of it!”

~ ~ ~

“All of us have lost him, yet his soul has yet to pass into Vratix’ domain. What could this mean?”

Shira, Daphenious, and Vratix all sat around the planetary projection, worried looks passing between the three as furrowed brows contemplated the implications of all of their influence and tracking measures having been wiped from their favorite mortal.

“There’s nothing to be done, at least until he’s spotted by one of our devotees.” Daphenious spoke slowly as he sipped from a wineskin.

“We will find him little sister.” Vratix comforted. “I may have tried to bully the man you were grooming, but I never intended to have him vanish. Daph and I will keep our eyes peeled for him. The ship wreck was fortunate. Rividus can’t possibly get his claws into him now.”

The mention of the head of the strengthening pantheon from the other side of the world caused the cloth Shira had been worrying to immediately rip.

“I will not become that disgusting insect’s sexual plaything just to “unite the world’s pantheons” and “present a unified front”. Fuck that! I’d rather die in the next invasion!”

“Language, little sister.” Vratix murmured. “It won’t come to that, my intuition says we’ll be seeing more of Jay soon.”