“Wh-what?!” I eep’d. I really shouldn’t blatantly ignore the fact both foxes had called me a spirit of fire.

“No! I’m not… I don’t have fire corruption- I....” My denial sounded weak, even to my distressed ears.

Junior cocked his head at me, tilting his ears in a manner that seemed to convey confusion. “But… Aren’t you a spirit of flame? It should be normal to have lots of fire corruption.” He said in a questioning manner. His childish tone of voice just made me want to cry again. Visions of fire lapping at my skin, the sound of laughing voices made me freeze in terror.

“Hey! What’s wrong? Why are you feeling so scared?” Junior was saying something else as well that I couldn’t make out. My ears were burning and my eyes ached, bright swirling lights danced in front of me, sending my blood coursing…

“Hey! HEY!” He sounded worried now. I struggled to look at them, my face twisting into a horrified grimace. My cheeks turned puffy and my lip trembled. Then came the waterworks. I felt the tears begin to fall down my face, hitting my legs, and sizzling like boiled water... I looked down, seeing the flames dance on my skin that felt all too real. Wait…

Instantly I was brought back to the real world when the air around me was sucked out, startling me. I opened my mouth, trying to look around, but my infant body still didn't allow any head movement. The fire was sputtering, quenching the flames way slower than I would have liked. My panicked mind didn’t even register the mana leaving my body to keep the flames alive, despite the sudden oxygen deprivation.

I tried to make a sound, to scream, to wail, but the lack of air prevented any noise from escaping my mouth.

The flames died soon after that, collapsing my body into what I was sure was a burnt corpse. There were black spots in my vision, fading and coming back in a loop like a pendulum.

I was calming quickly though. The rational part of my mind was kicking in, telling me the phantom pains weren’t real. The flames probably weren’t either, but they sure felt real. Does this mean I have some type of PTSD to fire? I hope not.

My body felt very weak. Weaker than I had felt after literally dying and coming back to life.

I managed to crack open an eyelid, to find myself in a pitch-black room with little to no sunlight. I felt something squishy underneath me that wasn’t quite as comfortable as Viralya’s fur but still felt nice nonetheless.

A bed? I thought groggily. My limbs were glued to my sides, and my head was still the unmovable brick it has always been. When did I manage to fall unconscious?

Slowly, my awareness came back, the sleep clearing from my mind. By the time I had fully woken up, I recognized the room I was in as the very same place I had woken up to on a haystack. Just without the haystack.

Candlelight scoured the ceiling, flickering in an eternal dance, casting scary shadows across the room.

I felt the bubble of a mental barrier, the tiniest tether extending past me, and attaching just a few feet away. I didn’t reach out immediately though. I just took a moment, appreciating the life my body still held, every breath of life-giving air feeling like a blessing. Life had been taken from me once, and when I had gotten it back, it was once again threatened by fire. Once again, I was put in the blast zone of the ever-hungry flame. I went into the practice of meditation, using the current to help calm myself down. Screw Viralya and her distaste for meditation, I'll use it anyway.

I submerged myself deeper, feeling the flow of mana rush through me. Now that I knew what to look for, I saw hundreds of individual colors, twining together to create a river of power, carrying my thoughts. I looked at the familiar purple threads that spun within my mind, watching them twine together into complex shapes and concepts. The mental mana stuck itself out as I pinpointed it, giving me a second to compare it to each color.

The river coursed through my mind and exited the other side, falling into an endless void like a waterfall. Woah. Crazy to think this was only just the ambient mana from this cave. There was a multitude of ground, water, air, bits of fire, psychic, trickles of death and life, and even some corrosion. These were just some that I could instinctively sense though, the rest were too minuscule to even identify.

I breathed in slowly feeling three mana types suffuse my being. It trickled into my body in abundance, somehow converting the ambient into specific types. The first one was made up of… Adventure? Something like that. It felt similar to when Viralya had picked me up in her air sling, but more… Abstract? Vague? Eh. No point in pondering the unknown like that.

The other sense of flow was clearly my mental mana. It was like a constant throbbing, caught between the vastness of the greatest mindscapes, as well as the tiniest flickers of consciousness.

Weird, but cool. The last type, and clearly the strongest by far, was a burning hot river of flame that radiated heat. It was startling in luminance, piercing my mind with its light. It felt... Angry. I watched as it fell endlessly, suffusing my whole being. I shook my head and focussed away from the fire mana, looking into the abyss that made up my corruption nodes. A couple of things stood out to me in stark contrast.

Most of the fire mana was used almost immediately, suffusing my spirit with its contents, causing it to waver and flicker constantly. Looking at it, I felt the overwhelming sense to destroy something. I realized something while looking at the flames, and feeling its all-encompassing desire. Big or small, that's all fire really did. It used heat and oxygen to burn away at its fuel, consuming all. It felt everlasting, like a law in the universe that imposed its will upon everything, demanding destruction, regardless of form. Fire and death mana were similar in that regard. All things must come to an end.

I hated it. But I wasn’t stupid enough to tamper with it. No way, was I messing with any of this. The stuff looked like it was supporting my entire being, and thanks to what little Junior had said earlier, I could absolutely confirm that. I tore my gaze away from the river of mana in my mindscape, taking a better look at... Other things

The first thing I noticed my mental barrier, the shield that protected me from the outside. It just looked like there was nothing beyond it but black, but I knew better.

I stared at the barrier, feeling the edges of its shield. It felt... Claustrophobic. Like it was keeping me from something. Containing me. A large piece of me was... Disgusted by this. Angry how something, anything, could hold me back. How it could hold me back from what I wanted. A hazy red fog that looked suspiciously like smoke swirled amongst my mindscape, embers, and sparks circling freely. My breathing was steady and deep, lined up perfectly with the distant thump in my chest.

I had no F$/}ing clue what had been going on of late. So far, it's just been one confusing event after another, rushing me blindly into a world I didn't understand. Things were constantly changing, leaving me with nothing to cling to as comfort whilst I stretched myself this way and that, trying to adapt. That said, there were a few things that didn't want to change and resisted with every ounce of their existence. They were the core parts of my being, immune to the change around them. One of these core parts included a violent tendency to destroy whatever I saw as something that would dare to force restrictions and rules on me. Like this stretchy membrane called my mental barrier.

In my previous 'life' that I still can't remember, I had been rather tolerant, learning to reel in these urges so I could better fit with society. The desires were still apart of me, affecting my life in subtle ways. The reason it did nothing beyond that was that I kept these desires caged up, tucked in a small corner of my subconsciousness. That cage was gone now. Destroyed by all the other crap that had weathered me down into nothing more than a literal babe.

You better [email protected]$%ing believe I shattered that barrier, a force of my own Psychic mana so powerful, it managed to break itself. I lept from my small little island in the abyss I called home.

The moment I went beyond, I felt like the whole world had opened up to me, its secrets laid bare. I felt the ants beneath the cavern floor, trekking onward mindlessly just by instinct. I felt the fly larvae worming around in the wet soil, feasting on the fallen in an endless circle of life and death. The void was gone, and in its place, was the most beautiful of purple tapestries I had ever seen.

There was... Something that attracted my attention though. One presence that led my eyes, tracing the textured bed cloth, my eyes landing upon a furry and red ball of fluff.

Fun size was sleeping on the massive bed, laying there just three or four feet away from my prone body. His mind blazed with a fractal-like complexity as I saw the very same fire mana coursing through them passively. Wait...

Looking closer, it actually didn't appear to be fire mana. It was cherry red, boiling and surging as my fire mana did... Before it suddenly lost its luster and dipped underneath the surface, sinking like a stone in water, getting closer to his core. He seemed to absorb far less mana than what I did though, his passive regen quite a bit lower. The difference was that the mana that did come through, stayed there, swirling around a central point in what I assumed to be his foxy heart. No idea why his heart was underneath his naval though. Fox genetics are weird.

I tried to zoom back out, attempting to look away from Junior. All I managed to do instead was greatly disorient myself. Truth was, I didn’t just see in one direction, I saw in a grimdark of interconnecting lines and tethers that bound all creatures across the vast mind space. I didn’t actually see anything at all. I just felt.

I had to ignore most of the sensory output and focus back on my own body, seeing it light up with the uncomfortably familiar fire mana that made me want to paradoxically rage over the source of my rage. Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure it's the source of it.

All of that had elapsed in just 5 seconds, my meditation skill having to run overtime while I was sucked back into my mindscape, my barrier seemingly a little thicker. Dammit.

*You have delved deeper into yourself than most would attempt at once! Meditation becomes Meditation II*

*You have sensed the very flow of mana itself, experiencing its flows before your very mind, and tasting it. Your efforts have rewarded you with Mana Sense. Use Mana Sense to identify different aspects of ambient mana and mana corruption*

*You have broken beyond the mental barrier of your mind, and retained sanity! The smart and sensible ones stay within their own territory, but not you! You have gained Psychic Perception. Use Psychic Perception to sense to differentiate the hostile from the friendly, within a 5-meter sphere centered around your spirit. Enhances the use of mental skills and can now use Telepathy without contact.*

The influx of words and sentences battered my mind, overwhelming me before for a second.

Just looking at the sweet notifications made me grin in satisfaction. I didn’t know what I had done, or even how I had done it, but I was glad I did.

I don’t know what it is about self-improvement, but it felt better than air conditioning in the sweltering summer on a taco Tuesday.

I felt better, much better even now that my mana was in much higher availability, coursing through my veins across my body. But what I really focused on after all that, was the small tether that led to a furry-prone form, looking alive only by the slight rise and fall of his underside.

Taking another deep breath, I sent my Psychic mana in a tendril across my flexible membrane of a psyche, reaching through and attaching myself to the easily excited fox. When the tendril brushed across his mind, he woke up in whine, jumping out of the bed. The emotions he sent across were ones of confusion and irritation at being woken up.

“Hey there, kiddo!” I proclaimed loudly. I felt his thoughts freeze for a second before recognition dawned on him.

“Wha- Oh! You're awake! Finally! I wanted so long I actually fell asleep! How’d you do that? Telepathy without touching me, I mean. I've only seen mother do that and she hasn’t told me anything!”

“Argh! Oh, come on! You just woke up! how did you already find time to pester me with questions!” I growled at him. He looked a bit hurt at the retaliation before I just smugly sent him the feeling of being tackled across a hill. He shut up very quickly, his tiny sense of betrayal gave way to childlike bashfulness and a mischievous mental smile.

Ugh. I thought. That does not, in any way shape, or form, make me feel better.

I sighed. “Yes, I’m awake. And for your information, I did that with a skill called Psychic Perception.” I thought towards him. “And if I tell you, will you shut up for a while please?"

He gave me a firm mental affirmation, silver-grey eyes sparking like lunar moons.

"Fine. I just got it this morning anyway, whatever. As I recall..." I paused, trying to remember what the words had told me before. At my assistance the knowledge seemed to come to mind, the skill revealing itself.

*You have broken beyond the mental barrier of your mind, and retained sanity! The smart and sensible ones stay within their own territory, but not you! You have gained Psychic Perception. Use Psychic Perception to sense to differentiate the hostile from the friendly, within a 5-meter sphere centered around your spirit. Enhances the use of mental skills and can now use Telepathy without contact.*

I blinked, a little stunned at it just popping up out of nowhere. "Well, there's not much in regards to how I did it. But..." I felt his anticipation rising. "It says you have to break your mental barrier, or whatever. Mentions preserving your sanity too, so I guess there's a risk?" I said.

Junior seemed to freeze for a second, looking at me with wide eyes.

“Wait, that's what it was?!” He squealed to which I hesitantly gave him a mental nod. “That's all I had to do?! Ha... Hahaha!" Uh oh. Why was he laughing? I didn't just make some kind of mistake... Did I?

He spoke up once again. "Mother wouldn’t tell me! She said I need to 'figure it out on my own’ or something like that!” He yelled excitedly. "I've been slaving over these things for so long! And it was this obvious? How the hell did I not think of that." He muttered this time. Unfortunately, the volume doesn't really matter when you're communicating via mind magic.

He jumped back up onto the bed and curled in on himself, stilling his movements and calming his bubbling emotions. His flickers of mana that I caught from my new mana sense skill told me he was doing something with Psychic mana, rerouting it toward his core, before it exploded out of him, flooding out of his barrier.

I couldn’t really tell what happened after that, only a couple of flickers of light and a severed connection to him gave me any clue at all. Only seconds later, his blank eyes came back to, and the Psychic connection snapped back into place, with him latching onto my drifting psychic tendril without trouble.

“You uh, there kiddo?” I asked him. He scowled.

“I’m no more a child than you are one! I’m probably older than you by a couple of months even! You can't call me kiddo If I'm older than you!” he said with danger in his eyes I hadn't seen before. I snorted in amusement. Who did this twerp think he was?

“I was in my mid-twenties when I died. Your body may be older, but my mind is beyond your comprehension.”

He looked at me suspiciously, letting out an unintelligible whine, his ears twitching. He clicked his paws in agitation.

“Riiiight sure.” He said in his best fashion of a condescending tone you use with troublesome children. It surprised me just how much he sounded like a teenager. So far, he had flipped between a super young child, a sassy teenager, and a wise old man. Sassy teenager was becoming more and more prevalent though. Are all spirit beasts like that or is it just him? I thought in exasperation.

I sighed. “Uh-huh.” He was most definitely scowling now. “Oh yeah. That reminds me, what happened to your mom?” I glanced in the direction of the entrance.

“Is she out, finding another bed or something, or does she just really hate us?” I said jokingly. He grinned in amusement.

“Nah, she just hates you. She actually instructed me to make sure I was here when you woke up, for something about… Uh…” He blinked a couple of times, tilting his head to the side in a human-like gesture. “Um… I forgot…? I’m sure I’ll remember soon though, so it's okay!” He said in his once again cheerful tone.

I swear this fox is going to be the death of me. I struggled not to rip my nonexistent hair out.

“Well, can you at least tell me something about the skill Psychic Perception that you attempted? Did it work?” I didn't want to focus on his depressing lack of memory or mine for that matter. So, I switched the topic. The little fox broke out in a wide grin, red fur rustling the fine cloth beneath his feet.

That reminds me… Where the hell did Viralya get a bed as nice as this? Are they just common as dirt here? Do they just grow on trees? I kinda just assumed the world was medieval from the magic and all, but… Maybe not? Actually, there's a good chance she just broke into some nobbles manor and carried it off. I wouldn’t put it past her from what I've seen so far… I hummed thoughtfully as Junior responded.

“Yes! I totally did it! It was so easy too! The Psychic mana just went through it all like it was nothing! I had been chasing my tail in circles looking for a way to gain Psychic skills, but it's so hard! They’re all so complicated and my affinity for them isn't the best…” He grumbled but shot back up in joy again seconds after.

“Oh! That's right! I remember now! I was supposed to get you outside to absorb some neutral mana! Mother said not to use meditation though. Something about overload and how the body that you’re using is way too small and underdeveloped for the active pull of ambient mana…?” He shrugged.

Oh. That makes a lot of sense actually. I’ve been wondering why she was so mad at me for just meditating. Guess it speeds up mana absorption too?

The bed shifted. His paws padded up to my head and he stared down with light silver eyes, almost identical to his mother's. He looked at me with his predatory foxy grin that made me gulp. His eyes shut in concentration and the air around me cooled, little bits of moisture freezing on my skin. The cloth that wrapped around me stiffened and provided little warmth.

The hallway across the cave crackled and snapped with the sound of frozen water, the candle fire went out, and with it the light as well. His nose came down into my side and carelessly rolled me, across the bed and right next to the gap between the sanctuary and the deadly drop leading to a hard floor and frozen waters.

“Wait, wait- I don’t think this is a good idea, maybe we should-” My words were interrupted by the sounds of joy and anticipation as I fell off with a thud and landed onto the now slippery cave floor. I felt my chest convulse under the pressure, my form hitting the ground with too much of an impact.

My fear voiced its participation by electing me into a screaming wail. It didn’t hurt that much though. Way less than I expected really. My bones absorbed the shock with not too much trouble and I was now sliding towards the exit. I had no time to ponder how or why, but I was most definitely sliding, picking up speed.

The fox leaped onto my back, using me like a surfboard as I screamed and he whined in a laugh that didn’t reach my ears past the terror. My infant body curved as Ice rose up to catch my form, now banking a hard right into the trophy room, sliding past it in a blur, and entering the hallway just as fast. I felt like a penguin, as my belly slid down the magic ice, supporting the cargo on my back that was heavier than me. My bones felt like they were on the edge of being pulverized.

The entrance was coming up and I wasn’t slowing down. The sunlight beamed in through the entrance. I squinted my eyes only to find myself no longer in the cave at all. We flew up, a small ice ramp catapulting us into the air.

While in the air, I noticed a certain bare spot on the top of the nearby hill, the grass and orange leaves scorched by flame. My eyes widened at the realization it was the exact spot I had my flashback. The thought that the flames were actually real was terrifying. The sight vanished just as fast as it appeared, and I had no more time to think about it. Gravity took its claim on my body.

The ground came up quickly, death tickling my face for the fourth time in a row this week. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact, dreading the crunch of bones and feeling of my lifeblood leaving my veins. After a couple more seconds, I realized we hadn’t hit the ground yet. We were floating on a gust of wind, carrying us down softly as a feather.

I sure didn't feel like a feather though. More like a wet and limp balloon with a hole or two. I looked up and saw the same neutral-faced Viralya, a crudely woven basket of berries and ferns dropped at her feet.

I had never felt so happy to see the damn fox

“Hi, mother!” The other fox on my back chirped, making me groan telepathically, broadcasting it for both of them.

“What part of ‘you can only go outside for a quick meal’ did you miss?” Her voice boomed into my mind. “How in Kankaars name did you two already get into trouble?” Her voice was significantly easier to handle, but it still makes me want to cover my ears. Not that that would help anyway.

This day just went from bad to worse.