I dodged to the side, throwing my whole body aside, all the while clumsily stepping on my toes. Junior was just about ready to bite me in the back. His teeth were bared, ears flat on his back. A tiny sense tickled the back of my mind, telling me how to dodge, a small remnant of a memory of Aikido.

“Stop running! Cmon! You’re really hard to hit when you're running away!” he said cheerfully. What the heck had happened to the little guy questioning my whole life story?! As annoying as he was, he was miles better than this bully!

I crouched in a crab-like position, almost parallel to the floor. I moved to the side of his headbutt, dodging what would be lethal strikes to my body. He skidded across the floor, anticipating my dodge but not able to stop his movements in time. I rushed forward, pounding on my heels as I finally unleashed my wail of justice, screaming like hell into his mind. It had the desired effect. He flinched, giving me a split-second opening.

With balancing act on all cylinders, I jumped forth, rocketing forward with my hands landing on his unjustly soft belly. I used the impact, letting go of the air mana in my arms, letting the weight suddenly return. The hit did him justice, that's for sure. He slid back 4 feet, yelping in pain, skidding across the stone floor while I regained my balance, literally as the skill had been deactivated for a second.

I reached out, digging far further than before as the mana-infused air began to warp. I commanded it across my body, channeling it into my mind, infusing my will on the air around me.

A grin lit up on my face, my confidence and pride demanding a one-liner. “How’d you like that for not running away, you son of a-'' He lunged again, blasting my face with a bolt of heat that made me sweat and my face redden, burning it. I screamed as it burned my face. Blisters broke out on my skin, painfully popping across my skin. I resisted another scream, glaring daggers at the culprit. My eyes were leaking tears already. I grit my teeth. This absolute jerk! I sniffled.

He smiled ruthlessly, immune to my tears. I have to admit… With the feral grin, silver eyes, and steam leaking from his jaws… He looked badass.

Not the time, I thought as I choked on a sob, still angrily pulling on the mana around me. I watched him charge his mana in slow motion, desperately grasping at solutions. I needed defense, I needed something to ground me, I needed weight. My mana responded.

The air was dancing visibly as a heaviness descended on my shoulders, restricting my movement as I slammed my arms together, shoving air mana between them. My body was failing me, my limbs shaking and my throat constricting in an attempt to cry out for help. The heat shot up again as foxy boy wonder growled in a high-pitched squeal, silver eyes glowing while he blasted me again.

Nope. Nopeity nope nope. The mana pooled, condensing further as that dreaded bolt of heat crawled to me, faster and faster.

When I could condense no further, I threw the air in a sharp twisted screw, commanding it to swirl and suck up heat, deflecting what it couldn’t take in. It whizzed into Junior's face, ignoring the heat bolt. His eyes widened at the display of magic. His head snapped back while I commanded the air in blasting him, curling it around his snout in a muzzle that went up his nostrils, blocking his ears and choking his jaw shut.

It seemed to work as he flailed around in a panic, trying to breathe or open his jaws. I held it back through sheer force of will, stubborn and angry. Bits of flame jetted from my body in an orange aura that unconsciously lit up across my skin, coming out in flares. It painted the walls, encompassing the whole cave.

I didn’t even notice it, solely focusing on suffocating Junior. His panic faded a bit, him finally realizing his deadly predicament. He turned to me, eyes flashing. The air around him froze and dropped in temperature, weighing the air down further as he sprinted towards me, wrestling my mana for control. I ignored the notifications that lit up my mind, watching the fox approach, checking my mana. 34%. Pretty bad, but I think I could work with this. I had been in worse situations before.

I let the weight from me fade, my muscles unclenching as the other side of balancing act lit up again. He pounced like an arrow, claws going for my empowered feet.

I jumped over him, watching him dive past recklessly. The muzzle of mana was broken, his control and higher capacity eventually trumping mine. He got up quickly, taking a trick from my book, howling into my mind, and making me fumble midair. I hit the ground unevenly, dazed a bit. Of course, like the demon he is, he took full advantage of this. The villain isn’t supposed to win!

I gasped when he hit my side, flashes of red and black flew past my body as we tumbled, my squishy body hitting the ground with a crack. Pain erupted from my back, making me cry out.

How the heck is this supposed to be sparring?! Something landed on my stomach, flattening themselves on me. Claws dug into my belly, and the air was knocked out of my lungs.

I opened my eyes to see him atop me, mouth full of fangs gathering heat mana that would not help the throbbing blisters on my skin. I grabbed onto his paws pinning me down, throwing him off me as I battered his mental barrier, trying to distract him. My simultaneous use of mana destroyed my reserves, dropping my total mana percentage to below 15%. The telepathic connection had cut off, fading due to either him wisely cutting it off, or the lack of mana and distractions causing its form to fade.

This was getting lethal. I couldn’t afford to hesitate anymore. My Psychic attacks kept him occupied, and I threw him off me, planting my feet on his belly as his paws flailed around in another panic.

His claws dug into my skin once more, making my cries devolve into nothing more than a pathetic whimper. I stared on in a rage, my mana and balancing act skill pressing down on him as sudden weight dropped onto his belly. I pointed a trembling finger at his mouth, blasting a stream of air mana into his jaw, interrupting his charge-up skill before he could unleash it.

My red eyes glowered in rage, my body now a cherry red. I smelled charred fur, the form below me screaming in pain and anger. I had had enough of his antics. He tried to throw me back off, or freeze me, but I held on, pinning his limbs while he rolled about.

My mana was near rock bottom now, most of it had gone into that one ball of condensed air. Probably not the wisest decision, but it had seemed like the best one at the time. I needed more mana, and quickly. I couldn’t activate meditation while in this mess, and I had no way of actively absorbing mana that fast. Unless, of course, I had crazy mana control like Viralya had, or something.

Well… Maybe I don’t have her level… But I have to try. My resolve hardened, my tears drying and I screamed, the effort at such low mana breaking my very being.

I didn’t think, I just pulled, and the mana responded. The space bent around me as wile and ambient mana flooded into my body, through my hands, and into my fingertips, injecting it into the red demon's body. Both of us jerked, as searing pain shot through my veins, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. I shook like in a seizure, nearly frothing at the mouth. My tears just came again, much faster this time. Junior bucked and squirmed, letting out a pain-filled yelp of his own.

I focused on him, red eyes glaring with intensity. I hadn’t the magic reserves, I hadn’t the skills, and I didn’t have the experience to beat him. So I used trickery. I snuffed his struggles and efforts like a candle, pulling on his mana and turning it into my own, infusing him with his broken and shattered mana. It resisted, gravitating towards its owner. But if I was going down, I would take him with me!

I flooded as much as my stamina would allow, the space around me curled and bent, from the mana grasping at it. The mana wasn’t my own. It was wild and untamed, grating against my veins and scalding them. I slammed Psychic tendrils into his mind, using two at once, pushing myself beyond what should have been possible. I called upon my air mana to crush him, the energy obeying my will, whispering into my ear of freedoms and power beyond my imagination. My hand lit up with flame and I growled out in a threatening high pitched squeak. Small chunks of my mana bled away into the wild arcane energy, sapping my reserves all the same.

At last, when I had hit 6%, he managed to throw my bleeding form off, skidding across the stone. Balancing act collapsed while I gasped in heavy breaths, my veins aching and groaning at the massive power expenditure. My eyes fluttered in and out of consciousness, a headache throbbing in my bleeding ears.

I knew Junior was in a similar state. I cared not that he was my brother. He had always been annoying, and now he was here, attacking me, betraying me. He must BURN!

Meditation did nothing to soothe my burning rage, my thoughts, and feelings clinging too tightly to my form to be washed away into the river. I felt my mana count tick upwards anyways. After 30 seconds, it hit 23% and I stood back up, stumbling at the pain in my legs.

I looked over at Junior, trying to do the same, one of his paws skewed to the left, limping on three. I wasn’t in a much better state.

We stared at one another, his eyes flashing silver, mine red, while his singed whiskers emitted a frosty temperature, so cold frost built up along my fingertips. I stared him down, seeing his form converge into people of the past, his red fur merging into a monstrosity of people, all taunting me, all there. People I had fought, people I had been betrayed by, people that had hurt. And rage was all I knew. They needed to suffer, to feel the same pain that they had all inflicted on me!

I reached for my Psychic mana, my form burning with flame, red eyes glowing, almost as if I was the demon. I leaked mana constantly now, foregoing power for control. Something changed. The flames burned brighter, taller, more deeply. The fire responded to me on a whim, begging me to wreak my revenge. I would make him pay. But it wasn’t enough. My power wasn't enough. I needed more. I grasped onto the purple mana, feeling its power. I called upon its full might, my rage-

It slipped through my fingers, recoiling at my touch. Shocked, I lost my concentration, faltering as I looked into my corruption nodes, watching as my flames raged in an inferno. It encompassed all that was me, urging me to consume, to BURN.

No… No no no!

I screamed. At once, I felt Junior leap toward me in a jagged arc, claws digging into my chest. Time slowed down. I looked into his eyes that reflected my burning rage, lost in a past all too familiar. I panicked, my flames snuffing out as my mental barrier flopped, squeezing itself as I tried to squelch the corruption. My lifeblood leaked out of me, pouring into the floor while I closed my eyes, centering myself. I felt Junior's rage as well, burning in tiny explosions.

I had succumbed to it. I had burst into flames again, bringing back horrible memories of blood and oil, caking my body in a black and red sheen. I had been an orphan. A nobody. Not even amnesia could hide that from me, memory loss or no memory loss. I felt my flames die, my thirst for blood vanishing as my Psychic mana came crashing around me, my eyes shooting open to see Junior's gaping maw leaking frost as he readied himself to blast at point-blank.

I was an infant, a child. There was no way I could take an attack at that range to the head without dying. He knew this too. So blinded by his rage, he couldn’t even see my face. Only the enemy. Only the past.

I lashed out with a tendril, trying to communicate to bring him out of it. He wasn’t responding, my pleadings to stop not going through. My Psychic mana broke through anyways, totally ignored, only to find all-encompassing anger, rage, and hurt. I saw flashes of... something.

A claw, descending upon my head. Bits and pieces of ash floating in my home, watching my family burn. They had betrayed me. They had done the unthinkable. They had sacrificed their cub to the Olgari, asking for power and fortune.

No one had expected a child to have such mana. A fox with something other than energies of the sun and moon? Unthinkable. So, when they brought a knife to my chest, I panicked. I killed them. I killed them all…

There was so much blood on my paws. It hurts. I have to… I can’t be here. I don’t wanna be here. Mother? Father? Where did you go?

Flashes of the green. The forests of Esemar. Finding a distant trail of wind, picked up in arms of vibrant red… An outcast…

I gasped the memories flashing by as I dove into his consciousness, past the rage and pain. Even if he was a jerk, he was so much like me. I felt it. Even his mana resonated with mine on some level. Is that how affinities are formed? The sum of one's experiences? Questions for later. No matter how much I was angry with him for his antics, I knew he didn’t deserve this crap. Whether I liked it or not, he was my brother… And he was going to kill me.

My Psychic mana chipped away within his mind, digging through his pain and rage, reaching the distant flicker of something else…

I latched on, his core melding with mine across a rope of Psychic mana. I struggled from within his mind, fleeing to my own. I opened my eyes to see his red form totally frozen, staring at me. He looked around in a daze, confused at what had happened.

Despite my injuries, I reached up and hugged him, smothering his consciousness and core alike in my best attempt at understanding and love.

So I had no idea how to show empathy and all that alright? I think I’m doing a fine job. Besides, I’m about to die here!

I wrapped my chubby arms, just barely halfway across his neck, whispering across the connection.

“You're okay. You're going to be fine, alright? I understand, but you have to let go. If you are consumed by your rage, you’ll kill us both. Please just…” I was crying now, sobbing as I tried my best to talk him out of killing us both. The blood that had left my small body had left my skin pale, my charred face leaking tears unimpeded. My voice cracked and cried as I tried to keep it to light sobs instead of full-out bawling.

“I… I saw… How…” He stuttered. “But.. I saw you… Your life… Why did you…” He cried, screaming and wailing as well. His mind seemed to break down as he slumped off me, leaving bloody paw prints on my chest.

My heart skipped a beat when he said ‘your life’. I focussed away from what had happened, feeling my face dig into smoking fur.

“I’m sorry.” He sobbed. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you. I’m sorry I tackled you, I’m sorry I was being such a bad fox…” He said.

I didn’t respond, only sending him flashes of affirmation, something resembling affection, and some shame at hurting him too. Neither of us said anything for a while, both of us recognizing we were both partly broken, hurt in ways that grated on the mind, trauma running so deep, it defines your whole life. We lie there, unmoving in a pool of blood, two brothers, consumed by rage. I should consider poetry as a job if I make it out of this alive. The thought made me chuckle across the link.

To my surprise, he responded. “What's so funny” He half croaked.

“Just thinking about stupid stuff,” I responded. “Our fight was quite poetic don’t you think? Definitely not a sparring match.”

He gave me something resembling a bloody smile. “Yeah. That was no sparring match.” He paused. “What does… Poetic mean?” he asked, his voice clearing a bit, his curiosity bleeding through a bit.

I smiled. “It's like wordplay, I think. Saying stuff that rhymes kinda. I um… Never had much experience with poetry. I just thought the situation was worthy of… Fancy wordplay I guess.”

“Oh. I think we had poems back in my village. They were… More of nature and light though. Not of bloody claws and… hands.” I said nothing after that, knowing to question his ‘village’ would bring back more memories. We stayed silent after that, not moving or speaking, fading in and out of conscience.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that, my wounds still leaking blood, caked across the ground in all too familiar patterns. My body hurt. It actually hurt a ton, now that I paid attention to it. My ankles bled with scratches along with my battered and bruised chest. My face had been burnt into red and white blisters, my mana mostly gone, and my veins charred into a well-done steak.

I didn’t have to ponder long though. We heard a tsk behind us, and a growl that conveyed frustration and surprise. Maybe a predator coming to find a snack, drawn in by blood? I wasn’t optimistic. I didn’t resist when I was lifted up, red mana flooding into my wounds. I didn’t let go of my furry friend though. I had just made one of my first ever friends. I think. He’s also my adopted brother, but I’m going to ignore that in light of my dimmed mind.

I didn’t resist when I was put into a bed, this time, silken cloth wrapped around both our bodies, warming us up as heat and fire mana danced and twirled around our forms, finally falling into a blissful slumber.