Soaring (Soaring Saga #1)

☆Chapter Fourteen~We Make A Strange Deal With A Fox Dude☆

     As the figure walked toward us, I noticed something, they were actually kind of... small. Like, they looked only a little older than us. Fifteen? Sixteen? But they had a big backpack on, and it looked full of stuff. They obviously saw us, and were walking right to us. I stood up.

"Who's there?" I called, straight faced.

"Really, I should be asking that," they replied, suddenly quite close, "I don't normally see Avians out this way." Their voice was mainly male, but sounded almost layered with something non-human.

"You say that like you aren't," I pointed out.

"And why would I tell you what I was?" They asked-replied, stopping in front of us, and I sized them up. 

     They did look like a teenager, but didn't sound like it. Their facial features and black and messy hair they had in a tiny ponytail proved east Asian. Their skin was strangely pale, and wore an orangey ski coat. However, what caught my eye was theirs.

     Their eyes were an orangey golden, and had pupils that looked like wide slits, somewhat like a fox or cat. It looked mischievous yet kind. Untrustworthy yet truthful.

"Maybe because you have no wings and are wandering around an Avian island? Maybe because you clearly aren't human either?" I told them, stepping closer. They chuckled.

"I don't have to look like an Avian to own this forest, but I can change if you want me to."

      Suddenly they did what seemed impossible, but everything was kind of possible on this island. They closed their eyes, spread their hands, and their back began to glow orange and black as big wings sprouted. Not just that, but their face elongated, their hands turned into paws, grew fur the same colour as their ski coat, and three long, fluffy, white-tipped tails appeared. 

They'd become a winged fox!

"Wha... how did you... who even..." Good gracious, why can't I talk this evening? 

"Holy &$#@%" Ari cursed. Neil smacked him upside the head.

"Kitsune..." Audra breathed.

"What's a kitsune?" I whispered, leaning over to her.

"Why, yes, I am a kitsune," the fox person explained, Audra's pale cheeks turning pink with embarrassment, "A near-immortal Japanese fox spirit that can earn up to nine tails. Every hundred years we're alive we grow a new one. Once we reach our hundredth birthday we begin to shapeshift."

"So wait, you're over a hundred years old?" Ari asked, stunned. The kitsune nodded.

"Are you a zenko or a yako?" Audra asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm definitely a zenko, thank you very much," the kitsune said, and then looked at me and explained, "A zenko is a good, benevolent kitsune, serving the goddess Inari with celestial abilities. Yako, the field foxes, however, are horrible, malevolent spirits who like to cause trouble among people. Nonetheless, all of us are very unique and powerful." 

"Uh, what's that thing?" Neil asked, pointing to a white-gold crystal ball a little bigger than a softball that poked out of its bag still on its back.

"Nothing that concerns you," the kitsune growled. Neil took a step back.

"It's their hoshi-no-tama, I think..." Audra whispered. Ho-she-know what now? The kitsune narrrowed its eyes glared at her. Guess she forgot that foxes have incredible hearing. 

"Look, you guys need to leave this area. Not only is it mine, but I'm trying to warn you. There's much, much danger ahead, and not just on the island. In your future as well. Stop, turn around, and go back to Terra. For you two," he looked at Audra and I, "I suggest you return to Woodleif."