Fox Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 1)

~~ FORTY EIGHT ~~

The first few pages recapped the previous chapters, about how Mana came to life via the creation of planets and stars, how it was abundant in the newly formed world and free-flowing so that all could use it to support their lives. Then how many began syphoning its powers, for good and unfortunately for evil. The creators put a stop to it, splitting Mana evenly between the races and the earth itself but the book spoke of anomalies, those born who were able to take more power than most. It mentioned humans blessed by the Gods and hybrids – those born of two races.

Then it told a brief but succinct tale of the sins.

These fountains of power were open to everyone but seven creatures were born for greater things. They became the Vices of the world, capable of wielding power equal to that of a single God. They ruled over the land but not true to their name, they ruled cautiously, with care. The seven only intercepted in affairs that threatened human and animal kind.

The dragon with the ability to render the earth in half in a rage, topple mountains and flood lands; the fox with her nine tails, the ability to command the elements, to 'steal' their power and use it for her own whim; the serpent, twisting minds so they turned their 'wants' into realities; the great lion, larger than any horse born, a conqueror and war monger who helped civilisation in their quests; the goat and his pursuit to spread pleasure across the land; the grizzly who commanded the nights and lazy afternoons to soothe everyone to sleep and rejuvenation; and finally the boar, whose ability kept the fields plentiful, the humans and animals alike fed and fattened for all eternity.

Wrath, Greed, Envy – the three strongest Sins and the first to fall. Wrath's heart began to blacken, his rage all consuming. Greed, her nature making her prideful, egotistical and a God complex that had her commanding the elementals as hers and hers alone. Envy, whose powers affected her own heart, twisting her own 'want' into reality, until she was a creature feared by everyone. The other four Sins followed in their footsteps, their abilities that were once coveted and worshipped by all, now nightmares and curses that murdered, plundered and ensured chaos.

The deities looked down upon the world and saw their creations turn corrupt and interceded. They stole back the powers from the Seven, banishing them to the furthest corners of the Earth.

"This is your fate, to rule over nothing, to want forever more a power you no longer deserve. To be nothing more than the creatures you were born as: simple, weak animals."

And that power they possessed? The Gods and Goddess' split it up and delivered it back into the Earth. However, the magic had been moulded by seven animals and thus, only those creatures could access the powers of the Original Seven.

Every seven thousand years, on the day that the Original were banished, seven are to be born with the magick in their veins. And upon their deaths, the magick is once more returned to the Earth to await the next coming of the Sins.

"Whoever wrote that was very poetic," mused Meliodas and I practically flew off the chair.

"Don't sneak up on me," I snapped, my heart pounding in my ears and book cradled to my chest. So caught in the words that I'd failed to notice everyone leaving the room. "What's going on? Where is everyone?" I asked, confused at the shadows slanting across the room.

"You've been reading for hours. Day's almost over. Must have been interesting to keep you so engaged."

I looked down at the book. "Yeah, real interesting."

"Anything about us?" the captain asked. I flicked through to the back of the book as everything seemed to be in chronological order but it ended a few hundred years before I'd even been born.

"Nothing. Ends too early for your time period. Besides, I'm not sure you'd be in here. It talks of descendants and the passing on of power but all your abilities," I nodded outside to where I could see Ban, King and Diane clustered, "don't match the descriptions in here."

"Probably won't be. We were judged and found guilty of committing grievous crimes under the law that the Kingdom of Liones is under. In turn, they became apart of our titles, our failing reminding us of what caused our crimes. Our powers may be similar though."

Oh. "That's horrible," I said, taking a seat beside the captain. "Everyone in this entire world has committed at least three of the sins in their lifetime. They don't have it held over their heads."

"I can't say I understand why they did it that way, but our crimes were the largest by far." Meliodas was staring off into the distance, a dark look in his eyes. I bit my tongue to keep from asking; whatever he'd done must still be weighing down on him.

We sat in silence, me slowly reopening the book but not reading. He broke the silence, his tone cheery. "So what does it say about you then?"

I breathe a sigh of relief and flicked through the pages. "So far it's telling me that I have powers, something to do with commanding the elements if the legend of the Original Sins is anything to go by. Apparently I was supposed to be gifted the ability at birth but I've never had anything like this, not even an inkling."

Having those power would not only be insanely cool but beneficial to our cause. The chapter on the sins had ended and now it was talking about the manifestation of Mana and whatever. Lots of big words, lots of complicated symbols and numbers that hurt my head.

"I wonder where your demon would have even found a book like this," Meliodas said, taking another look at the cover and subsequently opening back to the contents page and forcing me to lose my spot.

I gave him a side glare. "Probably at his home, wherever that is."

"Is he the same person who taught you how to fight?" he asked suddenly. I rubbed the back of my neck with a sheepish laugh.

"Well, yeah, he was."

Meliodas wasn't looking at me though. He seemed lost in thought, staring straight at the book. I pursed my lips. The way he looked... Did Meliodas and Leraj have history? The possibility was high, considering Meliodas had been a knight of Liones and Leraj had been around for a while he said. Perhaps they crossed paths once, maybe they had even been friends. I decided not to push the matter though.

"Hey look, this part says A-Z of Mana Spells." Melidoas took the book from my hand and flicked it almost to the end. My eyes widened.

Each page contained closed to thirty words or phrases in cursive writing, all in alphabetical order, with a description of what each word did. Some words were incomprehensible, others in a language so old and foreign the both of us couldn't understand; most words, however, were in the human language, with little variations. Mouth hanging open, I flicked the pages with reckless abandon to E.

Enflaeme – a fire form ability where the caster condescends Mana against their skin and ignites it to create a flame encasement along a limb.

· Side note: powerful mages can command the flames to cover their entire body to be used for other spells. See Retribution (mass offensive), Cold Fire (defensive), Purification (self-healing and abolition),

And then it was a mass of words I couldn't even begin to pronounce.

"This. Is. AMAZING!" All these spells. Obviously I wouldn't be able to do them all but if Leraj knew I'd need it. I quickly went to C. I had enough attack power that I could combine with my sword skills but I had little defensive magic.

Cold Fire.

I grinned and snapped the book shut after reading the description. "Let's go test this out."