Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 164- Arrival in Lokir

[Keeno POV]

I slowly woke up with a pleasant soreness all over my body. Not much registered as I was still on cloud nine from the vigorous ‘exercise’ Ama and I were doing, though in the very back of my mind I felt like there was some other kind of event that happened, but I couldn’t quite clear away the fog around it.  I continued staring blankly up until a black and silver blur crashed into my side, knocking me off the bed and into the floor.

“Keeno!  Are you alright!?  Where were you!?  What happened!?” (Pram)

“I’m fine, Pram. Don’t know why, but I was somehow able to meet with Ama after the fight. She healed me up good.” (Keeno)

Pram slumped back and heaved a big sigh.  I noticed Freya looking over, the same relief in Pram’s face on hers as well.

“I told you she was fine.  You should have more faith in her.” (Mostima)

“Says the one that wasn’t able to sleep and constantly asking Fia for any updates.” (Pram)

Mostima looked away, a light blush in her face.  I turned my attention over to Freya, not wanting to tease Mostima for worrying about me.

“How are you doing, Freya?” (Keeno)

“I’m doing fine.  Though she can’t see souls, Pram has said I’m free to move around now.” (Freya)

I focused harder on Freya and sure enough her soul was a calm grey instead of being in the verge of black.

“Your soul is fine, so you are allowed to return to normal.” (Keeno)

She nodded. Pram got up from pinning me to the ground and I got up from the ground and sat in the bed.

“Where’s Margaret and the others?” (Keeno)

“Preparing for the next leg of the journey.” (Mostima)

“Alright. Should we-” (Keeno)

“KEENO!” (Emma)

“Hello to you too, mum.” (Keeno)

“…Ehe…No, be happy later, Emma.  Keeno, something’s wrong with the Death Spirits!” (Emma)

My ears and tails floofed up in shock.

“What’s happening?!” (Keeno)

“They all just suddenly transformed into some kind of humanoid creatures.  All female, skin color ranging from pitch black to ash grey, eyes like yours, but their irises are red or orange instead of blue. And there are flames coming from the corners of their eyes. Claws like wolves and they’ve become slightly more aggressive, at least towards other spirits only, but still more aggressive.” (Emma)

I tilted my head in confusion when a word floated out of some foggy part of my mind.

“Hellhounds?  The Death Spirits are hellhounds now?” (Keeno)

The others around me all tilted their heads in confusion.

“…That’s…a weirdly fitting name.” (Emma)

A bit more information I know I didn’t know, even in my last life came unprompted and I relayed it to Emma.

“And let the others know too.” (Keeno)

“Alright.  I’ll let you know if anything else weird happens.” (Emma)

I thanked her and refocused on everyone else.

“Well, that happened. Wonder why though?” (Keeno)

“You don’t know?” (Freya)

“I feel like I do, but it’s so foggy that I can’t answer anything definitively.” (Keeno)

“Should we be concerned about that?” (Mostima)

“I’d say no, but we can ask Ama when she wakes up.” (Keeno)

It was then that Margaret and a few of her knights entered the room.

“Oh, welcome back, Keeno. You had us all worried.” (Margaret)

“Sorry about that, but it was unexpected on my end too.  How did it go in your end?” (Keeno)

“We were ready for a difficult fight, but they were so exhausted and their armor was too weak to really pose a challenge. You clearly won, and very flashily at that, but how did it go?” (Margaret)

“Relatively fine. The armor thing caught me off guard and that led to a few of my ribs being broken and nearly two pierced lungs, but nothing major.” (Keeno)

“That is VERY major Keeno!” (Pram)

“Don’t worry, Ama healed me up and we trained a bit so I wouldn’t get distracted as easily in the event of something similar happening.” (Keeno)

“It takes years for that kind of thing to develop.” (Margaret)

“It was very intense training.” (Keeno)

They still had worried faces, but I managed to convince them enough to drop the subject.  I asked how much longer we were going to stay here and Margaret said it would be best to leave either tomorrow or the next day, though she preferred tomorrow because the noble carriage was starting to attract attention from the city guard. I nodded and got up.

“Anything we need to do to help get ready?” (Keeno)

“No, we’ve gotten everything handled. We were just waiting on you and Freya to recover.” (Margaret)

“Well, I’m fine, and Freya is fully recovered now, so we can leave tomorrow.” (Keeno)

Margaret nodded and looked at one of the knights following her. She saluted and left to inform the others.  Once everyone was informed, we spent the rest of the day packing up anything we happened to pick up while in this city and doing a few small easy quests to get just a bit more money. We all went to bed early that night and woke up early the next day.

Leaving the Guild was simple, we just had to let one of the free homunculi know we would be leaving, and the Guild would take care of the room.  We collected our wagons and the carriage and started to make our way to the gate leading to Lokir.  The closer we got to that part of the city; I noticed a slight increase in temperature.  Approaching a gate built into the side of a mountain, I had a sense of déjà vu.

We went through another half inspection from some more guards before being allowed to pass.  Crossing under the gate we entered a tunnel that was surprisingly shorter than I thought it would be considering it was built into the side of a mountain, that was due to what felt a weird feeling like we crossed through a wall of still water.  It must have been some kind of space magic.  Anyway, stepping through the gate on the other side, I couldn’t help but smile.  A lovely heat hit my skin as the light of the suns beamed down, unobstructed by clouds.

“Now I see why you told the others not to dress in warm clothes.  It feels lovely here.” (Keeno)

“Hmm.  Feels like one of the hotter days, in my opinion.  Especially after being in the new Odeen for so long.” (Margaret)

Looking around I saw several people wearing relatively skimpy clothes, though the heat made it fashionable instead of ridiculous.  Our caravan moved forward again after Margaret reported the same story we’d been using to a few more guards and we began making our way out of the city.  Once we were out of the walls, my eyes widened at the view.

An endless expanse of grey and black ash spread out in front of us.  In some places out in the distance I could see faint trails of smoke and there was a noticeable lack of the feeling of life.  I crouched down and dug my fingers into the ash.  The fineness of it was pleasant to the touch and it was gloriously warm, though I did notice a feeling of familiarity in the heat.

“Definitely Fia.” (Keeno)

“Yeah.  I get the feeling like she’s always around when I’m here.  The ever-burning fires, the ash that retains some of the heat, it’s so comforting.” (Mostima)

“Kind of upsetting I have to stop these flames somehow.” (Keeno)

“Do you know where you are supposed to meet the dragon that lives here?” (Pram)

“No, my guess is we’ll meet when he deems it time to.” (Keeno)

We started following the path marked by metal-like wooden poles.

“Fair warning, try to keep between these markers or at least in sight of them.  While I don’t think any of you would have any trouble, I don’t want you getting lost in the desert.  When everything looks the same out there, it’s extremely easy to get lost.” (Margaret)

My group nodded.  We proceeded with caution for several hours when I felt a strange nudge.  Looking down, I saw several small things milling around us while floating toward the noble carriage.  Margaret made a sign to stop, and we did as we watched the small creatures.  They were like tiny dogs made of flame with discernable front paws, but the back half of their bodies were pure flame.  Their heads were almost comically larger than their bodies and they flickered like they were a candleflame about to be blown out by the wind.  What confused me the most was that these were spirits, but not related to flames or solar power in any way.  They were tiny Death Spirits.

Chaos Realm:

Nykuro, wake up.

Nykuro: Nuuuu.  Papatato’s tails are too comfy!

…

Order: Pffft.  I like that nickname.  Papatato.

……

*A light blue portal opens up and a being that gives off the same feeling as Payto, yet slightly different appears*

Swil: H-hello.

Hello Swil.  It’s nice to see you again.

Swil: S-same here.  I was surprised by your sudden invitation; sorry I didn’t respond earlier.

It’s fine.  I know how busy you are and how sudden things like that make you nervous.  If anything, I should be the one apologizing for basically barging in, info dumping on you, and leaving.

Swil: It’s fine…but please give me a thousand years notice before hand next time.

I’ll try to remember.

Nykuro: …

*Nykuro peeks around Payto and meets Swil’s eyes*

Nykuro: …<3

Swil: Adorable…adorable…MiN3?...adorable…Fated One.

*Payto looks over to Order who nods.  Payto moves Nykuro in front of him with a few of his infinite number of tails and the two disappear, leaving the two newly introduced Fated Ones to get to know each other*