A kitsune's haven: A tale of tails

“Perhaps I should watch my words in the future,” were the first words from my mouth as my chest heaved as I looked down from my perch in one of the taller trees this forest had to offer. A sharp pain radiated from the forming bruise on the ankle of my back left leg.

To think that this day was going well too. I had managed to push my way through the forest without much issue, the thorns from the various bramble bushes scraping over my armor without much cause for worry. My problems started when I got hungry. I hadn’t known the time, but I knew I had been here for at least five hours and that I hadn’t eaten for nearly seven before having been shot. So it had made sense that my mouth began to salivate a little when I saw the rather plump white rabbit nibbling on some kind of flower.

My attempt at hunting left much to be desired, my first attempt had me taking a bite out of a tree rather than the white rabbit I had been aiming for. Now normally I wouldn’t have bothered chasing it, but it ran up while I was stunned and kicked me in the eye. Two more lunges and a mouthful of dirt and sore teeth later and I had begun to get a little annoyed. It was my fourth attempt to catch the obvious reincarnation of the beast of Caerbannog that I spotted salvation.

There sitting in a small grove was a tree, the tree itself was only thirteen feet tall. Normal brown bark ordained its outside and its leaves were a vibrant blue, what caught my attention was the oddly cubic fruit hanging from its branches. I watched from the treeline for a while to see if any of the more mundane critters would eat one. It took an hour but eventually, a squirrel started nibbling on one that was on the ground, seeing as it wasn't acting strange. I decided to approach and snag one for myself.

Distracted by the thought of fresh fruit finally filling my belly, I hadn’t noticed that I wasn't the only creature in the clearing. My armor saved me from a rather short-lived life as a pair of jaws bit down with all the force of a beartrap around my right ankle, teeth crunching down on one of chain-reinforced cloth. It was painful and had I not had my armor on for fear of what I would encounter in this forest I would have had a broken ankle.

Upon being nibbled upon I had instinctively kicked back with my other paw, connecting with something hard and heavy, There was a dog-like yelp and a loud thud. Turning to look had revealed the cadaver of a large though strangely textured wolf. I was about to examine my attacker more when a dozen sets of glowing green eyes appeared throughout the underbrush.

One mad dash and a quick though difficult climb later found me in my current predicament. My tree was surrounded by half a dozen of these wolves. They simply sat and waited for their serving of fox butt, complete with a serving of fluffed-out tails.

Now that I had managed to catch my breath I took a good look at my pursuers. Their coats seemed oddly textured and my eyes widened when it dawned why. “They’re made of wood? Wait that makes them literal timber wolves.”

A grin split across my face, I knew I was probably fucked, and not in a fun way either, but they were a walking pun. The wolves were strangely pretty though, their skin was a rather supple bark covered in a fine layer of moss that acted as some form of mock fur. Their tails seemed to be some kind of intertwined leafy vines and their claws were formed from a set of large curved thorns, however, their image was somewhat ruined by their teeth and eyes. Sharp jagged spikes that dripped with some kind of dark sap. I safely assumed it was some form of venom.

Their eyes are what struck me most though, twin lights of emerald fury that seemed to Pierce right through me looking at something I couldn’t see. Any doubts I had about these creatures being just some other form of fauna were snuffed out like a candle in a storm at their gaze. Anything that could portray that amount of hatred was not a simple anything. These wolves didn’t want to eat me or chase me off their territory, they wanted me dead. I knew by that same logic that running wasn’t an option. They had moved far too fast when I ran, sliding through the underbrush like it wasn’t even there. I would have to fight them or manage to scare them off somehow, I just needed a game plan.

I could just try and get lucky with an all-out attack, see if I could land on one from a tree and squish it before going for one with my tails and another with teeth, but from what I felt when the first one bit me they could probably break my limbs if they latched on hard enough. Maybe if there was a friendly town or something I would chance it, but a broken bone in a forest like this one was a death sentence.

There was also the fact that I had no idea what that sap-like substance was. This forest was already dangerous without me tripping balls or bleeding from all my orifices. While I doubted that their teeth would penetrate my armor easily it was still a chance, there was also a likelihood that they were poisonous as well as venomous and that biting into one would be just as bad or even worse than being bit.

Glancing at the gnarled and sharp branches around me I was struck with an idea, slowly as to not alert my wooden hunters I wrapped a couple of tails around one of the heavier-looking branches, and with a grunt of effort I broke the branch at an angle, hoping that it would break off in a sharp point. The loud snap echoed throughout the surrounding forest.

The wolves all simultaneously snapped to attention staring with hate-filled eyes, like how those mannequins do in cheesy horror movies. Honestly speaking, having now been the receiving end of that little trick I suddenly felt that those horror characters that turned and ran straight into the big monster weren’t as stupid as I often critiqued them to be. It was honestly far more disturbing than it should have been, thanks in part to their unnatural fury-filled gazes.

“Take this you spooky bastards.” with a heave I used my tails to throw the branch at one of the wolves like a spear hoping to peirce it through the torso and pin it to the ground, the wolf in question simply dodged to the side, staring at the makeshift spear with a head cocked to the side. I just stared mouth slightly agape.

Of course, the bastards could dodge, I sighed not sure what I was expecting. These were wolves, not humans. They were used to dodging things instinctively, unlike humans who would for the most part just stare dumbly at the incoming missile until it hit them in the face.

I tried throwing a few more makeshift spears at the wolves, only managing to graze one along its side, the beast didn’t bleed at least not the same way one would expect, a milky white substance forming along the tear in its bark-like skin. A bit of fire would have been nice at the moment. These things were probably flammable and a good flame could possibly scare them off long enough for me to escape.

Wait, fire, that could work. Kitsune and foxes are often associated with fire. I’d seen some obvious displays of magic, maybe I could spit fire at them. Thinking back to all of my days playing RPGs and D&D I lowered myself down onto the branch and closed my eyes. This couldn’t be too hard right, I mean all the game protagonists seemed to pick it up pretty fast and I certainly got that kind of feel from that note I had read earlier.

As it turns out, trying to find your inner core when you had no idea what you were looking for was a surprisingly hard process, I did find it, however. I had been searching for some kind of metaphysical pool or river, and what I found was the chaotic but calming presence of my tails. The sensation was odd, not quite sight but also not entirely a feeling either. I was my magic, it was a calm maelstrom, a vortex of blue-roiling magic that reminded me of those videos of whirlwinds picking up a fire and forming a spiraling funnel of flame.

The vortex formed my middle-most tail before splitting as my other tails formed from the smallest of flickering streams of fire, with my every breath it pulsed like a magical heartbeat, flickering streams of twirling flame passing through my body like a secondary respiratory system. The way the streams seemed to connect and split off from my heart, lungs, groin, brain, and paws almost reminded me of chakra points, they weren’t the same spots and there were only five instead of seven but it was still comparable.

With a severe mental effort, I attempted to gently pull on the maelstrom in an attempt to produce some kind of effect, trying to mold it in my mind’s eye, slowly the mana began to split off like a tongue of flame slowly forming its own structure separate from my own web of magic, with a gasp I managed to coat a single tail tip in a cyan-blue fire. It danced there in an almost hypnotising way blowing to an unseen wind. I couldn’t help but stare in wonder at the cyan flames, trying to come to terms that, I, the bookish nobody whose greatest accomplishment up to now was getting abducted and turned into a mythical beast, had just used magic.

” Ha ha ha” I honestly startled myself with the sudden and uncontrollable laughter. My odd cackle echoed around the thick canopy and surrounding forest. I tried to stop to catch my breath only to start again at the sight of the happily dancing fire, my fire. I couldn’t help it, I had no idea why I found my magic hilarious. I did notice that I had been finding humor in things that while funny should not have been a priority for my brain to focus on. Perhaps my mental state finally snapped. Whatever magic was suppressing the mental trauma of this whole incident had to have limits so it was possible it was wearing off. I was lucky that it was a fit of humor and maybe a little madness over a depressive episode or rage, both would get me killed right now.

I laughed until my throat hurt, almost falling out of the tree in my mirth. The loud guffawing quieted down until the last few chuckles left my throat. I felt better somehow like a dam had broken inside of me, releasing pent-up stress and negativity the underlying fear and grief I had been holding in washing away in the flood of humor. shit, maybe I really was going mad.

I stared down at the wolves, their wooden bodies shifting nervously at the appearance of the flame. I brought up a mental image flamethrower from a World War documentary and thrust my tail forward, I pulled on the little tongue of flame I had formed and pushed it out, imagining the roiling flames lashing out like the flames that consumed a German bunker.

What I got for my efforts was not a flamethrower, the fire sputtered and much like a twelve gauge firing a round of dragon’s breath launched out a cloud of cyan sparks at the wolves. The effect when the sparks hit the two nearest wolves was also remarkably similar, the sparks striking them with a large amount of force tearing burning gashes across their faces and bodies. They dropped to the ground smoldering as they whined and shrieked in pain. When the two suddenly burst into burning pyres of cyan flame the other four turned tail and ran, tails tucked in between their legs.

A relieved sigh forced its way out of my throat, I waited a few minutes to climb down the tree I had run up in a panic, my claws leaving deep wounds in the bark that wept with sap. That could have been much worse. I did not want to imagine what could have happened if I had lit the tree or myself on fire instead. the forest was moist and wet enough in this area that I wasn't overly worried about the burning wolves causing a forest fire. with a glance in the direction that the wolves had run, I began making my way over to where the fruit had been lying.

A noise startled me before I could go rummaging through the underbrush, a low groaning noise. I twisted my head around to look at the source, the two slain and burning timber-wolves began to shake before with a crack their chest began to split in two. Foul green magic seeped from the cracks. The magic seemed to try and float away but a wisp of my blue fire caught one of the green ribbons of magic, my ears folded down against my head as it let out an ear-piercing shriek. The green mana seemed to ignite where my fire touched it, like how the first wave of sparks shutters over steel wool.

Unsure of what magical phenomenon this was supposed to be I decided that caution would be for the best and quickly made my way to the fruit tree, for all I knew it could be that I had summoned some form of fiendfyre. I was decently sure it was just foxfire but still, there was no need to lose caution.

My arrival back at the fruit tree was not celebrated with any form of wild gestures or shouts of victory, the only thing on my mind was food. I silently thanked whatever being that transformed me for making me a fox and not a cat or some other obligate carnivore. While meat would be required at some point I could go a while off of fruits and vegetation. long enough to learn how to use my natural weapons to my advantage hopefully.

Slowly, this time checking the area before getting distracted I reached a tail down and grabbed one of the fruits off the ground, sniffing it I found out the hard way that citrus was a lot stronger of a smell when one has the olfactory sense of a vulpine. When I recovered from the sneezing fit I took a small nibble of the strange fruit. The taste was hard to describe, it reminded me somewhat of cinnamon but with that sour tinge that you expect from a lemon, there was an undercurrent of something I couldn’t identify. Salmon berry maybe? I let the piece settle on my tongue for around ten minutes, I knew ideally it should have been thirty, but I was still wary of the wolves coming back. The fact that it was being eaten by a squirrel also meant that it was unlikely to be majorly poisonous.

With a fervor I generally saved for my sweet tooth, I began to devour some of the fruit, twelve of the Rubix cube-sized fruits went down my gullet before I knew it. In the back of my head, I silently prayed that these wouldn’t have any major effect on my digestive system, while I was sure that violently shitting in the face of the wolf trying to eat my ass would be an effective tactic I liked to think that I had some dignity to spare in this whole bizarre situation.

I took some of the fruit and put it in my bag, who knew when I would find another source of fruit, I knew that animals didn’t get scurvy so at the very least I didn’t have to worry about that, but in a situation like this who knew when another fruit tree would pop up. With that done I picked a direction and began to walk, with no idea of where I was going I could only hope that I wasn't walking into more beasts.

I didn’t know the exact amount of time I had been in the forest at this point, it had been around the five-hour mark when I had been attacked, but I had been too panicked to count time while in the tree, the few rays of light that I occasionally pierced the dense forest canopy were gone. I realized that if I didn't wish to be eaten I would be needing shelter and soon. The forest had darkened significantly as I continued to walk. My vision while still able to see had gone relatively gray-scale in terms of color. The fact that if I had remained human I would be seeing damn near pitch black was not lost on me. The sounds of animals rang out more often now as nocturnal creatures began their hunt.

My ears pricked straining to hear anything that might be approaching, I was going to get snuck up on again if I could help it. The forest had an almost ethereal grace to it when viewed at night. I was broken from my admiration by the sounds of incredibly soft steps, my ears turning to follow the noise as it approached. It sounded too small to be anything overly dangerous but I wasn’t taking chances.

Crouched low and ready to lunge forward I waited, stepping hesitantly from the undergrowth was another fox, albeit normal-sized. It was a silver, its mostly black fur allowing it to blend well in the darkness. It stared at me for a few seconds before it yipped and ran in between my legs and disappeared into the forest behind me. I knew it was silly but the sight of the fox left me with a feeling of melancholy, I had always wanted to see one when I was younger. I’d go hiking through the woods looking for them thinking that I could befriend one somehow. I had never managed to find a wild one despite my best efforts. Now here I was, one of them.

relieved I started back on my path before I froze once again, My ears twitched as a sound echoed across the woods, a low growl that could have only come from something as large as I was behind me. I did not turn to look or listen, whatever it might have been it was large enough that its growl had caused my hackles to raise and ears to instinctively flatten against my head. a snapping sound resounded in the night as it stepped on a branch and I was off.

I just started running, the beast yowled as it gave chase. Heavy paw steps hounded my trail as I ran. I did not run in a straight line, making sharp turns and leaping in diagonal patterns. I ducked as something segmented swung at my head from the side, there was a loud thudding noise and a spray of acrid-smelling liquid as whatever it was Impacted above my head. the droplets hitting the front of my mask and smoking slightly as they tried to burn through the porcelain that was covering my muzzle. I had no interest in what that would do if it hit open flesh.

The chase was still going ten minutes later and I was beginning to feel it. My lungs burned as they tried to keep up with my frantic movement and my paws felt like I was running on sandpaper. I was running out of time, the creature's low growls were getting closer and I had not dared to look from where I was running. Spinning around I drooped to the ground as a mass of fur soared over me. Focusing I flung a shotgun blast of manna behind me and was rewarded by a pained roar. With a heavy heart, I turned to face my opponent.

It was a hellish beast, I recognized it as a manticore though missing one of its key features, it didn’t have a humanoid face. Its lion-like muzzle was smoldering where my magic had struck it, its eyes shown with hunger and feline intelligence. Its Scorpion-like tail dripped with an acrid yellow fluid. its claws were longer than mine and its fangs were like daggers, the chainmail portions of my armor were unlikely to save me as it had from the wolves.

I began slowly walking backward waiting for it to attack. I didn’t need to wait long, it lunged forward tail raised high. As it shot that stinger toward my chest a stupid idea crossed my mind. With a silent plea, I launched two of my tails In an attempt to wrap around its own and yanked to the left. The spike impacted against the far side of my chest plate, with a sound akin to bone scraping on metal it slid until it glanced off. a trail of acidic poison steaming from its path.

It reacted before I could, stepping forward and lashing out with its paws, the dagger-like claws slamming against my neck with the force of a car. The chain-mail tore with the sound of wrenching metal as it carved several gashes into the upper side of my neck. With a scream of pain, I lashed out with my own claws hoping to slash them against its face. there was a ripping sensation and the feeling of liquid splattering against my paw as I stumbled backward.

The manticore roared and stumbled back as my claws slashed its right eye, shaking its head violently. I turned and ran again while it was stunned, hoping to make my escape while it was distracted. I made it to the edge of an odd clearing before it caught up. My vision flashed red for a moment as a set of claws caught me in the side and threw me into the clearing. I stood up slowly knowing that the mythical cat should have been at my throat by now.

I looked up in confusion, the beast had stopped at the edge of the clearing. It paced around but never passed the edge of the meadow. It seemed wary of the strange blue flowers that grew in large patches. Their petals almost glowing in the moonlight. The manticore roared at me from the edge of the clearing, seemingly angry that I had gotten away. With a loud huff, it stalked off into the trees, disappearing with a silent grace only possible to felines. At its disappearance, my body sagged in relief.

The pain in my neck and side dulled a little as my vision began to blur and I began to sway, surely a little sleep wouldn’t hurt. I slowly sank and curled in on myself, tails wrapping around me as I formed a ball on the ground.” At least these flowers smell good, familiar even.”