Dante walked over to Kevin "Little brother, we are all here for you. So put your mind at ease and start your awakening."
Kevin nodded.
Solis pointed to the tree in the middle of the cave and he should sit under it and start his awakening process. "Don't rush it! Even if you have to spend 2 days we won't leave."
Kevin went to the tree and started with the process.
Dante walked over to Solis and gave the necklace back Marika had barrow for her final stage.
Solis took the necklace over from Dante and asked "How is mother doing?"
"Well there was a big commotion yesterday at the Moon Kingdom but today she is visiting Ignis Kingdom to relax and hang out with Canus."
Solis smiled a little "That good."
Caelum noticed something was changing in Kevin but he looked a little distressed.
"Brother uncle Kevin is stressing out, if he doesn't calm down this will turn out bad."
Dante walked over to Kevin and saw a faint glow coming from his pocked.
He took out the stone who had their sisters energy in it and placed it in his hands.
"Little brother do you feel the warmth in your hands? Focus on this warmth because its sisters warmth, so relax and take your time she is with you no matter where you are."
Kevin started to calm down.
As he was in his deepest part of his conscience he found a small little fox.
Kevin suddenly remembered his sisters words 'I want you to search for something that looks different inside you. Don't fight it, just accept it. It's a part of your whole true self.'
"Hi there, what's your name?" Kevin asked.
"I'm Vulpes ."
Kevin knelt down and opened his arms.
The little fox looked at Kevin a bit timid. "Is it really alright? Nobody wants me or likes me."
Kevin shook his head "That's not true, I like you and I bet my sister will like you too."
"Your sister?"
Kevin showed him a memory of Marika in her different forms he had saw of her.
"You see my sister had to go through 8 stage of awakening and her life was constantly in danger every time she awakened on stage."
"But even though she wasn't really sure what she would look like she embraced every stage."
He then showed him a memory of all her adoptive children
"All of them are adopted by her, dragon's phoenixes and even a wolf and she even adopted me as her little brother. To her it doesn't matter what you look like she will love us no matter what."
Vulpes walked over to Kevin and Kevin took him in his embrace, "Vulpes you are me and I am you. We are one and the same being so I know for sure our sister will like us no matter what."
"I can sense a warmth coming from the outside."
"That is my sisters warmth and she is patently waiting for us till we awaken completely so she can welcome us both."
The little fox nuzzled Kevin
"If we awaken the last stage can you give me a name? It can mark our day of our true excites."
Kevin nodded.
"Now go back to your brothers and sister, I'll let you know before hand when the time is for the second stage."
Kevin hugged Vulpes and said "I'm glad I have met you today, see you soon."
Kevin was slowly opening his eyes and saw his brother Dante in front of him.
"Welcome back little brother, how do you feel?"
"I feel fine…but my eyes feel a bit different."
Dante saw that Kevin's eyes looked different, they looked like the eyes of a fox.
Dante smiled "Then you succeeded, but if it's hard to control it ask sister on how to control your new senses."
Dante ruffle Kevin's hair.
Caelum came up to Kevin and looked at him. "Everything looks fine now inside you, everything has calmed down now."
"Also I recommend you go visit Lenis when you get home. He can tell you on the state of your inner energy and if it has a form or not."
Kevin nodded.
"Thank you everybody for staying with me." Kevin smiled.
Dante then said, "You must be hungry right? Sister had prepared lunch for us all so let's dig in."
They all set down and were eating and celebrating Kevin's fist stage awakening.
After the lunch the said there goodbyes and went to their homes.
Dante was communicating with Marika telepathically
Marika was at that time holding a dagger with fox engraved on it.
"Sister everything went well, even though he got a little stressed, I calmed him down and after that there were no problems."
'What has he awakened?'
"Well I could only see his eyes has changed and they looked like eyes of…"
'A fox.'
"Yes, but how do you know?"
'Well consider his personality and his skills, not to mansion how smart he is for his age, you would think he is a little fox.'
'Well tell him to rest for now and try to control his awakened senses, if he has trouble with that then he should ask Richard for help.'
"I already have a present for Kevin so… tell him not to rush and relax everything, will come and feel naturally in no time."
[Favilla District]
When the evening hit Marika pulled Canus to the inn she stayed at last time.
'Hey everybody! Did you miss me?'
"Yume!"
"Hey guys! Look Yume is here!"
Everybody perked up to hearing her name.
They surrounded her and Canus and one of the man joked "Our Yume has brought a man home."
'Sorry dad but I already rejected his proposal a long time ago.'
"You seriously proposed to her?" one of them asked Canus.
"Of course I did, well I did that after she kicked my ass thought."
Then the three women who had helped Marika last time walked over in curiosity 'So you like strong women?'
"Yes I do, because if I can marry a strong women I have less to worry about and focus more on other important things."
Then they the three of them asked 'Yume where did you find such a treasure?'
Marika laughed 'Well I didn't find him, he found me. But we are friends only so…'
Everybody slowly set down again and went back to their tables, because they know how she was when it comes to food.
Marika set down 'I want to have the daily special two times and some good alcohol that goes with it!'
Canus whispered, "They really respect you here."
'Well that's a given consider what I did last time when I was here.'
"What did you last time?"
'O not much…Just kicked the crap out of some flies.'
The food got served and Marika started to dig in.
'Mmm! It's so delicious!'
When they finished their plates the waiter came over to pick up the empty plates.
'I want to order the chef's specialty!'
The waiter smiled and told her it would be done in a few minutes.
"I heard you normally don't eat much, but it seems you eat a lot today."
'Well it all depends on a lot of thing.'
"Like what?"
'The atmosphere, the cook, and of course the ingredient's.'
Canus told Marika he would get some drink from the bar and he would be right back. Just as he left Marika's second plate of food was served.
While she was eating Canus made a video call to Richard and showed Marika eating.
'Oh my! This is so good! I want to meet the chef later.'
Canus told Richard this was actually her second plate she ordered.
"It seems if she has nothing to worry about she eats well."
But just before Canus could end the call a group of trouble makers came in.
"Not these guys again."
"sssttt, they hear you."
The group of man walked over to Marika who was enjoying her food.
"He there pretty, want to have some fun with us?"
'Marika rolled her eyes, really every time it the same shitty pick up line.'
'Get lost can't you see I'm eating, you are so rude.'
One of the man got agitated and threw her plate of food from the table. And this in turn made Marika furious.
'Didn't your parent teach you not to waste food, and especially somebody else's food.'
Canus then said to Richard "Best to never come between her and her food."
One of the man who were sitting and drinking near the door knew what was going to happen and opened the door, so Marika could kick them out.
The leader of the group grabbed Marika by the face and said in a threatening voice, "You better be obedient and have fun with us."
Marika snapped and kick the leader between the legs
'Last time I was here I took care of a few people and they got hurt pretty bad, but back then I was only awakened a few stages and now that I'm fully awakened you better pray you survive.'
Marika picked the man up by the throat and swung him out of the door.
The rest of the group charged at Marika but were beaten out of the door in mere seconds.
She then walked out and grabbed the leader again and took his money.
'I'll take this as compensation for wasting my food, now get the f*ck out of here!'
The group ran for their lives.
When Marika came in again everybody cheered for her.
Canus asked the bar tender "Did something like this happened before?"
"A yes, some guys harassed her and she beat them up, so who ever sits near the door has the responsibility to keep an eye on Yume so she can throw out whoever is harassing her or other guests."
"So that's why the regulars respect her so much."
"Not only that, she is friendly to the regulars, the man here treat her with respect, the three women over there, they admire her the most and even asked her for advise on how to become strong."
Canus and Richard were surprised, and looked at Marika hearing her say, she wanted the same plate of food that was wasted by the group of man she kicked out and that she would pay for everybody's drink for two rounds.
"Seems she really is enjoying herself." Richard said to Canus.
"Well wasn't that the whole purpose of today?"
Canus ended the call with Richard and came over with the drinks.
Marika was sitting back down and the waiter appeared with her new platen and the chef.
Marika told the chef she really loved his food and asked how he came up with the dishes.
The chef told her he sometimes went over to the human world and study up on what was trending and gave his own twist to it.
'You really know the essence of cooking, here is a gift for you.'
She gave him a variety of spices.
"Thank you miss, I heard about you last time you were her. That there was a girl who actually enjoyed my food and you wanted more. You gave inspiration to keep going and researching the world of food."
Marika smiled at him.
'Well keep cooking because you never know when I come again.'
The chef said his goodbye's and went back to the kitchen.
After Marika was done eating she started to drink, the atmosphere was joy's and even Canus had fun.
When it was about time for the in to closes up Marika, Canus and the other guest left the inn.
Marika and Canus walked back to the castle, "Are you staying the night at the castle?"
Marika nodded.
'Did you have fun today?'
"Yes, we should do this again sometimes."
"But next time I take you to another district."
'Sure, sounds fun and interesting.'
"When are you going back tomorrow?"
'Somewhere around noon.'
Marika then looked up at the sky, 'Times like these never last long…'
"Well why don't you go on a vacation after you beat up that trash."
'Ahaha…I wish I could but fate always seem to not allow me to.'
"Well don't worry, I think someone will snatch you away and beat up fate."
Marika laughed 'That would be nice.'
As they arrived at the castle Cinis was already waiting for them.
He saw Marika was relaxed and looked like she really had lived it up today.
"Mari, you can sleep in the room you stayed in last time." Cinis told her.
Marika thank him and walked to the room.
Cinis then asked his brother "Well did she had a good time?"
Canus nodded. "I learned something new about her today."
"And what is that?"
"She is really loved and respected by the people of Favilla District."
"Next time you should come with us." Canus said to his brother.
"Alright, but where are you planning to go next time?"
"I was planning on bringing her to Ardor Village in the out skirt of this country."
"Sounds like a good plan, I'll join you next time."
[Mansion]
It was already late but Richard was still doing some work when there was a knock on his door.
"Enter."
Kevin came in to the room and asked him if he could help him to learn how to control his awakened senses.
"I don't want to disturb sister since it rare for her to relax."
Richard stood up and looked at him. "What part of your senses do you have a hard time to control?"
"My eyes."
Richard looked at his eyes and he saw fox like eyes.
"Well it much simpler than you think, relax and think about what your eyes looked like before."
"But you seem just like your sister trying so hard to change."
"Accept that they are your new eyes and that they can help you out a lot in the future."
"You mean whenever sister was in the body of a child she gets frustrated because she couldn't change back whenever she wanted?" Kevin asked Richard
Richard nodded, "Especially when she was stuck in a 3 year old body."
Kevin closed his eyes and breath slowly. And then he opened his eyes.
"They are back to normal. Just remember what you did now and in a little bit of time your body is adjusted to the stage."
"Thank you Master."
Richard ruffled his hair, "It's alright, if your sister isn't here to help you, you can count on you brother in law to help."
Kevin smiled at Richard.
"Now it's not early anymore so get some rest, I can guarantee you that's what your sister would have prescribed you to do."
"You two brother in law, or do you want me to tell sister you started your bad sleeping habit."
"Please don't…"
And they both laughed.
[Ignis Kingdom]
Marika was still sleeping when Canus and Cinis came in to the room to wake her up.
"Mari!, Mari! wake up, today is the day you're going to mess with a vampire." Canus said to her.
'I don't want to get up, I want to sleep a little longer'
"We already let you sleep in to 10 o'clock. Plus the gardener from your greenhouse need to speak with you before you leave." Cinis said with a serious tone.
Marika woke up instantly and got up. she hurried and washed up and changed her cloths in the bathroom, she flew by Cinis but he grabbed her by the collar.
"Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"
'To the greenhouse.'
"You really have bad habits, first is breakfast with me, father and Canus." Cinis said sternly.
'Yes sir' and Marika salute Cinis.
"Pfft" Canus wanted to laugh but he held it back.
"Now let's go."
The three of them went down to the dining room.
During her breakfast the King asked "Did you enjoy your day yesterday?"
Marika nodded 'I had so much fun, next time I'm taking both Canus and Cinis with me if that's alright?'
"Sure, I think it's good for them to see how thing are going in the country, maybe the can spot thing's that can improve the life's of the people."
"So where are you planning to go next time?"
'I don't know, I leave that up for them to decide.'
'Now that were on the that topic of improvement of life quality, how is it going with the fungus problem?'
"Well the investigation and checking the houses is almost complete, But instead of relocating the citizens to empty houses we are planning to relocate them to an emergency set up outside the walls. It's just a safety precaution. We fear that some people won't take the cleaning requirements serious and thus it will spread."
'That's a good idea. But won't that cost a lot of money? I mean you need to build up new living spaces and you need guard who stay there 24/7 to make sure the people will be safe. Not to mention taking down and rebuild the infected district.'
"Well after everything is done we are going to clean the temporary living space and keep it as an emergency area for similar use in the future."
'That's very smart of you uncle Cillus.' Marika smiled.
'Did any of you by chance went up to the mountain behind the temple?'
"Yes and I was shocked about the state of the place was in." Cinis said.
"We cleaned it up for now, and since the few is stunning up there I want to redesign the shrine to something honorable and beautiful."
'Alright when I get back I make a few designs for you and you can pick one to use, since prince Magna is also an ancestor of mine and Richard it's the least we can do.'
"How is Nova doing?" Canus asked.
'He is doing great, he is adopted by me and Richard and getting along great with Khai and Regina.'
'If you want to see him you can visit him anytime. I don't think he will be shy towards you since he jumped on to my brother the first time he saw him.'
"Then I'll be visiting you guys soon."
Just as they were done eating there breakfast a servant came in
"Ahh princess your still here, there is a problem at your greenhouse."
'What's the problem?'
"The head doctor… he is making problems for the gardener."
'Ohh…'
"He is claiming that your greenhouse is his, and that nobody is allowed to use it."
Marika looked at Cillus and asked 'Can I kill this man?'
'Not only is he making problem inside the castle he is also making problems outside the castle and taking herbs from merchant without paying, or disallowing people to use the herbs in the other greenhouse.'
'Now this f*cker dares to claim the greenhouse that was given to me by you uncle.'
"It's true father, when I head of this in Favilla district, I asked the soldiers to investigate that matter in other districts and he is doing the same thing there too."
"Well instead of killing him why not lock him up? And whenever your urge of blood emerge Canus, torture that man."
"How about that Mari?"
Marika smiled 'Sure uncle Cillus I like that idea.'
'But first, come with me for a little show.'
The three of them smiled at Marika and nodded.
"It's never boring when your around, and we always get to see something fun" Cinis said.
The four of them left the dining room.
As they arrived at the greenhouse they saw a group of ground foxes standing next to gardener snarling and growling.
Cinis casted a communication spell to Richard and told him to enjoy the show.
Marika was furious of what the doctor was saying.
"This greenhouse is property of the medical department."
"That is not true, this greenhouse was gifted to the princess by the King and the princes."
"And even if what you state is true then why is it abandoned? Your just here to claim it since the princess has found a way around your method of steeling water of this greenhouse water reserve. "
"The princess you say…she is not even the daughter of the King she is just a little girl with muddled blood of a different dragon clan"
Marika was fully transformed and grabbed the doctor from behind and yanked him to ground.
'Ohh you mean me?'
Marika blood lust and killer intend were high.
'You really didn't learn for me last time.'
The doctor looked up and saw the adult version of the little girl he remembered.
"You…you…"
'You were so lucky last time I was a little girl, but too bad for you, I'm back in to normal self. I can assure you on hit and your dead.' Marika smirked.
'I honestly praise your gut's, you dare to go against your kings words and treat everything as if you're the king himself.'
'This greenhouse was given to me by the King and the Princes. And you dare to claim and steel my greenhouse that is going to be a herb garden?'
Marika had the doctor by the throat, the doctor struggled to breath and just before he lost his conscience she slammed him in the ground.
'And not only that, I found out you have been stealing from merchant in the districts. I should just kill you for what you have done to me and for what you are doing now.'
'But I promised uncle Cillus I wouldn't…aren't you a lucky man.'
"I have done nothing to you!"
'Canus can you hold this man down for a bit and make sure he can see properly?'
Canus came over and took the doctor from Marika.
She changed back to her normal self and then to her 5 year old self.
'Now look at me and I dare you to say you don't remember me.'
The doctor looked in horror to the child.
'Ohh so now you seem to remember… that's good.'
'Well I grew up and I'm an adult… turns out I'm also a dragon of royal decent.'
'And you see… not only me, but The King of Ignis and The Moon King would love to kill you for what you have done to a royal descendant.'
'Uncle Cillus how about this, We lock him up for 6 months and torture him, after that he can go back to his job. But if he pull any sh*t like this again after his release no more mercy and just kill him.'
The doctor was scared out of wits.
"Alright I think that fair."
Canus picked up the doctor from the ground and said in a treating voice "Be grateful that our Mari is giving you another chance."
Canus called for the guard and told them to take him away to the dungeon and chain him up.
Cinis noticed that Marika was still pant up with killing intent and told Canus to take her aside for a moment so she could let it out.
Suddenly Cinis and Cillus her a loud sound.
Richard asked what it was.
"It's your wife who is letting out her killing intend. I thought it was better for her to let it out then to keep it in and calm down."
Marika came back all calm again and she got surrounded by the ground foxes.
'I'm sorry you guys had to see a scary side of me.'
'Princess wasn't scary at all but so cool.'
"Yes we like the princess, you're so strong."
Marika crouched down and petted them all.
'So your cuties siblings!'
"Yes she had told us that you helped her and that you even needed our help."
'Yes and that you let us stay here in this place whenever we want.'
'That's true, if you want to make this greenhouse your home that's fine by me.'
The little foxes all jumped up to Marika out of happiness.
And then they surrounded Cillus, Canus and Cinis.
"You guys come in and see what we have made for the princess!"
'Yes! Come in and see.'
Marika smiled 'It seems they like you guys.'
'Alright little ones let's go inside and show me what you guys have made.'
As they all walked in to the greenhouse they saw everything was dug out and the outline of that it's was going to look like was visible.
Small ditches were dug from the pond and connected all the small plots where herb would be plant. Everything was connected so watering the plants would go naturally and not much of interference was necessary.
There were some extra helping hands placing stone tiles so it looked more natural.
'You guys really…' Marika teared up out of happiness.
"Do you like it princess?"
Marika smiled 'Yes very much it's going to look like a fair tail garden ones everything is settle.'
'Who came up with this design?'
All of them looked at the king, and he pretended like he didn't know a thing.
'Thank you uncle Cillus' and she hugged him.
Cillus smiled, "Silly child, to us you are a daughter and a sister, so remember that whenever you feel tired or need a place to rest. You can always burst down our door, your always welcome and call this home."
Marika nodded 'Thank you everyone!'
Marika crouched down and wanted to hug all the foxes.
'You guys are amazing, thank you.'
Marika walked over to the gardener and gave him a big bag, containing a lot of small bags in it.
'They are all seeds from herbs that grows in and around Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi and The Moon Kingdom.'
'Now we need seeds from Ignis and this ancestral herb garden is complete.'
Marika talked with the gardener a little more, when a soldier came to the greenhouse with 3 guest.
"Your Majesty 3 man are her to pick up the princess."
"Sister! The trash has arrived and is getting impatient."
Marika turned around and saw William, Dante and Kevin standing at the door way.
The ground foxes also noticed Kevin and all hurdled around him starting to jump up to him.
'Cousin!'
"We have a big cousin"
Marika smiled and walked up to Kevin. 'Seems you succeeded without a problem.'
Marika gave him the dagger she had picked out for him.
"Sis do you know what my true form is?"
'Well consider you skill's and how smart you are…'
Kevin drew the dagger from his scabbard.
'…you're true form is a fox.'
'But the color I don't know.
Kevin hugged Marika, "Thank you for the present sister I'll take really good care of it."
"Uhm sister…I have a question."
'What is it?'
"When I was in my deepest part of my conscience I met with my true form, but he told me he want me to give him a name on our final awakening. Why is that?"
'Uhm I'm not knowledgeable about that…But it could be similar to my heritage, when the founding green dragon reaches their final form they get a new name.'
Kevin waved Marika to come down to his level so he could tell her.
Marika crouched down and he whispered "Astus"
"What do you think?"
Marika smiled 'That is a great name.'
'Now shall we go home and take out the trash?'
Marika hugged Cillus 'Uncle let me know when the garden is done, I'll come visit right away.'
'Remember what I told you about your training Canus.'
"Yes sister! Next time I'll show you how much I have improved."
'Cinis I want you to come over to my place in 3 days!'
"Alright, see you in 3 days."
Marika waved everybody goodbye and left through the portal.
When Marika arrived she felt nauseous 'What the hell is going on inside… it's making me sick.'
Derick came out side when he spotted Marika.
Derick saw that Marika wasn't feeling so great.
'Dad what's going on inside? It's making me sick and I just want to get out of here.'
"Well Master is annoyed and he isn't keeping his killing intend in check."
'Well tell him to calm down or else I'll leave, last time he released his killer intend I was in my dragon form and it made me anxious and fearful of him. In my current state it's making me sick to the point I want to throw up.'
Derick telepathically told Richard, Marika had arrived but he had to calm down, because it was making her feel sick even though she was still outside and if he didn't she would turn around and leave.
Richard instantly calmed down.
Marika finally could breathe again and calmed herself down.
She took a deep breath 'Oke I'm good now'
'Alright let's go inside.'
[3rd floor study room]
"What is that noise?" Raphael ask Richard.
"The girl you wanted to meet has arrived."
Richard stood up when he heard how close she was to the door.
Marika opened the door with a loud sound 'Richard! I'm back!' she said with an exciting voice. And she pounced at him.
Marika ran past Raphael so fast he couldn't see her face.
"How was your time in Ignis?" Richard asked her while leading her to the couch and setting her down on his lap.
This confused Raphael.
'It was good, all the preparation and planning for a small problem is set in place so they don't need my help on that any more. But now I'm helping them out with another project, it's not big or anything. Ohh and the king there gave me a greenhouse on the castle ground.'
'Me and prince Canus also fixed a few small issues in Favilla District and I beat up some annoying flies.'
"Sounds like you had a lot of fun over there?" Richard said as he smiled at her.
Marika nodded and leaned her head against his chest 'Yeh I a lot of fun.'
Raphael then started to speak because he was confused how this girl and Richard were so intimate.
"Doesn't your wife mind your being so intimate with her?"
'She doesn't mind at all.'
Marika turned around and looked at Raphael.
Raphael looked at her and said "We haven't met, so let me introduce myself…"
'Ohh we have met a few time's actually, but…'
Marika changed in a 3 year old right in front of his eyes.
'Ra dum'
And she then changed to her of when she first met him at Mystic Mountain.
'Does this help your incompetent mind a little?'
Richard laughed because of the face Raphael was making.
He was surprised, shocked and in utter disbelieve when he saw it.
Marika stood up and walked over to Raphael and grabbed him by the face.
'I heard a lot of things lately that doesn't sit well with me. You want to teach me my place and want me to be your play thing and queen?'
Marika changed in to her 7th stage.
'Well sorry but this queen is already been taken by that man over there, and picking a fight with me would be the down fall of your whole family.'
'Ohh and don't worry the Blood King doesn't mind if I wipe your whole family out of existence.'
'What reminds me…He told me I could tear you apart the next time you were to annoy me.'
Marika let go of his face and walked back to Richard and ask for a cloth to clean her hands.
'So I wish you all the luck in the world to try and take away the wife of The Moon King.'
Raphael found his composure again.
'So tell me to you still want to teach me my place and make me your play thing and queen?'
"I will not do the latter but I do want to teach you your place"
Marika started to laugh and said in a serious voice 'I see.'