'Huh! What in the world is this?'
Rihanna had been nodding off when her head hit the back of the wall and she woke up in dazed pain. Rubbing the back of her head, she looked around and saw Fluffy. At some point of time, the fox cub too had rolled off to dreamland.
Yawning deeply, Rihanna started scrubbing her body to wash off all the dirt and grime piled onto her skin. And that's when her eyes fell on the strange mark.
It looked like a tattoo of some weird pattern and covered her entire left shoulder, reaching almost to her chest. There was a circle in the center, with triangular patters all around it. There was another circle encircling the triangles, and some weird runes were etched on it. There also seemed to be some letters circling the large circle. A double triangle, looking more like a triangular hourglass was at the center of the smaller circle.
'What the heck!....When did I get a tattoo?!....Wait.....there was nothing here the last time I took a bath in the forest!...So how did this appear? This is so freaking weird....how can a tattoo appear from the air and attach itself to my body?!'
Unlike other tattoos, which were etched onto the skin with black or other color ink, this seemed to belong to her body, barely visible and almost merged into her skin. She scrubbed at it vigorously till the entire skin around it turned red and was smarting. But nothing happened to the tattoo. Feeling like a failure, she fell back on the wall, pouting listlessly.
With all the noise she had been making through this, the cub had already woken up. It whined pathetically, trying to urge Rihanna to come out. Seriously, why did this weird creature want to drown in such cold water?! Seeing it's disdainful and wary looks, Rihanna pursed her lips mischievously as she waded towards the edge of the pool. Acting like she was struggling to come out, she looked up pathetically at the eagerly waiting Fluffy. Then suddenly leaned out, catching both front paws of the cub tightly, and pulled him straight into the waters.
Though surprised, the cub reacted even faster, and instead of falling in the water as Rihanna predicted, he wrapped his tail around her head, and clawed his way right to the top, before settling down triumphantly on her nest of hair.
Rihanna felt her lips twitching with helplessness. This fox was really cunning! It seemed to think of itself as her boss!
Whilst they were fooling around, the large pair of yellow eyes shone through the darkness of the tunnel in the corner.
Two reddish brown paws stepped forth, followed by an entire body of glistening reddish brown hair. The Fox-like creature moved with the grace of a panther, silent and deadly in it's movement. As it moved towards the spring, it's body grew larger and larger, till it's head was reaching almost half the height of the room. The large head looked downwards, sharp yellow eyes staring un-moving at the girl and fox cub frolicking in the spring.
Rihanna, who was busy trying to pull the cub into the water, suddenly felt as if nigh-time had descended over the world. All the light around her faded away into shadows, and everything turned dimmer. Both her and the fox cub turned together to look behind. And then Rihanna almost slipped back under-water.
Fluffy on the other hand jumped off Rihanna's head onto the bank, then very obediently capered over to the large fox and licked it's paws ingratiatingly.
The large fox merely glanced at Fluffy, before returning it's gaze to Rihanna.
"Impressive. In just a few days you have managed to tame my little son. He now spends more time with you than his own father."
Rihanna felt her mind short-circuit.
'Son?!'
She kept looking from one to the other, her expression blank, her mind unable to sync in with the situation.
"Son? Fluffy is your son?"
"Only you girl, have the gal to name my son Fluffy! And you are another scum, to even react to such a dastardly name, not to mention the way you stick to her like she will give you candy!"
The large fox growled, but he didn't really seem to be very angry. Fluffy whined in protest, then catching the glare his father sent his way, he turned into an instant ball of fluff, and merged with the ground. Rihanna blinked, still trying to process the data.
"You girl, you are very lucky that my kid befriended you. I can't bear to see him in grief, so I have not made any moves on you – yet. Though I have to say that you are extremely tempting."
'What 'you girl'?! I do have a name you know! A perfectly beautiful name. Of course I ain't stupid enough to open my mouth and refute you. You are too big for my heart to bear! You are the lucky one! Wait....what do you mean 'tempting'??
The large fox looked at Rihanna, his lips jerking upwards in sarcasm.
"You girl, really have a very interesting face. Even without saying a single word, I can see everything you are thinking. Really interesting..."
Her mind having finally rebooted and launched online, Rihanna jerked her eyes open. Did he say tempting as in 'FOOD'? Was he planning on eating her? All the prior beasts had directly chased her for the kill. Should she be honored that this one was informing his intentions before hand?
"Uh....I don't really think that I am tasty. A-also....Fluff...I mean your son...I think he likes me as a friend.....If you eat me, won't he become lonely again? S-see...even he is whining in protest!"
The large fox glared at Fluffy again, then chuckled at Rihanna.
"Hmmm....that's why I said you are lucky. But....why do you say you are not tasty?....Or do you really not know.....?"
"Know what?"
"Your body....it is what you humans call....Ummm.....oh yes...Heaven-Earth Energy Absorbing Body."
"What-what absorbing body?" Rihanna felt herself blanking out again.
"Normally commoners can channelize the energy of this world, but cannot retain it. Moreover they lack spiritual root, so they are unable to use any of the energy moving in and out of their body. Your body is very rare. It can not only absorb the energy, but the bones, muscles, flesh, meridians – in fact every part of your body can retain this energy with them. However, since you do not have a spirit root, you cannot use it for yourself. But the energy in your body makes it a rich source for all who use it. Whether we eat your flesh, drink your blood, make your bones into powder....or even sleep with you.....every method is extremely beneficial for absorbing the dense energy present in you...Thinking of which, I really feel I am making a loss by letting you go. I can always find another friend for my son, but letting such a meal go....Tsk...."
Rihanna felt darkness descending before her eyes. What – WHAT??
No cultivation – check.
No special powers – check.
No Golden finger – check.
A very Dangerous Body Type – check.
Why was her life becoming more and more complicated with each passing day. It was difficult enough to survive on her own. Now which God of Transmigration was trying to scam her life with this rotten body?! She truly wanted to believe in this God, so she could just go beat his life out of him!
The large fox looked at her expressionlessly, but his eyes couldn't hide his gleeful looks.
Suddenly his expression changed drastically, his face twisting to almost distortion, as he let out a low, rumbling grunt. His large body trembled, then toppled over.
Rihanna hesitated, then slowly crawled out of the water, rushing to putting on her clothes, then slowly walked around the large fox. Fluffy looked very agitated and disturbed as he jumped all over his father's body, poking and prodding his face and paws and chest, trying to make him move.
But the fox lay as if dead. Only a light rise and fall of his chest indicated he was unconscious. As Rihanna circled around his body, she found a large amount of blood seeping through his long hair near his lower abdomen. A deep gash was also hidden near his lower spine, and the hair around it was matted into knots with dried blood.
Suddenly Rihanna didn't feel as scared as before. A wounded father and a lonely young cub, caught in the middle of a dilapidated, buried and forgotten ruin. Perhaps they were hiding to protect themselves. The father looked too badly wounded. It was understandable that he was scared for his son, should anything happen to him. Suddenly this large, fearsome beast looked so tiny and pitiful, lonely and helpless against the ruthlessness of this world.