A male paced back and forth, his black hair neatly tied up into a half ponytail while the
other half rest gently over his broad muscular shoulder. His gold royal dress coat swished
about every time he paced back and forth. Green eyes filled with anxiety and impatience
'Rei should have arrived at her parent's home by now' he thinks to himself then stops and
makes his way to his desk and seats himself. He holds his head in anticipation; his attention
was diverted by a knock on the door.
"Come in." he says
"Your Highness, you called for me" a blond haired man took his position before the seated
person bowing his head in respect and awaiting further notice.
"Oh. Yes Erwin" the man looked up from his work "any message from Rei?"
"Nothing from Her Highness yet" saying this Erwin stood up.
"Ah I see" he unconsciously lets out a sigh then continues "What about Salvathor? Any
updates on him?"
"Nothing suspicious so far, but we have made necessary arrangements to counter any
attacks from him and- " he stopped midway and his purple gaze noticed that the seated
person before him was lost in thought, the daydreamer looked up realizing that it suddenly
got quiet and quickly straightens himself.
"Forgive me; continue with what you were saying".
"Your Highness, Is something bothering you? You look troubled" he inquires.
The male paused then spoke "Erwin something doesn't seem right" he looks out of the
window on his left. "This is the first time I haven't received a report on the proceedings of
her journey, moreover it's already been a day she should have arrived there and I should
have a message from her by now." Erwin listens intently to his longtime friend who was
now the king. Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a messenger who rushed
into the office.
"My lord there is a message from the Krystal Palace!" he bowed holding up a scroll.
"The Krystal Palace? Isn't that Her Highness Lady Rei's home?" Erwin walks up to the
messenger taking the scroll from his hand then dismissing the messenger he hands it over
to the king.
"Rei must have arrived safely" he says taking the scroll and opening it to read its contents,
as he reads through his face dyes in a shade pale and he suddenly stands up and bangs the
scroll on the table.
"You're Highness!!"
"It's just as I feared…Rei hasn't arrived at the Krystal Palace" he crushes the scroll "I'm sure
I sent the best soldiers as her guards...What could have gone wrong??"
Erwin placed a hand on his friends shoulder "Don't worry Gai we will find her".
"I am forever in your debt, my baby is safe now it's all thanks to you and Remus" Rei says
looking down at her baby sleeping peacefully.
"Oh no dear, we are relieved we could save a life but your baby must have had a strong will
to live, not everyone can withstand the spirit's life force " she replied as Remus nodded in
agreement.
"May I ask you something??" Rei inquires
"Yes dear" Joletta said as if she knew what the question would be.
"The Spirit…What is it?? How?" she didn't know how to frame the question since she
couldn't quite comprehend what she had seen before at the cave.
"The Fox Spirit saved your baby by merging its life force with that of your baby's" the old
lady replies calmly.
"Fox Spirit? I heard fox spirits are very rare to find...especially here in Fylgiah".
Remus walked over to an old wooden cabinet and from the drawer he pulled out a big old,
tattered scroll. He rolled it out open on the table, the scroll revealed a painting of a maiden
with long white hair and behind her protruded nine blue semi translucent tails. Her
emerald green eyes were in slits as green as a forest. The inhabitant of the painting sat
there seeming so alive. Rei was taken aback in surprise, she had never seen beauty in such
a form before.
"Is...this...?"
"Yes that's quite right my dear...this is the human form of the spirit you saw before" she
calmly smiles then noticing Rei's perplexed face she continues, "I'll have to explain it in detail, well you see thousands of years ago in The Ethereal Realm lived spirits of all kinds and they were ruled by the Fox Family. The realm was the epitome of paradise, all spirits lived in harmony. The head branch of the fox family had a daughter and an adopted son. The daughter was named Inga and just like her name she was beautiful and kind while her adopted brother who was elder to her by two years was named Mato, he grew up to be a brave and wise young man. Although he was skilled in every art and form, there was a huge wall he couldn't overcome, that was his sister Inga. She surpassed him in everything and the fact that she was loved by all drove Mato to a corner. This caused him to turn evil; he slowly succumbed to the feeling of hatred and jealousy towards his
sister. This hatred didn't limit only to Inga, his negativity lead him to think that the family
favored Inga over him and so his hatred extended to them as well. You see when evil
feelings seep into a fox spirit's soul it starts to consume up the sanity and reasonability of
the spirit, slowly turning him into an Evil Fox Spirit. "
"Evil Fox Spirit?" Rei intervenes.
"Yes" Remus takes over "their appearance is quite different to that of normal fox spirits,
their appearance is quite ragged and they emit a dark red aura with intent to kill. If fully
consumed by ill feelings they lose their sanity and go rampant destroying and killing
anything in their way".
"So...does that mean Mato...?"
The old couples nod their head in agreement pausing for a minute then Joletta carries on
with the story "One day while having a friendly sparring match with his sister he suddenly
turned savage and attacked her with an intent to kill but surprisingly he managed to stop
himself from changing into a beast. The family were shocked to see him in that form so they
decided to execute him to avoid further casualties but Inga loved her brother and begged
not to execute him. Taking her into consideration they decided to banish him instead. Upon
hearing this Mato grew vexed, of course he wasn't aware of his death sentence. Only
knowing that his sister had proposed his banishment he left the realm with bitter hatred
and an unquenchable grudge against her. A year later he returned with an army of
Deviants, but this time with a purpose to destroy the realm and claim the life of his sister,
and thus started the mass killing and destruction. The fox family perished, Inga and Mato
fought for hours, both almost on the verge of death and at that moment Mato tricked her
throwing her off guard and so he was able to land a killing blow on her. After he had
completed his plan he escaped."
"What about Inga? What happened to her?" Rei's curiosity grew.
"She survived the attack; Remus and I are Spiritual Keepers. As spiritual keepers we were
taught sealing techniques and so before Inga's life force could be destroyed along with her body we sealed her spirit and her powers and escaped the realm and took refuge in many
places safeguarding her. But before we completely sealed her she vowed to change her
brother and bring him back from the darkness".
"So...this maiden in the painting is Inga?" Rei asks looking at the painting again.
"That's correct." Joletta answers.
"What about Mato? Does he still live?"
"His whereabouts are not known to anyone" Remus adds in.
"What if he comes after my baby?" Rei asks out in concern "Does that meant she has to
fight him or something?"
"Not necessarily" Joletta speaks up, "As I said Inga is kind she does not ask if her host is not
willing, her kindness and love for Mato was greater than revenge that's the reason she
remained normal even after witnessing her parents die".
Rei sighed out in relief but then a feeling of guilt struck her making her think if she was
being too selfish for not considering Inga's feelings, after all it was because of her life force
that her baby was now safe and living. She nodded her head pushing out those thoughts.
"What about you Rei? Why were you on the run?" Joletta inquires then continues" you
aren't a normal human right? You have special abilities too don't you?"
"How did you know?" Rei inquires wide eyed.
"It's nothing we spiritual keepers have the ability to sense special abilities" she laughs
softly.
"Yes, I do" Rei continues "I can heal and use the Divine Arts and I was also taught to travel
between dimensions".
"Travelling between dimensions is a rare ability".
Suddenly their peaceful conversation was interrupted by an arrow that shot into the room
with full force plunging into Joletta's back. She cried out in pain, Remus hurried to her side
and motioned Rei to take cover under the table.
"Joletta!!" Rei screamed out, her eyes round as plates, she froze on her spot, then attempted
to reach out to her.
"No don't come near...hurry...you...must escape...qui-" before she could complete her
sentence another arrow shot into the room through the window. She looked over to Remus
who immediately nodded as if saying hang on I'll be back.
She smiled weakly then turning towards Rei she says "go with him he will guide you to a
safe passage…hurry"
"But…What about you??"
"It's alright she will be fine" Remus says.
"But..." Rei looks confused.
Understanding her confusion Remus speaks "We spirit keepers only exist to protect the
spirits we sealed, once the seal is undone we vanish and appear only to reseal it again".
Rei takes a last look at Joletta both nodding to each other. Rei then follows Remus, 'Joletta, I
shall never forget your kindness' she thinks to herself as she dodges arrows and exits the
room.