Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 52 – The First Emmisary of Light

As soon as I stepped into the darkness, I was taken into Ovia’s domain. The room slowly came into view as I was embraced by the familiar coolness.

My immediate instinct was to look for Ovia. Looking around the room, I saw that it had been rearranged slightly, with three seats set out instead of the usual two that were meant for Ovia and me.

“Ovia?” I called out.

…

No response.

“Where are you?” I called out again, taking a few steps forward.

…

Again, no response.

Did Beni send me here too early?

But I saw that black orb…

Isn’t that the cue for me to come here?

…

Then, without warning, as I was lost in thought, two arms shot out from behind me and wrapped themselves tightly around my body.

“W-welcome back Kierra!” Ovia had sneaked up behind me.

“Mhm,” I responded, awkwardly twisting myself around in her arms to face her.

There was a brief silence as I looked into Ovia’s abyss-like eyes, letting myself get lost in the seemingly endless space inside of them.

“D-did you not like my surprise?” She let go of me, her hands shaking a little.

No!

I came in close and hugged her, not letting her get away, “I was just… a little worried…”

I wanted to tell her that it was fine, but I just couldn’t bring myself to lie to her, even if it was something as small as that.

“Should I leave you two alone then? I can just come back later if you want.”

I immediately whipped my head back, searching for where the voice came from, although it didn’t take long to see who was there. It was Aria. She was sitting on one of the three seats that had been set out, playing with the panel floating in front of her.

“I don’t want to interrupt anything after all,” She teased.

“No! Just… W-wait a second,” Ovia stuttered as she scooped me up in her arms, “U-um, I… I saw that you liked Beni’s stories. I w-wanted to tell you one too, but… I couldn’t think of a story you w-would enjoy…”

A story from Ovia?

Why wouldn’t I enjoy it?

“But I-”

“But! E-Ellaria knows a lot of stories,” Ovia interrupted me, “I asked her t-to come here so you could listen to one.”

I would enjoy any of your stories

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… I know it…

I just… want to know more about you….

“Sister?” Aria called out, “I thought I told you not to call me that?”

“A-Aria…” Ovia sheepishly muttered after a few seconds.

“That’s better. Now, come and sit down. The story I’ve picked out for you two is a little long.”

Ovia quickly carried me over, setting me down on my stomach on top of one of the cushion-like seats. As soon as she was done checking that I was comfortable, she dragged the other free seat right next to mine and laid down on top of it in the same way.

“Comfortable?” Ellaria asked.

“Mhm,” Both Ovia and I replied in unison.

Ellaria chuckled a bit before continuing, “Now, the story I have picked out for you two is one of my oldest. It involves a lot of my firsts, my first Emissary, the first time I gave someone a title and even the moment I became the Goddess of Titles-”

“I love this one!” Ovia suddenly shouted, interrupting Aria before covering her mouth and blushing slightly.

Her tails were waving all over the place, occasionally rubbing against my own. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she looked up at Aria.

Have I… ever made you that happy?

…

What do I have to do to-?…

“Sister, I think you need to calm down a bit,” Aria giggled, interrupting my train of thought, “The little kitsune is getting a little swept up in all your fluff.”

“Oh! I-I’m sorry.” Her tails instantly stopped swaying, instead drooping down and only occasionally twitching.

“It’s-”

“Alright, let’s get started on the story now. Maybe if I’m quick, you two can still have a little time to yourselves.”

I wanted to tell Ovia that she didn’t have to stop waving her tails like that, that I was fine with it, but Aria interrupted me before I could get the words out.

Aria snapped her fingers, and the panel floating in front of her expanded before settling in the middle of the three of us.

“This story involves a place you are already familiar with, the city of Casgolau, though it’s a Casgolau that the little kitsune won’t recognise. This took place long before it was a city before it was even called Casgolau.”

The image on the panel shifted, showing a man standing in front of a destroyed castle with his sword raised to the sky.

I’ve seen this before…

At that store…

However, unlike the sculptures I had seen before, the image of him on the panel revealed much more about his appearance. His long blonde hair flowed behind him, and his eyes glowed with a distinct gold hue. My eyes were instinctually drawn up to Aria; the similarity in their appearance was hard to miss.

“This is a man whose name has been long forgotten by the city of Casgolau, though despite that, many of his feats are still celebrated to this day. However, what I’m going to tell you is the original story before it was distorted by the passage of time.” Aria looked directly at me, “The first thing that I think the little kitsune would be interested in is his true appearance. You see, this here is how everyone in the city remembers him, but-”

The image on the panel shifted again. The castle behind the man slowly pulled itself back together. The man’s hair got shorter as it started to lighten up into a pure white. The glow from his eyes dissipated, revealing a vibrant green beneath.

White hair? Like mine?

“You see, over time, as his appearance was forgotten, they changed his hair colour to blonde to better match mine. Now, I have tried to correct them before, but once an idea has been accepted into society as widely as this has been, it’s hard to change people’s minds. In reality, though, he was much like you; his affinity for Light Magic was so great that his hair was bleached white. He was actually quite proud of his hair,” Aria giggled, “He decided to cut it short just to stop it getting dirty while he was working. As you have probably already noticed back then, nobody cared much for the colour of his hair; they didn’t know that someone’s appearance could be affected by their natural affinity. They really didn’t know much about magic at all back then. However, even if they did, they had more pressing things to worry about.”

The panel quickly zoomed out, showing that what he was standing in front of was no more than a small fortress with what could hardly be called a village at the base of it. The whole thing was enclosed by a large stone wall with a single gate at the front.

“He was the captain of this small fortress located right on the border of the human territory at the time. His was called…” She paused for a moment, “… Eirian…. He was a well-respected man. He did just about everything he could for that little fortress that no one else seemed to care for. They didn’t even bother to give it a name, seeing it as little more than a marker of how far their borders reached.” Aria clenched her teeth briefly before letting out a sigh and continuing, “Eirian actually trained all the soldiers there himself, willingly giving up his time just to give each one individual advice. Then, in whatever time he got off from his duties as captain, he would go down to the fields just to give the farmers a break with the excuse that even though he wasn’t working as a soldier at that moment, he still needed to keep his body in shape. There wasn’t a soul in the fortress that didn’t trust him with their lives… and if they were ever asked, they would probably trust him with even more than that.”

Ovia started to kick her legs as Aria continued to tell the story.

“As you can probably guess, Eirian did many things in his time that could easily be turned into legends in their own right, but what I want to focus on for this story is the one event that made him famous, the event that first brought him to my attention.”

On the panel, the fortress was suddenly surrounded by many creatures I had never seen before, wolves the size of grown men, giants the height of the wall surrounding the fortress, and even a few flying creatures that looked like wyverns.

“During a vicious monster wave, the small border fortress was abandoned by the rest of humanity. They decided it would be better to fall back and instead try to defend at one of their cities instead,” She looked down for a moment, “What they didn’t take into account was all the children, the elderly, the injured and many others that simply couldn’t escape the fortress in time. So… they just left them. They decided that those people didn’t matter, using the logic that even if they got them out of the fortress, they wouldn’t be able to help with the defence. So many of the people who were initially sent to support the fortress left before the monsters even attacked, planning on leaving those who were unable to follow them behind.”

Tears started running down Ovia’s cheeks. She was a lot more invested in this story than I thought she would be, especially because I knew she had already heard it before, as she had called it one of her favourites. I reached my hand over and wiped a tear away.

“Eirian decided that he wasn’t going to leave. He was going to hold his ground whether it killed him or not… Fortunately for him and everyone else left at the fortress, he wasn’t the only one to stay. Every soldier that he had personally trained stood beside him, taking up their arms as they prepared for the incoming attack.”

On the panel, the gates of the fortress opened, with Eirian standing at the front with his sword raised up high, facing down the hoards of monsters in front of him without flinching. In an instant, the fight started. Eirian and his soldiers ran fearlessly at the monsters. Many of the men were injured, but as quickly as they fell to the ground, they were pulled back behind the line to get treated.

“They fought as hard as they could. The first battle lasted for four straight hours. By all accounts, they shouldn’t have made it as far as they did. They weren’t even able to push them back; the wall had started to fall, and even the small castle at the centre of the fortress was crumbling after being attacked by the wyverns. Yet by some miracle, not a single person died during those four hours,” Ellaria paused and composed herself, “Unfortunately, they were not safe yet. All that had happened was that the monsters decided it wasn’t worth attacking them anymore. Most of their forces just moved past the fortress, heading for what would become the new front line of humanity.”

The image in front of me changed into a map, showing the monster’s territory as it engulfed the small fortress, leaving them stranded.

“They were now stuck in the middle of enemy territory, left with only a crumbling wall to protect them from the impending assault. Their only saving grace was that the main force had moved past them,” This time, a single tear ran down Aria’s face before she quickly wiped it away with her sleeve, “Could you blame them for losing hope at that moment? What else could they do? It was only a matter of time before they fell to the impending attacks. How long would they even be able to hold out? Would they fall to the monsters or starvation first? No matter how loyal the people in that fortress were, they could do nothing but despair.”

The panel shifted to Eirian, sitting in a room inside the castle with one of the walls missing. Through the broken wall, the people below could be seen running around, panicking, and falling to their knees as the realisation began to set in. All Eirian did was hang his head in his hands.

“Even Eirian himself couldn’t escape those thoughts. He didn’t want to lose a single person. He knew them all by name, had fought alongside many of them, and shed tears with others. He just… couldn’t bear the idea that there wasn’t anything he could do for them.”

“No…” I whispered, getting caught up in the story.

Beside me, I heard Ovia dig her nails into her seat.

Eirian stood up and walked over to the gap in the wall. Looking over everyone below him.

“I don’t think even he knew what he was about to do. He probably just couldn’t bear the weight of doing nothing any further. If I had to guess, he was just trying to do whatever he could at that moment, however little it was.”

Just like when he led the charge in the first battle, he lifted his sword up to the sky, and in that instant, time seemed to stop for everyone at the fortress. A pillar of light left his sword, rising far into the air, dying everything nearby a brilliant gold.

“That was the first time he used light magic, completely on accident. It was nothing more than him releasing his mana, but that was enough. As if he had planned for this to happen all along, he called out to everyone below him. He commanded them to tear down what was left of the castle, to grab whatever they could and barricade the wall, to fill in the gaps that were left from the first battle. They were going to hold their ground even if it might be nothing more than a futile effort,” Ellaria’s expression softened, “Every person that heard his voice grabbed whatever was closest to them and made their way to the wall. It didn’t matter if they were soldiers or not. In that moment, they had all decided that they were going to do whatever they could. Even Eirian himself came of the castle hauling as many of the intact bricks as he could carry.”

All I could do was stare in awe as I watched Eirian and those around him work. The sight itself almost made me want to join in, even though I knew that this was just a story from long ago. Looking to my side, Ovia looked like she was about to jump out of her seat.

“The siege lasted a whole month. Yet somehow, the little fortress held strong; many were injured, and some were starving, including Eirian himself. He just told them he was strong enough to handle not eating for a bit. Humanity eventually declared its victory over the monster wave. They quickly began pushing the monsters out, reclaiming their land as they worked their way up to the little fortress. When they got there, they were shocked that anyone was still alive, let alone every single person. As soon as Eirian saw the approaching support, he lifted his sword to the sky once again, releasing his light and declaring that their struggle was finally over before collapsing to the ground from exhaustion.”

The scene played out just as Aria described, with Eirian lying on the ground, his soldiers trying to lift him back to his feet despite their own exhaustion.

“It took a few days until he woke back up, but when he did, the reconstruction of the fortress had already begun. Many new people moved to the fortress after hearing about Eirian’s ‘Healing Light’. Named not because it could heal anyone’s wounds, but because of how just seeing that pillar of light healed their very souls, how it bestowed hope on them despite the seemingly inevitable darkness,” Aria laughed a bit, “After seeing that, I decided to call him the ‘Paladin of Healing Light’, that name became a title for him as I was bestowed the responsibility of Goddess of Titles. I was apparently given the responsibility because I was the first Deity to take so much interest in the life of someone outside the Divine Realm, so much so that I had given him a title.”

Is that how becoming a Deity works?

It’s that easy?

That can’t be it…

“Well, that small fortress slowly grew into a village, then a town, as more new people continued moving in. That town was eventually named Casgolau, ‘Castle of Light’. The castle that once stood in that fortress had already been torn down, but that didn’t matter to the residents. That wasn’t why they gave the town that name.”

The panel quickly changed to showing Aria’s temple, or what probably became Aria’s temple.

“They built a temple for me, which I decided to give my blessing on the condition that they built one for my sister as well. They happily did as I asked, so both my sister and I gave the two temples our blessing on the same day.” Aria’s eyes moved down to Ovia, “Now that I think about it… Was that the last time you left the Divine Realm?”

Left the divine realm?…

It’s possible for them to leave?

“U-um…” Panic spread across Ovia’s face, “N-no!”

“Really? I can’t see you getting permission for that,” Aria sat and thought for a moment, “Then did you just sneak out? I’m surprised no one noticed… Not even me…”

Ovia just blushed in response.

“Well, anyway, that’s enough about that. Let’s get back to the story.”

The panel shifted again, this time showing Eirian kneeling down in front of Aria inside her domain. The Aria in the panel placed her hand on top of Eirian’s forehead, and when he opened his eyes, his once green eyes had turned gold with a distinctive white inner ring inside, just like both Celica’s and Aria’s.

“I decided to make him my first Emissary of Light and gave him my token, a copy of my own golden eyes, so that everyone knew that he had been chosen. I still don’t think I could have made a better choice. Even though he was my Emissary, he didn’t change at all; he would still go to the fields just to give the farmers a break, and he would still go and give the soldiers some personal training every so often. However-” Aria stopped talking as if the words had gotten stuck in her throat.

Ovia was extremely excited as her tails started swaying back and forth again.

“Well… One of the effects of becoming an Emissary is living longer… a lot longer… It’s not quite immortality, but for anyone close to them, it might as well be.” Aria once again paused for a moment, “Because of that… Eirian ultimately decided to pass down his position as my Emissary to one of his pupils.”

What? Why?

Isn’t being an Emissary a good thing?

Wouldn’t you want to live for a long time?

“Eirian served as my Emissary for many years, but one day, he met someone he just couldn’t forget. The woman who would one day become his wife.”

Ovia suddenly wrapped her tails around me and brought me in close, hugging me against her side.

“He truly was a simple man at heart. He just wanted to live out the rest of his life with his wife. If he remained my Emissary, he would easily outlive her… He wasn’t just worried about missing her, but also about eventually… forgetting her… How could I say no to him? I knew it would be hard to find another person like him… but maybe that was why… I didn’t put up any resistance. I took my token from him and gave it to the pupil he had chosen as my way of respecting everything he had done… And that’s… the end of this story, my version at least.”

…

Forgetting…

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything after hearing the end of the story. However, I didn’t need to, as Ovia abruptly jumped to her feet and took me with her.

Aria chuckled, “Sister, you seem to have abducted a little fox at some point during the story.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Ovia immediately set me down, blushing furiously, “You were just so c-close and… fluffy…”

But I’m not as fluffy as you…

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I hugged her back, trying to reassure her, “I didn’t mind… I liked it.”

“Now, I would like to tell you that it’s time for me to leave you two alone, but unfortunately, it seems that my story dragged on a little longer than expected,” Aria got out of her seat.

Oh…

I knew what she was trying to tell me. It was already time for me to go back. I had gotten so absorbed in the story that I had completely forgotten that this was the one day this week I was allowed to see Ovia.

Ovia knelt down and hugged me tightly as if reading my mind, “It’s okay, t-there’s always next time!”

“Mhm,” I buried my face in her shoulder, the tip of my ear brushing against her cheek, “But… I want to go back like this.”

“Yes! O-of course!” She responded, the surrounding darkness immediately closing in around me as Ovia squeezed one more time.

“I’ll be back next time,” I said just as I felt Ovia’s presence disappear.

…

As I felt the air around me warm up, the expressions I saw when Ovia was listening to Aria’s story remained stuck in my mind, playing back on a loop.

I… want to tell her stories like that…

…

I just… want to see her smile like that again…

…

“Did you have fun Kierra?” Raynelle called out, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Mhm…” I walked over to her, where she quickly wrapped a cloak around me, “I did.”