《Kitsune in Rockford》 teaser As I run the only question I have is, "why did it take so long? I could have left long ago. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t have reasons to leave.¡± Shoot I hear them coming!" I pause and hide watching as an attractive she-fox leading a squad of the black-iron kit guard sweep past my location. "It¡¯s not like I even did anything wrong... not really. OK maybe I shouldn''t have stolen all the clans¡¯ leader''s shoes and put them on the main path in-front of town hall. Or lit it on fire, but come-on! I was only helping them relax! Who doesn''t want to be free? And what better freedom than... ahem, anyways it was my goodbye gift to my mother and all the other b@!&#s that made up the council. After all what better "goodbye forever" gift from a kitsune than a prank?Stolen novel; please report. kit prologue 1: life as a kid So I guess I should explain what lead to my ¡°escape¡±... it all started a month ago or 122 years ago it¡¯s hard to tell which. My story is really complicated. Well to start with my name is kit and I am a male of the white tail kitsune clan. Yup you heard me a male kitsune one of the few. Turns out it¡¯s not impossible. Male kistune, like females, are very handsome and alluring. Both male and female have the fox ears and tails kitsune are famous for and both have some form of kitsune power (magic). I am 6 foot one inch with silver hair and tail. pure white edging on the top of my ears and tip of my tail highlights my furs color. Strong chin and high cheekbones from my dad have made me ruggedly appealing. Kitsune are descended from forest tribes in the Araparaho forest. because of that we have very human-like features really the only thing that sticks out is that we have fox ears and tails and these teeth are sharper than i remember. As tribal descendants we also have strict laws that have allowed us to survive this long on our own. Back then women ruled and men were slaves it was the worst life. Then the world changed with magic that¡¯s all I really got from history class I wasn¡¯t paying attention much. Besides I was only there half the time as the rest of the time I was being the class gopher anyway. I''ve decided that¡¯s where I¡¯ll begin this story a flash back to when I was 8. ........ I wake up with my mom talking to me telling me to ¡°GET UP it time for school!¡± What the heck what¡¯s she doing here? I haven¡¯t seen my mom for months she doesn¡¯t come around here much, just checks up on me every once in a while. Why is she here??? ¡°Kit get your but out of bed and get dressed for school I brought your cloths, you WILL not disgrace this family!¡± what in the world wait those cloths no. I. no. I have to wear that? Mom holding teal pants and a white shirt with a lace collar (lace!) is stalking closer to my bed. I look up into her eyes and fire in them and I know I''m not getting out of this. It was terrible! I had to get dressed perfectly and I mean perfectly. Even my bow tie (one of the most evil inventions of the universe) had to be at the proper angle and distance from the lace (ugg) collar of my shirt. [15 min later] I can¡¯t believe she dressed me like this! I tell Ashlie as we walk towards the school. As we get closer I notice an apprentice coming towards us as per law I get of the trail so she can pass, almost talking up the whole road by herself with only a few other females walking in the other direction. ¡°Wow look at her she must be studying in the scouts Mage School¡±, said Ashlie. ¡°I know what you mean did you see the gold 1 tail fox design on her robes shoulder? So awesome! She must be of the Lenex clan.¡± ¡°I hope that someday I am as great a mage as her!¡± ¡°Ashlie you will do fine you have one of the greatest bloodlines your mom is a council member with mom.¡± ¡°I know I''m just worried today is the first day of school after all what happens if I''m no good?¡± ¡°You know that females have a high aptitude for fox magic, you will do great!¡± ¡°Thanks Kit!¡± That ended our conversation as we walked into the small library where school was taught to 8-15 year old''s. ........ ¡°Welcome to class students my name is Femnora and I will be your teacher for the next 3 years (muttering ¡°maybe longer if I don¡¯t screw up¡±). Class I want everyone to take a seat in one of the desks ahead. Oh I see we have a male this year. ''Hello what is your name?¡¯?¡± ¡°My name is Kit Miss Femnora.¡± ¡°Wow what a polite child your mother has trained you well (smile). This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Please go sit in the very back on the left next to the door that seat is reserved for men.¡± ¡°Thank you teacher¡± I said smiling. The next morning I woke up and it was the regular house keeper that woke me up I even had to wear that disgusting outfit again. How many of these did mom have made? I thought in despair. As I began to sit in my chair my teacher said ¡°Kit it is the responsibility of a male to serve. You need to take attendance. Once you are done with that please go and tell the cook that this class will need meals for all the students attending. I¡¯ll send you out to pick it up later.¡± this is the way my life went for three years. ......... I wake up fully alert for a change and think that was a weird dream! What in the world was that even? It was like I was being carried around but my eyes couldn¡¯t focus at all. Then I could hear all these different voices that I''ve never heard before. I ponder for a second and I still can''t figure it out. Where in the heck did that dream come from? Looking outside I can tell its time for me to get ready so grudgingly I get out of bed to get dressed in that terrible outfit (remaid after a... prank). Today was graduation for the class this year and it was also my birthday. Mom even said I could ask for a present today! I¡¯m so exited going to school that o even skip a little bit. ¡°Oh no I need to calm down if I get dust on my cloths and mom hears about it I will get in big trouble. I take a seat in class when Miss Femnora speaks, ¡°Kit why are you sitting down you haven¡¯t completed your jobs today?" ¡°Teacher my mom said that I could have a wish today so I decided to ask you if I could skip chores today.¡± ¡±Kit you need to do your duty and haven¡¯t even taking the trash out today, so no.¡± ¡°Why teacher it¡¯s not like someone else can¡¯t do it just as good as me? Like Ashlie or something.¡± the class went silent ¡°Kit did you just compare me Ashlie to you and tell me that I should go pick up trash? A genius kisune of a full blood family to pick up trash?!¡± ¡°N,no that¡¯s not what I meant.¡± I''m in deep trouble for a male to insult a female is a full on taboo, if that female was a pure blood or seen as a great prospect for the future of the clan. I don¡¯t know what will happen but I¡¯m screwed! My blood starts pumping with fear as I see disgust on the faces of my class mates around me and I start to run for the door tripping over my own feet. All the sudden I feel my feet go out from under me. Looking back someone had stuck their bag in-front of me to trip me! Samantha one of my classmates started laughing at me and that set the rest of the class off. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for insulting a pureblood, boy!¡± my left leg feels numb from where it hit the bag. I have to get out of here before the pain hits! And I''m stuck in this hell. Yes I made it to the door. ¡°I will be reporting this to your mother don¡¯t come back to class until you have a note from her to give to me guaranteeing your good behavior.¡± ¡°Yes teacher¡± crying as I make my way into the woods but there¡¯s no escape it¡¯s just a place to cry. kit prologue 2: a mothers words It¡¯s crazy how things change originally I wasn¡¯t planning on writing about kits childhood at all. I have two story arcs planned out but his one was not in the plans. However as I started what was then going to be a short overview of the first 133 years of his life I somehow got into writing when kit was 8. Now it¡¯s turning into a full blown arc that I wasn¡¯t even intending at first. So for this chapter I had to re-plan the first few chapters to include more of his ¡°growing up¡± experiences into the picture. The first chapters were totally off the top of my head and I had no intention of things coming out like they did either. I just wrote. It¡¯s starting to make me a little more exited to write this story because it¡¯s coming out as I am in front of the computer, which is different. Although I''m planning on the same plot and reasons for things happening. All the things that were planned for behind the scenes (just a little-lot like multiple chapters worth) have now become a main part of the story including a lot detail so I''m not sure how long childhood arc will last. I¡¯ll just write and let¡¯s see where this goes. Also because the time line of me writing my story has changes their might be little logical errors concerning time. Let me know if you see any I am planning on editing and syncing the novel every ten chapters so everything remains copacetic. ALSO: CHANGED STORY TO MATURE REASONS FOR THIS ARE; there will be no sex in this series and I¡¯m not sure how I will write the violence yet. However, in expanding on Kits past I will expose various negative culture traits that are extreme and may be considered mature content. Because of that I am changing that tag. ===================================================================================== Kneeling on the floor of the forest I became aware of voices coming near me. It sounded like they were coming closer looking for something. They are looking for me I realized. The voices were a low mumble at first but now was growing louder. How long have I been here? I don¡¯t think how long I stay here matters too much. After all mom will just send the servants out to get me if I''m too late. I can hear the voices they are almost too me now. Finally I see someone stepping around the bushes ahead of me. ¡°Dad! What are you doing here?¡± My dad is about average height for male a kitsune standing around 5 foot 11 inches. He¡¯s always been mad he couldn¡¯t make that last inch to 6 foot even (lol). He had silver ears and tail with pure white tips like me. He had a strong chin, high cheekbones and dark brown eyes that seemed to see through anything. The eyes especially were incredibly striking holding deep wisdom like they had seen and know of the secrets of the world, both good and bad. He looks resigned as though finding me is just one more chore on his list provided by mother. I¡¯m sure mom sent him out a long time ago to search for me. As he strongly steps towards me he starts to speak, ¡°Hi son your mother sent me out to find you, she¡¯s not very happy with you right now. Something about insulting council member Esmarilda Lenex''s daughter.¡± ¡°Dad I didn''t mea...¡± ¡°No son don¡¯t talk right now (sigh) you mother is waiting for you.¡± ¡°Ok father.¡± I''m basically cried out now so I just follow behind dad numbly at first. Then becoming more aware as the wind brushed against me and the walk began to get my blood pumping. Now that I am out of the drama that is a part of our classroom, I got to thinking, ¡°hey dad is it really such a big deal if I ask Ashlie to take out the trash? Why did everyone class freak out on me, what did I do wrong?¡± ¡°Well son it both is and isn¡¯t a big deal. Honestly talk to your mom, she should have taught you our customs a long time ago. I¡¯m not sure why she even has you attending school at this point.¡± ¡°Dad?¡± ¡°Just ask your mother son she will explain everything.¡± .......... Moms office was large as I waked in I noticed again how oppressing the feeling of walking in here was. On the wall there were multiple paintings of her and of the past members of the White Tail house. Her pictures all have her sitting in a light green armchair, highlighting the red of her hair on her ears and the white tip on her tail accentuating her beauty. High cheekbones with phoenix eyes completed the picture of an exotic beautify. If I didn¡¯t have the same sky blue eyes as her it might be difficult to tell we were related as most of my features come from dad. I shut the door behind me to see her sitting behind a solid maple desk enchanted to a dark brown color. The desk was the pinnacle of enchanting magic it used adsorbed light to shine on the papers on top. But right now the desk had no paper and the light reflected off the shiny top of the desk into her face, highlighting the slightly lowered brows, the only sign that she was even slightly upset. Her showing even this much emotion shows how upset she really was, mom having been into kitsune politics for so long had an unflappable poker face. Something required for her job on the kitsune council. ¡°sit.¡± she said pointing to one of the two small armchairs set in front of her desk she was pointing towards the right one so that¡¯s where I went. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Kit I think it¡¯s time I told you something about kitsune living¡±, mom tells me. ¡°We kitsune care about results over all else and the results of your actions today have shamed us. Not much but it lets that B)! (@#) Esmarilda Lenex get one step ahead of me. She probably conditioned her daughter to respond that way.¡±! ¡°What do you mean mom?¡± ¡°haaa kit you are my only child and part of our culture is that the faults of the children are seen as mistakes of the parents raising them, at least until you hit the age of accountability.¡± I don¡¯t get it what does that have to do with why my class was so mean today? ¡°You¡¯re probably wondering why I am telling you this. But here¡¯s the truth what happened today was half political maneuvering. I hold my position by virtue of power and the fact that I have never made a mistake in my responsibilities. Those who seek to gain my power see you as a chance to make a crack in my spotless record. Foolish politicians. They have never gotten and inroads into my power through their own means so now they are trying to use you. If they can get you to make mistakes they can pin me as an ¡°irresponsible mother and say that that irresponsibility most be spreading into other areas. After all I am growing older.¡± I should kill them! Idiots trying to use my family! Don¡¯t worry kit I¡¯m sure Esmarilda Lenex told her daughter to act like that if you ever made a mistake in class, to make a big deal out of it. DaM@#($ if you were female kitsune this would never have happened. Kit go to school normally tomorrow I¡¯m sure that it will be fine I will have the maid deliver the note to you in the morning. But, don¡¯t make any more mistakes. I¡¯ll tell your dad to come talk to you about your responsibilities. I might need to plan how to take advantage of this... kit go, we will discuss your punishment later. This is all the time I have for you now. I¡¯ll tell your father later don¡¯t mess up, listen to your father.¡± As I open the door to mom¡¯s office dad is waiting for me. ¡°Not too bad yet huh?¡± he says. ¡°Your mom still dotes on you because you¡¯re her only child. So I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about the punishment from her if I were you. Now I have to teach you something you need to know in our society. (How to explain this so the kid can understand¡­) Kitsune as a people believe that some deserve to stand above or on top of ¡­ no¡­ Kit let me put it this way. Some kitsune think they are better than others, and all female kitsune think that they are better than men. What this means for us is that men have become the servants in kitsune society because it is ruled by females. Your mistake in the class room wasn¡¯t insulting Ashlie. Your mistake was trying to make a female do your work. If it were another male you called out none of this would have happened. ¡°What do you mean dad?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let mom know I said this but I believe female kitsune are raised to maintain position. What this means kit is that from a young age females are taught what to do in various situations to establish superiority over males. I say this because I have experienced similar things. I got in trouble for the same thing as you. Once I asked a female servant like us to take out the trash and everyone turned on me. I think it¡¯s something they are trained to do. You will never get away from it kit so it¡¯s best just to accept it now. Treat them all like queens and you can still live a happy life. Back to an earlier subject I¡¯ll keep you with me for a few days while things cool down at school. Your classmates are still young kitsune so I doubt they will even remember the problem after a few days. You can go back and everything will be alright. Once you graduate in two years I will take on your training personally until you go to school at age 50. The female kits also have their own mentors until then.¡± I talked with dad late into the night trying to understand what this means for me and how it will affect my relationship with Ashlie and the rest of the school. ===================================================================================== so kits mom said that half of the reason he was chased out of class was parents training their children to help in their own political maneuvering. Have you figured out the other half? intermission Ashlie POV This chapter will be Ashlies POV (point of view) it is short. originally Ashlie would be a minor character from kits past who helped hi to "toughen up," I''m still thinking of doing that, but I wanted to see if yall had any ideas that I could add to make it even more interesting. Not gonna lie i have it planned out so ideas may not be used. however if its interesting enough i will definitely take it into my story. thankyou!? have a great day! ========================================================================================= After we chased kit out of the class room I felt really bad. I just did what mom told me to do! When I was just learning to walk mom started training me as the successor of the Lenex house. Because I am female I am a legal successor to the house. Mom started training me from a very young age. At one of moms meetings we met the lady of the White Tail house and she had a son who was my age. So we started to play together while mom was talking. Afterwords, mom on the way home me I should act friendly with him so that he could help her position grow stronger. A few years of playing together and we are finally going to school! I¡¯m as excited as I walk on my way there with kit. It¡¯s going to be great! When we got there I was separated from my friends and had so sit in a faraway seat. This sucks, but it¡¯s so fun to learn. After a few years I remember, isn¡¯t kits birthday soon? I haven¡¯t been playing with him regularly the past few years but I remember it seems like he¡¯s always exited this time of year. The class sits down and teacher begins to speak, it¡¯s not on the lesson though she¡¯s speaking to kit asking why he didn¡¯t do his jobs? As I start to pay attention I notice kit looks a little uncomfortable. Yesterday he ignored me to go home quickly so I decide not to help him in this situation. Then he says something incredibly stupid and compares me to trash! I¡¯ve never felt so insulted in my life! As the class room goes silent I remember what my mom taught me, ¡°Ashlie if anyone ever insults you have to put them into their place.¡± Fine then I will tell kit what I think about calling me trash besides he deserves it leaving me hear alone yesterday. It was scary being alone at the school! He deserves everything he gets I stand up and¡­ Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. A week later and I still feel guilty I did everything I was supposed to why do I feel so low? Kit hasn¡¯t been coming to class so I can¡¯t apologize. My mom said that I did the right thing and that she is very proud of me. So this feeling must be kits fault! He left me alone, insulted me in front of my friends, then left. I hate him this is all his fault if he wouldn¡¯t have insulted me this wouldn¡¯t have happened. He needs to learn his place. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. He is leaving me alone. Fine I will just strengthen my friendship with Samantha. Who needs kit anyways? After a month he comes back to class I see him and start to call out but then I see the grin on his face. And I sit back down. Why is he happy when I¡¯m not? I wonder and so my enmity starts to grow. I don¡¯t talk to him except to do his chores for the next 3 years tomorrow is graduation from primary school. After this female kitsune go with their mentors and train off and on with them and in the classroom until were 50 when school starts up for us full time again.my mentor is the pride of our house my aunt Lucinda Lenex with strong magical and political power. Mom hopes she will teach me to rule and lead. It starts for me tomorrow. kit prologe 3: the next 119 years Notes: kitsune grow at an evolved rate they grow very fast until they are the equivalent of an 8 year old. As soon as they hit 8 growth slows down exponentially. Theorists believe it¡¯s an evolutionary trait that grew out of the need for children to be able to move around by themselves fast after birth so that they could survive. kitsune develop very rapidly, tripling their weight in ten days. Their gray eyes are open by their second week and the mother is able to leave them for brief periods of time. By the third week, the cubs are capable of moving around, and over the next ten days they begin to establish an order of dominance. By the third month they can start eating small foods that they have caught themselves. The reason I mention this is to point out that an 8 year old is equivalent to our 8 year old. But, a fifteen year old is only equivalent to a twelve year old. Growth continues to slow down as kitsune grow older eventually stopping around 136 (on average). When kit starts secondary school at age 50 he will be equivalent to a high schooler at 15 years old. Albeit one that already has on the job training. ¡­..... Im not sure if this chapter has too much info or if I wrote it well but I tried. ========================================================================================================================================================================== Today is graduation everyone in class is finally 15 and after today we will all be going to our separate tutors. Dad, my tutor is waiting outside just out the library gates. I¡¯m so exited one part of tutoring is we get to learn everything our tutor knows. So I¡¯m going to learn magic! Dad takes care of everything in our property so I will be able to learn a whole lot! Tutors are decided by the matriarchs of our family Ashlie is going to be tutored by her aunt. I kind of feel sorry for her dad says her aunt is mean. But when I told Ashlie this she just got even angrier at me. I don¡¯t think I can do anything right when it comes to her. Anyways watching the sun coming through the window I noticed it¡¯s finally hit the five o¡¯clock line on the line its time to get out of here. Teacher says one last thing before we head out,¡± now remember your mentors are going to help you learn the occupation you will be serving in through your life. Make sure you learn their teachings well. And if you feel that an occupation is not suited for you talk to the civil servants in charge of your districts. Your teachers will report to the dean of the school monthly on how you are progressing so don¡¯t slack off. Otherwise you might get stuck in a servant¡¯s class when you get back. Now go!¡± That¡¯s it! We can leave! I run out the classroom dodging desks, chairs, and other classmates on my way to the door. ¡°Bye guys,¡± I say to the rest of the class. Only one or two students wave back halfheartedly. They as eager as I to get out of the school where wave been stuck for 7 years. On my way out the door I see Ashlie glaring at me, we never really did get along the same after that day... Turning left around the corner as I rush out the door I see movement dodgeing to the right I barely miss another student running the other direction ''idiot almost ran me down'' I think to myself in my mind ignoring the fact that I am sprinting the other way. I know dad is waiting just out the small wooden door to the library so I slow down and push open the door as if I hadn¡¯t been running trying to slow down my heart and keep my breathing steady. ¡±Hi dad, were out,¡±i say to him. ¡°yeah I barely heard the bell ring.¡± I can feel myself blushing at my dads response, ''he knows I ran here'' I think to myself. ¡°well son anyone you waiting to see before we leave? This might be your last chance for a while. No? OK, lets go then¡±. I hear other students shout goodbye to each other as they exit the building. But I know no one will come out to say good bye specifically to me. I haven¡¯t made a good friend since Ashlie betrayed me and we are still tense around one another. So no one will come out for me, they just call out goodbye in passing. Like I''m that one kid in middle school that was in all your classes but who you never talked to just sort of acknowledged their odd presence. Anyways that¡¯s all over from today! Now I start to learn my trade. I heard from mom that ¡°male kitsune have traditional roles in society¡± whatever that means all I know is that I''m going to be trained by dad! All these thoughts cross my head in a second as I excitedly start to follow dad. I wonder what will happen today? Last time I was with dad during my punishment I just followed him around while he worked now he will be teaching me I''m so exited. I follow dad all the way home. Learning from dad has been fun its been a week since school has gotten out and im learninfg to do more of what I saw him do on break. After we got home dad started to teach me how to use the hand axe. He handed me one telling me it¡¯s mine to use. The axe looks allot like a mix between a tomahawk and a hatchet it¡¯s the most used tool in our work because we use tons of wood in the village. Most of the buildings in the forest are made of wood. We need wood and metal for our magical instruments and sometimes use wood to cook our food. I asked the cook Sheila in our home why she didn¡¯t use magic all of the time to cook and she told me. ¡°Its easier to cook with magic most of the time but if it¡¯s a large meal cooking multiple things at the same time. Then it¡¯s better and easier to focus on the food and not focusing on magic at the same time. After all you don¡¯t want to be so focused on having your magic not burn the truffles that you forget something else you are cooking at the same time.¡± This made a lot of sense to me as any magic I tried was really hard to focus on. Dad has been showing me how to do repairs with the wood on our home and fences. But it¡¯s hard because the trees in this forest are so tough we have to learn how to coat the axe head in mana to be able to cut through it. Dad said it took him 20 or 5 years to learn and until then he was in charge of trash and chamber pots. I¡¯m not looking forward to this. But I still get to learn magic! We need to start the fires in the morning to the females don¡¯t waste mana. Do all the house hold chores. Then practice combat. Dad says that we have developed small magic¡¯s to help in these tasks¡­ Also the dreams have continued and lastly I have started to move around a little in them it¡¯s weird though they seem have all sorts of sights I¡¯ve never seen. Once there was a large metallic beetle toy I was playing with it. I still remember that as one of my weirder dreams. The whole dream it seemed like I was pushing around the metal beetle with a short dwarf character riding on top of it with no beard and straight up hair called trollie. ¡­¡­ (Small time skips) //20years old->I¡¯ve finally about mastered how to sheath the hand axe in mana. It¡¯s not easy you have to imagine the whole thing as covered in a glowing force field. If you do it right you can see your own mana surrounding the axe and it cuts wood like a shadow wolf goes through a herd of goats. The first year I either couldn¡¯t get my mana to focus or I just imagined the mana on the cutting edge of the axe, it cut good but then got suck after the first inch into any wood. (That was a pain to get out) If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. //22 years old->After sheathing dad began to teach me some wind and earth magic with earth magic you can sense where dust in the house is and wind helps you clean it up in some of the harder to reach places. I have to rest after every use though so I only use these spells when we¡¯re cleaning the house for important occasions. //26 Y.O.->Water magic is amazing I can cast it way easier than earth and it cleans dust and dirt like a charm. If you focus you can even direct the dirty stream over the floor and out the door! No need for sweeping and mopping ever again> muhaha! But the real issue is how can I use this for pranks? I¡¯ve found that other kitsune don¡¯t like windblown in their ears. Once when mom was at work and I was looking around after finishing my job (near her window) I noticed her scolding her secretary for letting someone annoying in. the secretary didn¡¯t look like she was paying utmost attention. So as mom was speaking to her I created a small breeze and blew it in mom¡¯s ears. Since males have smaller mana reservoirs I used all of my power to do this. All the sudden I heard a fart noise moms ears stood straight upright as she jumped and started screaming at the secretary for not paying attention and letting go in her office. I had no idea wind magic could make that noise! I couldnt help myself I cast it again. It was a long time before moms yelling calmed down that day. //31 Y. O.->The dreams have come back stronger I couldn¡¯t figure them out. Why are these coming to me? My baby sister was born this year at first I was exited and hung around a lot. Lately mom hasn¡¯t been paying me any attention though and the baby doesn¡¯t respond to me at all. I think ill just hang out with dad. //56 Y. O->I decided not to go back to school. Mom is less focused on making me her perfect child now that she ¡°has a daughter to train so she¡¯s ready to inherit the house.¡± My sister is a prodigy in everything but only at the level of Ashlie not above. I haven¡¯t seen Ashlie in years but I hear she¡¯s focusing on her house and learning the ropes of leadership. I pranked mom again I tied all her office stuff up agianst the ceiling so there was nothing against the floor. I think she suspected me ill have to never reveal this to anyone. //86 Y. O.->Nothing interesting I¡¯ve noticed my mana pool is expanding the dreams have grown clearer and I think I know what they are trying to tell me. I¡¯m growing disgusted with kitsune policy but I have nowhere else to go. //99 Y. O->Mom is starting to talk of marriage and alliances. Recently I¡¯ve heard that Ashlie has been campaigning to have males put into a lower caste in society. In my opinion the only route that can get us lower is slaves. //103 Y. O.->Ashlie is winning in her efforts to become an elected official in the clan, she wants males to stop learning magic. And that magic should be banned for any who are not female. Many are getting behind her efforts because of her promises that this will free up more of the males time so that the time could be used more efficiently to serve and pamper the females more exclusively. How would that even work!?? We do everything around here, and magic is the only thing that makes us feel alive! I can only see this as useless campaigning promises of a corrupt official. I can¡¯t see how this will work. Dad says things have been going in this direction for a while and that all the other males in the tribe accept it I should too. But I know better I have been taught¡­ //104 Y.O.->This year has been horrible dad passed away early in the summer in an accident. It was a huge surprise since kitsune are basically immortal except for war or fighting and dad always stayed close to the village. But rather than a fight it was just a stupid accident. One of the kitsune in primary school was showing off testing out there magic and the power went out of their control. Because it¡¯s not permissible to use magic at that age without an instructor they were doing it in the forest. Her magic hit a tree and it was knocked over and fell onto dad. They heard a cry and got scared of being caught and ran off. I found dad late that night after searching all day for him. He was barely alive. Taking him back to the house I thought mom could fix him. But she said that his blood had too much bad stuff in it because he was hit in the gut some of the waste got into his blood stream and with hours to settle into every tissue there was no way to get it out. If those kids had admitted their mistake and got help when it happened he could have been saved¡­ I hate this. //104 three months later->The kids got off scott-free. I don¡¯t remember their punishment probably because it was too light for me to even consider a punishment. My magic has improved allot lately, most of it is based of memory and imagination both of which I have in plenty, now at least¡­ I keep thinking of leaving now that there is nothing holding me here. Mom is still focused on my sister and I am still alone. . I hate this place but I will stay around in dad¡¯s memory //104 one month after that->She won Dear Gaia how will this go down. //105 ->life is the pits mom is looking at engagement promises. Because of our lowered value (males) are not even considered as breeding material just as moving dumb slaves. Just something to have around to make life easier. The best ones are even silent about it, at least to a women¡¯s thinking. I need to leave this place there is nothing for me here. //133->I¡¯m engaged about to be married and it¡¯s to Ashlie¡­ I refuse! Anyone who campaigned to have men¡¯s rights lowered, can you imagine the life I would lead? I can¡¯t and I won¡¯t, I¡¯m leaving today. There¡¯s no reason to stay here anyways. But before I go¡­¡­ So I¡¯ve tried building up to it but I almost think I was too secretive, has anyone figured out the point of the dreams? It plays a big part of why kit is the only male in the village that is not accepting of his role as a servant. It¡¯s also a large part of why he started getting better at magic at such a young age of 86. Hint magic is highly affected by memories and imagination. If you don¡¯t get it from the hint I guess you¡¯ll have to wait until the next chapter. Also should I include more of kits pranks? He started getting serious about them around 86-90 lol. kit chapter 1.1: reasons for escape Thankyou everyone for commenting. This chapter goes out to Shadowpire. After I posted my poll he commented immediately this got me so happy that I turned around got back on the computer and wrote out this chapter. After his comment i also looked back and noticed some others in earlier chapters (Blazingfrost, Derp, Filthyleacher and all others) thanks! I just wanted to know that someone was reading my story and that writing this and posting it here wasn''t worthless, Thankyou all even those who didn''t post its nice to know I''m not shareing for nothing (because i was going to write a small version of this anyways I was only debating on putting it into RR because it takes more effort from me to proofread my work.) So thankyou, I''ll try to bring out a few more chapters this week ================================================================================================ Today is the day. The day for me to escape! There have been multiple things pushing me to this point, but the final straw is that I¡¯m no longer treated as a man. Instead, I am treated as a commodity. Last month mom engaged me to be married. My thoughts on the engagement were this ¡®What in Gaia?¡¯ and do you know why my thoughts were so confused I couldn¡¯t even for them properly? She engaged me to the man hater Ashlie. Oh and Ashlie her ¡°reforms¡± have been getting worse and worse. I think it¡¯s the most negative case of false promises that will lead to a downtrodden population that I have ever seen. In both my life¡¯s! She promises freedom by promising to give us more rules and reforms, how does that even work. Grrr anyways don¡¯t talk politics it just gets you into trouble. The last time I did with mom I got so mad that I dumped itchy sand in her ceremonial robes as revenge. She didn¡¯t find out until the next council meeting. Imagine 4 hours of sitting in itchy robes but having to keep a complete poker face because you are in a high profile meeting. She came home¡­.upset, and damp from the sheer amount of sweeting she did as she restrained herself. I got the scolding of a life time and she tried to set my tail on fire but it was worth it entirely. Rude women! The worst part of this engagement deal is I have already told mom not to, ¡°help¡± me. That I will get married in time but noooo. When the Lenex clan heard that I am able to cast simple spells more proficiently than any other male in the town. They decided I am the perfect brood mare and immediately offered the tutoring of their highest mages for my little sister as a gift if in exchange I was to be ¡®given¡¯. For mom it¡¯s a win win she allies with a powerful opponent and secures multiple teachers for her favorite powerful daughter. Teaching her daughter a wide range of spells and learning from some of the best wizards in the community (wizards are a form of mage that focuses more on knowledge then ability. You can always find them in their personal library. They are the greatest minds on spell theory and you cannot become a part of the group until you submit your own unproven but viable magic theory to the collective mass) You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. mom is hoping that learning spell work will help her to promote herself to great heights in kitsune politics. Not to mention growing closer to the current leading competitor for head of the council, Ashlie. But where does that leave me? Hung out to dry I tell you. Having heard the talks between the matriarchs of our family¡¯s I know that I won¡¯t even get any action out of this deal. For the next 50 years they (the Lenex) simply plan on having me live within the confines of their home, learning their family rules¡­ a gilded cage and I won¡¯t stand for it. I guess I should tell you what lead to my outrage as all of this is something a regular male kitsune would consider an average life¡­ I. hmmm how to explain this. I am. Was. Reborn. Oh yeah! There¡¯s the word I am a reincarnated fox! Human! Um I was a human in my past life and am now re-incarnated into a kitsune. That¡¯s what the dreams have been telling me all these years. It wasn¡¯t until I was twenty or so until I started figuring it out though. I¡¯ve always had these vivid dreams that I could remember clearly afterword¡¯s no matter what. When I was twenty I noticed that I moved around and talked in those dreams. At first I thought it was a window into someone else¡¯s life. That is until I talked to mom and realized that some of those things are not of this world. So I concluded there from another. Anyways long story short I¡¯m the re-incarnate of a bobby jones. No just kidding I don¡¯t remember my name funnily enough that¡¯s the only thing I don¡¯t remember names¡­ anyways I died at 23 I was going to collage walking there and got hit by a truck. NOT! Bet I fooled ya there it always a truck. Except in my case I wasn¡¯t maybe that¡¯s why I got my memories back late or something. Anyways I was crossing a street between the school and the brick fence for the FBI building. I saw a truck flip on its side and start rolling towards me. Luckily I was paying attention and not looking at my phone at the time and I dodged the truck and it stopped. The end of its roll tipping the truck 4 feet past where I was standing. My only thoughts where ¡®sigh, ¡°Holy crap that was close¡±.¡¯ Then I saw a something flipping and got hit in the head and died. I found out after multiple dreams nightmares of the event later. It was a motorcycle that hit me one of the fast ones once I started paying attention to the dream and not screaming I saw it happen. The motorcyclist must have punched the gas to see how fast his bike could go. Then come around a curve and saw the stopped truck blocking traffic. Cuz I watched as he slammed his brakes skidding the lost control of the bike. He bailed off the bike backwards so it wouldn¡¯t run him over but the bike kept sliding. Eventually it hit the sidewalk curb and starting flipping through the air towards the FBI (Brick!) fence and guess what was between those two things? Me. I died on impact with the bike because I never did see the damage it did to the fence. I¡¯ve always wondered if the FBI covered it up or if the news made it a story? Anyways that was how I died and now I¡¯m here. What this leads me to is that I am a re-incarnated man from a first world country and I believe that man should have rights. I was proud of myself in my past life and I guess that has slowly leaked into this one. I won¡¯t stand for myself being a slave. So I am going to leave. Tonight! kit chapter 1.2: getting the gold I can understand why do males never made it out of the village packing up is rough! I keep thinking do I need this or should I take that? Finally I decided to only take the basics; my axe, two changes of cloths, and some travel expenses. I¡¯ve never really had to use gold here in the village everything is just charged to the family account and mom takes care of it. So I¡¯ve never bothered to try collecting myself a travel sum until three months ago when I started to plan. So far I have 3 gold which in my mind equates to nothing. Don¡¯t main chars in those novels always end up with thousands? I guess I¡¯ll just have to acquire it. For good purposes. Anyways anything important is kept in the family treasury, I once tried to slip in and modify my little sisters birthday present (a wand) so it would shoot out water at whoever used it. Sort of like the rubber banding your faucet trick. Anyways I didn¡¯t even make it through treasury door so now I need a good plan. No guards will stop me from wandering in the main house the problem is with the maids seeing me. No wait I¡¯m gone after today it doesn¡¯t matter if they see me! Awesome lets have some fun with this then... Finally I set my plan into motion I decided to keep everything a secret and still sneak in so I can prank them as I leave. As I get to the main door of the house I notice that there are 3 guards there. ''What in Gaia there should only be two why is there three today does someone know my plan today? But no that¡¯s impossible I haven¡¯t told anybody it must be coincidence''. The wood on the outside of the mansion is smooth but there is a small trellis on one side that goes two stories up and onto the roof. ''That¡¯s my in'' I think to myself. I sneak through the shadows when the guards aren¡¯t paying attention. Their muttering voices loud enough to cover my light footsteps. ¡°Did you see that shadow wolf yesterday on patrol? - Guard 1. ¡°Yeah I wonder of captain will send us out to subjugate it soon. No sense in letting it grow to big¡± said another. I made it to the trellis! Now to climb. Wow looking at this I didn¡¯t repair this with intent to climb it. The crisscross pattern of the trellis is made of small interlocking weave of branches, dead branches. ¡°This is kind of scary¡± I say ¡°I really hope this supports my weight.¡± putting one hand onto the fixture I test it and hear it creak. I repaired this a few months ago so it should hold me right? Only one way to find out. As I start climbing I decide to evenly put my weight between my hands and legs. No point is stressing out the wood further than I have to. It creaks as I slowly make my ascent. ¡°No problem¡± I tell myself it¡¯s just the movement causing it to make noise, its doing fine. Three quarters of the way up I feel the branches start to give under my left foot. I freeze and the branches continue to break. ''What next I fall?'' my blood is pumping in my ears as I slowly shift my weight onto my other three limbs and try to lift my foot above the weakened portion. Finally I¡¯m free and finish making my way to the top. I''m still breathing hard in adrenaline rush from the climb focusing my thoughts to calm myself i admit ''that freaked me out.'' There is a sky light from the roof into the attic I make my way over and apply some oil I brought in a small waist pack onto the hinges. Opening it up it makes noise for a second and then immediately begins to move silently. ''Perfect'' I think to myself. Sliding down into the attic I try to figure out just where I am in the house. I hear noise coming from the front to the left that sound like my mom so that should be her office. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. In that case the treasury room should be around 30 feet towards the north of her office. Stepping carefully on the rafters so I don¡¯t break through I make my way to where it¡¯s supposed to be. It¡¯s one door down from the office so I need to make sure I come down into the right room. Using a keyhole saw I brought with me, I slowly make a hole big enough to see out of in the ceiling. Looking down and... That¡¯s someone¡¯s head! I slowly put the pug back into the ceiling. Thank goodness I cut it in a way that most of the dust came out on top. How to take care of the guard... after a few min of thought here¡¯s my idea. 1. Drip water on guard using water magic through ceiling. 2. The guard will go tell groundskeeper that roof leaks. 3. When guard leaves shut and jam the door so it won¡¯t open. Commence plan ¡°AQUIRE¡± To start I make a pinhole in the ceiling above the guard so that the water will make it to her quickly (no one wants to wait for it to seep through the ceiling, I mean common) then I use magic to accumulate the water on the ceiling above the hole¡­ 5 min later, ¡°how long does it take stupid water to get through the ceiling this is taking forever.¡± After a few more minutes I hear the guard grunt ¡°where did this water come from? Oh man the mistress will kill me if she sees a stain on this uniform. I can¡¯t leave my post¡­hmm ill just wipe it off in the bathroom real quick.¡± Yes! She is finally leaving. Not like I intended but as long as it gets her out of the room. I listen as she pulls a bucket under the drip and opens the door to the bathroom. Opening a larger hole I jump down into the room and notice. She left the door open! Hurriedly I hide behind a shelf that¡¯s close and look towards the open doorway. I try and sneak towards it so no sound gets out and slowly shut it. Using my tools I jiggle the lock closed then fill the keyhole with earth magic. To make sure that no mage can open it quickly I jam my knife into the keyhole and using my weight break it leaving the tip of the knife within the door. ¡°That should do the trick¡± I mutter. ¡°now let¡¯s see what we have in here¡­ wow there¡¯s not as much as I thought there would be I guess I was expecting piles of jewels or something but there are only shelfs with items and gold neatly stacked onto them. ¡®I guess it makes it easier to count if it¡¯s in order.¡¯ Hmm lets grab a third of the gold in here I can¡¯t use any of the items and who knows how many have tracking sigils on them? Goldy Goldy here I come. Halfway through stuffing the gold into a sack I hear the guard come back, ¡°what in Gaia? Why won¡¯t the door open? Hey! Is anyone in there? No maybe I think I hear noise. I better go get the mistress.¡± As I hear her walking away I pick up the pace. Thinking crap now she is coming this will be bad if I am still here. Now instead of setting stuff in the sack I¡¯m throwing it in. time to go I tie a rope to the sack and crawl into the ceiling holding the end. As I slowly the sack up after me I hear the rafter shift a little under my weight. ¡®Man this is heavy, how am I getting out of here the trellis will never support all this weight¡¯. I need a distraction. kit chapter 1.3 : getting the gold part 2 As I sat in the rafters I wonder '' how the heck am I going to get this gold out of here?'' If I can¡¯t get it off the roof ill need to take it through the house. Which means there are two things that need to happen for me to get this gold out of here. The guards need to be distracted, and mom needs to leave so she won¡¯t get suspicious over weird activity. Mom should be fairly easy to take care of... Leaving my gold in the rafters I climb down the trellis and walked into the dark where I first started observing the house near the trail. Mom won¡¯t fall for any trick so I will need to talk to her and set something up. Standing up I walk confidently up to the three guards. Looking at their sword hilts flash in the light. ¡®I always did like our houses weapon designs'' I idly think to myself as I stroll by. Being the council member¡¯s son the guards allowed me access to her with no problems. As I strolled up into her office she looked at me with her piercing eyes, ¡°Kit what you want?¡± ¡°Hello mother I just came to see you!¡± I said. Mother responded, ¡°yes and pigs will fly, why are you here? I am busy. Get on with it.¡± ever since my little sister was born mom just got a lot less patient with me. I think she simply doesn¡¯t want to deal with me any longer. I am now her beloved trophy son. Something to look at from a distance and not touch. Although in my case I think it¡¯s more like trash trophy son in her eyes. What did I not give her I wonder as I begin to respond to her question? ¡°So mom sis is having an important award ceremony tomorrow that she is hiding from you and I was wondering if you are going to attend.¡± ¡°What ceremony I haven¡¯t heard anything about it? She responded with stars in her eyes. ¡°And where did you hear about this¡±. I speak, ¡°well I needed to clean the council chambers so they can have an important meeting there tomorrow.¡± ''And that¡¯s all I will say'' I think to myself. It¡¯s important to always mix truth in with your lies, I really was cleaning the council chambers earlier today for a meeting tomorrow. It¡¯s just that the important meeting had nothing to do with my sister and everything to do with local arguments. The city people get together occasionally to argue out any issues before a council member so they can act as judge. Think of it as a local city council. The law stated that 1 council member had to be in attendance at all of these meetings so they generally just hold the things there. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Luckily mom wasn¡¯t scheduled into this rotation for the meetings so she had no idea the next one is tomorrow. But she did know I was in that building today as she had sent a servant to get me at one point. A short discussion later and mom bought it hook line and sinker. She left immediately to ¡°prepare¡± if that¡¯s what you call picking out your dress and makeup the night before and planning a general fake impromptu speech (of how proud of your daughter you are). It makes me sick. I thought the guards were going to be the hardest part but mom just sent me to fix the ¡°leak¡± as she was on her way out the door. Of course she assigned me guards to watch over me as I entered the treasury and was there as they broke down the door. But once I pulled out my tools to work she decided to leave, typical. Anyways, sweet! Mom set me up perfectly getting a ladder I get up to the wet part of the ceiling and cut it out and place it into a trash bag I then climb into the rafters and place any ''trash'' I found up there made by the leak into the bag. 20 min of knocking around sounding like I¡¯m working on the leak later and I climb down and tell the guard that I fixed the roof, I¡¯m taking out the trash from the ceiling and that I¡¯ll be back tomorrow. I carried the gold on my shoulder right out the front door... Not bothering to drop the wet ceiling pieces I cut out off at the trash heap, I only head to my living quarters. As I open the door I shrug my shoulders working them free of the heavy load,¡± man that was heavy carrying it like that, I¡¯ll have to set it up so most of this weight is around my hips so it¡¯s easier to carry. I designed a backpack to take for this trip so I load the gold into it and I¡¯m ready to go. While I was at moms¡¯ house I already took care of the distraction that will hold them off from chasing me for a while. =============================================================================================================================== I had allot of fun writing this I''ve always enjoyed when the main character is able to pull one off on his captors in the story''s I read. So Kit walking out the front door with the gold on his shoulder (in sight of everyone) brought a smile on my face. kit chapter 1.4 : councils rage This is a slightly modified version of the teaser and some of the reason behind it Also note: Effective immediately the teaser is changing into an authors note explaining why I started this story please read! hopefully it will get other author to think a little more about the start of story''s. ============================================================================= Distraction failed! A quarter of the way to the edge of the forest I started hearing loud noise coming from the direction of the village. I couldn¡¯t think of a reason for it to become so loud so I started to walk faster. ¡®I hope that is them looking at the fire rather than chasing me¡¯ I think to myself. For a distraction I wanted to get all of the council members involved so that none of them were free to chase me. Because I don¡¯t want to get caught, for the last four miles I have been ducking into bushes avoiding sounds of patrols. But patrols are only getting more common this can only mean that the council members sent out their personal guards after me. I guess they were offended. Shoot I hear them coming!" I pause and hide watching as an attractive she-fox leading a squad of the black-iron kit guard sweep past my location. "It¡¯s not like I even did anything wrong... not really. OK maybe I shouldn''t have stolen all the clans¡¯ leader''s shoes and put it on the main path in-front of town hall. Or lit it on fire, but come-on! I was only helping them relax (and stop them from following this was the distraction)! Who doesn''t want to be free? And what better freedom than... ahem, anyways it was my goodbye gift to my mother and all the other she foxes making up the council. What better "goodbye forever" gift from a kitsune than a prank? Well maybe gold but I already took care of that ''giggle''. I took it right after the ''shoe incident'' I will call it. They deserved it anyways, and I deserve the gold to make up for my trauma. Trauma because their dirty rooms! the things I saw in there... and they say women are cleaner than men, Not These Women! (Darn elders can''t even clean up after yourselves). ulblrrp I think I threw up a little bit just remembering the crusty... ''shiver''." ''Did you hear that!? He''s here!'' "Oh crap they heard the bush as it shook with my shivering as I remembered my new trauma from the incident. Here they come! What do I do?! Uh Uh Uh MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!" Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Maybe I can confuse them with noise to escape. I hear them coming closer, it¡¯s Not a good time to pop up my head and have a look around, and so I keep my head down and stay quite my ears turning in their direction to listen as they approach. I can hear the captain speaking saying, ¡°Gaia! It¡¯s just a cat.¡± Soldier- ¡°um shouldn''t we check inside the bush?¡± Captain- ¡°if you want to go ahead! I will stand watch to make sure it doesn''t escape¡±. Soldier1- ¡°um I''m good, I just brushed my tail this morning and it takes forever to get it right ¡°. ¡®Holy cow! The most elite combat unit in the kitsune forces and they don''t want cat hair and bush in their fur? I wish I could have known this before! I could have gotten back at Alicia and maybe even the whole kit barracks!¡¯ ¡±ARRG!" Captain -¡°what was that?! It sounds like it''s a wounded beast¡±. Soldier2- ¡°yes what a terrifying noise! When we get back let''s alert the commander so we can kill it once it comes out of its hole. Cuz I''m not crawling in after a wounded animal that sounds like that. Let¡¯s get it when it comes out.¡± Captain- ¡°soldiers we will report this later, the commander will have our tails if we don''t find kit and bring him back.¡± Soldier1- ¡°I heard that the council is putting a lot of pressure on the commander to find him and bring him back. What''s the point? It¡¯s just a male. He probably can''t survive out alone anyways.¡± Captain- ¡°girls what you don''t know can''t hurt you. But between us I heard he held all the town elders hostage in front of the town hall. How anyone could hold the most powerful of our race hostage at the same time I have no idea. But he is dangerous. So find him!¡± Kit- "what did I just hear? Hahaha I guess they didn''t want the truth spread. The council members don''t want it to be known that someone stole their stuff, or just didnt want anyone to see the disaster zone that starts at their bedroom door. so they changed the crime location and said that I held them hostage. The council members must really want to catch me if they spread a rumor like that. The only way to muster 100% of the kitsune forces is when it involves the safety of us as a people, or something threatens the safety of the council. So if the council is spreading a rumor regarding their safety.... i better get out of here. It was all worth it though, Oh man that was fun. I guess I should really leave because even the gaurds sound really angry, goodbye forest hello world!" kit chapter 2.1 Again, just a notice that i changed the teaser into an authors rant. Please read this rant! feel free to comment. =================================================================================== Grass, Grass, GRASS!!! I¡¯m so sick of grass! ¡°This sucks,¡± I state. It¡¯s been 3 days since I got out of the forest and at this point all can see in any direction is grass. ARRG it¡¯s driving me crazy. The first day was awesome I finally got away from the proverbial pit that was home and was feeling emotionally high as a kite I could sing! And I don¡¯t sing. The feeling of coming out of the forest into the unknown and to top it off it was not where I expected. So exiting! About half of the Araparaho Forest borders the Altreya Desert a place where no kitsune will go if they can help it. I haven¡¯t figured out why, I just know that any female kitsune that they have sent out on diplomacy missions only speak of that place with shivers and say they are never going back. (Mom says it¡¯s made it hard to really establish an alliance with the desert people when they are always seeing a new face. ¡°Hard to build up trust,¡± she says.) Anyways that was where I planned to leave to. After being chased all around the forest I have no plans on being captured and a place where no kitsune go sounds like the perfect place for me. I mean that seriously because those guards sounded furious to be chasing after me for so long, and from the sounds of it, the council members were angrier by an order of magnitude. So my plan was to go to the desert where no one will go to find me. Just in case they decide to send pursuers out beyond kitsune land (mostly northern Araparaho Forest) from my earth memories sending troops into other territories is a big no-no but I¡¯m not taking any chances. So desert it is. I had actually planned to go there anyways just to see what all the hype was about. After all the female kitsune were @#$% so maybe it wasn¡¯t so bad after all and they were over reacting. After all they are females who can¡¯t get bush or cat hair into their fur (snigger). But long story short I ended up in the grassland. To be honest all the maps I¡¯ve looked at only go shortly beyond the forest but shouldn¡¯t this hell have ended yet? Wait I see a road! Yes let¡¯s follow this and see where it goes. ''and by lets follow this road I mean I will follow this road...'', because I¡¯m board and alone I start singing as I walk along the raid, ¡°cuz I¡¯m all alone there¡¯s no one here beside me...¡± As I walk along the road singing I see something approaching from the distance I¡¯ve been walking along this road for another day so far and the only thing I¡¯ve seen is?.... you guessed it grass ''this sucks'' I think to myself, ''I hope I don¡¯t walk on this road forever. Hopefully the thing I see in the distance is somebody and not some lone tree out in the middle of nowhere with me.¡±siggggggh¡± as the dot grows larger I can make out more. It¡¯s a wagon! Approaching on the dirt road I can see it so far out because the road is really strait actually. The wagon doesn¡¯t have a top or at least not one that I can see I was kind of expecting to see a covered wagon if they used wagons in this world but I guess I won¡¯t see it today. Anyways there are two outriders on the left of the wagon one walks and the other is following slightly behind the wagon on a brown horse. Still singing I can see as they get into range of my voice. One of them waves at me as the others cup their ears to listen harder so I start singing louder. The man who was walking along the wagon starts to run towards me waving his arms over his head back and forth like someone at a rave. As he sprints, I mean staggering towards me and shouting something,¡±stop singing stop! My ears I can¡¯t take it any longer they are bleeding.¡± oh he wants me to stop sing, wait... how is my singing related to his ears bleeding? How rude. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. As the man staggers and falls in front of me I say ¡°hello how was my singing?''. Man-¡±miss please NEVER do that again!¡± ¡°miss he called me miss! What the heck! Anyone can see I¡¯m a man right? I mean it¡¯s not like I¡¯m wearing a dress I¡¯m wearing casual forest attire, a tan homespun shirt with rough brown homespun pants. Wwhat the heck why is he calling me a woman? No wait maybe I can use this to my advantage and put myself in a position of authority. No I can¡¯t do it I can¡¯t let him call me a girl, I can¡¯t do it. It goes against all my dignity! So I respond ¡°please call me kit and I¡¯m no miss¡±. Man-¡°well kit as well intentioned as you are I would ask that you never again sing in my presence¡± my ears droop sadly ¡°alright I won¡¯t. Anyways what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡±My name is Royells I¡¯m one of the hired guards for old Jon over there¡± he points at the driver of the wagon as he rolls closer. ¡°Jon¡¯s headed to rolls village down the road for some trading on his route where are you going traveler?¡± ¡°I¡¯m was on my way to the Altreya Desert but I¡¯m currently lost will this road take me there? man-¡±yep you¡¯re traveling along the fastest route to get there from here, why don¡¯t you travel with us to the next village and I can give you directions from there. It¡¯s all in the same direction.¡± kit-¡±alright¡± -------------------- As we travel I start to get more information on this world from Royells. Royells is an adventurer hired out through the adventurer¡¯s guild which is a group of people who take on odd requests for anyone paying, and by odd I mean they¡¯ll do anything. From finding your cat to guarding a caravan so long as you will pay the adventuring guild will do it. The guild is a lower ranking guild in the kingdom but is still popular because of how easy it is to get in. Royells is still relatively young in the business at 18. He started to tell me Joz age but she slammed him. Scary! This whole time Joz has been staring at me and it¡¯s kind of creepy sometimes she gets this happy grin. Joz POV: ¡°ahhh he looks so cute look at those twitching ears I bet they are soft I see why the rumors of kitsune being high priced slaves got spread. Look at that tail I wouldn¡¯t mind a kitsune slave to pet. Look at that tail I could just cuddle with that thing forever if it¡¯s as soft as it looks.¡± Royells POV: ¡°Is it a man? He told me not to call him miss but that does mean it¡¯s not female sometimes girls are just touchy like that. All weird over titles like mam or miss. I¡¯ve gotten in big trouble for getting that wrong before so maybe she doesn¡¯t want to be called miss? Ahhh I can¡¯t tell!¡± kit chapter2.2 battle This is my first fight scene Ive ever written so don''t be afraid to make suggestions please. I made it a short chapter by itself instead of including it in the last chapter so a can get specific feed back on this portion of writing (the fight). Thankyou! ================================================================================ I¡¯m still talking to Royells when I look onto the grasslands on the side and see movement. Watching the grass wave I see something top out on a small rise in the grass. Shadow wolfs! I¡¯ve only seen them from a distance and only a few at a time as the kit guard keeps them away from the village. But out here they run wild. Shadow wolfs will only attack groups smaller and weaker than themselves. Another reason they never attack the village, only an idiot attacks a village of magicians. Their backs are just shorter than the grass allowing them to hide anywhere in the planes. The only notice you get of an attack is what I¡¯m seeing right now. The grass bends in a moving V that approaches you directly where the wolf pushes it out of its way. One V is almost right on me I pull out my hatchet and step my left foot back into a small crouch readying myself to defend. All of the sudden I see a mouth gaping at me from the grass large teeth approaching my face! ''This is nothing like training with dad'' I think to myself, ''this is terrifying'' as the wolf lunges I dodge its teeth by bending backwards and sliding/spinning to my left my tail extending out to help keep balance. Looking over my shoulder I see the wolf changing direction quickly for another pass. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. This time I ready my axe keeping the axe head even with my eyes ready to swing down or across to block its attack. It springs at me again! I swing my axe at its head but I¡¯m too slow leading the axe to connect into its neck the blade running from just past its jaw and into the top of the breast bone. Luckily the mana coating allows the blade to slide out of the cut freely and the wolf starts to bleed out. All of the sudden I feel a pain on my ankle ''he bit me'', I think looking down at the wolf that had sneak attacked me while I wasn¡¯t looking. The wolf on my ankle swings his head back and forth trying to knock my off balance and off my feet to where I will be easier prey, and with a final tug I fall on my back looking as that dang wolf approaches on my off hand, the one that¡¯s not holding anything. To finish me off. Its lunging at me so I do the only thing I can I cast my limited magic at it. ¡°Feeraegh!¡± I say and a small fire is emitted from my hands burning the wolf and lighting a small portion of its fur on fire. That¡¯s the last thing I see before I passed out from exhaustion, my thoughts circling ''I knew I didn¡¯t have enough mana to do that and stay awake''. kit chapter 2.3 I woke up with my whole body in pain form the fight. ¡°What is that feeling on my tail?¡± I turn my head to the side and see Joz walking behind the wagon my tail in her grasp. ¡®What the heck¡¯ as she sees me open my eyes she quickly drops my tail and ignores me. ¡®Now she ignores me! Maybe this is better but what do I say now? This is so awkward. I look around and notice that I am riding on the very back of the wagon barely on the lip. ¡°Who put me here?¡± I manage to whisper clearing my throat so I can speak better and actually be heard I say it again, ¡°who put me here?¡± this time the sound carries and Jon the wagon master looks back. ¡°Humph¡± he said, ¡°you¡¯re lucky I decided to even bring you along, I should have left you back where you fell. Who knows if you¡¯re a bandit or a thief trying to get at my cargo? Someone conveniently meets us along the path in the middle of nowhere and says he¡¯s lost.¡± He eyes me suspiciously. ¡°Well now that your awake you can walk so get out of the wagon please. I¡¯m watching you so don¡¯t touch any merchandise as you get off!¡± ¡°What in Gaia! Rude¡±-of course I don¡¯t actually say that but I was thinking it. Who does that if he was that suspicions I wonder why he didn¡¯t leave me back there. I walk up to Royells,¡± what¡¯s up with the old man? He is¡­ I don¡¯t even know what to call him¡±. Royells smiles queerly and tells me, ¡°yeah he¡¯s always been like that the whole time me and Joz have been hired with him. I don¡¯t know his problem but he is abnormally paranoid. Anyways you¡¯re still with us so it¡¯s all ok. What happened on your side of the fight? I saw you take out one wolf then fall down and light a wolf on fire? Did you throw oil on it or something?¡± He asks. His eyes showing excitement and expectation as he looks at me. ¡°Well I knocked that one wolf away with my axe and it was bleeding pretty well so I figured that he was a dead wolf. But then one of the other wolfs snuck in and pulled me off my feet. Then I casted fire magic on it to keep it away. That¡¯s all I remember, what happened after that?¡± ¡°Fire magic awesome! You can cast magic? You the man-uh-fox! That¡¯s cool I¡¯ve never learned magic I know a little body strengthen but not enough to use in a fight. Magic is really hard to learn I rely in this ¡°he said patting his sword. ¡°This always has my back. So back to your question. After that the wolfs got scared of the fire and ran off. By the way I wouldn¡¯t suggest using fire magic on a grassy plain I think half the reason old Jon is mad at you is because of that you really threatened his merchandise. But magic is that why you fainted? I hear if you don¡¯t have enough mana to cast a spell magicians become extremely weak. ¡°He said with his eyes still shimmering. Just how exited is this guy about magic he keeps steering the conversation back to it I guess I better give him a general overview. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s why. When a magician doesn¡¯t have enough mana to cover the cost of a spell it takes the reminder from your stamina or strength making you weak. If there still isn¡¯t enough it can even make up some of the cost by using your life force, which is why magicians are seen as week skinny people after all if your life force is taken it¡¯s different from being weakened. It makes it easier to get sick, wounds don¡¯t recover as quickly, if magicians take it too far there can be brain damage or even death.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.¡°Um wow¡±, Royells responds, ¡°that is kinda scary I guess now I know why mom never wanted me to become a magician. Still it was soo cool looking over towards you and seeing a wolf lit up like a bonfire! I wish I could do that but I¡¯m not willing to put in the effort to learn something that can kill me.¡± ¡°I told you. That only happens when magicians take it too far. Actually it is quite safe if exhausting. But I understand wanting to stick with what you know. How long before we get to the village? I might be able to teach you to light a fire if you want, I¡¯m board anyways.¡± ¡°Really? Sweet! We have an hour before we get there.¡± ------------ One hour later ¡°Ohhh my head¡± Royells groans, ¡°why did I let you teach me? Magic just makes my head hurt and I still haven¡¯t been able to produce the slightest sign of flame.¡± ¡°Oh come on Royells making magic is just like using your muscles you got to build it up you didn¡¯t learn how to swing a sword in a day. I bet you couldn¡¯t even hold the sword for an hour on your first day but you are close to an hour working with magic. You¡¯re just tired you¡¯ll recover tomorrow¡± I smirk ¡°mostly recover...¡± We rode into a small village nothing to exiting I was excited to see it until we rode in and I realized it was just a couple of houses grouped together. All I can see are livestock and fences that must be the only thing this village produces. The only farm plots look big enough only to feed individual families. ¡°Well kit¡± Royalls states, ¡°this is where we separate were going north into the next village as soon as Jon trades for some animal hides and rope from here. Just take that road going south and it will curve into the Desert. Just a warning though don¡¯t go off the road there are dangers that only the desert people know or so I¡¯ve heard. Everyone I¡¯ve ever talked to said never to separate from the road no matter what you see. Good luck. If you¡¯re ever in the capitol look me up at the adventures guild if I¡¯m not on a mission it could be fun to hang out again. Goodbye!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come visit eventually¡± I shout. Royells just lifts his hand and waves at me never pausing in his walk back to Old Jon¡¯s wagon. ¡®Well he was interesting. Nice guy though¡¯ I think to myself. Turning I start walking in a southern direction. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It didn¡¯t end up in the story but to get Old Jon back, Kit asked Royells to slip some powdered sugar into all of Jon''s spare pairs of britches. The next day for Jon ¡°its sticky why are my pants sticky? And the flies won¡¯t stop what is happening today!!!¡± kit chapter 2.4 small town blues Looking around me as I stand in the middle of a small town I think to myself ''What now?'' I cant figure out a plan. I was exited walking up almost skipping but now that I''m here I realize that this is just an overlarge village really. My plan was to find some kind of a guild job something with allot of people so I wouldn¡¯t be discriminated against. after all from what I''m aware everyone I''ve seen so far is human. and I''ve never really heard of any other kitsune clans. But, that could just be because males aren¡¯t allowed in politics. But in a small town like this that might be hard. From what I remember in small towns outsiders (most of the time) aren¡¯t really welcome. Something about seeing the same faces and knowing everyone making them unwilling to change or invite someone new into there cozy reality. That will really limits my options if these people are not welcoming. I have what money I can carry in my pouch and backpack but I don¡¯t know how long it will last me. I guess I''ll find a hotel..inn Ill find and inn. As I go through the, town, I see two buildings houses really; next to each other. They have signs that might mean they are both inns. ''Huh, two inns for this dinky little town is surprising.'' One has an axe sign and the other a animal of some sort, I think I''ll just go with the animal, thank you very much. --- ¡°Hello¡±, someone says as I walk through the door with the bell on it jingling ¡°I will be right with you in a second.¡± A large lady comes around the corner into the entry as I''m standing and stops after seeing me. Closing one eye slightly giving her face a twisted look and staring as she starts to speak. ¡°Well, what can I do for you today?¡±she asks. ¡°Hello, is this an inn?¡± She rolled her brown eyes dirty blonde hair shaking a little at the movement, ¡°No its a mumble mumble, yes! this an inn, The Wolfs Head¡±. (I get the feeling she doesn¡¯t have too many customers (wry face))This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°I would like to stay the night how much is it?¡±, She looks at me speculatively the left eye closing even more giving her a misshapen appearance ¡°One gold royal per night¡± Time to try my bargaining''¡°One gold royal!? that is way to expensive! You are trying to rob me! Why, on the way here I was only charged 50 copper to sleep a night!¡±, Yes! that should get her price down. ¡°Well that¡¯s too bad isn¡¯t it sonny? You can try the inn across the street thank you." She smiles as she showed me out the door. ''What just happened to me? I wasn¡¯t even in there for twenty breaths and got shoved out the door'' I think to myself stunned at the treatment. Well no matter what happens I need to sleep and I''d rather it be in a bed so I go to the inn across the street. A large dark haired man waits behind a small counter in the entrance sitting and, what is he doing? I just hear some cracking noises. Looking over the counter I see him snapping beans into a bucket. ¡°What?¡± he tells me as I lean over. ¡°Hi I''m just here looking to stay at your inn.¡±¡±Twenty silver¡±.... ¡°Is that for a night or, and food?¡± I am hopeful when asking. ¡°Twenty silver will get you a bed for the night. Food is paid for separately, 40 silver extra.¡± With him looking up as he responds I see a craggy face well worn with the same brown eyes as the lady across the street. ¡°Well that¡¯s much more reasonable than prices across the street. That lady drove me out by asking prices so high.¡± ¡°She drove you out the door?¡± ¡°Yes quite unkindly I might say.¡± ¡°Sorry we have no room in this inn all rooms taken, goodbye.¡± And with that I''m shoveled out the door by him too. ¡°What is wrong with this town!!!" Waking up with a knot in my back is the worst! I think it going to take a while before I get out of bed. Sleeping in the straw was not my best idea. Really the only option though, when the only two inns in town kick you out! I think furiously. Today all I have on the agenda is getting some more food and water and setting off for the desert trail ''nothing in town to keep me here anyways. All that¡¯s in this town is Stinky, Grumpy, Rude, Messed-Up People! My lack of a good nights rest might be kicking in. I don¡¯t have any way to get those innkeepers back right now but if I''m ever back this way.... Wax and wires. They Will Regret This! Maybe, if I ever come here again.