20 - Kikko & Fokko!

“Why am I here?”

I stood inside my mind palace, safe and warm with Hooty there to welcome me as usual.

But I don’t remember coming in here.

“Hooty, did something happen to me?”

“Hoot.”

I stared at the holographic screen to see a first-person view of myself, staring straight into the white fox’s eyes; the last thing I remembered before waking in my mind palace. Here where I’m safe in my own mind, I can now see what really happened.

“Was I put under some sort of spell?”

It appeared so. The aura emanating from the white fox was so intimidating I felt it even in my own mind, from a video playback. And those eyes…

“Hypnosis, maybe?”

“Hoohoo,” Hooty agreed.

I’m under some sort of spell that’s keeping me incapacitated, just like those goblins I saw earlier. But why?

“Its child was injured by those poisonous thorns growing all over the place… if it doesn’t get treatment soon, it might die.”

“Hoo…”

“Why am I thinking of that fox in this situation? I’m just trying to piece things together. It’s safe to assume to protect her injured child, the mother put those goblins under her spell to prevent any further harm…”

Could it be… it was the white fox’s job to defend the Tranquil Forest while Mister B was hibernating?

“Yes… and the reason why some goblins managed to sneak through was because the white fox was busy tending to her child, leaving the defenses lax this time…”

“Hoo!”

“That’s right, if I can prove to her I mean no harm, we can work together to drive out those monsters. First, I’ll have to cure the child. I already have the antidote on hand, but the problem is breaking away from the spell… The white fox should be focusing all her energy on maintaining her hypnosis on those goblins; so as long as I can break free, I should be able to deliver the antidote.”

“Hoohoot.”

“What do you mean, I’ve grown smarter? I was never dumb, it just took me a while to get used to things is all…”

“Hoot.”

“What do you mean I’m just unaware?”

“Hoo…”

“’See’? See what?” I asked in confusion, only to receive a sigh of exasperation. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter right now! Think… why did I end up here while under the influence of hypnosis? Uhh…”

How DID I end up here?

“Whatever! The important bit is to figure out how to break free of that hypnosis, and for that- Hooty, nuudle ‘how break free hypnosis’ for me, please!”

*

In essence, simply knowing you are under hypnosis is half the battle won. The rest is up to sheer willpower; focus your mind, believe you can awaken from the spell cast upon you, see yourself as unshakable, and-

“URAAAAHH!!”

I gasped, my eyes wide open as I found myself once again in the real world. When I looked up to see the white fox, her eyes has lost their mesmerizing gaze.

“I… I did it…!”

Thank you Nuudle!

There was no time to rest. Immediately after I’d broken free from the hypnosis, the white fox attempted to recast the same spell on me as I felt my consciousness fade away once again. This time however, I was prepared.

Slowly, while resisting the spell, I moved forward one heavy step at a time. As the white fox’s gaze grew fiercer, my eyes were pulled into her line of sight, feeling the energy draining out of me by the second.

Cold winds began to howl. Suddenly, the grass beneath my feet turned into deep snow, making every step a struggle. An icy gust hit my face like a razor-sharp blade as I began to shiver, my skin starting to flush with an odd, feverish warmth-

It’s not real. Focus. It’s not real-

It was an arduous task, but I finally managed to make it to the white fox’s feet, next to the little fox. It was then that the white fox stood up, circling around her child. In response, I drew both my blades.

And threw them onto the ground.

“Please, trust me…” I retrieved the powdered antidote from my backpack, presenting it to the white fox as she stared at me intently.

As though sensing my intentions, the white fox stepped away from her child, but the hallucinations didn’t end. Battered by the imaginary snowstorm, my hands quaked from unreal frostbite as I clumsily unfolded the packaging holding the antidote.

How should I administer it…?

The little fox was weakened, but liquids should still be doable. I poured the powder into my leather bottle, shaking it as best I could to dissolve it in the water inside. I took a swig to show the white fox it wasn’t more poison, then slowly dripped the antidote into the little one’s mouth.

Little by little I fed it the antidote, every last drop.

“T-t-that… s-ssshould do it…”

Resisting the spell was taking a toll on my strength; by the time I’d administered the antidote, I was completely exhausted, letting go and allowed the white fox to take over my mind once again.

It’ll be fine, she’ll release me once the little one’s recovered. Hopefully…

*

Expecting to be moved back into my mind palace, I instead found myself in a vast plain of endless snow, not unlike in the real world. Although a blizzard raged on, I felt no cold whatsoever despite my scarf fluttering violently in the wind.

What really cemented the fact I was in some dream-like space was the white fox in front of me, alongside her child still full of life scampering about in the snow.

The white fox didn’t speak, instead delivering intent directly into my mind. It was strange; there were no words nor sounds, just an amalgamation of emotions. But I understood.

“This is where… your daughter? I see.”

I watched as the environment changed to one of the Tranquil Forest, the situation unfolding before my very eyes; the little fox cutting herself on the thorn, the white fox with her hands full dealing with the monster threat, unable to find help in the winter, finally settling down where I first encountered them, waiting for the little one to pass on.

“You still stuck to your duty of guarding the forest, despite your child’s condition.”

With Mister B’s hibernation, the white fox would take over his duty of protecting the forest until he awoke once again. Because of the increasing number of monsters from deep within, the white fox had no choice but to hold them here, latching on to the slim chance that help would arrive.

“And the I showed up.”

Not knowing if I was friend or foe, the white fox then placed me under the spell, until I managed to break free. And then the ensuing events…

“So, since you allowed me to treat your child… does that mean you trust me?”

The white fox blinked, and a wave of emotion flooded into me. First of fear, then shock, then gradual acceptance and hope. When a feeling of great relief came over me, I opened my eyes to find myself once again in the real world.

“Auu…” The little fox whined, resting in her mother’s abundant, bushy tail.

Phew.

I managed to survive through this ordeal. Immediately after getting up, I looked around for Woolie only to find him fast asleep on the ground beside me, drooling and snoring away.

“Looks like everyone’s okay.”

The white fox stepped closer, the air becoming noticeably cooler as she did.

She was quite the majestic creature, too big to be any breed of fox I know from Earth. Her features differed slightly too, having two prominent feather-like… things protruding from her head between her ears. Her tail was much larger than ones I’ve seen on Earth; I could probably dive in and disappear under all that fluff.

“Auu!”

The little fox stepped forward, licking my toes. She was no doubt still weakened by the poison, but her activeness suggested she’d been cured.

“Isn’t that great?” I cautiously picked up the little one, and after a nod from the white fox, I held her close to my cheek, feeling the cool air radiating from her tiny head. “Hehe, you’re so cute.”

Now then, on to the next problem…

We still had an issue, one of the green variety.

“What to do about these goblins…”

I’d assume it was fine to simply dispose of them, as demonstrated by Mister B, but…

As the white fox raised her head, the horde of goblins began making their way deeper inside the forest, slowly shuffling their feet forward.

“Are you alright?”

The white fox appeared to be exhausted, her pained expression revealing the fatigue buildup from the amount of energy she must have spent just to keep them at bay.

“At this rate, I don’t think the spell will hold, and the goblins will be back anyway.”

I picked up my blades, preparing myself for the deed that must be done.

“Can you hold them still? I’ll do the rest.”

*

“Hah… hah…”

I rested against a tree, exhausted. While the task was simple, the nature of the job drained me; likely to traumatize any ordinary kid for the rest of their life.

I did my best not to look around, trying my hardest not to throw up as the bodies were moved away to be disposed of. The animals who’d been missing all this time finally came out of hiding, dragging away the corpses done in by my hands.

Sniffle…

The tears trickling down my face froze, crumbling away into frost as I made an effort to wipe at my runny nose with my hand, only to find it splattered in red, making things worse.

I’d used my serrated blade thinking it’d get the job done faster. The resulting red pooling on the entire edge was so dark, so sticky it’d take forever to clean off. Even then, it’s so contaminated I don’t think I ever want to use it again, and simply decided to let the transport animals take it away with the rest.

“Muu-”

“Woolie? Don’t come too close. I don’t wanna soil your wool with all this blood on me, hehe… sniff.”

“Muu!”

“Yeah… I’ll go clean myself off. Oh, the spring’s frozen over, isn’t it? Umm… I’ll fire up a bath when we get home. Uh…”

My trail of though faded away. I sighed, looking up at the clear, blue sky wishing it’d turn so cloudy the rain will wash the stains away.

“No, snap outta it, Riko!”

I slapped myself on the cheek a little too hard.

“Oww…”

Whatever happens, happens. I’ll just have to move on and look forward to the next day.

“Isn’t that right, Woolie?”

“Muu?” Woolie didn’t understand the meaning of my words, but my reinvigorated smile seemed to have set him at ease.

“Okay, let’s head back before-”

I stumbled as soon as I tried getting up.

“Whoops, guess I’m still tuckered out from all that swinging and stabbing, haha-”

Something cold grasped the collar of my tunic, picking me up effortlessly.

“Huh? W-wait, don’t touch my clothes with your mouth! You might get an infection-”

I sank into a bed of fluff as the white fox plopped me down onto Woolie’s back.

“Ahh… Woolie’s wool!” I cried out as red hand prints stained the comforting white as I lifted my arms.

“Auu!” the little fox whined as she climbed onto my shoulder.

“You too?”

I was too tired to argue as we left the glade, led by the white fox. We soon arrived at a spring, frozen solid by the blizzard and likely to stay frozen for the rest of winter.

“Kuu!”

It was the first time I’d heard the cry of the white fox, resonating inside my ears and soothing my mind.

Then immediately put me in a state of shock as a stream of blue flames erupted from her open mouth, setting the spring ablaze.

“What the heck?!”

I fell off Woolie’s back, watching as the ice melted into the clear waters I used to fish in, gradually steaming up from the heat.

“No way…”

Was that magic? Fire magic?!

Of course, the existence of magic was all but confirmed to me when I met the white fox, but seeing something so visceral as spewing flames was the thing that really set it in stone for me.

But as amazing as it was, there’s something much more important for me to take care of, something I couldn’t ignore any longer.

“Bath time!”

I hastily filled my bottle full of hot water, making sure to clean the blood off my hands. Then my face, and my body…

“I’ll do my clothes later!”

I jumped into the steaming bath, sending a wave of warmth throughout my battered body.

“Oooh…”

Once I was neck deep in, I simply closed my eyes and relaxed, soaking in the rejuvenating bath the white fox had so kindly prepared for me.

“This is… my first hot bath since coming here…”

I could feel my face melting from the heat, but I didn’t care. Here in this spring, in the corner of this forest, atop the highlands in the middle of nowhere, a tiny spot so insignificant it wouldn’t show on any maps; here I felt bliss I’d never known possible.

“Muu…”

“Come here, Woolie. Let’s get you washed up.”

“Muuhuu!”

“Ah… I wonder what it’d be like to look up at the stars from here.”

“Auu!”

The little fox wrapped her tail around my neck, as if providing me with a temporary scarf to replace my bloodied one laying on the bank. You’d think the heat would be too much for me sitting inside a hot spring, but the little fox’s cold body had the opposite effect.

I’m not good with names, but…

“… How’s Fokko sound for a name?”

“Auu?”

“And your name can be… Kikko?” I turned to the white fox.

Amazingly, she nodded, as if she’d understood my every word.

“Hehe, quit licking my face, Fokko, your tongue’s real cold!”

“Auu!”

“Hehe, no really, stop, it’s freezing. Oh- ow, owowowowow it’s frozen!”

The sun was already setting by the time I’d washed my clothes and made my way back home, waving goodbye to my newfound friends.

*

I couldn’t fall asleep, rolling about in bed as Woolie snoozed on the wooden floorboards, cooled by the winter winds. I spent what felt like hours staring at the ceiling, thinking not of the monsters I’d slain today, but of Fokko and Kikko.

I’d seen something similar to a lesser extent with Mister B, but what I witnessed today really made an impact on me.

I quietly got out of bed, tiptoeing to the kitchen counter where the crudely drawn doodle still hung on the wall, my mind filled with thoughts I had to put aside everyday lest I spiraled down into nihilism.

“This person has to be my mother.”

She had to be. There was no other feasible answer, but the uncertainty still gnawed at me. How could I be completely devoid of memories of someone so important in my life?

“If you really are my mother, why’d you leave me here alone…? I’d do anything for those memories in exchange for my Earth mother’s. Ah, god, why’d you force me to retain memories of the one person I wanted to forget?”

Eventually I shuffled back into bed, my questions remaining unanswered. Perhaps I might one day dream of the time we spent together I couldn’t recollect, but today was not that day.

*

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

Steady, rhythmic pulsing. Like a heart, the black blob beats. Slowly, so slowly it couldn’t possibly sustain life. But it beats. Bidding its time. Slow and steady.

Heartbeat.

Thump thump thump-

Pulsate.

Thump thump thump-

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump…