Return of the Fox

Mary woke up and got dressed while moving as carefully as possible so Vivian wouldn’t wake up. She then left through the window, opening and closing it slowly so no one would be woken up by the doors unlocking or the window slamming against anything.

A nice morning chill was present in the air. The early morning sky was clear, though grey clouds loomed far in the distance.

She walked over to the ledge and dangled her legs off of it before dropping down.

No one could be seen or heard, nor had anyone been seen or heard the day before. It seemed the townspeople didn’t dare to leave their homes unless necessary.

I will need to check on the townspeople later.

Mary walked behind the orphanage, through the fields, and into the barn. It looked exactly the same as it had the previous day.

There were no new footprints near or inside the barn. An eerie silence could be felt throughout the entire town, but out in the barn, before the sun had fully risen, the silence was deafening. It was as though everything else in the world stood still.

Mary removed the three crystals Vivian charged the night before from her pocket.

Red markings peaked through the crystal’s otherwise pitch black exterior.

The first crystal she laid beneath the door on its side. The second crystal was placed so it would come into contact with the door if it was opened enough to allow a person to leave. The final crystal was balanced above the door using a combination of sticks, plant fibers, and tension in such a way that it would fall behind the door as soon as it was opened.

Once the crystals were in place, she headed over to the center of Woodside, watching the sky on her way. At the rate the clouds moved it, it was going to rain tonight.

All thirteen of Woodside’s alters sat in a row, preventing the crossroads at the heart of Woodside from diverging into a third path. The altars were each made of a glossy black rock. Their surfaces had been carved to be as flat as possible. The edges looked sharp enough to break skin with the slightest pressure.

Only one of the thirteen altars had any offerings. It was a series of incense sticks placed on an altar near the center, the last of which was still burning. No smell came from the incense and its smoke disappeared after traveling a meter in a straight line upwards, unaffected by the light breeze. The word ‘Magic’ had been etched into the front and rear faces of the altar.

The other altars had similar words etched into them; War, Law, Communication, Famine, Nature, Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind marked the intact altars while Chaos, Strife, and Death marked the shattered altars.

Mary tried to pick up a piece of one of the shattered altars only for her hand to bump into and invisible wall a meter away from it.

Going off of appearance alone I would say they are made of obsidian, but the grains growing back there looked like wheat and corn but were neither.

“Miss me?” The fox creature crawled on top of Mary and leapt from her shoulders onto the altar labeled ‘War.’ The only time she felt the creature was when its fur brushed against her face. It was smaller than it typically appeared this time, similar in size to a normal fox, though its tails appeared more tentacle-like and its claws more resembled that of a cat’s. “You know you’ve been making quite the name for yourself here? Getting me in trouble. How could you?” The creature feigned sincerity.

Mary scanned the area to see if anyone might be watching. “How is Lena?” She dodged the question.

“She’s fine, she’s fine.” The creature looked into Mary’s eyes. “Relax. If anyone sees you, they’ll just think you're praying or something. They won't be able to see me unless I want them too.” A sound like fingernails against a chalkboard assaulted Mary’s ears as the fox creature scratched its claws against War’s altar.

“Has she started going back to school?” Mary ignored the noise.

“Yeah, first day and she already beat some kid up, a lot nicer than you would’ve been about it as well, you should be proud.” The creature continued to scratch the altar.

“Was it Blaine? If so, he probably deserved it. I had to fix a lot of problems the Morrison’s created back on Earth.”

“I believe his name was something like that.” The creature etched a fox face into the altar. “She also taught some old hag's class for her; you should’ve seen the look on her face when she lost that gambit.” The creature’s face morphed into the extremely irritated, twitchy face of Mrs. White for a moment before it broke into a fit of almost hyena-like laughter.

Mary’s eyes narrowed. “What is she planning this time? She would not have done that without a reason.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, I’m sure Lena will figure it out.” The creature disappeared then reappeared on Communication’s altar.

“Lena is smart, she will catch on soon if she has not already caught on.”

The fox creature scratched a fox face into the altar then flicked over to famine’s altar to do the same. “Uh huh.” It hopped over to Nature’s altar then looked at Mary.

Mary shrugged.

The creature shrugged back then pounced back onto War’s altar.

Mary knocked on the invisible wall surrounding the altars. “What is this?”

“Ohhhhhh, riiiiiiight. That’s what I came here for.” The creature contorted, snapped, then stuffed one of its paws deep enough into its fur it should have gone through its body and come out the other side. “I completely forgot there are certain places you won’t be able to go because you aren’t supposed to be here.” The creature removed a key from its body.

It was a golden key with a hexagonal handle leading to a blade that bent itself into the front half of a cube's edges.

Mary reached out her hand. “How does it work?”

“Like this.” The creature stabbed Mary with the key then turned it. “Click.” It said.

The world froze around them. Rather than wounding Mary, the key warped and contorted the space nearby, creating a whirlpool of nothingness in the gaps surrounding it..

The creature waved the key around haphazardly while it was still inside Mary. “Bvvvvvrrr bvvvrr bvvvr.”

Mary glared at the creature.

“Fine, fine. I get it. No fun allowed.” The creature carefully moved the key around from one place to the next. “I just need to connect this to this while making sure these don’t even come close to touching each other.” Goggles appeared on its head and a toothpick in its mouth. “This needs to be over here.” It stared for a moment. “Probably don’t need that.” It reached its paw into Mary’s chest and dug something out.

Mary looked down at the creature with the same harsh glare she gave Vivian the night before.

“Don’t look at me like that, all I did was remove some stuff that wasn’t working anyway.” The creature started to mutter. “Well it was working at one point but that’s not important.” Ethereal hands poked their fingers together. “Easier to remove than to fix, not like it was anything necessary anyway!”

“What did you remove?” Mary’s glare became even harsher and more stern.

The creature waved a paw at her. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’ll figure it out at some point anyway. It’s not my job to tell you things.”

“What is your job?”

“Professional unemployed vagrant. It’s not an easy life, but it’s mine.” The creature feigned a look of disappointment despite saying it as though it had been gloating. It removed the key. “There, all done.”

“If that worked and did not break anything, thanks.”

“Wait. I missed something.” The creature poked Mary’s face with the key. “Wrong spot, sorry.” It poked her in the nose.

Mary took a deep breath. “This is not the time to be playing games.”

“Oh it’s not the time for anything right now.” The creature looked around. “I should probably fix that.” It waved its paw dismissively. The world resumed.

“Damaging those altars will not anger any gods will it? If they are real in this world.”

“Go ahead, try it out. Test that cool and interesting new material you found with your fancy device thing.” The creature gestured towards the shattered altars. “I’ll answer your question if you do.” The creature narrowed its eyes. “Only the one though, unless I’m feeling generous, which I probably won’t be; I’ve answered a lot of questions today.”

Mary grabbed one of the glossy, black shards, being careful to avoid any edges, and placed it into her machine. “Normal obsidian.”

"Yay." The creature clapped its paws together with a deadpan stare. “Do you still want me to answer the same question, or is there something else you would rather ask?”

“Same question.” Mary looked annoyed.

“Gods are more or less real in this world and they will be very, very angry because I can’t do anything without making them upset, or at least they will be angry as soon as they find out, not like they’re omnipotent or anything. One more thing before I go that you are probably already aware of: a storm is approaching.” The creature ran in place then fired off to the north east.

Mary took a deep breath then returned the obsidian shard to the exact place she took it from and walked back to the orphanage. 

At least I know Lena is okay.