Jikan

Continuing his way back to camp, Joshua mumbles to himself. “Well that’s taken care of at least, she should be fine now; there shouldn’t be any creatures nearby if my aura sensing is anything to go by.”

As he walks, he kicks into the ground fiddling with the dirt whilst yawning. His gaze drifts towards the setting sun, it shining its glow upon him. “I wonder how much longer this place will remain like this?” Trying to think back to his past, he fails to recall anything of use.

Draxis interrupts his student. “Rather than focusing on what was, focus your efforts on the now. Clearly whatever happened last time isn’t occurring at the same pace.”

Joshua places a hand on his face. “I know Draxis, it's hard to let go though..." With a sigh he continues. "I probably should get in contact with Orthon and warn him about the black sun.”

“I hope you have a good way of explaining it, it seems that unlike his students Gyles has a very inquisitive mind he if he gets involved it may cause issues. Well that and a bunch of power that he doesn’t show off.”

“I know, he always was like that.” Joshua finishes his thoughts. Flipping his hair, the wind flows throughout. As he brushes his hair back in place however, a small white blur bounce about around him.

Turning around to face it, a little white fox gleefully looks up at him. “Yip, Yip” it squeaks out as its runs around and between his legs like a little dog. Doing a twirl, it motions for him to follow it. "I wonder what it wants... Maybe it will show me that place Wil told me about!" Taking a deep breath, he lowers his head slightly dazed. Following the little creature, Joshua crinkles through the leaves.

Taking notice of the situation Draxis attempts to stop him. “Are you sure this is a good idea kid? That creature looks eerily familiar to me; I can’t quite put my finger on what it is though.”

“Honestly I have no idea, but this is definitely the creature that Wil was talking about. Besides that it ate a whole damn arctos. Even if it was dangerous, it’s not like I’m exactly in the best shape to fight back right now.” Draxis replies in understanding.

As the sun starts to set, the creature makes its way to a crevice beside a nearby boulder resting against a rocky mound. Turning its head around, it motions for Joshua to follow it inside. “It’s clearly an intelligent creature, so why did it seek me out.” Approaching the crevice, the little fox bounds along without resistance whereas Joshua struggles to squeeze himself through entering into what seems like a dark corridor. Igniting a small branch with a flame rune he looks around as the fox runs up far ahead of him, his hand cauterizing quickly.

Turning his head to look at the walls, Joshua admires the craftsmanship and attention to detail concerning the sigils lining this place. Soon after, he begins to trace their outlines and pour aura into his fingertips.

“Yeah, they’re definitely real. Only thing is that they seem ancient as hell. I’ve never seen ones like this before. Whoever built this place must be as old as you Draxis, no offense.”

"Probably, I don’t recognize this style of architecture, so it couldn’t have been built by humans or elves. You can tell from the marble columns that are broken and merged with the surrounding landmass. Alongside the very path we’re walking. It’s far too decorated and complex to be made by human hands.

Furrowing his brow with intrigue, Joshua decides to pull out a small booklet from his back pocket and spends a few moments roughly copying the sigils patterns down along with their corresponding symbols and circles. "I wonder if Jaril could decipher this?" His mind thinks back to an eccentric friend from the past, who went missing.

Making his way deeper into the cavern, yet again he has to squeeze himself through an even smaller gap than before. Barely fitting himself through, he tumbles to the ground a few feet as his blade skids against the stone surface. Seeing this from a distance the tiny fox giggles.

“Ow, that hurt a little bit.” Brushing himself off, Joshua regathers his bearings. As he stands back up, he marvels at the scenery. Draxis internally is speechless, unable to process what he’s seeing. Vague memories and conversations flicker to his mind.

The ambient glow, the crystalline water that’s flowing all throughout, pillars of crystal piercing through the ceiling and what he recognizes to be a set of ancient ruins rest at its center nearly overcome by flora.

Regaining his train of thought and ignoring Draxis’s shock, Joshua makes his way around, slowly inspecting even the tiniest details. As he records everything down, he takes a brief respite and sits down on a nearby rock near a small river as he reaches his hands down getting a drink. “This water is cold, unlike the oasis near camp, that's very strange. It’s quite refreshing.” The little fox bounds back over towards his direction as it lowers its head near the water as it gathers itself a drink. After it finishes, it moves along in the direction of the overgrown ruins.

After taking a moment to himself, Joshua gets back up and follows the little fox. As they approach the ruins, Joshua stretches his arms out as they near the its perimeter. Taking a step inside, Joshua’s brain feels like it’s going to explode as he reels back in pain clutching his head tightly. "The fuck."

After a moment the pain subsides, as Draxis now mentally back on track comments a bit more on the architecture. “Hey kid, first of all warn me before you wander into something you don’t understand. I don’t want us to end up dead again. Besides that, this architecture is divine in nature. I just can’t tell when it was erected.”

Unsure of what Draxis means, Joshua continues on further into the ruins, passing through the unseen barrier unharmed this time. Eventually coming to a massive white marble altar decorated with aged gold Joshua eyes widen. At the center of it all, a large curled-up fox lays on its surface. It's flowing white tails and slender body lay presumably lifeless as the little fox curls up next to it.

“It’s a nine tailed fox, Draxis. I can’t believe I’m in the presence of a mythical beast.”

“To be technical kid, it’s a kitsune. that in the very least explains what its strange power is. and how it easily consumed a whole arctos. Also you've been in my presence this entire time... Hell you mean brat?”

Feeling a pang in his heart, Joshua walks up to the little fox as it gives Joshua baby doll eyes. He questions his master if there are any natural solutions to the large foxes’ problem. “Draxis, any ideas on what to do, if memory serves me right shouldn’t a kitsune have an extensive life-force.”

“Correct, now close your eyes kid, feel the aura and life energy in this place, the little fox sought you out for a reason. What that reason might be however is beyond me. Unless you know something I don’t. Maybe your weird rune nonsense.”

Following instructions, Joshua closes his eyes and sits across from the fox creature, as he meditates, he senses a small sliver of life left in the supposedly dead creature. Opening his eyes he stands up slowly and walks up to the fox and looks for permission to touch her from its offspring.

The little one nods its tiny head as its eyes glow pink with approval. “Very well little one, I’ll try my best. Now please turn away this won’t be pretty.” Joshua looks at the little fox with a pitiful look.

Draxis stares on from within Joshua wondering what his plan could possibly be to bring life back from the brink. And if he knew something, why couldn’t he save the girl in the past.

“Draxis… Your thinking out loud. I just want to try something, Roxanne tested something out on patient a long time ago. I have no idea if it will work or not.”

Taking his dagger from his side, he makes a small incision on the chest of the fox as he does the same on to his left hand. A black liquid oozes out of the foxes incision as the smell knocks Joshua back , covering his nose. “Urgh.”

Looking down at his palm he closes his eyes and thinks back to the rune she used. He grimaces as he recalls how complex it was. “This is going to hurt.” As he opens his eyes however he sees the little fox nuzzling his leg with rope in its mouth. Looking down in surprise he pets its head and offers his thanks. "Wonder where you got that little guy."

Taking the rope from its mouth, he ties it around his wrist constricting his blood flow. He internally asks his master to take control of his jaw muscles and keep him from breaking his teeth. Draxis mentally confirms as Joshua’s eyes turn draconic. Taking the knife he slowly etches the symbol into his palm, slightly scuffing the incision, he finishes. The blood begins to leak out as he speaks in a tongue he doesn’t recognize. “Shift.”

Immediately the runic circle lights up his hand as a red and black energy envelops his entire body as he places it on the kitsune’s exposed abdomen. A warm blue light begins to shine from the fallen fox as Joshua collapses to his knees. Letting out a deep and ragged breath, the rune taking more out of him than expected.

“Dammit, this hurts like hell. Why was Roxanne completely fine afterwards.” The pain the kitsune held was instantly transferred to Joshua as he collapses to the ground wanting to scream. Unable to even let out a peep, his body stiffens as his muscles contract, everything in his body deciding to cramp up at one time.

“KID! Are you okay?” Draxis screams out in a panic as his tone shifts to instant regret. “Damn it, I shouldn’t have let you do that.”

Unable to move Joshua’s gaze falls on the fox as the kitsune glistens with a purple and red glow. Its eyes shine as it stands to its feet walking over to its savior. Approaching him slowly, she sniffs his face before licking his right cheek. She lets out a grateful cry as the small fox bounces around ecstatically.

Joshua’s vision soon blurs, as the last thing Joshua sees before losing consciousness are the foxes circling around him before it suddenly turning to him with an eerie smile.

“Kid, I know who that is. Urgh.” Draxis mutters as Joshua passes out.

Sometime later Joshua awakens in the middle of night laying in front of his camp site. A strange glow emanates from around his body. Shaking his head around in confusion, he climbs to his feet beginning to look around before Draxis speaks.

“She brought you back here a little while ago. Her name is Nanatsumi, and the little ones name is Yoko.”

“Did you talk to her? Well if you can speak as a disembodied spirit.” Joshua he holds his head slightly dizzy.

“I didn’t have too; she called me out by name.” Joshua eyes widen in revelation.

In a serious tone, Draxis continues. “Yeah, she said that she’s surprised to see me accompanying a human after so long, didn’t really ask about my body though. She probably could tell something was wrong.”

“Hmm, what about me?” Joshua questions internally concerned about his own well being.

“You’ll find out later.” Draxis casually replies.

“Hell, you mean by that?” Joshua cries out in annoyance.

“I said you’ll find out later.” Draxis replies as a shock shoots through his entire spine. Joshua feeling this chills out and changes his tune.

“Draxis, I swear to Serox if you’re screwing with me.” Perturbed by his companion, Joshua carefully undoes the seal on the main gate as he quietly enters, trying to not disturb his sleeping squad mates. Creeping around the three of their tents he makes his way to his quarters, rolling the arctos hide out of the way and heads inside.

Walking to the end of the small cavern he sits down and closes his eyes feeling his surroundings. “That fox must have fully healed my body, I feel refreshed and hell even my senses have sharpened. Thank you fox!” Unable to simply rest after such an ordeal and gift Joshua cheekily grins. “Let’s get back to work.”

Opening his mind’s eye his aura network materializes before him as he continues the process of rebuilding his third aura node and the connecting streams. This process carries on for a few hours until he senses a disturbance outside of his room.

Quickly opening his eyes, he stands up and making his way towards the ‘door’ before calling out “Who’s there.” Shockingly the arctos hide is pulled back as Joshua is enveloped in a tight embrace. “Thank god your alive.” A feminine voice cries out.

Pulling herself back, slightly embarrassed she continues with concern, her eyes looking as if she had been crying. “After I made it back to camp and you were nowhere to be found I freaked out and woke Vil and Wil up. We spent hours looking for you to no avail. I couldn’t even sense you using my eyes, it’s like you vanished completely. Where were you?”

He gazes at her in confusion. “I was only gone for a few hours though.” Draxis snickers at his cluelessness.

“You’ve been gone for a whole day Joshua, you’ve had us all worried sick.” Joshua looks at her flabbergasted expression.

Pulling her into the small cavern, Joshua whispers. “Firstly, what do you mean I was gone a whole day, I followed a tiny fox into a cavern, healed a kitsune and then last thing I can remember is passing out. See.”

Pulling out his notebook he shows Susanna a rough sketch of the fox and its parent, as well as the runes he traced as he went along.

Seeing the pictures of the mythical fox she stammers out recognizing the patterns on its body. “J-Joshua, that’s a-a J-Jikan. How are you even alive right now?” With a panicked expression, she places her right hand on his forehead. Joshua nonchalantly shakes his head gently pushing it aside.”

“What’s a Jikan?” Joshua questions completely oblivious to the mythical beasts throughout Seteralia.

With a continuously shocked expression she begins to explain. “A Jikan is a fox spirit that have powers revolving around time and space. They’re also known for being extremely hostile to humans. Even for elves, it’s risky to be in their presence.”

Joshua’s eyes widen slightly not knowing this information. “How did you learn this information.” Joshua interjects his mouth slightly agape.

“I remember the eldest sage of what used to be my tribe telling me years ago stories and warnings about the different mythical beasts. Aside from the Jikan, she told us about the phoenix, dragons, leviathan, the high fae, and a few others.”

Trying to lighten the mood Joshua jokes around earning himself a slap on the arm. “Everything worked itself out, clearly I’m alive and now the Jikan is indebted to me.” Her gaze goes deadpan at his lack of self-preservation skills. Joshua places his right arm on her shoulder and lets her know he’ll explain everything in detail when all four of them get together later, it’s still early after all and for her to get some rest since he’s back.

Apologizing for interrupting him, she bows her head. Her face now completely flushed and her ears beet red, she turns around as she makes her way back to her own tent. Confused by the sudden change of manner; Joshua metaphorically rings his companion.

“Draxis, what the hell was that!” Joshua inquires.

“Well personally I’d say she was worried about you.” Draxis replies casually.

With the pinch of his brow Joshua rolls his eyes. “Not that! That much is obvious, I mean how is that fox being able to manipulate time, did it send us back through time?”

Draxis pauses for a moment as a realization goes off in his head. “Why didn’t I ask her that. That would have been a good idea, but I guess I was more concerned about your physical state after you went unconscious. I couldn’t reach your soul for a long time.”

Draxis pauses for a moment as he goes through everything they talked about. “I guess to start with, I thought she had separated our connection, but in reality; she just wanted to talk without interruption. That girl is also correct about Jikan, they hate humans. It seems she felt indebted to you for saving her life so she healed your body. From what I can tell, she also healed swaths of your aura stream; I have no idea how though.”

Furrowing his brow, he quickly places his right fist onto his left palm. “So that’s why my progress to the third node went by so much quicker this time. She almost completely restored it herself.”

“Exactly, kid. Looks like you made a wise decision by helping it. If it had died I bet Yoko would have either bonded to you, or killed you.” Joshua with smug look on his face walks back over to his sleeping area only to collapse to his knees.

A red draconic lightning surrounds and shocks Joshua as Draxis yells from within. “Damn it kid, stop taking this so casually. This isn’t a game we both could have died!”

Through gritted teeth Joshua groans. “Fine you overgrown lizard, I’ll try and be more serious. Now release my body so I can go to bed!” Joshua receives a growl of disapproval as he makes his way to his bed and lays down.