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Well this is a new story of mine, I'm putting it up mainly on my FA page here: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bluewolf587/ please watch me there for more of it as it comes along. Please read and enjoy it and hopefully I'll have more to show later.

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The Burning Tail Begins

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David was a fun loving young fox, fresh out of his schooling and was backpacking across his homeland. He'd been out on his own for a few days now and he was loving his new found freedom. He'd gotten a trade and was now exploring the outback area before he'd settle down some place and carve out his niche in life.

Looking around he saw one of the Hell Mountains was nearby. Legend had it that the Hell mountains were home to fierce dark spirits, but he didn't believe in such things and dismissed them as fairy tails used to keep children from playing near the area. David had always been a mischievous cub, and now that he was close enough to the mountains, he decided for himself that he would check it out. He'd make camp around there and explore the area for a few days and then would head out for the nearest village.

After traveling for several hours he saw that he was finally getting close to the bottom of the mountain. The trees that he saw around the area were old decrepit and dead and the area felt unusually warmer than normal, even if it was near the Hell Mountains. The aura that he was feeling, felt wrong and almost sinister, but being the headstrong young male that he was, he dismissed it as just the sun that had been beating down on him for so long.

When he finally did reach the base of the mountain, the young fox started looking around and soon found a hot spring. He had heard that these types of places existed where there were volcanoes and volcanic vents were, and so after leaving his back pack on the ground and undressing he slipped into the water and sat against the side. The water was warm and soothing after such a long day of walking across the country, and as it normally does, the water quickly soothed his mind and he feel into a light sleep.

"David..."

The young fox flicked his ears around and looked to find the source of his name.

"Daaaaavvvvviiiiiidddd..." This time the sound of the voice was closer. David looked around the dark scenery and suddenly a flash of light lit the area, and before him was a large glowing lizard type creature. It was about 5 feet long and a foot high, it had a dark brown color with the strangest yellow and red eyes, and had a similar colored stripe pattern down its back.

"What...the... HELL are you?!"Â David stared at the strange creature and backed up as it walked up to him slowly.

"You... Must... Leave..."Â The creature spoke slowly and took deep breaths as it talked, but before David could ask what he was talking about the creature had flames erupt from its back and yelled at him in a raspy voice, "QUICKLY...!"

"AHH!"Â David jerked up from his sleep in the water and looked around panting and trying to get his breath under control again.

"Whew... it was just a dream...," He put an arm over his eyes and looked up at the sky and sighed, "Just a dream, David..."

"You always talk to yourself, Mister?"

"AHH!" David jumped up in the water and spun around to see the source of the voice he had just heard which was a young fox kit going through his clothes, "Damn it, kid you nearly scared the crap outta me...! And get your hands off my clothes!"

The young kit just smiled, looked up at him and giggled as only a young cub could do before he pointed at David, "Hey, mister, I see your privates!"

A light pink came to David's face as he grabbed his tail and held it over his bits before he walked out of the water and grabbed his pants from the young cub and pulled them on.

"You little brat, didn't your parents teach you any manners...?"Â He shook out his body to get some of the water out of his fur, not minding that his pants were getting soaked from not drying off first.

"Nope... My parents were killed by a monster a long time ago... I've been living around here ever since then eating roots and berries and stuff... What you got in here, mister?"

The cub was now scrounging around in his backpack and was pulling out a few things. This just made David more upset but he kept his cool and just took his bag back and put his stuff back up.

"You shouldn't go through other people's things... and I'm sorry about your parents but there's no such thing as monsters, you're old enough to know that now. All those tales about spirits and monsters and junk are just stories used to scare lil' cubs and junk, none of it is real."

The cub however just shook his head, "No they're real, they live around here, and if you don't leave this place they'll come and get you too...

"Talk about Déjà vu... Just had a dream where a giant lizard told me the same thing..."

"That wasn't a lizard..."Â The cub looked up at him as David picked up his bag and looked him over, "It was a salamander, a fire spirit that dwells in volcanic areas and is said to be born from fire itself."

"Look kid..."

"My name's Astrum, David," The young cub interrupted. When David looked down at him surprised the fox known as Astrum said, "I saw your name sewn on your bag."

David rolled his eyes and snorted gruffly, "Ok, Astrum, I don't mind the fact you believe in the old tales and all that crap but if you don't shut up about all of that I'm going to deck you one, you get me?!"

David's words however fell on deaf ears as the younger fox turned and looked behind him and backed up towards David. "They're coming..."

David looked up and saw some bushes shaking and suddenly a large black creature jumped from the brush and let out a deafening roar. It was a giant creature, easily eight feet tall, with a six foot tail with spikes covering his back and large piercing red eyes

Astrum just grabbed David's gear and grabbed onto David's hand and started running with him in hand.

"THIS WAY! I KNOW A SAFE PLACE!"Â

Astrum dragged David along the dark paths, he tried to keep up as best as he was able to, but with the unfamiliar terrain he got hit with a few branches. Eventually, though, the two foxes ran into a cave and they kept running through twists and turns through what would seem like a complex labyrinth of tunnels passing ancient drawings and stone structures of all shapes and sizes.

As they ran David noticed some of the drawings appeared to be similar to the creature from his dream. And the farther in they ran, the warmer it seemed to get. Past stalagmites that were taller than both the young foxes and through stalactites that resembled monstrous fangs through the eerily glowing cave. When at last young Astrum slowed and took a few steps forward David put a hand to his chest to try and catch his breath.

"What... What the... What the bloody hell was THAT?!" David panted out and looked around at what seemed to be some sort of shrine. There were steps that led up to a small stone alter that took the shape of that weird lizard from his dreams. In its mouth was a red orb that faced the steps and on top of the alter perched carefully was an old looking sword in a brown sheath.

"That was a monster, mister, just like I told you... But don't worry, we're safe in here... Jitenhitokage's aura will keep us safe and hidden from their senses."Â The fox cub went up to the alter and sat at the base of it and leaned against the statue's head.

"Jet-in-what-now? What are you talking about, kid, and where are we?" David looked around some more and saw that on the walls were ancient writings and pictures depicting what seemed to look like prayers to the lizard and how the thing would then protect them from some dark figure that hid in a shadowy mist.

The small fox snorted at the older and looked over at the lizard again. "Jitenhitokage... He's the fire spirit of the volcanoes here and he's a very powerful spirit and my friend so shut up."

David just looked around some more and suddenly started to feel really hot, when he looked down towards the alter he stood amazed at the sights. Around the room there were small pools of lava that were glowing with an eerie dim red glow, and the heat that radiated from it could be felt from even where David was standing.

"We're inside the dormant area of the volcano where people would come to pray and ask for protection from evil spirits and for a good harvest... The soil here was once very dark and good for farming, but it's been doing badly for a long long time... no one knows why, and Jitenhitokage won't tell me..."

David looked over to the small kit again and stared at him. All this was insane, he didn't believe in this sort of thing, and the last person or thing that was even thought to have powers like the stories went was over 400 years ago in his village.  It was a small place and some still believed, but with no trace of it, David couldn't think this sort of thing actually still occurred. While the memories of all the legends rushed through his mind like an endless raging river, he just walked up to the kit and sat next to him.

"We gotta get away from this place, kid, there's no way the two of us can take on that monster alone. Neither of us are like those people in the old days; magic, spirits, and aether control and all that might still exist and all but I don't know anything about that, and I'm guessing you don't either. If we try and run now and head west, we can find a village and be safe there, not many people in these areas know much about this stuff anymore so the only way we can fight is if we have numbers on our side."

"It's not that easy, mister, the nearest town is 2 days away from here, that's how long it took me and my momma and poppa to get here at least and I don't know any other settlements other than there..." The poor kit sighed and hugged his knees. "If only I was stronger I could fight that monster with Jitenhitokage."

"What are you talking about, kid? Okay I'll admit you were right about the monster being real and all, but there are no such things as spirits, they don't exist and even if they did according to legends there aren't that many people who are even able to use a spirit's power to any sort of degree. They're all legends, the stories about aether, the old tales of the ancient heroes, all those stories aren't true; and if you can't get your head out of those tales to see that we are in real trouble and no one's gonna help us we are going to die here, most likely by that... THING!" David was all but yelling at him now. He didn't believe in the stories, after his family had fallen ill and he'd tried to pray for them to get better and they'd died, he knew there weren't any spirits that existed to help people.

Astrum just looked at him and shook his head, "You don't need to believe in them for them to be real, David. They are real regardless. And if you want and focus maybe I could..."

Before the young fox could finish a loud crash was heard from behind a wall and then the wall was torn down by something large. After the dust was blown about for a second the two foxes stared in disbelieve as that monster they thought they had ran from was now in the cavern they had taken refuge in.

Before either could move, though, the monster dashed towards the younger fox and pinned him against the wall with its deep black claws holding the young one into the stone, slowly starting to crush him.

David acted purely on instinct as he let his legs lunge him towards the monster. He punched and scratched and bit at the monster but the creature barely took notice of him. It wasn't until the fox screamed at him to let him go did it even acknowledge David's existence, and with a simple flick of its tail he sent the fox flying through the air and into the stone alter that held the ancient sword.

"Let...let him... let him... go..."Â David's vision started to fade as he looked on at the young kit who was being crushed to death, but all he could do was ask inside his mind, "Someone... please help him..."

The blackness took over his vision as David fell unconscious, but also while he was falling into it, he suddenly started to feel a powerful warmth starting to come over his body.Â

"Awaken... Child... You wanted... my help... didn't you...?"

There was that voice again. David was confused, had he died, was he dying, what happened to Astrum? All these thoughts flew through David's mind in moments before he slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was surrounded by a thick dark smoke that flowed along the ground and everywhere around him. He couldn't see anything but smoke all around him, but it wasn't hard to breathe like it would have been if it was normal smoke.

"Where the hell am I?"Â David started to take a few steps forward and looked around.

"ASTRUM! ASTRUM, WHERE ARE YOU?" David waited but couldn't hear anything, and with that eerie silence hanging over the area he started to fear the worst.

"You're... Not... Dead... Child... And nor is... The other... Astrum..." That calm, raspy voice again. David looked around and suddenly out of the smoke appeared that large lizard that he'd seen before in his dream and around that room he was in. As the lizard stood up on his feet some of the smoke dissipated from the area and he saw that he was still in the room he'd been in before. The alter was still there, as was the sword, but everything seemed frozen in time as the monster wasn't moving and neither was Astrum.

"You... You're REAL?!" David blinked as he stared at the lizard and then he started to growl as he got angry. His hackles rose and he barred his fangs at the supposed ‘volcano spirit' as he started to yell. "WHAT THE DAMNED HELL ARE YOU DOING?! WHY DON'T YOU HELP HIM? DO SOMETHING; IF YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SO POWERFUL AND STRONG DO SOMETHING AND HELP THAT POOR KID BEFORE HE GETS CRUSHED TO DEATH BY THAT FUCKIN' MONSTER!"

The large salamander took a deep breath and let out a breath of small fire that went over David's head, "I... Cannot... do anything... young one..."

"WHY NOT?!" David shook his head as angry tears burned his reddening eyes and bared his teeth at the salamander again, "I KNEW YOU SPIRITS WERE USELESS! WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE YOU REALLY ARE USELESS BASTARDS!"

The salamander slowly walked over and sat in front of the young fox, "I am... a spirit... I am... unable to... do anything... unless I... am summoned... young... summoner..."

David stared at Jitenhitokage with his mouth agape, what he just said about him made his entire body shake and freeze up. Summoners were some of the most powerful people on the planet and the legends of old surrounded several powerful summoners that were said to harness not only some very powerful spirits but even were able to fuse with them and reach powers that rivaled that of the servants of Heaven and Hell. The art had been lost from his land for centuries and was said to be something that could only be performed by those of special blood lines. To put it simply, David, not only, never thought spirits, magics, and summoning were real, but the thought that he could have come from a special bloodline that allowed him to summon was an incredible shock to him.

"Me...? A... a... a... a summoner?! I can't... I'm not..." David took some deep breaths and held his head. "I can't be a summoner!"

Jitenhitokage shook his head and stared into David's eyes, "No... you are... one who... possesses... the special... magics... in his... blood... You can... save him... if you can... summon me..."

"SUMMON!? I don't know a damned thing about summoning! I never believed in all this crap; spirits, magic, the Great Beings, the stories of the ancient battles... I stopped believing in that a long time ago, I don't know anything about how to summon you or how to help him!"

"Make... a vow... on which... to use... my power... David... And I... shall grant... my power... to you..."

"A vow...? You mean like a promise?" David looked at the glowing salamander spirit and then looked down at Astrum. The cub was crying and was in pain, he'd already lost his family and now he was about to lose his life. David didn't want that, he wanted the boy to live and to protect him from that awful beast.

"To protect Asrtum, to keep him safe from harm, and to protect him from that monster... Will you help me... Jitenhitokage?"Â David fell to his knees and looked up at the spirit pleading with his eyes and almost begging the spirit for his help and power.

The ancient spirit looked down at the young man and then over to the boy, still frozen in the grip of the monster, before he looked back at David and nodded to him.

"Very well... So long as you... Swear to protect... That child... I will loan you... My power..."

With that the salamander burst into flames and wrapped around David. At first he panicked but realized that the flames weren't burning him.  Almost as soon as he realized that, he was back in the chamber and was listening to the growls and cries for help from the other side of the room.

David looked around and quickly grabbed the sword from the alter. Â He pulled the ancient thing out of the old sheath and held it in his hands as he looked at the monster.

"LET HIM GO!"

The beast turned its head and looked behind at the small fox and let the child drop. He then moved a few steps and swung his gargantuan arm at David, who just barely managed to duck and roll under the attack.

The young male charged at the creature blind to anything but stopping it and starting swinging and striking the monster with the sword he picked up. It was after several blows landed, though, that he noticed that it wasn't hurting it at all, and in fact the sword looked old, worn, rusted, and dull.

"How am I supposed to protect him if you can't even cut this damned beast?!"Â David yelled at the sword as the monster charged at him, just barely giving him enough time to dodge the full blow, but not enough to not be hit in his left arm by a spike that was protruding from the beast's arm.

_"You must... use a spell... to summon me..."Â _

Jitenhitokage's voice was talking to David as if he was inside his head, but David still didn't have any idea on what to do.

"Spell?! What spell I don't know any spells!" David was starting to panic, he was starting to wear down and the beast was showing no signs of stopping. He looked around for some clue on how to summon the creature; he looked into his mind for some memory of an old story.

"Damn it! What the hell good are you if you can't help me you stupid lizard!" David was getting angry; he didn't want to die here, he didn't want that kid to die here, he wanted to live, but he didn't know how he was going to do what he needed to do in order to get out of there alive.

"Any type... of spell... will do... Just recite... what you wish... and focus... your energy... into the sword... and then wield me... to defeat... the beast..."

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"Oh now you're just seriously pissing me off, old fart! I outta-- AHH!" Another slam from the beast's tail at the floor made David fall over and cringe as he felt a new wound on his leg. His life was starting to flash before his eyes. He remembered the times his family would go to the festival celebrations; they'd had such fun there, eating with their friends and neighbors, going on rides with the carts, watching the fire dancers as tales were told...

‘That's it!' David opened his eyes and started to stand as he looked at the beast again and held up the old sword, starting to focus all the energy he felt into it.

"Spirit of fire, in this situation most dire, spin round and round in my hand, cut through this evil where it stands, let none escape our fiery blast, and singe all before me down to ASH! JITENHITOKAGE!"

At that the sword in David's hand started to vibrate and glow a dark red before flames started to erupt from it and move into a peculiar shape. They started to move up the sword but then started to flow back and down over the guard and handle. For a moment it looked as though David was holding a column on fire in his hands but after it started to glow brighter it burst out in all directions and fell as embers. As the glow lessened David stood there with a much larger blade in his hands, the blade had grown out and surrounded the hilt encircling it. The sword edge itself had grown to be three feet from the tip just above his head to the tip just below his belt line. The edge was a deep red and looked much sharper than it did before and the dull grey back looked much heavier than before and yet he showed no obvious signs of strain in holding the large weapon.

"Well lookie here... Looks like I finally found a sharp enough weapon to cut your miserable hide."

The fearsome beast glared down at the fox, eyes gleaming red, teeth dripping saliva, and its whole body moving with each breath it took. It took one step forward and just as suddenly started to run and raise its arms ready to strike down this new threat that had emerged.

"You damned... BASTARD!!!"

With a swing from the sword David moved the blade across the creature's face and left behind a bleeding wound that made the horrific thing fall to the ground, clutching at its face in sudden agony. David let the blade fall to his side as he looked on at the thing.  He then lifted his arm, blade and all, and started to spin the sword, slowly at first, but it quickly picked up speed until it was little more than a red and grey blur swirling around his arm.

"Don't worry, I'm not the type to make people suffer. Unlike you."

And with those words said the fox who had seemed likely to die in that place swiped the blade across the monster's neck, severing it off quickly and cleanly.

After several seconds when the beast didn't move, David felt safe in turning his back to it and walked over to Astrum who was smiling up at him weakly, and looked pretty banged up.

"See..." the young fox coughed a bit and chuckled. "I told you... he was real..."

With that said the young kit fell to his side, having used up the last of his strength and now was deeply resting.

"Yeah, kid, I guess you were right." David took another deep breath and focused on the sword again, and after a moment it turned back into its original shape. He sheathed the blade and stuck it through his belt loop, then picked up the kid on his back, and started to walk out when the spirit talked to him again.

"I don't... like this... Young Summoner..."

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  "What do you mean? I protected the kid, I beat the... THING! And everything's good, what's not to like?"

"These beasts... they haven't... been seen since... the dark king... terrorized... the lands... I fear... this may be... a sign of... his return..."

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David stopped dead in his tracks at hearing this. That was the most fearsome tale he'd ever been told in his childhood days and it still scared him even as a young man. But it was impossible, if all this was true, then the story of the Dark King was also true and he'd been dead for well over a thousand years.

"That's impossible, he's been dead for ages now; he was destroyed. He can't possibly come back... Right?"

David looked back at the beast and gulped as thoughts of those stories came back to him.

"For all... our sakes... I pray... that you are... right... young summoner..."

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David turned ahead again and started to walk out of the caves. He'd help wash Astrum, they'd rest for a little bit, and then they'd move on. Like it or not this kid was his responsibility now so they were stuck with each other; for the good times and for the bad.

"I just hope this was the last of our bad times for awhile now, Astrum..."

End Chapter I

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Hope you enjoyed the story, there'll be more to see later on my FA page.

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