The Grandmaster of Sarthas - Chapter 15
#11 of The Grandmaster of Sarthas
He didn't remember why he was here, or who he was now, only that this was home. The swirling darkness around him comforted him, told him of things that he should never know. He floated through this blissful existence, separated from that which had caused him so much pain. "She is here." He heard again. He whirled to attack the disturbance, only to see a familiar aura approach him through the inky blackness of the Void.
"I must admit, of all the things I trained you for, I could never teach you such a spectacular way to escape the world." It said. He hesitated a moment before showing his respect to the aura.
"Sensei..." he started, the Aura seemed to shimmer in amusement.
"I do not fault you for escaping to the one place that no one and nothing else can follow student. The entire council, and all those dragon-trained felt your sorrow ripple through the elements. Very few remember sadness on such epic proportions, and those who did, came immediately to check on my health." It said with amusement.
"But..." he tried to explain.
"Speak not student. I am quite familiar with your plight as I too had much the same experience so very long ago..." it said in remembered pain. "Telling stories is not why I am here however my student. There is training I withheld from you in the vain hope that you would never need it. But in my hubris, I found myself taking my instincts over the word of the Void. I must train you now, because when the Void Dragon comes to remove a still living soul from her realm, she shows no remorse, and even smaller amounts of pity. When you return to the mortal coil student, you will be assailed from all sides by the emotional chaos you shunted yourself here to escape." It said.
He suddenly felt quite afraid. The elements guarded their realms jealously from the living. The few dragons and dragon-trained were welcomed within them for limited amounts of time. Some even came there when they died, which is what he had assumed happened.
The Aura shimmered again in amusement. "Student, if you were dead, your soul would most certainly not reside in the Void. Your race innately gravitates towards air, you came here to escape, not because you lay deep in a grave." It said.
He thought logically, the only way he could as with any contact with his emotions would only remind him of his pain. Why? Why am I not dead? I wish to be. There is no reason for... His thoughts were interrupted by the aura again, this time without amusement.
"You live because it is your way student. It was your way when you fought for your life in the lands of the matriarchy more than ten years ago, it was your way when you fought in the midraria tournament, it was your way when you arrived in Kokori for school, it was your way every time you fought the teachers and students for individuality and survival. It was your way when you fought Kado last year, and nearly killed him in that duel. You are a warrior my student. You fight for your life in every definition of the term. You fight for your mind, you fight for the right to think, act, and be who you want to be. You fight to show others what you have become, to show others what has changed. You fight to keep those you care about safe, but mostly, and this is the most interesting of them all, you fight to live, and not because instinct demands it, but because death would rob you of something that your lessons in Kokori showed you...that you love to learn. Death would rob you of the opportunity to absorb more knowledge, to learn that next maneuver, to learn that new training technique, or even to rob you of that recipe you want to fix next. You fight to live so you do not miss life as it continues to flow past you now." The aura intoned seriously.
He thought, putting together pieces in a puzzle that e long ago thought was beyond him. The aura sat by proudly as he continued to process information, compare it to evidence and draw his conclusions. When his attention again turned to the aura only two words issued forth from him. "Teach me." He said.
The Aura shimmered with amusement. "Of course student, it is what I do best after all." It said as he went about the process of going over the basics of the lessons.
Meanwhile, in the Royal Palace in the Capital city of the Patriarchy. Bianca continued to investigate the records she had been given access to concerning the investigation into the foul play at the Vulpacha mansion. She had been at it for three days and was becoming frustrated with the seeming incompetence of the Usagi sage who had been assigned as a recorder here for the past few years. Lost records, missing entries, destroyed volumes. Such inaccuracies had no place in their homeland, and the sage would have been drummed out of service without a shred of dignity. As a minor assignment, the keeping of records in the Patriarchy was not often looked after with any kind of interest. As such the Usagi assigned to this post was usually ignored as a lesser sage who would be lucky to have any kind of assignment. Much to the princess's mounting anger, whoever made the assignment was right to do so. She would notify her father, however. This kind of chaos in record keeping was intolerable. The sage had wisely made himself absent while the princess made her investigation. She sighed in mounting frustration and turned quickly as she heard someone approaching.
"If that's a certain sage, he had best continue to make himself absent." She growled. A familiar chuckle answered her and she grumbled in frustration. "What do you want Alhundro? I am busy here." She said dismissively.
"It has come to my attention that there is an ill-tempered usagi princess in my record library who has been investigating matters for three days." He said nonchalantly.
She growled. "Then bring whoever brought it to your attention in here so I can rip..." she said with mounting anger until a scent caught her nose. "What are you doing here Alhundro?" She asked tiredly now.
He smiled producing what appeared to be a steaming bun. "Getting a certain bunny to take a break so she can bring a freshly rested mind and rested eyes back into the record library sometime tomorrow?" he said wafting the scent of the fresh bun in her direction.
To her credit the bunny resisted a moment. "But I am so close Alhundro..." she said as all resistance left her. Her eyes and nose following the bun and its possessor hypnotically as Alhundro led her through the palace and to her quarters.
As he led her to the dining table she growled. "That had best be for me fox, or I will be forced to kill you..." she threatened. He chuckled, taking the cover off a platter full of the freshly baked buns and a full tureen of soup which smelled of her favored vegetable, carrots. Her eyes opened wide in shock as he calmly sat her down, placing a bowl and a plate in front of her. She quickly looked for a napkin, which she was handed while the soup was dished up.
Despite her drooling she had to comment. "You know what happens to males who feed me...right Alhundro?" She said in a seductive voice. The fox sat opposite of her, nibbling on a bun as the princess attacked the meal with her typical aplomb.
"You curse my inability to mate fully with a female until I awaken, and then plot several ways to make my life a living hell?" he answered with a smirk. She shot daggers at him with her eyes, which got a chuckle from him. "My apologies Bianca. That was an ill-timed joke made at the expense of an individual who cannot defend himself." He said, trying to assuage her anger. "What do you do to males who feed you?" he asked, giving her the chance to finish her current mouthful of bread and soup.
She didn't answer immediately, instead eating her fill before she stood up and made her way to the bed. The fox however saw the answer in how she moved. Her tail raised and twitching its invitation that he had come to know so well over their youthful years. As she neared the bed, she shrugged off her robes in a practiced and seductive fashion, her nude body fully exposed to the amused and hungry eyes of the kitsune royalty.
"Males that feed me are expected to mate me until I pass out from pleasure..." she said, bending over the bed and making sure the fox had a full view of her twitching tail and dripping wet sex.
"Then perhaps I should go fetch the head chef..." the fox quipped in his typical sarcastic humor. She moved faster, much faster than he expected. She was on him in a flash, growling almost threateningly at him as she stripped him quickly of his clothing.
"One day that muzzle of yours is going to get you into more trouble then it will get you out of..." she said in his ear as she grasped and stroked his member roughly. He growled in pleasure as the bunny rubbed her body lustfully against his.
"I thought your brother nicknamed you 'trouble'...so I think getting into trouble at this point is certainly agreeable..." he said teasingly. Electricity streamed down her arms and zapped the fox with enough power to make him yip in pain before she sunk his hot length deeply into her sex and began to ride him mercilessly.
"The next zap will be specifically aimed if the puns continue..." she threatened and then groaned in pleasure as the fox returned her riding pace thrust for thrust.
"Consider me your mute mountable fox for the remainder of this encounter then." He shot back causing her to growl and tense her sex around him. Another yip from the fox and he made a zipping motion over his muzzle as she rode him long and hard into the night