FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 8

The four fennecs didn't talk much after the encounter in front of the statue. They all made their way to the unmarked grave of Realina Yoshikawa nearby where Reiko felt a tug at her heartstrings falling back into Ridley pushing him back to the surface so she could be alone for the time. Only a nod from the others greeted his return. It was getting light out by the time they left the shrine and headed back to the hotel.

Que greeted Ridley at the door looking worried but a gentle hug and a few reassuring words put the yellow one at ease as they went back up to the room to change. The funeral was soon. They found a pair of suits waiting for them and quickly slipped into them before wandering back down to the lobby where they were brought to a car and driven to the graveyard near the kohaku river.

The casket was open to the air letting sakura blossoms fall into its open chamber. Ridley slowly walked to it and seeing his father lying inside made everything finally click. The tears were back stinging his eyes as his body trembled and he held tighter to his companion's paw. He leaned over and gave the hybrid inside a kiss on the forehead before turning back and taking a seat.

The others were there, Rukan and Masatoshi is anchent looking kimono's while Raine remained aloof leaning back against a nearby tree. A pair of silver and grey female felines sat down next to Ridley and Que both looking even worse off than he was. Both had bloodshot violet eyes as if they hadn't stopped crying for days.

Ridley saw their markings and could only assume they were related, he hadn't met much of his family beyond his father and grandfather. He reached over and softly set a hand on the older looking one's shoulder and nodded slowly. No words were needed as she turned to look at the two fennecs and couldn't help but smile as she saw Ridley in person for the first time.

The priest took his place behind the casket and started speaking but Ridley didn't pay any attention to the words. He knew too much now to believe that any sort of religious afterlife waited for his father. After what he had heard last night he knew that only limbo waited for those that fell. Gripping Ques paw a little tighter he remained stoic as tears rolled down his cheeks. He had to be strong in this moment of weakness to prove to himself he could do what must be done in the days to come.

As the priest finished he opened the pulpit to those present to speak what was on their mind. Ridley was first to stand and walk to the stand overlooking his father. He was quiet for some time as he looked at the motionless body inside. "My father and I never saw eye to eye. We always were butting heads over every choice in life but I guess that's what parents and children do. In his later years after mom left he became dependent on alcohol to fill the holes we both had in our hearts. I knew he was weak and needed help but I..."

Ridley started to choke up as shame came to his features and he began to sob, "I was weaker. I didn't have to strength to help him when he hurt the most. I was cold and cruel when he needed love and compassion. I regret so much that I never got to say goodbye or that I couldn't tell him that I loved him at least one more time. I feel like such a monster for what I said to him the last night I saw him and now I can never take those words back. I can never tell him I'm sorry for being so heartless. I can only hope that now he hears me in some way. I love you dad. I shouldn't have left like I did..."

The fennec was a wreck as he went to recover his seat and Que wrapped his arms around the winged desert fox to comfort him. No one else added to Ridleys words as they closed the casket and each of the attendees put their handful of soil on the lid as it lay where it would rest from then on.

Ridley looked to Raine below the cherry tree and saw him in the arms of a black and white husky as he too had a breakdown. The pair of felines joined him soon after while Ridley and Que were left to look out over the river on their own. No words were needed to express how everyone felt. The solemn sound of the air through the cherry trees was enough of a whispered sob to tell.

The words of the night before were rushing through Ridley's head and the weight of the funeral in his heart as it turned from sadness to anger. He clenched his fists and stood himself up as he undid his tie and looked to Que. "There is something I have to do... Something I have to go and face by myself. I will be back by tonight."

Que looked up to Ridley before nodding slowly and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Be safe."

Walking away from the graveyard Ridley saw the archway of the Inari shrine not far away. With a determined gait he made his way through the arch and to the shrine's center. Around the back of the stones he found a stone with the inscription, "Abandon selfish desire and sacrifice happiness for duty and honor." He knew this was the place he needed to be.

Touching the stone the words lit and water flowed from the cracks of the rock almost like it was crying. Nearby a stone slid aside showing the path into the catacombs below covered in cobwebs. Walking to the entrance he unbuttoned the shirt, that had obviously been tailored for him as there were slits in the back for his new wings, and threw it aside.

The darkness was lit as his red markings began to glow and he walked down the stairs for what seemed like at least a hundred feet underground. Walking out into the first dark chamber he encountered he saw statues of kitsune along the walls as fire murals covered the floor and ceiling. An altar stood in the center of the room filled with what looked like oil.

Searching the room Ridley soon found frustration taking hold on him again as his emotional state was hardly stable. There was no obvious exit and nothing to tell him what to do, just the basin of liquid and the kitsune around him. He inspected each of the statues and found that each of them held a stone depiction of a flaming orb in their hands, all of them aiming at the basin.

Ridley sighed as he didn't have a lighter with him to light the oil as he suspected it was what the room demanded of him. Walking to the basin he looked into the reflective surface and saw Reiko nodding to him as she knew what was running through his mind. She lifted a paw and showed Ridley she was holding a blue fireball.

The black kitsune tried to let Reiko to the surface but he felt like she refused. She didn't let herself take the body but in her own way demanded he do it on his own. Looking back into the basin Ridley shook his head and spoke, "I... I don't have magic."

Reiko looked disappointed in him as she whispered to him in her own way, "Of course you do. You must believe you can do it before you will. If I am able to do it with your body Ridley then you are able to as well. "

The fennec stepped back from the altar and with a sigh held out his paw. Doubt ran though his mind as he tried to will the same blue flame in his paw. After a few moments he sighed and put his paw down shaking his head, "This is silly Reiko."

She didn't even bother to answer him the silence almost damning him for doubting in himself. He folded his ears back before putting his paw back out in front of him as he spoke, "Believe and it will be real..."

Ridley had willpower to spare in the moments as his determination redoubled remembering his father and why he had to do this. The conflict was coming and he didn't have time to doubt anymore. His eyes went wide as a small flicker of blue light appeared in his paw and then as he saw he was doing it his disbelief was dispelled.

The ball of flame erupted into a ball nearly the size of a softball which he quickly threw at the altar lighting the oil. The flame rose to lick the ceiling of the dark room as all the statues started to move. Ridley backed away slowly watching the stone move as they all stood and turned to face the far wall. Their fireballs clutched close to their chests their free hands lifted and pointed to the door that was opening.

Ridley didn't waste any time as he rushed through into the darkness again only to find himself in a plain room with just a stone with a small indentation and an inscription reading, "Sacrifices must be made as the world is the master that guides your arm. Your life is no longer your own to do with as you please."

The ominous inscription left a bad taste in the fennec's mouth as he looked about for some other clue. The obvious kitsune theme of the last test made him believe that many of these tests would have to deal with the species. He had to think of what could possibly be a sacrifice that great to a kitsune when he remembered the legends.

Every one of the species held within them an orb that if stolen or given away would give the holder of the precious item absolute control over the kitsune it belonged to. Ridley looked to the indentation as saw that it would perfectly fit an orb as spoke of in the legends. This is when he called out again, "Reiko... where is our ball?"

"In your heart Ridley. You must be willing to give it away before you can show it dearest heart. You must be willing to sacrifice your happiness and desires to take on the burdens of the one you give it to," Replied the whisper of the female in his ear.

Ridley walked to the stone and kneeled down putting his paws over his heart as he closed his eyes and spoke, "If it means that Que and the others can have real freedom in their lives, if it means that my father's soul can enter karma's wheel and find peace, if it is what I must do to ensure the wellbeing of the greater good then I am but your servant. Protector of those that cannot protect themselves."

A light erupted from his chest as he spoke the words and a white and green orb at least an inch and a half across fell into his paws. With it removed from his chest Ridley heard desperate and pleading whispers in his ears but he couldn't understand what they were saying. Shaking the kitsune placed the orb into the indentation which quickly closed over the orb and the stone disappeared into the ground as a new path appeared before him.

This dark corridor led deeper into the ground until he came upon a grand chamber where the whispers seemed to get louder. It wasn't long before standing in the center of the room the whispers became shouts and then screams for help. Ridley fell to his knees holding his ears and shaking his head as he opened his muzzle to scream but he couldn't even hear himself over the choir of screams in his ears.

Bending forward he began to cry again as their pain became his own, completely disabled by their desperate pleas. His wings extended as his tears fell onto the stone of the floor filling it's crevices and pits as the dust became wet he could barely read through his wet vision. Reiko's wavering voice read the words to him, "The burden of a protector is to know the pain of those they protect. To see them suffer and know that it is your fault. You shed the tears of the creator hearing the screams of her children."

The fennec saw then that the tears were filling a hole in the shape of a katana that he could read as the characters started to glow in red, "These tears lead to justice. This justice the only absolute."

The room lit up brightly as the walls began to glow red. The light shot across the room blowing a hole in the far wall as the voices began to praise him demanding he rise to his feet and step through to the next chamber.

Ridley got to his feet rubbing his eyes before running forward now into another chamber which held a great statue holding a katana at the ready over its head with tears running from its eyes in the form of a water fountain. There was a seat below the arc of the blade with a hole in the back as the inscription on the chair read, "Your sacrifice is nothing compared to that of the goddess, your power a flash in the pan, your pain a mockery of her own. Your treasured gifts are not yours to be kept."

Reality of this test began to settle in as Ridley swallowed hard and looked back at his tails. They were the most treasured part of the kitsune. He knew this would be the greatest of pains he would probably ever endure as it was a blow that certainly wouldn't kill him. Slowly he stepped forward and turned feeding his tails through the hole in the chair then sat down.

His breathing quickened as he heard the statue overhead begin to move as it lifted the blade higher over its head and in one swift motion brought it down making the stale air in the chamber rush past the black fennec. His eyes went wide as he let out a cry only to find there was no pain to be had. He tried to look over his shoulder but the chair clasped shackles over his wrists and ankles. He struggled for a moment as the chair started to sink into the ground with him stuck to it.

He found himself being lowered into a chamber lit by blue flames and in the center sat a rack of katanas on a small platform over a stone bridge. Once the chair stopped moving he was set free from it and looking back he saw his tails still waved behind him, all seven of them intact. He stood at the edge of the bridge for a moment before walking across to inspect the blades.

There were three of them the topmost the most beautifully crafted blade he had ever seen. The handle looked to be wrapped in the highest quality of ray skin that could be found while the engraving along the hilt seemed to be made of the purest gold. The blade itself was without imperfection as the hamon worked its way all the way to the tip.

The one in the center of the display was almost as beautiful inlaid with jewels and gold must like the top one but the blade had notches taken from its length as if it had seen far too much use in its life. Blood stained the blade making it rust.

The bottom blade seemed to be made of stone. It looked heavy and cumbersome but the detail that went into it seemed so very difficult to do. Upon closer inspection Ridley saw that the tip of the blade was actually weeping water. He tilted his head and looked closer at the stone of the blade and saw that it looked like it's entire construction was made of little teardrop shaped stones held together by an unknown agent.

Taking a step back from the display the kitsune folded his arms across his chest and shook his head knowing that only one of these blades was the true sword of souls. He tried to remember what he was told of the blade's construction when it hit him. The blade was made of a tail struck from the goddess herself and her tears forged its steel.

Reaching forward with fear in his eyes should he choose wrong Ridley grasped the hilt of the stone blade lifting it free from its stand. It was heavy and he was surprised for a moment before he lifted it completely and inspected its craftsmanship. It was then that the blade erupted into the blue flame surprising the fennec as when the flames subsided he was holding a blade of the purest clear crystal.

The shrine rumbled as the other blades dripped a purple liquid that reeked of death. Reiko whispered a single word at the sight, "Miasma."

The legendary toxin would have left Ridley alive but in agony and paralyzed as long as he was in contact with it. Should he have chosen the wrong blade he would have found a fate far worse than death at the mercy of such a toxin.

The correct blade felt light in his hands as the fire spread to his fur and soon he felt a belt with the blade's sheath on his hip. The sheath was the same crystal the blade was made of making it clear that he carried the true sword of souls with him. It was then that he saw at the very base of the hilt was the same white and teal orb he had given up before.

Ridley didn't have much more time to marvel at the legendary weapon as the bridge behind him fell into the flames aand the sword rack fell in front of him leaving him on just a single stone pillar trying desperately to keep his balance over the sea of blue flames below. He looked up and saw a hole in the roof of this chamber with light from the outside filtering through.

He leapt from the platform and spread his wings as he had to learn to fly as fast as he could now and the pillar collapsed below him. He flapped his wings hard and powerfully finding he could stay aloft. Breathing a sigh of relief only to see that his hands were slowly losing their black color Ridley watched them become white.

Slightly panicked he saw a pair of black hands tear their way free from his body followed by arms and then Reiko herself tore free from the form flapping her leathery wings leaving Ridley to marvel at the white and teal fur left behind. Slowly he lifted his gaze to see Reiko folding her arms across her chest only to pull them back holding a pair of dark looking strait blades, "Ridley you knew this was coming. Now your legendary blade faces that of my own. See now the blades of frozen death!"

She flew directly at him making him believe this was just another test but when he saw that killer instinct in her eye as she got close he found himself forced to unsheathe the blade at his left hip and defend himself. The block wasn't near enough to take in all the energy of the strike as it sent Ridley flying across the chamber and into a stone wall with a loud thump.

Ridley coughed hard and gasped for air as the wind had been knocked from him but as he saw he was falling into the flames he quickly spread his wings crying out as they felt like they were going to tear from his back from the air resistance. Flapping as hard as he could he saw white feathers falling around him as they were torn from the no longer leathery but feathered wings.

Reiko shook her head as she saw the fennec recover and she rushed at him again but this time Ridley was ready parrying the blow and grabbing her by the throat he lifted her high into the air slamming her back against the ceiling as he growled, "You used me! Why!?"

"Strike me down before she takes control Ridley! Show no mercy or her terror will be unleashed on Eden," Said Reiko with fear in her eyes as she tried to get a swipe in with the black ninja like weapon. Ridley quickly set her free as with a flap of his wings he was pulled backwards just missing the weeping blade. He saw the dark liquid and knew that the cold blades were coated with the legendary miasma.

Sadness gripped his heart as he knew now that Reiko all along was leading him on a path to her own demise. He shook his head and looked to her as tears started to flow from his eyes. He couldn't be the one to strike down the one person he had in his life that could really intimately know him the way she did. He shouted to her through the tears, "I can't do that Reiko! You know I can't hurt you!"

"Then everyone you care about will die and you will be left for eternity in physical and emotional agony! Defeat me boy or Eden will fall," Shouted the demonic looking kitsune of black and red as she flew forward yellow teeth bared. She began a relentless assault of swipes and counter swipes which Ridley found to his amazement he was able to counter but while he was distracted she had thrown a blade to stick into the wall behind him and her paw gripped his face. Ridley's vision was filled with red light as she unleashed her fox fire directly against his face.

Howling Ridley reeled back from the blow and held a paw over his damaged muzzle and eyes flapping desperately to keep himself aloft while he recovered from the pain slowly. He was able to look up only to have his face struck with Reiko's foot sending him into a far wall but she didn't stop there. Holding his neck she flew along the wall dragging him hard against its surface as he yowled in pain, the stone ripping fur and flesh off his front.

Twisting with him still at her mercy she threw the white fennec into the ceiling of the chamber with a sickening snap as his wings broke and he began to fall into the flames. He opened his teal eyes as the world seemed to slow with his fall. He saw the sword in his hand and shook his head slowly his free hand reaching up for Reiko as tears stung his eyes and fire burned his back.

Falling into the oil Ridley found himself thrown into the dark desert where a white vixen stood in a flowing kimono with open arms. She smiled endearingly to Ridley as she wrapped her arms around him and he could see her ten tails behind her. She held him close to herself as she spoke in the most soothing voice he had ever heard, "your mercy is admirable young one... But Reiko fights two battles now. She knows what must be done and she is right. To end her suffering is the greatest act of mercy you could give her. Do not worry. If you continue on your path all will end well. Now go my child! Fight well!"

Ridley found himself thrown into the sky as in a puff of feathers he was back in the chamber behind Reiko. He drew the blade back and pushed it forward only to see her turn and block the thrust with the grin, "Was wondering when you would be back. Who'd ya fight over there eh?"

The white kitsune didn't answer as he started an assault of his own deciding it was time to take the offensive. With a warcry like roar Ridley pushed her back as the blade he held began to burn blue until with a mighty blow he knocked the blades from Reiko's hand and drove the length into her chest making her cough and hack as she was pinned to the wall.

Coughing up gouts of black sludge she lifted her head and forced a smile reaching out to touch Ridley's cheek gently, affectionately, "I'm... so sorry."

"I didn't fight anyway... I saw her," Replied Ridley as he reached forward and held her head up gently in his paws even as the flames were spreading over the black vixen's body and a scream could be heard that wasn't Reiko's own.

Reiko nodded slowly coughing up more sludge as a black mist was sucked from her body and into the blade kicking and screaming as it went. Once it was gone though Ridley looked up to see Reiko motionless with her eyes starring off into space.

Gripping his paws he shook the body shaking his head slowly as he sniffled, "no... no no no... Reiko... Reiko come back. REIKO!"

It was several hours later that Ridley surfaced from the underground bloody in places where wounds hadn't quite healed yet carrying the body of Reiko over his shoulder. He collapsed to his knees in front of the statue of Inari and looked up shaking his head with tears still in his eyes, "I'll find it... the flame... Then I can have her back right? Then she can come back..."

Rukan was first on the scene leaning down to see her other child dead as finally the drama of her family was put to an end. She took the body from Ridley holding it close to herself as tears ran down her cheeks but not a word was spoken. Masatoshi was close behind holding Rukan for support though his blind eyes were resting on Ridley.

Reiko was buried next to her fallen mother in a second unmarked grave in a service that had no words spoken and only three attendees. Two funerals in a day but hope required sacrifice. Ridley now knew that the sacrifice and curse of the blade was very real. Slowly he turned away from the sakura tree that stood as a marker for the graves of Realina and Reiko as Rukan put a hand on his shoulder speaking softly, "Thank you..."

The white and teal fennec turned to look at Rukan and nodded slowly not having to say a word as she would know he understood. Starting their walk back to the hotel the ground shook powerfully as a shockwave came from the direction of the hotel making all three of the kitsune start to run only to see a suit of power armor carry off Raine and Que.

"QUE!!!" shouted Ridley as he took flight but as the suit's boosters kicked in it was gone leaving the three by themselves at ground zero of an attack. Yamitsu started to pour out of the hotel their undead forms reeking of death and decay. Their sheer numbers made the three kitsune back away with fear in their eyes.

Masatoshi put his paws on Rukan and Ridley's shoulders as he shouted, "This is no normal attack! The time has come! The invasion has begun!"