Flame of the Fateless

by Cryptic Keyboard

Chapter 10

Chapter 10
Eternal Fire and Mottled Fur

It had been a full two days since we had left Sunny's village. I had all but lost the drive to work; even with the lures of power from both Asura and Kuroko. So I had wandered, finding peace in the nomadic lifestyle I would no doubt be living for the best part of the foreseeable future. It was a fine change of pace from being the prime target for murder, which is slightly hypocritical for me to say considering I AM a murderer in the grand scheme of things. The moon was once more a bloated beacon in the sky as a few stars gasped their way through the ink-black sky above. My fairies convinced me to settle down for the night so we found a small clearing off the beaten track and lay down to rest. The two of them opted to nestle down in a small pile of dead leaves for once, leaving my fur free of sprite-based nuisances for this night. As the two began to snore in their cute little way I remained wide awake. I just couldn't sleep for some reason.

So I wandered.

I ventured further beyond the tree-line and started another moonlit journey.
It was boring.
Every creature worth seeing had long gone to sleep and the nocturnal life in this land was just as sucky as the life back on Earth. Oh look an owl, wow a majestic moth, behold the ever eternal grace of a fox peeing on its own leg. If I had wanted to see creatures peeing on themselves I would have stayed in Sunny's village. Oh look another moth, behold yet another cricket.
Gaze in wonder at the gigantic scar of charred trees and carcasses...... Wait what?

To be honest my reaction was slightly more exaggerated; unnecessary bad language and a slight open mouth to count two of the points. It was a spectacular sight to behold, in a slightly morbid 'oh look at that dead thing' way. Its like when you see a dead body for the first time; horrible but something stops you from looking away. I ventured further into the scar to look in closer detail. Nothing all that interesting beyond the destruction itself.
That was until I found to markings.
It was by chance that I slipped on a tree-trunk and smacked my muzzle into the burned bark. Not an all that interesting experience right? Well it wasn't until I spotted a small insignia scrawled onto the lower part of the trunk. It looked like a carving that consisted mainly of ornate flames; some of which coiled off to form creatures like snakes, hawks and even fish.

At the epicentre of the fire, was a four-legged creature. I don't want to jump ahead of myself and say it was a wolf, but it could have been a wolf. I switched positions on the log to get a better view of the carving. I was right about the flames but I still couldn't piece together what it meant. The creature at the centre seemed to be the source of the flames, so this was a sign of magic maybe?

"I see y'all are lookin' at the sign of the Fyre Fox, interested boy?"

I leapt out of my skin when the sudden voice joined the quiet night's melody. I know its slightly pathetic but I yelped a little. After tumbling over the fallen tree and floundering in the ashes for a second I shot back upright, determined to save my dignity in the face of this new presence. Much less surprising then it should have been, it was one of the anthropomorphic dogs I had seen not three days ago. While I should have been wary I noticed that he carried a walking stick, his left leg was close to crippled and hidden partially behind a robe.

"Now now child, I wont hurt you." The elder one said. "Nor do you need to hurt me; I'm not like my savage brethren."

"For one of those creatures you sure do have an articulate way of speaking." I mocked.

"Indeed I do my child, as do I know what you are my dear boy Lycan." He replied smoothly.
I tensed for reasons beyond my knowing.

"That's right child." He continued. "I know your name, or should I say nickname? Its always so difficult to tell what people prefer in this day and age." The elder dog hobbled towards the fallen tree and sat beside it. "Well its difficult to tell which way is up any more."

"Stop speaking in riddles dog!" I snapped. "Explain yourself!"

The elder chuckled to himself. "Are you wolves always so impatient? Here I was thinking that our ancestor gene-line would be politer than this."

"What are you talking about old one?" I growled impatiently growing bored of his games."
He beckoned me over. "Sit down child and I will tell you all I know."
I reluctantly walked over to the elder one, he seemed harmless enough.

"So then first things first old one, what are you?" I asked.

"My name is Grotto I'm guessing by your wording you don't know what I am?"
I shook my head from side to side.

"Figures, I am what one would call a Diamond Dog. We are a largely sub-terrain based species; preferring places rich with gemstones and easy prey." He sighed. "It is a simple enough life if you aren't near crippled like me."

"So what happened to you?"

"I was cast aside for being useless; my clan didn't willingly accept the weak. Now I am a wanderer."

"Who just so happens to claim to know more about me then I do?"

He chuckled once more, this time with a harsh edge. "I've been wandering for longer than you've been alive boy."

"Then tell me something I don't know." I chided.

"Very well, attack me." He said plainly.
I snorted with laughter. "No offence old man, but I only partake in challenging fights."

"Just do it you little butt-bandit." He scolded.
Well if he insisted. I raised my paw and swiped at his head, only to fall short as all the feeling drained from my leg. That feeling of emptiness continued to spread across my entire being until I slumped to the ground with barely enough energy to keep my eyes open. The elder hobbled above me; still chuckling away at his private joke.

"Well you clearly don't know the biggest weakness of your kind do you?" He stabbed me in the gut with his stick. "Its almost pitiable that one so head-strong should be so blind to his own flaws."

"What the.... Hell.... Did you do to me...... Freak!" I gasped with what little air I could gather.

"It takes one to know one my little friend. One such as yourself is hardly at liberty to call me a freak when you entire existence is abnormal."

"Just tell me what you did!"

The elder reached into his robe and pulled out a gleaming red gemstone the size of my head. He dangled it in front of my face.

"Do you know what this is boy?" He whispered scornfully.

"A big gemstone?" I asked.

"Very good. But its not just any gemstone, this is a gemstone with magical properties. Its correct term is 'fire ruby' and this is one of several stones that will mess up your day."
The elder started to pace around me. "But what do I mean by that? Its simple really, if you come into close contact with any kind of naturally magical gemstone then you will be rendered immobile, weakened, magically silenced and all around exposed." He stopped to chuckle for the third time. "To simplify it, you are near-fatally allergic to magic gemstones.
I know that I should have been worried about this, but I sometimes try to look for a positive spin on the negative. I looked up weakly and mustered a small grin. "So you're telling me that gemstones are to me like peanuts are to some others?"
The elder dog stopped his pacing and smiled warmly. "Why yes, I suppose it is like that in some ways." He hid the gem back inside his robe, my body slowly regained feeling.

"Well that was one freebie, now I think you should find out the rest about yourself on your own don't you? It always fun to discover your own weaknesses."
I couldn't say I agreed but the old one clearly wasn't going to change his mind. He had that look of determination a fly has when it tries several hundred times to exit the room through a pane of glass; minus the idiocy to not change the course of action they are taking mind you.

"Well then." I muttered. "You mentioned something about a fox?"

"Ahhhhh, the Fyre Fox." He murmured. "An interesting tale, one of which may prove useful for you to know."
I sat down on the burned shrubbery and listened expectantly to the tale the old one was about to recount.

He raised a wizened hand to the sky. "Many years ago this land was under threat. Both Diamond Dogs and Pony-kind alike had begun to enclose on nature's domain, destroying the lands with lumber farms and fire. Many species were in danger of becoming extinct as a result of this sudden movement by these creatures. So in an act of defence arose a champion of the wilds. It was said that it was a fox with coat a coat of inextinguishable flame and claws made from molten rock. The tales say that this being would protect any land under threat; first warning the interlopers before using force to remove them from the lands." The elder one's face turned sombre. "But such peace was not to last. After three hundred years of protecting the lands the fox became corrupted by an unknown force. Some go as far to say that it was simply because the fox became maddened by years of solitude and being the only of its kind. Once this frightening stage was set the fox rampaged for thirty days without pause, destroying towns, forests and families. Then on the end of the thirtieth day, he vanished without meaning or warning; it was just 'poof' no more fox."
The elder licked his lips and exhaled slowly. "What was strange however was this clearing. On the night of the fox's disappearance this entire clearing was engulfed in a blaze that lasted for two years, leading to the speculation that the fox came here to die. Further evidence." He tapped the fallen tree. "Are these carvings; every tree in this clearing has the same one carved into it."

"So this fox was near-immortal and could make fire, whys that so special?" I asked.

"This creature didn't just make fire, it made fyre!" said Grotto excitedly. "That's fire with a 'y' instead of an 'I' just so you know."

"What's so special about this... Fyre?" I pressed.

"The fox's fyre was unique in that it could not be extinguished by anything that could be manufactured or manipulated, the only known thing to be able to stop the fox fyre was for the fox to absorb the flames himself. This ability to absorb his own fyre became known as 'consumption' because he could even eat any other kind of natural or magical fire, he was on a close to godly scale with his control over the element of flame."

"So he was like a really jacked-up lighter?" I laughed.

"To put it in a form that even the most basic could understand, yes. The Fyre Fox was a massively jacked-up lighter."

I started to paw the ground. "But what does any of this have to do with me?"

"Well this is where the legend gets interesting." Grotto said. "It is said that the Fyre Fox roared in its last attack 'return is that of crimson' to those around."
I blanked. "So why should I be concerned about that?"

"So short-sighted are you that you cannot see past your own nose? What do you know that could be crimson boy?"
I frowned for a second. Before slowly (and stupidly) looking down.
My fur was crimson.

"So now the wolf pup sees." Grotto mocked.

"You think I'm.... A sign?" I said lowly.

"I do not know what to think of you my boy. But I do know this. The Fyre Fox's return is approaching and for all we know." Grotto locked eyes with me. "He could already be walking among us."

I didn't have a response. I just resumed staring into the ground with an expressionless face. Was this why Yiang had brought me here? To be the harbinger of fyre? Or does fate just like pissing on my day at every opportunity it gets?
Fuck. Just fuck.

"Grotto..... Do you think...?" I looked up;
Grotto was gone.

I was alone once again.

Comments

[FurryGoose]

imgon.net/di-5PO6.gif

[Cryptic Keyboard]

cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/20461608.jpg 1186372

[FurryGoose]

1187072encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRE7tSPeC3MW2MRY2rvuE2UxshdZCBNofGRJozfQqpfMO8UF-cLAw

[Imakidbanme]

1186372 1187072 1187080 lol

[lolz anonymous]

feels like an incomplete chapter...

[Cryptic Keyboard]

1188158 I know but I was starting to get a bit stumped for ideas, you probably noticed that it was a rather pivotal chapter in terms of lore and what going to happen later on so it needed to be just right. Don't worry I'm going to try to make the next one feel more pieced together before releasing it.

[Sandman]

Bwuahahahaha!
So he's weakened by rocks possessing unique energy properties.
Kryptonite!