Walking on Frozen Paws

by Saysy

Chapter 02: My Head is Empty

Author's Note:

Hello everybody,
First, thank you for reading my story.
And second, before you ask, I won't write Luna's sentences in old English.

“Black. Black. And oh, what do we have here, black. Is here something else, except black?”

I walked this black void—or whatever you want to call it—for about half an hour now. And there is still no end in sight. Oh, and I’m human again that is a big plus in my book. I could have enjoyed it if it wasn’t so boring right now. I walked again for another fifteen minutes.

“Why isn’t here something else, except black!?” I cried into the void.

“Well, why don’t you change it. It’s your mind after all.”

I halted mid-step. Not prepared to get a reply from a strangely familiar voice.

I looked around only to see black.

“Where are you.”

“Behind you.”

I watched over my shoulder. And there, sitting on the ground was a blue fox Cub.

I turned around to take a better look. The fur is the same and he has a white tip at the tail too. But now I could see the face. He has sharp silver eyes and in the middle of his for-had-fur a white circle shape. The fur on his ears is white at the peak like his tail.

“Didn’t your mother told you, that it is rude to stare at other people.”

“Yes, she did,” I replied.

“So, why you still staring.”

“Well, if I’m right, and please correct me if I’m not, you and I are the same person.”

“It is partly true, I’m just a part of you. The new part to be precise. What is left from you is just your mind and memories.”

“Aha. So, where are we.”

“As I told you before, we are in your mind. You could describe it like lucid dreaming.”

“You mean, that I just need to think of a tree and it shall appear.” I looked around to see the tree, but I couldn’t see it.

I heard a light chuckle coming from the cub, “I said, ‘like’, not the same as lucid dreaming,” he said, with a paw in front of his snout.

“The difference is, that you not just dreaming. You’re, as I said, in your mind and your mind is currently empty.”

“You don’t say that I’m dumb, do you?”

“No! That would imply that I’m dumb too. What I mean, is that you don’t have any memories yet.”

“But I have twenty-four years’ worth of memories as a human!” I said, angrily. More out of fear that I would lose them in time.

“Yes, you have. But they're not here.”

“How can’t they be here?”

“What I mean, is that there not in your mind. More like there somewhere else in a bubble, linked to your mind.”

“Why,” Is the only response that I could think of?

“My hypothesis, is that the identity that sends you here, didn’t want the pony like creatures to find out where you came from.”

“How would they find out, unless they can read mines.” Alone the thought that someone could read my mind sent a shiver down my spine. That the Cub didn’t reply, didn’t lessened my fear. “They can?” He nodded. “How?”

“Magic,” came his reply.

“Magic… magic doesn’t exist.”

“How do you explain all these things happen to you in the last twenty-four hours?”

I opened my mouth to make a plausible explanation. Only to close it one second later.

“That’s what I thought. Now, back to business.”

“What business.”

“Your mind! As I said, there are methods to read your mind. But there are also techniques to defend your mind. That doesn’t mean that’ll you need them, but there are also good to have if you don’t want to be mind controlled. As I always say, you can never be too careful.”

“That is something I could agree with.”

He gave me a deadpan stare.

“What?”

“Of course, you’d agree with me. We are the same person after all.”

“Oh, I forgot that for a second.”

“The rules for a mind-battle are simple. If you’re only fighting mind against mind, the weaker mind would lose. If you attack someone, you only attack with your mind and nothing else. But on defense, there it’s where it gets interesting. Now your mind would be easy prey so too say. Zero defense. To boost someone’s resistance against an intruder you build a fortress in your mind- “

“How do you know all that,” I asked?

Visibly annoyed that I interrupted his teaching he said, “I don’t know, I just know it. And I felt the need to teach you about yourself. The new you.”

“Ok, you do know that that is a bit creepy. Also, it’s a little bit irritating to get lectured by a voice that sounds like an eight-year-old child.”

“Now, to build a defense structure in your mind you first need a foundation. This foundation is built on a happy memory. But first, we need to replace this black void,” he said ignoring my reply.

“And how do I do that?”

“I was getting there. Close your eyes and picture a landscape where you would feel free. And take your time.”

I do as I was told. The first place that came to my mind was the sea and the beach. Next was the sky. In my memories, these two were the only places where I would consider be free. Even when I lived alone in my apartment I didn’t consider that myself. Another place I would consider free would be a forest. As I thought about these landscapes an idea sprang into the forefront of my thoughts. Why not combine them all? In a few seconds, I had a picture in my mind.

I opened my eyes and saw the sky. I realized that I was laying on the ground. The ground, consisting of sand, was soft. More like the sand in a sandpit, but I liked the felling, so I had no intentions to change it. As I stood up I noticed two things. First, I couldn’t hear any sounds of the ocean and second, where the sea should be, were waves frozen in time. Now, that I looked around, I saw that the trees of the forest behind me were all covered in snow. The only places not covered in ice and snow were the beach and the ground below the trees.

“Where does the snow come from?”

“That is possible because of the element you wrote down in the form,” said the cub, that was now sitting next to me.

“The next step is far simpler than you would think. Just take a memory and picture it as a shield against the dark or something that you’d consider evil.”

I closed my eyes again and search my memories. I took one that I considered happy enough and open my eyes. In front of me stand a shed. A wooden shed.

"Better than nothing, I guess. At least it looks sturdy. Shall we look inside.”

I took the first step of my way to the front door. I opened the door and peeked inside. Nothing. The interior was empty except for another door on the far end of the room. I walked inside the cub on my heels. Walking through the room, I reached the other door. The door was far fancier than the front entrance. Carvings of snowflakes in the middle and icicles at the top. The handle was made of silver with gold on the edges. All in all, everything about this door screams important.

“Should I open it?” I asked, my companion.

“Yes, you should. It’s the most important part of someone’s mind. This door looks different from person to person, but behind it, are the memories you’ll make in your life.”

I slowly grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. Only for the door to do nothing.

“Looks like your door doesn’t swing in both ways.”

“What do you mean?”

“Right now, it doesn’t matter. And before you ask, that is a lesson for later.”

I tug at the door and it swung open without a problem. Behind the door, was a bright blue area, with a few white stars, left and right. I could hear a few whispers from some of the stars.

“I can hear voices from the stars… What are these?”

“Obviously, these are your memories. Some have sounds in them, some don’t. Try to grab one.”

I do as I told and as I touched one of the stars, it transformed into a screen and played the memory from the treasury. As I tried out the other stars. I noticed that there are only memories of this world. I also asked my companion, why they weren’t in the black void from before. His answer turned out to be a little scary. Turns out, that a person does this automatically as he or she grows up. That is why we don’t remember much from our years as a baby or preschooler because it wasn’t efficient at the time. And as a human, we never know about this. Except for a few, who reached this state of mind with intense mental training. And as he told me before, my new body came with a new mind liked to my old one. He then said, that my new mind didn’t come with that construct. And, if I didn’t have made it in time, I would have forgotten the day prior.

“Wait a second. If we do that in a few years, how did we make it in just one night?”

“First, you already did that when you were a human child. That made it easier for you the second time. And second, you had a good instructor. And as you’re now a magical creature yourself, it’s even easier.”

“Why is it easier?”

“Magic helps a lot when it comes to mental constructs.”

“Are there any more lessons?”

“Yes, but you’ll wake up soon.”

“How do you know?”

“I know, because of the blue space turning brighter every second we speak.”

“Ah, ok. If my memories aren’t wrong, I’m a young kitsune.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“But aren’t kitsune females?”

“Yes, mostly. But there are males too. Why’d you ask?”

“I just was frightened for a moment that I’m female now.”

“Wait, you didn’t think about looking if your male or female?”

“No.”

“Oh, then it’s my duty to tell you! Dramatic pause. You’re female. See you.”

“What…” Was the only word I could say before my vision was enveloped in bright white.

Comments

[Omniverse Infinity]

“Oh, then it’s my duty to tell you! Dramatic pause. You’re female. See you.”

OMNI:Jokes on you gender is meaningless to anyone who wields the reality stone because we can rewrite our gender...or any thing about our selves really.

[Taken-By-Insanity]

Please make chapter three soon. Or I'm coming after you. Let's go with that.

[Chrome Masquerade]

“But aren’t kitsune females?”

“Yes, mostly. But there are males too. Why’d you ask?”

“I just was frightened for a moment that I’m female now.”

“Wait, you didn’t think about looking if your male or female?”

“No.”

“Oh, then it’s my duty to tell you! Dramatic pause. You’re female. See you.”

“What…” Was the only word I could say before my vision was enveloped in bright white.

Okay, that was funny!

[ChiefKitsune]

Curse you like button and your limit of one like per story!