Do vaporwave kitsune count technicolor sheep? - 4. Chapter 4

“How many times has the world been scheduled to end back home?”

“Enough! I think we should keep our eyes open though because even if the threat is fake, fear is real. Did you see anything else...out of the ordinary?”

He goes pensive, his thoughts straying.

“Nothing of import.”

“Okay, well since we’ve seen the lay of the land, where are we going to spend the night? Assuming there is indeed night around here.”

“Let’s err on the side of caution and find somewhere outside of the city limits to pass the time. We’ll see what happens.”

Nose to the ground, I catch the faintest hint of brimstone eddying towards me on the breeze. Keeping Kemuri in the corner of my eye I let the mysterious scent lead me onwards. Surprisingly it's not long before the sky overhead begins to darken into this world’s approximation of night, pale pink bleeding into scarlet red all while the two moons remained where they hung heavy, white and unmoving.

As the world darkens around me, I watch in fascination as the foliage glows to life in a riot of continuous color. Beneath a nearby tree a pitcher plant forms out spiny teeth around its opening maw, vibrant blue lights like a vacancy at a motel calling in unsuspecting prey. Beneath my paws the grass still ripples and shimmers with bioluminescence. Stowing this bit of information away, I continue onward into the night. Glancing behind me, I see that after a few moments of being left in peace the glow disappears.

I let my sensitive sense of smell follow the distinctive trail of the sulfurous brimstone. Above me a purple raptor resembling a hawk hops from branch to branch, screeching down at me quite angrily. They are mightily displeased at finding me in their territory and I yip with bared teeth, managing to silence the bird before continuing on. The scent was definitely growing stronger, and now my curiosity is definitely piqued.

Even amid all the trees, there is a definite earthy undertone reminiscent of the two creatures I saw earlier inside the city. Perhaps this is the direction they’d headed in...their scaled tails had reminded me of a dragon...for some reason that made my heart squeeze. Lifting my head I prick my black tipped ears, absorbing myself in the surrounding forest. If I close my eyes it’s almost as though I’m home again listening to cicadas in the Live Oaks.

And yet there is a unique beauty in the feast of lights that fills my vision like some dream world brought to life. Here almost everything seemed to vibrate with life and color whether it be night or day.

Under the softly glowing underbrush I could detect the scurrying of small rodents, even their droll blase fur sported eye catching dots and stripes. Brilliant, instead of drawing attention as you’d think it became confusing and disorienting as they moved in small packs.

Nose back to the ground, I center my wandering thoughts. It’s close...Looking around I notice that I’ve lost Kemuri while wandering. His smokey scent still lingers on the light breeze, even if he’s not in my direct line of sight. It should be fine, he is the trained assassin after all.

Here.

Partially hidden behind a large stand of fluorescent climbing ivy I find a rather large entrance to some subterranean tunnels. The path leading in and out is well worn from someone’s foot traffic. If I crouch low and stalk I find that I can fit inside the descending tunnel relatively comfortably.

A faint flickering light catches my eye, luring me ahead and I carefully lower my head closer to the packed dirt path so as not to get my curving black draconic horns caught in these close quarters. Reaching the curve in the tunnel, I pause in my steps.

Just ahead I hear the scritching of claws against dirt accompanied by staccato chirps akin to those of a baby alligator. Peering my head around the corner of the corridor I see a large hollowed out communal area, and scattered throughout were seven kobolds. The tallest was probably three feet tall and the top of his head would read my shoulder in kitsune form. Two stood out from the rest, adorned with brilliantly hued scales and showy neck frills which would flare when they got excited about something.

The one closest to me is scarlet with bright yellow rings down it’s back to the tip of its tail, pink running through their frill like a sunburst. The other was a bright azure similarly accented in shades of neon green. Their company is not nearly as radiant in coloration, and they are all lacking a fancy neck frill.

Fireless witchlight set in recessed grooves in the wall glows brightly over them. The scritching sound was coming from a muscular male, assuming. Bright green like the anole lizards on my porch at home, he was studiously working away at furthering a tunnel. Dirt falling into a roughly hewn bucket at his clawed feet. Another leaned against the wall beside him, chittering excitedly while the witchlight danced across his shining brown scales, an empty bucket in his hand.

I’m concentrating very hard on keeping my tails very still as I watch on in silence, and I feel like I could sink into the ground in shame as my stomach lets loose the most ferocious growl. Panic freezes me in place as a room full of reptilian eyes turns to face me as one, the smell of jasmine fills the air as I flounder for something to say.

“It is the Amethyst One, as it was foretold.”

The shining brown one drops his bucket, prostrating himself on the ground with arms outstretched.

“The Amethyst One!”

Repeating in draconic the words of the first, they all follow suit in throwing themselves to the floor of the cavern. Uneasily, I look around and behind me just to be certain that there isn’t some large beast ready to devour me. Nothing is there and I feel nothing else in the general vicinity, and yet they remain with heads bowed down upon the packed dirt.

“You don’t mean...me?”

I ask this in their dialect, taught to me by my mother after learning it at my father’s side.

“The Lost Ones were told by the spirit dragon in a vision that we would be found by the Amethyst One. In my dream he came to me...Overlord Mythara.”

The scarlet one rises and approaches me, her palms held upward in supplication.

“All hail Lady Moon, the Amethyst One!”

“All hail Lady Moon, the Amethyst One!”

As one they rise, their clawed feet grooving into the packed floor as they jockey for position to greet me. The fact that they do indeed already know my name is actually a small thing compared to what ensues. Scarlet holds up one hand, marshaling the others into a semblance of order before turning to face me.

“My Lady, let me make myself known. I am Frau.”

She gestures to the green anole lizard.

“Ein.”

Next is the skink with the shining brown scales.

“Gustav.”

Her hand moves on to gesture towards the lovely azure female.

“Katia.”

Two rust hued matching males stood holding hands at the back of their small crowd.

“That is Liebli and Baba, they are twins and from the same clutch. And finally…”

Tucked away beside the twins is the smallest figure of them all with scales of matte black.

“Gunter is yet a youngling.”

I am quite literally speechless, staring at each kobold in turn as they practically glow with hero worship.

“Moon! Are you over here somewhere? I can smell jasmine...Are you okay?”

Kemuri is calling out to me from somewhere above me near the entrance to the tunnel.

“Please excuse me for a moment.”

With a fanged and hopefully embarrassed smile of chagrin, I manage to turn myself around and exit the tunnel in answer to him.

The sound of my claws digging into the packed dirt of the tunnel floor is particularly loud to my own ears, almost as loud as my heartbeat pounding. From ahead of me where the path slopes upward to the surface, the familiar scent of smoke drifts down to my sensitive nose. He’s little more than a shadowy outline against the blood red night sky, and his black nose is tucked low between his front paws. I can hear him sniffing softly, inhaling my own jasmine.

“Kemuri, you are never going to believe this.”

My voice comes out in a low hiss since I honestly have no idea how well kobold hearing works. The top of my head butts up beneath his chin in my haste to get out of the tunnel.

“Mind the horns.”

“Sorry...but really you must hear what I have to tell you.”

I tell him everything. It spills forth as my eyes veritably glow ultraviolet with my barely contained excitement about the things I’ve found. I tell him about the earthy brimstone scent I encountered inside the city limits and about the little scaled tails peeking out from beneath their fluttering cloaks. Behind me my tails are swishing to and fro with my excitement, even preening a bit as his eyes widen when I tell him about their lair that lay down in the earth behind me.

“That’s how we got separated. I recognized their scent and figured when they left the city maybe this is the direction they came in.”

His head cocks to one side and he looks at me as though I have lost my mind. Closing his eyes, I watch as Kemuri inhales deep gulps of air, filling his lungs completely. A little bit put out that he doesn’t outright believe such a fantastic story after being told so enthusiastically, my white teeth glow beneath the two moons light in a smile when I see it. It takes a moment for him to sift through my lingering scent of jasmine, but I can tell the exact second the brimstone reaches him. His steel grey eyes pop open to meet mine once more.

“See?”

“Amethyst One?”

I am less amused by the barely contained sniggering that escapes from between his visibly clenched fangs. Nipping out at him, Kemuri evades me with his superior agility.

“THEY chose that...I would have picked something edgy like Lady Ultraviolet.”

Now he’s laughing at me outright.

“I don’t know what they mean by spirit dragon and my coming being foretold...but they really did know me by name. Certainly it must hold some kind of link to how we ended up here in the first place.”

All traces of mirth drain from his posture, shoulders drooping in dismay.

“If we are going to further our interaction with the creatures, then I think you should remain as the go between. Please be careful though...even though you can hold your own against a lot. We’re out of our depth here and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

My pink tongue darts out to lick his cheek with affection, and he immediately jumps back.

“Stop that. I’m not a kit anymore.”

“I love you too, Kemuri. I promise that I will act with care.”

“That’s what worries me…”