Soulforge Legacy Series

As fast as we had accelerated, we stopped. Yet, even with the amount of energy and effort that must have been put into such a maneuver, I felt none of it.

“And here is where we part ways.” Death spoke as it released my hand. “I am sure that I will see you soon.” It took one last look into my eyes before it moved toward the edge overlooking the world far below. Far enough that I got vertigo just glancing over the edge.

Just before it could leave, I called out, “Where am I?”

“You are where you need to be.” Was all it said before vanishing. I don’t mean blurring away. I mean it was there one moment and gone the next. The only thing that even hinted at the creatures presence was the swept path where their cloak had slid against the soft dusting of snow.

With snow came cold. Cold that had waited for death to go before it struck at me. It reminded me of my first day in this world. Of my stupidity and sheer bad luck when it came to the weather.

The memory of that day was enough to drive me inside as I had no desire to experience hypothermia for a second time. Given the lack of anything nearby, it would likely cause me to visit death sooner than either of us planned. Not that I thought it would mind.

A memory of a place I had seen pushed forward, unbidden, yet insistent. As though it was trying to remind me of it. Of a veritable goddess sitting on a throne. Her tails arrayed out around her as she demanded to know who I was. What I was doing there.

Unbidden, my feet carried me into the structure as my eyes took in the pillars. Each row growing in height the deeper I went until finally revealing a chamber I recalled all too well. Shivers of fear and apprehension rippled down my spine as I looked up to see the woman, the goddess, for the second time.

Lounging there, same as before, was a Kitsune. Her nine tails fanned out behind her, waving in an unseen breeze. One hand lifted to her mouth as she took a pull from a pipe.

Seeing her brought forth the questions that I had managed to bury. Questions like why she had even allowed the system to change me? Or how to go back? To return to my human form.

Yet not a single question left my lips. Not even a tiny peep managed to get out as my throat closed up. Her eyes bore into me. It was as though she was trying to tear into me. To figure out what I was and why I was here.

So it wasn’t all that surprising that she was the first to speak. “Another of my kits have come forth to ask me questions about life and power.” She stopped to take a puff from her pipe before letting out a smoke filled sigh. “Yet none has offered me a compelling reason to answer such questions. No better than asking a parent how to run when one cannot even walk yet.”

Her head shook. As she took me in, she continued. “There are those among my brothers and sisters that believe their kin should be forced to figure everything out for themselves. After all, there is no greater hindrance one can experience than having someone give you all the answers.”

Her chest lifted ever so slightly as she took another drag of the pipe. Pulling enough out to release a cloud thick enough to reach across the room to me. “Then there are those that believe it is the responsibility of those that came before. Those with knowledge lost to ages past to pass that knowledge to those without it. If for no other reason than to keep it from being lost forever.”

She paused as if waiting for something. For some reaction. “And what do you think?” While I managed to get the words out, they were hesitant and my voice was weak.

“I agree with both.” Her eyes rolled back as she relaxed into the chair. “Knowledge without wisdom will only lead to disaster. Yet, on the other hand, what progress is there to be made if every generation has to rediscover everything? I mean, look at those joining the World Tree from Earth.”

The way she spoke made me wonder if she know I was once human or not. Not that I was able to interrupt her. “The entirety of their knowledge was accessible to almost anyone. Yet what has that knowledge done? What did they do with it? Sure, their civilization rose to heights not seen outside of the Dwarven Alliance Worlds, yet unlike the Dwarves, the systems falling apart one by one as their civilization itself collapses, taking the world with it.”

Just how much did this goddess know of what had been going on? Did she visit Earth or was there some sort of monitoring setup to watch a newly connected planet? Also, what did she mean by the World Tree? Was that what the giant tree was? I mean, it was massive and this world did seem embedded into it, but surely such a tree would have to be much larger.

As if she could see the questions as they filtered through my brain, she narrowed her eyes. Only, instead of mentioning anything about what I had been thinking, she changed subjects. “Are you like your stupid sister and stuck in a mating bond with an idiot?” Mating bond? “You do know not to have sex with anyone until you find your mate, right?”

Oh, god. Was she about to give me the birds and bees talk? Fucking hell. “No,” I stuttered the word out. “I am not bonded to anyone.” Whatever that meant. “And still a virgin thank.” Something that wouldn’t be changing any time soon thank you very fucking much.

She let out a hissed breath before suddenly vanishing from her chair. Between one breath and the next, a wave of air smashed against my body. On instinct, I blinked.

As they opened up to find her nearly nose to nose with me. Her eyes bore deep into mine, as though she was searching for something. I refused to move. I stayed where I was.

Which was probably a good thing as, out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed each of her tails seemed to curl in such a way that the tips all pointed at me. They looked almost like they were ready to stab me if I so much as twitched in a way she didn’t like.

“Who are you?” The words came out flat yet filled with enough ice to have me swallowing a lump in my throat. “Any of my children would have known they could have sex without bonding with someone.” Oh, fuck. “And tell me why, even though I do not know you, I somehow recognize you?”

At first, I thought the questions were rhetorical. As if she had asked them of me but was really just trying to work through the issue herself. Then something sharp poked me in the side of my neck.

Something warm and sticky slid down my throat from that spot. Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough to do much damage, but it was more than enough to get her point across. Either I had to give her an answer she liked, or I was dead. And something told me that her killing me might have a more…permanent effect.

“Because we have met before?” The words came out more like a question than anything.

“That tells me nothing.” Her hissed voice seemed to fill the room. As if the very air around us refused to move lest it gain some of her ire. “I have met many people in my lifetime. Killed quite a few of them as well. So, I will ask you one last time; who are you?”

While I could have given her my name, it wouldn’t have meant anything to her. “The last time I was here.” I tried to gesture around us but the thing poking my neck stopped that nearly as fast as I tried. “You kicked me out but only after cursing me to be unable to talk about what it is that I had seen to anyone other than you or your children.”

“Yes,” her eyes traveled to the side as if looking at something in the distance. In reality she was probably trying to recall what had happened that day. “I remember a human showing up one day, but he was male, and human. You are neither…wait…”

While the angle made it a bit hard to see, I noticed the top of her ears twitched back and forth as she leaned forward to smell me. Her eyes narrowed yet a little more, to the point that they were nearly closed.

Then, without a warning, her head fell back as laughter burst out of her. Her whole body shook as the laughter echoed off the walls. Thankfully, she moved back, taking her tails, one of which had a tip tinged crimson, with her.

“Hephaestus, you sly fucker!” The words echoed off the very air around us. “How in the hell did you pull this off?” For a moment, I thought she had gone insane and was talking to some imaginary person as we were the only two here.

I honestly should have put two and two together, as not a moment later, a voice I had heard once before, albeit in a video, called back. “Inari, sister. So nice of you to call for me.”