SFS - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

On my way back to the Ancient Shrine, I decided to stop in front of a half-destroyed pagoda. The scent of old parchment, aged bamboo, and stale ink drew me like a moth to the flame to a small plaza area lined with shops. 

The building that drew me was a large, three-story building that’d been half burned down. Snow and ash washed into the place through a half-collapsed wall. The floors above had all collapsed down, alongside an ornate painted sign—the Story by Lamplight.

What remained of the building, though, was like gold in my eyes. Rows and rows of burnt books, parchment, and scrolls lined the exposed shelves. Most of them were probably washed out by the snow, but this was the perfect place to test my theory. 

I agilely rounded the market plaza. This one was so much different then the street market in front of the Ancient Shrine. For one, it was closer to the south and center of the Dragon Vein Village. I was still on the outskirts, but the poor farming houses had long given way to ornate shopfronts and homes. 

The plaza itself was mostly empty aside from statues knocked onto its side and a few blighted corpses. It lacked the market stalls that the other place had, but more than made up for it with permanent buildings all around the space. Sounds echoed out of the shops, and the pungent scent told me all I needed to know.

The courtyard wall closest to the Story by Lamplight wasn’t nearly close enough for me to make the jump. I slid down the wall and bounded down onto a stack of crates in the dim alley. From there, I ducked into a snowbank just on the edge of the plaza.

Creaking wood from intense winds made my fluffy ears twitch around, but it didn’t sound like there was anything inside of the bookstore. There were Ophidian all around the place, though, so I’d have to be careful. If I made one sound too loud, who knew how many would come over here to investigate?

I carefully crawled out of my snowbank and shuffled around toward the front of the bookstore. A deck covered in snow allowed me to slink up to the doors of the place. Thankfully, the fire and destruction to the building itself had half knocked the doors off their hinges. There was just enough room for me to squeeze through the gap and plop into the other side.

I blinked a few times and waited for my eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. Rows of tables and shelves alternate throughout the space. The half collapsed wall to the side let in dim light that gave an eerie glow to the rest of the store.

The fire damage here was even more prevalent then from the outside. The scent of ash stung my nose. Wood creaked ominously and groaned under the weight of the building. The sound rang out much louder than it had any right to. This place acted like one massive echo chamber. I took a step forward, and accidentally stirred a wave of ash.

“Choo!” My tail snapped forward just in time to mute the sneeze. It still sounded explosive to my ears, but it didn’t bounce off the walls like I feared it would.

A gale of wind ripped through the open wall and ground against the structure. It turned into a high pitched whistle that made my fur bristle. Pages and scrolls around the store shifted like whispers of the damned. Definitely not creepy… not one bit, yip.

I slunk over to the nearest shelf. Right, I just needed to record a couple of them and see what the Record would have to say. After that, I could get out of this place and head back to the shrine for the night. And then… I dunno. Read, maybe? Assuming this worked how I thought it would.

I flicked my tail up toward a string bound book and knocked it off the shelf above me. I moved to catch it with my back—“Ugh!”

The heavy book slammed into me with much more force than I expected, and knocked me off my feet. A muffled thunk echoed out into the chamber, and the book spilled to the ground just next to me. I froze and listened keenly to my surroundings. Thankfully, nothing seemed to notice. 

I gently rubbed at my back with my tail and glared at the heavy book. What was this supposed to be—a brick? No wonder humans were so strong if they had to lug stuff like this around so often. My muscles would have muscles if I also subjected myself to such torture.

My nose twitched at the thought of my beautiful, graceful body being ruined by overwhelmingly large muscles. Probably best I don’t think about that cursed image again, or I might have nightmares. Record.

The silver fluid flowed out and formed the thorn-bound tome. I flipped to the front page of the heavy book and waited for the Record to do its thing. Can it even record a whole book? This thing is, like, five times thicker than my silver tome.

[Collecting Record… 1%…]

It didn’t go up again. I paused and glared down at the book once more. Don’t tell me… do I need to flip through every single one of these pages? What the hell am I paying you for, useless Record?! Seriously, you can’t even do something so simple. My paws—if I get a paper cut, will you pay the medical fee? Can you even afford to, you beggar?

My slurry of abuse continued for several moments. It seemed to do the job, and the engraving on the silver pages updated.

[…7%…]

Oh… I sat back on my haunches and watched the Record slowly update a few more times. So it could do it all automatically, but it’d just take a while. It was quicker than reading through the book myself, though. Good job, little buddy. You’re the best, aren’t you? Who’s my favorite creepy thorn tome-thingy?

The Record pulsed with a faint light like it was reacting to my affirmations… or maybe it was just continuing to faithfully copy the book. It didn’t seem to have a will of its own outside of wanting more stuff to copy. That was fine, though—it was better than fine, actually. 

The Record abruptly flicked pages to an index of sorts. Now there were two entries for me to look through—the map and Tzu’s Guide to the Imperial Exams… Woah, I picked the most boring book in this place, didn’t I?

I jumped up onto another shelf and carefully peeled another book away. The silver tome floated up after me and got to work. It pulsed vibrantly, and started to record yet another book. I leaned back off the shelf and looked up the aisles… this might take a while.

After that, I bounced around the bookstore copying any and every book that looked even remotely interesting. Unfortunately, almost every book on the shelves of this place was some kind of classic, a dialogue over classics, poems, or study guides. I left most of those behind. 

There were very few books of note left in the ashen building… at least, until I found a medical section. My interest was piqued, especially after being saved by Graft. If I could learn her needle technique, then I could also force some poor creature to work for me after saving their life. I needed to record more, anyway.

I didn’t bother reading the books the Record copied down. This place wasn’t safe, and I’d have more than enough time loitering around the Ancient Shrine to read through the saved books later. It was a bit time consuming, but I shouldn’t ever be bored again.

By the time the Record copied my eighteenth medical manuscript, something finally changed with it. The silver flashed, and automatically flicked back to the page with my information on it.

[Snow - Spirit Fox

Record Level: 3

Record Abilities: | Allscript |, | Pending |]

Penidng? I twisted my head and tried to pry deeper into the shifting script. Just like before, a small engraving tacked on just below my information.

[| Pending | (preposition) - until [something] happens or takes place.]

I know what it means, damnit! Did I copy a dictionary or medical manuscripts?! I batted at the silver tome with my fluffy paw, and it melted back into a silver ball. It bobbed once in midair as if to admonish me, and then disappeared like it usually did. When’d you decide to be so wise? I just praised you for lacking a will, too…

My tail curled around my paws and rubbed gently. Did the tome even have a will of its own in the first place? I didn’t think it did, but there were a few small moments where it seemed like it might. Then again, those could just be preset actions and replies. I’d have to wait and see.

Naturally, my next question was what was the Record waiting on? Unless Pending was the ability itself, but somehow that didn’t seem quite right. It was yet another thing I’d—

A noise caught my attention. It came and went like a ghost so fast I wasn’t even sure I heard anything. My tail went still, and I lifted my head to focus. 

“Waaah!” A sharp cry came from further into the library. I froze with my paw still raised. My ears twitched toward the source, and I picked up the weeping of… a baby? Maybe?

Why—another monster type? I hesitated for a moment and then carefully shut the medical manuscript that just got finished recording. It could be a baby, though. The sharp cries sounded so lonely and scared.

I lifted my nose and took a deep breath. The serpent-scent lingered around the place. What if it was a kid who caught the plague? If it was still alive and conscious like Old Zhou, then shouldn’t I help it out? Or, at least, put it out of its misery.

My claws flexed. I could totally take on a baby. An adult human was way out of my league, but even if the child was blighted I’d be able to win. If I couldn’t—well, I’d bring shame on the name of all foxkind if I couldn’t even outrun a plagued baby, yip. If anything, the Ophidian Blight caused those infected with it to slow down as scales and spines grew in their joints.

Right, it’d be fine. If it was a child in need of help, I’d try to help. If I couldn’t—well, maybe Zeteoh would be useful? Or he might quote Heaven again and sit on his ass. I hadn’t interacted with the old scholar enough to figure out what he’d do. Either way, I could figure it out from there.

I cautiously dropped down onto the floor as silent as I could. One paw after another, I slowly slunk toward the source of the crying.

— — —

AN: Fox’s are pretty freaking smart! Snow foxes are super resourceful animals with a remarkable memory. Extremely remarkable memories, actually. They bury everything from chunks of seal to lemmings to eggs stolen from bird nests in the snow or among rocks. That way, when food is scarce in the winter, they can come back and dig it up so they don’t starve.

I don’t know about you, but I forget where my wallet is almost every time I need it. Or my earbuds. I use those almost daily. Can you imagine burying something and then trying to come back and find where its at months later?

Oh, and Myth//OS chapter today. I’m about to start writing it, so it might be a bit late.