SFS - Chapter 11 (Patreon)

I carefully clung to the side of the wooden beams and walked up its its side with shaking paws. It was one of the knocked over ones, and tilted at the perfect angle to let me move up without too much of an issue. I much preferred flat ground or things I could jump up onto. Climbing like this—it was deeply uncomfortable for me. I wasn’t a freaking gray fox.

Still, desperate times called for desperate measures. I valiantly climbed the last few steps of the incline and jumped up onto a half-collapsed section of the roof. My paws touched down in the snow once more, and I cheerfully rolled through the stuff. My lithe, majestic body wasn’t heavy enough to destabilize the section of the roof. So I didn’t have to worry about falling through either.

From up on top of the arched roof, I got a grand view of the village. It was almost entirely dark on the north, with only the occasional firelight and Spirit Flame brazier letting off a dim glow. To the south, though, the entire place looked much more lively.

I blinked. Everything around me faded to a dull and washed out shade that made my head throb in discomfort. Almost everything. The Spirit Flame brazier I was about to head to gave off a gentle light that seemed to wash away the dull look of everything around it. Is this… Eye of the Recorder? Woah, this seriously hurts my head.

I glanced down toward the plaza to check out the Ophidian ambling around the space. Like almost everything else, they were washed out and dull gray. Worse, even. They almost seemed to emanate a slight aura around them that was even duller gray than everything else. Even just looking at it made me want to yawn.

So… spirit juices? Is that what I’m looking at? I blinked again, and Eye of the Recorder dropped. The world reverted to its usual wash of colors once more. The Spirit Flame definitely had more going for it than just a pretty blue light, though. Of course it did if Zetoeh told me to take cover near one.

How did my new eyes work now? I blinked a few more times to try and get a hold of it. After a bit of messing around, I figured out the secret. My eyes—it was like they’d been modified while I was asleep. There was a new set of… muscles? Maybe? It was like squinting, but not quite.

I shook my head and moved around the side of the building toward a section I spotted while messing with my eyes. It was a bit of a jump, but it dropped down right into a massive snow bank on a building across the street to the south.

My ears twitched—something knocked over a shelf down in the library. I took a breath and straightened out my tail. Sticking around was the wrong call afterall. Add a point for logic. There was only one good way out of there, and if they started getting in…

I lined myself up and lowered my stance. It was about… that far? I could totally make that. No problem. No issue, yip. I took a breath and flung myself off the side of the building. I should’ve thought harder about this!

The snow mound rushed up to meet me, and I disappeared into its depths. It mostly helped stop my fall, but I still felt something pull weirdly in my injured hind leg. A small groan left me, and I sat around for a few minutes for the pain to fade. I dug my way out of the snow mound—

My fur bristled. I froze halfway out of the snow mound, and took a breath. The wind had shifted, and an overwhelmingly strong Ophidian scent filled the air. It put the blighted farmers to shame with its pure intensity. A bolt of lighting struck somewhere nearby, and I flinched back into the snow mound instinctively.

Where is that coming from—there. On top of the Story by Lamplight, a humanoid form stood just where I’d been. It flinched away from a slight gap in the clouds that let through a rogue beam of the setting sun. Before I could get a clear look, the creature just vanished like it was never there.

I jumped out of the snow and sprinted along the rooftop toward the Spirit Flame. My paws scrabbled over the tile, and I ducked low to avoid a harsh wind that threatened to blow me off the roof. A hunter? Already? What happened to only coming out at night, you cheater?! And how are you already on my trail?!

Ragged breaths filled my chest, and I jumped down onto a courtyard wall. I had minutes at best until the creature caught up with me. My legs worked incredibly fast as I sprinted for the Spirit Flame Brazzier, though I could feel my back hind leg pull more and more with each passing step.

I jumped up onto another roof. Before I could think better about it, I flung myself over a large alley onto a bamboo chute. It bent under my weight, and then snapped back into place. I jumped at the same time and catapulted across the rest of the alley onto a building. My paws found purchase on the slick tile, and I continued my mad sprint for safety.

In no time, I spotted the blue flames from the brazier peeking out between two courtyards. It sat in a half destroyed pavilion settled in what looked like the remains of a garden. The roof had collapsed, though, and the bronze pipes were mostly buried under broken tiles and wood.

Finally! I instinctively lunged the final few steps for safety—

The air shimmered behind me, and the overwhelming Ophidian scent returned. A figure slammed into the wall where I’d just been. Claws met stone, and a horrible screech filled my ears. I tumbled and rolled the final few steps. Wood shards and broken ceramic tiles pressed up into my fur uncomfortably as the light of the Spirit Flame washed over.

I shot up and looked around, but the creature was gone once more. If I hadn’t lunged instinctively… add one point for instinct. The creature would’ve likely torn me to shreds just as I thought I was safe. My tail brushed ceramic and broken wood off of my back.

The race was never truly over until the finish line was crossed. That came from one of those classics I glanced through in the massive bookstore. Maybe they weren’t so useless, after all.

“Caw?” A crow’s cry snapped my attention toward the spirit flame. A pitch black crow shot to its feet and lifted its wings intimidatingly. It clacked its beak fiercely at me, like it wanted me to leave.

He didn’t seem like a spirit beast. I tilted my head weakly and let my jello legs finally give into their wobbling desires. A small whine filled the air, and my tail sadly wrapped around my paws. If there was one thing I was good at, it was looking cute and pitiful—erm, deceiving my opponents. I was majestic and beautiful no matter what I did, naturally.

The crow hesitated a moment, and his wings drooped. His head tilted to the side in confusion. “Caw?”

Now! I pounced on the bird before it could react and slammed its wings down with my paws. It wiggled underneath me in a desperate hope to escape, but it was even smaller than I was. No way it’d be able to get away from me.

”C-ca-caw!” The stupid bird tried to flap its wings and get away. It was doing more harm than good, though, and several black feathers were ripped out.

I opened my snout and clamped down on the bird’s throat, but didn’t chomp down. The crow stilled, and I could feel its throat bob under underneath my teeth. I let it sit there in its own terror for a moment before pulling away and staring down at the stupid bird. A high-pitched giggle left me, “kekekekek.”

“Caaw!” The bird pleaded with me and wormed around like he was trying to stir up my affection. The tops of his wings brushed up against my paws lightly. “Caw-caw!”

”Yip, yip.” I gave one last threatening dive for his throat and then pulled away from the stupid little thing. I wasn’t all that hungry, anyway. Just had to show the birdbrain who was boss before he got any ideas.

”Caw!” The moment I lifted my paws off of him, he flapped and flew up onto one of the few remaining high beams just outside of my reach. It was just inside of the light given off by the Spirit Flame, though. It seemed the bird wasn’t all that stupid after all.

”Yip!” My tail flicked toward it in dismissal, and I made myself right at home on one of the nearby snowdrifts right next to the flame. I carefully picked out pits of wood and tile from the snow to make it more comfortable.

The crow squinted its eyes at me and pranced around up there with its wings stretched out like it was on all fours. “Cacacacaw!”

Is—is that stupid bird mocking me? No way, yip. How dare it make fun of my squint. That isn’t something I could change! And I definitely don’t walk like that, you under-grown chicken! I flicked snow up at the bird with my tail. It casually pulled back to dodge the attempt and lifted its beak snidely while squinting at me.

That’s it! I popped out of my snow mound and checked the height up to the bird’s perch. It was a bit too high up… but using a nearby broken beam, I springboarded up toward him. I agilely landed on my paws, and my tail flicked back the other way to counterbalance the momentum.

“C-c-caw?” The bird froze, and its entire body trembled like a leaf in the wind.

”Kekekekek.” I slunk forward and dropped low into a pounce stance—

The fur along my back bristled. Movement from just behind the crow caught my attention. I lunged forward, snatched the startled crow by the neck, and fell off of the high beam. The two of us slammed into my freshly cleaned snowdrift in a mess of fur and feathers.

Up above, the beam groaned and collapsed as the hunter slammed into it. Its claws tore through the wood, and I got my first true look at the creature. It’d been a human female at one point, but now it was entirely covered in scales and spines without a hint of skin in sight. Its muscles were massive, the scales ripped with every shift of its body.

Eye of the Recorder covered my vision, and everything washed out except for the hunter. Like the other blighted, it emitted a dark dullness. Compared to them, though, the hunter was almost pitch black and oozed out into its surroundings.

The black ooze shifted, and flowed through its body. It twisted and turned into a weird looking pattern that I couldn’t make any sense of. As soon as the pattern was fully completed, just like before, the creature vanished from view.

[Collecting Record… 1%… 3%…]

[Partial Record: | Wraithwalk |]

The tome flashed into view in front of me, and I shut off Eye of the Recorder. Interesting… so I could collect records using Eye of the Recorder? More importantly, was the creature using some kind of invisibility technique? What would happen if I got the full Record? 

Doing so, though… I’d need to witness it fading in and out of invisibility repeatedly, which meant being attacked repeatedly. It wasn’t impossible, but it was certainly risky, yip. Especially if it had even a fraction of a brain left in that head of its.

”Caw!” The bird struggled underneath me lightly. It wasn’t an attempt to get away, though. Instead, it was like the black bird was just reminding me that it was there.

”Yip…” Right. I pulled away from the crow and looked at my snow drift. It was ruined, and the snow was scattered everywhere by our impact. A pang of sadness filled me.

The crow, instead of flying away like I expected him to once more, pranced over to me and pressed into my side. “Caw!”

”Kek?” I lightly pushed him away with a flick of my tail. Do you have no survival instincts? 

He slapped a wing to his chest and lifted himself proudly. “Ca-caw, caw-ca-caw~!”

No idea what that meant. I stared at the stupid little bird. I mean, sure, I saved him from being torn apart brutally. That didn’t mean I wanted him around… no, maybe this was a good thing. The crow was like survival rations—one that I didn’t have to carry around. Fine. “Yiii-yip, kekekekek.”

I hesitated for a moment and then activated Eye of the Recorder once more. The bird, similar to the Spirit Flame, also had a soft light emanating from him. It was incomparably weak compared to the flame though, and flowed around chaotically without any patterns. 

Useless bird. Not that I expected much from such an idiotic creature to begin with. I needed to find a reflective surface. I probably lit up like the sun compared to the crow. That was for a much later time, though.

I edged out toward the street and away from the Spirit Flame. The crow let out a startled cry and tried to grab my tail and pull me back into the flame. I flicked my tail and lightly tapped the crow over the side of the head. Trust me, little Cacaw. “Yip!”

The bird made one more attempt before flying back to the snow bank. He peaked his head up out of the bank and watched me with wide eyes—“CAW!”

I pulled back at the same moment and flung myself into safety. The air trembled, and a pattern appeared the moment before the creature did. The pattern abruptly broke, and the hunter appeared once more in a lethal lounge that was destined to miss.

My head lifted proudly once I was back in safety. Against humans, it’d be almost impossible to dodge. With my superior senses, though, it was a thousand years too early.

It watched me for a moment, and then vanished once more. My favorite thorn tome floated up to replace it.

[Collecting Record… 6%… 9%…]

[Partial Record: | Wraithwalk |]

Much more progress this time around. Maybe since I watched its technique deactivate, and activate this time around? At this rate, I’d need—how many more attempts? I made some claw marks in the snow. Let’s see here… carry the one, I can’t forget to shift that one over, and then add them all up… That’s not that bad! I only need fifty-three more tries to get the Record! Assuming I don’t die first. Heh—I’m such a genius.

With renewed confidence, I edge out toward where the Spirit Flame’s light didn’t reach to wait for my new favorite Ophidian. Even then, though, I kept my ears and nose peeled for any hint of another Ophidian. Dodging one wasn't impossible Dodging two, though? 

I crouched low in preparation and waited for the signs of the hunter.

— — —

AN: Snow foxes move pretty quick. When chasing prey or avoiding predators, they can sprint up to 31mph(50km/h). That’s much faster than a human, and even Usain Bolt only hit 27.8mph(44.7km/h). Not to take away from his record, because even that’s insanely high. The average non-athlete adult human at full sprint only hits ~14.2mph(24km/h), to put that into perspective.

Just remember, if you think a fox runs quick, a bear runs even quicker and can out run you and gets put into predator mode when you run. Think twice before running away from your not-so-friendly-Yogi Bear. If it’s Pablo EskoBear, though, it was nice nice knowing you.