The forest felt different after the bond settled between them.
The air no longer pressed against her chest like a threat. The distant rustle of leaves didn't trigger the same sharp spike of fear. It was subtle, barely noticeable, but the fox felt it. There was a lightness, a faint warmth spreading from the crescent mark on her thigh.
A tether, fragile but present, linking her to the girl kneeling before her.
Aria wiped her cheek quickly with the back of her hand, as though embarrassed by her own tears.
"Come," she whispered, her voice gentler now. "We shouldn't stay here. This forest… it isn't safe. Especially for a seedling, even if you are rare."
"Seedling...?"
The word pulsed again in her mind, as if echoing from somewhere deeper than thought. She didn't know what it meant. Not really. But it felt significant, like something she should remember, or something the voice from before had intended.
Aria stood and shouldered her staff, the runes dimming until only faint traces of light remained. She took a few steps forward, then paused, glancing back with a warm, uncertain smile.
"…Are you coming?"
She hesitated as she looked at the girl. Every instinct screamed at her to stay in control. To choose her own path and avoid relying on a stranger, even one who offered kindness. Trust wasn't something she gave, not when her last moments as a human had been filled with confusion, fear, and that whisper that dragged her from life.
But Aria's presence was… different. Soft without being weak and lonely without being desperate.
The fox exhaled slowly and followed.
Aria's smile grew a little, a flicker of relief softening her features. She walked carefully, keeping her steps slow so the small fox wouldn't struggle to keep up.
They moved through the forest in a quiet harmony neither fully understood yet.
Mist curled along the ground like drifting streamers of silver, weaving through fern and root. Pale morning light filtered between tall trees draped with moss, painting the world in soft greens and gold. The forest felt ancient, alive in a way the fox didn't recognize yet but instinctively respected.
As they walked, Aria kept glancing over, studying her with a nervous, awestruck fascination.
"I still can't believe it," she murmured under her breath. "A real Seedling… A living one."
The fox flicked an ear, listening to everything around her carefully, hoping to learn something or maybe even get a clue.
Aria continued, voice low as if sharing a secret with the trees.
"There are stories," she said. "Legends are told around the temples. That the Nine-Tail species can only be born from a soul that died out of balance. A life taken unfairly. A death that shouldn't have been."
Something in her twisted when she heard that, remembering her life vividly. Wrong place. Wrong time. That whisper and the excruciating pain she could not escape from at the time.
Her heart clenched, and her paws stumbled slightly, wondering how someone like her would be able to survive in this world.
Aria noticed immediately. "Hey—" She knelt beside her, eyes filled with concern. "Are you hurt?"
The fox stepped away, shaking her head lightly. Not physically hurt… but the memory had clawed too close.
Aria didn't push. She simply nodded, stood up, and continued walking a little more carefully.
They followed a narrow dirt path bordered by wildflowers, streaks of violet, blue, and white brushing gently against the fox's fur. Birds passed overhead, their calls echoing like scattered bells. Slowly, the forest changed and the trees grew thicker, the shadows deeper, and the distant sound of rushing water filled the air.
It was peaceful, for a moment.
Until the ground trembled. Just once, a subtle shift in the earth beneath them.
Aria stopped in her tracks, her eyes narrowed and her hand tightened around her staff. "That's… not good."
The fox's fur bristled. Her instincts screamed a warning.
A deep groan echoed through the trees, followed by the snap of a branch far too large to be normal.
Aria whispered sharply, "Stay close."
The fox obeyed before she even realized she had moved. While the trembling grew louder, deeper… like something heavy dragging itself across the forest floor.
Aria's face paled. "I know that sound."
The fox lowered herself defensively, claws digging into the earth. Her small frame vibrated with alertness, though she knew she was still too weak to fight anything large, she was not even sure if she could fight at all, for she was still a mess.
Aria swallowed tightly and whispered, "A Rootmaw."
The fox didn't know what that meant, but the sharp, terrified whisper told her enough.
A Rootmaw wasn't good.
Branches rustled violently as something massive shoved through them. Aria shifted her stance, staff angled forward, eyes hardening with a focus that made her look older than nineteen.
When the creature burst into the clearing, the fox nearly stumbled back.
It was huge, something right out of the books she had read, towering on bark-covered limbs, its body a twisted blend of tree and animal. Vines dangled from its shoulders like serpents, writhing with eerie, unnatural life. Its glowing amber eyes locked onto them with hunger.
Aria hissed through clenched teeth, "Run."
The fox darted to her side, but Aria didn't move. She planted her staff in the ground, runes igniting with bright blue light.
"No," she whispered, voice trembling but firm. "Not again. I won't lose someone again."
Another tremor shook the ground and the Rootmaw lunged forward.
Aria yanked the fox into her arms and sprinted, breath sharp and desperate, weaving between roots and bushes as the monster crashed behind them, snapping trees like twigs.
She clung to Aria instinctively, claws gripping the leather and her heart pounding. She didn't want this girl to die. Not after everything.
Aria's legs trembled, breath turning ragged as she burst onto a narrow ridge. The forest fell steeply away below, the drop too dangerous to survive.
The Rootmaw burst through the trees, cornering both of them.
Aria held the fox close, whispering shakily,
"I'm sorry… I can't fight it alone."
She closed her eyes. And something inside the fox… clicked.
A warmth ignited in her chest, flowing along the bond mark and pulsing outward like a living heartbeat. Light shimmered faintly around her paws. Energy she didn't understand, ones that didn't feel human, rose from within her like a tide.
Aria gasped as the fox's body glowed softly, the mark on her thigh illuminating the ridge with pale silver.
"Little one…?"
The Rootmaw roared and against her better judgement, she stepped out of Aria's arms. Not bravely. But because something deeper, something instinctual and ancient, pushed her forward.
Light curled around her fur, which caused the Rootmaw to hesitate.
Aria stared, stunned. "You… Something is wrong..."
She did not pay attention to her; the only thing that seemed important, at the time, was their survival and as the light flared stronger, the monster snarled and charged.
The fox lowered her head, eyes narrowing as something fierce, something inhuman, awakened inside her chest. a spark of the evolution she didn't understand yet.
Something whispered again.
The same voice that followed her into death.
"Soon, you will awaken, little soul."
And with a blinding flash, the area around her erupted, looking like shattered glass.