Tanuki Tales

When the roots remember rain....

It is said that when our world began there was only raw elemental life energy and swirling chaos. In time and little by little these things began to coalesce, to merge, creating something entirely new, something that would be the very beginning of all life as we know it today. It wasn’t much, just a simple seed.

Yet overflowing with potential. The primal winds carried it who knows how far, and for how long but one day it came to rest in a patch of earth and took root sending small tendrils deep into the ground. It found sustenance there, not just minerals and water but vast untapped potential that would feed it and help it grow into what came to be known as The World Tree.

The first truly living thing; from tiny sapling into a mighty tree, its crown seemed to touch the heavens. As it grew ever larger its essence became entwined with the Veilflow, the very life energy of the planet and the place where they say all souls come from and where they return to upon death. The tree’s roots, it is said, became entwined with the leylines of the world and enhanced the magic they carried within them.

Slowly things changed as the tree grew ,the weather growing more temperate and the first rain fell on the thirsty earth. The tree though not sentient as you or I would understand it, now perceived that something was required of it.

High up in one of the tallest boughs, a small pod began to grow, drawing from the energy and magic that the tree and Veilflow provided. Then many years later it bloomed, a beautiful gold and red flower with nine petals and from it came the daughter and voice of the tree Terenity. A creature bearing the shape of a tall graceful cervine and tasked with keeping the balance of this new world. With softly glowing green eyes and fur that shifted between soft and golden, and then hard and bark like in texture. Her graceful antlers were curved and laced with flowers and curling vines that bloomed, faded, and grew anew. While wherever her hooves touched the earth, new sprouts and small buds sprang forth.

Seeing the petals of her flower, she smiled, and using her first breath she sent them tumbling and swirling out into the open air. The wind carried them to the four corners of the world and where each came to rest, new creatures emerged, each of them imbued with magical potential and connection to the Veilflow. In our current day and age some call them mythical and some doubt that they even existed at all. Yet it was these creatures that led their clans during this time of peace and discovery.

Finally, as the petals sank into soil and sea, what remained of their vibrant life energy dispersed mixing with small motes of energy and from this came the first mortal races. Over the years the magical creatures began to disagree about the use of their abilities. Some such as the fun loving and friendly Tanuki shared their magic with any who asked and said that such gifts should be shared while others like the sly and powerful Kitsune decided that they and other magical creatures alone deserved such power.

It was this arrogance that eventually split the largest Kitsune clan into two. One faction with a young but already powerful nine tailed male named Tenebrous as their leader took the name Kitsunekage and became feared as powerful and deadly mages, who shunned and looked down upon those they deemed lesser than themselves

Eventually they withdrew to a location wreathed in mystery and secrecy. The second and somewhat smaller faction took the name Kitsuneyuki and led by the wise Kasumi vanished into the snowy wilds of the Gelunix Mountains where they became known as gentle yet legendary healers who it was said could bring a soul back from the beyond...

As the world evolved and time moved on, the mythical creatures merged and mingled with other non-magical races, and magic became just a story...though it did persist in the children of new generations.

Even the Kitsunekage, once one of the most powerful magical races, faded more and more into shadows and hushed whispers, bedtime stories to frighten naughty children.

However, while all seemed quiet Tenebrous was not content to remain idle and fade into obscurity and death. He had seen the power that Terenity wielded, and he started to hunger for such power himself. Why should one being endure while others fade and die and be lost to time and history?

His desire for her magic grew and he began to experiment with ways to enhance his own power, reasoning that if he could control a beast such as Terenity then he would be able to unmake even death and endure forever. Yet how was he to do so? While he was a powerful creature in his own right, he doubted his ability to possess and control what amounted to a deity.

His answer came in the form of a River Otter named Aspen who had created quite a name for himself and his mining company. If rumors were to be believed, one of Aspen’s miners had discovered bright blue and green crystals that when harnessed properly could be used as a power source. Tenebrous had to see if there was any truth to these claims and if so, seek a way to harness it for himself. Taking on the guise of a normal fox, Tenebrous visited one of Aspens mining sites with the pretense of becoming a potential buyer for the crystals.

Introducing himself to the Otter as Victor, his charming demeanor and careful flattery soon found him as one of Aspens closest friends and confidants. Tenebrous had secured himself a supply of crystals easily enough but now how to use and harness their power? He began to experiment and soon discovered that the crystals were in fact the crystalized sap of the world tree, fossilized pieces of ancient power. Most creatures these days had all but forgotten the ancient tree, but he knew it existed had even been there when the world was younger. It was said that the tree’s roots had become the leylines of the world and a powerful source of magic. He had dismissed that; not wanting to believe that a being greater than himself had given him his magic.

Fascinated Tenebrous started to experiment with the stones, that others had taken to calling Veilstones though none knew where the name had come from. At first, he tried to take the energy from the stones and amplify it using his own magic as a conduit...without success.

Returning to his home he scoured his clan’s vast library until at last he found an ancient tome and what he found inside would be the beginning of his downfall. One night he asked his sister Noctis to join him within his chambers...She did not leave alive.

After the terrible deed was done, Tenebrous mixed a portion of his magic with one of the Veilstones and watched in fascination as its brilliant emerald; green luster took on a sickly violet shade. Eyes alight with fire Tenebrous carefully created a wound in his sister’s chest and implanted the crystal deep within then sealed it.

Nothing happened...He sank back in disappointment until her eyes suddenly snapped open and she screamed. Any other creature would have looked away in disgust and horror as her eyes; one now gleaming with crystalline light, and the other a cold dead orb found her brother.

’What is this... What have you done! You deny me the Veilflow brother!’ Her shrieks were loud and filled with spittle and rage.

Hearing paws in the hallway outside his chamber, Tenebrous smiled slyly as he cloaked himself in darkness. ’No sister...I have taken the first step to godhood.’

Knowing he needed a place closer to a constant supply of the crystals and access to “test subjects” Tenebrous used his manipulative hold over Aspen to secure a job as Overseer of the Silver Fields Mine.

Now perfectly positioned to take advantage of the crystals and the teeming population of the nearby growing town of Summervale Tenebrous set to work.

After only a few months the whispers and rumors began as animals began to vanish. Waifs and strays that he thought would not be missed along with the occasionally miner who stepped out of line or got too close to the truth... Tenebrous even managed to persuade the wardens of Wolvar prison to send him prisoners who would “work” their sentences instead of being incarcerated.

In reality, they became victims of the fox’s research as he sought a way to stabilize crystal energy in a living being. During this period Tenebrous found nothing but failure the creatures he infused with the stones did not last long. Dying within moments or becoming corrupted versions of themselves. Creatures of smoke and crystalline form, he called them the shattered and found that they obeyed his every word. More than one ghost story arose from a frightened miner who spotted the eerie figures and heard their mournful calls, stories that the fox encouraged to hide what was truly going on.

As careful as he had assumed himself to be when it came to the true nature of what he was doing, there were some who recognized Tenebrous for what he was... Two Tanuki named Coda and Lyric. They had taken up work at the mine to ensure that balance was kept and the leyline protected. Seeing Victor, they instantly recognized the fox as a Kitsune. And while they did not know the extent of what was happening, they knew that the Fox was hiding something.

Deciding they had to know the truth, the pair awaited their opportunity and after a few weeks and more disappearances they finally got their chance.

Victor had left on a business trip to discuss certain things with the head warden at Wolvar and had left the mines operations in the hands of his second in command, a hyena by the name Zurui. Who was well acquainted with both Lyric and Coda.

Turning a blind eye, Zurui allowed the pair to enter Tenebrous’s office. At first nothing seemed unusual... That is until they discovered the trap door meticulously hidden with Kitsune magic. While Lyric was young, he was regarded as a powerful creature himself though he hated the notion. Yet he was able to break the seal on the door and allow himself and Coda to descend into the shaft they found behind it.

After dropping into a narrow stone passage, they found that it intersected with a vein of crystal that grew wider as it travelled further. After traversing it some distance, the pair found that it merged into a wide chamber lined with yet more Veilstone. Huge slabs covered the walls reflecting their faces and the horror within...One corridor led off to the right while at the center was a stone table covered with bowels of regents. Pheonix feathers, claws, bones among others along with vials of blood and small shards of strange violet and black stones. They gave off the faint aura of the Veilstones but these were sick...corrupted...no longer singing of life. Staring in fascinated horror, Lyric almost didn’t realize that his brother was pulling at his arm.

Glancing up and following Coda’s gaze beyond the table, Lyric noticed a shadowy area from where small cries were emerging. Stepping towards it afraid of what they might find the pair were not prepared for the truth of the place. Disappearing into a smaller cavern was what appeared to be a makeshift prison that reeked of despair and death. Cages lined the walls some were empty. Most were not, they held creatures...Or what looked to have once been creatures. Their forms were torn by crystal extrusions and held together by dark smoke. Patches of fur or the gleam of an eye caught the light eerily as they keened and shifted.

As the pair stood in horrified disbelief, they heard shuffling footsteps. Turning they discovered several creatures had entered the chamber including a few faces they knew...friends that had vanished.... However, they were not the same... With glazed eyes they approached the brothers, faces twisting into snarls of smoke and corrupted crystal.

Confused, wanting to help and yet not knowing what else they could do, the pair fled back to the shaft. They had to escape and find help! It wasn’t exactly clear to Lyric what the fox was attempting but whatever it was he vowed, he was going to stop it. Reaching the ladder that had led them here, the pair ascended and once back in the fox’s office Lyric resealed the trapdoor in an attempt to cover their entry. This done the pair left not even noticing the absence of Zurui...

Over the next few months Lyric and Coda travelled the continent telling all that would listen to their story about what was truly happening and finding support and disbelief in equal measure.

The fox for his own part was not idle either. Once he had been informed his work had been discovered, he redoubled his efforts to perfect it and also began a campaign against the tanuki and Lyric himself making them out to be untrustworthy tricksters.

Despite his best efforts and even after sending a few assassins after Lyric in an attempt to silence him for good, a resistance began to grow led by the infuriating tanuki. With all sorts of creatures banding under Lyrics cause including raccoons, many other tanuki and even the Kitsuneyuki Victor frantically began to gather his own forces.

A showdown was approaching, and it would come to a head in a clash that would go down in history as the “Battle of the Silver Fields.”

With his own supporters, comprised of the few Kitsune of his own clan still loyal to him, unsavory mercenaries and his shattered Victor seemed at an advantage and yet as the fight raged in seemed Lyric’s forces while fewer in number would prevail.

Finally, Kitsune and Tanuki met face to face...

As they fought, Tenebrous found that while he had assumed Lyric to be weak and passive, the Tanuki was anything but, and he attacked with such strength it made the fox understand why his hired killers had failed.

The pair found themselves evenly matched, and Victor even felt a thrill of something he had never felt before in his life...fear...

How could he prevail? A sudden thought occurred to him, and a wicked smile creased his features. Gathering his energy, he created a blast of elemental fox fire and launched the attack not at Lyric but at a young tanuki fighting nearby...

Lyric reacted just the way the kitsune had hoped throwing himself in the way of the blast... Afterward many stories recounted seeing Lyric dive in front of the fox and his attack and as the blast of energy erupted around the pair kicking up a wave of dust and debris the fox vanished seemingly destroyed by his own power...

Then the unthinkable happened...

Lyric stood and turned on his comrades....

With a snarl of laughter, he began attacking those closest to him, wiping them out with huge blasts of energy that destroyed everything in its path and tore the landscape asunder.

In horrified disbelief his former friends tried to stop him to little avail... As more fell to Lyrics betrayal creatures turned and began to flee only to fall to the shattered and others who had previously followed Tenebrous’s command. Lyrics mate Harmony and a few others banded together and managed to create an illusion that allowed them to flee but as the flimsy glamour shattered, they were pursued....

It seemed that hope was lost, the fox seemingly defeated and yet in his place something worse had risen...

As another particularly violent blast of magic from Lyric wiped out a band of snow kitsune she appeared...

Terenity. No longer willing to watch the balance unravel.

With a snarl Lyric turned to face her and was caught in a blast of silver wind and leaves, along with many of the kitsune from Victors clan and his mercenaries. The few survivors watched on in astonishment as their former friend and the others seemed to freeze as their bodies began to become as stone...

Suddenly Lyric moved snarling in violent anger he managed to unleash a huge final blast of energy straight at Terenity... The world seemed to freeze in time as it struck the great beast.

Then her spell finished and Lyric was frozen... A stone statue one arm outstretched after his final spell and a look of violent anger on his once passive face...

Coda one of the few survivors saw the great deer make a gesture with a hoof and the field of statues that had once been creatures vanished...Then with a keening wail Terenity herself began to glow a bright golden hue and Coda dust covered and injured limped forward ready to aid as much as he was able to...Opening his mouth he slowly addressed the pained cervine...

xxx

’What happened to Lyric! A small voice squeaked.

“Yeah, and what about the mean old fox.” Another voice cut in.

In mock annoyance, the storyteller snapped the book shut and glanced up at their audience. A group of young creatures sat on a myriad of rugs and poofy stools. Outside the warm hut the wind let out a mournful groan as if trying to answer the children's questions.

’Do you want to know?’ The reader gestured at the book.’ Then why interrupt?’

’Well cause the story didn’t say...’A little fox piped up.

“Yeah, it started talking about mister Coda!’ A tan-furred rabbit chimed in.

Smiling, the storyteller patted the book.

‘Patience is a lesson we all must learn small ones.’

’Does the story say what happened then?’ Another child piped up excitedly.

The storyteller’s smile widened.

‘Well let us see...’