Kitsiho - Mythical Fae Beast

  Kitsiho are shape-shifting foxes that tend to shy away from civilization. More than a few lost children, raised in small villages on the fringes of society, have returned to their homes by following the beast. Known to guide lost travelers. Kitsiho are able to alter their shape, retracting their multiple tails and wings to appear as a white fox, or appearing as a glowing wisp of light. Much of this creature remains a mystery, due to its shy and aloof nature.

  This creature is restrained and exhausted. Due to the Restrained debuff, it is unable to shapeshift.

  It was a creature from legend, the same one the mayor of Moswynd had been telling us about the night before. I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing one.

  I pulled the coin that glowed with stored kinetic potential out of my inventory. I really needed to expand my skillset, gear, or repertoire. I couldn’t keep throwing explosive money at my enemies.

  The spider succeeded in sinking its fangs into the kitsiho as I threw the coin.

  Thrown Weapon skill has increased! (2/50)

  Magical Explosives skill has increased! (2/50)

  The coin impacted the back of the spider’s large thorax, detonating with all four charges of stored explosive energy, and blowing a sizable chunk out of its rear.

  The spider released the fox and chittered angrily, spinning in a circle on its web as it looked for the source of the attack.

  I pulled another Copper coin from my inventory and laid it on a fallen log next to me. I performed the song again.

  The spider locked on to the sound and scurried in my direction. I panicked and failed the performance, as the spider leapt and soared twenty feet.

  I dove to the side. The spider landed, pivoted, and leapt at me again.

  All thoughts fled and instinct took over. I flipped the lute around and swung it like a bat, hitting the spider and sending it flying into a tree, ten feet away. The spider hit with a sickening crunch, a few of its legs bent and broken.

  The lute had fared much worse, now hanging from my grip by the strings, a broken mess. My only instrument, destroyed. I stashed it in my inventory, where it appeared as Broken Lute - Rubbish. The spider stood back up, moving slower. It seemed to be dazed from the impact.

  I hummed the song, trying to sing the notes. I could feel the magic there, just outside of my grasp, but it seemed it would only respond to stringed instruments. Or maybe my singing was just awful—I wasn’t sure which. I just knew it wasn’t working.

  I changed tactics and picked up a large rock, roughly the size of two of my fists, that lay on the forest floor near the dazed spider. I slammed it down on the spider, smashing in its head. Yellow gore splashed over me, and it twitched, as its legs curled inward.

  -DING-

  Welcome to level 5! New Stat Points available for distribution!

  I waved away the notification, hurrying over to the kitsiho. It lay limply in the webs, bloody foam coating the rim of its mouth. I inspected it and was given the option to loot it.

  I hadn’t been fast enough. The poison had acted swiftly.

  I took a knife and tried cutting the creature free, but the blade only got caught up in the sticky web.

  I walked back over to the spider’s corpse and pulled one of its legs free. It had spun across the webs—I hoped it had some anti-sticking property that persisted on death.

  I tried using the leg to remove the webbing, but it became hopelessly mired in the web as well. I cursed, stepping back and looking around.

  No other spiders appeared. The only movement was the gentle swaying of the webs from the ocean breeze.

  I took out the fire-making kit and spent the next minute making a small fire. I took a small stick from the flames, the tip a glowing red ember, and used it to burn the web around the kitsiho, finally pulling it free from the web. A notification appeared.

  The Holy Gem of the Hero’s Journey can be used to return life to the fallen kitsiho (7 minutes, 32 seconds remaining). Use the gem? WARNING! This action will destroy the gem. It is a single-use item.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I thought about the description. These creatures helped lost children. Had it been looking for Cataryn? The village wasn’t too far, especially for something that could fly. How smart were these foxes? How many lives had it saved? How many more lives would it save?

  In the end, what made up my mind was not some deep theological or ethical thought about the nature of the beast. It was simply looking down at it, remnants of webbing still matting its fur. Two wings and what I assumed were nine tails — though it was impossible to tell — all jumbled together in a broken, bloody mass of webbing.

  It looked so pitiful, but I could see the potential of its beauty. I could bring this beautiful, mystical creature back to life. Here. Now. Looking at it made me sick to my stomach, and broke my heart.

  I stopped thinking and just reacted, pulling the Holy Gem out of my inventory and pressing it against the soft fur at the kitsiho’s chest. With an infusion of will, the orb sank into the creature.

  The kitsiho glowed with a golden aura. The webbing burned away in a flash of radiant light. Its broken wings twisted back into place. Exposed bones withdrew. The two large holes from the spider’s deadly bite closed.

  Its eyes opened, swirling orbs of the deepest black.

  The creature stood, looking around. I smiled, warmth flooding my body. It looked up at me, lifting its head to one side.

  “Are you feeling okay?” I asked, tentatively reaching out my hand so it could sniff it. The fox took a hesitant step toward my outstretched hand, then another.

  The kitsiho moved like lightning, snapping forward as it bit my outstretched hand, leaving an arch of bloody tooth holes in the webbing between my thumb and first finger. I cursed, pulling my bleeding hand to my chest.

  It turned, took two running steps, and took flight. Its tails braided together tightly as it soared around the webs and out of sight.

  A notification appeared:

  You have been marked by a kitsiho.

  That was it. No further information was given, and aside from the throbbing pain in my hand, I didn’t feel any different.

  I was tempted to take a healing potion to hasten the healing and dull the pain, but after a few seconds the pain subsided.

  I wiped away the blood and saw the holes had already healed into small white circles. The circles shrank into stars as I watched. There were fourteen stars in a bite pattern on the top of my hand, and fourteen more on my palm.

  There were several cocoons suspended in the webs, but none moved. They all looked long dead, from their worn and deflated appearances.

  I carefully made my way through the webbed portion of the forest, after looting spider silk and a venom gland from the corpse of the spider. Curious, I tried adding the entire spider corpse to my inventory. I was pleased when it disappeared. That was useful information to have.

  I kept a careful eye out for any dangers, nervous about my only weapon being an enwebbed dagger, and hoping the cottage of Cahl’s friend was not far.

  Dizziness and lethargic euphoria made my thoughts thick and slow, half an hour later. I had been making my way along the forest’s edge, with the cliff twenty feet to my right. The sensation came all at once, similar to the feeling you get when you stand up too fast. I stopped walking and took deep breaths, trying to overcome the encroaching tunnel vision, to no avail. I blacked out.

  I awoke with a pounding headache, laying on a comfortable couch amidst an army of soft, small pillows. I looked around in confusion.

  An elderly elven woman sat across a small circular table in a padded chair, drinking from an ornate tea cup. She smiled, turning and lifting a tray from a nearby counter.

  She sat the tray down on the table in front of me. A green teapot covered in golden ivy sat on the tray with a small platter of fruits and vegetables.

  “Hello, and welcome. Please, drink. It will help with your recovery.”

  She poured steaming amber tea from the pot and into a glass similar to her own. It smelled of mint, and something else that was familiar but I couldn’t quite pin down.

  I sat up, rubbing my head. It felt like a tiny man was sitting in my head with a hammer, smacking the inside of my skull with each beat of my heart. I groaned. The woman handed me the cup, which I took.

  “Drink, drink. It will help, I promise. I’m Henrietta. Why are you wandering around my forest?”

  Her name was familiar. I took a sip of the tea without thinking about it; thinking was difficult with the pounding in my head. The tea was bitter. My headache subsided considerably with the first sip, and I remembered.

  “Henrietta! Cahl sent me. He sent me to bring you this.” I produced the small box from my inventory. Henrietta’s eyes widened for a second as she took the box.

  “Cahl Goldentone. It has been four decades since…” she trailed off for a moment, a distant look in her eyes, “four decades. Yet it feels like yesterday.”

  She opened the box. The top half opened upward like a box that would hold jewelry. She looked from the box to me, her expression changing from wistful to serious. She stood.

  “I apologize for not asking first, but what is your name?”

  “Chanter,” I said, the thumping in my head continuing to subside.

  “Chanter. Good. Eat the strawberries. Do it now. You will need to consume the antitoxin before the stomach cramps begin.”

  A cold chill washed over my skin. “Antitoxin?”

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