[Fox Girl Evolution] Chapter 5: Burning

The second I got close, Julia lunged and grabbed me. She looked a bit out of it, dazed and shaken but thank the stars, she was okay. Mostly. Her fingers were clenched tight around that bronze feathered trinket the creepy deer-skull guy had dropped. Deathless Guide or something? Whatever his name, not the point. Julia being alive was.

I let out a yip in fox-speak, her hug was starting to turn into a chokehold. But something was off. The tension in the air was different now.

Bedivere looked stricken. Frozen stiff, like he’d seen a ghost, which was ironic considering his walking corpse of a knight still hadn’t moved. Both of them were staring at the entrance, like something unspeakable had just walked in.

Then the chamber rumbled again, another tremor overhead, like someone was setting off bombs upstairs in rapid succession.

“What the fuck did you do?” Bedivere barked at Julia, his voice sharper than I’d ever heard it.

Julia didn’t reply. Bedivere pressed on, voice rising, “There’s no way in hell the Sun Church gets in here without a whisper reaching us. No way their scouts poke around this sanctum without tripping something. The only people who even know about this place are those who work here and the servants are all undead or under the effect of servitude domination! That leaves what, a dozen Surgeons at most? None of them would risk betraying us. Except… a rogue one.”

He pointed, voice a full-blown accusation now. “You. What the hell did you do? Answer me!”

Julia’s grip on the feathered charm tightened. She let out a low, raspy laugh. “I almost died in here. No, not just died. Something worse. They say those Deathless Guides store the souls of the ones they kill… wrap them in those twisted rose vines. That’s where the rot-smell and those twisted, agonized faces come from. I would’ve been one of them. One more screaming face in the thorns.”

Her voice snapped as her fury flared back to life.

“And you have the nerve to ask me what I did? How many people have been fed to that thing? How many have been locked into that eternal torment inside this so-called ‘sacred’ sanctum?”

Bedivere opened his mouth to speak, but Julia cut him off before he could get a word out.

“Let me guess the number. Too many. Too fucking many. And that’s not even counting the torture victims endured just to be ‘blessed’ with the so-called Lord’s Light. You mean undeath. You mean turning people into enslaved weapons, tearing them apart hoping they’d unlock their Soul World and surgically making it accept the organs needed for Undeath aspect by shoving them inside their tortured bodies without their consent. I helped with that filth. Did my part. Even… had to do it on a child.” Julia  Until I swore I’d burn this place to the ground if it meant atoning. Even if I had to die doing it.”

She stepped forward. “So. You still want to know what I did, Bedivere?”

His voice came quieter now. “…So you finally decided to betray your parents.”

Julia chuckled dryly, coughing through the sound. “Yeah. I did. I’ve been laying the groundwork for months now. Set the stage for a little reunion. The Sun Church Inquisitors were scheduled to arrive next week. Same time my dear parents were supposed to visit. That’s why I was pissed when you showed up early, thought something was off. So I pulled the trigger early. Sent out a distress beacon.”

She motioned toward the entrance. “Looks like they followed my trail.”

Bedivere’s hands balled into fists. “So you’re the reason we’re getting attacked?!”

Julia shrugged. “Attack wasn’t exactly on the menu, not this early anyway. But you know how Sun Church zealots get when they sniff out the undeath. Can’t resist a crusade, even when it's off-schedule.”

“YOU FILTHY BITCH!” Bedivere roared right as his death knight blurred forward, charging straight at Julia.

But before it could close the gap, something changed. It was like its limbs suddenly forgot they had a job. The armored hulk stumbled mid-stride, crumpled, and hit the floor hard, twitching like it was trying and failing to remember how to move.

Bedivere’s eyes widened in horror. Julia just smirked and slowly raised the bronze-feathered accessory in her hands.

“Guess I owe my precious stepbrother some thanks,” she said, voice dripping with venom. “His sacrifice was valuable enough for the Deathless Guide to hand me something this special. [Absolute Undead Dominion] the Rose Shepherd’s signature skill. Lets them dominate any undead below Tier 3 within a set radius. Using low-tier undead against one is just suicide. And this charm works the same way. Makes me wonder if the sacrifice being a Rose Shepherd and the gift being Rose Shepherd-grade was really just coincidence.”

Bedivere’s eyebrow twitched. “I’m still a Tier 2 Spirit Weaver, Julia and you don’t even have your main Aspect yet. So you can hijack my slaves. Big deal. You think you can take me?”

Julia snapped her fingers. Circles of dark magic flared behind her, and massive shadowy tentacles burst into the room.

“I’m limited, sure. Only spells I can cast come from external artifacts or enchantments. But I know exactly what a Skeleton Weaver can do and what a Spirit Weaver can do, since it’s just the upgraded form. I know the gaping hole in that Aspect: its own lack of spells or direct power. You hide behind your undead servants because your cowardly ass can’t—or won’t—fight for yourself.” Her smirk sharpened. “Want to prove me wrong? Waste your time until the Sun Inquisitors arrive?”

Bedivere’s jaw tightened as his gaze flicked to the writhing tentacles. Then, with a snap of his fingers, the fallen death knight, Fabio, dissolved into a dark, fog-like mist and was absorbed into the mark on his hand.

“Just so you know,” Bedivere said, backing toward the tunnel, “you’ve made yourself a much bigger enemy than you can handle.” He turned and started running. “You’re way too cocky for someone without an Aspect, Julia. Maybe one day you’ll learn that lesson the hard way.”

Julia said nothing, keeping her composure until Bedivere disappeared down the tunnel, the same one she’d told me to use to escape. Then she crumpled to her knees, the magic circles around her flickering out like dying embers.

Her breathing turned ragged as she clutched at her chest. “Damn it…” She coughed, and blood splattered on her hand. “I burned through every drop of mana I had.”

The truth was plain enough as her earlier bravado had been nothing but a well-polished bluff. And if I hadn’t been pressed right up against her chest, listening to her heart hammer like was a war drum, I might’ve bought it. I let out a soft yip and set my paw on her cheek, the only comfort I could give.

And of course, the next thing I knew, my face was being subjected to aggressive friction therapy, also known as Julia rubbing her mouth all over me again.

She chuckled at the absurdity, but the laugh barely had time to breathe before tears slipped down her cheeks. If I hadn’t been with her so long, her cocktail of emotions might’ve made zero sense. But that’s humans for you, Julia was no exception.

My own world was ballooning by the second. In just a few hours, I’d learned more than in an entire year, though, to be fair, I’d never actually tried before. Why would I? My life had been naps, snacks, and tormenting the only human in sight. But now, I’d caught a glimpse past the velvet curtain of pampered ignorance… and the world beyond was ugly. Shattered.

I didn’t skip over the fact that Lucian’s death, grisly as it was, had been because of me. The guilt was absent like usual. In that moment, I truly felt like a demon… until a grin broke across my vulpine face. I knew I’d do it again. A hundred times over. No one was taking Julia from me.

[That’s a scary statement to make.]

I snorted at the screen and rolled my metaphorical shoulders.

Plenty of scarier things were crawling around out here.

[Well, true.]

Exactly.

Then a thought snagged me, and I asked my trait,

How much do you actually know about this world?

[Hmm… my understanding is just as limited as yours. I only parse the world as I perceive it, through your eyes.]

Interesting.

So you didn’t know what they were on about earlier… those “aspects,” “cultivating undeath,” and whatever that organ stuff was for cultivating a specific aspect?

[Correct. I knew nothing beforehand, but watching it unfold through you allowed me to build an understanding. And based on the magic I observed and analyzed, I am confident my conclusion is quite close to the truth.]

Hooh? So you’re actually smart!

I could practically hear it getting smug.

[Hohoho! Naturally! Cognitive prowess is intrinsic to my gloriously efficient design! …Wait. Did you doubt me before?]

Kind of. But I kept that little truth buried, no need to risk it flipping to its “unhelpful” mode. My days of spoiled fluffball laziness were clearly over; if I wanted them back, I’d have to learn how this world worked. And right now, the only thing I could lean on was my sketchy trait.

So I turned my thoughts directly to it.

No, no! I was merely acknowledging your radiance, oh glorious and helpful trait. Now. Elaborate. Precisely what have you deduced?

But just as the thought slipped away, another thunderous explosion ripped through the chamber. One of the massive guards slammed into a pillar hard enough to shake the room. The air suddenly grew hotter, and something… strange brushed close to me. I couldn’t pin it down, but it left a faint uncomfortable itch in my gut.

I didn’t like things that made me uncomfy.

Another mental ping chimed in. Some kind of spell?

[{Trickery} has detected a spell. Would you like to view the information?]

Sure.

[Sun Aura: A consecrated radiance that actively burns undead, purifies spirits and wraiths, and steadily drains their mana.]

Hmm… would something like this affect me?

[No. I don’t believe this spell would have any effect on you.]

Good. Just checking, given these were church inquisitors and I was, well… technically a demon fox. Not that I’d committed any demonic atrocities, but this world seemed to have a much broader definition of “demon” than the one I knew back on Earth.

My gaze finally landed on the real troublemakers, the ones blowing holes in this sanctum, ones who scared Bedivere half to death and were presumably responsible for the explosions upstairs.

They were dressed head to toe in white, their silver plate catching the dim light in almost painful brilliance. Each wore a tabard emblazoned with a stylized sunburst, the metal edges etched with scripture in a language I couldn’t read. Polished greaves, sun-shaped pauldrons, and white cloaks completed the look. If the word “crusader” had a fashion magazine, these people were the centerfold.

I counted four. All of them radiated an aura that felt almost divine and far, far too warm for my liking.

One lunged at the downed sanctum guard, five times his size and still helpless. The guard didn’t stand a chance. The man’s glowing broadsword carved deep, and silver flames burst from the wound in an explosive flash. The massive guard shrieked, its scream rattling the air as it crashed into another pillar, writhing in agony. The crusaders’ expressions didn’t shift; they stared with an unblinking, cold-baked hatred until the thing finally went still and crumbled into ash.

The second guard was simply… gone. Dealt with before they entered.

They turned toward Julia next. She looked battered, bruised, and clutching me like a lifeline.

The leader, the same one who had just felled the giant, stepped forward. His irises burned molten gold, like miniature suns trapped in his eyes. He was middle-aged, short blonde hair, rugged features, and the air of a man who’d fought his way through worse.

“Sister Julia… hopefully we weren’t too late.” He extended a hand.

Julia took it, coughing hard and spattering blood. “A little late… but all is rather well, Sunwarden. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to even reach here today. The church is at least a quarter-day away by horse, so I was more than a little surprised to see you…”

His expression stayed as hard as forged steel, though I caught the faintest shift in his demeanor, a sort of softening around the edges.

“Perhaps it was the Sun’s decree. He illuminates the path for the pure and steadfast.”

He placed a hand on Julia’s head with deliberate gentleness. Light, warm as the first dawn, flared from his palm and Julia’s eyes went wide as silver flames surged forth, enveloping her in a cleansing blaze.

She immediately dropped the bronze accessory the Deathless Guide had given her, and I watched as the fire worked through her. Bruises faded, cuts sealed, and the dull weariness in her skin vanished. All life returning to her face as though it had never left.

Another ping from [Trickery] rang in my head, and I let it through.

[Holy Flames: A spell that heals the pure, purges corruption, burns any entity deemed evil-aligned, and strengthens the obedience of the faithful to the Sun.]

Hoh?

What exactly defines something as “evil-aligned”?

[I have some idea, Clover, but be careful. Demons may count as an evil-aligned species.]

So it’s a species thing?

[I can’t say for certain. But I can tell you this, you’ve got something in you this spell might not appreciate.]

That was… concerning. I didn’t think of myself as evil, unless their “evil” was more of a theological checkbox than a moral reality. Or maybe my chatty trait was the flagged contraband.

[Unfounded accusation!]

Just probing the perimeter, sparky. Stand down.

For now, I kept my eyes on the Sunwarden. His gaze had narrowed at the accessory now lying at his feet.

“My apologies for that, Warden,” Julia said quickly. “I had to use this artifact to save myself earlier. And just before I did, something strange happened… Something I believe warrants your investigation.”

The Sunwarden stooped, picking up the bronze feather. More of those silver flames flowed from his palm into the object, but it remained unchanged, untouched by the fire.

“Hmm… Not cursed. Not corrupt. Safe, physically. Yet…” He turned it slowly. “It carries the distinct essence of a Rose Shepherd. Curious.” His molten-gold eyes snapped back to her. “Sister Julia. What precisely transpired here?”

Julia had clearly been waiting for that question. She told him how she should have been dead, how her stepbrother had seized the sanctum, and how he’d planned to get rid of her, though she conveniently left out Lucian’s comments about her carrying divinity and the matter of the mask.

Instead, she explained that Lucian himself had been sacrificed in her place, as though some external force had hijacked the ritual halfway through.

All three inquisitors listened in utter silence.

“And… what happened afterward remains unclear. This artifact,” she gestured to the feather, “was simply the… boon granted by Lucian’s sacrifice.”

The Sunwarden gave a curt nod. “Indeed worthy of investigation. And I am deeply sorry we weren’t faster, Sister. Unthinkable, almost losing so avid a believer.”

Julia shifted almost imperceptibly at the word "believer" it was a discomfort only I’d catch, knowing her tells better than these sun-baked strangers.

“Nevertheless,” he continued, “we must confiscate this artifact, Sister Julia. All such objects harbor darker facets; none are without consequence. Once its nature is fully known, it shall be returned.”

Julia nodded smoothly. “Of course, Sunwarden. Though… I still remain baffled by your timely arrival. How did you cover the quarter-day’s ride so swiftly?”

The Sunwarden’s expression clouded. “Before I answer, clarify something, Sister Julia. You applied to join the Inquisitors previously… and were rejected.”

“I sought only to aid those in the jaws of darkness, Sunwarden.”

“Your purity of purpose is noted, Sister.” His molten-gold gaze pinned her. “What I disclose now is vaulted knowledge. However… having witnessed the furnace of your faith firsthand…” He extended his hand. “I formally invite you to the ranks of the Sun Inquisitors.”

Julia froze, eyes wide, tears threatening to spill. They were genuine, I knew her well enough to be certain, before she grasped his hand. “I would be honored!”

A rare, genuine smile touched the Sunwarden’s lips. “Then we welcome your initiation… Inquisitor Julia. One final trial remains: your body’s capacity to assimilate Sun Aspect organs. But I have seen the mana you carry in your still-aspectless body. You are blessed. Even after all these years, I myself remain at Tier Three of the Sun’s Aspect. But you… I believe you can go further than I ever could, with the talent you possess.”

His voice hardened again. “And now that you’re one of us, I can tell you why we are here. Three days ago, the church’s bell rang at midnight.”

Julia’s brows furrowed. “Isn’t that the one that rings if a wraith or undead breaches the walls and enters the town?”

“There are strata to the warnings, Inquisitor. But no, that is not the bell I mean. I speak of the one in the inner sanctum… the bell that has not rung in a century.” He lowered his voice to a near-whisper. “Three days ago… an evil god awakened in this forest.”

His words struck like a physical blow. Julia’s face bleached, all pigment fleeing as horror took root. Even the Sunwarden’s iron mask fractured, revealing a sliver of the dread beneath.

Hmm…

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?

Didn’t my scrambled memories snap back into place… exactly three days ago when I French kissed that mask? At the unholy stroke of midnight?

Uh… Right. Obviously a coincidence. Definitely. Positively. Because I’m just a fluffy bystander. Not a deity. Certainly not an evil one. Obviously.

The Sunwarden’s gaze finally settled on me. “Ah… is this the familiar you mentioned before?”

Julia, still shaking off the horror from moments ago, let her expression smooth into something calmer as she glanced down at me. She gave my back a light pat. “Yes, Sunwarden. Clover.”

He reached a hand toward my head… probably to pat me as well. Understandable. After all, I was the floofiest, most gorgeous fox in existence. Saving Julia earned him precisely three pats. Any lingering digits would meet teeth.

His fingers brushed my fur.

Burning.

A sudden, invasive heat flared through my skull, sharp as a brand. Simultaneously, a harsh [Trickery] ping screeched in my mind.