lost myself again (anyone)

[Valerie]

It was as damp as it was quiet that morning; all around the ancient citadel fell a pale fog that blocked all vision from a few yards forward. It was so eerie that not even the birds of the once-abandoned land dared to sing, as though their cries might awake ghosts from the mist. It was uncharacteristically cold for the summer dawn; a chill held in the air so still it was almost as if the affected area where surrounded by ice. Valerie used this as an excuse for the chills that snaked down her curved spine, and not the fear that pumped through her blood.

Adorned with a coat of coal the vixen stuck out against the dreary-hued scenery. The morning air was grey to match the cold stone walls that surrounded her as she slunk through the crumbling ruins. Triangle-shaped ears perked forward to every noise that sounded in the ancient human home as the female did her best to hide her pounding heart from appearing in her expression. Valerie could hardly fathom what it was that had brought her here. Wanderlust could easily be considered a stupid virtue, but was it stupid enough to drag her into the most frightening part of Navaria?

When she was younger she had never been prone to visit the ancient citadel, but how could she be blamed? The place was god damn creepy and even though Isa had dared her to go several times she had always refused. Valerie would've never imagined that one day she would have the courage to visit the eerie stone den... nor would she have imagined that she was ever living without her sisters. At the thought of her littermates her heart seemed to beat slower, so the dark-coated fox shook her elegant head to clear her thoughts. It didn't work, but she pretended it had. She allowed the echoing click of her claws to fill her head, emptying the sadness with a white noise caused by equally snow-tipped pawsteps.

Her clan revered the silent temple, but she had to wonder if she ever would. Her black fur was practically crackling with a frightened electricity and there were no fond memories brought back to her by embracing the anxiety that the citadel brought her. But Valerie continued to explore, silently and slowly, all the while contemplating what the hell she was doing.

[Lux]

Everything about the citadel screamed, "Go away! Get away, now!" Even after centuries, the battlefield reeked of the long dead humans. If you looked close enough, pointy sticks and oil covered rocks littered the once-great establishment, each attached to the same blood-filled memory. There were plenty of rumors, those spread by predator and prey alike about the shadowy castle. Ghosts were a common theme; zombies were another Lux enjoyed to hear. The lavish variations all had something terrible and frightening residing in the ruin: A story to frighten cubs. Lux himself heard the tales multiple times over when he was young. He remembered cringing at the most popular version: The Human-Fox. He was as clever like a human, had large teeth like a vulpine, and destroyed all who neared the citadel. He still shuddered at the thought of the existence of such a creature. So, that begs the question: What on earth drew him to a place like this?

Lux was sure the answer was instinct; it was the only logic in this situation. His senses (at least in his bloated reality of himself) were keenly attuned to the things unexplainable. He followed the pulling sensation in his gut, knowing it would lead him in the right direction. It was the only ally he had that would never, ever lie to him. It was his most invaluable partner. So when his instinct lead him to the eerie ruins, he did not question it for a second.

Steadily and cautiously, Lux made his way to the crumbling, stone walls, intrigued to see what lay behind them. With his senses on alert, he easily detected another fox roaming the mystic human structure. At first, she looked like a ghost herself, with a pelt of midnight black. He quickly dismissed the notion she was a spirit, seeing that she, too, was intrigued with the stronghold. She was slowly making her way up and down the towering walls, drinking in every detail. In a few brief heartbeats, she would soon detect Lux, even if he did not want to be found. With the short amount of time he had, the red and black fox went through his options. Hiding was one, but quickly dismissed, seeing she would take him as a threat. Attack, flee, and wait also ran through his mind, but were all equally terrible ideas. The final one was Engage. Though Lux wasn't much of a chatter box, he knew the importance of making allies, especially after the Illness...

The lanky fox shook his head. Better not go there. Too soon. Too soon. Instead, he focused on approaching the female as neutrally as possible. Setting up a regal, tall stance, he emerged into the other red fox's peripheral vision, hoping she would catch a glance of him before he approached her. He steadily trotted towards her, his long legs easily closing the distance. Especially with the surreal atmosphere, Lux seemed to glide on the limp grass.

Making sure he had her attention so not to frighten her, Lux stopped just feet away from her as gracefully and respectfully as he could. He tried to convey friendliness, but he wasn't quite think of the appropriate reaction. Instead, he picked the safer route: emotionless. With a voice like butter he asked, "They say horrid ghosts live inside the citadel. Are you here to prove them wrong?" In his mind, he prepared lines upon lines of possible conversation, ready for the return fire and so he would not make a fool of himself.

[Valerie]

There was no becoming accustomed to the thick fog that surrounded her, Valerie realized. With every delicate step she placed upon the fallen stones she grew no more comfortable nor unafraid. In fact it seemed quite the opposite - the further she dared to venture, the slower she weaved among the ancient ruin and the more difficult her breaths became to draw. Though the ancient citadel wasn't particularly huge she still grew within her chest an irritational fear of getting lost, and as such adopted a pattern of glancing over her shoulder and sweeping her widened gaze over each part of the ruin as she explored it. Perhaps another might have found it comical to watch her, nearly losing her wits at what was, in essence, absolutely nothing. The thought almost amused the vixen enough to slip a smile upon her dark lips... almost. Her expression remained stoic, knowing full well that there was no one else about, and thanking the heavens for that fact as well.

But it would appear she had spoken too soon. One moment she was easing herself through the morning's mist, content to be alone and the next a foreign scent had appeared in the vicinity. The drum of her heart quickened; she was not alone. Every muscle in her body stiffened despite how her mind begged to remain languid, and involuntarily she found herself frozen to the ground as though the ice she'd imagined earlier had come up from the ground (like a zombie fox) and entangled her limbs. Had she not been stuck senseless by her own fear, the girl would've ditched the ruins quite happily and sprinted away from the oncoming dog... but she wasn't able to shake the horror in time to make a hasty get away. Wondering what the hell was wrong with her once again, she gently folded in on herself and turned toward a stranger.

The tapered tip of her muzzle stuck into the air, testing it for his scent. He was not readily close, but easily approaching - and luckily he carried with him the trademark smell of the Avantegarde. Slowly did he appear through the fog - first just his silhouette, and then finally himself. Instinctively she drew her white-tipped forepaws closer to her body, lowering her head without removing her lime-colored stare from the other's. Immediately she began to scrutinize him. Strangely patterned with red and black colors (but not like the grey fox was), he was taller than her - He'd win in a fight - and lanky... very lanky. Valerie wasn't sure why but he quite reminded her of a spider and it didn't exactly add any points to her current judgement of him. The longer she surveyed him the more of a threat he became, but steadfast in her desire to not appear weak she refused to release herself from his liquid orange stare.

She'd just taken notice of his scars and was thisclose to fleeing the scene when his voice echoed through the eerie silence of the citadel, speaking of ghosts. Valerie held her breath as though his words might prompt them to spring from the shadows, but the spectres did not appear. She had stared at him in a deadly silence long enough - she had to respond now.

"Only stupid foxes believe in ghost stories," began the black-shaded vixen with a step forward. The shakiness of her movement betrayed the clarity of her voice: she sounded brave in her words; nevermind the way she was practically quaking in her boots. If she got one out of the two, that was enough confidence for her. Even more so contradictory, Valerie feared stories of the night more so than any whelp. But the lies flew off her tongue like a well-practiced bird - she would say anything to appear better than she truly was.

Valerie, finally standing a little straighter and puffing her chest out, had been content to leave her statement ringing through the fog. Her appearance had been fixed up enough. But her true insecurities crawled beneath her skin and her voice gathered once more in her throat. Oh, she didn't want to speak again, but it was becoming harder and harder to fight. For a moment her bright gaze flickered nervously between him and the grey floor before her slender jaws parted again. This time, her words were not so fiery. "Who are you, anyway?" Just because he was on her side didn't mean he was a friend.

[Lux]

Lux watched the other vulpine's reactions patiently. Her eyes displayed suspicion and doubt. Smart, he thought. She doesn't trust me. It took them both a moment to assess each other, exchanging glances and sparks of energy. He realized quickly that breaking through the vixen's wall of trust would be harder than he expected. Her stance portrayed regal poise and structure, even though her eyes betrayed suspicion. Though she was much smaller than him, the vixen's body was well built. He had no doubts that the female could handle herself. She certainly smelled like an Avantgarde, for which Lux thanked the heavens. He was not in the mood to deal with the heathen Delmaries. The tall fox was glad to have her on his side.

"Only stupid foxes believe in ghost stories," she declared with enough force to echo around the entire citadel. It shook eerily in the air, hanging suspended like a crippled, autumn leaf. Then, she took a hesitant step forward, revealing her inner emotions. This left Lux slightly puzzled. Her crisp voice was demanding enough that he would have followed her to the ends of the Earth without a second though, but her body betrayed her and showed the fear that she chemically could not turn off. Lux felt it too as he shivered from both the chilly dawn and the ruin's ghastly emptiness. He, too, felt the vixen's void declaration sink into the heavy air, like the citadel absorbed it for processing. He smirked, eyeing the crumbling walls, daring them to challenge the strangers. He half waited for a translucent specter to fly into their midst and prove both of their fears. When no such phenomena came, he focused back to the living, breathing fox in front of him.

Lux let out a heavy breath, letting the steam swirl into the air. He replied to her statement in a cool voice. “Not stupid, just misguided.” His eyes wandered to the dark halls of the human ruins as he explained, “They just give their deep settled fear a name, a substantial idea. They want to understand, but rationalization is not easily achieved in doubt.” He wasn’t sure where the sudden burst of wise advice came from; he was not even a remotely experienced fox. Still, the world was black and white for Lux. He accepted what he did not know and moved on with what he did know. Like the vixen, he was not tolerant of those who created false stories to compensate for their own cowardice. Lux took another large amount of cool oxygen into his lungs. “It’s okay to be afraid, you know,” he said, careful to avoid a tone of pity. The vixen did not seem like the type to accept sympathy well. “There is some reason why they call this place haunted.”

As if to reinforce his statement, the air stirred, mixing up the fog like a boiling stew. The stones creaked and the overgrown foliage cackled. Lux perked his ears as his hackles rose. His muscles tightened and his senses were on high alert. He, too, betrayed his worries about the dark citadel. When the wind passed and the fog settled, Lux allowed himself to relax. Realizing the display he caused, his muzzle adorned a wide grin, showing that he acknowledged that the ruins frightened him, too.

Shaking off the display of distress, he took the opportunity to change the subject. “Sorry, where are my manners? My name is Lux. Lux Kyrie,” he replied to the vixen’s question. “Are you a member of the Avantgarde, as well? I have been searching everywhere for an ally since the Illness dispersed. It has been ages since there has been any form of order among ourselves.” Remembering her suspicious stare, the cross-pelted fox assured, “Honestly, I do not wish to make you an enemy of mine.” Deep inside Lux’s long cold heart, a spark lit a flickering flame. Perhaps it was not the end to vulpine kind in the land of Navaria.

“Please miss, if I might inquire, who are you?” he continued questioning the vixen. It’d been a while since he had spoken to another living fox. “And,” he added. “Have you seen anyone else? Surely there are others out there…”

(I was really tired when I wrote this. Excuse the quality...)

[Valerie]

(Oh, psh, it's lovely!)

There was an air around the male that was strong, as though he could push the fog away from every step he made whereas Valerie was lost within the hanging mist. Like all her emotions it shone in her vibrant eyes as she watched him closely, trying to pry a reaction from him. Yet the dog seemed far better practiced than she was in controlling what he showed; a mere smirk appeared at the tip of his muzzle for a moment and she couldn't tell exactly what he was smiling about. Gently she lifted her black chin a little higher as though the perspective change would help her see, but all in vain. She grew slightly jealous in that instant of his ability. Valerie could not wear a mask - she was not nearly so good at hiding her insecurity. Instead her words were her mask; it was so much easier to talk big stuff than it was to act on it.

Then he spoke in tones cool to match the surrounding morning, modifying what she'd said. Failing to find the significance in the different words she narrowed her eyes, but he continued and despite herself Valerie was entranced by the prose that slipped so easily from his tongue. If he had not been expecting to sound so smart she could not register his doubt and felt instead as though he weaved riddles of advice commonly. Had he spoken any less smoother than velvet she would've felt inadequate that she had no such elegance with speech and gotten defensive and angry over nothing, but it would appear the patched stranger caught himself a break. Valerie didn't even catch the way his words had chosen her exactly. He couldn't have even meant it, having only been in her company for a few moments and yet rationalization is not easily achieved in doubt was practically the very sum of her existence. Wrapped around her mind like ribbons she considered the idea he'd suggested, and supposed it might be true. Slender jaws would part to offer her opinion, but then the stranger continued.

Despite his best effort, he offended her. Of course it wasn't his fault; Valerie was just the kind to be easily offended. Some called it having a stick up one's ass. Others called it being proud. Unsurprisingly, she preferred the latter. Again the heat of her blood rose as he chided her for being afraid, masking his words with sympathetic intent but Valerie knew he was calling her out. She didn't even care that there was some reason why others call this place haunted, because, "I am not scared of this place." Despite the way she scoffed at him, her position remained unchanged, ears perked forward and her stance somewhat stiff. But then, as if he himself commanded the armies of dead that were claimed to live among the ruins, a breeze rolled through, producing a haunting moan as it dispersed through the crumbling stone walls. Valerie could have sworn that her heart stopped for a moment. The grey morning's touch had left her cold but now she felt even colder, as though the blood had stopped running in her veins or the wind had plain stolen the life from her charcoal-dusted body.

Slowly she surveyed the surrounding silence, praying nothing more would find the two foxes. When she was satisfied (or as much as she could possibly be) Valerie fixed her stare once more upon the lanky fox. His hackles lowered gently as if he were recovering from a fright but there was a shining grin featured on his mug. Valerie could not help but to eye him warily - was he stilling making fun of her, or had he actually been scared by the wind? The black phased vixen did not dare ask of fear, lest the creepy wind come wailing once again.

Thankfully he changed the subject and introduced himself, which brought a little more ease to her stance. Though she hardly trusted a thing, Valerie took names pleasantly - there was something calming about being able to identify a face and she highly doubted any fox had the purpose to give her a fake name. So she nodded politely to this Lux Kyrie, and listened to the rest of his piece. His miss quip might've been of no thought to him at all but it served to soothe her ego quite well, and she fixed a charming smile upon her delicately featured face. Gently she eased herself forward no more than two steps, if only so she wasn't screaming at him through the swelling fog.

"I'm Valerie, just Valerie," she countered, her smile widening to a cheeky grin to show she was not intending to mock his words with her parallel tone. "And yes, I'm part of the Avantgarde too - though I've had about the same luck as you finding others of our own. On the other paw I haven't smelled any Delmares around our parts either." Poison seemed to drip from her teeth in the way she spoke the name of the opposing clan, pronouncing it with disgust. It'd been their fault for the Illness, and just as such their fault her dearest Arabelle was buried in the ground. So while there were not many of them in the area, there was at least an equal lack of abundance in their adversary.

Lux had spoken of order, but she avoided it. There was no chance in hell of a girl like herself taking charge of anything. Strangely enough, she would actually do it but only if someone put her up to it. Volunteering for the job was the last thing Valerie had the thought to do; the amount of anxiety leadership would cause her would likely put her in the ground next to her sister in a week, maybe less. An ally now, she had interest in. Well, slight interest. Valerie did not extend more than an ounce of her trust to just about anyone, but it didn't mean she would refuse help. In that aspect her ego was forgiving because nobody truly survived alone. Perhaps he was interested in leadership and looking for followers?

"It looks as though you and I are about the only ones here right now. Or you and I are the only ones misguided enough to swim through this fog in a creepy human den." Hadn't she just asserted that she was not afraid? Valerie ignored the contradiction for the sake of her veil of confidence. "I suppose that means we're in charge." Of course she didn't actually mean 'we', but it would at least put the idea out there for his input. She didn't really care either way, but curiosity was her affliction the same way it was a cat's. A little looser in her stance, Valerie looked to Lux expectant of his return.

[Masterweaver]

"But in charge of what?"

The Shard Seeker smiled as he emerged from the fog, wandering between the two foxes casually. "Are you in charge of hatred? What plans have you, now that the sickness has passed? No, no, don't tell me. I won't bother to remember." He paused in front of one of the columns, paw feeling down the grooves. Ah, yes... this song. This song was a fun one. "Do you know the humans left so much in here? So much. And yet..."

He turned back. "Humans were smarter then any of us, you know. They were, don't ever doubt it, but now..." He shrugged. "Now there is something different in the land. Ah, but what am I talking about. Does it have a name? Ants in the field, that's all my mind is. Do tell me, have you mated yet?"

[Lux]

(Thanks!~ )

The vixen was proving to be an interesting character at the least. Lux enjoyed dancing around with the conversation, eager to find the inner workings of the dark female's mind. But still, the show continued, and the Avantgarde dog had to find his rhythm in her rebound.

When the vixen declared, "I am not scared of this place," Lux realized his mistake. From this he figured she was a prideful fox, not exactly one to take joking comments lightly. Ah well, the damage was done. Still, she did not seem do hate Lux much more, so he thanked the stars that his response did not take a hard toll on her opinion towards him.

Valerie. He said to himself. A delicate name that seemed to reflect her mysterious and independent characteristics. Lux wondered if he knew her in the pre-Illness era. Doubtful. His life was mostly compromised of his immediate family and Marco (he shuddered at the thought of the betrayer). Especially since the vixen did not have a family name, he was sure he did not recognize Valerie from any of his childhood days. But, that mattered little to him. She was an Avantgarde, one of the true survivors of the Illness, victims of the Delmares' crimes. A brief flash of rage passed through the fox's body, just for a moment when the vixen spat out the name of their vulpine enemies. He could tell she had the same hatred for them he did. He gave a nod of satisfaction. This Valerie was becoming more likable by the second.

Even so, he was very disappointed no one else could be accounted for from the original clan, those who were faithful to Avantgarde beliefs. Were there that many casualties in the war against the disease? The flame in Lux's soul was slowly dimming. It could not just be him and Valerie. It just couldn't. There had to be more. Somewhere, scattered around Navaria, there had to be more Avantgarde. Maybe Marco corrupted them, said a dark voice in the back of Lux's mind. He probably twisted their minds while you were pathetically fleeing. Another flash of anger shot through the cross-pelted fox. But, Valerie put it at ease when she said she did not smell any foxes along her travels. Well, no allies are better than more enemies.

"It looks as though you and I are about the only ones here right now. Or you and I are the only ones misguided enough to swim through this fog in a creepy human den," Valerie said, accenting Lux's own words. The male gave a deep-throated laugh, reverberating against the stone pillars, stressing the emptiness. As his laugh died to a chuckle he replied, "Yes, it would seem so." But her next statement caught Lux completely off guard. In fact, for the next whole minute, he would be exposed and unprepared.

The one pronoun, "we", could translate into several different meanings. One, being a flirtatious gesture (which Lux highly doubted with Valerie's personality). Two, a business-like proposal. This one had better odds, but because of her slight hesitation, he was doubtful on this meaning. And third, just a I-don't-want-to-be-rude-so-I'll-just-leave-this-up-for-interpretation kind of statement. Lux did not like this one either, because excluding Valerie from the leadership situation was a dangerous recipe if she was considering it herself.

The lanky fox never considered himself a leader type. He knew how to talk and promote his ideas well. He also could adapt his personality to fit the likeness of others (as he was slightly doing at the moment) so much that he hardly knew how to describe himself. He was what others wanted him to be, nothing more. But, top dog usually had the best survival outcome, he always considered being the leader of a clan. Now, he could make that come true. He was about to reply, when someone asked another question instead.

"But in charge of what?"

With a yelp that not only shook the citadel, but the delicate air around it, Lux nearly jumped in his fur as he spun around to meet the intruder. The cross-pelted Avantgarde was surprised to meet the green gaze of a scrappy loner. The stranger's fur stuck up in all directions that ranged from red to white and every variation in between. The fox was a walking bed-head. Even before the multi-colored fox began rambling, Lux knew something was off about this Vagrant. He walked like there was not a care in the world, and his voice glided easily in the morning fog like his words were meant to be there, even though they made absolutely no sense. Well, except for the last bit, which Lux took as a well placed wound on his pride. His temper simmered, easily fed by the stranger's I-know-best attitude.

Trying to keep calm, Lux stuttered, "What...the hell...are you staying?" He searched for the appropriate words that would not invoke himself to attack the stranger. "I-I..." he started, but he caught himself, realizing that directing the conversation at himself would mean he would be on the defensive, caught in an attack. He would not purposefully do that to himself. Instead, he picked the safest subject (and definitely avoiding the stranger's last comment). "What do the human's have to do with anything? They're long gone. We're the present. Riddles are not something we have time for." Lux felt satisfied he had the upper hand, for now.

[Valerie]

Valerie was more than pleased to hear his laughter disrupt the silence of the stone-walled ruin. The conversation helped her forget about the eeriness of the citadel to the best extent that she could. The relief would prove to be short of life, as her last quip took him by surprise and knocked the grin off his face. There was quiet while he considered her words, and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of his response (unbeknownst that he wasn't entirely sure what to make of her, either). Now she just stood, a beacon of uncertainty, no longer understanding if she were nervous, or afraid, or offended, or happy, or whatever else she had been in the past few minutes that Lux had been her company. Standing in anticipation she hung on the air for the first syllable to break through, but when one finally did it was not from his voice.

Valerie, from that moment forward, would gladly imagine that his yelp was the more high-pitched one that shrieked through the crumbling stones, even though it had been from her parted jaws that fear embodied itself in such a terrifying noise and flew from her throat gracelessly. Every dark hair on her body stood as though they were trying to rocket away from her skin, sly eyes growing as round as ladybugs as someone else crept forward from the shadows. The easiness with which he spoke made it seem like he was practically screaming where Valerie and Lux had been murmuring, or perhaps it only sounded so loud because of how starkly petrified she was. In a jerky movement she would swing her head toward the newcomer, and watch him glide in.

He was painted strangely like Lux was, but he looked as though he had just wandered through a hurricane. The stranger loped casually between her and her company, flinging questions only to continue forth as if he hadn't spoken anything at all. Watching him closely she was able to calm at least a part of her autonomic response, but now and perhaps more than ever before Valerie was on the highest of alerts.

Was it just her, or was he making literally no sense? In charge of hatred? What plans - whose plans - who had plans? Valerie was becoming increasingly unsure whether he was the one blathering without yield or if it was her overexcited nervous system making her incapable of hearing what he was actually saying and conjuring up word salad to replace coherent sentences. Pursing her lips in discontent she forced herself to rid the confusion and fear from her mind, taking a bold step toward the male as he pawed the fallen column.

Was that...? Arabelle's friend. It had to be; nobody else looked so unique. Yet he sounded so much different than she remembered, and for as much as she searched the grooves in her brain she just could not conjure up his damn name. But it had to be him. There was something familiar about that face, and she hadn't seen anyone else with a coloration like that...

Humans, he had begun to prattle about. Valerie forgot her curiosity for a moment and frowned, one dark ear twitching with annoyance. Of course she knew these were human ruins; did he think that she was stupid? But just as quickly as he had before he switched to another subject. Does what have a name? Ants? What field? Mated yet? It was literally a struggle to follow his train of thought and try to make logical sense out of it, very nearly causing Valerie actual physical pain. Subconsciously she shifted closer toward Lux; well he had wanted an ally, hadn't he? There was something so strange about the newcomer, and while he hadn't shown himself to be a threat just yet... what had he been doing eavesdropping on their conversation?

"Is he touched in the head?" she murmured out of the corner of her mouth toward Lux, her words a bare whisper in one breath but who knew? Maybe he had super sensitive hearing. While Lux berated him for his nonsense - which Valerie certainly would have joined in, had it not been for the bare recognition she had of the strange fox - Valerie only stared, praying something would randomly show up to prove it wasn't Arabelle's friend.

[Masterweaver]

"What do the humans have to do with anything? They're long gone. We're the present. Riddles are not something we have time for."

The Shard Seeker raised an eyebrow. "Long gone, are they...?"

And then he did the strangest thing. He started singing. It wasn't a song of words, but of pitches, with a slow, methodical tempo. His tail kept beat, swishing left, right, left, right, left.... his eyes shut as he raised a paw to the column in front of him. The song ended as abruptly as it began. Then, with a strange grinding, the column began to rotate into the ground. Some birds flew out of a window high up; he watched them impassively as his ears twitched and listened to the moaning of the stone against the stone. Finally, with a small click, the window matched its sill to the ground; a stairway, further down, could be seen through it.

"...clever creatures, they were. And... are." The Shard Seeker stepped aside. "Go in if you dare. It will be flooded in an hour or so, and the column will rise again."

He peered at Valerie, something tugging at his mind. She was... familiar, somehow. He didn't know how, though... perhaps she was a shard of his past.

[Lux]

“Is he touched in the head?” Lux heard the female whisper as softly as she could. He could not help but let out a small chuckle. Actually, it was partly a relief laugh. For a moment, the lanky fox thought he was seeing things. The duo was only minutes before talking about the impossibility of ghosts living in the ancient ruins. And what do you know. A strange, frazzled fox emerges from the fog sewing nonsense that very well could be the madness of a spirit. Either that, or the citadel was getting to him, turning his mind to superstitious mush. At least if the loner did indeed prove to be a phantom, Valerie would not think he’d gone crazy.

But who was this fox, claiming humans were the smartest of all? To the knowledge of vulpine Navaria, the humans were all DEAD. What did that make them if they died while all the other creatures of the land survive? Lux always thought that nature deemed the unworthy. Even with their fancy tools and daunting buildings, maybe they just weren’t the fittest. Now, this fox treat them like gods. It was probably another sign of madness, worshipping these humans only because they were good at making pretty things. Weak, Lux thought. Only the weak substitute phenomena with a higher power.

In fact, it was so alarming and subtle, that again, he did not know how to react. Though it was something he normally did not do, he did not think further into the gesture, blaming it on the vixen’s subconscious drawn towards an ally in a time of threat. Yes, you keep telling yourself that. Wait, ‘til winter comes, then we’ll see if the answer to the loner’s questions change, said a sly voice in Lux’s head. Luckily for him, fox’s don’t noticeably blush. Instead, he shifted his paws and did not move his position, taking yet another neutral stance, unsure of Valerie’s true intentions. Let’s just say being with his mother completely through his childhood without hardly any other female contact left him with, well, in an awkward position with the ladies.

Then, came for the mind-blowing portion of the tale. Lux rolled his eyes as the fox started singing. The large vulpine never cared for music. He was a practical fox and thought those pleasures were meant for the howling wolves. But when the singing opened secret human passageways, now that was tactical and smart. It was a wonderful hiding place. Only those who knew the song could get in. You were safe from all intruders. Ingenious. Even the practical minded Lux knew a great idea when he saw one.

Again, the cross-pelted fox was speechless. He was not sure which stance to pick. The immediate thought was to regain the pride lost in the beginning moments in the strangers arriving presence, but the loner proved to have a more extensive knowledge than he, so any defense would most likely be fruitless. Instead, Lux decided to humbly respect the superior.

“Amazing,” he breathed, sending warm steam into the slowly dissipating fog. Morning was gaining momentum and sunlight broke the surface of the distant tree line. The fuzzy fox said the duo had but an hour to explore the dark passageway. Something about flooding? Lux could not smell a water source, nor had he encountered a significant size collection of water on his way here. The cross-pelt shrugged it off; doubtful he wanted to spend more than an hour in that place anyway.

In fact, Lux was not sure he wanted to go in at all. A creepy, dark, mysterious passageway that only this stranger knew about was certainly screaming dangerous. If it was a threat to his life, Lux wanted to stay out. There were too many unknown variables, too many things that could go wrong for his liking. Even so, every vulpine has a nagging sense of adventure, no matter how dim. The childish part of his mind wanted to explore, learn about the secret nook of the new Avantgarde territory. It seemed essential almost. If the loner were to share this knowledge with a Delmares, Lux did not even want to think of the consequences. Never the less, he was still worried.

Turning to Valerie he asked, “You really want to go down there?” He eyed the tunnel suspiciously like it was an enemy about to attack. “I mean, all of us have just met and who knows what surprises those humans left in their wake. It could be dangerous, yet if it isn’t, a secret tunnel can only be helpful if not harmful.” A pause. “You can choose.” His bright, orange eyes spoke sincerity and he definitely hoped not cowardice. Lux just did not want to get into unnecessary danger.

Then, eyeing his new aquantance the loner, Lux asked, “Are you coming as well? Or would you rather stay while we disappear into the dark, possibly forever?” The lanky fox hoped his undertone was not too sarcastic, but he was not going to have the loner trap both him and Valerie in the depths of human ruins.