Chapter 18: Chapter 9 – Tale of Tails

"Kira? Can you hear me? Wake up, Kira!" A voice yelled in my ear, rousing me from my sleep, much to my disappointment. A painful headache immediately followed, forcing a groan out of my lungs.

"Uu..." I moaned in pain, grabbing my head in a futile attempt to stop the pain. My skin everywhere felt itchy and numb, and I felt more tired than I'd ever been in both of my lives.

"Thank goodness, you're alive..." Mother's voice came, barely a whisper. My vision felt blurry, but as I struggled to turn my head, I saw mother kneeling next to me, her face holding a relieved expression.

"Mom..." I whimpered slightly, not really understanding what was going on. I remember losing control and eating that... elf... and then nothing.

"Shh... It's ok. Go back to sleep, I'll stay here with you." She reassured, one of her hands gently stroking my head while the other rubbed small circles on my back. I gave her a tired smile as a faint purring came from my aching throat.

Within barely a minute, I'd thankfully returned to the dream world.

---

Yiera felt like an absolute failure as she stared at the peacefully sleeping body of her daughter. Her hands absentmindedly continued to stroke her ears while her mind wandered once more.

She should have known that despite being much more mature, strong, and intelligent than any child her age should rightfully be, Kira was still a kid. Her body hadn't developed enough to take in the vast amount of magical energy that shitty elf's corpse held.

Letting out a sigh at her own stupidity, she silently thanked the Ancestor for its blessing. By all means, her journey as a mother should have ended right there and then, cut short because of her own stupidity, but luckily, it hadn't.

Poor Kira had been forced to undergo an early evolution in order to burn off the excess magic, something that had a mortality rate of well over 90%, or at least, that was what her late mother had once said.

She'd been so excited when she'd caught such a worthy prey, and also far too proud in her daughter's excellent growth and learning speed that she'd neglected caution entirely.

Whatever. What has already happened cannot be undone, but at least, she'd learned a valuable lesson, and Kira had also gained something important, which just so happened to be curled around her ankle at this moment.

Obtaining her second tail at 5 years of age, something that, by all accounts, should have been impossible. It was a great achievement, as obtaining a second tail was an important moment for every Northern-Tailed Fox's life, especially since it signified becoming an adult and a true member of the tribe.

However, Yiera would have much preferred her daughter not gain it so early, especially at such a high risk of death.

For an entire month, Kira had orbited the line between life and death, holding out in a deadly coma that threatened to rip her away from Yiera's embrace forever.

During that time, things had been tense in the tribe. Yiera had been... violent, to say the least, and she'd been unable to fulfill her duties as the tribal leader.

Thankfully, things had held together nonetheless, and considering Kira had at last woken up, even if only for a minute, meant that hope was finally shining through. Yiera could finally feel happy, even if guilt ate her from the inside out.

For two days, she remained in the tent with her daughter, the tribe members being kind enough to bring her food during her stay. She stood watch the entire time, waiting for the moment her daughter could finally return to the world of the living.

Finally, at the dawn of the third day, Kira began to stir.

---

'I feel... weird', were my first thoughts upon waking up. My body still felt sore, but definitely not to the degree of when I'd woken up before.

I opened my eyes, finding my mother standing right next to me, staring intently at me. I tried to speak, but before I could do so, she hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry, dear. This was my fault." She whispered, her hold tight enough to almost hurt.

"M-mom... What happened?" I asked after she let me go five minutes later. Her face briefly took on a guilty look, but she still explained.

"I allowed you to eat almost the entirety of that elf, which is a species known for their overwhelming magic. Your body couldn't process the entirety of the magical energy, so you were forced into early evolution." She explained patiently.

"Early evolution?" I asked, blinking in confusion. I furrowed my brows and forced myself to my feet, examining my naked body.

First, I'd grown from looking like an 11-year old to a 14-year old. I grimaced slightly when I noticed that, yes, my breasts had grown a bit, and that despite not being human, the signs of puberty were strong on my body, despite its real age.

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Secondly, the number of tails sprouting from my butt had grown. I waved both around a bit, finding the feeling a bit funny, even if I wasn't really in the mood to enjoy the fact.

Mother patiently waited for me to be done with my inspection, as she too examined my body from a distance. To be honest, I'd long since stopped feeling ashamed of nudity, as despite wearing furs whenever we went outside, it wasn't rare for some of the tribe members, mother included, to go around naked sometimes. Both genders did so, unfortunately.

"Well... I'm glad you're okay, Kira. Rest the rest of the day, as tonight, we'll have to perform officially make you a tribe member." Mother spoke after a bout of silence.

She was about to leave, but I wasn't about to allow that. I wasn't exactly an expert in psychology, but I knew the signs of self-blame. I hugged mother from behind, causing her to freeze.

"It's not your fault, mom. Please don't... leave me?" I wasn't sure how to express what I was feeling. Normally, mother had always been a beacon of safety despite her harshness, but the strange distance she was putting between us now hurt deeper than I'd like to admit.

She let out a sigh and gently removed my arms from around her waist before turning to face me. Normally, she'd be forced to crouch down if she wanted to be on the same level as me, but now, while she was still a bit taller than me, I wasn't so painfully short as before.

"Don't worry. I won't leave you... Do you want to, uh, come hunt with me tomorrow?" She asked, hesitating. I rolled my eyes slightly at her awkwardness and lack of social skill, but I still nodded happily.

She grinned at me before quickly fleeing from our tent, her mood obviously improved. After waiting a couple of moments to make sure she was gone, I flopped down on the floor.

I screamed in the safety of my mind, letting go of all the pent-up emotions that this whole nonsensical event had caused me. After a good ten minutes of rolling around randomly, I finally calmed down.

My tails moved as naturally as any other limb I had, and yet, I knew they were special. I examined them, trying to figure out which one was new and which one was older, but I quickly found it to be impossible to distinguish.

I knew that tails represented strength in our tribe, and yet, I'd grown so accustomed to only having one that suddenly possessing two felt quite weird.

After throwing on some furs in order to feel a bit less exposed, I left the tent, determined to find out just what had changed in me.

The good news was, I'd definitely become a lot stronger. I was already leagues ahead of normal humans before, but now, I could easily run as fast as a car, and even if I couldn't lift an entire tree, as I tried to do, I came pretty damn close.

My senses had also become a lot sharper, although that was a bit harder to measure. In a way, my sense of smell had become a lot stronger, more capable of distinguishing smells and feeling them from further away, same with my sense of hearing and vision.

I frolicked around happily for the rest of the day, still unaware of just how lucky I was to have survived. I ran around the camp and beyond, abusing my newfound freedom that came with having more energy and strength while waiting for the sun to go down.

When it finally did, I made my way to the gathering hall, as that was where I could sense mother's smell resided in. Holding true to my guess, she was indeed inside, along with all the other tribe members.

I looked around, feeling a bit bewildered as everyone stared at me, grins on their faces. Mother came forward first, and without speaking a word, took my hand and brought me to the center of the room.

Once I was there, she returned to where she was before, and I duly noted that everyone had formed a circle around me.

Mother spoke up after a short pause. "Under the witness of the Ancestor, I proclaim Kira, daughter of Yiera, an official member of the Northern-Tailed Fox Tribe. May her future hunts be as bountiful as those of the Ancestor." She spoke solemnly, only to start laughing once she was finished.

Almost immediately, everyone else started laughing jovially too, coming up to me to congratulate me on my 'achievements' and giving their blessings for my 'future hunts'.

It was honestly disorienting, but in a good way. Finally, after merely ten minutes that consisted of me nodding or giving short answers to everyone as they chatted with each other or me, the tribe members left.

"Mom... What just happened?" I asked once only she and I remained. She grinned at me, teeth on full display.

"Well, dear, you're going to have to share your prey now." She said with a laugh, grabbing me and hugging me tightly.

Despite everything, I found myself grinning back at her as I returned the hug. "Yes," I said, looking directly into mother's excited eyes. "I suppose I will have to."

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