Chapter 63: Chapter 53- The Vanquishing Festival

[Luna POV]

After the day I let mom and Ana dip their toes into the abyss, time flew by and now it was the day of the Vanquishing festival.  Most of the day, people would just feast, and the real fun happened at night.  There were stalls set up down the main road from the shrine selling all kinds of things and a big bonfire set up in the middle of the village.

 

Normally when the bonfire was lit, people played music and danced around, others would drink, and a lot of couples would find secluded places to make out.  It was nearing time for the bonfire to be lit and me and Velvet were walking down the road checking what people were selling at the stalls.

 

“So Velvet, what do you think of the shrine village’s version of the Vanquishing festival so far?”

 

“To be honest, it’s not that different from the captial’s, aside from there being less people.  Though I have been able to find several masks that are different from ones I find there.”

 

“I get that, but did you really need to buy three of the same kind?”

 

“Yes, now I have every color.”

 

“Guess I should call you the RGB Vampire then.”

 

“What does that even mean?”

 

“Just a joke only I get, you can just ignore me.  It’s about time for the bonfire to be lit, you want to go and watch?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Good, this is my favorite part every year.”

 

“What do you mean, it’s just lighting a bonfire, right?”

 

“You know most people in this village are kitsune, right?  We have a fun way of lighting bonfires at festivals.  Let’s hurry before it starts.”

 

We picked up our pace and made it to the giant wood pile that is the centerpiece of the festival just before the start of the show.

 

“I wonder who gets to do it this year?”

 

“What do you mean, Luna?”

 

“Every year a priestess from the shrine is chosen to light the bonfire.  Each person makes it a different spectacle every time.”

 

“I see.”

 

Just as the sun dipped low behind buildings causing the entire place to become dark hundreds of small golden fox fires lit up the plaza.  The one who cast all of these fox fires was a priestess in traditional shrine clothes and wearing a fox mask.  She stood in front of the wood pile and lifted her arms causing all of the fox fires to float higher into the air.

 

The fox fires then flew closer together and made the outlines of different creatures like dragons and griffins.  There was even a large nine-tailed fox that looked like it was standing on top of the wood pile looking out over the other beasts as they flew in dance-like patterns.

 

“The only person I know that has this much control over fox fire is Mom, so I guess she is the one chosen this year.”

 

“You were right, Luna, this is a beautiful spectacle.  I think I prefer this to what the capital does.”

 

“What do they do in the capital?”

 

“They just light the fire and then perform on a stage set off to the side.”

 

“What do they perform?”

 

“Sometimes it’s several musicians, or some people do a sword-dance, and one time there was a dramatized reenactment of the battle with the king of fiends.”

 

“How do you know it was dramatized?”

 

“I heard from some of the people that were at the battle that it was a reenactment in bad taste that made the horror that the battle was into a glorified hero tale you find in children’s books.”

 

“I think that’s more than just dramatized, then.”

 

Just then the nine-tail fox fire jumped into the air and all of the others converged on it, turning it into a giant ball of fire that crashed down onto the wood pile setting it ablaze with golden flames.  After that small fox fire foxes leapt out of the fire and ran to lanterns that were placed all over the plaza, lighting them and causing them to float into the air, giving the place a mystical feeling.

 

Then in several places people pulled out musical instruments and started playing, filling the plaza with wonderful melodies that melded together to make a playful atmosphere that inspired you to dance to the tune.

 

It was then that mom in her priestess attire and fox mask came over to us.

 

“I hope the two of you enjoyed the show.” (Amagi)

 

“It was wonderful, Mom.  I hope I get as good as you in manipulating my fox fire.” (Luna)

 

“It was truly beautiful Lady Amagi.  Just how did you come up with a performance like that?” (Velvet)

 

“Blake gave me the inspiration by telling me about something called light shows and I went with a version of that.” (Amagi)

 

“I wonder why I never thought of something like that, it could make perfect manipulation training.” (Luna)

 

“Don’t think about training right now, Luna.  This is a festival so enjoy yourself and have fun.” (Amagi)

 

“What do you think I’ve been doing?  I went around most of the stalls and watched the bonfire lighting with my best friend, the only thing that I think could make this better would be if Tamamo showed up.” (Luna)

 

{As much as I would love that, I can’t.  At least not this year.}

 

After hearing her last words, I perked up.

 

‘Does that mean you will be able to another year?’

 

{Ufufufu.  I put in a request to do so next year; now I’m waiting for approval.}

 

“Fufufufu.”

 

“Seems like she just got some good news.” (Velvet)

 

“Seems so.” (Amagi)

 

“You know it.  Tamamo told me that she might be able to come here with me next year.” (Luna)

 

“Guess we’ll need to make it extra grand next year then.” (Amagi)

 

“I guess I’ll be here then too, I would very much like to meet the Goddess in person.” (Velvet)

 

“I would as well.” (Ana)

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“Oh, hello Ana, when did you get over here?” (Luna)

 

“Just now.  Congratulations on your successful performance, by the way.” (Ana)

 

“Thank you, now all we have to do is wait for this to burn out and it will be Luna and Blake’s turn.” (Amagi)

 

“What are the two of you doing?” (Velvet)

 

“A bit of otherworld entertainment.  He’ll give me the image and I’ll make an illusion of it.  Though now I have some images of my own to try as well.” (Luna)

 

“Did I give you some inspiration?” (Amagi)

 

“Yep, all I have to do now is put it into practice, though I might save it for the end since it might take more mana than I can regenerate at the time.” (Luna)

 

“””I’m looking forward to it.””” (Amagi, Ana, Velvet)

 

As the night went on, I talked with everyone.  At one point dad and Soleil joined us and we all decided to walk around together.  Mom and dad went off and danced a bit, so did Ana and Blake who showed up out of nowhere and just as suddenly disappeared back to making his preparations.  It was about three hours after the bonfire was lit when it started to die down enough for me and Blake to start our little show.

 

I went to where he told me to go when we came up with this plan of ours and found him waiting for me.

 

“You ready?”

 

“Yep, though seeing the start of tonight, I have a few of my own ideas.”

 

“Then you can put those into action as well since I couldn’t think up any more designs than what I have here.”

 

“I’ll save my biggest one for the end, but I’ll do it.”

 

“Before we start should we warn people about sound?”

 

“Nah, these will be illusions, so they won’t have any sound to them thankfully.”

 

“Then here are the first designs I came up with.”

 

He showed me several shapes for the illusory fireworks.

 

“Then let’s begin.” I said as I shot a small light into the sky where it bloomed into a silent explosion of multi-colored lights.  I heard several surprised sounds from the gathered people.

 

I shot up several more that bloomed into normal firework shapes as I moved through Blake’s designs.  Once I exhausted those after about 30 minutes, I moved onto mine.  The first few were shaped like dragons and wyverns, then I moved onto other mythical beasts like hippogriffs and leviathans.

 

I ended my part of the show with an illusion of Tamamo’s fox form that was the exact same size as what I recently saw.  I made it dance around in the air and ended the show with it fading into the moon.  After that, I fell flat on my back since keeping that particular illusion going for so long drained most of my mana like I said it would earlier.

 

“That was great, Luna!  Especially that last one.”

 

“I would hope so, Blake.” I said through heavy breaths. “That was the fox form of my wife I showed everyone.  I hope they are just as smitten with it as I was.”

 

{You’re making me blush Luna.}

 

‘That was the point, even if I can’t see it.’

 

After resting for a bit, I stood up and Blake and I went to find our families.  It didn’t take long to find them as they were coming toward us.

 

“That was quite the show you two.” (Deacon)

 

“Truly spectacular.” (Amagi)

 

“Where did you get the idea for that last part, Luna?” (Velvet)

 

“That was an exact illusion of Tamamo’s fox form.” (Luna)

 

“You mean that the Goddess is that size in that form?” (Ana)

 

“Yes.” (Luna)

 

“Will you ever become that big, big sis?” (Soleil)

 

“After about a thousand years according to Tamamo.” (Luna)

 

“That’ll be a sight to see.” (Velvet)

 

“Can we move somewhere I can sit down, I’m still a bit tired from using so much mana?” (Luna)

 

“Sure, I managed to get a good spot close to here for us to watch the rest of the bonfire.” (Ana)

 

“I thought our show was the end?” (Blake)

 

“It was supposed to be, but I don’t want to be outdone by my daughter just yet.” (Amagi)

 

We all sat down at the spot Ana showed us to when mom went back to in front of the bonfire’s dying embers.  She raised her hands and the golden embers turned blue and rose into the air where they went from a largish ball into smaller ones that separated and scattered around the plaza.  They started to slowly fall to the ground like snowflakes where they disappeared when they touched the ground.

 

“I see, she turned the fox fire into the purifying version so it doesn’t burn anything.  How interesting.” (Blake)

 

“Why wouldn’t she do that?” (Ana)

 

“Yeah, she would never try anything that could burn the village down, so why wouldn’t she?” (Deacon)

 

“I was just thinking out loud.  I was wondering if I could somehow use that in blacksmithing.” (Blake)

 

“I don’t know about that, but I do know you can enchant weapons with fox fire temporarily.” (Luna)

 

“Would the two of you quit thinking about stuff like that and just enjoy the moment.” (Soleil)

 

“”Sorry.”” (Luna, Blake)

 

Once the last of the embers fell to the ground, mom came back over to us and we chatted a little longer before we all went to our places for the night.

 

Author's Note:
Hello everyone, after three rewrites I have brought you all the festival chapter.  I hope you enjoyed because next chapter Luna and Velvet will start their journey to the next kingdom, so look forward to that.  Thanks for reading.

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