Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Her Background Story

One morning...

A child of the golden fox tribe was soundly sleeping in her home. The day was already halfway to noon, but for a nocturnal race like her, it might as well have been the middle of the night. Sure enough, it should be all the same for any other members of her tribe.

Their race was one of the weakest among beastmen. They didn’t stand a chance against dangerous beasts, and they absolutely avoided humans and other beastmen alike; even when compared to humans, they were just more nimble and agile. They were the so-called beastkin… a sub-race of the beastmen — not really a beast, not really a human.

“Wakey-wakey, my little princess.”

As the girl was still deep in her sleep, an older member of her kind entered her room — or a section of her resting place blocked by large furniture and a tray — and called out to her.

“Mhm… Mama… is it the time already?” At that moment, the girl stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open, her eyebrows perking up at the display of affection. Her mother’s long, silky, golden-yellow hair glimmered radiantly in the sunlight, telling her it was already past morning.

They moved as they rubbed their cheeks against each other while rubbing their tails together and exchanging scents; this was a form of greeting common in their tribe. They cherished their peaceful, uneventful life, which was what they’d always fought to protect.

But that exact morning, their life was about to come crumbling down around them…

As they were stroking each other’s hair, the girl snuggled into her mother’s embrace. She loved her mother dearly. Her only remaining family. Then, she asked her to brush her tail and ears.

“My, my. My spoiled child really likes to be brushed, huh.” Her mother picked up a soft brush from a table within her arm’s reach and began brushing the base of her ears, continuing to her thick tail gently.

“Hauuu…!” When the brush got to the white tip of her tail, her body tensed up in pleasure.

“Fufufu. My naughty girl is sensitive here. Just like your daddy.” Sorrow painted her mother’s eyes, but the stroke of her hand didn’t stop.

It wasn’t uncommon for adult female fox beastkin to seek another partner once their husbands died and vice versa, yet this didn’t seem to be the case for her mother.

“Mama… why do we need to keep moving around? Why don’t we just stay in one place?”

Their tribe moved every month from place to place, and when it was in times of need, they would change places in a shorter period. Rather than embracing the nomadic lifestyle of their own accord, they were forced to wander.

“It's of course to avoid any dangerous creatures and humans… If they know our whereabouts, that will certainly cause grave consequences.”

“Then, why don’t humans and beastmen coexist?” she asked in wonder.

Her mother was struck silent over her question. It wasn’t unheard of for beastkin or even beastmen living in human kingdoms. Nevertheless, only the strongest and craziest among them dared to venture outside into the unknown.

“Do you want to live in human cities?” Her mother smiled softly.

She wasn’t sure. She had heard that human cities were huge, many times that of her tribe. They also had large walls that protected them from all the danger from outside. Still, she didn’t want to leave her family behind only to go into a foreign land that might or might not be better. Yet, a spark of curiosity ignited deeply inside of her, but that wasn’t enough for her to move her head into a nod.

“Nuh-uh. Don’t wanna. Fuku wanna stay with Mama here.”

“Oh you, my sweetheart.” Her mother continued to cuddle her for some time until she let go of her. “Let’s go outside. Our work today can’t wait much longer.”

“Umm, Fuku wanna hear Mama’s lullaby before going.”

“My, very well then, my little princess.”

Her mother began humming, making a delicate lullaby tone — very soothing to the point that her eyelids started to become heavy, her body sliding down on the bed.

“C’mon. Don’t sleep again.” She pinched her nose.

With a reluctant grunt, she rose up and followed her mother outside the tent house, not forgetting to grab some sour berries from the small dining table for her supper… or breakfast.

Outside was a barren land with little vegetation — the ground was cracked and orange poor, but the surrounding shrubberies were enough to support their meager numbers. Since only once in a while a drizzle would fall in this place, they stocked up the water in large clay barrels whenever they got the chance.

“Mmphh-yuck! So sour…” She stuck out her tongue as she ate the sour berries. “Can we eat something other than sour berries?” All her life, she only ate berries that tasted extremely sour. Only on a very rare occasion that she got the chance to taste something else.

Her mother sighed, stroking her head. “Legends say that our ancestors came from the Far East, setting down to the lush plains and forests in the south. And our tribe once held a massive land filled with greeneries. Then we were forced to leave the place, scattered, and driven out to this forsaken land.”

“Will we ever go back to the lush forest again?” She recognized a hint of bitterness in her mother’s voice and looked up.

“Of course. Surely one day our tribe will once more move to a lush forest. By then, you can eat as many sweet fruits as you want and get to eat meat every day.”

“Meat? Really? Fuku can’t wait for that day!” Her mouth watered from the thought of tasting meat.

Her mother chuckled over her childish reaction and broke into a smile.

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For them, sweet fruits and berries and meat were luxuries they tasted only once a year. Mostly during the small celebrations and customs that they had left with them, though procuring them normally around here was nigh impossible.

The girl couldn’t stop thinking of the tasty foods she would eat, even as she surveyed the numerous tents around here that made up a tiny village. Her village only made up a small part of the tribe and was mostly predominated by the Aureum clan with barely around thirty or so people living here.

Currently, only about three to four people were awake. Because for them, daytime was still a time to work as most dangerous creatures were active at night, and thus daylight was the best time to do chores that required them to travel long distances.

“Mama, Fuku wanna know more about the story of our ancestors.”

“Well, there’s a legend passed down in our tribe through generations. Let’s see… back in the olden days…”

She listened to her mother’s storytelling while heading to a certain location outside their village. Over here, there were numerous tall palm-like trees with clusters of fruits abounded; the fruits were inedible though and needed to be processed into an oily substance popular with peddlers who occasionally passed by her village — that was where they could trade with necessities they couldn’t get here.

“My child, please help me pick the fruits like usual.” Her mother patted her.

“Yes!”

Thanks to her race’s nimbleness and light stature, she was able to climb the tall tree with ease. Since the fruits were in clusters, she plucked the thin branches connecting them and threw them down, which her mother picked up and put inside a basket. She did this for all the fruits she could reach with her small hands.

“That’s enough, my daughter. Now come down,” her mother called.

Finished with their task of the day, she along with her mother went back to her home. It was then that she saw her village being engulfed in fire. Slave hunters had tracked down their homes and laid down a trap. Fortunately for the two of them, they were a distance away from the village, but there was no time to escape.

Her mother quickly hid her inside a nearby empty barrel, but before she could also hide herself, a big scary man found her and swung his sword at her back. Blood splattered all over the barrel the girl was in.

“Mama!”

“Fuku… Run…” Her mother tried to tell her to run by moving her lips.

Between the small gaps of the barrel, she watched as her mother died under the hands of the slavers — humans.

Unfortunately, they were prepared and easily located her whereabouts. The exact same man that killed her mother pulled her out by the neck and even slashed his dirty, blunt dagger at her right ear after getting mad at her thrashing.

“Agggh! Ahhh!!”

She had never known such pain. She was at the limits of her endurance. The color drained from her vision. She couldn’t speak but only wept like a child. She was in an awful state, her eyes running with tears, her nose with snot, spittle hanging from her lips.

In as much as a moment that felt like an eternity, the rest of her clansmen were captured amidst their futile resistance.

The girl was now bound in chains and collar, representative of the tribe’s very fate...

***

She peeked her eyes open as she regained consciousness. She was used to having recurring nightmares about the day when her village, her whole clan, was burned down and enslaved, and it was still looping inside her head. Only that this time, the feeling of sorrow and loneliness hit her many times harder as if choking her.

The more she was awake, the more confused she was. An unfamiliar bright room with white walls around her and a soft bed. Where was she? Did she fail to escape from the remnant of the slave hunters and was brought here?

Calming down a little, she inspected the fancy room she was in. She didn’t know why, but she could see through the objects surrounding her — they were all made out of tiny blue particles converging together.

“A… ah.” She tried to force a few words out of her mouth but to no avail. And instead, she shivered, hugging her legs close to her chest as the pain from the wounds on her body, that had been mysteriously patched up, resurfaced.

She had her hand reached out for her right ear — a vivid sharp pain recurred around the uneven missing part partially covered by a white cloth. Although it had been days since it happened, it was still as clear as day to her. Her late mother used to stroke her ears… and losing a part that was precious to her was more hurt than being whipped numerous times.

Tears streamed down from her eyes. She thought that she had accepted the loss of her furry ear, but a painful tightness in her chest was apparent.

“You’re finally awake? Be careful with your wounds. I don’t want to bandage you and get blood on my hands again.”

Someone’s voice sounded from what appeared to be a black circle before an extremely beautiful girl dressed in purplish black not much older than her came out. Her face was cold and expressionless like she didn’t know what the word “emotion” was.

“Wh-Why are you crying? Hey? Is it because of what I said? I don’t mean it, you know…” The girl dressed in purple tried to soothe her, but the tears coming from her eyes couldn’t stop even if she wanted to.

Enough. Her mother had told her to live, but she didn’t care anymore. She had given her all, but the place where she belonged had gone. Even one part of her body that her mother liked to brush was nowhere to be found. All she had left was hopelessness.

“Uh, oh. I better go call Vincent.” The purple girl disappeared into the black circle just like how she appeared at first. Bizarre yet she didn’t give as much as a glance.

She tried to hold back her tears, but the pressure exploded just like an overflowing dam. Her overwhelming grief poured out in whines and tears.

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