Kumi had been enjoying herself as she wandered the streets of magnolia town after her rough battle in the fairy festival. It had been a few days since the battle had concluded and she was happy that she had partaken in the event, even if things hadn’t exactly gone to plan. The power of the fairy tail guild wizard, Althea, had definitely made her wonder about whether she too should join a guild. Being alone was useful a lot of the time, but honestly it was difficult to find people to practice her magical skills against. Most jobs she took were easy and posed no threat, even some of the more challenging tasks hadn’t really helped her improve or grow stronger. The kitsune was almost completely lost in her own thoughts when she overheard a bunch of screams coming from nearby, immediately grabbing her attention.
She closed her eyes, breathing slowly as she felt the auras of those nearby, pinpointing the location of those filled with fear. Without a second of hesitation she began sprinting immediately towards the direction of those in need. Honestly, she wasn’t sure why, she had never felt compelled to help those in need if there was no reward in it for her, but to hell with that for now. She needed to find out what was going on. It wasn’t long till the fox maiden found herself just on the outskirts of the town square, a strange feeling oozing from within, as if a magical field were set up inside it. Kumi stood glaring down the centre, her eyes locked onto a man laughing maniacally as he noticed her as well. “Come little kitten, let’s play a game. If you win, I’ll leave these people alone and give you a gift, if you lose I’ll take away something precious from you, and if you try to run, I’ll destroy this whole town.” the man teased, his voice full of malice.
Kumi gritted her teeth, making a small ‘tch.’ sound before replying, “Please, your magical power is weak, I can feel it from here. Your attempts to blackmail me are also pointless, I care nothing for these people.” the kitsune merely responded. However, as she did so she suddenly began to feel dizzy, was this because of him? No he had no magical energy, NONE, what was going on? Quickly she grabbed a nearby post to help hold herself up, as the man continued to laugh. “Looks like this little kitt- no foxy, is having a little trouble. I can help you, you know. All you have to do is step into my ring.” The creepy man continued to laugh as soon as he finished, was he just completely crazy or what?
“Fine…” Kumi gasped, still unsure why she felt so woozy but managing to walk slowly, although, not quite as elegantly as usual towards the man. As soon as she walked past the entrance to the square she felt herself merge into a strange magicless zone. ‘Ugh, what is this?’ she wondered to herself, she had never felt so weak and powerless, without her magic how would she beat this guy? She could barely stand to fight with fists, but that seemed like the only way. As she raised her left hand, the man suddenly waved his hand, “No, no, no. That won't do, we shall not be fighting like that today.” he announced before throwing what appeared to be a deck of cards at Kumi’s feet. “This is a game of skill and intellect my darling, all you have to do is manage to hit me 4 times in this card game and you win. Just remember, if you lose you’ll lose something precious. Hehehe…” the man giggled with glee as if he was having the time of his life.
“Whatever, I’ll play your stupid game.” Kumi spat, picking up the cards, the touch of which gave her a migraine, one so bad she had only felt a few times before. “Ugh… Let’s get this over with.” As Kumi flipped the first card over it had a list of rules. Well every card game has rules, she may as well learn how to play while she was at it. Her golden eyes scanned over the images and words, taking it all in within but a minute. So this card game used her memories and experiences? She didn’t have many of those, this could make it tricky… “Alright, I think I get this gist of it.” Kumi announced looking the man directly into the eye. “Are you sure, that was awfully fast.” the madman asked curiously.
“Positive.” Kumi pressed, readying herself to duel with the man. As she went to draw her hand, each card again forced her head to pound. Was this because it used her memories? Was it trying to tap into parts of her mind that even she couldn’t access? It was plausible. Well it was time to find out, she looked at her cards, some were people she recognised and had recently met but there was one card ‘support type’ that was a creature she definitely didn’t recognise in the slightest. Her amber eyes scanned the card carefully, it depicted some strange purple and white bunny like creature, with exceptionally long ears and tail.
“Zephyr…” Kumi whispered to herself as she read the name of the card, a sharp pain hit her frontal lobe, causing her to lift her spare right hand up to her head, “Ugh…” Kumi groaned painfully trying to focus back on the game. For now she played a card that represented a man she had met only recently, a wizard that used water magic as her summon, he seemed to have decent attack, although his defensive stats were lacking a bit. Not that it mattered too much in this case, she just need to play something right?
“My turn, my turn!” The crazy man opposite her cheered gleefully before playing a summon himself, one with greater stats than her own that shattered her defenses. “Unfortunately that’s all I can do this turn, but if you don’t protect yourself you’re gonna lose one of those life points of yours!” The man giggled, obviously enjoying himself, something that Kumi could not at this moment in time. The vixen carefully drew a new card, this one she also didn’t recognise in the slightest, but it was definitely a summon card except it was simply called ‘Bodily Change’ taking her a bit by surprise as the image was a human body shape, a little weird to say the least. As she read the card more carefully it explained it could be used with another card, however it had to be one of the ‘guardians of the stars’. However, by doing so would turn the simple summon into a far more powerful one. Well, it’s not like she had anything to lose, however, her hand was completely void of these ‘guardians’ causing her to frown. For now she simply laid down one of her weaker summon cards to at least defend her points for a round. A card of a small dragon slayer she had only just had the recent opportunity to fight against. Her stats honestly weren’t that bad, but they couldn’t match the summon her opponent had on the field right now, so she would just be a shield till Kumi could manage to get one of these ‘guardian’ cards from her deck, which in all honesty she hoped would come before things turned out to be too late.
Without a word, she waited to see what her opponent would do, except he had stopped laughing and was instead frowning at her, as if he was confused. “Er… Did I do something wrong?” She asked, wondering if she had forgotten one of the rules to the game, she didn’t think she had, in fact she was practically sure of herself at this point. It’s not like it was overly complicated. The crazy geezer didn’t respond though, instead he simply attacked her, destroying her defense once more. At least she hadn’t lost any points yet… She still had a chance as long as she could pull the right cards, besides her opponent didn’t seem to exactly be ‘all there’. He was definitely an oddball to say the least.
Kumi felt a weird sensation as she picked up the next card, it read the name and glanced over the details. “Shi...sa…? Like one of those lions?” Kumi asked herself before her eyes fell onto the displayed image, sure enough there stood a lion, except well… it was green and.. Looked almost like a plush toy. “AH!” Kumi yelled as once again she felt the sharp pain in her head, she opened one eye to read the card once more, as she noticed something next to the name. ‘Shisa (Guardian of the Stars - Courage)'. YES! She had gotten lucky and pulled what she was hoping for. Strange that it had been so easy, but she wasn’t going to complain, immediately she played the hand, hoping for the best outcome possible and she couldn’t have been more lucky if she had tried. As she played her ‘Bodily Change’ card and declared her move of combining it with Shisa the cards magically merged together on the field, creating an entirely new one. “Rai..” as she whispered the name under her breath took a closer look at the image of the new card, there before her was a human cross lion, well what else did she expect from combining the cards like that, at least the game was sorta making sense, in a way.
However, before she could command her new and surprisingly strong summon to attack her opponent’s summon card she suddenly heard a strange voice. ‘Well, it’s about time you started remembering us…’ the mysterious voice chuckled in a raspy voice. Kumi looked around her, but there was no one here except herself and the madman, had he spoken with a completely different voice? She cocked her head to the side, staring at him, he still had a strange scowl on his face, but was now focused purely on her recently played card, Rai. ‘Oh please, I’m not some creepy, crazy geezer.’ The strange voice echoed in her head, Kumi looked around once more, trying to find the source of the voice, could… could it be in her head? Had this crazy man’s magicless zone be turning her insane too? ‘OH COME ON, ARE YOU REALLY SO STUPID!?! Jeez, why did you have to be the one selected for such an important role. Shisa was right, you’re just going to screw it up…’ The voice complained, the words only confusing the fox maiden even more. She attempted to make sense of everything that she was hearing, so the voice was related to the Shisa card she had merged to make the Rai?
However she was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and back to reality as the man across from her coughed, “Make your move already lass…” The man grumbled, knowing what was coming.
“Oh… Sorry…” Kumi apologised, not really sure why she was, after all this man had attempted to blackmail her into playing this ridiculous game. “I attack your summon with Rai, he should beat yours, right?” She smiled sweetly, knowing she had won this round. The crazy man made but a small ‘tch’ sound before throwing his summon onto his discard pile. He looked over his own cards and deliberated before suddenly throwing his hand onto the ground and yelling, stamping his feet causing Kumi to wonder what was going through that insane brain. “BULLSHIT!” He suddenly declared, “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!” He continued to rant as he shook his fists in anger, causing the kitsune to take a few weary steps away from him in case he attempted to physically fight her after all. However, he seemed more compelled to stamp his feet down onto his deck of cards than fight her for the moment. Kumi considered leaving, but honestly she wanted to know who.. Or what… that voice she had heard was. Could it be possible someone was connecting to her telepathically somehow? That seemed like the only reasonable explanation, she was fairly certain she wasn’t going mentally insane, at least not at this precise moment. It seemed as if the voice had heard her thoughts and responded to them, it’s not like she had spoken anything out loud during that ‘conversation’, if you could call it that.
Before she could contemplate the situation further however, her match opponent stopped angrily stamping his cards into the ground and began laughing hysterically once more. “Of… of course… it’s you…” He said turning to face the vixen, locking eyes, making Kumi notice that a tear was falling down one of his cheeks. “It’s… me?” Kumi asked wearily, not sure what to make of this situation, but she firmly stood her ground, curious to see what would happen.
“Yes… yes of course… how could I not have seen it?” He laughed once more, dropping his eyes away to hold his stomach as he completely lost his stability and fell onto the ground unable to contain his joyful giggles. “Well missy…” The man stifled a giggle, trying to look up at her from his position on the ground below, “I can not beat ye.” He proclaimed before falling back into a fit of laughter once more. It was Kumi’s turn to scowl as she wondered what he meant by that. They had only just started their game, he definitely had a chance to win, surely? Not that she minded being declared the victor of the match at all. Still she wanted to know why. It seemed silly to question the madman’s thought processes, but she wished to understand how he was so certain he could not beat her, especially at his own game. “What do you mean?” Kumi finally asked, hoping to get a straight response, but honestly expecting nothing. To her surprise he actually stifled his laughs to look up at her once more, now his face was coated in what appeared to be tears of joy. Even weirder.
“Well, I can’t beat the one destined to lead the stars now can I.” He said shaking his head as he chuckled to himself. Well that definitely wasn’t exactly a straight answer, but at least he had responded, which led Kumi to feel she could push for more than a cryptic reply.
“Lead the stars?” Kumi retorted, waiting for his response. This time the man tilted his head, confused as he looked at her. “She doesn’t know?” he chuckled once more to himself, shaking his head again before looking her right in the eye. “You heard him right?” He asked her.
“You.. you mean the voice?” Kumi responded with her own question, so this man was behind the strange voice in her head after all. A small sigh left her lips, relieved she was not going crazy after all. “Yes! His voice! Rai spoke to you!” The crazy man nodded to himself, folding his arms as he sat cross-legged on the ground. Kumi gave him a confused look, was he trying to say the card had spoken to her? She definitely found that hard to believe, he must have been taking her for a fool. The kitsune was about to turn and take her leave, but stopped as she suddenly heard the sound of a new, feminine voice calling to her. 'WAIT! Listen to him! He can help you remember!' it shouted inside her head, pleading. Now Kumi was even more confused, that was definitely a different voice from before… The vixen sighed to herself before turning to face the crazy man once more, why was she listening to the strange voice? She wondered to herself, not that it mattered now, she would press him for more answers, hoping this wasn’t a complete waste of her time. “I won, right? You said you couldn’t beat me in this game? It has something to do with the cards I played, right?” Kumi asked, her arms folded as she waited impatiently for a response.
Luckily for her she didn’t have to wait long as he instantly replied, unfortunately his answer was still not exactly straight forward. “Yes, yes and no. Your cards are just forgotten.” He replied, before shifting himself slightly. His answer only made Kumi groan internally, could this man just give her a straight answer already? COME ON. “I GET THAT THE CARDS ARE RELATED TO MY LOST MEMORIES!” Kumi yelled, losing her patience, she had already guessed that much, “TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT RAI!” she screamed, leaning down to grab the old crazy man but the scruff of the neck. Instead of scared or worried, his face had nothing but a wide grin from ear to ear, making her release him from her grasp with an exasperated ‘ugh’.
“Rai is a guardian. The guardian of lightning!” The man responded happily. “Okay…” Kumi rubbed her temples with her left hand, “So what are the guardians?” she asked, hoping that response would give her information that would actually be useful to her. “The guardians protect of course!” the man answered, throwing his arms up in the air and laughing out loud.
Kumi groaned, she was getting nowhere with these freaking stupid answers, she was just about to lose all patience and simply leave. Even if he COULD help he obviously wasn’t going to, however she decided to try one last attempt before giving up completely. “How can I lead the guardians?” The fox maiden sighed, waiting for another ludicrous response. However, he suddenly stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking her deep in the eyes. “Call for them.” he answered in a completely serious tone. Kumi wanted to push him away, but something about the look in his purple eyes kept her rigidly in place. “How… How do I call for them?” she stuttered, scared he would simply give her another cryptic answer and begin cackling again.
“CALL FOR RAI, GUARDIAN OF THE STARS TO BE BY YOUR SIDE!” The man was practically shaking her by the shoulders as he spoke, but he seemed completely serious. It could be his way of teasing her, but Kumi found herself saying the words without even thinking, as if she had just remembered a line from her past that was more important than life itself, “I call upon you, Rai, Guardian of the Stars.”A strange sensation filled Kumi as she felt the magical barrier disappear from around her and her power return.
A cloud of pale yellow smoke appeared, as it cleared there stood the man from the card. The crazy man stepped back, watching the interaction with a sparkle in his eyes. “R..Rai?” Kumi asked curiously, was this for real? Had she summoned him right from out of the card? “DUH! Freaking idiot.” the lion man retorted rudely, “I didn’t come from the goddamn card! I came from the palace of the stars, you moron.”
“R..Right… Of.. cours- WAIT DID YOU READ MY MIND!?!” Kumi exclaimed, realising she hadn’t mentioned the card part out loud at all. “God, you really are thick, aren’t you?” Rai responded cooly, causing Kumi to become irritated. “WHAT!?!” Kumi responded, thoroughly enraged at her intelligence being questioned, “How dare you speak to your leader that way!”
she fumed, she was meant to lead him as far as she was aware. “Pfft, what kind of leader doesn’t even know what she’s leading, pathetic.” The lion boy teased arrogantly, tapping Kumi on the nose with his right index finger. “I… I…” Kumi found herself lost for words, he wasn’t exactly wrong, but she resented being called an idiot by this creature, “JUST GET OUT OF HERE!” Kumi yelled towards the summoned creature. “Whatever.” Rai responded simply, turning to the old man with a wink, “Later Zeph” he before disappearing with a small wave in another puff of smoke.
Kumi didn’t know how to feel, she was happy she had learnt a little bit about herself, angry and upset that her summon was such an arsehole, but above all else she was simply confused. How could she had forgotten something so important to her… Zephyr… She couldn’t remember any specifics but she remembered she once had a friend. A friend that was there for her when no one else was. A friend that would always be by her side. Kumi looked over to where the old man had been, but instead of the crazy geezer, a small pile of fluff with a pair of bright purple orbs starred up into her own amber ones. “I’m sorry my friend, I’ve been so lost.” Kumi could feel tears welling in her eyes as she knelt down and scooped him up into her arms, holding him close as he nuzzled into her chest with his face, careful not to harm her with the sharp yellow horn on his head.
”I promise never to forget you again.” Kumi whispered into the long ears of the creature she gently held him in her arms, Zephyr, her beloved friend and companion.
She closed her eyes, breathing slowly as she felt the auras of those nearby, pinpointing the location of those filled with fear. Without a second of hesitation she began sprinting immediately towards the direction of those in need. Honestly, she wasn’t sure why, she had never felt compelled to help those in need if there was no reward in it for her, but to hell with that for now. She needed to find out what was going on. It wasn’t long till the fox maiden found herself just on the outskirts of the town square, a strange feeling oozing from within, as if a magical field were set up inside it. Kumi stood glaring down the centre, her eyes locked onto a man laughing maniacally as he noticed her as well. “Come little kitten, let’s play a game. If you win, I’ll leave these people alone and give you a gift, if you lose I’ll take away something precious from you, and if you try to run, I’ll destroy this whole town.” the man teased, his voice full of malice.
Kumi gritted her teeth, making a small ‘tch.’ sound before replying, “Please, your magical power is weak, I can feel it from here. Your attempts to blackmail me are also pointless, I care nothing for these people.” the kitsune merely responded. However, as she did so she suddenly began to feel dizzy, was this because of him? No he had no magical energy, NONE, what was going on? Quickly she grabbed a nearby post to help hold herself up, as the man continued to laugh. “Looks like this little kitt- no foxy, is having a little trouble. I can help you, you know. All you have to do is step into my ring.” The creepy man continued to laugh as soon as he finished, was he just completely crazy or what?
“Fine…” Kumi gasped, still unsure why she felt so woozy but managing to walk slowly, although, not quite as elegantly as usual towards the man. As soon as she walked past the entrance to the square she felt herself merge into a strange magicless zone. ‘Ugh, what is this?’ she wondered to herself, she had never felt so weak and powerless, without her magic how would she beat this guy? She could barely stand to fight with fists, but that seemed like the only way. As she raised her left hand, the man suddenly waved his hand, “No, no, no. That won't do, we shall not be fighting like that today.” he announced before throwing what appeared to be a deck of cards at Kumi’s feet. “This is a game of skill and intellect my darling, all you have to do is manage to hit me 4 times in this card game and you win. Just remember, if you lose you’ll lose something precious. Hehehe…” the man giggled with glee as if he was having the time of his life.
“Whatever, I’ll play your stupid game.” Kumi spat, picking up the cards, the touch of which gave her a migraine, one so bad she had only felt a few times before. “Ugh… Let’s get this over with.” As Kumi flipped the first card over it had a list of rules. Well every card game has rules, she may as well learn how to play while she was at it. Her golden eyes scanned over the images and words, taking it all in within but a minute. So this card game used her memories and experiences? She didn’t have many of those, this could make it tricky… “Alright, I think I get this gist of it.” Kumi announced looking the man directly into the eye. “Are you sure, that was awfully fast.” the madman asked curiously.
“Positive.” Kumi pressed, readying herself to duel with the man. As she went to draw her hand, each card again forced her head to pound. Was this because it used her memories? Was it trying to tap into parts of her mind that even she couldn’t access? It was plausible. Well it was time to find out, she looked at her cards, some were people she recognised and had recently met but there was one card ‘support type’ that was a creature she definitely didn’t recognise in the slightest. Her amber eyes scanned the card carefully, it depicted some strange purple and white bunny like creature, with exceptionally long ears and tail.
“Zephyr…” Kumi whispered to herself as she read the name of the card, a sharp pain hit her frontal lobe, causing her to lift her spare right hand up to her head, “Ugh…” Kumi groaned painfully trying to focus back on the game. For now she played a card that represented a man she had met only recently, a wizard that used water magic as her summon, he seemed to have decent attack, although his defensive stats were lacking a bit. Not that it mattered too much in this case, she just need to play something right?
“My turn, my turn!” The crazy man opposite her cheered gleefully before playing a summon himself, one with greater stats than her own that shattered her defenses. “Unfortunately that’s all I can do this turn, but if you don’t protect yourself you’re gonna lose one of those life points of yours!” The man giggled, obviously enjoying himself, something that Kumi could not at this moment in time. The vixen carefully drew a new card, this one she also didn’t recognise in the slightest, but it was definitely a summon card except it was simply called ‘Bodily Change’ taking her a bit by surprise as the image was a human body shape, a little weird to say the least. As she read the card more carefully it explained it could be used with another card, however it had to be one of the ‘guardians of the stars’. However, by doing so would turn the simple summon into a far more powerful one. Well, it’s not like she had anything to lose, however, her hand was completely void of these ‘guardians’ causing her to frown. For now she simply laid down one of her weaker summon cards to at least defend her points for a round. A card of a small dragon slayer she had only just had the recent opportunity to fight against. Her stats honestly weren’t that bad, but they couldn’t match the summon her opponent had on the field right now, so she would just be a shield till Kumi could manage to get one of these ‘guardian’ cards from her deck, which in all honesty she hoped would come before things turned out to be too late.
Without a word, she waited to see what her opponent would do, except he had stopped laughing and was instead frowning at her, as if he was confused. “Er… Did I do something wrong?” She asked, wondering if she had forgotten one of the rules to the game, she didn’t think she had, in fact she was practically sure of herself at this point. It’s not like it was overly complicated. The crazy geezer didn’t respond though, instead he simply attacked her, destroying her defense once more. At least she hadn’t lost any points yet… She still had a chance as long as she could pull the right cards, besides her opponent didn’t seem to exactly be ‘all there’. He was definitely an oddball to say the least.
Kumi felt a weird sensation as she picked up the next card, it read the name and glanced over the details. “Shi...sa…? Like one of those lions?” Kumi asked herself before her eyes fell onto the displayed image, sure enough there stood a lion, except well… it was green and.. Looked almost like a plush toy. “AH!” Kumi yelled as once again she felt the sharp pain in her head, she opened one eye to read the card once more, as she noticed something next to the name. ‘Shisa (Guardian of the Stars - Courage)'. YES! She had gotten lucky and pulled what she was hoping for. Strange that it had been so easy, but she wasn’t going to complain, immediately she played the hand, hoping for the best outcome possible and she couldn’t have been more lucky if she had tried. As she played her ‘Bodily Change’ card and declared her move of combining it with Shisa the cards magically merged together on the field, creating an entirely new one. “Rai..” as she whispered the name under her breath took a closer look at the image of the new card, there before her was a human cross lion, well what else did she expect from combining the cards like that, at least the game was sorta making sense, in a way.
However, before she could command her new and surprisingly strong summon to attack her opponent’s summon card she suddenly heard a strange voice. ‘Well, it’s about time you started remembering us…’ the mysterious voice chuckled in a raspy voice. Kumi looked around her, but there was no one here except herself and the madman, had he spoken with a completely different voice? She cocked her head to the side, staring at him, he still had a strange scowl on his face, but was now focused purely on her recently played card, Rai. ‘Oh please, I’m not some creepy, crazy geezer.’ The strange voice echoed in her head, Kumi looked around once more, trying to find the source of the voice, could… could it be in her head? Had this crazy man’s magicless zone be turning her insane too? ‘OH COME ON, ARE YOU REALLY SO STUPID!?! Jeez, why did you have to be the one selected for such an important role. Shisa was right, you’re just going to screw it up…’ The voice complained, the words only confusing the fox maiden even more. She attempted to make sense of everything that she was hearing, so the voice was related to the Shisa card she had merged to make the Rai?
However she was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and back to reality as the man across from her coughed, “Make your move already lass…” The man grumbled, knowing what was coming.
“Oh… Sorry…” Kumi apologised, not really sure why she was, after all this man had attempted to blackmail her into playing this ridiculous game. “I attack your summon with Rai, he should beat yours, right?” She smiled sweetly, knowing she had won this round. The crazy man made but a small ‘tch’ sound before throwing his summon onto his discard pile. He looked over his own cards and deliberated before suddenly throwing his hand onto the ground and yelling, stamping his feet causing Kumi to wonder what was going through that insane brain. “BULLSHIT!” He suddenly declared, “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!” He continued to rant as he shook his fists in anger, causing the kitsune to take a few weary steps away from him in case he attempted to physically fight her after all. However, he seemed more compelled to stamp his feet down onto his deck of cards than fight her for the moment. Kumi considered leaving, but honestly she wanted to know who.. Or what… that voice she had heard was. Could it be possible someone was connecting to her telepathically somehow? That seemed like the only reasonable explanation, she was fairly certain she wasn’t going mentally insane, at least not at this precise moment. It seemed as if the voice had heard her thoughts and responded to them, it’s not like she had spoken anything out loud during that ‘conversation’, if you could call it that.
Before she could contemplate the situation further however, her match opponent stopped angrily stamping his cards into the ground and began laughing hysterically once more. “Of… of course… it’s you…” He said turning to face the vixen, locking eyes, making Kumi notice that a tear was falling down one of his cheeks. “It’s… me?” Kumi asked wearily, not sure what to make of this situation, but she firmly stood her ground, curious to see what would happen.
“Yes… yes of course… how could I not have seen it?” He laughed once more, dropping his eyes away to hold his stomach as he completely lost his stability and fell onto the ground unable to contain his joyful giggles. “Well missy…” The man stifled a giggle, trying to look up at her from his position on the ground below, “I can not beat ye.” He proclaimed before falling back into a fit of laughter once more. It was Kumi’s turn to scowl as she wondered what he meant by that. They had only just started their game, he definitely had a chance to win, surely? Not that she minded being declared the victor of the match at all. Still she wanted to know why. It seemed silly to question the madman’s thought processes, but she wished to understand how he was so certain he could not beat her, especially at his own game. “What do you mean?” Kumi finally asked, hoping to get a straight response, but honestly expecting nothing. To her surprise he actually stifled his laughs to look up at her once more, now his face was coated in what appeared to be tears of joy. Even weirder.
“Well, I can’t beat the one destined to lead the stars now can I.” He said shaking his head as he chuckled to himself. Well that definitely wasn’t exactly a straight answer, but at least he had responded, which led Kumi to feel she could push for more than a cryptic reply.
“Lead the stars?” Kumi retorted, waiting for his response. This time the man tilted his head, confused as he looked at her. “She doesn’t know?” he chuckled once more to himself, shaking his head again before looking her right in the eye. “You heard him right?” He asked her.
“You.. you mean the voice?” Kumi responded with her own question, so this man was behind the strange voice in her head after all. A small sigh left her lips, relieved she was not going crazy after all. “Yes! His voice! Rai spoke to you!” The crazy man nodded to himself, folding his arms as he sat cross-legged on the ground. Kumi gave him a confused look, was he trying to say the card had spoken to her? She definitely found that hard to believe, he must have been taking her for a fool. The kitsune was about to turn and take her leave, but stopped as she suddenly heard the sound of a new, feminine voice calling to her. 'WAIT! Listen to him! He can help you remember!' it shouted inside her head, pleading. Now Kumi was even more confused, that was definitely a different voice from before… The vixen sighed to herself before turning to face the crazy man once more, why was she listening to the strange voice? She wondered to herself, not that it mattered now, she would press him for more answers, hoping this wasn’t a complete waste of her time. “I won, right? You said you couldn’t beat me in this game? It has something to do with the cards I played, right?” Kumi asked, her arms folded as she waited impatiently for a response.
Luckily for her she didn’t have to wait long as he instantly replied, unfortunately his answer was still not exactly straight forward. “Yes, yes and no. Your cards are just forgotten.” He replied, before shifting himself slightly. His answer only made Kumi groan internally, could this man just give her a straight answer already? COME ON. “I GET THAT THE CARDS ARE RELATED TO MY LOST MEMORIES!” Kumi yelled, losing her patience, she had already guessed that much, “TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT RAI!” she screamed, leaning down to grab the old crazy man but the scruff of the neck. Instead of scared or worried, his face had nothing but a wide grin from ear to ear, making her release him from her grasp with an exasperated ‘ugh’.
“Rai is a guardian. The guardian of lightning!” The man responded happily. “Okay…” Kumi rubbed her temples with her left hand, “So what are the guardians?” she asked, hoping that response would give her information that would actually be useful to her. “The guardians protect of course!” the man answered, throwing his arms up in the air and laughing out loud.
Kumi groaned, she was getting nowhere with these freaking stupid answers, she was just about to lose all patience and simply leave. Even if he COULD help he obviously wasn’t going to, however she decided to try one last attempt before giving up completely. “How can I lead the guardians?” The fox maiden sighed, waiting for another ludicrous response. However, he suddenly stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking her deep in the eyes. “Call for them.” he answered in a completely serious tone. Kumi wanted to push him away, but something about the look in his purple eyes kept her rigidly in place. “How… How do I call for them?” she stuttered, scared he would simply give her another cryptic answer and begin cackling again.
“CALL FOR RAI, GUARDIAN OF THE STARS TO BE BY YOUR SIDE!” The man was practically shaking her by the shoulders as he spoke, but he seemed completely serious. It could be his way of teasing her, but Kumi found herself saying the words without even thinking, as if she had just remembered a line from her past that was more important than life itself, “I call upon you, Rai, Guardian of the Stars.”A strange sensation filled Kumi as she felt the magical barrier disappear from around her and her power return.
*POOF*
A cloud of pale yellow smoke appeared, as it cleared there stood the man from the card. The crazy man stepped back, watching the interaction with a sparkle in his eyes. “R..Rai?” Kumi asked curiously, was this for real? Had she summoned him right from out of the card? “DUH! Freaking idiot.” the lion man retorted rudely, “I didn’t come from the goddamn card! I came from the palace of the stars, you moron.”
“R..Right… Of.. cours- WAIT DID YOU READ MY MIND!?!” Kumi exclaimed, realising she hadn’t mentioned the card part out loud at all. “God, you really are thick, aren’t you?” Rai responded cooly, causing Kumi to become irritated. “WHAT!?!” Kumi responded, thoroughly enraged at her intelligence being questioned, “How dare you speak to your leader that way!”
she fumed, she was meant to lead him as far as she was aware. “Pfft, what kind of leader doesn’t even know what she’s leading, pathetic.” The lion boy teased arrogantly, tapping Kumi on the nose with his right index finger. “I… I…” Kumi found herself lost for words, he wasn’t exactly wrong, but she resented being called an idiot by this creature, “JUST GET OUT OF HERE!” Kumi yelled towards the summoned creature. “Whatever.” Rai responded simply, turning to the old man with a wink, “Later Zeph” he before disappearing with a small wave in another puff of smoke.
Kumi didn’t know how to feel, she was happy she had learnt a little bit about herself, angry and upset that her summon was such an arsehole, but above all else she was simply confused. How could she had forgotten something so important to her… Zephyr… She couldn’t remember any specifics but she remembered she once had a friend. A friend that was there for her when no one else was. A friend that would always be by her side. Kumi looked over to where the old man had been, but instead of the crazy geezer, a small pile of fluff with a pair of bright purple orbs starred up into her own amber ones. “I’m sorry my friend, I’ve been so lost.” Kumi could feel tears welling in her eyes as she knelt down and scooped him up into her arms, holding him close as he nuzzled into her chest with his face, careful not to harm her with the sharp yellow horn on his head.
”I promise never to forget you again.” Kumi whispered into the long ears of the creature she gently held him in her arms, Zephyr, her beloved friend and companion.
[WC: 3537]
