past

"nothing lasts forever. not even the strongest of wills, the brightest of exuberances, or the deepest aches of pain can stand the test of time"

That was what Kel told herself everyday, locked away into the dampest and dreariest of prisons that the royals could squander her away to.

No..her name wasn't kel anymore. the royals said it was hankora, named after the fox god, hankorou, who managed to slip away from the royals' grasp through one amazing, grandiose display of self sacrifice. what did he utter before he died? something about how the greed of the citizens had turned blacker than the most sickliest of polluted tar pits, and how only through his death would their greed be satiated? well then...why did she have to be the one to fulfill this prophecy..?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~warning: this is long! but ily if you read it ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kel was born into a dying world. her world used to be so beautiful that the gods themselves would visit her planet on their travels, due to the abundance of pure magic flitting about the realm that was so attractive to celestials. these celestials would temporarily bask in this glorious atmosphere, like a vacation, before utilizing this energy to transport them to the next world. however, certain discoveries led the ancestors of kel's world to realize that they could take this energy for themselves and fuel their kingdoms, which allowed them to construct creations that could surpass even the gods. but, nothing extreme comes without a cost, and over time these energy-machines quickly sapped away at all the resources available in her world, killing off much of the environment and driving both flora and fauna to extinction. there were many opportunities to reverse this exploitation, but alas, society never knows when to stop, don't they?

without anything left in nature to exploit, the citizens turned to the only fuel source left: the trapped gods. one by one each celestial was captured until there was only the most powerful god left: hankorou, one of the oldest celestials. the fox god was the most magic intensive of all, as he had the unique ability to travel through universes, not just worlds. this meant that if the citizens captured him, his corpse alone could save their society because his energy would be able to power entire kingdoms for countless millennias! the crumbling kingdoms shifted their focus to capturing the last celestial of the world, rather than on figuring out a way to revert or soften the blow of their demise.

even though hankorou only had very few abilities, his craftiness ultimately helped him evade "god hunters" up until all the other celestials had been caught. however, like all clever foxes, hankorou had a plan. in fact, he had been working on this plan ever since the planet had reached its irreversable decay. This plan involved the help of another elder god, eira, and together they were able to create a husk that could grant any wish. after discussing and finalizing the last details of his plan with eira, all hankorou had to do was wait until he could reveal his plan to the world in the most dramatic way possible

and finally, that opportunity came. hankorou was cornered and caught through the efforts of several god hunters, who took great pleasure in taunting him as he struggled beneath their nets. Hankorou allowed them to indulge in their taunting, carefully concealing his sly smile, before suddenly announcing that this world's societies were beyond saving because every last individual had been consumed by a bottomless greed. and, since the world was dying, hankorou will sacrifice himself in order to satisfy any last desires they had (exactly like how one would fulfill a prisoner's last meal request...)

the god hunters stared at hankorou confusingly as he declared that the kingdoms should wait for "heaven's magnum opus" to descend upon them and grant their wishes, so that all could indulge in their last desires before their civilizations finally perished. he laughed maniacally at how foolish the god hunters were for thinking they had won when they captured him because in reality "the fox always has the last laugh." he then proceeded to implode himself, scattering his energy into the atmosphere so that the civillians could not access his precious resources. the god hunters screamed and wailed in anguish at both the fruitlessness of their hunt and at hankorou's strange prophecy, before scrambling back to the royals of their kingdoms to relay hankorou's words.

now, what does kel have to do with all this? well, after hankorou imploded himself, his energy was scattered into the atmosphere so that eira could collect and siphon his energy into the all-wish granting husk. the object, now full of maniacal amounts of celestial energy, could breathe, and it pulsed slightly in the palm of eira's claws with every breath it took. eira carefully placed this newborn soul into the body of a stillborn child... and this is the story of how Kel was born

Ch2. Past

kel's parents probably would have been loving parents if they did not live in a collapsing society. even though starvation and illness were rampant in the last cities of the world, the commonfolk simply just wanted to live and progress their lives as best as they could- because that was the only way they knew how to live. unfortunately, this simply wasnt possible, as civillians often had to resort to murder, stealing, and other horrors just to survive. These issues worsened ever since the death of hankorou, as only 3 kingdoms remained since his passing, so each kingdom's royals became even more preoccupied with making their own suffering less painful rather than tending to their own subjects' needs

likewise, making ends meet were nearly impossible for kel's family. stable jobs were obviously a rarity, so kel's parents had to pick up as many odd jobs as they could (and occasionally forced to turn to murder/steal out of desperation :<) to keep some sort of food on the table. they were constantly arguing over issues like debt, and they were more busy pointing fingers at one another than raising their daughter - who could barely speak, write, or count even though she was 6 years old.

clearly, her parents did not pay much attention to their daughter. but that all changed when Kel seemed to procure gold out of thin air during one of their daily fights over money...

unfortunately, the royals caught wind of this, and they summoned both kel and her family to the royal court. they demanded kel procure strangely specific objects to ensure that this was not just an elaborate trick, and at the end of this test, the royals confirmed everyone's suspicions: kel was indeed the prophesized one in hankorou's prophecy.

immediately after the confirmation, the royals orederd for kel's parents to be put to death. they were executed as guards almost dragged her out of the court in time before throwing her into the royals' prison system. she was stashed away in a lonely cell for several months as guards and royals tried to brainwash her about her abilities and past. they wore away at her will and forced her to believe that she was a servant to the royals - nothing more than a wishing well that cannot use its abilities unless it was for granting desires that the royals explicitly told her to fulfill. to complete the brainwashing, they told her that what she remembered as her life of "kel" was just a dream and that her name had always been "hankora."

after they felt that the brainwashing had been satisfactory, the royals dressed her up in beautiful garments and rolled her out for the public to see. they declared that a new god, hankora, was here to save them from despair since she was the one from hankorou's prophecy. they paraded her around the streets of the kingdom, and the civillians proclaimed their joy by worshipping her as she passed by.

but, that was all just for show. in reality, kel was never allowed to leave the royal court after that - if she was even allowed out from her prison cell at all. her services were only used if wealthy civillians or if other royals could pay her imprisoners enough money or goods. These customers would only use her to satisfy their own desires, rather than using her abilities to save the planet. when there were no customers, the royals, guards, and others with connections, would force kel to grant them anything they wanted - which was mostly drugs, money and other types of tasteless entertainment. (isn't it quite ironic how kel could do anything, yet she was monopolized upon instead and used as a way to satisfy corrupt people's temporary pleasures?)

Being used and treated like an object was starting to take a toll on kel's health. even though she had all of hankorou's energy coursing through her veins, her body was still made of flesh, and thus she was unable to keep up with the constant demand for toxic goods. outside the royal court, some of the civillians were cursing her, their "new god," for not helping them, while others praised her and attacked non-believers for questioning her "godly" intentions. unbeknownst to all of them, kel simply did not do anything due to the royals brainwashing her, and kel fully believed she could not use her powers without the royals' command

somewhere, somehow, many many years later, a capsule containing one of the royals' forgotten experiments exploded. this capsule contained a twisted magical energy that was initially created in hopes of being an alternate energy source, but was found to negatively affect civillians. this twisted magic started spreading, mutating, and infecting the civillians of the world. it was quickly realized that infected civillians would either go mad, turn into monsters, or unfortunately undergo both.

2 out of the 3 remaining kingdoms collapsed almost immediately after the dark magic was unleashed. the last remaining kingdom of the world survived only because the royals were under the protection of kel, who was only able to somewhat help at the cost of coughing up buckets of blood. the royals did try to use her to wish away the dark magic, but kel was so weak after so many years of both physical, mental, and magical abuse that all she could do was stop the dark magic from affecting the royals too much.

day by day, week by week, most of the remaining civillians had either gone mad or been transformed into monsters. after most of the population were lost to the dark magic, the last sane civillians declared that had had enough and that they were going to lead a coup against the royals, using the once-civillian-now-turned-monsters as their army. the royals, deeming kel too useless to do anything at this point, simply asked her to provide them with the most potent drugs available so that they could at least be numb and happy when the walls of the royal court came crashing down.

and that was exactly what happend. after the walls were torn down by the last survivors of this world, the royals were either already dead from drug overdose or well under the effects of their numbing-happy drugs. as both monsters and civillians alike started pouring in, some of the remaining royals were slaughtered; some of the civillians were accidentally killed in the cross fire; and some of the civillians and royals succumbed to the dark magic right then and there in the middle of the bloodbath. eventually, it became impossible to distinguish who was who, and every individual standing on the blood-stained floors of the royal court turned against each other as they started tearing each other limb from limb. this was the coming of the end of a grand civilization - simply mere minutes away from finally concluding

kel recognized this. she watched as some of the last sane civillians were either stampeded on, turned mad, or were chewed into a tomato colored pulp. yet even as this disgustingly gorey sight was unfolding in front of her, all she heard echoing in her mind was the royals mocking and blaming her for being "too useless." hadn't she been their servant for so many years, at the cost of her own health and wellbeing, providing them with every whimsical wish they could ever possibly think of?

she suddenly felt her powers pulsing through her hands, and the world went white as a golden-colored fox materialized in front of her. time stood at a still as the fox turned and smiled at her, telling her that he was sad how she never understood the true capacity of her abilities. because in actuality, not only can she fulfill other people's wishes, but she could also fulfill her own. and, for the first time in her life, the golden-colored fox asked kel what she truly wanted in that moment.

to which, kel told them that she wished that they would all pay. the fox smiled and told her that she should punish this world in the most dramatic way possible, as they deserved it for both mocking her and for mistreating the planet for so long. he concludes that "they called you weak when you were not, but you - Kel, the white fox - stood silent until you had this very chance to get the last laugh." the mysterious fox chuckled before continuing, " that's not surprising, i suppose, since foxes always get the last laugh."

the fox promptly disappeared after stating that, and kel realized that time went back to its regular pace. kel stood up, feeling her powers still consistently drumming in her hands. she came to the realization that there were no limits to her abilities, so she craved to destroy this world by showing her abusers the the true extent of her power. with vilifying fury burning in her heart, she commanded everyone to stop, and pointed a furious finger into the crowd. she declared that the royal's greed, lies, and schemes will be the reason why this world must perish. that no one, no thing in this world was worthy of living anymore because there was just nothing left to save.

and with that, she opens her hands to the sky and sent a massive beam of thunderous light straight into the planet, shattering it to pieces and incinerating every single remaining soul on the planet. the beam that destroyed her world had such a powerful shockwave that it sent her blasting into space, and she spiraled into the universe along with the last remaining debris that proved her world had ever existed to begin with.

before passing out, kel sees a strange glowing rift opening before her like the maw of a massive creature. her eyelids drooped as two massive claws reached out from the rift and grabbed ahold of her before she finally closed her eyes, caving into her exhaustion

Ch 3: past

when she finally regained consciousness, kel woke up in a confusing realm that looked like it was composed of a bunch of glowing threads...and each of these threads appeared to have been made of different worlds? standing before her was a massive dragon who introduced herself as eira, the "one responsible" for kel's omnipotence

eira explained that seared at the base of kel's throat was an "x" shaped marking, which she explained was a binding spell that will limit kel's omnipotent abilities. she then leaned into kel's face with a ghastly smile and instructed kel with kel's new life's purpose

because, you see, eira didn't help hankorou all those years ago simply because he needed her help. no, eira had bigger plans for kel, and she only conspired with hankorou with the aim of taking kel for herself after she had fulfilled his wish, so that kel would become her ultimate pawn in her future goals.

she tells kel that she will be sending her to go from world to world to collect each world's "powers." once she had collected a specific power from a creature called the hyperion beast, she would go to the next world. However, she could improve on her powers and slowly "regain" her omnipotence world by world, since she could use each collected ability on her future travels. without letting kel digest this sudden information, eira immediately casted kel into her first world so that she could fulfill her new life's purpose

many countless years had passed since then, and kel had met many different types of people and creatures on her world travels. though her adventures were incredibly exciting, deep down kel had an ever-growing gnawing wish to just live her life on her own terms. since basically her birth, she was never meant to live a normal life, and she longed for nothing but an escape from a life of just fulfilling somebody's demands. even though she was free from hankorou's prophecy, she felt like she was being used like a wishing fountain in the royal court all over again..nothing more than an object meant to fulfill someone's desires

but one day, in one of her world travels, an accident caused the binding spell on her throat to weaken. in the split moment that the binding spell weakened, her world turned to a familiar shade of white, and the golden-colored fox that she had met all those years ago materialized in front of her. the fox told her that eira's binding spell had severed their connection, and that he knew about all the anguish that she went through so he understood her resentment towards eira. he mentioned that he was not able to properly rest until he was sure kel was able to get the peaceful life that she deserved, so he was taking this (possibly only) chance to teach her about his most prized ability: universe travelling.

the fox tells kel that if she managed to slip into an entirely different universe, she'd have a high chance of being able to escape eira. ("worlds" are simply unique places in one universe, but "universes" are like "alternate universes" - where life would have been different if another event happened instead of what actually happened in the "original universe". thus, each universe has their own rules and timelines to follow, so most creatures cannot slip into other universes if they were not originally from there.) he had suspected that eira had ulterior motives when she agreed to help him, and he was sorry that kel had to suffer at the hands of so much collective evil

the fox continued, humorously noting that although eira may have trapped her into a similar lifestyle that the royals forced her into, "the fox will still get the last laugh" because kel will eventually escape eira's tyranny some day. and, with the help of the golden fox, kel opened up a tiny, multi-colored rift to lead her into the next universe. she thanked the golden fox and remorsed over how she never got to know him, but the fox tells her that he was just glad that he was there for the beginning and the end of her journey, since it was much better knowing "how a story begins and ends" rather than just "knowing the middle sections of a book". with those words and final goodbyes exchanged, kel takes a deep, deep breath before slipping through the rift. as the rift closes, the golden-colored fox laughs for the last time as his soul disappears permanently, drifting away in cascading bits, because he was finally allowing himself to rest now that he sees kel had escaped all remnants of her former life.

present

Kel, understandably, stayed in hiding for quite a while in the new world. that is, until she saw a princess walking amongst her subjects and tending to their needs. this sight was incredibly perplexing to kel. why was a royal personally walking out and about just to tend to the individual needs of her people? aren't royals all greedy and selfish, and only do things if it didn't immediately benefit them in some way?

to kel, this princess was an anomaly. a very, very interesting anomaly, at that. she followed the royal around with an intense curiosity, making sure she was invisible so that the princess never noticed her just so she could observe her every move. it seemed as if this royal, who was named "kora," would genuinely do things out of the goodness of her heart...but why?

kel really, really, really wanted to get the attention of this peculiar royal. so, she started purposely getting a little careless with staying undetected by the people of this world, as she was more preoccupied in trying to muster a way to reveal herself to the princess without alarming her. but, this caused her to be noticed by only some of the locals in the city. being dubbed, "the white entity" by these locals, no one seemed to think kel was dangerous, so no one paid much attention to her existence.

that is until one day, a dangerous beast started ransacking one of the villages of kora's kingdom. kel easily leads it into the forest and defeats it, but when she turns around she sees kora standing behind her, staring at her with untrusting eyes. kora pulls out her sword and starts questioning kel, asking who she was and what she was doing with the beast. kel tries to lie and say she was just a citizen of the nearby village, but since kora frequents all the areas of her kingdoms, she instantly knew this was false.

kel smiles and tells kora that she truly meant no harm and that she is sorry for distubring her day, before turning invisible out of both awkwardness and embarrassment. kora, believing that "the white entity" had just mysteriously disappeared before her eyes, was understandably shocked and wary of her surroundings for the remainder of the day

since then, kel has been slowly appearing more and more in kora's life. since kel had been following kora around for a while now, she knew the princess's schedule like the back of her hand. so, she would always make sure to materialize next to kora when no one else was around just so she could privately accompany kora on her travels.

kora was absolutely wary of kel the first few times she saw her, but eventually, she had no other choice but to accept the fact that this strange, otherworldly entity seems to have taken an interest in her. plus, the creature didn't seem to have ill intentions .. and it also seemed to have curiously human-like qualities?... so she allowed kel to accompany her.

this is the beginning of kel and kora's story :)

future

:). does eira end up finding her? we may never know ...

wait a minute...

...what does the first sentence of this story page say? the first sentence in the quotes and italicized text, under "past"? ... oh. oop. loll jk. maybe. ;)