Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 033 - Part 1

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Tik-Tak’s Request

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TheirWorld

Shaking, Guin made her way over to where the trap was. She felt as if she were in someone else’s body.

Getting closer only made it worse, for the closer she got, the more certain she was.

Tik-Tak’s short life was now ended.

As she collapsed in from of the trap that held his body in its jaws, tears streamed down her face. Liorax separated from her and appeared at her side. He took a paw, and closed the little fox’s lifeless eyes.

“Why?” Guin managed to ask. “Why did this happen? I still have time! The quest… the quest time litimit isn’t up yet!” Her shouts echoed through the forest.

“It was his time,” Liorax told her.

“‘His time’?” She laughed through her tears. “How was this ‘his time’! The hunters did this! They would add his body to that pile and let his soul be corrupted by all their ill will! This was not his time - no more than it was any of theirs!” Liorax stared at her, but said no more. “I have to get him out of this trap. I won’t let them have him.”

Tail twitching, Liorax said, “Wait here. Don’t touch it for now. I may know someone that can help.”

As the floating cat pounced off into the darkness, Guin reached over and stroked her little friends soft fur. Just how horrible could this game she was playing be? Why had Tik-Tak left his mother’s side? What wasn’t he more careful? And where the hell was I when this happened?

“People are awful…” she cried.

Liorax returned with a long white and black weasel racing along beside him. He landed on her shoulder and told her, “This is Master Weasel. He and his spirit weasels go around the wood and disarm the traps when they can.

“Nasty work,” the white weasel said, inspecting the trap. “Let’s get this poor kiddo out…”

Guin watched as the weasel went to work, and within moments, the the trap sprung open. Carefully lifting the dead fox cub out from the trap, she cradled him in her arms. The weasel twitched his nose and looked around. “Look at all this… Che-people.”

“Teach me,” Guin demanded. The Master Weasel looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Teach me. HOw do I open the traps?” she asked. “Tik-Tak… He wanted to help them. He asked me. I promised him that… that I would…” Sniffling, she remembered what Tik-Tak had said the first time they saw the traps. “All he wanted to do was grow big and strong and protect the forest like his parents did…”

Standing on its hind legs, the weasel crossed his arms. “Tell you what. You promise me that you’ll break the traps when you see them, and I’ll teach you anything you want. Come with me.” It hopped away to a nearby, unsprung trap.

Guin gently placed Tik-Tak’s body in her inventory and called Liorax to buff her. With the Master Weasel teaching her, they slowly made their way in the direction of the cave. Somewhere along the line, she had gained an [Engineering] skill, but she hardly noticed as they cut their way through.

It felt like no time had passed by the time they reached the cave. The weasel crawled up on to her shoulder and encircled her neck. Guin stared at the entrance, so many complicated feelings coursing through her. What would she say to the fox spirit now?

Even from where she stood, she could tell the pouch that Jormund had given her was doing its job, but as she stepped inside it was even more noticable.

A green flame flickered off the floor of the cave where the corpse of Tik-Tak’s mother lay. “Oh?” came the voice of the fox spirit. Without hesitation, Guin stepped toward it as the green, fiery ghost of the fox arose. “The che child has returned…” At first, the fox spirit gave her a cruel grin, but it faltered as Guin stared her down. “H-Have you retrieved my pelt then?”

Guin pulled out the pelt and laid it over the fox’s body. With a satisfied sigh, the flames that made up the fox flickered in to white, and her paws landed on the ground. “And now, that which was stolen, is now returned. I Thank you, little beast. Both for your efforts, and your trust. That which you wish shall be granted.” Her form becoming more stable, the fox spirit to a majestic, serene form, and her eyes turned to a pleasant shade of pink.

> >

Unhappy, Guin sent the window away without reading it. The fox spirit looked up at her and tilted her head. In a strained voice she asked, “I… must ask. You… you wouldn’t have happened to have seen my son outside? He left to hunt this afternoon and has yet to return…”

Trembling, Guin reached into her bag and pulled out the cold, stiffened body of Tik-Tak. She placed the little fox’s body onto the pelt of his mother, and bowed her head. “I am so, so sorry,” Guin whispered. “I came too late. I should have tried harder. Come sooner…”

The now white fox spirit nudged the little fox’s body. As if he was just waking up, a new small, white flame-like fox spirit rose from Tik-Tak’s body. Guin’s eyes went wide as Tik-Tak’s spirit yawned in front of her, his eyes flowing bright and pink.

“Ah!” Tik-Tak’s spirit went. “Momma! Guin! Guin! Look - you helped Momma! Isn’t she so pretty!” He began to prance around. “Eh? But, Guin, why are you crying?” Reaching out her hand, Guin pat his head. HIs fire-like fur was warm; the warmth only cause her to cry more. She picked him up - he was light as a feather - and hugged him. “Guin?” The little fox spirit nuzzled her. “Ah!” he exclaimed, his ears going straight in the air. “I died!”

“Clumsy fool child - what happened?” Tik-Tak’s mother asked.

“There were hunters in the woods,” he told them. “I-I was running from them and then… and then.. Ah! So embarrassing!” The little fox his his face in Guin’s chest.

“Embarrassing?” Guin asked, petting him fondly.

“I-I tripped. Into one of the traps,” he admitted, looking quite ashamed of himself.

The fox spirit sighed in frustration. Obviously, she was not surprised. “You truly are your father’s child. Were, I suppose. What nonsense.”

Looking at her little friend, Guin asked, “Can you stay?”

But the fox spirit shook her head. “We cannot. These forms are not stable. We shall soon return to the fabric of the Veil,” she said.

Tik-Tak pouted. “I’m sorry, Guin. I wanted to be able to repay you for helping Momma. I wanted to look after the forest like Papa…” he sniffled. “But I can’t now. Why am I so clumsy?” The little fox’s face was almost comically miserable, and Guin couldn’t help bursting out laughing. Looking happy, Tik-Tak licked her face.

“Che-child, if I might have just a bit more of your time?” the fox spirit asked...