“Uh…shouldn’t we be stopping this?”

“Uh…no! Why should we?”

“…because they are killing each other?”

“So? The creatures kill each other all the time. We never stop them before so why start now?”

“But we just made the foxmen!”

“Yeah,” another spirit quickly agreed. “It’s a waste to let them die on the day we created them right? Let’s save them!”

“Also, they’re kind of cute.”

“True!”

“So what? What does cuteness have to do with anything?” The spirit argued. “We are judging the creatures through power and abilities right?”

“I/we don’t know about that. We never really discussed it and cuteness may have a place too.”

“No, it does not! Cuteness is not going to kill humans. Being cute doesn’t help us at all.”

“You make it as if strength is everything.”

“It should be! If the foxmen aren’t strong enough to survive, they deserve to die.”

“Wait a moment…you are one of those death-loving spirits aren’t you?”

“Yes!”

“Well, at least you’re proud of it but come on, even you have to admit it’s a big waste of energy to just let the foxmen die after creating them. Let’s stop the fight!”

“But none of you could explain ‘why’ we need to stop the fight! ...and no, being cute is not a valid reason.”

“What about this…we should stop the fight because most of us want to!”

…Crack…

“Now you guys are just being unreasonable.”

“So? We do stupid unreasonable things all the time. Why change now?”

…Crack…

“I/we thought that sort of thinking left the tunnels along with the Fire idiots.”

…Crack…

“The Fire spirits weren’t total fools. They got good ideas at times.”

“Oh please! They just destroyed the Southern Homeless Plains! They are idiots! They are morons! They were reckless! They were…”

“They were fun! And their recklessness allowed them to destroy an area the size of which we can’t even reach. Admit it; their stupidity works for them.”

“They are morons and more importantly; they got nothing to do with this! Let the creatures kill each other and sort themselves out. No matter who wins, it’s none of our business.”

“That’s not wrong but it’s a pretty heartless way of looking at things.”

“Of course it’s heartless! We’re spirits. Since when did we spirits get hearts? Spirits are supposed to be heartless!”

…Crack…

“Nope! That is something the majority of us in the hive would not agree with.” A spirit who had been quietly enjoying the show till now said. “We are not heartless!”

“WHAT?”

“Spirits may not have hearts but we are hardly heartless! That settles it; we are stopping the fight!”

“WHAT? But…WHY?”

“Uh…to prove you wrong?”

…Crack…

With that, the argument was over and the spirits within the hive begin to gather their energy. As just they were going to order the creatures to stop fighting, they sensed it. It was so faint the hive may have missed it if they weren’t right in front of it. It was pain; delicious pain. The hive was drawn and the spirits fed on it. A moment later, they noticed where the pain was coming from.

It was the fox mother.

The fox mother was still alive and even now, it was fighting for to live. It was the source of the pain and the hive was surprised. It thought for sure the fox mother was dead; the spear had gone right through after all! However the fox mother was a lot hardier that it seems and the spirits were impressed with the creature.

…Crack…

Ignoring the protests of the death-loving spirits within the hive, the majority of the hive decided to use the energy they had gathered to save the fox mother. Injured as the fox was, the hive didn’t try anything fancy. They just threw energy over the fox mother, concentrating on two things; keeping it alive and changing it. It was the best thing the hive could have done.

The fox mother began glowing and the Chieftain, leader of the Ratlings, noticed it immediately. He cried out and pointed at the glowing fox. The fighting stopped immediately. For a moment, everyone stopped moving and all eyes were on the fox mother. The Kin watched as the instinct of the hive told once more. The wounds on the fox mother closed up and as it did, the glow slowly fade. Then the change began.

The fox mother got bigger and her fur turned white. The spirits within the hive were bemused by that. They never did understand why the foxes were called ‘red foxes’ when they weren’t even red but while that was interesting, it wasn’t unusual. When creatures were changed, they got bigger and sometimes they change colours. What was really strange was when the fox mother’s tail spilt into 5. From one tail, she now had 5 different ones and the hive immediately went into a discussion/argument.

While it wasn’t the first time one of their creatures had a body part that spilt, this was the first time it happened by itself. None of the spirits had wanted the tail to spilt so why did it? Then one of the spirits remembered something. It was an obscure incident that happened when The Grand attacked the tunnels. An unknown warrior had made an insult about a fox having 9 tails before he got his head taken off by the Porkasus. Was the change of the fox mother due to that?

Just the spirits within the hive were busy discussing and arguing the issue, the fox mother opened up her tails and looked at them in wonder. She was not alone. All the Kin in the forest were now looking at the Creator’s newest creature and they were all staring at how amazing it was. Then something caught the eye of the Chieftain. Ignoring the magnificent white fox for the moment, the Chieftain approached the Creator and carefully looked at it. This naturally got the attention of the hive and the spirits looked at the crystal that houses them. What was the Chieftain looking at? Before the hive could ask, the Chieftain decided to tell everyone! He raised his arms into the sky and shouted to everyone.

“A CRACK! THERE IS A CRACK IN THE CREATOR!”

What? A crack? The Chieftain was looking at a crack? What’s so important about a crack? The spirits did not understand. While it’s true that most of the time the cracks were not visible, cracking was hardly unusual. The spirits could even say the hive cracks all the time! What was so unusual about that? However the Kin around the hive were delighted by the big crack on it and a loud chant began.

“CRACK!”

“CRACK!”

“CRACK!”

“CRACK!”

“CRACK!”

As the chant was taken up by the Kin, the spirits within the hive were still in confusion. They had no idea what to do in this situation. Should they stop the Kin? Should they ask the Kin what they were so happy about? Should they just ask the Kin what was going on! Then they sensed several intruders. Ignoring the wild celebration around it, the hive focused on the new presence.

They were at the entrance of the tunnels and the hive quickly understood the situation. A group of Werewolves were back and they were not alone. The Werewolves were herding some cows into the tunnels and the spirits were glad for the distraction. They may not know what the Kin were celebrating about but they know what to do with the new animals. As the herd was slowly herded to the hive, the spirits went into a conference and began to gather energy again. When the herd arrives, the hive would be ready.

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