Chronicles of Valarian 10: The Fox's Confession

My head hurt.

I did not like hurting. I shouldn’t have been hurting, and yet here I was.

Wait. Why did my head hurt?

Then, like the Thunderbird descending on me, I realized why my head hurt. Fen had jumped me when I was trying to teleport through the worlds! He had messed up my fire travel and had ended up dragging me to some unknown location.

My eyes flew open as I summoned foxfire around me, leaping to my feet at the same time.

Fen.

Would.

Pay.

No one messed up my missions and got away with it. What part of me being on a mission from the Great Beasts did he not understand!? That fluff-for-brains had basically gotten me killed! And Great Beasts’ only knew what had happened to Fen while I passed out like some worthless human with a head wound.

Gods darn it, I was supposed to be better than this! I cursed, pressing a hand to my head and attempting to ward off the heachache pulsing at my temples and fogging my thoughts.

“...Maybe put out your fire please?” A voice murmured softly, breaking through the haze of anger and annoyance coating my brain. “You might burn my house.”

What was this...thing...doing telling me what to do!? I was Valarian of the Foxes and I was not about to be told what to do! I increased the flames and whirled on the source of the voice, only to draw up short in astonishment as my eyes processed what was in front of me.

From the waist up, it was a girl with tawny skin and long dark hair, kohl rimming her dark gold eyes, and a worried expression. From the waist down, however, she had the body of a lion, with sleek, sunny fur and a pair of brown and white wings nestled on her back.

“A sphinx?” I said, my voice heavy with surprise. Had I ended up in the Endless Desert somehow? That was on the complete opposite side of the world than what I wanted!

Then the rest of my surroundings sunk in. I was in a cave. Admittedly it was a nicely furnished cave with rugs and a nest made of feathers and bolts of silk, chests heaped full of jewels were pushed against the walls and a single torch burned with a red light on the wall.

“Oh! You can talk!” she said, holding her jewel-draped hands to her mouth.

“Why couldn’t I talk, Sphinx?” I demanded, dousing my flames. A single sphynx wasn’t worth fighting. Though….they were Great Beasts. But regular sphynx likely didn’t have the power I wanted, if I wanted to fight one of them, I would have to go after the Sphinx Queen.

Hmm...maybe I could turn this situation to my advantage. All I’d have to do is find Fen, fight the Sphinx Queen and win, and then I could move onto the Horned Serpent all the stronger.

Yes, that would have to work!

“Well,” she blinked. “I suppose you are an Other are you not? They do have impressive linguistic capabilities.”

“You know what I am?” I asked.

“You do not smell human,” she said simply. “Even if I were to overlook your hair and eyes, and you smell like an animal. Though Sister says that you smell like the Otherworld.”

Sister? I tried desperately to recall what I knew about the race of Great Beasts known as the sphinx but I could recall frustratingly little. The fog in my head didn’t lift and the recollections I could snatch through it were bare and dry.

The sphinx were a race of matriarchal feline-humans who used their control over the sands of their desert homes and pride hunting techniques to kill their prey. The strongest of them that won at a contest spanning all of the huntresses was chosen to be their Queen and was given special powers.

It was the Sphinx Queen I would have to fight, but I knew nothing about the lesser sphinx that made up their prides.

“Well, you’re right,” I snapped. “I am Valarian, the Fifth of the four Ancient Foxes. Now release me immediately.” There. Let my name work its magic so I could get out of this foul cave and find Fen. Though knowing him, he was likely dead by now.

Unless, of course, his powers had decided to show themselves.

Shivers ran down my spine at the very thought and I was forced to shove the thoughts out of my mind before I killed this sphinx to find him.

Killing her was unfortunately out of the question. Killing one of them would get the whole of their pride after me. And even I couldn’t beat the Sphinx Queen with all of her subordinates after me at the same time. My only hope was to get her to fight me one-on-one.

“Nice to meet you, Valarian,” the sphinx replied with a smile, bowing her head. “I’m Sophia.”

Wait...what?

“Don’t you know who I am?” I snapped, incredulous. My name was known and feared throughout the Great Worlds! The thought that this sphinx didn’t even know who the Elders were was enough to get my blood boiling.

...What must it be like to have that kind of ignorance?

“Should I?” Sophia asked, tilted her head to one side in a manner that struck me as particularly bird-like. “My sister says I should spend less time out hunting and more time reading, but I don’t like learning. It makes my head hurt.”

So not only was I stuck in a cave with a sphinx while Fen did who-knows-what, but I was also stuck in a cave with a dumb sphinx. Just my luck.

Why did Fen need to jump me!? Without his interference I could have already beaten the Horned Serpent and be that much closer to gianing my freedom! I seethed with rage at the thought of what I was losing just conversing with this lowly sphinx. “That’s wonderful,” I said, my voice dripping poison. “But I’ve already taken too much of your time, I really must be going.”

I tried to walk around her, but with my child-like statue, she towered over me and easily blocked my path. “You’re hurt,” she protested. “You’ve been asleep since I found you in the desert!”

Asleep? I didn’t need to sleep! That was for mortal beings that were more pathetic than I was! This was humiliating! I needed to find the Sphinx Queen and fast so I could defeat her and take her powers!

“Who cares?” I demanded. “I’m a fox. I heal quickly. Now step aside.”

She narrowed her eyes and pulled back her lips, revealing sharp fangs. I wasn’t moved. “I’m not going to let you do that. You need to stay here so that the healers can look at you.”

“Why all the concern?” I said, sneering and showing off my own canines. “Do you really feel so much for your fellow animals?”

She paused, staring at me. “Why do you sound so angry?”

“Because I am being held up by you when I have better things to do.”

“Like go back and die in the Endless Desert?” she asked, sounding more annoyed. That was good. If I riled her up enough I could goad her into moving.

“I don’t die,” I hissed. “My creators made me that way. And besides, I’m not going to die by any hand but my own! And that includes nature.”

“Everything dies,” she said. “That’s the way of the world. Everything must end. That’s the only thing that makes life worth living, the fact that we won’t be here forever.”

She sounded so much like Fen it made my chest burn with enough anger to scorch my insides. “That sounds like the most hellish existence I can think of. All you mortal creatures scurrying around trying to make the most of your limited lives. Trying desperately to leave any mark at all when time will turn everything to dust eventually, but that won’t happen to me. I’ll still live. My life will never end. My memory will never die! That is true existence!” Damn you, Fen. Why couldn’t you see that!?

The sphinx drew back, her nostrils flaring and her paws striking the earthen floor of her cave with muted thumps. “Then what makes you keep going? If nothing lasts doesn’t that mean that everything you love won’t last either?”

I glared, knowing my eyes must have been burning with my anger by now. “I don’t love anything,” I snapped. “I’m a fox. I have no such needs.”

Sophia tilted her head to the side. She looked sad now, gazing at me with pity in her slitted eyes. Why was she looking at me like that!? Why did everyone look at me like that!? I lived the way I wanted to. Free of emotions dragging me down and weighing me to the earth like other mortal beings.

I was chained to my Elder’s will and that left me no room to dare care for anything lest it be used in their constant game to control me.

Love. Bah. The idea of it was futile. Who needed it when I had all I could ask for? I had space to adventure and kill, I had blood and battles to distract me from my fate, I had friends and enemies to pass the time with, I had everything. I didn’t need love. Or pity.

“Everyone needs someone,” she said, her voice tinged with melancholy. “Sister says that and I know that.”

“Then your sister is a fool,” I snapped.

“No,” Sophia shook her head. “You’re the fool if you can’t even see that simple fact.”

I didn’t need her telling me that. I didn’t need anyone looking down on me! I was me! I was the slaughterer of armies and killer of men and beasts alike! I was the Fifth of the Four Ancient Foxes, their Sword and Servent! I was immortal and powerful and more than this stupid, lowly sphinx could ever dream of.

My anger swelled and grew within me, bubbling up through my blood with every furious beat of my heart until it filled my brain with its stinging heat, my head had been cloudy since I had woken up, but now it was all burned away by raging flames. This sphinx, she had looked down on me. She had to die.

“I’m going to kill you,” I whispered.

“You can’t kill me,” she replied, perfectly neutral. “So don’t even try.”

“I’ll kill you,” I said again. “I’ll kill you and then I’ll defeat your precious Queen and take her power. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Foxfire burst to life in my hand with my words as I snarled.

Sophia hung her head and triumph burst in my chest before I heard it. Laughter. She was laughing.

“Why are you laughing!?” I demanded. Laughing was what I did! She had no right to it.

“I’m laughing because you truly are a fool,” she said, her head still bowed. Then, she slowly lifted it while her wings unfolded behind her, filling the cave inch to inch with their feathered glory. Power leaked from her like water cascading down a cliff, wave after wave of power so intense it threatened to sweep me from my feet and drag me along until death.

I stepped back, fear suddenly making my throat clench. Why did she suddenly have a completely different aura? What was this!?

Sophia looked me dead in the eye, there was no more sadness or pity in her gaze, only cold, unflinching power.

“Kill me and my Queen?” she echoed. “Fool. I am the Queen.”