Young Writers Society

Propped up against a tree while his regeneration attempted to heal the damage done to him by my claws, the dark knight glared at me with the kind of fiery hatred that could burn in your soul for a thousand years.

The magician stood next to the knight, his eyes dark though not hostile as he gazed at me sitting cross-legged in the grass across from them. Seemed he had learned his lesson trying to fight me. The singes on the edges of his once-lustrous robe attested to that.

“So,” to my surprise, the elderly magician spoke first. “Lord Valarian, might I ask what you are? We have never come across any Supernatural like you before in our travels.”

“Why are you asking it that?” Percival snapped at the old man. His sudden movement and increased volume caused him to double over coughing blood. I would have gotten mad, but seeing him coughing blood and feeble because of a wound I inflected was price enough for me. I almost laughed out loud. Stupid human, he got what he deserved.

Merlin appraised the younger man with the eye of someone who was gazing at a foolish youth. “I have never seen you in such a battered state, Sir Percival. King Arthur himself would be saddened to see his chief knight like this. Whatever he is,” he flicked his gaze to me. “He is not something to be taken lightly.”

I grinned. These humans had learned why they should never tangle with me. I had indebted one to me and the other was no contest. My win was absolute.

“Allow me to introduce myself so that you can tell everyone you were beaten by me,” I said grandly, standing up and smiling gloatingly at the two human males. “I am Valarian. The Fifth of the Four Ancient Foxes.” I may have despised the Elders with every fiber in my being, but their name was well respected across the Great Worlds. And I wasn’t above using it for my own purposes.

“A fox?” Percival echoed, frowning at me. “How could a fox possibly have all of your power?”

“How can a human have your power?” I replied, raising one finger. “That brings me to the first part of our deal. All of my questions answered. And don’t bother lying, I can smell it a mile away.”

Merlin nodded. “We have no choice but to listen to you, Lord Fox. What are your questions?”

“You,” I pointed at Percival. He looked like he would want to cut off my finger if he got the chance. “What are you exactly? You’re human, and yet you have access to power the likes of which should be out of the hands of humans.”

“I am the Champion. I gain all of my power from my connection with the Sentient God,” Percival hissed from between clenched teeth. His expression was twisted up into a grimace of pain that was either from his wounds or the shame of answering me. Either way, I was happy to see him in such torment.

Humans were such fun to play with.

Which begged the question, “You do realize there are no such things as gods in these worlds, yes?” But what Supernatural creature besides the Dues Kings could be called a god? Even I had never heard of a creature referred to as the Sentient God.

Percival laughed, a harsh biting sound that was as much a laugh as I was kind. “Shows what you know, fox. The Sentient God isn’t a god of this world, they rule the world my magic comes from.”

“Huh?” I stared at him, shock rendering me a simpleton.

What in the name of the Great Beasts was wrong with this guy? How could there be another world? The four Great Worlds were all there was! There was nothing else. “Another...world?” Coming from my mouth, the words sounded just as foolish as I imagined them to be in my head.

“I am the Champion! Chosen by Caporis to be its representative on these worlds and given the power to do so,” Percival snapped, his words filled with the passion of the devout.

I didn’t know whether Percival was insane or this was really how he gained his powers(connections to another world? Is that even possible?) but by now I honestly didn’t care. He wasn’t an Indebted and there was little chance he would make the mistake of going against me again. He wasn’t a threat to me anymore. Besides, there was a more important detail I needed before I let them go.

“Why are you going after the Holy Grail?” I asked.

“I can answer that,” Merlin spoke up next. I flicked my gaze over to him. Despite having suffered many indignities at my hand, he did not seem to be lusting for vengeance like Percival. He didn’t even seem afraid. Strange human. “The Sentient God that Percival serves sent me a vision. The Holy Grail has the power of all of the magics of the magical worlds and we have been tasked to retrieve it and give the elixir within it to the human race so that we may finally have magic of our own.” He said it in a voice of great severity and reverence, attested to the true depth of his respect of this Sentient God.

But still….

“...ha! Ha ha ha! Hahahaha!” I burst out laughing at his words. “Gya hahaha!” I cackled, laughing so hard it hurt my sides and sent me sprawling back on the soft grass. “You humans are hilarious!”

The two men goggled at me like I had lost my mind as I rolled back and forth, still laughing. “You do realize the Holy Grail has been sealed away by the Great Beasts somewhere so secret even the Dues Kings don’t know its whereabouts, right?” I forced myself to stop laughing, trying desperately to inhale through more bursts of snickering. “Honestly, this god of yours isn’t very wise if it sent you on a quest like that. You’re doomed to fail from the start!”

Why had I even been concerned about these two? I had thought maybe they knew something about the Holy Grail that the Dues Kings did not, but they were more clueless than the ants crawling over the rock over yonder. Whoever these two served, they were no threat to me.

“We’re on a holy quest given to us by our god,” Percival hissed at me. I bet if he didn’t know just how powerful I was, he would have tried to run me through with the sword he was strangling with his fingers. His knuckles were so white they may as well be pure bone. He was a lot more fun to tease than to fight. I might have to come visit him again someday. “There is no chance to fail.”

“Yeah, and how’s that going for you?” I drawled, licking my lips. “And to think I was actually worried humans were ever going to pose a threat to the Supernaturals. Please.”

Neither man looked too happy with my appraisal of their species, but I couldn’t care less. I had satisfied my curiosity and niggling doubts, the humans really were no problem. It was still something else that made the Great Beasts so angry, probably the Supernaturals like Coyote had told me.

At that thought, any lingering mirth over the stupidity of the humans’ quests faded. I realized that I still had my own impossible mission to complete. I let out a hiss of breath from between my fangs and sighed, standing up too quickly to ever be considered human.

Both men stared at me like they thought I was going to renege on my deal and slaughter them where they sat. While that idea did hold temptation, I was bound by my word to let them live. Creatures like me were bound by our word and once sworn we could not go back on it.

Of course, our deal had never said that I couldn’t come back and kill them later.

Ah, how I loved loopholes.

“Don’t stare at me like that, humans,” I sighed, giving them a haughty look. “I am a fox of my word, you are free to live and go. Besides I have better things to do than bother myself with killing you now.”

Quick as a flash, I crossed the distance between me and Percival and grabbed him by the hair and titled his head so I could whisper in his ear. “Of course,” my voice was a slick and venomous snake curling from my mouth. “We both know you’re no match for me, don’t we?”

I let him go and darted back to my original position. “Good bye, mortals. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.” And with a whirl of foxfire I burned my way away from them.