NOVEL NEXT 75: A Foxy Doggo
"I had to do what I had to do to get to this point," I said. "To get you and Ness back. I followed Nessy's insane instructions, reached the end of time, made a wish on the Leviathan, became the… Slayer. All to find you."
"Why me?" She asked. "I mean… you didn't even… like me that much… Did you? You… weren't really my boyfriend or anything. You weren't the Alec I dated."
"My life on human-only Earth was pretty shit," I explained. "Shitty brother, uncaring parents, no friends, nobody that I trusted. I was already in a hopeless place before the gangsters drowned me in a bathtub. After Systemfall, Nessy found me and became my first real friend. Then… you became my second friend. Our relationship was… complicated and odd, sure. I saw you as this tall humanoid raptor, an alien being from an alien world. But, even so, you were my friend Kristi. In the few days we spent together in our RV domain, I felt… like for once I was living, like I had something to wake up for everyday. The Magnetic Lynx took that away from me and so I spent one whole eternity getting you back. Dying, killing, reconstituting, dying… ad nauseum."
The raptor girl began petting me fiercely, blinking tears out of her eyes.
"H-how m-many times have you killed yourself in this lifetime, Alec?" She pushed the next question out of herself with a struggle.
"Seven," I said. "A few were accidental."
"Tell me," she said.
"Sure you want to know?" I asked.
"Yes, Alec, I want to know."
"Right. The first time," I began, "I was seven. Damian set me on fire… 'accidentally' when he got mad at me. It hurt… something awful."
Kristi's breath hitched. "Seven? Abyss, Alec..."
"I couldn't handle the pain and had no visible skills at all. I was told to endure it by my parents. I couldn't. I ran away… I jumped off a railway bridge as the train was coming… woke up in the morgue a few days after," I continued. "Terrified the pathologist. They called it a miracle, said I must have been in a coma or something. Reconstitution had kicked in for the first time when I died."
"The second time?" she prompted after a minute of silently staring at me.
"Eleven. Damian began ramping up his 'experiments' with his Pyrokinesis. He'd burn my homework, my clothes, once even my hair while I slept. Parents always took his side—the prodigy couldn't possibly be at fault. I was so angry, so helpless… nobody would listen to me. I swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills from Mom's medicine cabinet. I wanted to scare them, make them realize how bad it was."
I felt Kristi's hand tremble on mine. "Did it... work?"
"The scaring part? No. They found me in time, pumped my stomach, restarted my heart. But Reconstitution would have brought me back anyway. I figured that out later."
She nodded, urging me to continue.
"Third time, thirteen. Accidental. I was practicing parkour on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in Memphis. I was trying to get stronger, faster, like the delvers I read about. Misjudged a jump between beams. Fell several stories, landed wrong. Snapped my spine."
"The fourth?" Kristi choked.
"Fourteen. Intentional. Dad caught me drawing—using my Depictomancy skill. He called it a 'useless waste of time', 'disgusting prad appreciation' and burned my sketchbook of prad girl images imbued with motion. I think that I was… drawing you and Ness. Can't remember exactly. That night, I slit my wrists in the bathtub."
More sobs escaped Kristi. She pulled me closer, her feathers brushing my cheek, caressing me.
"Fifth, fifteen. Accidental. Car accident. I was riding my bike home from school when a drunk driver swerved into me. Crushed my legs, internal bleeding. I didn't bother healing myself. Died on the way to the hospital."
"Sixth. Intentional. Damian started using me as target practice for his fire spells. One day he went too far—burned my arm so badly the doctors talked about amputation. Reconstitution was at zero. I… tried drowning myself. It didn't work. Woke up half-alive, floating on the water, rotting and bloated. Crawled to the shore. Died. Lost a few months in a liminal state of undeath. Eventually… woke up fully alive."
Kristi was holding me tight as if afraid I'd disappear. "And the seventh?"
"Sixteen. Accidental, mostly. I was free soloing a cliff face outside Little Rock, pushing my limits again. Rock gave way, fell about fifty feet. Multiple fractures, internal injuries. Then a rock slide buried me alive. I stayed in a liminal state when I died, dreaming of other lives, other places, other Alecs. Nobody found me. Days, weeks, months… thought that that was it, that I would never wake up."
"How did you…?"
"Another rock slide when the weather got warmer," I said. "Woke up in a muddy creek covered in bruises."
I fell silent, the weight of my confessions hanging between us. Kristi's embrace tightened.
"All those times," she whispered. "And no one knew?"
"No one cared enough," I replied. "Damian was the golden child. I was a useless disappointment. I think that they were annoyed that I came back at all, called me an idiot for injuring myself."
"Not useless," Kristi said fiercely. "Not to us. Not to me."
I managed a smile. "Thanks."
She pulled back slightly, wet amber eyes meeting mine. "Promise me something."
"What?"
"No more," she said. "No more... intentional ends."
"I don't have a reason to do that now," I said. "I have my memories back and I'm with my… pack, with you, Ness, Addie and Candace. I have a reason to keep going. All of you."
Fox hands suddenly wrapped around both of us, Candace burying her face into Kristi. "Nuuuu… no tears… only hugs."
"Fox," Kristi muttered. "Not now."
"Yes now," Candace insisted, squeezing tighter. "Pack hugs heal everything. Scientifically proven."
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"By whom?" I asked.
"By me," she declared. "Doctor Rrrrhinehart M. Pawsome, PhD in Hugology with a minor in Cuddle Sciences."
Her silver tail lightly brushed against me as she pressed into our embrace. "Never alone," she whispered to me. "Never ever again, Alec. No matter where you are, I'll be by your side. Inescapably bound with my Dagaz."
"What? Even if you…" I said.
"Even if I spontaneously combust," she said. "Even if I'm murdered by an angry raptor bae. Even if the Lynx pulverizes my head again! I'll be there. In the Astral. By your side. As a Phantom… till I infest a golem body or somesuch."
"You can do that?" I blinked.
"I can do a lotta things when I'm… motivated," she said. "And I'm super motivated now."
Kristi huffed. Then she stared at the fox's face. Candace's left eye was sky blue.
"Nessy?" Kristi asked, "are you in there?"
"I am," Candace-Nessy replied. "Wanted to be a fox for a bit." She licked me and then licked Kristi.
"Ugh," the raptor deflated. "I just can't hate on you when you are… yourself."
"Don't hate on anyone, Krissykins," the fox with an additional, husky soul said. "Only love. Only cherish. The universe is an uncaring engine of creation that sees us as annoying dust in the wind interfering with her game."
"What?" Kristi blinked at the foxgirl.
"Sounds like Binder speak," Adelle emerged from the changeroom with a passed out Nessy on her shoulder. "Don't overthink this shit or you'll blow a gasket."
She turned to Candace. "How you enjoyin' being in a foxbod?"
"It's… interesting," Candace-Nessy replied. "I can see many things in the Astral as this body is better at Astral gazing, but…"
She sighed deeply. "This body wants Topaz so badly. It's like an annoying scratching at the inside of my skull."
"You need to get clean," Kristi said. "That stuff will rot your brain."
"I know, I know," Candace-Nessy grimaced, rubbing her temples. "But it's harder than just deciding to stop. Topaz isn't normal dust. It's crystallized sap from the Folding Forest trees."
"Folding Forest?" I asked.
"Andross," she said. "Another world. Another reality… a dungeon where the trees fold space. I think that the Omnids are bringing it to our Earth. Cryptid bastards."
She growled.
"Why are the Omnids peddling Topaz on our planet?" Adelle asked.
"Money," Candace replied, squinting and staring at nothing. "Power. It's easier to keep control of rich prads if they're addicted to that shit."
We exited the boutique, our purchases either sitting atop of the girls or stuffed into our dimensional bag.
"You look great by the way," Candace-Nessy smirked at Kristi. "Don't pretend you didn't enjoy the breeze."
Kristi made a strangled noise, looking too shy to argue further. We meandered down the street to the edge of Cascade facing the water.
The wind from the continental-shearing lake picked up, carrying the scent of salt and rain. Storm clouds rolled across the horizon, cumulonimbus clouds looming over the half-submerged skyscrapers of Old Denver.
Lake Eerie stretched in every direction, vast and choppy. Large waves crashed against black volcanic sand and weathered pylons. Dragons circled the half-drowned towers, fluttering in the wind, their forms small against the massive structures.
Candace-Nessy led us to an old observation platform built on metal beams extending over the water. She climbed over a barrier fence onto a narrow metal beam that extended further over the water. The beam swayed slightly, but she moved with pradavarian balance, her tail acting as a counterweight.
Then, facing the distant ruins of Denver with storm clouds gathering behind them, she began to tap her foot against the sand-covered metal. A rhythm emerged, building slowly as she swayed.
Her voice, mostly Candace's but partially interwoven with Nessy's, rose above the crash of waves.
"Blue crystal dust from distant lands,
Wraps my mind in silken bands.
Rainbow prisms trap my soul,
Happy dreams take their toll."
Her paws stretched outward as she danced and swayed along the beam. The wind whipped her silver hair, making it glow against the darkening sky.
"Topaz whispers lullabies,
Pradavarians fall like flies,
To ghastly bliss that brings them highs."
Dragons circled above, drawn by her voice. Small ones at first, then larger specimens, their wings casting moving shadows across the observation deck.
"Infinite dungeon hides the source,
Folding Forest without remorse.
Trees that bend reality,
Feed on our vitality."
Her movements became more intense, feet tapping harder against the metal, creating deep percussion.
"Crystal fingers in my brain,
Fantasy replaces pain.
Smiling corpses, breathing still,
Slaves to Topaz, robbed of will."
Kristi moved closer to me, her arm wrapping around mine. Adelle held Nessy's body, eyes following the dancing fox.
"Pack threads weave through blue haze,
Four souls form a shield that stays.
Your warmth melts the crystal frost,
As Topaz's hold is slowly lost."
She spun, balanced on one foot, arms outstretched toward the sky where more little dragons now gathered, circling in synchrony with her movements.
"Love burns hotter than the dust,
Grinds the crystals into rust.
Your touch breaks what Topaz made,
Wakes me from the blue cascade."
Her voice grew stronger, more defiant:
"Hear my oath, now loud and clear,
Andross forest, feel my fear.
I'll cross worlds to find your trees,
Burn them all to set prads free."
Lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the ruins of Denver for an instant. Thunder followed, a bass note to her soprano.
"Rainbow prison turns to ash,
As our souls together clash.
Dagaz strength flows through my veins,
Real joy replaces phantom pains."
The dragons responded, small ones diving and spinning around her, larger ones roaring from above. A blue-scaled dragon the size of a fat cat landed on a beam nearby, watching her with deep green eyes.
"Blue temptation fades away,
As I turn to face the day.
No more dreams of false delight,
Love's the flame that wins this fight!"
As the last note faded, Canadace-Nessy stood motionless, breathing hard. The dragons hovered, their wings creating gusts that tousled her fur. The blue dragon bowed its head slightly before taking flight again.
"Damn yo," Adelle broke the silence. "That was intense. Doggo gave you serious musical talents."
Candace-Nessy turned, jumping gracefully back to the platform with a smile.
"Thanks," she smiled. "Music helps. Dragons help too, I think."
"The dragons responded to your song," I observed.
"They ain't fans of Topaz either," she said. "Conceptually, they're opposed to anything that enslaves minds. Lawyers, Topaz, binding contracts, these are things along the similar conceptual range. I... like Dragon Alley, we should stay here tonight."