Soul of a Human

The team traveled away from the cremated hunters as far as they could, even walking a while into the night, but soon, they needed to set up camp. As they made a small fire for heat, trying to keep it at a low glow, Titania took the first watch. Mor rolled himself into the warm blanket, serving as a sleeping bag, while Elly shared hers with her boyfriend. Mor and Titania were a bit envious about that, because the two of them snuggling provided each of them quite a bit of additional warmth in those cold nights. However, the two of them would not share because of obvious reasons.

°Uhm, buddy.° The human said cautious, waking Mor from his slumber, much to his disgruntlement.

°What? I'm tired, and Titania will wake me for my shift.° He grumbled.

Mor had slept very well, and his sleeping accommodations were nice, warm, and cozy. His slowly waking brain was pissed at being disturbed.

°Well, please don't panic. But you have a visitor inside your blanket, ° The human said with a forced calm.

°Bother someone else. I would know if any of the others snuck in my blanket. Titania is not very subtle in this way, and the other two have no reason to be.° Mor growled, turned around in a huff, and tried to get back to sleep.

As he turned, though, something stirred, and something put light pressure on his back. Mor froze in shock, and his hand slowly went to where the stirring was.

°What is it?° He asked, scared.

°Cute?° The human said.

°What do you mean cute?!° Mor asked.

°It looks like a regular fox, you know, a little red critter, but it has more than one tail, ° The human explained calmly.

°Its a monstrosity?!° Mor asked, his hand flinching back.

°Probably?° The human said. °But it's really cute.°

°It is a monstrosity.° Mor said, scared. °How did it get here?°

°I don't know. It suddenly was there.° The human said.

Mor was too scared to move or even call out. To him, it felt like death was reaching out for him. However, the longer he was awake, the more a single question wormed into his fear. Why was he still alive?

His hand slowly crept back to the fluffy thing at his back, touching whatever snuggled up to him. At his touch, he felt the thing tense up. He felt its warmth and the softness of its fur.

°Holy shit.° The human exclaimed. °It vanished.°

°But I can feel it.° Mor said, still uneasy.

°Think this little guy was the illusionist? If it can turn invisible, it would make sense.° The human said.

°But why is it here, and why didn't it attack us?° Mor asked.

°How would I know?° The human stated.

Mor carefully let his hand glide over the body of the little monstrosity in a calming gesture. Something he did to calm himself just as much as the tense little thing.

°It's so small.° He said.

As he reached its tails, though, he noticed there were three of them, and the middle one was crooked. When Mor touched it lightly, the monstrosity flinched and fled, surprising the boy. This was an unnatural reaction. Normally, he would have expected it to attack and not flee.

°It's hurt.° The human concluded.

°Seems like it. At least I can't explain its behavior any other way. Still, it doesn't explain why it's so docile.° Mor said.

°I don't know.° The human said.

After this encounter, Mor couldn't fall asleep again. He thought to tell his team, but he decided to let them sleep, as it didn't seem dangerous. So, instead of lying there and thinking, he might as well be useful and switch with Titania early, which he did. He added some fuel to the glowing fire, keeping it going, as Titania got comfortable and sat down, looking into the darkness.

A while later, with his group light snoring in the background, the monstrosity was back, slowly sneaking out from a bush. Its color was a camouflage mixture of browns and greens, except for one tail. The crooked tail was still bright red with a black tip.

The tail, sticking out at an unnatural angle, made Mor realize that the humans' guess was right on the money. Still, it didn't explain why that thing was coming to him and trying to get close. Mor wondered if helping it would be a good idea. It looked harmless enough and seemed not aggressive.

He held out his hand, and the little thing dropped its stealth, instead coming closer and sniffing at Mor's fingers. Then, it surprised the Soul-kin when it bit him, drawing blood. Mor cursed, pulling back his hand. However, the little monstrosity was just as surprised and cowered down on the ground.

°Really, what is that behavior?° Mor asked, inspecting his hand, which had two bleeding points in it now.

°I don't know, but its behavior is more like an animal than a monster.° The human said.

°Maybe it's hungry?°

°Hungry?° Mor asked, again thinking of waking the others and getting rid of the thing for good, but something made him hesitate.

Maybe it was the shudder of the little thing as if it was expected to be hurt, perhaps the big eyes looking as fearful as Mor himself felt. Again, he lowered his hand down, and the monstrosity flinched while closing its eyes as if expecting pain. However, when no pain came, it looked questioningly at the boy and then slowly and carefully raised its snout to his hand.

Mor had to suppress a flinch as it began licking at his wounds, seemingly drinking the blood. It was a strange feeling but not painful.

°It's a vampire illusion fox.° The human declared, giving it some kind of definition.

°No, I think it is too small to kill someone, so it uses illusions to keep safe and sneaks up to drink blood, ° Mor said.

°That's what I just said.° The human stated.

Mor looked around for a second, thinking. He then decided to risk it as the little thing licked at his hand, the blood no longer flowing like it wanted to thank him. Mor used as little power as possible and let some healing energy flow, surprising the vampire fox. Still, it quickly caught on and pressed itself into Mor's hand as he let the energy flow as little as possible while keeping his spell up.

°Don't you think using magic out here, without someone on watch, might be a bit too risky?° The human asked.

°That's why I keep my output low, and you are also here.° Mor replied.

°Aren't you scared of it anymore?° The human questioned further.

°You said it was cute, and look how scared it is. I even question whether it is a monstrosity at all, ° Mor said.

°It drinks your blood.° The human stated.

°It needs magic to survive, and as I'm the one having the most in the immediate surroundings, it probably latched onto me. Also, if you wanted me to kill it, why didn't you say so?° Mor stated.

°Because it's cute and small.° The human said. °We humans are weak to cuteness and will pack bond with such animals, like dogs, cats, birds, and most things.°

°You "bond" with your animal things?° Mor asked, shocked.

°Not like that, idiot. Well, some do, but most just let the animals join our family, and we care for them.° The human explained.

°I see, so you know how to take care of such things.° Mor said.

°You want to keep it?° The human asked.

°No. Bringing it into any settlement will get it and me killed. I will take care of its wounds and then let it go.° Mor said.

°Come on, please?° The human said.

°Convincing the others that it is harmless will be hard enough. So no! We will not keep it.° Mor decided.

Mor then spent the rest of his watch slowly healing the fox's broken tail, thinking about how he would address his decision to his team while the little thing lay down at his feet and nodded off.