Episode 03
"Reincarnation"
finished editing 06.27.19

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Saya woke up from her nightmare about an hour or two later, gasping as cold sweat ran down the back of her neck and over her nape.

"Hiryuu!" she yelped. Frantically, the girl checked her surroundings only to see trees, trees, and more trees. Suddenly a sharp spear met her throat as well as a vibrant blue gaze.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Hak seethed but got no answer from the shaking immortal. His glare bore into her body leaving her vulnerable.

"I-I... I'm sorry－ I just, I was just following orders."

"Is King Il... is he truly dead?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"So Lord Su-won could seize the throne."

Saya grimaced at the lightning beast's expression. His eyes were covered by his bangs and he was gritting his teeth. The guy was absolutely fuming.

"The hell, Su-won. What are you doing?" he said, distraught. Hak crouched close to the ground, one hand gripping his spear while the other ran through his raven locks. He seemed so confused and upset, it was a terrible sight.

"Why did you stop?" he asked in a low tone.

"Pardon me?"

"I said, why did you stop? Why didn't you kill me?"

Saya looked around the area, her eyes falling on the peacefully sleeping red-haired girl. "Her. She's... she's connected to someone very dear to me," the goddess mumbled, twiddling with her thumbs.

Hak raised a brow at her but the expression she gave him was clear. Don't ask about it.

"I'll come back to you later," he said, turning on his heel and making his way to the resting princess.

Saya relaxed a bit, resting her head on the trunk of the tree she was leaning on and allowing herself to slip into a deep sleep, unaware of the nightmares ahead of her.

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"Hiryuu you look so pale..." Saya muttered quietly to her friend, her eyes crinkling in sadness.

Dao-yi and Zeno had accompanied her to the king's chamber room where he sat weakly, his body looking unbelievably frail.

Hiryuu just laughed softly. "That's only because of my age." The man patted the goddess's hair with a weak hand. "You worry too much, dear friend."

The Fox Goddess cringed as she saw the wrinkles under the previous crimson-dragon god's eyes and felt somewhat disgusted as she looked to herself, seeing her delicate, unblemished skin and healthy body.

"How can I not? You're growing old without me. Everyday you－" she sniffled. "You just continue to get weaker and weaker."

Hiryuu looked at her with a solemn expression, offering the girl a gentle smile. "I'm not dead yet," he joked with a hollow chuckle.

"I-I'M SCARED, OKAY?!" Saya's sudden outburst was shocking to all who witnessed it. "I'm scared that one day you really will die. You'll leave me behind in this world and I won't ever see you again."

"Saya, it's inevitable. It's the price I paid to stay in this world," he said softly, taking her small hand in his significantly larger one.

"That's unfair," Saya confessed, whimpering. "You're the reason I came to this stupid world in the first place and now－ now you're just leaving."

"I'm sorry." He was, he truly was, but there was nothing else he could say to relieve her of her pain. He knew his end was near and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

A long pause between the two drowned the room in awkward silence.

"Hey, Hiryuu?" Saya spoke up. The said man looked up at her, tilting his head to the side in questioning.
"Do you... ever resent me? Do you ever resent me for choosing to keep my immortality instead of withering away alongside you?"

A slender, shaky hand reached out for her silver trusses, caressing them with upmost care and affection. "Of course not," he said, almost inaudible. "That was your own decision and I could never hate you for it."

Saya sighed, relishing in the warmth of his hand a moment longer.

"Sae-rin-sama... lets allow the king to rest," Dao-yi said from behind her. She turned her head to face him, a sorrowful expression on her face as she nodded.

Carefully, the man ushered his master out of the room alongside Zeno, relying on the blonde dragon to help support her deadweight.

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Saya wept as she saw the limp-bodied king.

"I shouldn't have left you that night," she wailed, clutching the cold bedsheets of his bed tightly in her hands as her tears dripped onto the blankets.

After the trio left had the room and Hiryuu went to sleep, he died in his slumber, smiling to himself. It seemed to be a pleasant end, at least.

Bile rose in the Fox Goddess's throat as she thought about all the years she would spend without her dear friend and her stream of tears became a roaring river as she watched the other dragons weep around her.

When would the others die?

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"Hey, are you alright?" a sweet, frantic voice called out to her. The person was attempting to shake her awake.

Saya eyes slowly opened to reveal a small, red-haired girl with big violet eyes. "H-Huh?" Her eyes were wet and stained with tears.

Hiryuu's eyes－ his hair, his reincarnation...

"What is your name?" The girl inquired. Hak was leaning against a tree not so far away, intensively watching the scene incase things became violent.

"I－ my name is... Sae-rin, miss," Saya said. She faced the ground shamefully due to embarrassment. "I apologize for attacking you and the general, miss. You see the thing is－"

"Shh!" Hak demanded, listening closely for the footsteps of soldiers. "We have to move," he whispered to them, motioning for the princess to stick close to him.

Alarmed, Saya's senses heighted as if it was a defense-mechanism. Her goddess-like hearing and smell returned to her momentarily and allowed her to identify the numbers of troops headjng their wat.

"Quickly! You two must escape before we're surrounded. It seems like imperial soldiers tracked us back here. I'll hold them off for now while the both of you make it to safety," the goddess commanded.

Hiryuu's reincarnation hesitated at this. It was evident that the girl did not want to leave her alone, even if she was one of the people that tried to harm her.

Instead, Saya just smiled at her in hopes of comforting the fragile girl. "It is alright," she whispered. "I'll find you again, no matter what."

Reaching out her hand like the late-king had done for her so many, many years ago, the goddess touched Hiryuu's reincarnation's hair and softly petted it.

"Please, miss, won't you tell me your name?"

"Y-Yona.." the red-haired girl replied, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"What a beautiful name."

The immortal then proceeded to nudge the princess into Hak's arms.

"Keep her safe. Please."

Hak nodded his head and escorted Yona swiftly away, roughly pulling on her arm and dragging her through the green foliage to wherever he deemed safe.

Once out of sight, Saya took a deep breath, preparing her human body for what was about to happen.

Digging deep inside herself, Saya began unleashing her goddess form. Her arms and legs slowly began to shift into front and hind legs while her hands molded into small paws. Nine silver tails popped out from behind her as a pair of earns adorned her head. Eventually, she had completely transformed into her Nine Tail Goddes-Form.

Her fur-covered muscles were lithe and strong, even more so than normal due to the rigorous training she went through as a soldier.

For a moment, the girl basked in the utter glory of her goddess form. Her senses were completely restored, to a degree that it was almost unbearable. She could hear, smell, and feel all of the forest through her immaculate senses. It was as if she was a part of the forest itself.

Rustle, rustle.

The sounds of the leaves being parted from the distance returned Saya to her senses.

"Soldiers," she thought.

A smirk made its way unto her face as she scratched at the ground to test the sharpness of her claws.

"This will be fun."

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Saya galloped over the forest floor, breaking twigs and most likely crushing a few dozen bugs under her muscular paws. Her Nine Tail Goddess-Form had to be at least 3x the size of a normal fox. Similar to a large bear.

Soon, using her astonishing sense of smell, the Fox Goddess was able to pick up the scent of the horses and armor and charged towards it.

Now, standing in front of them growling and snarling, the girl barred her sharp canines towards the soldiers in warning. The horses whinnied and attempted to kick off their riders due to fear while the some soldiers screamed in terror.

"Don't be afraid! It is just a stupid fox! Kill it and continue searching you cowards!" A foolishly brave soldier shouted, encouraging the once disheartened men.

The soldiers in the rear gaped at him. "Does he seriously not see the size of that thing?!" they thought with exasperation. "And it has nine tails!"

Saya gave off one more warning snarl, which they ignored, before charging into the crowd of metal and copper, lunging for exposed throats and ripping off anything she could sink her teeth into blood, flesh and all.

Swords swung at her but she dodged and bit and killed and ran. The adrenaline pumping through her body aided in her swift demolition of the search party of soldiers.

Once seeing the destruction that one fox had caused the army, many men began to flee as they caught sight of the blood soaked fur and canines dripping with red.

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Once the battle was over, Saya spat out the foul, metallic tasting blood and stared at the carnage in her path. She also gazed at the puddles of crimson that were beginning to be absorbed by the plants on the ground and felt disgusted as her paws stepped into the stickiness of it.

Sighing, the Fox Goddess reverted back to her human-form to be rid of her blood-soaked fur.

The damage from the battle seemed to carry over, however, as her arms and legs were now adorned with small cuts and bruises and well as her clothes being shredded from the sudden increase of her size.

Not caring, Saya picked up the scent of her new companions with her now fading sense of smell and ran towards the scent to catch up with them.

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