White strands of hair streaked past Kai-Se's periphery. He blinked, turning to the familiar girl he had known for so long. Tears pricked the side of his eyes. "An-Ri," he lurched towards her as she walked towards him with all her nine tails out. "Welcome back."

Instead of acknowledging him, she slammed straight through. Kai-Se's eyes widened as he watched his body dissipate as soon as the spirit's body sailed past the space where he stood. What—

"What are you doing out here, Amatesu?" An-Ri said somewhere behind Kai-Se. His throat closed up at the mention of the Spirit Empress. He turned, expecting to see the regal queen dressed in an overly-revealing fenhai. Instead, what he found was a girl shorter than Kaname, looking up at the mountain looming above them.

The girl, whom An-Ri referred to as Amatesu, craned her neck to the sky. "All the other spirits reached the top," she pointed up. "What's up there? I want to see, but they said I can't go."

An-Ri smiled. Seeming like a child herself, she didn't look much older than Amatesu. Still her purple eyes had never failed to exude wisdom of a thousand lifetimes. "Who told you that?" she said, her tone carrying a tinge of annoyance. "Of course, you can see. I'll help you."

Amatesu turned to An-Ri then, her eyes round and wide. "Really?" she said. Excitement colored her tone. "What's your name? Why haven't I seen you before?"

"I'm An-Ri, the Immortal Fox," she said, crouching in front of Amatesu. The bells tying off the ends of her hair tinkled against each other. It still sounded like music. "I'm...around. I'm sure you will meet the other spirits too. You'll love them."

Amatesu sniffed. "I've met some," she said. "They're horrible."

An-Ri straightened and offered her hand to Amatesu. "Then, I'll have a word with them," she said. "Everyone should love you, Amatesu. All spirits are created equal. No one should be above the other. Come."

Then, together, they tackled the mountains, laughing along the way. Kai-Se stayed on the ground, or at least whatever the mountain's foot was. Something about all of this sounded so familiar. A mountain. A fox and a girl. A story.

No. A memory.

The scene shifted then. Amatesu was flying in a rage, her features closer to the Empress Kai-Se knew in the present. She flew around, knocking things off pedestals. Porcelain vases shattered. Glass splintered into a thousand shards. "I can't take this anymore!" she screamed at no one. "How dare they lie to me! Pick on me like I'm some...some vermin!"

The door to the room flew open and An-Ri burst in. Her face told Kai-Se she wasn't pleased with how things were turning out for her, for the vases, and for Amatesu. "Stop that," she said, her tone firm and stern. "Put the vase down."

Amatesu didn't put the vase down. Instead, she chucked it at An-Ri. Kai-Se was about to scream for her to look at, but An-Ri simply stretched out her hands. An invisible lance of magic speared from her palms, hit the vase, and transformed into a shower of pink petals. "You know full well you have made a mistake too," she stalked towards Amatesu who resorted to just clenching her fists at her sides. "You provoked them into giving in to what you want. They're bound to lash out soon."

"You said everyone should love me," Amatesu looked at An-Ri, then, her eyes full of questions Kai-Se knew the immortal fox wouldn't be able to answer. "Why couldn't they?"

An-Ri blew a breath. "What you want from them isn't love, Amatesu," she said. "It's your own version of love and I'm here to tell you it isn't what I meant. Stopping you, making sure you aren't causing trouble for other spirits—this can be love too."

Amatesu relented, but from there, Kai-Se saw the storm slowly brewing in her void-black eyes. This was the start of something that's bound to come. And An-Ri was directly involved in it.

Then, the memory shifted once again. This time, the lights were extinguished to reveal a dark corridor. Kai-Se recognized the splendor of the Spirit Palace, its grand tiles, pillars, and floors. It was the same save for the absence of the bright ambience he had known.

Breathless panting erupted behind Kai-Se. He turned to find An-Ri tromping towards the doors thrown wide open. Her pace suggested she's aiming to go outside. She had no shoes on, just her bare feet slapping against the floor in wet squeaks. Overhead, thunder crackled, lightning streaked, and torrential rains roared. The sky wasn't red. It's gray.

An-Ri reached the rim of the stairs leading down to the town spreading around the foot of the mountain the palace was built upon. She was thrown forward as a weight slammed into her. "Where are you going, An-Ri?" Amatesu shrieked as she gripped An-Ri's shoulders. "What have you done?"

An-Ri bared her teeth. That's the time Kai-Se noticed her canines had really been fangs. "He can't help you, Amatesu," she said. "Just because you've gotten a little bit of power from him doesn't make you above us."

Amatesu shook her head with a snicker. "Look at you finally acting scared," she said. "How does it feel, An-Ri, to be at the bottom of the pecking order? It sucks, isn't it?"

"You were never in the bottom," An-Ri insisted. She was clutching a bundle closer to her chest. "You just made yourself think that. All spirits are eq—"

"We're all equal, yes, yes," Amatesu waved her hand in the air. The rain had soaked her hair, flattening it to matted locks against the side of her face. "But why are you regarded as some kind of monarch? Why are you treated as someone stronger, wiser? Where's the equality in that, An-Ri?"

An-Ri opened her mouth but Amatesu wasn't done. "Did you reach out to me because you pity me?" she pressed An-Ri harder against the ground, so much that An-Ri actually whimpered. "Was it that nice being at the top that you think it's to your credit to reach out to those rotting in the forgotten depths? Tell me, An-Ri! Then, I can kill you."

"Like you killed all our kind?" An-Ri scoffed. "You're not above us, Amatesu. You will rue the day you drove us all away. You made yourself lonely this time around."

Before Amatesu could make sense of what's going on, An-Ri glowed a bright, orange light. Then, she dispersed into an explosion of orange blobs. Amatesu stumbled off the shower of magic, growling. "I'll find you, An-Ri," she hissed at no one. "Every single one of you. There's nowhere you can hide."

Kai-Se's surroundings glitched and shifted, this time showing him a deep forest of some kind. It didn't appear to be anywhere in Shaoryeong. Rather...

An-Ri zipped through the undergrowth, the bundle starting to wiggle in her arms. A man dressed in a simple fenhai had been tucking his head under a triangular hat made from dried leaves woven together when she slammed right into him. They landed on the ground in a loud thump.

"Sorry," An-Ri recovered quicker. She didn't even lose hold of the squirming bundle in her arms. What was that, even? "Are you okay?"

The man stood up, brushing his sleeves and trousers. "I'm fine, uh...miss?" he stared at An-Ri up and down, a look of confusion painting his face. Kai-Se stepped forward from the shadows of the trees, not caring about being seen anymore. This man...he looked a lot like the Emperor.

"I'm An-Ri," she said. "Are you Tarakure Lin-Se?"

Kai-Se's breath hitched. Tarakure Lin-Se. Could it be...?

The man bobbed his head, the brim of his triangular hat swinging along with the motion. "That's me," he said. "Wait, how did you know?"

An-Ri snapped her fingers just as the man gripped his sword. The blade instantly turned into a brittle stick. It was the same trick she used on Nao-Zai's sword back in Dansarun. She just never changed. "I have a task for you, Tarakure Lin-Se," she shoved the bundle into his arms. The force made him stumble back. He righted himself before he plopped to his rear. "Take care of Shaoryeong's hope."

The man blinked but he dared peel back the cloth holding the bundle up. A face of a baby greeted him. He looked at An-Ri in surprise. "I can't take care of a child. Not now," he said.

An-Ri waved her hand in the air. "Aren't you the Crown Prince of the Xuijae Empire?" she said. "I'll help you ascend to the throne. I'll protect your territory from everyone who wants to overthrow it. My only request is to protect him. It will define the future of Shaoryeong on the long run."

The man, Lin-Se, sighed. "You still have to explain to me what all of this is about once we get back to the palace," he said. "What should I name him?"

An-Ri's purple eyes gleamed. "Have him usher in the Minxiaseng Dynasty," she said, leveling her gaze at the man holding the baby. "And he will be called Kai-Se."

A strong force suddenly ripped Kai-Se from the scene. His consciousness slammed back into the present, making his vision blur and sharpen all at once . Misaki's face popped into his view, a look of concern twisting her features. "Kai-Se, where have you been?" she demanded. His head pounded and he felt like throwing up even though he couldn't in Shaoryeong. "You're pretty out of it since forever!"

Kai-Se opened his mouth to reply but his words stopped on his throat when he spotted a familiar figure striding towards them, a wide grin on her face. Blood painted over the gentle pink blossoms decorating her fenhai, trailing down her bare hands, dripping from her face, her arms, and her chest. The floor was littered with seas of crimson, puddles of bright red liquid that couldn't have been spilled wine.

He didn't make an attempt to leash his fear. Not this time.

Amatesu has arrived, and she has brought death with her.