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1071 Words
She was a fearsome predator, and everyone knew it. That was why they always came and gave her scratches.
Clearly, because she was the bestest of foxes ever.
Things seemed to blur together for a while, as each day passed without many changes. But then, one day, everything changed as they went into a rift with giant bugs.
That was simply the best thing that had ever happened to her, as Aster was able to burn them to her heart’s content, and her human once more showed his perfectness with his ability to recharge her mana.
With her new special backpack, she got to ride around and burn all of her enemies for her human.
It was the best!
The next few months were more of the same, and Aster enjoyed herself, but soon, everything changed when they were in the food place.
There was something warm and spicy served that day, and after watching her human eat a few mouthfuls, she waited for him to turn to his other food and lunged.
She got her entire muzzle into it and started lapping away, even as Matt tried to pull her from her prey, but she was in her happy place. She savored the soft mushy bits along with the tingling spice. Once he pulled her away, she pushed that feeling of perfection to her bond, trying to convince him to let her have some more.
Instead, he held her back while tapping away at his glowly pad for a while but, eventually, he proved why he was the best human ever, and let her eat the rest of the ‘chilly.’ An odd name for something so hot and spicy, but that didn’t take away from the food’s delight.
That started her lifelong love of the food, and it was a good thing, too, as the next place they went to fight monsters was full of evil ice wolves. They had far too much ice about them for anyone trying to live a healthy life.
So, she burned their entire forest down!
While it might be a little harder to get a fire started, the trees burn like any other once they got going.
Sadly, shortly after that, they left their home. It was a fun home, but they had to move on to another place that was far too cold for her liking, and someone got blood all over her fur, which was just rude.
Thankfully, she then washed Aster off, which made everything better.
That was how she met her new best friend, Liz!
Things got even better, if that was possible, when they met a bird woman who gave her the best chili in the world, along with some blood.
The bird woman’s blood mixed with the dragon’s blood that they had found, and the fire running through it fed into the fire already in her blood, which was very nice of the lady.
Better yet, they went to meet Liz’s brother, who happened to be staying where an ascension would be taking place, which was where Aster was able to refine her own Concept.
Fire was hot, and if she got it hot enough, she could burn everything.
As her Concept settled into place, Aster felt something go weird with the world, so she poked at that feeling.
Like a hole was opened in her head, the real Aster took over and groused, “Come on Minkalla, a life as a fire fox? How unoriginal.”
Still, she wasn’t upset. Despite her reflection life being the antithesis of her real self, she enjoyed getting to watch how life had been when she wasn’t smart yet. That was fun and different enough that she was able to ignore the elephant on fire in the room.
Fire was not her element of choice, but she hoped that when Minkalla translated this life’s Concept to her own, it would be something useful, like being able to directly freeze fire. That could be a really nice surprise to any fire mages she did have to fight.
While she let herself fade into the background and let the life live on, she started noticing more and more deviation with the life, and actually started enjoying her other self’s life a little. She even learned a few subtle weaknesses of fire mages that she hadn’t known before and intended to put them to good use. Eventually, the fire version of herself reached Tier 15, and the life faded away and was like a dream she could enter and relive at any time.
But it wasn’t her, and she wouldn’t miss being a fire fox.
Liz looked at the table before her and the six cups of wine it held. She nearly sighed when she saw them.
How original, Minkalla, she thought as she rolled her eyes.
Nobody had ever associated wine with blood before—but at least they weren’t all red wine.
The first cup that caught her eye smelled like a holiday blend. There were hints of cinnamon and spice, and the concoction was heated and bubbling. A fire life if she had ever seen one.
Not a bad life, but as she checked the other cups, she frowned. The leftmost was a dark red wine in an elaborate chalice that she could only associate with blood and bad vampire movies. Not a pleasing choice at all, but maybe not the worst possible life either.
The next was a white wine that smelled like liquid sugar. Not a pleasant wine by smell, but hopefully the taste and life would be more palatable.
Next was a rosé wine that smelled like grass in the spring and had a slight green tinge when the light hit it just right, but she wasn’t sure if that was the glass or the wine at first glance. The purple cup smelled like fresh-picked grapes and was no more enticing to her senses despite being normal for a wine. It was so normal, it stood out amongst the variety of odd wine choices.
The final cup was a white wine with a buttery scent, which was a mystery to her.
Wanting to get the worst over with, she grabbed the goblet of blood red wine and drank it down without trying to taste it.
A mistake, as it turned out, as a pleasant flavor was the last thing she remembered as she started to fall asleep.
- Writer
