The realm halfway between reality and dream trembled. Cracks spread across the ground and sky like cracks across a mirror. The Sanctuary of the Kitsune was coming apart at the seams.
“My lady.” Kaguya knelt. “Our preparations are complete. I will escort you to the dream tunnel.”
Mikoto, Queen of the Kitsune, did not look away from the blinding light that washed unrelentingly over the deep mist that marked the boundaries of her domain. “No. I will not be leaving with you. If our treasures are secure, then you are to take Kagami and the others and go. I shall remain.”
Kaguya’s eyes widened. “My lady -”
“Look!” Mikoto hissed. “You know very well that the defences of this realm are tied to me. If I leave, they will go silent. And without them barring the way, how far do you think any of us will get before that… thing reaches us?”
A sound like a bell being struck rang out, and the Sanctuary shuddered to its very foundations. The mist was thinning, and through it, a titanic figure could be glimpsed. Glory radiated from it, a glory that put to shame the stars, the moon, and the sun. The abomination had yet to attack in earnest, but its mere presence was sufficient to tear at the Sanctuary’s defences.
“We have no hope of outrunning that creature in the physical world. We can only flee via a dream tunnel and hope for the best. Yet without the Sanctuary’s defences, its presence alone would force all things in the dreaming lands back into the real world. We would die soon after. So the Sanctuary’s defences must remain up for as long as possible. Every second they are up, is one more second of safe travel through the dreaming lands.” Mikoto coughed, and blood trickled from the corners of her lips. Beneath her elaborate robes, the intricate markings that tied her to the Sanctuary had begun to darken one by one as the Sanctuary’s defences failed. “Go, Kaguya! Take the others and go as far as you can! Do not look back!”
Kaguya stood. There was no trace of formality about her now. “Then… my friend… farewell.”
She turned, and Mikoto watched her go. Only when Kaguya had gone from her sight and the dream tunnel had opened, did Mikoto turn to face her foe. The mists around the Sanctuary had disappeared, and the giant of light and glory stood before her. A bell rang out once, twice, and then never again. The gates that guarded the path shattered one by one, and their ruins were blown aside by the force of the enemy’s presence. The great lanterns of dream-light that hung in the towers of the palace flickered, and the cracks in the world spread. Little by little, the dream that was the Sanctuary came apart, and in its place there was only light and fire and power.
“What are you?” Mikoto growled.
“I am the First Star.” The words were not spoken. The words simply were, engraved in the air, the earth, the soul. “The Fire Born of the Creator’s Blood. I am Truth. I am Glory. I am Power. But above all, I am Judgement.”
Mikoto’s eyes blazed emerald. Verdant radiance flared, and when it dimmed, an enormous nine-tailed fox stood in her place.
“You will go no further,” Mikoto growled. Each of her tails grasped a priceless treasure, and more treasures were draped over her body. These were the treasures bound to the Sanctuary and its defences. Everything else had been entrusted to her most dutiful retainers and to her daughter, Kagami.
“I go where I wish, and none may gainsay me.” The enemy took one step forward, and the Sanctuary trembled again. “This place was born of dreams, but today, those dreams end.”
Mikoto bared her teeth. “This dream may die, but there will always be dreamers.”
She charged.
And where the Sanctuary had been, a star was born.
“Hurry!” Kaguya said. “We must hurry!”
She and the other kitsune were fleeing along the dream tunnel. It would take them through the dreaming lands, and they would emerge safely on another continent. However destructive that abomination was, surely they would be safe on another continent.
“Why isn’t my mother with us?” Kagami asked.
Kaguya hurried the younger kitsune along. “She will meet us later. She means to delay the enemy and then escape via another dream tunnel.” It was a lie. There was no other dream tunnel. Just creating this one had been almost impossible with the havoc the abomination’s presence wreaked upon the dreaming lands.
Kagami stared at her for a moment, but before she could say anything else, the dream tunnel shook. Kaguya looked back, and her eyes widened in horrified disbelief. There should have been nothing but deep mists behind them. Those mists were gone. In their place was blindingly bright light, and that light was now surging toward them, tearing apart the dreaming lands in its wake.
“Get behind me!” Kaguya shouted. “Now!”
As the other kitsune hastened to obey, Kaguya drew her sword. The Moon-Mirror Blade was like a shard of moonlight wrought into the shape of a sword. As the light threatened to consume them, she took a step forward and struck. The air sang, and the dreaming lands howled. The strike split the light to either side of them as the dream tunnel collapsed and hurled them back into the real world.
They fell.
And when they got their bearings back again, they were somewhere by the sea.
“This place…” Kaguya frowned. They were by the sea, but they were still on the same continent. As for the abomination… she could see light on the horizon, and it was growing brighter by the moment. They had not escaped.
There was movement from a nearby hillside, and Kaguya turned, sword at the ready. It was other beast-folk. There were three groups: cattle-folk, tiger-folk, and rabbit-folk.
“Kitsune?” The towering bull-man at the head of the groups raised his axe. “How?”
“We were fleeing that thing,” Kaguya replied. “We had hoped to evade it via the dreaming lands, but the dreaming lands can no longer support travellers. We were fortunate enough to be sent here instead of into the sea or worse.”
“We too are fleeing,” the bull-man said. “But that creature is fast. It will catch us before we reach the coast.” His gaze hardened. “I and two others intend to remain behind to delay it. Will you aid us?”
Kaguya’s hand tightened on her sword. “Why should I? I have sworn oaths to my people. Their safety must come first.”
“There are ships down there,” the bull-man said, pointing to the coast. “We started with many, but so few of us have been able to escape that creature. There is plenty of room upon those ships. You are strong. I can tell. Stand with us. Delay that creature. And your people will have a place on those ships. I give you my word.” He chuckled grimly. “Or you could run to the ships, but without people delaying it, that creature would have plenty of time to destroy the ships before they got to safety.”
Kaguya was a kitsune. It was easy to tell if someone was lying to her. This bull-man spoke the truth. “Very well. I will stand with you and the others.” She turned to Kagami. The younger kitsune was struggling to find the right words. But they weren’t necessary. Kaguya could feel her emotions. They were a whirlwind of shock, doubt, and fear.
“It’s all right.” Kaguya stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Kagami. Kagami was her best friend’s daughter, and the daughter of her heart, if not her blood. “Go with the others to the ships. You need not take them all the way. Once you are far enough, you should be able to re-enter the dreaming lands safely. Make another dream tunnel and go the rest of the way through it.”
“You are staying.” It was an accusation, not a statement.
Kaguya glanced at the bull-man. Alongside him stood a grizzled tiger-man and a tall rabbit-woman. A brief flash of her magic let her know that they were the strongest of their respective groups, the ones who might actually hold the abomination and its followers back long enough for it to matter. They met her gaze evenly and then turned to say their own goodbyes to their people.
“I will go after you once we have delayed our enemy long enough,” Kaguya said.
“Liar.”
Kaguya wiped the tears that had begun to trickle down Kagami’s cheeks. “I was there when your mother birthed you, and I swore to your mother and your father that I would protect you. After all, I am the Sword of the Moon, the Blade of the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is gone, and your mother, the Moon to whom I swore my oath, is gone too. But you remain. Our people will need you. You must become the new Moon that dwells proudly in the night sky. Lead them, Kagami.”
Kagami nodded slowly and then she reached into her pocket. She took out a hairpin. It was shaped like a koi. “I was going to give this to you next month on your birthday.” Her lips quivered. “Since you have the Moon-Mirror Blade I thought it would be fitting… a koi chasing the moon and all that. It… it sounds so silly now, but…”
Kaguya put the pin in her hair. She couldn’t see it, but she imagined the gold would fit well amidst the silver. “Thank you.” She eased away. “Now, go. You are young, Kagami. I am not, and it is the duty of elders to clear a path to the future for those younger.”
“Good luck.” Kagami turned. “And don’t stay too long. Once you’ve delayed it long enough, you should flee. I’ll be waiting.”
Another lie, from Kagami this time.
“Of course.” Kaguya watched Kagami for a heartbeat longer and then moved to stand by the other three who would be remaining.
“I am Kaguya of the Kitsune,” she said.
The bull-man hefted his axe. “I am Konstantinos, a mercenary. I should have run earlier, but what can I say? I was stupid enough to stay, so I might as well do things right all the way to the end.”
The tiger-man chuckled. A spear appeared in his hands. “I am Linfeng. I was trying to be a farmer, but, well… that happened.” He pointed at the brightening horizon. “Before that, I was a soldier.”
The rabbit-woman grinned. She held a bow, and there was a quiver with special arrows upon her back. “Arleigh, a rabbit who hunts monsters.”
Konstantinos guffawed. “That’s a first. I didn’t realise there were rabbits who did that.”
Arleigh smiled. “Why do you think I left my village? Everybody thought I was crazy.”
“Hah! How do you think people reacted when I said I wanted to be a farmer?” Linfeng bared his teeth. “A tiger-man who farms. They thought I was joking until I turned up with a plough and some oxen.”
Kaguya allowed herself a faint smile of her own. These three… it would not be so bad to die beside them. The ground began to shake, and her attention snapped to the hills. Twisted, maddened creatures that had been warped by the enemy’s power were thundering toward them. Further back, their enemy was moving with almost leisurely calm, as though nothing in the world could stand against it. Perhaps that was right. But even if it was, they could at least try to slow it down a little.
“We are all crazy,” Kaguya said quietly. “After all, we’re choosing to stay behind, aren’t we?”
The others shared a look.
“Yes. I suppose we are.”
Linfeng was the first to fall.
What a warrior he must have been in his prime, but the grizzled tiger-man was far from his prime. Yet right up until he end, his spear was like a viper whose fangs were tearing winds. Like a flower of steel blooming in a bloody spring, each strike of his spear called up tearing winds and piercing gales. Instead of a single spear, it was as if a wall of spears had appeared, and Linfeng’s defence was as solid as a fortress wall. But he was old, and days of fighting on the run had left him with injuries that had not fully healed.
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He tired, and the sweep of his spear from left to right was a fraction a slower than it needed to be. A pack of wolves, warped and twisted in mind and body, set upon him. He died roaring defiance to the end, and when his spear was torn from his hands, and his arms were torn from his shoulders, he turned his teeth on his foes. He died, choking on the blood pouring from his enemy’s ruined throat.
Arleigh was next. Each arrow was like a bolt of lightning thrown down from the heavens, and her feet were so swift that no foe could catch her. Yet eventually, her arrows ran out, and she was forced to draw the daggers at her waist. She raced through the horde of foes, a streak of steel that no enemy could catch. Throats were cut, limbs were crippled, and eyes were blinded. In the end, her weapons failed before she did. Her left dagger broke when it was seized between the teeth of an enemy, and the right followed shortly after. With her daggers gone, she met her enemies with fists and feet, and it was with limbs broken from slaying so many of the enemy that she perished. She was laughing as she died and proud, in a way that only a rabbit huntress could be, that she had not been the first to fall.
The last of the three others to fall was Konstantinos. He lacked speed and cunning. But he was strong. Where his axe fell, the enemy died. His blows were akin to avalanches, so many of the foe were swept away with each strike. But he was slow, and one wound became two became three became twenty became a hundred. A lesser warrior would have fallen long ago, but the bull-man kept his feet, held upright less by his increasingly battered body than by willpower so great it put even his muscle-bound frame to shame.
He and Kaguya fought back to back, and the great horde of enemies dwindled until only one remained. That last monster - a thing that had once been a bear - was the size of a house. It caught Konstantinos up in its jaws and bit down. The bull-man’s chipped axe shattered when he brought it down upon the bear-thing’s head. Without his axe, Konstantinos pummelled the bear’s skull with his fists. And, with the strength draining from him and death drawing near but with his foe still living, the bull-man broke off one of his own horns and drove it into the bear’s eye.
The bear fell, and the bull-man dropped from his mouth, torn in two.
“Hah…” Konstantinos chuckled softly. “A fortune-teller once told me I would be killed by a bear. I almost feel bad for thinking her a fool all these years…”
And then he was gone, and only Kaguya remained.
She was not alone for long.
The walking calamity that had destroyed the Sanctuary soon stood before her, a giant of light wreathed in glory. It looked down at her and at the countless corpses that littered the foothills.
“When the spirits who called themselves gods fled before me, I had thought this world lacked courage.” The words burned themselves into her soul. “But perhaps I was looking in the wrong place. But… what will you do now?”
Kaguya coughed, and it was a wretched, wet sound. How much time had passed? She wasn’t sure. The only thought running through her mind was that every moment she stayed on her feet was another moment for the ships to get away. Slowly, she forced herself to straighten. She had expected the enemy to be a force of nature devoid of complex thought, yet the voice she had heard had sounded genuinely impressed.
“I…” She had to force the words out through the sheer weight of existence pressing down on her. “I challenge you to a duel.”
Silence.
And then… amusement.
“You wish to buy time for those ships to escape my reach.” The disaster before her chuckled. “Then impress me, and I shall let them go. But disappoint me, and I will scour them from this world.”
At any other time, such arrogance would have filled her with rage. Now, Kaguya was grateful that her opponent was so conceited. Despite everything, she felt her lips curve up into the faintest of smiles.
“When I was born,” she began. “They said that I was blessed.” She looked up, and her silver eyes reflected the image of her enemy. “My eyes are mirrors that reflect the world, not as it is… but as I wish it to be.” The wellspring of power within her that had nearly run dry began to fill once more. Tails appeared behind her, one after another, until there were nine in total. It came at a cost. Her silver hair bleached white, as did her tails, and something within her broke in a way that could never be fixed.
“You are burning your own life for more power.” The titan of light gazed down at her. “Your ruler did much the same. She also became larger. It did not save her.”
Kaguya would have wept if there had been any time to weep. Mikoto had likely adopted her monstrous fox form while calling upon all the power she could from the various treasures at her command and the currents of magic that fed the Sanctuary. Yet even that form had not lasted long, given how swiftly the dream tunnel had collapsed. Instead, she could only shake her head.
“I warned her so many times that taking on such a form would only make her a bigger target against certain foes, but what else could she have done?”
“Nothing she could have done would have changed anything.” The giant’s light grew brighter. “But… you have chosen to condense your power into that form. An interesting choice. What now?”
“The moon in the water, the flower blooming only in dreams.” Kaguya’s magic exploded outward. “The broken mirror made whole, the reflection only my eyes can see.”
The world around them faded away. In its place, was a lake of utterly still water. A great, silver moon hung in the sky overhead, and it was reflected perfectly in the lake below. Mist circled the edges of the lake, and the night sky was a tapestry of gemstones set amidst a cloak of endless black.
“This…” The shimmering titan took a step forward. The lake’s surface remained still, and the reflection of the moon remained unbroken. “You have used your magic to bring part of the land of dreams into the waking world. A… small world made from a dream. Now, this is impressive. But what will you do next? For this place cannot hope to hold me.”
“They say that when a kitsune achieves their ninth tail, they receive a miracle.” Kaguya’s lips curled. “For most that manifests as a life without fear of ageing and weakness. I dreamed, long ago, that I would never live long enough for such things to concern me. And when I achieved my ninth tail, I did not receive a miracle - I received two. And each was tied to the world only my eyes can see. Only once could these miracles be used, and each of them would cost an eye. So until this day, I have never used them. I have never needed to.”
She raised one hand to her face. The world around them, the world of the lake, the moon, and the mist trembled. She plucked her right eye out.
“In this world, there are no true immortals.”
The words were a declaration. A truth made manifest.
Blood poured down her face, but her hand was steady.
She plucked out her left eye.
“In this world, there is nothing my sword cannot kill.”
For a long moment, the living disaster said nothing. And then…
“I am truly impressed. I had not thought that such a magic could be woven with so little power.” There was no mockery in the voice. It was an earnest compliment. “But what will you do without your eyes?”
“I am a swordswoman. I have held a sword all my life. I don’t need my eyes to fight you.” Kaguya smiled. There was no need to wipe the blood from her face. What would it do? Hinder her vision? Hah! “I am Kaguya of the Kitsune, the Sword of the Moon, the Blade of the Sanctuary. In my whole life, I have never met my match in battle! Who are you, then, that stands before me?”
“I am the Star of Judgment.” Simple words, but the sheer weight behind them threatened to shatter the world she had crafted, along with the rules she had enforced. “Show me, Kaguya of the Kitsune, what manner of sword you wield.”
And she did.
Her sword was the sword that made illusions real and reality illusionary. She imagined a storm of blows that could split mountains, and it was so. She imagined a sword that could pierce even the stars, and it was born. And when her foe’s light poured down upon her, a tide of radiance that could scour a world, she imagined the warm glow of a campfire, and it became that way.
Four blows, her enemy unfolded. Four blows that could have slain or driven back one of the Great Spirits, she turned aside.
Her blows, however, were beyond counting. She launched them from every angle using every manner of strike.
And yet…
Her opponent stood unharmed.
“How…?” she murmured as blood flowed from her body from more wounds than she could count.
And this time, when the titan of light spoke, there was a hint of melancholy in the words. “You seek to impose truths upon this little world. That is the nature of the two miracles that your eyes bought. But… there are truths… and then there are Truths. Though your eyes are gone, I shall allow you to See in your final moments.”
Kaguya Saw.
A battle beyond comprehension. Endless hordes of terrors beyond understanding. Worlds laid waste. Stars gone dark. Galaxies destroyed. Universes on the verge of annihilation. And standing against those terrors, Living Stars, phoenixes, and a titanic being of divine metal within whom the very fire of the beginning burned.
She understood now why the one before her was called the Star of Judgement.
That was his very nature, a Living Star born of the Creator’s blood, and to him were given many Truths, the greatest of which was Judgement that he might stand as judge over the enemies of the Creator and lead the Living Stars in all things with wisdom and discernment.
“I Saw…”
“Yes.” The Star of Judgement’s voice was almost gentle. “And now… you die.”
For the first time, he exerted his true strength. The world born of her eyes shattered. The paltry truths she’d tried to impose were scorched away by the Truths that circled around him like crowns and armour.
A star bloomed once more.
The Star of Judgement stared down at the sword that remained. With his power, he could easily destroyed it. Yet… he found himself reluctant to do so. Upon the sea were ships. It would be easy to strike them down, yet he did not. He was not so pathetic that he would go back on his word. And did it even matter? In the end, though this… body was but an infinitesimally small shard of his true form, he would still scour this world and use its heart to forge a proper channel, a way past the great wall of twilight flame that kept him in the Void. And when his true form was brought back into the universe, entire galaxies would be laid to waste. He would keep to his word, and those who had fled from him would still die.
He turned from the sea.
In this world, who was there that could stand against him?