Chapter 45: Azure 18: Forest Rabbits

“I need you to elaborate.” Wren made herself comfortable and put her feet on the table. “Oh don’t worry this is my house and normal for us rabbits, you may do the same if you want.”

“Uh no I’m fine. Something had happened to Hourai. I don’t know exactly what as Agnis Hourai didn’t know either but they said something about it getting attacked and that they managed to escape before it completely disappeared. That’s how they ended up in the town where I was sealed away and they broke me out of the seal.”

“Hmm, I’ve met the empress once, she would never part with her kids if she could prevent it. This must be serious indeed. It seems we won’t get any help then.”

“Uhm excuse me, I know that a place just disappearing is a big problem but how does it affect you guys?”

Goyo looked at me as if I insulted his mother.

“Calm down Goyo. She doesn’t know. What do you know about tailed beasts?”

I thought about her question for a bit. “They can fight gods and are quite nice! Some even have fluffy tails!”

Wren looked at Goyo. “See, she has no idea.”

“Oh right! They were also important for something but I forgot sorry.”

Wren gave a bitter smile. “The tailed beasts are responsible for keeping some parts of the world together, we, the four-tailed forest rabbits are in charge of the flora. And that’s why we live here in the jungle. But… the jungle is petrifying. It’s our task to counter this but we’re lacking in manpower…”

“Wait? Keeping parts of the world together? Most of the tailed beasts lived in Hourai! This is bad!” I got up but realized there was nothing I could do right now and sat down.

“Yes… we were hoping to get some help from the four-tailed rabbits from Hourai but this explains why there is no response…” Wren sighed and looked at the ceiling.

“A... and what about the other tailed beasts? You guys fix forests. What about the nine-tailed spirit foxes, the six-tailed lightning tigers and three-tailed shadowcats?”

“The nine-tailed spirit foxes are in charge of some dimensional stuff. I’m not so sure on what exactly they do but all I know is that our dimension is in deep trouble when they disappear. The six-tailed lightning tigers create energy out of nothing, a lot of it. Where it goes… I have no idea. The three-tailed shadowcats also do something with energy, shadows and also keep the demons in check. I only know precisely what my race does, sorry. And that is counteracting the disappearance, petrification, wandering and rebelling of forests, jungles and other parts of nature related to plants.”

I recognized those words but their meaning was confusing in this particular context. “Petrification, wandering, and rebelling? What does that mean?”

Wren smiled. “Trees are living things too you know; they have their own wants. Normally the jungle and forests behave but they might rebel or wander from time to time. They don’t petrify or disappear out of their own will as something else is causing that. Mostly humans but…” Wren looked at me.

“Can I trust you?” Wren was looking at me and it was as if her aura had changed. She was quite carefree and easy going but she now had a serious pressure. It felt as if she would go for the kill if I gave the wrong answer.

“I don’t have many friends nor are they close. I have nobody to tell.”

Wren’s aura changed back. “Then that’s good! I don’t mind if you tell others, they will most likely not believe you anyways. This world… is collapsing, and not just a bit. It’s on its last ears. Too many events are happening that aren’t supposed to happen. This jungle started to petrify out of nowhere, without a cause. We can push back the petrification but it’s not enough.”

“Wait!? There is no cause for this? It just happened?” I couldn’t believe this. Everything should have a cause.

“Well, there might be a cause but we might need other-tailed beasts for this. A nine-tailed spirit fox for their eyes, a three-tailed shadow cat in case some strange energy is at work here. Might also need some elves to help out.”

“Huh where did the elves come from?” I was learning so many new things.

“The elves have a similar role as us. It’s just… elves have gone extinct…”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Huh? That’s not true, there are a lot of elves on Kaledon!”

Wren let out another bitter smile. “I see, that’s good to hear. They’re extinct on this continent. There might be some left but probably in the single digits.”

“Oh… that’s not good.” I felt so bad. These races are doing the best they can to survive and act in the best interest to their race while the Misha are sitting in their labs or council rooms and doing nothing worth mentioning. They don’t even have the best interest for their own race, nor are they working together with another race. “Can... can I help?”

I had been lost in thought so I looked up and saw Wren devouring carrot after carrot. “Hmm what? Sorry I was hungry, what did you say?”

“You tailed beasts always know how to defuse a tense situation.” I smiled. “I asked if I could help out somehow.”

Wren continued eating her carrots and thought for a bit. “Hmm This is our problem but can you tell Agnis Hourai and Gregory Sheru that we might need their help? Don’t rush them as they probably have their own racial problems to deal with but I hope that they can at least help out a bit within the century. Besides that… if you find another tailed beasts, please tell them about Hourai. They might also be relying on getting help, which won’t come as it’s gone… my poor cousins. I hope they’re ok…”

“Ok… I’m sorry that I can’t be of any help. Do you perhaps know if Misha have a role like the elves do?”

“Misha?”

“Uhh, the humans call us witches.”

“Oh! I’m sorry I only know that besides the tailed beasts, elves and dragons do something. I’m ignorant to the others, sorry.”

“Dragons… they can’t even count…”

We continued chatting. They told me a bit about themselves and I told them a bit about myself.

She told me that the tailed beasts can die multiple times as they have multiple lives. They have something like a Soulcontainer which fills up if they eat something specific. The Four tailed Forest Rabbits seem to have had luck on their side. They need to eat 20 carrots to get 1 life added to their soul container. Wren seems to have 1152 lives.

Other tailed beasts aren’t as lucky as they need rare or even extinct fruits, creatures or vegetables to add lives to their soul containers. This naturally causes them to have less lives to burn through and might contribute to the fact that almost every group of tailed beast is slowly going extinct.

Not something I wanted to hear as I just learned that they are somehow keeping the world together. Wren gave other reasons that the world might be coming to an end but she didn’t know the cause of them. Strange monsters appearing everywhere, impossible things happening like this jungle petrifying out of nowhere and more.

I had a complicated feeling. I had been freed but now the world was ending? Wren did say that it might take a millennia or 2 before it would actually happen but that’s my issue! I will probably live long enough to experience that!

Neither Goyo or Wren seem stressed though. Tailed beasts are just built different. Are they stress resilient? Then again, they have to make sure the world doesn’t go to shit, they have to.

Someone outside was making a ruckus.

“We’re saved! We’re getting help! Parts of the jungle are turning back to normal!”

All the rabbits perked their ears and hopped off.

“Hey wait! Take me too! I’m slow!”

Wren returned, grabbed me and hopped off. It was a wild hop, she wasn’t as considerate as Goyo.

The jungle flashed by and I got rocked and started to get a bit dizzy. She dropped me as a group of four-tailed Forest Rabbits looked at a child wearing a strange cape turning the petrified forest back to normal.

“Oh the four-tailed Forest Rabbits. It seems you could use a helping hand and? Oh you’re far from home.” The child approached me.

“You call yourself Misha right? Excuse me if I’m wrong. I’m not very interested in useless races.” She said with disinterest showing on her face.

“Hey, back off shrimpy! Our race might be useless but it still hurts if you say it like that!”

Her disinterest changed to surprise. “Oh, you are aware. I like you. What’s your name?”

This red-haired midget was pissing me off.

“I’m Azurra Mist, you are not allowed to call me Azu. Now tell me, who are you!”

“Ah, I’m Bellia, the Sarian goddess of nature.”

“Ugh, another one of those… can’t you just leave us alone?”

‎