Chapter 223 The Family Sendoff

Lee Seng didn't know how much time went by before he started to hear someone stirring. He sat up and looked to his left. It was the second-to-last Fox. Lee Seng stood up, listening to his body crack as he moved over. The woman was sweating. Lee Seng looked around for a rag and some sort of bowl. He found a clay bowl sitting in one of the cabinets and pulled it out.

A Water Rune was in the bathroom, so he activated it and filled the bowl with water and moved back to the Fox woman. She groaned and continued to move around. It looked like she was having some sort of nightmare. Lee Seng dipped the rag into the water and pulled it out. He wrung it and began to dab the Fox with the wet rag.

"P-please… No…" The Fox woman quietly cried out. Lee Seng cleaned her face and began to wipe her arms. "Y-you can't… Please…" A tear fell down. Lee Seng wiped her tears, quietly shushing her as he put the rag into the water bowl. He began to rub the middle of her forehead with his index finger.

"It's just a bad dream." He whispered. He continued to do this for a while until she started to go back to normal. He released his finger and grabbed the rag and wrung it again. He would do one more wipe down and see where she was after that.

"How do you know what to do when someone's having a nightmare?" Keng asked quietly.

"Mom used to do it to me all the time. I had a lot of nightmares when I was younger because I was trapped within those lab walls." Lee Seng told him.

"Do you still have nightmares?" There was a slight pause. Lee Seng stopped wiping for a couple of seconds before resuming.

"Not too often anymore. I don't think it'll be as bad as when Number 2 and Mom died. Those were close together that the nightmares started up, again. I'm still surprised that Akio managed to help me so much. He's a Guildmaster. He's busy handling guild affairs, missions and the occasional Numbers mission. After Number 2 died, I'm not sure how he managed to balance everything." Keng stood off to the side, watching Lee Seng finish up and set the wet rag back into the water.

"Do you think we'll learn much here with the other Foxes?" Keng asked. Lee Seng looked up at Keng. He noticed Keng was actually thinking about it.

"Do you know more stuff about your existence? About your purpose?" Lee Seng asked. "I remember you saying you'd know things as you and I evolved. We both have three-tails now and I'm curious." Keng started to pace up and down the middle row between beds.

"Father or the God King is many millennia old. A lot of Foxes wonder how old he is but we know he started to create his children by how old Chimera is. Uh, there's plenty of Realms that reflect Earth and there's a lot of Realms that don't reflect Earth. They're different planets, planes, etc. God King Dathro created the Fox Spirits to basically go on a journey to uncover the Realms. His curiosity is why we're so curious as his children.

"As for the thing that happened yesterday with us meeting him, I didn't know anything about that. It's all new to me. I didn't know about what the orbs did until we both learned it either. It feels like I'm learning about the history of Father as we both evolve." Keng sighed as he followed Lee Seng around. Lee Seng had dumped the water out and set the bowl and rag somewhere to dry.

"A lot of history that could just be told to us through books." Lee Seng shrugged. "I guess this is better than anything. Do you know anything else? Like, why do I hear a familiar woman's voice talking to me? The first time it was because of the Protocol. Right before we both evolved, I was in that flower field and the same woman's voice spoke to me."

"I'm… not quite sure about the voice, but the stat screen is normal. It manifests itself differently for everyone, but it's there for everyone. Leveling abilities, evolved abilities, points – It's all there. I'm not sure why you specifically hear a familiar woman's voice."

The doors clicked open and footsteps moved into the quiet building. Lee Seng and Keng looked up and noticed a two-tailed Fox. She had orange hair in a ponytail and wore a bandana on her right arm. Her olive-green eyes met both of the boys' and she nodded at them before she stepped in more.

"I came to get you two. You're needed at the burial site. Someone will watch them while you two attend the burial." The two-tailed Fox spoke.

"Alright, lead the way." Lee Seng motioned. They followed the two-tailed Fox straight across to the other side of the Village. They exited the gate and noises of people quietly talking grew loud. The two-tailed Fox turned and motioned. Lee Seng and Keng gave her their thanks and moved through the crowd. Lee Seng and Keng got weird looks as the crowd allowed them to pass. They pushed into the front and noticed over thirty holes were dug.

'Holy shit.' Lee Seng's eyes grew wide.

"Lee Seng. Keng." Zixin lifted his hand and waved them over. The two moved over to Zixin who was watching Nabi go each hole and set the remains of a dead Fox – most varying in different degrees of death – and move onto the next hole.

"She's not putting the Foxes into the holes?" Lee Seng asked.

"They get set next to the hole and are lowered after the prayer ceremony." Zixin explained.

"And why are we here? Shouldn't we be with the recently injured just in case something happens?"

"Nabi insisted you two come here." Zixin's eyes moved over to the boys. "Some of the Family members insisted you bless their graves before they're set into the ground. We don't normally do this, but since they were afflicted and taken by the curse, they don't want any chances of a curse appearing."

Lee Seng simply nodded and watched as Nabi finished up. The large group grew silent. They all seemed to bow their heads and begin to quietly pray for the Foxes to return to the God King. Lee Seng lowered his head, eyes moving around out of curiosity. Lee Seng and Keng were tapped and Nabi stood in front of them. She quietly pointed over at the bodies and leaned in.

"While they're praying, you two should bless them." Nabi whispered.

"Is it okay if we burn them?" Keng whispered. "That's the only way we can purge whatever curse is on them."

"It's fine. Just don't do anything too crazy."

Lee Seng and Keng nodded and Lee Seng pointed at Keng and then at the closest side. He pointed at himself and then pointed at the other side. They would work from different sides and move inwards towards each other.

"Let us join together as we all pray for our fallen brethrens…" Demetrius' voice boomed over the crowd.

'Put a fox-fire above the bodies and we'll lower them in unison onto the bodies.' Lee Seng instructed.

'Okay… What if they start a fire?' Keng asked.

'We can extinguish it, willingly.' The two began to light golden fox-fire flames and set it at their waist height.

"God King Dathro…" Demetrius began to pray. "The Family joins together today to offer you those who have fallen to the curse in the Cursed Forest… May their souls be set free from their physical bodies and return to you…"

"We ask you to take those who have fallen to the curse in the Cursed Forest… Set their souls free from their physical bodies and allow them to return to you…" The crowd chanted. Lee Seng and Keng made quick work of the fox-fires and lit the last one. They could hear crying and pleading as the chant repeated over and over again. Lee Seng and Keng stepped off to the side, standing side by side and looked at the crowd before looking at the fox-fires.

Demetrius turned to look at the boys and nodded for them to continue. Lee Seng threw his left hand out in front of him while Keng threw his right hand out. Both of them looked at each other and nodded. They both lowered their opposite arms downwards and watched as the golden fox-fire entered the skeletons and decaying bodies. The flames erupted bigger and started to burn the bodies.

Part of the crowd began to murmur about what they were doing while others continued the chant. Lee Seng watched the golden fire eat at the skeletons and decaying bodies. Keng tapped him and both of them swept the air in front of them and watched the flames rise into the sky. They noticed purple smoke billowing out from the bodies.

'They do have the curse attached to them. What do we do now?' Keng asked. Lee Seng stepped forward and raised his right hand. His hand started to shine with light. Keng followed suit.

'We'll do what we did when healing with the light. We'll just do it on a bigger scale. It might take a lot out of us, but at least they'll rest easy knowing no curse is attached.' Lee Seng answered. The two touched the ground and the crowd went silent as golden and silver light spread across the earth. The lights enveloped the bodies and skeletons while Lee Seng and Keng lowered their opposite hands downwards. The golden fox-fire washed over the bodies, fusing with the lights.

Lee Seng and Keng, following a weird feeling, pulled both of their hands back towards them and swirled their arms in a circle. They watched as golden and silver light mixed with the golden fire and started to rise up into the sky. They both quickly folded their arms together, stopping the circling movement and watched as the flames and light dissipated. The crowd gasped. The bodies and skeletons shimmered with light.

Nabi, Zixin and a few other six-tailed Foxes moved over and raised their hands.

"Let us lower the bodies of the fallen to rest. May their purified bodies release their souls and return to the God King." Demetrius spoke. Lee Seng and Keng watched as the bodies raised in unison and shifted over the graves and slowly lowered.