The small group of Foxes all wore similar garments. They were in their robes with metallic blue armor attached to them. Lee Seng's curiosity moved to the blue metal, but quickly shook that thought off.
"It's Lee Seng." Lee Seng defensively shielded Ritsuka from the Foxes.
'Damn, this is a pain.' Lee Seng thought.
"Who's that?" The fox pointed at Ritsuka. Lee Seng didn't remove his eyes from the small group of soldiers. They were trying to circle around them, but Lee Seng's tails protectively moved to wrap around Ritsuka.
"A friend from my Realm. I came to talk to Keng."
"He Realmwalked with another person?" A female soldier asked the male soldier.
"Isn't that too early?" Another male Fox soldier asked. The male Fox with fur stepped forward. He seemed to be in charge of the night watch.
"Ah, the twin vessel showed back up." The leader nodded. He nodded over at Ritsuka. "We don't allow outsiders to visit. Take the human back or else they'll have to be placed somewhere dark for a while."
"You don't take outsiders? Why did you take me then?" Lee Seng asked.
"Cause you're a Fox Spirit. Why would you ask such a weird question, foxling?" The Fox leader casually switched between English and Fox tongue. Ritsuka was wracking his brain, trying to understand what was happening.
"Uhh, Lee. What're they saying?" Ritsuka asked, moving onto his knees.
"They don't allow <strong>outsiders</strong>." Lee Seng translated. "This guy wants to capture you and put you somewhere until then."
"Capture me? W-w-what?"
"It's a rule put in place by Lady Vix'i. This is a holy Village! We must abide by the rules here, foxling!" The leader told him. "You must bring him back or he'll have to be locked up! Humans are a tricky species!"
"And you aren't?" Lee Seng narrowed his eyes. The group of soldiers moved closer and Lee Seng's body radiated golden energy and Ritsuka gasped in surprise.
"You're… golden now. Holy shit." Ritsuka shouted.
"Stand down, foxling! You'll only cause more trouble!" The foxes shouted. Lee Seng gritted his teeth. The soldiers closed in on them and right before they could do anything, a strong force stopped everyone in their tracks.
"What in the Realm is going on here?!?" Lady Vix'i's voice asked. Lee Seng's arms moved to his side and his aura forcefully canceled. The soldiers moved backwards as Lady Vix'i moved into the crowd. She wore a different set of robes. She noticed Lee Seng and then noticed Ritsuka and sighed. "God King, give me patience."
"What're you doing here? And why did you bring a human into the Realm?" Lady Vix'i asked. Lee Seng felt the force loosen on him and he turned to look at Ritsuka before looking at Lady Vix'i.
"Lady Vix'i, I uh…" Lee Seng stopped.
'Why am I hesitating in this situation…?' Lee Seng wondered.
"I wanted to test whether or not I could Realmwalk with another person. My theory was right." Lee Seng smiled.
"You Realmwalked right into the village with a human? Does he know about us? There's rules in place here and you can't just do whatever you want!" Lady Vix'i scolded him.
"Yeah, well…"
"Oh my great God King…'' Lady Vix'i shook her head. "You two come with me. The rest of you continue your rounds…" She turned and the force on the both of them, strengthened and they forcefully began to follow Lady Vix'i. They moved to the crystallium tower.
"Where are we going?" Ritsuka asked.
"To the Crystallium tower." Lee Seng answered.
"That huge tower that looks like a light stick?"
"Yup."
"What's gonna happen to us?"
"I'm gonna get scolded for bringing you and probably scolded about what happened earlier and then Keng's probably gonna show up and–"
"Stop talking." Lady Vix'i spoke. Lee Seng and Ritsuka felt the force shut their mouths. Lee Seng started to loudly try to speak, but mumbles only came out. They moved up and into the tower. Rituska took in the smell of plants and books as the door shut behind him. Magical crystals floated in the sky and on the walls where candelabras were.
"You two sit there. Don't try anything or else your punishment will be worse, Lee Seng." Lady Vix'i spoke. The force holding them released and the two stumbled around before finding their balance, again. Lady Vix'i groaned and walked up the steps. "Now I gotta deal with this… Why did I agree to watch the Village as one of the leaders?"
Ritsuka turned to look at Lee Seng. Lee Seng gave him a 'don't ask me' look and moved to the table and chairs. He pulled two chairs out and sat on the left one. He turned and motioned for Ritsuka to sit.
"Come on. The only one in trouble will probably be me so make yourself comfortable until I have to send you back." Lee Seng motioned. Ritsuka hesitantly took a step forward. He took in his surroundings. His curiosity grew and he began to look around the room. Papers with strange symbols were on them.
"Is this their language on paper?" Ritsuka asked, lifting up a paper.
"Probably. Don't touch her stuff. She's nice but she'll knock you out like nothing." Lee Seng warned. Ritsuka set the paper down quickly and continued to walk around.
"Who is she?"
"Lady Vix'i, one of the few nine-tailed Foxes. She's a researcher and apparently the one who leads the Village." Lee Seng answered. Ritsuka stared at the bookshelf. It was full of random books. He could only read a few books which had English names.
"She's into all sorts of things. Herbology, Biology, astronomy… Why astronomy?" Ritsuka fingered through the books.
"From what I've observed and heard, Lady Vix'i is interested in the other Realms. She conducts studies on various things so she has knowledge on various subjects."
"Hurry up! You're lucky I got wind of him or else there would've been more problems." Lady Vix'i shouted as she descended the stairs. She made eye contact with Lee Seng and then flicked her eyes to the bookshelves. Ritsuka had one of the English books in his hand and was skimming through it. "I see your human friend is curious about monster physiology."
"Fighting monsters is the number one career on Earth right now." Lee Seng responded. Ritsuka closed the book and put the book back in its place and turned to look at Lady Vix'i. She crossed her arms together and watched the young adult man nod at her and move to sit next to Lee Seng. "So, you're gonna scold me and tell me how many rules I broke bringing my friend here because I wanted to see if I could Realmwalk with another person and then have Keng scold me?"
"What makes you think I'll scold you? I could just put you through my research and that would be torture enough." Lady VIx'i smiled as she took a seat at the right end of the table. Fast steps moved down the stairs. Lee Seng and Ritsuka's eyes moved to the stairs. An exact copy of Lee Seng came down the stairs. The only difference was this one wore a silver and gray kimono.
"Holy cow he looks like you." Ritsuka leaned forward. The white and black streaked version of Lee Seng looked at Ritsuka before looking at Lee Seng.
"Long story." Lee Seng spoke, making direct eye contact with Keng.
"I was right. I did hear your voice. I thought I was delirious after you left me here all alone!" Keng marched over and hovered above Lee Seng. Keng angrily stared at Lee Seng, hands balling into fists.
"I'm so–" Lee Seng's face moved left with the impact of Keng's fist. Keng grabbed Lee Seng and lifted him onto his feet.
"You're such a douche!" Keng shouted. "You made me think you were actually going through with it and leaving me here all alone with the Family!" Tears were welling up in his eyes. Lee Seng slowly turned to face Lee Seng and sighed. "I get that you want to have the best of both worlds but you can't have everything! Any decision you make will cause heartbreak. Why can't you just be smart and choose a path and stick with it? Why do you have to be greedy?"
"Are you done?" Lee Seng grabbed Keng's wrist. Keng tugged Lee Seng closer. He could feel Keng's angry breaths. He held Lee Seng there for awhile, ignoring Ritsuka watching them from below. Keng released Lee Seng and wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for a hug.
"You're cruel, you know that?" Keng's voice shook. "I thought you were gonna leave me alone."
"I was gonna come back in a couple of hours." Lee Seng squeezed Keng in for a hug. "I needed to blow off some steam." The two pulled away and Keng quickly wiped his tears and turned his attention to Ritsuka.
"What's he doing here?" Keng asked. The two lookalikes stared at Ritsuka. He had his mouth agape and was just moving his finger back and forth between the two of them.
"W-w-w-what the h-h-hell?" Ritsuka stuttered. Lee Seng sat down as Keng kneeled and smiled at Ritsuka.