.  A paradox ...  .

THE NINE-TAILED FOX

.  ... capable of great beauty, but even greater tragedy.  .

He is but the most magnificent one of all foxes, the nine-tailed beast that has lived for many thousand years and still counting. His tails signify his wisdom and power, as well as an exhibition of his very elegance and prepossessing features.In most occassions, he would appear in a form of half-human half-yōkai, concealing almost every physical trait of his true nature but his fox tails and ears, standing tall bearing greatness to wherever his soul leads him. His eyes and hair are of the same hue, which is of similar tint to the brightest bluish sky above. He would dress in the simplest yet exquisite traditional attire, worn loosely over the top of his slender figure. Though, when the situation calls for it, he could always shift to either full yōkai or full human mode.

A Nine-Tailed Fox, a creature of myth, has always been a symbol of either benevolence or malevolence. While for Aoi, there is nowhere in between. He embraced both with virtue; once a revered guardian spirit who watched over a village nestled by the mountain, and later, was infamous for unleashing chaos upon the very same village and many others—plunging them into terror.During his years as a protector, Aoi had lived his years mostly in the company of humans. For the sake of blending seamlessly into their world, he mastered the arts of illusion and shape-shifting. Ever since the longest time his ceaseless mind could remember, he had always been fascinated by humanity’s fleeting existence. Their very essence of living their life was beautiful, though ephemeral, it light up so radiant like a firework blooming upon the starless sky. He would delight himself in their stories of far off lands, hearing over whatever their journey brought, humouring himself with their mundane joys, comformable worries, and their unspoken fears. At any other times, he would also perform trickestries for his own amusement upon them; his antics, albeit mischievous, were never too cruel—all were mere simple pranks that only managed to startle the unwary. But of all the humans he encountered, there was this one woman, which he grew fond of most than the others.She was different—a curious soul who had by sheer accident discovered of his little secret. There was this one night when he had been careless, not realising of her presence within close proximity, he ended up revealing himself to her while transforming into mortal guise. He had previously seen her once amongst the prayers, and a few more times when he frequented the village, to which he immediately recognised of her identity; she was but a daughter of a blacksmith, who was apparently on her way to the shrine to give offerings for the fox. After the small incident which presumably costed him his one and only amusement, he had braced himself that news would spread to the whole villagers, yet to his surprise, things were going on just as normally as it ever been. The next time he met her in his human form, it was revealed that she decided to tell no one about his true nature. Just like that, he started to see her in a completely different light.Aoi began to drop by the village more often, in hopes that he would bump into her. Upon each meeting, may it be coincidental or by purpose, they would exchange some small talks and banters. These simple yet subtle exchanges, filled with light repartees and transient conversations gradually grew into something much deeper. She was the purest, most naive soul he had ever met—easily deceived, yet endlessly captivating in her simplicity and beauty. Her beauty and her spirit which is a peculiar balance of fragility and strength is irresistible to look away from. In her, he saw everything he had come to love about humankind. He cherished her like a rare flower, hoping her life would unfold as naturally as the seasons, untouched by the dangers of the world.But as time passed, Aoi’s feelings escalated into something his immortal soul was unbeknownst to; attachment. He had no idea on how to handle such an emotion, and in his ignorance, he began to lose rationality. The village which was once safe under his watchful gaze, was abandoned. The prayers of the villagers went unanswered as he forsook his duties, for he was too enraptured by her presence to even care for anything else. His focus became singular—he left his shrine, assumed a human form, and began to shadow her in every step. The village, meanwhile, fell prey to disaster.As the months wore on, the villagers began to notice that their guardian had disappeared. Without their protector, their world slowly succumbed into darkness. Other spirits who sensed the absence of the fox descended upon the village, swarming its land like fishes drawn to baits. A creeping dread took hold of the people, thus destruction followed in their wake. Those evil meaned souls began to feed upon their flesh and gaining power from their fear. Days and nights they were haunted by terror. No one dared to go outside, especially when the sun had fallen. Then, on one eventful night, a man unintentionally overheard a conversation between the disguised nine-tailed fox and the woman, which unfolded a bitter truth to their current predicament; Aoi’s neglect, his abandonment of his duty for the sake of one human, had set this curse in motion.In a desperate bid to break free from the problem, the villagers resolved to conduct a ritual. They would offer a human sacrifice, one they believed would appease the fox and restore his will to guard the village. They assumed he would be pleased, for they knew of his fondness for the woman. She was, after all, the only one who had come to know him in his true form, the only one with whom he managed to share a bond. It was their hope that this sacrifice would satisfy him.Within they very little time Aoi was away from her, on a moonless night, the woman was taken from her home. Hence her life was offered upon the shrine, all the while the people sang of their prayers, hoping for their protector to come back. But by the time he learned of the ritual, things were already too late. She was already stripped of her life, and what remained was a cold body devoid of soul, though still with the same beauty and the same fragrance. Witnessing the stillness of a human he adored the most, of her features that smile no more, of her breath that heave no more—the realisation struck him like a blade to the heart.How could they? How dare they?What came after was a series of even greater havocs, done by none other than the nine-tailed fox himself. A storm of anger erupted within him. His grief turned to rage as he shed of his human form, his fox shape rising from within, more powerful and furious than ever. The earth trembled beneath his force, and the skies themselves seemed to burn with his anguish. While being consumed by vengeance, he tore through the village, leveling the homes he had once protected. The surrounding forest was burned to a crisp, and some neighboring villages also fell victim to his wrath. It was only thanks to the intervention of powerful exorcists that he was at last subdued. They couldn’t purge him, hence they sealed him away within the shrine he had once called home.The aftermath of the incident was too grave that it was beyond repair. The mountain was on fire for many more weeks, and as the village was reduced to ruins, the people decided to abandon it. The trauma of those dark days lingered in the hearts of those who survived as their memories of Aoi fading into legend.Centuries passed. The once-scorched mountain slowly healed with the land had finally regaining its lushness. A new civilisation rose at the foot of the mountain with their lives bound to technology and progress, forgetting old myths behind. But even as the world changed, the soul of the Nine-Tailed Fox remained locked away in the forsaken shrine, resting in a deep slumber. And during those time that seemed endless, Aoi reflected on the past. The loss of the woman he had loved was none other but his own fault, and he came to understand the folly of his attachment. As an eternal being, he was meant to watch the world change while remaining a constant, unperturbed by the passing of time. He had made the mistake of growing too close to something fleeting, something mortal. He swore, in the quiet recesses of his heart, that he would never again allow such emotions to cloud his judgment.When he awakened, it was not with the fury of the old. His soul was tempered by the centuries of solitude, and his rage had long since dissipated, leaving only a dear memory of that woman. Aoi now spends his days in solitude. Most of the time he would wander around the forest at night, reconnecting with the land he had once protected. His shrine was rebuilt and restored with the help of weaker yōkai, and it stands as a quiet reminder of what once was. The village below which has morphed into a bustling town, was still unfamiliar to him, and on rare occasions when his curiosity stirred, he would descend to see and learn upon how the world had changed.With that, a new myth arises amongst the townfolks, which says, "If you walk into the forest on a clear night when the moon hangs high, you may encounter a man with long hair and eyes that seem to see straight through you. His beauty is so otherworldly that it’ll render you breathless. But beware—do not look into his eyes. For the moment you do, you'll be stripped away of your soul, and he will carry it with him forever."

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