Fates Parallel Interlude 2.3 - The Princess and the Fox

She was a failure. A worthless, black stain on her family’s proud tradition. Not that Seong Eunae cared that much what her family thought. Yet, it was true what they said about her—she was a disappointment, a mistake—a failure. For as long as she could remember, her family had hated her, and she hadn’t really understood why until she got older.

It was because she was weak. In every measurable way, Eunae knew that she was so weak it was almost pathetic. Physically, she’d always been frail. She got sick often as a child and had never once won a fight with any of her sisters—even the younger ones.

Spiritually, her bloodline was the weakest her clan had ever known. She was nearly sixteen with only two tails—unheard of for a second generation daughter of the Seong Clan. Even her youngest sister already had three as a toddler, and would likely grow into more as she got older.

Magically? She was supposedly second only to Dae in magical talent, but the notion made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. ‘Talent’. As if one could measure such a thing based on her ability alone. The people who said that didn’t understand—Hyeong Daesung had a superlative teacher, but he came from common stock. He had talent in the truest sense of the word. Eunae had none.

Certainly she was skilled at magic—second only to Dae, as they said. For now. Her skill was the product of her upbringing. The best teachers, the strongest leylines, the most expensive artifacts to aid her training. She worked impossibly hard to please her family as a child, studying until her eyes were too dry to read anymore, writing talismans until the sores on her fingers bled and ruined the ink—so many advantages, so much effort. All that, and she was still second best. Weak—too weak to even protect one friend.

The only thing that gave Seong Eunae any worth to anybody was the part of herself that she hated the most. Her bewitching gaze was an incredibly rare manifestation of her spiritual bloodline, and one that had only ever occurred once before in history. The legendary fox princess, Seong Heiran had left an impossible legacy for Eunae to follow.

Without her gaze, Eunae’s family might have accepted her, even as weak as she was. They might have appreciated how hard she worked to make up for it. Instead, they resented her. ‘What a waste’ they would say. She had been born with such power, yet she was too weak to wield it as her predecessor had. They had wanted the second coming of Seong Heiran, but all they got was...Eunae.

So of course, Eunae hated her power. She wished every day that she hadn’t been burdened with such an ability—or that she could pass it on to someone else. Before coming to the academy, she had even sworn to herself never to use it again—and failed her resolution almost immediately. Now, for the first time in her life, she found herself actually trying to train her ability to control her loathsome power.

It had originally been Lee Jia’s suggestion, and while Eunae was hesitant at first, the potential to actually control her power was a compelling notion. The training sessions with Jia—’staring contests’ as Eui put it—had been a surprisingly pleasant experience, but they had made very little progress until Jia discovered that the ability was apparently powered by her spirit half.

Jia had actually been able to commune with her own spirit half, and even apparently heard the voice of Eunae’s when she had attempted to use Absolute Awareness to defend against her gaze. Jia hadn’t been able to tell Eunae how to learn the technique she’d used to commune with her spirit half, but Eunae had been able to figure a few things out based on her own study and the vague explanations Jia gave on how she’d discovered the technique.

It had been intuitive—sent to her by her spirit half in a dream. Eunae hadn’t had any such dreams, but from that she could understand that their spirit halves had wills of their own, and would make an effort to communicate that will. The theory matched up with discussions Eunae had with Kim Yongsun—for him, that intuition seemed to manifest itself in powerful animal instincts that he constantly struggled to reconcile with more rational human thought.

After weeks of meditation, soul-searching, and study, Eunae had finally found her own source of spiritual inspiration in a rather unlikely place—the mirror. It wasn’t as if she’d never looked in a mirror before—she did it every day to brush her hair and apply her makeup. What she did differently was simple—almost embarrassingly so.

Her failure to protect Lee Jia after Zheng Long’s attack had sparked a particularly savage episode of self-loathing in Eunae, and in a moment of self-destructive anger she had attempted to do something that had never even occurred to her before. She tried to use her gaze on herself.

She didn’t even know what she had been trying to accomplish by it. Perhaps to cure herself of her self-loathing, or somehow strengthen her resolve to be better. Either way, it didn’t work, but it had given her...a feeling. It was difficult to describe, like a thought that came to her while halfway between sleep and wakefulness that she couldn’t comprehend when she tried to concentrate on it.

The feeling rejected logical analysis. The more she focused her mind on it, the weaker the feeling became. However, if she emptied her mind entirely and just let it wash over her, it seemed as clear as day. So that’s what she had been doing, ever since. Meditating on her soul, allowing the feeling to guide her as she slowly, painstakingly carved out a path within her meridians based on that feeling.

It was difficult. She didn’t have Jia’s talent, and the feeling was so fleeting that it felt like she might lose it if her concentration slipped for even a moment. The mistakes were painful, but she knew they were mistakes as surely as she knew that the feeling was guiding her towards...something.

Eunae didn’t know how long she’d been sitting in the garden courtyard of the home she shared with Rika, refusing to eat or sleep until she completed her task. Rika had interrupted a few times, looking deeply concerned, but she didn’t understand. Eunae had to do this now, while she could still remember. If she allowed the feeling to fade, she might never get it back again. She had to make up for her lack of talent with hard work.

The breakthrough happened without Eunae even noticing it. One moment she’d been deep in meditation, the next she was surrounded by a featureless black void. For a moment she thought that the lack of sleep had caught up to her—that she had succumbed to her exhaustion and was now dreaming.

Then, another figure appeared before her, coalescing out of nothingness. The figure was a woman with long, dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and a pair of tall fox ears atop her head—with a start, Eunae realized that it was her. The same eyes, the same hair, the figure looked exactly like Eunae in every way except for two.

The first difference was that Eunae couldn’t help but feel as though the version in front of her was idealized. Every small imperfection that Eunae held insecurities about was gone, and the features that she was most proud of were exaggerated and perfected. The second difference was more dramatic—her bushy fox tails, white-furred except for the dark black tips. Exactly like Eunae’s except for the fact that there were nine of them, instead of two. Also, she was naked.

“Ancestors!”

Her doppelganger covered her mouth with a tail and giggled melodically at Eunae’s exclamation. Her voice was once again an idealized version of Eunae’s.

“Just the one, sweetheart. I ate the others long before you had your first conscious thought. Their livers were exquisite.”

Eunae blinked in confusion.

“You...can talk?”

The doppelganger laughed again.

“Why shouldn’t I? I’ve been waiting for the chance to talk to you for sixteen years, you know.”

“Uh, Jia said that her spirit half only spoke to her through vague, hard to comprehend concepts.”

“Tsk, the little cat burglar? Well, most spirits would, but I’m special.”

Eunae felt as if her mouth had gone dry, even though there were no physical sensations in this strange void.

“Special? Who...or what are you?”

The other her smiled, but her eyes seemed to glint in an unsettlingly predatory way.

“Oh, sweetheart. You already know the answer to that, but I’ll entertain you with an answer anyway. I’m you. Your other half. The part that makes you special. I’m also the Kumiho, or a fragment of her, at least.”

Eunae stared at the Kumiho in shock. How was that possible? Her spirit half was the nine-tailed fox? Why her? She wasn’t anyone special, just—just Eunae. The Kumiho wagged her finger, as if scolding a child.

“Ah ah, not quite! Pay attention, girl. I’m only a fragment of the Kumiho. We’re the same person, so you’re as much the nine-tailed fox as I am. Your sisters all have the same, and others besides—though my daughters have been quite careful to keep things from getting too diluted.”

Eunae put her head in her hands, utterly confused. Did her mother know about this? Her aunt? She shook her head, she had more important things to think about right now.

“Kumiho, if you’re me—my spirit half, that means you’re the source of my bewitching gaze, right?”

The Kumiho nodded, smiling widely.

“Oh, I was so proud of you for manifesting that ability! Of course, shapeshifting would have been better, but I’m not sure if that’s even possible with a physical body. Maybe if we—”

“Could you stop it? Take it away? Or at least let me control it instead of enthralling anyone I look at?”

The Kumiho put a hand on her hip and leveled a glare at Eunae.

“No. You already can control it, you just don’t know how. As for taking it away? Impossible.”

Eunae huffed in exasperation.

“Then teach me! I hate this! I hate not being able to look my friends in the eyes. I hate being a monster.”

The Kumiho frowned and stepped forward, putting a hand on Eunae’s head and leaning in uncomfortably close.

“You are me, Seong Eunae, and I am you. If you think that makes you a monster, then a monster you will become. Do you think yourself weak? Then you are. I cannot change that for you.”

Eunae felt like she should be crying, but there were no tears.

“If you truly desire strength, you will have it. But you won’t achieve true strength by rejecting who and what you are. You asked for my assistance, and I will give it, though you don’t truly know what you’ve asked.”

The Kumiho stood back and sighed with what felt like resignation. Forming a tiny green flame at the tip of her index finger, she held it out towards Eunae.

“We’re out of time, my other half. We won’t speak again for some time. It was good to finally meet you.”

Before Eunae could respond, the tiny green flame flew from the Kumiho’s fingertip and landed gently on Eunae’s forehead. As soon as it made contact, Eunae erupted into green flames and her entire world became pain. The fire was everywhere, burning her skin, her eyes, inside her mouth, even her soul felt like it was burning. She couldn’t even scream before the pain overtook her entirely and she lost consciousness.

---

“Eun-eun! Eunae! Please, wake up! Oh kami, no, please be alright. Eunae!”

Eunae slowly stirred awake to the sound of Rika’s panicked screaming. Her head was throbbing, and she could barely remember the strange dream she’d just had. Something sticky dripped from her face as she rose—blood, she realized. She’d been lying in a pool of her own blood. Her voice was hoarse as she spoke.

“R-Rika? What happened?”

Rika embraced her so tightly it hurt—actually, everything already hurt.

“Eun-eun! I was so worried! You passed out suddenly and started bleeding from—everywhere. You were unconscious but you kept screaming. I was so scared. Are you alright?”

No. She felt sick, every part of her was wracked with pain, and the world was spinning.

“I’m fine, Rika. Just...just a bit of overstrain, I think.”

Rika lifted Eunae up in her arms and began to carry her inside. Eunae wanted to protest, but she didn’t have the strength.

“You’re getting some rest. If I have to strap you to the damn bed and watch you all night, you will sleep, is that understood?”

Eunae laughed, despite the pain it caused. Only Rika would dare order her around like that, but she appreciated it.

“Yes ma’am.”

She let herself relax as Rika fussed over her, cleaning up the blood and making sure she was comfortably settled in bed. Eunae really did need the rest. When she woke up, she didn’t even remember having ever fallen asleep. Rika had apparently made good on the promise to watch over her all night, and had fallen asleep leaning on the bed.

Eunae sat up and stretched, still feeling a bit sore, but better. What had happened to her? She felt like her mind was blank as she began her morning ritual, starting with brushing her hair. Eunae moved on to her tails, just trying to quietly process the vision she’d experienced. It was a lot of effort, brushing the fur on her tails, but it was as important to her appearance as the hair on her head.

Eunae sat in silence as she carefully smoothed out the fur of one tail, and then the other. She was halfway through brushing the third when she froze, the realization dawning on her.

The third?