The Two Tails

"Owen? Are you okay?"

Voices reigned over his mind as he slowly opened his eyes. All he saw was the sun shining in his face—which to not be wrong—is uncomfortable.

He felt someone grab his hand, he felt a soft plushy bed resting towards his back.

"Owen!"

*Few hours later*

Owen saw his mom and dad, which was the best thing he saw since. "Mom…" he weakly spoke as he tried to reach out his bandaged hand. "Dad…"

"Don't worry, you're alright," his dad—now with a bare purple shirt and some black jeans—said.

His mother was sobbing quietly as she began to gaze at Owen as if he was a monster.

Or maybe he is. "Where is he?" he snorted as he faced his parents.

"Where is who?" Mom asked as she touched her son's head.

"The Reaper."

Dad began to look at his wife, then back at Owen as he was befuddled.

"The Reap—"

He passed out instantly on the bed as he began to hear the voices again.

In The Room of the General

General finished her touching sign, and sighed in relief. "Finally I can deliver this to the king."

She got up from her seat and navigated towards the room of the king.

The glorious halls of Hemor always gave her life a true meaning.

The king's throne was at the Hunchin Motel, at mid-top of the kingdom.

As she walked out of the castle, a carriage was there in the meanwhile.

"Yoshi!"

The woman looked at her as she smiled—although with bright teeth.

"Yoma hoktio affe Hunchin Motel," she ordered. Yoshi nodded.

*Hy-ah!*

She navigated to the motel, ready to prepare to go towards the king.

A ninja laid on a rock, tired and weak. They had just gone through some training by the hillside of the kingdom. It was never much enjoyable.

Another ninja went by the side of the fatigued warrior. "Hey, Heme," the ninja said to her.

"Hey, Oboni."

Heme unwrapped the protection around her head, and as her blonde hair swifted on Oboni's face.

Her face was pale with managed lips that partially smiled everytime.

Oboni did the same, he had black messy hair and a clean shaved mouth. He was around the age of 19, while Heme was just a year below.

"So, how are you feeling?"

Heme sighed. "Tired, just had to do some extra practice."

Oboni chuckled silently. "So much for you joining the extra practice. It's probably intact that Master Wun is tougher on extra practice."

Hemi nodded.

"It was for us, I mean we were chosen to be part of this."

Oboni nodded. "Well Master said that two people needed to be captured."

She looked at him and her face began to focus. "Which two people?" she asked. Oboni looked at her with disbelief. "You didn't know—didn't Master Wu tell you?"

"Well I was sick that time."

"Oh, that's right. He said that we're at the brink of war. Someone is trying to free a king that was captured two thousand years ago."

"What's the spirit's name? Who is trying to free him?"

"Master Wu suspects it's that person with the hood, friends with General Honsi," Oboni said. "And he's trying to free the ruler of conquer."

"Him?"

"Yes—"

*Rustle*

The two ninjas reacted swiftly and leaped behind the hill. "Who was that?" Heme whispered.

Oboni sighed. "Hopefully it's just some bunny, or something."

They tied their head garments onto their heads and slickly got out their swords.

*Tap*

*Tap*

They slowly went by the hill which was now not eternally a safe hiding place for them anymore.

"Owen!"

"Owen!!"

"Owen!!!"

A distant voice called out to Owen, as he gently opened his eyes. 'Huh' was his first reaction, as he expected to see hospital curtains and beddings only to be replaced with an abstract place, all white.

"Where am I?" he asked, as he looked around in awe of such an abstract realm.

"You are in the realm of true spirits," a woman standing right in front of him the whole time, now came into his view.

She had a white robe and blonde hair that swayed wherever she hovered.

"True spir—wait who are you?" his voice sounding urgent, as fear and anxiety washed over his face in an instant.

"Whether you believe it or not it's up to you but, you are hovering...or would I say, you are between the boundaries of life and death.

"As for my name, it is up to me to tell as I can see, you are not yet ready to know my name."

This was the only moment Owen took his time to study the woman in front of him. She wore a hooded cloak and only her nose to her jaw was revealed from underneath the hood. She was so fair skin yet, she wasn't pale white. Her skin looked smooth, her colour perfect, 'what if', the more he thought, the more she became a temptation, as his hormones started raging...his thoughts became impure. Just when he would succumb to his desires, something caught his attention….her cloak. There wasn't any wind, no flowing water, no vibration...yet, the cloak was flowing. It looks like it was flowing like a peaceful, serene flow of water...no, it looks like quiet, rhythmic breeze of the evening...no, that's not it, it looks like melodic tongues of fire, dancing to their tunes...no..no, I got it wrong, it looks like the gentle vibrations of the earth...no..no..no!!!, Owen kept battling.

His mind screamed out but his vocal cords were shut. His environment became paradoxical, he looked entranced, the realm began to spin between his eyes, his legs felt wobbly, but he wouldn't fall. The realm began to change shape rapidly, his head began to spin, he began to feel dizzy, it looked like antigravity took place, his head felt floaty, he tried screaming and calling for help...it was all futile, he looked rooted and planted to a spot...he couldn't move, speak or express himself in any way. He looked dead.

"Owen!!!!"

That distant voice just called his name once but, there was a feel of power to it. The paradoxical feelings, the chaos, the confusion, the dizziness, everything... stopped in an instant, the once tranquil environment returned immediately.

"Your mind is fragile and can be fiddled with, your spirit is strong, vibrant and inquisitive but your journey is rough, hard and dangerous. All this would be counted as weakness to you."

*Blink*

"What just happened?" he was finally able to speak.

"I told you earlier on that, this is the realm of true spirits. What I didn't tell you is, you can peer into a person's spirit, which is the life force of anyone and the soul, which is also known as the mind. The moment you start observing a being when you are in this realm, you are peering. Unfortunately, you are too weak to do that now, you have no power," she said as she sat down with Owen.

"I don't understand what you just said." he said, utterly confused.

"Your soul isn't strong enough to comprehend me or what I say or do, that's why you got transfixed to a point. If I had left you there, you'd be more of a dead man in two seconds."

"Heh!"

"Lest I forget." In an instant she was in front of Owen, her hands went straight to his jawline.

"What perfect jawline you have." Her voice became alluring again.

Unexpected, she planted a deep kiss on his lips. He felt so powerless to resist, his body couldn't even decipher his emotions. After what seemed like five minutes, she withdrew from his lips and smiled.

"That should cleanse your mind of all impurities you have of me...for now that is and try to stop ogling at women, especially me. You might fall into a temptation you can't get out of." she said as winked at him. She started to vanish like the stardust.

He tried to touch his lips, only for him to be called back to reality. Something wet greeted his face…..sputum, he had been drooling all this while.

"Eww!!" he exclaimed, as he wiped the sputum off his face. He observed his environment one more time, to be sure he wasn't trapped in that dream…'or was that real' he seemed to ask himself, as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face while he observed his ward.

He seemed satisfied, as what he saw were curtains, beds and other hospital related equipment, his ward was big anyway. While he was looking around, something with a darkish blue glint that should have missed his eyes, were caught at the corners of his eyes. He seemed to ignore it at first, as he did not bother to scrutinize it. Then, realisation seemed to have suddenly hit him, as he abruptly looked towards the position he saw the bluish glint.

To his bewilderment, what he saw…..'Jesus!!' That was the only word he could use as an expression there. A dark blue fox, with black and white strips, overlapping each other from the beginning of its nose to the tip of its two tails, was spotted by Owen. The fox carried on with its business of sniffing around, as it seemed oblivious of the fact that it had been observed by Owen.

The fox continued to sniff around, then it suddenly stopped. It sniffed in the air twice, and suddenly looked in the direction of Owen. Time seems to pause or maybe we just lost track of time there. A connection seemed to be established between them.

Shoot...I am finished. This isn't a good sign, it caught me looking at it. Shoot..Lord help me, Owen thought as he began to breathe harder in realization.

In a fraction of what they call a microsecond, the fox ran towards the locked window of the Owen's hospital ward, phased through it and vanished without a trace. But, all that was seen in the normal timeframe in Owen's point of view.

I'm alive. I wasn't eaten. I'm safe. Thank God, Owen hysterically thought.

The room spun in Owen's eyes, heaving a sigh of relief at what he thought was a narrow escape, he passed out.

'Maybe this is the backlash of what happened in my dream...or was that really a dream' were the last thoughts of Owen, at his blackout moments.