Prologue – The Cold Stone Tomb
In her fading memories, Fox Valley was always dressed in the lush greenery of summer.
Though dozens of seasons must have passed, the Fox Valley in her mind remained frozen in the height of summer.
The scent of the meadows, the blue sky, the warm breeze brushing her cheek—and within it, someone smiling…
“If you keep holding on like that, you’ll die.”
The flat voice rang out, sharp with the resonance of ice.
The paradise beneath her closed eyelids scattered like smoke before a typhoon as she lifted them.
When she opened her eyes and turned her head, white breath clouded her sight. As the haze cleared, he finally came into view.
Inside a cave overflowing with ice, only two living beings remained.
–Heheheh.
–Pathetic little fox.
–I’ll kill you. I’ll slit your flesh and strangle your throat.
–Trying to die, are you?
–Stupid thing.
–Pitiful, really.
The voices of ghosts pierced her eardrums as though tearing them apart. Their curses were as cruel as blades slicing into flesh.
Being thrown into this frigid place, surrounded only by them, was all part of tormenting Soha.
“Why does your merciless clan drive you into such agony?”
That was Seok Ja-un, second son of the Black Tortoise Clan.
In a family that had lost both the power of their divine beast and their guardian spirits, they had kidnapped a fox child—one of their vassal race. The purpose was singular:
To exploit the fox’s ability to summon ghosts, twisting that ghostly power into a false imitation of divine might.
The method was brutal. Suffering made it easier to call forth spirits. That alone was reason enough to shatter a life without hesitation.
“That way, you can wield the power of ghosts.”
The cold air made her fingertips burn. If frostbite set in, her hands and feet would rot away, but no one cared.
“Will you simply die like this?”
Ja-un asked.
“If you allow me to.”
But the fox was never allowed to die. She would be saved, healed, patched up, and forced to gather power again.
Blue ice shimmered in Soha’s black eyes. Her gaze, cool and unflinching, turned to Ja-un. His own eyes shifted past her, to something beyond the altar where she sat.
“…To you, is death more intimate than life?”
Even eyes that could not see ghosts felt the chilling blade of death surrounding her. The frost was thick enough to freeze the cavern itself.
The presence of so many spirits would chill anyone’s bones.
Ja-un felt the suffocating terror. Yet within it, Soha remained unshaken.
When he questioned her, she smiled. For a moment, his gaze deepened.
“You no longer beg to be spared.”
“That naïve child is gone. Unless you’d prefer I beg you to kill me instead.”
“…I wish you were dead.”
“Because I’m the product of your clan’s incompetence?”
She rose from the center of the ritual circle.
Though her body swayed and Ja-un instinctively flinched, she steadied herself, clutching her bleeding arm, and turned her back on him to walk toward the circle’s edge.
“At the same time, I wish you to live.”
“Don’t give that wish a name.”
She cut off his words and stepped beyond the boundary.
–Kyaaaaaah!
–Screeeech!
A fierce wind howled through the cave, though no wind should exist here. Her pale hair whipped wildly.
Clang!
The ritual dagger fell from her hand. She bent to retrieve it, staggering each time she moved.
Behind her, Ja-un spoke:
“You’ll survive this time too. As you said, we need you.”
Soha let out a bitter laugh.
Ten years. A decade of life worse than death.
She raised a hand toward the spirits circling her. They never touched her. Yet as she brushed the empty air, the scene carried an eerie beauty.
“I’m reminded of a tale I once stole from your shelves as a child.”
Her eyes were hollow as she recalled it.
“The story of the goose that laid golden eggs, cut open by human greed.”
She limped forward. Ja-un moved after her, matching her distance.
“The fate of the Black Tortoise Clan will be the same.”
Boom. The air stilled.
The raging winds died. Her hair and robes fell flat.
“What do you mean?”
The ceiling began to crack above them.
Crash!
“This is a sacred place, where divine power sleeps. To summon so much malice here… even a divine beast would be enraged.”
“What?”
“If you don’t want to share that wrath, run.”
Rumble!
The icy chill intensified, the ground trembled harder.
“Yeon Soha!”
She turned at his shout. Their eyes met through falling ice and rock. Without hesitation, she turned away again.
She had long known: those who brought corruption into holy places would suffer divine punishment.
Only regret that her rest had come so late.
–The fox is dying!
–Kahahaha!
–Who will summon us now?
–Who?
–Screeeech!
The ghosts shrieked, their wails splitting the cavern.
“So—!”
Boom! Crack!
The collapse quickened. Each blink brought more falling rock.
Soha’s gaze landed on a mural carved deep within the cave wall: Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, White Tiger. The Four Divine Beasts said to protect the land.
To her, they were nothing but monsters under other names.
She drove her dagger into the wall.
The blade, tainted with ghostly power, bit into the fractured stone.
Crack. Crack.
The solid wall split. The collapse accelerated, white light spilling through the widening fissure.
“Ugh—”
With the last of her strength, she stabbed the Black Tortoise’s sacred core.
The wall shattered, and her body froze rapidly. Agonizing pain consumed her.
‘…It’s quiet.’
She had gone deaf. The ghosts that haunted her all her life were silent.
‘At last.’
She had gone blind. The horrific spirits vanished.
In the darkness, she saw only greenery. She heard only water and birdsong.
Collapsing under ice, she dared to make a final wish:
‘I want to be buried in Fox Valley.’
They say a fox, even in death, longs to return to its den.
It was a wish that would never come true.
