Into the Galaxy: A Fox Tale

[Blue Glass]

(A/N) I've been meaning to post this here after Spacebattles. I wonder if I should have posted it in the other category? Eh, whatever.

---

A gasp of breath and eyes opened as I groaned. My body felt like it was simultaneously numb and on fire. Pulling myself up slowly, I gripped my head, feeling a headache. I looked around, noticing that I was in some sort of forest with what looked like mountains on the horizon.

"What happened to-" I stopped as my voice was off/wasn't off. A bit of confusion came over me at this as I gripped my head yet again. "What the…"

I looked down at my body. I almost jumped at the outfit that I had on. It wasn't what I was wearing and neither did I look like this! "Wait, why do I think that?"

I asked myself in utter confusion. Of course, this was what I always looked like! No sooner as those thoughts come over than my headache returned as a series of conflicting memories came over. One of them is far smaller than the other. I lived a mundane life, being more of a fan of typical nerdy stuff like video games, anime, and visual novels. All that came to an end at around the time I turned thirty, after an accident.

However, those memories were being overwhelmed by my other set of memories. Of a Great Sun, fighting the White Titan, being worshipped by the people of Japan, causing chaos in India, China, and then Japan. No, I refused to consider the former two as myself, despite being myself as well. Regardless, I had met my end on the fields of Nasu, treated as an enemy of Mankind.

"Tamamo-no-Mae." I knew the story/my story. However, everything else told me exactly which one I was. "I'm the Tamamo of Fate!"

Of course, I am/I shook my head again. This is confusing as I don't really want to go crazy from both sets of who I am. Actually, how did I even end up here, and furthermore what even if here anyway? Looking up at the sky, I was greeted with clouds, the rays of the sun, and something in the sky. Bands of light that faintly seemed to be visible. Rings, those are planetary rings.

"Oh…"

I was in another world of some sort. That was obvious, what with the rings in the sky. Most of the trees and plants didn't seem awfully alien-looking. Some of the animals did, but others seemed familiar enough. Maybe I was in some sort of fantasy world?

Regardless, there was the issue of my ability to use Magecraft. I wasn't a ghost-liner or a Heroic Spirit. Worrying about mana would have been a huge problem. As for my own reserves of mana, of course, they are massive. I am a goddess after all!

On that notice, I created three familiars who moved around in front of me as they looked for any signs of anyone who lived here. There was a question about what I would do when I find people. Assuming this was a fantasy world I should look like I am not out of place.

My fox tail and ears are very clearly not normal for a human. Luckily, I can shapeshift, so that's not much of a problem. My own distaste for doing so, or rather the part of me that is Tamamo's distaste, didn't matter. My tail and ears disappeared as I now looked physically indistinguishable from a human. As soon as I did, one of my familiars had found what looked to be a road in the forest. It was old, mostly weathered stone and dirt, but a sign that someone had used this.

"Great, hopefully I can find a village or something."

I headed for the road as my familiars all joined me. I sent two ahead scouting in front of me as two others stayed behind and out of immediate sight. Given I had some time to think to myself. First, I had to think about my dress. As much as I love it, I am going to need to change it into something more practical.

The only thing is I don't have anything else. All I have with me is the clothes on my back, some ofuda charms, and my mirror. On that note, I took it out in order to look at it. One part of me knew the full fury of what it could do while the other side still had a bit of a hard time grasping it.

One of my familiars found that the forest opened up ahead and led to a river with what appeared to be a proper dirt road up ahead. If there were a river and a road, that would mean there had to be civilization!

---

By the time it was afternoon, my familiars who were still ahead of me had come across actual signs of civilization. A large town that cut through the river with farmland all around it. Funny enough, the village looked walled with an aesthetics that I could tell was Japanese-esque. As I finally came up to the walls I was greeted with two guards at the gates who each had something in their hands that seemed out of place.

They had what looked like full-automatic weapons. Sure, they looked worn down, but there was no mistaking them as anything but out of place in a fantasy setting. There was something off about the walls themselves. By the looks of things, they are ceramic instead of wood or stone. To my knowledge, I didn't recall the idea of ceramic walls being a thing.

One of the guards pointed their gun at me and spoke in a language that I could only somewhat understand. Learning the language would take way too much time, and unfortunately, I did not have the aid of being a Summoned Servant to speak the language. What I did have was knowledge of how to use a spell to translate what was being said by me and to me.

"Again, who are you?" He asked while the other guard seemed to almost roll his eyes at this.

"Come on, Jin look at her, she isn't threatening looking."

The second guard was taller than the first. More scared and a bit more older looking compared to his small companion. While his younger one still had his eyes on me, he turned to the older guard with visible annoyance.

"How can you say that Riku?" Jin motioned at me with the gun in his hands. "Look at her, she's dressed like a courtesan, how suspicious is that?"

I was tempted to curse him just for that. My outfit was great! No, I did need to change that much because I was going to be on my own for now.

"Think, Jin, yes her outfit is suspicious, but look at her more closely," The older man, Riku, pointed out to me. "She has no weapons on her, and given how she looks, it's unlikely she could go anywhere without drawing eyes on her."

"What if she's a witch?"

"I doubt it, she doesn't look like any of them."

Well, he isn't technically wrong. Witches are a type of elemental, though from what I was getting, they are probably going by witch in the term of evil magic user. I am most certainly not a witch even by that definition!

Finally, I decided to cut into this conversation. "So, can I enter or?"

As I asked, there was a small pause as both of them looked at each other. Riku moved his head to the side a bit with a knowing smile before Jin put his weapon down. "Fine, but we're watching you, Ms...?"

"Tamamo."

---

Technology didn't make much sense. It was like a weird mix between feudal Japan with bits of modern technology, or rather something that gave the appearance of being modern. Something was up with all of that, and I needed answers. Luckily, there was a passing merchant from whom I was able to get answers.

"So, this world is a lost colony?" Everything about it started to make a lot more sense. This wasn't a fantasy world but some sort of sci-fi setting. That's why technology that seemed out of place was here.

"I won't know if we are lost, the story goes that something cut us off." The man took a sip of his alcohol. By the looks of things, he was a bit drunk, which made it easier to get him to talk. "Our ancestors came here on great ships through the Astral Ocean, but a great storm was said to have cut us off, and during the storm, the Old Lords destroyed much of our civilization."

I am guessing that it was probably in the panic that such a thing. It could be the old leaders trying to keep order, or they had gone tyrannical. Whatever the reason, they must have been overthrown, but in the process, the world was subjected to an apocalypse. Helped at explaining the weird schizo tech level I kept seeing.

Time to get some more answers on when this was. "How long ago had this been?"

There was a pass from the merchant who seemed to be in thought. Either that or he was having trouble remembering thanks to the alcohol. "I think about four, maybe five thousand years?"

"Five thousand years?!" How had a single planet been cut off from a space-faring empire for that long? Unless whatever cut them off cut off most if not the whole of the empire.

I was able to get more bits of history off the man. Apparently, he seemed to be a bit of a history fan as he went into detail about some things. He talked about a long dark age that was eventually broken by the rise of Daimyo. Warlords who ended up carving their own little Kingdoms on the planet. There had also been two religious groups, one of which worshipped four gods that had been wiped out by the other with the aid of the Daimyo, with records about it being rather sparse.

As he got drunker, he started rambling about how little was recovered from the old vaults, or about them being destroyed. Even with how much he could make off them. Regardless, I stopped talking to him as he got a bit handy with me. Still, I was able to get a few maps out of him. One local, another of the world, and the last of the greater region.

Magecraft was good enough to fake that I had money. Something that made it easy, but also pushed me to leave before the night. A new outfit, some maps of where I was heading, and a bit more ofuda for me. As I stood out as night came over the sky, I started to wonder exactly what I was going to do.

---

Third POV

Twenty pods flew out through a chaotic mass of storms and what looked like swirling gases. One by one, each streaked through these storms before disappearing through rifts that had opened up. Finally, the last of them disappeared into the rifts as the attention of four beings who watched this returned to their own little plans. The first part of a grand plan had been done, and for now, they will wait until it is time for them to work together.

One of the four went back to a great crystal tower that served as his fortress. The Changer of Ways, Tzeentch looked at the various possibilities of what was to come. All the futures before him were as possible as to be and simultaneously unlikely to ever happen. What confused him was that some of them were suddenly just stopping. Futures fading into nothing, new possibilities being made, and with it the threads of fate being rewoven.

Tzeentch tried to figure out what was causing this. The Laughing God? The Deciever? Perhaps even the Emperor reaching throw time? "It's small right now, almost like a random change in possibility."

For Tzeentch, despite all his power and cunning, couldn't control everything. Nor was he the only player on the board of destiny who could change things. Yet, even then, sometimes things would just happen beyond his control and understanding. "Most of everything seems to be in order anyway."

Pushing that aside from now but never completely, he returned to another play in the Great Game. Whatever had changed things would make itself known; it, too, will fall into the plans of the Architect of Fate.

 

[Noah_The_Noah]

Oh, this is on here now. That's cool.

 

[nayithan]

I wonder if I should have posted it in the other category? Eh, whatever.

Click to shrink...

SFW stuff is allowed in the NSFW category, and the latter has vastly more traffic. You'll get a better response posting in the latter, especially if you plan to have any fluffy tail lewds

 

[Blue Glass]

SFW stuff is allowed in the NSFW category, and the latter has vastly more traffic. You'll get a better response posting in the latter, especially if you plan to have any fluffy tail lewds

Click to shrink...

Should I repost it then on there?

 

[Noah_The_Noah]

Should I repost it then on there?

Click to shrink...

It would probably allow it to get more attention I think.
Oh… though I don't know if reposting a story is allowed?

 

[Blue Glass]

It would probably allow it to get more attention I think.
Oh… though I don't know if reposting a story is allowed?

Click to shrink...

I mean I will just delete the thread.

 

[Noah_The_Noah]

I mean I will just delete the thread.

Click to shrink...

Okay, they yeah. You should do that I think.

 

[Blue Glass]

Okay, they yeah. You should do that I think.

Click to shrink...

Whelp can't delete it. Whatever. This will be Archieve then

 

[Blue Glass]

"The Genpi are defeated, which means the Edo have taken much of the east and have made the Rukyu their vassals," A map was laid down before a group who looked on as one of their group pointed to the eastern side of the main continent of the world.

Everyone here looking over the changes in the world was the Guji, the leaders of the Shinbutsu-shugo. They are the planet's religious order and leadership whose task was multiple and whose power and position were tactically neutral. From ordering the various acts of faith to more important tasks. Dealing with those who are mystics and any signs of the other faith.

"It's almost impressive how fast they have come in the last ten years," By all rights, the Daiymo of the Edo had been a something of a middle power. One that would have either greatness or would have fallen into vassalization to another. "The Edo lord and his strange adopted son have turned themselves into a power worthy of the right to be called Shogun."

Another Guji pointed down at the western side of the Great Continent. "Speaking of which, the Yamato resurgence has not only reunited their shattered dominion but has forced those who took advantage of them to submit."

Yamato was a dominion that everyone there had expected for a long time to collapse. At one point, it had come the closest to ruling the continent and even the world outright. Decay had set in, the dominion slowly broke down from internal conflicts, independence, and incompetent leadership. Finally, it had seemed that ten years ago everything would fall apart as a succession despite lead to open rebellion. All until one individual had seemingly come out of nowhere and taken control of the Yamato.

"So, the pink-haired woman has managed to reunite the Yamato dominion at its height?" One of the men spoke with a hint of suspicion at all of this. A sentiment shared by some of his colleagues over the woman's ability to accomplish all of this.

These were a more paranoid group who had heard rumors about her. One was that she was a rogue Mystic. Something that seemed reasonable given how quickly she rose to power from seemingly nowhere. Never mind the strange happenings with objects that she claimed to have made. Amongst them, there was only one possibility.

Another of the Guji rolled his attention to this. "We've already checked the creations, you know, there are no signs of the Darks Ones' taint in any of it."

A gramble was all that was done in return. Sure, there were no signs, but even still, for the minority faction, this didn't stem their suspicion. Falling into power from nowhere was forever suspicious.

"Perhaps there is some potential right here to finally bring the planet together," A new voice who had been watching the arguments finally spoke up. The group turned to the man who had been content to allow the eight of them to bicker with one another.

"What are you getting at Doujimaru?"

---

Tamamo POV

Ruling a kingdom came rather easily for me. I am the Queen of the Shinto Gods, patron and ancestor of the imperial family of Japan. I also know a bit about how to run a nation, thanks to destroying one as Daji, seeing how Toba's court had done things, and what I knew was poor choices by the nobles of the imperial city.

"With the final submission of the Emishi, this means that we have managed to extend ourselves well past where we had been almost three hundred years ago," The foreign minister spoke as he had a look of awe at my achievement. This man had once been a bit of a critic of me at the start, and slowly his opinion had changed.

The groundwork for this still did exist, but it had required a bit of outplaying the more powerful nobles. Judging by what I could get from history, one ruler was put into place before they were ready; one could guess what happened. "Well, is there anything else that is important?"

I already knew the answer he was going to give. Edo was a growing power in the west, and that was a problem as far as he was concerned. "Yes, though there is something that was sent to us from the Guji."

"What is it?" To my side, a man who is dressed in modified samurai armor. His face showed signs of aging, as did his hair, with it starting to grey, but everyone knew that he wasn't someone to mess with. There was a reason Yoshimi was the head of the military.

"The Guji Doujimaru has asked that the leaders of Yamato and Edo come together in order to propose an alliance between them both."

Silence had gripped the room after those words. An alliance between us both? Yoshimi spoke up about this. "You mean a marriage?"

Marriage? As in I get to be the wife! My joy, unfortunately, had to be tempered at this. For one, this was a political marriage. Those did tend to be loveless or at best one of mutual respect. Maybe I can make this into one that is actually built on actual love?

"Can you tell me more about this?"

Yoshimi looked at me at this alongside a few of my other advisors. Each one had a different look on their face which betrayed how they are feeling, even if subtly. "Are you considering this my lady?"

"Why not if this ends up going well, then the planet will be set up to be united," Something that was the dream of the Yamato rulers. A bit funny how, despite having the possibility hundreds of years ago, they couldn't act on it.

"And what if they try to take advantage of you?"

Right, Edo was also starting to make moves that could be said to conquer the continent, if not wishing to perform the same ambition of conquest of the planet. Perhaps they saw this as just a means to an end. Use me to claim the planet unaware that I can destroy their little Kingdoms like I did with China, which I was not going to let happen. I'm willing to be a wife, not some tool.

"Oh, don't worry; I already thought of that." I released much of their worries at this, a sign of their trust in me. "So, where are we supposed to meet?" I turned back to my foreign minister. "I take it that it's not in either of our dominions?"

"Yes, the Lord of Kansai, Sutoku, has offered his capital as a place to hash this out." A few of the Ministers whispered to themselves. The Lord of Kansei was the center of a conspiracy theory amongst some of them.

Of course, I was skeptical myself even if I didn't voice it. The Yamato are almost all killed, leaving the last heiress to the Yamato, who went crazy after a foreign tour, and in her madness named me her heir. A position I didn't even try to gain. I had only come to the city to look over the library and was made a handmaiden by her before the assassinations.

Regardless, the Lord of Kansai wasn't the only one who was suspect. There was others who were more open about their desires and others who could have done something to her. "Well, we'll be on the safe side then, I hope he understands."

---

Third POV

Kansai, a small but wealthy dominion at a natural harbor. Its neutrality had been well known and even more fought over. Mists from a morning fog passed by the harbor as a ship came to dock. At the dock, a few armed warriors walked down, a symbol of a Red Lotus Flower. Slowly coming down into the docks was a mountain of a man.

Twelve and a half feet tall, with a body that was broad and muscular to match. His long black hair was tied back as he looked on with his deep grey eyes. The giant of a man wore a Hakama with the symbol of the Red Lotus while his arms still had his armored gauntlets on. His two swords hang from his sides, each one longer and bigger than what one would usually expect, but fitting such a giant of a man.

As the man walked forward, he was greeted by another man in his early thirties, despite his white hair would lead one to believe, who walked up dressed in the white kariginu, which denoted his position as a Guji. The Guji gave a bow of respect. "Ah, Tsukuyomi, welcome to Kansai."

"Doujimaru," Tsukuyomi spoke his words, having a firm yet soft spoken tone to it as he returned with a slight bow. A small smirk on his face. "I should have guessed the Guji who thought of such a proposal would be my old tutor."

"Old?" Doujimaru was visibly insulted by this. Although he had his own smirk at this, showing that it was all in jest. "I'm only thirty-three!"

Both of them started to walk as Doujimaru led the giant of a man with him. "So, how is your father?"

"He's on death's door, I'm afraid," Tsukuyomi thought back to his adopted father. A man who raised him since he found him.

Tsukuyomi didn't fully know everything about what had happened before that. He recalled he had others like him, and that he had a father. How he ended up as he did, he did not recall. Even with all that, he loved and respected his adopted father.

Doujimaru figured he should stop touching on it for right now. Instead, he decided to focus on what was happening right now. "I'm surprised you agreed to the marriage proposal."

"Well, my father is wondering if I would take a wife, and I figured I should give a dying man his last request," A light chuckle came over Tsukuyomi at this. There were many other benefits, but this one was something for the now senile adopted father. "Doujimaru can can you tell me about the Lady of Yamato?"

Tsukuyomi did what research he could about the Yamato before he agreed. The past had always been something that he was fascinated by. Even in the conquests, he took great effort to try to collect the records of the past and anything from the few ruins and vaults that existed around the world that were now in his territory. From what he learned, the Yamato had the largest archive of the past of the world, excluding the Guji's own archive, which was rather secretive, especially about certain events in the past.

All the research meant rather little on the history of the clan that once ruled the dominion. A dynasty that had ended didn't have any bearing on the new ruler after all. "Lady Tamamo came to power rather unconventually as the last act of the Mad Heiress, although her rule has been remarkable with how much she's been able to both keep the realm together and expand it."

Turning over to the dock as out of the fading mist, another ship was seen. Landing on the other side of the harbor with a banner showing a Rising Sun. The symbol of the Yamato Dominion. Already, it looked like the delegation was beginning to disembark.

"Well, it looks like they are here early," Doujimaru was about to go and greet the delegation when he turned over to the giant of a man next to him. "Are you coming?"

Tsukuyomi looked at the coming delegation, and as he saw Doujimaru walking down to greet them, he started walking with him. Meeting with his future wife was what he was going to do anyway. It didn't matter if he did this now or later. 'Better to do this now instead of at the castle.'

---

From the castle overlooking the city, a man looked on as he could make out the two ships in the harbor. The most noticeable thing about him was the pale mask that he wore on his face with slits for his eyes showing them to be a deep red color. He turned around, looking at the host of people behind him. "You know what you are to do, yes?"

A nod was given to each one of them. The host soon left as the Lord of Kansai was left to himself. He walked slowly down the halls to his private study. 'All my plans in the last ten years seemingly undone, and yet here is an opportunity unlike any others.'

Sutoku thought back to the message he received from his estranged half-brother Doujimaru. Asking if he could hold a political summit for the Guji alongside both Yamato and Edo. He had a silent prayer for his brother's foolish choice, a gift from the gods.

Getting into his private chambers and his study, Sutoku walked to a wall and opened up a hidden compartment. Pulling out of there was a metal box, one with a leather covering. Sutoku had a smirk on his face as he opened the box. Inside was a sword, one that was broader than those typically used in the world, its spine was jagged while a dark black sheen came from the spine while turning to a faded red near the blade. The most noticeable thing was around the crossguard which had broken into six bars and a wicked eye that seemed to be embedded into the center of the cross guard. Finally the pommel had a red spike at its end.

Sutuko grabbed the sword as a faint voice spoke into his head. "Yes, this shall be a great sacrifice to the Gods."