Karma sighed.
"So, you too desire sovereignty…" she said with a trace of sorrow.
"You wish to be another contender for the final throne, just like them."
"Of course." Azriel replied without amusement.
"Whoever sits at the top can change the world at will with a single word, and that is what I want."
"Certainly, I will be different from them in many ways. But what matters is that I will change the way people see the spirit world, as well as our relations."
He spoke as though discussing the weather.
"And that's why you want to revive the sovereign pathway?" Karma looked at him with her almond-shaped eyes filled with sorrow.
"That path is harder than you imagine, especially in times like these."
"I know," Azriel answered, taking another sip. "But only that path gives me a chance against them."
"After all, they too followed that path." He drank again.
"Mana created the mages, and Aura the warriors, but the path of sovereigns has always been Qi's."
Karma sighed.
It was ironic, yet true: the mage-queen could fight just as well as the emperor could wield magic.
A sovereign had to be the model of their people; they had to be beyond all others.
"And so…" Karma asked, "you came here to seek your familiar?" Azriel nodded once again.
"According to legend, from the very beginning, when a Twintails is born, a fox man or woman is born alongside them."
"A perfectly compatible partner, allowing them to walk the same path as Qi, the sovereign pathway."
"I am correct, am I not?" Azriel asked again.
Having only heard stories from books left him full of questions.
"Yes, you are," Karma said as she stood up.
"For hundreds of years, more and more children were born here, but no one came to claim them… until today, at least."
Azriel raised his eyebrows at her words.
"Others like me?" He asked, surprised, but Karma only laughed.
"Hard to say. Perhaps some ancient cultivator, but someone as young as you? Impossible."
"When one of our own is born, it doesn't always mean someone born at your side."
Azriel sighed at that, such a revelation could be shocking to him.
"Then it won't be hard to discover who it is, my familiar." He braced a knee and rose to his feet, meeting Karma's gentle eyes for a moment.
She chuckled in agreement.
"For years I've wondered what kind of human would come here to claim her. She was so different from many of my children."
Azriel narrowed his eyes at the words 'her' and 'my children'.
"She was born sick, just like you." Azriel's eyes widened again, his hopes of being cured by his familiar quickly slipping away.
"Oh, come on, don't react so harshly to her. "
"You've only heard two things about her and you're already like this." Karma puffed out her cheeks.
"I am her mother, remember?"
Azriel cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Of course, of course…" He looked at the youthful priestess before him and couldn't help but think her appearance was deceiving.
By his calculations, she must have been at least forty, yet she looked no older than eighteen.
"Let me take a closer look at your illness." Azriel nodded and allowed her to approach.
"As I can see, it's a complicated sickness, probably a curse cast by those two, or the result of some similar incident."
"Simply put, your energy flows in reverse. But reality is not so simple."
"It's extremely difficult to resolve through ordinary means. It would require our god's intervention."
She stepped back and smiled with her eyes.
"However, my daughter can resolve it instantly, without any effort." She laughed softly, leaving Azriel bewildered once again.
"And why would that be?" he asked.
"Simple. Because she was born with the same illness, only in reverse." Karma laughed at the irony of fate.
Legends in this world clearly held power, and yet all she could do was laugh.
"She was born with a sickness that makes her absorb energy in excess, turning her into a living bomb."
"She has lived her whole life being poisoned by the surplus of energy within her, but that too will end now."
She wiped away a tear that slid from her amused eyes.
"The contract will make you two one, and therefore cancel out the effects."
She concluded with the obvious, though she couldn't hide her amusement at his expressions.
He was the first pilgrim in a very long time, and he was young.
The last pilgrim Karma had seen, some one hundred and thirty years ago, had been a grumpy old man.
For the first time in centuries, she felt entertained.
If Azriel were to glimpse just how ancient she truly was, he would be terrified.
"But before I give her to you, I want to test something,"
Karma said with a smile.
"I want to see if you can figure out who she is."
"Who she is?" Azriel repeated the question.
"Yes. Doesn't sound like such a difficult question now that I've told you about her, does it?" Karma nodded.
"And yet, how many daughters do you think I've had? How many of them were born sick or crippled?"
"That will be your challenge…" She finished, before glancing to the side. A fox-man suddenly appeared beside her.
"Gather them all." She ordered.
Azriel waited patiently as the foxes, some in human form, others in beast form, assembled around him.
There were so many that they had to climb onto the temple buildings to look down at him from above.
Most had pure white fur; some bore red or green markings.
Some looked more like cats, others like dragons with scales and wings.
Some were as large as mountains, others as small as squirrels…
And in that moment, Azriel understood what Karma meant.
They were all unique.
In a world where a rabbit wears a suit and a top hat, what on earth does the word impossible even mean?
They were all children of a fox, even if none resembled their mother.
"I'll tell you in advance." Karma said, stepping closer to him with a smile.
"If you choose wrong, she stays, but you'll never know whether you were right or not, since I'll still give you a contract with one of my children… or even with me."
Her smile grew wide and mischievous.
"What does that mean?" Azriel frowned.
"I can clearly see adults, elders and even beyond that among them, and you're obviously stronger than they are."
She laughed, amused.
"Of course. My rank is higher than theirs, and all of this could be yours if you wanted. A gift from me to our new sovereign." Karma spoke calmly.
"What nonsense. You know why I want her. Only she can cure my illness, isn't that right?"
Karma then dropped her smile, placing a finger to her cheek as if in thought.
"I could take you to our god in the end, and he would cure you," She said firmly.
"That would even be a better solution. This way, you'd be the first human to have such a powerful familiar from the very beginning."
"Imagine a world where I myself guide you. "
"My ancestral teachings, combined with your youthful hot blood, could work miracles. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
Her smile returned.
"I'm certain your little city wouldn't be able to contain you after that, not even the Dark Emperor or the Pale Queen."
"The world would be delivered to you on a silver platter."
"Isn't that what you want?"