Location: Bukidnon, Mindanao
Time: 4:43 AM — Year 4, Day 2 Post-Outbreak
The forest was quiet again.
Except for the foxes.
Liza Santelices knelt in the damp grass, her breath clouding in the air despite the heat still lingering in the soil. Around her, two glowing foxes sat — one with fur like molten fire, tails curling in flickering flame; the other with snowy white fur, mist spilling from its paws as frost clung to the blades of grass beneath it.
She didn't know how they got here.
She didn't know what they were.
All she knew was that she had screamed…
and they had answered.
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It had started just hours ago — a blinding pain in her chest, like her lungs had caught fire. She'd collapsed outside their nipa hut, shaking, her mother yelling in panic. Then a voice. Not from outside. From within.
[Class Awakening: Summoner — Variant: Mystic Fox]
[Elements Detected: Fire. Ice.]
[Summon Initiated.]
And then—
Foxes.
Ten of them. Five wreathed in flame. Five shimmering in snow.
All of them appearing from nowhere, forming a circle around her as if they'd always belonged there.
The trees caught fire first.
Then the mist rolled in, freezing the flames before they could spread.
Liza remembered screaming again — not in fear, but in awe.
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Now she sat cross-legged, trembling, still barefoot, her palms resting on the cool earth.
One of the fire foxes padded closer, its molten glow pulsing gently. She hesitated — but it lowered its head and rubbed against her arm like a house cat.
The ice fox followed, quiet and graceful, placing itself beside her other knee. Its touch left frost on her skin, but it didn't burn. It was… calming.
"I don't understand," she whispered. "Why are you here? Why me?"
The fire fox raised its head, ears twitching.
The ice fox stared forward, silent.
"They're yours now," came a voice.
Liza turned quickly, startled. But it wasn't anyone physical. It was the System — the same echo that had named her earlier.
[Summons Bound. Loyalty: Absolute. Link: Emotional.]
She didn't know what that meant.
But she could feel something between her chest and these creatures — like a thin string tied between hearts. Each pulse of hers echoed through them, and they responded without hesitation.
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From a rise in the distance, faint drone lights blinked. Someone was watching.
Liza didn't understand the world beyond this mountain.
She'd grown up in a village where internet was a luxury and "Awakened" was something people in the city whispered about.
She knew monsters existed now — had heard the stories, seen the livestreams.
But she never imagined it would reach here. To her.
To someone like her.
Now, three of the fire foxes had begun pacing the edges of the clearing. Two ice foxes guarded the slope.
She felt it, suddenly — like a shift in the wind.
"…They're coming," she murmured.
Liza stood slowly, legs shaking.
She didn't know who would arrive first — the military? A guild? People who wanted to use her?
But she had ten foxes and a heartbeat full of fire and frost.
She wouldn't run.
The wind rustled the trees.
The foxes flanked her, tails blazing and freezing in equal measure.
And beneath her fear, something deep and quiet stirred.
Not power.
Not violence.
But will.