((A story commission for  Raksha_Jareth. Features my character Miranda and his character Rythven.))

Old Obligations

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Kim and her friends laughed, smiled, and chatted as they walked down the busy sidewalk. She couldn't remember the last time she had had this much fun.

There wasn't anything special about today. Just a group of four friends hanging out on a bright Fall afternoon. Which, Kim believed, was what made it so special. These little moments -- no social pressures, no worries, just friends hanging out and having fun -- were what made friendships important. What made them matter.

"So, wait, I'm not sure I understand," Miranda said. "I have to press this little ball here?"

Kim stood on her tip-toes to try to see Miranda's phone, which the large sphinx helpfully lowered it so the squirrel could get a better look. "Almost," Kim said. "You have to press your finger down here and then swipe it up to throw the ball! If you hit the monster, then you have a chance of catching it."

Miranda pressed her finger to the phone and moved it up, but she released far too early. The colored ball bounced on the ground in front of the digital monster on her screen.

The sphinx's brow furrowed. "I'm not entirely sure I understand. Why am I catching these monsters again?"

One of their other friends, Jessie, a female feline, answered her. "Because they're cute! And you want to collect them all!"

And the other friend accompanying them, a male wolf named Ryan, chimed in, "Plus it gives you an excuse to get out of the house and hang out with your friends."

Miranda smiled, showing off a feline muzzle full of sharp teeth. "Okay, that part I get." She looked back at her phone. "So, I've got to hit these 'stops' too, right? And why are they like a box of chocolates?"

Kim smiled back. "Nice try! Not answering that. And yes, but we're not close enough to that one yet."

The group started walking down the street towards the next stop. Kim looked up from her own phone to see a male fox walking towards them.

The sidewalks were mostly deserted around this time of day, and wide sidewalks made it easy for their group to stay to one side and let other pedestrians pass. This particular male, though, was heading straight for them.

He certainly looked unusual, too. His fur was grey, with a black underbelly and ears; Kim wasn't sure she had ever seen a fox with those particular colors. He wore a pair of jeans and a leather jacket that was open in the front, exposing his chest. More unusual, he had what looked like a string of large prayer beads hanging around his neck, and a white mask on his head, currently pushed up so it didn't cover his face. His frame was slender, but his muscles wirey. Something about his posture and expression made him seem almost... delicate.

He waved as he walked up to them. "Hello there, young'ns. Out enjoying the nice weather?"

"Hello, Rythven."

Every eye in the group turned to look at Miranda. Kim had never heard her sound like that; the sphinx was usually jovial and friendly, but this time her voice had sounded cold and sharp, like ice.

The fox didn't seem phased; his voice remained just as jovial. "Well, if you'll excuse me, young lady, you have me at a disadvantage. I..."

"Let's take this somewhere more private," Miranda said. She turned to the rest of the group, and though her tone became warmer, Kim could tell that her smile was forced. "Guys, I need to take care of something. Would you guys mind if I meet you at the supermarket down the street? I might be a few minutes."

"Um, sure," Ryan said, though he sounded anything but "sure." "We'll meet you there. Come on, guys."

The rest of the group continued on down the street, leaving the smiling fox with the scowling sphinx. Kim looked back to see the two of them walk down a side-street and into an alley.

"What do you think that was about?" Kim asked.

"I dunno," Ryan said. "An old ex, maybe?"

"Maybe. Maybe we shouldn't have left them alone."

"It's what Miranda wanted."

"I'm going to go back," Kim said. "Make sure she's okay."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Jessie said. "Miranda asked us to..."

But Kim had already turned around. "I'll meet you guys at the supermarket, okay?"

"Well... okay," Ryan said, still sounding unsure.

But Kim had already turned down the side street to follow her friend and the stranger.

As she walked, she realized that this was more of an alley than a street. Fire escapes lined the walls, and multiple groups of trash cans sat clustered outside back doors.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, young lady?"

Recognizing the fox's voice, Kim closed in on them... and then, at the last moment, rather than approaching the two of them directly, ducked down to hide behind some trash cans. Some instinct told her not to interrupt.

She could still seem them well enough from her hiding place. The fox stood there, leaning against one wall of the alley, as smug as ever. Miranda had her arms crossed in front of her chest, her expression neutral.

"Cut the crap, Rythven," Miranda said. "I know who you are, and you know exactly who I am, too. Enough playing games. Reveal yourself, or I'll make you reveal yourself."

"Oh, but Guardian," Rythven said, "playing games is exactly what I'm here for." The fox smirked. Then he reached up and pulled the mask down, so it covered his muzzle.

The change started immediately. His fur rippled, starting at his head and moving down his body. His tail flew out, as though caught in a strong wind, though of course no wind penetrated into this alley. The tail bristled, then seemed to split, turning into a writhing mass of black and grey tails.

His body shape changed, too. His back arched, and his body started to elongate. His hands changed, becoming more like paws, and he fell forward, landing on them. His coat and jeans disappeared, and now Kim found herself looking at a wolf-sized, black and grey feral fox, the mask still covering his face and the beads still hanging around his neck.

Kim just stared, her eyes wide. She wasn't sure what to make of any of this. The giant, transforming fox was strange enough, but what was really weirding her out was Miranda's behavior. She had never seen the sphinx act so cold towards anyone before. And had the fox just called her "Guardian?" What did that even mean?

"Better?" Rythven asked, still apparently able to speak in spite his change of forms.

"Yes," Miranda responded.

Rythven stepped forward, circling around Miranda, letting his tails come up to caress her upper body and face. "So, since you know who I am, I imagine you know what I've come for?"

Miranda stayed stock still as she allowed the strange, multi-tailed fox to walk around her. As he finished circling around in front of her, she held out her hand, which contained a wooden mask, similar to the one the fox wore, though the pattern on it was slightly different. "I believe that this is what you want?"

Kim furrowed her brow. Where had that mask come from? She hadn't seen Miranda take it out from anywhere, and she didn't have any pockets to hold something that large, regardless.

The fox froze, staring intently at the mask. "So you do have it!" His jovial facade had dropped, and his voice strained with need. "Give it to me!"

Miranda held the mask up, away from the fox. "Now, now, you know it's not that easy."

The fox snarled, but then composed himself, his voice taking on the jovial air again. "Indeed I do! Once a sphinx, always a sphinx, eh?"

Miranda smiled. "It's been over six hundred years since I've had an encounter with someone like you, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten the rules. I'm not planning on letting you have this."

Kim stared at Miranda from her hiding place.

Six hundred YEARS!?

"Of course," Rythven said. "I never imagined you would give it up willingly, and I don't have enough magic left to take it from something like you by force." His voice took on a sharp edge. "But then, there's always another option when a sphinx is involved, isn't there?"

"You really want to go down that road?" Miranda asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know what the stakes are. Don't think you'll be able to weasel out of the price if you fail."

"You'd be surprised how good I am at weaseling out of things," Rythven answered. "But yes, I understand."

"Then go ahead and make it official," Miranda said. Her voice now also had a sharp edge to it. It was still cold, but she also sounded just a little bit excited.

Rythven sat down on his haunches in front of Miranda. "Sphinx, for my mask, I challenge you to a contest of riddles."

Kim could never quite describe what happened next. There was no physical change between them; no dramatic rustling of wind, no distant rumble of lightning, no sudden appearance of a magical sigil. And yet she had no doubt that something had happened. A new pressure filled the air, and Kim could feel it drawing her towards them, as though gravity were trying to reorient itself to set the space between the sphinx and the fox as its new origin point. The whole universe warped in some imperceptible way, and the tension as it strained to pop back to its original configuration made Kim's nerves feel as tight as bowstrings.

Miranda waved her hand, and though her tone was businesslike, Kim thought she could see the slightest bit of a smile creeping around the edges of her mouth. "You're the challenger. You go first."

"Very well," Rythven said. "Feed me and I live, yet give me a drink and I die. What am I?"

"Easy," Miranda said. "Fire."

"Correct." Rythven didn't sound too disappointed. "Your turn."

"I am tall when I'm young, and I'm short when I'm old. What am I?"

Rythven grinned. "A candle. You'll have to do better than that, sphinx."

"I'm just getting warmed up. Go."

Kim listened and watched as the pair continued asking riddles back and forth. Her hand gripped the lid of one of the nearby trash cans so firmly that her fingers were starting to hurt. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her mouth was dry. She had never seen an encounter as intense as this riddle game. It was a game of riddles -- it shouldn't be so important! And yet Kim felt as though the fate of the whole world depended on the outcome of this game.

The speed of riddles and answers increased as the players fired off question after question, tacking their next riddle onto the previous answer with barely a pause.

"I don't have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thoughts, but now I'm white and empty."

"A skull. I'm harder to catch the faster you run."

"Your breath. You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present, But the future can never taint me. What am I?"

"History. What can you catch but never throw?"

"A cold. What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?"

Kim was getting dizzy just trying to keep up with them. She looked at Miranda, and noticed a slight increase in her smirk as the turn came around to her.

"What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon..."

Rythven laughed. "Ha! That one's easy. It's man. What can fly without..."

"Wrong."

A tense silence filled the air between them. "What?" Rythven asked.

"You were wrong."

"But... but I know that one! It's old! What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening! The answer is man!" Rythven's voice sounded frantic.

"That wasn't the riddle was I was asking. I was asking a different one. It just started the same: 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and on wheels in the evening?' The answer is 'A soldier who loses his legs in battle.'"

"But I didn't get to hear the whole thing!"

Miranda smiled. "But you answered."

The fox stared at her, his eyes wide beneath the mask. Then he whipped around, as though about to make an escape.

Miranda waved a hand, and the universe suddenly returned to normal. Kim felt the air rush from her lungs as the pressure that had been building drew in suddenly, focusing on the fox. As though grasped as the scruff of his neck by an invisible hand, the wolf-sized fox lifted into the air, his legs flailing uselessly.

"Maybe we can make a deal!" Rythven cried out.

"I told you that you can't weasel out of this."

Miranda spin a finger in the air, and Rythven rotated around to face her. She clenched her fingers into a fist, and Rythven's limbs stopped flailing, flying to his sides as though they had been tied there.

The fox's tone grew angry, but Kim recognized it as false bravado -- she could still hear an undertone of fear. "You cheated!"

"I did not, and I take umbrage at the implication. I asked a riddle, and you answered. It doesn't matter if you didn't give me time to finish." She reached out, ruffling her fingers through the fur of his chest. "Now, it's time for me to take my prize."

"W-wait! Don't..."

But Miranda opened her mouth wide and pushed the fox's head, mask and all, into her mouth.

Kim had seen Miranda eat large prey before, but she didn't think she had ever seen her eat anything this large. Yet she didn't seem to have any problems as her mouth stretched to take in the fox's thick shoulders and chest. Though whatever magic held the large animal aloft still seemed to be in effect, Miranda put her hands on the fox's side to help guide and pull him in.

Wet gulping noises filled the air as Miranda swallowed the fox down, her lips traveling over his black underbelly as his body disappeared into her. She leaned forward, making a forward "biting" motion as she swallowed his haunches, forcing his useless legs to straighten out.

She tilted her head back as she pushed his legs into her muzzle, and soon only the large mass of thick, writhing tails was left on the outside. Then she slurped those up as well, and the fox became nothing more than a large bulge in Miranda's body.

Miranda put her fingers on her upper chest, seeming to enjoy holding the squirming fox in her throat. Then tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and swallowed again. Muscles in her upper body flexed, and the large bulge slid downward, disappearing between her set of feline shoulders and settling in her lower belly. The huge meal hung there, swaying and wiggling with each movement the sphinx made.

Miranda licked her lips. "Mmm... well, now that that's taken care of... Kim, you can come out."

Kim's heart leaped into her chest, and she jumped to her feet, revealing herself from behind the trash cans. "You knew I was here!?"

"I did. I didn't want to draw attention to you, lest the nogitsune get the bright idea to use you as a hostage. It wouldn't have saved him, of course, but I wouldn't be able to live it down if one of my friends got hurt because of me." Miranda's voice had returned to the normal, warm tone that Kim was used to.

Kim stepped around the trash cans and approached her friend. She wasn't sure what to say. "What... what did I just see?"

"An old life catching up to me... one I thought had forgotten about me a long time ago." Miranda smiled. "It seems there are some things you can never quite leave behind."

"So now what?"

"Now the old field fox gets digested," Miranda said. "He probably still thinks he can get out of this -- just transfer his essence to another body once this one dies. What he hasn't realized is that by challenging me, and losing our game, he has let himself become completely subject to my magicks. I'll be absorbing all of him... both body and soul."

Kim swallowed hard. "I, um, I meant... what happens to me? What you just said... is that my fate, too?"

Miranda stared at her friend. "Oh... Kim, no!" She put a reassuring hand on the squirrel's shoulder. "No, I didn't mean... okay, look, I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell any of our other friends about any of this, but I'm not going to hurt you just to keep my past a secret. Just... say he was an old ex coming back to bother me, so I took care of him."

Kim let out a long breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. Then she laughed. "That's... exactly what I said to the others when you first ran off. I guess great minds think alike? Not sure if they'll believe you, though." She pointed at Miranda's belly. "That bulge is way bigger than that guy looked when they saw him."

Miranda laughed too, and the remaining tension between them deflated. "Eh, it's close enough. Come on, we should get going. I don't want to waste the whole afternoon. You still need to teach me how to play that game."

"Okay. But we're going to talk about all this later. I'll keep your secret, but this was way too weird to just forget about."

"Deal."

Kim smiled, and the two of them walked back towards the main street, eager to continue their afternoon.