PoV:
1. Sora Moore (Our Recovered Null-Void MC Foxy Mom!)
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Sora sighed as she sat at the bar and allowed Mofupsi to bustle around the kitchen, who was carefully positioning her orange nine tails so they wouldn’t get caught in the food she was serving.
It was something else, seeing a foxy maid in her kitchen, serving her with a collar on her neck; Wendy and Emilia found it amusing, but Sora felt a bit sad she wouldn’t be able to cook anymore.
Of course, she could cook with her sister-maid; although, that name did sound a bit like she was a maid herself, which was kind of on point when it came to taking care of her daughter. Overall, it was just another pair of hands to support her.
One thing was for sure, Mofupsi had a lot to learn about cooking; Sora grimaced after the first bite. Sure, it smelled good, but the taste left a lot to be desired, and she appeared to have used spices on not just the eggs but the meat, too, peppering it in almost a batter of powders.
“Blah…” Emilia’s tongue hung over her plate as she spat out the food. “Ick.”
Mofupsi’s eager expression, wagging tails, and upright ears lowered at the reaction from her breakfast. “I tried to do what I normally do when making food. Spices are extremely valuable in the Yellow District; we only had a limited amount, so… I always ate as much as I could.”
“Ahem,” Wendy coughed and chuckled. “More… isn’t exactly better,” she rasped.
Emilia floated up a bit. “I can help—Mom?”
“Hehe,” Sora walked to the pantry and slipped on an apron, turning around to put her hands on her hips. “It’s my time to shine! Okay, Moppy, we’ve gotta have a morning cooking lesson. Cinnamon rolls, Emi?”
“Again?” Wendy asked.
“Yes! Yes! Cinnamon rolls and chocolate layers, too? OH, but… the time,” she whispered, glancing at the clock she’d made on the fridge. “Don’t we need to train?”
Sora waved her hand dismissively. “You’re on Sora time today, which means I set the schedule!”
Wendy chuckled and moved to reach around Sora for a small tub of yogurt—odd considering her usual appetites—from two days ago. “Maybe for Emi and you, but me? I’ve got some catching up to do, so I’ll be going ahead. See you in several hours or more—I got some accelerated training on my schedule.”
“Later, Auntie Wendy! See you soon.”
“Later. Don’t fill up too much.”
Sora smirked, pulling out the supplies to show a discouraged Mofupsi how to make the items. “Don’t get too tired trying to break, ahem, a planet.”
“Oh, shut up, frisbee; try destroying a solar system without cheating,” Wendy huffed, Rita popping out of her tail to stick her tongue out at her. Vix was teary-eyed, floating after his master, clearly sad he couldn’t partake in the fluffy cinnamon goodness they were going to make.
“Hey, you could always give it a try—what… don’t have the stomach, Sis?” She chuckled as the grumbling girl asked the Realm to teleport her to the training room; it was the first time Sora saw her use the method, showing she’d been watching her carefully.
“We use all of it?” Mofupsi asked, dumping the flour and cinnamon out on top of each other to Emilia’s open mouth. “This is how I’ve seen some vulpes use these—”
“No! Auntie! Gah… Wait, all my spice collection—I have to make more—no-ho-ho!” she cried, slumping onto the counter and shoving her plate aside. “It takes sooo long to harvest!”
“Sorry… I can separate it—if you show me where you harvest…”
Sora put a hand on Mofupsi’s back, trying to calm her slight panic as the calm facade she’d displayed vanished, showing her nervousness at stepping into this role. “Chill. Hehe. No need to rush, Moppy. Just watch… sometimes less is really more,” she winked, motioning at the dumped-out ingredients on the counter.
“Tell her, Mom!”
“I’m sorry, Mistress…” she mumbled, tails wrapping around her leg and cheeks darkening with embarrassment. “I tried to practice through the night when you went to bed… I hoped I had improved.”
“Aww. Don’t feel bad; we enjoy food a… bit differently than you have. Don’t rush; you’ve been eating this way for like… thousands of years! It’s okay. It just means we can grow together. Right, Emi?”
“Yeah!”
“Want to help?”
“Mhm!”
“Okay. Let’s begin!”
Getting everything together, they made breakfast and showed Mofupsi the recipe book they used, teaching her the name of all the different ingredients they used; as time passed, she grew to enjoy the maid-in-training development in their family.
Mofupsi had only known cruelty, loneliness, and bitter stagnation for millennia; now, a new world was opening up to her, and Sora wondered if she wanted to be in this servant role to cope with the fear of this branching world she’d stepped into.
The woman wanted stability—repeatable actions she could fall back on—but also the ability to step outside her comfort zone from time to time; she needed a support system, and Sora was happy to gift it to her.
Sora breathed in the sweet, cooking scents that only bread and surgery treats could bring; it was heavenly, and Mofupsi tentatively tried the item. She’d eaten their cooking before, but breakfasts, dinners, and sweets time had improved dramatically over the weeks as they’d gotten into the swing of a stable life again.
“Good?” Sora asked, biting into her own hot bun when they pulled it out.
Emilia’s cheeks were red with delight. “Mmm! Better than yesterday, Mom—more chocolate!”
“It is… unique,” Mofupsi whispered, smacking her lips and glancing to the side. “A complex blend of flavors compared to the strong tastes I am accustomed to.”
“You’ll get used to it!” Sora grinned. “Mind cleaning up? We’re going to take ours to go.”
“Of course, Mistress,” her sister-maid curtsied. “I will manage the house in your absence and… prepare a meal from this book you have shown me for dinner.”
“Sounds good!” they both chimed, waving her off before using the Realm to teleport to Wendy and Kari’s training room.
Emilia stiffened as they entered space, making Sora chuckle when her daughter fake gagged before realizing her spiritual energy automatically converted to air to sustain her.
“Mom! Ack…”
“Uh-huh… How can you talk in space?” she asked, glancing around the random solar system of broken planets and dual, blue suns at its center.
“Oh… Yeah. How am I?” Emilia whispered, ears popping back up and tails shifting left and right as she used her energy to fly. “Isn’t space supposed to be cold, too?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” Sora returned, crossing her arms and scanning the area to examine what had been done.
Asteroids filled the area they’d entered, showing a partially ruptured planet with its inner magma rupturing out like an open wound onto its surface. One planet in the far distance seemed to be cut in two, and she could sense Wendy’s Null-Void near the two suns, attempting to draw them in as Kari watched nearby.
Guess she took my advice to heart.
They were at a distance way beyond her daughter’s ability without using more advanced sensory feats. It was amazing to Sora that she could identify them so far away, making her aware of just how far she’d developed through the year.
Emilia’s eyes lit up. “Wait! My spiritual energy is helping me survive? It’s like how it regulates my body heat when I’m in a blizzard.”
“Body temperature,” Sora absently corrected, observing her sister sucking in the star from afar; it was far too slow and wouldn’t have the effect she was looking for. “And when were you in a blizzard?”
“White and Tola brought me to the north to learn how to use my magic with snow… Ugh—it’s too heavy—it’s pulling me, Mom!”
Sora chuckled at her growling daughter as she tried to be a cowgirl and lasso an asteroid.
“Work smarter, Emi.”
“A more efficient weave of magic?”
“It’s kinetic energy,” Sora mumbled; Kari and Wendy appeared to have noticed them through Emilia’s magic.
“What’s that? Ugrrr! Mom… Oh, what if I connect two big rocks together that are going the opposite way? Let’s see… it snapped…” she groaned, tails drooping a tad with annoyance.
“Look, it’s your aunties.”
“Where?!”
Sora pointed at the flash of a radiant, brown shooting star; Kari was simply slipping through Existence’s threads, taunting by always being a bit ahead of her.
“Cool!”
For Sora, it showed her friend hadn’t learned how to slip between the threads of Existence or follow a pulse that bypassed space and time; of course, she’d only learned that kind of method through facing her Shadow in that basketball game.
Emilia grew a little bored waiting for the two, eyes beginning to wander. “When are they going to get here, Mom?”
Sora put a hand on her hip and motioned at the four chakrams that floated in front of her, instantly drawing her daughter’s expectant and excited gaze. “Should I kidnap them?”
“Yeah!”
“For my first trick…”
Two of her chakrams illuminated a bright red before darting forward, vanishing into the folds of Existence, skating on the threads to instantly appear before her surprised friends.
“I’ll be pulling teenage girls out of thin air!” Snapping her fingers at the two remaining rings, Emilia clapped as they spun in a wide circle, producing the two confused girls like a rabbit from a hat. “Ta-da!”
“Wooh!”
“Wha—are you kidding me?!” Wendy groaned, glancing back at the blue spheres in the distance; Rita darted out of her hair, hands tight against her chest as she mirrored her master. “You left Vix and Kedragor…”
“Did I?” Sora hummed with an innocent grin. “Oops.”
Kari snickered. “I… have to admit; that was sneaky, Sora. How’d you do that?”
“A girl doesn’t spill her secrets!” Sora winked, bringing her main chakram around to spin in a tight loop above her finger like a basketball. “Are you watching, Wendy?”
Wendy’s shoulders slumped. “No… How do you do it?!”
“Keep your eye on the ball… Woops—where did it go?” Sora asked her giggling daughter as it vanished, transported into the center of the left star.
“Hehe. I don’t know, Mom—where did you send it?”
Kari jabbed her thumb behind her, wearing a dull expression. “My guess… it’s over there already.”
“The sun—suns?!” Emilia gasped. “Ah, it’s bright!”
“It’s… going to get a lot brighter,” Wendy mumbled. “Are you trying to kill Vix and Kedragor—these aren’t normal…” she trailed off as Sora burped, flashing her teeth and holding a hand to her mouth. “Really?”
“Excuse me! Hehe. Wow, a sun with a magical core. Interesting.”
“Yeah…” Kari hissed, rubbing the back of her neck. “We have no idea what’s going to happen with this supernova.”
“Supernova! Wow… I-Is Vix going to be okay, Mom?”
“Haaa…” Sora sent another two chakrams through folds to snag the pair; Kedragor shrunk down to a smaller size than she’d seen thus far to fit through her ring. “Uh… typically, at this distance, I’d say it will take like… six days or so for it to reach… Huh? Interesting.”
“Pretty…” Emilia whispered as multicolored lights shot in ten directions, sending pillars of unstable magic into space four times faster than the speed of light, leaving a faint trail. “I couldn’t make magic that strong like… in a hundred years! You did that, Mom?”
“Uh-huh… It’s not that hard,” she snickered at the dirty look Wendy gave her; her sister must have been trying to replicate her for a while. “You just need a big enough stomach.”
“Glutton,” Wendy grumbled, crossing her arms under her modest bust. “How can you do that—instantly—I’ve been trying all week… Ugh. I’ve had stomach aches just trying.”
Kari nodded, tail flicking to the side as she watched the eruption pull inside to cause two rippling disks of spiraling force, linked by a singular beam at their center; the two magical suns had somehow been converted into a super wormhole. “Huh. That happened way faster than it should have.”
“Magic,” Sora shrugged. “It’s really simple, Wendy. All I do is travel through the folds of Existence to its center and suck up the super-dense mass or expel what I can’t through another chakram.”
“I can’t do that with my pages,” she complained. “Ugh. I guess I’ll try to figure something else out.”
“Chu!” Vix chimed, jumping into Emilia’s arms and licking her cheek, making her giggle.
“Working hard, Vixy?”
“Chu!”
“Nice! Uh… Where does that portal lead, Mom?”
“Who knows,” she returned, not that interested since this was a training simulator universe. “The Realm creates random places for us to use, so it’s probably some project some past alien race used or something. Why?”
“It’s just… I think I understand the magical pattern,” her daughter mumbled, releasing her fox to try spinning it in the air. “It’s something like… No! It collapsed. Humph. Can I go study it, Mom? I know I can get it!”
“Mmh, I don’t know,” Wendy hesitantly shifted to stare at the blue portals, clouds of cosmic dust entering its orbit. “I feel it’s a bit dangerous.”
Sora created a double, making Kari’s mouth drop open. “You—you copied me!”
“Nu-uh… well, ‘technically’ yes, I guess,” she mused, sending her clone through a portal to test the environment. “Umm. It is a bit unstable, but—perfect opportunity!”
Kari, Emilia, and Wendy followed her chakram as it expanded to spin around her daughter, creating a soft white glow around her.
“What is this?” Emilia whispered, scanning herself.
“A Null-Void shield?” Wendy mumbled. “You can make—”
“Not a ‘shield,’ ” she huffed. “I call it Null-Armor! It repels anything I would find dangerous. Cool?”
“Super cool!” Emilia chimed, flying through her still-open portal to the wormhole. “Thanks, Mom!”
“Yup! Have fun.”
Keeping it open, Sora turned to her friends, noticing her more serious expression. As her daughter analyzed the magic left behind by the two stars exploding, Sora explained what her mother had discovered.
Kari breathed out a long sigh as she finished, creating a large wolf of total darkness next to her, comprised of Reverse-Existence force. “So… I basically need to step out from my father’s shadow or fall into it. Heh. A test to show I’m grown up? I can work on getting ready for that.”
“Uh… that’s not what I got out of it,” Sora mumbled. “I guess that’s kind of true, though. So, what’s your plan for the week, Wendy? I’m going to try and balance out my Persona and Shadow—well, start there—I have to balance my Null-Void and vulpes magic.”
Wendy scratched her neck, glancing between her three pets. “I’ve got the basics down, I think. Now… I need to find my own unique abilities. Can you help me when you have time?”
“I think we’re downers this week,” Kari laughed. “We’re both working on inner development rather than… What would you call it, Sora?”
“Outward power expression?” she shrugged.
“Sure. That. I think I’ve got a leg up on it because I’ve always been an individual.”
Sora’s left eye creased. “Well, you were in a pack, which is kind of a group or ‘hive.’ ”
“Nothing alike!” Kari waved off.
Wendy nodded. “Haaa. Alright. I’ll figure it out.”
Humming thoughtfully, Sora brought her clone back through the portal; obviously, her version was different than Kari’s shadow wolves since she could swap consciousness between them, but she suspected once the girl got better control over it, she could do the same.
“I could set my clone to battle-mode and have it spar with you.”
Nervous vibes reverberated from her sister’s book, but she steeled her resolve. “That… could help. Can we test it out today before you go into your Core and I become a living punching bag until you happen to wake up?”
“Haha. I can set instructions for it like a computer, so you should be fine, but sure.”
“Mom! I had it open for a few seconds!”
They cheered at her accomplishment before breaking into their own tasks.
Wendy tried to learn her own unique skills through combat with Sora’s powered-down clone, acting as a bullet hell simulator.
Kari transferred to one of the less destroyed planets to meditate and hone her resolve for the conflict of wills with her father; she’d lost the first interaction when she’d been turned into a satellite for his power, attempting to understand Sora’s unique Null-Void.
On the other hand, Sora used the day to teach Emilia more about entering the Outer Body Technique, having flashbacks of her aunt guiding her through the same exercise; to their excitement and Sora’s praise, she achieved the feat far swifter than previously. Then again, her daughter had received far more formal instruction at this point.
The next few days in the time-accelerated chamber ended with them testing out their unified connection without much success; Emilia was frustrated, but she cheered up after Sora reminded her how much faster she was learning than her.
Leaving Kari and Wendy to continue their personal grinds at 8 p.m., her brown-haired sister assured her she’d return within 15 minutes for Mofupsi’s dinner as they teleported back home.
Mofupsi was waiting in the hallway, bowing her head as they appeared. “Welcome home, Mistress.”
“Hey, Auntie! You should have seen it; my mom blew up a star—two—and they became portals, and I’m learning how to make them. Oh, they’ll still be there next week, right, Mom?!”
“I’m sure there’s a save function,” Sora chuckled, having the Realm bookmark it. “It was fun—oh, lemon chicken with lemon butter sauce, seasoned rice, and… freshly baked bread?” she whispered, mouth beginning to water. “You’ve outdone yourself, Moppy!”
“Thank you! Is… Lady Wendy going to be joining us?”
“Uh-huh!” Emilia returned, jogging into the kitchen. “It smells so good.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Sora explained.
“Wonderful.”
The rosy smile that brightened her big sister’s face and twitching fingers at her apron front—no doubt wishing to draw on her pipe—softened Sora’s heart; it moved her, seeing the woman try so hard to find her own place in her first family.
Sitting at the table, they listened to Emilia excitedly talk about her first-day training with her mother, and when Wendy showed up, they thanked their maid-sister for the food; it was delicious, and the happy reception made Mofupsi’s face shine.
She’d made enough for two days—for five people—not understanding what their typical proportions were, and when Sora helped her put away the leftovers, she discovered most of their supplies for the items had vanished.
Aww. Was she cooking all day, trying to get it perfect? Still… we can’t go through food like this. Hehe. Emilia’s going to blow a gasket when she finds out all her precious food is gone. I need to get my magic back…
Emilia was a bit cross, sitting the over 7,000-year-old vulpes down to explain how they have limited resources here; she can’t be using up their month’s worth of food in one day! Naturally, the woman’s big eyes melted the girl’s heart; she knew her auntie was trying and said she’d go grow a ton more spices, but she had to be selective on the meat.
Sora promised to talk to Tola tomorrow to get more, but her daughter insisted that she was a big girl and she could do the shopping and growing, so she gracefully allowed her the chance to demonstrate.
And, to Sora’s shock, Mofupsi managed to convince the girl to give her the task of shopping in the future; of course, it was probably the chance to be the teacher, instructing her on how to tend to the huge fields White, Tola, and she had cultivated over the last two months.
They grow so fast… Sora tearfully thought, seeing them off to bed after the clean-up; Emilia convinced her auntie to use magic to clean them since doing it by hand took way too long—cooking was okay, though—it was ‘therapeutic.’
Sora wondered what ‘secret’ teenage romance book her daughter that she’d pulled that from; White had slipped a few to her and informed Sora of the deed. She had no delusions about her naughty 12-year-old staying up thirty minutes every night to read her books under her covers.
Tucking her in, Sora went to bed, mentally preparing herself for the week.
The following day, she invited Liz and Aiden to dinner to learn how they were doing. Her attempts at balancing her Null-Void and vulpes magic didn’t go so well, but she knew there would be barriers she needed to overcome.
Aiden and Liz were now pretty open about showing their affections, but it had been over a year since they’d drawn closer together; she could hardly recognize the red-haired bird with how healthy he looked.
Liz was focusing entirely on spiritual expansion—advice she’d gotten from Alva—since the girl didn’t have the explosive and natural growth Founders did; she was making significant progress, impressing Emilia with her short-distance portal creation.
Sora had to admit, she couldn’t even do that before entering the Vulpes Realm; it was amazing progress, which Aiden was proud of. She should see why he’d stopped practicing with them—other than spending personal time with Liz—since the woman kept comparing herself to their rapid leaps in power and getting depressed.
Aiden was caring but firm in pushing his girlfriend, and she liked seeing each milestone she passed; they had a whole board in their little home for the achievements the pink-furred vulpes had made using her magic. He wanted to show them while she was embarrassed and said it wasn’t finished.
Again, it was a wonderful day, and each one after that was filled with more dishes as Mofupsi expanded her menu; Sora had to admit, it was nice having someone that cooked and had everything ready so she could put her energy into other things, like spending time with her daughter.
Nights ended and mornings started, day after day was filled with maid breakfasts and dinners, and Saturday came too fast; the relaxation day was filled with fishing—Emilia’s idea—and the mischievous girl didn’t tell them about the 4-meter-long monsters in the depths.
Kari was surprised by the deep-lake fish’s sudden appearance and had to wrestle it to the shore; she had to paddle, keep the line straight, the boat afloat, and not stress Emilia’s magical fishing pole too much so it wouldn’t snap, all with Emilia laughing and clapping. The Fenris Wolf enjoyed any challenge, so she weakened herself to make it a more even struggle.
Her daughter balked as Sora used her chakram to just teleport it onto land and cut its head off, saying that’s against the rules; Vix just chased them underwater until he got one to the beach itself—he didn’t get chewed out.
Grilling them on the shore and ending the night with Aiden playing the guitar—Liz thought it was cool, so he’d learned to play a few songs over the year.
The week ended, and Sora hadn’t made much progress on her magic, but she was starting to see a slow change in the cycle of locusts and growing wheat—it was taking longer for the swarms to devour it.
Lying down to sleep after kissing Emilia goodnight, teasing her about the book hidden under her pillow, she retired for the night; tomorrow was her second week with Emilia, and it was finally time to see what Eyia and Jin had been up to.
She couldn’t believe only eleven weeks had passed in the Vulpes Realm; she may have been on her twelfth week here, but training, she’d almost reached the two-month mark into the new year.
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