-----Back to work Michiko she is Aware of the visitor-----
Ahh, perfect. Michiko’s no fool—she’s danced with gods, cracked magical laws, and walked the storm-path of Chaos. So when something new slips through the veil, just close enough to watch but not touch?
She feels it.
---
Return to the Trail – Michiko, Aware
Location: Outskirts of Ul’dah, Eorzea
Time: Moonrise
State: Focused… and now on alert.
---
The runes were behaving oddly.
Her etchings on the brass plate kept glowing before she inscribed them. As if the aether anticipated her.
Michiko narrowed her eyes.
The fire crackled beside her, casting long shadows across her draconic silhouette—subtle but present, even in her humanoid form. She looked up toward the shimmering dunes and ancient rocks.
Something was near.
Not hostile.
Not random.
But aware.
She turned a piece of scrap metal in her hand—tiny flickers of purple flame dancing along its edge as she whispered a phrase that hadn’t existed a moment ago.
> “Watching winds… whisper names.”
The air responded. Softly.
“Lantern…”
A chill brushed her spine. Not fear. Recognition.
> “So. You saw me.”
She set the plate aside, eyes scanning the night.
---
Michiko’s Thoughts, Quiet and Sharp:
> Too quiet. Too perfect. Like a stage set just for one audience member.
And he’s clever. Not trying to breach—just observe.
But he left a rune…
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
She walks over to the sand. There, half-erased by wind, is a single symbol she didn’t draw.
“Curious.”
She kneels and smiles.
> “Cute.”
Then, using her claw, she etches a reply below it:
“Come closer. I don’t bite... unless you're rude.”
---
She doesn’t look around.
But her breath—just for a moment—glows with soft white fire.
Just in case.
---
Would you like to:
Shift POV to the Lantern Fox and his reaction to her response?
Continue with Michiko’s preparations—she’s setting a trap, or maybe an invitation?
Let them meet face to face—dialogue-heavy, layered with tension and curiosity?
----pov lantern fox-----
Let’s slip into his shadow-silk skin.
Step behind the mask and into the mind of the one who hunts without hunting.
Time to see what the Lantern Fox sees.
---
Perspective: The Lantern Fox – Thread Pulled Tight
Location: Ul’dah Region, Between Seconds
Current Form: Half-Veil (not fully materialized)
Emotion: Amused. Intrigued. A little bit thrilled.
---
She noticed.
Of course she did.
He didn’t leave the rune by accident—but he hadn’t expected a reply quite so quickly.
Yet there it was, etched in deliberate chaos energy, folded into sand and starlight like a signature.
> “Come closer. I don’t bite... unless you're rude.”
He chuckled.
That was new. Most anomalies ran. She invites. Baits, even. That tickles something in him he hasn’t felt in years:
Play.
---
He prowls across the edge of reality now—tail-tips flickering in pulses of blue and white. A soft humming trails behind him like a song only time can hear. His body is a sketch of light and suggestion—just enough presence to cast a shadow on her flame.
He watches her breathe.
He tastes the energy around her—the blend of chaos and discipline, raw instinct and high logic. Runes and dragonbone. Star-souled curiosity.
> She’s like me… but newer. And not hiding.
He remembers what that felt like. Before rules. Before mistakes.
---
The Mask Speaks
He lets his mask fall into full form—silver edges, mirrored eyes. No mouth. No features. Just reflection.
And into the air, he releases a whisper carried on foxfire:
> “You learn fast, little storm.”
The wind carries it. Barely above a sigh.
And then, with a shimmer of decision, he steps fully into her world. No more veils. No more between.
For the first time, in any realm, he walks toward her as himself.
Not hidden.
Not disguised.
---
Final Glimpse:
Michiko turns, ears perked.
She sees a figure walking from the shimmer where reality bends. Nine tails. Floating footsteps. A mask that shows her own face reflected back.
They lock eyes.
> And the multiverse holds its breath.
---
Would you like the next scene to be:
Their first full conversation – testing each other with words, theories, and subtle magic?
An unexpected twist – a third party intervenes (Watcher? Local threat? Multiversal enforcer)?
A shared challenge – a sudden anomaly appears, forcing them to work together?
------------Michiko Find a path to Multiversal hub to her home universe fiction/2775/the-white-dragon-inactive------------
Got it. Michiko, ever the inquisitive wanderer, has stumbled across something odd—a path unlike any other. Not a rune-gate, not a chaosfold, not even an aetherstream.
No.
This is something older. Stranger.
And filled with stories.
---
Scene: Michiko Finds the Hub
Location: Between Realities – “The Threadpath Archive”
Entry Point: A rippling mirror in the sand, humming with authorial energy.
---
The runes on her plate twitched.
Not flickered. Not glowed.
They twitched. Like insects disturbed by sudden light.
She had been meditating when it happened—tracing a pattern through the weave between realms, using chaos-imbued symbols and ancient dwarven root-script to try and stabilize the Lantern Fox’s residual trail.
Instead, she’d pulled something else.
A thread of metadata.
> A title, anchored by reader emotion.
A link, carved not in space, but in attention.
A door—not magical… but narrative.
---
She blinked.
Before her, flickering in the air, hovered a glowing inscription:
> "www.royalroad.com/fiction/2775/the-white-dragon-inactive"
A multiversal echo.
An origin story.
Her story… or at least, a reflection of it.
And behind it—lurking just beyond—was something massive.
A hub. A core. A gathering of every path, every divergence, every fiction given breath.
---
Michiko steps through.
Not transported by magic. Not flung by chaos.
She clicks.
Like turning a page.
And the world expands.
---
Welcome to the Royal Road Multiversal Hub.
Here, every fiction exists.
Every world connects.
Every version of Michiko—from noble dragonling to universe-slayer to shy girl in a village—is catalogued.
And someone… or something… is reading.
---
Would you like to:
Explore what Michiko finds inside this Hub?
Introduce a guardian or curator of the multiversal stories?
Let Michiko read her own alternate tales and reflect—or tamper?
Have the Lantern Fox follow her in… and react to seeing “fiction” about themselves?
----That's it for now. To be continued?----
?? ?? ??
