Raiju's Grand Adventures: Into the Cloud's End Covered in Mud

      Raiju woke up in the morning and stretched like he always does. As he attempted to open his eyes, he looked around. To his surprise, he was alone making him question everything that had happen the day before, again. He couldn’t see any sign that Tenko, or rather, Grimoire, was there and he started to worry about his mental health. If this fox wasn’t actually there, that’s just another figure of his seemingly ever growing imagination or mental health problem. Before he could think too much into it, he heard a rustling in some bushes near by and saw the newly familiar face appear. At least he wasn’t going crazy, maybe.

      “Ah you’re awake! I didn’t think you’d be up this early.” Grimoire was wearing a dark blue haori kimono cardigan with a paper crane on it’s back with nothing under it, and the shorts from the day before. “Hope you’re ready for today!”

      Raiju just looked up at him with his eyes still just half open, his right eye completely closed still. “What are we doing today?” He stretched again and forced both his eyes open after he yawned.

      “Well, you’re going to go to a world called Pavia. It should still be early enough in the season for it to not be that bad for you though I’d go prepared.”

      “And how do I prepare?” The thought of going to a strange world was slightly terrifying to Raiju and he was sure Grimoire could tell.

      “First,” Grimoire said as he pulled out his bag and started digging through it. “You need something to hold water in as you’ll need it where you’re going. Probably not since you should arrive near a city but it’ll be good to have regardless.” After a few moments he pulled out a bottle made from what looked to be some kind of hide and handed it to Raiju.

      “Thank you?” Raiju said as he grabbed the strange bottle. “And how am I going to get to this world?” Raiju’s eyes were still fixed on the bottle but his head was tilted slightly more than he meant to.

      “Oh that’s the easy part. You just stay right there and I’ll have you there in no time!” Grimoire closed his eyes as he touched a stone. It wasn’t until that moment that Raiju noticed that he was surrounded by a circle of similar rocks. After a few seconds, Grimoire moved his paw and the rocks started to glow a deep green. It wasn’t long until the light from these rocks was so bright that Raiju had to close his eyes but shortly after he did, the light went away. When he opened them, he was in the middle of a desert.

      As he looked around, all he could see were sand dunes and various rock formations. “Where’s the city you mentioned?” Raiju asked but all he got for a response was a slight breeze. He eventually stood up and put on his cloak that luckily was close enough to him to be teleported with him. “I guess I should just pick a direction?”

After a couple hours of walking in a random direction, Raiju was starting to feel the exhaustion. Luckily for him, the heat didn’t bother him at all as he could control fire but thirst was still a concern. It didn’t take long for Raiju to accidentally drink most of the water Grimoire had given him leaving him with only a little left. He sort of absent mindedly drank from time to time while trying to find any sign of this illusive city.

      Another couple of hours passed until Raiju noticed everything was getting dark. At first he didn’t think much about it since he figured it was just getting late but the sudden boom of lightning striking near him convinced him otherwise. With a loud yelp, he quickly turned to see what caused the sound but only saw something strange laying in the sand. As he slowly started walking close to the object to see what it was, rain started to pour down and his fur and cloak were soaked in a matter of seconds. Instinctually, Raiju started to shake the water off but found that it didn’t help as the water just kept pouring down from above.

      Quickly, he started to walk faster in the direction he was going, completely forgetting about the strange object in the sand, as the ground under him became harder and harder to walk through. The sand was starting to turn to mud and small streams started to form from the excess of water. Another boom and a flash caused yet another yelp to leave Raiju as lightning struck a few meters in front of him. The shock wave alone was enough for him to slip and fall into a puddle of mud water. Luckily most of his body didn’t land in the water. Unluckily, his face did and now his fur was covered in mud. He stood up and tried wiping as much mud off his face as possible but only ended up adding more as his paws were also covered in mud.

      After a long sigh, Raiju started to walk again but this time, something new caught his attention. There were lights on the other side of one of the sand dunes. Quickly, he started to awkwardly run the best he could towards the lights; sliding and falling once again before reaching the top of the hill. Once he got there, he was amazed to see what looked like some kind of celebration. People were outside under large gazebo-like shelters either eating various types of food or dancing or comparing what looked to be different coloured glass. The rain was still beating down on him as he just stood there staring at the festival. Suddenly, another large boom rang out from behind him accompanied with a bright flash that caught everyone’s attention. Raiju, getting scared yet again, jump and his paws slide on the slick mud-sand and tumbled down the dune towards the festival. At least the thunder covered up his yelp this time, or so he hoped as he picked himself off the ground yet again. As he attempted to clean himself off, he noticed the rain had stopped but he could still hear the distinct sound of water falling. As he looked up, he noticed there was something covering him that wasn’t there before and someone was holding it up. Almost immediately he recognized the off silver fur that was attached to the object.

      “There you are! By the looks of it I’d say you got lost out there.” Grimoire said while wearing a slight smile. Embarrassment ran through Raiju as he now noticed he has attracted a lot of attention and he was covered in mud. “Don’t worry about them. Here, come with me to my house and we’ll get you cleaned up.”

      “You have a house here?” Raiju tilted his head and looked down when he heard the wet slap of some mud falling off of him and landing on the ground.

      “Not necessarily. I’m renting it for our stay here. Now come, your sad wet dog look is breaking my heart.”

      “Hey!” Raiju retorted but as he looked down at himself, he realized how right Grimoire was and quickly followed him with his head held slightly down and tail sagging. All Grimoire did was chuckle slightly and walked with the poor wet wolf until they came to a small house.

      “And here we are!” Grimoire said as he unlocked and opened the door. “I know it’s different than what you’re used to but here, I’ll give you the tour. Here’s the living room, a place where we can relax when we’re not out in about. There’s the kitchen, don’t worry about all the weird things in there, I’ll cook all the food.” He opened another door and signalled for Raiju to enter. Raiju was having a hard time keeping up. He was used to houses with thatch roofs and candles or lanterns and the houses here were more modern with electric lights and appliances and running water. “This is the bedroom.” Grimoire said as Raiju finally entered. “I know there’s only one bed, I tried getting one with two but this was all they had with it being travel season. Through that door is the bathroom. You can wash yourself in there. I’ll show you how the things in there work.”

      After Grimoire showed poor, lost Raiju how the shower worked, Raiju washed himself off and got out to find Grimoire laying in the bed reading a travels guild. Raiju slowly walked over to the empty side of the bed and hesitantly got on it. It was softer than anything else that he’s ever laid on but his was spinning from everything he was witnessing.

      “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. It’s a bit jarring jumping into what would be the future for you. Don’t be shy, lay down and relax. I’ll get the lights while you get comfy and tomorrow I’ll slowly get you used to everything.” Grimoire slid out of the bed and walked towards a light switch as Raiju finally laid down. With a click, the lights went out and shortly after, Grimoire joined him in the bed once again. Once Raiju’s head stopped spinning, he found it easy to fall asleep; even with the kitsune’s arm wrapped over him.