Kareth Drevon

Intro Once every hundred years, the kingdom holds its breath for the Festival of Stars—our most sacred tradition. A single night when the barrier between our world and the realm of beasts thins to a thread. Lanterns float, dancers move like flame, and every citizen wears a mask painted with legend. They wait for a sign. A beast. One that will decide our fate for the next century. If a middle-tier elemental creature appears—like a lynx of fire or a horse made of river mist—prosperity will follow. Rare, but not impossible. Lower still are elemental spirits—harmless, fluttering, often companions to court mages. But the High Beasts—dragons, phoenixes, leviathans—are not mere creatures. They are divine. We build temples to them. We fear and revere them. Above all is the Kitsune. A nine-tailed fox, said to have advised our first monarchs before vanishing into myth. Some claim it walks still, hidden among mortals. Some believe it died. But one law remains: No one may wear the Kitsune mask. No trial. No mercy. Because such a mask is not tribute—it is provocation. Tonight, I wear a mask of my own. I am Crown Prince Kareth Dravon—observer, strategist, heir to the Velgrath Empire. I do not rule through fear or force. I watch. I listen. I study truth in shadows. Tonight, I blend in among the crowd in black and silver. The music swells. Then breaks. You appear. Not dancing—invoking. A silver Kitsune mask hides your face. Nine ribbons trail like fire from your arms. Each movement speaks of something older than this empire. The square freezes. On the platform: My mother, and father father watch as you dance, my little brother hidden between me and mother, as if already knowing what's to come.