"Got you..."

Manny mumbled before placing the coin back in his pocket.

The fox still had a look of disbelief but after a second, the creature let out a sigh then followed by a prideful chuckle before resting its back on the bed once more, but this time, the Werefox's eyes were fully opened along with a widened smile from acknowledging Manny's skills.

"You surprised me there, young man. It's been so long since I have met someone who could catch up with my speed..."
Said the Werefox with a monotonous voice. Staring directly at the ceiling as it said those words.

"Maybe it's because you're just too old" Manny coldly replied but it somehow made the Werefox laugh without pride.

"You speak to me as if I'm nothing more than just a normal human"
The Werefox pointed out with a smile, its eyes closed after the laugh it let out earlier.

Manny showed no sudden expression on his face and calmly gazed down upon the fox as if he was harmless despite Ryan mentioning how much of a terrifying race they were.

"Well, I was chased by a female dinosaur-like monster, fought Cat-looking mercenaries, witnessed a talking bull beat up a friend, and watched a Giant's face smashed by a boulder, so a talking old fox is nothing special to me"

The creature opened its right eye slowly with a smile of admiration towards the male who casually said those words with his arms crossed.

"Such a taste for adventure... Reminds me of myself when I was young... But now..." Suddenly the old creature started to cough heavily and roughly, mixed with pain. Manny noticed blood from its mouth before the Werefox wiped it off with its fur-covered hand.

"Damn, that looks unhealthy," Said Manny with a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah... anytime soon my life will come to an end. In my past I have killed many people just so I can rob them of their shiny jewelry to fill my thirst of greed... and now I have regretted everything I have ever done... I even scarred a child by frightening him..." The Werefox started to cough once more and this time it got worse. More blood started to exit its mouth as it coughed in guttural sounds.

"Here..."

Manny offered a bottle filled with water that he swiped from his reading desk along with a towel. The Werefox happily accepted it and showed a thankful smile as it drank from the bottle before using the towel to clean itself.
"Hmm, you know... they said sharing your story helps before you pass away... you should try that"

"Curiosity killed the baby you know?" Said the Werefox

"It's Curiosity killed the yack... whatever" The fox laughed once more after feeling relieved and stared across the glass window with the view of the highest mountain in Shooting Star. The view was pleasant and calm, showing only the beauty of what nature had to offer and removing all of the Fox's hidden worries for a few seconds. It could see past images just by gazing at that simple mountain, like an old film being shown to nostalgic viewers.

"Back then I was a free man, with the ability to change my form into a being with abnormal speed and power. It gave me confidence and tremendous self-belief that I could do absolutely anything, I felt like I was indeed a hero of my own story... but I soon discovered the downside of this curse... I killed a man who was wearing a golden necklace and a woman with silver earrings without hesitation. Just so I can get a hold of their jewelry... When I reverted back, I regretted what I had done so much that I wanted to become normal instead, but I had no idea how to get rid of this curse... so I chose to roam the forest, away from the public. I realized that I could only transform into this being once a full moon occurs and then vice versa so I made sure to surround myself with shiny objects to keep my monstrous form at Bay if I was to turn again... I did nothing but sat behind a fallen tree and patiently waited for the next full moon... until a traveler crossed my path, a beautiful woman, who's eyes bewildered my soul for the very first time"

"What did you do?" Asked Manny in curiosity, despite not showing any emotions, it seemed as if he was intrigued by the Werefox's story.

"Nothing. I just stared at her, paralyzed to move my body until I realized it was Love at first site"

"Barf..."

"Haha, I see you're not the type of person to listen to a romance story. I'll save you the lovey-dovey part" The Werefox chuckled before continuing his story but this time, Manny noticed a sudden change of tone from the creature. A sudden deep voice replaced the creature's earlier carefree tone.
"A few years later I was part of a family of my own. The woman became my wife and to our pride and joy was our child, he was a boy and at that time I was just teaching him how to walk. I realized that I had become stronger in restraining my thirst for greed and flesh because of my family. My love for them is what drives me to keep moving forward. My wife already knows about my curse and we occasionally worry whether our child will have the same blood as me..."

"Did the boy turn into a Werefox like you?"

Manny asked but received only a broken smile as a response. The Werefox's eyes came to a slow close of disappointment and guilt before completely lowering its head down to the blanket that was covering its lower body. Manny assumed that what the creature was about to say was nothing but sorrow, so he removed his cold attitude and simply listened to the Werefox, this time, he showed a bit of Sympathy.

"I never got a chance to see whether my child had the same curse as me... nor got the chance to see him grow... It was the night of a full moon... Blood moon to be exact... it is when creatures of half monstrous forms like me are at their strongest peak, but it distorts our mind, turning us berserk and feral. Only flesh and blood are what we crave. I was the only one who managed to resist the urge to kill my own family... but... more of my kind caught the scent of my wife and kin and they made their way from afar just to reach my home deep within the forest. I thought I was the only one but there were more of me... and a few other beings were with them but they weren't similar to each other... they were stronger, some could even fly. Once they arrived, it was only a matter of time before they made their way inside my house with force. I protected my Family from their jaws and claws but there were just too many of them... Despite my valiant fighting, they overpowered me and pinned me down. Making me watch as they murdered my entire life and love right in front of me. For once, I was fighting for a cause, I was fighting to protect the ones I love and value the most but why... Why are they still able to kill them...?
With rage and hatred as my fuel, I let the blood moon take full control of me and killed every single one of them, leaving none alive as I ate their remains. Once I realized everything was finished... the blood moon disappeared and I turned back into a human where I buried what remains of my wife and child..." The Werefox's sorrowful words could be felt even by the most thickheaded person known to man. Manny felt indeed sympathy for the creature as he watched its tears fall on the blanket that covered his lower body.

"I... I'm sorry... about your family"

"It's alright, young man. I admire your pity towards a murderer like me"

"You're not a murderer. You had no choice"

"Young man, No choice is a choice," Said the creature with a small smile directly at Manny.

"So... what happened next...?"

"Well 6 years have passed and I was back to stealing jewelry from the people of this town several years ago. But I had full control of my greed. I only steal for fun, I managed not to hurt anyone in that process. I even added some of my swiping skills to my human form and became one of the most famous thieves of this town in the past. But I'm sure everyone had forgotten about it, Haha.
I was living calmly alone in the forest and there I happened to see a small human child, crying in the darkness and meeting his gaze. I was in my Fox form so I expected for the boy to run away but what I had never expected was the boy to run directly at me and plunge his face on my stomach to muffle his crying. The boy told me that his parents left him all alone in the forest and begged me not to leave him. The boy stared at me with his pleading blue eyes while I stood there in shock. Imagine that... a young boy who's afraid of being alone just ran towards a creature he had never seen before and begged not to leave him"

The Werefox laughed at his statement. Showing a hint of his liking towards the boy.

"The boy showed no fear to someone like me and because of that, he resembled my son. Both of them have the same silver-colored hair that shines when I ruffle them. So I had to take the boy under my care. His name was Jericho, but the boy told me he hated that name for it only reminded him how much of a failure he was to his previous parents, but I replied by telling him that Jericho was a unique name for a child as fearless as he was and that somehow encouraged him. And before I barely knew it... I was teaching the boy a few of my tricks. Training him to be a thief like me while also feeling like I was having a second chance to see my son growing up. In the following months, that boy felt like my own son"

"Teaching a child how to steal, now that's good parenting," Manny said sarcastically.

"I'm a Werefox, what was I supposed to do? Haha.
But I only taught him to steal if it was necessary, it was mostly to train his speed for he will use it when the time comes. Ahh, I miss those days. I remember that the boy even managed to steal something from me without me noticing. But the second time he attempted to steal from me again, I caught him in the act. That was when I knew that he had a talent for this. Once again, I felt content from having that kid with me, but unfortunately, the following night was the arrival of another Blood moon... I told Jericho to run away and hide in the forest, somewhere I would never find him and he did... Once the blood moon was in view, I tried to control myself from going berserk, as I did back then, but I couldn't anymore... I immediately sniffed out Jericho's scent and rushed towards him with murderous intent and the unquenchable thirst for blood. He ran for his life but I was faster and caught up to him. Pouncing at him until he fell on the ground as I slowly made my way for the kill. I could see everything from behind my vision, it was as if my Fox form was in control while I drifted further away from the light in an endless void... I was sure that I was going to sink my fangs into his throat but the sight of how frightened Jericho was knocked my senses back. This was the first time I ever saw Jericho become afraid of me and that forced my feral urges to go away. When Jericho passed out from fear, I knew that he was not safe with me around... so I went to this town and placed him in front of an old couple's doorstep, where they took him in with care while I said my silent farewells and banished myself from this town and the forest surrounding it... never to be seen again..."

"But then you came back, Old but alive. Why?"

"I want to see the boy one last time before I depart from this world... I may not know what he looks like now, but I remember leaving him an old silver amulet that was forged out of magic with the help of an old Witch that I met a few months later after I buried my family... If I saw a person wearing that said amulet, then I am sure that he is Jericho..."
Silence filled the room as the Fox started to cough roughly again after finishing his story with Manny as its audience. The creature then sighed after accepting a fact that he had already been denying since his first arrival.
"But who am I kidding... Jericho would never want to see me again... I showed him a horrific side of me and abandoned him despite my promise to always be by his side... I won't blame him if he is angered or filled with hatred towards me... but I would at least want to see his blue eyes one more time before I die..."

Then Manny let out a sigh as he stared at the fox with a sympathetic look upon dark brown eyes. Grabbing a nearby chair and sitting down next to the fox with his back straight.

His mind became clear of other thoughts and simply reassured the creature.

"Don't worry... I'm sure that Jericho doesn't hate you, in fact... he misses you... every... single...day, who only dreamed of meeting the one who raised him to be cunning and quick-witted once more despite being abandoned... 8 years ago..."

The fox suddenly became confused for a moment at what Manny had said. Gazing at him with widened eyes of curiosity

"How do you know that, young man?"

Manny reached underneath his shirt, gripping the same object he had been holding since the start of his first adventure together with Ryan and the others. With the suspense growing in the air, Manny pulled out a silver amulet showing a symbol of a howling fox, tied with a unique, small rope as he tossed it towards the Fox.

The Werefox was in shock from what he was holding, the artifact that he gave to Jericho was now in his hands and soon the shocking revelation was revealed to the creature by Manny who was showing off a wide smile for the first time.

"Y-you're..."

The fox stared at the silver-haired male while he suddenly removed his colored contact lenses, the light from the window was making his uniquely colored hair shine across the room, illuminating the Werefox's shroud of earlier despair. Soon their eyes met once more, the Fox's huge orange pupils widened from the sight of the familiar blue-colored eyes that Manny had and spoke.

"Yep, It's me... I just wanted to confirm your identity to see if you really are who I think you are..."

Tears suddenly rolled down Fox's face as the male said those words that hinted the fox with clarity

"Jericho..."