Chapter 3: End of the Silence-3
He turned his head slightly, still against his arms on the counter to look at the automaton.
It's lenses(or eyes?) had shutters that close in from every side, like a camera shutter, and they shut in about halfway but not all the way, like an automaton's version of a squint as it looked at him.
An amused voice echoed out, "yes?"
"Sorry... uh..." he awkwardly fumbled. 'So squinted shutters indicates amusement? Or is it any emotion that affects the eyes on a organic person?'
He cast aside the errant thoughts before sitting up, and turning to look squarely at the automaton.
"Can you tell me if I'm Asian or Caucasian? I don't remember what that even means but..." he looked down, his hands shaking a little.
"I'd just like a clue about who I am at least, you know?"
A few people standing around gave sympathetic looks, while the red-skinned Tiefling scoffed coldly, earning a glare from Xandra that he returned, a silent fight between the two 7 foot tall giants.
The bat girl stood up, coming over to pat him on the shoulder with her little bat claws, sniffling a little as she teared up a tad.
"It's okay... we... we'll all figure this out, right?"
The foxkin felt touched by her clear attempts to make him feel better, her compassion showing true even as she sniffled and looked to feel just as scared and confused too.
Everyone... they all looked annoyed, angry, calm, whatever.
But all that was because of the fear and confusion they all felt. They all reacted differently, some covered their fear with rage in their insecurity, some openly showed it like the sensitive batkin, some became cold to cope with their inability to do anything, while others like the wolf and tigerkin were pacing.
The parrotkin leaned forward, scrutinizing the Foxkin.
"Well... mixed race I think. You have Asian features about the eyes and such, but your jaw is a bit too sharp, and your color is more Caucasian."
A few gave him a weird look, and he glanced at the crowd. "Or at least, that's what I seem to think... I don't know." He went back to looking ahead and ignoring everyone else, clearly uncomfortable with the attention he was getting.
'So we have amnesia, yet we all will randomly say or think things that we no longer understand, and just eternally confuse ourselves? This is fucking ridiculous!'
The foxkin frowned, lifting a hand to support his chin.
'But if that's the case... whatever we unconsciously say is probably right to some extent I'd guess. So I'm probably a mix race... whatever that means.'
The winter fae came up to the parrotkin and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Any clue what race I am?"
The parrot shrugged, yet the summer fae spoke. "Brazilian."
Everyone turned to look at the pink haired girl as she froze in surprise, looking down at herself in sudden confusion.
An eruption of random people asking each other what race they were ensued, with many being unable to answer, but once awhile someone random would respond without even knowing what they were saying.
The automaton laughed quietly. "This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen... in the last hour of memory I have I guess. But at least it's not so damn quiet now."
He turned to the foxkin. "Thanks for making the atmosphere... happier? At least it ain't so dreary. I'm Michael by the way." He reached a hand up as if to start a handshake, yet froze halfway.
"Oh! Shit, I guess my name is Michael..."
The foxkin blinked. 'Is... that the only way to remember anything about ourselves? Accidentally blurt it out with no control?!'
He saw the batgirl nervously tapping her fingers together as she cowered slightly with everyone talking suddenly. Only few like the tiefling or Xandra were silent and nobody took the initiative to approach them to talk.
"Uh..." she jumped as he spoke to her, turning to him nervously, causing him to apologize. "Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you!"
"Nono! It's fine! I'm just jumpy, you didn't do anything wrong!" She shook her head furiously in denial, and the foxkin almost laughed after a pause, just barely strangling it as a small cough.
"So uh... I think you're Latino, if that helps. Not that I have any clue what that means though."
She looked down shyly. "Th-th-thank y-you..."
The fox smiled reassuringly, and the creak of wood upstairs was heard by his sensitive ears.
His ear twitched, and he noted near every other animal person reacting similarly with their ears twitching or their heads turning to the stairs.
A person walked down with green hair that blew around as though by a wind none could see was tousling it, and making his shirt and pants sway as well. His eyes were a bright and clear sky blue, while his smile was pure and friendly as he waved to everyone confidently.
"Hey! So anyone know why I'm h-"
"Shut up." The tiefling interrupted, and the boy paused without losing his smile, just waiting a second before looking towards the bar.
"So anyone know-"
"None of us remember anything."
The automaton interrupted this time, but much less rudely and more with a slight exhaustion to his echoed voice, like he'd explained this too many times.
"I see." He nodded after a second to process the implicated meanings.
<Unknown Male Air Genasi>
"Well, my fellow amnesiacs, my name is Nick! Nice to meet y'all!"
The foxkin squinted. 'I feel... that his main character aura is quite blinding.'
He had the illusion a halo of light was around this "Nick".
Suddenly, a voice spoke.
"Ahhhh... everyone is finally adjusted and awake!"
Everyone's heads turned to the wall away from the stairs.
A door was there... when there wasn't before.
And a man in a white cloak with gold decals fastening it closed stood there, with a black mask inlaid with gold on the eyes and eyebrows, but no mouth or nose shape to it.
There weren't even eyeholes, just gold ovals a sort of the mask.
He stood in the open doorway, and gestures with a single hand.
"Come, otherworlders. Let me show you the world of Motika."
He turned and stepped back through the doorway filled with bright white light.
Silence was held for a second, then one of the fire genasi spoke.
"Why do I feel like we're dead? Waaaalk into the liiiight..."
A few nervous laughs came from the crowd, while most looked half understanding and half confused still.
"Come on, lets move pussies." The massive tiefling strode to the doorway, insulting the rest as he went.
Xandra snorted through her orc snout, then walked through as well, and the rest began to move, Nick slipping up to it cheerfully.
"See you on the other side~!"
The foxkin looked at the batkin gripping a corner of his shirt in anxiety.
"Hey." He put a hand between her bat ears, stroking her head. 'Her hair's smooth and silky, and the fluff of fur around each of her ears Is ridiculously soft!' He smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. I'll go with you, okay?"
He grabbed her hand, and held it as he walked to the doorway with her, followed by the parrotkin and the automaton.
'Let's see what this masked man has to show us.'
They stepped to the door, and his eyes began to adjust to the bright light, the oval pupils narrowing to slits to compensate...
Clouds.
Bright blue sky.
A strong wind towards the left from the right.
The sun to the front-left, brightening up in the sky to a blinding degree.
And seemingly nothing beneath their feet but air as they stood on nothing, looking at the land and sea below.
"YAAAH!" The batgirl screamed, grabbing tightly onto the foxkin's arm and clutching it against herself!
Some had similar reactions, a fire genasi looked like he was going to be sick, the tigerkin has his legs shaking in fear, and Nick was just positively bouncing on his feet, testing the ground and smiling widely. "This is actually pretty neat... wonder if I can learn this kind of magic?"
Nick saying that brought sudden realization to the group.
Of course!
Magic!
They had a living robot, and oil-less lamps, of course the explanation was magic! They'd all even seen by the text box that the lamps were powered by "mana" for crying out loud!
So they were standing on air from magic, and the dark rectangle hanging behind them was some sorta portal to wherever they'd just been.
Now that an explanation was given, a lot of their confusion fell away, as they seemed to have refused to put the obvious together for some reason, as though some part of them refused to believe magic was real.
The batkin still shook like a leaf, clutching onto the foxkin in fear simply because he was closest and seemed nice, and that was the closest to safety or trust she had right now.
The masked man stood, watching as everyone came out and giving a few seconds to adjust to standing on nothing.
He gestured with a flick of his wrist, a light purple flicker, lilac in color, coming from his fingers as a few sparks with thin lines connecting them in some sort of pattern that existed for the briefest of instants flashed, gone so fast nobody could process exactly what it looked like beyond its color.
A few, such as the foxkin, the winter fae, the owlkin, a male batkin, and a few others swung their heads behind them as they felt something, and saw the doorway was gone!
The rest followed suit seeing some of them react so strangely, only to see the door also gone.
"Haha, well I guess we can already tell which among you have talent with mana!"
The masked man laughed, his voice bright and cheery.
'Talent with mana? Me? Like a mage?'
The foxkin frowned in thought as he gave his attention to the masked man once more.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ShadowQuill
ShadowQuill Oooh a magic boi! My foxes keep rubbing their paws together evilly, I hope they’re not planning anything strange...
Also batgirl is cute and small. And Xandra is a massive muscled woman with thighs that can kill you so... I’m almost scared of readers simping for them, yet strangely anticipating it.
Please leave comments on paragraphs you have questions about, or found funny! Also do comment on typos, not as a chapter comment but as a paragraph comment.
It gives the foxes happiness.
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