Fox Clan was a clan of mystery, ruled by the kind princess Philomena, and her younger brother, Osairus. Philomena was a golden colored fox with radiant green eyes. She wore a pretty, flowing dress and a necklace with the fox clan symbol on it. The villagers respected her and loved her like a queen. But her brother did not earn such respect. He was born with a coat of dark blue fur, almost black, and red eyes. He didn't really show his jealousy. It was a peaceful and quiet tribe, until a certain mouthless hedgehog showed up of course. Philomena became suspicious of this creature, and sensed something terrible was going to happen. It went on for several years though, and over that time she had married and had one child, Talon. He was a well-behaved and sweet boy, which only hurt Philomena much more when she had heard her husband had been slaughtered by a werewolf in the forest. She didn't know what to say. But she had no time to figure it out, since lately some murders had been occurring inside the tribe. She suspected the hedgehog but had no evidence. She then thought of a solution, something her grandmother had told her in a fable once. There were two powerful gemstones in the distant wood, one black, one white. The white one possessed pure light. The black one? Nothing but evil, hatred, and darkness. Then, an idea popped into her head. "That's it! I'm gonna go and find those gems, and protect my kingdom from any more danger!" she cried out. So she packed her things, and went to her brother, hesitantly, "Osy, listen, what I'm asking of you is simple, just make sure no one else gets murdered and nothing gets broken or destroyed while I'm out, and don't take advantage of your power, and make sure you take care of Talon. Feed him chocolate milk, not regular, applesauce at noon today and tomorrow, and make sure-" "Sis, I got this! Go on your little adventure!" Philomena sighed in frustration, he never took anything seriously. She left anyways, assuring her people she would return shortly and set off for the deep jungle that surrounded the tribe. Her travel during the day was easier than night, but bad things would happen every-so-often. The first night, she was trying to make a campfire, but it was difficult to do in the damp jungle. She finally got one lit, but it was blown away by a wind. Or so she thought. She saw a shadow in the darkness pass by, and her pulse started rushing. She heard a dark chuckle, but nothing else had happened. She sighed, and went to bed. The next night she was creeping along the woods, fearful of animals that hunted down her kind. The animals were called Raccats, they were rats that flew around with bat like wings, and tended to eat members of Fox Clan. As Philomena walked, she heard a screeching that sounded that the raccats were near, ducking low, she saw one walked by. They were taller than what she had imagined in stories and legends. She heard the dark chuckle again, but kept down. It went on like this for another couple of days, until she came to a cave. She took a flashlight out of her camping bag and started exploring the dark yet damp cave. Her flashlight beam didn't go more than a few feet into the darkness, but she pressed on. She saw two glows in the darkness eventually, one dim, the other brighter. She stepped forward, and in the wall were hieroglyphics and in the middle two gemstones, one white the other black. She took them both out and sighed in relief as no traps appeared to be set off. Or so she thought. She turned around and put them away in her bag, only for the whole cave to start shaking and rumbling. She panicked and ran to the entrance as large rocks started to fall. Philomena dived just in time to get out of the cave before a larger boulder collapsed and blocked the entrance of the cave. She got up and dusted herself off, and headed off for the kingdom. She got back late one night, but when she opened the door, there sat her son with his blanket. "Talon, what are you doing up so late?" she asked. "I couldn't sleep… I-I had a nightmare" Talon whimpered. She smiled mercifully, and sighed, "It's okay sweetie, come on, you can sleep with me tonight." "Yay…!" She took her son upstairs and did as she promised. She got up the next morning, and started going to work. She started making seven other gemstones with both half of the black emeralds power and half of the whites. They each had a different color, red, orange, yellow, purple, green, pink, and blue. Once she finished, she went out to inform her people of the good news. They cheered and congratulated her, but she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, and, much to the ignorance of her own people, was the only one to see her little brother. He scowled at her and ran off. "Osy, wait!" But it was too late. He was gone. She sighed. "Maybe he'll just forget about this tomorrow." She headed to bed early that night. Osairus was in his room, angered by what he had seen. It's not fair! I kept the kingdom safe and no one cheers me on! he thought. "Indeed...it isn't fair is it?" His ears flicked up, he glanced up at his ceiling to see what looked like black goo. He went to the mirror, but his reflection shriveled into blackness, and turned into what looked like that hedgehog that had arrived not too long ago. "You? What're you doing here?" he asked. "Oh, I just noticed how your sister was being congratulated while you...were outcasted despite doing your part. It seems like your people don't know their place. You are a prince after all." Osairus felt uneasy about this, yet, he agreed with this hedgehog. No one ever wanted to be around him, no one ever even said hello, not even his own nephew. He scowled, "What's your point?" The hedgehog glanced away for a moment, "I can help make you powerful. Make your people know what it truly means to be outcasted." Osairus thought really hard about this cretin's words. He never got respect, and he wanted it. He needed it. He deserved it. He nodded, "What do I have to do?" The hedgehog pointed behind him, at the door, "Just down the hall in your sister's room is two more emeralds that she had collected on her journey. One is white, the other is black, find the black one, and bring it here. I shall help you absorb it's power, and you can take care of the rest." Osairus smirked as his fake reflection disappeared and his true one reappeared in the mirror. He would show his sister and his kingdom once and for all what it's like to be treated like a loser. Like dust. Philomena had awoken the next morning to one of her servants shouting, followed by screaming and rumbling. She glanced up, seeing her servant, "Harmony! What's wrong?! Is there an earthquake?!" Her servant shook her head, "Tis your brother madam! He has gone mad! He stole the dark emerald and is using it's power to destroy the temple!" Philomena got up in panic, as her child ran in, terrified. She hugged her scared offspring and assured him it would be alright, picking him up. She handed him to Harmony, "Take him down into the dungeon area, he'll be safer there." "O-Of course your highness!" Philomena ran off, but Talon tried reaching for his mother, but it was no use. He screamed and cried but was dragged down to the dungeons. He became even more frantic and started to get desperate. He bit Harmony's hand, making her drop him, and he ran off. Meanwhile Philomena grabbed the other emeralds, including the white one and headed outside to confront her brother. "OSAIRUS!" she screamed. Her brother turned to look at her, but he was different. He looked much older, and he wore a dark red cape, "Ah, sister! Come to witness my coronation I see!" She scowled, "Osy! I am warning you! If you do not stop, I shall have no choice but to-" but she was cut off as she had to dodge a black ball of energy nearly hitting her. She glanced up at her brother, insanity and hatred in his eyes. This was not the little brother she knew. "Osy, please! I'm begging you! I don't want to do this!" He chuckled, "You truly are a fool, and a coward! You can't stop me even if you get the guts to do it!" She tried to fight him off, but it wasn't working. He finally threw another ball of black energy at her, but she dodged it again, only this time, it hit someone else. She heard a familiar but hoarse voice whimper, "M-Ma…" Her ears flicked up and she saw her little son, Talon, against rock horribly wounded. She rushed to her child, but only to find she could not possibly heal him. He had bled too much already. He smiled up at her, and she began to sing…

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You never know dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine...away…

She sobbed as her son shut his eyes and stopped breathing. Her bangs acted as a curtain over her eyes as her brother approached her. "Heh, weak. What do our people see in you? Or should I say my people now that your services are no longer needed." She suddenly stopped crying and remained silent for a few brief moments. "You know not what you have done brother…" she growled. A white glow formed around her and her bangs flowed off her eyes, revealing them to be completely white as well. She set her child's lifeless body down and stood up, turning towards her sibling, "You are not my brother. You are not a true prince nor king. And you do not belong here!" The glow became brighter as her brother backed away. "STAY BACK!" he screeched, trying to fight off his sister, but to no avail. She casted magic upon him, sealing him inside the emerald he had stolen, but in turn, had to seal herself away in the white emerald. Both fell to the ground and their people stepped up, half cheerful that it was over, but also half concerned, for now their ruler was gone. And her son, was dead, no one was left to rule. Fortunately though, there were some distant cousins who lived in the jungle. And as their family rights claimed, the power must go to the closest possible family, and seeing as though all others were gone, they had no choice but to hand the power over to the cousins in hopes it would not turn out disastrous. They kept all nine emeralds in safe keeping, and all was peaceful for many years.