Author's Note: Hello, everyone! Last year, the original idea for this fanfiction came about in my somewhat crazed noggin, and this story is now finally going to start seeing the light of day. I intend on this being the beginning of a series, but part of that depends on how much I want to go on with that AND, more importantly, how much you guys like this fanfiction. Please show support and review; it means a LOT to me.

This has been a fun story to write, and I hope more than anything else that this will be a fun story to read. :)

I ROSE

PROLOGUE: THE AWAKENING

A fog came over me, one that was like a dream but not quite. It was a blur of memories, covering my brain like a blanket thrown on a drowsy child. It was just like one, too: nontransparent and fuzzy. I couldn't see past it. I saw that the memories were there, but I couldn't keep track of a single one of them. Was it really all a dream? Maybe, it was some untapped piece of my imagination that sent a whirl of imagery my way. It felt so strange. Was it real? It felt real, like those things had happened before. But if I could just remember part of the dream…that sunset. That sunset…

Suddenly, the blanket of vague images was pulled off of me as I gained back my consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes, unsure of what I was going to see. Something seemed different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something didn't seem normal. And what a shock I had when my eyesight came clear: I was in the middle of a grassland with hills and palm trees strewn about. I had never in my life seen a place as bright as this one. The greens of the palm tree leaves and the grass were like a vivid shock to my system, waking me up that much quicker. Everywhere was green except for the sun up above and the bright sky that was more cerulean than any cerulean that ever was, natural or artificial.

Once my surprise about the landscape calmed down, I noticed very quickly the pain in my body. My entire being seemed to pulse with a dull agony. My head, especially, felt like it had been knocked against a boulder. I had to rest for a few minutes until the headache wore off somewhat. What got me to feeling this pain? Did my body actually get knocked into a boulder? Well, there was nothing like that around the area. Did someone beat me up? There wasn't a single clue that anyone had been around there, not even that I had been there. Did I fall? That seemed like the only solid explanation I had. With what I was feeling, no other explanation made sense. I had to have fallen from a good height. But where would I have fallen from, and how did I even end up in a grassland in the first place?

It was right in the middle of asking that question that I noticed something else: ME. My hands were fitted with white gloves, and red sneakers were on my feet. I never remembered wearing those things. My body was colored with yellow fur with a patch of white fur on my chest. Quickly, I felt around on my head and found that I had a pair of wide, pointed ears. Was this me? This didn't feel right, like I had been changed. Was I still in a dream?

There was only one way to find out; a pond was just beside me to my left. I thought that maybe, its water would give me enough of a jolt to help wake me up from this odd place. I weakly rolled onto my hands and knees and started splashing the crisp, cool water on my face. It was refreshing as much as it was a chilly wake-up call. My eyes were closed in hopeful anticipation, thinking that when I opened them that this place would just be a piece of my imagination, that I would wake up to a place I knew and to a me that felt like me. However, my eyes opened up, and nothing had changed. Then, I saw the reflection staring wide eyed back at me from the pond: a blue-eyed fox with a pair of tails lying behind him in the grass.

Things weren't adding up. I don't remember looking like this. I don't remember this landscape. I don't remember any of this at all. And that's when it hit me. I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING. Nothing was coming to mind from my past: no family, no hometown, no friends, none of my hobbies. Nothing. Well, almost nothing. The only solid memory I had was of a sunset. I didn't even know if it was part of my past or if it was a dream; it just was.

So there I was, a two-tailed fox with barely a memory to hold, a soul who apparently fell from some unknown place in the sky. I didn't know who I was or where I came from. Some people would have been scared out of their minds with the questions and problems that I had flowing through my head. As for me, I was panic-stricken and unsure of a lot, my neck and chest feeling choked up from the fear. But as my heart gradually calmed down, things didn't seem so terrible. Except for the temporary ache I was feeling from my fall, I wasn't hurt. Questions abounded, but all was not really THAT bad. I was still alive. Breath still was flowing into my lungs, and as long I had that, I had a reason to live and try to figure out what had happened. So I got up on my feet.

From the place I had fallen, I rose.