#fire fest

The Void reverberates around the stage, drums beginning to hype up the song. The floating violins behind him play their single notes in a steady rhythm, increasing in ferocity as he slowly twirls the eldritch staff of fire in time with the beat.

As the music reaches its ascension, a near electric sound surges out of the Void, and Zyraden begins to move with certainty.

Zyraden moves his feet in time with the rhythm, twirling the staff in wide beautiful arcs, the heat of the shadowflame painting brilliant strokes of orange through the air like an artist.

He spins, galloping around the stage with skilled footwork, moving his body and torso fluidly like water, fire roaring in grand contrast, illuminating pale blue skin in oranges.

A disjointed chorus pours through the rifts of the Void as the strings ascend in their music, ringing through the air.

Zyraden splits his eldritch staff into several torches of fire and tosses them high into the air expertly. With his eyes fully covered, there’s no way he can know where exactly each torch will land — the music ascends higher, higher, higher!

The violins streak their notes down, and as they reach the bottom, Zyraden thrusts a hand up, siphoning the falling flames to his hand and his body ignites into flames just as that electric music blasts through the rifts of the Void.

The chorus blares, chopped and disjointed from different realities as Zyraden lets out a breath of colorful fire, splitting his staff into a fan of flames like an army knife and twirling them with new intensity.

Zyraden skips to the beat, moving to either side of the stage and standing on one hand, the other outstretched twirling the fan of flames, and a foot kicking out, striking a pose before flipping back to position and repeating the action on the other side of the stage with the beat.

That chaotic chorus continues with eldritch horns of the Void reverberating through the air in quick notes as the violins shriek in harmony. A wide grin is visible on the man’s face as he moves with the flames.

Zyraden leaps off the ground again and again, dancing with the beat and the fire in both hands now, jumping and swirling the fans of flames in S formations hypnotically as the otherworldly horns blare their tune.

The chorus and the horns continue, Zyraden’s feet moving quickly with each clap of the beat, the fire trailing from the fans vividly with each pirouette. 

Zyraden leaps, flipping in the air without touching the ground, landing on his feet only to leap back into the air and repeat the motion. He gyrates his hips and rolls his belly, a riptide of motion twisting and winding the flames like serpents.

He folds the fans inward, the saronite fusing back into a staff with a metallic howl in tune with the beat. Zyraden spins the flaming staff on the back of his head and around his shoulders, moving up and down with the motion to keep it steady.

Zyraden balances the staff on the back of his neck, ducking and leaping into the air with a spin. Even with his rough movements, the staff remains balanced behind his head, twirling with him fluidly as he performs several cartwheels around the small stage.

The Void pulses in time with the beat, humming its cosmic tune controlled by Zyraden. The vocals within the Void strum and vibrate in the air as the Shadow beats down on its drums. 

He flips his staff expertly as the music begins to ascend once more. Zyraden commands the saronite to shift again, splitting it into several torches and tosses each one into the air as the chorus screams to the beat, the violins in crescendo—!

The violins shred their arpeggios downwards in classical fashion as Zyraden bolts through the air lightning fast, the flames rescued from their descent, violins igniting into a glorious inferno as eldritch vocals let out their hum.

He dispels the torches and combines the metal back into the staff formation, the dark magic shrieking with the otherworldly chorus.

Zyraden extends the staff out to the left, twirling it, then to the right, spinning it, then up high, where he tosses it overhead. He flips then into a handstand straight up, catching the staff with his feet in the nick of time. He kicks the staff into the air, flips back upright and catches the staff with a pirouette, a fiery trail at his feet.

The Void hums, the chorus echoing music from different realities of truths before fading away, leaving only the drums and burning violins to fill the silence.

Zyraden spins the staff overhead like a gyrocopter powering down, crouching to a kneel. The shadowflames slowly snuff themselves out, darkness engulfing the stage, engulfing the Voidforged elf, light unable to escape the dark stain where Zyraden once was.

A noise starts to build up, surrounding the audience with that same, familiar vibrating sensation, something is certainly coming! Without warning, those flailing lights lock onto the center where a pillar erupts from center stage. The loud drop of synth-style music vibrates the ground yet again. From the light rises a familiar, very tiny fox, dressed in glittery whites and golds, absolutely glimmering from the spotlights on him. For those that have never seen Kou, he’s certainly small even compared to his fellow Vulpera, yet his stage presence is larger than life. For once, he’s facing the audience upon his arrival and even offers a wink of greeting, his head equipped with a small microphone that auto-translates his words to every viewer’s personal native language. What a nifty little magic gadget! “YEEAAAAAAAEEEEEAAAAAAAH!”

Kou lifts a paw up to wave to the audience before paws start to clap. “HEY YEAH! FIRE FEST WHERE YOU AT?!” He calls out, beaming with a smile. The pop-lock motions of his arms and feet dance through the light, letting that waving arm be pulled down in motion. “I got myself a notion~ And one, I know that you’ll understand! We set the world in motion~ by reaching out for each other’s hand!” As he sings with fervour, Kou pushes a hand toward the audience, fingers splayed wide with a sweeping motion of his arm from side to side as if offering it to take.

The fox clenches that fist after to bring it back, twirling in a pivot to spin around to let his large, fluffed tail sweep and add in that beautiful dance motion. Gracefully, his feet plant firmly onto the ground after, patting his chest right above his heart. “Maybe we’ll discover what we should have known all alooooong! Yeah!” Bouncing with his knees to the rhythm, one foot kicks up and the other soon follows to glide across the stage in an upbeat walk. “One way or another, together’s where we both belooong~.” He coos out those lyrics, leaning toward the front row while walking back, the other way to sprinkle a bit of glitter as he passes by.

Kou returns to the center of the lights with a small shimmy of his hips but with an energetic jump, the moment he lands on his feet, two purple rockets shoot up on either side of the stage in a glittery explosion! “If we listen to each other’s heart! We’ll fiiind we’re never too faaar apart and maaaaaybe love is the reason why!” He sings with all of his might, bouncing as arms wave up and down to hype the crowd and join him. A shimmer of magic forms from his fingers and with an arching motion of a hand across and over him, a rainbow shoots through the light show above him, cascading down in flecks of glitter paint all over his fur, soaking his clothes in all colours of the rainbow above. “For the first time ever we’re seeing it eye to eye~.”

He smiles brightly and bounces to the edge of the stage from his spot to flop down and sit, kicking a leg up and across the other so that his elbow can rest on the knee. Looking out across the audience, the tiny fox sways to the thunderous synth, drawing in a deep breath. “If a wall, should come between us, too high to climb, too hard to break through…” With a wink, two tall pillars of purple flame erupt behind him, blazing in time with the beat. “I know that looove will lead us, and find a way to bring me to you~.”

With a twist of his midsection, Kou rolls to push off of the stage edge in a playful flip, landing it with a well-timed bounce. A pivot on his heel follows with the momentum, skipping to one edge of the front row. “So don’t be in a hurry, think before you count us out, oh~!” Golden glitter swirls along his feet, lifting the little Vulpera up so the crowd doesn’t tower over them. Cheerfully, he dashes across the front of the audience with his small paw out, high-fiving as many as he can in one graceful swoop. “YOU don’t have to worry! I won’t ever let you dooown!” Kou takes the time to blow a kiss, jumping back toward the stage to stand between the pillars of purple fire.

Kou motions to either side of himself at the fire pillars as two silhouettes that match his form appear dancing within the flames. At the same time, he reaches into the fire to grab the matching paws within to take their hands, igniting the shadows in magic. The fire itself spreads, running up his arms to consume his entire body but without any hint of pain, it seems the theatrics are simply illusionary magic! With a pull of his arms, he conjures the shadowy foxes to join him from the flames that fade away from his own body. Both foxes that step out from the fire may look like Kou, but they’re clearly sporting their own stylish designs of clothing. All three pause to look at each other briefly in confusion and surprise, even glancing at the audience a moment in shock!

The Fox nods to his clones, motioning toward the audience with his head, visually attempting to convince them to dance along. The one on his right side nods in agreement, however, the one on his left seems to look distracted..! Enough that they turn around to watch the light show behind the trio. Kou nods his head, bouncing a few times in place before he finally sings out again, leading into another pop-lock of his arms. “If we listen to each other’s heart, we’ll find we’re never too far apart~!” The three foxes look nearly symmetrical in their dance–! Wait– is Left Fox dancing backward? Their arms just sort of flail about, but they are trying their best. Kou taps their arm to get them to turn back around, which is done with some luck, but they’re certainly too stage-shocked to keep up. ”And maybe love is the reason why, for the first time ever we’re seeing it eye to eye~.”

Kou and the clone to his right pause to watch Left Fox flail around in their own little world until both start to laugh. Kou shakes his head, motioning toward the audience - both clones ignite in a blur of rainbows and sparkles, shooting toward the gathering to weave in between the guests, splattering glitter in their wake. Waving the pair off, Kou claps his hands together to the beat, prancing in a circle of excitement.

“FIRE FEST! HOW WE DOIN’ OUT THERE TONIGHT?!”

“Every year I ask you to sing with me, and you should know the lyrics by now, so are you ready?!”

A hand lifts up into the air to show his pinky outstretched. “We have friends who maybe can’t hear my voice here tonight, so help me sing for them, too! We’re in this together, so lift your pinkies out, then turn your hand to make a two with your fingers, and turn it again for the i!” Demonstrating the swiveling motion of his wrist to spell I-2-I, stairs begin to rise up on the shifting stage behind him.

“I think we’re seein’ it–!” 

“SEEIN’ IT!–”

“Yeah, everybody’s seein’ it–!”

“Love is why we’re seein’ it–!”

Kou cheers loudly, letting out a sharp whistle for his clones to return from their running amok. Swirling around his form, it’s almost as if the power of the cheering and singing has ignited the fox’s magic even further! Golden sparkles swirl around his body, lighting up in flame once more while his arms lift up to form his own silhouette in the dancing flames. Both Left and Right Fox return to the stage to flank the swirling flames, both seeming far more in sync than previously before. They watch with an intent gaze, both lifting their hands out toward the fire to reach for the same paws that brought them to life.

Kou‘s paws are pulled from the flame, revealing shimmering black latex gloves accented with gold claws. As the fire swirls down off of him and retreats to his feet, Kou emerges in a new set of clothes. The tight dark booty shorts and thigh highs are on full display as the once gold and white outfit is replaced with deep reds, golds, and black with fiery motifs. The tight corset annunciates his body to a curvy, softened look to it, even the boldened makeup around his eyes is darker and more pronounced.

He takes the time to spin both of his clones, drawing in a deep breath to hit out a bellowing set of notes, it’s a bit of a surprise such vocals can come out of such a tiny creature. “IF YOU’RE EVER LOOONELLLLY! STOP!” He commands, causing all three foxes to pause in mid-movement, each paused in a unique pose. “You don’t have to be! After all, it’s only a beat away from you to meee~.” As he sings, the trio walks forward to the front of the stage, each step in perfect sync with one another and still hand-in-hand.

“Take a look insiiiide and see!”

All three foxes raise their right hand up, letting them slowly fall down as they begin to sing in harmony together. “If we listen to each other’s heart! We’ll find we’re never too far apart!” Just as the words are sung, an eruption of fireworks ignites across the stage, accenting the key shift and unison of the dancers on stage. Bouncing with their knees, one arm from each mimics the motion before they snap-kick a leg out in the rather whimsical choreography. All three jump again to click their heels in the air! With a graceful landing, the trio follows up the footwork with an arching swing of their arms, reaching across themselves before following through with a large circular motion. “And maybe love is the reason why! For the first time ever we’re seein’ it–!” All three point out to the audience in search of the answer, bobbing their heads to the beat!

Kou  lifts his arms, popping his hips from side to side to the beat, audibly laughing from enjoying himself on the stage with the pair of clones who playfully dance with him on the stage. “Whoaaah, for the first time!” Chirping out the lyrics, the small set of foxes all spin together, feeding off the shared energy, as well as the crowd vibe. “For the first time, we’re seeing it–!” Once more, the trio points toward the crowd, cheering them on to join in. “Eye to eye!!” A hand reaches up all the while, once more spelling out I-2-I in the hand choreography.

“YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH we’re seein’ it–!”

Kou spins around in his spot, the pivot is followed through with a graceful shimmy of his hips and a jump that is landed by dropping down to his knees. A last set of fireworks shoot off, causing the ‘FIRE FEST 2023’ in the smoke screen to switch to ‘LOVE IS LOVE’. The final note of the synth hits and fades away, rendering the three to strike their final dynamic posing together with Kou pushing his arms upward and both Right and Left Fox arching their limbs to form a heart between them.

“THANK YOU FIRE FEST! WE LOVE YOU!!”