Chapter 8
Once again, she found a tremendous rainbow and barely managed to bound through its arch. Once again, the sky faded into black and the hills turned into a flat and otherwordly blue meadow.
Mysterious Voice
You again.
The great nine-tailed celestial fox coalesced from his constellation and appeared before Kitsune. This time, Kitsune thought he looked a little agitated.
Kitsune
O great celestial fox, I am sorry to disturb you again, but I have come to you again in desperation. Nobody can answer my question satisfactorily. Every answer I get brings up more questions, and I still do not know the true reason why my tail is fluffy—and yet, I feel I am finally on the cusp of an answer.
Great Celestial Fox
As I said—you ask questions like a human.
Kitsune
Yes, and I met a human, a wise and holy man, who died trying to figure out the answer to his questions. But I believe he was on the right track. Tell me, o great celestial fox, as a divine being yourself, do you know how to contact the one and true God?
The celestial fox laughed and shook his nine tails, and with them, the stars in the sky shook too.
Great Celestial Fox
The one and true God? You wish to meet God so you can learn why your tail is so fluffy?
Kitsune's face was as steel.
Kitsune
If that is what it takes.
Great Celestial Fox
Have you considered, little fox, the nature of such a Being, and what it would entail to ask such a Being a question?
Kitsune
I have.
She thought back to what Hasan had told her.
Kitsune
Such a Being, by virtue of transcending all of space and time, would necessarily be all-powerful and all-knowing.
Great Celestial Fox
A Being that transcends both space and time, and therefore knows everything—if such a Being exists, He would live beyond the boundaries of the universe. I suppose I can open a gate for you, little fox.
Kitsune had to stop herself from barking in delight. She bowed her furry head deeply.
The celestial fox brought one of his tails up above his head like a tentacle. He waved it in an elaborate pattern and traced an outline through the air.
When he finally touched his tail to the ground, a shining tree appeared in the middle of the meadow.
The tree was gnarled and hollow, and there was a fox-sized hole in the front of the tree.
But when Kitsune looked at the hole, all she saw was a reflection of herself, gazing back at her from a background of darkness. It was as if she was looking into a clear black spring.
Great Celestial Fox
This tree is the boundary of the universe.
Kitsune sniffed at the mirrorlike hole.
Kitsune
Have you ever gone into this tree?
The celestial fox shook his head.
Kitsune
You have never been beyond the boundary of the universe?
The celestial fox shook his head.
Kitsune raised a paw and held it in front of the hole.
Great Celestial Fox
To transcend the flow of time and the confines of space—shadow and light, illusion and reality, death and life, void and ens—all such dualities exist only within the boundaries of the universe. Not without them. Thus, entering the hollow of this tree is not so much like passing through a gate as it is shedding one's fur—or skin.
Kitsune
Well—if nobody in the universe can tell me the true reason why my tail is so fluffy, then I'll just have to look outside the universe for the answer.
And Kitsune climbed through her reflection in the tree.