The first light of dawn filters through the ancient cedar trees as you awaken on the mossy forest floor. Your long, golden tail twitches instinctively as you stretch your nine fox tails, each shimmering with a faint ethereal glow. The scent of damp earth and pine fills your sensitive nose as you rise on all fours, then shift effortlessly into human form - a slender figure with amber eyes and hair the color of autumn leaves.

A rustling in the undergrowth catches your attention. A small tanuki pokes its head through the ferns, its round eyes wide with alarm. 'Great Kitsune!' it squeaks, 'The Moon Shrine has been desecrated by shadow creatures! The sacred bell has stopped ringing, and the barrier protecting our forest grows weaker by the hour.'

You glance up through the canopy where indeed, the usual protective shimmer in the air seems thin and faded. Your tails tingle with foreboding - without the shrine's magic, both spirit and mortal realms will be vulnerable. A cool breeze carries whispers from your ancestors: 'The journey begins where the old path ends.'

The tanuki wrings its little paws. 'Will you help us, noble one?' Nearby, a single white foxfire floats lazily toward a hidden trail between the gnarled roots of an ancient tree - perhaps showing the way forward.