Vuori: The Warehouses

"" *But how can I deny the whispers in the leaves, the strange apparitions in the old hangar at the Gorge under the light of something like the Moon, which is not the Moon? That, that shiver down your spine when you simply don’t know, what treads the woods when you’re not looking, that’s what Night is all about. Its essence…”* ""

Vuori: The Warehouses is the 8th tale in The Vuori Chronicles book series. It is a narrative between the elusive Human speculated to be Vuorior James Kingston and a Fox that inhabits the areas near the Narrow Road as well as the Old warehouses at the Army Field.

*Word Count*: 1899

*Preceded By*: Vuori: Secrets on the Long Road

*Succeeded By*: Vuori: The Theater at Noon

## Release

The story was written by writer James Kingston, in late June 2018. It is one of the longest Vuori chronicles, and marked VII in the series.

## Plot

The story's writing had been previously foreshadowed through the *dark tales* of Vuori, as hinted in Vuori: Tale of the Shadow Slope and Vuori: Amidst the Groves in Liopyri. The Mountain, according to the chronicles, was long known to harbor two sides, the 'Noon' side which would reign over happy memories and sunlit groves, and the 'Nightfall' side which would rule over dark paths and spooky dirt roads.

Following upon the narrative tool of the foxes, writer James Kingston introduces yet another animal POV, to detail the adventures of a curious fox who wants to approach the Human it sees treading the roads nearby The Monastery to ask him about the dark alleys it has seen beyond the area of the *Army Field*. Rumors of foxes heading as far down as the old army park below the Mountain, right in the city of Athens were explored in this tale, and attributed to the adventures of the fox's long-gone grandfather, who had 'dared descend right into the park, along with his riff-raff company' (**Vuori: The Warehouses**).

The story appears to untangle with the cheerful, airy dialogue between human and fox, giving off the impression the two have known each other for years, and there seems to be a utilization of this effect for Kingston to explore the events of a frigid night in March 2018, when he and two other vuoriors had been lost in the lower groves of the Army Field and accidentally wondered too close to the army base.

As explained in the story, photography was not allowed, and therefore the camera flash used to light the road , in view of locating an opening towards the Apiary Fields and into The Monastery safe areas, was viewed as a hostile factor, leading two patrolling soldiers to hold the merry gang under gunpoint. Via a short affray, the Vuoriors were let free, before they stumbled upon another troop somewhere off to the plains of Chaidari and the beginnings of Korydallaia Ypsi, before winding down the paths towards the Alaska bar and back to the confines of the city.

The fox asks plenty of questions about the army and the strange , eerie oblong boxes spangled over the area above the army field, and the writer explores their mystifying nature, hinting at the potential hosting of criminals and vagabond souls. The reasons as to why they were chosen to name the tale are still unconfirmed, however the very spooky nature of the area was long a theme of discussion amongst the Vuoriors, and could be linked with the dark presence of a vagrant homeless man who was found roaming the ill-lit woods. A barefoot man, dressed in a withered old white suit approached the Vuoriors and inquired about a smoke, however the elongating couple of trekkers to the depths of Liopyri and the oncoming Nightfall which dawned upon them fast as lightning,led the Vuoriors to mainly ignore him and seek refuge to areas more habituated. It could, therefore, be argued that bumping unto the army was more a blessing, than a curse.

The homeless man was used as a narrative ploy, regardless, and served to represent an elusive Indian Shaman, due to his resemblance to one of such Far East origins. In the Chronicles, he is rumored to have been a wizard who somehow found himself in possession of the Partridge Feather, an amulet that was used to allow the animals to talk to the human, and which was consequently utilized-albeit absent mention to the Indian- in various other tales to allow such a communication, including the series finale Vuori: Woods of Albaedinan and the non-canon conclusion to the Eli tales, Moonlight on Vuori.

The story itself hinted at the events of the *final Vuori chronicle*, Vuori: Woods of Albaedinan, with the fox promising the Human it will tell its tales of the infamous Other Side of Vuori.

## Style

The story belongs to the first type of storytelling, as told from the POV of a fox discussing with the Human. The descriptions in this tale are mainly narrative-driven, but poetic elements are not absent. Specifically, towards the end of the tales, and after areas like the Warehouses and Liopyri/ The Narrow Road above The Monastery were analyzed, a short ode to the nightly nature of the mountain was given by the human. What it claimed was that stray souls should always know there is more than meets the eye in the obscure woods of Vuori, explaining that this very unknown factor that plays into the mix, the dreadful feeling of a pair of eyes watching you, was what has characterized Night itself across the ages.