FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 2

The darkness gave away, and Ifrit now walked in a plain of meadow. He thought that it finally be it, that he lost his life when he fell from the cliff, and that he knew he was in peace. Yet, it didn't feel right. He was a hellish creature; there was nothing of a definition of a surface race's heaven in his mind. He didn't believe in that.

Everything then came back to him, and he realized that if he died, Eshdar would be there, in the plains of tranquility and peace. But then, he also knew that heaven was also another realm, and it wouldn't be possible.

"(Guess I don't have anything to do in here. I am still tired, though, and sleepy...)"

He hated to admit it, but never before he felt so sleepy before. Yet, when he slept, he woke up, surrounded by rock and marble, and torch? Wait, it looked like he was...

Before he could realize where he was, there was a loud explosion sound just some position away from the place he was laid, yet it was muffled, meaning that it wasn't inside the rocky room. Trying to stand, he realized his legs were not as it used to be as they felt weak, and he couldn't even focus. Trying a way to walk, he forced his hands and claws to move his body to a nearby archway. His instinct wild, he tried to find the source himself when in front of him, a figure flew from the left side of the corridor, and a moment of concentration did he saw the figure had many features akin to a hellhound, like a canine face, horns, and long prehensile tail. He was stunned. Just some minutes after waking up and he was faced with another problem.

He went to the hellhound just as the hellhound stood up and stared at him. As he watched, the hellhound said, "(Stop trying to be useful if you're useless at this moment! We'll get you out of here, Schelkz!)"

This gave a sudden surprise to Ifrit. "(W...wait a sec. How did you know my name? Are you a rebel or a loyalist?)"

"(Like that's the main problem now! Keep your head down!)"

Another explosion and a shot came at the same time, and there was a strong gust of wind before a wave of heat hit both of them. The hellhound jumped forward in a blink, and the next moment, Ifrit saw an opening at the wall, with so many dead hellhounds all around the hellhound.

Just then, he realized that this hellhound didn't feel right, and compelled to ask, he said, "(Just what are you doing desecrating a grave, huh? I am dead already!)"

"(Nope, you're just in a coma)."

Ifrit realized that the voice was high-pitched, and realized at the same time that the hellhound was a she, and he gasped when she quickly moved to him and carry him on her back.

"(H...hey!)"

"(You're not fit to walk yet, hound. Damn those rebels. They got so many steps ahead of us. With Winsel, they have killed four royal hounds....)"

The mention of Eshdar's family name jolted Ifrit's mind, and he exclaimed, "(Eshdar! Where is he? Just take me to where he was put to rest!)"

"(Calm down, Schelkz, you're not as light as you thought to be!)"

"(First of all, my name is Ifrit, and this situation is not what it's supposed to be! Don't you have any goddamn ally?)"

Without heeding his comment, the female hellhound quickened her pace, and with no time at all they reached a wagon, where she put down Ifrit inside it. Just then, there were gunshots that pierced the wagon, and Ifrit felt the wagon was moving away, yet they were still under heavy fire.

"(Fuck! Can't this thing go any faster?)"

"(Wagons like this can't move as fast a car, you know! The acceleration is not even faster than a fucking horse carriage!)"

"(How the hell do you know that?)"

"(I am travelling in one for almost two years! Step on it, c'mon!)"

Yet it still travelling very slowly despite of a jolt indicating a higher speed. The gunshots started to get to Ifrit, and pushed with instinct, he pushed himself up and breathed fire to the bushes, setting them on fire and halting the progress of the pursuing hellhounds. He exhaled a relief, so as the female.

"(Damn, that was close. Retrieving you from the house of the dead really is a suicide if not for your part. I feel bad, though. You've just recently woken up from coma)."

"(Well, I'll be damned. My life is on the hands of a female hellhound and the one supposed to be protecting both of us is in this state. Damn...)"

"(Don't blame yourself. Being in a middle of a heavily guarded mausoleum playing with death makes your priority far exceeds the other hellhounds still royal to your cause, despite on how your 'death' seems legit)."

Ifrit wondered on how long had he slept, and asked it. The hellhound, despite of seemingly didn't care, finally said, "(I'll talk about it while you're recovering. It will be a half day trip to Aushagen from here)."

They went on silently along the paved road (something that wasn't normally seen by Ifrit). She occasionally stared back at Ifrit, but didn't start any conversation until halfway through the day, in which they stopped in a petrol station to fill the fuel.

"Diesel engines," said the hellhound with a rather thick accent. "It's good for long trip, but not very cheap."

"Do you know where to find a food? I never felt this hungry before. I'm famished near death."

"C'mon, it's on me."

After ordering two foods, the hellhound said, "(Some hellhounds found you by the river with a bunch of other dead hounds. Apparently, you were washed from the south and the way I see it, it's around Adaline, right near a cliff. Those bodies were in a very bad shape, and it was then one morning when they found you and Eshdar's body among the bodies. I'm sorry about Eshdar Winsel, though. The Winsel family is an honorable royal line with long tradition of bestiary collection, or so I was told. Of course, with a boat nearby, we gave him a boat funeral, so don't worry, he will rest easy)."

Ifrit then remembered about his surviving friends, and a sudden wave of guilt hit him. If he found them and told them that Eshdar was killed, they would know the black hellhound was alive while his best friend died horribly. Thinking about how Sammael would react to his master made him shiver, as he never would think on what a demon dog would do if he was angry.

"(So...the thing is, while I want to say that you're in Dusdolf, we're not going to the heart of the place. We're going to Tanah region along the east."

"(Tanah? It's a very isolated place, right? The way I was told made me think so)."

"(Don't get cocky now)," said the female with a small laugh. "(That place is not as it looked like from outside, and there are many hellhounds living there, too. It's the royalist's main base of operation)."

"(But I need to find my friends! They must be in this region! I remember we are trying to trade to this place after we completed a run in Adaline, and Albreich said he wanted to stop by his home. Do you know where they are now?)"

"(How should I know? The one with the most intel is my commanding officer. And then, I doubt if they still want you, given that it has been long day after you are lost from us)."

This caused Ifrit to become suspicious, and then, thinking of the worst, he asked, "(W-what year is this?)"

"(It's year 2455 First Alliance. Why?)"

He remembered one sentence Albreich said when he referred to the summer in their travel, and it was just some hours before they were attacked.

"It's summer of the year 2453 First Alliance, and counting from when we met, I guess it has been two years since we met, Ifrit."

And so, Ifrit realized that they would be horrified that a dead hellhound would come back to life after being lost for two years, and two years was a long time to start forgetting on those that had been lost