FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Ancient One

As Hans broke through the floor, he expected something soft and squishy, but instead, he fell to a hard stone floor characteristic of a cellar, but he managed to recover quickly. As he opened his eyes, though, he saw a scenery he had never seen before.

Before him was a black-colored creature that looked as if it was made from jelly. It looked like something in the sea, as in an octopus or a squid, but it was different. Unlike those creatures, this one was formed entirely from the death, covered with darkness. It had one black eye just like Rhynsa's, staring at him with blankness in it. He knew that's the target, and quickly ran towards it.

Yet, this was different. He felt no fear, but doubt. Something within him was telling him that he needed to find reason first before killing the creature, but Hans knew there was no way he could talk to the creature, given how its way of communication was from screeches and bellows.

He quickly jumped towards the eye-looking organ when tendrils stopped him mid-air. He thought he had the reaction to cut them, but he realized that, since it was closer to the most vulnerable part, they were moving faster than before.

He was struggling to get away from the black creature, but every time he moved, more tendrils would wrap around him and stopped him before he could move another inch. He struggled even more, but the moment he blinked, everything stopped. He could still struggle, but he could not break free from the tendrils wrapping around his wolf form.

Just then he heard a voice.

"Is it wise to kill an ancient being, Hans Rezmirn?"

Hans was obviously surprised, but he knew this was what his jackal friend had been through for a while. He snarled and said, "Who are you? I demand answer!"

"Oh, you've been given one from that Death Jackal," said the voice. "We simply communicate from your connection to Anubis Caropus. As for the answer to your question, we are no one, yet we are everyone. Seems confusing? It is. It is hard to comprehend our level of understanding with your knowledge. Even if you try, your simple minds would not understand."

"Cut the crap, devil. It is obvious that I need to kill this thing! It is disturbing peace!"

"Peace, what an abstract concept. It can mean true bliss, but it can be forced by power."

"I don't need your definition of peace! I know that you are the invader and we are going to fight it!"

"Again, you are mistaken. This creature, the ancient one, has been living underneath this cellar before there was even a town here. It simply woke up from its long sleep."

"Yes, and become a menace! Get off of my mind and let me kill this thing!"

"Fine, then, if that's your answer. But remember. Your enemy might give you an even harder choice than you are currently facing."

The voice vanished and everything resumed to normal. He tried to get off the tendrils, but the ancient one's grip was too strong. As if it was not enough, it started to suffocate him by wrapping around his neck and strangling him. He started to lose consciousness, thinking of Azureath and Lilac as his body became weaker and weaker...

Then there was another voice, but this one was familiar and welcoming.

"Wake up, little one."

He opened his eyes slowly and was met with Azureath's big dragon face covering his vision. He sighed in relief as Azureath licked him. After asking her to stop, he quickly remembered an urgent thing.

"The thing!"

"I finished it for you, little one. Clearly it was an abomination, and there was an obvious weakness, so I pierced through the eye with one of my legs. It oozed out black blood, but it was done. It withered all of the sudden. Without waiting for any respond, I quickly grabbed the three of you away from the town."

"But how about..."

"I don't think they need one anymore."

Hans then quickly looked at himself. He was still wolf, but he knew he would be naked the moment morning came, so he quickly got up and pulled out some spare clothes from the side of Azureath's saddle, quickly changed to his werewolf form, and put on some clothes.

"I've seen you dress in front of me, but how about if you get some decency with a certain female, hmm?"

When Hans looked confused, Azureath pointed towards one place and Hans turned. He quickly saw Seolfor and was embarrassed by it, but Seolfor said, "I'll turn away."

After a while, Hans turned towards Nergora, who was sound asleep, covered in bandages. The Lycan looked towards her and said, "A doctor helped me patch him up. He's fine now. He felt that Neri had done so much, and it was not wise to think every hellhound is evil."

"Glad that someone thinks like that," said Hans, then noticed a bandage wrapped around him, too.

"Oh, that's because you also broke some bone when you were crushed by those tendrils. It's fine."

He felt pain all of the sudden, but he did not heed them. He simply asked, "Are you okay...about you being with a hellhound?"

"I know you are thinking about my past and how I got my body, but I simply do not think all hellhounds are true demons. No...I think we are mistaken to think that they are demons."

"I'm glad you think so. That is why I agree to my sister having a hellhound boyfriend. But tell me...why didn't you run away? I could see a glimpse that you were taunting those tendrils."

"Those tendrils did not attack us, thanks to you and your mighty dragon," said Seolfor. "It was...such a quick fight."

"I wish it is not that easy."

That day, Hans decided to take a rest there, by the stream. By morning Nergora woke up, but he could not move due to the pain from his broken bones. He saw Hans talking to Seolfor, then she went away while Hans noticed Nergora waking up.

"I thought you'll be out the picture for a while. I guess I doubted a hellhound."

"Yes, you are.... The town?"

"It's fine. That creature is dead, and I want it to be that way. Things have been taking a turn into the worse these days."

"Everything is fucked up from the start, Hans, but...something tells me you have doubts killing that creature."

"To be honest with you, I...feel like I've just killed a whole race of an ancient being. I know that thing is an abomination, but still..."

"You don't have to feel bad, Hans. There is no benefit from keeping that creature in this world longer. I might sound like an asshole, but if that thing threatened others, it's our duty to end its life."

"But it's just trying to survive."

"It is killed. it lost. It does not survive. We survive. We get to see the future. It does not."

Hans contemplated on the meaning of those words. He then looked at the sky and said, "Your mindset is all about survival, isn't it? Will it be a concern in the future?"

"If it is for a fellow warrior with the same cause, then it won't. Hellhounds may look like they are trying to fight each other to survive, but some picked a more diplomatic approach and gained friendship from any other hellhounds. They found feelings and learn to trust instead of suspect, and that will lead to a strong survival. You can see it in the form of Ifrit."

"Is it because of his friends?"

"Eshdar may look like he's the best tracker, but he's hot-headed and prone to anger faster. Anubis is a good fighter and have good jokes, but he's blind and right now his judgement is conflicted. Ifrit is the only one who looked calm and matured a lot since meeting with your sister. He seems to not act like a typical hellhound anymore."

"Yes, I can see that also, and is one of the reason why I agree with their relationship. But, Neri...something tells me Seolfor also helped you out of your own darkness."

"I guess I owe her one so I don't end up being a cold-hearted bastard."

"Well, your heart is cold, and you're technically a bastard yourself."

They made a loud laugh to each other, waking Azureath up. She growled and quickly dozed off again, as if reminding Hans that he was disturbing her sleep. Nergora stopped his laugh and said, "More than that and I might tear my lungs off."

Hans smiled afterwards. "At least you have a sense of humor. Some guys might thought that was a sensitive topic. I felt it too, but you don't seem to mind."

"Well, yeah, I'm an ice hellhound. Normally that is not possible, but being the son of an ice demon sums things up. My brother is, uh...basically not a Schelkz, too, but we don't think that's a problem. What's real is that we have each other."

They looked towards the fire and slowly, Hans said, "Siblings are the most relatable people aside from parents, isn't it?"

"I sure hope that's the case. Tell me, Hans...what's your story with Azureath?"

"Oh, so you've noticed, huh? Well, in Main, you don't usually love your dragon romantically. That relationship is kind of impossible. But then, one faithful night changed my view to that kind of impossibility. You see, Azureath once turned into a draconian by a nature I don't know and unable to replicate until this day?"

"Draconian?"

"They are a legendary race, humanoid dragons, known in legends to be a race of knowledge. They vanished one day without a trace, leaving their plans for their future behind. Until these days, these so-called 'plans' are still legendary in status We haven't found them, and we might not find one, until...well, Azureath."

"It might just be a week, but I know that becoming a humanoid strengthen our relationship beyond a dragon and rider relationship. We...kind of having a good ol'..."

"I think I'm gonna stop you there. I only want to know, not the details."

"Oh...right. Sorry, mate. Got carried away."

"Ah...but seriously, what a twist of a romance. It's a lot like Beauty and the Beast."

"Except Beauty is a human, not a draconian."

They went out of the city's outskirts after Azureath woke up. Due to circumstances they decided that returning to Tanah region was the only thing they could do. With an ancient creature destroying a bar and the whole time travel and blob mystery, things had made all of them confused. Not only that, they felt like something was wrong, but did not know what. Hans felt it as if it was a simple question of 'what happened', but with things happening around them, he couldn't simply said 'I had a bad day' without causing confusion. Until that point, time travel, giant ancient creatures, and melted flesh existed in fiction for him. Even though he knew Main Continent also had its share of bizarre things in the past (and also an unrelated attempted demonic invasion), the events around him started to cause him to think that he had lost his mind.

Even after everything that happened, when he returned to the tree city, he found out another surprise waiting for him. He came out of the city much later than the rest of the group, but when he went back, he found that not only most of the groups travelling around the continent had safely returned, but also Eshdar had regressed into a kid hellhound.

That night, while Hans and Azureath attended a meeting about demon hunter's possible threat, Nergora used a lift to go up over the canopy, where he could see stars better. It was unsettling for him to be that high from the ground, but he had gone well through that, and found that he enjoyed it.

That night, though, he had an unexpected guest.

"There you are! I've been looking for you, Neri!"

"Seolfor?" Nergora wanted to ask her about how she found out where he was, but he sighed and said, "You shouldn't be here."

"I wanted to thank you...for saving me twice," said Seolfor while sitting. "I know I wanted to say this for a long time, but...you've given me the chance."

"I just don't feel like leaving my savior alone for her sake, right? Besides, you've been too involved with our affairs."

"Are you always thinking like that? Not everyone wanted to be left out from a danger, especially me."

"On the contrary, both me and my brother have that tendency to have followers. Ifrit embraced that, but...I just can't."

"Why?"

Nergora went silent, unable to continue. Yet, Seolfor insisted by staring at him with her wolf eyes, so he relented and said, "Hellhounds started with an instinct of survival, but without any feelings. It's good to have one eventually, but it depends on what kind of feeling you get. Ifrit got love, but..."

The ice hellhound then felt Seolfor's hand caressing his own, stopping him mid-sentence. She then said, "I don't care what feeling you got. Whatever it is, it does not change the fact that the love you gave me in those five days were genuine."

Nergora could see that Seolfor was serious, but he was still conflicted with himself. He knew loving her could lift a burden of desire, but on the other hand, he did not want her to be in danger. Even if she could fight like Lilac, he was not at heart to involve her in danger.

But she was serious on that matter, and their feelings were mutual. He clearly needed to lift one burden before he could deal with another. But then...he knew he wanted this. He did not want to leave the only one who could see past his hellhound shell and into a vulnerable heart that desired to be loved.

Thus, he picked a choice that would reunite them together. He turned around and licked Seolfor's nose, startling her. There was a slight pause before she returned that lick with a passionate kiss.

"(I might not be able to return to you)," thought Nergora. "(But I know I have somebody waiting for me)."

They broke the kiss and stared at each other's eyes. She made a smile and said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Hope so, but right now...we have all the time in the world."

They kissed again, under the moonlight, undisturbed by the trees around them as the night went on. Nergora felt joy and peace as he kissed her, knowing that he did not need to worry about her anymore.

All he wanted right at that moment was to give her a promise that he would return....