FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of disassociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

--H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Lura was sitting at her mother's table with her brother and her two sisters. Tam and Lamyra were playing with the dolls they had made out of horse hair and candle wax. Lura kept trying to make her own, but whenever she would hers would fall apart and Eloren would laugh and call her names.

"Dirty girl, lonely girl! Nobody loves you! Nobody is dumb enough to love you!" He grinned as he rubbed his sharp teeth with his bloody hands. "They know they'll just end up dead." Why were his hands bloody?

"Eloren, stop teasing your sister. It's not her fault she's useless." Her mother turned away from the dog carcass she was carving and faced her unruly children.

Lamyra put down her doll. Now streaks of blood dropped from the horse hairs. "Mummy, why are you dead?"

She wasn't dead. She was standing right in front of them. Except she was dead. Wasn't she?

"Your sister killed me. I died taking care of her. Your father left me, and then she left me the minute after I was cold in the ground."

Lura rubbed her eyes. Why were her hands so tiny? "I ... I don't remember any of this."

The body of the dog started screaming and suddenly there was blood everywhere. On Lura, on her mother, on the other children. The dog sat up, only it wasn't a dog now. It was a beautiful woman with white hair streaked with crimson. The woman lay down again and was a dog again, but the screaming didn't stop.

Tam grinned a wicked conspiratorial smile and glanced at their brother. "Mummy, she's doing it again."

A deafening roar erupted from all around the table, although Lura was the only one startled by the noise. "Oh gods, what's happening?" She could hear a man calling for her. Lura, get up! Lura, get the fuck up now!

"Who is that?"

"That's your father, Lura dear. He's not going to be happy with what you've done."

The other children cooed at her mockingly, taunting her with warnings of what daddy was going to do when he got home.

"Daddy? I ... I want him to come home. I want him to be back with us again. I want him to be proud of me."

The dog-carcass-woman gave a short cry of pain before she started repeating the words "No" and "Stop". On and on, over and over. "No ... Stop ... No ... Stop"

Lura began to cry.

The door swung open and a man strode through. The other children sprang to their feet and rushed to embrace him. Cries of "Daddy's home!" mingled with the corpse's refrain and the voice in the distance still yelling "Get up!"

Lura's father bent down to pick up Lamyra, placed a kiss on Tam's forehead and sparred playfully with Eloren before turning to kiss the blood-stained cheek of his bride. Lura didn't remember her father being bald with frosty hair covering his temples and large bushy gray eyebrows. She didn't recall his carrying a sword on his belt or the sickly sweet smell of death that wafted in the breeze at his entrance.

When he finally turned to look at Lura, every trace of happiness left his face. He dropped Lamyra roughly to the ground as he reached for his sword. In three long steps he pushed Eloren out of the way, dragged Lura from her seat by her unruly hair, and ran three feet of steel into her belly and out the other side. He pulled it from her and pushed it back in, repeating the motion several times with a pitiable look of ecstasy apparent on his face.

Lura, get up now! Where in the nine hells is Enadyse?

Her siblings circled around her as they watched their sister die. Graadig was licking the blood from his sword as Lura's mother crouched to take her daughter's hand one last time before she died. Her eyes were two shining moons and she spoke with a voice older than the stars. "There are complications, Lura. There are always complications."

* * *

The voices were still echoing when she woke up. She vomited up her last meal--what had she even eaten last? A person.--and tried to endure the pain lancing up her wrists. "No ... Stop! No ... Stop!" Someone was still chanting the same refrain from the nightmare. Lura looked around her at the crimson wound in the sky and prayed she was still dreaming.

The constant smog that enveloped the world had turned from its usual brown-gray into a black-red clot. It was necrotic, a putrid wound leaking something into the world that should not be here. The chanting was coming from Graadig's men, laying on their backs amidst three circles of earth and staring at the sky through empty sockets. Lura wondered why they were all dead before she felt her best friend slam into her side, grab her roughly by the shoulders, and drag her behind a tree.

"What's going on?" Kyrun screamed over the dead mens' chorus. "Are you alright? Where's Enadyse? Where's the Butcher? What in the gods' fucking names is going on?"

"I think ..." Lura winced as Kyrun gently pulled on her arms and examined the shackles on her wrists. "I think the gods are what's going on."

Kyrun gave her a confused look for just a moment before pulling a hatchet from the belt of one of Graadig's men. "I don't even know what that's supposed to mean. Hold still."

It took only a few strikes before the shackles came free, and only a few more before they came apart altogether, the weakened silver succumbing to stronger metal.

"It would have been faster to cut your hands off and let them regrow, but I don't imagine that would be very comfortable. Where is Enadyse?"

Lura remembered the dog thing on her mother's table. "Oh gods, Kyrun. Oh no."

The look on her face was enough for Kyrun to realize what she meant. "This can't be happening. He's doing it right now, isn't he? This is the start of the Tear." Lura followed his gaze as he stared into the wound in the heavens. Smoking black chunks were dripping from it, trailing red smoke as they fell to the ground miles away.

Kyrun pulled her from her feet in the direction of the small shack. "He's in there, isn't he? Let's kill the bastard and get out of here!"

As if hearing the threat against their master, the dead men rose to their feet and turned to face the two intruders. Dozens of pairs of hollow eyes gave the two Gahreer pause. The corpses stepped forward, pulling swords or knives from their belts in order to defend the man who had led them to this horrible end. As they swung their blades they still continued the same pitiable chorus: "No ... Stop! No ... Stop!" Were they asking them to stop Graadig? Was these some final plea before they died?

Kyrun's frame swelled as he began to shift. His claws slashed into the flesh of the nearest corpse, which seemed completely unfazed by what little damage had been inflicted on it. Kyrun screamed and held his hand as if it were stung by a thousand wasps. The pause was the only opportunity the dead thing needed to bash the pommel of his blade into Kyrun's jaw. Kyrun flew through the air twenty paces and slammed into a tree, falling lifelessly to the ground. Lura screamed for one horrible moment, fearing her friend was dead, but Kyrun soon opened his eyes as if he were waking from a long sleep.

Lura took two steps back as they shambled towards her. "Kyrun ..."

"Don't let them touch you!" Kyrun sprang to his feet and moved to flank the host of corpses. "It burned like fire when I cut one. Try the hatchet I used. Hit them from a distance." He broke a branch as long as a man from a fallen tree and swung it like a mace at the shambling corpse that had battered him aside so easily. The dead man's neck snapped violently as the branch shattered against his temple. Undeterred from the assault, it turned its now lopsided head towards Kyrun and continued its unending refrain of "No ... Stop!" It slashed Kyrun's chest open from neck to navel with an awkward swing of its sword.

Kyrun screamed in agony and fell to the ground. Lura shouted his name and rushed towards him, pulling him out of reach of the dead thing's blade as it came crashing to the ground where he had been just a moment earlier. Lura could feel Kyrun's organs threatened to fall from his belly but the wound was already healing. She dragged him a few paces more, out of the reach of the corpses following them, at least for a few moments. "Gods below and above," Kyrun whispered. "Breaking its neck didn't slow it. What now?"

Lura helped him to his feet. "Arrows? Try to take them out at a distance? I'd say we run away and come back with the others, but I don't think we have enough time."

Kyrun tripped on a root as he tried to rise and almost sank to the ground again. "Make a rush for the building? They're slow, we can get past them quickly."

Before the words were even out of his mouth the corpses began to encircle the shack, vacant eyes staring into the darkness and looking out for anything that could interfere with their master's final victory.

"The trees." Kyrun pointed above them. "You distract them, I'll land on the roof from above. I can tear my way in. Maybe he won't be as strong as the others and I can gut him as soon as I'm inside." He stood once again, his legs snapping loudly, his knees reversing as they changed. He reached forward and dug his claws into the trunk of the nearest tree. His feet left the ground as he called out in a rougher voice, "Lura! Distraction! Hurry!" The sounds of splintering wood mixed with the popping of Kyrun's bones as he shifted faster than Lura had ever seen.

Lura shook her head and rushed towards the ring of corpses. They brandished their blades as they prepared to defend her master. Lura faked a rush forward, only to pull back at the last second. They were strong, but they were dumb even before they were dead. She made a feint to the left, then to the right, then back again, each time drawing them further away from the building. She was beginning to think this might be simpler than she had originally believed until a cold dead hand grabbed her by the wrist and carelessly tossed her into the air. Lura cried out in pain as she felt her shoulder dislocate. She twisted in the air with a grace she never knew she was capable of, using the throw's momentum to give her time to right herself and land on her hands and feet.

"Alright, fine. We do things your way." Lura's teeth ground against each other as they grew in her mouth. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she let slip a low growl. She felt her spine bulge from her back even as it extended into the beginnings of a tail. Drool fell from her black lips as she felt her fur begin to cover the swell of her growing arms and chest. She had never changed this quickly, but she had never needed to.

She resumed her feints, ducking and rolling whenever one of the horrible things got close to her, leading them further and further away from their master. Lura resisted the urge to lash out at the dead men, knowing it would do no good. She just had to keep them distracted until Kyrun was in range. Lura dared to look away for just a moment, scanning the treetops with her yellow eyes for any sight of her friend.

It was a mistake she would spend the rest of her life regretting. Many years from now she would pray to any god who would still listen that she could forget what she was looking at that very moment.

High above the treetops, the wound had opened and was giving birth to something that should never exist, a cancer released into an already dying world. Thousands of red veins were extending from the edge of the wound, pulling it wider and wider. Red and black chunks were falling to the earth as the sky's flesh was being torn apart. And despite all of this, the true terror was what lay behind the wound, the horror that existed on the opposite side of their world.

Lura screamed. She was suddenly not a werewolf, not a woman, not even a child. She was nothing. Only a wailing voice that wanted nothing more than to hide itself from what men in their ignorance had named the Blind Ones. Lura's claws tore at her eyes as shrank she away from the sight. She screamed over and over again for her mother, and for one dark moment she was envious of the empty sockets of the dead men. She wanted nothing more than to tear out her own eyes. On and on she screamed until her voice was joined by the corpses standing over her. They had ceased their refrain and had joined Lura in her maddening cry. They were all the same now: lifeless husks screaming in horror as the truth of what lay behind the sky was finally revealed.

Lura heard Kyrun land on the roof just an instant before the building exploded.

Pieces of wood and iron flew in every direction, embedding themselves in the trees and the screaming dead men. The circles of soil surrounding the shack suddenly burst into flame. Kyrun was thrown back against the tree from which he had just leapt. The sky was beginning to stretch and bend like water running through a sieve, circling around the remains of the lonely little building.

At the epicenter of the blast, the Butcher stood laughing like a madman as he was being granted the victory he had sought for so long. His laughter stood in contrast to the pain etched on his face. Graadig was being burned alive from the inside. His eyes were melting. Black ichor fell from his nose and lips. Pieces of his forehead were flaking off and turning into ash before they touched the ground. There must be a fire burning inside the man's skull. There was no possible way he could still be alive, but he must have been. His mortal body was being burned away as he was achieving the divinity he had so long craved. Good, Lura thought. She was just sane enough to hope that the bastard was experiencing every moment of agony as his body slowly burned from the inside out.

Above the Butcher was a silhouette nearly as tall as the trees that had once stood around the perimeter of the blast. It looked like Shade, only it couldn't have been. It was nearly identical to her strange benefactor, other than the size: a round cylinder with something vaguely resembling a head near the top. But whereas Shade's eyes resembled two eerie glowing spheres, this new phantom's eyes were twin furnaces, glowing hot enough to burn the world in their angry red gaze. Lura reveled in her madness, laughing as she wondered if Shade would enjoy meeting his baby brother.

She was still laughing when Kyrun grabbed her head in his paws and forced her to look away from what was surely the end of the world. He was calling her name: "Lura!" Or maybe it was "Love!" The words could be easily confused when coming from the jowls of a monster. He was screaming something else, a sad look in his animal eyes. He seemed to be saying something important, something he had put off saying for a long time but now was at last being spoken in this, their final moments.

Lura couldn't hear him over the sound of her own laughter and the hot wind erupting from the burning man and his towering servant. Finally when coherent words fell from her mouth she could only scream, "The eyes! Oh gods, Kyrun. I saw them. Thousands of them. The world outside is filled with eyes! I saw them, and they saw me."

Kyrun seemed to realize his friend was now completely insane. He cradled her head in his paws and forced her face into his furry chest, trying to shield her as much as possible from the world's end.

From the darkness came the footsteps of a giant. Trees were being pushed aside as it strode quickly into the center of the chaos. Whenever the pads of its paws touched the ground, an earthquake would shake the earth. Lura felt strangely relieved to know that she was now assuredly mad. No sane mind could conjure up the image that now strode toward them. She was slightly disappointed when she realized her friend was apparently also seeing the apparition. Kyrun uttered a prayer, but Lura wasn't sure if it was a prayer of thanks or one asking for protection from the approaching monster.

It was a wolf. Not a werewolf, not Gahreer. Just a wolf. Just a wolf twice as tall as a barn with eyes as wide as a well. Eloren would be a puppy next to this. It opened its cavernous mouth silently, revealing teeth taller than a man. Its yellow eyes reflected the red light emitting like embers from the towering phantom's eyes.

It passed the awestruck pair without any acknowledgement, its eyes fixed steadily on the task before it. The still screaming dead men took up arms against it, slicing the blades uselessly against its flanks. Without taking its eyes from the newly-made god in the center of the clearing, it batted them aside like flies, their bodies popping and tearing with a casual swipe of its paws. One corpse had managed to grasp onto the fur behind its front left leg. Annoyed, the great wolf picked the dead man up in its jaws and flung its body into a tree with enough force to reduce both tree and corpse to dust.

Having dispensed of these distractions, it turns its gazed back towards the Butcher, pausing just a moment to linger on the two Gahreer huddling on the ground. For a moment, Lura saw a strange sort of familiarity in the animal's eyes. The wolf knew her, and she must have known the wolf as well. Lura's madness seemed to fade as a strange realization suddenly dawned on her.

"Dad?"

Hearing the word, the great wolf silently turned away and took its final giant step to stand directly before the monster who was damning the world. The shadowy silhouette grew larger, facing down the wolf with the flames of hell burning in its eyes. The wolf briefly glanced into those eyes as if it were looking into the beady eyes of a rabbit rather than an aspect of the Blind Ones given form.

Finally the silence was broken by the Butcher, who screamed out in victory from what remained of his smoldering throat. Graadig's arms were aflame as he spread them to welcome the giant beast before him. "Yes!" he cried. "Yes! Yes! YES!"

The wolf's reply was simple:

"No."

The word turned into a howl that erupted from the great beast. It grew louder and louder and suddenly the red veins reached down from the sky and sought to encircle the wolf, although they were unable to reach him as the entire clearing was suffused with a light so bright Lura could see it even when she closed her eyes against its brilliance. The phantom lunged towards the wolf until it was also enveloped in the radiance and gradually started to fade. Lura felt the ground start to collapse underneath her.

Kyrun pulled her to her feet and forced her to run. "Move, gods damn you! Move!"

Lura's body began to further change, shifting so she could run on all fours. This was a battle she no longer had any part in. The gods were battling the gods, and Lura could only hope there would be a world left standing when they were finished. The wind rushed by her faster and faster as it was drawn to the center of the conflict, its shrill howl joining the howl of the great beast facing off against the Blind Ones themselves.

The pair kept running until they broke free of the forest, then turned to look at the wound in the sky. It was being cauterized by the light pouring in a column up from the center of the wood. When at last the light faded, the red sky had disappeared and the ever-present smog had returned. The heavens had returned to their normal state, except for one noticeable addition. From this day forward the sky would always bear the scar of the night the Blind Ones were nearly birthed into the world.

* * *

Kyrun and Lura walked in a daze until they reached a small grove with a smaller stream running through it. Here they waited, knowing what remained of their pack was on its way. Neither said anything until the others arrived. Kyrun once held out his now-human hand as if to place it on Lura's shoulder, but Lura moved just of his reach and continued staring into the still water.

When Eloren and Tam finally arrived there was little point in explaining Enadyse's disappearance. Her friends had sensed their alpha's death shortly after the madman had driven the knife into her heart. Still, they waited for Lura to finish her tale. Tam attempted to tell Lura she wasn't at fault and there was nothing she could have done. She was halfway through her reassuring words when she sank to the ground, sobbing openly. Eloren flashed an accusatory look at Lura before his expression turned to pity over what his new sister had gone through. He crouched and wrapped his mate in his arms. Lura looked into the sky at the horrible wound, not for the first time. Nothing would be the same now, not for the world or for her pack.

Were they still a pack? Were they anything anymore? Who would lead? Kyrun, almost certainly. He stepped near her again and started to say something. Lura walked away as he approached.

It was her fault. All of this. She was a foolish girl who wanted a shot at revenge and had now led to the death of an alpha Gahreer. She had put to death something ancient and beautiful, like a child setting fire to a tree that had stood for centuries.

What would happen now? She supposed they would head home, but first she needed to return to the village. The village. Yet another thing she had destroyed. Lamyra's family would starve come winter. Could she convince her new family to offer them shelter, perhaps a new life as Gahreer? Would they event want that? Would Lamyra? You look weird, and you smell weirder.

The night air was becoming cool, and Lura wished she had Kyrun's fur cloak to keep her warm. She shivered and rubbed her arms, urging some warmth back into them.

Before she realized he was there, Kyrun was standing next to her, looking down into the still water. How long would it be before it dried up? Another tranquil spot gone.

"Is Tam okay?" Lura asked the question without looking at her friend.

"She will be. We all will."

"I wish ... I wish we had something ... anything of her to lay to rest."

"Gahreer do not bury their dead."

"What do Gahreer do, Kyrun?" she asked, a bit too sharply.

"A pyre. Lots of songs celebrating the life of the lost. Followed by howling all throughout the night. For an alpha, this usually goes on for a few days."

"I guess you all should get started, then." She had no place in their wake, not anymore.

"Not tonight. Not here. Once we get home."

The word brought up images of her tiny shack, not of her hidden paradise. "What happened to Lamyra? Did she make it home safe?"

"Yes. The bastards let her go just before they reached the village, then rode off as fast as they could. Eloren wanted to go after them, but Tam wanted to find us as quickly as possible. They delivered her back to her home. Her mother was certain she was dead or worse. She ..." He hesitated. "Actually thanked them. She said the rest of the village would never stop being afraid of monsters, but that there were certain monsters whom the gods must have sent to them to save their home and return her lost daughter."

"Do you think ... Lamyra can come back with us? The rest of the village will starve."

"I don't know, Lura. Maybe. Lamyra might be willing to convince a few of them. There aren't many people who are interested in becoming 'werewolves.'"

She turned to face him. "You hate that word."

He said nothing in return, only holding out a hand to brush her tangled hair from her face. He paused, wanting to see her reaction. The dead look in her eyes hurt him more than anything they had faced this night.

Finally he spoke. "We'll head back home tomorrow. The village will need time to recover before we can decide what to do."

"Maybe I should stay behind for a while. Talk to them when they calm down. Maybe me staying away might be a good thing for all of you."

"Lura ... Enadyse chose you. You're family."

"Enadyse is dead, and I'm family? I buried one mother. The other died screaming. People like me aren't supposed to have a family."

"I love you." It was sudden, probably as sudden to Kyrun as to Lura. He seemed more surprised for having said it than she did at hearing it.

Lura took a few steps away, looking into the black water. "Why?"

Kyrun stood facing her back for a long time before slowly turning away and returning to the others. Lura sat down and ran mud through her fingers, rubbing at her palms with her sharp fingernails. She was staring at the water for a long time before she saw the giant white wolf's reflection staring back at her.

She jumped and turned around. It was gone, if it had ever been there. She looked back to the water, but the reflection has vanished as well. It seemed even colder now, her breath turning to mist. "Who are you?"

"Village. Alone." The words came from everywhere and nowhere.

Lura stood for a while before returning to the rest of her pack. She found them huddled around the remains of a small fire, as if the long-dead ashes still held some small warmth.

"I want to check on Lamyra. After that ..."

"After that, you come home," Tam interrupted. It was not a question or a friendly statement, it was an order. The blonde woman hugged her, the warmth of her body feeling good on Lura's cold skin. "No exceptions, no hesitations, no nothing. You just come home. We'll figure out what to do once the whole family is back together." She emphasized the word "family," as if to remind Lura she was still one of them.

Eloren stepped forward and Lura prepared for another of his bone-breaking embraces, but he only placed a large hand on her shoulder. "Come home soon."

Eloren and Tam returned to the empty fire. As always, Kyrun walked away from the group, leaving the company of the others and beginning a solitary patrol of the perimeter of the glade. Lura silently followed him without thinking of why.

They returned to the stream, all trace of the large wolf still absent. Lura was thankful that some of the cold seemed to have left with it.

She wondered if Kyrun knew she was even there. She had never met anyone so completely alone as this man. Perhaps that was what she liked about him. She was always alone after the deaths of the people she loved. He was always alone because he wanted to be, because it was the way he felt things should be.

"Um ...," Lura hesitated. "What you said ... earlier ..."

"Forget it," he interrupted. "It was wrong and I don't know why I said it."

Lura couldn't have hidden the disappointment in her voice if she had wanted to. "Oh."

"I was out of line, and I apologize. We're lucky to even be sane enough to have this conversation after everything that happened tonight. With all the strangeness, I guess I just ..."

Lura stepped next to him, forcing his stare from the still water into her eyes. "Someone once told me ... sometimes being strange is the best thing you can be."

His frown turned into a smile--or what passed for a smile on his face, anyway.

"I like it when you smile," she whispered. "It doesn't happen as often as it should." Then, before it could disappear from his lips, she kissed him softly. He hesitated just a moment before returning the kiss, placing his strong hands on her arms.

When they broke apart, he only had time enough to speak her name before she kissed him again, his short beard feeling good upon her cheeks. Soon she felt his tongue inside her mouth, his hands upon the small of her back, his heart bumping in his chest. She enjoyed the last sensation best of all.

She embraced him, running her fingernails gently across the hairs on his back. She leaned her head against his chest, eager to listen again to the steady thrum of his heart. His hands brushed her hair before wandering down her back, feeling along her spine.

"Last time, it was ... wild." she said softly. "Primal. More about mating, less about ... us."

"It's like that sometimes. It doesn't have to be."

She looked into his eyes. "Show me."

Kyrun placed his hands on the curve of her waist. He leaned over her, trailing his hand along her side. For several moments he just stood there watching her, saying nothing. He leaned in, gently kissing her neck, occasionally nipping gently at her skin. Lura gasped in surprise and giggled as if she were a child. He ran his hands through her thick hair, laughing as he caught his nails in the ever-present tangles. He stood straight for a moment as if he wanted to do something else, lost himself in her eyes and kissed her deeply again. She could feel his hands tracing along her back again, tickling the small hairs growing just above her rear.

The taste of his tongue in hers was soon joined by another sensation as she felt his teeth slowly growing longer and more pointed. His hands gripped her shoulders, sharp fingernails now pressing lightly into her skin. She dragged her own nails lightly across his back before she gave a small gasp, feeling him growing between his legs. She stepped back a moment, enticed by the yellow glow in his eyes. He was a beast; he was her beast. She took his hand, thumb playfully rubbing the hairs growing on his fingers, before pulling him to the ground. The weight and heat of his body felt so right against her chest. She felt her nipples stiffening and gave a sharp gasp as she felt them drag across the thick hair sprouting from his chest.

Kyrun gave her a fanged smile--not predatory this time, but friendly and familiar. He leaned down, playfully teasing her nipples with his tongue. As if to give her mate more to play with, she felt six other bumps slowly rising from her chest, a line of hair drifting across them as it trailed from her nipples, between her breast, finally completing its journey as it connected with the thickening hair growing from her mound. She could feel the strength is his arms, growing with each heartbeat as his muscles swelled. The feel of his manhood pressing against the inner part of her thighs made her realize just how wet she was becoming.

"Now. I need you now."

He smiled shyly. "This early?"

"Yes. No more foreplay. I want to feel you inside me."

Not one to argue, he placed his hand on his shaft, gently guiding it the entrance of her most secret place. She felt the head of his prick lengthen and narrow to a point as he leaned closer. She felt the hair on her mound rubbing against him just a moment before he eased himself inside her slowly. It felt slick, smooth, wonderful. Her long gasp continued as he gently pressed forward inside her. She smiled when he was fully inside. This was hers, it was made for her, it belonged to her. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt him continuing to swell, pressing softly against her folds. Just the feel of it and the knowledge of what was happening drove her to a small orgasm.

She covered her face with her hands, stifling a small laugh as she felt the pleasure slowly wash over her. He gently pulled her hands from her face, placing them above her head as if he meant to take her more forcefully. She was about to protest before she felt his lips lightly kissing her arms, tickling the thickening hair trailing from her armpit up to her elbow. She interlaced her fingers with his, lightly scratching his hands with her claws. A small drop of saliva fell from his mouth into hers as he kissed her again, his black lips hot and wet against hers. She laughed as she felt his cold nose press against her cheek. Cold noses were something she would have to get used to.

He broke the kiss, looking into her eyes with a silent question. She gave a short nod of assent and inhaled sharply as she felt him start to slide back and forth inside her. Her hands went to his ass, feeling the small nub growing from just below his spine, tiny hairs already beginning to sprout from it. His shaft was still swelling inside her, almost painfully at first until her own sex began to swell, pressing outward into the fur growing from his crotch. Sensing her resistance beginning to lessen, she began thrusting into her a bit faster as she gripped the fur growing from his sides. Her eight breasts pressed into his hard chest as they swelled larger, nipples dragging wonderfully across the dark fur covering his chest and belly.

Her small tail pressed into the cool dirt and is grew, feebly attempting to wag back and forth under the weight of the two lovers. Her clawed hands gripped his shoulders, the rough pads pushing from her palms lightly scratching him. She leaned forward, partly to give him more space to maneuver but also wanting to lean into his chest. Gods, he smelled so good. Like a beast, yes, but also like the wind rustling through leaves back in their hidden paradise. She lightly pressed her fangs against his chest, seeking any way to hold on to him as he began thrusting harder and harder. Her teeth lightly wounded him as they dragged across his skin as her mouth began to push out into a muzzle. She felt her ears coming to a point, swiveling around to lay closer to the top of her head, giving off an indication of the wonderful helplessness she was feeling.

A deep growl from his chest sent her into another orgasm, even more unexpected than the first. She moaned, her voice deepening before turning into a whine. Her mound has risen to a triangle, heat and fluid dripping around his still-thrusting shaft. He closed his eyes, tongue lolling from his mouth, hot drool dripping onto the soft earth. He opened his eyes and looked into hers; they glowed yellow-white in the soft moonlight. They were the eyes of a predator, but a predator she knew would love and defend her all the days of her long life. She felt him trembling against her legs and knew that he was close.

Sudden dread filled her. "Wait!" she panted. "Wait, wait!"

Immediately he stopped his gyrations, though his shaky voice held a note of annoyance mixed with nervousness. "What? What is it? Am I hurting you?"

"No, just ... Don't ... Don't come inside me."

For a moment he stared at her uncomprehendingly. Gahreer can't be impregnated, so where was her hesitation coming from? She watched the realization dawn in his eyes; sadness was soon to follow. She nodded affirmation to the question he was about to ask.

She didn't want his knot inside her. She was leaving. Tonight.

Kyrun resumed his thrusting, slower this time, less eager. He couldn't meet her eyes for the rest of the night.

When he was finished, they lay next to each other, the heat and scent of their bodies drifting away on the gentle wind. She lay for an hour until she thought he was asleep, then silently rose to her paws and quietly slipped away into the night in the direction of the village she had once called her home.

Kyrun had the grace to pretend he was asleep as she went.

* * *

Lura could see the towering silhouette that was Shade standing like a grim obelisk as she neared the village. He was taller than he had appeared inside her small home, nearly twice as tall as the tallest building. The twin white orbs of his eyes scanned the ground as if expecting to find something, two bright suns in the midst of a tower made of darkness.

She wasn't surprised to see him. In truth, she doubted anything would ever surprise her again after becoming a werewolf, tearing a band of outlaws apart, and witnessing the living horror that emerged from the sky. She continued her slow walk, her tail drifting side to side with a strange satisfaction. Let the bastard wait for me, she thought. I hope he can't stand the inconvenience.

As she passed the first houses on the outskirts of the town she knew something was wrong. As she neared the giant shadow looming over the smoldering houses she realized there was no sound. Even after losing so many lives to the Butcher's men there should be some sound, some movement. There were dead to bury, homes to rebuild, children to comfort. Where was everyone?

The shadow didn't turn to look at her as she neared. It spoke only two words that filled Lura with more anger than she had ever felt in her life.

"You failed."

"We fucking stopped him." she spat. "No thanks to you. Our little bargain is concluded, and I hope you bugger off to some hell buried so far below that I never have to see you again."

She didn't expect it to display any sort of emotion, but as it turned to look at her she was satisfied that at least she had interrupted his pointless examination of the devastated remains of the town.

"Is that humor? I can never tell. It's not something I've ever really grasped. Never saw the point, really. Are you being funny now?"

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "What are you talking about? We killed his men and ... something ... stopped him. We stopped your 'friends' from entering the world. How is that not a victory?"

"You are a child," it spoke slowly. "I was wrong to put any hope in you. You have failed more than I could ever had anticipated. I was a fool to expect anything different, but I had hoped five of your kind would be enough to stop him."

"We did stop him!"

"It would have been better if I had tried another way. Whispers in the dark and knives thrust into very specific backs. It has always worked before. It would have worked now. Better than putting any hope in a small pack of ... animals." The last word dripped with its disgust.

The weariness of the day's travels was beginning to wear on Lura. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The way I see it, we saved the world and lost one of our own in doing it. If anything, we did a better job than you ever could have."

The air suddenly seemed freezing, where moments before it was almost sweltering. Shade was making some noise. Was it ... laughing? Maybe it had finally discovered humor after all.

"Yes. You stopped him all on your own. Well done."

Lura remembered the wolf. If it hadn't been for it--whatever it was--she wouldn't be standing here today. There wouldn't even be ground to stand on.

"You're hiding something. What is it? What aren't you telling me?"

The cold seemed to retreat. Shade's eyes drifting just a bit towards the ground. Was it ... sad?

It slowly turned to look again at whatever it was it had been examining when she approached. Lura turned to look. The sound she made wasn't a word, wasn't even a scream. It was a wail, devoid of any hope and emotion save that of the purest sort of grief, the truest form of loss.

Lamyra lay dead still wrapped in her mother's arms. Lura leapt to her side, clasping the child's cold hands with her large paws. "No no no no no no no. No, gods, no. Lamyra! Lamyra, wake up! Pup! Please pup, you can't do this to me! Gods no, please no. No no no."

Lura placed her head against her friend's chest. There was no blood, no wound visible. She was simply dead. When Lura raised her head she saw that Lamyra's mother had suffered a similar fate. Lura scrambled into a crouch, looking frantically in every direction like a small animal caught in a trap.

Around her were more bodies. There was a small stack of the poor souls Graadig had slain, likely placed aside until graves could be dug for them. These made sense; they were sad, but expected. However, Lura could see still unmarked bodies everywhere she looked. They were not hurt, they had simply died as if in their sleep.

"You accomplished a little, child," it spoke kindly, reassuringly. "It wasn't totally without purpose. You slew most of his men. It is a small blessing. The world is rid of them. That is something."

Lura was beyond whatever words the shadow was speaking. She stared dumbly ahead, her paw still stroking Lamyra's hand.

"But there is much still to do. And despite your failure, I believe you may still have some usefulness. Whatever remains of Graadig's men will want to know what happened to their master. The clever ones among them will begin to seek to unravel the mystery. They will learn about the ritual if they don't know enough already, and in their lust will seek to start it again. Things are not as grave as they were when he was still alive, but there is still work to do.

"There is another danger as well," it continued. "One I had never anticipated until last night. The Blind Ones have now noticed this world twice. They won't make a move to invade it, not intentionally, but they may destroy it in their curiosity. There isn't much I can do about that, but it's something to keep in mind until a solution can be found."

"Where were you?" It was barely a whisper. "While we were fighting and these people were dying. Where in the all the hells were you?"

"Did you think I was sitting idly by?" It sounded almost offended. "Did you think I couldn't be bothered to notice that the world was ending around me? What do you think I was doing, child? How do you think this works? You know what happens when I intervene."

Lura remembered the vultures. She remembered the vultures and sobbed, burying her face against her friend's body. Her friend must have died just as they had the day Shade rescued her from the quicksand.

"I work in proxy. You have no idea what I have done to save this broken world. This was not an isolated incident, albeit it was an important one. I have worked in the shadows since I was dragged into this world. A whisper from the shadows in the ear of a mistreated farmhand. The next day, his employer is found with his throat slit. A carefully placed suggestion to a child that perhaps today she should play on the stairs and not worry about picking up her playthings when she is finished. Soon enough the child finds her father's body, his neck broken from a fall suffered while slipping on a carelessly discarded toy. I have ended the lives of more people than you will ever meet. I have convinced husbands to strangle their wives. I have convinced children to smother their parents in their beds. Never once have I found any pleasure in these deaths. I did them because these people were dangerously close. Close to finding out about what that fool did ten years ago. Close to learning about the ritual, close to learning about the Blind Ones, close to starting down a road that would eventually lead to the end of this abhorrent world."

"You're a monster," she said coldly. "Some ridiculous-looking apparition from the nightmare of a child. This is your idea of philanthropy. This is how you try to make the world a better place."

"Yes. Yes, exactly." It didn't hear the venom dropping from her words. It seemed pleased she was finally grasping the meaning of his little lecture.

"I'll stop you. I don't know how, but I'm going to rid the world of you. I will kill you. Somehow."

It gave a sigh, although it seemed more sad than annoyed. "Yes. Maybe you will someday. That may be for the best."

"You and Graadig were almost the same. You both murdered to get what you wanted." She gave a sad smile as she repeated what the Butcher had once said. "At least he was honest about it."

"I'm the most honest thing alive. In my own way."

"I will stop you. There are things out there even you can't know about. Something showed up, right before all was lost. It killed the Butcher and closed the wound in the sky. It didn't have any qualms about getting itself involved."

"You really are a slow one, little fool. I take it you're referring to the wolf?"

Lura stared into its eyes. She was silent for a long moment. When she spoke, all defiance had left her voice. "It was you. For a moment I thought it was my father, but it was you."

"After a fashion. Something I created when it was apparent that your failure was becoming imminent."

"Why? Why a wolf?"

"Honestly, it was the first thing that sprang to mind. Understandably given my recent associations. No real significance other than that."

"And this ..." She gestured towards her friend. "This was the cost. Your gods-damned 'complications.'"

"Correct."

"There's no one left here is there? They're all dead? Do you even care? How many died?"

It hesitated. "Half."

Lura was confused. "Then where are the others? Did they flee? Where are the rest of the villagers?"

"I wasn't referring to half of the village." It sounded sad. "I meant ... half."

Terror. Sheer terror. "Half of what, Shade? Half of what?" Her voice trembled as she prayed she didn't know what he meant.

"Half of ... all."

Lura suddenly became violently ill, dry heaving onto the ground. She knew now what he meant. Intervening on this large a scale would take more than just a few lives. It would require more than the deaths of a few dozen vultures. More than the death of a small village. It took would take half of everyone.

"I didn't expect you to be so bothered by all this, child. I seem to recall you weren't the biggest fan of mankind. Especially not of the humans who lived in this village."

She snarled and lashed out at the shadow, her swipe passing right through its form as if it wasn't even there. Immediately she realized the mistake she had made as her paw erupted in pain. She whined as the skin smoked and bubbled, although it was already beginning to heal. But when it was fully restored, the fur and flesh were still stained black. The same darkness that made up the horror she was now speaking to. She knew this stain would mark her for the rest of her life, regardless of what form she was in.

Shade seemed completely oblivious to the attack.

"None of this was worth it, then." Lura's words were hoarse, unsteady. "It was pointless. It would've been better if I hadn't gotten involved. If I hadn't tried to avenge my father."

"Correct. An error of judgment on my part. I had hoped it would be the fastest way of dealing with Graadig, but I should have been more precise."

"He said ... Graadig said my father was just as bad as any of them. Bad as Graadig himself, bad as the Traitor. You knew it, too. My entire life I thought he was a good man deep down, whatever he may have done for the greater good. But there are no good men, are there?"

"He was ... a good man, once. He merely made a bad decision." It turned and faced her. She felt it was attempting to look at her in accusation. "He was a good person that allied himself with forces he couldn't understand to accomplish a goal he shouldn't have pursued in the first place."

Lura closed her eyes, thinking that it wasn't only one Veloren it was speaking about. She was suddenly so very tired. "I asked for this. All of this. I can't blame you. You just gave me what I desired."

"Desire is the driving force in all of your kind. I can't imagine why. It only ever seems to lead to the worst possible outcome."

"Why did Graadig come here at all? He had everything he needed for the ritual."

"Obviously I placed a whisper in his ear that there may be something hidden in your father's notes. It was the fastest way to get him close enough for you to attack."

Lura felt as though she should be furious at this. Instead she just felt tired, sad, and alone. It wasn't Shade's fault the Butcher had come here. He had only given Lura a chance to do what she wanted.

"You can still be of some help, child. With your assistance it will become less likely I will need to be so ... direct in the future."

"You want me to help you." It was not a question.

Lura realized that Shade was the world's best chance at preventing this all from happening again. She could work with it, maybe steer it towards more peaceful measures to accomplish its goals. Maybe there needn't be another death on her conscience. She thought about Kyrun, about what was left of her pack. She would be able to keep them safe.

"I will come with you," she finally said. "I will help you. I don't see how I have much of a choice. But I won't kill for you." And when the time comes, she thought, I will destroy you.

"You won't needlessly kill for me. Of that I can assure you. But you will kill to get me what I want, child. You're rather good at doing just that." It paused as if giving her a chance to reconsider. "Then we have a deal?"

Another deal, she thought. Because the last one worked out so well.

"We have a deal."

"Splendid. You needn't fear anything while you are under my protection. You just need to do as I say. Go east to Ronae. Larger cities will not be very pleasant places to be given recent events, but there's a ship I need you on. Stay out of sight as much as you can when you get there. I will be in touch."

"I need to bury my friend first."

It looked at Lamyra's body as if it were a discarded shoe.

"That won't be necessary."

Before it finished the statement the bodies were gone--including the corpses of those who had died in the raid. Lura felt it was wrong to whisk Lamyra's body away into nothingness, but knew it wouldn't make a difference to bring this up to her new employer.

"There. No further delays. You will go."

Just like that it was gone. No fading away, no puff of black smoke, no flash of lightning. It just wasn't there anymore. Lura realized that the entire time she had been speaking to Shade she had been facing west. She had been facing home; both the shack of her youth and her true home with her true family. The family she would never see again.

What a horrible feeling, to know that you would never again see the person who loved you the most in this broken world.

With this thought in mind, Lura turn her back on both of her homes and took her lonely step into the uncaring East.

* * *

Kyrun sat watching the sunset from his vantage point, remembering the day he had first brought his mate here. The way the light reflected off of the newly-made wound in the sky was almost beautiful in its own way. He would sit here faithfully waiting until his mate returned. He knew she would be coming home very soon.

So if you find someone

Someone to have, someone to hold

Don't trade it for silver

Don't trade it for gold

I have all of life's treasures

And they are fine and they are good

They remind me that houses

Are just made of wood

What makes a house grand

Ain't the roof or the doors

If there's love in a house

It's a palace for sure

Without love

It ain't nothin but a house

A house where nobody lives."--Tom Waits, "House Where Nobody Lives"