FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

When Vivid and Renzyl reached their next stop on the list the fox could already sense that something about the place was different than any of the other ones before that. Everything from the tingle of magic to the way the place felt was slightly off as he looked around the rather scenic boardwalk that hung over the ocean. It took him a few seconds to realize what was off about it, the whole place felt too... serene. It was too artificial to be real, and when he asked Renzyl about it he agreed.

"Welcome to Nexross," Renzyl said as he motioned for Vivid to walk with him. "This is actually less of a planet and more of a pocket dimension created when several of our realms intersect with one another. Since it's easily accessible by all of us and shifts constantly we decided to make this a neutral ground where we can relax and have fun without the worry of our minions suddenly being converted. I mean, it still happens, but it's for fun rather than anything else."

"You know, I have to say, after meeting your brother Kirdos I'm rather curious on this family tree of yours," Vivid admitted.

"Well I had designated this as sort of a break so that you could catch your breath," Renzyl admitted as they sat down at the table of an ice cream parlor. "So why don't we go ahead and play the game where you ask a question, then I can ask a question, and so on. I'll even let you go first, also I would highly recommend the fruit ice here."

Vivid picked up the menu and when the waiter came up they ordered, all the while the fox thought of what question to possibly ask the rubber dragon first. Over the last few days they had encountered a lot of things and Renzyl had shown many different unique things about himself without going into any real explanation. Even now it was strange just to sit there with a uniquely powerful creature and order ice cream while he prepared to ask whatever question he wanted. Once they were both finished with their orders Vivid still debated about what to ask first as Renzyl leaned back in the chair.

"So how big is your family?" Vivid finally asked. "Like I know we just met Kirdos, but how many of you are out in the nexus realm?"

Renzyl grinned and put his hands behind his head. "There are ten of us," Renzyl replied. "All of us with our unique realms and such, all bent on the singular task of conquering the others so that we can rule the Nexus realm completely. Of course in the thousands of years that we've been at it no one brother has managed to get more than a foot hold, even if two or three to manage to forge some sort of alliance it quickly dissolves when one gets more power than the others. Still, despite that we maintain a reasonable relationship with one another which you saw for yourself on the last planet."

Renzyl went on to describe each of his brothers in detail. Some were closer to him in species, such as Athear who was a naga that controlled liquids and goo, or Jerkah who was a crocodile that specialized in food. Others were more related to him in the type of realm they controlled, Famjin the shark had an affinity for neoprene while his other two brothers Santer the horse and Modino the bull liked leather and spandex respectively. Then there were those that were further away from him such as a robotic eagle named Haleon and a plant fox named Yavini that he hardly saw, or Tarien the smoke jackal/wolf hybrid and Kirdos, the stone leopard/tiger hybrid that he often found himself at odds with.

By the time Renzyl had finished with his family tree their frozen treats had come in and he gave Vivid a chance to process everything he had just said. The fox wondered how many countless worlds the ten creatures, whom they called themselves Nexus Lords, had touched in their thousands of years. How many civilizations did they influence? Or cause to fall, or rise? His first question ended up causing more to spawn from it than answers, but he knew it wasn't his time to ask them as of yet.

"So tell me, Vivid," Renzyl asked, "what do you like to do when you're not gallivanting around the Nexus realm with handsome rubber dragons?"

Vivid chuckled slightly before he thought about the question for a few moments. "Well, I very much enjoy traveling," he said, "I suppose that's why I'm glad I know the magic that I know, very useful for such things. Of course I've never left my own planet with teleportation magic so I have to say this is definitely a first. Other than that I really like cooking I suppose, I normally have a special ladle with me, too, but I left it with my other clothes after you said that there was a chance they could get destroyed. Now for my turn, I want to know what motivates you to take over or manipulate all these planets, is it just to try and beat out your brothers, or is there something else?"

"That's a reasonable question," Renzyl replied once he finished his bite of ice cream. "Not many people know this about us, but the amount of power we have is directly related to the number of those who are tied to our realm and how willingly they give themselves to it. It's the second part that's the most important, I'd rather have half a dozen people that have devoted themselves to me rather than a whole planet of those who aren't as fond of the transformation. We still take over whole planets from time to time, but that's only if they're of great strategic value due to their position in the nexus realm."

"So what do you do with those that don't want to be a rubber lizard?" Vivid followed up.

"It depends," Renzyl explained. "If it's a whole planet we normally target those who at best would just accept the new changes, mostly countries that are already pretty relaxed on sexuality or things like that. Others... sometimes it erupts into a war between those converted and those not, with those that aren't usually being the aggressors, and in that case we take over those to prevent death and destruction. On an individual level it's far simpler, if somehow I picked someone and change them and they were completely against it I would change them back and erase myself from their memory. Of course something like that hasn't happened in thousands of years, all of us have evolved a great sense of who is actually corruptible and who is not."

Vivid nodded and was about to ask another question when Renzyl stopped him and reminded him that it was his turn to ask a question, which in this case was why he decided to study the arcane relating to space and time. The fox gave a slight shrug and looked down at his frozen treat, stirring it as he confessed to Renzyl that he accidently found out he had a knack for it. When he proved that he could be proficient with it he went to an academy to train in it and quickly mastered how to manipulate space and time, though when it came to the latter he preferred not to perform any type of temporal magic. It turned out he wasn't that good at much else in the way of the arcane, so he honed the gifts he had and used them when he could.

"Alright, let's see..." Vivid said thoughtfully when it was his turn once again, his mind returning to one question in particular. "This one might be a tough one, but with everything you told me about you and your brothers and this eternal struggle between you... I have to wonder what your thoughts are on existence. It's something I know all of us mortals have asked ourselves at least once; but have you, an immortal, rubbery dragon, ever done the same? Or perhaps you already know your reason for being here?"

"I don't think there's anyone powerful enough out there to answer that question fully," Renzyl replied. "As long as we're being honest I'm not sure we even know why we do what we do. There's enough space in the nexus for all of us to share a slice of it, but we've been engaged in trying to dominate one another since we first blinked into existence. Part of me though thinks that we're just a natural force of nature in the Nexus, something akin to the waves on the sand or the breeze that shakes the leaves. We bring a different form of energy into the world; it may be chaotic and corruptive, but I could only wonder how boring the worlds would be without us poking around in them. Of course I may just be trying to justify myself, but I can't help but think when we bring out those inner desires in others that we're serving some greater purpose, ourselves."

The dragon chuckled to himself and finished off the last of his ice cream, which at that point had become a pool of liquid that he slurped up. "So let me ask you the same in return," Renzyl asked pointedly. "Why do you think you're here? What's your goal in this lifetime?"

"Honestly... I guess it's to finally find some stability," Vivid replied pensively. "Once I was able to master teleportation I just been wandering the world looking for it, been looking ever since I left my family and the academy and never looked back."

"Your parents must miss you," Renzyl commented and Vivid could feel his entire body clench, which the rubber creature seemed to pick up on as he quickly changed the subject. "Come on, let's go down to the beach, I want to see you in action."

The curious nature of Renzyl's proposal was enough to break the tension that had been built up by the mention of Vivid's family and the two threw away their trash before heading down the boardwalk. Eventually they reached a peninsula of beachfront that stretched out into the ocean and at the end of it was a tall, impressive spire of a building that the rubber creature explained was the resort that he and his brethren had built. Their target; however, was a small cove that had relatively few creatures on the stretch of sand.

"So I have a very simple challenge for you," Renzyl said as he pointed to a small outcropping of rocks near the building. "Whoever can get to the rocks first wins. Since a footrace would be rather dull, I decided that we would try to use our powers to get there, your teleportation versus mine."

"You sure?" Vivid asked. "I thought that while we were traveling together I shouldn't use my powers."

"Consider this an exception," Renzyl grinned. "Plus, given the nature of the Nexross, even if you do somehow get a misfire, the pull of this place will bring you right back here, and from there it's easy for me to track you. So let's get started, shall we?"

Renzyl pulled a random rubber lizard that had been walking down the beach and told him to give them a countdown, which the other creature was more than happy to do. As Vivid called upon the familiar knowledge of the arcane to bend space and time he heard the sound of the lizardman counting down from five. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Renzyl next to him with a smirk on his face as he stood there in a ready position. Both creatures waited patiently for their counter to get to zero and Vivid could feel the build-up of magical energy around them as they finally heard the magic number get called out.

As soon as he could Vivid manipulated space and used it to teleport himself exactly where he needed to be on the other side of the rock. When he got there, though, he gasped slightly when he saw Renzyl standing there in front of him with his arms crossed. "Not bad," he complimented as Vivid turned back to where they had been standing to where the rubber dragon stood now. "I will admit that this being an intersection of the Nexus realms I do have a little easier time bending space to my will, but even then you kept up quite nicely. Now that we're here let's head inside, I had some people that I invited over for lunch and I think they'd be more than happy to talk to you."

Vivid nodded and followed him, still in disbelief at the apparent lead that the dragon had over him. He was just lucky he didn't bet anything, with his confidence he'd probably be covered in rubber and leashed to the alpha creature, himself. As he continued to imagine the scenario he realized he was starting to get aroused and blushed slightly as he dismissed the thoughts. When he looked back to Renzyl to see if he noticed the dragon just gave him a side glance and a small smirk as they entered one of the restaurants.

One of the larger tables was filled with rubber creatures sitting around that waved the two of them in as soon as they saw them, Renzyl motioning for Vivid to have a seat as he did the same. "I would like you to meet some of the more influential people in the realm," he introduced as he went around the table. "The handsome drake to my right is one of my lead Generals Zander, and next to him is Siviliath, who coordinates the interior décor of my domain. Then of course we have my number two Chrono, and finally Scythe, who is one of my most accomplished Collectors."

"Nice to see you again," Chrono stated with a nod.

"Hey, I heard you just took a trip through one of Kirdos' realms?" the lizardman with the intricate designs on his scales asked, which Vivid nodded. "I actually studied under him for a while, he does some amazing things with three-dimensional space."

"Yeah, I was one of them," Vivid joked, which caused the others to chuckle. "So Zander, what does it mean to be a general in Renzyl's army?"

The drake looked up after he tried for the third time to maneuver his food into place with his wing-arms without hitting the other two next to him. "Well I'm not a General in that regard," he clarified. "I do have people that I convert who serve under me, but my role is less leading into battle and more coordinating the various groups of the transformed when Renzyl is not around too. We rarely see any actual combat; we're more lovers than fighters."

The rest of the group laughed at that and Vivid decided to continue on. "So I have to admit I'm exceptionally curious on this question," the fox asked. "Why do you serve Renzyl in the first place?"

To his surprise all of them immediately started to talk at once, and after nearly a minute of stepping on each other's words, they finally got just went around the table to tell their story while the others ordered their food. Scythe explained how he was always a hunter and collector at heart, and when Renzyl came to the former human to give him the opportunity for more exotic game he was all up for it. Now not only did the latex horned lizard get to search people out for his master but he also got to keep some of the trophies for himself, of which he had quite a few. The others joked on how he doted so carefully on his pets to make sure that no one else snatched them from him and Scythe blushed slightly and turned away.

Next was Chrono's story, and though he had initially wanted to pass, the others eventually goaded him enough into telling his tail. At the start he and Renzyl were enemies, he was a human in a group that fought the demon dragon who tried to infringe upon their domain. In the end, though, when it came down to the final battle one of his friends betrayed him and sacrificed him not only to look like the hero, but to also get the girl that Chrono had been fancying. He ended up in the Renzyl's Nexus realm and the two got to talking, and eventually the silver rubber raptor agreed to serve the rubber dragon completely in order to get his revenge. Both raptor and dragon grinned at each other as they recounted how they laid siege to the college that housed the order Chrono used to belong to and the fate of those inside it.

When they got to Sivilath and Zander the two told Vivid that they had actually gotten taken together. In Zander's previous life he had found a book to summon demons and Renzyl was the one he had chosen in order to impress people at a Halloween party. While he was the one that actually did the incantation, Sivilath was the one that had drawn the circle in order to allow Renzyl access to the domain. Once the rubber dragon had appeared everyone began to get transformed, and when both Zander and Sivilath were offered the ability to share such lust and pleasure to many others, they jumped at the chance and eventually became his Generals, then got promoted once again.

"You see, there's the name of the game right there," Chrono commented once the two were done with their story. "We don't serve him because we have to or because he brainwashed us, that doesn't work for nexus creatures like him. We can feel him grow stronger when we give ourselves to him willingly, and then in return we grow stronger in his embrace. While our specific reasoning may differ from person to person, the heart and soul of it all is that Master Renzyl gives us exactly what we desire, so in turn we do the same for him."

Vivid was slightly startled at the heartfelt response given by the rubber raptor as the others nodded in agreement while they ate. More than once the others had referred to Renzyl as a demon or something of that nature, yet none of them truly meant it in the sense of the word that he knew. As they continued to talk about the experiences they had while out in the field or in Renzyl's realm, that same level of awe and reverence was there that made Vivid look at the demonic rubber dragon in a new light.

The group talked until well after their food was finished and likely would have continued to tell Vivid stories, except Renzyl informed them that they had to get ready to go do their next destination. There were groans of disapproval, but the dragon quickly tempered them down with a wave of his hand and told him that they were still on a schedule. They all said their fond farewells to the fox as the two got up from the table and made their way out of the resort. Vivid could tell that they had been in there for a while when they stepped outside and it was dark out.

"They really seem to look up to you," Vivid commented as they walked back up onto the boardwalk.

"Well I try to give them something to look up to," Renzyl replied with a small grin that seemed to falter only slightly. "There's a reason that I seek out those that willingly embrace me, aside from being able to get more power for my realm, and that's because there are too many out there who wish to do the opposite. My brothers and I have seen holy wars started because of our mere presence in an area, which then become areas that we generally tend to avoid. We're called demons, angels, monsters, saviors, and everything in between..."

There was a moment of silence between the two as Renzyl leaned against the railing of the boardwalk and looked out into the ocean, a pensive mood settling over him as his glowing red eyes looked out over the ocean. Vivid walked over to the bigger male and placed a hand on his shoulder, which caused the dragon to look down at him. "If it makes you feel any better I definitely put you in the positive column," Vivid said, which caused the dragon to chuckle.

"I will certainly put another tick in the victory column," Renzyl replied as he stood back up. "In any case I fear this conversation has gotten a bit deep for my preference of showing someone a good time, so let me get us back on track before we send ourselves off on another brilliantly daring adventure. Luckily I know just the place that we can go that is easily the best of the boardwalk."

A few minutes later Vivid found out that place to be an arcade that was situated at the corner of the boardwalk, something that the fox had not expected Renzyl to enjoy. It wasn't your traditional arcade either, though it certainly had those components, too, such as skeeball and games like that. What really drew Vivid's attention; however, were the games that they could play in virtual reality, entire booths set up in order to play a game with a bunch of other people. Renzyl and Vivid joined in a few games where they both worked together and faced one another.

In the last of their games Vivid and Renzyl were the last men standing in a co-operative shooter that dealt with killing wave after wave of zombies. "In here Vivid!" Renzyl shouted as he grabbed onto the ladder that hung off a balcony and reached down to pull the fox up as the zombie horde converged on them. Vivid could actually feel their fingers on his feet before he was hoisted up over the railing and onto the balcony.

"I don't think those reinforcements are coming any time soon," Vivid mentioned as Renzyl reloaded his weapon. "What do you think we should do?"

"Let's try and get to the other side of the house," Renzyl suggested. "If the door on the first floor remains locked we might be able to use the whole thing as cover and make a run for it to the next area. It's either that or shoot a thousand zombies, and I don't think we have the ammo for that."

The two nodded and got back on their feet, Renzyl moving forward and kicking in the door. There were a few zombies in there that they easily took out, Vivid using his shotgun while the dragon held an LMG. Once they were finished clearing out that room they hurried towards the next door and into the hallway, which they found completely clear as they moved forward. As they passed by one of the stairwells; however, they could hear the moans of the zombies below as they actively searched for them.

"So much for that door holding," Vivid said as they looked for a possible way out. They each searched the bedrooms until finally they found another one that led out onto a balcony, the fox running up to it and looking down to see the pathway relatively clear. "Renzyl, this way!"

The rubber dragon moved forward towards the balcony, as well, but as he did the floorboards groaned loudly under his extra weight and the wood snapped, causing the demon to nearly fall through with only his claws holding on as his weapon fell to the lobby. Vivid shouted and ran over to help him, but when he tried to get close he heard the wood under his feet start to give and jumped back onto the more stable floor of the ledge. "Well we both know what this means..." Renzyl said as more of the floor broke from under him until only his head could be seen. Vivid... avenge me!"

"I- wait, what?" Vivid replied, but before Renzyl could say anything else he fell out of sight into the horde of zombies below. That... that didn't even make any sense!"

Just as he shook his head he heard an electronic voice in his ear announce that he was the last man standing and to evacuate to the chopper immediately. He looked out the balcony and saw it begin to fly his direction from out of nowhere, landing on the lawn of the house he was just in. He was about to hop over the edge and climb down when he looked at the hole where Renzyl had fallen through, then rolled his eyes and grabbed his remaining grenades. A few seconds later his feet hit the lawn just as loud explosions could be heard inside the house, blowing out the already partially-smashed glass as Vivid ran forward.

His run to the helicopter was not easy, more of the zombies that had plagued him for the whole game began to rush at him. The air was punctuated with the shots fired from his shotgun as he mowed down the undead in front of him on the way to the chopper. With only a few shells left, though, he made it to where the helicopter had landed and hopped inside, then turned and continued to fire as it took off until his gun was empty before he threw the gun at them too. Once the helicopter was in the air; however, everything faded to black before words on the screen informed him he had the new high score and to put his name into the leaderboard before exiting the VR pod.

Renzyl was already outside waiting for him as he left the machine and rejoined him. "I can't believe I fell for that old trick," the dragon huffed, "literally."

"Well... I did avenge you, at least?" Vivid replied in question, Renzyl laughing and nodding before he led him to the exit.

"So are you having fun, Vivid?" Renzyl asked as they strolled out of the arcade.

"Since the moment I first stepped first on another planet," Vivid admitted. "I can't wait to see what happens next."

"Well I am certainly glad to hear that," Renzyl replied as he opened the portal into the next world. "Because we're only halfway done."