FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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CHAPTER 2

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"Urgh!" I grunted as I felt someone kick me in the leg. And then again. "I'm up!" I yelled and began to crawl out in to the dim light of the immanent dawn that was threatening to break over the horizon.

"Time to get to work!" Jan'Zar grinned. That smile told me I wasn't going to enjoy what ever this 'work' was.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We're going to find out just what we are dealing with!"

"Indeed." Callen chimed in as he walked over join us. "How did you sleep?"

"Good... great actually!" I suddenly realised just how well I had slept; no nightmares.

"Good that means it worked." The large wolf nodded.

"What worked?"

"We had our sister place a ward on you after you went to bed last night." Callen reached out and tapped my fore head.

I wiped my paw over where he had touched me and I felt something smudge under my paw. I looked at my paw which was covered in dried blood.

"What the fuck!" I cursed, a little freaked out at the fact I had blood on me.

"Relax!" Jan'Zar scoffed. "Aren't you a warrior? Afraid of a little blood?" She teased.

"Whose blood is this!?"

"Dinners." She chuckled.

So they had used the blood of the creatures we had eaten last night to draw a ward, or what ever the hell this was, on me. Speaking of which where was Luna? She was no where to be seen.

"Now then shall we get to this?"

"Fine." I agree with a sigh. Taking a moment to wipe off the rest of the blood off my forehead. "So what do I need to do?"

"Do you know how to meditate?" Callen asked.

"I know how... I'm just not very good at it." I admitted.

Aceh had taught me how to meditate, it was one of the first lessons he ever taught me after agreeing to teach me martial arts. But even after all this time I couldn't see the benefit of it. He had always assured me that I would see the benefit with time, and most importantly, practise. He taught all of his students how to meditate, but it was up to the students to utilise the skill. I wasn't one of those students. I understood the benefits of it, I just could never clear my mind.

"Don't worry about it, we have something to aide with the meditation." Callen grinned. "Come on over here."

He led me over to the camp fire, which a metal pot was sat over with a clear bubbling liquid inside of it. I could see several bits of foliage floating in the pot, none of which I could identify, but I think somehow that those plants were going to be my 'aides'.

He scooped out a cup of the liquid and gave it to me. I took it and sniffed it. It smelt bitter, as most herbal drinks do. I downed it in one go. It was bitter, earthy and hot. I almost gagged at how bitter it was, but I forced it down. Moments later I felt my head spin and my legs go weak. I quickly sat down, because I knew if I was going to be laid out on the ground one way or another. What ever they just gave me worked quickly. As I lay there, staring up at the clear, blue sky Callen and Jan'Zar sat down either side of me

"Every things going to be fine." Callen assured me. "Don't fight it."

"W-what's... happening to... me?" I asked, the world suddenly spinning. It hurt my eyes.

"Just relax and close your eyes, it'll be easier."

I nodded and closed my eyes as he suggested. After a few moments I began to feel better. The world no longer felt like it was spinning but I felt groggy and a bit nauseous. I wasn't sure if I had passed out or not, but that concoction that they had given me was brutal! Worst hangover I had ever had!

Callen was standing over me and offered me a paw to help me up. Looking round I could see we were still at camp. Jan'Zar was standing a behind Callen, looking pissed off as usual. But something seemed off. I don't know what it was, maybe it was just the lingering effects of what ever I had drank?

Everything looked the same. The shelters we had built yesterday stood exactly as I remembered them, the logs around the camp fire we sat on while eating dinner last night, they were all the same. The forest looked the same. But I couldn't put my finger on what was different. But I hadn't memorised every little detail of the environment around camp in a single day.

"So did you find out what you needed to know?" I asked. Jan'Zar snorted in amusement.

"Not yet." Callen replied as he looked round the camp.

"You noticed something weird too?"

"HA! I'll give him credit for noticing, but he's pretty dumb for not realising!" Jan'Zar scoffed.

"What are you talking..." I looked up and suddenly I realised what she meant. There was no sun. No sky. No clouds. Just an endless expanse of grey. The light came from no where. "Where are we?"

"We're in your mind-scape." Callen answered.

"So I'm dreaming?"

"Something like that." He smiled at me. "Jan and I are maintaining this. While you're under we are helping to keep you in this meditative state, allowing us to join you in your mindscape. The drugs will keep you under for a number of hours."

"So I won't be able to wake up for a while?" That made me a little nervous. I had tried drugs to help me sleep when the nightmares starting getting worse, but all they did was make it so I couldn't wake up if I had a nightmare. "So are you the ones making the dream look like the camp?"

"Perhaps a little, but this is you projecting a safe place." He explained, waving his paw around at the camp. "It's good to know you consider the camp as somewhere safe."

"I guess my little demonstration yesterday worked." Jan'Zar grinned.

She had attacked me out of nowhere, with the full intent on killing me. If the protective wards had not activated and stopped her attack then she would have run me through with her spear. It had terrified me with the sudden and unprovoked attack. Had that simply been in preparation for this? To give me a place to feel safe in?

"Well now it's time to leave this place." Callen declared.

"NO!" I yelled surprising myself. A fear had gripped me the moment he had suggested leaving, one that had caused me to involuntarily shout. "Why did I say that?"

"A reflex." Callen explained. "Your mind is trying to protect itself. It is one of the mental barriers protecting your mind. But we are here to see just what it is we are dealing with."

"And we can't do that unless you let us out of here." Jan'Zar growled impatiently. She was visibly irritated.

"We are here to protect you Malakye." Callen assured me. "So long as we are here no harm will befall you. Now, we need you to let us leave this place."

"I'll... I'll try."

I closed my eyes and focused. Part of me knew that this was a bad idea, but if I wanted to survive in the long term I was going to need to put my trust in Callen. Jan'Zar, her I was not so sure of. I think she's trying to help in her own way, but I get the feeling that she'd rather just kill me.

They wanted to see just what had taken hold of me, so that meant that they wanted to see it up close. I focused my thoughts, pushed my doubts aside and placed my trust in my two protectors. They were Guardian Deities, they had fought against the Demon Lords! A spirit would be no match for them! I felt something in my mind shift as if something gave way.

"Good job Malakye!" Callen exclaimed.

Standing in the middle of camp was a set of large steel doors. They didn't look like they went anywhere. Across the double doors was a heavy steel bar which held it securely shut, but upon closer inspection the door itself was not in the best of conditions.

The heavy steel was dented and bent in places. Something had been trying to break through, and what ever it was had to be pretty damn strong in order to bend steel like that! I looked back at Callen and Jan'Zar who were also staring at the door with heavy expressions. They were thinking the same thing I was.

"It's strong!" Jan'Zar grinned. Apparently this pleased her.

"Yes. That is a strong defence." Callen moved his gaze from the door to me. "You have a strong will, an average spirit would never have the strength to even put a scratch on it. I've seen other furs take years of training to form a mental barrier like this!"

"Does that mean..."

"We will stop this thing Malakye! Have no doubt about that!" He declared confidently. His confidence assured me. Even though I knew I was in a bad situation. "Remember, this is your mind! The spirit only has as much power as you allow them! It feeds off your fear and wears you down in order to take over. So long as you remember that it has no power over you it won't be able to take over!"

"Lets go in!" Jan'Zar declared walking over to the door. "Open it!"

"Me?"

"This is your mind, your barrier!" She barked. "Only you can open it!"

"Okay." I walked over and hesitantly removed the heavy steel bar, tossing it onto the ground with a heavy thud as the steel struck the ground. I gripped the handle and took a deep breath. I felt a paw come to rest on my right shoulder. It was Callen.

"We're right behind you."

With that reassurance I turned the handle and pulled open the door. The door creaked open and behind it was a heavy darkness, one which started to spill out around us like a mist. The mist enveloped us and the camp site faded from existence. Everything went black and the door disappeared.

A few moments later the darkness changed, took on the shape of a ruined keep. We stood in the middle of the courtyard. The stone walls were old and in many places nothing but rubble. The keep itself was not much better, but light shone out from the windows. Snow sat in the corners of the courtyard, the air was ice cold.

I knew this place. I had been here before. Once before. It was the same place that I had been attacked by my doppelgänger! That time I had gone to the mine to collect ore for Kassandra's grandfather! I had woken up outside the mine after being attacked by something that looked like me!

"Do you recognise this place Malakye?"

"I've been here before. I had thought I'd just hallucinated it though!"

"This is what your mind associates with the spirit. You are projecting this image just as you did with the camp site. Remember Malakye, nothing here is real. It can't hurt you!"

"If you believe that, then you are more gullible than I gave you credit for." Came a voice that echoed all around us. It was so familiar and yet struck fear deep inside me. "Welcome to my humble abode!"

We all turned in the direction of the voice that had come from behind us. Standing there was my doppelgänger! He looked just like me, the same muzzle, the same red head fur... the same everything! Except that his eyes were red! Like me he wore nothing more than a loin cloth. The very sight of him made me tremble in fear. I remembered our last encounter, where he had transformed into a giant fiery demonic dragon and had engulfed me in flames that had seared the flesh from my bones.

"I see you've brought friends this time. I'll enjoy killing them."

"Kill them?" I looked between Jan'Zar and Callen, both of them stood ready to fight. When had they drawn their weapons? They hadn't carried any with them. Callen stood with his bow, an arrow knocked and ready to be loosed. Jan'Zar had a halberd in paw. "He can't kill you can he?"

"It's not impossible." Callen admitted. "We can defend ourselves, have no fear. This is your mind-scape not ours. He only has as much power as you allow him."

"So if you believe he can kill us, stop right now!" Jan'Zar growled. "We might not be able to kill him, but he won't be killing us either!"

"We will train you how to fight him!" Callen reminded me. "This is your battle to fight. But until you're ready we will protect you!"

"You think that the flesh bag over there has any hope of defeating me?" My doppelgänger laughed. "Now that is amusing! First I'll take care of you two and then..."

He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Before I had even realised she'd moved, Jan'Zar had covered the distance between them and the blade of her halberd was already plunging into his chest. She had killed him in a flash!

"Don't think it's that easy!" Atop one of the wall battlements stood my doppelgänger.

"Tch!" Jan'Zar made a grunt of annoyance.

I looked back at Jan'Zar whose spear now looked like it had struck nothing but thin air. When had he moved? Callen loosed an arrow and I watched as it cut through the air towards its target. My doppelgänger snatched it out of the air and then glared at the wolf. He was about to speak again when the arrow in his paw suddenly erupted in a blinding white light.

My doppelgänger cried out in pain and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jan'Zar take off in a blur. As the light faded I saw Jan'Zar leap twenty feet up onto the battlements towards my doppelgänger with her halberd poised to strike. As she came into range she swung the halberd at him, but he leapt out of way at the last possible moment. She wasted little time continuing her assault.

I could now see why she was known as the Deity of War! She was relentless, each stroke of her weapon carried with it deadly accuracy and force, the pure intent of slaying her opponent. A shrill battle cry that struck fear in me rang out over the courtyard from her. My doppelgänger was surprisingly agile and somehow managed to narrowly avoid all of her attacks. However Jan'Zar's assault stopped when she was forced to leap away to avoid the sudden mass of flames that erupted around my doppelgänger.

"Hahahahaha!" He laughed manically. "Is that all you have? I expected more from the children of Asur!"

"Asur?" I heard Callen mutter behind me.

With a wave of his paw my doppelgänger launched a barrage of fireballs at Jan'Zar. She back flipped off the battlements to the ground below and then leapt backwards to avoid the second barrage of fireballs he launched at her. How she managed to avoid all of them boggled my mind. She moved with such speed and grace that it seemed impossible!

Callen loosed three arrows in rapid succession at my doppelgänger. He saw them coming and created a wall of fire to block their path. As they struck the wall of flames they exploded with light once again. They barely had any effect this time as they had been blocked. I don't know what that light was, but it was obvious that my doppelgänger was hurt by it.

"Jan!" Callen called.

"TCH!" Jan'Zar grunted angrily. "Fine! I've seen enough!"

"Malakye get us out of here!"

"How?" I asked in mild panic. The doorway we had entered through had disappeared.

"Make another doorway!"

I didn't waste time with words. Already my doppelgänger was on the attack. A barrage of fireballs hurtled through the air towards us. Callen leapt in front of me and loosed another arrow, it burst with a blinding light and extinguished the fireballs in the air around it protecting us from harm.

I clenched my eyes shut, putting my trust in Callen to protect me while I made the doorway to escape. It was more difficult this time. The sounds of battle made it difficult to concentrate. I think my doppelgänger was attempting to block my efforts to escape. But remembering Callen's words I focused with all my might and I felt something give way once more and the doors of the keep began to open. The doors swung open to reveal a portal of bright light on the other side.

"Get to the door!" Callen yelled and without hesitation I began sprinting towards it as fast as I could.

"I don't think so!" My doppelgänger yelled.

I felt a force of some sort push against me. The force didn't slow me down but the door to the keep began to close. As I ran I tried to will the door to stay open, the doors slowed but I couldn't stop them!

"I can't stop them!" I cried out. "Run!"

The doors had nearly shut when I ran through them, followed closely by Callen. I turned to see Jan'Zar still running. She had been fighting my doppelgänger this whole time in order to give us a chance to escape. I closed my eyes and willed the doors to stay open with all my might, they slowed a little more but I couldn't... the effort of fighting against the invisible force closing them made my knees tremble under the strain. The moment before the doors slammed shut Jan'Zar leapt through them. The doors closed with a thundering slam. I collapsed to the ground breathless and exhausted. Callen was the first to break the silence.

"Good job in there Malakye."

"I nearly... he..." I panted, not sure what I wanted to say. "He's so powerful! I couldn't stop the doors!"

"He is more powerful than we had anticipated." Callen frowned. "I don't know what he is but we know one thing. It will not be an easy battle."

Meaning it will not be easy for me since I'm the one that will have to face what ever the hell he was. Then again Callen did say that simply learning to suppress it would be enough. No one said I had to defeat it!

"You coward!" Jan'Zar spat as she glared at me. "I know what you're thinking! Trying to take the easy option without even trying! I can smell your fear from here! You disgust me!"

Her words hurt as much as they shocked me. Was I truly that easy to read? Was I really taking the cowards way out? Being called a coward struck me harder than I'd thought it would. I was scared, I'd be stupid not to be given the circumstances right? I've been scared most of my life. Scared everyday that a wolf had had enough of my existence. Scared that I'd be alone for the rest of my life.

I had fought every day to survive, stood up and faced what ever challenge faced me with a single determination; to survive. Now I had two choices. Learn to suppress this spirit in the hopes of returning to my former life, my family and friends. Learn how to fight the spirit within me and claim its strength for my own.

In terms of survival learning to suppress the spirit was the best option. But was that enough for me? All my life it had come down to simply surviving. Now, perhaps this was my chance to achieve something more than that. To gain the strength I needed to not only survive, and to achieve the other promise I had made myself. To protect those close to me.

I could do this! I can do this! Even if it takes decades!

"That's better." Jan'Zar smirked. "I like that look in your eye!"

"I'm going to stop that thing! Or I'm going to die trying!" I declared as fiercely as I could.

Jan'Zar simply stood there looking smug and superior. Did she just play me? No... but she did seem to understand me better than I could have anticipated. I suppose being the Deity of War meant that she understood the mentality of a warrior.

"In any case we should return to the real world now." Callen said.

"How? Am I not trapped here till the drugs wear off?"

He smiled. "You'll learn that here in your mind-scape, time does not flow constantly like a river." He snapped his fingers and I was engulfed in a flash of light.

I opened my eyes to see the blue sky over head. White clouds floated in the light blue sky above me. I blink my eyes a few more times before sitting up. My body is a little numb and slow. Either side of me Jan'Zar and Callen sit cross legged looking down at me.

"Welcome back."

"How long was I out?" I asked the wolf.

"Hmm." He looked up at the sky. "It looks to be sometime late in the afternoon."

I had drank that concoction at dawn. I had been out for hours and yet it seemed like no time at all. I guess time really didn't really have the same meaning there as it did here in the real world. We had fought that thing and managed to escape with our lives intact.

"Lets go hunt for dinner and then tomorrow we will begin your training."

Jan'Zar went off on her own while I accompanied Callen. As we traversed the woods he showed me what to look for beyond the obvious. He was amazing. I had never even thought about most of the things he told me about when hunting. I knew the basics. Stay downwind to your prey, look for tracks, the obvious stuff. But understanding how to tell how recent the tracks were, how to use my sense of smell... too many things to recount. It would take me many moons to master all the skills he introduced me to that day, and the many more that he would teach me in the future. Within a couple of hours we had snared our prey, a large four legged creature with brown fur. A doe he had called it. I had heard of doe, but not as a feral beast, they were females of a particular species that resided in the lands to the North of the Tribal Lands.

"You'll find that most species have feral ancestors." Callen explained. "Most of those species only survive here in Aaru."

"Really?" I asked. "Are there feral dragons?"

"Of course. Many different kinds and of many different sizes."

"How big is Aaru?" I asked, curious at how so many creatures could live here. This place can't be 'that' big otherwise it would have been discovered centuries ago.

"I'm not sure." Callen frowned as he thought about it. "At least one hundred times as large as the Tribal Lands."

"How is that even possible!? Someone would have found something this big by now!"

Callen simply laughed. I stumbled but caught my footing quickly. I adjusted my grip on the doe I was carrying over my shoulders and continued to follow the large wolf through the forest back to camp.

"Malakye I thought we explained to you yesterday, you are here so we can protect the mortal realm from you. Aaru does not reside within the mortal realm, it is another dimension!"

"Dimension?"

"Like the Underworld." Callen explained. "Aaru is is a world in its own right! Separated from the your world just as the Underworld is. Only Aaru's borders are not sealed. There are a number of locations in your world from which you can get here. They are well hidden, and even if someone was to find one of the entrances they likely wouldn't have any idea what it was, or how to open it."

"So I'm in a whole other world?"

"Yes." He grinned. "So don't go running off trying to find your way home. I've had a few students try to do that and ended up getting lost. I managed to track down most of them before they fell prey to some of the nastier beasts that reside here in Aaru. But some I found too late."

I gulped nervously, my maw suddenly dry as I tried to imagine what kind of unimaginable beasts lived out here. Would a feral dragon attack me, or would it recognise that I was part dragon? What other species that I could never imagine existed here?! What fantastical and terrifying discoveries awaited me? I fell into silence under the weight of my own thoughts.

After a couple of hours of hunting we returned to the camp with our catch. The sun was beginning to set. Callen had taken me to places where he had set up snares, which many of them had more of the long eared lizards we had feasted upon the night before, as well as a number of small birds Callen had felled with his bow. His skill with a bow was incredible; I had yet to see him miss a single shot!

Jan'Zar was already back at camp and had the fire going by the time we returned with dinner. No sign of Luna though. She had left before I woke and didn't appear to be returning tonight. I helped to prepare the food, gutting and skinning them. Callen showed me how to properly butcher the doe, explaining the different cuts of meat you could get from it. I was droning in the amount of information he was throwing at me! We salted a good portion of the doe meat and placed them in some large barrels which I presume Jan'Zar had acquired somehow while we were away hunting. We had enough food to last us several days now.

Darkness had fallen by the time we sat down to eat. The nights sky was beautiful. It was definitely different to the nights sky back home. The stars were in different places and I could recognise any of the constellations. The moon dominated the nights sky, casting its cool white light over land. It appeared much larger here than it did back home.

Callen told me stories as we ate. The more he spoke the more I listened. He told stories of some of the amusing blunders some of the previous wolven k'tan he had trained had made. I made a mental note not to try and repeat any of those. He told me about the various lands around Aaru. From the dense forests, the scorching deserts to the high mountains and the deepest oceans. Apparently all of the Guardian Deities controlled a portion Aaru. We were currently residing within Callen's domain. I loved listening to his stories, I listened all night until, eventually, the grip of sleep tightened round me and I could barely keep my eyes open.

"I think I'm going to turn in." I said groggily as I stood up.

"Very well." Callen said turning and lifting a bowl from the ground behind him. As it got closer I could smell the blood.

"Can we not put blood on me?" I asked.

"It is necessary to prevent the spirit from attacking your psyche in your sleep." He explained.

"Is it the only way?" I asked. I was not overly keen on being painted in the blood of our kills each night to prevent my nightmares.

"Well there is another way." Callen admitted. "You would have to sleep with us."

"Sleep with you? As in sex?" I asked.

"No need to go quite that far." He chuckled. "But so long as we are touching you we would be able to suppress the spirit within you while you sleep."

"I think I prefer that option."

"Well I certainly don't mind it." Callen agreed. "I had assumed given my previous experiences with wolves, that you may not enjoy sleeping so close to other males. But now that I think about it Zangarians are known to be quite open in that regard."

Callen slept with me each night after that. It was slightly awkward at first. We would sleep pressed up close against one another. Nothing sexual happened between us, which is perhaps why it felt awkward for me. It was intimate. I couldn't help but have thoughts feeling his hard muscular body, and soft pelt pressed against me each night, surrounded by his scent. I had a few dreams about him while wrapped up in his arms, his scent all around me. But I couldn't deny how peaceful my sleep had been with him there.