FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

In a time long ago long before the magic of the world had faded back there lived a boy in a small home with his family. One day the boy was wandering the familiar woods around his home, content to amble and examine every manner of shrub and plant when he spotted a green butterfly with speckled, blue spots. The butterfly cared little for the boy and instead wanted to get its fill of sweet nectar from the flower it had landed upon. The boy crept closer to the butterfly, sneaking forward with careful steps. When the boy had come too close the strange little insect began to fly away, and so the boy gave chase wanting to catch it in his hands to get a closer look. The boy laughed as he ran after the little insect, admiring its dance through the trees as it weaved around their trunks.

The boy followed the butterfly, farther and farther still, never seeming to get any closer to it until with a sudden motion it rose towards the sun and vanished. The boy waved goodbye to his new friend and was eager to tell his parents about his little adventure, but when he spun around to look at the path he traveled upon it was different. The boy did not recognize the trees here as his own, their trunks stretching much higher than any he had ever seen before. He headed back in the direction he believed was home, hoping desperately to find some familiar marker: the fallen log draped between the two stones, the Y-shaped tree where the larks liked to perch, or even the faint puffs of white smoke from the chimney signaling that a warm stew wasn't far behind.

However, through all the boy's wandering he grew no closer to his home.

"I'm lost." he finally spoke before crumpling to the ground and tucking himself up into a ball. His attention snapped ahead as he heard a twig break. From behind a boulder appeared a large wolf with fur as dark as midnight and eyes like tempered steel.

"Boy of Man, why are you here?", the wolf questioned with a gentle tone as she slowly approached.

The boy gazed up at the wolf, and although a twinge of fear had settled itself squarely in his gut, he was reassured to have found at least someone that might be able to help him.

"I was playing in my woods and followed a butterfly. When I was done everything looked strange. I just want to go home." the boy pleaded with the wolf.

The wolf briefly considered the boy's plight, circling once around him with a brush of her tail across his leg. "The woods belong to no one. You'd do best to remember that. Come, Boy of Man I will take you home. These lands are strange and far away from what you know. Stay close."

The boy leaped with joy and without thinking about it, wrapped his arms around the thick scruff of the wolf's fur. She quickly backed away and rumbled a growl low in her throat. The boy had forgotten that the wolf was still a wild thing and that trust took time to build.

The two set off together thereafter, spending much of the day traveling. The boy asked for stories from the wolf. The wolf stayed silent and focused on its goal. That evening, when the sun was starting to grow low in the sky, the wolf noticed that the boy was traveling much slower than before as they traversed through a rocky pass, and paused to turn around and see the boy seated on one of the rocks rubbing at his bare feet.

"Boy of Man, we will be able to rest at the other side. We must keep going. We do not wish to stay here during the night." the wolf urged with a toss of her head.

"My feet ache. We've been walking all day. They're strong, but they're not like yours. I can't cross the rocks the same as you."

The wolf approached and saw blisters there from a long day's travel. She cast her head up to the sun dipping low behind the mountains and judged the time they had left.

"Then I shall give you what you need."

The boy's feet grew warm, and soon a leathery toughness appeared on the bottoms as they thickened like the wolf's. His nails were replaced with blunted claws and his feet now brandished a mix of being both boy and wolf now. When he stood they no longer ached the same way.

"Thank you." the boy told the wolf.

The wolf said nothing again and the two continued through the rocky pass. But the boy noticed that now the wolf was the one going across the rocks much more slowly.

That night they slept in a small cave, with the wolf near the back while the boy slept near the front to watch the stars in a strange sky unknown to him.

The next day the wolf urged the boy forward at first light, so that they might make the most of their day's journey. By mid-morning a mist had rolled in from the mountains, blanketing the forest in heavy, dense fog.

"This fog is one I know. If we do not pass through it soon it will cause us great harm." the wolf warned. "It will disorient you and make thoughts hazy. I know the way through. Follow my voice if you become lost." The boy nodded as the fog continued to descend, but despite his best efforts to stay close as the wolf had asked, the two had gotten separated crossing through a thicket, and the boy soon found himself without his friend. He called to her, "Wolf! Wolf! Where are you?" but she did not answer. The boy's thoughts grew fuzzy and he wondered why he was trying to leave this place that felt so good anyway. Then the boy felt his ears grow warm, and in the distance ahead he could hear the faint sound of a wolf's howl.

He raced towards the direction of the sound and soon found himself back with the wolf with dark fur, but he was confused to see that she looked different now, her broad ears vanished to small holes at either side of her skull.

"What happened to your ears?" he inquired with concern, wondering if the fog had harmed her like she had said before.

"They are yours now. Feel." she answered calmly.

The boy brushed his hands across his ears and felt that they were now pointed and long, a mix of boy and wolf like his now padded feet.

"But why?" he asked as he looked into her bright eyes.

"You needed it more. Come Boy, let's keep moving."