FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Except not quite. See, there is a point to this story and as the reader shall note, it gets pretty interesting pretty quickly.

James ran through the woods, jumping over tree branches and dodging rocks sticking out from underneath the snow. It was like a little game of hopscotch, where the prize for winning was avoiding an exploding house. Extreme fun and excitement for all!

The snow had become thick since James had left his house, and was still falling at a rapid pace. The sky was dark and the sun was tucked away in bed. James increased his speed, hoping that he would make it in time before another (this was not the first) incident happened. Running faster and faster, James realized that his normal shortcut would take far too long because it wrapped all the way around before coming around to his street. He mentally assessed the area in his head, and then dove off the path into the trees in the direction he hoped was his house. The sound of cars could be heard off in the distance and James knew it was the road close to his house. And because he heard no sirens, he still had time! He pushed himself even more, feeling his chest tighten and his legs burn with the exertion.

What James did not know, or had forgotten in his haste, was that the forest between Trails High and his house wasn't exactly flat. In fact, it was almost the complete opposite. A large drop-off existed a short distance away from his house and was commonly used as an example of dangerous things to stay away from. And as to be expected in such situations, James was heading straight for the cliff, with almost 20 feet of air between him and dirt. At most, he would break a couple of bones. But there was a very likely chance James would suffer a severe injury, perhaps even die.

Now, it has been proven time and time again that his particular species, Homo Sapiens, needs vehicles and tools to fly. Skydiving without a parachute results in a most messy and nasty death. And so, when James came hurtling out of the woods, racing towards an impending disaster, he forgot to properly acknowledge a more supreme existence known as the "Laws of Physics". Although he tried to stop, James went skidding over the edge and down the cliff side. And he barely had time to scream in terror before reaching the ground.

But yes, as the most astute of you have most definitely realized, the story cannot be over yet. For the main character cannot die before things really get going. And I have it on excellent authority that James did not die. No, instead he Aether Walked.

Of course, not intentionally. In order to Walk deliberately, you need training and a lot of skill, as I'm sure the reader knows full well. But nonetheless, James did not splat messily when he hit after about a second's worth of free fall. Rather, he phased straight through the Earth and right into the Aether.

To anyone watching, it would have looked as though James had become a ghost, disappearing into the ground. Or, at least that's what the hooded figure stepping out from behind several trees thought, as he neatly caught James' backpack and rifled through the contents. After making sure everything was in order, he smiled and slipped off quietly into the trees.

James, of course, had no idea what was going on, nor did he have any thoughts about a hooded figure making off with his things. He was a bit occupied at the moment. From his perspective, the instant he would have hit the ground, a white misty circle filled his vision and suddenly he was falling through a strange place, with that same mist curling around his body and filling the air. He looked out beyond the mists and saw a multitude of lights and shapes zipping past incredibly quickly. Due to the strange circumstances of his situation, and lack of knowledge about what was happening, it took James several moments to realize that the lights were stars, with the shapes being galaxies.

At this point, James' mind mostly stopped working out of pure shock, but he continued working things out in his subconscious. He deduced that he must be breaking several of the laws of physics at that point because from his perspective he was traveling near the speed of light and had not yet died.

Just as James had been getting relaxed to his predicament, relatively speaking of course, the space he was in changed. The mists were blown about as if by a sudden violent wind, and James was thrown abruptly sideways. The mists became swirling lights of color that twisted and turned violently but never touched the boy. The mirage was stunning, and a wonder to behold, but James had so many bundled emotions vying for attention that he collapsed under the weight and lost consciousness fully.

He awoke lying on his back, with sunlight filtering in through trees ahead. And, like any normal person, his first thought was, "Wow. That was hard fall to make me see all that." Deciding to remain where he was for the time being, James began to examine the trees, trying to relax so he could get up and resume running back to his house. He looked that the brown lines of bark running up the trunks, the branches arrayed overhead, the beautiful leaves lit by sunlight that brought out their colors of green, blue, and silver to create a perfect mirage of... WHAT!!

James shot up, fully awake. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. To his knowledge, there was no plant on the entire Earth with leaves the color of blue or silver. They sparkled with light and sent shimmers across the grass he had been laying on. A path of cobbled stone lay nearby, and so James decided to follow it, having no idea what to do otherwise.

After passing through several groves of similar trees, and seeing no one else, James emerged into a large grassy field. Rolling hills with strange, pavilion-like structures that looked like a cross between white marble and sandstone. But that wasn't what caught his attention. The real shocker was the creatures all around him, walking, playing, and looked to be generally relaxing. James could only blink. He thought for a moment that he had somehow waltzed into a storybook, but quickly dismissed the idea. Things like that just didn't happen in real life. And with the way the beings were acting, it seemed an awful lot like a park.

There were two made of fire playing something akin to volleyball with a group of half horsemen, which James thought looked somewhat like centaurs from mythology. A scaly lizard carried around purple jello on its back, except the jello moved and had arms and eyes. Cat people lounged around in the sun, napping, and there were numerous other creatures that couldn't even begin to be described. James even saw several that looked to be human and thought about asking them what the hell was going on, but he decided against it when one of them waved their arm and sent a blast of fire up in an arc to toast some snacks.

As he stood there, trying to comprehend his situation and decide what in the world he should do next, something came flying at his face. Out of reflex, James caught the ball in his arms, feeling the squishy surface bounce beneath his fingers.

"Hey, over here!" James looked around and spotted a hand waving. A blue-scaled creature, looking to be about James' age, began to run over. "Can you through it back?"

"Uh, ok." James tossed the ball back, thrown by how the situation was so much like a normal park. Normal being a relative term of course.

"Hey, thanks!" The boy said, his voice a bit bubbly, sounding a bit like a small brook. James saw that his ears were shaped like fins and his hands were webbed. "My name's Xe 'Xndry. Nice to meet you!"

James just blinked. "Can you repeat that one more time?"

The boy laughed. "Don't worry about it. Just call me Delta. Not many can pronounce my real name. But who are you?"

"Oh, well my name is James."

"James huh?" Delta said, rolling the name around on his tongue. "Cool! I haven't heard many names from other planets, as I've only just arrived. Are you here for the academy as well? You look about the same age as me, although I'm not really sure because of the whole different species thing. Where are you from, anyway? You look a bit like a human, but it's hard to tell."

James blinked again, a little unsure of how to respond to the assault of information. "Yeah, I'm a human," he said hesitantly. He didn't know what he should do; if he should reveal that he didn't really know where he was or how he got to this strange place. Luckily, James didn't have to worry.

Delta suddenly gulped and put his hand to his head. "Ow! Stop yelling! I'll bet the whole park can hear you! Sorry James, have to go! If mom yells for much longer, I'll have a splitting headache. Nice to meet you and hope to see you at the academy!" He yelled as he ran off, still holding his head. "I'm coming, mom. On my way, almost there, OW!!"

James had absolutely no idea what to think. What he did realize was that first, these were aliens of some sort. Delta had mentioned planets and seemed to be from a different one himself, and two, humans were apparently a species in another part of the universe, if he was in the same universe at all. "What the heck should I do? Should I head to this academy to see if anyone can help me out? Even being as smart as I am, I'm so out of my depth."

Lost in thought, he failed to hear the amplified voice announcing, "All beings, please leave the park immediately. Again, please leave the park immediately." He did notice, however, when a taloned hand came down heavily on his shoulder.

"Hello there. I'm very sure you've noticed, but there are six mages prepared to attack right now. I would heavily advise explaining to me RIGHT NOW what exactly you were doing that released such a large amount of energy."

James started to turn around to see who was talking, but the hand held him tighter. "And don't turn around either. Explain NOW!" his last words forceful.

James correctly realized that if he didn't start explaining, then he would be very screwed. And possibly also very dead. The question was whether to lie or not, but James had a suspicion that if things were similar to how they were on Earth, then these people could help him. So he swallowed and tried to gather his thoughts long enough to explain.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just have no idea what's going on."

The hand gripped significantly tighter. "Don't play games with me, kid."

"I'm serious. One moment I was running home from school and the next I fell through a strange misty place and appeared here. I have no idea what's going on and if someone on this entire planet could explain something to me, I would be very, very happy. Please don't kill me."

"Kill you? You're just being taken in for questioning... you really have no idea what's going on, do you?"

"No, I don't. Could you explain it to me?"

The hand released James, but he still understood that he was still being carefully watched.

"Turn around so I can see your face."

James slowly spun around, and then fell over in shock. "Holy crap, you're a parrot!"

"What? No, I'm from Nussoc, the avian planet." The bird-man really did look a little like a parrot. He had a very large beat, with a flume of feathers going off the back of his head. Brightly colored wings were attached to his arms and his hands and feet were talons. "You are really shocked and jumpy. You really don't know what's going on, do you?"

"No, I already said that. And I really need help. Please."

The bird-man spoke to his hidden colleagues. "Send a message to Lord Eternius. He should be at the Main Offices checking up on the curriculum. Tell him that a boy materialized at Cerellus Park and caused a massive burst of energy. We'll be heading to him shortly."

The people hidden must have acknowledged his words because he nodded and turned back to James. "Now, let's get going. We had to evacuate the park to make sure no one got hurt, and people are probably going to be getting worried." A ship flew down from the sky and landed in the middle of the grounds. James couldn't stop his mouth from falling open. "On you go. I'll be right behind you."

The ship was quite spacious inside, more like a bus than the tight compartments used by astronauts. James sat down on one of the benches and bird-man sat down opposite from him, staring intently.

A voice shook him out of his thoughts. "What's your name kid?" "James. James Newman."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Captain Olar, head of the Quintessuim Defense Corps." James could see that he was wearing a sort of uniform, with the symbol of a sun and moon in a partial eclipse on the front, like a badge. "Where are you from?"

"Earth."

"Never heard of it. Maybe a smaller colony world out on the fringe of a far galaxy? Hm. Wait, your species DOES have interplanetary communication, right?"

"No. We've been searching for aliens and extra-terrestrial life for years, but haven't found anything."

Captain Olar rubbed his head. "This is not good. This is very bad, in fact. Worlds that haven't learned about the greater universe are supposed to be prohibited from communication and traveling. And the fact that you don't know how you got here is even worse."

"What's going to happen to me?" James asked a bit nervously. He knew that although Captain Olar was nice now, he could turn on a dime if he thought that James was somehow a threat.

"That decision's not up to me anymore, bud. I'm taking you straight to the top brass for this one. You're on your way to meet one of the smartest men in the entire universe, and with power to boot. If he can't fix this, no one can."

The ship touched down and the door hissed open. Captain Olar gestured. "After you."James walked out into a small chamber, empty except for him, Captain Olar, and the ship, which hummed behind them. A large mural decorated one of the walls, showing many different species, but James did not recognize any of the events depicted. A door was set into one of the walls, made from a silver metal.

"Sorry about this, kid, but you're still a security risk." James turned around just in time to see the captain wave his wing-arms, causing a breeze to hit him in the face. Then his vision went completely dark.

James stumbled around frantically, almost losing his balance. "What did you do to me!"

"Standard procedure. It's just like a blindfold. Here, let's head on up."

James felt Captain Olar grab his shoulders and spin him around. They passed through the metal door and into a series of hallways. James couldn't hear any other people around, but he wasn't sure if that was another precaution or if everyone was simply gone. After walking for quite some time and entering a room that felt suspiciously like some sort of elevator, the duo finally stopped and Captain Olar removed the blindfold. James looked around in awe; the hallway was not too long but lit with lights that moved around in the walls. Two doors of red and gold were set into the wall in front of them. Twin panes of frosted glass allowed James to see a couple of shapes moving inside the room, but he couldn't make anything else out.

"Well, this is where we see if you were telling the truth earlier. If you were, you have nothing to worry about."

"And if I was a threat?"

Captain Olar narrowed his eye. "Then you'd be imprisoned and interrogated. But I've got a good feeling about you, and in 45 years of service, I've learned to trust my instincts. Oh, and one other thing. Please make sure you address Lord Eternius with respect. He is the ruler of this planet and quite a few others."

James gulped and turned back to the doors. The shapes had stopped moving and he got the distinct impression they were looking at him. One, humanoid from what he could see, moved over to the doors. The handle turned and James held his breath, waiting to see the ruler who would determine his fate. The doors opened. And then a young man, about 25, poked his head out. "No need to stand out there terrifying the kid to death. Come on in!"