FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

All characters in this story belong to Simplify6!

All That Glitters Is...

All the footprints left behind were worthless. The pattern of the trail that exited out the jeweler's keep to the blacksmith's abode- now shambled and trashed with fallen items and destroyed furniture - and far beyond was so preposterous that it was difficult enough to even fathom. Like following a line of ants into the midnight shade, it was impossible to keep track of the mud and sediment that rode through the grey, weathered stone pathways tiled betwixt the civilization, meandering up the walls of the tan and brown cob houses. The culprit somehow even managed to dash across the flimsy rooftops for the ultimate getaway.

Try as they might, not a single member of the militia knew how it was done. Some claimed it to be sorcery, but nobody with that kind of power could be so reckless. Nothing had burned, nor had anything been hexed. The robbery seemed as generic as it was, but there was no solid evidence of its culprit.

That is, until they found the trail of footprints sailing straight through a suspiciously slender area between two buildings. One look, and they knew exactly who had visited.

The crack of dawn was out, unveiling the shade that aided Piko on her escape. There was no other alternative; all she had to do was run. She was well equipped to do so, as aside from the thick, titanium collars around her neck and ankles, all she wore was a large belt fastening a small loincloth that hardly draped halfway down her thighs, and a bracer that fell snug against her completely flat chest. The four-foot tall kobold had dashed far away from the crime scene but had not escaped the confines of the town, scaling walls with the ease of a dove, yet reckless like a hyena in her travels. Her gloved hands secured a large, full brown sack over her shoulders as her crimson eyes fixed forward in the thrill of the heist. Only two goblin daggers sheathed to her sides served for her protection, but if all went well, she wouldn't even need them.

Sweat beaded down her brown scales, running around the ram horns on the sides of her head, as well as the smaller two that protruded from her forehead. What did not drip off in her rush had dropped past her huge glutes and thighs. But time could not afford for her rest in this hour. Not while she was sprinting across the tops of buildings, leaping from roof to roof, disjointing and denting their tiles. It was of no concern. All she had to do was reach one location.

It was coming up fast, so long as she knew the right path. She ran past the executioner's block, the church, the nun's lodging and the prisons, startling all that caught a glimpse of her, but was never quick enough to call for help. So long as she could keep the ones looking for her behind her back, they would never catch up.

But the ones near the castle tower were a different story.

As she approached the large, wooden drawbridge, she took one last look behind her to see if anybody had any arrows. The sight of archers perched on rooftops and in windows way too far away made her snicker to herself. It seemed they just couldn't keep up with the pace of the chase! But as she turned back, she instantly panicked as the bridge was slowly but surely being withdrawn. She shook her head, knowing somebody had been alarmed of this. Its thick end was rising at the angle of its retraction, revealing its murky waters underneath infested by God knows what. The kobold scowled as she only sprinted faster towards the rising bridge. She couldn't possibly risk being caught between a moat and an angry mob; that was a death wish and a half.

She leapt high into the sky from her toes just as they were bordered on the edge of the moat, pushing back wet mud and grass, outstretching her small arms to the ascending plank of wood. Her body went sailing through the air, and she barely latched on by her palms, hauling herself and the bag locked securely between her hands and the wood as she ascended. A fire was quickly ablaze in her biceps, as she squirmed to keep herself together. If the change in altitude didn't frighten her, it was the sharp, metal arrows penetrating the planks around her.

Her teeth clenched as she let out a long, frustrated growl. Her feet repeatedly slammed against the bridge as it rose, fighting to keep her posture aligned, muscles burning with escapist anxiety and stress. Feeling her balance failing, she hastily swung her right thigh up onto the top of the planks and balanced herself sideways as the drawbridge reached its apex. Just as it happened, an arrow hit her loincloth just between her legs, piercing it like a thumbtack on a cork board and making her gasp sharply.

Having no free arm to dislodge it, she had to tug on the cloth as her left thigh met with the thin, top piece of wood that served as her only ground. Laying belly down, she could see her loincloth fabric stretching off to the side, hanging down like the bag she was gripping between her hands and the drawbridge. It ripped slightly, but not enough to come fully undone. Another arrow sailed over her head as she threw down a hand to grasp the arrow. Her uncovered ear to the public outside the castle introduced her to the distant battle cries, angered and confused. She paid them none of her attention as she yanked out the arrow and tossed it aside into the moat, at last being able to bring herself up.

A small jump from tiny wood to the stone wall topped the castle wall, and she was halfway in the clear. The kobold ducked after she made her first steps onto real ground, barely dodging two more projectiles that flew over her head, aside from the second one nicking her horn. She was relatively safe under the cement battlements and shade of the roof overhead - enough for her to catch her breath. Her bottom lip still had the imprint of her teeth marks as she tried to control herself. It wouldn't be long before someone else found her. She crawled her way over to one of the neighboring towers that accompanied each vertex of the hexagonal fortress.

Below the floors, she could feel the faint tremors of rampant movement. The damned bulls! They wouldn't give up. If it were any other scenario, she'd be dead for sure, but the kobold didn't panic. She knew damn well she was almost at the area. She traced her eyes quickly around the vast perimeter from behind some protruding stones, looking for the signal. It was under one of those towers. All she needed was that one single...

And there it was: the golden sparks crackling from the underside of one of the far tower's rooftops, dancing towards the ground and fizzling out of existence. The sparks were materializing from seemingly nothing, speeding up steadily even in the brevity of her interest. She grinned ecstatically, recognizing it instantly. He was coming through, after all!

But there was not much time. An anonymous thump made her turn her head to the nearby trapdoor. The metal bull piercing handle rock up and down with the flurry of stomps underneath. The kobold instantly brought herself to her feet and sprinted away to the left side, practically throwing herself down the slim corridor of chipped stone and untidy machicolations. Her footsteps echoed between the walls, but for her own sake, she didn't care; all that mattered was that she would reach that tower towards the right end of the wall.

She weaved aimlessly as she ran in the small corridor, hopping as she was fired at the feet and around her sides from behind with silver bolts, yet none of them had penetrated her scales as she cut her first corner, nearly stumbling over her own feet in the process. The flying stone shards and dust polluted the air in her perilous sprint for the finish, but she refused to falter. Every arrow that flew over her head was a grim reminder of her treachery.

The next corridor went by as swiftly as the last amidst the chase, but the kingdom was summoning more troops. A volley of arrows forced her to duck beneath the sturdy stones, continuing to sprint. Their sharp, metal heads crashed and clanged all around her like a hailstorm, but they were of no use, as she her short height and low posture kept her safe behind the castle's own battlements. They would need to try much harder than that!

Down the last of the devastating corridors she ran, approaching ever closer to the mystical light ahead. She turned her head back at the guards and threw her right arm in circles above her head, howling derisively, as she was sure she was in the clear. But her arrogance was broken when she turned back, to see a trapdoor burst open underneath the final tower. As the old, blue-cloaked crocodile emerged from below, clothed in emblematic, silk attire, his reptilian eyes of fire flashed in her eyes. He turned his bald and battle-scarred head towards his undaunted challenger, revealing not a weapon, but a green and quaint hand gesture; pointer and middle finger extended as the others curled gently beneath it.

But the kobold brushed it off like any old dude on the street. The sparks were beginning to grow, and there was little he could do to stop it. Except when his curled fingers met his palm, his pointed and middle fingers exploded in white energy like thunder cracking between his thumbnails, releasing a brilliant burst of every vibrant color directly at the kobold's body. The beam shot at impossible speeds and smashed into her stomach before she could even gasp, dropping the bag to the ground with a large clank as she suspended in midair in a bubble of its energy.

She shouted and shut her eyes, wrapping tight fists around her daggers in immense pain...except it never came. She fell silent in perplexity. Her whole body felt...floaty. And she opened her eyes and looked down to discover a white, incandescent bubble of energy suspending her in midair, which glowed subtly of every color of the rainbow. Her mouth was agape as her body was no different than the buoyancy of her loincloth...she had never seen this before! But as the crocodile glared at her, he was not about to explain his sorcery.

The huge lizard took big steps - gargantuan, even, as Piko further understood the closer he got to her. He had a passion in his stride that could crack a boulder. White smoke emitted from his two fingers like an extinguished fire. Piko's teeth clenched as she attempted to move her way out of the trap, aware that she had vastly underestimated him, but it was no use. Even if by some miracle she could escape, the guards had finally caught up, holding their fire.

"That's enough," he spoke in a dark, raspy voice. "You will present yourself to the king at once. Only then will you be allowed to give your-"

Suddenly, a bright flash of yellow light flashed from under the tower, booming with an echoing clang that startled the crocodile and guards. But not Piko. Her evil smirk crept back across her face. She knew he'd be there.

The sparks exploded in the center and finally emerged into the shape of an oval, blazing with golden energy outside of a blackened inner circle. The wizard had completely lost focus of the captured kobold at this peculiar sight. He raised an arm up at the portal, this time with his pinkie and ring finger out in front of him, his thumb raised perpendicular to it. His arm glowed in a purple aura as the mysterious source of energy expanded beyond their horizons, nearly blinding all that was around them.

And when he emerged, taking a heavy step onto the ground through the center, erratic beams of light shot from all sides and faded as quickly as they came. The slim, robed, blue lizard came through blazing, yet rather than the use of simple magic, he wielded an instrument; a lute, specifically, that he clutched in both hands as he gritted his teeth and struck a note. He peered ahead like he was looking through a sandstorm, aggressively plucking his melodies as a surge of orange energy flashed from his hands, to his instrument, to his target in helix moving strings - the crocodile. A drop of sweat escaped his forehead as he retaliated by firing the purple energy from his hand, sending violet electricity coursing through the air, right towards his new target!

But alas! This was not the correct spell; the musical cast had enveloped the thunder in a ball in an ear-splitting bang, crushing it in its own mass. The king's wizard's eyes grew to full circles as he backed up, mouth agape and intimidated. The brilliant ball of both orange and purple remained in the sky, surging with power, expanding slowly in front of their eyes. The bard slowed down his melody, now playing it backwards, causing the energy to shift down into individual particles, separating one by one into the sky, until there were hundreds of them. He smirked back at his opponents, raising his strumming arm into the sky...

And brought it down like an axe, smashing a diminished chord, sending the particles bolting in their direction! The magical bolts of both lightning and bardic energy pelted one by one into all of Piko's opponents - including her bubble, which smashed open from the impact. It sent her careening to the ground, but she landed on all fours and whirled her body around, finding that the all her opponents were trapped in a state of their arms blocking their faces and chests, glowing in a faint, transparent sheet of orange energy.

"Hurry, Piko!" he screamed, regaining her visual attention. "The portal's about to close!"

His arm was stretched to the diminishing light. She brought herself to her feet, reclaimed the bag, and dashed with all her energy forward, pumping her arms like machines and panting loudly in exhaustion. Their magnificent ticket out was rapidly shrinking in front of her eyes, as her lizard aid tried desperately to find a way to keep it open longer.

She ran closer...

Closer...

He grabbed her hand.

Closer...

And as it snapped shut in a twinkle of magical residue, they were both through.

They reappeared in the same flash of light in the blink of an eye, tumbling like dice into the cave they called their homes. Or, if you could call a cave a home; it was riddled with stalactites and bugs, but it was close enough from their main village to make do as one. Plus, it was far enough away and still hidden that it made a good hideout for their treasures after a successful pillage.

And successful they were, as the cave was packed to the brim with gold coins, jewelry, ringlets, expensive armor and ancient weaponry all gleaming freely under the torchlight placed around the walls. Its alluring, luxurious glow seemed to overshadow even basic needs like their stowed food and water - both of which were also stolen.

The landing was rough, but neither of them cared, as they were alive. They sprung to their feet after a couple rubs on their own heads, looking at each other for a moment before slowly creeping into the same cheeky grins across their faces.

"Holy shit, Pseftis!" beamed Piko, high fiving him. "You fucked them up real good! Where'd you learn that before?!"

"Been practicing a bit," he replied softly, waving his hand from the red mark she gave him. He placed his lute down between two stalagmites. "Figured I-"

"Oh my god, I was so sure you and I were screwed," Piko put her hands on her cheeks, "and then you did the (she imitates strumming a guitar) thing, and then you - I don't even know what it was, but they just stood there and took it, 'cause they suck! Geez_,_Pseftis, that was SO cool!"

"Right...okay, but maybe next time, tell me to put the portal somewhere that isn't right on top of an enemy castle," Pseftis rubbed the back of his head.

"So I screwed up the coordinates a bit, who cares?" Piko scoffed, turning and waving her hand lazily. "I can't believe they almost had you, man! You coulda been electrocuted like a...like a thing that gets electrocuted really hard!"

Pseftis sighed. "How was the raid?"

"Same as usual, ya doofus!" she loudly teased. "I mean, look at me! I'm a natural at this, remember?"

"A natural?" Pseftis avered, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. "I found you squirming in a cosmic bubble."

"Oh...that?" Piko shook her head. "Pfft, they just got lucky. Like I was supposed to expect that a maaagical crocodile man was going to put me in time out. That was just bad luck."

"Eyes up, Piko. I keep telling you not to rob out in the open, or they'll fuck you up like I'm seeing right now."

"What? With what?"

"The horns? The clothes? Come on, you see it."

"What do I see?"

"They're all torn. I can clearly see you got banged up, Piko."

"No, that was a different mission."

He blinked and tilted his head a bit. "Anyway, what caused that? Did they seriously hurt you?"

"Oh, they shot a couple hundred arrows at me, no big deal."

"Piko!" Pseftis slapped his hand into his face, physically repelling himself away from her. "How many times do I have to tell you to change up your approaches? You know, maybe sneak around? Be a little more subtle? Like, robbing in ways that won't get you killed?"

"Don't be stupid," she rolled her eyes, turning her attention to the bag. "They couldn't hit the broad side of my ass."

"That wouldn't be all that hard to-"

Piko stopped and unsheathed a dagger from her belt. "You like getting castrated?"

"No, no, no, I'm good."

"Thank you." She put it back, visually satisfied, and picked the bag up with both arms. "Now, help me sort through all this new shit."

His eyes traced back to the brown bag, which had dispatched from her hand upon arriving back into the cave. The contents of it looked full - enough to bulge the bag out a bit at the seams - yet not as heavy as he expected. Piko of all people could carry it, anyway. He only grew more skeptical the closer Piko came, as she smiled up at him.

"What's the matter?" Piko asked. "This is the most exciting part of the raid!"

"Looks kinda...skimpy."

But Piko just hollered out once as she tilted the bag upside down sloppily, letting all the metal entrails clack to the rocky ground, echoing through every wall. Pseftis had to admit, she came through on her promise, as he was greeted with a cascade of gold coins, three sapphire rings, six necklaces and a diamond. The prize was alluring, but something else especially caught his attention: a white box embroidered beautifully with gold, seeming to lock the box from ever opening.

He tried to reach for it, but Piko pushed his hands away.

"Wait, let me find something!" she smiled, sifting through the pile of coins like sand. She quickly leveled the pile of gold to a plate made of circles until she uncovered the gold chained amulet with a light blue crystal in the centerpiece underneath. She lightly gasped, ceasing it with both her hands and laying them out to present to him.

"I stole you one of these from the village!" she exclaimed. "It reminded me of you."

"Oh!" Pseftis touched the fingertips of his flat hand to his lips. "That's very sweet of you. Where'd you get it?"

"From the church!" she replied happily. "Some dead guy made into a statue was holding it in his hands. I hope you like it!"

"I do," he mused as he took the necklace from her hands, placing it onto his neck, "but right now, I'm more interested in that box you got."

"Huh?...Oh, that!" she remembered, now grabbing it in both hands to show him. "I don't know what this is, but I robbed it from some place near the castle after I robbed some other guy's house. He had this in a weird looking safe, so I figured it was something really cool, so I broke into it and found this." She held it up to his snout. "Cool, right?"

"Looks very pretty," Pseftis nodded, admiring its detail.

Piko closed her left hand around the top half of the box as the other supported it from the bottom, boasting a playful grin as she pulled. The box didn't budge. So, she pulled a little harder...no good. She tried this for several minutes before getting visibly agitated. Her smile had faded into a riled sneer. It was as if something had glued the crease on the inside.

"Here, let me try that," Pseftis put his hand out.

"No, wait, I can get it!" Piko snarled as she pulled harder. Her face tensed and pinched as she put her bicep into it, but it gave no way whatsoever. When that didn't work, she started tossing it against the ground, rubbing it against the stalagmites, and throwing it at the cave walls. She was grunting furiously as she continued to apply brute force, but still, it wouldn't even budge.

He couldn't watch it happen anymore, so he quickly snatched it away the first moment he got.

"I'll handle this," he grumbled, seizing the box away leaving an angry kobold cross-armed and pouting. He was immediately surprised at its lightness. His finger traced around every etching of leather to the bumpy borders of its tremendously detailed golden etchings. Then he traced his finger around those, namely the corners and the crease, all intertwined with fantastic design of vine-like currents splayed like roots across the canvas. If there wasn't so much to admire, finding the unlocking mechanism would've gone much faster. But even with all that time, it wasn't obvious.

As he turned it around by his fingers, inspecting each face, he noticed that they seemed to converge differently on one. The way it curled and intertwined seemed atypical to the rest of the object, creating further gaps between the gold and tangling into themselves like an apartment complex of spiderwebs. Was it fancy branding for a possible lock?

No, he thought, these looked far more like glyphs, individually stringing together like cursive. It was too intriguing to ignore, so he stared at it for longer in silence. All the while, Piko stood in place, her image flickering in the dance of the torchlight, tapping her foot against the rocky ground.

"Hey, Pseftis," she called hotly. "You're s'posed to open it, not look for its wallet."

"There's something here," Pseftis ignored her. "It looks like a word in some kind of ancient language."

"Probably 'fuck off'."

"That's two words."

"Oh, just give me it!" Piko leapt up and swiped it back. She rose it up above her head with both hands and looked up at it as if she were to smash it on the ground, but the same side of the cube caught her attention. Her left eyebrow raised as she closed her lips, but it wasn't in confusion.

"What do you mean you can't read this?" Piko asked, still looking down at it. "Listen, I can't read for shit, but that definitely says...uh...kof...kof-ring-ku-....kofringkun?"

Right in that moment, all the gold on the box illuminated into a blinding white light, humming an alarming tone. Jolting in surprise, she squealed and dropped the box in fear, pivoting away with her arms over her head in preparation for a booby trap. But as it clashed to the ground, its opulent decorations had vanished, laying in two parts from the impact. The lid had toppled on its side, while the bottom contained a handful of sand spilled out under a tiny scroll about the size of Piko's hand with a red ribbon wrapped around the center.

The two stared it down, utterly astonished. Their mutual facial expressions were of open mouths and disbelieving eyes. Piko was quicker to shrug it off, though, as she bent forward to grab the scroll.

"How did you know what that said?" Pseftis queried.

"What kind of loser hides a piece of paper?" She held her open palm up to it, with disappointment on her face. She shook her head and looked up at him. "Oh...what'd you say? How did I know? Oh, it's Koboldian. Everyone in our race can read it."

"You don't know how to read," he pointed out.

"I know enough for that," she nodded.

"What's it mean? 'Open?'"

"Does it look like I know? Nobody speaks Koboldian anymore. All I'm doing is speaking it out loud. Now, let's see this thing. Think it's a treasure map?"

She excitedly tore off the ribbon and unraveled the scroll as Pseftis sauntered to her side to read with her. The first thing they noticed was how the language used on it was the same as the code word written at the front. The letters seemed to glow a dark blue essence from the yellow parchment, steaming off into the cave.

"Ugh!" Piko pouted. "More reading."

"Is that...the same language as before?" He asked.

"Pssh, no shit," she taunted. "Stand aside, Pseftis; you don't know Koboldian. Let me read this to you..."

It was only enough room to be a couple of sentences, but that was all it would take.

"Psu'das, chillo dthar et zu," she read aloud, "en tillowar, en zaurindou..."

Each symbol was beginning to glow brighter. He stayed silent. But the longer she read, the brighter they seemed to glow, the more they seemed to pop. A small bead of light tracked down every symbol like a pebble floating down a stream, following her exact eyesight.

The room was completely silent, but it was clear that she was causing something to happen.

"Piko...?" Pseftis trembled.

"...sabridor, felii' shineir..."

"I-I think you should stop reading that."

"Pipe down, I'm almost finished..."

Something was happening.

"Piko, no!" Pseftis yelled hurriedly.

"...tu'zingrey! Zengastino!" Piko finished, and the paper began to shake.

The dot of light reached the final serif of the last sentence and flared. Suddenly, it expanded through the ink, and the light inside it expanded in a strange blue energy and swallowed the rest of the parchment like a fire, collapsing into itself! All that was solid of it became liquid in her hands, then dissipated into a blueish-grey fog as quickly as it had transformed. Pseftis tried to grab his lute, but it was engulfed by the gaseous presence as it diffused at alarming rates. The two of them gasped and stumbled away with their backs on the ground, eyes crushed shut and huddled together, as their certain doom closed in.

"Help!" they yelled in unison. "Somebody help!"

But as they quickly discovered, there was no need for it. They opened their eyes as they felt a cool breeze travelling in a new direction. The mist appeared to pass straight through them and out the giant opening of the cave. It was utterly painless. No vibe left behind, no explanation.

"Fuck!" she screamed in frustration, rubbing her horns. "That could've been good money! And now I have a headache..."

Pseftis physically couldn't respond.

"I don't know what that was," Piko shook her head, elevating to her feet. "but now we're behind on cash. Ugh...that could've been worth a fortune!"

"Piko..." He started with a finger in the air. "Are you sure you don't know what that said?"

"I already said I don't know, Pseftis!" she screamed back at him, echoing through the walls, then calmed into a low grumble. "Ugh...fine. I'm going out to the village. I want to steal some more stuff."

"What?"

"I have to make up for this."

"Uh, okay...want me to go with you?"

"No!" she snarled back. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault?! How?! You're the one who-"

"You didn't have to make me read it!" she protested obnoxiously. "Whatever. Don't follow me. I'll be back in...I don't know, soon."

She stormed out of the cave and into the daylight, refusing to look back, leaving the confused bard alone and flustered.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kobold skin always shines the best in broad daylight. Her brown and tan scales baked under the early morning light, matching nearly perfectly with the walls of quaint buildings that lined each side of the village. Though her confident smirk was fabricated, it certainly did more for her than the frustrated undertones she felt moments ago. The air was crisp as a biscuit against her barely clothed body. She breathed it in, slowly beginning to forget all about the scroll.

Ironically, she stood out a little too well in the crowded streets, but for now, she was innocent. She had to get moving fast, or all the good stuff would be sold away, forever disappearing from her hungering eyes. Just staring down the opening markets looked like business as usual to her. Though she couldn't escape the fact that something about this town felt deviously different. Maybe it was the early morning tint that sparkled off the whites of the grey bricks in between houses and pathways. It looked a little bluer than before. In fact, so did everything else. If she focused hard enough, she could see isolated blue twinkles sparkling out of nowhere.

Never noticed that before, she reviewed the atmosphere, but it was probably always there. Maybe a festival happened. Hope they left something good behind!

She strutted down the bustling agora with ease, eyeing all that interested her with a hunger for mischief. A ring, a necklace, an exotic fruit...it was all so tempting to just gun it and go. But even for her, that was far too foolish. She'd have to walk around for a bit, first, actually making an effort to blend in with the crowd. In due time, the right moment would come.

Looking left and right, memorizing patterns of movement, she'd wait for that one single second where all the eyes were turned, and then, she'd be sure to swipe whatever she wanted from under all their eyes. And for a few moments, the formula was working just as historically correct. Not a single soul would notice her-

"Excuse me, madam?"

The sound came from behind her, startling her off her waiting game. She whirled her head around to find a red dragon with yellow scales that covered his face down to his chest and below his raggedy clothing staring blankly back at her. She was about to question him when she looked down for a moment and noticed his hand wrapped around her loincloth, elevating it over the top of her rump.

"Hey, pervert!" Piko barked, yanking it back out of his hand. "Knock it off!"

But he grabbed a hold of it again, completely blank on his face. "I don't believe you're supposed to have this on."

"Don't be a fucking moron," she grumbled, slapping at the strange man's hand. "Now, let go!"

"I don't understand why you are acting like this," he replied calmly, holding his grip. "You look very uncomfortable. Here, let me help you."

"Help? What the hell are you-"

RIIIIIP!

Her mouth was wide open in disbelief. The madman. In the span of a second, the back half of her loincloth - the only thing shielding her sex from the world - had been torn off. What remained of her backside decency was small wisps of string protruding from her belt. With no clear regrets, he began to walk in the other direction, waving a farewell to her with her own clothing, but Piko wasn't having it. Half enraged and half embarrassed, she followed him through the marketplace, keeping her legs close enough as to conceal her flower.

"Give that back, you asshole!" She demanded, flailing her arms up at him. "Hey! Where are you going?!"

As he turned around, his eyebrows rose back up at the kobold in attention.

"Oh, my goodness!" he gasped, placed his hand over his mouth at the sight of her front. "I'm so foolish!"

"Little late for apologies there, buster," Piko snapped, putting a finger in his face. "You're gonna be paying for that after you hand it over!"

"You're far too overdressed for this!" he remarked, veering his torso back a few degrees. "Oh, this simply cannot be! You're going to get in a lot of trouble! Here, let me help you...."

"Wh-what?!" She backed up, but it was into a barrel of apples, effectively cornering herself. Her heart pounded fiercely. She panicked and reached for her sides to unsheathe her daggers but grasped her fists around nothing but air. Looking down, she couldn't believe what was happening.

"Where are my daggers?!" She whirled her head around rapidly. "Where are my daggers?!"

"They looked too sharp for you to use!" answered a dragon villager, who stood even taller than the other guy from across the marketplace, holding them both up in his hands, making them look tiny in his huge palms.

"What?!" She turned her head ninety degrees to the right to look at him.

"They looked sharp," he answered, turning back to the shop. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt. Carry on, then!"

"Who even are you?!"

Shortly after she had yelled that, the dragon man had one hand on her bracer and one on the front part of her loincloth. In one, swift move, before she could even react, they were both torn off her chest and pelvis. She was left frozen in place, staring at the man in utter shock. During her fit of stasis, he calmly undid her belt, as well, pulling it away from around her waist and throwing it over his shoulder. Before he left again, he gave another farewell before turning around, gently smiling at her discontent.

Naked and appalled, Piko's cheeks grew red with rage. Her body was a boiling tea kettle. She screamed out loud and ran straight at the man like a bullet, knocking straight into him. When it didn't topple him, she growled and jumped onto his robes, grabbing fistfuls of silk as she tried to climb them up, hoping to catch any strands of her stolen clothing. She hollered and rampaged in all directions, flailing her arms from his back to his shoulders.

"Help!" She screamed, gnashing at the strange man, now thoroughly disoriented. "Help! Help me! Some weird guy just ripped off all my clothes! Help!"

Naturally, the marketplace was stirring, as now all consumers were staring straight at Piko's enragement. The largest of which ran over to the debacle that was ensuing and tried his best to stop the fight - a muscled, purple bull that was dressed in nothing but a loincloth, himself, that ran down to his ankles, did the best thing he could think of to break it up.

He put his hands around her sides and lifted her up, breaking her grip with the dragon man's robes, and placed her squirming body back on the ground. Piko could hardly contain her rampant embarrassment as she grew visibly angrier at his effort. She growled and griped, clawing and biting at his huge hands, which almost fully wrapped around her entire body, each ends of her fingers barely separated from her navel region.

"What are you people doing?" Piko sharply demanded again. "He stole all my clothes!"

"There's no need to be upset," the bull stated, looking down at her and putting a finger up like she was his child. "We're just doing what needs to happen."

"How dumb do you have to be to believe that?" She angrily questioned again, twisting her knees together. "You can't just leave me naked like this!"

"Exactly," the bull stated, sounding so calm that Piko could immediately tell he was serious. The whole street corner felt it, too, as many of them were not staring at her out of pity, but with puzzlement. Some of them even looked a little turned on. But all of them had the same blue twinkle of light somewhere in their irises.

"You are supposed to be naked," the bull restated as he dislodged his hands from her sides. "That is how it is, and how it's always been." He locked his eyesight with hers for a couple of seconds before he lifted his open hand up to bring it down hard on her ass. The impact sent a ripple through her butt cheek and down her huge thigh, leaving a red mark for sure.

"Hey!" She yelled.

"All right, everybody, carry on!" He stated it so matter-of-factly, and everybody had nodded to believe it. He and the others turned to get back to work, and that was it. Her butt hurt, but she was too stunned to rub it herself. It was the eeriest thing she had ever seen in her life. At least thirty to forty people - that only accounted for what was right in front of her - had no reaction to her stripping, letting her get her clothes stolen until she was fully bare in public save from her bracelets. And they all had that same look...

Her shock naturally began to fade from her senses. She looked down once more, slowly becoming awakened to her other problem. The breeze felt so different against her flat, bare chest. Her tender slit was in full view to all, losing all subtlety to its form. The longer she looked at her current state, the more anxious she became of herself.

She screeched, breaking out of her form, quickly throwing her arms around her crotch and her breasts. Though she had no nipples, she was humiliated as if they were exposed. She had nowhere to run, so she just did - through all the streets and corners, her feet thumped on the dirt as she screeched like a wild animal, begging for any kind of assistance. But they had only made the problem worse, as every street she ran down became a hallway of spanking, receiving it at random from any horny villager rather than any clothes or direction.

She turned a corner - spanked. She ran down past the farmer's market - spanked again. She fled to the farms - spanked again. All from anonymous faces. Her eyelids tensed and sprung open again at each hit she took as she streaked through all the land. Red was the blood that rushed through her body, as was the clashing color of her blushing cheeks and the marks on her massive ass. Piko could hardly believe their unanimous betrayal. Her backside was simply a moving target through every corner, stinging in its constant impact as it swayed and jiggled behind her with her frantic movement.

Quickly, she found a dark, uninhabited alleyway in between the gaps of two houses, and she immediately took her chances, gasping and panicking in feminine embarrassment. Under the shadows, she caught her breath from behind one of the thin, wooden poles supporting the establishment above. Her eyes were shut in shame, as if she was still out there, in the realm of wandering eyes and inescapable light.

Though she didn't dare make a sound besides her incessant breathing, she made sure to periodically peer towards the crack of light that served as her only exit. But she despised the idea of exposing herself again. Maybe after the people were gone.

"Oh shit..." Piko whispered. "Fuck am I supposed to do?"

Alone she stood in place, completely bare aside from her gloves and bracelets, with only the intimidating glow of the morning to accompany her. One way in, one way out. Her hands were latched and tightening to the pole like a flagbearer.

"I-it's okay," she told herself. "Pseftis will eventually come and get me...and he'll give me clothes. Yeah...all the clothes I need! And it'll all be all right. Right?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

She must have been there for an hour or two, waiting patiently for the knight who would rescue her. The thought of making a run for it came to her mind a few times, but she couldn't bring herself to fully commit. Anxious and stagnant, she had been standing the whole time, knees wobbly and aching as they were but sticks in the sand.

Is there any end to this? she shuddered impatiently.

And thankfully, there was.

Her heart jumped a thousand feet into the sky and instantly barreled back down at the first sight of his robed body entering the alley. She gasped happily, recognizing that blue face and concerned eyes anywhere. Though he hadn't quite spotted her as he walked further into the darkness, it was clear from the look in his eyes that he was looking for her.

"Hey!" Piko called quietly. "Psst! Over here! I could use a little help here!"

He whirled around fast to meet her tender gaze, and in an instant, he found out the problem.

"Piko!" he exclaimed, sounding glum. "Oh my god, are you all right?"

"No, genius! I'm naked!"

"Okay, this is bad...um, the town won't stop talking about some crazy, nude kobold, running around our village, and I just wanted to make sure you were all-"

"They're talking about me?!"

"No, no, they never said your name, but...." he trailed off from his frantic bantering as it hit him. The moment he looked down at her body, he couldn't look away.

"Oh..." He was tugging one finger at the neckhole of his robes, smiling from one side and fighting for a proper reaction. "Um...very well, then."

"Eyes up here, Toothless!" Piko whispered loudly. "I need to get out of here!"

Pseftis wasn't responding. His eyes were stuck on the pole, and his face was blushing about exactly as much as she was, drooling from the right side of his mouth. Piko coughed several times into her elbow, but it had no effect. Unamused, she growled deeply before swinging her arm like a hatchet across his face, leaving a red mark on his cheek that was far more noticeable than his blushing.

"Ow! Sorry..." He instantly apologized after the recoil.

"Stop it!" Piko snapped. "Bring me some clothes."

"Sorry..."

"Less talk! Bring! Me! Some! Clothes!"

"I know, I know, just...just let me get them out."

He reached a hand onto the inside of his robe, which alone excited Piko. He retracted his hand and pulled out two fresh, brown pieces of cloth.

"Bought them from the store," he promised, as he handed them over. "Got a bit of information while I was there."

Piko glared at him as she turned his back to him, flashing her vagina for a split second. "T-turn around!"

He did as she said, and as she dressed herself back in her trademark bracer and loincloth, he sighed to himself, attempting to quell his booming heartbeat. He had never seen her like that in his life, and that was probably his last chance.

"God...thank you so, so much!" Piko gasped, throwing her arms around Pseftis and squeezing. "I don't know what I'd do without you!"

"I don't either," Pseftis admitted, turning around and hugging her back. "Let's just get moving. I've got a lot to say."

She shielded her eyes with her hands as the daylight finally came back to her senses. The two walked together through the same marketplaces, which were still bustling just as much as they had been before but acted just as calm as you would expect. She felt comfortable, but only up to a point. Her fingers were pressed together as she peered at the people around her, all busy with their own work to do. It took a couple blocks, but Piko eventually sighed in relief, happy to become invisible to them again.

Pseftis waited a few more blocks before bringing it up.

"Look, as I was gonna say earlier..." he started. "I've been thinkin' about that scroll you read."

Piko stared as they continued to walk. "What about it?"

"That mist made no sense to me," he mused. "so, I started asking people if they knew anything about magical scrolls..."

"Uh huh..."

"...and I heard this one story about the curse of some saint named Dyunitu."

"Dyu-what?"

"Dyunitu. She was a kobold who supposedly slept with everybody in the village in one year-"

She wooed and pumped her arms sarcastically.

"...Right. And it got to the point where so many people recognized her that all the talk those days was about how she was a whore."

"Aw, that's bullshit. They asked for it."

"Well, the talk grew so big that the town banded together and created a law that banned her from ever using clothing."

"Sounds like bullshit."

"Yeah, I don't believe it either," Pseftis shook his head. "It's just perverted mythology."

"Yeah, whatever you just said."

"And the fact that this supposedly ends in a curse makes it feel so much more fake," Pseftis thought aloud, now with both palms out, "as if I'm supposed to believe her last words would become an ancient Koboldian chant who was doomed to curse whoever read it out loud."

"Hah!" Piko laughed and slapped her thigh. "Yeah, I'll bet!"

He stopped dead in his thoughts when he turned over to the kobold. He stared unblinkingly for a good while as they kept moving. It took her a few moments, but eventually she questioned him.

"Hey, what's the matter, Pseftis?" she asked, but his eyes were unmoving. This time, her eyes began to trace around the area, strangely noticing that other people were looking straight back at her. In fact, as she peered around...it was almost everybody who was staring back at her.

Her eyebrow was raised in confusion as she turned back to him. "Hey Pseftis, why are people starin' at us?"

He gritted his teeth as he once again tugged at the neck of his robes with one finger. He couldn't bring himself to answer.

But it only took a single gust of wind to blow between her legs to figure it out.

She looked down and was instantly shocked to the core. Her brand-new loincloth was _gone!_Worse, still, her pussy had reddened from the heat of the situation, which quickly matched her abashed expression. She threw both of her hands down to cover it up, but she already knew it was too late.

"Hey, isn't that kobold s'posed to be naked?!" a villager yelled from the agitated crowd.

"No!" Piko shouted back. "What are you, out of your minds?!"

"Oh god," Pseftis shuddered.

"Get her!" someone else screamed, as the crowd quickly encircled the two and closed in. She squealed and pleaded for them to back down, but there were just too many to fight back. Blue, steamy auras began to converge, becoming subtly visible again as they all grouped in one spot. Pseftis tried to aid her, but had been lost in the unrest to the point where she could barely hear his voice, taken away in the complete chaos. She was helpless and cramped from all the bodies around her, as five hands were aggressively secured in a pentagon around her bracer. In an instant, it was torn to shreds, exposing her chest once again and effortlessly leaving her naked again. But this wasn't even enough for them; her ass received a flurry of hands feeling up her smooth, large curves, spanking it no matter where she turned.

"The hell are you people doing?" Piko barked, to no avail of the onslaught as she felt another three hands hold her butt cheeks. To add insult to injury they began to fumble with the locks and fastening points in the stone bracelets around her neck and ankles, undoing them until they were fully detached. It wasn't long until they were thrown out like trash, far, far away from her sight.

She tried to yell for mercy again, but then felt a strange surge between the walls of her vagina. Her body jolted and pulsated at the touch of two fingers behind her, which had been shoved into her slit to the without question. He pressed his palm flat against her ass cheeks as they began to wriggle inside her vigorously, sparking an impromptu yelp from Piko. She moaned into the air, and as she did, she felt the tap of several fingers on her clit. But as she snapped out of it to try to stop him, they were gone as soon as they had entered. Nothing was ever spoken of it again.

She blushed and thrashed in their grasp as the mob even went as far as to remove her gloves, which was the final article of clothing she even had on. All her clothing was now ripped to shreds, even if she had reclaimed them again. Truly, there were no options left for her to take.

And then, it just stopped.

"All right, everybody!" someone called, averting all their attention spans. "Back to work!"

And just like that, they began to disperse. Their suddenly beatific faces perplexed her as the area transformed back into the lively market it just was. She could finally breathe again, but it was at the cost of all the open space. Their faces had turned from anger to everyday amusement. Some were even calmly inviting behind their counters full of berries and souvenirs. But as they all seemed to default back to their workstations, she, of course, didn't feel the same.

The kobold was stunned in position, her frowned mouth agape and curved inward. The tip of her curved toenails graced the dirty floors, but the feeling wasn't nearly as uncanny as the nothing on her skin. That was that. They really left her naked in public. Her groin was out in the open air, looking as red as a sunburn. Even with the business going as usual, she could still feel the eyes on her. She could tell, deep down, that they still cared of her embarrassment. She couldn't understand how they seemed so nonchalant about this. Like she was supposed to be that way. But as much as she wanted to ask Pseftis about it, she didn't know where he was, either. This was no place for her to be. Not anymore.

There was only one way out.

One arm drooped straight downwards as another was held tightly around her chest as she finally put one leg in front of the other. She was really doing it. She was going to walk home naked. In broad daylight. As she took step after heavy step through the crowded streets, mumbling obscenities under her breath, she could tell just how much attention she was getting. It was impossible to ignore her, after all. Her thighs and large bottom jiggled and rippled, and people were noticing it for sure. It seemed as though her butt was so big that it was impossible to cover up everything, and she wouldn't have been far off given the comments she heard screamed across the town.

Confused at her fate and unable to discern what the hell was going on, she continued to walk through block after jammed up block, cussing out the greedy villagers around her for their actions as they pointed back and laughed at her. This was it: the curse was real, and she had every reason to believe it.

I'll find a way out of this, she thought, promising herself. Someday....