FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Well Dan, you did it. You finally got into the bedroom of a fine looking woman, with only the slight glitch in the plan is that YOU ended up being that fine looking woman. Still, #LifeGoals.

Having awoken the next morning and confirmed the whole, "soul shoved into a different body in a different world" thing wasn't just a dream, it was finally time to take a good look at the body I was living in as Lyra. My hair was a bright white, and not like platinum blonde either. It was as white as freshly fallen snow, though it was thick and full as it hung down slightly past my shoulders. The wolf ears atop my head were a little bit darker than my hair as my bright blue eyes scanned over my new form.

As for my more... feminine aspects, I certainly wasn't lacking. Still, I was thankful my chest wasn't, "Wake up every morning with backaches" large either. Given the circumstances, that was about as comfortable as I was exploring that aspect of my body at the moment. The rest of my body was toned and firm; clearly Lyra kept herself in good shape.

My body may have looked like it was perfect for fashion magazines, though as I started exploring my physical limits maybe a fitness magazine might have been more appropriate. I felt strong; not just strong for a woman, but REALLY strong. A couple of dozen pushups? No problem. A few dozen one handed push ups? Yawn. One handed push ups while doing a handstand on that hand(with the other keeping my shirt from falling over my face)? I made it to ten before my balance even started to wobble, and I wasn't lacking in dexterity either. With one last push I landed back on my feet with the grace of a professional gymnast.

Finding out if this was normal was just another mystery to add to the pile of things to check out about this world. First mystery that definitely needed to be solved; investigate the contents of the refrigerator and see what's for breakfast.

<>

"Alright, Dan; what have you learned about this world?" I asked no one in particular as I pushed away from the terminal I'd spent the last couple of hours doing research on in Lyra's bedroom. Well, besides the fact that chocolate, bacon and coffee all exist so that I'd have no problem surviving here, not as much as I hoped. Turns out it's hard to research and understand an entire planet in a couple of hours; who knew?

Seriously though, from as much as I could gather I was getting the straight story from Mishra about the overall state of Aeron City at least. While it did have a few social problems, overall it was rated as one of the top cities in terms of overall quality on the planet Caledria. (Side note; it feels really weird typing,

"What is the name of the planet I'm living on?" into a search engine.) The biggest downside seemed to be The Corrupted causing most of the criminal related activity in the city, and they seemed to recruit most of their willing members from the disaffected who feel like they haven't gotten their fair shake in life and want more no matter the cost.

As for Corruption itself... it seems like there's still a lot of debate over what exactly it is and how it works, but the best picture I could get from everything I read is that it's basically a magical disease. The Dark God bestows it upon his followers to give them great powers, but it also eats away at the soul the more and more its used. Apparently as long as something remains of the soul the person can be rehabilitated, though the longer they've been using it the exponentially worse the odds are of recovery, if they're even willing to. Some of the smarter Corrupted are aware of this and instead try to use the souls of others to delay their own deterioration, with a chance that someone who's been affected in such a way can become Corrupted themselves.

While a part of me wondered if this was all a little too straight forward to be true, I was having a hard time finding anything that would prove otherwise. I would have to keep my eyes open for the next... however long I was going to be here for, but I at least felt comfortable I wasn't working for the bad guys if The Corrupted were all they were portrayed as. Though I did have to remind myself Mishra was a Protector herself and had apparently violated some pretty serious rules in the process of bringing me here, so there was that to keep in mind. I mean, sure she admitted it, but...

"Lyra, there's a call from Mishra." The friendly voice that had welcomed me into the apartment let me know. Still had to figure out where that was coming from. "Would you like to answer it?"

"Yes, sure." I responded as I stood up and opened the door to my bedroom, nearly having a heart attack when I saw Mishra standing right in front of me.

<>

"Oh, sorry. Are you not used to long distance communication in your world?"

No, I'm quite familiar with long distance communication; just not ones that also include holographic projections of the person on the other end. Mishra motioned me over to the ComTab, the hybrid table/TV looking thing in the center of the living room.

"Before I explain why I suddenly took off like that yesterday, I need to show you something." Mishra started poking around for a moment as my table began to light up. The words, "Connection Established" hovered above the table for a moment before the words, "Protector Secure Database" appeared along with a long list all organized by date.

Mishra poked at the screen and several more options appeared. A few more moments of this and a new window opened up with something that looked like a video clip, which she then grabbed and turned toward me. It looked like the events that unfolded just before I arrived in this world, and judging from some of the data in the corner and the way the camera jostled I guessed it must have been a body camera that was on Mishra.

"There's been an explosion at the back of the building; Protector Lyra and I are moving to investigate! Command, there was no mention of explosives anywhere in the briefing, correct?!" Mishra asked as Lyra advanced slightly ahead of her.

"Correct; no mention of explosives from any of the scouts or cameras." I recognized Rica's voice in an instant responding to the question. "Do you need additional support?"

Before Mishra could respond, Lyra suddenly raised her shield in front of her just in time to block a rocket head on. I caught of glimpse of Lyra being sent blasting backward by the explosion as Mishra turned to face the source of the rocket. The fact that I couldn't see but still hear the sound of metal bending as Lyra's body hit the light pole did little to make it easier to imagine as Mishra tossed a small metal ball in the direction of the Corrupted as a note was added that a flash bomb had been deployed on screen.

"No no no..." Mishra's voice was filled with worry as she rushed toward Lyra. A nearby car blocked the base of the pole from the angle Mishra was standing, but just from the almost 45 degree bend I had to imagine that must have been the impact that killed her. A few more steps and...

The picture went to snow like a busted old TV. A bunch of data flashed up, though all I caught were error messages. It wasn't until almost a minute later that the picture rebooted to show where I had entered Lyra's body and accidentally summoned a Holy Shield to protect us.

"So, you messed with the armor's camera to hide the fact that you did... whatever you did to bring me here. That was a smart move... wasn't it?"

The shaking head was not the response I was expecting from her. "No. I mean, yes, something did disable the camera, but it wasn't me. And I don't know what or who did."

<>

"Wait, did you forget you had a camera attached to you when you were trying to raise the dead?"

Mishra sighed heavily before nodding. "You forget they're always there, mostly just so we can refer back to them for training purposes, and so there's a record in case of a civilian complaint. Never hurts to PYT." Mishra took my puzzled look as being confused at the concept of acronyms; it took me a good 15 seconds to butt in I just didn't understand what this particular acronym stood for. "Protect Your Tail."

"Ah; we have a similar saying on my world. CYA: Cover Your Ass." Mishra quirked an eyebrow as I continued. "So your camera stopped functioning, and you didn't do it. Did Rica?"

"Lyra's girlfriend? I wouldn't say it's impossible, but..." Mishra moved some more things around before tapping another button. "After hearing this, I really doubt it."

The audio that played probably picked up right after Lyra's body hit the light pole if the sound of vitals flatlining in the background was any indication.

"Lyra... Protector down! Any available backup, get to Aeron City Bank...what the?... All visual contact lost from all Protectors on sight! Audio as well! Can any officers give me a status report?...No, secure the hostages first and get them to safety, just be quick, please!..."

"It goes on like that for a bit until the cameras reboot. Like I said, it's not impossible, but to cover up me trying to force Lyra's soul back into her body, being able to alter the camera's so it looks like outside interference and not internal sabotage, AND put on that genuine sounding an act? And to not confront me about doing what I did to her girlfriend to boot?" Mishra shook her head. "I really don't see it."

Yeah, I had to agree with her there. It seems like the whole, "Trying to bring Lyra back from the dead" thing was a spur of the moment idea; if that was true, then how could Rica have prepared that kind of cover up so quickly when she had even less time to think it through?

"I wanted to check Lyra's camera just to be safe; if it really went out as well as mine, then I think we can say for sure Rica's really not involved, and maybe we'll see something that can help us figure out what the hells happened." I nodded and started to reach toward the screen before pausing. "What's wrong?"

"Um...What's the password?"

<>

"Pass...word?" Mishra had the same blank look I imagined I had when she started talking about Arts to me before. "You... use a word to...pass security, I'm guessing? Why wouldn't you just use your DNA-metrics like everyone else?"

I'd explain it to her later, but its seems like just being Lyra(well, in physical form at least) was security enough to let me access her information. A human observer might have been impressed with how well I was handling holographic projections and navigating around with ease, but in all honesty it was too much more complicated than using touch screens on a phone. Admittedly I've always been seen as the, "tech guy" by co-workers and family, but 99% of the time it's either they're paranoid they're going to break something if they press the wrong key or didn't read the directions properly and run to me for help when it doesn't work perfectly the first time. Just being patient and not afraid to experiment a little has carried me a long way.

Soon enough I found Lyra's body camera, and playing it confirmed that it went out at the same time as Mishra's when I played the two videos side by side. Unfortunately that was about all I could confirm since the camera mostly showed the back of Lyra's shield up until she got launched into the pole. When she landed her camera fell facing up the road, showing nothing but the road stretching out into the distance.

"Well, that's not very helpful...hmm?" The video itself wasn't helpful, though I noticed the title of the video included, "Feed 1"; Mishra's didn't. Tapping it pulled up another video.

"Oh, right. Since Lyra's shield is usually in front of her, there's a camera built into that as well." Mishra nodded as I viewed the new footage. "I have my staff to help with Arts, but it's also pretty good for tripping people up or whacking demons over the head if they get too close. It also doesn't block my camera."

It's true the shield camera offered a much clearer view overall, though the only thing I learned at first was that it's kinda terrifying watching a rocket propelled projectile hitting you directly even if it's just through the lens of the camera. Nothing much new beyond that; Lyra's body flew back and hit the pole, though the shield was on the other side of her body and gave me a nice view of the underside of the car that was on that side.

"Nothing there either, huh?" Mishra asked as the last few seconds of the video played. "Well, at least we tri-"

She paused, the bright flash of light on the camera right before the video feed cut out easily noticeable even viewing the video from behind as she was. She started to tell me what to do, but I was already winding the video back and playing it again at a slower speed. The shadow cast by the underside of the car kept me from seeing what the source of the flash was before the camera was disabled, but slowing it down did show that whatever it was had come in from the side of the screen. One more time, rewind it and advance frame by frame... there! Got it!

"What? What did you find?" I turned the feed so Mishra could see what I had found, the object that was presumably the source of the disturbance. She had about the same reaction I had when I first saw it.

"What the hells is THAT?"