FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Arc was awake before the knock came at their front door, and from the sound of Nyx's breathing and the exasperated sigh she gave when the sound echoed through the house, Arc knew her spouse had been awake as well.

As bounty hunters, they had trained to become light sleepers. Heavy sleepers got killed at night from a slit throat. So no matter how tired their bodies might be, they couldn't afford to sleep too deep.

But the slightest sounds, like the sound of claws clacking against their front porch, could easily wake them up.

"You think it's a job?" Nyx asked, sitting up and stretching with a groan.

The knocking came again, more aggressively.

"I vould assume so." Arc replied.

The two got out of bed quickly, and Nyx went to answer the door in her night garments while Arc stayed and got dressed. Nyx was wearing just a simple tank top and shorts, which most might see as being a bit too short, but she could care less what others thought of her.

The knocking came again, and Arc heard Nyx calling out that she was coming and to shut up. A moment later, the creak of the door opening and a masculine voice urgently speaking. Arc couldn't quite catch what was being said, but she knew by the way they talked that it was the warden. If the warden was waking them up this late at night, it must be important.

The front door shut and Nyx came back into the room just as Arc was finishing strapping her dagger to her thigh.

"Nobleman Freud's asking for us." Nyx said, opening the dresser and pulling out her gear. "He needs us ASAP, said it can't wait 'til morning."

"I hope things are okay." Arc said.

"I do, too." Nyx said, her left ear flicking. Arc could tell she wasn't happy about being woken up so late at night.

Arc strapped her sword sheath to her back, tightening the belt and headed out the bedroom towards the living room. She grabbed Nyx's scythe off the wall and waited in the living room until Nyx came out, pulling on her fingerless gloves. Arc handed Nyx her scythe, and the two headed out the door towards Nobleman Freud's house.

About 5 minutes of running later, and the two made their way up the porch steps to Nobleman Freud's front door. Slightly out of breath, Nyx knocked on the door. Nobleman Freud's wife, Miss Lilac, answered. She was a graying parrot with sagging skin who didn't talk much except when she felt it was needed. She had piercing black eyes, and deep smile lines near her eyes and the corners of her beak.

"Ve heard ve vere needed." Arc stated.

Miss Lilac motioned for the two to enter and led them towards the kitchen where Nobleman Freud sat staring at a piece of parchment on the table. A single oil lantern sat in the center of the table, flickering weakly. It threw dark shadows across the walls that danced playfully and gave the bounty hunters just enough light to see the bare minimum of the room.

Nobleman Freud didn't look up until he heard the chairs scraping against the wood flooring as Arc and Nyx sat themselves down at the silent request of Miss Lilac.

He smiled at the two of them, but his eyes didn't reciprocate the happiness. "Miss' Redwoods, pleasure to see you this..." he trailed off to take a glance at a clock hanging on the wall in the corner. There was just enough light to see the numbers, but he still squinted a bit. It was just past midnight. "...Fine morning." He finished. "Can I get either of you something to drink? Tea perhaps?"

"Yes, please." Arc said.

Nyx nodded. "Sure, I'll take some."

"Cream and sugar?" Nobleman Freud asked.

"No, thank you." Arc answered.

"I'll take cream and two sugars." Nyx said. "And just a little whiskey if you have it. If not, anything alcoholic will do."

Arc looked at her spouse. "This early?"

Nyx stifled a yawn. "I'm still trying to wake up."

Nobleman Freud nodded to his wife and she headed into the living room where the kettle was hanging in the fireplace. Placing some small twigs and sticks inside the fireplace, she poked the embers of an earlier fire to get it going.

"What do you need us for?" Nyx asked, leaning back in her chair and placing her hands on her stomach.

"Yes, of course." Nobleman Freud said. He slowly sat up a bit straighter in his chair, coughing as he did so. Carefully picking up the parchment in front of him between his dull feathers, he held it up. "I received this letter less than an hour ago. It was an urgent message, sent express delivery. The poor mail boy could barely talk between gasps of breath when he handed me the letter. He's sleeping in a spare bedroom upstairs; poor lad looked exhausted. But I digress. Do you remember the bronze boy?"

"The one from a month ago? You sent him off with a friend, yeah?" Nyx said.

"Indeed I did. This letter is from that friend. His name's Erst Trell, he lives about a day and a half away from here in a small farm he built himself."

"Did something happen to boy?" Arc asked. "Is that vhat letter is?"

Nobleman Freud nodded solemnly. "The boy's gone missing. It happened early yesterday morning when Erst was doing his chores. The bronze boy had gotten up early with Erst to help. Erst saw the boy walk out into the field, presumably to weed, and never came back."

"Does Erst know where the boy might've gone?" Nyx inquired.

"Quill." Miss Lilac called from the living room.

Nyx raised an eyebrow, confused. "I've never heard of Quill before."

"Hm?" Nobleman Freud said. "Oh, yes. The boy's name is Quill. Apologies, it must've slipped my mind." He leaned back, stroking the few feathers he had on his neck like a beard. "Erst followed Quill's tracks for as long as he dared. In the letter he told me they lead toward the edge of the field before being replaced by a different set of tracks that lead towards the Abyssal Forest."

The room got quiet for a long time. The abyssal forest was a large forest where all plant life was strangely black. Black leaves, black branches, black everything. Arc had only read about the place in books, but scholars say the place seems to suck the light from everything, leaving it in perpetual darkness. Strange creatures live there, the kind capable of living in the dark, but no one's been brave enough to venture into the forest to study them. The idea of finding someone in a place like that was impossible and dangerous. Religious leaders claim that the Abyssal Forest was where Umbyr himself used to reside before getting banished to Abis.

Miss Lilac brought them their tea, which seemed to snap them out of their stupor. Nyx took her cup and blew on the contents softly before taking a sip. "So your friend is asking you for help? Why can't he go in himself, or hire bounty hunters from a town closer?"

"This is the closest town. And his wife just gave birth to a newborn a couple months ago." Nobleman Freud looked at the two of them, sorrow in his eyes. "Please. I can't trust anyone else with this. He's willing to pay as much as he can for Quill's safe return."

"Ve'll do it." Arc said. She reached over and took Nyx's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before her spouse could protest. "The boy needs our help, and so ve vill provide it."

Nyx sighed, her ear flicking. "Sweet Iridescence." She muttered under breath. "Alright, fine. I've been to the forest before, so hopefully it won't be too hard to find the kid. But I make no promises."

Nobleman Freud nodded, smiling again. This time, you could see the happiness in his eyes. "You have my immense gratitude. Please do your best. I shall compensate you myself when you return."

///// ///// ///// ///// ///// /////

They left the next morning. Nobleman Freud had written them a letter to give to Erst when they arrived stating they were there to help. He had also given them a map of directions to Ersts farm and signed an official bounty hunter Search and Rescue contract.

They packed very light, bringing only the essentials with them. While they traveled, Nyx told Arc about what to expect in the Abyssal forest.

"The place radiates heat, it's like an oven. We're going to need to stock up on as much water as we can carry at the farm before heading in."

"Vhat resides in forest?" Arc asked.

"Strange fungal growth and ghostly apparitions. The apparitions will stay away from you unless provoked. The fungus is carnivorous, so try to kill them if they're growing in your way by cutting out their teeth or avoiding them altogether." Nyx said.

"How do you know so much about forest?"

"It was part of my bounty hunter training. I'll tell you about it later. I'd rather not right now." And that was all Nyx said on the subject.

It took them until early afternoon the next day before they reached the farm. It was a small house placed next to a large field of grain. Some smaller fields for fruits and vegetables were placed in neat rows next to the grain and there was a pen for sheep, cows and pigs, a stable for horses, and a chicken coop on the opposite side of the house.

Far off in the distance, just past a field of tall grass, Arc could see the Abyssal Forest. It stood out menacingly in the horizon, a swath of black against an otherwise blue horizon. In the late summer's heat, she could see the dark forest shimmer like a mirage.

They found Erst Trell on his porch playing a stringed instrument Arc had never seen before. He was gruff and rude to them, until they handed him the letter Nobleman Freud had given them. After that, he was still gruff, but a little less so. He was a large bull, with thick muscles from years of working on the farm.

"I'll give you all the water and food you'll need for the trip. After that, you're on your own."

"Thank you." Arc said, smiling.

Erst folded his arms. "I don't like the idea of getting help from a couple o' bounty hunters, but Freud trusts you, so you'll have to do."

Nyx's ear flicked.

Arc put a gentle hand on Ersts arm. "Ve vill find him."

The bull seemed to tense a bit more at her touch. "Bring him home." He said. "Please."

///// ///// ///// ///// ///// /////

Day 3 of the Abyssal Forest.

"I need to take a break for a second." Nyx said, sitting on a fallen tree after checking it for fungus. Her fur was slick with sweat, and her breathing was a little rapid.

Arc didn't complain, but decided to stay standing. Her maw hung open, and she was panting heavily, an involuntary response as her body tried to keep itself cool.

The forest was as hot as Nyx had said it'd be, probably even a bit hotter because of it being summer. They had gone through their water faster than they had initially thought, drinking more than half of it in three days. They were currently on their way back out of the forest to resupply.

They had entered the forest in the direction Erst had told them he saw the tracks lead in, but once they reached the edge of the forest, the ground got too dry for Nyx to follow. The trees were spaced fairly far apart, but their branches were long near the top, greedily soaking up any light that reached them. Barely any of Lestits light reached the forest floor, and what little light did make it, a variety of stumpy black bushes grew so it made finding anything difficult to see. The forest had a heavy atmosphere. The heat combined with the lack of light made it feel like the air was pushing down on them.

Neither of them had night vision. While Nyx was part shark, part cat, her shark side dulled her vision to average, despite her pupils being catlike. And Arcs albinism messed with her eyes, making them blood red, and dulling her vision as well.

Arc wiped sweat from her forehead, her head feeling heavy. Despite being white, her fur was thick and felt heavy in the heat. And Nyx's coat was shades of black and gray. Neither of them would last much longer in this environment.

"This place is hotter than I remember." Nyx said, pulling out one of her canteens and taking a small sip. She turned it upside down over her head, letting the rest of its contents splash down across her face.

"Ve should be saving water." Arc said, taking a small sip from her own canteen.

"I feel like I'm going to pass out soon." Nyx said. "I'm burning up."

"How much vater do you have left?" Arc asked.

"About half a canteen."

Arc had one full canteen left. She worried it wasn't going to be enough to get them out of the forest.

"This was such a bad idea." Nyx said.

"There's a kid missing." Arc said. "Ve must bring him home."

"I know that, but that doesn't make me hate this place any less."

"Nobleman Freud trusted us, yes?"

Nyx sighed. "Yeah, whatever, let's just keep going." She stood up and kept trudging along without another word.

She was frustrated that they hadn't found anything yet, and Arc felt the same. The Abyssal Forest was a big place, they could spend weeks searching, but if they were constantly forced to backtrack to resupply, they weren't going to get anywhere.

Later that night, Arc offered to take the first watch, pulling out a Will O' Wisp to offer some light as Nyx slept. Nights in the Abyssal Forest were much cooler. Without any heat from their sun Lestit, the Abyssal forest became bearable. but without much light, the trees blended with the shadows until it eventually became a black void.

Arc drew in the dry dirt with her knife idly as she waited. The ghostly apparitions Nyx had mentioned became active at night, but stayed away from the light of the Will O' Wisp. Arc only knew they were there because she caught glimpses of them out of the corner of her eye.

Small furry lizard-like animals came out at night as well. They seemed to burrow deep underground during the day to stay cool and came out at night to feed on the fungi that grew near the base of most trees.

Arc watched as one of these creatures crawled carefully to a particularly large fungus. When it got too close, a strange tentacles shot out and speared the creature. It's bulbous form split open to reveal a mouth with fat serrated teeth, and it dragged the twitching creature inside before closing again.

Her and Nyx had been careful enough so far to stay away from these fungi. Nyx had said the barbs on the end of their strange tentacles could apparently paralyze, and while they were too small to eat either of the Bounty Hunters, that didn't mean they wouldn't try. Nyx advised that if Arc got stabbed by one, the strange teeth they had seemed to be their brains or control system, so cutting out even a few of them would kill it.

Arc shuddered as she watched the fungi pulsate as it digested it's meal, and looked up to the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the stars through the thicket of leaves and branches overhead.

///// ///// ///// ///// ///// /////

The next morning, they woke up early, trying to cover as much distance as they could before it got too hot.

Arc was parched. Even though she had just drunk from her canteen, it didn't seem to help. The last few days in this forest had taken too much water out of her.

They trudged along, determined to get out of the forest when Nyx stopped. "You hear that?"

Arc stopped just behind her and listened, her ears swiveling back and forth until she caught it. The sound of rushing water. It was faint, she couldn't hear it unless she really tried.

"I can't believe we missed that coming in." Nyx said. She took out her canteen and chugged almost all of what was left.

"If there is river, than ve don't have to leave." Arc suggested.

"Not until we run out of food." Nyx said. "But we can catch those lizard creatures at night if we need to."

They hurried off towards the sound of rushing water. Arc even risked drinking most of her water as they weaved their way around the black trees. As the sound of running water grew louder, the temperature was also steadily increasing as Lestit rose. By the time they reached the source of the sound, Arc was sweating heavily and panting again.

They pushed past a cluster of bushes and on the other side was a small river several meters wide, but not very deep. A light haze of steam rose from the river, hard to see unless Arc squinted to see the shimmer of vapor rising from the rushing stream. The foliage grew thick near the river, and Arc caught a glimpse of some four legged beast downstream before it vanished into the shadows.

Kneeling down, Arc drank greedily from the stream, pausing every once in a while to take a breath. Nyx dunked her entire head into the water. It tasted a little too much like dirt, and it was quite warm, but the bounty hunters drank until their thirst was quenched.

Nyx brought her head up, gasping for breath. Her head was soaked, and she didn't bother wringing her hair out, instead letting it drip down her back. Arc pulled out her canteens from her pack and proceeded to fill them. She didn't know anything was missing until Nyx pointed it out.

"Arc, where's your sword?"

Arc paused, looking down to see that her sword sheath was empty, the blade having been removed while she was distracted with the river.

She stood up, looking around frantically when movement above caught her eye. Looking up she saw a figure swinging from the branches high above. They're arms seemed to stretch and retract as they swung from branch to branch.

Grabbing her pack, Arc took off running, Nyx close behind. She kept her eyes forward as she wove between black trees and jumped over bushes, using her peripheral vision to keep track of where the figure went. Whoever they were, it seemed they had an Alchemical ability of sorts, so she'd have to be careful.

The figure suddenly disappeared from view behind a tree, and when Arc reached where they had vanished, she stood on the edge of a small steaming lake. While the water was clear, black algae coated the bottom of the lake bed, giving it a murky appearance. With so much water in one place, it was easily the most humid area of the Abyssal Forest Arc had been in so far. Every breath she took felt thick and labored, the exposed fur on her arms standing on end from the increased moisture.

Nyx came up beside her, breathing heavily. "Where'd that abyssal spawn go?" She took a step forward, searching for the figure above, and when she dipped her paw into the lake, she immediately pulled back with a sharp intake of breath, letting out a string of curses. "The algae burns." Nyx said through clenched teeth and favoring her right paw. "It's giving off a lot of heat."

Arc knelt down to check how badly Nyx's paw pads had been burned when laughter echoed above.

"Oooo, burny. Yes, yes it burns bad, and you fell for it."

On the other end of the lake stood the figure, holding Arcs sword clumsily in one hand. From here she had a clearer view of what they looked like. They seemed to be a male stag, but he was missing one antler and the other had been snapped half off. He wore dirty old clothes that were so torn, they were no more than rags.

He laughed maniacally to himself as he danced at the edge of the lake, swinging Arc's sword.

"Hey, give that back!" Nyx shouted.

The stag stopped dancing, looking at her with his head cocked. "But I like things. Things that are shiny and pretty."

"Do you know of shiny boy?" Arc asked, seeing what she could get out of him.

"Shiny boy? Yes, of course, of course. I sensed pretty statue for miles and miles and yards and yards." The stags arm, the one holding the sword, stretched out across the water towards a tree to their right. Hidden in the shadows was the bronze boy, tied up against the tree with thick rusted chains. At his feet was a pile of armor pieces, scraps of metal, and other odd reflective trinkets. "He's right here, see? But he wouldn't stop squirming and worming, so I had to tie him up."

"Can you cut through the chains with your ability?" Nyx asked under her breath.

Arc nodded. "I have Visps, but I'll need distraction."

"Alright." Nyx unsheathed her scythe, the ethereal blade forming as she did so. Once her scythe was out, she turned into a black mist and shot across the surface of the lake, reforming right next to the stag. Arc started circling around the lake towards Quill.

The stag jumped back, surprised, before breaking out in a fit of laughter again.

Nyx brandished her scythe. "Last chance, buddy. Give me back what you took."

"You can't take it. What's mine is mine." He jumped backwards, elongating his legs to push himself further, and at the same time, he swung Arc's sword, stretching his arms to reach Nyx.

Nyx parried with the hilt of her scythe, and lunged forward after the stag.

Arc came up beside Quill, who turned to look at her quietly with wide eyes.

"Ve're here to help, yes?" She said, giving him a reassuring smile.

She reached out and examined the chains, seeing if there were any weak points. No such luck. They were rusty, but sturdy. She wouldn't be able to cut through them easily, even with her ability.

"I vill be back." She said, putting a hand on Quills shoulder. Quill nodded in understanding.

Arc unsheathed her dagger, and ran off to help Nyx.

Nyx was struggling to get a hit in. She used her alchemical ability to turn into smoke and appear behind the stag, but he stretched his body to avoid her.

Jumping backwards again, the stag threw his arm forward, curling his hand into a fist. Nyx dove to the side just as the fist collided with a tree, shattering the trunk. Black wood flew everywhere, and the tree fell with a solemn creak, crashing to the forest floor.

Arc stopped where she was. The stag had two alchemical abilities they've seen so far. Stretchy limbs and strength. He may have more, but that's why he was so unhinged, his brain was fried by one too many alchemical solutions.

Looking over, Arc saw Nyx pull out a piece of wood that had lodged itself in her shoulder, blood seeping down her arm and soaking her fur. The stag stood between them, laughing.

Nyx shot forward again, and Arc came at him from the other side. He stretched his arms, slashing with Arc's sword at Nyx and reaching out to grab Arc.

Right as he started to stretch, Nyx turned into a shadowy mist. Arc ducked under the hand and stabbed the arm with her dagger. As the stag cried out in pain, the fox pulled the dagger out and threw it. He pivoted to the side to avoid the flying blade, unaware of Nyx appearing behind him.

The hybrids scythe pierced through the stags chest, his eyes growing wide in surprise. He collapsed to the forest floor with a wet gasp, blood pooling beneath him and trailing into the lake.

"You forgot there were two of us." Nyx said, wiping sweat from her forehead. She left her scythe in the stag and picked up Arcs sword before the blood could reach it. "Go free the kid."

Arc nodded, pulling out a strip of clean white cloth from a pouch on her hip and handed it to Nyx. "Bind your shoulder." She said, before hurrying towards Quill.

When Arc reached the bronze wolf, she pulled out a Will O' Wisp vial and uncorked it. "Hold very still." Arc used her ability to reflect the light off her pointer finger, condensing it to cut through the chains.

It took a while. The humid atmosphere had fused some of the chains together, so Arc had to cut through multiple places before the chains clattered to the ground with a metallic ring that echoed through the forest. Finally free, Quill hugged Arc, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You're most velcome." She said, kneeling down to hug him back.

Nyx came over holding both her scythe and Arc's sword, her shoulder tightly bandaged. Quill let go of Arc to give Nyx a hug as well. Nyx sheathed her scythe and handed Arc back her sword before placing a hand on Quills head and ruffling his metallic hair.

"Come," Arc said when he let Nyx go. She held out a hand, which he gently took. "Let's get you home."

---

Thank you for reading! May your inner fire burn strong!