FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

decided to do a few short stories pertaining to wome of the people who worship the divine ones and what they have recieved for what they have done. as you can probobly guess the divine ones and their children do not have the same idea when it comes to a reward.

The rings of the alarm bell sounded throughout the village as one of the guards in the towers rang the heavy brass bells. It was a warning indicating that the creature was back to attack the village. It never attacked in the daylight. So most people like Nathan did not even know what it was that attacked the village. Most of the guards that had seen it would not talk about it for fear it would disturb most people. All the people knew was that it never really killed anyone. What really killed them was starvation, for they could not eat while they were in that state. It just paralyzed them with some sort of poison although the way it got into people was unknown. Most of the soldiers in the village have already fallen prey to the monster and have been poisoned or taken with the creature most likely for food. All Nathan knew was that the creature had to sleep at some point. At the last village meeting one of the farmers suggested that they send out search parties to see if they could find the creature's lair.

Nathan knew that if someone had found the lair that they would just be killed by the creature. Most of the towns people were begging to leave as most of the farmers could not sell their crops since the traders stopped coming to the village. Some of the shops have closed as the owners have already left for towns that were safer and had more defenses to protect them. Those who remained still had hope that the guards would slay the creature. While others had pooled their money together so they could offer it too whoever could slay the beast. It was not much but it would attract anyone who was greedy enough to take the job. All Nathan could do was continue to run his smithy and wait for the thing to move on, die or kill him. His friends had all moved on to the next village so they could protect their children. Nathan did not have much to worry about in the way of family. His child had died at the hands of plague, while his wife had gone missing one day while she was out in the forest collecting herbs for her medicinal treatments.

Sure they had sent out search parties to find her expecting to find evidence of a struggle. At first they had suspected bandits had killed her, but with no body to be found they figured it must have been slavers who had been looking for a new body for a brothel. Unfortunately none of the local brothels had been visited by the slavers with new women. What they did find was her basket that she used for gathering the herbs in. It was found near a small cave that was located at the bottom of a rather large boulder. His eyes widened as he thought about where they had found her basket. He realized now that the creature that had been terrorizing the village must have taken her first. A sense of hatred whelmed up inside of him as he thought about the creature as it killed his wife.

With these thoughts in his head he looked at the variety of things that he had created with his trade. Various farming tools for most of the towns people, swords and spears for the guards to use against bandits and to protect the village while next to those were shields of all shapes and sizes to protect the guards. Thoughts of revenge filled Nathans head as he looked at the various weapons in his shop. Each one a fine weapon on its own but none of them suited him. None of the weapons looked as if the truly kill the beast. So with a splendid design in his head and the book of the divine ones in his hand he closed the doors to his smithy and began to work on something for the one who would slay the beast. Although before he began his work he opened a window and told a passing man to please fetch him a preacher of the divine ones and a preacher from each of the six. After discussing what he had discussed what he had planned with each of the preachers Nathan began to stoke his furnace in preparation.

Within in the time it had taken him to complete the sword he was creating the creature had struck several more times. It was beginning to attack closer to sun down now rather than waiting till everyone was holed up in their homes only leaving the guards for it. With more light out at the dusk hour people have been able to get an idea of what the creature was.

Nobody ever got a good look at the creature when it attacked at night, however at the hour of dusk people began to see parts of it. Those who saw the creature in its entirety died from its paralysis. The people who have seen it began to spread word that the creature was a giant serpent. They described it as serpent that was covered in emerald green scales covering its body. One person even found a few of the creature's scales on the ground after one of its attacks. After the village council had finished examining it. They now knew why no one had been able to hurt the creature on any of its attacks. None of the strongest guards in the village could smash, cut, or all out destroy the scales. No matter what type of weapon they used the scales stayed in perfect condition.

When Nathan had heard about the finding of these scales he was still working on the blade he would give to the warrior who could slay the beast. Hearing of the scales he went to the village leader and asked if he could try and mold the scales using the heat of his furnace. After he had discussed it with the village leader and the counsel they gave him the scales thinking it would not be a waste since they were useless to them. With the scales in hand Nathan went back to his furnace in hopes he could use them to strengthen the blade of the sword he was currently working on. At first his attempts to bend the scales all failed or ended in him breaking his tools. No matter how long he had stuck the scales in for they never seemed to want to bend. With all of his resources expended he decided it was time to consult the temple of Zearthane.

He would have to travel west for about a day before he would reach the temple of Zearthane. There he would find a forge that burned hotter than his would ever be able to. Hopefully with the help of the smith there he would be able to heat the scales up enough to be able to add the scales to the blade. He packed a small bag with some food and an extra pair of cloths or two and set off with his blade wrapped in a cloth. Even if the scales would not bend from the forge at the temple he might be able to use it for his blade. Using that heat would help to fold the steel of the blade, creating a stronger blade by removing more impurities from the metal. With the creature attacking at sunset that meant he would have to leave at mid day at the latest. It would take him most of the day to make it to the first town between the village and the shrine of Zearthane.

As night set in he barricaded his door for the night in hopes that the creature did not come to his house this night and take him for its meal this night. With his door sealed he moved to his bags and checked to make sure he had everything he needed for the small trip. After that task was accomplished he got ready for bed. Laying down he wondered what the head of such a monster would cost. It did not matter to him as he thought about it. He would just be happy to see the beasts head on a stake to be paraded around the town before burned. It was not long before sleep had a hold of him and he was in a dreamless sleep. What time it was when he first awoke he had no idea all he knew is that the alarm was going off signifying that the beast had come for more people. He tried to block out the screams of the guards as they yelled at each other in order to try and find the beast. Covering his head with his pillow he tried to block out the noise so he could go back to sleep for tomorrows journey. Soon he was back in the land of dreams blissfully unaware of what was going on outside as the guards tried to protect the sleeping people.

As he slept Nathan was unaware that the guards had stopped screaming orders to each other. They had lost the creature after it had gone past the town center. Originally they had planned to trap it there but when they had called out the orders to capture the beast it had vanished. None of them had seen it get past them nor had they even seen the monster. Every time it had taken one of the guards it was from the back of the group. When they had finally managed to locate the beast and chase it in the direction that they needed it had just disappeared. They knew it could not have entered any of the building has all the previous ones it had entered had all been busted down, but none of the doors near where it was last seen had any of the doors had been broken into. Inside of his house Nathan had been awakened by something moving around in his house. Getting up he lit a candle and began to search for the cause of the disturbance. What he found was what looked to be a snake tail that was coiled around his furnace, except it was a lot larger than any normal snake he had ever seen. Something behind him made a noise so he turned to see what it was. All he saw was a pair of yellow eyes in the shadows just beyond the reach of the light. Before he knew it there was a sharp pain in his shoulder. Looking down he saw what looked to be a large needle in his chest. At first it was just a stinging sensation he felt before his chest started to go numb. It was a numbness that began to slowly spread thorough out his whole body.

He fell over as his legs where no longer able to support him as whatever venom was in the spine slowly spread throughout his entire body. It was agonizing as the poison moved through his body. He could feel it as it spread. The only way he could describe the feeling of the venom spreading through his body was, it felt as if ice was slowly flowing through his body. Although it never truly made him pass out Nathan came close to it. The edges of his vision began to darken until it looked as if he was looking through the shadows. He tried to yell for help but his body would not respond. All he could do was stare as the creature picked him up by one of his arms and stared into his eyes. The creature's eyes were as cold and emotionless as any killers would be. The only thing that Nathan could see in the creature's eyes was hunger. He saw it turn its head away when he heard someone knocking on his door.

As the knocking on the door continued the beast turned towards the far wall where one the windows to his house had been forced open. Without warning the creature slithered towards through the window into the darkness of the night. Outside Nathan noticed the body of one of the guards lying against his home. He noticed that the guard had one of the spines sticking through his armor. Looking at the spine that was sticking out of the armor it made him wonder how strong this creature was. Clearly the creature could have sent the spine clear through his body. It picked up the guard and began to slither into the forest towards its home with its newest meal. As the creature drug him and the guard through the forest he got a better look at the creature. He could see that the creature was most likely female as it looked like a woman who had a snake's tail instead of legs. She was covered in scales that went down her body in horizontal stripes of gold, red and black. What she looked like was an over grown coral snake.

He did not know how long that he was being drug through the forest. What he did know was that when they did finally stop moving they were not in front of a large cave like he had imagined. Instead he was dropped off at the bottom of a tree that could have easily provided enough wood to build an entire village from. The creature quickly dived into a large bush at the base of the tree and into a hole that was behind it. At first it was too dark for Nathan to see where she was taking him. Soon they came upon a large room that was being lit by small orbs that were placed into notches in the walls of the large room. She threw Nathan at a wall where he landed into a pile of bones from its previous victims. At the angle he landed from the throw he could see the creature as it coiled around the guard. Nathan could see the guards eyes were moving around looking for something or someone that could help him. The guard's eyes moved in Nathans direction. He could see fear in the man's eyes as he was helpless in the beasts grip.

All Nathan could do was stare at the guard unable to blink his now dried out eyes. They itched from the inability to blink from the creature's venom. He had to watch as the beast moved its serpentine head to the man's throat. In the blink of an eye it tore the man's head of with a quick snap of its jaws. Blood dripped from it mouth as Nathan watched the bulge in its neck slide down into its torso before it disappeared into the beast's body. He had to watch as the snake tore chunk after chunk from the man's body before she swallowed it. One thing he did notice was that she never touched any of the organs from the man's body. That was until the last of his skin and muscle was gone. He watched as she reached through the rib cage and pulled out the man's heart. It shocked him to see that the heart was still beating. If he could have Nathan would have screamed at the site of the beast holding the heart. Whatever dark magic that she was using to keep the man alive while she fed from the man must have been strong. Just the mere thought of being able to feel every bite that was taken from him must have been unimaginably painful. The final thing that it did was place the still beating heart into its jaw and swallowed. Nathan could see the bulge of the heart as it went down her throat, he could even see the heart was still beating even after being swallowed by the beast.

Then when its meal was done the beast turned its attention to the other prisoner that it had brought back with it from its nightly raid on the village. Nathan knew that soon he would share a similar fate as the guard. As it slithered towards him Nathan got a good look at the beast's eyes. They had a dark blue iris with a pupil that you would expect from a serpent. Although there was something rather strange about her eyes that he noticed. They seemed to have a faint glow to them, but it was not a constant glow it pulsed slowly. At first he did not know what it was but has he lay there he figured out that the pulse was the same as a heartbeat. The longer he starred into her eyes the more relaxed he seemed to get. He knew that there was something wrong and he feared that but for now the beast just seemed to be watching him. Silently it slithered over and grabbed him by the color of his shirt and dragged him into another room. This room was smaller than the last but it was also a lot cooler as well. Without warning she threw him into the air. His body flailed around like a ragdoll as he soared through the air. He expected to land on the wooden floor, he expected to at least be bruised or have a bone or two to be broken. Instead he landed on something soft. He landed face down so he did not know what he had landed on.

Soon she came slithering through the pile and coiled around him before she laid her head on his shoulder and stopped moving. He did not know how long he lay there before he himself fell asleep. At first he could not tell that the beast was asleep until he noticed the rhythm of its breathing had slowed. The only thing that he could do while he slept was dream. What he felt as he slept was odd and disturbing to him. He felt safe and protected yet he knew that a monster was what was giving him this feeling. It was strange that he felt this way. Unconsciously as he slept he twisted in his sleep into a position where he was face to face with the beast. Slowly he moved his arms around its body and pulled it closer.

When Nathan awoke from his sleep he found the beast was still around him. He did not move as he did not want to wake the beast and become its morning meal. As he lay there in the beasts coils he could do nothing but stare at her. His body was his to control again but that meant little to nothing with the position he was in at the moment. Without any weapons he could not attack the beast while it slept. Although from what he knew he would not have been able to cut through the scales that covered it. His only hope to live was to escape from this tree if it left him alone long enough. Looking at her eyes he could see that the pulsing glow in its eyes seemed to have sped up from the day before. It was strange, looking at the pulsing irises seemed to calm him down and relax his body. His fears just seemed to melt away as he looked into her unblinking eyes.

As he stared into those eyes he had no clue on how much time had passed or if the beast he was looking at was even awake. Nothing seemed to matter as long as he could just look into her eyes. The more he looked at her the more he thought of this beast as what it looked like. He did not know when he started referring to it as that, all he knew was that that is what it was. It was obviously female so why not refer to it by its gender he thought. It is only reasonable to refer to something by its gender if you do not know what it is called. When the serpent suddenly moved it startled him enough to jump away from it. He took up a defensive stance and prepared for it to strike, but that never happened. Instead the she just looked at him and slithered away. After about a half hour without her reappearing Nathan decided to see if he could escape, what he found was a rather large rock in the way of the entrance.

This discovery did depress him but that just meant he would have to find a different way to escape. However a strange thought crept into the back of his head. "Did he really want to leave?" shaking his head he banished that thought from his mind. Of course he wanted to leave, there was no point staying here just waiting to be eaten. If he could not leave through the entrance then maybe he could find a window or some other opening he could fit through. The only real problem that he had was the only two rooms that had light were the main chamber and the dim light that was in the bed chamber. All the corridors that he walked down were pitch black, and being unable to see did not help him. He gave up after he had gotten turned around for the fifth time.

When the serpent returned he saw that it was carrying what looked to be a two small animals in its left hand. He did not expect one of the animals to be thrown at him nor did he expect to find that the animal had been cooked. Nathan just looked at the small carcass as the serpent began to tear into its meal. All he did was stare at her as she ate. When she looked at him and noticed he was not eating she looked at him and used part of her tail to push the carcass closer to him. The pulsing of her eyes caught his attention when she looked at him, for a moment he forgot everything that was going on around him. When he felt something brush up against his leg he looked down to see the carcass was touching his leg. He heard a soft hissing noise coming from the serpent as he looked at the carcass. His stomach began to churn at the sight of the meat. Without thinking he picked up the carcass and began to eat. Before he realized it he had consumed most of the meat on the small animal.

It shocked him when he saw that he had eaten as much as he did. When he noticed that she was watching intently with that unblinking stare of hers. It did not seem like she was going to hurt him but that was only a matter of time. He knew that she was going to fatten him up before she decided to consume him. Although he did not know what was going to happen when he stayed here, he was not going to find out. After watching what she was doing for a while she left again and moved the stone in front of the entrance again. With her gone Nathan decided to make it so he could see down the dark hallways. He walked over to one of the small orbs that seemed to be emitting a small light. The orb was no bigger than his fist but it would provide him with enough light to explore this prison he was in.

With the orb in hand Nathan began to search the darker parts of his captors home. Through the dark winding halls Nathan found several rooms that had long dead carcasses of animals and people of every sort. At one point he was not paying attention to what he was doing and tripped down a spiral ramp. When he reached to bottom of the ramp he had to sit there for a while as a pain shot through his left ankle. He held the orb up so that he could see his ankle and was startled to see that blood was starting to pool around his foot. When he tried to stand up he fell back over as his ankle could no longer support his weight. He found he could walk, but only if he did not put all his weight on the wounded ankle. Not knowing what to do, he decided to continue on with what he was doing before his wounded ankle. It was not long before he found himself in another chamber. The contents of this chamber startled him. There was a statue of the dark child. Nathan knew not many humans worshiped the dark child, nut to find one of his disciples so close to his home was rather disturbing.

What disturbed him the most was not the statue to Xaentrick that Nathan found it was the small painting that was at the base of the statue. It was a painting of his wife and him. Seeing this infuriated him, why would such a beast have this? He needed to escape and finish his weapon only then could he take revenge for what this creature had done to his wife. He moved closer to the painting so that he could get a better look at it and was surprised to find a skull is what was propping the painting up. As he stared at the small painting he did not notice that the serpent had returned and was slowly slithering up behind him. It was only after he was bound in her coils did he fully notice that she was back. Being coiled up like this Nathan could feel the muscle underneath her scales, muscles that could crush his body with little to no trouble.

For the first time Nathan noticed something about his captor that he had not noticed before. Around her right arm she wore a bracer that had an emerald set in the center of a silver orchid. This brought tears to his eye because he was the one who had made the bracer. It was a gift for his wife on their fifth anniversary. He had made it from the finest metals he could get hold of. It took him nearly three years to collect all of the items needed to make the bracer. He even took the time to fit it so that only her wrist would fit within it. So how could this beast have it on now? Thoughts of how the beast could have things that belonged to his wife danced in his head each thought was worse than the last. He however did not have enough time to put more thought than he would have liked to. She had bit his left shoulder and he could feel two pricks in his skin as something foreign was injected into his body. His first thought was poison and as she continued to inject it he began to feel light headed and tired. These feelings only helped to confirm that she was planning on consuming him.

It was unexpected when he woke up in the bed chamber with her holding him close to her. What was strange was the feeling he got as he looked into her eyes. He did not know why he got that feeling. He felt that he knew her more than he should have. As he looked at her he noticed something that he did not before. Her scales had a shine to them that he had not seen this before, all he knew was that the shine just seemed to add to the beauty of this creature before him. It was strange as he looked around the room he could see the room more clearly than he could before. As she awoke she noticed that her guest was awake and was looking around. When he focused on her again she could see that the pupils of his eyes had changed. The now resembled hers, serpentine slits that would help him in after she was done with him.