FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Opening for a short stories series I will be writing: Goddess of the Throne. The series as a whole will be a mixture of clean/adult and may be a bit of an experimentation series for me. I hope you like it! Oh, and If you do please leave a comment (even a short, silly one) and if you didn't like it feel free to say why (it's the only way I'll get better, you know)! Thanks, love you all!

Abrupt Awakening

Lyon suddenly became aware, or at least that was the best way she could describe it. It didn't feel like she was awake; there was too much of nothing for that to make any sense. She didn't know if she was standing or sitting or even if she was inside or outside. Silence crowded thickly around her and only a wavy purple sea met her eyes and that didn't seem quite right at all. At the same time though she knew she couldn't be dreaming. She was far too aware to be lost in some drowsy dream that seemed real but at the same time betrayed that it wasn't.

That meant there was a worrisome problem. Where in the blazes am I?! Panic flooded through her body as she strained to cycle through her recent memory for an explanation, but her panic only increased in intensity as she slowly realized she couldn't remember anything. Oh, she knew things. She knew what a car was, what the sky looked like, how a hamburger tasted, how nice a hot shower felt. She just couldn't attach a memory to any of it. Obviously she ate that hamburger somewhere..and took a shower at some house, probably her family's home. She pondered that for a moment, realizing she couldn't recall her family. Then again, there might not have been a family to remember for all she knew..or maybe she was better off not remembering. Either way, she was horribly confused. A past was a foundation, even if it was cruel and worth forgetting. Without it she was simply tumbling.. apparently through this strange purple mist.

As she said this however the mist began to slowly clear, almost as if blown by some unseen wind responding to her thoughts. As it dispersed beautiful moonlight slowly pierced through and bathed her, drawing sharp memories that refused to fully form and teased her endlessly. With effort she pushed them away, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

The vanishing mist soon revealed a full and regal moon, beneath which stood a long and elegant spire hued black and gold, decorated from top to bottom in the most lovely wispy symbols. It rose from a shimmering sea, as still and clear as glass, that stretched as far as she could see. At the very top of the spire sat a massive oaken throne that matched the spire in colors. The moon framed it beautifully, almost if it were only placed in the sky for such a purpose.

I know this place. It was incredibly familiar, but not in a pleasant way. Overwhelming sadness washed over her as she stared at the spire, tears running down her cheeks. Her heart ached with a loneliness that was as sharp as any blade. Beneath it all incredible frustration seethed painfully. Someone..had been betrayed here, by the countless souls she had saved and loved. Even in those final moments, that person had been trusting and loving. Had refused to slaughter those she easily could have, had begged for them to stop and promised forgiveness. Instead, they raped her, hurt her body, heart, and mind. Even after she continued to care for them, even after she upheld her promise.

"Why?!" Lyon shouted to no one in particular. No one deserved that kind of loyalty and love, especially not if what she sensed truly happened.

A figure appeared next to the throne, a beautiful woman. She had cat-like ears and a tail, which surprised Lyon, but she had to admit they seemed somehow fitting. The woman emanated a regal aura present in even the way she brushed her long, flowing hair that danced in a breeze that wasn't there. Lyon was more than just a little impressed; she was breathless. Even she felt herself attracted to the lady and she was female as well!

Lyon watched the regal lady in awe for what seemed an eternity, then the woman turned to gaze up at the moon and began to sing. It was the most incredible thing Lyon had ever heard, a song that touched her very soul and brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. She clutched her chest and listened to the sad melody, unable to take her eyes away. When the song finally ended, leaving behind a silence that was as thick as stone, the white form turned towards Lyon.

Confused, Lyon watched as the figure seemed to actually glance up at Lyon and smile at her. At that moment she remembered a name, a name that filled her with regret and pain for ever forgetting even if she didn't recall how she knew it.

Daelia.

***

"All right, get up."

Lyon stirred as someone nudged her with what felt like a leather boot. Drowsily she rose into a sitting position, her eyes blurry and wet. Someone grabbed her arms one by one and slowly turned them, then titled her head around in a circle. Almost as if they were looking for something.. She glanced up in confusion and was surprised to see two lean officers looking down at her. Their blue and black uniforms were clean and almost a bit too elegant, a perfect match for the brimmed hat decorated with gold markings that sat neatly on their heads.

"Think she's an abandoned SP, Ted?" the younger officer asked as he looked thoughtfully at her. "No collar, no wristband, no brand. Nothing at all."

The older officer, probably somewhere in his early fifties and wearing a neatly trimmed beard, shrugged as he began scribbling on a pad. "Who knows? With no tags it doesn't matter where she came from because she's going to end up in the same place."

She ignored their confusing conversation and took stock of her surroundings. Neatly lined trees, open grassy fields, lots of benches, water fountains. It looked like...well, a park. Now why was she in a park? She had been curled up in a sunny patch of these sweetly smelling flowers when the officers woke her, though it had seemed only a second ago that she had been in that strange.. well, she supposed dream would make the most sense right now.

"Are you listening?"

She glanced up at the older officer, frowning. "What? Oh, no, sorry. What were you saying?"

He blinked, then exchanged surprised glances with his partner. "Let's...get her down to the Center."

She didn't know what they meant by 'Center' or why they seemed so surprised, but it didn't really matter. They were here to hopefully help her and she had a lot of questions to ask. Carefully she stood, coming up only to just below the neck of the younger officer. Was she always this short? She couldn't recall.

"Now be a good girl and don't move, okay?" He removed a black leash and a matching collar from a satchel attached to his belt, then smiled as he stepped towards her.

Puzzled, she didn't resist when he grasped her arm gently, but blinked when he attempted to put the collar around her neck. Surprised and appalled, she stepped back away from him but paused as he cooed softly. Somehow the sound was powerfully soothing in a way that seemed to eat up her anxiety and worry and before she even really realized it the collar was snapped securely around her neck and the leash was clipped into a little ring on the front.

"There you go. That wasn't so bad, was it now? Good girl." He patted her on the head, which thrilled her pleasantly. Why, she couldn't quite say.

The young officer turned to his partner, her leash securely in his hands. The older man - she remembered the young man calling him Ted - finished scribbling on the pad with a quick flourish that was probably his signature and then glanced at her with a heavy sigh. With a sharp tug he ripped off the sheet he had been writing on and handed it to his partner.

"Think we should get her some clothing? Law, right?" the young officer asked.

Ted shrugged and slipped the pad into a leather holding case on his belt. "Randy, who are we gonna fine about it? Just forget about it, they can get her something to wear at the center."

Blinking, she glanced down at herself as they mentioned clothing and realized she was completely naked. Her face quickly became a deep scarlet even though in the back of her mind a nagging thought was urging her to realize that the officers didn't seem to be reacting as if it was all too surprising. Then again, everything that had happened so far was pretty much not how she would have expected.

To be completely honest, besides a bit of embarrassment, it didn't feel odd at all. It felt...good. Normal. As if wearing clothing was the more awkward idea. She scratched her head and exhaled slowly, thoroughly confused with the situation, then sharply jerked her hand away while exclaiming in pain.

Both of the officers eyed her strangely.

"Do it a little more gently, you'll hurt yourself with your claws." Randy smoothed out her hair and smiled with amusement. "Here, I'll scratch you."

To her surprise he began to scratch her softly, moving slowly up to her ears which flicked pleasantly in response. He was really good at this! It felt wonderful and sent waves of tingling pleasure throughout her body until she purred in delight, her eyes closed happily. Then she stopped suddenly, her heart quickly beginning to pound as panic made an entrance again. Claws? Purring? She glanced down at her hands and saw that they looked very much like that of the officers, but hers seemed more delicate and were tipped with small black claws that were neatly retracted. Almost hysterical, she slowly brought her hands up and pressed them against the sides of her head. Nothing. Slowly she moved her hands upwards, towards the top of her head, and eventually found what she was looking for. Her hands cupped pointed, fluffy ears that reminded her of...a cat.

"Why do I have cat ears!?" she exclaimed out loud in surprise. She looked towards the officers for help, but there were only looking at her strangely again.

Ted shook his head and began strolling southwards through the park. "Calm her down and bring her to the car, Randy. The faster we get this over with, the better. We're already late for lunch."

"Yes, sir." the younger man called after his partner before turning to her and cooing softly again, his hands softly caressing her ears. "Calm down, girl, it's fine. You have cat ears because you're a cat, so it's nothing to worry about. You have a tail too before that freaks you out." He laughed as he said this, finding humor in it somehow. She wasn't as amused.

She twisted around to confirm what he told her and was displeased to find a velvety tail dancing slowly behind her like a ribbon in the breeze, the silken fur hued a pleasant shade of dark blue. She quickly grabbed the offending thing as if it were a viper, not at all happy to feel her own warm touch. Lyon hadn't even noticed the damn thing; it had been acting on its own without her really paying attention. Maybe it was like breathing and only became noticeable when she consciously took control of it. It wiggled in response to her prompting, not at all unlike an arm or finger. To her body it seemed natural, but to her mind the extra appendage seemed...foreign.

"I'm..a cat." she said stupidly as the officer pulled gently on her leash and prompted her to follow him.

"Yes, you are." He smiled softly and shook his head. "An adorable one. Would be a shame if you really were abandoned."

Randy said nothing else as he led her towards a patrol car parked nearby. She didn't resist, allowing him to tug on her from time to time as she lost herself in thought. Even that was a challenge though with all the scents and sights that assaulted her, each drawing her mind sharply to something different each time. She wanted to examine flowers as they passed them, investigate a scent she didn't recognize, explore parts of the park she hadn't seen yet and people she hadn't met yet. Interesting enough as her mind told these things were, they were also all backed by a powerful curiosity that was difficult to subdue. Just like how she would expect a cat to behave.. It was almost as if animal instinct warred against human reasoning. Idly she wondered if this was normal even for others of whatever she was.

They placed her in the back of a black and blue police car which seemed pretty much like how she expected it to be. The car took off from the side of the park and melded into what appeared to be a major road because of all the traffic. Everything seemed terribly familiar..

The drive went uneventfully in silence. Well, she was silent anyway. The two officers spoke about their plans for lunch, their respective families, and their dull lives. Nothing they spoke about seemed out of place to her and she quickly lost interest. Instead she glanced out the window, watching other cars drive by or people walking along the sidewalk. Many of them held leashes of various kinds attached to others like her, half animals. The half animals seemed happy enough though and constantly roamed cheerfully within the limits of the leash, acting pretty much like how she had wanted to in the park. It all looked wrong somehow, made her stomach wrench, but she knew that she really shouldn't judge. Not without knowing anything.

They finally reached a massive building that stretched really far into the distance, impressing even her. Behind it expansive fields and forests spread as far as she could see, each area packed with animals and humans. The strange thing was they all weren't like her; many of them were regular animals. Cats like how she recalled them appearing, dogs that roamed around on all fours. With them were humans directing them in groups and as far as she could tell there was no distinction between the half animals and the animals. Strange, to say the least..

The car stopped in front of the building where a large sign proclaimed the place as the 'Cael City Animal Center' in nice, wispy type. Ted stayed in the car while Randy grabbed her leash and led her inside the massive building. The interior was just as impressive and excessively clean, or at least she thought so, and was filled with various humans walking about and many, many animals of both forms following them. Some seemed obviously ill, others were simply being led somewhere. It seemed like a busy enough place.

Randy briefly spoke with a smiling woman at the counter who took a sheet of paper from him and glanced between it and Lyon. After a small pause she picked up a phone and pointed them towards a set of double doors. The young officer thanked her and then tugged on her leash until they both stood in front of it.

"You're going straight to the head, lucky you." he said cheerfully.

Several minutes passed before a man in his middle ages wearing a nice looking green robe stepped through the doorway and shook Randy's hand. He then pushed up black plastic brimmed glasses as he examined her with interest.

"What an adorable kitten!" he said energetically, laughing as he petted her. "Does she have a name?"

The officer shrugged uneasily. "I don't know, she didn't have any tags. We think she's an abandoned SP."

"Lyon."

They both stared at her with confused expressions.

She smiled warmly. "My name. It's Lyon."

"I see. What a lovely name!" the man said. " Well then, Lyon, you can call me Gus, I'm the head veterinarian here."

"Nice to meet you." she replied. No reason not to be polite, for even if they were treating her strangely neither of them had been unkind.

"I see what you meant on her papers." Gus said to Randy with an raised eyebrow. "Simply by looking at her I couldn't imagine who would be fool enough to throw her away."

"Well, she's in your hands now, Gus." He handed her leash over to the veterinarian with a smile. "She seems a bit off, or maybe she was just confused, but her own ears startled her."

"Really? We'll have to take a look at her mental health." Gust seemed to be speaking mostly to himself. "Come on then, Lyon. Let's get you looked at."

"Bye, Randy. Thank you for driving me all the way over here, I guess." she said to him as Gus led her past the double doors. She liked the young officer, it was obvious that he was a kind person and she didn't know what she would have done if they hadn't shown up. At least now she was going somewhere.

Gus brought her to a spacious room that reminded her keenly of a doctor's office, though there were definitely a few differences. He directed her to a low padded platform that stood in the center of the room and removed removed her leash. Without much effort he lifted her up and helped her sit on the platform, surprising her. She supposed that meant she didn't weigh as much as she appeared to.

"Now then, Lyon," the veterinarian pulled a wheeled stool over, snatched up a nearby clipboard, and then began writing something down. "We're going to run some tests and I'm going to ask some questions. Be a good girl for me and I'll give you a treat when we're done, all right?"

"Um, all right."

She watched him put on some latex gloves and then silently endured his poking and prodding as they went through several tests. He drew blood samples from her and had them taken away by another worker in the same green robes he wore, then used several instruments one by one and had her go through a variety of tasks such as looking in several directions or moving her tail. After about half an hour of this he wrote some notes down on his clipboard then rolled closer and without warning cupped her small breasts in his hand. She jumped in surprise, not expecting his warm touch at all.

He frowned at her as he kneaded her breasts, pressed his thumb in various areas, and then lightly touched her nipples. "Are you all right?"

She blushed slightly, but was aware that it strangely wasn't as bothersome as she had expected it to be beyond the initial shock. Maybe it was because she saw him as a doctor? "Sorry, I wasn't expecting this and was a little embarrassed."

He paused in what he was doing, his frown deepening. "Embarrassed? Really?"

"Um, yes. Is something wrong with that?" she asked worriedly. She really needed to learn more about how they saw her kind.

"No..not really, I suppose." he replied, bemused. "Well then, I'm going to 'embarrass' you a bit more. Lie down and spread your legs a little."

She did as she was told, but looked away from him as he examined her genitals. He spoke to her softly as he worked, probably to keep her calm, and told her what he was using and what he was doing with it. It didn't last too long, but she felt awkward afterward when he finally finished going through the tests. He commanded her to sit up once again and rolled over to his desk where he scribbled on the clipboard in silence. She didn't say anything either and simply listened to the scratching of his pen until the lady he had given her blood to came back and handed him a stack of papers. Gus glanced through them, pausing every so often to flip through the pages on the clipboard and jot some notes down, then finally exhaled slowly and set everything down. Smoothly he kicked himself back towards her, his stool gliding across the white floor.

"Well, you're definitely not an SP." he told her as he brushed a hand through his wavy hair. "You've never had any kind of sexual interaction before, right? You're body isn't sexually mature yet either, so you probably haven't even had your first heat."

She rummaged through her mind before giving up and decided to simply see if she recalled anything about how sex felt. Having found nothing, she decided to assume she hadn't experienced it. "Right. Um, what's an SP? Randy said the same thing."

"Hm? Oh, it's human slang for 'sex pet'. Or an abbreviation I guess." He pushed his glasses up as he spoke, his eyes watching her carefully. "They're abused ani that are used as sex slaves. All very illegal, mind you, but ani are too trusting to do anything about it."

She pondered this carefully before speaking. "No, I don't think I was an SP."

"I don't think so either." He hesitated. "You actually understood everything I just said?"

"Yes, I did. Why wouldn't I?"

"Hm.."

He was silent for a moment, seeming distracted while absently scratching his ear. Lyon really wanted to know why she was surprising so many people. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to stand out..or well, maybe it would. She didn't know, which was the problem to begin with. Yet here was a specialist on her kind..she couldn't think of a more perfect person to prod for answers.

"Um, can I be honest with you, doctor? Or veterinarian, I suppose." she asked him, smiling softly.

"Interesting enough that you can even make the distinction. Go ahead, what's on your mind?"

She took a deep breath."I don't remember anything from before today. I know things, like how a cat looks and sounds or how a hamburger tastes like, but I don't remember where I was before today or what I was doing."

"That's a really odd case of amnesia." He frowned and tapped two fingers on the side of the platform she was sitting on. "Stranger yet because physically you're in incredible shape and mentally you seem fine. I couldn't think of what would cause it..but then again you're full of surprises."

So no new clues on that. Well, there was time to think about it later. She had other important questions. "Can I ask a favor, Gus? Can you pretend you're speaking to another human and answer a few of my questions? They may sound..stupid and silly..especially coming from me."

He laughed and shook his head while he crossed his arms. "I was already testing you a little, but this should pass as an enlightening exercise. Ask away."

"Are others..like me.. really stupid? I keep surprising people every time I speak."

He considered her question with a frown on his face. "No..and yes. Ani don't have the same capacity for intelligence as humans do, but they can - with a lot of work mind you - became as smart as the average human. Well, in some ways. It's easier for cats than dogs and a few other ani species follow this pattern, but let me see.. Your intelligence given your apparent age is surprising and you speak our language better than a lot of humans I know which is amazing considering it's something your kind usually struggles a lot with. Ani also usually think a bit differently, but I guess to sum it up you're a lot more human-like than ani usually are. This is probably why you are startling people."

"What do you mean by 'think differently'?"

He smiled, seeming to enjoy himself. He obviously loved the topic at hand and probably found some amusement from the irony of speaking about it to her."Your minds are a mixture of animal instinct and human reason.. So you still wag your tail when you're happy and purr when you're petted, but you use human reasoning to hold off using the bathroom until you can get to a human facility. That's why you surprised me when you told me you were embarrassed. Normal cats don't wear clothing and to be honest neither do ani when they live in the wild, so it shouldn't have been a big deal to you."

"I see." She took this all in, happy to be able to finally understand her situation a bit more. He was right though; she had already felt the strong animal urges tug on her mind, but she had suppressed them pretty easily so far. Most of them, anyway. "You keep saying 'ani'. More slang, probably to describe us?"

"Uh, yes. As far as society is concerned you aren't too different from a normal cat, but obviously you are. So we make the distinction by saying 'ani' instead of animal. The full slang term is 'ani-human' though."

She thought about this, then decided to ask a question she hoped would not be in bad taste. "Are we treated like normal animals as well? Do humans do what they want with us?"

He sighed and glanced out the window. In the distant field hordes of animals and ani played together with humans. "In our distant past we had done some pretty terrible things to your kind. Back then you really weren't different from animals in our eyes. These days though..progress has been made. Halfway beyond animals, but halfway from humans..the laws pretty much follow that mentality. A lot of animal laws apply, but so do a few human ones. Some vocalist are lobbying for full human rights, but it won't happen. Ani aren't ready yet, they're too dependent, retain too much of their animal qualities. Your kind has a hard time living in our society without supervision and giving you human rights means you're expected to eventually contribute to society and be productive like a child is expected to eventually become an adult. It's easier to consider you mostly animals and pets because then legally and socially you simply have to be taken care of with nothing expected in return but obedience, just like normal animals."

"Are we used for other things, like normal animals are?" she asked as she slowly digested what he had told her.

"Of course. Ani are even better replacements in some cases, such as guide or police dogs."

She nodded and smiled warmly, then looked down at her bare lap and fidgeted with her tail which conveniently had found its way into her hands."One more question, if you can answer it. Where...did my kind come from? Did humans create us..?"

"Heavens, no! Genetic engineering like that is far out of the reach of our technology and it's illegal anyway. In fact, the last time something like this came up the Union ended up executing a lot of people.. Some of them didn't even know what it was they were working on." He seemed lost in thought, but then placed a hand on her thigh and then patted it briefly before sliding back to his desk and scribbling some notes down. "I was actually beginning to fear that might have been the case with you, you know. You simply seemed too human-like and considering your unique situation, well..suffice to say I was worried. Fortunately, according to the full animscopsy you are, without a doubt, one hundred percent unaltered ani."

"That's good, I guess.."

"Your way of thinking is definitely more like a human, though. A regular ani might have become afraid when it couldn't remember anything and instinct would of forced it into survival mode. I can't guess how one might have acted then, but probably not like how you did. You instead chose to use reason to find out more about your situation. Where you are, what you are, so on. Something a human would do." He continued to write on his clipboard, pausing from time to time to think. "We actually don't know where your kind came from, though some scientists theorize simple evolution. It makes sense if you see humans as the optimal evolutionary form since we're now beyond the point of evolving naturally and at the point of evolving ourselves through technology and social maturation. Since we ourselves are supposedly derived from 'monkeys', which are already pretty close to humans, we probably just evolved faster. Ani are catching up, slowly, and may end up being better than humans if evolution lets you keep perks like your ears and sense of smell."

Well, she had learned a lot. Not all of it was pleasing and there were a lot of gaps, but it was enough to know what was expected of her which didn't seem to be much. The rest she could learn with time..

"You understood everything I said?" he asked from his desk as he slid back over to her.

"Yes, I did. Thank you for telling me."

"Remarkable." he said, smiling. "More than happy to be of help, but it's surprising to find myself talking social structure and evolution with a..well, a.."

"A cat?" she offered, giving him a wide smile.

He winced, then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yes. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult your intelligence."

"It's fine, I suppose I better get used to it anyway." Though it wouldn't be easy. "What happens to me now..?"

He thoughtfully tapped his fingers on the platform again. "Just like any other stray animal or ani, you'll be put up for ownership. Hopefully someone will buy you someday and give you a nice home."

So she was going to be someone's pet. The thought somehow wasn't as appalling as she expected it to be, but she couldn't really say why.

"You'll probably be waiting a while though since I am writing your evaluation with complete honesty. That may end up being both a curse and a blessing." His eyes reviewed her with respect and adoration. "I'd take you home myself if my kids already didn't have a bird and a dog ani, and if I had the money. Anyway, you're likely going to be the most expensive cat I've know at thirty thousand saspin."

"How much is that? Compare the price to something else for me.." The currency was unfamiliar to her, so she couldn't comprehend the value of her own price.

"About the price of a car, maybe even one of the lower end luxury cars." he replied with a sad smile. "You're what I would call the perfect pet right now. Highly intelligent, well mannered, I'm assuming you are potty trained or at least capable of understanding the concept. You're just about to have your first heat soon which is appealing to breeders, but you're still out of the difficult early kitten years that most owners struggle with. Because you don't remember your past owner, if you even had one, you'll probably be pretty easy to train and according to your tests and my opinion your breed is either a Moonshade Crocitte or an Azure Crown, especially since the gorgeous dark blue coloring you have is rare outside those breeds. That alone would make you expensive enough since they're both rare and exceedingly sought after breeds."

She blinked, a little surprised at the way he had put it. "So a lot of people would love to have me, but I have to wait until someone buys me for that high amount?"

"Your price will go down the longer you're with us, but it's already a pretty good deal considering everything about you. A lot cheaper than you would have cost even as a newborn, be it from a breeder or shop." He gave her a bright smile. "Whoever does buy you will probably have money to throw around though, so you'll live like a princess. Who knows, maybe they'll even buy you a pet." He laughed at his own joke, obviously amused with his mocking of the odd tastes of the rich.

She smiled in response, but didn't say anything. The situation felt wrong somehow, but without any previous memories she had nothing else to go on but what the veterinarian had told her. She was a cat, a cat that looked like a human and could talk and think like a human, but still a cat. Causing trouble would probably only get her treated like she expected any misbehaving animal to, maybe even eventually getting her put down..

"We'll get you a loose robe and get you shipped to the Southreach Center. It's in the suburbs and is a lot less crowded. Has a nice park and is really nice and quiet too, you'll like it there while you wait for someone to buy you. " He said all this absently as he returned to his desk and began writing on his clipboard again, seeming to be speaking more to himself than to her. "Be a good girl for them, all right?"

"I'll be a good girl, Gus." She curled her tail thoughtfully, thinking of her future and wondering if she really had any choice in it.