FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Here we go! Getting into the taste of longer posts, along with more frequent updates. I'm going to try to post at least twice a week, from here on. These few are to make up for earlier gaps. Anything more than twice a week is just me feeling like writing ^_^ So. Thanks to Jimkoyot for pointing out anatomy flaws (I really do appreciate feedback) and there's still one more slot for a new character ^_^ Now that that's done, on with the story!

EDIT: See if you can figure out a movie reference here. It's also a hint to what's going to happen :D

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It had taken me a while to fall asleep. Besides the fact that I now knew what my name was, Thane Kordus, I had made XIII sit in a corner in my room. She hadn't argued, and I was half-afraid and half-curious of her.

I had prodded around her presence with what I knew of Seeking. But from what I could tell, she had absolutely zero magical talent. However, her aura was ridiculously powerful. Iris had taught me, that the brighter the color of the aura is, the stronger the individual. Well. "Thirteen's" aura was a very bright blue. Icy blue, and blinding.

She hadn't said anything else, besides the fact that she had knocked off two of the Seven Deadlies. We had taken down one, Gluttony, so that left them with a total of four sins. With this speed, that'd be easy to handle.

I managed to fall asleep somewhere after nine. XIII was still awake at the time, but I somehow trusted her. She didn't want to hurt anyone, and the only reason she did, was to protect herself. I didn't see any reason for the rest of the group to dismiss her.

I woke up, early, some time after seven. XIII was in her spot, in the back of my room, still sitting there. The lynx breathed calmly, and I could see that she was still sleeping. I took a moment to take a closer look at her.

She had dark grey blotches on her fur. No doubt, they were natural markings. I had missed that in the dark room. XIII also wore very 'revealing' clothes. Her chest was covered by a medical wrapping, although she had no wounds, and other than that, she had a pair of pants, color matching her blotches, tight on the waist and loose after the knees. I would've guessed that they were old military uniforms. Or at least parts of it.

A strange shoulder guard, only reading 'XIII', was covering her left shoulder. I couldn't see a mechanism to release it. In fact, on closer look, it seemed as if it had been fused with the skin. The white fur was darker around the edges of the guard, and gave her a more rugged look.

Her eyes opened quickly and she pulled out that strange pair of knives. I was used to being a quick one, but when I tried to slip into a shadow, I found myself incapable of doing so. XIII smiled.

"Negating magic... It's an auralite trick." She grinned, reminding me of the predatorial ancestry of felines she descended from.

I didn't panic, I didn't show signs of fear. I did my best to stay calm. 'Negating' magic? What? She could stop others from using magic?!

"Don't give me a reason to doubt my good will." I locked eyes with her, making sure I got my point made.

"Don't you worry, little lizard." She chuckled, very quietly. "The extent of this is only physical contact."

I cocked my head for a moment, staring at her blankly. I didn't feel any 'physical contact'. Was she screwing around with me?

She tapped my right tail with her left foot. "Be careful with those."

I drew my tail away from her, making sure the other wasn't touching her too. I couldn't help it... I was still getting used to tails, in general. Having two tails, plus these damn wings, is taxing, difficult to keep control.

"Right... Uhm... We should probably head to the command deck..." I sighed. Now or never. I had to make one thing sure though. "Oh. That 'negating' thing. Are you in control of it, or is it a passive-thingie?"

She seemed to frown slightly. XIII didn't seem to like conversation too much. "I'm in control."

Good. "Well then... Don't negate me now, okay?" I sighed and took hold of her left hand.

She glanced at me from the side, quickly snapping her gaze back at a wall. "...'Kay."

I dropped us into a shadow. It looked like I caught her off guard. I smiled at her, as her feline eyes flared open, trying to make sense of the darkness. She couldn't see. I was the only one who could, here.

I held her hand, tight, and dashed between the crevices of the ship's metal. We made it up to the deck we aimed for and I let her slip out of the shadow. Poor lynx breathed twice her regular speed, and I could hear her heart beat from almost a meter away.

Jack was already here. River hadn't arrived. I had requested Shin to ask both up on the deck, if they could physically make it. Bad thing was, Jack definitely remembered this kitty. And the fact that this 'kitty' had claws. He wouldn't be too happy to see her on board.

"What the hell is she doing here?" He stepped back, stepping into a boxer's stance, ready for trouble.

I was right... Sigh...

"She-"

Iris walked in.

"Ryu. Why didn't you let me-" The swan's eyes locked towards XIII. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, due to the barrier in her mind, but I could've sworn that she knew the lynx.

"Thane." XIII spoke, giving a sharp glare at Iris.

"What?" The swan lashed out, taking a step closer. "Who's-"

My turn to interrupt... For once! I coughed and looked at all three parties. First at Jack, moving to Iris, then giving a meaningful look at XIII.

"Well. Apparently, I am." I spoke. I could see the confusion in Jack's eyes. But Iris, again, didn't seem to be phased at all. That meant that she either knew it, or simply didn't care. Neither meant anything to me, anymore.

I dug up the documents that XIII had given me and handed them over to Jack. He looked at them for a moment in confusion, then spoke.

"It looks legit. But this'd mean that you're older than 16, cuz these files are about 16 years old, and you're 9 years old in this." The lion seemed utterly confused.

As my back was turned, Iris and Thirteen had a scuffle. I don't know what happened, but Iris had punched a mirror, and XIII had a content grin on her face.

"She will fall on her vanity, sooner than she thinks..." Were the only words XIII spoke. I looked at Iris. Her hand wasn't badly damaged. A bruise, probably. She wouldn't most likely let me help anyways, so I dismissed the thought of rushing to the rescue.

Iris left the room, seemingly shocked from what had happened. I glanced at XIII, but her face offered no answers.

Jack looked at me. "So. What's the story of killer-kitty, there?" He nodded at the lynx standing behind me.

I took a deep breath, then explained what had happened. About the attack, how she calmed down, gave me the documents, then offered to be my teacher, and here we were. Jack didn't seem too convinced, but admitted to having drunk 'a bit too much'.

To which XIII replied; "It is unwise."

I nodded and as everything seemed to calm down, I was struck by a thought.

"Hey, Jack." I looked up at the lion. "Where's River?"

He looked down at me and gave me a surprised look. "Good question... He was allowed to leave before I was. That includes Raven, too." He shrugged. "Well. I'm cap'n of the ship, so if I allow... Thirteen? to stay, she stays. Besides, I'm better off with not having that half-wit raptor around my feet all the time." He laughed.

I laughed quickly, then concentrated. I tried to Seek out River. I couldn't locate him, so I went for Raven. Strange... Iris told me that there's no way to hide from a Seeking process, unless you are a void, like me. But that required that they would be Shadowcasters, which neither of them were.

I Sought out all around the ship and found nothing. Nobody. Not a single person. I frowned and looked at Jack.

"Jack. Where's Lulu?"

"I dunno." He scratched his chin with his mechanical arm.

"Draco?"

"No idea." He repeated.

"Shay?" I was getting desperate, and Jack could see that.

"Look, kid. I'm sure they are all safe and well." He tapped at a button on his panel, clicking all cameras online. "See? Gimme a sec..." He switched around, camera to camera, but all he could see, were empty corridors, rooms and a deserted med-bay. "That's weird... The doors are closed too. Unless the others can walk through walls, I'm stumped..."

"I am not." XIII spoke, leaving me and the lion clueless.

"Excuse me?" Jack stepped closer to the lynx, crossing his arms.

I could see that XIII had a small grin. Jack tried to look big, but she had already knocked him down once. He was scared, and she knew it.

"I am not 'stumped'." She repeated.

"Look, kid-"

"Don't call me that." Thirteen immediately stared daggers at the lion. "I am twenty six years of age."

"And I'm thirty-eight." He grinned as if he'd won a clash of words. "So I'll call 'ya a kid, if I want t-"

"They're on the flight deck." XIII dodged his forked tongue and walked up to me, not even blinking at the massive lion behind her.

Jack huffed. "Kitty, I'm not sure I trust you yet."

XIII was about to speak her mind, but I cut in.

"Hey. We're on ground, right?"

"No more questions, Ry-"

"Thane." XIII cut his sentence short.

"Thane. Right. What are you getting at? I'm in no mood for mindgames. What is it?"

I sighed. "If we're on ground, as in, not-in-flight, what harm is there to checking the flight deck?"

Jack's turn to sigh. "Fine. But I will come too." He glanced at the lynx, before we took off.

I walked next to XIII. She wasn't exactly a beauty-queen, per say, but she was very attractive. Although her stone-face scared me a little, she seemed to trust me, as I trusted her.

She looked at me, in my eyes, and I saw an image flash in my brain. A child, age of nine, screaming for a mother. The abandoned dreichoon was lost in the woods. It all looked very familiar. Then, a creature emerged from behind the boy, and he turned around. The dark figure, ominous in every aspect, made me feel safe, somehow... I recognized that figure as the one that had taken Gluttony, a while back. The figure, clad completely in shadows, raised his arms at the boy. His eyes flashed an eerie red, his claw-like hands descended upon the boy and he... Hugged him?

I felt a strange surge of happiness, as the young dreichoon's tears faded into pure joy.

The image faded from my mind, still letting me remember it.

I met the eyes of XIII, kinder than I remembered.

"You had a nice father." She held a pause, seemed to want to say something, then let it go.

"What... What was that?" I asked, quietly. Jack hadn't noticed and I could remember that event crystal clear. Being lost in the woods, just before I... No. Can't remember. I was nine, lost in the woods, my dad found me. That's all I remember.

"Many names." She spoke quietly, mimicking my way of speaking. "Big Zero calls it 'projected thermography'." Jack's ears piqued.

"You were in that line of research?" Jack whipped his head back, still keeping a brisk pace. We were one more staircase from the flight-deck, and I still couldn't sense anyone.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Technicians from weapons department call it 'thoughtography'." The lion continued.

"And?" I persisted.

"The ability to burn mental images, memories or experiences, into one another's mind, right?" Jack glanced at XIII.

"That's correct. But also to force one's own suppressed memories back into surface." She glanced at me, then quickly back at Jack. "I was the best in my group."

"No doubt. You're the only one alive, eh?" I could hear a grin in his tone. "Just a technician version of your illusion-magic, Ry-"

"Thane." I grinned. I liked the name. It somehow made more sense to me. I looked at XIII in the eyes. "So... That was my dad? You could see it too?"

"Yes. And yes." She gave me a thin smile. "I can't do it to myself tho-"

A loud crackling sound and the blast-door blasted open, as if it were meant to.

I could see Iris on the edge of the long deck. She was holding her scythe. Her weapon of choice seemed strange. It wasn't the elegant scythe from earlier, but a skeleton. The blade emerged from the jaws of a hideously distorted skull, the shaft was formed from a spine, also badly deformed. Iris' eyes were glowing white. I could see them from this far, so she was pushing her 'Seek-mode' to the limit.

The crackling had come from a thunderbolt. More specifically, Raven. His chain was spinning in the air, hurtling bolts of lightning at the Seeker.

XIII stopped and stared at Iris. Thirteen kept eye-contact with the swan, but spoke to Raven.

"Her name?"

Iris appeared in a gust of wind above us, screaming from the top of her lungs. "I was supposed to be 'hidden' and 'undetected' by your miserly lot." She sliced at Raven with her scythe, sending more gusts of air at him. He fell down on the deck, eyes full of confusion. So were mine, in fact. Where the hell had this come from? Just a moment ago, she only seemed to have a headache. Now, she was on the edge of insanity. All for what? I didn't know.

"You!" She screamed at XIII. "YOU!" Iris vanished. XIII vanished. Both appeared a few meters above me and Jack, Thirteen's blades locked with Iris' scythe. There was a loud blast of air being pushed away, and XIII landed cleanly behind me. Iris remained airborne and only glared at us.

"You wanted my name? Fine! Second of the Seven, I am PRIDE. The more I am, the more I become!"

Two swords were hurled from behind Iris, Pride, I didn't know who she was anymore. Maybe this was a fake. Like... Pride took Iris, then stashed her away, took her form and attacks us now! That sounds about right.

Anyways... Two swords were hurled at Pride. She stopped both with the but of her scythe. Three emerged from under her, but a powerful gust made them spin uncontrollably down at the deck. Then, River dashed from Pride's left side, ready to smash into her.

Pride seemed to side-step in midair, which ended up with her touching River's blade and hurling him down towards me and Jack. I picked the dinged up River from the ground and held him by his shoulder. He grunted and kept tight hold of his blade.

"And YOU too!" She screamed at the growling shark. "We've missed you, Wrath!"

I froze. I dashed away from the shark, and so did Jack. XIII didn't react at all. She just kept her eye-contact with Pride.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Pride screamed at XIII and hurled her scythe at the lynx, who simply dodged the badly aimed weapon.

I found that moment ironic. Iris was the one, who had been in people's heads. But now, XIII seemed to be messing with her's. I couldn't begin to describe it.

"WRATH! YOU have been REPLACED!" She vanished again, appearing behind River. She grabbed his sword and swung it down at the shark's neck. I was too far to counter her blow, and was about to cry out to her.

"Block!" Zachrael yelled from behind XIII. Thirteen seemed to barely register the coyote, as she still kept staring at Pride.

As the boy yelled out, crystals formed from one of River's numerous blades on the ground. The closest to them, formed a crystal shield around the shark, rendering Pride's blow useless.

She screamed in her fury, vanished and appeared up in the air, again. She was trashing around with her gusts, throwing one in every single random direction. Pride was trashing the whole deck.

Jack had already attempted to attack. His right arm clicked a few times, becoming the high-tech grenade-arm (patented, of course). He had fired a few rounds, but the lion's grenades were like leafs on the wind, when they hit the small tornado around Pride.

River recovered quickly and formed a sword from the crystal surrounding him. He stood in a stance, ready to deflect blows from the raging member of the Seven. It seemed like he was on our side. He was also 'replaced', so maybe he was on our side, all along.

I pulled my blade from my back, cutting my wings a bit. Fuck, I needed to get used to these. I formed a quick make-shift blade out of a shadow around my left arm and stood in a ready-stance, as well. I didn't know what to do.

XIII suddenly dashed at the crystals, after noticing them forming. I could see the flow of her aura concentrating over her arm, hand and soon the knife she held. It was very strong, and she actually managed to cut a piece of the crystal, that had just blocked a magical sword. I was impressed, to say the least.

Everything was happening way too fast. The tornado around Pride had a darker tint to it. I could see her gathering shadows from all around her. No... She was a Shadowcaster?!

I dashed at her, as did XIII. I pulled my sword and tried to slice through the wind. Before I could react, I noticed Pride's mental shielding extending further and pushing me away, blasting me a few meters up in the air, before I hit the deck. I could see XIII doing the same, except that her aura was still concentrated around her knife. She held the piece of the crystal in her left hand, and managed to cut through the shadowy tornado, to the eye of the storm, Pride.

XIII didn't make a single offensive maneuver. She only snagged Pride in the shoulder with her knife, to stay in air. Then she flashed the crystal in front of Pride.

A very loud boom could be heard all around the forest.

I coughed and got up. I looked to my left. River, Jack and Lulu were all down. I hadn't noticed when the mouse had entered the battle, so I assumed that I had been down for a while. To my right, Shay-Lee, Shin and XIII. All down. I was barely conscious.

To my front. The Second of the Seven, Pride, still very much alive.

Except for the fact that she was screaming, like a banshee in the night, stomping at that piece of crystal at her feet.

"I AM NOT LIKE THAT!" She screamed. Oh God she screamed... It almost broke my heart to hear someone so beauty- Wait.

Iris was about... What, 17 years old? So why was I looking at a 70+ year old woman?

I examined her magic. It was still there, but weaker. Her scythe was back in her hands, and she smashed it down against the crystal. Over and over again.

I gathered the shadows around me and leapt. I didn't know why, or how, for that matter, but I caught air with my wings. I spread them far apart and managed to glide over Pride. I slashed at her with my sword and she blocked it with the grotesque scythe.

She swung it too high, I ducked under it. I slashed too low, she hopped over it. Rinse and repeat. The whole fight was one dodging the other. She wasn't using magic at all, although she still had some. The next time the scythe passed me, I had to bend backwards, doing my best to limbo under the blade, whizzing above me. I saw the skull, from which the blade of the weapon emerged. It had two red dots as eyes, it looked at me, then laughed like it was possessed. The weapon was alive?

At that same moment, I pressed my palms down hard on the ground behind me and pushed myself up, doing a backward-flip in the air. She had put too much power in her swing, which caused Pride to fall down on her knees. I saw this, while still in midair, and as soon as I landed, I dashed at her, bringing my dark blade to Pride's throat.

Slice.

Blood.

Drop.

Roll.

I looked behind me, eyes round. My crimson scales were covered in blood, as if it were a second skin to me, by now. I had rolled over, after I sliced through her neck. I could see her falling down over her face, smashing into that one piece of crystal. I pressed my fingers around my blade and pushed down, cleaning most of the blood off. If I had wanted to, I probably could've sliced her head off. But I had aimed a bit to the side, which caused me to nick the arteries. That meant tons of blood. Something that would make a mess, for sure. I stepped closer and touched the body, still warm, still pumping crimson from the neck. I plucked the scythe from her death's grip.

I wonder if River could-

OUT OUT OUT! THROW IT AWA- Prothero yelled out, nearly panicking at the thought of holding the scythe.

Whatever he said, it was cut off by a sharp pain. I looked down at the scythe, who laughed. It really was alive! I tried to throw it away, but saw my left arm sucking up the corpse-styled scythe. I dropped to my knees and cried out in pain.

Her sin wasn't Pride... But Vanity... Hehehee... I could hear a new voice singing in the back of my head.

***

I was in the dark room. Prothero and Celeana were standing next to me. I could see Iris sitting in a chair, chained in place.

"Took me long 'nuff to make her sit still." Prothero huffed.

I couldn't think of what had happened. I absorbed Iris?

She only sat there, laughing, completely insane, from what I could tell.

"Here. Let me kill 'er." Prothero stepped closer to Iris.

"Go ahead. Can't stop us anyways, so why bother?" The swan chuckled in a manner that made me shiver.

"Wait." I stopped Prothero and looked at her. "Who are you?"

"I already told you that, so fuck off." She grinned again.

"I can always let him loose, you know." I nodded towards Prothero. "Tell me."

"I am who I am, you are who you are, so-" I slapped her. "How dare you?"

"Easy enough. My head, my rules." I spoke in a very tense tone. "We'll start off easy. Who's River?"

"Crimson River. Famous swordsman, known as the army of one man. Good with swords, as you know." She smiled at me, obviously dodging my real question on purpose.

"And Wrath?" I pressed on, edging closer.

"He used to be. But he left before I got in the Seven, so I can't say for sure." She grinned again, knowing that I was starting to lose use for her.

"And you? Iris, or Pride?"

"Neither." She winked. "Vanity. Beauty before youth, right?"

I was growing tired of this. Yes. She looked like Iris and yes, I thought that I had loved her. But this was one step too far, and I felt myself growing angrier every second.

"And the necklace?" I tapped at it. "Why did you give me this?"

"That." She smiled. "I told the truth in that. Graverobber told me to give it."

"So the Seven work for him?" I asked, hoping to make some progress with figuring out the power-structure in the small organization.

She only laughed in my face. "Hell no, we don't! That's as much as you're getting from me, by the way." She grinned. Her lips started melting. She laughed her insane laugh, as she turned into an old woman, with her mouth stitched shut. Celeana turned away from the grotesque sight and went up to her mate.

I cursed at Vanity, she laughed. Fine. She wins. "Prothero."

He stepped next to me. "Mmh?"

"Go ahead."

"With pleasure..." He chuckled and inched closer to the deformed swan. I spared myself the sight of watching another gruesome death, and 'woke up'.

***

I got up on my knees and looked around myself. Shin was up, already tending to the group. Draco had ran up, as soon as he possibly could, but the fight had been very fast-paced.

I walked up to the tiger and helped him haul the rest of the group down to med-bay. I helped him wrap bandages around arms and he took a quick look at me.

A few of my left-hand bones had broken. I wouldn't be able to use a knife for a while. Other than that, a few bruises, a headache and a twisted knee.

"Hey. What's this?" Shin asked and pointed down at my left arm.

"I don't know..." I didn't know what to say. It looked like a tattoo. One of the flame-like jet black tendrils had formed a clear area on my shoulder. It had receded from a few parts, and spelled the word 'Vanity', in very curvy handwriting. "I really don't know..."