FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Forgotten Gods

A Commission for little Lyca.

Patience.

_ _

Silent darkness below. Rippling light, stained green by the water's murky caress, encased him around and above.

_ _

No sound here, cocooned in the cool waters. No movement: the fish that still lived did not dare come near. Only that which was him, brooding and alone, floating in the abyss that separated the world above from the depths below.

_ _

He closed his eyes, languidly, one pair at a time, and listened. Here, sounds echoed away amidst the marble ruins, carried through liquid in an instant, and as the creature twisted slowly in the water, a sinuous ballet of dark, sleek flesh amidst the pale splinters of what had once been magnificent pillars, he could sense every ripple. Everything that dared convulse the water where he had made his home.

_ _

Patience.

_ _

Time passed, but down here all that changed was the flickering of light as it brightened in the late morning, soon to reach its zenith. The early day, when the water was still cold before the sun's gaze warmed it once more, was mostly uneventful.

_ _

Time passed.

_ _

After a while, an unwary fish - silvery scaled and a good two or three feet in length, probing the muddy depths in search of it's own pitiful quarry- ventured too close. It was all over in a matter of seconds. The water churned, a light split the gloom with a sudden flash of luminescent emerald, dark muscles twisted like this and like this - and the morsel was gone. He didn't bother to toy with his prey this time, simply snapping his true maw once, and casually noted its terrified flapping within with disinterest, resuming his silent, floating vigil. Time continued to pass.

_ _

Until.

_ _

Dark eyes flickered in the gloom. The creature twisted suddenly - a sinuous blur of movement amidst the murk - to face towards that sound. Every nerve in his massive, lithe body tightened and tensed, sensing the microscopic vibrations that channelled through hundreds of feet of water to greet him. He knew the disturbance of a pebble falling into some stagnant pool half a mile away. He knew the sensation of an unfortunate fish being claimed suddenly by one of the gangly swamp herons that he tolerated to live here (if only because catching one was an enjoyable challenge: the birds were fast and nimble, but all too often, he was faster.). He knew every one of the thousand different ripples and noises and movements that these swamps could ever give birth to.

_ _

And this one he recognised too.

_ _

Living.

_ _

That faint pulse of a heartbeat, a heartbeat of one of them. Them. Like the animals of this world, but... not. Two legged. Tiny compared to his bulk, but still larger than most of their animalistic cousins. Intelligent: indeed, their grand name for themselves as a whole, the term that encompassed so many thousands of species, was "Sentients".

_ _

They were strange little creatures indeed: so short-lived, and yet so frantically energetic. They worked, and they cleared, and they built. It was by their slaved hands that these once-proud pillars had been erected, that this mighty temple had been raised, from pure white marble, upon this site. So long ago...

_ _

Well, look how that had turned out for them.

_ _

He stared, his eyes glimmering slits, at the sunken ruins that surrounded him as more splashes gave him tribute, a king's ransom of information: not one of them.

_ _

Two of them.

_ _

Perfect. He coiled in the gloom, his movements no longer aimless. Now there was purpose to the sinuous twisting as he dove through the depths, moving sleekly towards the sound, all three pairs of his eyes gleaming wide open and alert, his great tail sliding behind him, sleek flesh gliding through the cold water.

_ _

Hunting.

***

He'd been silent for ten minutes now. Jess sighed. She knew when he was making a point.

"Look..." she tried. "For the last time. No-one, and I mean no-one, knows where we are in these marshes- and even if they were, I'm... I'm not about to be assassinated! Or kidnapped, or held to ransom, or savagely mutilated, or... or anything else. We're safe. Okay?"

There was no reply. She splashed through another pond, swiping ineffectively at a particularly persistent mosquito, and risked a glance behind her.

Oscar was purposely not looking at her, his sharp, avian eyes scanning the mangroves and waterweed that covered the whole of the Volscia marshes, as they had been doing for the past two hours of trekking through the swamp. He moved through the puddles and streams far more smoothly than she did: his military training coming to bear again, Jess supposed testily. She sighed again, and concentrated on moving forwards, kicking out at the water with her thigh-length waders, muttering sourly to herself.

"Besides, you're getting far too paranoid these days. It's his doing, isn't it? I mean... come on. When was the last time anyone made an attempt on my life?"

"Tuesday." Oscar replied, apparently without humour. He was a falcon: a peregrine to be precise, wiry and muscled, with sleek, immaculately groomed dark grey feathers covering his body - until they reached his lean chest, which was instead a pure, downy white. Many had feared that his species would cause tension when the Rebel War-veteran-turned-bodyguard had been assigned to protect the daughter of billionaire investor and stockbroker Lawrence Gaunt: despite all the way that civilization had come since the Catalyst, predatory and prey species always felt wary of each other at first. But Oscar had ingratiated himself with the young Jessica Gaunt from the first day of his employment, and the quiet avian and his quirky rodent charge were now nigh-inseparable: the brother and sister that neither of them had ever had.

"Or was it Wednesday?" Jess heard him click his beak thoughtfully, and add, "Yes. Three days ago. Last Wednesday."

She stumbled to a halt, knee deep in stagnant water, reddening underneath her soft grey fur. "No! That's ridiculous, Osc! That was an accident. And anyway," Jess sniffed, whiskers trembling with affected smugness, "it was your fault for leaving the swimming pool open. You're just so - " she looked behind her, indignant, and the falcon's beak was curled in a grin. He chuckled, wading up to her and giving her a companionable hug.

"Fine. I'm sorry about the moods. But this place..." Oscar gestured at the surrounding wilderness, holding his beloved charge close with his other arm, "...it's a bodyguard's nightmare. I can see three prime sniping spots, five escape routes, and hundreds of places to hide our bodies - and that's without even turning my head." He sighed, clacking his beak, and the mouse looked up at him with a playful smile as he spoke, giving her a peck on the forehead. "You know me, Jessie girl. I'm here to protect you, but you make it so hard."

"I don't need protecting." Her response was automatic, regular as a cheerful clockwork. "Come on. You'll love these ruins. The Volscia Temple - that's what the marshes were named after, see? It'll be fascinating."

The falcon rolled his eyes, motioning at her to keep trudging forward. "Still don't know how you got into this archaeology lark, Jess. You're father hates it all, you know."

Jess' cheerful grin vanished.

"I... I don't care. He never listens anyway." She turned sharply, and redoubled her pace, not speaking any more. The falcon grimaced, increasing his stride to keep up.

"Oh. Had another argument, did you? Last night?"

This time, it was Jess' turn not to reply. She felt her fists clench. You could forget all the speciesism about mice being timorous, tender creatures. This one knew what she wanted. And it was going to have nothing, nothing to do with her father.

Jess might be small, even for a mouse, and her delicate features, large, hazel eyes and pampered background often convinced many that she was a gentle, shy personality - hardly suitable to inherit her father's multibillion-dollar electronics corporation. They were wrong on the first count, and all too right on the second. The young mouse was unashamedly quirky, intelligent, and merciless in her persecution of any who dared to disagree with her - but she utterly despised the idea of being forced into ownership and management of the company. Jess wanted to study and, and to become a historian or archaeologist. Sir Lawrence... did not want her to.

Neither of them had backed down once in the past four years.

Behind her, Oscar sighed, ruffling his sleek feathers. "I know you've never seen eye to eye, Jess, but... you don't have to treat him li-"

"I think that we're here!" snapped the rodent brusquely, fumbling in her rucksack for a map so that her protector wouldn't see her tears. She looked hard at it, determinedly ignoring Oscar's tactful silence, and tapped the thin, slightly damp paper, pushing her way through a thick tangle of shrubs. "Yes. The Primary Avenue should be right... through... here."

She stared.

***

Patience.

_ _

They were quite close now. Still too far for him to sense the warmth of their pulsing, fluttering little hearts... but close enough. Close enough for him to guess their movements.

_ _

He knew where they would be headed.

_ _

He dived over statues of long dead kings, drowned for centuries past, weaved through ancient archways that had never once felt air's dry caress in all these years , and then he twisted this way, angling himself towards that fateful place. Where it had all began. And where it had all ended.

_ _

And where it would end again.

_ _

Patience.

***

Oscar Shaw had never found history particularly interesting. He preferred to forget the past. It held too many dark, brutal experiences, things that should never see the light of the present day. Some of those things he'd experienced first hand.

The falcon felt his shoulder twinge, a ghost of the bullet that had ended his career in the military and nearly his life... but he ignored it. He wasn't important. The principal must be protected, Oscar. That's all that matters. He moved up behind her, brushing through the draping leaves... and then he stopped and stared as well.

The sunken ruins of the Volscia Temple gleamed back from below them, a small city of pale marble amidst the swamp. It was a minute before either of them found words.

"...Okay." muttered Oscar at last. "Feel free to say, "I told you so."."

The mouse grinned at him, gesturing grandly at the scene before them. Her bitterness had been forgotten. "I told you so, Osc."

It certainly was impressive. The temple complex was the size of a town, soaring archways and resplendent pillars of purest white marble everywhere to be seen. At first glance they were laid out haphazardly, collapsed all over the place... but then a pattern emerged, a great and complex pattern that defined the entire ruin. The ancient Mordecians had built a city of the gods.

And then it had fallen.

"Just look at this! There's so much to explore!" Jess sniffed regretfully, scampering cautiously down onto the smooth marble road that led to the forest of broken pillars and ancient archways, her thin tail twitching with excited interest. "We should have brought camping gear and stayed here for the night, really..." She bent to examine a collapsed archway which had been claimed by floating weed, heedless of the avian's amusement at her enthusiasm. Oscar clambered down, looking at the ruins that surrounded them: half submerged by murky water, like some graveyard of drowned pillars.

"So, Miss Gaunt... where do we start?"

She grinned at him, speaking without a moment's hesitation. "The High Temple."

Oscar rolled his eyes. He knew how to disassemble and reassemble any firearm smaller than a heavy-duty RPG in under five minutes. He knew seven different forms of unarmed combat, and nine different forms of extremely well-armed combat using the small but vicious implements currently hidden about his person. He knew just about everything that he might ever conceivably need to know for the job that he had been assigned: protect the life of Jessica Gaunt at all costs.

What was becoming increasingly apparent was his clear ignorance in other areas. Jess was, despite her disgruntled father's wishes, becoming more and more of an expert in archaeology and pre-Authoritorian history, and every other weekend she managed to use Sir Gaunt's name and connections- often without his knowledge, the falcon reflected wearily - to get herself and her ever-loyal bodyguard transport to another site of historical interest. At which point his poor background and next-to-nonexistent education came back to haunt him.

Sighing, he caught up with the young mouse. "Fine. You win, Jess. So, tell me... What was this place for? And what is "the High Temple"?"

Jess grinned happily at him, in her element now, as she climbed carefully onto a fallen pillar, half engulfed by waterweeds, and walked along it like a tightrope. "Okay. It wasn't just that place, you see. This whole place is a giant temple. The ancient Mordecians built it. All of it. They were one of the longest standing pre-Authoritorian civilizations, you see. It probably began as just one temple, but over the centuries, they added more and more, and before long..." she shrugged, gesturing demurely at the scattered marble, like the toybox of a giant. "It was a city. And all for one god."

He blinked, gallantly lifting her light body over a stream with barely a grunt of effort. "One god? Wow... they must have liked him."

The mouse nodded assent as she ducked under a listing archway, noting it's intricate carvings with an ooh of interest. "It's quite unusual, really. This new religion came just suddenly out of the blue. The Church of Volscian. They even started a new language - Volscian. It' supposed to be what the god himself actually spoke... oh yes. That's the... well, the most fascinating part. They believed that their god actually lived in these swamps."

"What... metaphorically? "His spirit infuses the sacred waters..." that kind of-"

"Nope." Jess replied, suddenly animated. "He lived here. He was a... an animal. An enormous creature - a bit like a dragon, really, but wingless, and more amphibious than reptilian. The priesthood claimed they'd sometimes actually caught glimpses of him, swimming about in the swamps."

"A dragon?" Oscar chuckled, grabbing his charge's arm gently to balance her as they clambered over the remains of an ancient wall. "Well, at least they were being inventive. And this High Temple is...?"

"It's the place where the priests claimed he was first glimpsed, where their religion started. Volscian was "seen" very rarely, so they hoped that he might appear there again." Jess wobbled on the smooth bricks, but Oscar had already held out an arm - his left, of course, his right had never been as strong since... he closed his eyes briefly, banishing the cruel memory. "And there's all these magnificent carvings there. Four hundred years of pre-Authoritorian history." She shivered with anticipation, ducking under a tree straggly branch. "It'll be so much fun... There's this enormous pool as well, apparently - I've read all about it - so that he could manifest to his loyal followers."

"And did he?"

The short rodent snorted. "No. Come on, Osc... a dragon? A dragon god? Of course he didn't appear. They were probably secretly grateful that he didn't, anyway."

Oscar raised a feathery eyebrow, still clambering after her with an unshakeable stamina."Oh? Why?"

***

Patience.

_ _

He waited, and set his trap, dulling the luminescence of his true throat and spreading it wide, in resemblance of some normal, "safe" swamp plant. His prey would come to him. They always did.

_ _

And coming they were. He could sense them now. He could see them. Not just the ripples in the water, but the thrumming heat of their bodies - their blood so delectably warm, their flesh so deliciously soft: it appeared as a faint blur of pulsing heat to his senses. He knew that the clarity would come with proximity, that before long he would be able to sense the individual veins and the sanguine fluids that flowed through them. They were close. He felt a spike of raw hunger rip through him, jarring his nerves, an imperceptible shiver of bloodthirsty instinct running through his dark, sleek form-

_ _

But he was patient.

***

They were close now, Jess claimed. Oscar had, over his years of protecting his young charge, become very good at not getting bored. He contented himself with continuing his eternal overwatch - scanning trees and rocks alike, far and near, left and right - as the jubilant mouse, in her element now, enthusiastically explained the strange religion that had raised this mighty temple from the swamps.

"Volscian - " Jess yelped, almost slipping over on a smooth marble pillar, and the avian caught her instantly, with the practiced ease of years of dedication. "Thanks, Osc... You see, Volscian was not a nice god. Some of those crackpots who claimed to have seen the "Dragon of the Holy Swamps" actually said they saw him... well, devouring his worshippers. They claimed that it was the fate of the unworthy. So if he'd appeared... heh. Those high priests would probably have been really worried."

The falcon whistled, a high, harsh sound that sang out from inside his sharply hooked beak. "He ate his own followers. Charming."

"Yeah, right. You ask me, it was just a good way to get rid of people you don't like." Jess chuckled, her hands wielding an imaginary club. "Bump 'em off, and claim that your mighty god punished them for their sins."

Oscar rolled his piercing eyes, his clipped talons scraping on white stone through the thin material of his waders as he hauled himself over a sunken archway. "You're almost as bad, Jessie girl. So..." he waved at the devastation all around them, broken only by the quiet splashes of their movement, "What happened to them?"

The mouse shrugged, her smile wavering suddenly. "What do you think? It was the Last Day."

"...Oh."

He grimaced. Jess didn't need to say anything more. The Last Day. The day the world ended. Even after almost eight hundred years - and in just under two years time, it would be eight centuries exactly - the trauma of that global disaster was still strong in the world's collective psyche. A legendary, utterly devastating quake that had rocked the entire planet, annihilating empires, levelling mountains... and so very nearly extinguishing the sputtering candle-flame of civilization."So it all came crashing down."

"Every last stone." Jess sighed glumly. "The survivors probably prayed to their god to save them, but by the time Lord Theo's Crusade reached here, there were none left. Just the ruins. I told you "Volscian" didn't exist."

They trekked onwards for a few more minutes in contemplative silence, pausing only for the young mouse to check her maps. And then, quite abruptly:

"Oh yes."

Without another word, Jess took off, running towards a curious structure that Oscar had only just noticed, splashing water everywhere. He muttered a curse - getting too distracted, Osc: you must protect the principal. The Catalyst gave you damn good eyes so you could use them. - and clambered hurriedly after her, ungainly in his waders and in the knee-deep swampy water. "Hey! Get back here!"

Jess glowered at him, but obediently slowed to a reluctant halt, a few metres from the wall of almost-intact stone. "This is ridiculous. You know that?"

The falcon raised an eyebrow. "Jessica Gaunt, I'll tell you what's ridiculous. The idea of the daughter of one of the most powerful men on the planet - and a very bright young lady to boot, I can assure you - walking straight into an entirely unsecured and unexplored area without so much as a by-your-leave. That is ridiculous."

They looked up at the wall, as if Oscar's reprimand had rendered it an untouchable, unreachable bastion of mystery. It was nearly eight feet high, constructed with the same smooth white marble as the rest of the sunken city, and covered with intricately carved inscriptions and stylised figures. They were all in the shape of dragons, Oscar realised. The young mouse had noticed as well, and a slow grin spread across her elegant muzzle. Her hazel eyes glimmered with excitement.

"Is this it? I was expecting... well, a temple. Not just..." he glanced around, seeing the wall curve off into the distance, and realised that they were just outside an enormous circle, like some strange arena of pale stone. "...not just... this."

"The Church of Volscian," said Jess absently, peering with interest at the walls, "was obsessed with the idea of getting a glimpse - any glimpse they could - of their god. So if he actually appeared to them, they were desperate for every worshipper in the city knowing instantly. With walls this short, and if -" she chuckled, starting to trek around the great curve of the "temple" wall with her bodyguard following close behind, listening with head cocked, "if the claims of the Dragon God's size were correct, most of the city would have been able to see him over these walls, you see? Made sense, really. Now, the entrance should be just a few more metres round this way..."

And it was. Oscar smiled as the mouse punched the air triumphantly, her enthusiasm contagious as they collectively beheld a great archway, which had somehow stood proud over the centuries of decay. It was covered with vast drapes of slimy emerald water weed, but they could see slight depressions at it's side which might have once held vast doors, long since rotted into nothing. At an unspoken signal, Jess brushed aside a spray of green muck, and behind it the same sinuous, twisting figures wound over the smooth stone: dragons, wingless and almost amphibious in appearance, enormous tails coiling around their forms.

Jess gazed at them, a slight frown twisting her features. "They... they're beautiful." But she sounded bemused, oddly nervous - a strange unease that Oscar could feel as well. The falcon looked askance at his charge, and she smiled quickly. "Sorry. It's just... wow. This will be huge. Come on."

"Well, then..." Oscar gestured at the hanging curtain of wet leaves. "Let's see if it's all it's cracked up to be, eh?"

But before she'd even started to move, he'd held out his arm. "The expendable one goes first."

"You are not-"

But Oscar had already brushed his way through the draping weed, his hands inches from the hidden and holstered handgun that he knew his charge would prefer him not to carry. But it was his job.

He looked at the vast inner chamber High Temple of the Dragon God Volscian, open to the skies above and the waters below, for a long moment. Then he poked his head through the curtain of weed again, where the grey-furred rodent was stood, fuming with arms folded, and said simply, "I... I think it's okay."

***

So close.

_ _

He felt taut muscles tense and tighten within his dark skin, ready to spring. But he did move an inch. Not yet.

_ _

Patience.

***

It was magnificent.

Jess felt a delighted peal of laughter break out from her throat, feeling like a child on Christmas morning, with far, far too much to play with. The High Temple stood open to the skies, the marble unsullied by swamp water, dazzling in the weak sunlight despite the swamp vines that wound over the steps and pillars, as if attempting to imitate the strange carvings and inscriptions that. It was shaped like an enormous arena, akin to the gladiatorial palaces that earlier dynasties of the Mordecians might have waged their bloodthirsty sports in. The sides were composed not of stepped seats, but of a series of platforms, each about seven feet wide, that rose above each other, each about two or three feet higher than the last

But instead of a circle of blood-drenched sand, the bottom of the bowl was a great pool of rippling green water, perfectly circular, glimmering darkly with the iridescence of untold depths and ringed with thick vegetation. It led directly into the pools and streams of the swamps, she remembered reading - but no more books now. They were in the presence of history. It enfolded them in it's incorporeal, invisible, ancient caresses. She grinned dazedly. So much to see.

Oscar smiled wryly at her, his grey feathers slightly ruffled, and gestured around. "Have fun, Jessie girl."

Unable to speak, she ran to the first carving she could find, and began poring over it, heedless of her bodyguard's obvious amusement as he sat down on a stone bench that had, presumably, not seated anyone for centuries. Oscar grunted with effort as he yanked off the dark, heavy-duty rubber waders that had kept the two of them so gratefully dry on the way here, and after a second, Jess followed suit, scrabbling at the straps in her impatience. Barely had she relieved herself of the slick rubber than she was off again, darting over to a worn inscription near the gates. Meticulousness could come later. She just wanted to revel in the joy of this now: uncovering the tarnished remains of secrets, still mirror-bright beneath the darkness of forgotten aeons. Father thought that there was nothing for her in the past? There were a thousand new worlds, a thousand buried intricacies of the universe.

This was her calling.

Jess wasn't sure how much time had passed before Oscar spoke, his voice quiet and cautious. "...Jessie girl?"

She glanced down to where the avian stood, at the edge of the great pool. Oscar was looking at a thick clump of vegetation, his beak curled in puzzlement. He brushed aside a reed, and spoke again. "Hmmm. I've got a pretty strange plant here. You been brushing up on your botany?"

The mouse blinked, clumping over to the edge of the platform she had been crouched on. "A plant? What is it? Hang on, Osc. I'll just- "

"Hey." The falcon held up a hand without looking at her. "You know the drill, Jess. Take a look, but don't come close."

She snorted out loud. "Oh, come on. Even you can't be that paranoid. I mean, I have... never... heard..." And she stopped.

Oscar spread the reeds and weeds - reeds and weeds, she would remember her own mind giggling girlishly at that, reeds and weeds, Jessie girl - apart, and the young mouse peered down at the hermitical growth that had hidden itself away behind them. "...Strange."

It was nearly three metres in diameter, glistening wetly beneath the pale sun. Shaped like some monstrous starfish, with four long "arms" stretching lazily across the languid surface of the water, spread-eagled out from a furled crease in the centre, like a hole that had been pulled tight. A flower bud, perhaps? Jess got down slowly to the last platform, her large round ears cocked with interest, and the surrealistic lily pad glimmered in the sunlight. A bright, almost luminescent hue of emerald that seemed to produce its own moisture, slick and damp even after the water had dripped, frictionless, off the unearthly plant's leaves - because that must have been what they were. No matter that it looked like an animal from the darkest depths of the ocean, where sunlight dared not go...

Oscar gestured at her - I said no closer, Jess - and bent cautiously, poking at the submerged underside of the strange, strange apparition with a sodden twig. It was even darker in colour that the topside of the thing, black as oil, and streaking it's way from the tips of the plant's tendrils was a slim, slick line of a bright neon green, winding down the plant's flesh into the dark depths of the pool.

_ _

_ "Flesh"? Why in the world had she thought that word?_ Jess swallowed, and took another step forward, words lining up on her tongue now: to say No, wait, leave it alone, Osc... it's scaring me now, let's go now, let's go, as the avian glanced back at her, his sharp eyes seeming to show the same irrational alarm as hers-

• and the world exploded.