FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

My story takes place in a world very much like your own; however, due to slight changes in history, a few... less than 'ordinary' distinguish this world. Firstly, religions here developed with a slightly more optimistic attitude; individuals who were born with "The Blood of Merlin" were praised and nurtured... accepted as guardians and rulers of their native lands. In your world, as I'm told, these beings were branded evil, considered dangerous, blasphemous, and hunted down for their "crimes".

These individuals I speak of are not limited to human beings, I'm sure your all aware of the more popular ones: Witches and Wizards, for humaniods, Griffins, Dragons and the Phoenix are a few creatures, these are some of my personal favorites... but above all others, I value the presence of the Kitsune most of all. These legendary guardians are members of the canine family, like all others their powers vary, usually linked to an element or the environment in which they live.

I'm getting ahead of myself, let me go back to the beginning; one of the first humans viewed as a guardian was Merlin. The first peoples to witness his abilities defined them as Magic, a divine gift bestowed upon him by the gods; and so he used this gift to create one of the greatest kingdoms of the time, working with the legendary King Arthur. Merlin left records, guidelines, rules of sort for his successors, the main theme of all his works was the use of these powers to better mankind.

That was hundreds of years ago, nowadays is a whole different story; the progression of science and understanding of the world has shed light on the abilities once believed to be magic. Magicians, who had the ability move objects without touching them, create life altering potions with simple herbs, and sometimes even launch fireballs from their bare hands are now understood as humans who quite simply have access to a larger portion of their brain.

Telekinesis, the ability to move objects with one's mind, and Pyrokinesis, the ability to manipulate fire; you may or may not have heard of these abilities, but they are fairly straightforward. Some of the more puzzling abilities are Chronokinesis, once believed to be the ability to stop and control time, now understood as a heightened form of adrenaline response, allowing someone to move much faster than normal for a short period of time.

Another highly sought after ability is Quantokinesis, a fancy scientific term for alchemy; individuals with this ability can change the atomic structure of an object, changing it into something else, such as changing lead into gold, or taking any material and breaking down the atoms into pure energy, capable of destruction beyond all things imaginable... don't think I need to say why officials try and recruit young Quantists.

Theoretically, there could be individuals who develops Omnikinesis. Historians argue whether or not Merlin possessed this ability, and scientists insist that such a power could never be obtained by any single entity. That could just be a tale to calm the masses, thinking someone posessing such abilities would belittle the belief of God; without a doubt, a single Omnikinetic being could enslave the world, topple empires, and change everything.

I could go on forever with these abilities, but those are the only ones important for our story; let me return to the creatures. The Gryphon, considered the most physically powerful of all beasts; this powerful being posesses the head and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion. The popular belief is that the Gryphon is somehow a cross breed between the long since extinct Sphinx, and a Phoenix; if such a notion is possible, it brings the notion that other cross breeds could be possible.

The few remaining Phoenix alive today live in "open ended captivity" where humans care for, shelter, and feed the noble birds; unfortunately, the only known living Phoenix are all females. This is most likely due to the nature of these birds, some of the most honorable creatures to ever exist. A phoenix cannot die of natural causes, or even be killed by any humanly means, the only way for a phoenix to die is for it to offer up its own life to save another.

It's also been documented that males of the species are much more proud than the females, if one were ever discovered it's highly unlikely he would accept help from humans, even if refusal means the extinction of his species. Advances in gene manipulation and cloning could result in the ability to impregnate one of the few remaining females with a chick, perhaps even a male, but is it ethical to attempt such a thing, if the creatures themselves would prefer to die out than dishonor themselves?

Now we come to every boy's favorite creature, the dragon. Portrayed in movies, stories, and even commercials as gigantean fire breathing beasts; whether it's fighting knights, eating sheep, or defending gold and treasures from nosey adveturers... it's all bull. Sure they're big... really big compared to humans, but they are not mindless beasts. Some dragons do breath fire, but their abilities do change; just like humans, no two dragons are alike.

Dwindling in numbers, they share the same types of lives as Phoenixes, but they are much more intelligent. What... did you think human kind was the pinnacle of evolution? Far from it, Draconic families date back millions of years, the few surviving dinosaurs continued to evolve, some growing wings and taking refuge in deep caves, volcanoes, or forests; others living life out in the sea, growing large webbed fingers and the ability to breathe on both land and under water.

All dragons do share one thing in common, intelligence; there are countless tails of kings and rulers offering gold and services to wise ancient dragons in hopes they will share their boundless wisdom. Now human beings caught up with the ancient reptiles, some of the smaller breeds actually aid in running everything from military operations to corporations. The larger dragons are a bit more attention hungry; these are the ones you see in Hollywood action packed feature films... a bit tacky for my taste.

The reasoning behind their dwindling numbers is due to the lifestyle change and sophistication alongside humans, it takes a lot longer for dragons to produce offspring than humans, but luckily nearly all abilities grant their host a much longer than lifespan than normal counterparts. This is due to the brain's heightened activity; the brain controls everything the body does, including regeneration.

If you haven't already guessed, I've done quite a bit of research on these subjects; my interest is not purely fueled by curiosity. When I was thirteen I was playing with the family firepit, roasting marshmallows for smores... when suddenly the marshmallow caught fire. Being a stupid kid I flicked the stick in my hands up quickly, and suddenly the flaming confection was launched skyward.

Again, being a stupid kid I stared up, mouth open as the flickering light hovered above me, glistening like a star before falling down towards my face. Instead of getting out of the way, as any sane person would, I covered my face with my arms in a panic, the molten ball of sugar landing square in my palm. I flicked it off in a hurry, receiving a pretty nasty burn from the bubbling sugar. After a moment of pain I realized the flames lingered at my fingertips, surrounding my hand like a glove.

I discovered that night I had an ability, pyrokinesis; I had no idea how to control it, the ability only kicked in on instinct. I told noone of that day, knowing from the news reports that anyone with an ability were to be reported and studied by the authorities. Fearing the chance I would be taken away, cataloged, and have god knows what done to me I decided to learn in secret. I began my quest for knowledge with books, I simply went to the school library and no one looked twice, they just assumed I was doing a school assignment.

After a while however, I noticed that all the books were about the research and employment possibilities these people chose... nothing about actually controlling and using the abilities. I guessed this was because the state had private schools to train, and more importantly manipulate people with these abilities; if I wanted more answers, I had to find a new source. Luckily, we live in a world of computers, and everyone knows that you can find absolutely anything to do with any subject with just a few searches.

By the time I was fifteen, I figured it was time to go out and find others like me, people who discovered their abilities and managed to avoid becoming a drone of the military, or worse. It was not too hard for me... after all pyrokinesis was one of the more common abilities, and the only real choices as careers with this ability are soldier or firefighter. In reality, anyone with any ability would be reluctant to share their knowledge with me. However, I was young, dumb, and optimistic, I was determined that this journey would somehow change things, change me... and I was right.