FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Air had always been a touchy subject for the underground Kingdom, after the Great War on the surface which had destroyed any and all trees their ancestors had abandoned the world of the surface for a secret underground cave which spanned for miles upon miles. At first the inhabitants of the cave were worried that they would have no air, but somehow the first of the royal bloodline had an air source. They had never explained how, but they air had given them immense power over the people.

Latro felt as if he were treading on sacred land, "T... trees..." The fox had only heard stories of the giants of the earth. His foot caught on a root of a tree and he collapsed onto the grass, as Latro's face lie on the ground he took a breath. Dirt... grass... trees... none of it should've existed; it had been wiped out long ago. Latro's hands lightly clenched the dirt as he got up onto his knees; the fox's face was full of wonder.

Lividus's deep laughter rang through the greenhouse, "It's funny to see your reaction little fox." Latro turned around to see the king slowly touching the wood of a tree delicately, "Unlike you, I've been around these trees all of my life."

Latro felt an odd chill crawl up his back as he heard the falcon speak, "It's... amazing to be near these trees..." He muttered as the king circled a tree predatorily.

The falcon's face was expressionless as his hand touched the tree's bark delicately, "Yes... now I've brought you here to bargain..."

The fox's head snapped to the king, "What do you mean bargain?"

The claws on the king's hand slowly dug into the bark of the tree causing Latro to flinch, he slowly stopped turning the tree and let his eyes settle on the fox kneeling before him. "It's simple, you see each of these groups of trees supports a certain part of my kingdom's air supply." A chill started to settle in Latro's chest as the king continued to speak, "I know that your friends live in the slums of my fine kingdom, and as of late my guards have been explaining to me that I should just have the inhabitants of that portion of the city just die."

The air rushed out of Latro's lungs as he realized what the king was insinuating, "A.... are you saying that if I don't steal whatever you want..."

"Yes..." Lividus muttered with glee as a piece of the tree splintered off into his hand, "If you don't do what I want, I will seal off the slums of my fine kingdom and destroy all of the trees that are connected to it and let each of my subjects in that part of the city die."

Black dots appeared in Latro's gaze as his eyes rolled back and he passed out from sheer terror. As the fox lay on the ground, Lividus's laughter filled the room ringing in Latro's ears the whole time.

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Squeal snorted as a bucket of water was tossed on his face, "Squeeeeeaallll!" The boar's head violently shook from side to side as he caught his breath, "Who in their right mind threw a freaking bucket of water on me?!"

"That'd be me, and as ever you still live up to your nickname..."

Squeal's head flew up to see an old mug, "Nate?!" The wolf smiled at his old friend, Nathanial reached his hand out for the boar to grab and helped him up. Squeal shivered off the water, "Wow, I didn't expect to see you around here Nate. Aren't you afraid Latro will try to attack you?"

Nathanial chuckled, "I'm sure he'd be more afraid of me throwing him off of a roof... anyways, I was wondering what happened in here?"

The boar was confused, "What do you mean what happened in he... what in the world?!" He was shocked to see that his gang was strewn around the room, "What happened?!"

Nathanial rolled his eyes, "I was just asking you that."

Confusion washed over Squeal's face, "I don't know... all I can remember before you pouring the water on me was the door to the hideout opening..." The boar's tail was flicking as he thought about what had knocked him out, "I wish I could remember what happened..."

Nate's ears started to lower as he realized someone wasn't in the room, "Squeal... where's Latro?"

There was a moment of silence as Squeal's mouth opened and closed as he thought, "H... he never came..."

Nathanial's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Crap! This can't be good..." He turned around quickly and ran out of the hideout's door.

"N... Nate, wait! Squeeeeeallllll!" The boar's squeal could be heard as he ran behind Nathanial; their friends woke back in the hideout confused as to why they were lying on the floor.

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Rarus stood in the shadows of the alley as he watched Nathanial run away with a squealing boar in tow, "Hm... Nathanial hanging out with thieves... this could be very interesting." The tiger's mouth twisted into a cruel smile as he turned towards the academy and started to walk towards it, "I think some of the others would be veerrryyy interested to hear about this."

Steam poured around the tiger as he walked towards the academy. The streets were strangely empty, even if it was nearing lights out there would usually be people doing last minute runs. Rarus's hackles started to rise as he realized something was off. The tiger stopped in the middle of the road and looked around quietly, "Is anybody there?" He called out, the tiger's voice echoing through the streets.

For a moment Rarus thought that nobody was there, until a deep voice echoed through the street. "Yes, that'd be me." A large shape stepped out revealing itself to be one of King Lividus's royal guards, "Now I'll need you to come with me little tiger..."

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Archie hopped through the doorway surprising Quae as he came out from underneath a giant tarp, "Do you have it Archie?"

Not saying anything, Archie reached into his greasy overalls and pulled out a small box which he handed over to the snake. Quae nervously slid the lid off the box, within a small golden key sat on a little silk cloth. Both shivered in excitement as they looked at the key, "Should we do it now?" Archie asked his voice in awe.

Quae nodded with a smile on his face, "Let us do this."

They turned towards the tarp and started towards it until a loud knock sounded on the door of their lab. Quae and Archie looked at one another, "Who would be knocking...?" Archie asked, Quae shrugged and turned towards the door and slowly slithered towards it. The snake's hand hesitated as it touched the doorknob; he glanced back at Archie who motioned towards the door with both hands.

As the door opened they both blinked as they saw a nervous looking fox who smiled, "Hi... I'm Latro, are you Quae?"