FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

He couldn't believe it. All this time training for the day when he could leave the academy and be taken in by a mentor, and she was late. Of all the rotten things to do to him. This had to be the academy trying to get back at him and his father for being made to pave the way to success for him. Sure, his father had paid for all his equipment and wouldn't settle for anything but the best training the academy could offer his prodigal son. He didn't ask Dylan if he wanted any of it though. Dylan didn't care about any of that, and in fact, it only got him scorned by his peers. He had no friends, the general education teachers sought out even the slightest incident to punish him, and he wasn't even allowed to use anything but the staff bathrooms because his dad decided the 'rabble' couldn't taint him this way. His father made his school time hell. Now the academy was paying him back by making his mentor this Caelin woman. He'd heard nothing but rabid rumors about this woman and her exploits. She sounded like the worst mentor on the planet. The only tame one was that she had went to this academy. Just like him, her family had paid her way with gold, but unlike him. She was an absolute slob who's every bit of success was bought not earned. He didn't want to believe this since it would end badly for him, but going by her currently being 6 hours late, they were starting to sound like pretty credible rumors. Well, at least the one about her being lazy. He had no say whether or not she would sleep with anything short of a lump of dirt. According to that rumor, nothing else species or gender wise was safe.

He shifted his weight against the tree he'd been told was their meeting point. It was a good point of view for the 17 year old to make a good roost, whether he'd wanted to or not. With a tingling sensation in his hind quarters and the incessant rumbling of his stomach, he decided it was time to pack up and head home. He'd been surveying the roads and old paths the entire time for anyone to walk by, but only the regulars and the mocking students came by. By the gods was he dumb to fall for this. He'd keep his clam shut about it despite his pronounced desire to shout angrily at the sky. He'd just go inside and beat the daylights out of another training golem in physical combat for this, but his anger served him little at the moment except to frustrate him as his eye is jabbed by one of his bangs of black hair. It was beginning to be more of a mane then a head of hair honestly. It went down to his shoulder-blades in the back and to his nose in the front. His rounded ears were a subject of a mystery behind those messy black locks. The only reason he hadn't shaved his unruly head bare was because Kaiya liked him for it, and since she was against him in every other way thanks to his muddy brown eyes on top of being hated for his father's money.....he would take any ground with her he could get.

Lost in his frustrations he completely ignored the other girl sharing the hill with him. Her gaze focused on him with her yellow hued, cat like eyes. She only let him get a few steps past her before tossing her brown curls back behind her and bowed low, giving a curt and well spoken greeting in probably the most liquid voice he'd ever heard.

"Greeting, master Dylan. You're not as alert as I hoped."

Dylan practically jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice behind him and wheeled on the spot, only to find a teenage girl in the same school outfit as him...though he was pretty sure he'd remember this girl with brown colored animal ears flicking atop her head, that sort of thing stuck out. Especially with the honestly creepy pair of yellow eyes watching him. Pulling his gaze was the swishing tail peeking out from her waist line as she took a step towards him. And he took a step back away from her and from the tree.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

She didn't answer for a moment before sighing and looking behind him. She smiled after a moment as a new sound pricked at his ears behind him. There was totally two of them. As best he could he reached slowly for the hilt of his blade as he looked behind him to a grinning maw of teeth and scale that sent him jumping towards the girl with canine qualities. As he jumped away he noticed the full plate the reptile was wearing as well as distinct feminine qualities as well as wings, horns and a pair of blades. At least now he was completely confused.

"What? Who? Who are you people?"

The woman who Dylan now recognized as some sort of hybrid of dragon and human gave a short bow.

"I am Caelin Ephemerus, and the recently lovely lady behind you is my other apprentice Arcia Clementine. She was only in her second year here, but my last apprentice chose another mentor and I decided to take her on as well as you. Not often you find a girl who is 25% wolf"

At her being introduced, Arcia gave a sort of curtsy, flaring out the pockets of her school pants like it was a skirt. Still, all Dylan could do was fumble about with that now useless piece of weight in his mouth that used to be a fully operational tongue before he managed actual common.

"W-wait. You're Caelin? You're a dragon lady! Or dragoness....Am I saying that right?" A nod confirmed it before he continued. "This is Arcia...who is part wolf....I don't remember any wolf chicks in my class..I would definitely remember that at least." He was more speaking his thoughts aloud then anything else.

The girl looked quite crestfallen at that, really. She looked like Dylan had just called her the ugliest pig of a degenerate woman on the face of the planet. As she silently backed away from Dylan before carefully winding her way down the hill in a glum manner, Caelin came up behind her new apprentice and slapped him on the back of the head.

"Careful with that tongue of yours Dylan, as dragon-singers it is our deadliest tool." She sighs heavily. "You don't recognize her because she messed up summoning her familiar. Sort of. It's hard to explain. I'm late because I've been convincing her she isn't some sort of monster. Luckily, I can be seen as a similar case. Now, before you say anything else. Go apologize to Arcia, I'll handle any more questions afterward."

He wasn't just told to go, she full on bumped him in the right direction with the scariest glare he'd ever seen. Those gray eyes were threatening, but coming from a red scaled bipedal dragoness in full plate? Terrifying. So with no desire to stick around his apparently scary as hell mentor, he went after Arcia, who had simply flopped at the side of the pool at the outermost edge of the hill. She didn't sound like she was sobbing, but her ears were laid flat and her tail was between her legs. If Dylan was honest with himself it was kind of adorable, but since he was still psyched out with all of what just happened he went and sat next to her. To which she shuffled to the side.

"Sorry Arcia.."

She cut him off with a growl, that was apparently not what she wanted to hear. So he went silent as she lay there for a moment longer in definitely grumpy silence.

"You're not sorry. You didn't recognize me and you were honest about that."

Now, granted so far what he's gotten from saying what first comes to his mind has gotten him so far, he chews over what he is going to say next for a bit. While he was doing that, he gave her a better look over. She was pretty good looking if he looked past her animal traits. She looked good with brown hair and rated about a seven out of ten for him. Finally he came up with an idea he hoped would work.

"Arcia, while in school I was too busy being shunned by others to really pay any attention to those around me. I would probably only recognize those that were jerks to me or important staff members."

She sighed and gave him a serious look, reminding him why he was startled first seeing her. Those yellow eyes of hers felt like they were gazing into his soul, and she wasn't even glaring at him yet. She looked him over a minute before her ears flicked upright and her tail pulled itself from between her legs to sway slightly as she pushed herself up and smiled at him, he now also knew her canines were sharp and pointed as well. Swinging her hips joyfully as her tail kept pace she giggled lightly before heading back up the hill.

"Thanks Dylan, I know you had it rough, but I can rest easy knowing I didn't make your life hell. I can forgive you for not noticing me before. I'll just have to make sure you'll notice me from now on~"

A smile broke Dylan's features as he mentally celebrated his victory. Crisis averted! Wait. Thinking about that last part, it sounded almost like a flirt. Standing up to follow her, the slow almost seductive sway of her hips and the look she gave him cinched it. She totally just hit on him. He honestly didn't know how to handle that. He was pretty set on getting Kaiya, but now he had a girl who would be training with him. Who flirted with him. A part of him wished this was a prank, while the other was worried this was a prank. Either way, he climbed the hill after her.

Only to find his apparent mentor rummaging in his sack, digging through his things. Worse, upon noticing him she simply stood up and nodded to him. Quick to explain herself though she might be.

"Just checking that you have everything you need. You are well stocked, but you are missing one thing." Before he could answer she unstrapped the blade at her left side and laid it on his pack before grinning like a Cheshire and walking away. "There. Now you have everything.~"

Caelin and Arcia wound their way down the hill for the path leading to the academy and left him to check out the blade. They went straight for the stables despite a growing crowd of curious students who were drawn by the ladies. Arcia was loudly asking why she didn't get a weapon. Caelin chided her that she was still to young and knew little of the blade. She'd heard good things of him already, so he'd get to have a blade. He lost interest in them as he pulled the blade from it's simple sheath expecting a stock blade of iron or steel. Instead he found a mellow yellow blade that seemed to brighten and glow in the light of the sun. In fact, as the glow became brighter it was revealed the blade was some sort of crystal by the light emanating from within. The blade was adorned with an unseemly simply iron handle with long sloping marks that looked elven along the cross guard. Overall, it was marvelous to behold for Dylan who was already trying to cope with having some part dragon mentor and a part wolf girl who'd be accompanying him on his pilgrimage. To top it off, he now had a magnificent blade to bring along with him. Snapping himself out of his trance, he slid the sword in place among his belt in the custom loop he'd made for his previous blade, it wasn't a perfect fit of course and would have to be adjusted. Though as soon as it was stowed on him, he gathered his sack and headed down for the stable.

The stable was a mess of clattering and neighing as he approached, but it wasn't any wonder why, the duo of ladies probably smelled something like dangerous predators and of course they were spooked. Not to mention the stream of talking and giggling and worried proclamations of the slowly growing crowd outside the stables. A few of the mentors and groundskeepers had even come over and the quartermaster had already approached Caelin and they were chatting idly as Dylan approached. He only had to gently stab his elbows into a few of his classmates, they didn't want to let him through once they figured out who was. He was sure he didn't do any lasting damage, but he wouldn't feel so bad if he did. What he was more interested in, was why a part dragon lady with wolf girl in tow, thought horses would be okay with them. As expected, the horses were going absolutely nuts, and the stable keep could do nothing to stop it. Caelin and Arcia were trying to leave, but the huge crowd and angry mentors were keeping them in, so the volume was only building.

Out of the blue Dylan felt like someone had stabbed a needle into his throat as a thin carpet of fog rolled into the stables from the group of people. In a similar fashion, Dylan realized he couldn't speak, and by the fact nobody else spoke a word, he wasn't the only one affected. Even so, the horses continued to buck and neigh as they were seemingly unaffected. Without a commotion came some pushing his way through the crowd. He who came forth was an ashen haired boy who looked to only be thirteen at best. With eyes like a wildfire he looked from Caelin and Arcia and the surrounding people. Even if they had the ability to speak, they'd have been silenced as he began his apparent work. Stopping at each stall, he looked at the horse for but a few moments and then with a single word they stilled. Silent and calm. In the same manner as he entered he exited, only this time the crowd parted for the child to allow him exit. The boy was joined by a much older man of deep caramel skin who wore pure white robes that seemed tattered with age. While the younger one seemed intense and focused, the older one looked wild and but passive. As soon as the young one reached him, the cyan haired man only nodded before an intense snap of noise announced their exit, leaving a slip of paper on the spot they had been standing on before they had apparently teleported.

Dylan and many others let out the breath that didn't tell it was held. Silence prevailed for a few moments longer before a low chatter about who those were began to bubble. Dylan shook his head in distaste, he couldn't believe they'd already forgotten about his mentor. Though as he turned to ask them to leave, he saw why. They were gone as well, as well as a chestnut mare missing from the stall. Though, he only noticed that because the stable keep was whispering about it quite loudly. The noise didn't go above a dull roar as Dylan left the stables. He knew it was quiet after the two strangers showed up, very few people felt like they would stay gone if it got loud again. His current problem though, was where the hell did his traveling company get off to? He hadn't seen them leave. Though after looking around he found them pretty quickly. They were just standing at the gates to the academy with the horse standing nearby, with the strangers from before talking to them quietly.

Of course Dylan sprinted to them post haste, but before he was close enough to hear anything important, it was too late. Their discussion ended and the older one literally just seemed to dissolve into thin air, leaving the child with Caelin to watch Dylan come up short of breath.

"Who. The hell. Was that?"

He looked to the kid curiously, he didn't seem to be getting ready to leave despite the fact who he had assumed to be someone important to the boy. Yet he just got on the horse as calm as could be and as ice cold as before. Before Dylan could voice his thoughts Arcia suddenly sprinted out the gates at full tilt, the horse following shortly after and Caelin at a slow jog after them.

"We're heading out Dylan, and first training exercise is to go full tilt until we reach the center of town for supplies.!"

Dylan started at a slow jog as well, keeping pace with his mentor as he looked at her curiously. Did she tell Arcia the same thing? Town was 6 miles away and yet Arcia had sprinted, she was either going to pass out or wimp out before ever having a chance of reaching the town. Caelin didn't give off any hints to being a conniving terrible person. He also had no idea why the kid was now apparently traveling with them. He couldn't ask the kid since the horse disappeared after Arcia into the treeline. So instead, he asked Caelin.

"So Miss Ephemerus, what's with the kid, why is he with us, and lastly, thank you so very much for this beautiful blade. I'll never forget it."

Her expression went from what he could only assume was thought, to one of amusement. He really couldn't read her muzzle all that well so he could only guess. Though her chuckle gave him the answer he needed.

"That's an anima apprentice named Martin. His last teacher disappeared after a bloody bar fight and has dropped off the grid. His master is a sage of some kind, but Martin doesn't know what. My guess is water by the way he evaporated. Lastly, you are welcome. I watched one of your melee tests before and was impressed by your swordsmanship. You excelled and as such requested to have you as my trainee. Don't disappoint or I'll eat you."

Dylan would probably have been more creeped out by the rows of razor sharp teeth smiling at him from her tease, but his mind was buzzing with thoughts as his heart rate increased. He'd been in the presence of a sage? Sages weren't just intensely powerful and have completely mastered their choice element. A sage was someone who has converted their body into their mastered element. They became extraordinarily more formidable in combat. The most common types were fire and earth sages with water being far more rare. Wind sages simply didn't exist. There were plenty of mages of a wide range of strengths and skill, but everyone who had ever tried to become a sage has died since their bodies ripped themselves a part. Dylan's day had both been made and ruined. He'd got to meet a water sage, but he didn't get to ask anything at all. No longer in the mood for a good talk, he clammed up to brood on the way to town.