FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The sewer, while a change of scenery from the endless grey-upon-grey of the dungeon and tower above, was certainly not preferable. Thick walls coated with green slime, foetid waters trickling past them within narrow tributary ducts with an abominable stench. On the plus side, there were no captives needing rescue in this region of Meen's lair, giving FG some consolation in not having to feel guilty about leaving others behind. In the emptiness of the wide turgid sewer hallways that barely turned any corner, he began to think about the past few days. Then he began to think back to a month, then a year, then four years in full. He started to feel even more out of place now than he had ever been before, grouped with this strange menagerie of creatures all of whom were now seeking justice. And while he was happy that Scissoraptor seemed to be sated by the slaughter of Meen's minions, for now, it did not make him feel any better knowing that such a beast was what made him leave. But at the very least, he became all the more determined to free the prisoners of I. M. Meen, wanting to make his departure into another world more worth it somehow. "Are you alright James?" asked Sophelie. "Hmm?" "You seemed to be lost in thought." "Oh, I...was just thinking about him was all, that asshole Meen and what we're gonna do to him." "I see...you are lucky to have found a way out with your false magic." "I'm starting to think it wasn't luck," said FG. "Oh?" "Someone told me to come here, well, the island of mist rather. What if someone wanted me to come here so I could help free you guys, and fight off this wizard who captured you?" "The gods work in mysterious ways my new friend. Was it a prophecy you received?" "I...yeah...it was like...this seer or prophet or someone like that, she was in this dream I had and told me to come here. I guess that sounds pretty stupid." "I am the last person to disbelieve one who makes such claims. Have faith James." "I hate to tell you this but that doesn't really help me." "Why not?" "I just never really believed in a god, I grew up pretty much without religion." "This is not a matter of religion James," said Sophelie, "it is a matter of faith. Religion is merely the construction of tenets and guidelines within a spiritual mandate. That is not what faith is. Faith is your OWN belief, your own hopes and dreams and what you aspire to become. From the prophet who sees with her deck of cards, to the cleric who believes in but one god, even the smallest child who may wish upon a star has faith. One can have faith without needing a god." "...heh...isn't that kinda blasphemous for you to say?" "I may be an angel, as you say, but I have no right to make others believe in what I know. Do you understand what I mean?" "Yeah...I do. Heh...thanks Sophelie."

She smiled and bowed, gracefully so as they pushed on. It was weird for James to see such a large bird walk with little room to fly in due to her expansive wingspan, but she managed. Alestes was always at her side, dwarfed in comparison but nevertheless unwavering beside her. James wasn't sure if it was for his benefit or hers, seeing how both were rather powerful wielders of magic. But he walked on, sticking beside Monty who was a more familiar-looking character for him to be acquainted with. The conduit of the sewers was now the form of a rather wretched-looking pulsating orb, floating above a vile small pit of black tendril claws circling around the small molten sphere. Fire seemed to spew from underneath, without any indication of lava nearby within the room itself, a mesh black and red talons scraping along the walls into an infernal architecture. There was also strange graffiti scrawled upon the wall near it, something that seemed incredibly out of place which read:

DO NOT FEAR THE CONDUITS FOR THEY SHALL UNDO HIS PLAN JUST AS I SHALL PLAN AGAINST HIM

Yet James was more concerned, or rather taken aback, by how he recognised the design of the hellish generator. "W-wait, wait a minute! I know this thing!" "What?!" "This thing, this...uhhh conduit! This is a fucking sigil stone!" "What are you on about?" asked Alestes. "THIS! This thing was NOT made by Meen, no way, I've seen this damn thing in another world." "...are you certain?" "Yes, totally, there is no way I'm mistaken. Look, are any of you good with minerals?" "Uhh miner 'ere," suggested Monty. "Here." He took off his pendant from Dar-Ma and gave it to the mole, carefully allowing him to compare between the two rocks. The black rock of James' pendant was inert and useless, yet the floating stone above the demonic portal was glowing a fine blood-red. Monty shook his head. "Can't get a good look at it while it be floatin' up thurr mate. Tell ya what, deactivate this thing an' then I'll compare it, alrigh'?" "Okay...god...first he's kidnapping people now he's STEALING stuff? Alright, let's do this thing, Alestes, you're up." The owl read over the note placed upon the podium. James had suggested trying to deactivate the portal by simply removing the stone, but the grammar-coded lock was so absurdly easy to undo that it was best to play it safe. Eventually they decoded the poorly-written diary entry, revealing Meen's thoughts.

Dear Diary, It appears that wretched FOOL Gnorris has tried to usurp me again! Can you imagine the utter AUDACITY to stand up before me?! He knows full well what I can do to him, and I shall show him what happens to smarty little upstarts like him, even worse than last time! I know it was him who betrayed me before with those wretched bookworms in the past, so I will not take this lightly! But not even he can help any of my prisoners now! Not while I have my two special items hidden away within this new kingdom of mine! You know the ones I'm talking about diary, the others certainly won't. Even when I put one near those stupid little lemmings further underground they would not have the imagination to find it! Such worthless inferior beings, the only use I could possibly find for them is for my own amusement...for however long they'll last.

James saw Monty's face visibly twitch with fury, before suppressing it calmly as the conduit died down. The orb continued to levitate, the lava glow fading away unseen into the darkness from whence it came as Monty cautiously took the orb to compare the two together. Alestes however begged to ask one thing about Meen's journal. "What do you think he means by the two special items hidden away?" "I am not sure," replied Sophelie. "They must be great sources of power that must mean something important to him. We must keep an eye out for any such power sources, maybe this stone is one of them?" "Possibly. One of them at least is hidden down where the lost tribe is apparently." Eventually Monty was done appraising the two stones, after prodding, tasting and even sniffing the two stones with his finely-tuned subterranean sense of smell. "...aye, thurr thuh same." "I knew it!" cried out FG. "This un's dormant though, bu' still got a power inside it that'll make sumthin' good an' strong. Yer pendant though's practically dead, completely ordinary bu' the content's thuh same." "How the hell did he even get a sigil stone?" "What exactly IS a sigil stone?" asked Sophelie. "It's a power source to open a demon gate, I found it once when I was travelling and found this gateway to a demon's lair, like literally Hell. This pendant was from a piece of an orb like that." "Demon gate?! By the gods, how could he possess such a foul artifact? Is it safe to take it perhaps? It might be one of Meen's sources of power." "Oh yeah, totally...heh, hell I've been wanting a good one all charged up for years, might help me find a way back home." Pocketing the still-warm sigil stone alongside his block of obsidian, the raptor turned to head further into the sewer with his friends. The creatures within however were far more dangerous to contend with. Gnomes had returned once again, but this time they were less buff than the guards in the tower. In compensation for this however, they were far more flighty, wielding large two-handed scythes that threatened to cut them down. While James was only slightly intimidated by such lethal little pests with razor-sharp blades, he only became truly concerned when one of them began to swing out his scythe like a giant boomerang. It clanged off the wall behind FG when he ducked, only to recoil off and back to its owner within a deadly spinning arc. With magic further restored to them, Alestes set about readily swooping in to blind the scythe-wielding gnomes before they had a chance to swing once more. One unlucky beast swung his blade too far, and decapitated his friend.

As gruesome as the sight was, FG merely smirked and ran in for the kill, striking the scythe out of his hands before slicing straight through the head, half-cutting into the brain. Despite their wicked range and capability, they were useless in close combat, the scythes far too big to wield at such a short range. Spiders also returned to harass them yet again, and this time Alestes was no longer deterred by their devious silken thread. Monty had discarded his wand after a few blasts at some errant gnomes, after discovering it had run out of power before he relied purely on his huge claws. Being a digger born and bred, he was naturally quite strong, and able to claim brutal strikes upon the growing force within the sewers. Sophelie, being rather large and somewhat ungraceful within the confines of the underground, stayed back and relegated herself to the task of healer and supporter. Her blessed powers were, quite literally, a godsend in some cases, especially when contending with another new sort of guard. Large mutated rats with iron helmets, brandishing huge sturdy leg bones for clubs. Due to their better close-range combat skill, FG was cautious to not let them come close for attack, despite their shrieking advances towards them with huge pointed teeth. But the albatross was able to summon a great cleansing light, which somehow terrified them to stay back. Whether it was a holy presence they felt or the fact that they were unused to such brightness was uncertain, but they took every chance they got. Spiders were no challenge, and were easily executed by all four of them. James with his scissors was able to knock away or even repel back any scythes swung towards them, with Alestes always on support to blind and strike foes unseen. His magic power was still stranded somewhere around level 2, as he called it. Sophelie's power had come back with stronger force, but consisted mainly of purifying, long-range attacks in the form of gustly gales and fire shears, or simply repelling the more unsightly beasts. Monty, being the only truly physical member of the team, just beat the everloving shit out of anything possible with his huge natural claws.

"Heeeey not bad man," said FG to the mole, "you got some pretty strong moves there." "Well ah used to work out at thuh gym 'fore all this, gotta keep me strength up, 'specially been workin' on me leg muscles. Could do some pretty nasty kicks wi' these lads." "Hah, I bet! How you two magic birds holding up?" "Very well," replied Sophelie, "none of Meen's forces could possibly face up against our light now! My power has returned enough to regain my shielding techniques. I have also rediscovered my ability to heal anyone, as well as strengthen their magic briefly should they need it." "Awesome! ...wait, would that work on me?!" "Only one way to find out...but it involves a kiss." At the mere mention of this, FG smirked with an idea as he saw Alestes' eyes burning into his skull. "Aaaaactually, why don't you give Alestes that, his magic works far better than mine." "Wh-what?!" "Good idea!" With an innocent grin, the albatross flapped over towards the owl and made a strange rubbing motion of her beak against Alestes' cheek. A strange ghostly image began to appear briefly, of a woman with raven black hair and bangled earrings. Alestes suddenly felt rejuvenated, perking up quite briefly as well as suddenly experiencing a great humility. "Does it work my friend?" asked Sophelie. "Y-yes," murmured Alestes, "it does...rather well." "Awwww he's blushing," teased FG, "I didn't know birds could blush." "I am merely experiencing the effects o-of regaining my strength! I have no reason to blush!" "Suuuure ya don't." The group chuckled with each other as they passed floor after floor of the dreaded sewer stench. Thankfully it never turned more potent until the fourth floor, where they expected a boss to turn up like always at this point. The enemies had turned tougher however, with the exception of spiders, but thankfully they all kept their guard up well enough to protect each other. James had suffered a few beatings around the head as well as several deepening bite marks from the rats, while Monty almost had his eye taken out by the huge scratch of a scythe across his cheek. The birds were too agile and cautious to suffer from any wounds, Sophelie moreso who kept herself and her friends guarded. As the next encounter with Meen's "pet" grew near, a budding confidence grew in the hearts of the former captives, as well as their magic potential with each new conduit they destroyed, all of them sigil stones somehow. In the middle of a large section of dank sewer path, expanding out into an open area, they heard the telltale sounds of an unsightly creature start to emerge. At first they could not see it, despite the sounds of an oozing large pustule forming from in front of them. This became true even moreso when a thick greenish-grey puddle began to shlurp and spew itself into a larger form. Arms quivered out of a half-solid mass, dripping a thick horrid green that oozed from its pulsating veins across its body. A head also formed, somewhat like Meen's, but uglier. "Prepare yourself everyone!" cried out Alestes.

The group began to arm themselves as the creature slumped forwards, forcing its gelatinous presence to move closer with a shuffling exaggerated gait, like someone wading through a swamp. The first attack it could muster was a potent huge slimeball, thick and wretched with an absurdly putrid scent that made them nearly heave with disgust. Already they were having problems focusing with such a foul beast. James did his best to focus and fire off an attack, but Sophelie beat him to it and shot out a gust of wind, holy light shafting between her wingtips in order to spear through the beast. It simply gurgled a vomiting cackle, dry-heaving in pleasure at an attack simply passing through its liquidated form. Alestes tried to come near to try and blind it, but the smell was practically ambulatory, solid enough to move with him and make him lose focus, struggling to stand its presence. It was even starting to affect his wings, drying them with the thick musky odour. Monty knew better and simply backed away to keep his head clear. Help however came in a way they did not expect, as a voice cried out from the shadows. "DEMON! Your existence shall be null and void." "Wha-who's there?!" There was no reply, except that in the form of a slicing sound carving straight through the wretched beast. A grunt of genuine pain came from it, as it shuddered and gurgled, turning in all directions to try and find the source of its attacker. Another slice, then another, and another, a visible sharpness streaking through the air in front of the group. Finally there came three small fireballs shooting out across the room, straight into the foul living slime. Soon it was no more, vomiting a roar of thick choking anguish as it burned into a blackened smear. The four former prisoners looked rather dumbfounded at having a battle they expected turn suddenly rather easy with no help from them at all. James was starting to get annoyed by this. "Okay, first that dinosaur thing has no bones, now someone ELSE just immediately cuts this fucker down in like ten seconds flat, what the fuck! Why even BOTHER?!" "I appreciate any help we get," said Alestes. "Well gimme a CHANCE at least, I wanna feel useful for fuck's sake. HEY, YOU OUT THERE! YOU GONNA SHOW YOURSELF OR WHAT!?" "Only my enemies shall see me," said the voice in darkness. "Do you wish to become my enemy?" "Well you stole my fucking kill so SURE, whatever!" "Uhhh James," murmured Monty, "that migh' not be thuh best idea-" "COME OUT DAMMIT! Let's see how good you really are!" "Very well." A voice came directly from his left ear, the gasps of his allies confirming someone was there. Frustration and panic made him swing hard at the unseen foe, spinning hard but striking at nothing. He turned the moment his friends cried out to behind him, bringing his scissors up just in time to strike hard against two glowing yellow blades, briefly clashing before he forced them away.

Standing before him was a strange creature of around 5 foot tall, body and head garbed in some sort of black and red ninja-clothing that did not cover its thin green limbs. Piercing yellow eyes gazed out from its head, wrapped in red goggles. Its feet were also in a rather snazzy pair of black and red sneakers. "Who the hell are you?" asked FG warily. "My name is not for you to know," said the creature. "Are you still my enemy?" "With arrogance like that, sure, I think you need to be taken down a few notches pal!" "James." "What?!" He turned to Alestes halfway who simply murmured: "...Zool." "H-huh?!" "Zool. ...ninja of the Nth Dimension." "Wha-NINJA?! The fuck is this shit?!" "Do not disrespect me!" said the ninja. "Should you wish to escape alive, either pay your respects or stand against my blades." "Pfft what, you took down that slimy shitface without giving us a chance, just so you'd look all badass and scare us?! Well that ain't working! Now TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!" "...ungrateful swine." The ninja bent low with its swords at the ready. Something about this unknown being just rubbed FG the wrong way as he prepared himself for a fight. The others backed away, knowing this had suddenly become a duel between swordsmen. "I will not kill you, but I shall make you suffer for your insolence." "Heh, unless you can cut through my soul you got nothing...faggot." Brandishing his scissors, he waited for Zool to approach, keeping his head cool to not charge head-first into a battle with a ninja. The moment the ninja stepped forwards, he saw a shimmer of speed, bringing up his blades to block the sudden clash, the twin golden glowing swords of Zool striking off his rusted scissors before he fell back. Swiftly striking at FG, the ninja struck high and low in a quick-spinning arc, forcing James to block vertically until a mighty swing knocked off his guard. His chance was clear, as Zool rushed forwards and struck James across the chest, slashing enough to wound him as a warning. Falling back with surprise, the raptor rushed forwards and thrust towards him hard, before swiftly pulling back and swinging his scissors deftly with one hand to block any oncoming blades. The moment Zool's swords became caught in his spinning blades, he clamped down hard on them before pulling back hard and striking him with a knee thrust, straight into the black belly. The ninja dodged back from the blow, grunting slightly as sidestepped in a half-circle to come close to FG, who sidestepped in turn to meet his assault. Striking blades clanged sharply within the echoing sewer, as Zool swung across both FG's chest and legs trying to score more hits, both swords slicing back and forth. Despite the raptor's best attempts to guard against such swift blades, his scissors were too big and too slow to counter all of them. Every blade he struck against, he felt a strike across his knee or chest, or find himself falling back to dodge.

The three companions watched with anxiety at how this would play out, but they refused to help knowing that one never interfered in a duel. This was now a mark of honour, regardless of where they now were. James had enough of his growing non-grievous wounds, scarring across his thighs and arms as he charged with a powerful gust of wind, roaring with a bull-rush attack to slam into Zool. The ninja was pushed back, tumbling before he rolled back onto his feet expertly so. In retaliation, he shot out three small fireballs straight towards the raptor. James blocked all three with his scissors without hesitation, swinging and slicing each of them through the air. "HAH, you call THAT a fireball?! Watch THIS!" Charging up a furious blast of energy, his nanos sparked within his blade-wielding hand, channelling the growing fire through his scissortips before he swung out an arcing streak of fire. A burning slash carved through the air straight towards Zool, who ran forwards in a daring slide directly underneath the fire. FG was so surprised by such agility, that he found himself struggling to guard once again, furiously blocking with his scissors and receiving even more frustrating cuts upon his body. He was starting to lose his patience, as well as some endurance. With a furious spin of his Raptornado attack, summoning the power of wind to make him twirl violently fast with his scissors, he forced Zool to back away before sheathing his blades. He decided that he needed to be faster, bringing out his dual hammer handles. The ninja realised this was a change of tactics and readied himself for an even bigger fight, rushing forwards to strike against FG's own weapons. Now that he was able to strike much faster in a much smaller arc, James could finally keep up with the shadow warrior's repetitive strikes, blocking them with far more success. Strikes that aimed for his chest and thighs, were now deflected or even fully blocked and thrown completely off their aim by his hammer sticks. The fire-hardened wood was also incredibly resistant, even somehow able to stand up against such sharp blades. Zool soon found himself struggling to even strike FG more than once every few seconds, the raptor smacking away the swords and jabbing for the ninja's face or gut to further wind him. Likewise, once the ninja had adapted to his foe's new speed of attack, James was finding it more and more difficult to even hit the ninja through his unceasing double assault. That did not deter either of them however, as blade met stick, wood struck flesh, sword scraped upon scale.

James' most successful assault was on the ninja's arms, when he would keep striking away the blades before slamming both hammer sticks down upon Zool's thin green limbs, making him falter and grunt. That momentary pause was all he needed to strike twice across Zool's face in both directions, using both hammer handles daringly so before charging up a burning wind. His handles glimmered with a gusty sheen, as he spun violently into another Raptornado attack, repeatedly striking Zool multiple times. In revenge, the dazed ninja yelled with his own attack, spinning in the opposite direction to deflect James' attack hard, forcing sword against wood as the two shook with fury into each other's eyes. Like two pistons tightly trapped against each other's actions, an explosion was imminent as they stared each other down. Eventually they parted, with a blast of fire at the same time into each other. Both James and Zool were forced back by the other's attack, burning fire scorching their fronts hard. As a searing pain started to grow within each other's bodies, they finally ceased, panting heavily at each other. James was covered in cuts, some of which soon started to bleed. Zool was welted with bruises and burn marks on his skin, the first one to speak saying: "Have you...learned your lesson yet...stranger?" "Heh...hhhheh...yeah...have you?" "Well enough. You are...escaping from Meen's lair...correct?" "Yeah...why? You work for him?" "No. I was once a prisoner the same as you. The moment I felt this magic power return within me, I escaped. Are you the ones responsible?" "Yeah, all of us here." "Then I thank you." The ninja nodded humbly, sheathing his blades as James nodded back and did the same replying: "Hey uh, sorry about back there, just...eh, I dunno, I was acting like a dick." "I understand your frustration at having an unsatisfactory fight before I arrived, and for that I am sorry." "Heh...truce?" He offered his hand to shake, the ninja simply doing so in return very tersely. "I'm uh...James. This is Alestes, Sophelie, and Monty." "I am Zool. I apologise again, but I must find my own way." "Huh? W-wait, you don't wanna come with us, maybe we can all help out." "Where are you heading?" "The caves...right?" He looked back towards Monty, who nodded firmly to which Zool shook his head.

"Then I cannot go with you. My path lies elsewhere through this world. Should we ever cross paths again, I hope our next meeting shall be more amicable." "Yeah uh...same here. Heh, you made a hell of a mess on that door when you broke it." "What?" "We saw your jail cell, door's completely smashed in like a fucking hammer wrecked it." "...I did not destroy the door to my cell. I escaped through other means." "...wait, really? ...shit." The others looked rather nervous, as Monty piped up with: "Lissen, ah saw that door, an' uh, you migh' wanna look out fer any real strong guys tha' migh' be wandering aroun', jus' sayin'." "I appreciate the warning," said Zool, "and for that I thank you. I ask that you be careful too. In return, I shall warn you with some advice." "Wussat?" "Do you intend on destroying the sorcerer Meen?" "Damn right," said FG. "Then your lives shall be forfeit. He has become far too powerful to be dealt with alone, perhaps nigh-invincible. He cannot be hurt, nor can he be destroyed." "What?! Are you SERIOUS, how the fuck you know that?!" "I have listened to the guards intently all around me, hiding within walls beside their eyes and ears. They speak of how their master's force is completely impenetrable. His home resides high above within the library." "Library? Where's that?" "The path you are on shall lead you there. Beneath the caves are the catacombs, there you shall find an exit into the hedgerow maze, Meen's personal garden. Once there, navigate through towards the castle and through the laboratory on the higher floors. Once there, ascend towards the library at the far back of his halls of unnatural science. But in order to defeat him, you must obtain two items of great power in order to dispel Meen's force." "And what items are these?" asked Alestes. "That I do not know, but I remember one guard spoke of a very well-hidden wall deep within the catacombs. This guard had seen Meen once hiding there, placing within this wall a book of some sort. That is all I know." "Well...alright then," said FG, "guess that's something better than what we already knew so uh...thanks?" "Good," said Zool. "Now, we must part. My mission lies elsewhere. Take care James." "You too...Zool." Smirking softly, he watched the ninja disappear into the darkness of the sewer walls, fading beyond some unseen entrance that laid through a hidden wall. With no intention of following him, the group set out towards the more obvious exit, more than eager to leave the foetid sewers behind. As they made their way downwards, deactivating the last conduit to which James took a second sigil stone for safekeeping, a thought had occurred to him. Or rather two.

"So how did you know that Zool guy?" asked FG to Alestes. "The Gnorris Gnetwork keeps us well-informed of who we are to each other. We all had a very particular tell in our notes so that only we knew who the other was. No names were used. Zool always marked his notes with a sweet wrapper." "Hah, really?" "Indeed. I am not sure how he obtained those." "Weird...so, this Gnorris guy." "Yes," said Alestes, "he invented the network we use to communicate between prisoners." "Ahh right, so the same guy that Meen was talking about who was trying to defy him, right?" "It appears so." "What's he like?" "We have never actually met him," added Sophelie. "All we know is that he was the one to first inspire us that a day would come, and that our chains of slavery would soon weaken." "Does Meen ever actually DO anything to you guys?" "Occasionally he abuses us," said the owl, "verbally and physically. It feels more a case of possessing us like trophies of his conquest, rather than as actual labour since, as far as I know, none of us have actually been forced to do any actual WORK for him. He considers us beneath even that." "Wow, what an asshole. Seriously, I know I said it before but, what a fucking asshole." "Ah get the feelin' you'll call 'im even worse names," added Monty. "Wurr at the entrance to thuh caves. If it's alrigh' bah you lot, I'd rather lead from now on. No offence to ye, but, underground caves an' such, kinda mah backyard know whut ah mean?" "Heh yeah," said FG in agreement, "that sounds good, you lead the way man." "Alrigh', 'ere we go." Heading further into the depths, the four travellers found the stench of the sewer fading away behind them, thankfully. But soon they would only find themselves facing an even more an offence to their senses. Heading into the caves, dark brown unsculpted walls with grey piercing stalactites, they would not take long before finding the very inhabitants of this subterranean prison. The door closed behind them, the first one to do so since they had made their escape together as it locked with a dark echoing sound of eternal futility, heavy and grating. But the group were not so concerned about it, for what they soon saw immediately before them. Dozens of creatures gazing up at them mournfully. An entire room full of dirt-green hair and ragged blue cloaks covering innocent pink faces, their eyes wide and trusting as the room filled with soft whimpers of fear. "This is it," breathed Monty softly, "this is them." "Wh-who are they?" asked FG. "...the Lemmings."