FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A week before CNY3, I turned up early at Central, say about half past four, and walked the empty corridors, until I came to the great hall. It was deserted, save for a solitary glower. It was sitting on the dais, well, it bent around the dais, so I suppose it was sitting, and pulsed gently. The lights were off, and the only light was from the glower, a weird eerie glow that bounced off every wall. I walked in quietly, trying to keep my pack as quiet as possibly.

I sat at a table, not five yards from the silent glower. The hypnotic light it produced were not bright, but neither was it that dim. I sat there in rapt contemplation of many things, in complete silence, and after five minutes, the glower spoke slowly, and in a very tired voice.

"Alduin, I would I had your alert senses. Not nigh on five o'clock, and you are dead awake and prepared for exploring."

"You are tired then, Glower?"

"Just because we have nothing you would call a body doesn't mean we don't suffer the same things. Sleep, hunger, sickness." the way he said the last one made me stand up, and look worried at the motionless glower.

"Don't tell me you're ill!" I looked in slight panic, how was I going to cure a glower, but the glower chuckled.

"I am, Alduin. I am weak and weary. I cannot sleep, have no appetite, and barely have the strength to stand."

"But, glower, is there no medicines that could cure you of this disease?" I remained concerned. The glower pulsed once.

"Arachno does not possess a potion that would make a glower better, there is none in the known galaxy that knows how we become ill and get better, only that it is done."

"My condolences, glower. I hope it won't be long." I gave a slight bow. The glower pulsed gently at me.

"Thank you, Alduin. These periods of illness are few, and don't last long, no more than a week, but I want to be rid of it."

"Is anyone else aware you have this disease?" I asked.

The glower pulsed once in almost merriment." Alduin, do I look any different?"

"I can't even tell you apart."

"Exactly, no one is possibly aware of me being ill, save other glowers. I merely have to be limping painfully down the corridor, and they think I am in meditation."

The glower paused, and continued."Although you are not to blame. You do not have the privilege to see things the way we do. You see a piece of steel, and see it as just that. We see it as bits and pieces, threads, molecules, chains. This is why it is so easy for us to rearrange the structure of basic materials, because we can see how they are formed up, and use our power to change them. This same ability is how we tell each other apart. We do not even have eyes, we just sense, and we sense how everything is, and we can minutely examine things."

"Really?" I asked, lost in my curiosity.

"Indeed. For example, you have a small freckle on the left side of your chest, I know this because I can sense through your clothes. You can see threads, I can see gaping holes. You might as well be naked.Your bag is likewise a sieve to our senses."

Bad mental image. These glowers could see right through heavy fabric?

"Is it this power that made you capable of vaporising Drason's minions?"

"Not me, I wasn't there, but any glower knows that anger is very powerful. Used in certain ways, even humans and normal creatures perform better when angry. When Grant got injured, for example, you became so enraged that you flew better, and struck so much more accurately. We don't have our body to do that. Instead we merely channel our anger into a pure burst of energy. Likewise when we use our power to hold and levitate things, it's our emotions and feelings."

"You sense everything so easily?"

"You see a leaf, what do you see?"

"I see a leaf, a small green flat organic leaf, with veins running across it."

"Exactly. Now what we see is a leaf, but also a moving, growing chain of organisms in itself. When attached to the tree, it's supply of 'blood' is pumped very slowly through those veins.We can feel it grow and prosper, and it's every movement. When it's unattached, we see it lose that supply that keeps it green, and we can watch as every cell and DNA strand retreats into the centre as it cannot support the outer sections of the leaf. It is like the slow death of an animal."

"Can you then see me as an X-Ray, for surely we are not much more of a wall?" the glower made a sigh.

"You insist on seeing things by ways that creatures have discovered. I look at you, and without thinking I can sense you as you are. But when I concentrate, I can see each individual hair on you shift. I can see your blood pump through your veins, your bones growing, your muscles straining. To see someone lift something heavy, it is like watching a symphony of colour, everything working in perfect harmony."

He was right, I couldn't even begin to imagine the firey sense he possessed with my mere mind. I saw objects, he saw them down to the very building blocks that make them. I would see a steel pillar, he would see millions upon trillions of tiny steel molecules, and gently rearrange the chemical structure with ease.

The glower slowly got to it's vertical hover, it appeared to have finished speaking.

"You are strange, Alduin. No one I know has ever asked about our sight, although many have wondered how we have these powers. You are curious.It is a great pity you will never under stand fully."

The glower hovered gently out, leaving me in a state of utter disbelief. He knew me for what I was, listening to him then had made me feel like I was a naked child in front of a god. He knew I was, and how I was. Without the merest effort, he could have me do his merest whim, and he knew everything about me, and I felt...so...

"Alduin!Wake up! What happened?" Draco chucked a hand ful of water over me. It had possibly been cold, but that was before he cupped it in his hands. I looked up, I was lying beside my gear, on the floor, and a very concerned dragon was crouched over me. He looked relieved when I opened my eyes, and I sat up, holding my head.There was no one else there, except Silverine, and the Lupogriff was sitting on the bench beside my pack.

"Draco? What happened to me?"

"I was rather hoping you could tell us that." the dragon replied."We found you comaed on the floor, and thought you had suffered a stroke."

I felt confused, but managed to find my voice to explain the story.

"The glower that was in here, we talked. He explained so many things, Draco, how he sees things."

Silverine looked interested, leaning down over me.

"Really?"

I managed a nervous giggle."He sees all of us naked, he sees material as DNA and molecules to be moved about at will, all at his command. He compared my dull sight of a leaf to his. They know all, and are all." Draco smiled at my inability to explain truly.

"And then what?"

"He left and, and, I just, then you , I just woke up."

Silverine looked completely impassive. Draco smiled.

"You, my young child, have been meddling with a power of which you are not capable to fully understand. You are trying to understand how the glowers work, something no creature would be able to do and remain sane." Silverine looked away, but the dragon didn't spot this.

"Have you ever wondered?"I asked. Draco's smile got wider.

"Alduin, we all want to know how the glowers do what they can.No one can really be prepared for the answer though."

"I know as much that glower is ill, he told me."

"A glower, ill?" Both Lupogriff and adult dragon looked alarmed, and shot each other glances.Draco spoke,"I didn't know they were capable of sickness."

"I've seen one sleep."Silverine admitted,"And they definitely hunger and tire, but not one of them has ever told me they were unwell.What can we do?"

"What can we do?" Draco repeated," Silverine, they are on a different plain to us."

"There is no cure we could design for a glower, he said so." I added.

"Well, this is a pretty kettle of fish." The Lupogriff stood up, and walked towards the entrance. "Not that it makes much difference, but we never knew it was possible."

"And it shall stay that way." Draco replied."We shall keep it between the three of us. We don't want the rest of the scouts feeling alarmed because a glower has a cold.No one is more surprised than me, but this is not a truly worrying thing. There is more than one glower."

"Yes, but how do we know only one is unwell?"

"They do." I said, getting to my feet."They recognise each other easily, know how they all are. He is the only one."

This rather dramatic episode finished, we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Salbar, Javid, Simba and Blake arrived one by one, and they were all cheerful. I had had breakfast, as had they , and Silverine bid me farewell as I went off on my recon.

I arrived, and looked around. The sky was dark, and lightning stabbed at the ground like an erratic assassin. Thunder boomed constant, but there was no rain. The temperature was stifling, and I saw why very quickly.

I was on the side of a volcano that was belching lava. True I was on one of the higher parts, but the lava flowed down the volcano either side of my vantage point, I was standing on a large island. It was slow moving lava, but the rivulets were fairly wide, I would not be able to jump them. I looked both ways, and tossed the scanner over the lava and onto the opposite bank by about fifteen yards.

"It's absolutely roasting here, but no signs of sulphurous or other toxic gas, so we can breathe easy. Come on over." I said into my mike, just as I was aware of a disturbance in the lava not three feet away from me. I looked into the lava, keeping my distance, and there seemed to be a discrepancy, one part of it was travelling slowly, as if running into something as it passed over. As I looked, the domed head of some creature rose out of the lava.

It was a dragon, except no dragon I knew could live in lava. The dragon was apparently standing on the bottom of the river, and his head a foot above the surface. He must have been fried! His hands reached out for the bank, and I backed slightly as he hauled himself onto the solid volcanic rock. He stood fairly tall, I didn't make much measurement, and looked at me in slight suspicion and confusion. Steam rose off him, and small bits of lava that were refusing to budge hissed on his plates.

"Who are you?" it asked, in a growling voice. There was a corresponding bang in my headset as my friends teleported, and I, in my bionic form, prayed the dragon was blessed with enough patience that my friends could arrive before he started an attack.

"I, am Alduin, I am an explorer."

"Do you not know this place is guarded by three of us, and none can enter?" the dragon growled softly.

"Help." I said in Centralite, taking a step backwards, and then continued to the dragon.

"Dragon, I did not know, I am not of this planet. Now can you stop intimidating me before I do something stupid?"

The dragon paused, and looked critically at me, as there was a bang across the lava behind him, and he turned like a viper to look at the new arrivals.

I couldn't tell, I hadn't a full frontal view, but he might have softened when he saw Salbar and Draco.

"These are my friends." I began, and the dragon weighed up his options, and then dived into the molten lava without a second thought. I looked into the boiling melted rock, and then at Draco, who had seen it also.

"That was a dragon, Draco, except not even Devlin could do that."

"I couldn't." Draco nodded,"But it is possible the dragons here are capable of withstanding intense heat, just like he is capable of radiating it."

"Well, that Lava dragon is going somewhere." Simba drew out a scanner, and started running up the lava. The submerged dragon must have been going like the devil, and I changed into my Raptor form to get off the island, flying down the mountain side, and then back up. As I passed over the top, I saw something incredible.

The volcano was a conical one, but all the lava went down the side we were on, due to the way the volcano was shaped lower on one side. On the other side was a huge amount of snow, almost down to ground level, and ice covered everything. And between the two, near the top, was a building. A lava stream ran right past it on one side, and on the other side was about a million tons of snow. It was a reasonably large house, and I landed on the snow next to the house.

I changed into my bionic form, and walked through the almost waist deep snow towards the house.I drew my scanner, searching for life around the house, and was thus in time to see a large dot converge on me. I drew my blaster, and fell backwards as the ground erupted a pure white dragon. It made to lunge, and then saw the weapon I was holding, and stopped.

"Sunrise! We have...."

"That's what I saw!" the first growling voice said, and I turned to look at the door to the house. The lava dragon was standing in the doorway next to a perfectly normal looking human, who was looking at me in interest.

"Stop pointing that at Hinori, thank you." the human said firmly. I put my phaser back in it's holster, and with one hand steadying my RPG, waded through the snow towards the house. The ice dragon walked behind me, and I extended a hand to the human.

"My name is Alduin, and I guess you are Sunrise." I said. The human shook my hand, taking in my figure.

"I am, Alduin. Hinori is the ice dragon you just threatened, and Runo is the lave dragon behind me."

"Er, sorry, I didn't expect him to burst out of the ice like that." I nodded at Hinori, who rolled his eyes.

"But where are the others?" Sunrise asked softly. I shrugged.

"Following Runo's trail, last time I checked. I just flew ahead."

"So what is your purpose here?" Runo asked roughly. I folded my arms.

"Runo, stop speaking to me in that tone of voice."

"He has a valid point though." Hinori replied, in a voice as calm and soft as his brother's was rough. Hinori seemed to be a very delicate dragon, the way he acted and moved, where as Runo was the complete opposite, much like Draco.

"Well, gentlemen, my purpose here is as an explorer. I come from a galaxy a thousand light-years from here, and the rest of my team got left behind when I flew ahead. I originally landed where I did, because this is a new planet, we had never explored it before."

"It always sounds so strange coming from someone else." Sunrise said softly. He turned back inside, and continued."Well, come in."

Runo began to protest." But Sun..."

Sunrise didn't even look around, but his voice changed." Runo, are you arguing with me?" I mentally started counting.

"No, Sun." Runo looked down.Three seconds. I shot a glimpse at Hinori, who gave me a look in return that quite clearly said.

"Don't go there." and I didn't.Hinori entered, giving Runo a very wide berth, and I knew that it was the immense heat Runo had been in, not that the lava dragon radiated heat. I could still feel myself getting a slight tan from the drying lava on Runo's scales.He was very nicely dressed, no I tell a lie, he wasn't dressed at all, just Sunrise was. That was strange, what did two dragons, one ice, one lava, and a human have on a volcano?

There was a loud knock on the door.

"Alduin, they better not be hurting you, otherwise we'll blast this door down."

"Hmm, their scanner recognises you." Sunrise smiled at me, and walked over to the door. Not one of the party had their weapons out. Not that that made much difference with the dragons, they had a weapon a deep breath away. Hinori blew out a small jet of ice in interest, aimed downwards, and I came forward to Blake, who with Draco and Simba were standing in front.

"I'm alive, Blake. Simba, have you seen the other side of the mountain?"

"I have, completely extraordinary." the lion replied. We spoke in the language Sunrise and the two dragons were accustomed to. Unless we had to, like with the raptors, we spoke in the native tongue and this went down well with the three.

"So you explore from another world, do you?" Sunrise sat down on a very comfortable looking chair. Runo sat in a very hard looking chair that had obviously been made to survive him sitting in it after a swim in molten lava. Hinori sat opposite to Runo, at Sunrise's other shoulder, and while there was the couch, only three could sit on it, and that was Simba, Salbar and Blake. I leaned on the back of the couch next to Blake, Javid had both his hands on the back of the couch directly behind Simba, and Draco had pulled up the comfiest bit of floor he could find.

"You don't seem particularly surprised by it." Draco replied,"Although you were surprised by Alduin?"

"Have you seen the size of the rocket launcher he's carrying?"

"Do you know how hard it is to get one of these?" I looked incredified,"Someone tried to kill me with it, I took it off him.But that's by the by, yes, I am sorry for turning up right next to you Runo."

"This method of transportation, can it be set to a certain place?"

"It can, but because this is an undiscovered planet, we just went for a random spot and prayed for the best."

"Well, we're the best of the best.I used to do a little exploration myself, before one or two things happened." his tone was trying to be nonchalant, but I would sooner dive into the lava outside than ask exactly what happened.Runo, having heard this before and having taken up a contradictory position to Sun on the subject, did speak.

"Sun, it wasn't your fault, it was the blasted warlock..."

"Runo!" Sunrise rose from his chair, shouting at the lava dragon.Despite being big enough to bench press the human, Runo shuffled back on his chair in fright.

"Sunrise!" I shouted even more loudly, and the human turned, glaring at me,"could we refrain from an argument, right now?"

Sunrise turned back to the dragon, and muttered something in a draconic language, unaware the translator could pick it up.

"We don't mention that with others in the house, clear!" he hissed. Runo nodded, and looked slightly more relieved that Sunrise turned back to us, and sat down.

"So Sunrise, what powers do you possess?" Javid asked innocently.

"What makes you think I'm capable of anything?" the human asked, looking wary.

"Well, for a start you may be human, but I'm getting the feeling not completely human."

"And secondly I've been checking up on how magical you three are, and I reckon you'd be almost as good as Winslo." Simba added, tapping a device gently.

Sunrise looked down at himself, and then at the other two.

"You have some strange devices on you, "he said slowly. I was aware the human was wearing quite tall boots, and ran an X-ray through him. Five seconds later, I almost nodded from satisfaction, there were twin daggers in his boots.

"We do, and we know you are quite magical." Javid agreed.

Sunrise thought briefly."We three are not welcome around the cities of this world, due to my defence of the special dragons as people call them.Lava dragons of note aren't actually allowed certain things, and my attempts to change them resulted in exile.But we set up here, using our skills with various branches of magic to set up wards around the lower levels of the mountain."

"Our teleporters must have ignored them completely."Simba shrugged, looking slightly apologetic,"But what is your special power, you have something, otherwise these two wouldn't back down every time you got angry."

Sunrise laughed, Runo shuffled, but Hinori smiled."You can't blame us. We are magical, yes, but Sunrise is...well, has one special trick."

Sunrise closed his eyes, and his body reformed entirely.He grew taller, broader, and sprouted wings and a tail.His body hardened into scales, and his head became reptilian. No wonder he scared the other two dragons, he was a dragon as well.

The black dragon lay back at ease, and Draco smiled.

"I thought as much."

"I wish I was capable of doing that." I sighed outwardly, and Draco laughed, Hinori chuckled.

"Dragons do have their weaknesses, Alduin."

"Yes, but you have a lot more strong points too." I shot back,"You have weapons on you, me, I have to carry them."

"Yours are cooler." Runo said, running a glance up and down the RPG across my shoulder.I briefly looked around with X-Ray.

"Well I can see a rifle and grenades in here, Sunrise has daggers, and a pair of staffs."

The dragons flinched."Apparently technology can't stop advancing." Sunrise rubbed a boot.

"Those glasses have X-ray vision built into them?" Hinori asked.

"Along with thermo, night vision and recording." Draco nodded, taking his pair off and cleaning it when a gentle jet of fire and a piece of cloth.

"We prefer to have the backup of physical weapons, magical resistance is not hard to come by. Magical weapons are the best of both." Hinori admitted.

"But still, coolest weapon here is the rocket launcher Alduin has."

"Coolest weapon is the solinium nuke in my backpack." I replied. Yes, Covington had made another, the damn thing was just as big and heavy, and just as destructive. Everyone looked at me, except Javid, who looked away.

"Remind me to have a word with Covington." Draco said, as I pulled out the bomb. It was designed for me to carry, so was only arm's length and weighed about fifty kilograms, but as we had demonstrated, immensely powerful.

"No point, he's devoted himself to Alduin's cause." Javid replied." The solinium nuke is surprisingly easy to make, and Covington is in a unique position where he can design this sort of thing without complaint.Besides, he wants his friends to have a boost on the battlefield."

The radioactive symbol blazed in stark contrast to the smooth blackness of this bomb. It was a lurid green, like toxic waste, and I put it away safely in my bag, securing to the side with a couple of clips so it didn't get knocked.Of course it wasn't live, but I didn't like the idea of it loose in my backpack. Draco shivered as he got a last look.

"You scare me, Alduin." he said, and Runo had to ask what it was. Javid replied by setting down a projector in the middle of the room and treating us to a replay of the explosion. The three watched, and Runo commented.

"That is a boost." he smiled. Draco looked at him as though he was insane.

"In the hands of that human? I think the lava's burnt a couple of your brain cells." he declared.

Sunrise laughed." Runo likes powerful things, among other things."

"I can guess those other things." I looked upwards. Blake wheezed with laughter.

"Why do you always jump to the sexual option?"

"Because with dragons I'm usually right!"

"Fair enough." Hinori said softly,"Runo is the most dominating dragon here."

Uh-oh. Draco and Runo, I'm worried now.Draco looked hard at the Lava Dragon, and the lava dragon caught the gaze. They said nothing, but there appeared to be some kind of mental message being relayed. Javid whistled innocently, and sidestepped outside. Salbar stretched, and followed. Hinori turned and walked to the other door into the snow. I yawned.

"I think I need to stretch my legs." I walked after Hinori. Sunrise was looking at the sudden evacuation with more than a little amusement, and Blake was trying to suppress laughter behind his furry hand.

I shut the door after me, and walked over to where the dragon was sitting comfortably in the snow. I sat down beside him.

"Sorry about drawing my phaser, I didn't know what was coming towards me."

"So when were you aware?"

"About five seconds before you leapt out, Hinori."

"Ah, your X-ray?"

"Sort of." I nodded. There came a crash behind me, and the house rocked.

"Why am I not surprised in the least, Hinori?" I asked.

"Draco sounds a lot like Runo, and Runo's never been one to resist a challenge. I just hope they mind the furniture." There was a thump as one side rocked alarmingly. Hinori was suddenly aware Sunrise had not followed, and looked away.

"Is there something wrong, Hinori?"

"It's, well, I'm sort of shy by myself." the dragon appeared to blush, and looked into the snow towards the summit.

Almost eight feet of scaly destructive ice dragon, and he's shy of company without Sunrise? Oh well, can't fault him there.

"Don't worry, Hinori, I'm as laid back as they come. So what's the story?"

"Oh, that?"There was the ping of something breaking," Sunrise would never let me tell you, he would be very angry, only he decides who to tell about what happened. All you need to know is he went through a very nasty event, and he's never forgiven himself."

Bang, bang, bang.

"Who do you think's winning?" I asked,"I daren't interlink in case I see something I can't stomach."

"Runo's strong, and very dominant, but I can see Draco's no slouch."

"He only allows two people his ass, but he'll fuck anyone who he fancies." I replied.

"Yeah, we've got him to submit to us, working together, and Sun could take him on by himself in his dragon form and possibly win, but Runo is the same.Who did it to Draco?"

"Devlin, he's a Hellfire dragon who radiates heat almost as powerful as the lava." I sighed, missing the Hellfire in question.

"I would be scared of him." Hinori looked away,"the power and heat he emanates, I am an ice dragon, I feel so weak near heat."

"Yes, we've seen the same before. But we know that too, a Hellfire would keep his distance."

"Who was the other?"

"I was." Hinori looked at me.

"Was he ill on that day?" he asked, dead serious. I laughed anyway.

"He exhausted himself raping me, and I took advantage of it." I replied, shrugging.

There was a very noticeable bang.

"Although Runo would not resort to magic, there's no fairness in that on a non magical creature, so he's fine there." Hinori added as an afterthought.

There was a loud rumble, and Hinori looked up at the mountain.

"That was NOT one of them!" he shouted, getting up and running to the house.

As he did, he started shouting,"Sunrise, Sunrise, the volcano!" I looked up at the peak, and felt another rumble. Hinori pushed open the door, and shouted.

"The volcano's erupting, Sunrise!"

There was a crash, and Sunrise and Hinori went out my door, and the others out the other, heading up the hill. I followed, feeling a third tremor.

"How often does this happen?" I shouted to the black dragon.

"Once or twice a year." Sunrise shouted back, and he started preparing spells. Hinori and Runo were doing the same.

I felt a heavy tremor, and saw smoke belching thick and heavy.

"Oh shi..." I said, before the eruption deafened all of us and stopped the sentence in almost completion.

This was probably a good thing.