FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Nick followed the wolf closely; thankfully he had slowed down his quick pace from earlier. His head swirled with questions, dozens of queries that he was fairly positive that would never be answered. Dente's sharp growls and quick pace revealed his mistrust of the human and his anger at being charged with him. Instead of bothering an already irritated wolf, he decided it would be best to quietly follow and try to clear his mind. An endeavor at which he was woefully failing. This entire thing couldn't possibly be a dream anymore, It had to be the real thing. An hour of hiking later and they were standing in a heavily wooded area within sight of the camp. Dente paused in the growing light of the morning, gazing at the diggers getting ready for another day of digging. Nick stood next to him.

"Nick, the world is about to change. You Humans will not be the only dominant species anymore. The Lycans are returning." He said with a small breath. Nick could only think of all the wars that Humans had fought just because someone disagreed with someone else. The idea that there would be a whole other species vying for dominance gave him chills.

"Dente...this isn't something that's going to happen overnight. There will be fighting."

"Oh I know, Nick. Lycans were feared and they still are. We are better fighters." He said with a bolstered pride. Nick didn't know exactly how to explain that there was no possible way that raw, brute force was going to win a war with Humans, so he didn't. He just started toward the camp.

"Oh, Nick! To come back, follow the illuminated path." With those words from the wolf, Nick nodded and trudged through the thick bushes trying to come up with a decent excuse to use in case anyone had noticed he was gone all night. He made his way through the camp and back to his tent.

"Nick!! My boy!! There you are! I've been looking...no we've been looking for you for ages! Where were you?"

Nick turned around to find Drake standing with his hands on his waistband. "Oh hey. I just....just had a bad stomach ache, had to spend some quality time in the forest." Drake chuckled and slapped Nick on the back with an open palm, knocking some of the wind out of him.

"Ha! Oh Nick, the porridge isn't THAT bad." Drake's words brought out another round of laughter. "But seriously, out here a simple stomach ache can mean something bad. Why don't you go see the doctor." Nick started at that, a doctor's visit would include stripping down for the physical, thus revealing of the patch of fur on his arm.

"You know, it's not that bad. I've had worse after having a little too much dairy on multiple occasions. I just needed to shit." He tried to cap it off with laughter but it only came out as fake. "All I need, Drake, is a little time to sleep, didn't get much last night."

Drake shifted to one side and crossed his arms. "Either you were a really quiet sleeper or you were at the hole for an extremely long time this morning." He questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's what I've been told." Nick shrugged and broke away from the conversation, bee-lining for his tent and zipping it up. Only then relaxing in the relative safety of the nylon. It only took a few minutes sitting for the effects of not sleeping for the entire night accompanied by the hour-long hikes through the forest hit him and he snuggled into his sleeping bag, falling asleep even with the loud noises of the dig outside.

The air was crisp and whipped into Nick's face with a harsh sting. He winced and struggled to keep his eyes open. He felt himself moving forward but he wasn't walking; no, he felt like he was flying. Forcing his eyes open Nick looked down and saw nothing but green treetops, gliding over them like a balloon. Even with the wind battering him, there was no sound. Just an endless sea of trees rolling below him. Nick scrambled and fluttered as if he was falling but there was no such sensation. He was just floating, and something was guiding his path. Eventually he calmed down and even the sting of the whipping wind subsided slightly. His eyes looked to the ground and he saw a massive clearing coming up. Flanked on one side by a massive city and then mountains on the other. As he got closer, figures appeared on the ground. A massive horde of black coming from the mountains and an army of silver running toward them from the city. Everything was in fast-forward. The two clashed as Nick slowed to a stop over the lines. He could see fighting. It was almost like watching living action figures fight.

"The Lycans!" Nick gasped as he finally saw what the black horde was, an army of them attacking the city. He watched for several seconds before a defining howl echoed through the land. There was nothing that could have overshadowed it, the ground rumbled at the sound.

"This was Leith." A voice said.

"He was I...I was him." It rumbled again after a few seconds. Then a massive flash caused Nick to cover his eyes. When he opened them a large, imposing figure with a massive spear in one paw dominated the battlefield.

"I stopped the battle that was surely to destroy both races." The voice said. Nick realized it was talking about the large creature standing in the middle of the battlefield. He recognized it as Sumitar, the Lycan God.

"Leith's love was sacrificed to serve as a reminder." He noticed a human girl with a sword piercing her chest. "Once every cycle she will turn a red to serve as a reminder of the bloodshed."

"A harvest moon." Nick whispered. The horizon was overtaken by a massive flash and in the air hung the moon, watching over the world.

"I killed the wicked Human commander." The battle moved quickly and stopped as a Human lay impaled on the large spear in the God's paw.

"I then punished both races for their dabbling in nearly bringing about world's destruction. Lycans were forced to become ferals, mere animals in form, and the Humans lost all of their hard earned knowledge of the world. However, I promised the Lycans I would return them to their former glory."

Suddenly the eyes of the God in the frozen scene before him turned to him. They were outlined in a glowing golden yellow and forced Nick to look away. Chills shuddered up and down his spine.

"And that promise is why I need you now."

With a wave of his paw, the battle was gone and the ground changed. Suddenly, he was following a pack of wolves, generations passing before his eyes. Old and new, the elders teaching the young in the traditions.

"This is the linage. Leith's linage. My linage." It moved through too many generations to count before two cubs were born. Brothers. Ehrin and Dente.

"Ehrin and Dente are Leith's and therefore My kin. Both are on a path of destruction." The world fast-forwarded once again to what seemed like modern times and centered on a small boy crying in a dark room.

"This young boy lost his way in the forest and was taken by Ehrin. If he has his way the relationship between Lycan kind and Human kind will never mend. I know I asked much of you earlier, Human. But this is another task I must put upon you. Save this boy and in doing so you will save an entire race."

Nick was about to turn around and ask how in the world he was supposed to do that but a feeling of cool water splashed in his face and his eyes quickly opened. His breathing was labored and his entire body was covered in a cold sweat. The noises of the dig still penetrated the tent, proving that evening had not yet arrived. But even though he had only slept for a short time, and a tenuous sleep at that, he felt extremely rested.

"How in the world am I supposed to say no to a God?" He sighs, unzipping his sleeping bag and spreading out to cool himself down.

After a change of clothes, Nick unzipped the tent and made his way to the dig site where they were excavating another corner of the so-called temple. His ears now understood the natives complex language and he could hear them joking on how this outsider couldn't handle their food. Nick just scoffed and found Drake on his hands and knees unearthing a couple of artifacts.

"Hey Drake." Nick politely said, standing over Drake with his hands in his pockets.

"Nick! There you are! I was going to tell you before you went off to bed but you left in too much of a hurry. They dated the site. It's......it's beyond our wildest dreams Nick. We were right! It's waaaaaaaaaaay before the Esirah. Like by hundreds if not thousands of years!"

"Only a couple hundred." Nick instinctively said. The knowledge given to him by Sumitar had included when all of these events had occurred.

"What?"

"Oh...Uhhh... I mean I'm sure it's only a couple hundred." Nick tried to correct himself.

"hmmm....well." Drake said looking back to his work. "We've come across some pretty interesting things as well, take a look at this. This area must have been covered from the elements because it's a pretty good impression."

Drake backed up and in the ground was a fossil. The imprint of a large paw, complete with massive claws, easily capable of tearing him apart.

"Looks like a large bear to me." Drake said, but Nick knew he was wrong. Even if he hadn't known that the Lycans had existed, he knew that wolf tracks and bear tracks are different. Drake had never been good at that type of thing.

"No no, that's not a bear that's a canine. Look at the way the pads are arranged and at their impression."

"Damn, those are some huge dogs." Drake laughed.

"Wolves." Nick said once again without thinking. "I mean they were probably wolves. Dogs don't have paws that big."

"You're probably right." Drake mumbled and called out to another person on the digging team in their language to bring some plaster, he wanted to make a mold of it that would be easier to handle. "Thanks for the tip, Nick."

"Yeah, anytime."

Nick backed away from the dig and moved to the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree and staring deep into the forest. No doubt there were probably some wolves keeping an eye on him and his compatriots this very moment, making sure they didn't delve any deeper into the forest. He knew he was going to have to go back tonight, maybe even meet with Ehrin. But did he want to give away he knew about the child? It could be some ammunition for later. He'd have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

The sun started to fall below the horizon and like the nights before, Nick found himself sitting near Drake around a fire and the natives telling stories. The one tonight was one that didn't have anything to do with him so instead of sitting and listening, he told Drake that he was going to retire early. Nick wanted to get at least a couple of hours of sleep in before he had to go trekking through the forest again.

He quickly fell asleep to a dreamless sleep but was awoken by Drake coming to bed sometime later, outside the dim haze of dying fires danced along the tent walls. Drake tried to be as quiet as he could, writing in his journal about the day's events. Nick listened for the click of his lamp and the rhythmic breathing of Drake to grow into snoring before quickly jumping out of his sleeping back and slipping out of the tent.

Nick entered the forest in the same place he had the night before and saw the path that he had followed had been outlined for him by a bright moon. He followed the path for what seemed like a couple hours before he came across the wall of vines that covered the entrance to the ancient city.

"Great...now what to say."

But before he could say anything the sound of growling filled his ears and he turned around to see a female wolf baring her sharp teeth at him.

"Human." She barked. "You have no reason in being here."

"Wait! I...I'm Nick! I've been....I don't know, selected by your God...uhh...Sumitar!" He quickly said.

"That makes no difference to be. Sumitar has forgotten us. Both him and the Mother Wolf abandoned us."

"Hush Arua!" Another voice came out of the forest. It was Ehrin, Dente's brother. He materialized out of the woods with fierce eyes and a bloodthirsty, toothy smile. "Humans are interesting creatures." He said in a surprise. "Designed by a banished God and superior in almost every way to us Lycans."

Nick wasn't quite sure what was going on, Ehrin had never had this attitude before. Just last night he spoke about his hatred for humans. "Look, I'm not out for flattery. Frankly I don't understand why you're saying such things."

As he walked up to Nick, he noticed how giant the wolf was, his ears came up to Nicks chest and it would only take a simple push of his strong body to knock him over and tear any one of his limbs off. A wave of fear swept through him. "Oh, I still don't care for your kind," He snarled. "I'm just acknowledging your status. We lag behind Humans in just about everything. But I want to change that."

Nick couldn't think of anything to say. Ehrin here wanted the same exact thing as Dente and the other wolves.

"But what was all that talk about killing humans." Nick tentatively asked, taking a few tiny steps away from the massive creature.

"You miss understand Human! As you often do. You have knowledge of the Gods!" His growls and eyes grew fierce and his fur stood on end. "Your race can extinguish ours, yet, it can rule it too."

"Rule it?"

"Yes." He calmed down and took a couple steps back. "I'm surprised you haven't realized it yet. You Humans can do almost anything, we've seen massive birds in the sky that create tremendous noise, only could have been your invention. I've seen your race talk to each other while far apart, I've seen also how you can record life on little slips of paper!"

Nick felt a little hesitant. Something wasn't right. Why would he suddenly change his tune and now admire Humans.

"What do you want with me then?"

"Why to introduce me, of course!"

"Introduce? Introduce you to whom?"

"Maybe you're not as smart as I thought." He smirked. "The Human race! Your leaders! Your most intelligent! I want to learn it all!"

Suddenly behind him the forest started to part as the path to the city started to form.

"I don't think I want to do that." Nick backed to the path.

"Fine!" The wolf poked his tail in the air and turned, but right before he entered the forest, he turned and looked Nick right in the eye.

"Good night to you."

Yet he didn't say it in the growls and yips he had been but in the language of the natives. He was speaking in Human tongue. With that he disappeared with the other female into the woods.

The shock froze Nick in place. His feet wouldn't move nor would his mind stop thinking about it. How? Where? Who?

"Nick...Nick!" A cold shock shattered the paralysis. It was Dente with his cold black nose against Nicks arm. "Stop standing in one place and move."

"Oh...Dente, it's you." Some relief swept over him. It was a wolf he could, well...he thought he could, trust more than Ehrin.

"Of course it's me, now move yourself." He pushed on Nick until Nick moved and started down the way towards the city. Once he made it inside though, wolves were not staring him down and there wasn't a massive group to meet him, in fact it seemed as though some were gone.

"Where are all of them?" Nick asked.

"The other Lycans? Out hunting, we only do it at night because it has grown dangerous to do it in the day, every time we would go out a few would not come back. We always assumed it was Humans."

Nick was still fascinated by the architecture of the city and how it had lasted so long but Dente kept pushing him along. They passed through what he thought was the main street and up to the largest structure. It was massive, especially when one considered when it had been built, extremely surprising given what the Lycans were capable of. It was almost thirty feet high and even though riddled with cracks, still seemed sound. Dente pushed him in, where Linth sat between two fires and a couple of other wolves. Nick couldn't exactly make it out but they were probably female.

"Ah, Nick welcome back. I hope your journey back was easy." Nick nodded and the old Lycan got to all fours and moved closer. "So, how?"

Nick cocked his head to one side. "How what?"

Linth chuckled. "How do we return to our former glory? How do we return as the Lycans we once were?"

"Uhh..." Nick obviously had no idea. The God had never told him anything regarding changing back. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Linth looked at him inquisitively. "But you're supposed to know! That's what we've been told."

Nick put up his hands as if defensively pushing everyone back. "Hold it! Back up, tell me exactly what you have been told."

Linth looked at Dente who gave a slight nod, before he took in a small breath. "It has been passed down. Passed down from long before any of us were alive, before our parent's parents were alive. Before this age. It is a simple promise, one I know Sumitar must have told you."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, that one day the Lycans would return."

"The Lycans would return, but to reclaim the land as their own once again and that it would be a Human who was helped by a Lycan. Most of the Lycans believe that it is going to be a descendent of Leith one of the Last Lycans who brought Sumitar to this world."

"You think that I'm that Human?" Nick asked.

All of them looked at him with incredulity. "Why else would the Gods give you such power and the gift of our knowledge?"

Nick's eyes slowly moved to the floor. "I really don't know." He whispered. "I haven't done anything that special."

After a few moments of silence, a small sliver of morning light hit the doorway.

"Oh no." Nick mumbled. He was still about an hour's hike from his camp and there was no way he would be able to fake this one. "I have to go now!" The elder looked slyly at him for just a second before he instructed Dente to accompany him once again to the camp. Nick had already dashed out the building and out of the city but it didn't take long for Dente to over take him.

Nick really wasn't sure how long he had been running, but the entire time he had been thinking of excuses to why he had disappeared for so long and why he wouldn't do it again but when he got within sight of the camp the sound of digging wasn't filling the air, not even the sound of talking, it was eerily quiet.

"No." Nick mumbled. "Dente stay here, I may need your help."

"Help? Help with what?"

"There might have been an attack!"

Nick quietly approached the camp with Dente close behind him, to his relief he heard murmuring throughout the camp and soon he could see all of the camp staff in one crowd over near the dig site.

"Dente, stay out of sight, but stay, if I need you I'll call."

He gave a woof of acknowledgment and Nick slowly walked into the camp and up to the crowd, the sounds of their voices grew louder.

"What could it be?"

"It's the devil!"

"Kill it! Just kill it!"

Nick parted some of the people and made his way through. He pushed through the last couple of people to find Drake staring directly at Ehrin. The wolf was composed, sitting with his tail down in a non aggressive way.

"D...Drake, what happened?" Drake looked over. "Oh Nick you're here. This wolf trotted out of the woods and sat here. Just popped out of nowhere!"

Ehrin saw Nick and smiled. "Hello." He said in the Human tongue. The entire camp took a few steps back and their mouths dropped. This wolf had just said hello!

"My name is Ehrin, what is yours?" Ehrin asked, mainly looking at Drake, who stayed quiet, too stunned to really do anything. Ehrins voice was different, it was smug and he eyed Nick with a look that said 'I beat you to it.'

"Name?" He asked again.

"E...Ehrin." Drake finally began. "Ehrin my name is....is..Drake. I am in control of this dig."

Ehrin's head moved a couple times. "Drake, Drake of the Humans." He said finally getting on his feet and moving closer. "I am Ehrin of the Lycans." Drake took a few steps back but tripped and fell letting Ehrin to get close. Ehrin eyed Drake and to Nick gave a sinister smile, Nick couldn't help it.

"Dente!!!"

With a snarl and bark Dente rushed in and stood his ground next to Nick, his fangs clearly shown and a growl like an earthquake.

Drake looked at Nick, his best friend. "Nick...what is this?"