FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Entry date: 29/04/4423

A week of wandering, scavenging and worrying, alone and afraid Arien finally finds his way to the other side of the fog filled forest; his eyes adjusting now able to see the open sky once again. Before him is a large cobbled road leading east aside the forest. Unaware there was anything, this side of the forest he begins to follow the path hoping it may lead to another village which he can stay, if only for a short while.

The path was long and baron as the sun began to set, unsure of the distance to any kind of civilisation Arien sits down to camp beside the road, removing his cloak to sit upon and taking out what equipment he has in his leather backpack, a small bedroll, a flint and steel, a few pieces of firewood and a few rabbits he managed to hunt in the forest. Lighting the fire and a preparing the rabbits to cook; thinking about his town, still confused on what happened to the dragon. 'Who was the person attacking him?', 'Did that man kill it?', 'What did the dragon mean when it died and asked him to protect something' questions which Arien had no chance to answer, yet he tried to work it out, occasionally forgetting about the rabbit cooking over the. The rabbit while slightly burned sufficed for dinner as Arien sits by the fire watching dusk turn to night and the road to turn dark and cold. The sky lit with the faint tints of stars and the moon; though something wasn't right, squinting into the distance a large silhouette blocking part of the moon. Alerting him that somthing was aroud Arien jumps up grabbing his things and going to investigate.

Dashing quickly to the silhouette, dodging the overhanging braches aside the road; before him appears a clearing beside a lake with gothic bridge leading out to a levitating icy crystal tower that sits out of place above the lake. He can make out a few people standing before the tower; curious himself Arien wanders down the hill towards tower, almost entranced by a hum can be heard breaking the night's silence. Though partially entranced by the glow and hum of the tower Arien sees the people from before being wacked aside by a large giant shaped creature made of crystal, instinctively worried for the safety of the people he runs down to try and help them, dashing across the bridge and jumping over the body of a young man who currently lays face first upon the floor. Pulling back a woman who stands afraid before the creature and shielding her with his body as the golem begins to swing. The golem mid-swing stops its arc and begins to stand upright as if it was to salute Arien. Opening his eyes and seeing the golem no longer attacking looks to his left arm where a rune glows brightly through his clothing; it shines with a soft calming but very unnatural light. Ignoring the rune for the second, Arien turns to the lady who looks very scared but at the same time relieved at him.

"Oh uh sorry. I didn't know this place was yours. Please let me go I won't come back. "The woman stutters clearly very scared at Arien.

"What? No this is not my place, I don't even know where I am" Arien relies

"No no, if it stopped attacking you it must be yours. Don't try to trick me." The lady says panicked while trying to back away.

However before Arien gets the chance to reply a large slender figure walks from the towers entrance past the golem. The figure looks up at the golem, then to Arien.

"Ahh the new number 13, you made my job of finding you easier. Please come inside." The figure speaks softly.

"Is that beast yours? Why did you attack these people?" Arien exclaims in a partially worried tone.

The figure looks at the woman and the man collapsed upon the ground; then with a curiously glace at Arien.

"Yes this golem is mine, however it was set to attack all intruders. It is a time of war for us you know." The figure states with a proud voice.

"War, what do you mean war?" Arien confusingly says.

"What you don't know? It appears the old number 13 didn't leave any information for you... Very well I will explain." The figure gestures for Arien to come inside. "Miss, can you please pick up that man and bring him in?" He says pointing at the man behind them all.

Cautiously Arien and the woman wander into the building, the walls reflecting the light of the glowing rune from his shoulder. The figure lowering his cloak to reveal his pale face, green eyes, pointed ears and golden blond hair, he gestures to a seat on the centre of the room and a bench for the injured. Still unsure Arien sits down across from the man.

The slender man takes a seat while calmly speaking "So how much do you know of the powers you have managed to inherit?"

"Urm not much... I turned into a tiger-ish creature and I have this rune." Arien says gesturing to the glowing rune on his arm.

The man releases a sigh "I see so in that case it is time to work from basics." A brief moment of silence before the man continues. "Oh how incredibly rude of me, I am the late prince Tarslin Evernal the third, the eighth of the covenant." He says giving a polite bow. "Who may you be?"

"Oh my name is Arien"

"Arien, what an interesting name..." Tarslin looks up and down clearly judging Arien for a moment. "Well if I must go over it all from the start, might as well start with the covenant its self." Tarslin moves over to a bookshelf. "You have been granted extraordinary powers you know, far superior to anything that anyone else of your world possesses."

"Of my world..?" Arien curiously replies.

"Yes. There are many worlds similar to this which we wander and protect." He states in a clear voice. "Back to topic; the covenant is a sealed vault inside an alternate world known as Sigil. The covenant is the source of all the guardians' powers, of which there are 13 of us; as previously said I am number 8." Tarslin says with a very proud voice.

"So when you said I was the new number 13 you meant of the guardians?" Arien says trying to keep up with what's going on.

"That is correct; your transformation you spoke of was your bond to the covenant manifesting, however an important note is your powers are very unique... " Tarslin says with a curious but informative tone.

"In which way am I unique, you have powers as well?" Arien says looking around at the floating tower.

"You see my powers are linked to this." Tarslin lifts an amulet to make it visible. "This amulet is a key to the covenant, to be precise the affinity of ice and frost. What makes you unique is unlike the other guardians you do not carry an artifact of power."

Arien looks questioningly at Tarslin.

Tarslin continues "You see the power of the 13th is that of light and life itself the power of creation, a result of this power manifestation is that a creature inherits power into his soul; very different from our powers where instead ours manifests as an object or symbolic focus of power." Tarslin looks almost jealous as he grabs a bottle from a crystalline shelf; before pouring a blue drink into a glass on the table and looking behind Arien.

"What do you desire Arien? Our powers are controlled and maintained by our heart's true desires, if you allow your emotions to get the better of you the powers will manifest wild pure wild intent; you may injure those you hope to protect." Tarslin says with a stern tone.

Arien looks quite nervous at this thought, like this a bad memory slipping into his mind.

Tarslin points to the wounded man behind Arien. "What do you see when you look at him?"

Arien confused turns and replies "A wounded man, he looks in pain..."

Tarslin smirks "Arien follow me" as he walks around the table towards the wounded man. Arien follows nervously but quickly, looking at the man wounded on the bench.

Tarslin speaks slowly and calmly "Breath in and close your eyes, think of what exists before you and what you want to be true. The blood that drips from his wounds to stop, the wounds to close and for him to survive... Keep your eyes closed and breath."

Arien doing as Tarslin says, the clarity of Tarslins words being amplified and magnified. A breath in and a breath back out.

"Arien reach your hand forward, focus on your breath and allow the warmth to flow through to the tip of your fingers."

Arien reaching forward, a wave of warmth and a bright light forming in his mind as an aura of golden energy begins to flow through his veins into the world around him. A tug upon his fingers is felt almost as if a wave of water begins to flow from him, taking this warmth with it; opening his eyes and looking forward as a golden light is seemingly flowing from him into the man on the bench, his wounds closing in the warmth. A look of wonder begins to glow on Arien's surprised face.

As the flow of power stops and Arien retracts his hand looking to Tarslin who simply smiles giving a dismissing gesture to the lady and the now conscious man to leave quickly before returning to the table in the centre of the room and placing a tome down in the centre.

"Arien I recommend you stay here and spend whatever time you have studying this, as I said we are at war, we don't know who by but we must be ready. Of which I will prepare a room for you upstairs, have a good night..." As Tarslin walks upstairs leaving Arien alone in the crystalline tower, the mark on his arm no longer glowing as Tarslin leaves his vicinity. A long road of discovery now begins, to discover how he can possibly use his powers and protect him from whoever may follow...

Tomes of spells, lore of the past, explanation of powers... A torrent of knowledge, confusion and understanding; nights with dusty books and fragile scrolls conveying knowledge that he was unaware. A few weeks passing in what seems like an instant.

_ Entry date: 13/05/4423_

Dawn begins to rise, Arien asleep under a pile of dusty books in his room of the crystalline tower; the door swings open on the far side as Tarslin calls for Arien to awaken before making his way downstairs. Arien lazily rolling over, opening his eyes as he falls off the bed onto the floor; looking upwards at the reflective shards on the ceiling before rising. Arien both tired but clearly more calm than before gets to his feet and walks down the stairs. A large breakfast prepared on the old oaken table yet strangely Tarslin has chosen not to sit and eat but instead his voice can be heard from the unlit basement. Though not wanting to interrupt Arien sits and eats, curious of the spell-binding words he hears from bellow.

Moments later and a large flash through the crystalline floor and a equally impressive smashing sound from the basement is heard. Arien worried jumps from his seat, grabs the spell tome he had been studying and runs downstairs. A large cracked hallway of crystal and a stream of blood run down from ahead. Entering a large shimmering blue gate lies open on the far end, Tarslin hangs skewered by an icicle on the left wall; a large golem of ice and energy standing aggressively at the now hanging body before it turns and begins charging towards Arien.

Arien dashes to the side behind a piece of ice in confusion. The golem raging and returning from its charge, clearly unaffected by the icy surface and swinging towards the ice Arien hides behind. Flicking open the book and searching for something to help before dashing away, slipping on the ice and falling to the floor; unable to move away Arien begins to speak words of power from the tome converting life-force into magical power, "Aklo, Infernus, Solarias, Comporias, Desterus" before reaching his hand out and releasing a bolt of flaming energy at the beast, shattering its chest but not stopping it from charging forward. As the creature swings forward and smashes Arien to the side, a pulse of almost raw emotion, like a panicked heartbeat pulses through him. Hitting the wall, Arien's form changing by combination of choice and emotional from his normal Human form back to the Hybrid that originally manifested; almost filled with a dedication of survival he turns to look but his spell tome that now lays on the other side of the room where he was just hit. Instead of rushing past Arien dives to the side still sliding but now far better at handling the icy floor, ducking under the golems swing and grabbing a sword from the wall. A blow from the golem strikes his left arm cutting deep into the muscle making it limp. Sword in hand and using the wall as a launch point Arien jump up at the beast striking at the already fractured chest, striking the magical core beneith...

A fissure of energy as the creature shatters in a volley of ice and crystal sealing the shimmering gate. Arien rushes to Tarslin who still hangs skewered on a shard of ice, still breathing but heavily bleeding; pulling him down with his still functioning arm. Arien channels his power similar to before into Tarslin with a panic of hope that he will survive; as wound seals shut, the river of blood ends its flow. Tarslin looks upwards at the morphed face in front of him in the dark basement. A sigh of relief as they help each other upstairs, both wounded yet still alive.

The two of them sit down at the table which lays coated in the breakfast Arien was eating minutes ago.

"Tarslin what happened?" Arien questions as he looks on the shelf for some bandages.

"I was preparing the spell to send my tower back to the Sigil but someone trapped my gate, I was unready and a golem formed from my powers..." Tarslin says clearly in pain from the battle. "What about yourself, your arm looks pretty bad."

Arien walks back over, his left arm seemingly in better shape than before as if it has naturally healed with a supernatural speed. "I will be fine..." as Arien clearly concerned, starts bandaging Tarslin's wounded torso. "Why were you moving your tower?" Arien questions as he tightens the bandage.

Tarslin looks up at Arien, "We cannot stay here forever, whoever killed the old 13th will be after both of us... Anyway you need to discover what Sigil is like right?" Tarslin tries to say with a smile while fighting the pain...

Entry date: 17/05/4423

Though wounded Tarslin and Arien spend the next few days preparing again to transport the tower, words of power, runes of chaos and order, mnemonics of magic causing the tower to glow and almost fold the reality around it in the days before.

"Arien you ready to go?"

Arien nods the sword from before on his belt and the tome in his pocket; changed back to his human form, his torn cloak revealing a large purple bruise on his left arm. Arien and Tarslin placing their hands on a large alter, to focus their powers.

A shockwave of otherworldly energy reaping through the lake the tower sits upon, the bridge outside crumbling into magical dust. The tower glowing with an incredible power while a hum echoes through the crystals the tower is made from, as it begins shift through the folds of reality that had been previously formed. A pulse of energy throwing off their sights, making it impossible to see for a few moments before his vision returns to the dim chamber, the light and the rifts were beginning to fade into darkness. An eerie silence filling the frozen tower, little else could be heard than each other's frozen breaths. Curious of this place called Sigil, Arien wanders back up the stairs to the main hall and unlocks the door to the outside of the tower, a wave of cold air blowing past as the door opens.

A large expanse of star lit surroundings and floating crystals of ice and frost. The tower levitating over a vortex of frozen void, a bridge leading from crystal to crystal to a large stone platform with a obelisk in the centre sits before him. Arien looks both amazed and frightened over the alien terrain. Tarslin walks out and looks at his companion amazed by the surroundings.

"This is my section of Sigil, sealed so only I can access it without aid. However in the heart of sigil you will find an access to a section of your own. "

Unable to find words to describe it, Arien stands perplexed by the surroundings. Tarslin directs Arien to follow him round to the obelisk on the frosted isle. The road while exceptionally slippery is traversed perfectly by Tarslin seemingly walking on it like any other surface. Upon reaching the obelisk Tarslin points forwards and touching the frosted stone, a beam of light shooting upwards into the sky creating a vortex of force almost pulling Arien into it before equalising and opening a small corridor though the stone into a large marble hallway, brightly lit and cleanly smelling. Tarslin pointing into the corridor as they both walk through into the finely crafted halls of Sigil, the place feels unnatural but yet a place of perfect balance. Walking to the end of the corridor they look out upon a void in the centre of their view, the void in filled with a large pulsing sphere like that of a heartbeat which flashes red, blue, green, orange, violet and back to red again. A ringed platform orbits around the heart, connected to this platform is a total of 13 tunnels and numerous stairwells that seemingly leading nowhere except when you look straight onto them a new path emerges from the empty space. A stairwell on one side leads upwards towards the heart, though never getting within reach even for a creature the size of a dragon to touch without flying.

_The two explore Sigil, the lore and hidden areas separated by seemingly non-existent tunnels into the void. The world strange but yet very fascinating, Arien begins to learn and studying Sigil retreating to Tarslin's area at night encase something was to happen. A constant pull can be felt like the powers within him being drawn to the nearby heart. _