FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Reunion

Now, we are all caught up with the situation I am in. It's not fun having a wound in your side and being stranded for about 3 days with death knocking at your door. I laid there huddled under a rock as the sun slowly sets. I didn't have enough strength to turn into my wolf or dragon form so I could get back with ease so I was stuck like this. I waited a little bit until the sun was almost gone. I still had some energy left in me to keep moving but I prefer to move around at night. It was much cooler and was easy to travel around.

Night time came around and I crawled out from underneath the rocks and started to make my move. Luckily, the bleeding had stopped a couple of days ago or else I would've been dead of blood loss. I had to keep pressing on. I went through worse case scenarios than this so this had to be a cakewalk for me. All that was remaining were the footprints I was leaving in the sand behind me. I wanted to believe I was getting somewhere with each step I was taking. I had to stop even other often to rest for a second and then I would continue on. There was no telling if I would get out of this desert or not.

When I was trudging up a hill I collapsed again in the sand. I was very tired and exhausted. I had nothing to satiate me. There was no food or water. There wasn't a small rabbit or an oasis or anything. I tried to move my arms to make me get up but I could not move an inch. I didn't want to die like this. I looked up to see how much sand there was left until something really caught my eye: I saw what looked like a village. Finally! There was salvation! I was going to live.

I gathered what little strength I had left in me and rose up to my feet and ran toward the village, hoping it wasn't a mirage. I got closer and closer and then I gasped. The village was abandoned. What happened here? The whole town was in ruins. There was no sign of life anywhere. All I could see in the sands were skulls and some bones here and there. I just so happen to come across a fountain and it had water in it. I rushed over to it and dove my face right in. I'd admit it wasn't the smartest move but I was really desperate and thirsty. It wasn't fresh but I ignored it and drunk what I could. I had a bit more energy to keep going...for the time being anyway.

Food wasn't really an issue for me. I could go a few more days without eating, but it wouldn't hurt to have something in my stomach. With some of my strength back, I walked around this destroyed village. I didn't even know that a village like this was even here, especially in the middle of the desert. But...something strange was happening... I was feeling déjà vu. It felt like I was here before...for a weird reason it seemed so familiar. I don't know how though. I never heard of this place.

I found myself what seemed like the center of the village. There were some voices coming from behind some buildings. I started to walk toward the voices and I didn't like what I saw. There were a couple of Masked Eagles walking around with weapons in hand. What the hell were they doing here? This didn't make any sense. I had to figure this out. I decided to follow them around a little. They led me to another opening like the center of the village where more Masked Eagles were gathered. Now, I can figure out why they were here.

"Report," I heard one of them say. I saw a much taller Masked Eagle walk out from the rest of the group. He must be in charge of this little parade.

"These walls are all collapsed, sir," one of the smaller squires replied. "We were unable to find any entrance to the underground ruins. They're completely sealed off."

"Typical. Just when we thought we were on something, we come across yet another dead end. The King isn't going to like this. We must keep looking for a way in. We must find one so that we can learn anything about the assassins' secrets. Once we do, we may use them to our advantage against the Hawk Warriors."

There're secret ruins here about assassins? I have never heard of that. It must've been kept a secret for a reason. Now, the Masked Eagles want to get their greedy claws on them so they could abuse those secrets and try to destroy us. I must not let that happen.

"But, sir," I heard the other squire speak up, "we don't even know where to really begin. We've just been scattered about and just been wandering around this crappy place aimlessly. Shouldn't we research this more and come back with more information?"

"You try telling that to the King, runt. If you want high-tail it out of here and come back empty handed and be severely punished with no prior information to help us finally defeat the Hawk Warriors, then be my guest. We'd rather come back with at least something than nothing at all. So, I'd advise you to keep your trap shut if you know what's good for you, cadet!"

He looked down to the ground in fear and slowly nodded.

"Y-Yes...s-sorry, sir."

So, their King is after the secrets of these assassins. That settles it. They had to be stopped no matter what. It was now time to strike. I crept out from behind one of the buildings and decided to try to take them down one by one if I could. I managed to get behind one and covered his mouth with my hand so that his screams couldn't be heard and shoved my sword through his stomach. His body went limp after a few seconds and I tossed his body on the ground. After that, I moved on to the next Eagle and did the same to him. I'm surprised that nobody was even noticing what was going on immediately. It was only after 5 or 6 bodies that somebody finally noticed me.

"What the...?! Guil is here?! How is he alive?!" I heard one of the Eagles screamed.

"It doesn't matter!" Their captain said. "Take him out now! Open fire!!"

Everybody had directed their attention toward me and started firing. I quickly lunged behind some pillars. There were still a lot of them so I don't think it was going to let up anytime soon. I was pinned down. I didn't have a gun of my own because I lost mine in the wreckage. All I had was my sword. I had little means to defend myself. I also couldn't move around much because I was surrounded. I had to think of something and I had to do it fast.

What seemed like an endless torrent of bullets soon led up to screams of pain. Something was happening. I peeked out from behind the pillar and I saw some hooded figures cutting through the Masked Eagles with swords of their own like they were made of paper. They were moving too quick for the bullets to even hit them. A few moments later, the shooting had completely stopped and the three hooded figures were standing in the middle of the bodies of the Eagles. Who were these hooded guys that just saved my life?

I slowly crept from behind the pillar but I was still ready to draw my sword out in case they tried to pull a fast one on me. They turned their attention to me and they slowly put their weapons away.

"Are you alright, kid?" I heard one of them say. That voice sounded familiar.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied. "Thank you... Your voice sounds really familiar..."

"It should." He reached up to his hood and flipped it back. I nearly gasped from what I saw. It was Sly.

"S-Sly?! Is that you?" I was completely taken back by this. I soon saw the other two take their hoods off. It was just as I thought. It was Shadow and Python. They looked a little older and they all smiled at me. I couldn't believe it. The first friends I ever made were in front of my eyes once again.

"It's been a while, eh Guil?" Python said to me with a smirk.

"You sure did get bigger since the last time we saw you," said Shadow. "You were only up to our knees when we last saw you. How long's it been?"

"It's been...nearly 9 years since I last saw you three," I responded still in shock from them just showing up after not seeing them for a long time.

"That's an interesting outfit you have on now," Sly said pointing to my Captain uniform. "I take it you managed to join the Hawk Warriors?"

I nodded.

"Yes. I managed to make Captain after a couple of short years. Shadow saw a lot of potential in me."

"Shadow, eh? So he's been training you, has he?"

"Indeed. I take it his name rings a bell to you?"

"It should. He is my brother, after all."

Now that came as a surprise to me. He never mentioned that he had a brother.

"Wow, I never knew that..."

"Figured. Shadow doesn't really speak of his family much due to all the harshness we all went through. Come with us. We'll explain more at our camp."

I nodded again and followed them out of the village. This was just...awesome. My three good friends who I deemed as brothers long ago have returned on this very day. I couldn't be any more excited. It was good to see my old friends again.