FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The blood-red sky stretched from horizon to horizon.

Unearthly wailing filled the air.

The very rock of the mountain groaned as if it was suffering an unbearable torment.

The house around us was in ruins.

Then, with not even a whisper, everything was back to normal, with the deep azure sky above us, and the sun shining with joy. The birds sang playfully in the trees, and the wind blew soothingly across my fur.

I turned to the others, and noticed their expressions.

"You saw it too?" I asked.

"Chloe," Mitch began hesitantly, "Have you seen something like this before? 'Cause you don't seem surprised or anything,"

I sighed.

"Yes, I have, before we came back from that hell-hole..."

I trailed off, noticing that there was something very odd going on here.

Everything shifted, and the house was back in ruins. And I was alone.

I reached over my shoulders, and drew both my swords, wary of any attack.

I heard a soft whump behind me, and turned around to find a strange creature sitting on part of a ruined wall behind me.

It was roughly the size of an imp, and had a reassuring smile on her face.

"It's alright," she said in a strangely echoing voice, "You're safe, now,"

"Where am I?" I demanded.

"You are right here," she replied.

"Alright then, who are you?"

"I am me," she answered, infuriatingly.

I growled, angry that this little creature wouldn't give me a straight answer.

"I am also you,"

I gave it a confused glance.

"I am, what you could call, your inner self. Your voice of reason. Your conscience,"

This confused me even more.

She sighed.

"I see I am going to have to explain this from the very start,"

She motioned for me to sit, and I did, still wary of this strange, little creature.

Nevertheless, I sheathed my swords, as a sign of trust.

"Let me see, where to begin?"

She paused for a second, thinking.

"As I said earlier, I am your inner self. Many people know of the story that united our two races, but none realise its true meaning, but I do, and so do you,"

"Huh? I've never heard any story like that," I replied, even more confused, but no longer angry.

"Tell me, do you remember the story of the White Rose?"

The look of scepticism on my face gave her all the answer she needed.

"Now, remember the part, near the end?" it asked.

"Umm, that's where the hero absorbs some glowing, mystic orb of light, changes, and uses his new-found powers to rid the land of a terrible evil, wasn't it?"

"Correct, and do you know how long ago that was?"

I shook my head, not knowing where this was going.

"Exactly ten millennia ago,"

There was a brief silence.

"So, what does this have to do with everything?" I asked.

She gave me a weird look, as if she was looking into my very soul.

"What that story doesn't mention, is that the hero in question didn't actually die,"

"Wait a sec, he threw himself into a volcano, didn't he?"

"Yes, but while his body may have died, his spirit didn't, and it lived on in his male descendants, never emerging, unless in times of great peril, in which he would fight alongside the descendant. Also, the spirit that inhabited him also survived, and as an exact antithesis as him, lived on in his female descendants. She also only emerged in times of great peril, and, curiously, they always inhabited brother and sister, so they could always live together. So close was their original bonding, they couldn't be apart from each other. In time, the bond between the spirit and the host became so close, to talk of one, was to talk of the other as well,"

"So, what does this have to do with anything?"

The creature giggled.

"I am that spirit,"

I was silent for a minute, then realisation hit, and with it, a whole heap of confusion.

"When I first saw you, I knew immediately that you were destined for great things, and I knew that a devastating future awaited you, so I joined with you. You remember, right?"

I didn't know what she was talking about, until I remembered a day, what felt hundreds of years ago (which it probably was), sitting on a bluff, high over the ocean below, at dawn. A glowing sphere of light approached me, and merged with me.

I looked down, and saw a glowing circle appear on my chest.

"I have also fought alongside you, once or twice,"

"Huh?"

"You know when Might Dragon killed Mark and Hope, and you turned into fire? We were closer than ever, then..."

I looked closely at the creature in front of me, not sure if it was telling the truth or what.

"So, what should I call you?" I asked.

"My name is Freyja," she replied

"And where exactly are we?"

Freyja looked around.

"I don't know, where are we?"

I also looked around.

"It's my house, but, it's been destroyed,"

Freyja nodded.

"We are in the Shadow Realm, a corrupted mirror of our dimension. There is no place of greater evil than here, and no place more terrifying. And it is here that is tearing the universe apart. It is breaking through in places, and if allowed to continue, it will rip the universe apart, taking every other dimension with it,"

"So what should I do?"

She looked at me with kind eyes.

"You see, there is nothing that can be done, not now anyway,"

I looked at her, confused.

Freyja sighed.

"I cannot exist within you here, and I have been forced out. I won't be able to join with you, while you're here. And you'll need my help to stop this problem spreading, or we're all doomed,"

"But, what if I leave? Would you be able to merge with me again?"

Freyja sighed again.

"I honestly don't know. But we have to get out of here,"

My ears perked up.

"Well, that's easily done!"

I concentrated hard on making a portal back to my dimension.

When nothing happened, I shook my head, and tried again.

"Your powers don't work here,"

I glanced over to Freyja.

"Whaddya mean, my powers won't work here?"

"This dimension is pure evil, a nightmare. And like a nightmare, it preys on your worst fears,"

I decided to go exploring, sorta disturbed by the ruins of my house, when I noticed an odd blue glow coming from behind a ruined wall.

I ran towards it, to find Mitch, Krystal, Eifie and Sally standing around the portal, all looking around in amazement.

Mitch took one look at me, and rushed forwards, engulfing me in a warm embrace.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned, "You disappeared a month ago!"

"WHAT?" I yelled, amazed.

Krystal walked up to me.

"Umm, how long has it been since you disappeared. From your perspective, I mean,"

"About an hour,"

"Well, that explains it, then. Time's a lot slower here than our dimension,"

I turned around, and saw Freyja's head poke above the ruined wall.

Krystal also saw her, and let out a yelp of fright.

Mitch heard it, and seeing what Krystal was looking at, pointed his gun at Freyja.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy, big boy! She's with me," I said to Mitch, stepping in between the two of them.

Mitch promptly lowered his gun.

"Come on," Eifie said, walking up behind us, "We need to go, this place doesn't feel right. Plus, Nik is having trouble keeping the portal open, and it might collapse at any moment,"

She walked right past me, as if I wasn't even there, and went up to Mitch's side, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be around, somewhere,"

"Who, me?" I asked Eife.

She let out a squeak when she heard my voice, and turned around.

"Chloe!" she yelled, and hugged me tightly.

"Come on, we'd better get back,"

As I stepped through the portal, with Freyja on my shoulder, I felt a tingling sensation, down near my feet, but slowly starting to creep up. I looked down, and was horrified to find that they had turned to stone, and it was spreading. The portal tunnel ended, and I was back home again, and was relieved to find that nothing had turned to stone.

Freyja leapt off my shoulder, and started to float a couple of feet in front of me, hovering at head height.

"You wanna see if we can merge again?" I asked her.

"Ok, but I warn you, it won't be pleasant," she cautioned.

Ignoring the confused glances from everyone around us, Freyja floated up to my chest, and laid one of her hands on it.

She began shining brightly, before transforming into a shimmering ball of light. Then, my body started to shimmer as well, before turning into a sphere of light, and they both joined. As soon as they did, I felt a great sense of relief flow over me, and it felt as if everything was right with the world again.

My body started to re-form, and before I knew it, I was back to normal.

"Chloe?" I heard a voice in my mind ask.

"I'm alright," I replied in kind.

"Chloe?"

I turned to find Mitch with a confused expression on his face.

"Alright, what the hell just happened?"

* * * * * *

Yay! Another confusing story ending on a cliff-hanger! Enjoy!

ChloeTheFirefox

o7

Chloe, Eifie and Freyja are copyrighted to me, ChloeTheFirefox

Mitch, Krystal and Sally are copyrighted to SPAMZZKRR

Nik is copyrighted to Sonic Fox