FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Stand back! Out of the room, Zinka!" A snow leopard directs to his vixen companion, pointing to the entrance of the cave room they stand in the middle of.

Zinka glares at him for a moment, easily fending off a skeleton covered in a layer of chilly ice, clanging her sword against the skeleton's. She makes a forceful swipe with her blade, knocking the undead creature's own sword aside, following through with a slice directed at her enemy's neck, easily chopping off it's head, though this only disorients an undead being. She quickly turns to the snow leopard in full. "This had better be good, or I'm gonna pound you, Rin!" The warrioress then fights her way out of the room, hacking and slashing at anything that tries to get in her way. She leaves the snow leopard in the center of the room, a horde of the horrible ice-ridden skeletons converging on him. The vixen looks on, almost uninterested, checking to make sure she hasn't broken any of her claws.

Rin looks around, watching the walking dead approaching him, and flashing a grin to the unfeeling skeletons before lifting his arms to the ceiling, closing his eyes, and softly chanting to himself: "Fires of the eternal Mount Nimra, burn all around with your searing heat..." He stops a moment, his eyes opening, deep red with the intensity of flames burning within them. He yells out at the top of his lungs, "Blaze of Nimra!" All around the room, the skeletons quickly become engulfed in a powerful blast of deep red fire. Rin stands still, a tiny barrier protecting him from the overwhelming heat of the flames.

As the burning eases, the snow leopard lowers his arms, letting them rest at his sides as he hears the sounds of several charred bones hitting the cavern floor. He closes his eyes and sighs, hearing the footsteps approaching and letting a smug grin come to his face. "Heh, so how'd you like that, Zinka? Flashy enough fo..."

He's cut off by a swift slap to his face. His eyes open quickly, and he glares at the arrogant vixen. "Hey, what was that for!?"

Zinka frowns, her tail waving agitated behind her. "You singed my tail, you stupid feline!" Rin's eyes notice the fur at the white tip of the vixen's tail singed and still smoking slightly. He chuckles, and recieves a shove toward the other side of the cavern. "Hey, quit pushing me around."

The vixen just laughs, "Oh, and what're you gonna do, throw a fireball at me, witch boy?"

Rin stops in his tracks, and puts his arms out in front of him, focusing on the point between his furry paws. "Fire...."

Zinka starts, and backs up quickly, putting up her paws in defense, "Hey, I didn't mean it. Cut it out, will you?"

Rin flashes her a grin, then starts to wind up, as though he were throwing a small stone. "...ball!" A sizable ball of flames shoots from his paw, headed directly toward Zinka. The vixen ducks to the ground just in time to evade the raging ball of flame, which whizzes by and strikes the opposite wall. Once the fireball impacts, Zinka starts to get up, looking to see that Rin's at the entrance to the next tunnel, "C'mon, Zinka, what's the matter? Can't keep up?"

She growls, playfully, but still a very serious threat to Rin. "You'd better hope I don't catch up, cat!"

With that, Rin bolts down the hall, dodging past the monsters that make their way toward him here and there. The monsters here are pansies, really not even worth his trouble. But there's something in this cavern that he's been searching for. Something that had almost no history of existing, had it not been for... "YIKES!" Rin feels a heavy weight jump on his back, and he goes tumbling across the floor with the fur he just KNOWS is Zinka. Not like any of these monsters could be that fast.

"HA! Caught y... whoa..." Unexpectedly, the weight gets up off Rin's leather-covered furry butt. It's not until he looks up that he sees the reason. Zinka seems trapped in some kind of daze, walking toward a bright blue light emminating from the end of the passageway. Slowly, he gets up and dusts himself off, whispering a soft "Fireball" and pointing his finger at a monster lumbering toward him, instantly eradicating it before he too begins to approach the bluish glow. Suddenly, his mind is awash with horrible pain. "Ahhh! What IS this?!" Rin drops to the ground, on his paws and knees, panting heavily and trying to fight back the urge to wretch up his lunch as the horrible pain beats on his head.

Zinka doesn't respond at all. She's still walking toward that blue light. Then it hits him. "Dammit! Zinka, wake up!" Despite the pain throbbing in his head, he gets up and makes his way forward, trying to reach Zinka before something bad happens.

Well, something bad happened.

Right as his paw grabs the cloth of her cape, the floor opens up beneath the two of them, dropping them into a deep pit.

"So here is where we're gonna die. Are you done yet?" Rin looks over his shoulder at the still fighting Zinka.

The vixen just growls at him. "Oh shut up. Why aren't you helping me out, here? I've killed like five of these 'horrible incredibly strong gaurd monster' things, and you've been sitting there on your lazy furry ass!"

Rin stands, and lifts his arms, "Fine, if want my help..." He begins chanting, "Fires of the eternal Mount Nimra, burn all around with your searing heat..."

Zinka backs away from the beast, which is just basically being cut to pieces by her sword, letting her mouth drop as she hears the words. "RIN! You're gonna fry me!"

Rin pays no attention, shouting out the words: "...Blaze of Nimra!" He stands there, as Zinka cowers on the ground, missing the monster's swipe by the tips of her fur. When nothing happens, she stands up and swings behind her, slicing through the middle of the grotesque beast she had been pretend fighting. "Geez, why didn't you tell me there was a magic lock on this place."

"How else was I gonna get you to stop playing around with that monster?" He smirks, looking at the five rather large carcasses around the room, all killed easily by the vixen in front of him. Yeah, maybe if he were interested, he'd try to get with her. But no WAY was he going for a female. No way in HELL!

"Alright, alright." Zinka shrugs and puts her sword away. "I was just trying to pass time. I mean, I killed the others in just about two seconds flat a piece! That's no fun." She shakes her head and looks up, that weird blue glow the only light illuminating the trap room below. "Dammit, how're we supposed to get out of here, huh? I mean, exactly how are all these things getting in? There were only two when we first got here."

Rin looks around the room, seeing nothing but solid walls. "You're right. They just seem to appear out of the walls, like they're not really there." He thinks a moment, then shakes his head. "No, there's no way they can make fake walls..."

The vixen walks over to a wall, and looks at it curiously, "And just why not, smarty cat? You can make a volcanic fire appear with a few stupid words, so why can't someone else make a fake wall?" She reaches out to touch the wall, but finds it to be completely solid. Sighing, she just leans against it. "Damn. That woulda been so easy, too."

Rin shakes his head, "No, wait, we're on to something. A real beast can't come out of a real wall. Even a transmogrificant can't change himself into something not living. Which means one of two things. Either the wall isn't real..."

Zinka breaks in before he gets a chance to finish, "Or the beasts! I get it!"

They both rush over to the beasts, checking them, but for some reason, they felt real too. Nothing is amiss, not even the wounds that had been inflicted upon each one. "No, I was sure!" Zinka looks all around the beast, until she notices something odd. This one's tail is, indeed, still within the wall, even though it's dead and laying on the ground. She walks over, and pushes on that wall. Nothing happens. "DAMMIT!" The loud cuss echoes around the cave, all the way up to the glowing blue and back.

Rin just looks at the creature, and wonders. "Hmmm..." He goes over to one of the other dead ones, and takes out a small dagger, cutting off the tip of it's tail. "Hey, Zinka, see if you can cut off a little piece of it. I've got an idea." Rin walks over to the wall, his eyes almost grinning as he knows he's figured out the puzzle.

Zinka looks at him oddly, taking out her sword and chopping off one of her beast's toes, "Alright, but what are you getting at?"

Rin just keeps on walking, right toward the wall, holding out the piece of the beast's tail in front of him. "Listen, these things can walk through the walls, there's no question. They're gonna be our way out of here." He continues to walk, and Zinka looks at the wall, then the beast, the toe in her paw, and back again.

"Whatever." And with that, Zinka joins him, approaching the wall until they finally get to it, and push against it. With the pieces of the monsters in their paws, they slowly walk through the 'solid' granite wall.

Rin grins, "Yes! Puzzle solved! Now, where..."

A bright flash interrupts him, halting him on the spot. His eyes are blinded for a moment, before he opens them to a familiar blue glowing light. He shakes his head, looking around him. He's back in the tunnel, exactly where he had been. He finds no hole in the floor, no beasts, and no hunk of tail in his paw. Looking over at Zinka, who appears to be alright, but in a daze much like himself, he grins, and starts to walk toward the blue light. Zinka just grins back, and follows right behind him. As they near the light, they notice five gems on the wall, arranged in a pentagon shape. All are blue.

Rin takes a long look at the five stones, making a deep assessment of each one... "This is odd... there's only one magical sapphire... the rest must be fake. But how do I know which one?"

Off to the side, he hears Zinka reading something. "Turn all the stones to red, and your wishes will come true. What's that supposed to mean?"

Rin looks at her, seeing the inscription on the wall, then back at the stones. "I guess there's a way to turn these blue rocks to red rocks. But I have no idea how..."

Soon, Zinka pads over to the rocks, and touches one, "Well, whatever it means, they sure are pretty..." She yelps and pulls her paw back as a few of the stones change from blue to red.

Rin looks back to Zinka, absolutely ecstatic, "You did it! Alright! Now that we know how to change them, I'll get down to the business of trying to figure the rest out. You just make sure no monsters get this far, ok?"

Zinka snorts and turns around, folding her arms across her chest and shaking her head. "Shit, reduced to guard duty again."

Rin presses another blue gem, the lower right. Zinka had pressed the lower left, and the top and lower left had changed. With this one, the top and lower left return to blue, and the right and lower right turn red. "Damn, this could get complicated. How's the monster situation looking, Zinka?"

As soon as Rin gets finished speaking, he hears Zinka draw her sword. A little shakily, if his ears hear right. He blinks, and turns around, seeing a pair of ferocious looking bone dragons lumbering this way. Zinka grasps her sword and grits her teeth, "Holy Shit! What're these things doing in a simple little cave like this?!"

Rin sighs, "Oh, come on, Zinka, we killed fifteen of these things on our last excursion. What's a couple more?"

"I just about lost my tail in there because of them!" That said, she charges, the putrid breath of the dragon passing under her as she jumps up and slices right through the vertebrae of the neck, decapitating the bone dragon. She leaps from it's back to the other's, a similar swing of her sword taking off its head as well. Oddly, they both seem to disintegrate upon being killed. "Hey, what gives?"

Rin looks back again, having been busy writing down the pattern of the stones that had been pressed so far. "Huh? Where'd the dragons go?"

Zinka shrugs and pads back over to him. "Damned if I know. Just plain vanished."

Rin shrugs too. "Oh well. It's probably more of those darned physical illusions. Might as well play along until we get the sapphire. Keep up the good work. Now, what happens if I press..." He reaches out to the right hand gem, and touches it with a finger, "...this one."

With his touch, one stone turns blue, and one turns red. Zinka suddenly snaps to attention as another dragon clambers down the corridor toward them. "Damn, another one. This is gonna be annoying."

Rin looks back, seeing one dragon headed this way. Looking back at the gems, then at the dragon, he puts a few thoughts through his head, but can't come up with anything yet. Once he's done copying down the information about this gem, he touches the one at the very top of the pentagon, having to reach a little. "Mmph... there, got it." As he looks up, copying down the stats of this one, one red changes to blue, two blues to red, Zinka screams.

The snow leopard looks back, seeing her barely escape a steam of putrid breath as she jumps up and cleaves off it's head, this one disappearing too. "What, it took you that long to get one?"

Zinka yells back at him, "No, you asshole! That was the second! Another came and snuck up on me!" She starts heading back, looking behind her with the sword held firmly in her paws. "Damn dragons."

Rin laughs a bit and shakes his head, then turns back to the gems. One more yet to be pressed, and so he reaches up and touches it. This time, one blue stone turned red, and three reds turn blue. Zinka groans once more, and heads off to deal with another pesky dragon. And as Rin looks back, he sees three this time. He looks at his list. "Three stones turn to blue... three dragons appear. That's it!"

"Hey Zinka! I got it!" Rin yells over to her, as she's trying her best to listen and dodge between the sharp claws of the dragons.

She swings her sword through the neck of one, dodging around the body that falls before vanishing just like all the others. Shifting back and forth between whipped tails and deadly breaths, she takes care of the other two in short order, and beginning to pant, Zinka pads back and points a finger at him. "If you don't finish this puzzle soon, I'm gonna be slashing up more than stupid bone dragons, Rin."

Rin laughs again, and turns back to the puzzle, and his notes. "Fine, fine. For your information, if any of the stones on the wall turn back to blue again, another bone dragon will appear for each one. I guess it's a built in trap for the weak. But you'll take care of them no problem."

Despite Zinka's aggressive growl, Rin studies the wall, and the paper in his paw, looking for a way to solve the puzzle simply. "Hmmm... no, not like that... but what about... no..... wow, this is tough. We'll be here for a while, I'm afraid, Zinka..."

Zinka groans and sits down, leaning against the side wall of the cavern. "So call me when you're ready to start pushing buttons again."

And so, Rin takes a long time, just looking between the gems and the paper. He continues to try to think up a plan, and in the mean time, his lookout, Zinka, falls asleep. Rin studies his paper and the wall, shaking his head as plans go bad, then finally locking it in. "Yes, that's it! And so simple for Zinka too!" He talks to Zinka, but doesn't turn to look at her. "Hey, Zinka, just one more dragon for you to fight. Isn't that great?" He doesn't pay any attention to the lack of an answer, and proceeds to press the last two stones, solving the puzzle, and releasing he last dragon, which he hears lumbering down the hall.

"Hmmm, now just to wait for Zinka to finish up, and..." He hears the dragon getting closer, and yet, no swords striking bone, not even a paw-step's worth of sound, except for the slow-moving dragon. He looks over, and sees the vixen asleep. "Damn! Not now, Zinka!" He looks toward the other end of the hallway, but can't see past the gigantic FULL green dragon staring him in the eyes.

It lifts itself up, then roars loud and clear, shaking the cavern around it's walls and waking Zinka violently. "Wha... what the... Gaah!" She yells, and stands up, moving over next to Rin, nudging him slightly in the ribs. "What the HELL were you doing, huh? Trying to get yourself killed? A green dragon is no light matter!" She prepares her sword, and rushes forward, but gets knocked into the wall by a large tail suddenly swung around. Rather swiftly for a dragon. "UGH..." With a start, and a soft gasp, Zinka falls unconscious.

"NO! Zinka!" Rin growls as he faces the dragon, the beast looking at Zinka as though she'd make a tasty meal. He yells out "FIREBALL!" And hurls a smallish ball of fire at the dragon, watching it bounce of the scales with little to no effect. "Oh crap..." He backs up slowly, the dragon's attention now fully on him, as it begins to make it's way toward him. "Well, I promised I'd save this for an emergency, but I think now's as good a time as any... besides, with a green dragon, this should work wonders... I hope..."

He puts his paws together in front of him, concentrating on anything but the dragon getting dangerously close to him. "Bright star of blue, shining with the grace of the universe behind you, draw back, and give your power unto thee..." His chanting begins to draw a chill wind around the cavern, ruffling his fur slightly, though as he casts he feels no cold at all. "...Through my body, may your kindness and righteousness lead the way to victory..." The breeze builds into a small typhoon around Rin, who still feels none of the chilling air, though the sudden cold causes the dragon to draw back a moment, giving Rin a few more precious seconds to concentrate. "...With light brighter than the shining sun, and force stronger than the mightiest gale..." The typhoon now extends to the ceiling, creating a make-shift barrier around Rin as he casts. The dragon backs away, the cold air biting at it's scales even as the spell grows in power. "...Together, we bring the final judgement, and leave the world in reverence of your power..."

Rin's eyes now open, an icy, frozen blue hue, instead of their usual green. He notices the dragon making it's retreat, now well past Zinka who still lies unconscious on the floor. His concentration never leaves the focused power in his grasp, and with his cold, icy gaze fixated on the dragon, he utters the final words to the spell's incantation, "Mercurial Vortex!"

His words echo through the cave, and as he watches, the green dragon is lifted off the ground by chilling cold winds, howling in anguish before, with a bright flash of light, the creature is frozen solid. As the winds slow, the frozen dragon falls to the ground, and shatters instantly upon impact, the millions of pieces quickly disappearing. Rin, now panting for breath himself, rushes over to look at Zinka's wounds.

Thankfully, her armor took the main brunt of the attack. A small amount of blood runs down the back of her head, but the wound is already clotted over. Still, he tears off a piece of his shirt, and ties it around the wound. He leaves her side for a moment, padding back over to the wall with the five red stones. As he watches, the center of the stone wall crumbles away, leaving behind a pedestal with an amulet displayed upon it. The amulet appears to be pure sapphire, and it glitters blue, even in the red light of the cavern. Rin takes it in his paw, looking at it for a bit, before taking the silver chain it is attached to and hanging it around his neck.

He heads back over to Zinka, who's now beginning to wake up, standing slowly and seeming to lose her balance for a bit before looking over at Rin. She looks around warily for a while, trying to find the green dragon, wondering if it was all a dream, until she feels the bandage around her head. She groans, and looks at Rin. "Alright... what happened?"

Rin smiles, "Huh? Oh, I just finished off the dragon, and got the gem. You ready to go?"

Zinka gives him a look that just makes Rin smile more smugly. "You... you WHAT?" She yells, then clutches her head, "Ouch... dammit. Whatever, tell me at the inn later on."

Rin just nods, and starts to lead the way out. With the occasional fireball to avert monsters here and there, they both make it up to the surface no worse for wear, except for Zinka's one wound. As the two walk back toward town through a forest, Rin tells Zinka about the spell that finally finished off the horrible green dragon. The vixen looks at him with a little more than anger. "Now come on, you expect me to believe that? If you had a spell like that all along, why didn't you ever use it?"

Rin shakes his head, "You don't call upon the powers of the mighty god Mercury without paying a price, Zinka."

Zinka stops and looks at him. "A price?"

Rin nods. "One month off the end of my life. I know, it sounds like a lot, but I really don't think it'll be that bad. I mean, that's the worst part, right? I'm kinda getting a bargain."

Zinka looks at him wide-eyed, catching up with him as he continues walking on. "Wait, you use a spell which consumes a month of your life just to defeat that dumb dragon?"

Rin looks at her as they finally find the trail, and step onto it, following it northward. "You said it yourself. A green dragon is no push-over. Besides, I had to do something. He could've killed you... er, and me, you know."

"Oh, I'm so touched, Rin..." The vixen shows him a sarcastic smirk. "Listen, next time I'm in trouble, just use one of your ordinary spells and save the day. I won't be able to live with myself if you're gonna be shaving months off your life here and there just to save my furry ass."

The snow leopard laughs heartily, then looks at Zinka and nods, "Yeah, whatever. Don't blame me if you're the one who can't look out for a dragon's tail."

A deep growl gets pointed in Rin's direction. "Hey, that thing came out of nowhere! No way I could've avoided it in time!"

"Yeah, right. I could've dodged it, easy. Saw the thing coming from a mile away."

"Oooooooh... you did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not, did not, did not!"

"Whatever."

"I'll get you, you stupid cat!" As Zinka starts running after Rin, the snow leopard makes for an escape. As always, Zinka catches up to him, and shoves his face in the dirt. But in the end, they get up, dust off, hug, and walk off toward the city, to rest up before their next great adventure.

copyright 2003 - Neiko Mitaki

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