FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hi everyone! For those that were watching me and the series, so sorry for being late! To make an excuse, my computer died on me, and I had several real life issues and writing blocks. I can't honestly say that I will keep up to my usual pace, but I will certainly try. Please enjoy, and comment if you liked it!

Chapter 13: Painting, Painting, Painting on the wall....

When Will woke up, he was lying on a bed this time. He tried to sit up, which alerted one of the nurses nearby.

"Oh! You're awake! Are you okay?" asked the nurse, who came over.

"Well, yes. What happened?" Will asked, rubbing his head. The last thing he remembered was Jake rescuing him, and punching Professor Salinda.

"Well, after Mr. Andelvel rescued you, he called the securities, and they arrested her for murder, attempted murder, and using dark magic. Then they brought you here for medical treatment." spoke the nurse cheerfully.

"Were there any problems?" Will asked.

"No, other than some blood loss. But that's something that we can take care of easily around here..." at that point, the door literally burst open, instantly reduced to cinders that bounced around.

"Will! Are you okay? Did that mad cat do anything to you?" Arthur yelled as he ran in. The nurse immediately ran around extinguishing the cinders that fell on flammable materials, stopping them from causing a fire.

"Did you have to blow up the door?" Will asked before he was caught in a big hug. "I'm also fine apart from being nearly dead, along with blood loss that's all right now." Will continued as Arthur looked over him.

"Well, I just got too overexcited, I guess. It's not every day that you hear your brother was the murder target of a mad cat."

"What happened to her anyway?" Will asked.

"Well, apart from execution, she will be fine. It's to be expected when you consider the fact that a contract with a demon is punishable by death." Arthur spoke casually. "Oh, they also want you to testify."

"Like, in a court?" Will asked. He did not relish the idea of speaking while other people stared at him.

"Not really. Cases like these are handled by the CADF, or Countermeasures Against the Demonic Forces. They'll just ask you a couple questions in private."

"Ahem!" the brothers turned around to see the nurse. She tapped her foot, looking mad.

"I believe that you need to replace that door, Mister." she spoke sharply. As Arthur sheepishly went away, Will fell back, only to be shaken out of his thoughts by bodies falling on top of him.

"Will! Thank god you're okay!" Yelled Todd as the fox gave him an another back-breaking hug, who was also hugged by Jonas. Jake stood in a corner trying to look nonchalant, but failing miserably.

"You're okay, right?" Todd asked anxiously.

"I already said again and again that he was fine. Seriously, did you even listen?" Jake spoke with a tone of annoyance.

"Yeah, I'm really okay...." Will spoke as the two broke away from him.

"Oh really? Then I must ask you to leave." the nurse returned, tapping her foot again.

"But don't you need to check him? I mean, he says he's okay, but nurses are supposed to check for that kind of stuff....." Jonas trailed off as the nurse fixed him a death glare.

"Oh don't worry, we already examined him when he was unconscious. Now, please leave before you blow up something else."

"I didn't blow up the door though......" Will muttered as he got off the bed.

"So how long have I been out for?" Will asked as they headed outside. The sun was shining brightly, which suggested that he probably slept through the rest of the day.

"It's just the day after you've been kidnapped. They put you under a sleeping spell, or so I heard. By the way, they want you to come tomorrow, at 1 p.m." Jake spoke.

"Thanks for finding me, Jake. But how did you even find me? I was sure that no one would find me, especially because the room was magicproof."

"You sent a mental message, right? I got that, but I wasn't sure who the sender was, or where it came from. Then I thought that the voice I heard was yours. I made a call, but you didn't answer back. At that point, I was sure that something weird was up, and decided to search for you. My tracers couldn't find you, so I figured that you were in a place that magic couldn't be used in. Then I remembered that a flooring that was mad e with that stuff, and the rest is history." Jake spread his arms. "By the way, just 'thank you' doesn't cut it. I demand a meal."

"Come to think of it, where did Arthur go? I was sure that he would be nearby...." Will trailed off as his brother came toward them.

"Wi... Will...... Professor..... Everain..... wants.... you..... in...... his.... of... office...." Arthur panted.

"And what happened to you?" Jake asked, sounding surprised.

"Never, NEVER blow a door in a hospital. I never knew that nurses were that scary."

Leaving his brother to talk about his "traumatic" experience to his roommates, Will strolled away.

After a walk, Will stood in front of the office door again. Before he could open the doors, they began to move inwards, slightly creaking. As he entered, the doors closed again.

"Ah, Will. Nice to see you again. And how have you been doing?" the principal of the school stood, beckoning Will forward. As he went closer, Will noticed that the place hadn't really changed at all. Random bubbling potions were still everywhere, and every once in a while they would bubble or explode. Making his way around the potions, Will came to a stop in the front of the desk.

"I was doing fine?" Will asked, slightly wavering.

"Yes, that incident. I do apologize. If I had known that the woman was a complete maniac, I would never have let her be a professor here." the principal shook his head. "At any rate, I've brought you here to ask a question." he continued, pointing at a panting behind Will. As he turned around, he saw the principal pointing at a painting he saw before, the painting with the white lion that he have seen before.

"Now, are you sure that you don't know anything about him?" when Will shook his head, Everain gave Will a piercing look, and leaned back on his chair.

"Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?" Will shook his head again, but his hammered. Was he doing something wrong? He knew that the lion asked Will to keep things about him secret, but now he began to wonder if he should tell the teacher in front of him.

"Well, that was somewhat surprising, but to be expected nonetheless. After all, you didn't know anything about werebeasts until a few weeks ago, correct?" Will nodded. "In that case, I suppose you don't really know him as who he was."

"Who is he, anyway? You keep on talking as if I should know about him." Will spoke back, feeling slightly irritated.

"Of course you should know him. He's a very well known king, and so are his weapons."

"Weapons? You mean....."

"No, not him. You've been reading too much fiction."

"Oh. then who?"

"One word suffices to introduce him: Excalibur."

Will jumped up from his chair, stunned. He couldn't believe that the lion he talked to was....

"So that lion is....."

Everain leaned back in his chain, giving Will a patronizing smile.

"Took you long enough. Yes, that lion is King Arthur, one of the most famous legends ever."

"So with the name of this academy, is it safe to assume that he made this place?" Will asked, sitting down. He tried to not to look excited or overly surprised.

"Well, not here, but yes, he made the academy itself, for aspiring knights. Then, the academy slowly joined the tower of magicians, and it became it what it is now, an all-round academy."

"And this is important because......?" Will slowly asked, trying to inconspicuously move backwards. Did he know everything?

"Well you see, before his death, he predicted a successor, someone who was learned in his techniques. Unfortunately, most of his techniques were lost."

"So what does that have to do with you bringing me here and telling me all this?" Will asked.

"Do you know what my specialty is?" when Everain asked this, Will shook his head. "My specialty is seeing the future, or fortune telling. Now, I'm not so good that I can tell everything about someone I meet, but I can sort of see the possibilities of that person, or even parts of their past. When I saw you, I had a feeling, something great that I couldn't tell. After that, I kept an eye on you. Interestingly enough, for a werebeast who was a normal kid just a few weeks ago, you were extraordinarily talented in swordfight. I even saw some of the techniques that I told you before, the ones made by King Arthur himself. Now, tell me this: What are you keeping a secret from me?"

Will began to wonder if he should tell the truth. But then the words of King Arthur came back to haunt him. He told Will to not to tell anyone, and those words carried a lot more weight now that he knew his identity. What if the principal was also working with the demons? Will has been tricked once, and he was reluctant to trust someone else again, except his brother.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Will racked his brain for a plausible explanation on how he knew the Blademaster techniques. His brother? No. If Everain asked Arthur, he would immediately say no. Then he came up with a person who he knew, was well-versed in swordplay, and had few reason to come here.

"And as for the whole techniques, I learned them from Mr. Anderson."

"Anderson Andelvel?" the principal asked, and Will nodded back, meeting the other's gaze. After a moment of staring, the principal dropped his gaze.

"I see. I thought for a while that you might actually be the heir that King Arthur talked about. I apologize if I disturbed you."

"Did me being white have something to do with that?" Will joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Actually, it was one of the reasons."Will looked at Everain with surprise. "You see, after the death of King Arthur, a talented fortune teller, someone who could be called as an oracle, predicted that the successor would be white like him."

"But there are lots of other animals who are white like him. I mean, there are rabbits, sheep, goats, and so on!" Will spoke back. The principal shook his head, and spoke back.

"When the oracle said 'white', she meant that for the successor, white would be an unusual color. For example, you're white, but that color is rare among tiger werebeasts. Same also applies to King Arthur. So we often keep an eye on werebeasts like you."

After the flurry of words, there was a moment of silence as Will digested the information that he had received. The principal coughed, and pointed to the door.

"You may leave. If you have any trouble, or see anything unusual, please report to me. After all, you just might be the successor after all!" he gave a laugh, but his eyes danced with suspicion. Will laughed, bowed, and quickly went out, relieved.

As Will walked down the roads, he saw several other werebeasts staring at him, and whispering. While a lot of werebeasts gave him funny looks because of his white fur, this was a lot more noticeable now. Will began to wonder if it had anything to do with his kidnapping when someone touched his shoulder from behind. Will whirled around, holding up his fists. He was on the verge of punching whoever grabbed him, until he saw his brother.

"Well, someone is nervous today, huh? I guess I don't blame you." Arthur smiled, and grabbed Will's paw, leading him away.

"Where are we going?" Will asked as he was lead away by his brother.

"A meal. I skipped lunch, and I'm feeling hungry. I think you can do with a meal too."

Will picked at the cake in front of him, lost in his thoughts. He was unsure if he should tell Arthur about King Arthur, and how he chose Will as his successor.

"Are you okay? You don't seem to be eating much." Arthur spoke with concern. It might have been a bit more brotherly if he hadn't been stuffing his mouth with pieces of cake, which made the question a bit hard to make out. Will nodded glumly, still staring and poking at the cake in front of him. Arthur swallowed, gagged, and took a big gulp.

"Will, I'm sorry. I thought that the academy might be the best way to protect you, but I got you into more trouble. I know that the experience was hard on you, but please keep your spirits up. I can't bear to see you looking sad."

"It's not that I'm thinking right now. It's.... It's kind of complicated." Will spoke.

"What? What are you talking about? Is it a girlfriend issue or something?" Arthur suddenly leaned forward until their noses were nearly touching, eyes alight with interest

"What? No! It's nothing like that!" Will shouted back, aware that his cheeks were flushing.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what they all say. So, who is it? Is she cute? How old is she?"

Will stared at his brother with a mixture of bewilderment, annoyance, and amusement.

"Arthur, It's nothing like that. I've just been thinking."

"Oh." Arthur leaned back, looking slightly deflated. "What were you thinking about, then?"

"It's really nothing. It's a small problem, but I can solve it on my own." Will gave a smile, but inside, he was determined. He decided to keep everything secret until he could find out more.

"Arthur, can we summon the dead?" Will asked, trying to distract Arthur. However, he was genuinely curious. He wanted to know more about the prophecy, and he also wanted to ask the King some questions.

"Depends on what you mean by 'summoning the dead'." Arthur spoke, putting his elbows on the table. Will noticed that he looked very severe. "If you mean as if bringing someone fully back to life with a body and all, that's obviously impossible. It's against the laws of the underworld, and the reapers will hunt the offender to the ends of the earth. But there are two ways of 'summoning the dead'. First is a basic technique that revives the body, but not the soul. You just forcibly reignite the sparks of life with you spells. But this is obviously forbidden. Another way might be a bit more closer to whatever you're thinking. With that, it's possible to summon then souls of the dead. Basically summoning ghosts."

"So you can summon anyone? Even someone like King Arthur?" Will asked, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Yes, but for some reason, we can't summon King Arthur. Hundreds of magicians tried, but it all failed. It's a very complex ritual, and it's more likely to fail than to succeed. Why are you asking this?" Arthur asked Will, looking a bit puzzled.

"Partially because of King Arthur, and partially because of my parents. I want to see King Arthur, seeing as how he made this academy, and I want to see if my birth parents are still alive."

"I see. but it's not a good idea. Most spells related to the dead are forbidden, or can be only done under heavy surveillance. And they are one of the most difficult spells known to us. I've studied magic for years, but I don't even know how to approach it. Anderson is way better at magic than me, and he only knows the basics."

"I see." Will murmured, and looked down. When he did, he found his cake gone. When he looked back up, he saw that Arthur snagged his cake during their talk, and was eating while they were speaking.

"Sorry. I thought that you didn't want to eat anything." Arthur spoke with a sheepish smile. Will huffed, and stood up, storming through the door.

As the two went to the dorm, the day grew darker, with the sun setting.

"Will, I'm going to be here until tomorrow. If you need any help, just call me. And be careful, okay?"

"Sure," Will watched as his brother walked away, and went in the dorm. As he opened the door to his room, he saw his roommates sitting around.

"Oh, Will? The committee members for the dark wizard came by, but you weren't here. So they told me to tell you that you have to report to the principal's building by 3 p.m. tomorrow." spoke Jake, looking over his shoulder.

"They did?" Will spoke back, sitting down on his bed with a heavy thump.

"You are okay, right? Do you need to talk?" Jonas asked cautiously.

"Why does everyone think that I need some kind of mental counselor?" Will asked. While he was not really mad, he was slightly exasperated.

"Hey, being bound to a table with a death sentence isn't something that you can laugh off. I know that something's getting to you, and keeping it bottled up isn't going to make it go away. You have friends here. So whatever you feel, just let it out." Jake spoke matter-of-factly, but Will could see the concern in his eyes.

"Look, I really am grateful that you guys are this worried about me. I really am. But I'm serious when I say that I'm fine. I don't have any bottled up things that makes people turn psycho and kill everyone." Will turned around and curled up, trying to ignore his friends and find much needed relief in his sleep.

When Will woke up, he blinked groggily for a second before leaping down. landing lightly on his feet. For a minute, he felt nervous, and then remembered how he had to give a statement of how things happened. When he took a look around the room, he saw that two beds were empty. He looked up, and saw Jake right up close to him. Predictably, Will screamed and fell back.

"Sorry." the wolf spoke, but his tone was rather blank.

"It's okay. Anyway, don't you have class? You might be late." Will awkwardly spoke, trying to inch away. Suddenly, Jake grabbed Will, and dragged him closer. When Will recovered from the surprise, he saw anger in Jake's eyes.

"Why don't you trust us?" Jake demanded.

"What?" Will blurted out, lost as what Jake was trying to say.

"Look, Will..... I don't know much about being friends, or just about any relationship in general. But I know this: friends always trust each other, and talk to each other! I know that something's bothering you, Will. We're your friends. Can't you trust us?"

"I do! It's... It's just that this is just too big to me, okay? Even I haven't come to terms with it! Please..... just let me be." Will trailed off. Jake's eye softened, and he let Will go.

"Sorry. I.... I just got too worried about you." as Jake turned back, Will suddenly grabbed at Jake. Jake turned back, looking slightly surprised.

"Jake, I promise you this: I'll tell everything to you, but only when I can handle it. So trust me for a little longer."

Jake smiled, and suddenly gave Will a big hug.

"You bet I will!"

Smiling, Will turned back. The day was still young, and he had many things to do.