FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The assembled adventurers stared at Gwen expectantly. The paladin looked back at them, scowling. No one said anything.

"Fine," Gwen huffed finally after a few moments more of silence. She looked back towards the gate. "I will lead and all of you will follow. Divine light will protect even the most unworthy of you."

"How kind," Faizu muttered.

With this Gwen stepped towards the gate. She grabbed one of its handles and flung it open. There was a loud clang as the door slammed against the wall it hung from. Then there was silence as darkness trickled from the opening, a tangible gloom that ate up any light it came across. Gwen blinked and peered into what lie beyond the gate and saw only true darkness, pure pitch black that betrayed no hints of what lay beyond. The paladin smiled and raised her sword.

"Pyr," she cried. "Shine your light!"

Immediately the weapon glowed with brilliant radiance that banished the encroaching dark and, strangely, did not hinder the sight of those near to it. In addition, the bright glow pierced the gloom of the meadow, revealing gnarled, white grass upon the ground and twisted, skeletal trees in the distance. Gwen laughed and turned to the party.

"Come on then!" she shouted. "No evil can withstand the light."

Leof stepped forward in front of the paladin. He squinted his eyes off into the distance and shivered.

"Something moved," he said, drawing his weapon. "We will not be alone."

"It matters not what we face," Gwen said. "They will fall."

The paladin stepped towards the gate, lowering her sword so that she was ready to strike. Without taking a look back, she continued past the gate with only Leof following close behind her. When she took a few steps more, the light went with her and, despite its radiance, it did not shine far. At her current pace, she would soon be only a point of light within the infinite dark.

"Wait!" Giles called, sprinting towards Gwen. The paladin came to a stop and glanced to Giles. Now that she was halted and they understood the limits of her light, the rest of the party moved within the illuminated area and past the gate.

"Am I too quick for a bard, brother?" Gwen asked.

Before Giles could answer, a loud groan resounded through the air. With this warning the gate slammed shut, trapping the party within the meadow.

"Och, great," Tomor groaned. "We can't even go back."

"Why would we want to?" Demara asked. "This is the path to Zenir."

The dwarf frowned and nodded. "I sure hope so, lass, I sure hope so..."

"Enough talk!" Gwen said. "I will not wait again."

"You would leave us behind?" Demara said. "How very selfless for a paladin."

"Quiet, witch! The only reason you can continue your journey is because of me! If it weren't for my god's rightfully earned favor then--"

Gwen fell silent as Demara snapped her fingers and an incandescent green globe appeared in front of her. It too was effective at banishing the darkness.

"Witchcraft!" Gwen muttered. "Put that out now!"

Demara shook her head and sneered. "I didn't need to enslave myself to conjure this either."

Gwen stiffened. "You use darkness in darkness, you--"

Gwen was once again interrupted, though this time not by Demara but rather the haunting din of a hundred howls. The paladin and witch both froze.

"As much fun as it is to hear you two argue," Faizu said. "We should be running."

"It's her fault!" Gwen said. "She brought the creatures upon us with her witchlight!"

"It doesn't matter," Leof said. "The wolves will be upon us soon."

"Not wolves," Sylvar said, placing his hand upon his loyal wolf's head. "Werewolves."

"I don't care what it is!" Faizu sighed. "Let's move!"

Gwen nodded, eyes searching the immediate area. She could see nothing in the dark but she could hear the creatures moving, panting and bounding this way and that. Her concern was not with them, however. She searched for the temple and after a few moments more saw something in the dark, a small shining beacon off in the distance that looked familiar, something she vaguely remembered from studies conducted in the temple library so many years ago. She searched her mind for what the beacon meant, but that particular knowledge had long since left her.

"The temple!" she shouted, pointing her sword towards beacon. "Follow me!"

"Och!" Tomor exclaimed. "That's far."

Immediately Gwen set off in a run towards temple, the rest of the party following. She didn't slow even when two humanoid wolves appeared before her, snarling and yapping, their yellow eyes filled with hate. She slashed at them and they yelped and fell, the radiance of the sword burning them beyond recognition. The smell of charred flesh and hair hung heavy in the air. More howls rang out and then the werewolves were upon them.

The party made fast progress to the temple, fighting off the werewolves along the way, each party member helping in their own way. With her zealous fury Gwen cut down many of the creatures at once, blocking their swipes and bites with her shield. Njora and Leof fought back to back, the barbarian fending off the werecreatures with her spear while Leof cut down any that got too close to either of them. Giles sang a song of battle, the words of past brave deeds inspiring Faizu into a blade flurrying phantom and steadying Sylvar's aim when he might otherwise have been put off by the fiends' closeness. Demara stayed near the back of the formation, providing additional light while blasting those werewolves who tried to flank the party. Only Tomor struggled, the party's pace too fast for him to keep up and focus on spellcasting. When he attempted to cast a spell of haste upon himself, a werewolf lunged from the darkness and bit him upon the shoulder, teeth digging in deep before it was vaporized by Demara.

"Gah!" Tomor screamed, blood dripping from the wound. He put his hand to the spot and his eyes widened. "N-no!"

"Hold on, dwarf!" Demara said, dragging the mage back. "We're almost there."

"It bit me!" the dwarf sobbed in disbelief. "I've been bitten!"

A few moments later, the party reached the temple. Its tall, vine-choked doors loomed in front of the party, the shining beacon hanging above it. With a yell, Gwen hacked at the vines and then kicked the door. The vines fell off, but the doors remained unmoving. The paladin was about to try again when Njora bellowed and slammed into the door. They sprung open and the party quickly rushed in, Leof and Njora closing the temple doors before any werewolves could follow them in. When the doors were completely shut, they glowed momentarily, their hue brightening to white as they melded together so that they could no longer be opened or closed. The werewolves clawed and thumped against the door but it was no use. No one would be getting in or out. The party took a collective sigh of relief until:

"I've been bitten!" Tomor wailed, clutching at his shoulder. "Bitten!"

Demara shook her head and took the dwarf aside. From a pouch on her belt she procured something that she pressed into his wound. The dwarf shuddered from pain and stepped back.

"Now just what do ye think ye're doing, lass?" he asked, eyes narrowed at the witch.

"Witchcraft," Gwen said, pointing her still glowing sword towards the woman.

"No," Demara said, shaking her head. "It's a natural remedy to an unnatural problem. I neutralized the curse of lycanthropy he otherwise would've dealt with, what we all would have had to deal with."

"Hmph," Gwen grunted.

"Hey!" Giles exclaimed, motioning with both arms to the expanse of the temple. "We're here! We made it!" He dropped his arms. "Now what?"

The rest of the party thought about that question. The temple was large, but surprisingly bare. The floors were constructed of smooth white marble and oddly clean. The walls were covered with murals of positive scenes of meditation and healing. The space was well lit thanks to an altar that resided at the far end of the temple, a stone slab that had the same symbol as the beacon outside and glowed with even stronger light. Were it not for the snarling of the werewolves outside, some of the party might have even been able to find peace here. Instead, however, all felt restless as if an extrinsic force was pushing them to move on.

"So, uh," Giles said. "Any thoughts?"

"We're not safe," Leof muttered. "Not safe..."

"One of us has to pray at the altar," Demara said. "That's what the spirit said."

All eyes turned to Gwen. The paladin shook her head.

"No," she said. "I am not praying to another god."

"You're the one best at it," the witch pointed out, smiling. "Why won't you pray, paladin?"

"Blasphemy!" Gwen shouted. "You ask me to commit sacrilege!"

At this word, the ground beneath the party's feet rumbled. The group shuffled unsteadily on their feet and Giles let out a muffled scream as a skeletal arm burst from the ground and grabbed at his fine boots. Leof stepped forward and slashed at the appendage, severing it at the wrist. The skeletal hand flopped against the ground while the stumpy arm banged against the ground. In the next instant, another hand erupt from the ground followed by the skull of a creature that was not quite human. It looked up sightlessly at the knight with its empty eye sockets and hissed, its other arm pushing it further out of the ground. Leof yelled and stomped on its skull, shattering it to pieces. The ground rumbled again and then more skeletal arms came up, threatening others of the party.

"They'll keep coming," Leof whispered, staring down at the shattered skull. "Endlessly, wordlessly..."

"Och!" Tomor exclaimed. "We have to get out of here!"

"Gwen!" Giles said while the paladin slashed at one of the undead creatures crawling out of the ground. "Sister, you have to pray!"

"No!" she shouted back.

"It's just once! It never hurts to try something just once!"

"A single sin precipitates a terrible fall."

"Stupid," Faizu muttered, dodging away from a collection of grasping arms. "Stupid, stupid!"

Without warning, the rogue dashed towards the altar. Tomor looked up in surprise and grabbed at him, but Faizu was too slippery for him.

"Och, lad!" the dwarf said. "Wait! You don't know what you're doing!"

"Praying," Faizu said back, though he wasn't heard thanks to the groaning of the undead and the shattering of their bones. "How hard can it be?"

The fleet-footed rogue quickly reached the altar. He stood in front of it and stared at the symbol. He had no idea what it meant, but then again he only really knew the gods who were keen on persecuting non-believers. He shrugged and placed his hands together. After some consideration, he kneeled and closed his eyes.

"Uh, alright," he whispered. "What do I say here?" He cleared his throat. "Hey god of this forsaken temple that doesn't have anything worth taking like a real temple would..." He paused. "Anyways, if you're listening some spirit said someone just had to pray to you and you'd take us somewhere else. So, yeah. Get us the hell out of here!"

Faizu opened his eyes and...nothing happened. He looked up at the symbol and stood.

"Hey!" he said, poking the symbol. "I prayed! Where's my divine intervention?"

Suddenly the symbol cracked and blinding light poured out of the fissure. Faizu cried out and shielded his eyes with his arms.

"IMPURE!" a voice boomed, echoing throughout the temple so that all heard.

The altar shuddered, fracturing in many places at once. Faizu took a step back and then the symbol exploded, bathing the rogue in the radiant light.

"BECOME PURE!"

The blind Faizu shivered as the bright energy engulfed him. It felt warm and pleasant and oddly soothing, so much so that the rogue relaxed despite the fact that not too far away his party was engaged in combat with a growing number of undead. His arms fell to his sides and he dropped to his knees. Then the energy began to press into him, ignoring his clothes as it tickled at his flesh. He shivered again, his flesh softening beneath the light's caress, fingers growing longer and more slender while he simply shrunk, mass and muscle shedding slightly off his already slight form so that he was...slighter. With his clothes hanging loosely on his slight flame, the light went to work on other changes.

The rogue sneezed suddenly as the light tickled at his nose. He sneezed again and a puff of white feathers sprouted from the back of his skull. With another sneeze, the feathers ran over the rest of his cranium, slight rounding it out while his ears disappeared under a flurry of feathers. With a greater sneeze, his lips pressed out and hardened into a blackened beak, his nose merging with the upper portion of the bill while his teeth disintegrated into dust. Instead of sneezing he gave a quiet chirp that came before a further spread of feathers over the rest of his head and down his fluffy neck, leaving the rogue with a totally pigeonlike head. His eyes, closed eyes too shifted, growing larger and rounder and the iris brown and the pupils black.

From here the energy moved downward, warmly rubbing at his shoulders and chest. White feathers sprouted over his already pale flesh, moving on down his narrowing shoulders to his wrists and from the top of his less visible collarbone to his smooth stomach that lacked a bellybutton. The feathers on his arms multiplied so that it appeared he had wingarms of sorts while his hands, smooth and delicate, grew black scale, curling into avian claws.

The energy moved downward still, granting him feathers upon his legs to his ankles whereupon his feet flattened out, growing black scale comparable to his hands while his five toes merged into three, the merged digits curling into grasping talons. Higher up the light played upon her hips, forcing them to expand further and further apart until Faizu possessed a wide pair of hips that were soon offset by a pressure that pinched his waist together. Then it tugged at his rear, pulling and shaping it into plump, luscious shape, a fan of tailfeathers spreading out above it. Then the light reached his crotch.

Faizu gasped, eyes opening. His altered optics were no longer affected by the radiant light and so the rogue looked down, ignoring the fluffy feeling of feathers and the look of his altered hands as he reached at his groin. This time the light hurt. Faizu shrieked as his masculinity was annihilated, consumed by the light, leaving nothing behind but a smooth, feathered crotch. This lasted for only a moment and then there was a tear and another gasp as a slit opened up between his thickened thighs, puffing up and quickly blooming into the full flower of womanhood. The rogue gasped once more, this time not of fright, but of pleasure bright. The new female dove cooed softly, the light instilling warmth within before moving up to her chest. Here it pulled and plied, forming soft mounds on her chest, coaxing them larger and larger in size until there was a very noticeable bust beneath Faizu's loose cloak. The burgeoning breasts ripened further still and then their growth ceased just when they threatened to burst from their confines.

Then the light left, pulling back from the dove and towards the shattered symbol. The symbol absorbed the light, glowed momentarily, and then exploded once more, expanding into a glimmering vortex.

"PURITY!" the voice boomed.

Released from the light's embrace, Faizu squawked and stumbled to her feet and was immediately overwhelmed by the looseness of her clothes, the bouncing of her breasts, and feathered form. She looked down at herself and let out a coo of shock. There was so much wrong with her current form. She was smaller softer, and there was the ever-present portion of her beak at the edge of her vision. Worse, upon her chest were large breasts that meshed well with her curvy, feminine form, wide hips, and stout rear. She reached down below and felt nothing of her maleness down there, immediately withdrawing her taloned hand when it touched against swollen feminine lips.

"I-I--" she stuttered.

"Faizu?"

The rogue looked over her shoulder and saw Sylvar standing there with his wolf by his side, the rest of the party still in conflict with the undead. Seeing the elf, so tall and handsome, Faizu cooed. Abruptly a skeletal hand grabbed from the ground. Instead of fighting, Faizu shrieked and fled towards Sylvar, breasts bouncing and plump rear wriggling. She grasped the elf's arm and pressing herself close to him. In such proximity, the rogue felt safe and protected, a sense of security descending upon her mind.

"What are you doing?" Sylvar snarled, pushing Faizu away, his hand roughly brushing across her cloth covered breasts. Faizu whimpered, the brief moment of contact proving far more pleasurable than she could have anticipated. She shook her head and rubbed at her beak. What was she doing? Afraid of her inexplicable feelings, she clung to the ranger once more.

"Out of my way!" Sylvar said. When Faizu didn't move, he shook his head and pointed at the undead creature crawling out of the ground. "Strike!"

His wolf leapt, tearing the creature apart in a matter of moments.

"Faizu," Sylvar said. "Get off me." The ground rumbled as more and more of the undead began to pour out of the marble floor. Tomor, taking a step back from the fight for a moment's respite, spotted the glowing ring of light and recognized what it was.

"The portal!" Tomor shouted, pointing towards the vortex. "The portal is open!"

Whilst fending off the undead, the rest of the party too caught sight of the portal. Gwen raised her sword.

"Follow me!" she shouted.

The paladin charged through the growing number of undead, cutting a swathe through her ranks. The rest of the party followed. One by one they rushed through the portal until only Sylvar, Tomor, and Faizu remained to stem the tide with the dwarf nearly to the portal. Faizu stared at Sylvar, cooing softly each time he took down one of the undead. They were so frightening!

"Oof," Tomor said. "I'm not made fer such long runs." He squinted when he noticed the female dove and her generous bust. "Who's the lass?"

"Faizu," Sylvar said, shooting an undead through the skull. "I think."

"Oh," the dwarf murmured. "Hmm."

"Go, go!"

The dwarf nodded and dashed towards the portal. Sylvar whistled, his loyal wolf returning to his side. He look to the dove on the other side and sighed.

"Come on, Faizu!" he said.

Faizu looked up fearfully and only got moving when he dragged her by one of her wingarms. She let herself be dragged through the portal. He was so strong!

A moment later, Faizu, Sylvar, and his wolf emerged on the other side of the portal, the shimmering circle winking out of existence when they totally left it. The whole party had made it but not everything was well.

"What the hell," Sylvar swore.

"Is that...is that what I think it is?" Tomor asked.

The party stood on a huge circular platform of hardened magma that was suspended in the air. The sky was a bright blue while below was a black void. What currently distressed Tomor and Sylvar both was the huge, blacked scaled sleeping creature that lay curled up before them, a glimmering blue portal behind it.

"The spirit never said anything about a dragon!" Giles shouted.

The word echoed into the void. There was silence and then the dragon rumbled as it awoke, slowly getting onto all fours. It yawned, emerald eyes momentarily closing. Then it shook its whole body, causing the whole platform to rock from the motion. Afterwards, it flapped its wings and sat back on its haunches. It was then that it noticed the humanoids assembled in front of it.

"Oh," it rumbled. "Hello there."

When no one answered, it sighed and lowered its head sadly.

"Visitors," it said. "Why are you here?"

Again, there was no answer as the party separated instinctively, drawing their weapons or readying their magic all save for Faizu who hid behind Sylvar.

"No one ever wants to talk," the dragon sighed. "Just fight or flee. I'm so lonely, so unsatisfied. Will you not speak, please? I do not very much like to kill you, at least not yet."

The party looked to each other, wondering which among them would speak. Finally, Giles stepped forward and bowed.

"Sir dragon--" he began

"Just Jot, please," the dragon.

"Then Jot," Giles said, smiling gracefully. "We are but mere travelers and we have accidentally found ourselves here in this..." he looked around and smiled again at the dragon. "Place."

"Travelers? From where do you hail?"

"From..." Giles motioned to the party. "Many places."

"Many places? Please, please, tell me about them!"

"Alas," the bard sighed. "We cannot. We are on an urgent errand. You see," he pointed to Demara. "Her lover has gone missing and we are on a quest to find him."

"Lover," the dragon said, the words morose. "It would be nice to have one."

"Yes, and she misses hers very much. Would you let us pass?"

"Pass?" the dragon tilted his head. "I do not think the wizard would be happy if I just let you pass. But..." the dragon rumbled. "Perhaps we can come to a deal. If one of you will stay as company then I will let the rest pass."

"Ah." Giles said. "Would you mind giving us a few minutes to discuss your offer?"

"Not in the least--?"

Giles beamed. "Giles."

"Not in the least, Giles. Take your time." The dragon sighed again. "Please, take your time."

Giles motioned to the party and soon enough they formed a rough circle. Initially most eyes were not upon Giles, but Faizu.

"Who's the big breasted dove?" Demara asked.

"I'm Faizu!" Faizu said. She stepped towards Demara. "I'm still me, I'm still--eep!"

Faizu squawked when her pants abruptly fell, along with her underwear. Dark eyes wide with embarrassment, she bent down and pulled her pants up, giving those near a nice view of her rear. Tomor chuckled.

"Och, that's what the calamity at the altar was about," Tomor said. "Quite a pretty pigeon."

"Dove," Faizu corrected, blushing a bit from the compliment. She held her pants up and shook her head. "And I'm Faizu!"

"Is that why you didn't pray, sister?" Giles asked.

"You knew?" Demara said.

"No!" Gwen protested. "That's absurd." She pointed at the dove. "None could know that such a fate would befall him."

Leof shivered.

"Hey," Faizu said, sidling up to Demara, the now shorter dove looking the witch up in the eye. "Can you fix this like the dwarf?" "No," Demara replied, shaking her head. She smiled and looked to Gwen. "It would take divine intervention." "Enough!" Gwen shouted. She pointed to the dragon. "The altar is past. We are here now and there is a dragon."

"Yeah," Giles said. "What are we going to do, kill it?" Leof nodded. "I've slain a dragon before." He frowned. "Many."

"We could accept its offer," Demara said.

"No!" Gwen said. "Too leave someone behind with such a beast...no!"

"Funny," the witch snorted. "You were keen on leaving us behind in the meadow. Why don't we just ditch the dove?"

"No!" Faizu gasped, instinctively moving to Sylvar's side. The elf looked down at the frightened dove and raised an eyebrow. She opened her beak and stepped away. "I mean, no. I won't stay! I'm still useful!" "Yes," Gwen said. "We do not abandon the weak or disadvantaged."

"Hey!" the dove protested.

"Och," Tomor grumbled. "Then what do we do? I'm not feeling much fer a fight but neither am I wanting to be this creature's plaything."

"A vote?" Giles suggested.

"Giles--" Gwen started.

"Yes, a vote," Demara said. "To choose whether to fight the dragon or give in to its demands."

"And if we give in to its demands?" Gwen asked.

"Then we vote on who to leave behind." The witch shrugged. "We can always come back for them after we deal with Zenir.

"Hmph," Gwen grunted. "Very well."

And so the rest of the party agreed with silent nods, the dove the last to do so.

"Please," she begged, whispering to Sylvar. "If we don't fight, please don't vote for me."

"I won't," Sylvar said.

"Oh, you--"

"Because it won't come to that," the elf said, staring over Giles' shoulder to the dragon behind him. He readied his bow.

"Well," Giles said. "What will the vote be? Fight or do we leave one of us behind? Any volunteers?"

There was silence save for the rumbling of the dragon. ** **

The Cast of Zenir of the Dark: The Party:

Gwendonline, Zealous Paladin : Human female, early 30s. A veteran of a dozen holy wars, Gwendonline has spent much of her life fighting for her religion. Zenir's great evil has caused many of the paladins from her order to fall into darkness, death, or worse fates. Now that she has the opportunity to strike at him, she has taken it and brought her younger brother to keep him out of trouble with the holy and divine law of her land.

Njora, Stalwart Barbarian : Human female, late 30s. A savage fighter who is usually calm and collected. She has great patience, but when it's gone, she can't help but unleash a rage that takes days to die down. She knows none of the other party members save for the rogue who tried to steal from her once.

Giles, Journeyman Bard: Human male, early 20s. A master musician but inexperienced fighter, Giles brings support to the party through his inspiring tunes and versatility in any situation. He is Gwendonline's brother and she is the reason he is not rotting in an Inquisition cell. Naive and too trusting.

Demara, Taken Witch : Human female, late 20s. Norros's fiance. A kindhearted, though selfish witch. Intent on helping Norros wherever he may go. Is certain that he has not failed in his attempt, but has retreated somewhere in the tower. She is just as determined as Norros to put an end to Zenir once and for all. She knows of Tomor and does not appreciate his critiques. Pays little mind to anyone else save when Gwendonline chides her for her questionable tactics and witchcraft.

Leof, Veteran Knight : Human male, mid 30s. An experienced and well equipped adventurer with many years of fighting and leading others behind him. However, he is troubled by an overwhelming sense of deja vu with anything concerning Zenir.

Tomor, Academic Mage : Dwarven male. Learned at an arcane university. Very little practical combat experience. Selfish, introspective, analyzing, goes off on tangents constantly. Doesn't trust anyone except Njora because she's mostly quiet. Has mutual respect for Norros.

Sylvar, Beastmaster Ranger : Elf male, ???. A master archer and a friend of a wolf whom he has kept alive through the years with nature magics he is adept with. Wants to kill Zenir because of what he did to Sylvar's people. Will do anything to hurt Zenir.

Faizu, Shifty Rogue : Anthro dove female, mid 20s, obsessed with fame and fortune in any form. He is an expert in stealth, trapcraft, poisons, and assassination. Knows Giles from times they been in trouble together. Also knows Njora because he stole from her once. Doesn't trust Leof or Gwendonline. Believes killing Zenir will be his way to immortality. Faithless. Recently transformed into an anthro female dove and has developed an inexplicable attachment to Sylvar that the elf so far has no reciprocated perhaps because she was not too long ago a human male along with the fact that they're on a dangerous journey.

Other Characters:

Zenir of the Dark, Scourge of Aleiz, Butcher of Horn River, and Lord of Terror: Human male, ??? years. A skilled mage who takes delight in reshaping his enemies. Highly powerful and dangerous, though it's mercy if he kills those who oppose him. Many hate him but few can stand to oppose him. Has a guard drake familiar named Ward.

Norros, Guard Drake Broodmother (missing): Demara's fiance. Brashly went to fight Zenir alone because he was able to magically trace a teleportation path to him. Paid for his impudence with his body when Zenir turned him into a mate for his familiar, Ward.

Jackal, Vengeful Spirit : ??? Someone who Zenir slew in the past. Its hate has allowed it to retain form in a twisted undead state. It has offered to help the party in its quest to slay Zenir by providing crucial advice for navigating Zenir's lair.

Tynir, the Lost One:??? A fallen paladin with great feats as a holy man before, and a beastial servant of Zenir now. Unbelievable physical strength, but centers his time around maintaining Zynir's growing army and keeping the grounds nigh impenetrable.