FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

(You may notice, that if you spy this story other places on the net (And I've uploaded it twice, now), that there are some considerable variations. This version, I think I like the best, as it's getting an edit and rewrite as I post. It needed it, since...well long story. The original posts were deleted by accident when the forums I wrote this piece for went down and all the old work was lost. So this is a long time in the coming)

The ear splitting scream that pierced the eerie silence of Hell was one that Sparkle was all too familiar with. It wasn't the scream of someone being caught by surprise, or a shriek of joy of being reunited with a loved one. It was a shriek of pure and total terror. The kind of terror that gripped at the heart and didn't let go, forcing you to scream until all that spilled past your lips was a wet gargle of blood and you had shed your last tear. The type of scream little girl's made when their drunken father pinned them to the bed and forcefully stripped them naked. Sparkle was all too familiar with that scream.

The wolf gave a long, drawn out sigh and closed her eyes. Her body ached. Her legs hurt and after her recent excursion with demons, paladins, and magic, all she wanted to do was lay down and rest for a little while. But there was a feeling in her gut that told her Roland was still chasing behind her and she had a feeling that stopping anytime soon would leave her with her head rolling about quite detached from her shoulders. Add to the fact that she'd managed to forget her cane when the demons attacked earlier and It had not been a good day.

Regardless of her better judgment, however, the wolf found herself caressing the dust swept dunes of hell towards the sound of the screams. She trudged along, her paws in her pockets, head down and ears perked, making sure to take in her surroundings and open up her senses. She gave off the impression that she wasn't paying attention, and at the same time, observed everything around her. She was alert and vigilant while at the same time looking unsuspecting and meek. Hopefully, she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself...

"Sure. Follow the screams Sparky. It can't POSSIBLY be anything NEGITIVE! Not down in HELL. Goodness, no! What would lead you to think that?! And you've had such a ducky experience down here so far, let's go ahead and add to it! Let's just go ahead and throw gas onto the fire huh?! Let's do that! I mean, surely, heading towards screaming this loud wouldn't attract OTHER demons, or anything monstrous to it's source. It's probably cuddly puppies and adorable kittens, ready to lick my face and shower me with love. Or it's Pennywise and Freddy and Jason, playing "Let's rape the next person we see!" Spark. Seriously. This is your common sense talking now. I know you don't generally listen to me, but just this once, why don't we stop, think about our next move and not go towards the obvious trap. Nope? Still walking? Welp, can't say I didn't try." Sparkle mumbled to herself as she walked along towards the high pitched screams of terror.

What the wolf discovered, was a large building that strongly resembled a church. Bright red bricks, and brown shingles, big, heavy doors- it was a church all right. Right down to a large cross on the top of it. It the perfect place for the loud, unmeasured screaming of a female in obvious distress. Spark sighed quietly, and scratched her head, digging her nails under the ruby locks of sprouting hair.

"Oh yeah. We're thinkin' cult. No way Christ would be settin' up shop in a place like this...least in so far as I know. Lets see...Front door? No, that's crazy. Back door? Now what kind of church would have a back door?" Spark quipped quietly, gazing up at the building in front of her, before she slowly worked her way around towards the back.

"Humph...whadda know...a back door?" Sparkle mused softly to herself, looking at a large, bronzed door that quietly stood visual on the side of the building. The wolf reached a paw down, and gave the tarnished knob a test twist and frowned.

"The door, is, locked. Tis a shame momma didn't teach me how to pick locks when she was teaching me the arts of escapology...oh wait...she did. "The wolf chuckled quietly, kneeling down next to the door and fishing a small black wire from her pocket. It only took her a few moments before she caught the door's tumblers and it swung open silently.

Inside was a completely different world. There was no light what so ever, every row and chair was draped in darkness and caked in gloom, leading up to the pew, where a young coyote in a white wedding dress had been tied to a large cross. And below her was a large pile of hay. Sparkle already knew what was going to happen before the rest of the situation played out and if she were lucky, she'd be able to alter the outcome. The hay was for fire, and the coyote was going to fuel the flames. The room was devoid of souls, save a group of thirteen or fourteen hooded figures standing around the woman, mumbling quietly to themselves.

By now the rabid screaming of terror had transformed into quiet helpless sobs, and a new sound perverted the air; quiet chanting from hushed voices. Over that noise was a single, greater voice, filling the room with what sounded like scripture.

"Brothers! Salvation shall be OURS! The lord gives us yet one more chance to redeem ourselves, by burning this wicked soul to ashes and dust. Chant with me! Glorify his name! There is no beauty like the lord, nor mercy like that which he shows us! We do his work, his bidding, his desires in these acts, so that he might forgive us, and that he might witness our faith and our devotion!" Said the single rat, dressed in a white robe- everybody else was dressed in darker brown hoods, and they all had their heads down. Spark frowned, the coyote hanging from the cross was sobbing wildly, her eyes red and tear stained. Whatever she had done, Spark couldn't find any reason to crucify her. Which meant she was probably innocent...which meant Spark had to do something.

The rat standing at the pew gave a large, sweeping gesture towards the quietly crying woman, before he turned towards the rest of the rats.

"Brothers! Bathe in the glory of the lord!!" He shouted, and lifted a large wooden stick, tarred and blackened at the end. Spark gave an tired groan, squeezing her eyes shut. Why her? Why was it always her in these situations. Why was it always her that had to choose to do something, rather than nothing at all?

"Because you're the one who always chooses to do something. You could just turn around and leave...but you can't. Because you've already made your choice."Spark mumbled to herself quietly, while the rat lit the torch. The coyote gave one, last, horrified scream, and...

"TELEGRAM! TELEGRAM HERE! I'VE GOT A TELEGRAM!!" A voice rang out in the church, catching everybody's attention at once- including the minister only inches before he'd set the hay to flame. A single, wolf, dressed in odd clothing was marching her way along the rows of benches, holding a folded piece of paper in her paws.

"'S'cuse me! Pardon me. Haha, whoops, look out, comin' through buddy. Outta the way, pal, I'm on the clock. "The wolf said quickly as she maneuvered her way through the group of rats and stopped in front of the priest, who looked quite as baffled as everyone else in the room.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS INTRUSIO-" He snarled, before Spark held up a paw, shaking her head. She narrowed her eyes, looking directly at the rat and frowned. No, she was incredibly important and wasn't used to being talked to like that. She was somebody powerful, a representative that was not to be trifled with. After all- nobody killed the messenger, right? She had to play it up, had to be in charge, and damn it, she was!

"Alright, first of all buddy, don't yell at me, m'jus the messenger. Secondly, ain't none my business, but listerine; look into it. Third. Decaf. Seriously. So, I godda telegram here for the guy runnin' the show, and I'm guessin' d'add be you huh? Hey- I don't ask questions, I just follow orders, and lemme tell you, when the big boss of the ninth circle gives you an order, ya follow it. So, anyway, 's dark in here, you guys needa pay yer light bill, gonna borrow this." Spark explained, reaching out to snatch the torch from the rat's paw, gripping it firmly in her own. So far so good...She'd really figured she'd have been dead by this point, so she was assuming she was doing alright. Still, she had to get the girl, and get out...

"So, lesse here. AHEM! AH-HEM-HEM-HEM! HERRM...Sorry, bit dusty down here. Lesse...Right. To Rats of the Church. Yadda, yadda yadda. Stop the ceremony, release the girl, yadda yadda yadda, fail to follow orders, dire consequences, suffering, torture, blah, blah, blah. Signed the Morning Star. I'm paraphrasing' it for ya, you get the jist, I'm already late. SO , wrap the bitch up, I'm takin' her with me back to m' boss, I don't know what he wants with her, I don't care, but if you don't wanna find out, I'd say move it. Come on, chop chop lets get a move on! Yeesh, help these days, amirite?" Spark chuckled dryly, holding up the torch to get a better view of the snarling rat next to her. He glared at her for a long few seconds, while the rest of the rats looked confused, a few of them moving to pull the girl down from the cross.

"Who, did you say you worked for again?" The rat growled. Spark tossed a glance over her shoulder at the girl, as the rats tugged her down. So close, yet so far...

"Me? Huh? The big L. Lucy. Boss of the ninth circle. Ya know...the Devil." Spark said hastily, while the rat's stopped moving. The ones holding the girl now turned and looked at their leader while Spark's mouth dropped open. She'd made an error, but it was still salvable. Hopefully...

"So...you are not an angel. You come here, representing the other side?" The lead rat asked quietly. Sparkle's ears perked a moment and she frowned. No back tracking. Go with it. Think fast, and stall.

"Yup. I work for.-" Sparkle began, but was quickly cut off by the number of rats circling around her and the female coyote, whom had begun to whimper and squirm again. The wolf gave a deep sigh.

"Listen. This is important...The big L, he's gonna be pissed if his favorite messenger doesn't return. Real pissed. Send some demons up here to crush this measly little church to dust." Sparkle explained, with a growl. The rat grinned wickedly.

"I would welcome such a blow from Satan. God would welcome such contempt, and embrace us with loving arms. You have sealed your fate! Tell your master, when you return tha-" The rat explained, before Spark groaned and shook her head cutting him off while making a ‘talking' motion with her free paw.

"Blah blah blah!! Yeah, don't care. Plan B is fire." She explained, before shoving the lit torch into the rat's face. His robe's caught fire instantly and he let out a blood curdling scream that could have shook the heavens. Immediately the other rats took a step back and Spark tossed the flaming torch towards the largest group.

"Catch!" She barked, before reaching out to grasp at the wrist of the shivering coyote. "Now we run!" She snapped, quickly turned to race down the rows of benches, the girl scrambling to keep up while the rats followed behind, leaping over benches, and grasping at their heels. Sadly, they were faster than the two of them combined, and one of them grabbed the coyote's other arm, while another side tackled Spark into the ground.

"ACK! Paws off! I'm not READY for this sort of relationship yet!" Spark snarled, clutching at the rat's chest who'd tackled her to the ground.

"SHOCK!" She barked loudly. Immediately, her paws turned bright blue, and the rat whom was trying to hold her down began shaking wildly as several hundred jolts of electricity rippled through his body. She tossed him aside easily, and crawled to her legs, trying to access the situation. Things were going to get worse before they got better. The rats had successfully re-captured the coyote, and now they were closing in on the wolf. Four of them to be exact but Sparkle, to her credit, didn't feel the flickering darkness of fear taking over her. Quite the opposite actually, and she stood with a low, rumbling growl in her chest.

"Alright. Ok then. You guys got some thunder? Let's see how this plays out. "The wolf whispered, launching an arm towards the closest rat towards her, her fingers outspread and spaced, palm thrust forward and her eyes narrowed.

"BURN!" She hissed and the intense lapping flames that leapt from her fingertips were enough to bring the rat to his knees, clutching at his face, screaming like he were...well like he were on fire. The next leapt towards her, but was struck down by his own shadow- which seemed to crawl from the floor itself to tackle him to the ground and bury him under it's invisible weight. Sparkle grinned a wicked grin, watching as the rat struggled helplessly, rolling about the floor with his own shadow trying to choke the life from him. The third rat moved forward and got an arm around her neck, attempting to pull her to the ground- which she countered with a furious kick to the junction between his legs. He dropped like a stone, leaving the wolf with one rat remaining.

"LET GO! LET GO OF ME! I DON'T WANT TO BURN! OH PLEASE HELP ME!" The coyote girl screamed, reaching out towards Spark while the rats on either side of her dragged her back to the cross in the middle of the room.

"HANG ON! I'm coming! I won't let them take you!!" Spark called out to the coyote before reaching out and snaring the incoming rat's wrist. She grasped as hard as she could and narrowed her eyes, as a yellowish wisp of energy burst from her fingertips and wrapped around the rat's body.

"PARALYSIS" She snarled and released her grip on the rat, watching him collapse on the floor in front of her, his nerves deadened and torn to shreds by his spell. For a brief moment, Spark paused in her onslaught and glanced at her fingertips, which still buzzed and tingled from the most recently cast spell. Too many spells. She was casting too many spells in too short amount of time. It wasn't that she had much of a choice at the moment, but a measly little fact kept nagging at the back of her skull. Demons were attracted to magic...

The wolf took off in a sprint, heading along the rows of chairs, towards the group of rats that were dragging the coyote off. She wasn't going to let them hurt her. Not again. She was going to rescue her, get some answers and maybe help her get out of this place...That was the plan, anyway. She was only three or so steps away when she was blindsided by something that hit her hard from her right, knocking her off her path and stumbling to one side.

"W, wha..." She choked out, turning to catch sight of the lead rat, clutching one side of his face with one paw- and a thick bible with the other; which he swung venomously, catching Spark in the temple with the corner of it. It crumpled the wolf to her knees, and she gagged, choking on her own tongue from the dizzying pain. It was her fault. She'd focused all her attention on the coyote. Stopped paying attention to the area around her...

"Bible...thumping...mother..."Spark whimpered quietly. Her ears were ringing wildly from the blows, and she couldn't hear a word being said. She could see the rat was pointing towards the coyote and the cross, yelling loudly and then pointing to her. The coyote was screaming, crying, begging with paws reaching out helplessly for Spark. They were going to kill her! No! Something! She had to do something!

"Fuck you. Lemme even out your face. BUR-" Spark hissed towards the priest, but was silenced with a ruthless kick to her stomach, leaving her squealing in agony and clutching her ribs on the ground.

She gave a helpless glance towards the coyote girl and tried to call out. Tried to say something reassuring to help. They were tugging her back up onto the cross now. One of them was holding a lit torch. No, no no! It wasn't supposed to go down like this! Helplessly, Spark reached out and tried to drag herself towards them. Maybe she could get there in time. Get her breath back. Cast a spell to quell the fire and...A large brown boot dropped in front of her vision, and the next thing she saw, was the rat hovering over her, reading text from the bible he was holding- before he lifted it over her head. Then everything went black.