FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Shadow's First Blood

Chapter 5

A cool breeze rustled through the trees causing what little leaves that remained in the trees to fall to the ground. The few birds that hadn't flown south yet or stayed all year round chirped from the trees above. Conner stared out at the seemingly endless forest around him, letting out a long sigh, feeling at peace being deep in the wilderness. He glanced at the matte black combat gloves he wore on his hands, they were not only custom made by him, but they were specifically designed with firearms handling in mind.

It had been around two months since he sent Ryjin to the hospital. He had seen Ryjin at school yesterday and was wondering when the dragon would try to get revenge. Conner shook his head, “Best to not think about that right now and just relax," he thought to himself.

“One more year and I'll finally be a legal adult," Conner grunted before looking at the three collapsible tables in front of him with a selection of matte black firearms: A Daniel Defence DD5, FN Scar-17, Genesis 12, Sig Sauer MG 338, a modern style lever action rifle, a modern style military grade bolt action sniper rifle and his four pistols.

Glancing up from the guns he had, he looked out at the shooting range he had set up for himself. He had cleared out a fairly sizable clearing and made a few mock structures to practice his weapons handling and accuracy. It had taken him quite a few days to build this here. Another headache had been managing to purchase his own land a few clicks down the road from his parents. His weapons collection had become too vast to hide there and he wanted to move out as soon as possible.

Conner picked up his Glock 19 and holstered it before turning to his right and walking over to a blacked out crew cab pickup truck. The double rollbar in the bed, mean looking large tires with very aggressive tread, snorkel, barely noticeable black beadlocks, lifted and very expensive looking suspension, lightbar on the roof, rock sliders, specialized offroading bumper and front crash bar made it obvious that this truck was no joke. The fact that it was also absolutely filthy with dirt and mud made it clear what this truck was built and used for.

Conner walked around the trophy truck on steroids. It still had that standard full size pickup look but had its bed and front end slightly extended, the truck was also obviously taller and the extensive upgrades too made it stand out. Looking at the front bumper, the typical Ford Raptor “FORD" was displayed across the front bumper. He looked at the lightbar in the bottom of the front bumper, just above a winch before looking at the vent in the induction hood. Walking back over to the driver door, he glanced at the 6.6L badge he had put on himself that sat just at the back of the hood on the side of the raised section. Another mirrored copy was on the other side of the hood. He opened the driver door and climbed in, retrieving a duffle bag from the back seat.

Conner climbed out of the truck, closing the door and glancing down the path he had come from. Small trees and shrubs had been pushed over while the ground was ripped up. He sighed before walking over to the tables with his guns and dropping the duffle bag down and opened it. The bag was packed full of ammo, he retrieved a box that had; “.408 CheyTac" printed on the top before grabbing a large magazine and loading seven rounds into the mag.

The large modern style bolt action rifle was picked up, he opened the bolt before shoving the magazine into the magwell and grabbed the bolt handle and pushed the bolt forward, feeding a round into the chamber. Conner adjusted his grip on the left handed military grade sniper rifle before gritting his teeth and dropping the sniper away from his face.

“Fuck," he groaned, reaching into his left pocket and grabbing a case that held his earbuds. He opened the case and watched as the two earbuds seemed to break apart as tiny clusters of black specks crawled up his arm and into his ears.

“Bluetooth connected," an automated voice said in his ear as the earbuds reconstructed in his ears.

“Call Tom," Conner said calmly as he pulled a pair of black tinted sunglasses from off the top of his hat. He put the sunglasses on just as the call connected.

“Yes sir?" a man on the other line asked.

“Just thought I'd call and let you know that I am on the property near the creek and will be target shooting." Conner said flatly as he retrieved a few more boxes of different ammunition from the duffle bag.

“Oh, thanks for the heads up. By the way, we have finished the underground garage complex and secret lab connected to it." Tom's voice said over the phone with a slight undertone of pride.

“Oh shit, I guess you can give the transport teams the go ahead to move all of the Element and Antimatter inventory to the lab." Conner said enthusiastically.

“Will do, enjoy your target shooting."

“I will, just let your guys know that the gun shots are nothing to worry about," Conner chuckled before ending the call. He let out a long sigh before grabbing his sniper rifle and shouldered it once again.

“Computer, activate the one hundred meter moving target," He said as he looked through the scope. Next to all of the mock structures he had built for practicing was a path that was fifteen feet wide and roughly a kilometer long, one thousand meters or roughly one thousand ninety yards.

Conner quickly found a human shaped target that began moving back and forth across the path. He took in a slow breath as he got into position with his left eye directly behind the scope. Keeping his off eye open, he followed the target, calculating its speed before inhaling slowly.

*BANG!*

The supersonic round ripped through the air before hitting the moving steel target he aimed at hard! The sparks that shot off of the target made Conner smirk as the sounds of the forest slowly returned. Conner's earbuds also substituted for a very impressive pair of smart ear protection.

Conner spent around two hours testing his accuracy with the CheyTac sniper rifle, destroying six steel targets down range in the process as well as trying out different muzzle brakes before he settled on the suppressor. The reduced noise and muzzle flash as well as better stability and accuracy without affecting the range, if at all, made the suppressor an easy pick.

Looking at the matte black rifle, he nodded in approval before reaching over and grabbing his Scar-17 and walking over to one of the mock structures that was meant to resemble a hotel or apartment building floor with a roof. Ascending the skeletal staircase, he glanced at his left arm. With the stuff he had been working on, his AI was able to see his brain activity, allowing the tech he was working on to do his bidding without uttering a word. Once the thought came to him, black clusters of what almost appeared to be lice because of how small they were began to combine and cluster together. In just under five seconds, his arm was wrapped in something matte black, starting at his wrist and ending just before his elbow.

Conner tilted his arm to look at the top of his arm, an advanced screen lit up and he saw that he had a few missed text messages from his mother and father. He was about to open the messages when he got a phone call from his father. Conner sighed before accepting the call.

“Your mother is getting worried, where are you?" Jason grumbled in irritation.

“I am blowing off some steam," Conner grunted coldly as he stared intently at the ground a good distance from the structure base he stood atop. Unlike some magic casters, Conner didn't have to speak his spell aloud, just thinking the words with his internal monologue was enough. A set of two tables with countless two liter bottles of pop as well as a dozen watermelons appeared in the spot he was staring at.

“Can you at least come back to apologize to your mother?" Jason sighed.

“Apologize for WHAT!? Getting mad at my brother for calling me a bitch because I was getting in the shower when he wanted to?" Conner snapped. “There's only so much bullshit I can put up with, dad! I get it, I ain't perfect, but the shit you and mom let him get away with has been mentally draining!" Conner roared into the phone.

“Hey! Do-" Jason was cut off as Conner continued his rant. “I'm seriously done with the constant bullshit and fighting! Let me blow off some steam in peace!" Conner exclaimed, his voice cracking as he said peace. “I already have a property and have a house being built as we speak, I will move out the second I turn eighteen. It will be good for all of us to get a break," Conner sighed before ending the call.

His parents were by no means bad parents, but they weren't perfect either, nobody was perfect, of course, and Conner didn't hold it against them. The only issue was that the obvious favouritism towards Conner's younger brother, Issac, hurt more than he liked to admit.

Swallowing down his emotions, Conner pulled a thirty round extended magazine from thin air and loaded his Scar-17. Once he was sure the mag was locked into the magwell, he tugged the charging handle back slightly before letting go, and the bolt slammed a round into the chamber. Conner looked down the red dot sight at the bottles and watermelon on the table, using his thumb, he manipulated the fire selector lever from “S" to “A". This rifle clearly was not the US civilian model named the; FN SCAR-17S, this was the military version….

Conner smirked before bracing himself in the proper firing stance and squeezing the trigger and holding it. The high powered battle rifle responded from the trigger squeeze by releasing hell down on the pop bottles and watermelons, tearing them and the tables to absolute shreds and kicking up dirt. In mere seconds, the extended mag was empty and the gun clicked.

“Seven point six two by fifty one has got to be one of my favourite rounds ever!" Conner shouted before laughing like a maniac.

After Conner destroyed six more tables and plenty more bottles and food items, he decided to run through the mock course he set up in the apartment building floor skeleton. Descending the stairs, he made his way to the start of the course.

He let out a sigh before grabbing an ammo satchel and attached a suppressor to his Scar-17. “Ready to start the clock, Computer?" Conner asked as he raised his rifle, gripping the vertical foregrip tightly.

“3… 2… 1… GO!" After the AI finished counting, Conner was off. Approaching the first door quickly, he peeked the door, nailing the first target the second it came into view.

“Reaction time; perfect, target down," the AI confirmed in his ear.

Conner pushed the door open and pressed his back to the wall across from the door. He slid over to get a peek down the hall. He tossed a flash bang down the hall before peeking around the corner and hitting the two targets down the hall centre mass. Conner cleared the rest of the floor without failing before ascending the stairs to the roof. Noting that the sun had nearly fallen below the horizon, he decided to call it a day

“Exfil successful, better than your last attempt," the AI chuckled. “You should finish working on that VR simulation you've been working on, would help you improve your skills even more."

“I still want to keep doing this too, will always be fun actually shooting real guns with live ammunition," Conner chuckled as he walked over to the table with all of his guns. “Back to my pocket dimension with ye," Conner announced as he swiped his right hand over his firearms. Each one vanished into thin air while his Scar remained in his left hand.

Conner turned away from the tables he left and walked over to his truck and hopped into the driver's seat, setting his Scar-17 down on the floor in the back. He held his foot on the brake before pushing the ignition button, the truck roared to life with a whistely, whiny rumble. Shifting the automatic transmission into drive, turning his headlights on and traction control off, he stomped the gas, swinging the truck completely one hundred eighty degrees, the truck roaring and screaming the entire time he spun his tires. After he let off the gas, the truck let out a very loud sputter and backfire.

It took only about a minute before he left the confines of the forest and his tires found asphalt. He contemplated not going home and just sleeping in his newly completed garage to avoid his family but decided against it. Even though he would never admit it to anyone, he very much enjoyed Daniella's company when in bed.

Conner glanced at the time on the truck's infotainment system as he drove down the empty road. He was still a few kilometers away and decided to floor it, the roar of the engine began to drown out his music.

Conner let off the gas after reaching almost 270 kilometers per hour, he was approaching a dip in the road that slopped up into an unintentional perfect jump. Even with the truck's roll cage, he would likely kiss a tree if he hit that spot in the road going too fast.

Turning on both of his lightbars, Conner braced himself as he spotted the dip up ahead. He felt his stomach drop as he went into the dip at 120 kilometers. Conner felt the weightlessness and the truck redlined briefly before he let off. He counted to five seconds before the truck made contact with the road once again. The truck absorbed the impact of the fall like it was nothing. The front of the truck jumped as the engine screamed and roared when Conner floored it again.

Conner could hear his pulse thundering in his ear as he began to laugh, “FUCK YEAH!!!!" he shouted as the truck flew down the road, fast enough to compete with some sports cars. He began to gradually let off the gas as he got closer to home.

“Welp, it's dark now, everyone is likely asleep," Conner let out a sigh, he pulled over, shut the V8 off, and started the truck back up in EV mode. “Won't shake the entire house with a customized Parallel Hybrid," Conner chuckled as the truck creeped forward almost silently. Killing his headlights and brakelights before pulling his sunglasses over his eyes. His vision quickly became tinted green as he set his sunglasses in night vision mode.

“Ridiculous, but I don't give a shit!" Conner remarked to himself with a chuckle as he flew down the road before turning onto his driveway.

As Conner drove up his driveway, he did a double take as he spotted a large pair of eyes reflecting light back in the treeline. Slowing down, he switched his glasses to thermal, his eyes widened as he spotted the outline of a dragon. Conner switched his glasses back to night vision and pretended he hadn't seen anything. He remotely opened the garage door and drove his truck inside.

Conner shook his head in disbelief as he retrieved his rifle from the floor in the back and hopped out. “He can't be that stupid." Conner scoffed in a whisper as he slowly got out of his truck and closed the garage door. Remotely tapping into the house's surveillance system, he viewed through the camera just above the garage door through his glasses. Switching the camera to thermal, he watched a dragon creep up the driveway. Switching the camera out of thermal, he could clearly see that this dragon was red in the moonlight.

“He really is that fucking stupid…" Conner muttered in shock. Grabbing a fresh mag from his ammo satchel, Conner reloaded his Scar as he watched Ryjin creep around the house through the cameras. He opened the garage door just a crack before morphing into the shadows, slipping under the small gap.

Conner felt his rage bubbling as he glided across the ground, remanifesting behind the house, he crouched down just thirty feet behind the red dragon. Conner followed Ryjin around the entire perimeter as the dragon tried every window and door on the house. It took every ounce of willpower not to shoot Ryjin in the back of the head. Once the two came back around, Conner heard what was likely Daniella making noise in his room. This spooked Ryjin and he slowly creeped away before making a run for it into the long grass that surrounded the cut grass perimeter.

Conner stayed just far enough away from Ryjin to not be seen, his black clothing made him almost invisible as he followed the still unaware drake into the long grass.

“I really didn't think you were this stupid," Conner chuckled menacingly as he pushed the bolt release lever down with his thumb, making it audibly send a round into the chamber. Conner pressed the end of the barrel to the back of Ryjin's head as he froze. “Come on, you knew we were rich! Did you not anticipate a bunch of rural butt fuck nowhere redneck's to not have guns?!" Conner sneered.

“How?" Ryjin squeaked in fear.

“You must have seen the vehicle with its lights killed roll up the driveway?" Conner asked flatly. “I saw your eyes with night vision, then saw you with thermal."

Conner adjusted his grip on his rifle before jabbing Ryjin in the back of the head, he went to open his mouth and say something, but Ryjin swung at his rifle with his tail. Losing grip of his gun, Conner completely forgot what he was going to say.

Ryjin spun around, snarling as he tackled the human into the grass. Conner regained his senses quickly, striking the attacking dragon in the side of his head with a hard right hook before following it up with a firm kick to his crotch. The dragon was launched off of the human, landing ten feet away directly on his back.

Conner felt his anger begin to boil over as his pulse thundered in his ears, his mind barely noticing the faint purple glow emanating from any skin that was exposed.

“YOU COME HERE TO MY HOME AND DARE TO THINK YOU CAN TRY AND TOUCH DANIELLA???" Conner roared in uncontrolled fury as he lunged for the red dragon, smashing said dragon's head into the ground. “You have some nerve to assume you will see the sunrise…" Conner stated in a booming draconic accented voice. Ryjin kicked the enraged human away and the two began circling each other.

“Was that supposed to be a threat?" Ryjin snapped back, his voice cracking. Ryjin was close to pissing himself in fear, not only did he figure out that Elementals were in fact not myth, but Conner and likely Daniella were Elementals. Seeing Conner's veins pulsing an otherworldly neon purple was nothing short of menacing.

Conner chuckled, but not a happy chuckle, a hollow chuckle. “I don't make threats… I make promises…" he sneered. Feeling wet on his neck, Conner reached up, grabbing at his neck, he was bleeding profusely and the gash seemed to start about an inch below his right eye.

Ryjin, noticing that Conner was distracted, lunged at the human trying desperately to bite at his neck. His eyes widened a second later at the sound of something sharp rending through flesh. The dragon scrambled back off of Conner, grabbing at his neck as his blood soaked the grass. Conner raised his right hand, smiling a twisted smile as he inspected his now four digit, black scaled hand with wicked curved claws.

As Conner began getting up from the grass, his hand morphed back to normal and he started to laugh, a menacing almost psychotic laugh as a mass of black covered his neck. A small lighter sized object materialized in Conner's right hand. As he raised his hand, the object began changing shape and transformed into his revolver.

“Are you part dragon?" Ryjin rasped through gargled breaths.

Conner chuckled, “No, shapeshifting magic…." he said coldly before raising his revolver level to Ryjin's face, causing the dragon to close his eyes and shrink back slightly.

“Fear… that is what you feel. I can't help but feel a sense of deja vu in this moment, almost like… your soul was cursed by my past self for attacking a friend…" Conner pulled the hammer of the high powered hand cannon back. “I will be seeing you in my next life… unless somehow I don't ever die, in which case, you will be stuck in purgatory…." The shot echoed through the forest as the bullet ripped through Ryjin's left eye. The dragon jerked back as blood, skull fragments and brain matter shot out of the back of his head, he collapsed to the ground almost instantly.

Conner lowered the revolver before he dropped to the ground, lying on his back, staring up at the sky. “Fuckin' idiot," he scoffed before letting out a long sigh that misted the cold air.

A loud distant thunk signified the bullet's travel had ended in a tree.