FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

As soon as Vivid arrived on the other side of the portal he sensed something different about the place they were in. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but unlike the other planets he had visited he felt like he wasn't on any planet it all. It was the first time they had been transported to a place that was underground, though, as Renzyl suddenly appeared next to him.

"This is the Kalvarian Deep Mining Facility," Renzyl introduced as he went up to one of the metal pipes that stuck out from the stone and rubbed his hand on it. "Now this isn't a planet, per se, but I figured that for the purpose of this journey it certainly counts. We're actually a few miles underneath the surface of a planetoid with a surface completely devoid of atmosphere and life. Everyone at this facility works and lives far underground, surviving on makeshift biomes as well as technology to ensure their every need is fulfilled. It's sort of turned into its own little world, something that I always marvel at when I come down here."

"That sounds like a rather bleak existence," Vivid commented as they began to walk through one of the caves. "What do they mine here that is so valuable that they built an entire civilization underground?"

Renzyl just grinned and motioned for them to continue to move. After a few minutes of navigating their way through a number of maze-like tunnels they finally arrived at the opening to a cavern, though Vivid had no idea of the size of it until he stepped through the threshold into it. His jaw opened slightly in awe as he looked around at the large buildings that had been housed inside the mammoth cavern, all of it illuminated by several large lights that hung from the ceiling. Had he not known that they were completely underground and looked at the city first, he would have assumed it was a surface city as he saw the various people walking on the streets below.

"It's incredible," Vivid said as they began to wind their way down the narrow path to get to the floor of the cavern. "Is this the only city or are there more of them?"

"This is just one of many," Renzyl explained while they walked. "All of them are owned by Kalvarian though, the first company to pioneer deep core mining technology so that they could actually harvest the materials within this inhospitable rock. Considering how big this planetoid is they're likely to continue to mine it for centuries until they take every last ounce from the core of this place, and with no life on the surface to worry about, they can just pack everything up and leave once they're done and let it implode on itself."

Vivid continued to listen as they ventured forth into the city itself, but as they found themselves on the city streets the fox began to notice something that caused his attention to be taken off the dragon. While there were a multitude of normal furs that walked around there were a number of them that were dressed in head to toe in rubber with metal plates fused into them, from the helmet with a visor or eye lenses to their latex-clad feet. Some of them even had backpacks attached to them with hoses that led up into the mask itself, connected to the front or the sides of the muzzle to allow the encased person to breath. When Renzyl noticed that Vivid's attention had been so taken away he grinned and tapped him on the shoulder to bring the vulpine back.

"Those are the reason that we're here," Renzyl said. "Due to the extreme environment of the mining conditions most of it is done autonomously, but when it requires a more organic element to go down there we have the Kalvarian drone. They use the rare metal they harvest from the core to make them, though with my contribution they now have an integrated rubber suit underneath that allow them to use less of such a precious resource while making them even stronger."

"I'm sure they're extremely grateful for that," Vivid replied as he eyed up one particularly large suit in particular. "Are you delivering another batch of them? Should I be wary of opening up strange containers that you leave me with?"

Renzyl chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing quite like that," Renzyl replied. "Tomorrow I'm meeting with one of the design specialists to help mock-up a new suit for them that will allow them to integrate some of their tools. It'll be at that point when you and I will part ways for a bit, and though I'm sure you'd be somewhat interested in the process, it's nothing compared to actually going down to the core. Trust me, you'll have a great time."

The two continued to discuss the nature of Vivid's newest expedition as they ate before checking into their rooms for the night. Though the fox was curious on what was about to happen next he was thankful for the break, the pace that the rubber dragon set was quite fast, and with the nature of the things that they were involved in, the time for rest needed to be taken advantage of. Still, as he closed his eyes, his mind still wandered over to those rubberized drone creatures and thinking of what he would look like as one of them...

The next morning Vivid woke up to breakfast as usual, which was heartier than most of the ones that they had. Renzyl explained that he would need the energy and that most of the miner drones consumed such a meal, themselves, though he had time to eat since they were in no real rush. It took a while but the fox managed to put most of it away as Renzyl described the details of what his day was going to comprise of. Once they had finished with their morning activities they left the hotel and made their way to the center of town, which was dominated by a spire of a building that nearly reached the ceiling of the massive cavern with a base bigger than some stadiums that Vivid has seen.

When they walked inside Vivid immediately felt the temperature rise by a few degrees, though it was a very dry heat as they made their way to the front receptionist area. "Welcome to the central mining spire," the lioness began to recite before she caught a glimpse of the smirking rubber dragon. "Oh, Mr. Renzyl! Dyson is waiting for you in his office, he's been very excited to go over his latest project designs with you."

"I'm sure he is, Alara," Renzyl replied before he gestured to Vivid. "I've also arranged for my friend here to go on a very in-depth tour of the facility and maybe even shadow someone on a maintenance run. Has that been set up yet, or will he be accompanying me to my meeting?"

"Oh no, we made sure to process your request," Alara replied before she pressed a button on her touch pad and looked at Vivid. "If you'll just wait here in the lobby, Vivid, we'll have someone coming up to fetch you shortly. Flint is our head drone supervisor and he can take you through the entire process himself."

Vivid and Renzyl nodded to one another, then as the rubber dragon went past the receptionist to the elevator the fox moved to a waiting area and sat down. He didn't have to wait long; however, as a huge stallion suddenly appeared around the corner and walked straight towards him. Like the other drones his massively muscled body was covered in black rubber and had a helmet linked to a backpack behind him. His suit also had bright purple lines over it, possibly as an indicator of his status as Vivid shook his hand.

"Name's Flint," the rubber-suited male introduced. "You must be Vivid. I have to say that we don't get a whole lot of people that can swing a private tour in the bowels of the core, but considering you're attached to the one responsible for doubling our drone fleet, I can't say that I'm surprised either. Well let's get you droned and ready to go, I'm assuming that you were briefed on what's going to happen to you while you're in my care?"

Vivid nodded, thinking back to the conversation he had just had with Renzyl over breakfast. The only way to get down to the core was to become a drone, they hadn't made any viewing pod that could withstand the pressure and not roast its occupant to a crisp as of yet that was cost effective. While the process itself was somewhat extensive the fox was only going to be one for the day; most that worked for the mining facility would become a drone for the entirety of their career, and for some beyond that. The rubberized horse motioned for Vivid to follow and led him down the hallway he appeared, which led to a different bank of elevators that Flint explained would get them to where all the real work was done.

Once the elevator doors open he was led to a wide open area with several lines of silver pods that laid there horizontally while people in white lab coats wandered around them. "This is our primary drone bay," Flint explained as he walked inside with Vivid right behind him. "Here we create, repair, and then eventually decommission our drone fleet. There are several different kinds of treatments depending on what sort of drone you're going to become, but since you're becoming the standard worker drone, yours will only take maybe an hour at most. Now Renzyl said you wanted the full experience, so go ahead and get naked while we have one of our lovely technicians prep your pod for you."

While Vivid wasn't sure what the horse meant by full experience he did what he was told, once more becoming naked in front of strangers while the top of one of the silver capsules opened. At this rate the fox wondered if he should just stay naked for the rest of the trip as Flint helped him step up into the now-open cylinder. Once he was inside the vulpine was able to see a number of things attached to the metal walls, most notably shackles that they began to place around his wrists and ankles. "Uh... are those really necessary?" Vivid asked as he felt the cool metal wrap around his fur.

"They actually are," Flint replied as the fox continued to become restrained. "Part of the droning process is that you get an even coat of the substance and too much movement can hinder the process. Since we know that you can become... excited under such circumstances, the restraints make sure that you don't throw off the process too much."

Vivid could feel himself blush slightly as they finished with his limbs and attached one more item to his body, a metal collar that clamped shut over his neck. Once he was properly in place Vivid watched Flint disappear, then reappeared with a rubber helmet that was molded in the form of a jackal with a visor that covered its eyes. "We ran out of vulpine drone helmets," Flint admitted as he leaned in and helped slide the hardened rubber and metal over Vivid's head. "So you're going to have to be a jackal for a while... it's pretty close, though, so there shouldn't be too much differential."

"Trust me, I've been way different creatures this trip," Vivid replied while they attached the air hoses to the sides of the muzzle. "So now what happens?"

"Now you just relax and enjoy the experience," Flint replied before the door began to shut with a hissing noise, eventually closing completely and surrounding the fox in complete darkness. The only sound in the tube was the hissing of the air entering and leaving his mask, regulating his breathing as Vivid waited for the next part of the process. He didn't have to wait too long, though, as he began to feel some sort of thick liquid begin to press against his back.

At first all Vivid could do was feel as more of the liquid began to press up against his sides while the chamber filled, but then he found himself able to see the shiny metal of the tube like someone had turned on the light. He quickly realized that it was part of the helmet he wore, and though he was severely limited by the restraint around his neck, he could see in the reflection of the capsule's curved surface as more of the fluid covered his body. What surprised him was that the liquid was clear, or at least translucent enough for him to see his body still even as it was completely covered. For a while his vision became wavy as the fluid covered his mask as well, but soon after it cleared up again once the entire tube was filled.

For a few minutes the fox floated there, unable to move or do anything as he waited for the next phase of the process to begin. Then Vivid began to feel a tingle the encompassed his entire body. At first it was just a slight warmth, but as time continued to pass it grew stronger until a pleasant buzz flowed through his entire body. "Phase one beginning," a computerized voice in his head instructed him. "Introducing polymerization."

It quickly became clear that Flint knew what he was talking about as he saw, in the reflection of the tube, that tendrils of black began to float around in the liquid towards his body. The mere touch of the black substance was enough to cause him to twitch, and as it began to stick to his fur it caused him to squirm even more. At first he thought that it was going to simply coat his fur in a single layer, but as he watched it appeared each individual strand was becoming covered as his white fur began to darken to black in various splotches. The pleasure intensified when it began to drift around and assimilate his groin and his midsection strained against the restraints as the sensitive flesh was completely covered.

"Phase one complete," the computerized voice said as the last of the blackness that floated in the liquid coated him. As Vivid panted slightly into the mask he stared at his now shiny black-furred body, save for the pink markings on his body which the latex didn't seem to touch. He wished he could feel what the strange synthetic coating his fur got was like, but before he had a chance there was more activity as slots in the capsule opened around him. "Phase two, drone plating and conditioning."

Conditioning... Vivid began to wonder if that's what Flint meant by getting the full experience as multiple mechanical arms began to move through the liquid. Most of them had large metal hoops on the end of them with a shiny black disk in the middle of them. He was able to watch as they moved to his feet and legs and slowly began to move the hoop through them. As soon as his hands and feet were covered he wiggled them to see and feel the new rubber-covered appendages the machine had given him. The hoop continued to move up his arm as he flexed the skintight glove, the metal ring widening slightly to slide past his restraints before continuing upwards.

As the black rubber continued to coat over his body the lenses of his helmet began to light up, and tint his vision with a strange pattern of colors. He realized it was the conditioning part of the session as more black rubber coated his arms with silver metal lines embedded in it, but he wasn't getting the usual obey and thought-beating submission that he had experienced before. Instead it was more like listening to white noise while staring at an oil slick as the smaller hoops completely rubberized his legs and joined together into a larger one to rubberize his torso.

At this point his body looked rather bizarre, even with the similar coloration his arms and legs almost looked like cybernetic limbs compared to his still fleshy chest. They even felt disproportionately stronger, like he could rip through those restraints if he wanted to. He knew that would damage the pod, though, and the last thing he wanted to do was damage valuable equipment,and that thought was quickly replaced as the membrane of rubber slid over his still-erect member. Even though it had gotten completely encased like the rest of its body, it also got pushed down against his groin where a bulge of metal-laced rubber formed around it before it continued to coat his stomach and chest.

When it had finished the reflection Vivid saw in the pod was far removed from the fox that had been put in there before. As wires came out and connected to his suit for optimization he stared at the rubber jackal drone that laid there in his place. While his markings were still on his body the pink had been replaced with silver, giving him an odd echo of his vulpine form as his body twitched slightly when he felt the electrical impulses of the connected wires fire. It seemed to take a while for the computer to do its job and it left him floating there in his restraints as he continued to watch the colors, at least until the electronic voice in his head asked if he wished to watch something and activated a movie for him to look at.

When the process had completed what he had been watching shut off and the tube drained of its fluid while the newly-created drone laid there motionlessly. Vivid had expected the programming that he had just endured to turn him into some sort of robot, but he found himself thinking clearer than ever as he waited patiently for the tank to drain. Once it had completed the door began to slide open as the computerized voice chirped in his ear once again. "Drone optimization complete," it said. "From everyone at the Kalvarian Deep Mining Facility, we thank you for your service. Now switching control over to supervisor 4D34ZRT, designation Flint."

Though he knew he was only going to be down there for a short while Vivid couldn't help but feel a swell of pride in his chest from the gratitude, though it quickly faded after he realized that message wasn't for him. Once the door had fully opened the technicians that had strapped him in the first place put the process in reverse, releasing the drone fox from his bindings and helping him up from his seat. After they had gotten him toweled off of any residual liquid from the conversion pod, he felt them plug something into his helmet and his body tingled as they ran diagnostics over his new suit.

"I have to say you make one damn fine fox drone," Flint said as he came into Vivid's view, the lenses of the helmet highlighting him and informing him that he was his drone supervisor. "Don't suppose I could rope you into a five year contract under me? The pay is great and the perks are... well, let's just say there's a lot that I can offer you in order to sweeten the deal."

"I'm just visiting I'm afraid," Vivid replied, his eyes widening as he spoke with his altered voice. "Is that what I sound like now?"

"It sure is," Flint replied. "They still haven't gotten the voice modulation right so that it sounds like your own voice while it's amplified, but as you can expect it's not a very high priority on the corporate's list of things to modify. But in any case, now that you're suited up and ready to go, let's get you down to the actual mining facility. Follow me once they're done with you."

Vivid found himself almost springing forwards at the command, though with his body still hooked up to machines he had to wait. While he did so he looked behind him to see that his form had been put up on the viewscreen as it analyzed him. With the addition of the helmet he looked like a sleek latex jackal creature, with his body coated in black rubber plates with silver highlights that ran through it just like the stallion's, the lenses of his mask glowing slightly while the technicians accessed them. For a few seconds he nearly jumped back when the screen shifted and he suddenly got the tunnel vision one sees when they record a device that's recording before the vision ceased and he shook his head. Flint explained that it was company policy to put monitoring equipment in their helmets as the technicians finished their survey and unplugged him.

As soon as the last plug was released Vivid quickly moved off of the analyzer platform and began to follow the stallion that had already turned and began to walk away. Once again Vivid found himself with a strange feeling, this time of anxiety that he wouldn't follow his supervisor's orders even though he wasn't really his supervisor. It wasn't hard to figure out that it was an effect of the programming that he had received, the subtle manipulation of his thought processes had obviously made him more loyal to the mining company as well as the horse in front of him. He caught up with Flint and asked him about it which caused him to chuckle.

"It's what the higher-ups like to call long-term adaptive conditioning," Flint explained. "Unlike that brute force mental hatchet job that some do, their programming methods are very subtle and a lot of time the manipulations are just a nudge in the right direction. They say it's designed for long-term drones so that they have enough flexibility to add more commands, and it also prevents degradation of the programming over time."

Flint started to describe the intricacies of the conditioning that he had gone through as they reached another elevator, but this one looked more like a freight elevator. The two of them walked into the elevator car and Flint pressed one of the buttons. Almost immediately the car began to plummet downwards and Vivid found himself having to hang onto the nearby handrails as they went downwards. There was a small screen that showed their progress from the surface of the planetoid towards the core, a tiny green box progressing down the black line that connected the two. As they continued to go downward it felt like it sped up even more, and at one point Vivid felt his feet actually lifted off the elevator floor.

Eventually they got to their destination and the doors opened, the pressure and heat pressed against the fox drone's newly-augmented form. While it was only a pleasant warmth for Vivid, he was quickly informed that the hallway they were in would melt and crush a lot of materials, including most metals. It was only thanks to the suits they wore that kept them alive in the intense heat and pressure. While Vivid couldn't feel it himself thanks to the suit, he could tell just from the intense shimmer in the air that the temperature was likely intense.

When the secondary door opened it entered into a common area. Bunks sat on one side of the room while chairs and tables sat on the other. With the intensity of their living conditions there seemed to be very little in the way of entertainment, most of them playing games with cards or dice that are made of the same material as the walls that surrounded them while others merely sat there and stared ahead. Off to one side was a blast door that led to the core, which Flint explained was even hotter than the room they were in that they would explore in a little bit. When they talked to the other drones in the room they told him that they would often worked twenty-four hour shifts while their suits sustained them, otherwise only coming up for leisure or to visit others on the surface.

"Most of the time we just stay down here," Flint explained. "With the drone suits all our biological needs are taken care for us, and a lot of these suits have entertainment software built into it that we can just view through our helmets. Otherwise we have rather limited options considering the environment as you may guess, though as you can see we have made do with what we got. Since our suit sustains us and is powered by heat and pressure drones can stay down here for months, even years if they so choose while they fulfill their contracts."

Vivid just nodded as he looked around in amazement. He couldn't help but think that this would be a somewhat dreary existence being miles underground with only other drones to interact with. When he spoke to them; however, many were happy with their jobs, saying that compared to other positions in the company, the deep mining operator was the most lucrative, and in their eyes the easiest. Even the vulpine started to get convinced that it might not be so bad down there when Flint whistled for him, his display informing him that his supervisor needed him. The others chuckled when the fox quickly stopped what he was doing and ran over to the stallion drone who had brought out two sets of what appeared to be air tanks.

"Now due to the conditions on the other side of the blast door we need to bring our own air supply," Flint explained as he helped hoist an air pack onto his back and attached the hoses to the nearly-hidden ports on his muzzle. "There are some areas where we would need even more safety equipment, but for the sake of ease we're not going to go to those areas, there's already plenty to see elsewhere without having to get unnecessarily dangerous. Once we're both suited up we'll do a quick seal check and will be ready to go."

Once the fox and horse had made sure that they were both properly sealed and ready to go Flint opened the blast doors, which led to a small room that contained a second set a few feet away from the first. They walked into the room and the heavy metal slowly closed behind him until it was shut, followed by alarms and a voice that warned that the room they were about to be in would shortly be exposed to the core. Seconds later the secondary doors opened with a flash of light and Vivid put his hand up to shield his eyes before he realized that the lenses on his helmet already compensated. He slowly put his arm down and glanced over at the stallion drone, who even though his face was covered the fox could feel was smirking at him. While they waited for the doors to open completely Vivid could feel the temperature grow warmer and the air press around him while the lenses on his suit highlighted the fact they were about to enter a very dangerous area.

"Welcome to the core, Vivid," Flint said as they stepped out onto a metal platform that glowed white-hot as plasma swirled around it. "Right now we have force generators that create paths through the material, which considering that it gets rather uncomfortable if it splashes on you, is a nice addition they made. I'll show you to the processing center, that's where the real heart of this operation is."

As they walked in the tunnel created through the core it reminded Vivid of walking through one of those glass tunnels at the aquarium, except instead of water and fish it was liquid fire and vaporized metals. It was those things that they were after, Flint explained as they reached an area with various pipes sticking out of it, the core's fluid was pumped into the processing center where the plasma was siphoned off to use as energy for the cities above while the metals were sublimated and shipped out a different area to be processed and refined. Drones like Flint and the others were there to make sure those machines continued to operate at peak efficiency as he continued to show Vivid one of the pumping stations submerged in the liquid core.

The fox-turned-jackal drone continued to look in awe around as he was brought into a sealed room, one with windows where they could see the machinery surrounded by the swirling white and yellow energy. It was incredible to Vivid that he was standing in the center of the core of a planet watching it swirl around him like the clouds of the surface. As he stood there he suddenly felt the body of the stallion press against him, his arms wrapped around his chest as the smaller male looked up at him in question.

"Don't play coy with me," Flint said as he ran a finger along Vivid's mask, which the vulpine was able to feel as the surprisingly soft rubber pressed against his own. "I've seen the way you look at me, quite literally in fact, and once I saw your sexy jackal drone body come out of that pod I knew I was going to have you. Now bend over and show me that rubber butt of yours."

Vivid felt himself flush as he realized that Flint was not playing around as those strong hands rubbed up against his rubber-covered form. He could feel something throb against the small of his back and for the first time realized that the drone suits had the ability to be anatomically correct as his own groin began to stir. "Is that an order?" Vivid asked coyly as he pressed back against the muscular chest of the male behind him, though it was hindered by the air pack that he had on his back.

"Only if you want it to be," the drone replied, which caused a tremor of pleasure to roll down Vivid's spine as he bent forward. "It appears you do, I like that. Alright then jackal drone, go ahead and spread those legs for me."

Even though he already wanted to, anyway, Vivid could feel the programming of the company kick in as he widened his stance while feeling the stallion rub between his latex-clad thighs. In the back of the vulpine's mind he could feel the subliminal commands not only reinforcing his need to follow his supervisor, but also giving him little treats of pleasure for doing so. From what he had learned from the other drones in the rec bay they also got more tangible rewards for following their programming, but it appeared that the sneaky rubber dragon had specifically had one type of reward put in for him as he let out a soft gasp. As he leaned over the workstation that held the repair tools for the pumps he felt a strong pair of hands rub up his back and over his helmet's canine muzzle.

"Soon you can tell everyone you're a part of the mile-low club," Flint said with a chuckle as Vivid felt something begin to push against the latex confines of the back of his suit, another feature he hadn't been aware of the suit having until that moment. "Or have you already had sex with someone in the middle of a planet's core before?"

"Can't say that I have," Vivid replied after a grunt and spasm of his muscles from the other male entering him. "I'm... kind of surprised that these suits have this capability."

The stallion chuckled and slowly pushed in another inch, letting the rubbery vulpine get used to his rather large endowment being inside of him. "It was a late addition to the drone suit features," Flint explained to help keep Vivid's mind off his anal walls being stretched wide by the impressive member. "Turns out the libido is one of those things not easily ignored, and after several repairs that had to be made from people just grinding up against one another in a desperate need for release, they added the anatomical features to the suit and at the same time turned a blind eye to any sexual encounters that happened so long as it didn't interfere with our work. Now relax, cause I'm about to do some deep drilling of my own."

Vivid didn't have the time to laugh as the horse took advantage of the physiological obedience to his command from the fox to push in deep. His gloved hands pressed against the metal container that was likely hundreds if not thousands of degrees as the stallion began to buck into him slowly to help keep loosening him up. Vivid's moan came out loud and clear from his mask as he looked up from the cabinet that began to wiggle back and forth from the copulation of the two. The hot, brilliant colors of the planet's core continued to swirl around the windows, but as he continued to watch there was suddenly an overlay that showed a rubber jackal drone and a horse drone having sex in their exact same position.

It almost took more than a second for Vivid to figure out that it was him; his sleek, rubber-covered body pressed forward with his own cock hanging out of the suit while one was buried in his backside. Had he not seen himself before he would have assumed it was two other people that were mimicking their movements, especially when Flint reached down and pulled up one of Vivid's legs for better access to his tailhole. It was strangely erotic to watch himself in a form that wasn't exactly his own, watching himself get plowed by the thick cock of the stallion drone behind him while he braced himself for each thrust.

Whether it was the act itself, the watching of it, or just the heat and pressure of their surroundings Vivid didn't last long, a long drawn out moan leaving his lips as he felt himself cum. Strangely as soon as it hit the rubber of his suit he felt it get sucked away, leaving his crotch dry as his supervisor pumped harder into him before he came as well. Their breathing was heavy as they let themselves recover, to the point where the oxygen alarm had gone off about their excessive use. Thankfully they both returned to normal levels and once they were both finished recovering Flint showed him a few more places before escorting him back up to the drone bay.

When Flint and Vivid came back up they went to the drone bay in order to revert Vivid back to his original fox form. This time he wasn't put in restraints as he was encapsulated in the tube once again, in fact the process was surprisingly simple as he once more found himself floating in fluid while he breathed through the tubes connected to his mask. As he waited there the computer informed him that the decommissioning process had started and his entire body began to tingle as the rubber and metal on his body began to slough off of him. He watched through the reflection once again as the polymer dissolved away into the fluid, leaving him back to his white-furred state.

Once the last of the rubber material floated away from him the fluid was drained away and the capsule door opened once again. As he slowly got to his feet with the help of the technicians they toweled off his body and took the helmet off of his head. Once it had been removed Vivid's eyes blinked a few times as he saw the world once again with his own eyes. One of the first things he saw was the rubber dragon standing there waiting for him with his usual arms-crossed posture and tiny smirk as the fox walked over to him while putting on his clothes.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Renzyl said, causing the fox to tilt his head in question.

"What do you mean?" Vivid asked.

"Don't you know?" Renzyl asked. "You were down there for five years! I've only just now come back after they told me to come and get you."

All of the nearly dried fur on Vivid's body fluffed out slightly as his jaw dropped in shock. "Five years?!" he shouted. "Really?!"

"No, not really," Renzyl replied with a chuckle as the vulpine gave him a look. "I just got done with my meeting actually, so your timing is impeccable. It is very easy to lose track of time down there, though, or so I've heard. But now that you're cleaned up and ready to go I suggest we move on, we still have quite a bit more to see."

With that Renzyl opened the portal and Vivid stepped through it with him, colors swirling around him like it did in the core as they moved to their next destination.