FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Prologue

Under the moonlight, two humans were rushing through a leafless forest. This deserted place used to be filled with life, until soldiers of the Dark settled a base in a nearby mountain. Now, nothing could grow from the hardened soil, and the remnants of the trees have become as hard as steel as they died of dark influence. The forest was deadly silent, except for the sound of steel armor touching each other.

"C'mon, be more subtle." The younger human stopped to look back at his partner. "We need to get there unnoticed."

The knight carefully moved his armored body over some tree roots and raised his head to look at the young scout.

The scout smiled back at his struggling partner.

"Yeah, that's right! Now just be slightly faster and we'll get there before the sun rises."

Despite wearing a full helmet, the knight could see the lightheartedness of the innocent-looking man. "This is not a game, soldier. The king tasked us with the most important target."

"Don't let your seriousness slow you down." The scout swiftly crossed the tree roots to help the knight.

"Don't touch me. I'm fine."

The knight gestured a halt signal with his glove. "Watch out for guards."

"Alright. Try to stay quiet with your armor." The scout nimbly skipped the tree roots in front of his partner again.

As the team of two moved slowly across the dead forest, the knight was annoyed by the scout's attitude. If it wasn't for the king and the council's order, he would have chosen a royal scout, who was at least from his own kingdom. He wondered how a foreign mercenary could possibly be the solution to this war. Apart from his decent talents for scouting, the young mercenary didn't seem to have any combat skills. All he carried was a dagger around his belt, and he had strange earrings hanging under his black hair. Coupled with a slim physique, this young man couldn't last a second in front of a soldier of the Dark. He would either be killed on the spot or worse, get captured.

The team finally arrived at the foot of the mountain with only a few hours till sunrise. They trekked inside the dark, cold cave. No torch holders seemed to be installed. It looked like this place has never been visited before. How could it be? This was the place where the superweapon should be. Well, that was what the mercenary told him.

"To the left." The mercenary said at the intersection of two tunnels.

The knight grasped the mercenary's shoulder. "Wait! There might be traps."

The mercenary took off the knight's hand and looked at him. "I know what I am doing."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. A foul smell reached the two-men party. This could only mean that they have been detected.

The mercenary quickly pulled the knight's arm as an indication of moving faster. They quickly walked along the walls of the tunnel to prevent tripping on the ground. The knight wondered how this inexperienced fighter was able to orient himself in this darkness. However, there was no time to wonder that much, as the smell was getting stronger.

They arrived at a dead end. The knight quietly swore.

The mercenary examined the wall with his hands. "We need a demon's powers to access the portal!"

Ignoring that remark, the knight figured out the source of the smell was near him. "It must be a demon trooper." After shutting his helmet's eye slit, the knight enchanted his sword to emit a light. The sudden change in brightness blinded the mercenary and the demon trooper. The knight rushed forward and sliced down the surprisingly small demon's head. As soon as it fell on the ground, the ground started to shake even more violently.

Slightly recovered from the flash, the mercenary clumsily took the fiend's head near the wall and told the knight, "Quick! Pierce its head with your sword, and make sure to stab your blade on the wall!"

"Are you sure?" The knight took the bleeding, cabbage-size head from his younger partner.

"Anything else you wanna do?" The scout leaned against the wall while rubbing his eyes.

The knight passed his blade through the demon's oral cavity and pushed the tip of his sword against the wall. The blade slid off the wall. "How is this supposed to work?" The knight said in frustration.

"Imbue it with magic. It will activate and transfer the demon's powers to the wall!"

The knight enchanted his sword again this time. The head's eyes began to glow red, followed by a strong flash of the blade.

"It's working!" The mercenary rejoiced while protecting his eyes.

The knight was still confused about what that actually did, but then a group of much bigger creatures spotted them. The mercenary gazed back where they came from. The glow from the severed demon head was enough to tell that these were the real demon troopers. Each was at least one head taller than both humans. They all had two pairs of fangs coming out of their mouth. In addition, they had a strong, threatening physique.

The demon troopers tightened their jaws and moved aggressively toward the two humans. As they attempted to strike them, the duo disappeared.

The demons yelled as they realized their targets had disappeared. The entire cave started to collapse. Rocks fell off the walls. Soon, this tunnel would be destroyed.

The team of two found themselves in a large room illuminated by red orbs. In the center of this room was a big egg floating on a pillar. The red streaks on the egg reflected the light from the orbs, shining the room in a spectacular manner. The rest of the egg's surface was black and glossy.

The knight scanned the room. "So, this is it?"

The mercenary stared at the egg. "Yeah. That's it."

Without a hesitation, the knight walked toward the egg and drew his sword.

As he began to swing his weapon, the mercenary stopped him. "Wait! We might trigger some kind of traps if we destroy the egg."

The knight replied in a neutral tone. "Our mission is to neutralize the superweapon. That egg-thing looks a lot like it. Besides, if we don't destroy it, what will the king say?"

"Weren't you talking about traps a while ago? A trap here might kill us. We should find a way out and carry the egg away to destroy it later!"

As they finished talking, the red orbs stopped emitting light, leaving the room completely dark. The knight immediately lit his sword. The pale blue glow revealed a secret passage opened by a moving wall. Meanwhile, they could hear a magic portal being created behind them.

The mercenary grabbed the egg in a hurry. They both ran inside the passage.

The knight led the way with his sword shining through the dark passage. "This can't be good. Why would they open a passage? To let us escape? There must be troops on our way in this passage as well."

The mercenary was heavily breathing. "This thing is quite heavy. Slow down a bit, blue sword guy!"

The knight ignored him. "Listen! I can hear the enemy's heavy steps. They must have brought reinforcements. I hope they didn't bring any magic casters too."

The mercenary stopped running. "That's it! Magic! We have to use magic!"

The knight stopped running as well and turned back. "What? You know that my blade light won't help us against the big ones. We have to get out of here fast!"

The mercenary reached for his pocket and pulled out a small stone. "This is a teleportation rune that I got from a generous merchant. It can get us out instantly. I forgot where it takes us to, though."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" The knight got closer toward the mercenary. "We got no choice. Activate it."

As the mercenary concentrated on the rune, the scenery around them warped. The surroundings became a lot brighter. They heard birds singing and felt the warmth of sunlight. They arrived in an open area of a lively forest.

The mercenary dropped the melon-sized egg on the ground. He knelt on the grass and panted.

"Where are we?" The knight lowered his sword. "This looks like a nice place."

The mercenary did not respond to him.

"It's daytime here. It was almost dawn in the dead forest. How far did we travel, young man?"

The mercenary crawled to the center of the open area. There, he searched his hands through the tall grass and found a large rock with cryptic writing on it. The young man touched the carved symbols on the rock and tried to get a feeling of the stone cut.

"What are you doing?" The knight opened the eye slit of his helmet.

"Shut up." The mercenary said sharply.

The rock's cryptic writing moved around the surface, forming a sort of word in a foreign language. Then nothing happened. The knight approached the crouching mercenary slowly. He recognized the seal of the scout's kingdom taking shape on the rock.

"The mission is not over yet. We need to destroy the superweapon." The knight said.

He moved to the black and red egg and gave it a kick. It barely moved on the ground. He kicked again with a much stronger windup and it only nudged a little bit. The mercenary carried this thing, it couldn't be that heavy, he thought. Now was the time to slice it open and see what monster was growing inside. He readied his sword.

"No. Don't kill it." The mercenary shouted.

The knight stopped.

"Why?"

"Can't you realize? This thing is a superweapon. A superweapon we can use to win the war."

The mercenary was a lot more serious than previously, as if he became someone else.

"What are you babbling about? The mission states--"

"Mission over." The mercenary interrupted.

A group of mages teleported into the scene. They were all wearing the seal formed on the rock. One of the mages preemptively cast a spell on the knight, blasting him away from the egg.

"Good work, apprentice." The head mage said.

The mercenary rushed to grab the egg and grouped with his kingdom's mages.

"I knew there was something wrong with you." The knight said while struggling in pain.

"You couldn't possibly understand if I told you the truth." The mercenary said.

With the black and red egg in his arms, the mercenary and his fellow mages enveloped themselves in a cloud of magical light. By the time the knight stepped up, they had vanished with the lights. Furious, the knight yelled and scrambled his injured body to the teleportation rock. He read the symbol of his rival kingdom on its surface and sliced it in two with his sword in a fit of anger.