FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The kingdom sleeps and streets are quiet. The moon shines bright on my evening stroll, across the stone road where only the crickets sing their tune.

"What a beautiful night."

I couldn't help but enjoy the atmosphere and breathe in the cool air under the hood of my cloak. Nights like these truly calm me down when times are tough.

"Ah. Enjoying the evening, Ceil?"

A warm, friendly voice calls to me, turning toward the voice, I respond with the same friendliness.

"Yes. It's a good night for walking down an undisturbed road."

The man that spoke to me gave a small chuckle in amusement. When my eyes found him, the large white wolf smirked with his arms crossed, clad in his holy armor with the insignia of the royal guard on his shoulder plate.

"Is that so? But it's nights like these where the rats of the kingdom make their move."

I only smile back at his response. This knight always found different ways to say, 'be careful', and he worries about my wellbeing overly.

"I know. That's only one of my many reasons why I stroll at this hour. You never know what you could find."

He looks back at me with a more perturbed look on his face, tapping his foot, probably thinking of the trouble that still lurks in the kingdom.

"That only makes me more worried."

I shake my head and press my finger on the tip of his nose. It makes his fur puff in surprise and I laugh at his expense.

"It will be like any other night, I promise. Even if worse comes, I know that you will come rushing in, my white knight."

He sputters his words, embarrassed and flails his arms in such a spastic matter that I couldn't help but laugh.

"C-Ceil! You know we can not have this kind of talk out in public!"

He grabs my shoulders and tries to stare me down, but I could see the tail wag behind him happily. I just keep laughing lightly, trying to calm down.

"Oh, don't be so stiff, Fall. The people who would even hear would care less of our bout."

He grumbles and sighs, letting go of me as I compose myself. I know he worries a lot, but this, I understand his concern. A life between men is forbidden and is punishable ruthlessly without thought or hesitation.

"Just give me trust that you will be alright this night."

A look of honest concern stares back at me. His deep blue eyes shine beautifully under the bright moonlight. It makes my heart skip and the heat upon my face rise.

"I promise."

With that response, he calms down and returns to his friendly smile.

"Good."

Moments pass and we stare into each other's eyes. We both knew that our relationship was forbidden but we still try. Talking to one another and wishfully thinking about the future we could have if the world allowed it.

"You know, I-"

Fall begins to speak but is interrupted by a loud call from behind him.

"General Grias! Your majesty calls for your audience!"

A simple guard rushes to us in a slight hurry. Both of us pull away from each other before the guard could properly see us.

"The King wishes to see me? It must be important then."

Fall stands tall to the guard, speaking with his authoritarian tone, but I know it's just a mask to keep his image.

"I must be going. I wish you be safe on these grounds, citizen. Don't wander too far from home and if you find something, please keep clear."

My ears twitch to the way he speaks that last phrase and I nod to him.

"Yes, of course. Be safe."

He nods and they both move quietly towards the castle, leaving me to my own devices once again. A breath of frustration leaves my maw as I walk down the dark road. My thoughts wander to that relationship. A man, loving another man? What was so wrong about it? The thought never crossed my mind to be unholy, but just another form of love. However, I learned quickly that this world wasn't so kind to that love. Those men that ruled against the nature of this world were executed, quickly ending their lives and embarrassing them in front of the many who they thought they could trust.

"A cruel world I was brought to, and yet those people who executed those men continue to preach about love and kindness."

The images of those men hanging or beheaded, or whatever the execution was plaguing my mind. It was exhausting but it made me realize.

"Ah, I should head to work soon. Someone is waiting for me after all."

My job became important, more than ever. With the increasing troubles of this world, someone must take care of the deceased that fall behind.

"I better find that body or else the tip Fall gave me will go to waste."

After realizing that I've wandered quite far from my workplace, I take the more sketchy path around the kingdom, tight crevasses between buildings where usually the dirtied and homeless stay. Luckily, I weave quickly through them with no problem, my experience with these roads was deep in my mind.

As I make my way near an alleyway, I stop and hear hurried footsteps from it. I instinctively get close to the wall and hide in the shadows for the thing to pass. When the thing comes out, a cat man fumbles on his feet, running quickly like he was trying to get away from something.

"Odd..."

I listen closely to any more footsteps that would follow him, but none came. A full minute passes and nothing happens.

"Hmmm..."

My curiosity gets the better of me and I step out of the shadows. Peeking into the alleyway where the cat man ran from, I see a long stretch of a dark, narrow road. My excitement rises with the danger coming from the opening.

"I wonder what I will find this night?" I eagerly step forward and walk down the narrow path.

It was longer than I anticipated. There were no other intersections to find going down this path, just the mossy, cracked walls of buildings that surrounded me.

"Was my intuition wrong?"

I was starting to lose hope to find something interesting, but the smell hit me when I took one more step forward. A familiar scent that any person would know, the scent of blood. I quicken my pace down to reach the end, and the scene was there before me. A slumped husky, sitting still against the wall with a knife stuck in his chest, the blood staining the tattered shirt he wore, quickly growing.

I step forward toward the husky and looked down his figure. He didn't react to my approach and his eyes continued to look lazily forward. It was every sign that this man was dead.

"...another life taken this day. My apologies, stranger."

I kneel down and touch the husky on his shoulder. His warmth was still there, slowly fading away from his body. It surprised me how soon his life was taken just moments ago. I wondered, if I was faster in searching, I would have saved his life, but his heart was already still when I came. It was obvious when the knife stuck where his heart is.

"Don't worry. You're lucky that a fallen angel sent a diener to find you."

I stand from where I am and glance at the scene before me. I was at a dead-end, the body of the husky sat right at the end of this alleyway, faced away from the wall. There wasn't much blood on the floor, probably meaning that he died from the moment I saw that cat man to when I found him now.

The husky himself was strange in a way. His tattered clothes of only cheap sewed potato bags either suggest he was a poor villager or, even more concerning, a slave. The latter was worrying because, in this kingdom, slaves were banned. Owning or even having a slave was a criminal offense. The binding rope around his wrists behind his back solidified the idea even more.

"Now I understand why Fall was patrolling this night. He must have gotten a lead about the smuggling of slaves."

As I thought about the rising trouble from this crime, I inspect the husky's body more closely, pulling up his shirt to try to find any more damages to him. Luckily, there weren't any to be found, just the softness of his front. I shook his corpse to see him shake limply, his head swinging side to side.

"Oh sorry. I got a little carried away there."

I chuckle and laugh lightly out of embarrassment, but there wasn't really a reason to be so vulnerable. The husky's fine body just distracted me from examining him properly. In fact, he was not a bad looker. If I were to guess his age, he would probably be around 20 winters. He has a bit of muscle on him despite being a little lean, but his eyes were a beautiful emerald green.

"Sad to see such a young soul die. I bet you would have a great partner."

Without thinking, I slid the husky's ragged pants down and immediately saw his groin. His cock was limp between his legs, but it still looks quite big.

"Wow. That's at least 5 inches."

A bit of me wanted to enjoy my time with the husky more intimately. Messing with his body while thrusting into his cold form was such a degenerate thought, but I refrained and breathed deeply.

"Haha. I can't wait to bring you back, so let's not wait. Shall we?"

I clear my mind of these shameful thoughts and recite a spell. A faint moonlight blue swirls around my hand as it reaches around him, dancing onto the husky's body. A ghostly wail reverbs in the dark alleyway, blue light surrounds the husky corpse as it rises on to its feet. He wobbles and staggers a bit before it could stand properly, hunching in groans. I smile back at him and gently place my hand upon his cheek to stare into his painfully dead eyes.

"I'm sorry to have brought you back, my dear. It must be painful to be stabbed and left behind in an unknown place where no one would find you."

The husky looks back at me with that unfocused gaze, groaning before coughing up a bit of blood.

"It... hurts..."

I let go of his face, just sympathizing even more when he painfully moans, continuing to gurgle and cough blood.

"Don't worry. Once I bring you to your final resting place, it won't hurt anymore."

I take a dagger out from my pocket and release the rope binds that contain his writs. His arms then hang in front of him as he continues to convulse. Some blood drips to the floor, but luckily the knife keeps it from spilling too much.

"Let's go home."

I took off my cloak and put it around the undead husky. It was oversized for him so it did a good job of hiding most of his body. It left me more vulnerable though, my white fur easily seen in the dark, but I had to do something to keep him hidden.

Taking his hand gently in mine, I start to lead him out of the alleyway. He urks with every step he takes, each step begrudgingly adding more pain to his body. I felt sad that this was the best I could do for him. If it wasn't for the possibility of finding a slave, a wheelbarrow would have sufficed.

"It...hurts...help..."

He begs again. His plea more painful than the first. I look behind me as I continue to lead. Tears were welling up under the husky's eyes, I had to look away from the awful sight. It was too much to bear seeing him cry like that. The rest of the way was only lead with coughs of blood and painful moaning. We finally got to the empty street however, not a soul around to see.

"Ceil?"

The sudden call of my name made me jump as I quickly turn to the voice. Had I been found?

"Ah, Ceil. So you found the victim I nodded to. Good."

Luckily, it was only Fall that found us, coming closer to inspect the hooded husky, I let out a sigh in relief. His eyes widen when he lifts the hood.

"Such a young soul. That cat man is truly one of the worst beings to have lived if he had taken a young man's life such as this."

My ears point up when he speaks about the cat man.

"Oh? So you captured the man I ran into?"

Fall tilted his head up, surprised that I met the assailant.

"You met the assailant?"

I give a nod back to him and gesture to the alleyway I came from.

"I was heading this way when he bolted past me. If I had gone there sooner, I may have encountered the moment of murder right then and there."

Fall grits his teeth and his fierce growl showed the anger he was holding in.

"There too many rats in this kingdom! I swear I will personally show that man punishment if I have to..."

Fall was very passionate about keeping this kingdom safe. I would know since it was his place of refuge for a time, but I spoke out of turn and ask about how he found out about this arrangement.

"We had gotten a lead that slave smuggling was happening this night and we were right to patrol today to capture at least one of them."

He gives a sorrowful look towards the husky, still moaning lightly in pain.

"They must have been surprised when there was a sudden amount of guards patrolling the area. It must have overthrown their plan and made them resort to... this."

Fall then picks up the husky in his arms and cradle him like a child. He shivers and mourns for him and gives a small prayer under his breath.

"He's cold, Ceil"

I give him a sigh, finally able to give a word in.

"I know. I apologize that I had to use this magic, but I couldn't bring myself to just drag him through the alleyway."

Fall gives a muffed grunt, looking at the husky.

"An alleyway? What a terrible place to be left."

I shook my head and came close to look at the husky myself. He was still in pain, still trying to figure out why he was brought here.

"Can I ask you a favor, Ceil?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"May you ask the name of this man?"

I must have confused Fall when I heard that question. His ears dropped down like he was begging.

"I just wanted to know so that at least one person could acknowledge his existence."

"I see. Then I will."

I turn to the husky and asked, "What is your name?"

The husky groan like he was on his final breaths and coughed once more.

"...li...Li."

"Li? That's... a nice name."

I wonder if he could still feel emotions while he was under the spell. I could only hope that the sentiment reached him.

"Thank you. As a Diener, I will make sure your body will be loved and safe. You don't need to worry, so rest easy."

With that, I release the spell, and the blue mana dispersed from his body, but he didn't leave without saying one last thing to us.

"Thank you..."

It surprised us both and we just stood there for a moment before we realized what we just heard.

"This world is such a strange place." I said that out loud, forgetting to keep my thoughts in my head. It made Fall laugh though, looking at me with disbelief.

"Says the necromancer. You are probably the only person I know who cares about the dead like you do."

I scoff and cross my arms at him.

"I just don't like early death. It's not a good thing and it's terrible that so many people go out like this!"

"Yes I understand, but I'm sure you're excited to 'work'. You certainly couldn't help but say what you want."

"What are you talking about?"

He clears his throat and mockingly mimics my voice.

"'I will make sure your body is loved and safe'? That could not have been more on the nose."

I grumble and flick his nose in frustration, turning away and walk to my workplace.

"Oh hush you! Let's just hurry up and get him back to the hideout. It's almost morning."

"Right right! Sorry!"

He follows behind and we make our way there. Sometimes it gets serious, but other times, I don't understand how we could still find laughs in all this seriousness, but I don't mind. I still have a lot of work to do and I hope Li will like the new place I will have for him.