FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I awake to find myself in some sort of office building that seems to be currently under construction. Somewhat confused as to why song gave me my body back so quickly and nowhere near where I left my clothing I crouch down and listen. I hear three voices, all familiar. So that's why. I guess my plan didn't work as thoroughly as I had hoped. No clue why song brought me here, though. So far the only part that worked to take them down is find a human with a gun and then they only went down after a lot of rounds have been fired. And considering it's still light outside and I don't have my clothes I have no chance of simply running away. I look around to see what I can use. Since I can't run and cannot fight directly perhaps there are means that I can set up a trap or two, try and incapacitate or even kill one from that. Unfortunately there is nothing that seems capable of doing the work and I'm not skilled enough at making traps to be able to do a good job at it anyway. On top of that I don't really get enough time to look as a half lion jumps up and lands right next to me.

"Found you," the lioness smirks before shouting "Over here. I found the fox!"

I frown, this is the worst case scenario. I try to stay as far away as I can without running, keeping my back to them and backing up slowly. With a predator running will only make things worse for me and I remember just how fast these three are supposed to be. The other two jump up easily enough, staring me down as I continue to back up.

"Did you think we'd simply let you go after you killed two of us?" The bear snarls at me.

I end up backing into a wall near the back, my abominable appendage secured tightly between my legs. All three are still smirking and snapping at me, trying to get me to run so they can take out their anger and instincts on me. They might not even wait to give me that drug again before killing me. But when they get close my ears drop and I find myself terrified. Floating behind the three of them are a pair of red eyes that suddenly open up. Recognizing it somewhat from my dreams I cower all the more and try and find a way to escape. I cannot explain how but my instincts tell me letting this thing close to me is a very dangerous thing. I see a hand reach out near the eyes and touch the deer, making a swipe through his chest at the last moment. Once the hand comes down the deer suddenly slumps down, startling the other two. Taking the opportunity I turn and leap to the side, trying to get away more from the eyes than the remaining two. With as powerful as they seem to be that it takes a full army to kill them, for this thing of eyes to kill with only a touch I'd have even less of a chance. The lioness notices my flight and starts after me but I hear her should stop halfway through and then I hear another body fall to the ground. The bear is clearly agitated right now and from the sounds of things is swinging about randomly, threatening the eyes though apparently cannot see it and then a moment later I can hear a loud thud as he too has been dealt with. The moment he dies I can hear a voice screaming in my head, but it isn't song's.

"I know what you are. I know what you want. Give me the beast and I can make you fully human again."

I'm shocked at what the thing is apparently offering though I do remember that in my dreams it never wanted me but rather song. But since it killed those three with a touch I don't think I can trust letting it find me. I find an empty window and look down. Given how I still haven't fully healed this height will certainly take its toll, but I'm more likely to survive that fall then try and confront that eye thing. It demands the beast again in my mind as I close my eyes and take a leap, only to find myself grabbed a second later. Half thinking it was the eyes I struggle as I try to get free but then feel the sense of calm fall over me again, letting me know just who it is that grabbed me. With my thoughts calm I ask if he can take me to where my clothes are and he doesn't seem to really complain. But it takes until the sun has fallen before we get there since he doesn't seem able to fly all that fast at the moment. I think it probably wears him out just as much as running for me does and since he said he was weakened the same time I was so badly weakened I'm guessing this is probably the fastest he can manage until he's had more time to recover. Once we're at my clothes I start putting them on, leaving the bindings for last as I take a good look at him.

He is certainly the person that was the cashier that gave me the coat a month ago but there's so much more to him. When I saw him in the church he was wearing a thick coat that I assumed was more for the winter than anything but now I see differently; it was to hide his form in the same way my cloak does mine. In fact as I look at him more clearly I find that he looks very similar in general shape to the mural I kept sleeping under in that church, sans the sword and wearing normal clothes instead of armor.

"What was that thing?" I ask, more interested in the eyes than being rude to the person who's saved me twice now from certain death by asking what he is.

"Something very old, and very evil. The thing it wants most is to destroy all life on this planet."

"Why would it want sonething like that?"

"Jealousy I'm guessing. It has no body. It cannot actually experience the world as you or I or any animal can and for that it became enraged."

"What does it want with ne?"

"Well it's been here for a very long time. To keep it from being able to do what it wanted we sealed its power away. Thus why your kind were created, to keep that power sealed away."

"That ethil is inside ne?" I demand, not liking the thought of something that wants to kill everything hiding inside me, potentially poisoning my mind over time.

"That would be a bit too narrow minded an assessment. You are not literally housing a part of it. You are more a lock to the door sealing it away. For each one of you there is a lock to that door. You have no actual contact with the power itself. You just provide a block to keep it from reaching it. For each one of you it kills it destroys that lock, letting it get ever closer to sneaking some of its power out through the gaps."

"It said it could nake ne hunan again. Was it lying?"

"No, actually. It doesn't really want you, per se. Just the animal within you. If you had let it it would have taken your presence and used that as a key to destroy many of the locks in one instant. But without that presence in your mind and with it having no more use of you it'd let you go and without the urge you'll turn back to human very easily over time just as if you resisted it every day for the rest of your life. If you had declined, then it would have simply killed you too. If it can't have a key it can at least destroy a lock. And considering how long you've been in your half-state you would be a very big key so it will try very hard to get you to give in first."

"So then what do I do now?"

"Well ultimately there are only three. You could take the deal and regain your human body but kill hundreds, possibly thousands of innocent people in the process. You could continue living your life as normal and running away from it whenever you get close. Since it's found you again and how brightly you would look to it you'd probably have to periodically move to a completely different county if not a different state. Finally there is a way that you can actually make it so that he cannot touch you."

"And what would that way de?"

"I'm sure you're not going to like it, though. It uses a chemical that you've already been exposed to. It has a legitimate purpose. Native Americans used it to commune with what they called the spirit realm, which isn't all that accurate a description. When burned as an incense it will bring your mind to the same plane that it resides in. There you'll have to confront it and pit your will against its own. If you can the fox within you can manage to work together and beat that entity then it can no longer touch you. You'll have absolutely nothing to fear from it for the rest of your potentially rather long life. On top of that there will be no more chance of ever undergoing a final change. However, there are some downsides. For starters you will never be able to return to being full human. There will always be at least one aspect of your fox side that you will never be able to get rid of and you'll no longer be two entities in one body, but two aspects of one. You'll never be able to ignore what the fox within you wants to say anymore. And there's the chance that you might not make it. Taking this drug puts you on a timer. If you fail to complete the task quickly enough you'll undergo your final transformation and the fox within you will live out the rest of your life. I'd need to get things set up anyway, so if that's your option I'll be at the church," he comments before walking off, giving me time to think.

I sit down, putting on my bindings as I let it sink in. Finally done I decide to go ahead and go for a walk, letting my feet decide where I end up going. After everything I've been through I finally have a means to regain my humanity completely and a means where I can lose it completely, regardless of the circumstances. And the middle would be to just keep running away, never staying in one spot, which I suppose I would end up doing anyway, just instead of running from police I'd be running from something that wants me dead just because I'm some mystical thingie. Finally I find a log that's fallen over and sit down on it, staring at the night sky. With a scent coming to me I realize what direction I must have gone and the song is getting exceedingly loud.

"Not tonight song," I think loudly to myself. "I need to think. This may be the most important decision of my life and I need to have time to think it through."

The song doesn't completely abate but it does quiet down quite a bit. Apparently song is aware to some degree of what I hear. I suppose I would be deciding song's fate as well. A sound nearby makes me jump slightly but I recognize it as song's Friend. The small dark fox apparently came looking for Song and seeing me comes to try and get me to let song out so that they can play together. Friend actually gets quite insistent on the matter, rubbing up along my leg and nipping at my abominable appendage a few times. I more or less ignore the motion, letting my mind continue to wander. I run my fingers along the fur on the back of the small dark fox and eventually Friend grows bored and sits down, just letting me work at little itchy spots in the fur.

"I suttose you don't care at all what hattens to ne," I speak at him, voicing my thoughts more than anything, "so long as you get song."

I sigh as I let that sink in to my own mind as I regard the little fox. If I don't take the deal offered by those eyes there is an extremely good chance that this will be my fate. Not even my fate but Song's. I would cease to exist and this body would probably live happily as the same as the small thing for the rest of its life. Song would probably even start a family with this little fuzzball. As loathe as I would admit it the notion of having children, even if I'm no longer alive when it happens is something I look forward to. I suppose since they'd have my blood they'd probably have my curse as well. No clue how that would manifest but there it is. I let my hand fall as I stare at the moon. I doubt song would actually let me run away, not with Friend being left behind and I definitely would refuse to let that fox come with me given how annoying song is whenever Friend's around. So that leaves me with the issue of do I get what I've always wanted or do I take a gamble and most likely die in the process. Friend eventually leaves me to go do other things and while I watch the fox go I finally make up my mind.