FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

So again apologies up front that this has taken much longer then I've wanted it too.... But for the record I got it out faster than from part 4 to part 5 JSO mission accomplished! I think I triumphed over my writers block this time, not to mention those of you who've faved and commented on the story the support really helps put inspiration towards the next segment thank you again! Enjoy! (The name for the character I used in here has no reference to me I just like the name :P)

Ursus

Leander... that puny cub... That runt... a vessel of power?! Dakota stormed out of the manor in a hurry, grunting and snorting. Behind him was Sal, she trailed after him, once she collected the two corrupted souls from the battle. When they returned to D.U, the souls would be purged and released to freedom. She wasn't sure what Dakota was going through though, after hearing what the Demon had said she was very confused. A crowd of Rington had already gathered at the gates to the manor, pale faces lit by the moon watching them once they passed.

_He's supposed to be the one that Divine has to protect? _ He snorted again, reaching the edge of Rington.

Sal rushed ahead to the guards who had closed the gate and pleaded that they get it open quickly. As she pointed off into the distance at the hulking approaching bear, the men fled to open the gates.

The sharp tips of the gates base grazed the top of Dakotas head when he stormed past. Sal waved a goodbye and followed on with the bear, the gates slamming shut behind them.

Faster and faster Dakota stalked the road back to Divine. Sal still had said nothing, she was only curious to what the bear was thinking.

The human was raw power... a vessel... a vessel to what? Could someone possibly be that powerful to be used as a vessel... If he were manipulated. Dakota stopped in his tracks and stood tall for a moment.

_ _ "Dakota?" Sal asked.

He continued again shaking his head almost in a nervous wreck, back to his raging walk and grunts. Eventually Sal grew tired of his secret self and pushed him to a halt, standing in front of him, with a strong arm up. "Stop... Dakota what's going on, say something."

He didn't give her his eyes; they were looking beyond her, into the shadows of the forest. Anyone could tell he was disturbed, something was the matter. She questioned again, placing a gentle hand on his plated chest.

"What's going on? What are you thinking of, you can't possibly think that demon was right?" Again he said nothing blankly starring out into nothingness. "Think it out logically; do you really think a newcomer could possess that much potential?"

A vessel of power. "It doesn't disturb me that the demon sad it." He finally spoke. "It disturbs me that Astrid was the one to see it first... he's my confirmation that the boy is something special." Sal was quiet this time, waiting for him to continue. "We have to get back to Divine... we have important information now and have to get back to Rington in a hurry... I have a feeling that the journey back is going to be more dangerous than we thought."

"We have the demons souls... they can't possibly report information as soon as they die... can they?"

"They don't have to... Diabolus has eyes through all his minions..." His round white ears perked up, moonlight catching their white features. The turquoise eyes sharpened and his body tensed.

Sal noticed the motion and turned feeling a shroud of madness suddenly surround them. Dakota withdrew his hammer and pistol then stepped forward into a readied stance. "We're now important targets until we get back home Sal... if it means we have to run, we run."

She unsheathed her sword, and lightly twirled it in front of her then prepared. "We're always important targets... we're paladins of D.U." Sal winked at Dakota who grinned back.

The wind cut to silence and from beyond the road, darkness snaked through the trees closing in on the two characters of light.

"I should get to know and understand the Ursus... How in the world would I get to understand the Ursus? It's not like they have a book about how to speak and understand one here at Divine."

_ We could always try and talk to Glen again._

_ "You and I both know that all he wants is a playmate."_

_ _ Leander passed back into the Ursus dorms feeling eyes of all the other bears. They only watched him for a moment then went back to their other things. He was by himself again, and that feeling was starting to creep back into his head.

I mean, we could always try and play it safe. Just block out the urge keep things friendly from the start.

Leander just watched the busyness in the lobby watched as occasional eyes would find him and then quickly pull away once they noticed him starring back. He continued to read the rest of the room until he came to the bar and decided with a shrug.

Taking a seat at the smooth wood counter top, he sat patiently; it took a long while for the bear behind to pay him any attention. Once he finally he did, all he did was raise a brow. Assuming that was Leanders: What can I get for you... human? He asked for the same drink that Glen had gotten him earlier that day. Describing it as best he could, the bear finally responded with the drinks name: Sweet Heart. He hadn't realized how much he was craving that same drink until now. The several emotions had clouded his good taste and as the mug slid down to him, he took a sip and savored the warmth of liquor.

The feeling was quite nice; it felt like forever since he was finally able to just relax. Back home in Rington that was almost all he did and was used to, the city was so calm, yet busy; the lifestyle was always so pleasant. There was the occasional disturbance of what everyone here calls Fleshies but nothing as frightening as what The Gloom had given him. For the record, there were rarely any harmful dangers there ever. The city was isolated, like a cult, Leander shivered at the disturbing faces of the undead monsters that chased him that night. He could almost feel them nibbling on his skin and tearing at his limbs and flesh. Another sip went down his throat to calm his nerve.

He laid his arms on the table and his chin on top of them and starred at the mug, watching the bits of fruit swirl inside and the thick globs of honey dwell back to the top whenever he would take a sip. Inside, he was feeling relaxed, his body was getting warm and the chatter of everyone around him was becoming more and more comforting. He was starting to feel welcomed and a part of something. He took a look around, head bobby and the slight off to his vision accompanying. At first things were normal, but slowly, everyone began to glow. The lighting around everyone seemed to dwindle and a ghostly wisp like aura swirled around each. They were all different looking, from the females to the males, the bears to the wolves to the boars, to the other species that were here at the time. Even each individual species had their own color, and look. Leander wasn't quite sure what he was looking at, and looked down to his cup feeling as if he were drugged. The sight was beautiful to him though. The colors everyone shared or didn't share, why were some of them the same color, or why were some of them different? With an exhale of deep breathe he took a look at his hands, and he himself had his own aura.

The color was first to notice, a turquoise blue, flickering off like a slow flame. Then an idea came to his head, the first day he had gotten here and talked to Astrid, when the old man had read his mind, or his spirit rather... they were the same color. Then he realized what he was looking at... his soul... He could see his soul, everyone's soul. He felt connected to everyone, like he could reach out and touch them through the soul, he tried it, he felt an energy stretch from his own and poke around through the lobby, briefly exploring whomever he could.

The first he touched was a bear; he was sucked in at first and swirled around in the mix of the bears memories and characteristics. He was reading the thoughts of this bear but before he could get too deep a strong wall slammed in front of him and forced him out of the animals head. When he looked over at the bear, he seemed to react to the intruder and looked around briefly, before being questioned by his others. The bear searched only for a second longer, then shook his head and returned to his conversing.

Leander sort of grinned, realizing what he had done. He skimmed the rest of the room, swimming at the top of everyone's thoughts and ideas. It allowed him to gather information about everyone, not in depth secrets or anything like that, but just small characteristics of personalities. The ability was dangerous; he figured if he could penetrate deep enough without being found he could learn everything about someone. He felt like an intruder, violating everyone's privacy and pulled back, curious if it was forbidden. Finally reaching the bartender, he touched over him gently wanting to know why the bear disliked him. Digging slowly, he tried not to be found, and dove deeper and deeper until he found a source that made him dread his decision. He ripped himself free, and the bear jumped, dropping the glass he was cleaning. It brought attention to the bar and the bear looked around almost panicking. Not wanting to be discovered, Leander left the bar as fast as his boozed body would allow crossing the room to the halls.

Shutting the door tight, he starred at the empty room. The bartender had nothing negative towards him, in fact it was quite the opposite... the bear was very much interested in him. Here at Divine, it seemed everyone was interested in him, everyone except Dakota. Taking a look around the room, he frowned.

"Dakota was still not home... It was night, were his contracts really that long?"

_ I thought you didn't care about that bear?_ It was strange again hearing his other speak. It had been silent after he spoke to Astrid.

_ "I don't..."_ He frowned crossing the room to the couch. His bed. "It might be nice having a room like this all to myself."

_ So you've decided to finally stay?_Leander grinned.

"I think so. Maybe I just need to give it a chance... Like Astrid had said, get to know people... Maybe I'm just not welcomed by Dakota."

_ The bear doesn't seem interested in humans' period. Besides, that bartender found us attractive... We should have said something._

_ "Next time."_ He said to himself, the couch had already made him feel relaxed, not to mention the alcohol that settled his darkest and emotional thoughts. He found it easier to get to sleep that night. Maybe it was because Dakota wasn't breathing down his neck or maybe it was just the heaviness his drinking had made him feel. Whatever the case was, Leander was happy, wasn't moody was perfectly content with his decision to stay at Divine.

The next day Dakota still had not returned, and Leander figured he'd roam Divine, to explore the rest of the university. The first area he checked out was the Common Dorms, the homes that was spoken on the very first day of his arrival. It was much more diverse in these dorms and in a way much further then home than Leander typically enjoyed. But he remained and several times sneaked around with his spirit and got to know most from a distance never drawing attention. He wanted to introduce himself slow and wanted to make sure that whomever he was trying to friend would actually like him. Once he was done in the commons he would head back to the first dorms he was shown, the High Master Dorms. That would probably be the easiest place to make new friends or even get some help training. He still had intentions to talking to that bartender but decided to try elsewhere first.

Days after, he noticed that his room was still empty at night and he began to worry about the bear. No matter how many times his conscious, or other, attacked him with curiosity as to why he worried about Dakota so much he still did. He couldn't get the polar bear out of his head, sure there were some other features the other bears here had, but Dakota was absolutely beautiful. His leniency for him was beginning to grow too, since he still had not returned, it was beginning to devastate him that he didn't hear his voice, or harsh tone whenever he would call him out. In a way, Leander found it cute, found hearing the mean big bear roar and snuffs adorable. He grinned to himself while he wandered through the dorms of Divine and finally standing at the Ursi dorms again, he thought of the bartender.

It was time he would speak to that bear. He hadn't gotten the nerve to speak to any of the students at D.U and it was already a week and a half into the year. His first contract was coming up as well, and to make matters worse, he hadn't been training everyday like Dakota had forced him to. Since the bear was gone he had all the freedom he wanted and decided to make better use of it by getting to know other people and trying to fit in. He stepped past the gates, and entered the giant busy lobby, a small smile on his face when he saw the bear tending to others at his session. Wandering over, he slid in to a tall round chair and watched while he dealt with things beneath the counter.

There was a brief shuffling and then the bear lifted his head, seeing Leander. He was expecting some kind of surprise and when he only got his usual eyebrow lift he frowned. Here he knew he would have to be the one to start the conversation. "What do I say?" He hoped his other would be here.

Uhm... nothing stupid... ask about his day?

_ _ "Hi." Leander dumbly said.

The bear only nodded glancing around.

"How... uh... how is your day?"

This time he got a shrug and a faint. "It's not bad."

"Uhm... good... so... bartending fun?"

He shrugged and when he got no response Leander dropped the conversation and looked down. Then with a little light of hope, the bear put his paw in front of him and tapped his claws on the counter, gesturing. Once Leander looked up, the bear gave a little grin and mouthed. "How's your day?"

Leander gave a little smile back and shrugged. "It's been... uneventful until now."

The bear warmly smiled back and then asked if Leander wanted a Sweet Heart and confused by the question at first, he shook his head no thinking it was too fast, then stupidly realizing that it was the name of his drink and quickly nodded. After a quick smirk and grunt of a laugh from this bear he prepared Leander's drink.

He was a brown bear, tall, muscle, not quite as much as Dakota, but still big. He didn't have a muscle gut like Dakota did; he was a slim muscle, covered in thick fur. A set of brown eyes matched his coat except for the tan strands of fur along his underside that he could make out beneath the apron and white dress shirt. "I am Aiden." He said again a little louder this time, and deep. Yet not as deep or as frightening as Dakotas he seemed like a gentle giant.

"Leander..." Leander offered out his hand and the bear took it generously.

"Nice to meet you."

"And you."

He quickly raised a paw finger to excuse him for a moment and slid down to deal with a new customer and then returned with a glass in his hand and white towel to dry it. "So, I hear you're supposed to be a Paladin?"

Leander smirked taking a long sip. "I don't know what that even means, the Dominus explained it a little, but I was hoping for a little more from my partner."

Aiden nodded. "I understand where you're coming from. Dakotas not the most social around here... unfortunately humans get the full affect." The last part made Leander curious and he raised a brow. "It's a rather personal story I'm not sure if I should go into it... certainly not here." He noticed the sudden frown Leander had and nudged him with a little smile. "We can talk after my shift... it's about an hour out? Maybe somewhere a little less quiet and more relaxing?" Leander gave a nod in agreement and began his wait.

After the time had finally passed it was around five or six in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to disappear behind the mountains. Aiden was cleaning up his area for the next bartender to take his shift and once finally ready, he slung his apron over his shoulder and gestured for Leander to follow him.

"Mind if I get myself all cleaned up, I smell like a drunk?" He gave a toothy grin opening his arms to reveal wet stains over his clothes.

"Not at all... do you want to meet somewhere?"

"How about in front of The Gloom, in the arena? We can talk about some things and I'll let you in on a little bit of drama going around." Aiden gave a wink and when Leander assured he'd be there he disappeared into the halls.

"First date... sort of... and it was in front of The Gloom... how romantic."

_ He's pretty cute I would agree._

_ "I've never done this before... I'd assume we don't just dive at each other into passion right?"_

_ You know I'm you right?_

_ _ He rolled his eyes and smiled. "I'm just trying for some reassurance."

_ _ Inside he laughed.I'm probably the least likely to reassure you of something like this. Let's just let it flow and see what happens?

_ "Sounds like a plan."_

_ _ Leander waited patiently in the center of the court, starring at his worst enemy: The Gloom. In just a few more days he would have to deal with this again, once Dakota was here he would have to return to the fear. The change was kind of nice though.

"Hey," Aiden's voice came from behind. The bear had entered through one of the tunnels beneath the tall coliseums. "Do you want to talk down here, or mind heading up to the stands above?" Aidens new outfit, was quiet cute, he had a tight smooth black shirt on with a fitting shirt collar that would almost glow from the lighting of the flamed braziers. It was tucked into his waste, sealed with a black leather belt that carried a few small packs, they looked full and Leander wondered what each one carried. Then down to some worn out light blue jeans that had started to tear and form holes at the knee. Beyond that were two soft looking shoes, made with some kind of strong cloth like material, but durable enough to withstand constant walking or bear claws.

Leander gave a look up to the stands then to Aiden again, admiring his outfit. "I'm ok with the stands if you are?"

"Then lead the way."

Leander did so with Aiden not far behind. Facing the gloom, about half way up the stands they took a seat. The bear had given Leander, a reasonable distance between each other while they sat, never trying anything like Glen had before. They both started out with usual introductions, and sayings from where they both had came. Leander gave his usual beginning of Rington and not feeling welcomed at Divine at the start.

When it was Aiden's turn, the bear gave a very descriptive and somewhat nervous story about his past. He went on to speak about growing up just beyond Two Peaks. Two very high mountain peaks that were visible from Divine's door steps, due to the fog covering the school, they weren't visible. He lived in a tribe like environment, as did most bears around the world. He spoke about the trials he had to overcome at such a young age, by Aiden's twelve year of age he had overcame five challenges that had to deal with fighting and hunting down big game. Leander was so intrigued by the different living styles that the bears had from humans. How they governed things, and sorted out crimes or plans. It had started to make a little sense why Dakota lashed out at him with his first failure. Bears were very honor preserved. By not standing up for your honor is like throwing away everything you once worked for. Honor was your flesh and blood, your ego, everything.

"Ursus don't take defeat lightly, ever." Aiden began. "I remember the first time I was beaten and didn't fight till my last breath. My very first fight I learned what Ursus saw as pride. It was me and another tribe member, when an Ursus first comes of age to hold up a weapon, or to swing his fist at his opponent they fight. We dueled each other in hand to hand combat, and I had lost." His great bear head dropped in disappointment. "Never in my life had I felt so lonely in the world, even my mother and father had shame over their face. It was the worst feeling and looking back I still regret my decision to not follow Ursus tradition."

"...How old were you when you first fought?" Leander asked hoping he wasn't interrupting.

Aiden picked his head back up and pushed away the memory. "...We fought at the age of six, the year that Ursus fully gain their coordination."

The idea was so different then Leanders. Fighting was almost frowned upon for humans; it was undignified, revealed no respect. He felt like fighting was only for survival, when you had to use it in the midst of danger... It was for animals. Inside he cringed seeing it like that and immediately revoked the thought. "So then... that explains why Dakota's so..." Leander didn't finish the last of his sentence.

Aiden nodded. "Yes... In a way yes. I'm sure he's kept the story about his partner from you?"

"Dakota has a partner?" Leander was confused, he was the only one with him in the dorm.

"Had... Two or three years back and he still hasn't come out of his frustration."

"Had... This was the character that everyone consistently reminded him of... Glen the first day I had arrived."

_ What difference does it make to him hating humans?_

_ _ "Frustration for what? What happened?" Leander poked again.

Aiden seemed to look around, almost get nervous before he spoke. "His name was Reignhardt, but everyone at Divine had started to call him Reign after Dakota had come up with the nickname. The two were absolutely perfect for each other, and it was strange. It was very rare that the Ursus could bend themselves to be compatible with humans and the same with humans. In the common eye they were never meant to be, the ways of their lives did not cross, one thought fighting and strength was not the answer, while the other did and generally the match up was never there. But for these two," Aiden gave a white grin eyes shifting to the stadium grounds. "they were absolutely perfect for the other. Both Paladins, both interested in perfecting their ability to preserve the order of the world.

The only thing that separated them was Reigns strange attachment to darkness. He seemed to soak in dark emotions and enjoyed to feel sorrow. In fact, whenever they would Synergize--

"Synergize?"

Aiden gave another bear smile. "Dakota hasn't told you about synergizing?" Leander shook his head and Aiden let a little laugh escape his maw. "Well... the best way I can describe it is when two souls can combine perfectly together and shift their energies back and forth between one another and ultimately allow a powerful blow to be cast. Dakota and Reigns was phenomenal, whenever they synced their energy levels were incredible but again everyone noticed a slight dark side to Reigns power. Even the first day the human arrived, Astrid had sensed it and purposely paired him up with Dakota to try and cure him of it." Aiden stopped momentarily and took in a deep breath. "There is a day every year that we call Hell's Day where for some reason, a shift in the world happens and it's like Heaven is blocked from communicating with us. Where demons can escape from the underworld much easier and we are sent out on abundance of contracts to keep the world from going black.

On this particular day, something happened with Reign. He sort of gave up on Heaven, no one knows why. Many say he was just purely evil from the start and others say that the day of Hell made him turn. Either way, he turned against Divine and attacked us unable to control his actions he morphed into a demon. It came down to Astrid, Dakota as Divine laid in ruin to put him down and after Dakota couldn't take the final blow, Astrid had to."

Leander bowed his head. "So that's why Dakota doesn't like Astrid either."

Aiden shrugged. "Half of him does, half of his body hates that he took away his lover. Deep inside he knows it was for the greater good, but he regrets it."

"So... Astrid paired Reign up with Dakota to hope that he could change whatever dark power was inside him? Do you think?" Leander bit his lip seeing him as being paired up with Dakota.

A big furry arm wrapped around Leander as he was pulled into a hug. "No... You don't have the dark aura that Reign did... I don't think you'll turn out like him. If anything after you get your fear out of you'll turn into a great Paladin."

Leander sighed in the embrace. He was thinking how nice it was to feel someone hug him, sincerely and in a friendly manner. He was convinced that he and Aiden had become friends or maybe even more. After learning why Dakota was no longer interested in humans Aiden seemed to fill the hole.

A sudden bell rang in the distance, an alarming one Leander had never heard before. Turning to the sight of the sound it continued to ring and Aiden pulled him to a stand waiting again for the bell to ring. "Something's happening and we should probably report to the front gates."

Fear struck Leander at Aiden's words and reluctantly he left with him. Outside several students were making their way to the front gate, where the source was coming from. Trailing the massive group Aiden and Leander watched the entire school gather. Squeezing between groups Aiden pulled Leander to the front.

Beyond the gates a shadowed figure appeared, hunched over appearing to carry something. When it came closer, whispers clouded the crowd, limping toward them was Dakota. Sal was hauled over his shoulder as he dragged her blade in his other hand wincing with every step. Blood covered his white fur and there were several fresh cuts still oozing with red. His armor had been torn and ripped from his body, the gloomy glow of Divines light shining off the blood that ran down him. The Dominus of Divine rushed to aid him, but Dakota waved them away until Astrid stepped before him. The bear gave one look to Leander then looked to Astrid mouthing his name once again before collapsing in front of the school. The Dominus surrounded Dakota kneeling to help him and Sal up to their feet, all of them but Astrid who starred at Leander wide-eyed.

_ _