FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Entry date: 21/04/4423

Arien awoke lazily to the sound of a tweeting robin sitting atop his window the sunlight shining through hitting the oaken floor of his room. Throwing himself slowly out of his bed crumpling the light blue sheets at the far end and walked over to his window with nothing but a pair of silken trousers he slept in. A horse and cart moving down the hill towards the village square, children running from one another in the light of the morning sun; Arien smiled down at the roadside, his face lit by the sun and cooled by the fresh morning breeze. Walking to his closet and drawing out a blue shirt, a pair of white trousers and a pair of hunting gloves leather gloves; he changes out of his night clothes as he listens to the robin chirping at the sky. Moving over to the oak framed window Arien lets his land forward for the robin to climb onto before walking from his room down the creaky old staircase into his living room where he grabs an apple and a few berries from the dining table. Taking a bite from the apple letting him enjoy the sweet juices that leak from it, as the robin moves down to grab the small berries he took from the basket; soon walking with a slow gate walking towards the front door as his little friend chirps happily.

The main door opening onto a quiet gravelled street, the sweet smell of newly grown flowers along the path; Arien continues to bite once again into the sweet apple as he walks down the hillside towards the centre of Oakreach. The bird moving upwards onto Arien's shoulder continually tweeting and breaking the calm silence of the small town; Arien looking towards the forest on the far side of town, as a heavy mist begins to loom over the darkened forest. Upon the reaching the village square Arien turns towards a small wooden building with a large pile of logs stacked up upon the left wall. The main room of the building was a small storefront lined with various tools from axes, farming hoes, shovels and even a few weapons like swords and an old hunting bow. Arien walks towards the counter and calls to the back.

"Taldrin! I'm ready to go"

A few seconds pass later a large middle aged man with a large brown beard and large tense muscles walks out from aside the counter; an accentuated scar is shown besides his left eye clearly showing if the dusty light of the shop.

"Took your time didn't yah, get back there and get your gear on" he replied in a stern voice.

With a nervous nod Arien quickly darts behind the counter into a small room filled with crates and cabinets. Opening the cabinet on the far side of the room, he takes a suit of oversized padded leather armour, a pair of protective boots and a large sharpened woodcutter's axe and begins to don the armour over his clothes as Taldrin stands expectedly at the doorway. Once he dons the armour which is clearly too big for him, he takes the axe and moves towards Taldrin who stands arms folded in the doorway.

"So boy you remember the site right?" he asks in an expecting tone.

Arien nods quickly and nervously, looking upwards at Taldrin.

"Well don't wait for me, were running short so don't slack off!" Taldrin says with an angry but almost monotone voice pointing at a door out the back of the shop. Arien nods and walks out of the back door, attempting to adjust the armour to fit better. With a swift pace he walks towards the forest on the far side of town, continually adjusting the uncomfortable suit of oversized armour and dragging the woodcutters axe with his right hand across the ground as he goes. The streets were empty but they still felt busy as most were absent doing their jobs, the smells of freshly cooked bread, the sound of birds and even the cool breeze make the town seem busy and alive and Arien treks towards the northern edge of the town.

The forest was dark and overbearing as most light was extinguished by the dark fog that seemed to remain constant over the green canopy. Taking the axe and lifting it able as he can; he begins to cut against the side of an old looking oak tree, the axe breaking the outer bark but seemingly doing little else with Arien's merger strength. Chop, chop, and chop as the axe almost becomes a metronome as it cuts a tiny bit further into the old tree. Continuing to cut in the forest's dark silence. Arien then disturbed by a rapid crash sound from behind. He quickly turns and sees a large silhouette in the fog lashing at a humanoid figure. The humanoid ducks and quickly slashing with a blade at the creature's tail. A crash as the creature smashes its tail at a tree trying to avoid the blow. Arien tries to quietly approach but the creature seems to retreat deeper into the forest with the humanoid in full pursuit, quickly vanishing into the deep fog. A deep pool of blood lies where the creature previously stood, being absorbed into the mossy soil. Quickly unable to discover where the creature fled, Arien returns to its work curiously dreaming of what such a creature was.

The sun began to set the first, then the second as Arien returns to town with a wheel barrow of chopped logs; the air filled with the smell of spices burning at the town square. Passing the square, dropping off the logs, removing the armour and returns the axe to the cabinet in addition to avoiding Taldrin; meanwhile watching the adults and elders of the village praying before the large totem in the square. Arien walks up the hill towards his house; the sound of the prayers quickly turns to a soft hum in the silence sunset lit road. Upon his roof a small robin once again sat looking down at him as if it was waiting for his return. About to open the cabinets to prepare dinner, a large roar can be heard from outside. Arien dashes out of the door where he turns and can immediately see a silhouette similar to the one he saw earlier, falling from the sky to land further uphill.

Arien rushes uphill curious but dedicated trying to work out what just happened and what he spotted earlier. A pain filled roar can be heard from the peak, the sound subsides before he reaches peak. Emerging at the summit of the hill Arien is met with the body of a large blue scaled dragon, it lays bleeding upon its side; its eyes barely holding any spark of life. Rushing towards the creature and immediately noticing the large deep cut up the creature chest all the way to its neck. Arien in a frantic panic removes his shirt, applying some pressure to the wound to try and keep the creature alive while its eyes continually dim as its life drains away. From the silence a sudden old sounding voice emerges from the dragon's mouth.

"Human it is too late... I have reached the end of my life."

Arien crying out to the dragon in a confused tone_ "Who did this to you? Why would they do this to you!?!"_

The dragon coughs before softly speaking "They are searching for the covenants source... He thought that I carried it."

Arien still confused calls "Who is he? What is this cov..."

Blood still pouring from the wounds of the beast, it lets out an interrupting deep breath; followed by a soft sentence of_ "Protect this..."_ as his eyes close, letting out a final breath before death. Arien desperately calls to the dragon with disbelief that the life of a dragon could be seemingly extinguished so quickly. A brief moment of silence before a overwhelming light shines from the creatures bleeding heart. A pulse of energy flows from the creature into Ariens body, his eyes glowing and hands shaking uncontrollably before collapsing to the ground, paralysed by the overwhelming power. A thud as everything bar the dragons now blood red wings leave his vision and he hits the floor; a white light overwhelming his vision. Muffled shouts can be heard in the distance as Arien's world disappears around him.

_ Entry date: 23/04/4423_

His vision blurred by a pounding headache Arien opens his eyes to a blackened stone ceiling. Looking around through his clouded vision, the room appeared to be primarily made of blackened stone and a series of metallic poles can sit upon one side of the room, a single small window lies opposite on the top of the far wall. Pushing himself up from his lying position, he notices the wooden bench he currently sits upon as well as a series chains attaching his wrists to the wall. The room though seemingly having no light sources other than a faint shine of the moon seems perfectly visible though with a faint blue hue. Arien looks down at his chained wrists and the blood stained leather gloves upon his hands, confused and questioning how he got here Arien removes the glove from his left hand. Beneath the glove his hand to be covered in a strange stripped black and white fur and some small claws in place of his nails. Continually confused he removes the other glove to reveal his other hand in the same condition. He raises his head to look around the room and as he focusing his vision, though his headache was making it hard to think strait he notices the metallic poles were actually bars and the small window to also be barred. Still in a confused state he realise his location at the village's old prison and calls out for help as time passing but to no avail as no one answers his confused cries for help.

Time passing before the first rays of dawn began to shine through into the dusty cell and the morning winds begin to blow. A door slowly began to open at the far side of the prison. A small group of men from the village emerges grumbling in a hush tone, words too faint to hear.

Arien calling to the villagers "Hey what's going on? What happened to me?"

A moment of blank silence as they look to one another in confused astonishment, clearly unaware that the creature is Arien; before they respond "You have slain the guardian dragon of the forest, this must be atoned for with a sacrifice."

Arien in a panicked shock calls back "I haven't done anything; I found that dragon already dying on the hilltop!"

The guards clearly not listening to what was said continue in a very dominant tone "Now what are you beast, some kind of cat folk from the far north?"

With a confused expression Arien looks down towards a small puddle that had built up near the window to see his whole form has changed. A tiger morphed into humanoid form. He turns back to answer the guards however before he has a chance to speak again, the door on the far side opens and the familiar voice of Taldrin shouts in.

"I must speak to that beast!"

Pushing through the guards, forcing the cell open, Arien has for a moment a brief sigh of relief before Taldrin puts his sword to his throat.

"You rotten beast, where did you take him?"

Arien stunned by confusion and paralysed by his fears, tries but fails to answer Taldrin's questions as he leans over overbearingly with a blade in hand.

"I saw talking to those guys, so don't ignore me! Now where did you take Arien?" Taldrin shouts demandingly.

"Tardrin I, I... I am Arien" replying timidly.

In an angry manner Taldrin replies "Don't play games with me where is Ari..." before stopping and in a confused tone_ "How do you know my name?"_

Arien slightly relived by his change in tone quickly replies_ "As I said I am Arien..."_

Very confused Taldrin replies_ "Fine then why are you some kind of beast?"_

Arien starts going over what he remembers from the previous evening from after he left Taldrin's store; Taldrin clearly very confused but still equally in a bad mood; himself and the men behind clearly confused by some details Arien gives. How a imposter would know certain facts, to how Arien could have become such a beast; however before they get a chance to keep asking questions, the main door of the prison is thrown open and a steep wind blows in from outside. Walking through the now largely open door the village elder 'Markunda the Wise' walks in and without a word opens the prison cell and steps in.

"Do not fear me child, I can see you inside that cursed vessel..." Markunda says softly giving a smile reaching a hand towards Arien, then placing a finger upon his forehead. A golden light emerges from Arien transforming him back into his regular human from the fur and claws. Arien puzzled and amazed looks up at the elder standing over him.

"Arien that beast that died was the forests guardian. It has now died and you have inherited its powers, however this means you cannot stay here you must leave at once." The elder says, unshackling Arien.

In a confused but panicked voice Arien replies "Elder why can I not stay you removed the power it gave me. Why can I not stay?"

The elder turning away speaking in a harsh but still caring tone "I have not removed the power I have just broken its hold temporarily so you can learn to control it. You must still leave as whatever came to slay the dragon will be after you next and if you remain here, we shall all perish in the coming storm. Taldrin give him basic supplies and send him off into the forest by dusk."

Taldrin confused and outraged by this shouts out "Elder if the guardian had such power as well, how come we survived when it lived so close before."

The elder turns to Taldrin and in a strict voice "This is my final decision Taldrin he leaves at dusk..." as she leaves closing the door filling the room with a deadly silence. Arien rises from the cold bench blood red gloves in hand with a confused tear running down the left side of his face. Taldrin both sad and angry looks towards Arien, unsure how to answer and begins walking slowly towards the exit

Leaving the prison Arien wanders the town with a saddened outlook; he must leave the place he calls his home; the people of the street looking away or moving away from him afraid that as the elder said they will get hurt. Wandering to his home and looking his belongings taking what he can carry and putting them into a small brown bag, then upstairs to the window wide open and the bed sheets still crumpled and looking out for the last time at his homes view trying to understand all that has happened as a stream of confused tears run down his left cheek.

Belongings gathered, goodbyes said and many tears shed Arien standing at the village's gate giving one final look to all the townsfolk standing before him. Though sad and confused, lonely and unsure he utters only a few quick words before departing down the long road to the forest to discover a new life where he doesn't endanger those he loves.

"Sorry and goodbye..."