FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The heavy noise from the guitar shook the walls of the small theater as they rang out loud and proud, grinding in a slow and steady rhythmic pace as they hopped from one chord to the other. The ear-piercing cheer of the crowd behind them only added to the crazy vibrations in the room as a multitude of fists and devil horns shot up after the first few notes, leaving a sea of paws flowing out to the back of the small room. The stage was still dark despite most of the members of the band already being in their positions for the encore song, leaving only the tall grey-furred Canadian Lynx off to the side in the shadows. He was dressed in full ceremonial gear, including a long dark cloak, and he was holding his microphone tightly in one extra-large paw, with a body-height axe in his other. He let the rest of the band pound out a few more notes, feeling them blast out of those powerful speakers all around him, patiently waiting for his own cue as he psyched himself up with a few deep breaths. With one more musical burst from the guitars, the lynx shuffled forwards and out into the bright stage lights, using the axe handle almost as a walking stick on his way. The cloaked, hooded, and face-painted creature was quickly greeted with a loud cheer from the screaming crowd as he kept his head down, inching ever closer to the center of the stage with each menacing step he took.

The flame pods shot off in time with another heavy burst of noise, sending the heat from the fire surging out in all directions and illuminating the dark feline on his journey. Waiting for him in the middle of the stage was a circular table, done up to look more like an altar with a few quick alterations and accents. On top of the sacrificial altar lay the form of a feral pig, strapped down with nylon cords around all four legs, as well as a big leather strap around its head. The little motors in the fake pig’s head and body whirled to life as the feline got closer, wiggling and squirming as all the spotlights and focus soon fell upon the prop. It wasn’t exactly big budget movie realistic, but it was good enough to fool, or at least entertain most of the crowd into believing it for sure.

The feline took a few final slow steps before reaching his destination right next to the altar. He gave the pig a look over before waving his paw holding the microphone over its frame in a soft sweep back and forth, as if ritualistically blessing the doomed creature. Once that was accomplished, he lifted up his microphone to his sweaty, make-up streaked face to say in a slow, deep, growling voice, “Brothers and Sisters, we are gathered here today in this unholiest of rituals to give praise to all that could make it so. We rejoice in the honor, the privilege, and the opportunity to let the beasts hidden deep inside us all to take hold and let loose, putting their true carnal powers on full display. And to feed those carnal powers we require a sacrifice - another lesser creature’s life blood and energy, which will sustain us all until the next ritual. I offer this beast’s soul for all of us to feast upon. In the name of Satan himself….”

With those words, the feline took a little pause in his sermon to slide his microphone into a nearby stand, angling it back up towards his face so he could speak without having to hold it. With his paw free, he reached down and wrapped both of them around the handle of that large axe to grip it tightly. The handle itself was real wood, and it felt nice and sturdy in his grasp, but the head of the executioner-style axe was far from metal of course. It was some kind of plastic and rubber combination that was sturdy enough not to wiggle and wobble around and look fake, but it would cause little danger of more than a bruise to him if he missed his target. Not that the feline ever had of course. With a big and dramatic breath, the lynx heaved up that axe and held it above his head in a triumphant stance, flicking his ears back to send his hood falling around his shoulders in the process.

“In the name of Satan himself,” the feline repeated into the microphone now at his side, wiggling the axe above him as he took a deep breath. “I release this creature’s life essence upon you all. May its life essence feed your inner demons!” And with those heavily shouted words, the feline took a step towards the altar, sending the axe head slicing down right into his target. With a loud metallic clang ringing through the speakers, the axe hit right into the sweet spot on the pig’s neck. It pulled the velcro apart that was holding the patch of fake pink skin over the gap in between the pig’s head and body, leaving the axe to chop on down and embed itself into the altar below. Another heavy burst of fire shot out from all the flame pods on the stage, leading to a heavy cheer from the crowd as they watched the decapitation take place with joy and enthusiasm in their eyes. But the fire wasn’t enough to sedate them completely. A moment after the axe had sunk inside the fake pig, there were a few heavy squirts of fake blood that shot from the gap in the pig’s neck. That only made that rolling cheer and yell from the crowd continue as the band smashed a few more heavy notes for the big climax of the ceremony, leaving the feline standing in place to admire his work with an evil grin plastered on his face.

Strong electromagnets held the axe’s head in place a few inches into the altar while the feline slowly pulled his paws off that handle, leaving the solid stick of wood dangling in the air. That left the feline’s paw free to shoot back for his microphone as he wiped off a little bit of the fake blood from his cheek with the other one. With a heavy growl, he turned back towards the crowd with a wide grin across his painted face, enjoying their enthusiastic reaction and relishing in their excitement for just a moment more.

“Are you feeling fed now, Phoenix?” the feline shouted out into the microphone, watching various fists and metal horns shoot up into the air as another shout surged through everyone crammed into the rather small club. “I said IS THE PRIMAL HUNGER WITHIN YOU SEDATED?!?” the feline roared back out with his heavy growling voice, causing an even louder and more enthusiastic cheer to ring up and out of the few hundred people gathered around to watch the show. “Then let me see you put all that new-found energy to good use. Do not let the sacrifice be in vain! Bow down and give thanks to the glory of our Dark Lord and his BLOODLUST RITUAL!”

With those final growled out words, the lead guitar suddenly kicked in with that fast, heavy riff, leading into the song after the long and drawn-out intro. Just as the feline had told them to do, the nearly stage-wide mosh pit quickly surged into action as the rest of the band came in to fill in the sound with a few heavy crashes and bangs behind him. The hard contact and heavy impacts of bodies against bodies in the middle of the floor made the feline smile just a bit as he caught a glimpse of it, slowly kicking his foot up onto one of the monitor speakers to steady himself in his firm stance. With a small and evil laugh into the microphone, he leaned down and squeeze his diaphragm tightly, letting the first roaring set of vocals lash out and surge over the rest of the band’s noise.

The term singing was open to debate of course. A few deep, guttural growls weren’t exactly singing to some. But the feline had made a career out of it, as had many others before him. Despite what some might think, they weren’t exactly easy to pull off either, needing quite a lot of talent to hold each note steady and firm. Each deep growl left the sweat drenched and exhausted feline working hard as he pushed with the last of what his lungs and throat had to give. The rest of the band worked just as hard, their fingers and arms flying all around to hit the mad fury of notes the song called for.

Most of the heavy sound blended together and was lost in the deep rumble shaking the building apart all around them. But that’s what their fans paid to see, and that’s what the band was here to do. By the look of the chaos out on the floor, everything was going to plan. Big sweaty bodies were busy colliding in a few hard shoulder to shoulder impacts, bouncing off one another with a rather good zeal, before being sent spiraling back into the walls of the mosh pit. It was just what the feline liked to see as his spit flew all over that microphone, giving it his all just like the fans were out on the floor.

The band had been keeping up the high energy of their show for nearly an hour at this point, and as the song crashed down into its final verse and chorus, they were starting to feel the strain of it all. Sweat dripped down over their makeup and their elaborate costumes, robes, demonic battle armor, and all sorts of other accessories. It made their garments feel heavy and cumbersome, especially as they were trying to play a vastly technical song. They were all digging deep to keep head banging and thrashing around on stage, having that last surge of energy from the crowd to help push them through the strain. The fire pods were on full blast at this point, draining any last bits of propane they had left in the tanks to help illuminate the various upside down crosses, pentagrams, goat skulls, and of course that now motionless decapitated pig on his altar in the middle of the stage. Everything shook and thundered with the fury of the band’s final song, the brutal pace and surging power building to one epic finish for sure. The lights flashed, the flames cooked the back of the band member’s spines, and a few small pyrotechnic sparkles and bangs rang out behind the band as they surged towards the end. With those few final heavy notes, the song came crashing down, centering around one final deep and brutal scream from the feline up in front as he emptied his lungs for the final time.

After the aural and visual assault finally ended, the rest of the stage went dark, leaving the feline alone in the spotlight front and center, standing motionless as he caught his breath for just a second. But, before the echoes of that final note stopped bouncing off the walls around him, the cat was quick to lift his microphone back up to his lips and say, “Phoenix, thank you! We are Ashen to Oblivion, and we’ll be back to mess with you fuckers real soon. Goodnight! And may the dark Lord Satan have mercy on your souls!” With that, the feline gave one last look and fist pump out at the cheering crowd, before he slowly turned around to walk off the side of the stage - his sweat drenched robe and under-armor clinging to his fur rather uncomfortably with each step.

He brushed it off though as he quickly met up with the rest of his bandmates, reaching up to pass around a few high-fives into the small group of sweaty, tired people. The joy and adrenaline ran high for another moment as they made their way down the ramp towards the backstage area, with each one grabbing a bottle of water from a small cooler on the way down to chug as if they were dying of thirst. It was then that the stage-high really began to wear off and everyone really felt the strain of their heavy outfits tugging on their bodies and fur.

By the time the band had reached the small dressing room towards the back of the club, a good few pieces of each of the band member’s outfits were already off, casually getting thrown onto an old beaten up couch for some unlucky roadie to pick up and clean later. It didn’t take long for the five members of the band to strip down nearly to their underwear, letting all of their fur air out as they got busy trying to wipe their makeup off. The towels were out in full force as each member rubbed them hard into their faces, using what sinks and bathroom water was available as well as a little nail polish remover to get the last bit of the stuff off. Luckily for the band there was even a shower in this dressing room, which was a rarity in a lot of small venues. The feline was the first to hop in, taking his two minutes, before the next lucky band member got his chance to do the same, feeling so much better after that quick rinse even without soap to properly finish the job. That would have to wait.

It was a lot of work to get in and out of costume, but it was well worth it. It’s what got the band popular enough to have their own crew after all, meaning that the band members could focus on taking care of themselves after a show instead of wrapping up all the instrument chords and loading them into the truck like they had for years before.

Not that the band got out of all the work though. Once the feline was done rinsing off, he was quick to shake his fur free of whatever water he could. Thankfully one of the roadies had brought them some fresh towels this time, giving the feline something to dry himself off with, before slipping into an old T-shirt and some shorts. After that it wasn’t long before he found himself helping the crew pack up, pushing a few amplifiers into the back of the truck, and helping to stack the drum cases for transport as well. Who said lead singers don’t help with equipment?

But, there was only so much he was willing to do, and as a few other band members began to join him and help load the truck, the feline slid off and began to find somewhere to relax. Things felt okay as long as he kept moving, but once he finally found somewhere to sit and relax, his body began to ache and yell at him for all the abuse he put it through. He tried to grab a beer or two in order to cool himself down and help ease the pain, but that didn’t help either. It rarely did nowadays. Touring was tough, and putting such a strain on his body and vocal chords especially left him hunched over and groaning just a bit, with the feeling only getting worse after each show on the tour.

But, things began to look up for the aching feline as the bass playing wolf made quite the effort to find him, grinning widely when that lounging feline finally popped into his view. The lynx knew simply by the canine’s expression that things were about to get better from the moment he saw them. A whole lot better in fact! The feline could tell that the canine had what he needed simply from the way the canine smirked back at him. With a small groan and grunt, the lynx gently pushed up against his thighs and found himself standing up once again, getting a simple nod in return from the canine. They didn’t even have to speak, which was good because the feline was already saving his voice and letting it recover for the next show the following night. All the canine had to do was turn and start walking towards the tour bus, leaving the feline to follow that gently swaying tail with each step he took.

The bus was their life when on tour, so therefore the band members wanted to spend as little time on it as possible now that they were free to roam around Phoenix for a few more hours. The bus itself was deserted as the wolf and lynx made their way up the stairs and into the main cabin, each one quickly making a beeline towards their own small section of the bus a moment later. The feline was the first to pull out his special little box, lifting up the lid of the old cigar case to pull out the well-worn lighter, spoon, length of surgical tubing, plastic syringe, and a few other things. The wolf wasn’t far behind as they both took a seat on the couch, laying out their paraphernalia beside them, as the feline’s eyes lit up in excitement. He picked up his spoon, slowly extending it towards the canine as he couldn’t help but say, “Please sir, may I have some more?” with a funny little accent.

“But of course….” the wolf added with a grin, his messy and still damp fur bristling this way and that as he dug out the little plastic bag from his pocket. “Marco said this stuff is really good – it’s the purest right by the border after all.”

“I’ll be the judge of that….” the feline added with a soft smirk, holding his spoon steady as the wolf gently tipped the little bag over and poured a little of the white powder out into the fire-faded bowl. The feline’s eyes got even wider as he resisted the urge to go right at it, being polite as he waited for the wolf to top off his own spoon. From there it was a rather ritual progression as both of them bounced from step to step in unison. The addition of some water into their spoons went quickly after they measured it out in their syringes, squirting it back down into the bowls of the spoons without spilling a precious drop of the solution. The wolf was quick to pick up a small shaker he kept full of citric acid powder, giving his spoon a small dusting before moving over and garnishing the feline’s spoon with it as well. As the various powders mixed into the water, both creatures quickly reached for their lighters. They lit them almost in unison, sending the flames surging underneath the metal spoons as they both watched the liquid begin to churn and boil with big, needy eyes. As the solution turned brown and thickened up, they both knew their concoction was getting close to ready, staring it down hungrily and already feeling the first hints of pleasure surge through their minds. Before long they pulled their flames away and got their tourniquets ready, sliding them around their upper arms as they gently laid their cooling spoons down for just a moment to finish off the task. But, they didn’t stay down for long, quickly getting picked up again in one paw while their other reached for their syringes. Both the feline and the canine looked at one another and nodded, drawing up the thick liquid in their spoons with an eager smile crossing their faces.

Almost in unison, as was their strange custom, the wolf and feline flicked out the air bubbles from their syringes and pressed the needles against their fur and skin. They felt around for that bulging vein before both of them slowly pushed into the well-used and re-torn openings with a firm but steady slide forwards. The feline first, with the wolf close behind, drew back just a little bit of blood into the syringe to let it mix with the fluid, letting them know that they’d sunk securely into the well-used passageway. And, with a gentle nod between them, they both pushed that plunger down with a quick and eager push, sending the vile concoction surging into their veins.

A few seconds later, almost at the same time, they both let out a heavy gasp as the drug raced through their bodies and hit their brains, making everything swirl as both creatures leaned back and simply sunk down into the couch. Their tongues rolled out against their cheeks as their jaws relaxed open, both of them giving a soft moan as they felt that heavy rush take them over. The wolf at least had the focus to take the needle out of his arm after the quick shot, letting it fall down onto the floor at his feet. Not the feline though. In a flash the cat was gone, spiraling down into the euphoric rush of the drug, feeling it lure him to a happy, pain free, serene place. And, with every passing moment he felt himself going deeper… deeper than he ever had gone before. But he felt no urge to fight the bliss that was slowly dragging him down. This really was good stuff, Marco wasn’t lying. Holy shit it was good stuff…

The feline barely even twitched a muscle as his body slowed down - his breathing growing more shallow and shallow with each passing breath, as everything inside of him simply relaxed. Eventually that breathing grew weak enough that his poor lungs began to call out for air, almost trying to spasm and heave themselves into an uproar as they burned and burned in slowly building agony. But, at that point the feline’s mind was too far gone down the rabbit hole to even react, leaving him drooling out in pleasure as his lungs struggled, then finally gave up the fight. Without a constant supply of oxygen his brain wasn’t too far behind, firing off in blissful pleasure all the while as its activity decreased more and more, becoming just a weak electric tingle in its oxygen starved death throws. The final thing to go was his heart, slipping away and slowing… slowing… until finally it had beaten it’s last. At that point the feline was well and totally gone, his now lifeless body left to droop over the side of the old, well used couch without a care in the world...

---

He awoke with a groggy grunt as consciousness leaked back into him. For the first few moments he didn’t even care if he was awake or dreaming, happy to let the lingering buzz of the drug still pump through his system and give him just a few final moments of blissful feelings. But eventually that exotic surge of pleasure began to fade, leaving him with a little more control over his actions. His body finally stirred with a few soft twitches at first, and then his eyes opened with just a little crack in the eyelids… seeing nothing but blurry white light at first as his brain tried to focus and make sense of things. He clenched them back down as the light hurt to look at, and then squirmed around for another moment, before finding something firm to push against. With another slow opening of his eyes, letting them adjust a bit more to the strong light, he got a good grip and pushed off with his arm to lift himself up into a more seated position. With that strained motion, his body started to cry out in something other than pure pleasure for the first time in a while, leading to his first shock of slight pain and uncomfortableness as he got himself together.

Bit by bit the feline’s brain came back to him, leaving him aware of who he was and what he’d done. One of his first actions after sitting up was to reach for his arm. That needle was still imbedded deep in his slightly bleeding skin, and the dull burn of that intruder was quick to shoot up and into his mind as he continued to focus. With a slow and loose wrapping of his other paw around it, he pulled back on the syringe, letting that well punctured vein do it’s best to try and close that hole after the needle was finally tugged free. With a small huff from all the effort, the cat simply dropped the syringe down to the side of his frame, figuring he’d pick it back up after a few more moments of blissful happiness. The heavy throb in his arm got to him first though, forcing his paw to slide back and do its best in untying that tourniquet as well. That sent a fresh surge of blood into his tingling arm and fingers, leaving him gasping weakly, before finally slurping his tongue back into his muzzle and closing it for the first time in ages.

“F…..fuck that was… good…” he said out after a deep breath, still assuming the wolf was next to him as his eyes were taking their sweet time to focus. With a few blinks and another little shift or two in position, his vision came back to him bit by bit. The first thing he knew was that it was bright… far too bright. It should be night… they should be in the tour bus… It was like there was a spotlight on him or something. All he could see was white. And while this scared him for a small moment, the more he blinked and tried to focus, the more he could begin to see a little detail around him

He wasn’t in the bus anymore, that was for sure. And as the feline accepted that fact, he did his best to get his senses working again. His head spun around with a few sloppy twists, trying to make sense of the world he was now in, as his blurry eyes continued to sweep and stare, although he was still unable to focus on much in specific. At first he was convinced he had to be in some kind of hospital. The bright white lights were just… debilitating as the feline tried to shake some sense into himself with each passing moment. But, he wasn’t on a bed or a gurney or anything. He was definitely sitting in a chair. That much he knew. A boring old everyday office chair for sure as his paws got to work rubbing over the armrests and edges to inspect it further.

After a few more blinks to try and clear out the cobwebs, his vision slowly came back to him. The first thing he noticed was that there were more chairs. In fact, there were rows of chairs in every direction all around him, stretching out as far as his still struggling vision could make out. He gasped a little bit at that sight and gave off a nervous twitch, almost as if he was about to stand up in surprise at his revelation. But, his feet and legs weren’t quite ready yet, leaving him straining but not getting anywhere as he let out a few heavy, burning breaths from the small efforts.

He finally slumped on down into the chair again with a defeated sigh and decided to let his eyes continue to scan around the room instead, finally getting a little more detail with each blink he made. It was a decently large, mostly white room, decorated like any normal waiting room would be. A few things were hanging on the walls, perhaps pictures of some kind, although the feline couldn’t quite make out what they were yet. There were chairs set up in just about every direction, and at the end of each row there was a little window, much like at a doctor’s office or the DMV or something. Up in front of him there was something written on the wall… perhaps on a large TV or display board… although it was still out of his visual prowess to actually read what it said.

The feline figured he had to be in the hospital… that was the only place he could be after all. He must have overdosed, and perhaps one of his band mates had found him and driven him there… or something. It didn’t really matter at the moment as the feline started to feel more and more like himself with each passing second… when all of a sudden one heavily shrieking scream helped to snap him up and to attention, more than he had in a long time. He didn’t catch what happened exactly, but a few chairs down in the row in front of him, there was suddenly a body where the feline didn’t think there’d been one before. The rough shaded outline of a person was busy flapping their arms around when he saw them, still yelling and making random noises that the feline’s ears couldn’t quite discern. And, after a few more high-pitched shrieks and flails, the body flew back and crashed down over the row of chairs behind it, falling into the feline’s own row with a mix of fleshy and metallic thuds.

“I…. I didn’t see that truck… I swear… oh God…” they just kept saying as the feline’s ears twitched and struggled to process the sound. It was a younger female voice for sure, ringing loudly in the feline’s large tuff-tipped ears. “I…. what happened? Where’s Alicia? Where’s Mike?”

There was a little more shuffling as the frame kicked and tugged, extracting itself from the mass of tipped over chairs. Once she’d gotten to her feet, the now clearly feminine frame shot her head back and forth. She took a second to look around, seeming as confused as the lynx was, before finally taking a step over towards the still dazed feline. She whimpered as she stood literally right at his side, looking down at him and wondering what to say. The feline stared back with his own weak expression, in no condition to start the conversation. “Do you know what happened?” she finally let slip past her lips. “Where are we? What is this?”

“I… don’t know….” the lynx was able to get out, sloppily and with a little dribble of drool from his muzzle yet. “Hospital?” he continued, trying to shake his head to get his brain working again.

“I… I can’t be in the hospital,” the female voice rang out in a heavier and worried tone. “I was just driving… going through an intersection… I might have run a stop sign or something, I don’t know… but then all the sudden I see this truck slamming into my door… a moment later I’m here…”

“Sounds like… a hospital trip… to me…” the feline replied, finally putting both paws down onto the arms of his chair to hoist himself up into a weak standing position. He towered over the little coyote girl, and she took a small step back as his whole body fought him in staying standing, but the feline powering through to make it work.

“It can’t be,” the female said back with a nervous little tingle in her voice, “I’m fine. I’m not even hurt or anything! I’ve gotta get back to... Wait…” she added in, her body slowly turning to face the wall in front of them all of a sudden. After a moment, there was a heavy gasp from her, and a near crying little whimper, leaving her cupping her own muzzle with her paws as she said, “Oh my God… no… it can’t be…. No no no!”

“W...what?” the feline finally growled back, giving himself a weak slap on his cheek with one paw to try and hurry his brain into working again. She pointed a firm paw and finger at the wall in front of them, with another shivering gasp leaking away a moment later.

Without even asking, the lynx turned his head to look. The letters on the very large display board were now finally forming into words and sentences for him instead of simply wide blotches, although it still hurt as he was forced to focus. Although, the glaringly big set of words at the top told him most of what he needed to know. “WELCOME TO PURGATORY” they flashed in light red letters against the black background of the screen. Those words made the feline gasp and shake his head once more, with his eyes refocusing and staring down those words again and again. That’s what it said alright, and underneath it there were a few more things as well.

WELCOME TO PURGATORY

-You have died.

-At this point there is no possible way to be reunited with your worldly body.

-Remain calm and wait for your name to be called before proceeding to the appropriate window.

-If you need time to cope before being sorted, then you are allowed as long as you need.

-Proceed into the designated chamber when ready.

The feline red those words a dozen times before they actually sunk in. Was this just a joke, or was this real? It couldn’t be real, could it? Like… he’d actually died? He was dead? Just like that? It was certainly a lot for him to process, and that fact shook his body back into near full operational mode as his brain tried to figure out what to do. But, there was really nothing TO do. The instructions were pretty clear, so all the feline could do was let out a few mumbling whines in disbelief, and slump back into his chair once more, giving a frustrated kick to that still present syringe as a whole swell of emotions started to flood over him.

The coyote took a seat in a chair only a few down from him as well, and she quickly got busy burying her face into her paws while starting to cry a small river of tears into them. Her sobs got so bad after a few moments that they finally made the feline stop his own thoughts and get up, sliding over a good way down the hundred or so chairs in a row, until her sobs were drowned out by all the other sounds around him. But the more he watched and thought, the more he figured this had to be real. People just…. popped into existence into chairs at random times. It never happened when the feline was watching, but if he turned his head and then turned it back, there’d be a new person or two where there hadn’t been before. Some came in fighting and swinging, tumbling over chairs much like the coyote had done. Some were peaceful, gently opening their eyes and slowly coming back into alertness much like he had. A lot of them were older for sure, but every now and then a young one like himself and the coyote would appear. There were shouts, there were cries, and above all else there was the simple droning of names being called out to be processed.

The lynx let out a heavy sigh as he didn’t really know what to think at this point. It still hadn’t really dawned on him what everything meant. Dead? How would one prepare for something like that? How should one feel? What about the life he’d left behind? They were all questions he didn’t really have answers to, leaving the feline sitting quietly in his chair and staring ahead while his mind caught up with everything that was going on. Just before his brain was about to give up the fight and start not to care anymore, tired from fighting itself over every little detail and thing, his ears shot up and twitched as he heard something familiar.

“Justin Matthew Trembley, please come to Desk 12,” the loud although droning voice said over the intercom. In a flash the lynx’s name shot up on the big screen towards the front of the room, with a big green arrow pointing him to the left. The feline just kind of stared at it for a moment before shrugging, figuring he’d get this show on the road as he had nothing better to do. He gave a little grunt as he got up out of his seat and shuffled his way down the aisle, passing by a few old ladies and someone in full motorcycle leathers on his way.

Desk 12 wasn’t all that hard to find since his name was glaring brightly over it on another little display board. The feline walked on up toward the little window and casually leaned his arm and elbow over on that little lip out front. “Hey,” he said softly to the chubby opossum male behind the desk and computer screen, not really sure how else to start a conversation in Purgatory after all.

“Justin?” the opossum asked, his eyes giving a quick glance up at the feline before sliding back down towards his computer screen and adding a few clicks of a mouse.

“That’s me,” the feline said back, giving a soft sigh before adding, “So I’m really dead?”

“Dead as a doorknob,” the opossum replied rather casually with a few more clicks, typing in a line or two before looking back up at the feline. “Your name sounds familiar… you someone famous?”

“Eh,” the feline added back with a little shrug, leaning on that ledge with both elbows now as he looked down at the opossum. “Kinda… depends what kind of music you listen to.”

“Wait…” the opossum added suddenly, stopping his typing and looking up at the feline with a firm inspecting stare. His eyes went back down to his computer screen before sliding back up towards the feline’s now smiling face once again. They shifted back and for a few times before the opossum slowly said back, “You’re the singer from…. shit what was it… um…. Ashen, right? Ashen to Oblivion? Cronovras, right?”

“Well shit,” the feline added with a soft smirk, not really expecting the opossum to know who he was. “Even in Purgatory they’ve heard of me, huh?”

“Oh, I doubt everyone has,” the opossum added in with a little giddy smirk, like this was the highlight of his career so far. “But I had your first album. Was definitely solid! Used to blast it in my mom’s minivan while heading to work myself.”

That got another small smile from the feline as he nodded and said, “Poor minivan…”

“Heh, yeah,” the opossum replied with a soft chuckle, taking one more look up at the feline before sending his gaze back down towards his computer once more. “It’s a shame you died though… I wonder what the band’s gonna do now. Not that it matters to either of us I suppose.” He took a little pause and gave a few more clicks on his computer before coming back with, “Heroin, huh? At least it was a rockstar’s death for sure.”

“Heh, yeah…” the feline nearly echoed, feeling a little uncomfortable about all those topics as he gave a shift from foot to foot on the other side of the wall. “So, what happens now?”

“Well,” the opossum said back with a few more clicks of his mouse, “this is Purgatory. This is just the sorting process. I’ll get you your paperwork and pass card in a moment, tell you where to go, and when you’re ready you can slide it into the pod and be off. Rather simple.”

“Pod?” the feline asked softly, trying to get at the meat of his question. “Where’s it gonna take me?”

“Well, that depends…” the opossum added in with a few more clicks. He reached his paws up to type something into the computer and paused for a few moments as if struck with something that showed up on screen. But, after a moment, he relaxed before slowly saying, “Looks like you’re going to HL-6…”

“And where’s that?” the feline asked, leaning in over that small wall as curiosity started to come over him, trying to sneak a peek at the opossum’s monitor.

“Well…” the opossum began, taking a longer pause than usual before saying, “The pods are in the back against the wall. You’ll see H-6 easily enough. Where it’ll take you though…. I dunno,” he added, almost trying too hard to throw up a weak little smile at the feline in front of him. “They don’t tell us where they go, because if everyone knew the bad ones, then they’d just stay here after all. There are some that try anyway, but after a while this place gets rather dull as you can imagine…”

“Yeah, I guess…” the feline added back, not really knowing what to think as he gently tapped his fingers against that little lip he was leaning against. And with that, the conversation went quiet while the opossum printed out a sheet of paper and grabbed a card for the feline.

“Sign there,” the opossum said, handing the slip of paper to the feline, who had little choice but to scan over it quickly and scribble his name on the bottom. And once he did, the opossum handed him that thick plastic keycard in exchange, one side being a rather boring white with the other side having the HL-6 and his name written in standard black lettering.

The feline took a second to inspect it as the opossum added, “Well, I wish you all the luck, Cronovras. You’ll have “Bloodlust Ritual” stuck in my head for a while now, just so you know.”

“Heh, you’re welcome…” the feline added, giving the opossum a little wave of his paw as the feline pushed off from the desk and turned to the back of the room. Just as the opossum had said there was a long line of tube-like pods along the back wall, looking almost like cryogenic freezing capsules from a lot of sci-fi movies… or some of those outdated air capsule tubes that banks used to use. They were all numbered, leaving the feline’s eyes scanning for HL-6 as he started to take a few steps over towards them.

His capsule was nearly at the other end of the bland and boring room, giving him plenty of time to think on his way over. But, as he took a few final looks around the almost sterile white room, with cries, sobs, and shouts ringing out on occasion, he figured that wherever he was going had to be better than here. Heaven hopefully, or at least something of the sort. He’d lived a good life, and although he wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, he had done some good stuff like given money to charity on occasion. He’d tried to be a nice person when he could, although remembering back on all the people he’d screwed over during his life wasn’t exactly comforting either. They all kind of flood his mind as he stood at the edge of his pod, the front of it blinking brightly with the card slot illuminated for him. But, with a soft shrug, he figured it was best to get on with it and see what was waiting for him. He reached out and slid that card into its slot, watching that door roll back and open, before stepping into the pod with a heavy sigh. The cover closed around him after it sensed his presence, with a few mechanical whirling and clicking noises, and before he even knew what was going on, everything suddenly went black…

It was dark… very dark where he ended up. But unlike before his eyes were functioning just fine. They just needed a second to dilate and adjust to the dim light. Once they did however, he knew almost instantly where he was as he got his first good look around. Years of experience told him that he was backstage at some sort of venue. The confusing layout, the cramped quarters, the cables and piping running everywhere… there was no denying it. This was a small concert venue for sure. There was something else the feline was quick to notice as well. He was already suited up in full concert gear. His under-armor, his robe... and he quickly twisted around to find a conveniently placed mirror to confirmed that he had the makeup on as well. It was all early, back from their first album days, but it was there. He was all set to go out on stage and perform.

Suddenly the soft roar of the audience tingled at his ears as he heard music drone out and play off in the distance - the same intro music that his band had used on their first major tour. As if he was running on pure instinct at this point, the feline snapped into action and got himself together, knowing what he had to do to prepare for a show by now. He followed the music towards the stage, winding through a few corridors and passageways as he warmed up his vocal chords, finding them in better shape than they had been since… well… his first major tour. He surprised himself as he could hit the growls and higher notes with little strain, singing a little melody and finding himself quite pleased with the outcome on his short but brisk walk. He was ready, and the closer he got, the more excited he became. This was going to be awesome.

He was smiling wide as he finally saw the door marked ‘STAGE’, although when he tried to push against it, his worst fears suddenly came true. It was locked. He tried his best to lean against the door, trying to see if some pressure might make it give way, as his paw smacked and pushed into that long door opening bar in the middle. But nothing happened. It stood firm and closed in front of him no matter how many times he rammed his shoulder and paw into it. He continued to keep the pressure and force up as the intro music droned out right behind that door, knowing he only had a few more seconds to make it out in time. But, just before he was about to give up and try to find another door, he heard a voice roar out over the announcement system, making his ears shoot up and take notice.

“Are you ready Circle Six?” it shouted out in a low, booming voice, shaking the walls with its power and presence, before the cheers from the crowd rung out to add to the vibration a moment later. The intro music drew to a fading close as if the shouts from the crowd had driven it away, leaving the air open for the announcer to fill in the gaps with that strong voice of his. “Fresh from the mortal world, performing his first show ever in Hell for the delight of you all, and serving his sentence of being burned alive in the fires of hell for his Heresy, it’s the one and only former lead singer of Ashen to Oblivion. Let me hear a warm and fiery demonic welcome for Cronovras!”

The feline was thrown off by that intro for sure, stopping his assault on the door and holding steady in confusion. But, in a flash, his mind took back over. It was so focused and ready to perform that he didn’t have time to think anything over. He’d only heard the words in passing anyway. Maybe it was just a joke, or maybe it was someone messing around with his intro. Whatever the case was, he knew that he simply had to get out on stage. He was being called, and the draw of the stage was just like a drug to him. He was powerless to resist as he fought through again and again, now pounding on the door and hoping someone would be able to hear him on the other side.

Then, all of a sudden, the door swung open, leaving the feline tumbling to the ground on all fours with a sudden thud. A heavy dose of fire shot on up all around him, illuminating his path to the front of the stage from the dark rear that he’d entered from, even though he was still on the ground and now looking rather silly for falling during his intro. The fire was intense as it pumped out a heat the feline had never felt before, each burst of flame feeling as if it was charring his fur even through his robe. But, he pushed all that out of his mind for now, doing his best to stand back up onto his feet as the adrenaline rush of being on stage took him over once more.

He tried to save face after the fall with a quick run up towards the microphone at the center of the stage. Without even having to think, the feline grabbed a hold of it and then froze, realizing he didn’t quite know where he was. But, that happened more than the feline wanted to admit, so he was ready with a backup plan as soon as he realized. It only took him a second before he took a deep breath and yelled out, “How are all you fuckers doing out there tonight?”

That got another roar out of the crowd as the feline looked out over everything he could see, seeing… well… quite the assortment of things. There were normal creatures that he knew well, such as felines and canines, staring back up at him from the pit out in front, raising their paws up in excitement with some devil horns and fists showing proudly. But then there were… other things. Demons for lack of a better term. Big fleshy beings sporting some wicked horns and big red fiery eyes. It was hard to get a good look at any one in particular as the mass of the crowd moved and swayed, but those glowing red eyes were certainly a powerful marker, especially further back in the darkness of the arena. And then there were… other things. Things the feline didn’t even have time to process. Ghouls, monsters, skeletons, things with tentacles… you name it and there were probably some of them out there.

It made him pause for a little bit and gulp down nervously, throwing him off yet again, before another burst of heavy fire shot off behind him. That made him jump and very nearly squeak out weakly into the microphone, but the cat was quick to catch himself before he made another mistake. Instead, he gripped the microphone and ripped it out of the stand that was holding it, trying to get back into character with authority. This was his first show, there were going to be screw-ups. He knew he’d do things better with some practice as the feline just tried to calm himself and say, “Welcome to the show. Are you beasts ready to rock tonight?”

There was another quick cheer as well as a few other noises thrown into the mix, proving the crowd seemed eager for the show to begin. The feline gave back a soft smirk to the crowd as those cheers were certainly addictive, sending him further down into the pits of happiness that only being on stage and drugs could ever get him into. But, before he could say anything else, he heard something kick over the speakers nice and loud behind him. It was that heavy guitar riff from the last song he’d ever sung on Earth, “Bloodlust Ritual”. It was kind of weird that his first song in the afterlife would be his biggest song, but with a small shrug he grinned back at the excited audience, only to quickly shout into the microphone, “I said are you ready to ROCK?!?”

That last word was a deep and fulfilling growl, surprising even the feline on how good it sounded coming back at him through the monitor speakers on stage. But, he barely had time to enjoy it and his own little smirk afterwards as he got ready for the song to kick in. He took in a deep breath, and he was about to let out the first heavy singing growl of the night into the microphone in his paw, when all of a sudden there was another heavy burst of flames all around him.

He wasn’t sure whether he’d been standing in the wrong place or something, but instead of the flames simply shooting up behind him, they shot directly OVER him. The feline felt the cold tingle of propane surge up his legs and under his robe for just a split second, only to feel the intense searing heat a moment later shoot up over his skin and fur as the fuel ignited. With a heavy squeal he dropped the microphone, collapsing in sheer agony onto the stage with a few more heavy hisses and scared gasps to follow.

The pain was intense as he felt his robe catch on fire and stay lit, even as the main flame burst pulled away, leaving the powerful heat still surging against his flesh. The poor feline kicked off to the side and started rolling around on the stage, all while desperately trying to put the fire out, squealing and arching in contorted shivers as his body was running on pure reflexes at this point. The crowd erupted in a heavy roar of applause and cheers as they watched the poor cat struggle in pain, the searing heat almost impossible to get away from him as his clothing burned down, melting onto his fur and skin as the nylon bubbled, dripped, and tangled itself into whatever fur remained. He was certainly quite the mess with his desperate gasps for help, squirms of pain, and all those thrashing rolls around the stage as he tried to put the fire out. All the while the musical backing track continued on, empty of his vocals as the feline’s voice was too busy screaming and choking to do much else.

But eventually, after a minute or so, he’d rolled around enough to snuff out the last traces of the fire on him. His robe was left smoldering as most of the nylon had become stuck to his fur, or more accurately his raw skin. Even though the fire was out, that sensation still remained, surging through his nerves and leaving him rolling a few more times before coming to a deeply panting stop right in the middle of the stage, aching too much to ever move again… or so he thought. He’d been lapsing in his singing for sure, and the crowd wasn’t all too happy with him just lying there in the middle of the stage either, as their cheers had died off to a simple rumble. But, whoever was controlling the stage knew exactly how to get them back into it. Before the feline had even gotten a chance to catch his breath fully, there was another sudden burst of flames through the grated metal flooring below him.

It enveloped the feline once more in that searing heat and burning pain as his body twitched, shook, and tried all it could to fight it off. Not that there was anything he could really do though. The flames were rather efficient in their work of burning him alive. And, to make sure he’d be set ablaze for even longer this time, another burst came right after the first one was finished, muffling his painful cries with the fiery crackle all around him. The new surges of flame left him crying out for mercy as his costume continued to burn and melt all over his fur and flesh, although spots of skin were also clearly burning down to bone as well at this point.

That intro was no accident the tortured feline realized. He wasn’t just in the wrong spot when the flames went off. He was the target. This was his punishment for all the things he’d said throughout his life. His punishment for all those things he’d written songs about. He knew that had to be the reason, going by that whole bit about Heresy in his intro and all. But, he simply couldn’t believe it as the smoldering and still occasionally flaming feline tried to drag his aching body over to where his microphone had fallen.

The audience had been enjoying watching the feline suffer and squirm for sure, and now as he forcibly inched his broken and burned body over towards the microphone, they thought they’d actually get to hear him sing too. A heavy roar rang out through the audience as they all cheered for the effort, leaving the feline to slowly stretch out a burnt and blackened paw to painfully grasp that fallen mic. With an incredibly labored movement, feeling more charred skin flaking off with each weak twitch of his muscles, the feline was able to drag that microphone back close to his lips, whimpering out in a weak, broken, and pain rattled voice, “I… was never serious about anything I said… it was all a joke… a misunderstanding… please… I was just entertaining people… it’s what they wanted to hear… I don’t deserve... this…”

A heavy rolling chuckle rushed out through the audience as they certainly got the show they were waiting for, laughing nice and hard as the gasping and gurgling feline slowly turning to ashes in front of their faces. “Please… have mercy….” he added in, getting another heavy roar of laughter as one more big burst of flames engulfed him. This one was even bigger and more intense, leaving his flesh simply dripping off his bones and melting away as the fire blazed and then receded. The fire didn’t even linger long as it was running out of things to burn, leaving the toasted but still not completely dead feline blackened to a crisp in the middle of the stage. “Please…” he managed to weakly squeak out once more before the final big ending of the song came. Flames engulfed him with one blast after another as the lights and music rang around him, muffling his heavy but fading screams until everything finally went dark with one big and heavy ending note.

In an instant the feline shot back up to consciousness as if waking from a dream, gasping heavily for breath as his paws shot around his body to see if everything was all still there. The pain from the fire was gone, and his robe was back as good as new. But, that surge of relief only lasted a brief second before the feline let out a heavy shiver, feeling dread sink deep into him. “Oh shit… it’s gonna happen again…” he whispered to no one, hearing the roar of the crowd start to kick in as the intro music once again started playing off in the distance.

“Oh no! No no no!” he shouted, before doing his best to turn and run away from the music this time, going back to the deepest darkest depths of whatever club he was in. But, as the feline made his way through the small maze of doors and passageways, the music and crowd only grew louder no matter which way he went, leaving him mumbling to himself as he tried to escape. But, as he quickly shuffled his way through a few more doors and hallways, the feline eventually caught a glimpse of the same ‘STAGE’ door he’d seen the first time. Thinking quickly, he turned around, spinning in place to go back the way he came. But, when he tried to push open the door he’d just walked through, he was horrified to find out it was locked. He rammed hard against it with his shoulder to try and force it back open in desperation, but after a few heavy slams, the feline took a step back and looked in horror, gazing up to see those same white stenciled letters spelling out ‘STAGE’ on the door in front of him. With a gasp he turned back around, only to see the exact same door behind him, now creeping closer and closer as the hallway seemed to shrink each time he turned his head to look back and forth.

The feline cried out with a strong hiss at the door in front of him, pounding his fists on it with a primal fury as he was near tears at this point. “No… please… someone… stop this… I can’t go back on… someone help me….” His words were of little use as that same rumbling announcer came over the speakers to tell the waiting crows who he was and what he was here for. The feline was in no shape to sing at this point, sobbing heavily as the hallway tried to crush him in from both sides, leaving him no room to escape. Eventually one of the doors flew open just as before, and the door from behind gave him a firm shove out onto the stage, leaving the feline tumbling out in a mess of fluttering black robe and tears. He was quick to get up on his knees, cupping both of his paws together in front of him as if he was praying, only to shout out, “Please… no more… I pray of you… I pray to God to save me from this… I did nothing wrong! I don’t deserve to be here!”

The crowd was a little silent at that as their rambunctious cheers were certainly deadened by the mention of God. It was near silent in the area for a few moments before that familiar hiss of propane bubbled up around the feline once more… quickly igniting in a heavy fireball of light and heat as the cat was sent squirming and screeching to the ground again. That left the crowd roaring and cheering once more as the music kicked in. It was the same track as before. He had on the same outfit as before. This was the same deal as before. This was his punishment. For all eternity he’d be forced to sing the same song as he got burned alive in painful agony, barely even uttering a word as the flames surrounded him in their unforgiving heat and scorching pain. All for writing a few songs about how great this place was.

Well, he wasn’t exactly thinking that way anymore as the feline rolled around on the grated floor in pain, trying to sooth the burn that could never be soothed. The moment one session ended with him finally passing out from the pain, a new one would start up yet again, sometimes not even waiting for the complete song to finish before everything was reset. Again and again, over and over, there was no escape. It didn’t take long to break him, leaving him a weak near-lifeless shell of his former self as he quickly lost count of how many ‘shows’ he’d done. He never sung a word - there was no reason to even try. The audience wasn’t there to hear him sing. They were there to watch him suffer. To burn forever in the fires of hell.