FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The sun was just starting to set, lighting the area in a haunting orange glow. Everything was silent. The humans were too nervous to say anything, the wolfen also remained quiet, and there was no animal life all the way up on this mountain.

However, this was going to make it easier for them to detect the demons when they arrived. Since they were flying creatures, it should be very easy for them to hear them flapping their large, leathery wings in the distance.

It was taking longer than they expected it to. Emmaline was unable to tell them anything about their position, since their captive demon had apparently lost his mental connection to the others. It had happened briefly before, so she assumed that it was only temporary. She was using several herbs to keep him sedated, which might have caused this. A large cloud moved over the top of the mountain, reducing visibility quite a bit. Until it got the connection again, they were on their own, waiting to hear them coming.

They waited for several more minutes, but there was still no sound whatsoever except the heavy heartbeats and the nervous breathing from the humans. This silence was broken by one of the humans calling out from the edge of the mountain, "Hey, guys? I think I saw something."

The wolfen jumped to their feet and rushed to his side to see what it was. "What is it?" Verik asked him.

"I don't know. There was a small break in the clouds and I thought I saw some movement through it. I wasn't able to see any details."

They all looked down over the edge, trying to see anything. At first glance, it seemed completely still, but after several seconds, they started to see something. A dark shape started to form in the haze. Immediately, Verik jumped away from the edge and yelled, "Get back away from the edge!"

But it was too late. A crude spear shot through the cloud and imbedded itself deep into the human's skull. He fell to the ground, dead instantly. "Everyone, get ready!" Verik screamed. "They're scaling the mountain!"

Instantly, the area was alive. All the humans rushed to their feet, adjusting their armor, finding their weapons, and getting into position. Those bearing large shields knelt down in the front, creating a small barrier. Archers and magicians lined up behind them, ready to barrage their army as soon as they appear on the surface.

Almost everyone got a feeling of fear as many black, scaly arms reached up over the edge of the mountain, followed by their horned heads. Once they were halfway up, the humans released arrows and magic at them. Not a single one of them was able to make it to the top.

Verik was starting to feel pretty confident about this whole battle, along with everyone else, until Verik heard Emmaline's urgent voice in his head. "The connection is back! They're climbing up all around the mountain! They're surrounding you!"

Verik whirled around and, to his despair, he saw that many of the demons were already climbing up onto the surface and moving to attack them from behind. "They're coming from all sides!" Verik yelled as loud as he could. Just almost all their battle planning was made totally pointless. They just assumed that they would only come from one direction.

Keil howled into the air to call the wolfen to him as he ran to fight at the rear. "Split into groups! Continue just like we planned!"

Verik glanced back at the humans for a second. Demons were reaching the top of the mountain faster than the humans were able to hold them off. As more and more of them rushed toward the humans, the archers and magicians fell back and sword wielders took their place. It looked like Verik and his pack was going to have to go alone for now.

He followed closely behind Keil and everyone else joined up with their designated partner and ran to confront the approaching forces. Several of the demons tried to throw their spears at them, but the wolfen's reflexes were too quick. In less than a second, they closed the gap between them and the fight instantly became ferocious.

Verik got locked in combat with three demons, constantly having to dodge strikes with their spears. He noticed that they were significantly slower than the last time he faced them. They very skilled, coordinated fighters, but the cold was giving them a definite disadvantage. If they were fighting in normal temperature, this battle might have been over already.

He was easily able to avoid their attacks, but the spears were letting them keep their distance, preventing him from getting closer. He had to get one of their spears. Two of the demons thrust their weapons toward Verik's chest. Seeing an opportunity, he dropped to his knees and leaned back, as the blades went within inches of his skull.

Quickly, he reached up with both hands, knocking one of the spears to the side and grabbing the other one. He jumped back to his feet, pulling the weapon from the demon's claws. Not wasting any time, he spun the spear around and stabbed it through the unarmed one's neck. It went through with ease and stuck into the ground. Using it as leverage, he swung around and landed behind the other two. Before they could react, Verik grabbed both of their necks and yanked them back, breaking them instantly.

He scanned the battle for Erebos, but he was nowhere. Did he only send his minions to take care of them? "Where is Erebos?" He asked Emmaline.

"I don't know!" She responded, a hint of worry in her tone. "He's somehow withholding that information. I don't like this. Something's wrong."

"I'll keep an eye out for him. Just keep giving me info when you get it." He rushed back into battle to help his packmates.

Around him, everyone fought as hard as they could. Keil was surrounded by demons, separated from his partner, Lyan. He jumped into the air and changed into his raven form and flew into the air. When he was about ten feet above the surface, he returned back to a wolfen. Holding his claws out, he landed on the backs of the demons next to his partner, crushing them to the ground.

Nari was fighting with great agility. She spent most of the time off of the ground, jumping from one enemy to another, slashing their necks cleanly with her claws. It almost looked like she was dancing, especially with the look of joy on her face as her enemies fell one by one.

Syla, on the other hand, fought with a disturbing ferocity that seemed completely against her normal timid personality. The look of crazed fury in her eyes and the vicious growls that came from her, made her almost unrecognizable. She was one of the most effective killers Verik had seen, mostly because she did not hold back. As a couple demons got close enough to her, she leapt at them, knocking them to the ground. She sank her claws knuckle-deep into one's eyes as she sank her teeth into the other's neck and tore out its, and then immediately moved on to the next closest opponent.

The rest of Verik's pack was holding their own rather well. The humans were not doing as well. They were killing more of the demons faster than they were, but there was at least five or six that Verik saw that were either dead, or dying from severe wounds.

Emmaline's voice suddenly cried out, "Verik, it's Erebos! He's--" Before he heard the rest of her message, one of the demons threw its spear at him. He ducked as fast as he could, but it caught him off guard. The tip of the spear collided with the circlet on his head, knocking it off his head. It flew through the air and fell off the edge of the mountain.

He cursed and ran to take down the now weaponless demon. When he was about six feet away, it rapidly spun around. Verik jumped at him with all his strength, trying to tackle him with his back turned. Just after he left the ground, there was a movement in the corner of his eye. Before he had time to react, the demon's long tail slammed into Verik's head.

He fell on his back, stunned for a second. From the ground, he saw a large black object fall at high speeds from the sky. It landed hard on the snow-covered mountaintop only a small distance from him, the impact throwing all the snow around it into the air, blinding everybody around it. From the thick snow, there was a chillingly familiar ground-shaking roar. Erebos had just joined the battle.

Verik pushed himself back to his feet and ran in the opposite direction of the object. He only made it a few steps before he tripped over something else that was lying on the ground. Looking back, he saw that it was the body of a human, cut clean in half at the chest.

The snow cleared and he could see what happened. Erebos was standing in the center of the mountain, holding a massive war axe. The iron double-edged head was about as wide as Verik was tall. All around Erebos, in a ten-foot radius, several humans were lying dead in a large pool of their own blood, their bodies also cut in two pieces. All the demons around him, were flat against the ground to avoid Erebos's blind attacks, the move executed perfectly.

Verik started to sprint toward Erebos, but one of the demon's hand latched onto Verik's leg. He kicked out with his other leg, but another demon latched onto it as well. Losing his balance, he fell back to the ground. Immediately, several more demons pounced on him and held him still. Verik struggled to free himself, but more and more of them piled around to keep him down.

The ground shook with each step as Erebos walked over to stand above Verik. He lifted his huge axe up above his head, ready to strike. "You lose." He growled deeply and then started to swing the axe down.

As it fell, Verik acted quickly. He made a white-hot flame appear over his left arm, where he had the enchanted ring. The ones holding it down released their grip just enough for him to break his arm free and smash the ring against the skull of one of the surrounding demons.

A blue sphere appeared around him, throwing everyone on top of him away with a strong force. Erebos's axe crashed down less than a second afterwards. Sparks exploded from the impact. Erebos roared with fury and continued to beat against the barrier, but Verik remained safe underneath.

There wasn't much more time until the barrier dissolved. Verik only had one chance. He leaned back comfortably and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the sound of his own heartbeat until he couldn't hear anything else. Opening his mind, he felt all of the lives around him, many of them disappearing as they fell in battle. He found Erebos and mentally reached out to it. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly, he was back with the real world...only something was different. He was looking down at himself from outside barrier. When he saw the giant axe in his hands, he realized that his plan worked.

/. /. /.

Keil ducked under the fast-moving claws from the demon in front of him, and landed a hard punch to its throat. It fell to the ground and then was immediately replaced by another one, leaving him no time catch his breath and it didn't show any signs of letting up. The enemy seemed to be endless. He and the rest of his pack did the best they could, but they were running out of stamina and they were slowly being pushed closer to the edge of the mountain. Within a few minutes they would reach it, and then they would most certainly die.

He couldn't see the humans, but he imagined they weren't doing well either. Keil struck down the next demon within his reached and, before the empty space was filled, he could see Verik lying down beneath his magical barrier and Erebos standing above him with his axe. When he saw this, his heart sank. Not even he could handle this battle.

Verik's barrier disappeared, but Erebos froze just before swinging the finishing blow. His eyes looked pained and his whole body trembled. Several of the demons around glanced back to see what was happening to him. Whatever it was, all the demons could feel that it was bad.

Abruptly, Erebos moved his axe to the side and spun it around. The giant blade swung upwards behind his back and severed his giant wings from his back. All the demons paused briefly and looked back and shrieked into the air. Keil could smell a new sense of fear among them. Whatever just happened, it might have just turned the tide of the battle in their favor.

/. /. /.

Verik sat up and gasped as he returned to his own body. Erebos dropped his axe and fell to his knees. Blood poured heavily from his back. Quickly recovering from the transition, Verik stood up and was immediately met by several demons running toward him.

"Stay back!" Erebos roared at them. "He's mine!" Apparently able to ignore the intense pain, he picked up his weapon and pushed himself up. Glaring down at Verik, he growled, "I'll kill you!" With speed much faster than what Verik expected considering his size and condition, he swung the axe down.

Verik moved to the side and barely avoided the blade, but it wasn't even a second before the blade was back in the air and swinging toward him again. Verik never had a chance to go on the offensive. The pure anger and hatred was strengthening Erebos too much.

Verik jumped backward to avoid another swing from his axe. The attack missed him and struck a demon that stumbled into its path, decapitating him. However, this didn't even make Erebos hesitate at all. The look in his eyes was pure insanity. The only thing on his mind was killing Verik.

Everyone around him scattered to get away from his wild swings. However, after several more attacks, he began to lose too much blood from the wound on his back. His attacks were becoming easier to avoid. Erebos lifted up the weapon above his head and swung it down with all his strength. The blade hit the ground with so much force that the more than half the axe head sank below the surface. He growled in frustration as he tried to pull the axe out of the ground, but he didn't have the strength to remove it.

This gave Verik the time he needed to make a move. He quickly snatched up one of the spears that was lying on the ground next to fallen demon. He jumped up into the air and brought the spear down toward Erebos's face. He saw this and tried to move out of the way, but he was way too slow to avoid it. The spearhead entered his mouth, broke through the bottom of his jaw and stabbed into his chest.

Erebos stumbled forward, trying to stay on his feet, but his strength ran out. He fell to the ground, drowning on the blood flowing into his mouth. Verik picked up another spear and knelt by Erebos's face. "This is for all the lives you destroyed. I hope you burn in hell." He thrust the spear through his one eye and pushed until it hit the back of his skull.

The realization that he just killed Erebos dawned on Verik and he laughed out loud. All the demons around him backed away in fear. Verik yelled into the air, "Our job is done! Erebos is dead! Everyone retreat down the south side of the mountain!"

Verik rushed into the fray to help clear a path for them. When he reached Syla, he had to use his magic to calm Syla down enough so she could cooperate. Within about a minute, they were all together and heading down the mountainside. Once he was together with the rest of his pack, the demons were easier to break through. The death of their leader lessened their courage and motivation.

When they were partly down the mountain, the demons suddenly stopped attacking and looked behind them at something, but Verik could not see. "Hurry! Let's get as much distance as we can from them!" Verik called out to everyone.

When they were about halfway down, Verik looked back and smiled. Not a single demon was following them. He just sat there, thinking over everything that just happened. "We did it." He said to himself. The words felt so good to say. "We did it!" He repeated again and then laughed.

Keil lifted up his head to the air and howled in victory. The rest of the wolfen joined him and the humans cheered. Nari ran up to Verik and hugged him tight. "I thought you were going to die for a second! Remember what I said about you scaring me like that?"

He leaned back and licked her muzzle affectionately. "I'm sorry." He was about to say something else, but her back suddenly arched and she grunted painfully. She fell to the ground and Verik saw that one of the demon's spears buried itself deeply into her back.

"Nari!" Verik cried and rushed to her side. He quickly removed the spear and pressed down on the wound. Verik looked up in the direction the spear came from. A lone demon floated high above them. It shrieked loudly and then began retreated to rejoin the rest of them. Turning back to Nari, he said, "Hang in there. Try to stay with me. Someone help me!"

Nari looked into his eyes. "It's too late. I'm not going to make it."

"No! I can save you!"

She just smiled weakly and said, "Don't lie, to me or yourself." She coughed painfully, blood spilled from her mouth. "Congratulations. You saved everyone...I wish I was able to know you more. I...I guess I'll see you...in..." Before she could finish, her heart went still and her body went limp.

Their whole pack gathered around them, all the happiness they shared a minute ago was all gone. Verik stared down at her, his mind not accepting the fact that she was dead. "Someone, get over here! Help her!" He yelled at the humans.

Keil didn't have to understand the human language to know what Verik was feeling. "Verik, she's gone. There's nothing anyone can do."

Verik continued to stare at her, a small part of him hoping she would wake up and take a deep breath, but of course nothing happened. Keil called Thorren and Lyan over and they helped him pick up her body. "Verik," he told him softly, "we should go. We don't know if any more will try to attack us."

But he wasn't done yet. Verik stepped away from them and knelt down, concentrating hard. Scanning the sky for Nari's killer. He detected it flying high inside a cloud away from them. He reached out his hand and grabbed him with his powers. Pulling back his hand, he yanked him from the sky. A second later, he fell through the cloud and hit the mountainside and tumbled down toward them.

When he stopped around fifty feet away, he ran up to him. He was still alive, but his wings, legs, and one of his arms were broken in multiple locations. He looked up at Verik and grinned. "I guess my aim's not as good as I thought. That spear was meant for you."

All Verik's sadness transformed into a deep anger. He snarled at him and then slammed his fist against its leg. The demon hissed in pain and tried to escape, but his body was too badly damaged. "You're not going anywhere." Verik said grimly as he reached down and grasped his broken arm and dislocated it further.

It cried out and his eyes teared up. "Why don't you just kill me?"

Verik leaned in so he was just inches from its face. "Because that's more than you deserve." Verik sank his claws into its chest and slashed it across the surface, leaving large gashes that oozed with purple blood. He continued to maul his body as he screamed in agony, his mind clouded by anger.

"Verik, stop!" Syla screamed from behind him, but he just ignored her and continued to torture the demon. She ran up to him and grabbed his shoulder. "Please, Verik!"

Verik immediately whirled around, snarling, lifting his hand to smack her away, but when he looked her in the eyes, he came back to his senses. He hesitated for a second before letting his arms drop. He pulled her into a tight embrace and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Behind him, the demon was whimpering, his body covered in deep many deep and painful wounds. Verik silently waved his hand back and its neck snapped, ending his suffering. He released Syla and started down the mountain. Syla still clung to his shoulder and leaned her head against him comfortingly. He motioned to everyone to move on and said, "Let's go."

/. /. /.

When they reached the city walls, Jack walked up to Verik. "Hey, I'm sorry about your friend. I know she meant a lot to you."

Verik was emotionally burnt out. Barely feeling anything, but this heavy feeling in his chest. "We're not the only one who lost somebody. You lost many men back there, also."

"Yes, we did." He sighed. "Anyway, once re recover we are going to meet with the king. Once we give our report, he will want to meet you. Are you able to meet us back here in three days?"

Verik relayed the message to Keil who nodded in approval and thanked him for his service. Verik translated for Jack, "He will be there. He would also like to thank you for your help. There was no way we could even hope to have done it by ourselves."

Jack nodded. "It was our pleasure. We'll see you soon." He and the humans separated and headed into the city.

/. /. /.

On their way back, everyone remained in respectful silence for Nari. They left the other circlets at the top of the mountain, so they couldn't tell Emmaline of anything that happened. They had to rest halfway home, since everyone was exhausted from the battle.

The next day, they made it back to their camp. Once they entered, Emmaline ran up to them with fear in her eyes. "Erebos was only the beginning! More are coming!"

"Calm down." Keil told her. "What do you mean?"

"I was listening in on the demon's thoughts. A little while after Erebos died, I heard several new voices, strong ones like Erebos. A portal was opened and more of them are coming!"

Every wolfen's heart started beating faster at this news. "Are you sure?" Keil asked with uneasiness.

Silently, she gestured to the sky behind her. There was a large cloud moving across the sky. Everyone looked upward anxiously, waiting to see what it would reveal. What it did made everyone's heart nearly stop. It was as if there was a giant hole in the ripped in the sky. From it, many winged creatures of varying sizes were flying through it and to the surface. It was quite far away, but everyone could recognize the creatures that were pouring through. Their victory on the mountain was not the end to the demons. Not even close.

Verik felt anger, sadness, and fear rise inside of him and he didn't know how to react. Tears flooded his eyes. His legs started shaking and finally gave out. He fell to the ground and let the tears flow freely. Everyone else and just hugged each other silently, watching in fear as more and more demons poured into their world.

To Be Continued...