FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Avolon. The island city of the northern regions, surrounded on all sides by the Sea of the Raven, named for the ruling family -the Lo'Ravens. It was a city of foggy weather, of brilliant inventions like floating airships that carried themselves through the sky with massive bags filled with buoyant gasses. And, most noteworthy of all, its grand market and economic strength, owed to possessing a large merchant fleet that brought gold and silver from foreign cities to bring wealth to the city. Avolon was a city of avians -of bird-like inhabitants, who mostly travelled by their natural power of flight instead of on foot. During the day, visitors to this city would see the skies above filled with its feathered populace, their mighty wings abroad to carry them over the rooftops to their destinations. Its landmarks, recognized for ornate architecture that stood out from the decorated structures of the cities' eight districts, included but were not limited to the great palace of High Eyrie or the prestigious University of Annabelle Lo'Raven. Covering the entire southern half of the isle upon which it rested, Avolon housed tens of thousands of avians who called this place home. The northern half of the isle was left untouched by civilization, except for the great Port of Avogadro at the northwest corner -the field where the cities' famous airships rested their 'wings' for lack of a better term. All of this was ringed by a great wall, built over the course of decades if not a century to surround the entire island and the city. The wall had even been built into the channel between Avolon and its sister-island to the south, reaching down like the arms of a parent to also surround the island, sealing both from the outside world. One could only enter the city through its ocean gates on the east and west, and only those with permission would ever be allowed access, else suffer the bronze cannons that lined the walls. To many, Avolon was a city that could be described as a work of art in and of itself, for its balance between civilization and nature for leaving its northern half untouched and the southern half filled to the brim with buildings, paved roads and wonders. But like any city-state of the world, it shared one weakness -one fatal flaw as a result of its confinement that presented great risk to the city as a whole. Fire. It was the dead of night when the blaze had begun. All of the Hawk District had been lit up with the light of the fire that had engulfed a store located on the corner of the block, overlooking the canal, and once someone had sounded the alarm, the district flew into panic. With so many buildings close together, a single fire could quickly turn into a disaster that could level the entire section, or worse, if any embers were to stray over the canals to catch in a neighboring district to spread it even further. The city's emergency response teams worked quickly. Carts carrying water and operated by hand-cranked pumps were wheeled onto the scene -avians wearing protective gear pulled them to the minimum safe distance from the fire. Half of the teams operated the cranks, the others aimed the hoses, spraying the flames with cold water to attempt to extinguish it, and yet more teams dragged intake hoses to the canal to drop them into the water in order to supply more to the cart when its reserves were depleted. While the fire brigade battled the blaze, numerous avians in matching uniforms formed a perimeter to keep back the civilians who had come to bear witness to the fire burning out of control. Officers of the Avolonian Security Forces; the protectors of the city and first response to a crisis such as this, making sure the way was clear for other arriving carts, all while keeping the people back at a safe distance until the fire was put under control. However, the chaos was not in the blaze itself, but who was trapped within. The owner of the store, who lived on the second floor above it, was still inside. They had called out to the fire prevention brigade below, screaming for help before they were forced back indoors by the rising flames. Outside they could see the water being poured onto the house, but the fires around them burned strong and would not be denied. The crews were at a loss; the fire was so intense it would take them some time before they could suppress it enough to get inside and rescue the civilians. Even so, their first priority was to control the spread of the fire, keep it confined to this single building and not allow it to spread, even if that meant sacrificing those inside. This was their standing order, however it caused inner turmoil with their want to rescue the civilians. Some were openly arguing over this; one of the Avolonian Security officers was in verbal debate with the chief of the fire brigade, demanding that he rescue the civilians before the building grew weaker and they were buried in the rubble. "I can't do it, officer!" The fire chief bellowed. "Our orders are to prioritize containment of the flames to stop it from spreading! Besides, even with our protective gear, we'd never survive in there; what good would it do them if we got killed as well?" "There must be something you can do!" The officer, a blue-feathered hawk, pleaded. "There isn't! I'm sorry, but unless we can suppress this blaze we can't help them!" The chief stated before he turned away to address his brigade. "I need two more hoses on that south side! Keep this blaze contained, men!" The officer cursed as he stepped away to let the brigade work, angry at feeling so helpless with two lives at stake, but he had his own job to stay focused on, seeing the crowds were still growing larger as they came to witness the flame. "Get these people back; keep these roads clear! We need to get more carts in here now!" "Captain Vinson!" Another officer called out the hawk, who was pointing at something up in the air above the city. "Look up there!" The hawk followed where the officer was pointing, and through squinted eyes, he saw a winged form soaring over the houses and heading in their direction, gently gliding to a lower altitude and making a beeline straight towards the burning house. When the captain saw the bright red and gold colours of the winged form, he knew exactly who it was arriving on the scene, and so did the other officers watching. "Is that the Corporal?" "The hell is he doing here?" As if to answer their question, the brightly-coloured avian, dressed in the same uniform attire as them, flew over their heads towards the burning house, leaning back and beating his wings briskly to slow his approach before tucking them in and, much to the surprise of the officers, went plunging straight through the upper floor window. "What the hell is he doing?!" "He's not supposed to be going in there!" The hawk-Captain let out a long groan, rubbing his eyes with the finger and thumb of his talon. "Damn it, Volcan, not this again!" He bemoaned. "Captain, was that...?" The nearby officer began to asked the hawk. "Yes... that was him," replied the hawk-Captain, who stared up at the house for a moment before he looked over at the officer. "When he gets out, bring him to my office at the barracks; he is to be apprehended for protocol violation, and see to it the civilians are admitted to the nearest medical center, even if it is only a clinic." "What if he doesn't make it out, sir?" "Trust me, he will," the hawk returned, matter-of-factly. "He's right in his element."

~~~~~

When Volcan had awoken in the middle of the night and spotted the blaze through his bedroom window, coming from the Hawk District, he acted without a second thought, throwing off his bedcovers and dashing for his closet to retrieve his Security-issued body armour, quickly adorning the raiment and gauntlets, though didn't bother to change out of his night pants; time was of the essence, and he needed to get moving. It may not have been his shift, but that didn't mean he couldn't be around to help. As he opened his window to climb out, he gazed hard at the building that was ablaze, narrowing his eyes as his pupils contracted to the size of beads, and the scene seemed to move closer to him as he zeroed in on it. He could just barely see over the rooftops from his two-story home, but between a narrow opening of two houses that obstructed most of the view, he saw movement in the upper floor window of this house. There was someone trapped inside the burning building! That was all it took for the brightly covered avian to leap from his bedroom window, spreading his wings once he was clear of himself and vaulting off of the roof of a neighbouring home as he took flight, carrying himself aloft with his large wings. Have to hurry, he thought; lives were at stake, and only he could help them. He flew high over the houses, getting a better look at his target and calculating his approach before falling into a dive to increase his speed, plunging towards the street and pulling up just shy of the rooftops to avoid catching his wings on any obstacles as the burning building grew closer. He had nothing to fear from the blaze, any more than a living being had to fear breathing the air, and carried on without hesitation. The house seemed to rush towards him as he picked up speed. Leaning back he beat his wings to slow his approach, before tucking them and his legs against his body as tightly as possible and leaning forward, crossing his arms in front of his face to let his gauntlets hit the glass of the upper floor window that was his entrance. The glass shattered; he felt aches in his arms from the impact, and could feel a light bite from the shards in one of his wings, but nothing severe. He opened his limbs, and hit the floor almost hard enough to knock the wind out of himself had he not managed to catch himself on his hands. It was fortunate the floor he landed on was not weakened by the fire yet. He stood up, and quickly searched his surroundings for the civilian he had seen before, but though the flames did not burn him, even he could not see through them. He raised his hands, and mentally reached out to the fires, commanding them to part as he did so with his hands. As if possessing a mine of their own, they obeyed; the flames thinned, and cleared a path for him, allowing him to finally spot his goal. At the far corner of the room, he spotted not just one, but two figures, lying prone on the floor to escape the smoke that was accumulating against the ceiling, becoming thicker by the second. To add to their dilemma, they were trapped by a wall of fire, blocking them from reaching the stairs that were so near to them; mere steps from salvation, stopped only by the hungry fire. As he had with the first fire wall, Volcan parted the flames that blocked him from reaching the civilians, fanning away as much of the smoke as he could with his wings as he neared. "Hey!" He called to get their attention; they looked up, revealing the faces of two owls -one a grown woman the other a child of nine years at most. In their large eyes, he could see his own reflection, and the terror on their faces, though he did not know how much of it was directed at him. He knelt down as he neared them, speaking a little softer to them. "I'm with Avolon Security," he explained. "I'm here to get you out!" He held out his talon to them. "Come on; we don't have much time!" They started to move, but then the little one looked up, her eyes widening even more as a loud snap and groan filled the room. "Look out!" She screamed. Volcan looked up, and saw it just in time; a beam had given way and was falling towards him. Bracing himself he put up his arms, letting out a grunt as the wooden length fell upon him. Sharp pain shot through his arm even as his gauntlets protected him from the splintering wood, the impact transferring through the steel and straight to his bones, which threatened to give way under the impact, but they held on. Strong as he was, his bones were still hollow, and very easy to break. He threw the beam aside with a furious cry, letting it hit the floor behind him, and turned his attention back to the owls. "The building is getting weaker by the second; we must hurry!" He exclaimed, holding out his hands to them. "Please, trust me!" Did they really have a choice? The two owls scrambled to their hands and feet, moving closer to Volcan and holding onto him as he wrapped his wings around them to protect them from the flames and help keep out some of the smoke as all three of them stood up, and began to move towards the staircase. "Careful now!" He urged them as he once more used his powers to move the flames away, so as not to burn their feet as they descended the steps to the ground floor. He heard more debris falling, but forced himself to stay focused on the task at hand. Were he by himself, Volcan might have just run through a wall to clear the way, but with the two owls in tow he couldn't risk endangering them by weakening the building any further, and so took the long, safer way out. They rounded a corner and found the front door just a little further away, but it was blocked; the collapse he had heard a few seconds earlier must have been the second floor giving way, and now several timbers blocked their escape. Volcan cursed angrily, and quickly looked around for another exit, but he couldn't see one -not even another window that he and the two females could fit through. He instead led them over to the wall where it was little clearer, told them to get down and wait there for a second. With the two of them safely tucked into the corner, Volcan strode across the room to the door, and raised his hands over his head, grunting with effort as he brought his fists down on the timbers to break them, causing them to fall flat against the floor. Moving some aside with his foot, he called back to the owls. "It's clear! Let's go!" He practically ordered them, and they complied. The owl mother picked up her daughter in her arms and strode for the door with her in tow. Volcan waited until she was through before he followed her out, feeling fresh air wash over him again as they exited the building into the street. He felt the vapours of the water hoses splashing on him, and hissed as he felt the water sizzling against his feathers and stung his flesh, and quickly got clear of the houses before more could fall on him. The owl mother evidently saw someone in the crowd that she knew; she called out a name, though Volcan didn't catch it, and ran with her daughter in her arms to meet that someone, leaving him to watch her depart and be let through the perimeter to meet whatever friend she had spotted. When she was out of sight, Volcan looked back at the burning building he had just rescued them from, seeing how much of the building was burnt as the fire began to give way under the relentless hosing of the fire brigade. Had he not gotten them out when he had, it might've been too late to save them, and he felt himself awash with pride as that realization set in. Though that quickly faded when he heard a voice behind him. "Corporal MacAingeal?" He turned, and saw two fellow Avolonian Security Officers standing there, watching him. He saw one of them carrying a pair of shackles, and suddenly he knew what they were there for, letting out a disheartened sigh. "Let me guess... protocol violation?" "Captain's orders as well, sir." "Alright," Volcan stated, holding out his arms for the shackles. "Go ahead; I'm not going to resist." The clapped the irons around his wrists, locking them together and moving to his sides where they held him by the shoulders to begin leading him away. As they walked, they passed a crowd of people, and they heard whispers from the avians cluttered among them. "Did he save them?" "Looks like it." "Why are they taking him away then?" "Maybe he's the one who started the fire." That one made Volcan's heart sting, but it only got worse from there. "Yeah, I wager you're right." "He is one of the phoenixes from the peninsula after all." "Can't trust those barbarians you know." "Would he really start the fire though? He's wearing one of our Security's uniforms." "Poppycock; those savages would burn our whole city to the ground if they got the chance." "He probably gave in to his base need to burn things." Volcan forced himself not to listen any further; his knuckles cracked as his fists clenched, the rising anger in his chest wanting to explode out his beak, to curse them for making such accusations against him after what he had just done. But he restrained himself, and continued letting the two officers lead him on to the barracks...