FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

The smell of blood, smoke and sweat filled the air along with the sounds of clashing swords, explosions along with roaring crowds of warriors clashing amongst each other. A warrior is lying on his back after a blow with an axe, seeing blurs and shadows. At the Edge of death, an ominous figure appears in front of the dying warrior. Only muffled sounds come from the blurry figure before the warrior closed his eyes and welcomed the inevitable feeling of cold steel rushing through his intestines...

Scott wakes up immediately from the strange dream. He is self-drenched in a cold sweat and feels his heart pounding at about 150 times per minute, just like he spent the last few hours running. He tries to ease himself while gasping for breath. It takes him a few minutes before he calms down and lies back in his bed, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead "Dammit, that makes it the 12th time I've had that dream in this week. I don't know why I keep on having these dreams" he thinks as his breath slowed down. Scott lies in his bed for a little while longer before getting up and feeling the urge to do his morning ritual. He gets ready after a quick shower and makes himself a balanced breakfast. Scott turns on the TV, listening to it as he drinks a coffee. It is still early morning, giving him plenty of time to relax before starting his work day. Scott hears a few reports of terrorist activity, including with a few bomb threats to politicians and celebrities, in the local area, which seems to be a frequent occurrence. This was making him regret moving into the big city of New York. He came here for the sole opportunity to make money, only finding it questionable to work for a company since they decided to cut a big chunk off his salary. Many workers were outraged by this but everyone accepted the reality of getting a smaller pay check. It was at least better than looking for a new job and ending on the street in the worst case. He grabs his raincoat after listening to the news and checking the weather, finding that there will be a slight chance of a small thunderstorm today. Scott makes his way out of his apartment and goes down the stairs, finding it easier compared to the last time he took the elevator. The old thing got stuck and he had to spend the last 4 hours waiting for the janitor to get him out, an experience Scott doesn't want to relive. He waves his hand at his bitter and greedy hag of a landlord as soon as he arrives at the lobby, pretending to be friendly to her.

"You better pay the rent for this month or I'll throw you out, and I think it's going to get really cold this winter with all the thunderstorm and rain lately. I hope you don't mind sleeping on top of a heat vent, of course you would have to fight for it" the old hag yelled with her Russian accent.

Scott can only wish that the old hag would act her age and finally kick the bucket. He leaves the lobby and steps outside, heading for the bus stop. He takes his usual spot in the mid-section as soon as he entered the bus. Scott finds the bus quite crowded almost at full capacity, with several more people try to squeeze into the bus. Scott pulls out of 2DS and plays Shin Megami Tensei IV to help him kill time as well as to max out his demons so whenever he meets his friend again, he could stomp the hell out of his video game rival. One pleasure that he could take from this boring life is the small excitement for virtual games like this, taking place in a fantasy world. The bus stops one last time before taking Scott to his destination. One man walks into the bus. Scott barely noticed him. The man enters the back part of the bus, raising one fist in the air and shouting

"FOR FREEDOM"

before pushing a button on a device he was holding in his hand. Scott lost consciousness at the time the blast of an explosion reached him. And then nothing...

Scott finds himself in a place he could never imagine; even if he would try he would have failed. It was like being inside of an aurora borealis along with twinkling stars in the distance. Scott wonders if this was the true interpretation. Would the afterlife be like that? He remembers that he didn't have much faith in God, wondering if he would be sent off to hell for his lack of belief. This fear begins circling his mind, yet there's nothing he can do about it, so he relaxes himself. All he can do is wait for whomever or whatever will be coming for him, god or devil. Scott waits patiently, feeling stress and anxiety even though he knows that he's dead and he shouldn't feel such things. But still, he feels them.

"Hello there, you don't have to expect to die so soon" said a young squeaky voice behind Scott. A quick turn of his head reviles the owner of the voice. A small boy with heterochromia, one golden and one emerald eye, with pointed ears and fiery red hair. The hair itself is quite messy but almost reminiscent of a flame. Tan skin was showing underneath a white robe.

"Are you God?" he asked nervously as if he would be punished for asking a simple question.

The strange boy is grinning widely and starts laughing uncontrollably and curling up to a ball, floating around laughing.

"I am not your God. Your Gods busy building other multiverse to add in his collection but he is the big cheese upstairs", says the strange boy while shrugging his shoulders, still having a smile on his face. With that heard Scott's fear begins to build, making him ask the question that he would hate to ask:

"Th... then are you... the devil?"

The fear of the answer lets his body tremble like a leaf in the wind. Once again the boy starts bursting in laughter, just like earlier at the first question.

"You are riot. There is no such thing as the devil or Lucifer or whatever you humans like to call the source of all evil. To tell you the truth, there is no Heaven or Hell at all. Every time I meet one of you humans, you always assume the same thing: You are either going off to Heaven or to hell. Here's the real answer: All humans and mortal creatures are reborn throughout the multiverse being reincarnated again and again. Yes, there are demons and angels. They are the leftovers in the creation of your universe and your universe is not the first. I run into so many humans who think that" says the strange boy while floating up side right, crossing his legs together and putting both hands on his knees.

"So there is no heaven or hell but reincarnation instead. I guess those Buddhist monks had it right from the beginning. So you're not God and you're not anyone else that I should fear and who are you " Scott ask as he was now more calmer way, widely curious if this is how God intended the universe or multiverse.

The boy starts tapping his chin with his finger.

„Well, I see certain cases like yours very rarely. People who weren't supposed to but died anyway too soon find their way here. As for my name - I don't give it to anyone. Those are my primarily the rules of the little game" says strange boys with a smirk as he floats down and stands on the ground or what Scott perceives as ground.

"Game? What kind of game?"

The strange boy walks around Scott, thinking for a moment about of how to explain it.

"Well, it is a guessing game. Guess it right and you keep all of your memories and experiences when you enter the next world, fully grown and able to live a new life. You are reborn regardless, even if you fail, but without your memories or experiences. The cycle will continue until we meet here again, as this is not the first time we met. This is everything I will tell you for now." says the boy, showing a small giggle.

Scott smiles and raises an eyebrow at the prospect of being reborn again, fully grown with all experiences and memories. It would definitely be better than hell.

"Alright, I'm game. I particularly love games anyway. How can we start?" he asks, sitting down with crossed legs, meeting the boy at eye level.

The strange boy smiles as he sits down and crosses his legs as well.

"Eager to play the game? That's probably why you're so addicted to games but I digress. Let's discuss the game. Here are the rules: I give you a hint and a riddle, after which you have one chance to guess the solution. You win if you guess correctly. But we'll probably meet up in around a few thousand years, if you lose. It took you that long to reach here since the last time. I think I'll bring some tea the next time that we meet each other " says the boy smirking as he was quite eager to get the game started and to watch the frustration on his opponent's face when giving the riddle.

"Bring the game on. Oh, and tea would be nice right now, care to get some blueberry muffins too?" Scott answered. Surprisingly, the strange boy twitches his ears and a hot cup of tea along with blueberry muffins appeared out of nowhere. Scott happily accepted the generous gift, taking a bite of muffin and a sip of the tea.

"Well, with that out of the way, let's start" the strange boy says. "First I'll give you your hint then I'll give you the riddle. Does that sound fair enough?" he says while smirking at Scott.

Scott puts down his tea and muffin, nods his head and awaits to listen to both, the hint and the riddle.

"Here's your hint: It can regrow its leg and tail and now for the riddle: It dwells in cool crystal clear water. It can climb any surface, whether it be hard or smooth. Those who look upon it think it's cute. What is it?" he says.

Then he reaches over for a blueberry muffin with one hand and with the other grabbing a hot cup of tea for himself.

Scott, puzzled by the riddle, could only think of many things that could match. The hint came in hand very well now. He tries to sort his ideas with the hint in mind but the only effect after several minutes of concentrated thinking was the beginning of an headache. Suddenly the answer struck him like a lightning bolt.

"I think I can guess your riddle. The answer is "Salamander" ", he says feeling some anxiety building up in his stomach.

The boy twitches his ears a few times then looks at Scott the wicked grin " well congratulations you have guessed my riddle correctly." he says getting up stretching out his body

"You can call upon me for advice. I won't interfere with your life or your personal affairs but I will be the best advisor for you, but I will not do outlandish things for you. Whenever you need someone to talk to or someone you want to play another game with, I'll be there in a fraction of a second. And yes, you'll get your reward: a fully grown body with all the experience and memories that you currently have but you can never return back to the same world that you came from. Instead you'll be taken to another world with a new body that is befitting of that world, in a safe place so you won't be killed immediately and I'll have to redo everything. I will give you only the freebie if I made a mistake on my part, something that has never happened to me. But anything goes it in this millennia, just like that song" salamander says as he begins humming the song before holding up his hand in front of Scott's forehead, flicking him out of his realm.

Scott is bombarded with too many colours in many shapes that were beyond his ability to process or comprehend along with many worlds as he was passing through them but never truly grabbing hold of them. It was like going on an acid trip for him. It seems like his mind could handle it, sure it was utter craziness for him but it wasn't too outrageous. Scott begins to wonder, what his new body would be like, what his new world will be and how will he be. He's welcomed with a bright flash forcing his eyes too close and covering his face. A blue sky and green leaves greet him after opening them again and moving his hands down.

Scott looks down at himself to see if he was still a human. He was surprised to see that he didn't have normal human skin but it look like black scales. Scott got up and examines himself. He was wearing a long-sleeve white shirt along with tan pants on. Scott continues to examine the rest of his body, seeing that he had wings on his back and a long tail.

"I'm a black dragon " he states with enthusiasm. He starts to examine his under-belly, pulling off his shirt to see if he was completely black as coal. He was surprised to find a grey underbelly but he didn't mind since he likes the variety of shades. He starts spreading out his wings and seeing a bit of grey on his wings. Scott begins to imagine himself flying amongst the cloud but one last thing he wanted to check; his crotch and chest. Finding that he still has his balls, at least by the sensation in his pants. He peeks at his genitalia and he could see that he has a sheath and as for his chest, he could feel no tits but firm muscles "Damn salamander, you giving me a nice body. Heck, if I did a comparison with my old body with this one, my old body would fall short with some perks" Scott says as he taps his tail, realizing that he has a tail to add into the mix of his own excitement.

"I'm glad that you like your new body" Salamander says, floating around as usual while showing a wide grin. He puts both fists underneath his chin.

"Since you're enjoying yourself so much, I should just inform you that there are humans in this world just like in your old world. Except you're not a human, you are a very rare Zak'endie, a race of draconian that are very rare to be seen these days. There is no high technology here but there is magic. Everybody can use magic to some extent but there are powerful human wizards. I would advise that you wouldn't agitate the humans. They are not as laid-back or lazy as the humans you have cursed in your final breath" Salamander says with a laugh.

Scott got up and hugged Salamander for getting him a second chance in life as well as keeping his old memories and experiences. Even if he's in a world with no technology, he could still make use of his memories, knowledge and many experiences.

"Thank you for giving this opportunity. I hope we could hang for a little while instead of playing that game the next time I meet you. Another thing requested: Could you scare or horrify that bomber that blew up that bus, maybe pretend to be the devil, that should give you a kick out of it since you were so amused when I thought you were the devil." he suggested to Salamander.

Salamander grins wickedly and nods his head "I will take your advice. It should be fun but I would possibly get into some trouble since it's not in my jurisdiction, but I've broken the rules before and I'll probably break the rules again. Well, until next time my friend" he says before disappearing right in front of Scott

Scott takes his time walking around, trying to find his bearings. He notices some smoke in the distance and moves into that general direction only to find a village. He keeps moving towards the village. It was not long until he began to see people. He looks to the side where he could see an anthro male border collie herding his feral sheep. Scott stops and takes a moment looking at the gate to the village, feeling his mind slowly adjusting to his situation. A small smile begins to form on his muzzle.