FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The school bell rang, and the student hordes fled the massive school building. It was the last day before summer and everybody was happy and excited. Many were going to the country to visit relatives, some were heading abroad. Many had long lists about what to do with friends. The weather had been less than pleasurable, though. It had been raining two weeks straight and there was no end in sight. This detail didn't seem to bother too much, as many kids ran straight to the rain with t-shirts and shorts.

Oliver was amongst the stampeding herds of kids and the little fox ran outside and immediately got wet. Typically, he would have stayed for his piano lessons, but Ms. Frichs was conveniently sick, and he had all afternoon for himself. He didn't particularly enjoy the company of Ms. Frichs, especially because she tended to be rather blunt about his performance. Oliver's parents had thought that taking piano lessons would improve his intelligence. Nobody really knows if it has had any effect, as his grades have been decent from the beginning.

He had the perfect plan for today: he would visit his favorite comic book store. Usually he couldn't get there because he had to study, and he had been planning to get a new video game for the summer. His best friend, Brian, wished to come too, but he got a message from his parents to come home early. So, he wandered to the monorail station alone.

As he entered the monorail station he realized that the place was rather empty. Then again, 3 pm. wasn't exactly a rush hour. The place was posh with clean white pillars and huge potted palm trees. Several security guards were watching over the place, although accidents or crimes rarely occurred. The stairway was made of steel and the railings were clean and shiny. He walked up the stairs to the platforms and entered a train. It was clean, and the large windows provided a great opportunity to observe the city.

The monorail network was the crown jewel of Nexus City. There were eight lines in total, of which 6 were over 50 miles long. The trains rocketed at speeds of 200 mph with incredible acceleration, which would normally make people sick. Luckily, there was a sophisticated force negation system onboard, making all g-forces 10 times lower than they would normally be. There were other technological improvements onboard as well, including adaptive air conditioning, self-cleaning windows, AI assistants for tourists, and many more. The monorail network was fast and efficient, but it had cost the city far too much when the first sections were built. Many boycotted the network because of this. Oliver liked it a lot, although he had to admit that it was a little posh to be 'public transport'.

After three stops Oliver left the train and quickly ran down the stairs and to the store, which was just across the street. The place didn't look particularly inviting from the outside, but on the inside, it was a heaven for any geek. There were shelves after shelves of comics, video games, role playing equipment, trading cards, tabletop games, and so on and so on. The few open wall sections were covered with posters of infamous sci-fi and fantasy movies. Many other kids had also thought about getting a new video game for the summer, so Oliver decided to check the discount comic books first.

As he was shuffling through the magazines, the shopkeeper noticed him and cheered at him: "Hi Oliver! How was school today?" It was Daniel, or 'Dan' for short, who was there probably like 90 % of the time. He was a rough collie and super friendly. He was wearing loose jeans and a black hoodie. The two knew each other from early on, as Dan used to babysit Oliver regularly about 5 years ago. One could say it was him who introduced Oliver to fantasy literature and comics.

Oliver lazily walked to the counter. "It was okay. Ms. Frichs was sick, so I left early."

"Well, now that you are here, care to help me out a little? A large shipment of video games arrived five minutes ago. If you help I can let you play some fresh games later."

Oliver nodded and left his schoolbag behind the counter. It wasn't unusual for Oliver to help Dan every now and then. That poor guy seemed to take care of the store all alone, never bothering to ask for real help from the owner. He seemed to enjoy the job, though. He always smiled no matter what and knew the location of every single item without checking, as well as the background stories, characters, cheats, tactics and pretty much everything else from everything. Yet he had very few friends and despite he was so friendly, Oliver knew that Dan was actually a very shy guy. Of course, he had to serve customers and such, but otherwise he had told how much he feared for talking with strangers and getting to know other people more intimately.

* * *

After an hour of unpacking and organizing, their task was done. Dan had arranged a large comfy couch in the back (probably originally for himself) with a large screen with every possible gaming console that was ever published. Oliver sat down and started playing a platformer game that was published only a week ago. The game was very engaging, and the graphics were really great and innovative. Dan obviously had to serve customers and take care of the shop, but every now and then he came to Oliver and offered him a soda, chips and candy.

Then it was time to close the shop. Dan didn't want Oliver to leave, but it was already getting dark and his parents would get worried soon. He knew the boy's parents far too well to take the risk. Oliver wasn't happy about this either, but at the same time thought he was getting tired. He thanked Dan and ran out of the store and to the monorail station.

This time Oliver took a different monorail line, which ran across the town almost directly to his house. The timetables were not ideal at this hour, so he had to wait for a while. While standing on the platform, he noticed that two strange and sinister looking guys arrived on the platform as well. They were wearing long white trench coats with black decorations, black fingerless leather gloves and sunglasses. Around their necks were amulets with glowing red stones. They seemed like they were looking for something, as they looked around several times and moved around the platform.

The other one was a grey wolf who looked a bit older, and the other one was a lady lynx with bright red hair. After a moment they began approaching Oliver, who got a bit anxious. He saw the two had pistols and other weapons beneath their coats. Luckily just before they reached him, the train arrived, and he dashed inside and sat down as far from the doors as possible. The two boarded the train too. The doors closed, train started moving, and the two guys continued their search.

Now Oliver was getting really scared. For some reason he knew they were looking for him. The question was: why? He hadn't done anything, or at least he though he hadn't done anything. He put his head down and tried to stay as silent and still as possible. The way home would take only 20 minutes, but at this point even that would be too much.

Suddenly he heard a voice. Not the AI announcer or some random guy yelling at him. It was as if someone was speaking inside his head. The words were loud and clear: "Get out of the train and run. Those two are looking for you and they want to either kill you or catch you. Get out of the train and run. If they get to you, you are done for. Get out of the train and run. Run as fast as you can, and they may lose the trail. Get out of the train and run."

Oliver had no idea what was going on, but the voice inside his head was probably trying to help him. He grabbed his bag and was ready to sprint. When the doors opened, he dashed right past the wolf guy and out of the doors. He almost tumbled down the stairs but managed to stay upright. He took a quick glance behind and saw the two jogging behind him.

As Oliver exited the station building he took a quick look around. The place was totally unfamiliar and there were no clear landmarks to be seen. He quickly ran into a crowd of tourists that was making its way to the monorail station. The rain had stopped, but the sidewalks were still slippery, and Oliver fell over right after the crowd had passed. He realized his ankle had broken, but he also saw the two guys making their way towards him. He bit his lip and stood up, limping forward as fast as he could to an alley.

The alleyway was long, and he slowly made his way further away from the main street. Then he noticed that the alley was a dead end, but at the same time he saw the sinister pair again. He was trapped. He tried to climb up a ladder leading to the roof, but his ankle gave up and he fell down, hurting his back. He was now barely unable to move and inched his way towards a group of trash cans. He reached to his backpack to get his commlink, but it was hidden somewhere beneath all the books and random junk. It was useless.

The chasers were now about 20 feet away. They stopped and stared at the poor fox. The wolf took a step closer and crouched down. He removed his sunglasses, revealing a pair of yellow intimidating eyes. "It's no use escaping, kid. Me and my colleague noticed that you bear the Gift. Therefore, the government wants you dead. You may avoid death by choosing to give up the Gift and promise not to tell anyone about this incident."

Oliver was panicking and couldn't answer. He didn't even know what 'the Gift' was. He hadn't stolen anything, if that was the case. He grabbed his tail and began crying.

The two guys seemed to feel no mercy. They just stared at each other for a minute, but as Oliver had no idea how to respond, the wolf put his glasses back on, stood up and turned his back to him. "You have decided not to give up the Gift. Shame. That means we must eliminate you. Nothing personal; that's just the game, kid."

Now the lynx took a step closer and grabbed a strange hilt-like object from beneath her coat. A strange glowing and sparking red string emerged and Oliver realized it was some sort of whip. She flailed it around as if she was enjoying the moment. Oliver turned around and tried to make his way behind a trash can, but the lady was quicker. With a quick swing the whip swoop through the air and hit Oliver's left foot. He cried in pain as it was unlike anything he had felt before.

Now both of his feet were broken, and he was crawling forward the best he could with his fingernails. He took a quick glance to see his foot was bleeding. He could hear the whip again, this time hitting him to the back of his left knee. He cried again and fell down. He couldn't take it anymore. He knew if she hit him once again, he might lose his mind. Oliver turned around to see the lynx was standing only 5 feet away. She had also removed here glasses, revealing bright red devilish eyes. She was grinning, licking her lips and laughing. Those horrible eyes were filled with pure madness and sadism, with no humanity whatsoever. The wolf was standing behind her, silent and serious.

The lynx moved his whip again and swung it around. Oliver was sure it was about to hit him right in the middle of his chest. But then the lynx made a strange sound and stopped. A large cyan spear had pierced her and run through her body vertically. She let go of the whip and fell down face first, dead. The spear was like it was made of ice but glimmering and covered with strange swirly shapes that were constantly moving around. It was magic!

The wolf took a pistol and was aiming and looking around to see where the attacker was. Near the main street was standing a dark figure wearing a cloak-like garment. Its eyes were like two cyan stars in the distance and the look seemed to pierce through Oliver. Then, like earlier, a large magical spear emerged out of nowhere, flew through the air and pierced the wolf's chest. Blood spilled heavily, the wolf let go of the gun, and fell down dead.

Oliver realized that now was the perfect time to hide. He crawled behind a couple of trashcans and tried to be as unnoticed as possible. He observed as the dark figure swung his hand and the magical spears disappeared into thin air. He looked around, obviously looking for Oliver. As he came closer, his appearance became clearer. He was a dragon with dark scales and smooth horns. He had strange markings on his face and hands, which were glowing in the dark.

"Come out, little one. You don't have to be afraid anymore." The intimidating stranger knew exactly where Oliver was hiding. This dragon in the dark was scary and the fact that he apparently wielded magic didn't help things at all. Oliver was hugging his tail tightly and tried to be as quiet as possible, despite he was badly injured.

A minute or two later the dragon moved the trash cans aside himself, and the little fox was now completely exposed. The dragon looked directly into Oliver's eyes. Suddenly the fox heard a voice inside his head, just like earlier when he was on the monorail. "I know you are scared and I can't blame you. Those guys were strong and evil, but now they are dead. I'm a friend. My name is Finn. What is yours?" Despite the efforts the fox was still feared to the death.

He waited for an answer, but as there was nothing, he turned around and checked the corpses. He grabbed a commlink from the wolf's pocket, took a good look at it, and then smashed it to the ground. "Shit. This gentleman managed to call for backup before dropping. If you want to live, you must come with me."

Oliver didn't move an inch. He was afraid, and the leg hurt too much.

Finn realized that Oliver was in pain, so he kneeled down and checked the boy's leg. "I know you are afraid of me, but trust me, I'm a good guy. These wounds look pretty nasty. Those guys hit you really bad with a magical weapon, and these are the kind injuries which cannot be healed in a hospital. You must come with me. I can help you. If you won't, you will probably lose your leg altogether."

Oliver was still terrified, but he realized that it was his only option. If he didn't agree to follow this dragon he might lose the leg or die. A little reluctantly he let go of his tail and raised his hands towards Finn. The dragon helped him stand up, but Oliver felt a numbing sting of pain the moment he let weight on his leg. The pain was so intense that he immediately collapsed down. Finn grabbed him before he hit the ground and lifted him on his arms. The pain was still there, and Oliver felt his mind getting all blurry, and he passed out in the arms of this mysterious savior.

* * *

When Oliver opened his eyes, he was laying on a bed. It was dark outside, and he realized he was not at home or back on the alley. In fact, he was somewhere really high up, as he could see the beautiful cityscape through a huge window that reached from the floor to the ceiling. The room itself was pretty plain, at least to his liking. The walls were white and there were a couple of modern paintings on them. The ceiling light was a modern version of a chandelier, or something pretty similar. The bed was huge and really comfy. The pillows were massive, and he could tell the bed was meant for adults.

He couldn't explain to himself why, but he felt the atmosphere was quite serene and he wasn't feeling stressed at all. He sat up on the bedside and checked his leg. It was wrapped in bandages and strange glowing symbols were painted on them. As he touched the bandages, he felt a light tingling sensation on his fingertips.

Then he heard music coming from somewhere nearby. Somebody played the piano beautifully, but he didn't recognize the tune. After listening a minute or two, he realized the music broke almost every rule he knew. On his piano lessons Ms. Frichs was very strict about the rules of music, making him play technically challenging "masterpieces" form composers that lived centuries ago. This music was so different, though. It was as if each note just sprung to life and laughed and danced. So uncontrolled yet beautiful.

Oliver had this urge to know who was playing! He attempted to stand up, but he felt his leg still hurt. It wasn't quite as bad as last time, but still way too much for him. He sat back on the bedside and tried to fight the cry.

"Good evening, sir Oliver." Suddenly an artificial male voice spoke from somewhere nearby with a posh accent. Oliver jumped and crawled under the bedsheets.

"Pardon me, sir. It was not my intention to startle you. I am Biggins, the household AI. I assume you are a guest of master Finn's. He's expecting you."

Oliver peeked from underneath the sheets: the room was empty. The only difference was a bright blue light shining on a console next to the door, the AI interface. Household AIs were used by rich people and they took care of the household like a maid or butler, cooked food and dealt with bills and other domestic matters. He was so jealous of Brian, whose parents had bought one two years ago.

He stood back up, still feeling the pain in his leg. He let out a whimper but covered his mouth with his hands involuntarily. He didn't want to get noticed.

"It appears like the concoction master Finn brewed and dosed has not yet taken full effect. It would be best if you rested for the night, sir Oliver. Red magic isn't a matter that should be taken lightly."

Oliver was indeed feeling tired, now that he thought about it. However, he had one question in mind that he wanted an answer to. "Sir... AI... thingy...? W-who is playing the piano?"

"That would be master Finn, sir. Master sometimes plays the piano while meditating. Master says that it helps him focus."

"T-thank you."

"My pleasure. Sleep now."

The light by the door switched off. Oliver crawled back between the sheets and stared out the huge window. The city seemed so pretty. But who was this Finn? Magic wielders were bad and unpredictable. That's what all the teachers, politicians and officials said, but this dragon seemed very nice. He even saved his life. Yet he played so beautifully. Almost too beautifully, even.

The melodies spun in Oliver's head and they somehow made him all sleepy. He was feeling calm and relaxed despite the recent events and the fact that he had been in mortal danger. Then, quite suddenly, he fell asleep.