FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tik Tik awoke, her pink scales caked in dust and dirt, and her working clothes torn, with droplets of dried blood on her arms and legs. She groaned and got on her knees, shaking off loose rubble from her head. She poked at her frills and traced a finger over her horns, sighing in relief as they were unharmed. She then tested her tail, flicking it back and forth. Everything seemed alright. She stood and glanced around. The chamber she stood in was natural, devoid of the marks of any sentient races' pickaxe or chisel. She stepped along the darkness, the ground felt as if the floor had been worn by an ancient river. But it had dried up long ago.

A groan caught her attention and she gasped, running up to the trapped kobold. Prakibak's tail and one of his legs was caught underneath a fairly large boulder. Tik Tik dropped to his side, and examined over the rock, frowning.

"Damn quakes!" Prakibak muttered, his claws scraping at the ground. "It'll throw back construction for at least a week, figurin' out the weaknesses in the rock!"

"Do not try to move," Tik Tik said, running her fingers over the stone. "This could shift and crush you."

"I'm already crushed!" He snarled. "Why don't you try something useful and go find some help? Scurry along, like a good little girl."

Tik Tik froze, and then stood up, folding her arms over her chest. Her tail slapped the ground as she narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the once large and impressive kobold, reduced to a barking wyrmling. "You weren't very nice to me up in the mine. You wanted to transfer me to breeding duty."

"Yeah? So? Did you really think you'd be better chipping away at that rock all your life?" He asked. He coughed and groaned. "At least you'd be having fun, and being productive as a breeder."

Tik Tik sighed and tapped the rock. "I'll go find some help. Don't do anything stupid." With that, she walked off down the path of the ancient river. She paused, just as he went out of sight, and looked over her shoulder. "I will only use my body, if I can also stimulate my mind. Tell me how breeding can do that, and I might consider it."

Tik Tik crept along the cave. Being alone and unarmed meant she had little chance of fighting off any monster that lived in the darkness. As a weak little kobold, she had no means of defending herself, so all of her senses were on overdrive. She sniffed the stale air, felt the disturbances in the floor and walls, listened to the creaks and drips echoing from the far off chambers, tasted the mustiness of the air, and finally, saw the light beyond.

She paused. Light meant trouble. Light meant creatures who couldn't see in the dark. Light meant uplanders. Tik Tik leaned forward, her tail raised, squinting as he saw more of the light, and the small tent in which the light source rested. Tik Tik pressed herself to the wall, shimmying her way over, being as slow and as quiet as she could be. Her chin pressed against the wall, impairing her vision as she looked up. Anyone watching her would surely catch her off guard. She made it as far as the edge of the tent, looking out the corner of her eye to examine at the fabric. Small shadows clung to its walls, yet none of them moved, none of them looked organic. Tik Tik raised a toe and poked at the lining of the tent. She pierced through with little resistance. She licked her lips and brought her toe around the edge of the tent, creating a flap. She ducked down and peeked her head in, though she pulled her head right back out and rubbed her eyes. It hurt like the fire in the uplands, and it hurt so much, she hissed in reflex.

Without hesitation, she clapped her hands over her mouth and opened one eye partially, darting her gaze back and forth over the scene. There was nothing at the camp. Just the tent, the nasty light, and the things inside. "Must find help," she spoke to herself. "Must push through." She kept her eyes shut as she wriggled in through the hole. First her head, then her shoulders, and finally she pulled her arms through. Blinded, she knocked over a small stool, which knocked into the lamp and knocked it over. The light immediately disappeared with the sound of a slight hum. Tik Tik paused, surprised by the sudden darkness. When nothing immediately happened, she opened her eyes once more.

The tent was furnished only with a bed roll, a small chest, and the upturned stool and small writing desk next to it. Tik Tik stood, finding it very easy to stand her full height with plenty of head room. Whoever used this shelter must have been much taller than the average kobold. Tik Tik coughed, catching the whiff of dust in the air. She squat down and placed a hand upon the bedroll, and pulled it back to see the shape of her handprint upon it. "Abandoned..." she said. "Long time. How did an uplander get here?" she asked. If there is a way to the uplands, there is a way out for a kobold to find help. Perhaps the mysterious traveler left a map. Even a map not made by expert kobold hands would be enough to orient her. To that end, she investigated the chest. She approached it and licked her lips, rubbing her hands together. She pressed her cheek to the lock and waited a moment--no sound. She then rapped her knuckles on one side, and then the other. Everything sounded consistent. It wasn't trapped. However, the thing was still locked. She frowned and turned to a broken and shattered device lying on the ground. A metal frame with glass fragments all around it. It must be the light source, but it lay broken now. She snaked her tail toward it and hooked the tip over a ring on top of the device. Pulling it in close, she grabbed it and flipped it around, once, twice, three times. Once she had a good handle on the thing, she found the weak point and slammed it against the ground. A small piece of metal broke free, and she tossed the rest of the husk away. With a few twists of the loosened strip, she fashioned a tiny pick, which she inserted into the lock. With a click, the chest opened, and she peered inside.

Within, there were scraps of paper and a curious thing. Bound in leather with designs of gold on the front, this mysterious item intrigued her. She picked it up first. Inside, many pages were glued to the casing. She frowned as she looked it over. What matter of device would this be? Some kind of paper holder? She opened it up, and her eyes widened. Words! Words written in the tongue of dragons, the tongue of the kobold race! She drank in the knowledge held within, sitting back on the bedroll as she did. These words, they were directions on how to speak the true words of power... the words of magic.

Could she use magic? She flipped further in and frowned. Unfamiliar words filled the pages now--words and pictures. She placed a hand over one of those pictures. She recognized the larger horror drawn here. This thing with a maw that could swallow a kobold whole, with many tangled arms. It is a burrower, but the thing underneath was a mystery. Built like a Kobold, it would be much taller, fattier, with fur upon its head, and a flat, tiny snout. But the most intriguing part wasn't the creature itself, but the fact that it was held up by the burrower by its arms and legs, and its legs spread wide, with the burrower's other arms going up between them until they reached--

Prakibak shouted her name and Tik Tik closed the book, holding tightly to it as she scrambled out of the tent.