FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

By the time Zera made it to the outskirts of the City, dawn was already breaking to the east, and the great glow which had lit her way through the night was fading. Had she been less tired, the dragoness would have noticed that many of the spiderweb paths were now traversed by little moving dots -the Two-legs themselves. Unfortunately, Zera was preoccupied with simply keeping in the air. The dragon had underestimated how long it would take to reach the City in her weakened state, and had spent the latter half of the night struggling to stay aloft as her energy gradually sapped away. Flying at night was always more difficult than during the day -the cooler temperatures meaning there was a lack of thermal updrafts to help create lift. This, coupled with Zera's already poor flight skills, meant the dragoness tired out much faster than she expected. Her wing muscles ached with effort and she had resorted to only beating them in intervals, gliding until she dropped too low before painfully climbing higher again. As she passed over the first Two-leg constructions, however, even this technique wasn't enough. Zera found herself gradually sinking lower in the sky and, lacking the energy to ascend any more, she decided to look for a good spot to land.

Then Zera finally noticed the people beginning to throng the paths below.

Two-legs! In the flesh! Zera could hardly believe her eyes. A jolt of fear shook her as she attempted to stay calm. At this point, she was barely twice as high as the constructions below, and the dragon gulped when she noticed several Two-legs looking straight at her as she passed above them. Her panic increased. Where was that landing spot? Zera scanned the artificial landscape below for any relatively open area, but the Two-leg structures were too densely packed, and the dragon didn't trust her ability to land safely in one of the small grassy areas dotted around the place. Her only option, it seemed, was one of the wide pathways between the structures. However, it wasn't just Two-legs traversing the paths. Zera began to see large, fast moving machines travelling along the wider trails. They looked utterly ridiculous, appearing to glide along the ground without any effort at all -how the Two-legs had created such things was absolutely beyond the dragon's comprehension.

A sharp pain in her left wing forcefully interrupted Zera's train of thought. She yelped as the ground suddenly became closer, and she barely skimmed over the top of a low structure. Zera knew it was now or never. Swallowing her fear, the dragon dipped to the right and painfully angled herself towards the nearest wide pathway. As she approached the ground, Zera flared out her batlike wings to their full span and forced herself to beat them a few more times, cutting her momentum and allowing her to -somewhat ungracefully- hit the ground in an awkward half-run, half-jog. The dragon slowed to a stop as her paws scraped against the coarse, flat surface of the pathway. Zera took a moment to catch her breath, panting in exertion and relief as she finally rested her tired wings, completely oblivious to the several Two-legs who watched her in surprise and awe.

The dragon suddenly became aware of a growing rumble behind her. Whipping her head around to look, Zera yelped in shock as she saw one of the impossible machines rapidly bearing down on her. It released a blaring sound as it approached, and the dragon barely jumped out of the way as the machine barely swerved past her, screeching as it went. The machine moved so fast Zera felt a rush of wind as it passed, and the dragon decided to get off the wide path as quickly as possible. She stepped up onto the smaller, raised pathway which bordered the wider one, and turned to take in her environment. She was surrounded by Two-leg constructions, those around her much smaller than the rising towers she could see to the north. A grey wall rose behind her, a few heads taller than the dragon herself, and Zera noted that similar walls ringed all the structures nearby. The occasional tree or bush was visible over the walls and between the structures, but otherwise almost everything else was 'unnatural'- reminding her of her mother's words. The wide paths, she noticed, appeared to be solely traversed by the moving machines, while upon the raised paths walked the Two-legs. Many were nearby, and Zera subconsciously hunched inwards when she noticed at least a dozen of them staring at her. They all varied greatly in appearance from one to the other- different heights, different shapes and different colours. Many were covered in fur, but the dragon spotted at least one hairless 'human' among them. Strange clothing and objects adorned them, which Zera could only guess at the purpose of- she only hoped none of them carried those terrible weapons her mother had warned her about.

Some Two-legs continued to stare at the dragon for a moment, before appearing to lose interest and move on. Zera felt the hunger pangs hit her again, stronger than ever now, reminding her of the reason she took this risk in the first place. Fearful as she was, Zera knew she had to create a plan, to save herself from a slow starvation. Two-legs be damned, that primal need for sustenance was beginning to overtake the dragon's fear of the unknown. Deciding that the centre of the City was her most likely chance of locating the Two-legs unlimited source of food, Zera resolved to proceed on foot. As she began to walk along the northwards path, her paws already protesting the hardness of the stone-like surface, Zera noticed a pair of Two-legs approaching her in the opposite direction. Both had similar striped markings on their exposed fur, but one was significantly taller than the other. Before the dragon had time to worry about the incoming pair, the taller one saw her, and a nervous expression took over its face. It hurriedly grabbed the shorter one by the arm, leading it across to the opposite raised pathway and away from the approaching dragon. A parent and child, Zera realised. She thought of her mother once again.

For better or worse, Zera continued on towards the rising towers ahead. She had to survive here. She would find a way.

If only to prove her mother wrong.

---

Half a day later…

Her mother was right. She never should have come here.

This City… it was like some ungodly nightmare, conjured up from the darkest recesses of Zera's mind. A feverish hellscape created solely to torment her, to punish her naivety.

Brightly coloured artificial lights provided most of the illumination in this place, the towering constructions soaring above her only allowing the smallest slivers of natural sunlight through. Zera felt like a bug in the woods, blindly stumbling along the forest floor searching for food and shelter. The Two-legs were everywhere now, packed so densely along the pathways that she could barely move through the crowd. It didn't help that most stood taller than the dragon, and despite her advantage in physical size their height worked to intimidate her further. They pressed and pushed against each other and against her, most scowling at her as they passed, with the occasional spoken insult spiking anxiety and shame in her heart.

“Freak! Watch where you're going!"

“Fuck off, Feral!"

“Put some clothes on you fuckin' savage!"

“Hey, get your damn tail outta the way! Stupid animal…"

Zera took up a lot more room on the crowded pathway than a Two-leg, and her tail was sore and scraped from being trodden on many times. As she waded through the sea of people, Zera's heart pounded with fear. Its beat throbbed in her ears as the she did her best to stay composed. Everything about this City was overwhelming to her. A thousand different smells assaulted her sensitive nose, to the point that she couldn't identify any of them. The air roared with constant, ear-shattering noise; the noise of the people, of their machines which packed the wide pathways in their hundreds, the repetitive rhythmic pulsing originating from some of their structures… the cacophony was ceaseless and unrelenting, a far cry from the tranquil forests she had until yesterday called home.

Glancing upwards once more, Zera immediately regretted the decision. The great towers of metal and glass rose up, up, up into the sky, their sheer scale making her head spin and nausea creep into her stomach. A hundred layers of platforms and bridges spanned the gaps between the ascending structures, their presence denying even more sunlight to the ground below. Still, patches of grey sky were visible between the spiderweb network of Two-leg construction. To Zera's astonishment, flying machines could be seen cutting through the air and darting through the spaces between structures, great metal things kept aloft by some unknown means -another mystery of the Two-legs. Beyond all of it, a brief flash lit the clouds above, barely visible from the ground. A storm was on the way -not that any of the people here seemed to know or care. Zera wondered if they found shelter in these structures, safe and secure from anything nature had to throw at them. The dragon hoped there was room for her somewhere among them.

“Oof- hey, watch where…"

A Two-leg had rounded the corner to Zera's left, stumbling straight into her as she stood lost in thought, stupidly gazing upwards instead of watching her surroundings. The Two-leg, a Human by the looks of it, trailed off when he noticed the quadrupedal dragon in front of him, his pale face twisting into a look of confusion.

“The fuck…"

Zera offered a meek apology, barely audible over the persistent din around them. “Uh, s-sorry!"

The Human continued to stare for a moment, dumbfounded, before dipping his head and waving a hand dismissively.

“Ahh… whatever. What a day…" he muttered, sidestepping past her and merging into the crowd, vanishing.

Zera swallowed. One thing was clear- these Two-legs were not used to seeing people like her in their City.

The empty pain in her gut stabbed at Zera again, louder and more insistent than before. The dragon had been walking for at least half a day, with no sign of any recognisable food anywhere. Fearful as she was to interact with the Two-legs, lest she provoke them further, Zera realised she was going to get nowhere on her own. The dragon knew would have to ask for help. She continued to weave through the thronging horde, scanning their faces for one who looked at least somewhat approachable. After a moment of searching, one figure stood out to the dragon. A brown-furred man stood idly to the side of the path, near a gap in the buildings ahead. He held a burning stick near his long muzzle, periodically placing the unlit end in his mouth for some unknown purpose. His expression seemed calm and his posture told Zera he was relaxed, so she decided to take a chance and ask him for help.

---

Archer sucked idly on his afternoon cigarette, savouring the bitter taste and slight headrush it gave him. The horse always took the time to enjoy the very brief breaks he was afforded during his work hours. Still, he couldn't complain. Especially not when your employer wasn't, strictly speaking, a legally registered business. In fact, Archer knew he was lucky to get breaks at all. Working as an 'investigative consultant' for one of Horizon's largest tech-cartels didn't exactly allow for a healthy working relationship with your boss. Doubly so when the project you were working on was considered so highly secretive that every person involved was implanted with tracking chips, constantly tracing your every move. A project that concerned, of all things-

Feral. Right in-fucking-front of him. Archer almost dropped the cigarette from his brown-furred muzzle. The horse struggled to keep his composure as an emerald-scaled, completely-naked Feral emerged from the crowd and made a beeline for his alleyway, heading straight for him. Archer barely had time to question the hows and whys of the situation before the creature was upon him. He took note of its powerful build and armoured, scaly exterior, and stealthily moved a hand to his hip-holster. The horse doubted he'd have any chance if the Feral went for his throat or abdomen, but he could at least try and fend it off. Nervous sweat trickled down Archer's brow as the beast stopped inches from him, its shorter height not serving to make it any less intimidating to the horse, who usually shied away from physical confrontations whenever he could. He had no time to even try and call it in to his superior, as the Feral bared a set of wicked teeth and fucking spoke to him.

“Umm… excuse me?"

Archer froze, slack-jawed.

The feral -a she by the sound of her surprisingly average voice- looked up at him with an expression that could only be described as timid. Her reptilian features peered down his long muzzle and Archer struggled to contain his shock.

The Feral continued on, unabated. “Do you… do you know where I could find some, er, food?"

The horse laughed. He couldn't help himself. Not a moment ago he'd been prepared for this thing to try and gut him, and now it was asking for his help. Him! What were the fucking chances, considering just who he was and what he did for a living! He stared into her azure eyes for a long moment, thinking.

Finally, Archer broke off his gaze and snorted amusedly. “Food? Ha! Course that's what you fuckin' want…" he trailed off, regarding the dragon for a moment. “Do I look like I've got any food for you, Feral?" He kept his voice even and measured, not wanting to startle her.

The Feral faltered briefly. “I didn't mean… I only wondered, where all of you Two L- all of you people… made your food? There's so many of you here, there's no way you all hunt for it?" she questioned, “You'd need to make it somehow, yes?" The Feral fumbled her words as Archer looked on amusedly.

He laughed again “Ha ha! This is too good! A Feral, fresh outta the wild, first day in the city coming to me looking for help? Ha! Man, what a life…" Archer chuckled to himself for a minute, before continuing once he saw her expression start to sour. He needed to get rid of her, now, and call it in.

“I'm in a good mood today, Feral, so I'll help you." Her face lit up at his words, and Archer had to swallow a moment of quiet guilt. “There's a CentMed just down the road, gives out meals for the homeless. Keep going down that street till you see a sign with a big red cross on it, should be a bunch of people lined up outside. Join the line and play nice, that's your best bet for gettin' something to eat."

The Feral practically leapt for joy. “Thank you, thank you!" she called excitedly, before quickly continuing on in the direction Archer had pointed out.

The horse watched her go, swallowing before tapping his ear-mounted communicator. The call connected after a moment, and Archer took a shaky breath before speaking.

“Boss, you're not going to believe this."

---

Zera was still hungry.

They had turned her away from the eating-place. Of course they had. Either the long-faced man had been lying, or he had just been wrong. Either way, it didn't matter. Zera felt like crying as she passed through the gradually thinning crowds, heading back out from the centre of the City, feeling weaker and lonelier than ever. The Two-legs still threw looks of distrust and revulsion at her as they passed, although the 'streets' here weren't quite as busy as they were in the centre. The structures around Zera no longer soared to unfathomable heights, and she noticed the area looked similar to one she had passed through that morning on her way into the City.

So, this was it then. Giving up. Zera felt a sense of abject failure settle on her. The dragon had once again failed at that most basic of tasks, simply finding food to survive. She had been so close to salvation- she could even see the meals being given out at the eating-place, tasted the flavour of meat on the air. She even briefly considered taking some by force. And yet, when the Two-leg handing out the food had growled at her to 'go back where she came from', Zera simply faltered and submissively trudged away, trying to ignore the angry jeers of the crowd behind her.

For her entire life, Zera had spoken to no one else but her own mother. She had endured years of verbal abuse in her care. The dragon had naively thought things might be better in the Two-leg City, that people might be kinder and less angry. Perhaps more like her. But she was wrong. Completely, utterly wrong. The people here hated Zera, far more than even her mother had. She was too different to them, larger in size but weaker and stupider in mind. Zera felt dejected as the last shred of hope left her, and she hung her head low as she loped down the street. The dragon was lost in her own head, paying so little attention to the surroundings that she almost failed to notice the crowd breaking up, parting for the three Two-legs moving to encircle her.

Zera had always struggled with her mother's teachings. Time and time again the older dragon would drill the same lessons into her, in the hope her daughter would eventually take them to heart. In the end, she was partly successful. While Zera would never be skilled enough to make it out in the wild, her instincts were honed well enough to recognise an ambush when she saw one.

Not yet deviating from her path, the dragon's eyes briefly flicked between the three approaching assailants. They hadn't noticed her spot them; either that or they didn't care. Covered head to toe in some kind of black armour, and wielding what could only be the fearsome Two-leg weapons, they moved with the practised ease of forest predators stalking their prey. Two of them moved through the crowd to intercept Zera from the front, whilst another drifted to block her escape from the rear. The dragon knew she was their target. Panic welled in her throat, and she forced it back down, desperately trying to recall her combat lessons:

First, assess your opponents. There were three of them, armoured and armed with weapons which Zera couldn't even guess the function of. They appeared organised and experienced, and didn't seem intimidated by her in any way.

Then, assess yourself. Zera was only one dragon, young and inexperienced. She was immensely tired, half-starved, mentally and emotionally exhausted, and a poor fighter on the best of days. The odds were heavily skewed against her.

Finally, assess your environment. A gradually dispersing crowd still surrounded the dragon. Her three attackers were not yet upon her, as they were moving purposefully but slowly, likely waiting for the opportune moment to engage. Zera glanced upwards. The buildings here were well spaced out, with no overhanging structures or bridges between her and the sky. She couldn't stay and fight, Zera knew that much. On her own and with no help coming, the dragon took a deep breath and steadied herself. She had only one option now.

Run.

Before her attackers had any time to react, Zera flared her wings out and kicked off the hard, stony pathway, aching muscles screaming in protest.

“STOP!"

Shouts rang out as she shot into the sky on tired wingbeats. The dragon had barely ascended to the heights of the nearest structures before multiple sharp cracks pierced the air. Only a moment later, Zera felt several hard impacts glance off her right flank, yelping at the pain even as she pushed her exhausted body to its limits. Higher she went, rising away from her attackers on the ground agonisingly slowly, the structures below growing steadily smaller as the horizon became visible once again. Long moments passed and Zera fought hard for every moment she stayed in the air, as the adrenaline she had been running on began to wear off. The pain in her flank was persistent and throbbing, and the dragon stole a glance backwards between wingbeats, fear rising again as she prepared to see the damage inflicted by the Two-leg weapons.

Surprisingly, however, there was no visible wound. The only signs of injury were some scuff marks and missing scales on a previously undamaged area of her flank. The area was still sore and almost certainly bruising, but Zera felt a warm rush of relief when she saw the weapons had failed to pierce the tough scales of her abdomen. A lucky escape, and the first thing she could be thankful for all day.

Searing agony coursed through the main muscle of Zera's left wing, and she dropped quickly in the air, almost spiralling into a dive before she corrected herself. Fresh tears stung at the dragon's blue eyes as she forced herself to power through the severe cramp, testing her strength like never before. The low sun on the horizon bathed the structures of the City in its warm orange glow. They seemed to stretch on forever, even as they continued to diminish in size moving away from the centre. The area Zera was flying above looked awfully similar to where she had first landed in the City, with smaller regularly-spaced buildings sprawling out over a vast flat plain. The sea of stone, metal and glass went on further than Zera could see, as she frantically searched the distance for the forest hills she had so carelessly abandoned not even a day ago. With the last of her strength fading, Zera's heart sank when she realised that she'd be forced to land here again.

The dragon was spent. She barely even flinched when she began to drop from the sky like a stone, only occasionally beating her wings to control her careless descent. Zera fell tens of tail-lengths at a time, with simply no energy left to glide more slowly or even aim for a landing spot. Back down she plummeted, until she skimmed building tops and the occasional tree. She was going to hit the ground soon, and hit it hard. As luck would have it, a wide pathway opened beyond the next cluster of structures, and with barely any time to think Zera careened through the last few tail-lengths and hit the hard surface at speed, paws-first. Unfortunately, due to her haphazard descent she had completely failed to halt her forward momentum, and Zera found herself tumbling on her side, wings over paws as she crashed and scraped along the hard ground. Coming to a halt in the middle of the wide pathway, the dragon hissed in pain as she struggled to her feet. The hard landing hadn't helped with the injury to her flank. Even if her tough scales had once again protected most of her body from serious harm, Zera knew she'd be very sore the next morning.

Taking a quick glance at her surroundings, Zera found the immediate vicinity deserted, its inhabitants seemingly retired for the night. While it resembled the area of the City she had originally landed in, the dragon noted some key differences. The Two-leg structures here were lower and more spaced out, with the conspicuous high walls of the former locale largely absent. Zera limped off the wide path and onto one of the raised ones, remembering her close encounter with a Two-leg machine that morning. The dragon suppressed a shudder at the memory.

She gazed up to the sky. Blazing pinks and oranges were giving way to the navy palette of dusk, though Zera imagined that, by the time true night fell, the glow of the City would illuminate the heavens once again.

Almost a full day she had spent in this blighted City, with only shame, fear and pain to show for it. Zera couldn't prevent a few tears from rolling down her reptilian snout. She padded miserably down the pathway, continuing to walk in the same direction she had been flying. Heading for the edge of the City.

Failure.

The same thought resounded in Zera's head. Yet again she had failed. This entire stupid undertaking had only pushed the dragon further towards the brink, and she knew her body would soon begin to fail just as her mother's had. Already starving before she came here, the two extended flights and subsequent muscle injuries had left Zera weaker than ever before. If she ever made it out of the City, Zera realised with sorrow, she wouldn't even last half a cycle back in the wild. Death was close on the horizon, with no more second chances.

The dragoness' eyelids began to droop as she walked, presenting her with a more immediate problem. Zera had barely slept the night before, and it had been a long and strenuous day. If she hoped to recoup any of her strength, she knew she would have to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Shaking herself to alertness, she scanned the nearby area for somewhere to curl up and rest. Most of the structures here were bordered by small grassy areas, which would certainly make better bedding than the cold stone pathways. Continuing on for a short while, Zera eventually located a good spot.

Beside one of the nearby structures stood a drooping willow; its low, leafy branches creating a sheltered area which would make the perfect impromptu nest for a weary dragon. The grass surrounding the nearby building was bounded by shrubbery, just low enough for the dragon to see over. Tensing her aching back legs, Zera leapt barely clear of the boundary, her tail crashing through the bushes as she flopped onto the soft grass beyond. Collecting herself, she looked to the low building, seeing no light or movement from within. If any Two-legs were inside, Zera thought they must have been asleep.

Under normal circumstances, the dragon would never have considered sleeping in such a potentially dangerous situation. But Zera was done. Weary beyond words and truly mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted, all she wanted was to sleep. That blissful unconsciousness would at least give her a break from all this torment. Achingly slowly, she dragged her paws along the cool ground towards the willow, practically collapsing beneath its secluding branches. Zera curled in on herself, a wing folding across her body as she felt the soft, cushioning grass gently tickling her snout. Her tender muscles ignored, the gnawing hunger pangs in her gut forgotten, the dragoness slipped easily into the sleep she so desperately needed.

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