FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Dark magic is a force made of evil, bending our world to its own selfish destruction. Though powerful, it uses one's own life force or those around to do its work, sapping life and bending the world till nothing remains but pure darkness. An ever-constant battle is waged between those hidden in the darkness and those cast in the light. Which one are you?

It would seem, sometimes we ourselves don't know what side we're on until it's too late.

Remember, all creatures can lie, don't take everyone at their word. If you do, it could be your own downfall. There will always be two sides to every war, battle, skirmish, and argument. Only when one can see both sides will they be truly free to choose.

Dragon Proverb

"What do you mean you don't know?! You're the one who gave it to me!" I yelled at her, my tail lashing behind me like a whip in anger.

"What else am I supposed to mean by 'I Don't know'?" Arlya screamed back at me. Her left-wing waving to the side.

"You're the one who treated me! You're supposed to know!" I yelled, my anger getting the best of me.

"Asclepius was the one who treated you. I just gave you the medicine! Why don't you find him and ask him?" Her face scrunched up in annoyance, her feathers puffing out.

"Because I killed him! And I have half a mind to do the same to you!"

"And where would that leave you? In your condition, you're unable to hunt; you NEED me!" Her talons fisting together around the low branch she was perched on, a crack echoing forth from the wood.

"I need you like I need a hole in my heart! Oh wait, I already do after what you did to me!" I took a step closer to her, ready to pounce if needed, but my action did not go unnoticed. Her scaled legs tensed, crouching a fraction lower, ready to jump into the air should the need arise.

"Again, with that. For once, I thought I could go more than one second without being reminded!" she screamed back, her wings flapping in irritation.

"You don't deserve to forget!"

A screech emerged from her beak, echoing through the trees.

"And you deserve to be in pain. Oh wait, you already are!" Her eyes no longer radiated annoyance. Instead, her pupils shrunk in anger. Good, let her be angry; it's not like she lost almost everything overnight.

"I don't need to run to pin you down and eat you!" I snarled.

"I'd like to see you try!"

With a flap of her wings, Arlya took flight. Within seconds, she was out of my reach.

"Coward! Get back here and fight me!"

"Who would want to fight a flightless dragon? Oh, wait, nobody!"

An emotion flickered over Arlya's face as she saw the hurt look that flashed in my eyes, but it was too quick for me to figure out what it was. I wondered if she regretted her words, but I quickly realized I didn't care. I didn't need her. I didn't need anybody; not like I could trust anybody, anyway!

"I should have killed you when I had the chance!" My tail slammed into the tree behind me, splintering the wood.

"Oh? Do you mean back when you could fly? Good luck catching me now, flightless dragon! After all, who'd ever heard of a dragon who can't fly?" she taunted.

Long ago, I said the same thing.

"LEAVE!"

She didn't miss the look of pure agony crossing my face.

"Wait, Ymerc, I'm sorry that was too far." She tried to fly closer, but my roar cut her off.

"I SAID LEAVE!"

Another moment passed before she turned and flew off, wingbeats penetrating the air. But I didn't hear any of them, too consumed by my anger. Even if I wasn't, my damaged ears wouldn't have picked them up, anyway.

With any luck, I'd never see her or her kind again. A lone green feather floated gently through the air before coming to rest on the dirt ground. I hated her, I hated my parents, I hated everyone! I didn't need her or anyone else! I will be just fine by myself.

Last night I was still able to fly, but when I woke this morning, the mobility in my wings was gone. About the only thing I could do with them was fold and unfold them. Anything more, and it felt like my wings were being shredded. My legs, hah, the fastest I could go was a slow trot, not nearly fast enough to catch any land prey. The weird thing was that my tail seemed perfectly fine; there wasn't any pain in my caudal appendage, no matter how I moved it. Which is funny considering how many times my parents shredded it or cut it off entirely. It's like the medicine that had healed me never took effect. Arlya had said she didn't know why this happened. I say she's lying.

I was regretting sparing her life.

One day I'd make this world feel my wrath; I'd make everyone pay! But I need strength and training, training to help me pay this world back for the wrongs I've been through, for being tortured and killed just for existing. This whole world deserves to rot and burn.

A growl from my stomach caught my attention. I swear I'm sick of getting hungry! I roared into the sky, but all that met my anger was a gentle breeze blowing through the forest. A squirrel darted through the brush, but the sounds of leaves rustling barely reached my ears.

Without hesitating, I headed in the opposite direction from Arlya. I swear if I ever see her again, I'll finish the job I started, then we would see who was flightless. I mean, it would still be me, but at least I wouldn't be alone anymore, but I suppose she wouldn't live long after that, the blood loss would kill her.

Perhaps I could break her wings so she couldn't fly, then she wouldn't be able to hold anything over me, but that's if I ever saw her again, which I wouldn't mind if I didn't. I really should have killed her when I had the chance.

Oh, and harpies, if I ever find more of them, they'll meet the same fate as all those the other night. I could still taste their sweet blood running over my tongue, tasting of blackberries and raspberries with a slight earthy tone. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want more, but for now, I'd settle for any wild animal that happened upon me. Even some fresh rabbit would tide me over till I found something more... filling.

I was so focused on finding food that I nearly passed a large cave opening that seemed to go deep into the ground. The sunlight did not light up anything past the entrance; it was like the cave was home to pure darkness that no light could penetrate.

The cave reminded me of the same one my parents took me to. I let out a low chuckle, which sounded like a purring cat but deeper and concentrated.

It also reminded me of some of the horror stories Draconus told me, how those who entered caves like this never returned.

"Hah! Yeah, like I'm that stupid, not dying today! Hear that stupid cave! I'm not falling for your trap!" I yelled at it, my anger from earlier still smoldering hot.

As if the cave heard me, whispers started echoing out of the cave, reaching my half-deaf ears like a strong breeze.

"Arlya. I swear if this is you playing a prank, you will have hell to pay, you understand?"

No one responded except the constant whispers reverberating through the air, barely detectable, but now that I knew they were there, it was as if they were talking directly into my head, but in a language, I didn't know, so it sounded like just a bunch of gibberish.

My parents lied to me about pretty much everything. Who's to say the same stories they told me, which kept me awake at night too scared of the monsters finding me, weren't also lies? Believing the stories were lies, I entered the cave, the darkness enveloping my scaled body; I had no doubt that any creatures watching me enter the cave lost sight of me as soon as I crossed the threshold.

Now that I was inside, the whispers were stronger, seeming to resonate through the walls themselves. The only reason I walked through was curiosity. All the scary stories I had been told didn't include whispers that seemed to resonate from nowhere. Hopefully, this wasn't a stupid mistake that would get me killed.

Before, I would have seen just fine in the inky black that pervaded the space. Now I was completely blind, and I didn't notice the pathway I was on end. By the time I realized it was too late. A single paw was all it took to send me hurtling through the darkness before slamming into the ground moments later. My wings were crushed under my weight on landing. Sharp pain like a red-hot knife piercing my spine ripped through my wing membranes and down my vertebrae. I rolled over, my weight no longer crushing my wings. Some semblance of relief washed over my wings, the pain lessening but still very much there.

"What the hell!" I roared, the walls resounding my anger over and over. A faint glow from further down illuminated parts of the small cavern I was in, Stalactites hung from the ceiling cast in a combination of shadow and light. The cliff was a good twelve feet above, the walls supporting it too smooth to climb. The only way I could go was forwards. Down here, the walls seemed to move like a pile of slithering snakes constantly moving over one another."this isn't right, something about this feels so wrong."

The light illuminating the tunnel increased as I went further, and a feeling of unease crept over me, sending lightning-like shivers across my scales. When the tunnel finally opened into a small room, I nearly ran out of there, my muscles tensing, but the sharp pain in my legs dropped me onto my stomach before I had even turned around; The room looked like an exact replica of the room Draconus and his mate tortured me in. But another glance revealed differences in the room. Instead of the table I had been chained to, a lone table made of wood sat in the center, a single leather-bound book sat closed on it. There was no title or any other markings to set it apart from another book, except the strange leather was white instead of the tan color I was used to seeing. The same-colored torches hung on the wall as in the torture room, all flickering on and off at irregular intervals.

Cautiously stepping paws into the room, I was ready for Draconus to come out of the wall and kill me. Suddenly, the book slammed open, making me jump, revealing pages devoid of any writing. The pages rapidly flipped until they stopped on a page of text. At the top of the page, in black, was written "Soul chains."

Below line after line of small text, each letter written in a different font, as if written with a distinct paw.

Another thing I realized; my parents taught me to read but not write. "Thanks you pieces of crap, I swear one day I'll kill them myself and make them feel every torture they so happily bestowed on me tenfold."

The rest of the book was blank; Just the single page with "Soul Chains".

Another look around the room revealed a thick layer of dust on the floor. There was also so much dust on the sconces holding the torches, it was hard to tell if the sconces were made of anything besides dust. It was safe to say no one has been here in a very long time.

"Well, might as well get some reading done," I said to the empty room.

"Soul Chains."

"Chaining someone to oneself forces the slave to do your bidding, not only that but they can never hurt you, physically or emotionally, and with a single word they will be forced to come to your side, nothing and no one can stop them on their way to you except death.

They will be mentally linked to you, so all it takes is a thought, and they will know precisely what you want them to do, but it's only one-sided. They won't be able to talk to the one holding their Soul. And they won't be able to defy orders given to them."

Beneath this text were instructions on how to make someone a slave.

I liked this. "Arlya wouldn't be able to do anything I didn't tell her to if she was annoying. With a simple thought she wouldn't be able to say another word until I gave her permission. And I could force her to hurt herself as payment for her nasty comments." I was digging this.

"To make someone a slave, you need something that personally belonged to them -The feather she dropped earlier would work nicely- And a few drops of the slaver's blood. After obtaining the item, drench the thing in blood and say these magic words."

The words were not in the Draconic tongue, so I had no idea what they said, but I was in luck. As if the book knew I couldn't understand the text, new script appeared at the bottom, written in my tongue.

"To the spirits of darkness, accept my offering and chain this soul to mine, allow no other to command only me and only upon my direct order will they be free"

"This Sounded simple enough." I said to the empty dusty cave."

After memorizing the words, I left to find the feather, a loud grinding noise was heard as a portion of the wall slid away to reveal a passage going up. I left the book. It was useless if it only had one page with script on it, and after learning the terms of the spell, it's not like I'd need it and would just be another thing to weigh me down.

The feather wasn't where I last saw it when I got back to the tree. I figured the wind had blown it somewhere, and after looking around for a while, I found it deep inside a bush.

"Aha!" I yelled.

"Arlya, get prepared to become a slave!"

Placing the feather on the ground, I used a claw and cut into my paw, letting the blood flow over my foot and onto the feather, drenching it in scarlet and turning it a muddy brown.

"To the spirits of darkness, accept my offering and chain this soul to mine, allow no other to command only me and only upon my direct order will they be free."

I was expecting something dramatic to happen, like lightning striking the ground or a strong wind to blow up from nowhere, but nothing happened except a lone tumbleweed passing through.

"Huh, go figures, should have known it wasn't going to work." Placing my forepaws back on the ground and trod away leaving the feather drenched in my blood .

***

Arlya.

I felt kind of bad about what I'd said. It was apparent he had thought the same thing, the look of absolute hurt in his eyes made my heart crack in two. The last time I'd gotten into an argument was with another harpy called Sannar. What we argued over was so trivial too, I remembered it like it was yesterday.

"Arlya, I am so much better at flying than you," Sannar said to me.

"Hah, you wish I was the first out of the nest, therefore, first to learn to fly. That makes me the best," I retorted.

We were siblings, young too, how I miss him. I missed the days we would play together, fly together and get into all sorts of trouble, but those days had ended long ago.

"Then prove it, race me; the winner has to tell the loser they are the better flier."

"Deal!" I told him, "The winner gets to brag."

It was a short race, one I had totally beaten him at, too; for the rest of the week, I bragged about being the better flier. Sannar hated me for it, but that was the rules of the race that he agreed too, so I didn't exactly feel sorry for him. We were still too young to take part in the actual weekly races. We were only six months old and had just learned to fly. One can only take part once they reach their first full year, so our small race was the best way at telling who was better. Still, that race drove us apart, I suppose it didn't help that I bragged about it for an entire week after, but he was never the same; he grew cold, distant to everyone. Sometimes I wondered if being the best flier meant more to him than it meant to me. If so, I should have let him win. I never should have let my pride get the best of me.

Two weeks later the disaster struck. The tribe called it "The drop." Our deity demanded another sacrifice, and we failed to deliver. In exchange, over a dozen harpies dropped from the sky, never to wake up again. They died before they hit the ground. At least, that's what Asclepius said. But I wondered if he was just telling the tribe that to protect them. Sannar was among the dozen that died. I never got to apologize and patch things with him. I never got to tell him how important he was to me.

I wasn't about to make the same mistake with Ymerc even if he did annihilate my tribe, but we did kind of deserve it for trying to kill him and stabbing him and betraying him and- I'm gonna stop there. He doesn't even know about that last thing., It's best he doesn't know.

When Asclepius was healing him, Ymerc asked him about magic. That surprised us both, as, according to what passing dragons told us, they teach magic to their young from a very young age, so Ymerc not knowing a thing about magic... well. Asclepius grew curious about what happened to him before he came here. So without Ymerc knowing he took a scale that had fallen from his body and performed some magic on it. It wasn't long before Asclepius found out everything. Later he told me, so really we betrayed him twice. There was something that seemed off about his parents... Besides the whole "kill our young" thing they had going on, something seemed familiar, but I could never figure it out.

The rabbits never saw me coming. A few swoops, and I had collected four. This will help tide his stomach over for a while, maybe? Right? He always seems hungry, and I didn't know how much a growing dragon ate, either.

Perhaps I'll ask him when I get back if he's still there, and even if he isn't, he can't have gone very far in his condition.

Suddenly, my talons froze, dropping the rabbits to the ground below. Slowly my body seized up, unable to move my legs, then my chest, and finally my wings before I plummeted from the sky and lost consciousness, the wind weaving around my frozen body.

***

Ymerc

Over the last few days, the color of my scales had dulled, like they had lost all life. The sun beat down on my scales, warming them somewhat but not enough to feel hot. I missed my bright red scales. How they used to shine in the sunlight. I missed how they reflected the sun's light into bright ruby red rays, but now the color seemed to have been leeched away. _I'll likely never get the color I once had back. _

Despair once again consumed me, reminding me of all I had lost and how little I had gained. I kept a mental list of all the things I lost. Bright ruby scales were just another thing I added to the ever-growing list that included my lost senses and parents who wanted me dead. Looking back, I enjoyed all the fun times we had, even if it was fake. I wanted that again. I wanted to feel loved even if it was fake, even if they killed me in the end, but I know it will never happen; I will never have parents who truly love me, who will protect me, teach me everything I missed out on. Even if a dragon were to appear in front of me now and say everything I wanted to hear, I wouldn't be able to trust a single word they said, so I'm better off alone. All I need is myself, that way no one can hurt me again.

Wingbeats sounded above, distracting me from my depressing thoughts before a green harpy landed in front of me, a rabbit in her beak. After landing, she dropped it on the ground. Blood splattered on the dirt as it impacted on the turf.

"You have some nerve coming back here, Arlya!"

I expected a retort, but she said nothing, only looked at me with blank, expressionless eyes.

"Arlya? Hello, are you there?"

Did that spell actually work? No way!

"Arlya, bite your left wing."

Without missing a beat, she did that, drawing blood and then pulling back into the same submissive position she was in. I watched with glee as blood trickled down her feathers, my scaled lips lifted in a Draconic smile.

As one more test, I'll make her do something utterly stupid.

"Arlya, fly into a tree."

A flap of her wings had her soaring into the sky before diving down.

"Without dying!" I added, and just before she made impact with the tree, she slowed down. A loud THUD echoed through the forest for a short way as she connected face first with the tree.

"Oh, now this I can have fun with."

A second later, she returned to her original position in front of me.

"Arlya, go back and fetch the feather that is drenched in blood." I commanded.

A moment later, she took off, heading back for the feather.

"Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!" I said.

A little while later, she returned, and by then, I had eaten the rabbit she had provided.

A single thought, and she handed over the feather. I would not lose that now I probably needed it to keep her under control

"Arlya wake up," I commanded.

The glazed look covering her eyes disappeared, and life returned to them.

"Ymerc, I'm so sorry about what I sa-wait. Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Short story or long story?"

"Ummm, whichever one doesn't take forever, and why does my face hurt? Why is my wing bleeding?" she replied.

"OK, I enslaved you using magic."

At first, she didn't react. But slowly, her eyes grew wide.

"You did what?!" she screeched.

"I found a book in a cave nearby, and in it, I found a way to enslave someone. I used it on you, not expecting it to actually work, but it did, and as a test, I made you fly into a tree... face first, and I made you bite your wing."

"So let me get this straight. You found a book in a cave that taught you how to enslave someone using dark magic, then you proceeded to try it on me?"

"Yep, pretty much." And was it really dark magic? Well, that certainly explains the chant and stuff. Maybe dark magic is the thing that kept those torches going.

"I'm so killing you!"

"Good luck with that," I retorted. With the spell, she couldn't lay a talon on me. But it didn't stop her from trying.

With a flap of her wings, she surged forth like a tidal wave, her talons stretched out before her aimed at my snout, but when her claws made contact with my face, it wasn't me who was hurt. It was her.

A loud screech shot through the trees; Arlya was on the ground in a blink of an eye, her wings touching her face as more and more screeches poured forth from her beak. Then words I had never heard before. I assumed she was cursing.

"Hah, you can never hurt me again! Now get up," I said, walking over to her and putting my snout in front of her face.

Like a puppet being moved by invisible strings, she was forced onto her talons. Her face was marked by three deep red lines with thin trails of blood running down her face, but I didn't miss the look of absolute terror and hatred warring for dominance in her eyes.

"You know, it's not like you didn't deserve it. Had you told me the truth earlier and not said such hurtful things, I wouldn't have resorted to such drastic measures," I told her.

She opened her beak as if to speak, but nothing came out. I wondered if she was trying to move? Or perhaps find some way out of her slavery? Either way, she wasn't being released anytime soon; I was having too much fun!

"You have permission to speak," I said to her, and like a Marionette being released, she had control over her beak.

"I wasn't the only one who said hurtful things, and I did tell you the truth. If you don't believe me, order me to tell you everything I know about the medicine we gave you. The curse you so "graciously" placed on me will force me to tell you the truth even if I don't want to, and the only reason you enslaved me at all was that you don't trust me and this way you can, even if it's misplaced."

"Well, no, duh, I don't trust you! You tried to have me killed and sacrificed to some stupid fake deity. But you have a point. Arlya, I command you to tell me the truth about the medicine you gave me to heal my scars."

Once again, Arlya's body seemed to be control by invisible strings.

The gist was nothing I didn't already know and confirmed my worst suspicions.

1. The medicine she gave me for my scars was supposed to nearly heal them, so nothing was there but standard scales.

2. All wounds healed by the medicine (which she just told me they had named Froloe after the aloe plant they had discovered some years ago) ever came back after its use.

3. She really does not know why my scars came back and, with it, my inability to fly.

All in all, I blamed the curse. It may have saved my life, but it was robbing me of everything else. No wonder they call it a curse.

"Arlya, wake up."

Like a doll being cut from its controlling strings, she was free, and the light returned to her eyes.

"I take it you asked, and I also take it you now know I was telling the truth?"

"More or less," I responded.

"Good, then let me go."

"Hah, as if. I need you to hunt for me since I can't exactly do it myself, and you seem to know a lot about the world. I'll need that knowledge if I'm ever to kill..." "that was close, no one needs to know I want to kill my parents."

"Kill who?"

"None of your business. First things first, I need to regain mobility in my body, and I need to fly. Do you know of any place that might be able to help with that?"

She looked about to ask more questions, but she must have remembered her new status and promptly shut her beak, only to open it a moment later.

"There is a large mountain range to the north of here, home to dozens of dragons much like a tribe of harpies, except they are referred to as clans instead of tribes. They work together and defend their territory fiercely, and their young even more so. A young dragon walking into their territory will raise questions, but because of your age and... lack of knowledge, they will most likely take you in. However, I will warn you, they forbid dark magic, and the penalty for using it is death, so if they ever discover you used such forbidden magic, they will kill you even if you were a hatchling right out of the egg."

"Good to know, no more dark magic."

If I wanted the greatest chance at killing my parents, I needed to learn to fight, and I needed to heal my wounds which were not getting any better, and my wings. I'd need them if my parents took to the sky. If they could fly and I couldn't, I would be at a severe disadvantage.

"Arlya, do you know how to get there from here?"

A great sigh escaped her beak before she responded, almost as if she were giving in to something.

"I do. However, they won't accept me; they will probably kill me on site, so once we reach the edge of their territory, you are on your own whether I'm a slave or not, understood?"

Hmmm, well, if I can get my wings back and learn to kill, losing a valuable slave full of knowledge was worth it in the long run.

"Very well, lead me to them, and I'll free you of your slave status. Sound good?"

She released a heavy sigh before responding.

"Very well, let's go. "She took flight, heading what I assumed was north but wasn't entirely sure, yet another thing to add to the ever limitless list of things I didn't know.