FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hi,

welcome to a story a little different to what I "usually" write, but I decided, that a medieval setting might be a bit more fitting for what I intended, so leave feedback as you like for me to improve or abandon the subject in the future ;). Anyway. Have fun and see you around.

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A crack echoed through the forest, "Watch out!" someone called when the monstrous tree came down. Starting with a slight nudge, nothing more than a tremble, motion came into the system. Faster and faster than it had ever moved, the giant fell. It still took a surprising amount of time for the huge plant, its size almost hiding the actual speed. But that would soon change. Branches and smaller trees had to budge, ripped away by the sheer force of their dying brother, until it slammed into the ground, crushing all life under its tremendous weight. A few workers barely made it out of the blast radius before disappearing in a dusty cloud. Silence followed, the few lumbermen breathlessly starting to realize their victory. All the sudden a single cheer broke through the murky air, more and more chiming in until their joy resounded almost as loud as the impact. For the last few hours they had worked on this beast, the precious wood defying most of their efforts and blunting their axes that now showed a significant loss in weight from the required sharpening. But once the outer layers had been chipped away with blood, sweat and tears, work had grown significantly easier, finally leading to this desperately needed victory, that would feed their families for the weeks coming. The legendary "titan-wood" as the locals called it was a rare good these days, popular among richer families, who wasted the mostly fire resistant material on expensive tables and floor tiling, while others paid costly sums for statues of their ancestors or themselves, that could last for centuries.

Tondan hated the high-headed stupidity these aristocrats demonstrated through their airs, having not even lifted a finger for anyone else in years, but they were the client after all. It was their money, that paid the food, their "noble" grant, that provided labour in the first place, so in a crude way, the underclass had to be grateful for their suppressors. A rough slap on the shoulder brought him back to the present though.

"Hey there, sluggard, time to wake up. Let's get this beauty moving before nightfall. The creatures of dusk surely will have a thing or two to say about our efforts." "Don't you worry. Tomorrow we'll be rich, at least until our next tavern inspection," the young stag responded absently, until his friend dragged him over to their project again. "As long as you don't get us kicked out again, I'm in." He received an amused smile as a response, before the two joined the other daytallers chopping off branches and sawing it in smaller, convenient, still huge chunks, but luckily the thinner sections were way easier to cut than the base. Just two hours later, yet the sun already threatened to leave behind the horizon, it was ready for transport and with the last rays of sunlight, the tired bunch arrived back at their town, multiple carts filled with the precious material and screaming under the weight. Most of the men actually went straight for the tavern, only few losing out on the chance to spend the gold they hadn't earned yet, but Tondan decided differently. The exhausting work had drained him out and there was nothing left to do until tomorrow, so he headed home instead. "Give my regards to Kodar. He's missed here," his friend called after him, but the stag didn't react. The others should stay out of his business.

When he entered as quietly as possible to not wake his father up, in the rare case he actually had managed to fall asleep, the well known cough expected him already. As the other one noticed him, he tried to wave him a greet, but the old man immediately collapsed on the bed again. "Getting worse every day," Tondan sighed under his breath and took a seat next to the shadow of what his father once was. Patting the haggard figures paw, he caught himself thinking, whether there even was hope for his recovery, whether there was a reason to fight the inevitable any more. "Hello father, how are you today?" he asked with his best approach for a confident voice, but the doleful undertone was too apparent to even fool the half-conscious. "Don't you worry," latter one replied, more a wheeze than anything else, "I'll be fine. I won't give in that easily and in just a week I'll be in my best form again. You-" another wave of choked coughs shook his body, "you'll see." After a warm smile, the younger male stood up again, still clinging to his fathers weakening grip, before he took care of the burning out fireplace. When he returned to the bedside, the figure was already snoring irregularly. Tondan stayed for a while as it could be the last time to see him alive, then left into the only other room of the tiny, slowly rotting house they called their home. He would fix it, but without his mother or anyone else to care, there was little to no time besides work for anything, just the dwindling hope, that the poor creature next door wouldn't leave him... or at the very least find a soon, easy end, before it would drive him insane. He painfully realised, that he actually didn't care for the outcome at this point in time any more, just for this torture to end, for his father to finally make a decision.

In the course of the following week, Tondan watched the fight continue. As expected, the old man's condition worsened and small glimmers of hope usually were followed and crushed by a new rock bottom, he didn't assume was even possible. In the usual, cruel irony of fate, their financial situation improved as more profitable opportunities allowed for choosing employments for the day more carefully, giving him time to work on the several open problems at home. He even managed to fully seal the roof and close the gaping cracks in the walls. His father kept talking about how he would take over once he would recover, but this was just the bare minimum of dignity he had left, fighting for significance and not to completely abandoning his child. "Equal how much you grow up, you'll still be my son, my family, and I will never let you down," he mumbled one evening, "I'm just sorry, that I am unable to care for you right now." Tondan looked in these dull, brown eyes, but for some reason, the friendly words had lost their meaning. Whatever good intentions lay in them, now they were just an empty shell, reminding him of his helplessness and the dwindling hope, that he once used to carry. "It's not like you ever did," he replied under his breath, more a sarcastic scoff he wasn't supposed to hear, "anything but that."

Yet he did. "What do you mean?", Kodar asked carefully, his son irately avoiding his gaze. He softly reached for the trembling shoulders, but his tentative fingers were pushed away. "You couldn't care for mother and now you simply can't care for me. What's the difference?" the younger one bitterly replied, then slowly turned around, "Did you even feel anything when you held her this day? Was it just another wild dream, a drunken imagination when you held her dead body in your arms, ebrious as always and told me, that the gods would now look out for her? At least it wasn't your responsibility, right? The gods of course, they took her, they were the ones leaving a fawn behind to watch her withering away in despair. It probably was a salvation to be finally allowed to leave this life, but nonetheless it was your fault. These guards were there because of you. She loved me till the end, will you?" And with that he stood up, the image of his raging hate, the face drowning in tears, burnt into Kodar's mind. Before he could react, his only child left, headed for the exit. Kodar called after him, for him to stay, to give him a chance to explain, but his breath failed him once again. While shivers and coughs shook his body, through the darkening vision he saw the few remains of his family break apart.

Tondan ran. Nothing would stop him now. Images of his dying mother flashed up behind his eyes, on and on her look haunted him, this desperate, begging look for him to live, to have a different fate than herself. So he ran faster, fled from the memories. The sinking sun, the growing cold, it didn't matter for now. Away from home, away from the trouble, out in the woods, just anywhere not here. The young stag ignored the stinging pain in his ankle, must've twisted in somewhere halfway, but it couldn't be more insignificant at the moment. As he regained control over his raging thoughts again, Tondan was alone, somewhere outside, all he had wanted, yet it felt wrong, the isolation piercing him as furiously as the remembrance before. The words he had said weren't his any more, an onslaught of madness, and he wished nothing more, than to be home again and let the world pass on around him. A hidden ditch tore this thought apart, sending him to the ground, while his hoof stayed stuck in place. Surprisingly unspectacularly, it just gave off a nasty crack when his already injured ankle got bent way further than their creators had ever planned for and way beyond his imagination of possibilities. The ground came closer, he swung his arms forward, covering himself as good as possible while waiting for the inevitable. A last, unfitting thought passed his mind of the titan tree majestically tipping over. Yet what followed had not a whiff of its qualities as he slid through the greenery. The countless scratches and cuts from stones and twigs in his unforeseen pillow were merely itching in comparison to the simple, cold pain, that made its way up his leg now. His frustrated scream echoed through the nighty woods.

"By Uska's shining grace," he groaned through his gritted teeth, fighting down the pain, "your playing prey for the ferals for tonight and yet you didn't come up with anything more insightful than to guide them right to you." Muffling a sharp groan, he raised himself on the elbows. They were ruined, too, but at least not as much as they could have been. A few lose semi-dry leaves stuck to the bleeding cut on his forehead, coming off when he looked around anxiously. Nothing unusual yet, but he hardly felt clear enough to judge. Crawling towards the scarp slope, the stag struggled to stay conscious, feeling every single bump in the ground his dragging leg sunk into. A relieved grunt escaped his muzzle when he sank against the cold rock and looked around. Through the dim, blue light of the almost full moon a small clearing opened in front of him with a cliff at the furthest end and tightly grown brushes to both sides, that formed a natural barrier, just a few hidden paths in or out. Next to him gaped a natural cave into the otherwise threateningly looming rock formation. In daylight this place might look astonishing, but in this dim twilight, every dark corner was watching him, peeking eyes in every crevice that put their greedy gaze on their helpless meal. Tondan sighed deeply, damning his vivid imagination as something caught his attention, an otherwise undistinguished movement at the corner of his vision. Anther one on the other made him spin his head around, while almost inaudible steps cracked in the foliage. Soon they appeared.

One by one a pack of wolves emerged from the dark, their silvery pelts almost glistening in the moonlight. Tondan would actually have appreciated the magnificent sight, but the fear luckily took over. Heartbeat exploding again, he started stumbling and crawling sidewards along the natural barrier. The injured fawn scratched himself even more, the thin clothing barely enough to protect him from the rough surface, but the reasonable part of him had already realised what his instincts refused to believe: he wouldn't escape. The wolves clearly knew, but still he fought on. Unwilling to give up, he had reached the opening. He dove into the shadows, tripping forwards in the dying hope of finding another way out, while his pursuers victoriously entered and formed a line to impede any escape. But right when they prepared to chase him down, the leader stopped and cautiously sniffed. A light wince later, his company halted, too, growling and snarling restlessly. Whatever held them off, it didn't seem worth the risk and the hunting party hesitantly retreated, their discouraged snarls echoing off, until they were gone. Tondan hadn't realised he had kept his breath, but when the feeling returned to his leg, he finally allowed him self to release the building up yelp. "Stop it!" he thought to himself, "pesky creature. Die if you feel like it, but at least have the decency to keep it to yourself." His ears twitched at the statement, the strange sound it had. He had told himself a lot throughout the years, but never had he used such expressions, such a voice. "You're so done for today," the young stag eventually concluded and collapsed on his back, but rammed his antlers straight into a rock that sneakily hid in the darkness.

The stag groaned frustratedly and looked for the obstacle while his eyes slowly adjusted for the meagre lighting, but something was strange about it. The slight shimmer and a seemingly flat face looked unnatural and when he touched the surface, it felt surprisingly warm, almost organic. When movement came into the thing, his heart skipped a beat. While he hastily crawled backwards, eyes widened in panic and every single sound he made resounding painfully loud, the stone slowly turned into a creature. Towering way higher than even the town hall, whatever it was, this beast was massive. It eventually stopped its movement again, but Tondan would definitely not spend the last hours of his life with a feral monster as even the wolves felt like a blessing now. A spike of pain suddenly pierced up his spine and into his head, numbing his limbs and cutting off his breaths, while a deep voice rumbled through his mind. "Stay right there!" it demanded as the giant, black figure started moving again. Hard to tell which part was stone, which one monster, it crept towards the petrified cervine and a moment later, a tremendous weight landed on his chest and cut off his startled gasps. "You're nothing, a worthless intruder and yet instead of giving up you take your trouble to me. But don't you worry. I'll make it quick." The force on him increased, slowly crushing his ribcage and long, silver blades pinned his antlers in place to keep his head from struggling. "Stop, please!" he gagged in panic with his last breath and surprisingly the pressure reduced a bit. Panting heavily he looked up at his captor, but the figure blended into the background too well to fathom its shape. Yet all the sudden, a warm glow emerged, a half open maw that loomed over his head threateningly, ready to bite down at even the slightest movement. "Finally found you voice again, little one," the beasts voice teased, "but why would I?" "Please. Just let me leave and I shall never disturb you again." His word now came weak and distorted, while his lungs slowly refused their service despite being free for now. "Killing you will do the trick, too, plus the added bonus, that there will be no one left to tell your story to eager trophy hunters. But I'm afraid our conversation is not going to last for much longer anyway. You already feel the pull, don't you? That luring voice that slowly claims your soul, burns into your heart and ceases your breaths." "My father, please..." he begged in his delirium while his vision started flickering. "Something useful eventually. Will he come looking for you?" the beast suddenly asked after a painfully long moment, an eye lowering right above his head, before it made a strange chuckle," by the ancients, your lungs. I remember." The paw finally lifted from his chest, only to roughly strike down next to him and the creature leaning over its victim. Tondan half expected his suffer to finally end, deliverance from his struggle, as the it gently nudged his crushed chest with its snout. A fire exploded on his inside and the young tried to yell in agony with his flickering remains of life, but strangely it didn't kill him. Instead bones cracked, blood rushed through his ears and painstakingly slowly he felt his chest rise again while flesh healed and his skeleton started to regain structure with even his ankle shifting in its intended place. After a few seconds it was over and when Tondan grasped for air again, it surprisingly worked again like nothing had ever happened. "And now," growled the beast,"answer my question." "He... He'll find me. Definitely. I-" "Liar!" it yelled through his swirling thoughts while the pressure on his mind drastically increased, "I'm inside your head, every disappointing part of it. So stop jeering at me, even if it means to admit your own meaninglessness. Don't waste your last breaths on such nullities."

After a moment of embarrassed silence he gave up. Feeling his already non-existent value dropping even more, he quietly admitted, "no, he won't come. He's sick, rotting alone, almost dead. No one would miss either of us." He felt the creature deliberating whether to trust him, but a sudden change in its demeanour, as subtle as it was, gave him at least a hint of hope, that he might make it out alive. "Show me," it eventually demanded. "I-I can't. I-" "Your memories will do," the voice replied almost in a sigh, "I would dig them out myself, but I'm afraid that it would leave your pity head even messier than it already is." With a proper amount of doubt, Tondan complied, a short thought enough to vividly remember the slender figure he had left to die. The intruding entity immediately pounced on the image, digging deeper through their relationship than he had intended. Image after image, each precious memory came up. Their happy yet blurry past, his anxieties and hopes, all were pulled apart while Tondan was forced to live through them again. But over time something changed. The former violent pressure slowly turned into a cold embrace as their consciousnesses met, foreign feelings extensively dripping through the connection, drowning Tondan in a wave of despair that pushed him to the brink of insanity. Eventually a scene he had never seen flashed up. It was no longer his withering father in front of him, neither his dying mother the intruder had examined particularly closely. Instead a blurry scene appeared, a white beast squirming in agony, a winged dragon judging by the paintings and sketches he knew. The pained roar stuck in his mind, while the bone-crushing flood of rage and fear drove tears into his eyes. When the beast noticed its mistake, it left as fast as it had come while the panting stag collapsed back on the floor, barely able to catch a coherent thought. The sudden retreat left a void inside of him, his stomach wasn't quite fond of. The few remains of his dinner made their way upwards and Tondan just leaned over in time to vomit them all over the floor. When the spasms ceased, he noticed that the figure over him had disappeared. Just the quiet rustle of moving scales echoed through the cave while it returned to its place. For some reason, he felt responsible for it. His instinct told him to run again, to leave as long as he was able to, but another part pitied it, especially the seemingly volatile nature of its character felt somewhat vulnerable. Latter intuition eventually won and he followed it back to the hindmost section of the cavern. The dark figure noticed his presence and Tondan blenched when the pressure returned, but he just couldn't be afraid of it any more. "I'm sorry, little one. Leave as you desire, I don't hold a grudge against you any more." "Who was that?" he asked while carefully approaching the colossus. Taking a seat next to the maw, his head slightly below the creatures glowing eye, he stared at it for a while. "That's a story for another day. As you're still here, I would suggest you sleeping for a moment in case you're intending to stay." The glowing orb in front of him disappeared behind an eye lid and the light feeling in his head officially marked the end of their conversation. Not far from him, Tondan spotted a mossy patch and as there would be no place safer for tonight probably, he stumbled over to it, dropped on the surprisingly soft plant and soon exhaustion claimed its price.

Yet when he woke up again, it still was still night. It took him a moment to recognise his surroundings. With a tired grunt, he stretched extensively, but when he rolled over to stand up, he rammed into a scaly wall. A moment later he noticed the reason for the darkness: a black membrane stretched over his head and the beast had placed some part of its body right next to him, forming an improvised tent of some sort. With extraordinary caution he crawled to the edge where the thick skin met the ground and gently pushed against it, but to no avail. The heavy beast proved to be more stubborn than Tondan was willing to fight against, not wanting to risk another life thread and so a few minutes of helpless waiting had to pass until the familiar voice returned, "feeling alive again, aren't we?" "Why do you keep me here? Wasn't I allowed to leave?" A chuckle-ish sound, outside of his head surprisingly, responded, before the massive membrane was lifted, "I never break my word, little one, but I don't let others freeze to death either." The sudden bright beam that broke through the black void blinded him, but when his eyes had somewhat adapted to the lighting, he noticed the icy layer covering almost every surface while a fresh morning breeze pierced through his ruptured clothing and fur. Tondan stumbled into the glistening brightness and looked around. The light flooded cavern looked way more inviting than yesterday, but he had completely underestimated the sheer size of the creature. While seeming to be of the same species as the one from its memory, it almost filled the entire opening. The dark blue, scaly mountain towered over him at least two buildings tall and the massive leathery wings seemed like they could put his town into shade as a whole. The stag simply refused to imagine how it would look like standing or even moving and to make matters worse, a wide yawn revealed a set of arm long teeth, sharp and pointy as lances and covered in massive amounts of saliva. He took a frightened step back while staring into the seemingly endless void of its throat, before the rough tongue curled up in front of it. "Pardon me," the dragon commented, "my manners must have gotten lost somewhere within the last century, but don't you worry. I usually tend to take care of my guests. Speaking of..." it patted towards the entrance, careful not to knock him over, "you're awaited at home, I imagine. Consider yourself free as I wouldn't be able to provide you with food anyway, but don't you dare telling anyone about this. I prefer peace and order and I wouldn't recommend you ruining it." The colossal dragon retreated from his mind while dropping to the ground on the clearing and bathing in the sun. The small figure froze in place, staring after it, still not certain whether it actually would keep its word and the sudden change in behaviour didn't really help either. Yet with nothing left to do and a distinct feeling to be out of place, Tondan eventually waved insecurely and decided to leave. A strange sensation still remained in his stomach, besides the burning hunger, as he was not quite sure what to make of the past events. When he nearly was out of sight, deeply lost in his thoughts, it reached out for him once again, "bring your father. I might be able to help him." Tondan spun around, staring back at the inert, giant figure in bewilderment. "Even if he could make the distance, why would you do that?" It felt impossibly unlikely offer from a beast like it, almost like a trap intended for reasons unknown to him, "what is in it for you?" "I gave a promise I intend to keep. And I would prefer 'Eldyr' instead of 'beast' by the way." And with that, the connection to the stunned cervine broke. After a moment of confusion, Tondan turned back on track again and made his way back home, still hardly considering his return an option, but what choice did he have?

An hour later, the hunger had almost become unbearable, Tondan shyly opened the door. The looks on the streets for the worrisome looking fawn stumbling through the alleys had been bad enough, but now was about to come the really hard part. When he entered, his father just blankly stared at him for a moment in his ragged clothes and muddy fur and he even seemed a little terrified. "Hello, father," Tondan mumbled and didn't dare to look up, but to his surprise, the older one managed to stand up and shakily walked over. Tondan winced when he felt thin arms wrap around him, a weak yet confident hug. "I'm so sorry, I-" he cried out, but Kodar didn't care. "I thought I had lost you, too," latter one whispered, "but you're here now. That's all that matters." He suddenly started to tremble and slumped, but Tondan caught him in time. Still he kept on talking, "You must be starving. Let me prepare something. Just give me a moment..." Tondan watched in bemusement when his father dropped on a ramshackly chair and panted heavily to regain breath. "No, you're not," he instructed, "I'm old enough to take care of myself and you need rest." With dwindling resistance he guided the slender figure to his bed again, the dragons offer echoing though his head once again. Throughout the evening his father carefully yet assertively tried to find out where his son had left to, but the fawn wouldn't respond.

The next morning came and with it Tondan's determination. He would bring his father to Eldyr, no matter the cost. Everything seemed better than to watch him wither away one more day, so after breakfast, he gathered the most necessary supplies and told the old man, that they would go on a hike. Latter one watched his son with a strange apathy, unsure whether the boy who had returned actually was the one who had left, but he was in no condition to bargain and had to follow the order. For the first part of the journey it actually seemed to work. Painstakingly slowly but surely the two made their way up the mountain, step by step pressing on, but the higher they got, the more distance passed, the sickness more and more wore him out. During a break halfway Tondan honestly offered carrying him, but he couldn't ask for even more from his beloved one. Whatever drove the youngling up here, obviously knowing the price it cost, he was not willing to give in. Eventually they reached a clearing; the old stag already leaning onto his son and barely able to breathe any more, but this seemed to be their destination. Tondan made him sit down against a rock, signalling him to stay back while heading for an entrance in the nearby cliff and calling for someone. Apparently lacking a reply he returned while desperation and anger almost burned out of his eyes. Kodar managed to catch some of his mumbling, but couldn't make sense out of it.

Suddenly a gush of air washed over the glade as the sound of flapping wings announced Eldyr's arrival. Suddenly the giant figure emerged from the noonday sun. Tondan had little time to wonder how he could have missed it as the colossus landed right next to them. The ground crumbled in silent protest and at least the shock that ran through the treeline had alarmed the old figure next to Tondan. His father jumped up, threw himself in front if him and yelled at it with a surprising certainty, "Stay back! May the gods curse you till the end of time if you dare to hurt him!" "Impressive for such a negligible creature, for I am the closest to a god you'll meet for your short lifespan" came the mental response, "but I'm actually here on your behalf." "On my? What... Who's speaking there? Reveal yourself!" The dragon lay down and placed its head right in front of the two and Tondan felt his old man already giving up their chance of survival. "Father, let me explain-" "You're behind all of this? Oh Tondan, what have you done?" he shrieked in panic when he saw his son still standing in place, apparently absolutely calm about the danger at hand. The sheer betrayal in his eyes when he collapsed in a wave of coughs even made him question his own trust in Eldyr for a moment. "It's here to help you. I know, that I have deceived you, but it was necessary. I couldn't watch you perish for much longer." "So you decided," a retching sound interrupted him for a moment, "so you just decided to sacrifice me? Never shall I participate in this heresy. By your mothers grave, I would rather die than to serve this monster in the slightest. You-" "I'm sure you two have a lot to discuss," Eldyr suddenly commented, "but that's your problem, so please don't mind as I let you two sort this out on your own." Slowly the scaly mountain rolled on its back, idly stretching its wings across the clearing, and finally gave the pair a playful, upside down look with the resemblance of a smirk while the foreign consciousness retreated from his head. Tondan watched the act in bewilderment, his father in terror, until it closed its eyes and released its breath audibly, nearly knocking them over with the hot stream of air. It was difficult for both of them to avert their looks, but eventually Tondan started explaining. His father luckily relaxed a little, but still kept up his resentment over his sons decision as he felt unable to trust a feral animal, particularly of a kind that could wipe out entire populations at their will. Tondan on the other hand noticed Eldyr gently scouting his thoughts from time to time, but he stayed quiet during their conversation.

Eventually Kodar gave in and turned towards the head next to him. "Whatever your reasons may be, beast, I trust my son and as he believes you, I shall not refuse your offer." The dragon head turned the right way round again, making the old stag startle a little and Eldyr seemed to talk to him for a second, but this time Tondan seemed to be excluded from the conversation. His fathers face on the other hand told him enough, caught in a mix of fright and awe. "With that out of the way, let's move on," returned the voice, "Would you hold him in place, little one? It might sting a little and I don't feel the urge to crush his torso, too." The last comment deeply unsettled the elder, but Tondan just knelt down to his already trembling father and embraced him tightly. He could feel the weak heart racing through the chest and fur as the giant closed its eyes again and a soft, blue glow surrounded the slack figure in his arms while buzzing filled the air. Soon the sound wore off, but the glow grew in intensity and suddenly he felt the body tense up. Step by step the trembling increased while his fathers hooves kicked out and his shaking antlers threatened to cut into Tondan's chest. The seizure clamped Kodar's muzzle shut, but the groan of pain still escaped and his eyes danced in their sockets from the sheer panic. He expected it to stop like it had for him, but the longer he felt his fathers suffer, the more he regretted his decision. "Stop! Please!" he eventually begged, but the beast didn't respond. He was forced to endure the shaking lump in his grip, merely providing ease with his closeness until someone had mercy and sent his father to unconsciousness. The heartbeat didn't slow, every muscle still stressed to its limits, hut at least the desperate gasping for air stopped.

Tondan didn't know how long it took, but eventually the glow wore down and the body in his arms grew flaccid again. He hadn't noticed himself crying, but now as he carefully leaned his father against the rock, he felt the hot stream run down his face. Fuelled by a burning rage he stomped over to Eldyr and started hitting his snout, pushed, screamed at him in desperation. Suddenly the same glow flowed through his body, too. He expected pain, but he felt a gentle grasp around him, slowly lifting him off the ground and above Eldyr's chest. He fought, struggled against the invisible might, but eventually he had to give up as the wave of emotions had worn off. Only then did it open its eyes and looked up at him, a calm, questioning look, only exaggerated by yet another yawn, but this time his insides also emitted a light blue light. "What have you done to him? Why... Why did you let him suffer? You were supposed to help him... for whatever cursed reason." he eventually asked between exhausted whimpers, the remaining tears dropping down to the scales three paces below. The sensation of the other consciousness returned and its voice took a more melodic, soothing approach, "It's one thing to correct a few broken bones, weld the simple substance and speed up the natural healing process, but a disease... it takes time to find the necrotic tissue, to burn out the infection. You primitive creature have no idea what I am talking about, don't you? Anyway. It was necessary and he will probably forget about the nasty details, more a short-lived nightmare than anything else." Silence filled the space between them while Tondan carefully read in the sparse emotions that dripped through the connection, like an almost still lake only disturbed by occasional stokes of thoughts. A sudden spike caught his attention though, when the dragon started idly poking the floating cervine in front of him and making him slowly rotate, a condition he clearly felt uneasy about, the lack of control about his motion in particular. "You asked, why I would help you two," Eldyr slowly noted, "and we seem to have the rest of this cycle until he wakes up." A claw was reached up and Tondan hastily reached out for it to stop in place, not missing the sly grin he was passed. "You prefer to listen from the ground?" "As long as you keep me still, it's actually quite comfortable," he replied distractedly. "Whatever you like, but we can hardly stick with your kind's form of communication this time." The strange undertone in its announcement left a certain insecurity in the stag, especially considering his past experience, but on the other hand seemed the idea of learning something about the mysterious creature too important to miss. The former pressure on his head suddenly increased as a fierce grip clenched around his mind. He closed his eyes, the nausea getting unbearable, but when he opened them again, he felt different. The stress was gone, replaced by a certain... weightlessness, a feeling of release. This suddenly changed when his eyes focussed again. He stared at his own, absent face he only knew from lakes and puddles, the eyes turned back far enough to leave them white, emotionless... dead. His heart started racing, he kicked with his four legs to stand up again, curled his tail... he had a tail! "Relax little one," he told himself, "or you might hurt your vessel, leaving me no place to put you back. Welcome by the way." A second entity slowly took control again, calmed their heart and steadied their breaths. "What have you done? What... where am I?" Tondan felt a slight, laugh-like vibration in his broad, scaled chest. "Most of you is still were you left it. It's rather obvious that we're not dead either, but I feel that you have a pretty good idea where you are, your mind just refuses to accept it, so let me help you a little bit. You're inside my body for the time being and we're the closest to being one as I dare to put strain on your soul." "So... We... I am still in there?" he cautiously asked and tried to point to his 'vessel', but Eldyr kept an iron fist of their body. "Mostly. This vessel's heart is still beating, its breath continues, but there is nothing left, that would classify it as... you. You might now realise, why I chose this arrangement." The flow of emotions increased as his consciousness inched a little closer. What formerly would probably killed him now felt pleasant, thoughts roaming freely, almost without the need for words, but it also meant there would be no space for privacy. He didn't know how, but Tondan managed to retreat from the dragon again, his vision still flashing from the images, sounds and tastes, far too intense to process. "Now that you know what it feels like, are you ready?" "Not really," Tondan admitted, "isn't there any other way?" "Nothing worthwhile at least. Words only take you so far, intolerable imprecisions all over the place." After a moment in which the stag's mind tried to sigh, a very... unusual sensation, he replied insecurely, "go ahead." "Again, relax," the dragon instructed and his mind inched closer again, but not as far as the last time, yet it felt like a cold shower, filled with memories and feelings, all dominated by the deep, growling voice.

"First of all, let's put events into perspective." The bubbling sea of images cleared to reveal a bird's egg. Despite the apparent insignificance of the scene, Eldyr made sure to put weight into it. "Your kind appeared in these lands about a millennium ago, from where only the ancestors know. I hatched about two centuries later, but from the start on, you bipedals kept fighting, for land, for resources, sometimes for your life when you felt threatened; whether against actual dangers or just against your own insufficiencies. I sought to have an impact in your fate, helping one side or the other from time to time." Out of the swirl of events, shocking scenes emerged, bloody and dark, battlefields covered in corpses, feral ravens seeking for food where was plenty to choose from, while Eldyr didn't hide his own cruelties and disgusting pleasure about his helpless victims, not even fully aged to his current size. Tondan tried to pull back again, afraid to feel the same if he stayed for much longer, but the dragon wouldn't let him. "At the time it felt reasonable, enticing, yet a meagre hope for you to stop the fight. Whatever I had assumed, it didn't work out. Sure, you learned to fear the cost of war, but something kept you going, an endless greed for expansion, to conquer, to consume. Yet one year, something changed. The enemy had tricked another one of my kind into pursuing their goals, with false promises, smooth talking, whatever helped." Tondan would have vomited yet again from the sheer disgusting mass of gore and violence he was presented with, almost falling into the same frenzy as Eldyr had in these memories, when a not completely unknown white dragoness suddenly came crashing into Tondan. He noticed her scales, painted in blood of her enemies, felt her claws dig into his own shoulders, the sharp fangs at his neck. On an on the colossuses collided, roaring, biting, burning the enemy with all their might, hut for some reason, the stag felt no hate from Eldyr this time. Looking closer he noted the short pauses, the intentional hesitations for the other one to break free, to strike back and fight on. Finally the darker drake decided to end the game, pinning the other one below him, his weight pressing down on her body and his massive fangs threatening to pierce her trachea if she dared to move just an inch. The white figure froze in place, her chest rising and falling from her heavy pants. When he had insured her surrender, Eldyr climbed off her, gently nuzzling her flank when a furious call sounded over the battlefield. "Kill it, beast! Kill that pale demon already you obnoxious-" Eldyr spun around, the startling knight tripping over a spear on the ground. Approaching closer with a deep growl, the pity wolf crawled backwards, well aware that his thin armour not nearly enough to stop those drooling fangs. Eldyr was ready to crush that meaningless creature, but a playful snarl behind him stopped him in his tracks, the goddess of light gently calling him over. It didn't take long for him to consider his choices. As a last goodbye present, he casually dropped his tail on his former ally, burying him a food deep into the muddy ground, before he followed his fellow into the air, a deep delight, maybe even desire burning through his veins. "It should be obvious," the present Eldyr returned while the memory vanished into the swirl again, "that both of your kings were... not exactly enthusiastic about our decision." "You... almost killed her." "I know. Love is such an unfitting word, not nearly enough to describe what we had. If my people choose a mate, it's for eternity and in turn we simply cannot effort a wrong choice, but I am glad I proved worthy." More private, sometimes... intimate scenes followed, that, despite their rough strangeness made Tondan seriously reconsider his current assumptions about relationships, much to the older one's amusement. "I'm afraid our kind is a bit too extensive in comparison and I assume, that your females probably don't appreciate a good fight from time to time. Anyway."

His mood suddenly dropped, "as I mentioned, these stubborn fools you tend to choose as leaders insisted on the promises we never made, first sending messengers, later their troops. After an awful amount of blood we both had long grown tired of and the next generation already replacing the old donkeys, they eventually gave up and focussed on rupturing each other again in their insignificant games, clenching to the fear, the eagerness for mutual destruction, caught in endless feuds. One of them won, but maps tend to change quite rapidly over time so it doesn't matter who. But what stayed, promoted by countless stories of this aftermath, was the mistrust, the ignorance I even sense fractions of in you right now, the believe that our kind are heartless monsters and if you were honest to yourself, you would acknowledge the truth in my words, have you only a few minutes ago changed your mind yourself. We spent the last centuries in freedom, grown beyond the primal urge to fight, but this hate just kept boiling up. It was well known where we lived, only the frightening storied that held them back, but one day; one day one of your bipedal sort decided to prove the stories wrong, a young mage, strong enough to do harm, but way too incompetent to think of the consequences."

A single memory popped up, a robed fox fleeing into the forest while a heart-crushing roar of agony echoed across the lands. Tondan knew what would follow. He had seen this particular scene already during their first conversation and so Eldyr spared him of the pain of seeing it once again, but couldn't hold back his own emotions, haunting the stags mind and drowning him in the same despair and hatred. "This one, petty thing had done unspeakable things for this particular spell. To match a dragon's soul he must have murdered countless, feeding on their strength for his own power. In the end, the curse was incurable, lingering, cruel yet tenacious. Together we might have been able to fight it, but she couldn't any more for I was too late." The dragon took a moment to get his emotions back under control. He shared one last memory, one last image of his mate, weakly smiling up at him, her tail softly brushing his stomach... and his paw on her head, ready to push down against any resistance of scales, bones and flesh. A pained roar broke through her silence, begged him to continue, right before Tondan knew that he would press down, his own heart crumbling in the process, too, although the memory stopped right before. "It was her last wish and I never refused her anything, but do you have just a glimpse of what it means for a life to end, a soul to perish while entangled with your own? This one, short moment of relieve..." Tondan already had no emotions left to grasp what he had just experienced, too worn out to know what to feel. Eventually the dragon continued, taking some of Tondan's pain off him, but not nearly enough. "To keep it short, this bloody bastard fled into one of your villages. He flaunted his seeming victory, was welcomed as a hero, but as I demanded the villagers to hand him out, they refused. My fury burnt bright that day, brighter than ever before, even during war." A valley came into view, charred to the ground, the surroundings dark and lifeless as tar, the black remains of houses scattered across the field of which even the stones had partially melted together. "Akzural..." Tondan whispered exhaustedly. He knew this place. Just a few day's journeys from his home lay this barren wasteland, to this day untouched by anything alive. Some would come there to wonder about the mystery, but never dared to come any closer than half a day by feet, too afraid of the magic it still inhabited. "I have no idea whether I had actually killed him that day, but I swore this never to happen again, never to dishonour her with my own inability, yet nearly broke that oath on you just a century after."

Step by step his mind retreated from Tondan's as the visions started to flicker before eventually breaking off. The stag blinked a few times and with a feeling of diving into a freezing cold lake, he returned to his own body. The sudden restriction felt weird and although he had lived inside this environment for the last sixteen years, it was an unsettling experience. "You alright, little Tondan?" Eldyr asked while he suavely let him down again, resting the still quivering cervine against his flank. "Not really," the other one mumbled while he still struggledseparating the dragon's and his own memories and thoughts, "do your peoplealways communicate like that?" "Usually way closer, but in short, yes. When there is noprivate space,there's nothing to hide; no lies, no disaccords, simplyunderstanding. And if you come to hate the other one, it's at least from the depth of your heart and your enemy is sure to know. Bonding with a mate on the other hand truly intertwines your fate and life for eternity. It's the greatest honour one can be granted." "And you surely were the right one for it."Close by a disembodiedgroan suddenlydemanded attention and Tondan shockinglyremembered the actual reason for his presence. Carefully stepping off Eldyr's wing, he rushed to his father, took his head between his patted hands, and closely watched his reactions. The old eyes widened for a moment while he stared at the dark blue, scaly figure behind his son, its warm smile appearing more as a scary, toothy grin, but soon was able to relax and embrace him. "It's alright, I'm here," he whispered and slowly stood up. After enjoying the closeness for a moment, he shakilywalked over to his saviour. Tondan saw him shrug back for a moment, heard his fathers nervous whispers, but after a moment he saw him reach out to the scales, trembling when he let his fingers run over the huge cheek in front of him. Eventually he turned around with blissful tears filling his eyes. "Farewell you two. Maybe return one day, but fornow, enjoy the little time you have in this world," came a last word of goodbye, before Eldyr rolled back on his legs, shaking the entire clearing in the process, and leisurely started lumbering back to his cave, his giant consciousness kindly leaving them to their own thoughts. Suddenly Tondan felt an urge to thank him, ran over and wrapped his arms around one hugeleg, but the scaled mountain didn't stop, just giving off a soft hum. He hesitated, but eventually Tondan returned to his father and together they made their way back to town,arm in arm into the setting sun.