FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Loction - Enfrit Island (Between Yelfrit and Endra)

Groups - Imnic Jysarian Tribe vs Halfor Ciennic Pack

Fighters - Kila (Female Jysar) vs Revau (Male Cien)

Battle Type - Akotar

A Matter Of Pride: Chapter 1 - The Akotar Ritual

Conflicts come and go every few decades in Dalon, but few rivalries has persisted as long as that of the jysar of Endra and the cien of Yelfrit. Decades came and went while the two races remained in a bitter standoff with one another until their hatred grew into an all out war that lasted many years. While the conflict had long since subsided and a peace treaty had been forged, the boiling hate the nations shared eventually died down and transformed into a friendly if heated rivalry over the course of almost 20 years, taking the form of an aggressive competition that was the object of a territorial dispute over the small island of Enfrit that lay in the middle of a one of the lakes that helped split their nations.

Instead of engaging in all-out warfare that would result in many unnecessary deaths, the cien and jysar eventually settled on a war game that would allow them both to fight aggressively and passionately for this little piece of land without killing each other.

Adapted from the jysarian ritual of Akotar, each week the ciennic pack known as Halfor and the jysarian tribe of Imnic would meet up on Enfrit island and present their own fighter in a one on one competition to see who would go home that week with control of that land. The fights were brutal and often as bloody and barbaric as any war, but the key difference was that they held a mutual respect for one another; both races utilized healers to ensure that the loser survived. In the two decades these deadly games had continued, not a single fighter had perished - a source of pride for all involved.

Enfrit island didn't stay the property of one nation for long; in fact it switched hands from cien to jysar at least once a month without fail for as long as the weekly events had occurred. Both groups feared that if the other held it for too long, the games would lose their sense of friendly competition and it would become far more serious than it needed to be.

This particular weekend saw the cien holding Enfrit Island for three weeks straight and it was up to the jysarian female known as Kila to take it back before the month was up. She was mostly black furred with a few spots of grey on her back, shoulders, and hips; she was average size for a jysar at about 147cm. She was facing off against Revau: the massive cien that had been dominating the jysar warriors for the past three weeks. She didn't know how tall he was, but he was easily over 200cm, with arms bigger around than her legs. His own legs were as big around as her midsection, and he stood almost three heads taller than her. She should be intimidated by how much larger her opponent was, but size meant nothing to the jysar; as felines they were faster and had better reflexes than their canine counterparts and were almost as strong.

Kila and the rest of her the warriors from her tribe were in a collection of small boats paddling their way to this island. They were to meet up with the cien, allow volunteers to do some preliminary fights, then eventually get to the main attraction where Kila and Revau would basically fight to the death. There were about 50 jysar in total, dispersed amongst 6 small boats. There were enough weapons and armor to equip each and every jysar present in case of a violent dispute.

"Use your speed, Kila." her friend Fein advised. Fein was the jysar that Revau had defeated the previous weekend, so he felt he knew the opponent better than anyone else. He was covered in white fur that had been stained with the greens of the forest that they lived in; the once vibrant dye had faded over time as he attempted to cleanse himself, but the gentle hints of color still remained. "He's big and strong, but you're much faster and can easily outlast him."

Kila sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fein, I've watched these fights since the war ended and I've been fighting for even longer. I know how to handle myself and I'm capable of analyzing my enemy." It wasn't that she didn't appreciate his advice, but since the second she'd volunteered to battle, people had been trying to tell her what to do and she was getting sick of it. She had a strategy that she was planning on sticking to as well as an entire web of fail-safes in case he tried something new. She wanted to win, but she wanted to earn it through her on intuitiveness and skill rather than being told how to fight. In fact, she found it somewhat insulting.

"Fine, fine. I get it, you've got this. That's well and good, my dear, but Revau has beaten some of our best with ease; trust me, you need all the help you can get." Fein patted her on the shoulder before turning to the bow. "You sure you don't want armor of any sort?"

"Speed is my attribute, I have to utilize it as best I can; I can't be weighed down by clanking metals and restrictive leathers." Kila generally only used a single sword and one-handed shield when practising, but she was capable of using armor as well as anyone else. She was especially fond of her shield, which she had filed down to a fine blade around its rim and had two spikes at the end so she could use it as a stabbing and slicing weapon as well as defense. She made it herself and was very proud of how it turned out.

The boats continued to rock gently against the current of the lake as they slowly paddled their way to the island; many of the fighters were singing various battle chants to drown out the sound of sloshing waves and paddles slapping at the surface of the water. As they got close to the island, they could hear the equally excited calls of the cien howling their own battle cries as a way to intimidate the incoming jysar.

It was all rather pedestrian to Kila, who had watched the games ever since the treaty and had been to every single fight for the past three years without fail. She had seen it all and it stopped being intimidating years ago, now it was mostly hot air. Kila wanted only one thing from this, and that was to destroy her opponent and regain the land for her people; to her it wasn't meant to be fun and games, it was an act of dominance and she'd do anything to take back the island and send the pups home with their tail between their legs. She had heard bits and pieces about her opponent Revau; hearsay led her to believe that he was only fighting to adhere to a code of honor or some such nonsense.

Kila's boat slid up into the sand of Enfrit Island's shores and she quickly hopped out alongside her companions, sword raised in defiance, letting out a loud feline war cry that each and every other of her tribe mimicked. The echoing cry of the jysar drowned out the sound of the cien entirely, leaving the canines speechless.

The two groups stared at each other from across the clearing; the cien were waiting in the barren ring that was used for fighting while the jysar were emphatically making their way up the beach, swords raised in pride. The battles happened in this same clearing every week and the combination of their feet stomping at the ground relentlessly and the use of magic kept a massive 10 meter wide fighters circle devoid of any grass or shrubs. It was the perfect arena for them to fight in.

As soon as the rest of the Imnic tribe had made it to the battleground, the two groups met up across from each other in parallel, staring each other down. Kila and Revau stepped forward as the group representatives of that day, already fully equipped and ready for battle. Revau was wearing his usual steel plate gauntlets that he used for combat; they functioned as weighted metal gloves with splayed out plates covering the forearms that acted as shields. Like Kila he wore no armor to protect his black, grey, white, and brown marbled fur.

The unassuming feline looked up and down her opponent and snorted. "What's the matter, pup? Worried you'll move to slow with protection, or are you just giving up easily because you know you'll lose?" she grinned, baring her fangs in a display of faux malice.

Revau huffed and leaned down to look Kila in the eyes, glancing briefly at her sword and sharpened shield. "Three of your best in a row, and they send you? Bah, pathetic. I don't need armor, all I need are my gauntlets!" he turned to his pack and let out a howl, pumping his fists in the air to raise the crowd. The rest of the cien howled in response.

Kila looked to Fein and nodded with a grin, pointing her ear towards Revau. With a quick movement, she used her blade to gently smack the rump of her opponent.

Instantly, the massive canine swung around and fell onto all fours, baring his fangs and growling at her; even crouched down on all fours he was almost as tall as his opponent. "Listen here, pussy, I will not tolerate being insulted in such a manner!"

She laughed and her tribe did the same, even though calling a jysar a pussy was considered the most heinous insult. "Lighten up pup, it's not like you'll have territory to defend come sundown." she tapped her sword on the ground and walked away from him pacing back and forth in front of the line of her people. "Well, who's going first?" She asked as she surveyed her allies.

While the night's festivities and the subsequent territorial dispute all hinged on the fight between Kila and Revau, others were invited to spar with one another to fill the time and encourage the crowds.

"I'll fight!" Fein announced as he stepped forward. He had a loss to make up for from the week before, so his volunteering didn't come as any sort of a surprise to anyone in the tribe.

In return, a brown and white speckled cien stepped forward, covered in head to toe with thick metal plate armor, raising his fists to the air and hollering like a goon as he offered himself to battle.

Kila waved her paw dismissively and disappeared into the crowd of jysar behind her, letting her friend and his opponent have their fun. She didn't need to see the fight, she cared only for her battle with Revau. She pushed and weaved through the crowd until she made it out the back, where she went to go sit on a log.

Something in the back of her mind made her anxious, even though she really didn't have any reason to be. She'd been in fights before, she was more than capable of winning, but the pressure of taking over a fighter that had won three fights in a row was a pretty daunting. If she didn't win, her tribe only had one more week to regain the land or face humiliation by allowing the cien to be the first to hold the land for 4 weeks straight.

After many minutes of self reflection, she shook herself out of her daze just in time to hear the roars of the jysar as the first fight wrapped up. She didn't see what happened, but the wisps of fire that arced up over the crowd told her that magic was used. Good for Fein, he was always better with magic than he was with his sword and shield.

Kila rested her head in her hands for a bit, imagining the destruction she would bring upon her opponent as she grinned maliciously, but her fantasy was interrupted midway through by someone tapping at her shoulder. She was dumbstuck at how anyone could sneak up on her.

"Yes?" She whined, head still in her hands, not wanting to show her surprise.

"Have you got a moment?" a gruff voice asked. It was Revau!

Her head shot up and looked at the massive canine standing in front of her. 'how did he sneak up on me?! Why is he here?!' she thought to herself. "Uh, hi. What do you want?" her voice cracked nervously even as she tried to lace it with contempt.

Revau sat on the log beside her. "I just came over to wish you luck. Just because you're a lady, don't expect me to go easy on you."

Kila blinked in a stunned silence. She didn't know what to say, it was unprecedented for the fighters to talk before the fight and even less common to assume gender had anything to do with skill. She looked around to see if anyone was watching the two of them, worrying this was some sort of prank Revau was pulling to trick her into lowering her guard. Nobody was watching, jysar and cien alike were both focused on another fight that had broken out. "Uh, th-thanks?" She stammered.

The massive canine slapped Kila on the back. "No need to be nervous, it's all in good fun, right?"

"Right, I guess?" she was dumbfounded. Was this for fun? She always thought it was for dominance, for territory.

"Just make sure you put on a good show. Don't be afraid to have some fun with it-"

"Why are you here?" She interrupted. "What games are you playing?"

He shrugged. "No games, I just figured I'd be the gentle-pup and wish you luck. You know, don't take it too seriously and have fun. That's all I'm doing." He leaned back and looked up at the clouds. "I always feel kinda bad when I win, and I'd hate to have to crush a woman; feels wrong if you ask me. Males should fight males, females versus females."

"I'm not going to forfeit, if that's what you're trying to make me do." she said through gritted teeth. "And I'm certainly not weak because I'm a woman."

Revau lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. "What? I don't want you to forefit! That makes no sense; if anything, based on what I just said, I should be the one to forfeit. Why would you think I felt women are weaker? I just think it's fair, as I feel fighters of equal size should fight; I never liked how different in size our races are."

"Hm, I guess you're right. Either way, you're in for a fight, don't expect me to go easy just because you're too much of a pup to hit a girl."

"Save the witty banter for the fight. I'm sure it'd be put to much better use there, I'm sure both our teams would love to see it. Be vicious." he winked and got up to leave.

Kila couldn't help but be dumbstruck. What just happened to her? Is he playing mind games? Was he trying to throw her off? Was he offering to let her win? Revau was always known to be colloquial during battle, but this was just strange.

She shook the thoughts from her head and tried to return her thoughts to the graphic images of destruction she planned on acting out on her opponent.

There were a few more fights before Kila and Revau were ready to stage their grand show. It was as it usully is, and the final tally ended with two wins on either side.

Once the celebrations had died down, Kila pushed through the crowd to emerge into the playing field. Revau was already on his corner waiting for her as the cien who had won the final battle was being ushered back into the crowd by his proud pack members.

"Took you long enough, my lady." Revau said as he bowed. So strange. He hadn't acted like this to any of his other opponents. Then again, his other opponents were all male up to this point. Kila couldn't decide if he was chivalrous or a chauvinist.

"Quit with the niceties, Revau." Kila growled. "Just fight like a man." She raised her sword to the air and pumped some magic into it, a shower of bright sparks bursting from the blade. All the spectators, jysarian and cien alike erupted in a grand cheer.

Revau grinned and bared his fangs, hunching over and showing his claws, the metal gauntlets glistening in the afternoon light before lunging towards Kila. The fight was on!

Kila sidestepped and raised her shield to deflect Revau's massive gauntlets, letting his momentum slam him headfirst into the semicircle of jysar on Kila's side who immediately pushed him back onto the dusty arena. Kila was hopping about from one foot to the other, displaying her agility. "Fight like a warrior, not a pup." she taunted him, sword readied at her side and shield up.

He stepped towards his opponent calmly before raising his leg in a wide roundhouse kick. Kila brought up her shield to slice at his lower leg, but he stopped his foot in midair, stomped down, and used his momentum to bring a massive fist right into her chest, knocking her off her feet and forcing her a few meters away.

"Ack!" she coughed as she landed square on her back, tail crumpled up beneath her. She shook off her disorientation and rolled to her feet just in time to avoid a powerful punch that would have crushed her. Swiftly, she spun around and swiped her blade across the exposed fur of his arm.

He reached up with his free hand and grabbed the sword right by the blade before it slashed open his flesh, the metal of the gauntlets protecting him despite a massive dent forming in the palm. "Nice try." he growled as he used all his might to grab the blade and push the hilt into her chest, knocking her off balance again.

She shifted her feet and quickly regained her composure by letting go of her sword; she jumped up high and brought the sharpened edge of her shield down on her opponent. A bright gash split open on his shoulder, the pain causing him to drop the blade as he stumbled backwards.

Kila dove forward to grab the sword before it hit the ground, rolling and getting back to her feet to face her opponent. "And to think, you're the best the cien have to offer."

Revau regained hisself and lay his good hand on the sliced open shoulder, blood dribbling out between the fingers on his gauntlets. "You expect me to give up so easily?" a gentle yellow glow began to emanate from his palm, healing the wound; his gauntlets and chest fur were still spoiled with blood. He didn't let Kila respond, as soon as he was happy with his shoulder, he pointed one finger towards Kila and released a powerful blast of fire.

She crossed her arms to protect her eyes and erect a barrier to minimize the pain, but the bolt of fire still singed the tips of her fur, leaving a nasty smell lingering in the battlefield. With her eyes covered, she anticipated he'd use this distraction to make another attack, so she quickly dove to the side and heard a massive thud on the ground where she was a moment before. As soon as she could see again, she blinked and looked around, seeing Revau partially obscured by a cloud of dust as he tried to roll to his feet.

"Good job." He marvelled. "But not good enough." He slammed his fists to the ground, causing a series of jagged lines to trace across the ground towards Kila.

She tried to dive to the side again, but as she pushed off the ground, the earth grew weak and parted beneath her, causing her to fumble and land on the earth that seemed to be turning to liquid. Without warning, a massive rock shot up from the fluid dirt and hit her square in the jaw, disorienting her as her limbs sank into the ground. The dirt was acting like quicksand, her exaggerated movements turning it into a muddy concoction that trapped her. Only if she calmed down would it grow firm enough that she could escape.

As she stopped moving, she noticed the earth that she was sinking in not only solidified, but grew hard like a rock, trapping her. Before long, her limbs were frozen solid and she was entirely immobile from the waist down, even her arms to the forearm were trapped; her shield was completely submerged and only the end of her sword was visible, poking out of the ground.

Kila had watched Revau fight dozens of times and he never used an earth magic spell like this before, not once. She turned to him, watching his every move as he paced back and forth. He had her and there was nothing she could do. "Well? Go ahead, finish it up." she hissed, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"Oh my lady, I couldn't possibly take advantage of you in this situation." He said, his voice dripping with an odd blend of arrogance and condescension.

"Excuse me? If you didn't plan on taking advantage of me, why in the world would you...you know what, never mind." She began to growl as she tugged at the solid earth that trapped her, jerking her body up and down trying to release her limbs from its hold. She was unable to budge even an inch.

"Well, I can't in good conscience attack an immobile enemy, and the fight continues until one of us is unable to continue so I guess that means I win; you just have to say that you quit."

"Never."

"Never is an awfully long time, my dear, and from what I can tell, you're not going anywhere. I can wait." He turned to his pack and raised his fist. The entire pack erupted in a unified howl.

Kila would never, ever say that she quit. This meant entirely too much to her to give up now. Instead, she focused her various magics on the solid earth that kept her immobile. High energy spells like fire and shock didn't do anything to help, low energy magics like freeze didn't help either; everything just left her even more uncomfortable. "What a foolish pup." she taunted. "Can't even take a victory with dignity."

"Don't taunt me, feline. You know as well as I do that I could lop off your head if I so desired."

"Ooooooh!" the pack chanted as Revau insulted Kila, enjoying the trash talk.

"Then why don't do you it? Where's the honor in letting your opponent lose the battle for you?"

"What good does it do a mere feline to talk of honor? I'd rather not turn you into a kebab if I don't have to."

While the two were talking back and forth and the crowd on both sides were watching with bated breath, Kila was applying one spell after another to her bindings. She'd draw the moisture in the air to the earth to moisten it up a bit, freeze it, then melt it with fire before drawing more moisture and repeating the process. Each cycle weakened the structure of the earth a bit more until she felt her movements put the smallest cracks in the foundation.

Revau's honed ears heard the cracks and he turned to her, eyes narrowed. He hesitated for only a moment, unsure if he should be worried or not, but before he had a chance to decide on how to act, Kila raised both of her hands high in the air, bursting out of the earth and stepping out of the mould that held her. She cracked her back and flicked her tail about before lunging at Revau, blade ready to stab at his neck.

He deflected her attack with the flat panels on his gauntlets, she spun around and smashed him in the head with the blunt end of her shield. He tried to grab at her, but she writhed about and evaded his grasp as she dragged the edge of her blade up across his midsection. He hopped away to avoid her assault, but she leaped forward again, ready to plunge her blade into his chest. He used the flat tops of his gauntlets to push the point of the sword to the side, throwing her off balance in midair so he could bring a foot up to kick her in the belly, vaulting her far away from him.

She twisted in the air and with the help of her tail and sword, landed on her feet as any feline is expected.

"Very well played." He laughed as he held a hand on his chest, trails of blood trickling down over his fur and dripping on the dirt.

She didn't bother with a witty response. She hopped from side to side, swaying her tail back and forth and angling every bit of metal on her sword and shield to deflect light in Revau's face, hoping to disorient him. He raised his hands to shield his face from the reflected light, giving Kila the opportunity she needed to raise her sword up high before throwing at him like a giant throwing knife aimed right at her opponent's exposed chest.

Her distraction worked, and her blade slipped through his gauntlets to bury over 20 cm of its length in his chest. He tried his best to grab it and pull it out, but she was already on top of him, using her shield to hammer the blade in deeper. Revau fell on his back with the blade sticking out of him into the air, Kila straddling him and looking him in the eye.

"Give up?" she snarled.

Revau's lips raised in a growl. "Never." He coughed as he grabbed the blade one last time and tore it from his chest, tossing it to the side to listen to it clattering in the dirt. He tried to strike at Kila, but she swerved out of the way and stabbed him under the armpit with the spikes on her shield, striking at him repeatedly, stabbing him a half dozen times.

Enraged and in pain, Revau let out a frightening howl as he swung wildly, his backhand hitting Kila square in the jaw, the force of the impact knocking her off his body and contorting her neck in such a way that he thought for a second he'd broken it. She landed in a bloodied heap beside her sword, face down.

He slowly got to his feet with his hands outstretched. "I'm so sorry..." He whimpered as he stumbled. "Healers...." his voice wavered as he rocked back and forth, rivers of blood running down his body. Right as he got to Kila, he lost his balance and fell forward.

As he descended, Kila reached out and grabbed her sword, spinning and raising the tip to penetrate its way right through his chest and out his back, a burst of blood erupting from the open wound.

Revau clenched his jaw shut as he felt the blade slipping through his body, blood seeping out from between his teeth. This pain was unlike anything he'd felt before. He'd lost plenty of battles in the past, but this pain was much worse than anything he'd experienced. He patted at his chest and saw that the blade went right through his torso a little to the left - right through his heart. The world around him blurred and slowly dimmed as he felt the last of his energy drain.

"HAH! That's what you get for being arrogant, you canine fool!" Kila cheered as she slipped out from underneath him. Her entire tribe erupted in a glorious celebration Paws and claws were raised in the air waving weapons and various fabrics that symbolized victory.

But Kila knew something was wrong. Even when defeated, enemies still had life left in them. Revau wasn't moving. It took her only a second to realize that the blade must have pierced his heart.

A creeping sense of dread overcame the feline warrior. Akator was remarkably brutal and violent - that was the point - but nobody ever died because the combatants were careful to avoid three specific locations; the head, the neck, and the heart. If the neck was pierced or the head was lopped off, the combatant would die instantly, but if the heart was run through, the healers had only a few seconds to pull the blade out and heal the loser.

Under normal circumstances, Kila would happily back off and let the healers do their job, but trying to get the attention of one in good time while trying to overcome the enthusiasm of the crowd was nigh-impossible. Even tired from her fight, she knew she had to do what she could to heal him herself.

She quickly rolled Revau onto his side, withdrawing her sword from his chest with a wet sliding sound. No blood erupted from the wounds so she knew her assumption was correct. Without thinking much, she laid one hand on the open gash on his chest and one hand on the exit wound on his back, doing all she could to focus all of her energy into his massive canine body. She could feel every bit of her energy travel down her arms and into her hands, creating a soft yellow glow that was disappeared into the open wounds. As more of her energy was siphoned into her opponent, she could feel herself getting weak and dizzy.

Within only a few seconds, she had felt herself get so weak that her hands began to shake, her breath getting shallow. Her own vision began to blur and dim just as her tribe rushed to see what was going on. Right as she fell on the ground beside Revau, the last thing she saw was the vibrant yellow slits of his eyes opening.