FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_Well it's been a month. I really tried to make this one more descriptive than HT1 and better paced than HT2, so enjoy. As always constructive criticism is always welcome, as well as recommendations for plot and characters, so leave those comments.

BTW- Manicipium is the name of the colony Filius lived in. And obviously Korokos is the city in Matria that hey are departing to._

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Filius awoke abruptly, a dream's horrid ending, one he could not remember, piercing through him and tearing him from the sweet veil of sleep. Despite his sudden awakening, he was still incredibly drowsy. He brought his paws to his eyes and rubbed hard against them, trying to recall the dream. Failing to do so, he tried to remember where he was. He put his paws behind him, so as to lean on them, and felt the soft blades of grass, covered with cold dew, cushioning him. He looked around; golden eyes exploring, eyes that were now accustomed to the lack of light. He saw that he was in a clearing, in fact, the same clearing were he had found... He turned his head quickly to his left. He saw Magnus there, laying down, sleeping peacefully. He lay back down and began to recall the events that had just taken place.

Magnus had come back for him. He had asked him to come to Matria. They had walked back to the clearing and fallen asleep. All in silence, an awkward silence that had made every single step uncomfortable. It had taken him a while to get to sleep and now he was fully awake, yet again. He knew he would have trouble going to sleep.

He lay there for almost an hour, thinking of what he had done. He had revealed his sexuality to the panther so easily. It had been a stupid move. Maybe he should have held it a little longer. He had not even noticed until Magnus came and he had already given himself to him. He was starting to regret his decision. He started to feel drowsy again. And then...

...Beware the Theory, Adrian...

He awoke yet again; this time to a painful amount of light that flooded his eyes. He shut them quickly.

"You ok?" said a soothing, deep voice.

"Umm... Yeah... just a little tired" he replied. Beware the Theory? What could that mean? And who the hell is Adrian?

"So... um..." Magnus paused briefly, sniffing the air. "Woo! I just noticed... you stink... badly. Now that I mention it, I didn't see you take a shower once in the last month!"

"Yea? Well... I didn't see you either."

"That's cause I would go every morning to the river to bathe. And you?" It was true. Filius hadn't bathed in a while. But then again, he didn't usually bathe; it just so happens that he had bathed the day before he had met Magnus. Now, his fur had gone from white to a light gray color; it was ruffled and unkempt.

"Well... I guess, if... we're going to Matria, I should... But where would I get shampoo? I didn't bring any."

"Don't sweat it; I've got some in my bag. I like to be prepared for anything." He smiled. "Let's go." And so, after Magnus grabbed the shampoo and some extra clothes for Filius, they walked to the river, talking; Filius asking questions about Matria and Magnus answering. Despite having loathed the Matrians for so long, Filius felt a deep feeling of wonder. He had heard so many stories about extravagant houses and metallic carriages that drove themselves. The only technology he had ever seen personally here was an airplane. Seeing this technology made it easier to believe these stories. It was something he had always dreamed of.

They arrived at the small river. It was about two body's lengths wide, and about waist-deep. Magnus handed him the shampoo. Filius stood there for a moment, awkwardly. Magnus took note of this, smiled, put the clothes on a nearby bush, and walked back in the direction of the clearing. Filius looked after him, looking at the panther's ass. He stared dreamily, imagining things that he had never thought of before. This almost caused him to get a hardon. Whoa! Not yet! He semi-laughed, semi-sighed to himself, and took off the rags, and threw them onto the opposite bank of the river. He waded into the river, shampoo bottle in hand.

He realized that thrusting himself into this situation, revealing his sexuality, and running off to Matria, had not been very wise. He was still extremely unaccustomed to these feelings. He had muttered empty words to Magnus, not realizing the consequences. What's done is done, he thought to himself. He sighed again and squeezed some of the blue gel onto his paw. A wave of fresh smells spilled and splashed through his nostrils. He closed his eyes, taking in all these smells. Never had he smelled something so wonderful. The shampoo given to the colonists were simply unscented soap gel. It did the job of cleaning, but not of making you smell good. He rubbed the shampoo in his paws and lathered his body. Starting with his head fur, he massaged the suds into his chest fur. He passed the lather completely over his torso and moved on. He waded to the shallow edge of the river to continue. He went down his legs and to his feet, lifting one at a time out of the water. He went back up, to his crotch spreading the lather there, too. He began to imagine what sex would be like, if he ever had any, with a male. He quickly dismissed the thought. I'll know when I get there... He waded back into the center of the river and plunged himself beneath the water level. The white foam sheared off of his body in thick sheets, flowing along with the current. He got out of the river and got onto all fours shaking furiously, shaking off the excess water. He got back up, still slightly wet, and put on the clothes Magnus had left for him.

When Filius got back to the clearing, some of the water had soaked into the clothes. At this sight Magnus let out a laugh. "Don't worry. By the time we get to the airport it'll be dry." He wiped his brow. "It's hot today." And so they started to pick up their things. Filius had not really brought anything. Magnus picked up the two blankets and his bag. They went on their way. The first part of the journey was in silence. Filius was deep in thought. His mind had turned to his dream. What is the "Theory"? I've never heard of such a thing. It's so weird. And who is Adrian? After they had cleared the forest Filius had had enough silence. He yearned to ask the question.

"Umm... Magnus..." the wolf said, questioningly.

"What?"

"Last night... I had this dream. I don't remember much of it. In fact, the only thing I remember is this voice, saying 'Beware the Theory'. Do you know what that could mean?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you there. There are a lot of theories, about a lot of stuff. You wouldn't be able to tell which one to beware." Magnus looked to his left and saw a large building. "Oh! Time flies. We're already here." For a moment he thought and finally said, "Filius, you're gonna have to make a fake identity for yourself. Got any ideas for a name?" He looked at Filius, awaiting an answer.

"Umm..." He thought for a while. Hmm... a name... "Why?"

"Well, they have a record system," he said, matter-of-factly. "And I'm positive that they won't want colonists leaving the colonies. If we give you a fake identity, we could tell them you are in the military, and when we were attacked, right?"

"That makes sense..." Filius thought a little bit, while Magnus, emerald eyes probing, waited for an answer. "I think I'll go with... Adrian."

"Adrian?"

"Yea... Adrian Matthews."

"Any particular reason you chose that name, Adrian?" He smiled.

"Not really..." Filius didn't know why, but he felt that he didn't really need to tell the panther he had gotten the idea from his dream. "It was just the first name that popped into my head." He smiled back.

By Matrian standards, the airport was a measly fraction of the size of a real airport. But this building was the largest Filius had seen. When he entered the building there was a noticeable climate change. Where it was hot and uncomfortably humid outside, it was dry and cool inside. There was a plain lobby, walls painted a blinding white. Straight ahead were a couple ticket booths. Near the booths were some stairs.

"Wait here..." Magnus said, just above a whisper while eyeing the booths. He walked over to the booth. While Magnus handled that, Filius took the time to walk to the stairs. He walked up half way. He saw another booth with a Matrian Sergeant, indicated by the elaborate symbol on his left shoulder. He quickly retreated from the muscular stallion, almost tripping and falling down the stairs. He ran back to the place Magnus had left him. Magnus was now on his way back from the booth. He had apparently not noticed his absence. "Ok, I've got permission to go to talk to the officer upstairs. If everything goes according to plan, he'll believe me. But first..." He grabbed Filius by the arm and dragged him to a door that he had not noticed when they had arrived. Opening it revealed a terminal with a bunch of peripheral device attached. Of these, one was a scanner. The room was only a bit bigger than a closet. Magnus scanned a sheet of paper. On the screen appeared a perfectly imitated image of the document. He rewrote certain sections of the document. "Now, I just gotta replace the original in the personnel-enlistee files..."

"What...?"

"Well, I edited Parumunus' papers, so they say your information--your fake information. Now I'm replacing them with this new copy. See, Adrian Matthews." After punching in some combinations, a pop-up appeared that read FILE REPLACEMENT COMPLETE. "Done. Now let's print this..." Another device coughed up a paper and Magnus grabbed it. "Let's go!"

He was dragged once again out of the small room and was practically thrown up the stairs by the muscular panther. The sergeant barely noticed this and continued doing something that looked like reading a document. Magnus ran over to the sergeant and shoved the paper he had just printed in the sergeant's face, along with another one he had grabbed from a pocket. The stallion, looking very annoyed, looked up at Magnus, and then gave the papers a cursory glance. The horse obviously wasn't "in love" with his position. He probably would rather be back in Matria. He also probably had the same mentality as most Matrians; the same view that Magnus had had just a month ago.

The stallion nodded at Filius in a way that said "Him?" Filius could hear Magnus talking. "We've been trapped in one of the villages for over a month! We were lucky the..." Magnus lowered his voice, obviously ashamed to say what he was going to say, even if he had previously used this term, "...filth... didn't notice that we were Matrians. It was horrible."

It seemed that using the word filth activated something in the stallion's brain that made him friendlier. "Ha ha. I know what you mean! I hate this place," he said in a deep, hoarse voice. Magnus laughed a fake laugh. Then the sergeant muttered, "Can't wait to get outta this shit hole." Fortunately Filius wasn't able to hear him because he would have most likely snapped and attacked the sergeant. "Go ahead, you're flight is leaving in about forty-five minutes. Have some fun for me back in the homeland."

As they walked away, Magnus rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. "I can't believe I used to think like that. I was so stupid!" Filius wasn't sure if the statement was directed at him. Nor had he paid attention to it, for that matter. He was preoccupied with thoughts of Matria, and thoughts of his decision still plaguing his head. I wasn't sure whether this had been the wisest decision. When Magnus noticed the lack of response from his friend he asked, in a soft, caring voice, "Hey... what's wrong?"

"Nothing... n-nothing. I just..." he paused and thought. "I don't know about this. I mean, about everything. Going to Matria... even... telling you that..." Magnus seemed to know exactly what he was getting at.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just get on the plane, okay?" he smiled at him. It made him feel a whole lot better. The smile was a huge ray of light, dispersing the darkness of confusion from his mind. It was truly comforting. Smiling back at him, he looked straight into the panther's eyes, and vice versa. As if two parts of one mind, they both leaned toward each other, deep affection bringing them together, both ready to be kissed by the other. Suddenly a voice called over the loud speakers, "Flight 7 to Korokos, Matria leaving in 30 minutes. Please take your seats in the seats next to your gate." This message broke them apart and sent them into an awkward silence; both were looking at anything but each other and blushing deeply. They walked silently toward their gate. They sat down, 30 minutes until they left for Matria. And they waited.

Magnus had fallen asleep after about 15 minutes. Filius remained, thinking. The troubles that had plagued his mind earlier today were receding, not disappearing, into the back of his mind. What occupied his head now, was the strange dream. During the process of getting to the airport, he had forgotten the words. Now they came back to him. What could the theory be? Maybe I should follow Magnus' example. He chuckled to himself. A sudden urge came to him. As he sat up, he aroused Magnus. "We leavin' ?" he asked thickly, half asleep.

"No. Bathroom." Filius replied. Magnus let himself fall back into sleep, while Filius walked to a door with the familiar male symbol on it. He pushed the door opened and attended to his business. He walked to the sink and turned the faucet on. A stream of cold water, a yellowish tint, flowed out and splashed onto his paws. Surprisingly similar-looking to urine, he scoffed and closed the faucet. Even their buildings are a piece of shit. He turned to get some paper to wipe the sickening liquid off of his hands, when he saw something that made a chill run through his spine down through his tail. It sent shivers through the rest of his body. On the wall, next to the paper towel dispensers were the words:

There's no escape. Its gonna getcha. It's horrible. It is what all fur kind has feared, fears and will fear again

It was written in blood. Red, and thick, the last word smeared down as if the author had been pulled from his work, using his claws to stop from being pulled. Then at the bottom of the claw marks it read:

You can't stop the Hybrid Theory.

Filius burst out the door and ran back to his seat next to Magnus. He couldn't even think straight. He was suddenly brought back to reality by another announcement. "Flight 7 to Korokos, Matria leaving in 10 minutes. We will begin boarding now." Filius shook Magnus back to threshold of consciousness.

"Wha-whassap? Watchu want...?" He mumbled.

"Let's go!"

"Oh, oh! Ok... l-let's go" And so they boarded the plane. Surprisingly it was a new jet, not a battered old plane the likes of which he had come to expect from this place. He was starting to feel like calling it a "hole" himself. At least he was leaving now. Maybe this wasn't a bad decision after all. And so they boarded. The plane was small, and very few people actually boarded the plane. They sat in their assigned seats, and got ready to fly.

Ten minutes later, they were moving slightly, into position for liftoff. Magnus looked as though something was preoccupying him. He played with his tail and kept shifting uncomfortably.

"Something troubling you?" But Magnus' only response was a kiss. And Filius returned the favor. They continued for a while, and Filius enjoyed it. But the thoughts that had almost left his mind were coming back, a black, poisonous tint tainting the clear waters of happiness in his mind. He slowly stopped enjoying the moment as the thoughts crept back. He withdrew, blushing and looking at the floor, that was surprisingly clean. Magnus had the same expression on his face. "I... Magnus... I just think..." Magnus cut him off.

"It's not the right decision. I know. I feel the same I guess. I just... I just keep thinking about... you know..."

"Parumunus?"

"Yeah." A tear escaped Magnus' eye, silently disappearing into his cheek fur. "I mean, I still can't believe it. It was so sudden. I-It... just..." he fell silent. Filius understood that it was going to take a while for Magnus to move on. And so he patted Magnus on the shoulder. It was clear Magnus was a strong fur, but this was truly painful and demoralizing experience. Despite never having undergone this, he felt the pain that emanated from the panther, now looking out the window of the plane. And so they sat in silence, again. Silence seemed to pursue the two, never allowing for an ongoing conversation. It gave Filius time to think, something he did not want to do right now. But Magnus' words, that he felt the same way, unsure, undecided, were comforting. They helped push some thoughts out of his head; thoughts that he didn't want to think about.

The plane started to move, slowly. He turned his thoughts to Matria. How would it look? All his life, he had lived in poverty. What would it be like? What would they do first, for that matter? Questions. Questions and no answers. Again. He stayed in this quandary for a while, until the plane suddenly lunged forward. He jumped in his seat. The plane's nose rose slightly. Filius' muzzle was coated with apprehension. Magnus noticed his reaction and laughed.

"Don't worry. This is how it always goes. There's nothing wrong." He smiled.

"I-I know... I just, you know, umm... It's going fast." He said, calming down.

"Thanks Captain Obvious, tell me something I don't know." Still smiling he ruffled Filius' head fur. "Don't worry." Then the plane suddenly started to shake less. Filius assumed that they had taken off. He relaxed and rested his head on the headrest. He continued to think of Matria as he slowly succumbed to sleep's embracing numbness.

The plane jerked violently as it touched down, waking Filius. He looked around as the plane slowed. Magnus was still there along with the other people who had boarded. Magnus was awake, but had not noticed Filius waking up.

"Morning. I guess we're here, right?" Filius said, still half asleep.

"Oh! Yeah. Just landed." In the course of thirty minutes, they had gotten of the plane, and gone through all the necessary checkpoints. A vixen at a booth labeled IMMIGRATION had given them a particularly hard time, insisting on checking the system for Filius' papers. Finding no error, she allowed them throw, saying something along the lines of "they're just to skinny."

And so they had arrived. Filius had noticed that this airport was much larger than the one back in Manicipium. It was at least 100 times the size and 1000 times as extravagant. There were stores and shops and booths filled with magazines, clothes, food, among other things. They walked to the nearest booth containing something called "Esculentuses".

"What are those?" Filius asked.

"Dunno. Sir? What is an 'Esculentus'? "

The mouse behind the counter replied, "Well, they're Latin for 'delicious'. Its scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, and cheese, all wrapped in flaky puff pastry. Want one? Only one Shin."

"Umm... sure. Two please." The mouse handed over two rectangular pieces of Esculentus, as Magnus handed over two gold coins. He passed one to Filius. Not accustomed to eating hot food, the first bite sent ripples of searing pain through his tongue. He swallowed fast, and allowed the pain to recede. Taking much more care this time, he took another bite. This one sent waves of pleasure, as his taste buds experienced something had never tasted before. He concluded that cooked, warm food was better than cold, disinfected food. That's kind of obvious. They both finished their food before they walked out of the airport. What was before him, Filius had never seen before. The road was covered in some black stone-like substance. The buildings around him reached the sky and were made of metal. Street signs and holographic images were everywhere. He was going to like Matria more than he thought.

A sudden sound reached Filius ears. It was a distant pra pra pra pra in quick succession, almost continuous. He turned to ask Magnus what the sound was, but Magnus grabbed his arm as he dragged him toward the street.

"We've got to get out of here. Now."

"What is that sound? Where are we going?"

"I don't know where we're going. And that's a machine gun. Trust me, you don't want to be near it when it comes around." Filius gave up resisting and started to run. The sound seemed to be getting closer. They turned a corner, and saw what was making the noise. On the far side of the street were several furs, dressed in black armor suits. They wore black masks. They looked like something out of Filius' wildest nightmares. It was terrifying. On their right arms, were sleek black cannon-like apparatuses that were shooting short beams of blue light. Directly in front of them another group of furs, dressed in regular clothing covered in sheets of metal were holding bid guns that had made the sound they heard. The machine guns' bullets were bouncing of the armor of the suited furs, while the blue shots melted parts of the metal on their bodies. The wolf in front yelled a command.

"Mentis! Scan those suits! I want a full blueprint! NOW!"

Magnus whispered to Filius, "Let's get out of here." They started to run in the opposite direction. Suddenly Filius felt a small pain in his back. It grew larger and larger, burning unrelenting, unbearable. He fell, tripping over his feet. Magnus turned and saw what had happened. "Filius!" he yelled, and ran back to were Filius had fallen. That was the last thing he saw. Then black.