FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_Yes this one came faster than ch3 and is substantially longer. This chapter's kinda like a transition chapter, as well as it introduces the main antagonists. Enjoy!

Cedant arma togae!_

Darkness. Calmness. Coldness. Filius was enjoying it. He floated there in this tranquility. Then felt something flowing through his fur, caressing the skin beneath. He was wet! How was he wet? He was in some sort of liquid. How was he breathing? Oh. There was a tube giving him oxygen. He relaxed, and then opened his eyes. He was in a tube of translucent liquid. He could make out vague shapes through the blue liquid. He drifted there, looking at the shapes.

One of the shapes noted his consciousness and walked to the tube, pressing what looked like a button, on what looked like a panel. The liquid suddenly lost all color and opaqueness. It was the wolf. The wolf he had seen commanding those furs.

Filius could hear the wolf speak, faintly, "He's up! Get him outta there. Mentis! Is he all patched up? I don't want him dieing on me!"

Filius heard another voice, deeper, fainter, "He's fine, Rector. Just a little bruised is all. And lucky."

The tube was drained, and the thick glass parted. The oxygen tube released his muzzle. He coughed as he breathed in the less purified air. There was also this thick gelatinous substance coating his throat. As he coughed, it spewed out. It tasted like rubber and chewing gum whose flavor had long been chewed away. The two furs laughed as Filius gasped for breath, on his knees. He saw the other fur for the first time. It was a stallion, covered in short black fur, and was gaunt as if he had come from the colonies himself. He wore a green-gray suit, seemingly made of rubber, or some similar material. The wolf on the other hand, was well built. Golden-brown fur covered his muscular stature, and disappeared under a similar blue-gray suit. Black and blue eyes, respectively, stared at him as he knelt, patting his chest as to dislodge any of the thick gel still left.

Content to find there was no more, he directed his full attention to the furs in front of him.

"Where am I?"

"Relax kid," said the older wolf, apparently called Rector. "You're safe. You got injured pretty bad. Those energy blasts can kill people bigger than you. You're lucky. Lucky, or incredibly strong for what I would expect." He tossed the younger wolf a shirt, white, and a pair of jeans. Filius now noticed he was naked, and dressed quickly.

"Well, that answers the question of 'what happened to me', but not my first question. And where's Magnus?" he inquired.

The stallion laughed, deep voice booming, "This kid's determined, Rector. It's alright; your friend's been here the whole time. And about your first question, we'll answer it later. Your friend seemed worried. You should see him first." The stallion, Mentis, smiled and lead him to a door, which, when opened, led to a lobby of sorts. Magnus was sitting on one of the seats there. When Filius walked in, door closing behind him, Magnus jumped up and ran towards him. Filius got the breath knocked out of him as Magnus hugged him. If the embrace were any tighter, his spine might have snapped in half. Filius returned the hug.

"Filius! You're okay! Oh, man, I was just... when I saw you fall..." he stopped and hugged him again.

"Hi... Magnus..." Filius said between strained gasps. "I didn't think it was that serious."

"That serious?! You could have died! I'm just glad you're safe! They told me it was unlikely you'd recover from such an intense shot. I kinda panicked. I..."

"It's alright. I'm fine. Jeez! You're just a little kitty, aren't you?" They both laughed. Magnus actually worried about him. It felt... good. A feeling of belonging welled up inside the young wolf. Never experiencing this in the colonies, where famine and depression alienated the habitants, he was happy he was able to be welcomed by someone. And so they walked back through the door. Filius took the time to take in the room he had woken in. Directly to the left of the entrance were four tubes; one of which was open, the one he had stumbled out of a few moments earlier. Directly in front of them was another door, protected by an advanced-looking security system. To the right, the room extended farther than in the other two directions. The walls were lined with terminals, erratic symbols flowing in every which direction. The wolf and the horse were both focused on one screen in particular. At the end of the room was yet another door.

"So what is it?" asked the wolf, tugging at the fur under his muzzle.

"Dunno. Wait. Here... look at these letters. EMPASS? What is that?"

The wolf stared at the screen, as if looking at the letters, therefore intimidating them, would force them to reveal their meaning. His face, creased by weariness, lit up. "You still got access to the government's weapons mainframe?"

"Well, to the old one, yes."

"That's what I keep you here for. Cross-reference. Now." The equine's fingers were almost blurred as they flew across the keyboard. You wouldn't be able to tell he was pressing keys, except every time he did there was a clicking noise, signifying the pressing of a key. And after a second or two, a long list appeared, rapidly scrolling, selecting a couple of possible matches, then selecting one. It opened the file.

"Wow."

"What, Mentis? What does it mean?"

"Enhanced Membrane Protector and Augmented Strength System. Here in the older files, you know before they changed servers, it's just a concept. Says here, it's a powered exoskeleton, of some sort. There are three layers. The inner layer is a gel-molding jumpsuit, for comfort. It contains heating coils and cool gel for climate control. The second layer is a thick network of viresium fibers suspended in insulation gel, forming a membrane, of sorts."

He was cut off by Rector, "Viresium. That's just a concept. No one produces viresium yet... do they?"

"I don't know. I just know it's basically indestructible, and the gel's bulletproof. Anyway, the third layer's made of viresium plates, to add more protection. This is out of this world. Like seriously. This is so far beyond our current tech." The wolf's face became saturated with worry. He had never encountered anything this strong.

"All right..." they had not noticed the young panther and wolf standing behind them, listening to everything. Filius felt he really needed to know.

"Okay. Where are we? And who are you guys?" The older wolf laughed. He beamed at Filius.

"Well. You're in Korokos, the capital of Matria. But more specifically, you're in Insurrectum Base 65. We think the Matrian Government is unfair. The army patrols the streets, beating furs, stealing things, and furs are always disappearing. We're here to try and stop that. I'm Rector, that's Mentis. Our other member's are in their quarters, behind that door," he pointed to the door at the end of the room.

"Umm... you said the government is unfair. How do you feel about the colonies?"

"I knew it. You're colonists. Well..."

He was cut off as Magnus interjected, "Um... actually I'm a Matrian. I was kinda in the army. I kinda know what you mean about the beating part," Magnus gave Filius a nervous-looking smile, obviously saying "I'm sorry". "I've changed though, thanks to him..." Rector gave Magnus a slightly disgusted look, but then smiled, as if realizing something.

"Well, it's good that you've seen the light. Anyway, we believe all furs are equal. No matter what species, what social standings, whatever. It's not a matter of..."

He was cut off mid-sentence as Mentis called his name, "Rector, come here. Look at this"

"What is it?"

"Look at the species analysis here. These four guys are clearly furs. Two crocodiles, a mouse and a fox. But look at this guy. He's clearly the leader of the squad, but, the analysis was inconclusive."

"What in Satan's name is that?"

"I don't know." Mentis looked at the screen, examining the blue 3-D form that was on the screen. "No muzzle... deformed paws..." Indeed it was a sickening thing. It was missing a muzzle; where it should have been was a small lump. The paws were thin and elongated. The legs were straighter than anything he had seen before, and the feet were elongated as well. It startled Mentis, and for some unbeknownst reason the unknown form chilled Filius to the core.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, Mentis. I'm gonna show these two around. Follow me." He gestured toward the door and Magnus and Filius followed. He opened the door, and allowed the two in first, then followed them in, closing the door. It was a hallway extending forward. White walls held three brown doors on each side. At the end was a seventh door. He walked towards the last door. Filius and Magnus followed. Through the door was a large room. It was filled with various workstations. The floor was littered with cables and small parts of devices. Another door was situated on the far side of the room. There was a sofa, randomly placed in the center of the room facing the other door. There was a television and a small box next to it. Connected to the box, was an input device of some sort, shaped especially to be held by paws. A tiger sat on a chair, pressing, what seemed to Filius, random sequences into the controller. The images on the television seemed to respond. Another wolf, female, was sitting at a terminal, doing something Filius could not determine.

The female wolf immediately turned when they entered the room. She came up to the men that had walked into the room. Her fur was completely white, no other colors anywhere in site. Her eyes where as blue as Rector's and she was wearing tight jeans, as well as a pink shirt that seemed too small for her.

"So, these are the two guys you found. Weird, huh?"

"Ok. So you know me and our tech guy. That right there is Diliga. She as an all around type of girl, and that's why she's second in command."

"I'm also his girlfriend, so don't you two get any ideas, 'k?" She giggled. Her voice was a bit squeaky and annoying. Filius and Magnus chuckled a bit, too. Not so much because she was trying to be funny, but because any sort of "ideas" she was talking about, would never occur to either of them, for obvious reasons. But then again they were not-so-obvious to their new found friends.

"Yeah. That guy over there, the one playing video games instead of working, is Preliator. He's or weapons guy.

Preliator's only response was a growl as he yelled, "Oh, come on! That's like, the seventeenth time I've done this. Fucking TV!" The tiger's fist punched through the glass of the television that, in response, emitted a split-second flash of light and died. "Whatever. Oh... Hi!" Filius was still in shock when the tiger came up to the four. He sported a white t-shirt and green-gray cargo shorts. The tiger, voice as low as the horse in the other room, but much gruffer, seemed to be quite friendly.

"When he's not breaking electronic equipment, he's examining and reverse-engineering weapons for us to use. He's useful, when he's not occupied with something stupid."

"Hey I'm sorry. I'll go pick up a new TV later."

"No, later you'll be helping Mentis find out about the EMPASS armor those guys were wearing."

"Whatever. So who's the one who survived a direct energy blast?" Rector pointed at Filius. The tiger whistled. "Wow. Let me see." Filius turned around and lifted his shirt a little. He himself hadn't seen it, but apparently it was pretty bad. "Damn, that had to hurt!"

"Umm... yeah, it did... a lot."

"By the way," Rector said to the tiger. "Where's Custos?"

"Bathroom. He should be back soon." At that moment, a leopard with white fur and black spots and a suit similar to Mentis' and Rector's, walked into the room, followed by Mentis. "Speak of the devil!"

"What do you want, Preliator?" He stopped and looked at the unfamiliar furs standing in front of him. "Hmm. Who are these two?" The wolf looked puzzled.

"Actually, I haven't asked them their names yet. Well... introduce yourselves." Magnus looked at Filius a stepped forward.

"Well... I'm Magnus. Matrian, as I told you, from Alcedonia."

"And I'm Filius. I'm from the colonies. Manicipium to be exact."

"Well," replied the leopard Custos. "Your not gonna get very far here with that name. People'll be branding you a colonist, before even noticing how skinny you are. But you must have come up with another name. You wouldn't have gotten past airport security."

"Um... yeah, Adrian. I didn't know it was that obvious. Wait your names sound colonial. They're Latin aren't they?"

"Nick names," replied the tiger. "Mentis, because he's smart. Rector, cause he's our leader. Mine, Preliator, cause I'm a fighter. Custos, cause he's a master at sneaking into places and the like. And Diliga..."

The female wolf took a step forward and swung her arm around Rectors shoulders, her tail wrapping around the back of his hips. "Diliga means love. Cause I love the big guy." She smiled and looked a Rector, who smiled back.

"But the point is," continued the tiger, "that in public, to avoid unnecessary situations, we use our real names. Plus, not all Latin names are uncommon. Magnus, is actually quite common in some high class Panther and Leopard families. Adrian's nice."

"Where were you guys headed? Back to Alcedonia?" asked Diliga, tilting her head slightly to the left.

Magnus furrowed his brow. He hadn't really thought about it. "Uh... yeah. I guess. I just wanted to come back here."

"Not very smart to go some where without a plan," replied Custos, as he walked through the door. Through it, Filius could see the kitchen.

"It's late," said Mentis, addressing all the people in the room. "We should get some rest. Especially you," he said directly to Filius. "Rest is always good, plus the medicine we gave you will make you drowsy." And he was. He felt that some rest would do him good. "We'll let you two stay here tonight. Unfortunately, Filius, you'll have to sleep in one of those Curatubes. That stuff'll heal you fast." Filius didn't mind. He had actually enjoyed floating in there.

"That's fine," Filius replied.

"Magnus, you can sleep in our spare room. It's got a bed already in it so, just head on in there." Preliator and Diliga led Magnus to the room, one of the six doors in the previous hallway, while Mentis took Filius to the room with the tubes. Rector stayed behind.

Mentis stepped in front of the panel that controlled the tube. "Here you are. If you gotta go to the bathroom or something, there's a release button inside. When you want to go back in, this is the thirty second timer. Press it and go back in. The oxygen tube is right there, don't forget to but it on, ok? That's about it. Just leave your close here. Good night." He went off through the door. Filius took of the borrowed clothes and but them on the floor. He pressed the yellow "button" on the touch screen, initiating a countdown. He stepped into the tube and put the mask at the end of the oxygen tub to his muzzle. It hissed as it adhered to his face. The glass closed and liquid began to pour out from the top of the tube. Soon it had filled the tube, and rendered him weightless. He floated there, as the liquid blurred again. The liquid felt as if it were sentient, most of the movement concentrated on his back. It felt cold, and he relaxed. His eyelids grew heavy, and soon asleep.

A white table. Why white? Why not brown? Oh well. He tried to walk toward the table. He looked down, because he was not moving. No floor. Oh well. He swam toward the table, this time making progress. A metal cylinder was on the table. He had not seen that before he looked down. He reached out for it. Wait. His paw. Something was wrong with his paw. There was no fur. It was flatter and didn't have pads. The claws had shrunken and flattened. They were clear and translucent. He could see pink flesh through them. Oh well. He looked back toward the metal cylinder. Wait, not metal, glass. Inside, a yellow-white tube coiled around a white pillar. The ends of the cylinder were still metallic. He moved closer. A flash emitted from the coil. Light burned his eyes, he had to close them. Heat, splashing his body, grew more intense. Pain, a small and negligible amount, growing larger and more intense. All-encompassing pain engulfed his body, unbearable. He tried to howl, he couldn't. Instead a loud sound emitted from his muzzle--no his mouth--a bloodcurdling, scream. Black. All darkness, then

Beware the Hybrid Theory, Adrian...

Filius awoke, panting, breathing heavily into the tube that supplied oxygen to his trembling body. He looked at his paw, pressing the pads, examining the claws. He growled in frustration. He hit the red button on the back of the tube. A tone emitted from the panel outside. The tube was drained and the oxygen tube hissed and released his muzzle. He coughed, the thick gel in his throat again. It dripped onto the floor as he put on the clothes again. He opened the door that lead to the hallway. The door that led to the large room was slightly open, the lights still on. He pushed it and it swung open soundlessly. Rector sat on the couch, looking at something in his paws. Filius walked over to the couch and sat down. He yelped at the pain that surged through his back. The injury was clearly worse than he thought.

Rector didn't look up, but said, "Can't sleep?" Filius grunted in agreement. "Me neither. So here I am looking at that EMPASS thing. And that freaky thing we saw commanding that squad." Filius looked over at the small screen he held in his hands. The descriptions and symbols on the screen were meaningless to Filius, so he looked away. "You like Magnus, huh?"

"Yeah. He's a nice guy. Good friend."

"No. I mean you like him."

"You can tell, huh? Well yeah. But... how'd you know?"

"Well, I've been leading this group for a while. I try to tell what people are communicating. Mainly from their eyes, where they're looking, body language and stuff. I could tell from the first time I saw you two together." He chuckled. "So have you..."

"Well... no."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I keep feeling like it's the wrong thing to do. Every time I try, I-It's like, I just can't get through it. Besides, I don't think he's ready either. He had a lover before. But he died, like just a little over a month ago. I guess it's hard for him to move on."

"I understand." They sat there for a while; Filius, looking nowhere in particular, while Rector continued to examine the small screen. Filius felt the urge to ask the question. If anyone knew, it would be these guys, right?

"Um... Rector?"

"Yeah?"

"Do... Do you know what the... um... Hybrid Theory is?" An expression of total shock crossed the older wolf's muzzle.

"How would you know about that? That's like ultimate level security! I barely know anything about it."

"Well... I keep having these dreams. And they keep telling me to 'Beware the Hybrid Theory'. But I have no idea what it means!"

"The Hybrid Theory is a rumor. Lots of rebels have been talking about it. It seems to be some sort of plan, from the government, to mutate us into..." he trailed of, and realized something. "Of course! The Hybrid Theory is true! That's what that thing is. It's the result of the Hybrid Theory. We gotta get access to the new server. We have to find out more about EMPASS and The Hybrid Theory." Filius was stunned. The Matrian government was trying to mutate furs into some hideous deformed soldier. Now the writing on the wall was understandable. What fur, in their right mind, wouldn't fear that? He had the feeling he was getting involved in something very big.

"No way. They would do that would they?"

"They would... You said you were having dreams? That's kinda weird considering you've never heard of it before..."

"Should I be worried?..."

"No, no. Just... It's weird. Now get back in that tube. I'm going to bed too." He touched the screen and it shut down. Filius stood up, grimacing as pain shot through his back again. He walked back to the tube, pressed the yellow button, replaced the mask, and let the liquid rock him to sleep.

After exiting the tube and putting on his clothes, Filius walked back to the room he had been in the night before. The light coming from the windows at the top of the room was comforting. He sat at the sofa, for no particular reason. He thought of nothing in particular, but instead, he just sat. The pain he had felt yesterday was gone, so he sat comfortably. He smiled, for no reason. Then he noticed no one was there. He stood up and walked back to the hallway. He opened the door nearest to his left. Magnus was in it, still sleeping. He smiled, and closed the door. He opened the rest of the doors. No one. Where had they gone? He walked back to the workstation room. Feeling extremely hungry walked over to the door that led to the kitchen. He opened it. Inside, the room's walls were unpainted metal. Stainless steel appliances and counter inhabited every nook and cranny that wasn't covered by cabinets. He was hungry, but had no idea what most of this stuff was. He walked to one cabinet and opened it, finding a couple boxes. He tore one open, only to find hundreds of small yellow spheres in a plastic bag. He opened the bag and took one of the yellow spheres in his mouth. He rolled it around and found that it was sweet, and excessively so. He continued to eat them, as the crunched beneath his teeth, until he finished the bag. He was unsatisfied. He walked to the other side of the kitchen and found a device. The device held a jar of brown liquid. Next to it were some mugs and a glass full of sugar. He poured some of the liquid into a mug and took a sip, being careful because it was hot. It was awful. He spit it out. The bitter flavor lingering in his mouth, he dumped half of the glass of sugar in and took another sip. Better. He drank it down, now used to the heat. Still hungry. He opened another cabinet and found a loaf of bread. Bringing it down to eye level, he squeezed it. He was amazed to find it was not hard and stale. He tore it in half, and took a bite out of the half he didn't put back. Despite his hunger, he didn't want to eat too much. He walked to another cabinet and opened it, only to find it was much colder in this one. He saw a thick slice of meat there. His mouth watered. He grabbed it and took a bite out of it. Bread and raw meat in hand, he walked back to the workstation room. He sat on the couch once again.

He heard the door behind him open. It was Magnus. He walked up to Filius and sat down. He was half asleep, but aroused enough to notice that Filius was eating raw meat. He laughed and said, "You're supposed to cook it."

Filius' only reply was, "It tastes fine to me." Magnus laughed again. Filius, not finding nourishment funny, finished eating. The door opened behind them as Preliator and Custos walked in, fallowed by Rector who was carrying a large sack. He dumped the contents on one of the workstations. What the bag regurgitated shock Filius. Sitting there on the workstation were eight of the elongated, jet black cannons that had given him his injury, along with an equally dark plate of metal. He assumed this was part of the EMPASS armor Rector and Mentis had been talking about. Filius noticed that two of the usual furs were missing and quickly moved to inquire about said lack of furs.

"Where are Mentis and Diliga? Did they go with you?"

Rector, still examining the cannons, replied, "They went to Insurrectum HQ to give them a bunch of these cannons to reverse-engineer. They'll be back any second."

Preliator, two cannons mounted on each of his arms, said with content, "Man! I wanna try these out so bad! You want to join me? I'll let you try." He was addressing, to Filius' surprise, himself and Magnus! And to his greater surprise, he found himself exhilarated by the idea. He displayed a toothy smile and replied, "Yes." Magnus nodded and followed Preliator through the door they had just come through. Filius followed alongside Magnus. They went to the door that was closed by a security system. Preliator swiped a card through the card slot and it opened, just a crack. Preliator pushed it open completely. This room was not a room. It was a tunnel that led straight up for about 200 meters. Rungs lined the side of the tunnel they were facing. And so they climbed. They reached a door that was parallel to the bottom of the tunnel. Opening sent bright, blinding light flooding though the previously dark tunnel. They climbed out. They were in a desert, with Korokos far over on the western horizon. Right next to where they emerged was another door, colored orange by the desert sand. It was promptly opened by the Tiger, and promptly used by all three furs. They climbed down another set of rungs, to another door.

Walking through it revealed a large room. Large as in, two football fields long, and one football field wide. There was a torso-high wall in front of where they entered.

"Welcome to our humble shooting gallery slash server room slash storage room. I do my practicing here. It's not bad. Octo-Projectors display high resolution 3-D images, that are semi-tangible. Its good for shooting at."

"So are you gonna start?" Filius asked, staring at the pitch-black weapon in the tigers paws.

"Cool your jets! I'll start and show you how it's done." He smiled as he moved to a panel on the wall and pressed some buttons. The whole room twitched, as if there was a glitch in some virtual reality. Then something appeared in the middle of the room. It was a snake. It stood about six feet tall. It's "tail" extended in a wave-like fashion for several more feet behind it. It's "chest" was covered by think sheets of pitch-black, glossy plating. It held a cannon not unlike the two Preliator was holding. Filius, being a colonist, had never seen a snake, or a reptile for that matter. Seeing the shock on Filius' muzzle, Preliator explained.

"It's a Shashan. It is Snake for warrior. Shashanera are used by the Matrian government to patrol high-security areas. They live in Sasanek, which is a region not far from Matria. They are valiant warriors, snakes. But, you won't see too many of them here besides the ones drafted to be Shashanera." Filius looked at the thing now deemed a Shashan. The Shashan stood there, unmoving. Preliator jumped over the wall, into the combat area. The snake suddenly slithered to the left, at a speed that surprised Filius. It circled around Preliator, coming extremely close to where Filius and Magnus stood. It stayed there. Preliator, turning to face the reptile, shot three quick burst from one cannon. Filius saw the long muscles on the snake's slender body tense as it slithered and dodged the oncoming fire. Filius flinched as the energy blasts were absorbed by a blue force field that flickered to life, and disappeared. Preliator continued to fire. One shot hit the Shashan's slithering tail half. It twitched and did something that could only be described as tripping. It fell. It stood up, as the viresium plate absorbed several of Preliator's shots. Filius detected a slight change in the position of Preliator's arm. An almost undetectable change that made all the difference. A single shot was disgorged from the mouth of the weapon. The blue streak hit the Shashan in the face. It literally popped, as snake brain was splattered on the floor of the arena. At least it looked like it. The dead Shashan, as well as the head that was now floor, dissipated. Preliator jumped over the wall again, and handed the gun to Magnus, who gave it back.

"I was never a marksfur. I was a code-bearer. I'm a nerd."

"Ok.. well... You're missing out. Care to give it a try, Filius?" Filius took the weapon from the tiger tentatively.

"Sure." The tiger pressed the panel again, and the same twitch was caused. Filius climbed the wall and dropped down. The Shashan materialized in front of him. It executed a different pattern this time. It charge right at him. Filius was hard-pressed, to aim and shoot as the oncoming reptile approached, still surprisingly fast. Missing, he jumped to the left. He hit the hard concrete painfully on his chest. He scrambled to his feet. And took aim. The snake charged again. It grabbed something from its side. It was a sword, being pulled from its scabbard, hung over a scaly shoulder. The sword passed harmlessly through Filius. Despite the lack of a physical manifestation of injury, the pain he felt, was as though he had been impaled by the thin, sharp metal. He fell to his knees. The Shashan turned to face the wolf that now clutched his stomach.

Magnus was on the verge of jumping in. "Aren't you going to do something?!"

"Shh! Watch! He's in no harm." Filius stood up. He took aim again. He pulled the trigger on the grip he was now almost crushing in a firm grasp. The force of the blast almost crushed his arm, as the cannon struggled to fly backwards. The pulse, which had been released in a thin sheet of energy, hit the Shashan in the head. This time it sliced through the scales and brain, ending its course by exploding on the concrete behind the snake. The image dissipated, yet again. Filius stumbled over the wall.

"Nice shooting kid. Are you sure you never used a gun before? And how'd you do that thing..." he was cut off by the sudden rumble and shake of what was all to familiar to Preliator. Explosives had been detonated. Nearby. "Oh god no..." He left the room, followed by the two younger furs. Thy ascended and descended to arrive at the familiar room. Yet there was something different here. There was a smell and a taste of explosives in the air, as well as a thick smoke. Preliator walked into The workstation room, to find it utterly destroyed. As the smoke began to clear, the trio saw a horrid sight. Pieces of horse were splattered on the walls as well as one female wolf, whose body had become cratered with gigantic wounds that bleed heavily. A wounded but still living wolf and leopard lay on the far side of the room. A window had been smashed allowing one figure in. It stood wearing EMPASS armor. Even through it's layers of shielding, Filius could see the familiar yet extremely strange form. It was one of those strange things Mentis had discovered. Its pasture was clearly a mocking one, screaming, "I did this, and I know it makes you mad". It shot a small thread from its wrist straight out the window. A clang signified that the hook at the end had attached to something. It pulled and was zipped up and out. The Three stood there in disbelief. Then, as if it had been revealed to them simultaneously, they muttered all at once, "Oh my god..."