FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Welcome, one and all, to MPreg March 2013!

For those who don't know, this a month where all writers* strive to enrich themselves through application of writing prowess to male impregnation-focused stories! In the past, I created a world built around beings called Serevokin who, as an all-male race, breed exclusively through 'lesser' races who are dominated by pheremone-laden musk and intense, mid-coital suggestion that shapes behaviour. This year, I continue the Serevokin story!

Will I keep writing Serevokin stories after this series? Maybe! Will I keep doing mpreg stuff? If you want me to, sure! Originally, I chose mpreg and mind-domination as subjects that I wasn't sure I could write, as a way to learn how to push myself as a writer. Now that the subject matter has become comfortable -- and, dare I say, easy -- it may be time to move on. We shall see.

But for now, you have the first chapter in a new Serevokin story! Delve into the mysteries of The Missing Link with the first Serevokin story for 2013!

• Faora, of the Swift River

* All writers refers exclusively to me because most everyone else's too chicken to try mpreg. Wusses!

Waking Past

It was not his fault. Sera was hardly the one to blame for what had happened. He knew it was the case, but that obviously wasn't what his kin would think.

Midnight blue scales rippled in frustration as the tall Serevokin peeked up over the edge of the examination table before him. He hadn't wanted the fox to explode, after all. Terribly messy. Bad for his alchemical lab. He glanced around, and black eyes fixed on a tattered slab of furry flesh as it slid down the wall. Kolseratil watched the red left in its wake; considered the pattern of the blood left on the formerly featureless brown wall as he stood. "Art," he declared, and turned away with a snort.

"Master Kolseratil!" came a cry from outside, and the Serevokin's eyes rolled as his head hung low. "Master Kolseratil, is something wrong?"

An equally-naked feline stepped into the dim-lit room and immediately pinched his nose. A quick glance from Sera confirmed his memory's assessment of the voice as a Linorika tiger. Assistant. Never listens. Frustrating. Karyn. "I told you to call me Sera, Karyn," he replied, as he motioned down at the bloody remains of the vulpine on the table. "This one failed. Again. Spectacularly. More so than the others."

Karyn trotted over to the table, fingers still pinched delicately over his nose as he looked the bloody mess over. "Failed? Master, I heard an explosion. What-"

"As I said," Sera interrupted with another roll of his eyes. "Spectacularly. The Cult of Rolkotarni are doing something to their hashrah that is beyond my alchemical knowledge, Karyn. This frustrates me." He sighed and folded his arms. The cultists continued to best him. Were he a lesser Serevokin, he might let his pheromones go to work and turn Karyn into a little breeder-toy to help relieve some of his stress.

Not that the way Karyn's eyes darted up and down the naked, scaled body beside him did anything to show such tactics as necessary. Sera knew his assistant was more than interested in the offerings of the Serevokin. Since the birth of the Alliance, Serevokin/lesser pairings had become commonplace. Even with the discovery made by Silikaerati and his First three generations ago allowing Serevokin interbreeding again, those Serevokin that remained within the Serevokin Alliance thought it best to keep themselves away from the habits of the Cult of Rolkotarni.

But for a species so bent on sex and so needful of it as a core ideal in their species' development, Sera cared little. His passion was science, alchemy and the past, and he was already twelve years old. Sera was well into his twilight years, and the desire to breed was not nearly as strong as it once had been. His assistant was just that: an assistant. The last thing Sera needed was little Serevokin running around underfoot when he was trying to do important work. He had plenty of brother-kin who would carry along the -til family suffix, after all. "No, Karyn. Focus on our work."

The feline's sigh was easily audible, huffed so blatantly as it was. "Of course, Master. I believe I may have something, though. A messenger brought this in. I was on my way down to you when your... ah, accident, happened. He was told to bring this to the finest shaman in the town, and-"

"And naturally it found its way here." Sera waved an errant hand back at the feline as he turned his full attention back to the bloody table. "Take it to Master Ikal or Master Hrano. I have far more important things to focus my attention on right now." Even as he dismissed the letter, Sera's mind had already turned back to the problem of the exploded fox. It was definitely not the normal end to a Serevokin pregnancy. Whatever the Cult was doing, it-

"Master, it's marked as urgent," Karyn continued, his voice somewhat subdued. "It comes from a historian at the Citadel in Astikoraanna. It's about the war." The tiger cringed back from Sera as he spoke. The war was a touchy subject, and he knew it.

But Sera offered no reply. He didn't make comment on it. Instead, the alchemist simply sighed and bowed his head. "Very well. Read it. Quickly."

Karyn wasted no time. He broke the seal on the letter and opened it up. "If you are reading this, then you are one of three Serevokin I believe have the knowledge required to understand the importance of the discovery that I have made," he began. "The war with the Cult of Rolkotarni continues to strain our resources, and Astikoraanna itself may not be able to hold much longer. I send this in the hopes that the war be stopped entirely.

"The ranks of the cultists grow greater each month. Even with the magic of the other races on our side, the Alliance is failing. More and more Serevokin flock to join the Cult. They are administered the cure for your inability to interbreed, and are put to work creating more soldiers."

"Cowards," Sera muttered as he traced a clawtip across the table. His scales rippled again as he folded his arms.

The tiger waited a few moments before he continued to read. "In attempting to find a way to hold the cultists off, I, Historian Tyren Kaerati of the Lo'tyren'naka, believe I may have found a key piece of information. From the times before Astikoraanna, when Serevokin ruled the other races, there are documents that mention an old place of great power and destructive potential."

Sera just snorted as he glanced back at Karyn over one shoulder. "Mythology is for entertaining tomes and guides to morality. They have no place in true discovery."

With a shrug, Karyn continued on. "This place is described as being the Bastion of Revo, the cradle of Serevokin existence. If the tome I read on the subject is even remotely accurate, we are in need of someone skilled enough and knowledgeable enough to gain entry. If indeed the Bastion is the place from which the Serevokin originally came into the world, gaining control could provide Astikoraanna the advantage we need to drive back the Cult of Rolkotarni. A copy of the tome has been transcribed by my paws and sent with this missive.

"I sincerely hope that this lead turns out to be correct, master Serevokin. With the powers that legend ascribe to the Bastion of Revo, we may yet be able to save ourselves from a tide of Serevokin soldiers seeking our enslavement and destruction. The lessons taught by Aliastikora all those Serevokin generations ago are on the verge of being lost if we cannot find a solution to this problem." Karyn waved the letter. "It's signed by the master historian. This is his seal."

Sera turned around slowly and shrugged. "And where, pray tell me, is the tome of which this Lissak spoke? I doubt we have achieved the magical knowledge sufficient to make an envelope bigger on the inside." A frown creased Sera's ridged brow as he glanced back at the exploded fox's remains. "Hmm. Bigger on the inside. Spatial warping, possibly magically induced... maybe. Maybe! Clever, if true. Also stupid, but very, very clever. Karyn! I need..."

He paused as he turned and found Karyn already standing there, with one arm outstretched. In the tiger's paw was not the enchanted knife he was about to ask for, but instead an old-looking tome. "I brought it down with me," the tiger responded with a smirk. "Hope you don't mind, Master Kolseratil."

With a sigh, Sera glanced between the book and the remains of the Lissak on the table. "You are dedicated to uncovering the truth of this Lo'tyren'naka's meaningless drivel, are you not? Oh, very well. We will retire to my study and go over the tome from there." He waggled a finger at the tiger. "But you will clean this laboratory up, and you will not complain about how hard it is to scrub dried blood this time. Understood?"

The tiger just nodded vigorously, and Sera sighed again. For as good an assistant as Karyn was, he so often wanted to investigate things just too far outside the scope of Sera's own work. As the Serevokin led his assistant out of the lab and up a rocky set of steps, he took solace in the fact that Karyn at least knew what he was doing. It would make him an attractive mating partner, if he weren't so annoying so much of the time. Even just the two months it would take after the breeding for Karyn to birth a son for Sera would be two months too long in the feline's company.

Sera pushed open the doors to his home's study and strode inside. There was no desk, no chair. There was a single, round red rug in the center of the room, curved bookshelves that lined the rim from one side of the door all the way to the other. The domed ceiling glowed with white light from a crystal set in the middle. Sera was not one for desks and the like. Why bother creating a surface to work on when the ground was just fine, and a rug was far more comfortable?

The Serevokin dropped himself down onto the rug with a sigh, thankful that he'd ducked the exploding fox just in time. "Now, Karyn. What about this damn tome do I need to be looking at?"

Even as he spoke, Karyn had begun to flip through the pages in an attempt to find information on the Bastion of Revo. "I'm trying to find what the master historian was talking about, but... so much of this I can't decipher. It's written in an older Serevokin language, from well before the Alliance. It doesn't seem to make sense."

Sera sighed and snatched the book from his assistant's paws. He idly patted the rug, inviting Karyn to sit as he began to flick through the pages. Karyn had been right; the dialect was a lot older than most Serevokin could read. In his alchemical studies however, Sera had been forced to learn many of the older languages that more powerful concoctions were written in. "It is not meant to make sense to you," Sera finally replied as his eyes scanned the passages. "It is for Serevokin eyes. Much like the Bastion, it seems. Interesting. I have never come across this tome before, and I am exceptionally well-read on historical topics."

Karyn slinked closer, his side almost rubbing against Sera's as he looked down at the pages. "Then what does it say about the Bastion?" he asked. "Could it be used to save the Alliance from the war?"

With another sigh, the Serevokin just set the book down on the rug. "The Bastion, according to this text, is not actually a fortress of any kind. It is not a defensible position we could fall back to if we lose Astikoraanna to the Cult. All it says are the same little myths and legends we are told as hatchlings. 'Lo! And did the Serevokin rise from the Bastion of Revo to walk the land!' Silliness. All silliness."

The tiger frowned and folded his arms as he slipped back from Sera. "It's not silliness to believe in the work of the divines in the creation of our people, Master Kolseratil. We see their influence in the magic that we can learn, and the curse of your people."

"Then the god who created the Serevokin did so as a perverse joke and is unworthy of devotion," Sera replied with a shrug. "We are all male. There have never been females in the Serevokin. We only understand the concept of gender because of our interaction with the other races, and we only call ourselves male because that is the closest we can get to describing what we are. Your races all breed between your genders. Serevokin do no such thing. We are something alien to you. To every other thing in the world, we make no sense."

"The divine is not meant to make sense to the mind of a mortal," countered Karyn with a smile.

Before Karyn could continue though, Sera held up a taloned hand. "Discussions of the nature of the gods or lack thereof can come on the day you decide to take up vows and robes and follow their service. As long as you serve me, you will focus on the world and its mysteries, not those of the 'gods' and such." His eyeridges lifted as he watched Karyn's face sour, but the feline nodded. "Good. Now, there is more information here that I need to discern, and it would help immensely if I did not have to worry about the gods while I parse this text's meanings."

A quick flick through the next few pages though turned Sera's face just as sour as that of his assistant. The fables and tales he'd been expecting were instead replaced with archaic alchemical symbols and runes that even the experienced old Serevokin's eyes and mind couldn't completely make sense of. "Well, now. Perhaps there is as much to this theory as the historian makes out." He turned the tome over and showed off the symbols to Karyn. "Assessment?"

The tiger's older - and yet somehow to Sera younger - eyes flicked across the exposed page. After a few moments, the feline glanced over the book to meet his master's eyes. "It's a ritual," he finally announced. "One that would unlock ancient knowledge. This rune," he pointed at a point on the page, "denotes ritual behaviour in ancient Serevokin writings. That one," he waggled a finger at another point, "is for lost or missing knowledge. Not hard to put the pieces together."

Even as Sera fought the urge to simply yank the book back and send the tiger away, he only actually did the former. Karyn was a good student, but he lacked the capacity to understand nuances in his duties. "You generalize. The book contains a spell. Note the cyclic placement of the runes, and incantations within their structure. This is a magic ritual."

"But Serevokin can't touch magic," Karyn protested as he stared at the runes. "Why would a book of Serevokin history include a magical ritual that the Serevokin could not actually complete?"

Sera slowly turned the book to bring the spell itself back into sight. "And there you go again with your generalizations, Karyn. You focus on the big picture. This is a noble sentiment when you remind me of the effects of my work, but this is folly when you attempt to understand that which has already come." When the tiger frowned at the cover of the book, the Serevokin waved it slightly. "There has always been incredible power at work within a Serevokin body. Power to sway minds, create slaves, alter bodies, regenerate wounds... so many things that we can do that you cannot. True, alchemical reactions can emulate many of these things, but it certainly appears as magic as any Lissak's ability to hurl a ball of flame from his paws. Magic comes in many forms."

A glint betrayed the interest in Karyn's mind even as he snorted derisively at the book. "If you are about to tell me that it is some variety of sexual ritual... well, there are stories of witches in the west that weave their power through such means, but-"

"Fanciful stories meant to arouse and induce self-pleasure," Sera countered with a wave of one hand. "Serevokin embody the truth of such things. What is the shal'kol, if not a sexual ritual? It is a bonding ceremony steeped in magic that we simply refer to by another name."

Karyn just shrugged and pressed his paws into his lap as he leaned back. "Very well then, Master. Elaborate for me. Illuminate the dark recesses of my mind with your wisdom."

Sera lifted one eyeridge, but didn't rise to the sarcasm in the feline's voice. "Serevokin see a vision of sorts when they impregnate their mate. It is a flash of sudden image, an overlay to all that we see. Most commonly, it manifests as the vision of their mate in their current state, swollen with the progeny created in those ecstatic moments. Some few report that they have actually seen their young with their own eyes in those brief seconds. This is no act of biology; it can only be magic.

"This is the magic that is tapped into with this ritual. You see here," he paused long enough to reach over the book and point at a circle formed from runes, "the invocation of fates? Given its context and placement in the ritual, I believe that this ritual is designed to alter the vision. Instead of seeing one's future successors, the Serevokin is given a vision of great power and importance."

"The location of the Bastion?" asked Karyn with a smile. His ears were perked; he obviously was intent on every word Sera offered.

But the Serevokin just shrugged and set the book down. "Who can say? Perhaps it could be a cure for Nakeletori sniffles. I cannot know what it will reveal until I engage in the ritual." A serpentine tongue licked across scaled lips.

At the sight of that tongue, a shiver rippled through Karyn. "Are you considering engaging in this ritual then, Master Kolseratil?" he tentatively asked.

"Perhaps. I am not as young as I used to be, but considering the circumstances of the war and the prospects of uncovering long-forgotten Serevokin knowledge? Well... that certainly makes breeding seem interesting again." He flicked his eyes briefly to the tiger before he glanced back at the book again. "You are drooling. How presumptuous of you."

Karyn immediately swiped a paw across his wet chin and turned away to hide the tinge of red in his ears. "I will assemble a list of prospective males who I believe will be best suited to bear your young," he replied, as he stood and hurried towards the door.

"You need not bother," Sera quickly interrupted. The Serevokin stood tall and glanced around the walls of the study. "You will suffice. The ritual will require a few other items that I will gather. You should go to the surface. We will need the light of the mid-day for this experiment, and at least six mirrors. Attend to this."

The surprise at being selected as Sera's mate in the experiment was offset completely by a hunger that crept into the feline's eyes. Karyn nodded once as he backed up towards the door, and it was only when his back pressed against the wall instead and knocked a book from a shelf that he realized that he'd misjudged the location of the entrance. He sheepishly turned and darted out of the room.

In his sudden solitude, Sera turned back to the old historical tome. "Curious," he muttered, as taloned fingers stroked over the yellowed pages. "Noonlight. So many Serevokin rituals take place at night, by the light of the moon." He dropped the book and glanced up over the shelves again. Eyes roamed the spines of the innumerable tomes he'd collected, before they finally fell on one smallish blue-covered one. Sera quickly plucked it from the wall and pulled it open.

He only flicked through the pages for a moment before what he found what he'd looked for. Filled with runic and alchemical symbols, the book revealed page after page of Serevokin ritual. And yet, as he scanned through ritual after ritual, not one of them involved any sort of action taking place during the day. The earliest was at twilight, let alone the middle of the day. Curious. Very curious.

Sera snapped the book shut and folded his arms with a sigh. Standing around wasn't going to conjure to mind the solution. Standing in his study wouldn't illuminate the mystery of the ritual. There was only one way forward, and the Serevokin had no doubt his assistant was eagerly awaiting him.

While Karyn wasn't exactly waiting for Sera when the Serevokin reached the village he'd made his den beneath, the feline assistant had more than been busy. A small stack of seven mirrors, as tall as a Serevokin and all rectangular, were scattered at the entrance to Sera's den. It sometimes boggled the mind of the other Serevokin in town that the simple, unassuming hatch along the village's main road led down into the lab and living spaces for the most accomplished alchemist in the eastern Alliance territories. They preferred to live large, while Sera preferred to focus on his work.

The mirrors were set neatly beside that hatch, and Sera gathered them up as he headed towards the center of the village. There was a nice, large and clear space there which was occasionally used for a shal'kol, but Sera figured that it would be just right for what he had in mind. He hefted the mirrors with Serevokin strength and started down the road.

Another Serevokin paused his stroll between the homes at the sight of Sera and waved. "Fine morning to you," the red-scaled draconic called out. "What are you up to, Master Kolseratil? Village is murmuring about the messenger that passed through. Anything to do with you?"

"Brought news for me," Sera curtly replied, not missing a step. "I have an experiment to run. You may wish to spread word around the town that they should avoid the center of the village. I do not know how messy it may end up." Sera's clawed feet paused for a moment as he glanced down at the mirrors he carried. There were no stands or the like to prop them up with, and his studies of the old book before he'd gone topside had shown what he needed. "Actually... stay a moment. I need assistance."

"That is what you have the cat for," the other draconic replied, his voice suddenly wary. "Do not think for a second that the rest of us are so willing to be put on the front lines of your work. The war against the Cult is far, far safer."

The suggestion narrowed Sera's dark eyes. "The 'cat' has a name. Karyn will be busy attending to the more risky part of the experiment. I simply need a few beings willing to hold a few mirrors in place for me." He shrugged, and the spines at his back shivered with the motion. "If you are not capable of simply holding something steady, I will inquire elsewhere."

At the appeal to the other Serevokin's pride, wariness gave way to a petultant glare. "I shall just gather up a few bored individuals then, and meet you in the center of town," he muttered back, before the draconic spun on one foot and stomped off.

Sera watched him go, and remained still until he caught sight of the red draconic flagging down passersby. Then a smile spread across his face, and Sera resumed his trek towards the town center. There was one way to appeal to a Serevokin that didn't involve one's backside being spread, and that was through their pride. It was the fatal flaw of the Serevokin before the founding of Astikorranna, and it was what many in the Alliance figured would be the end of the Cult of Rolkotarni.

But as Sera caught sight of his assistant in the middle of town, seated on sun-warmed cobblestone with his paws in his lap, the Serevokin knew that there was more to it than that. He'd studied the history of the Serevokin people in an attempt to stop the Cult. Never before had the Serevokin as a species been able to grow in such numbers. A solution was required with greater urgency than waiting on hubris to undo the enemy. With a grunt, Sera hefted his mirrors and headed in towards Karyn.

The tiger spotted him on approach of course, and immediately rose to run over. His arms stretched out to help the older Serevokin with his load, and it was impossible not to notice the pink that poked out of the feline's bare sheath. "I thought you would get help to carry these, Master Kolseratil."

"I thought you would be waiting for me at the entrance to my den," Sera countered as he handed off a single mirror. The weight was enough to stagger the smaller tiger, though Sera simply continued onwards. "You certainly look as eager as ever at the prospect of what is to come. It is not good form to so obviously lust after the one you serve."

"Nor is it good form to dress so provocatively at your place of work," Karyn replied with a sharp grin. The feline set the mirror down just north of the town's exact center.

Sera paused behind him. "I do not dress at all when I am engaged in my experiments."

"Exactly my point." Karyn just continued to smile as he nodded towards the mirrors in Sera's arms. "Where shall we establish the other mirrors? There is a particular pattern to this, is there not?"

With a shake of his head, Sera pointed around the town center. Perhaps he'd made a mistake in selecting someone for the breeding who was so obsessed with his body. "We will have people prop them up. The ritual calls for sunlight to be captured and channelled into me. The six mirrors around us will direct the sunlight to the seventh, where you stand now, and will concentrate the combined light on me. This concentration of light at just the right time of day is supposed to pierce the vision and change it."

"And what of that?" Karyn asked as he pointed down to the small vial and sheet of paper clutched in Sera's left hand.

The Serevokin hefted the vial for a moment before he uncorked the top and handed it to Karyn. "That is what you must mark my face with before we begin. And this," he added as he handed over the sheet of paper, "is the design. The rune must be exact, Karyn. If it is not, we have wasted our time with this." His eyes narrowed. "I will not wait two months for you to birth my son, only to try again. At my age, I have not the time for this."

With a nod, Karyn set the paper down and stared intently at it for a few moments. He offered his master no verbal reply, but instead set to work in the timely manner that Sera had come to expect from his apprentice. As the tiger delicately poured the contents of the vial drops at a time onto his fingertip and began to draw it delicately across his master's features, Sera fought to keep the smile from his face. He had chosen well indeed. Insufferable sometimes, but dedicated to the task. That dedication was a key quality that no amount of personality differences could erase. He was certainly worthy.

A few minutes of careful drawing later and Karyn stepped back to admire his handiwork. Streaks of black further darkened the deep blue scales of his face, almost invisible in contrast. Swirls and sharp angles darted this way and that in configurations that seemed random to the untrained eye. Sera just wished his trained eyes could see his assistant's work. "It is done?"

Karyn nodded and motioned to one of the mirrors Sera had brought out. Mentally, the Serevokin cursed himself for forgetting their reflective surfaces and stomped over to the nearest. He smiled at last as he looked himself over and gave a slow nod. "Excellent. I believe you have matched the design exactly. Well done, Karyn."

"Well, the hard work hasn't really started yet, has it?" Karyn asked. The feline's grin continued to grow, especially when Sera sighed and shook his head. His eyes shifted over the Serevokin's shoulder briefly as a flicker of motion came into view. "Company."

Sera lifted his head again as he turned, and the sight of a small group of Serevokin led by the red draconic he'd met on the road drew a smile across his features. "Ah... ah, good! Very good! Please, take a mirror. I would have you catch the light of the sun with these and direct it towards the mirror that will be directly at my front. At the moment of... ah... culmination, I would have you direct the focused light upon my face."

The other Serevokin glanced between themselves as Sera explained his needs to them, and it was a green-scaled draconic that spoke up. "Are not these rituals to take place always in the evening?"

"Thus the need for this ritual to take place during the day," Sera replied with an irritated shake of his head. If not their pride, the greatest weakness of the Serevokin was their inflexibility of thought. The standard was followed until extreme circumstances dictated otherwise. It was a shame, Sera thought, that he was the exception rather than the rule. It begged the question of how Aliastikora had dealt with his exile, all those years ago. "I do not ask for dissent or back-talk. I do not ask for you to put your lives or bodies on the line. I simply ask you to hold a gods-damned mirror. Is this too hard?"

The other draconics exchanged looks again before they lined up to take the mirrors from Sera. Each one that was handed out had the older Serevokin direct them to a place around himself and Karyn, and how and where to point the mirror to best reflect the light of the sun. After a few frustrating adjustments needed to be made, three mirrors rested to Sera's left while another three were held to his right. Each sat at an angle, turned in to point towards the seventh, final mirror directly ahead. A shaft of light rose from that reflective surface and shot into the sky, lost in the rising of the sun.

With a nod, Sera finally turned his attention to his assistant. "You are certain that you wish to do this?" he asked, as he crouched down beside the feline. "This ritual may do more than simply reveal information to me and impregnate you. There is no need for you to risk yourself if you would rather another take your place."

"I have made my decision," Karyn replied instantly. The tiger shook his head as he reached out to pat lightly at one of Sera's knees. "I serve you, and I will continue to do so as best I can. I can play a vital role for you in this experiment." He smirked as his tail lashed back and forth behind him. "And, of course, I'll enjoy the act itself."

"I suppose you will." Sera sighed and nodded once as he rolled forward and onto his knees. He frowned as his eyes traced down over Karyn's body and tried to see a prospective mate there rather than his assistant. The difficulty in combining the two just told Sera that it had been far, far too long. Most Serevokin went a little mad after a few weeks without sexual relief, but Sera couldn't even remember the last time he'd had a partner. Would have been... perhaps three years. A fifth of a lifetime.

He pushed those thoughts out of his head as he felt a gentle, warm paw slide up along the inside of one thigh. Eyes refocused on Karyn, the feline's grin broad as he shuffled closer. "Perhaps you will not enjoy the act so much, with my lack of recent experience," Sera managed, as those wandering fingertips stroked up and along his slit.

Half-remembered pleasures tingled through nerves unaccustomed to them. A shudder wound up and through Sera's body in spite of his mind as the lips of his slit began to part faster than he'd anticipated. The tip of his malehood emerged into the air under his fascinated gaze, and it wasn't until his own musk reached his nostrils that Sera realized that he'd begun to produce that mind-clouding scent.

If Karyn was going to complain - and Sera was all but certain he never would - any words were stolen away by that musk. With no instructions from his master to the contrary, the feline immediately fell to his knees and nuzzled in against the older Serevokin's slit. His tongue uncurled and bestowed its warm touch on the tip of Sera's malehood.

And just like that, all of a fifth of a lifetime's pent up need exploded through the carefuly-crafted professionalism and detached disinterest of Sera's mind. Deeper, primal desires were awoken for the first time in what his body deemed far too long, and all of a sudden the eager feline licking and moaning between his legs was all that mattered in the world. For the briefest moment, his rational mind wondered if the animalistic recesses of the Serevokin mind could only be firmly controlled but never eradicated, before those recesses roared into his full awareness.

When awareness allowed rationality and reason back in, Sera found himself buried to the hilt in Karyn's muzzle. The cat was gagging slightly on the length of the Serevokin's malehood. A glance down showed the feline's shaft hard as a rock, twitching and drooling against the village square. Sera hadn't realized how much musk his body was producing, and even unable to remember the last time he'd mated he was certain that the scent was stronger than it had ever been.

It was overwhelming, and even noticing it wasn't enough to make Sera hold back. Instead, instinct took over. His body pushed to produce more of that dominating pheromone as he growled over his assistant and gripped the back of the feline's head. He pulled Karyn close, every inch of his draconic length shoved right down Karyn's throat. The gurgle below could have been one of concern or delight; it was impossible to tell and impossible for Sera to care.

The rational, scientific part of Sera's mind was a helpless observer to his body's pent lust. Idle awareness told it that the crowd that had gathered was full of surprised faces, but there was no shame. Instead, the animalistic part of Sera was thrilled. Let them see, it told him. Let them see my strength. Let them see me claim my partner and make his body mine.

When he finally pulled back from Karyn's muzzle, the feline was left to drop to all fours. He coughed and panted and retched as he tried to reclaim his breath. By the time he'd lifted his head to return to the task before him, he found his master no longer in front of him. Claws dug into his hips hard enough to draw blood, and those pinpricks of pain were washed away beneath a tide of rightness as every inch of Sera's shaft split his insides with a single, titanic thrust.

A jet of pre-seed splattering the feline's insides was enough to wipe away any pain from the penetration. Instead, that spurt signalled the completion of the Serevokin's control over the figure beneath him. Karyn yowled and arched his back as he ground back with all his strength against that invading length. His body hungered for it, and that which it provided. Between it and Sera's musk, Karyn was gone. In his place was need, shaped like a tiger.

Weight settled on Karyn as Sera fell heavily atop his subordinate. The feline buckled under the weight and found himself smashed down against the stone. The pain that he would have felt from the impact and his shaft was lessened, the latter by the puddle of pre it slid through and the former by the haze of lust that clouded his mind. Pinned in place, the feline was helpless against the rough breeding of his master.

Instinct made a demand of Sera, and he'd leaned down over his prize before he even realized what was happening. Scaled muzzle ground against the back of the feline's head and nuzzled up into the base of Karyn's ear. Lips parted and serpentine tongue teased up along the ear's edge. Words came, unbidden, from a part of him that was not the conscious mind. Words of command and control and subservience and freedom lost spilled out from his most primal reaches in an effort to corrupt and reshape the twitching, moaning tiger so eagerly milking at his pre-drooling shaft.

But the words did not come. What was still left of Sera's rational mind caught them just in time, and instead a wordless growl of assertion was all that slipped past his muzzle. It made Karyn shiver all the harder, the puddle of his own slick pre growing larger despite how much of it soaked up into his fur. The feline's mind remained his own only by sheer force of Sera's will, the Serevokin's instincts instead bent by reason.

Pressure built within Sera's mind with every thrust he made into the whimpering, yowling feline. It matched the pressure that built lower, a torrent of long-pent seed that begged to be loosed into Karyn's body. Heat spread across Sera's face. It squirmed beneath his scales like a trapped serpent. A moment's clarity suggested that the heat followed the markings Karyn had painted on.

Almost as soon as the thought entered his head, it was washed away by a vice-like squeeze around his malehood. Ridges flared against those clenching inner walls, and the sound of Karyn's moans sparked something inside Sera. It was his mate's climax surely; each pulse of pressure and need that tugged at his draconic shaft told the truth in a way that no tongue ever could. It fed the flames of Sera's long-dormant desires, and he felt his own malehood twitch sympathetically as it drove down deep into that squeezing passage.

And then, all at once, Sera joined Karyn at the peak of his pleasure. Hips jerked and ground against the feline's raised rump as he worked himself as deep into the soon-to-be breeder male beneath him. His back arched as he roared with the first jet of his seed, the bellow half primal instinct and half a rational alert to the Serevokin that observed him. The latter demanded the gathering bear witness to the male he'd claimed. The former was their cue to act.

Six mirrors directed sunlight right into the seventh. The beam of light that rose into the midday sky fell as that mirror tilted down, and sudden light and heat washed down over Sera's face. The pleasure of his climax was overwhelmed and replaced by something else entirely that set his every nerve alight with blissful energy.

The ink on his face lit up brightly under the rays of sunlight. Black turned white and shed brilliant light over Karyn's back. Claws dug into the feline's side as eyes opened. They too erupted with radiance, and Sera's lowered head brought him no closer to seeing the tiger whose body had just begun to be seeded. Karyn was gone. Sera was gone. Even the light was gone.

Instead, there was darkness. Corridors of silver and iron. Globes of light, great and small. Stone unlike anything he'd ever dreamed of. Crystalline towers of alien construction. Flashes of forest, mountain, river. A sense. A calling. A pulling. Necessity. Desire. Fear.

Even through the vision, Sera could feel his body spilling his pleasure and his need into his chosen mate, but each second of those hazy images brought him a moment closer to the conclusion of the breeding. The images slipped away, even as the Serevokin's rational mind broke through the animalistic. It clutched at the vision, tried to grab a hold even as he felt his claws dig down into Karyn's hips. An echo of the feline's gasped moan broke through the vision, but still Sera doggedly clung to it. An ocean, dark and eternal. A journey. A disease. Urgency. The end of time, an old path a broken oak need crested waterfallsserevokinexplosionspanicfallingfallingfallingfalling-

The vision broke, and Kolseratil fell into the darkness.

Sera's eyes slowly flitted open. The black behind his eyelids gave way to dim torchlight, and the Serevokin groaned as he felt a touch on his shoulder. "Karyn?" he rasped.

"I am here, Master," the tiger replied. A fuzzy, orange shape appeared at the edge of Sera's vision. "Are you well? Can you sit up? Do you need anything? I could-"

"Silence." The command was a simple one spoken quietly, and it immediately brought the desired effect. Karyn's voice faded into silence, and the orange shape wavered briefly but remained in sight. "Tell me. How do you feel?"

The question seemed to confuse Karyn's silhouette into silence for a moment. "I... feel fine, Master. Pleasantly sore in my rump, but otherwise... Forget my well-being for the moment. You passed out, and I don't believe it's from my especially-skilled body. I thought your regenerative properties might have awakened you sooner. What happened?"

Ever so slowly, the rest of the room began to swim back into focus. Karyn came into view first, a coalescence of orange and black that eventually took Sera's assistant's shape. Rocky walls and dim torches remained fuzzy, but distinct enough to make out. It was clear that Sera was on his back in his personal chambers. "The vision was... not what I had expected."

He slowly started to rise, but a gentle paw on the Serevokin's chest eased him back down again. Sera opened his muzzle to protest, but a wave of weariness overcame him and relaxed his muscles. "It was amazing, Karyn. Never have I beheld anything like it. Globes of magical light trapped in glass and metal, gleaming towers of silver that sparkle and crackle with energy... There is nothing that the Serevokin have ever constructed to my knowledge that comes close. If this is the Bastion of Revo, it is more wondrous than this old mind had ever attributed to the legend."

More slowly the second time, Sera started to rise. He pushed himself upwards gradually and carefully, until he sat upright and could turn to face his intrigued assistant. "And there is more. There is a feeling. A direction, an impulse... a driving force I have never felt before. It is as though the vision is tugging me towards the Bastion. I feel as though I know where it is, even if I could not put it into words. It is... like a calling. I have to go."

"And you're in no shape to go gallivanting across the world, Master Kolseratil." That insistent paw pressed down against Sera's chest again. "I won't allow it. You need some time to rest and recover, and then you can head on after the Bastion. After all, you will need the rest to gather your strength, if you're going to endure my company all the way there."

"If... what?" It took Sera a couple more moments before the feline's words sank in. "You are not accompanying me, Karyn. This is a Serevokin's journey, not one taken with another. I felt it in the vision, as if it were real. Serevokin can make the trek, and no one else." Still somewhat-groggy eyes zeroed in on the tiger's flat stomach. "And you need to prepare your body for what is to come in the next two months. You are in no state to go and make a cross-country trek. This could take months, if this feeling is correct. Perhaps even a year." Dark eyes narrowed. "Someone must retain this knowledge in case I do not live long enough to complete the trek. Someone must follow."

An angry expression creased Karyn's features. "You bred me simply for the information, and now you wish me out of your way. The least you could do is be honest with me about why you don't wish my company."

The suddenness of the outburst added surprise to the surge of sensations that ran through Sera. He blinked, spines twitching as he regarded his assistant. "If I wanted to change you in any way I saw fit, I would have suggested it in the midst of your breeding," the Serevokin countered. "Between your natural desire for what my people can do and the powers of our musk, your mind would have been overwhelmingly easy to break and remold. I felt the urge, long suppressed, and I kept it suppressed."

Karyn had no real answer for that, and glanced down and away as Sera tilted his head up. "Even if you do not believe me, your memories would be intact. Think back. Use logic, as I have taught you. Do you feel or believe any differently than you did before the breeding?"

Karyn had to think back, and the effort broadened his frown. Eyes darted back and forth, scanning the Serevokin's features for any sign of deception. Finally, he shook his head slowly and admitted a quiet, "No."

"I chose you. I could have had anyone in the village, or sent for someone more to my tastes. I chose you because of your dedication to our work and to my service. I chose you for you, and if all you see is a dalliance of convenience for the sake of my work to avert the disasters of this war, then perhaps I chose poorly." Sera tilted his head up as Karyn bowed his head. "If you will not stay out of my desire to keep you - and my son - safe, then you will stay because you are still sworn into my service for six more months and you will do as you are told. Choose."

Karyn's face went to war with itself. Expressions of indignation, concern, fear, hurt, shame and contemplation all fought for dominance as Sera watched him. The feline's ears twitched as he lifted his head at last to meet the Serevokin's gaze. "Very well," he finally conceded. "I'll stay. I'll help you prepare for this journey, but I will stay. And you will return, so that your son has a chance to know and learn from his father. Other... father. His... well, whatever it's actually called."

"Parent. And I would appreciate your assistance with my packing. I am afraid I too rarely leave town, and I am not entirely sure what I would need for this journey." A slight smile touched Sera's muzzle as he watched Karyn nod and dart off. Perhaps he had not made a mistake in selecting Karyn after all.

As he closed his eyes, Sera turned his mind back towards the Bastion of Revo. He replayed in his mind the vision he'd received through the ritual. Whatever wonders the Bastion contained, Sera only knew that he had to find it. Urgency tinged the vision and the sensations it had translated to him. Like a calling. A summons. Perhaps even a plea.

It was a call Sera knew he could not refuse.