{"sf1_id":735517,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Mage of Terra Danor","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":1774,"posted_at":"2014-07-26T02:40:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Clean","Dual personality","Future","Magic","Panther","Science","Time travel","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/735517-the-mage-of-terra-danor","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/735517","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=735517\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#1 of The Mage of Terra Danor\n\nIt was proposed to me that all I write is essentially explicit sexual fantasies. This is not true. I MOSTLY write sexually explicit fantasies. So I decided (like I need more projects) to try a different genre. It's sci-fi/fantasy, with a furry style twist. We'll see how this first one goes over. Not much to it, but it's just the pilot.","content":"               The air crackled, sending black\nlightning bolts through the night air. A rift opened; a mere empty blackness\nthat made the moonless night seem bright. Something slipped out before the slit\nsnapped shut again.                \"I hate\nthat.\"                \"Suck\nit crybaby\"                \"I hate\ntraveling through the space between realities. It's cold and dark and nerve-wracking.\"                \"Not as\nnerve wracking as your whining. Now shut up. We made it in one piece.\"                \"Speak\nfor yourself. I went to pieces a long time ago.\"                The\nowner of the commanding voice searched around. \"Village. Can't tell the year.\nFrom the smell I would say twentieth or twenty first century.\"                \"How\ncan you tell?\"                \"The stink.\nNot as bad as our time, but it's a stink nonetheless. Petroleum most likely. It's\nfunny really. The archives say how they lamented its loss, but in reality, if\nthey hadn't used it up, the Great Asteroid of 4023 would have set large\nportions of the old Russian deposits aflame. As it was, life was never the same\nafter that.\"                \"You\nand your learning. Like you don't have enough in your head, then you go and\nstuff it with facts!\"                \"Shut\nup Morlei. Every fact I have is necessary for this mission.\"                \"Mission?\nDidn't the elders say that going back in time would alter the time line?\"                \"First\noff, there is no line through time. It is one mass effect. We slip between the\nvarious realities like pages in what our ancestors called books. Secondly, can\nyou think of a worse future than the one we have?\"                \"Perhaps,\nbut I wouldn't want to try. Can we just stay here?\"                \"Here?\nAnd where exactly is here?\" He turned his head into the wind.                Sniffing\nthe air, the leader declared, \"Sea water. Doesn't narrow it down much, but that\nis definitely the sea. I can smell dead fish too.\" Then his eyes brightened.\"\nAnd whales!\"                There hadn't\nbeen living whales for about a hundred years. There is only so much cloning\nthat can be done before a species fades out. But the smell was distinct. The\ndata base had all kinds of photos and sensory items relating to many living and\nextinct creatures.                \"And\nbeer. There must be an inn or tavern or whatever they call them in this place.\nBack then, meaning now of course, there were a multitude of languages and\ncultures. Sadly they were only representative of one species. Humans. Intelligent,\nbut short sighted creatures. We have several preserved specimens in the\nPlanetary Cultural Center you know.\"                \"Shit on\nthem. I've heard the stories of how they fucked up the planet and themselves at\na drop of sweat! Wars, wars and more wars. Pillaging every other species,\nkilling them off, ruining the water and the air and the land...\"                \"Oh, so\nyou have been keeping up with your studies! Good! I thought maybe you were only\ngood for the pleasure of your company.\"                \"Shut\nup Keverne. I'm only along because I don't have a choice and you know it!\"                Keverne\nwas the most unusual of the so-called Enlightened. His body and his mind were\ntwo separate entities. In looks he normally chose the form that came naturally,\nthat of an ancient animal called a raahouti, though there were other names over\nthe years. Legends often superseded facts. It was also called...a jaguar or\npanther. Of course, Morlei knew that those were just inventions to frighten\nchildren. All the old illustrations showed them on all fours. Keverne was on\ntwo feet.                 But he happened\nto like black, from his robes to his fur to his skin and his eyes. All (but the\nrobes) were the result of close genetic programming. Genetic tinkering had been\noutlawed after the last of the humans died off, but as now all life might die, extraordinary\nmeasures had been undertaken. Keverne was the best of the best of the best. And\nhe had learned to do things no one else could even think of.                His\nnose sniffed the air some more. \"It's late, but I would guess the local inn is\nopen. I say we get ourselves some food and some rest. I think it will be interesting\nliving like the ancients did.\"                \"Suit\nyourself, like I have a say in it. But I must admit that I am curious too. So\nwhile in Rome, do as the...uh...roamings do?\"                 \"Not\nquite right, but close enough. Rome and its heyday is thousands of years even\nfurther into the past. \"                The two\nmade their way to the lights in the town square. A sign above was unreadable to\nthe lesser of the two, but to Keverne it was distinct. \"The Three Handmaidens.\"\nHe opened the door and stepped inside.                 The\nman, the human man behind the bar looked at the newcomer and frowned. It was\nbecause as he entered, the newcomer, aka Keverne, shifted form. He became human\nin appearance, and his robe twisted up into the fashion of the day. Well,\nsomething akin to it.                He\nwalked up to the bar. The man behind it rubbed his eyes. \"Damn! I guess I've\nbeen sniffing whiskey fumes too long. I could 'ave swore you was something weird\nwhen you walked in!\"    Keverne leaned against the bar. \"I've\nbeen called worse things in my day. What's the chance you have a room handy?\"                \"Room.\nI ain't got no rooms. The Bronze Stag next door has rooms. I have food, and\ndrink, and if you ask real nicely, I can even direct you to which ladies here\nare willing; for a price.\"                \"I see.\nThen I shall go next door and secure a room and return for whatever food you\nfeel is best.\"                When he\nreturned, this man with his strange clothing and his quiet demeanor, sat down\nto a plate of meats and vegetables cooked to almost beyond recognition.                 Morlei\nshared in the aroma. \"Doesn't smell bad, but what animal did it come from?\"                \"I'm\nguessing something they called a cow. Bovine genetics are in the computer, but\nthe only worthwhile ones are from the undomesticated versions. Anything grown\nfor milk and meat had the brains breed out of it.\"                The human\nman brought two glasses of beer, potent heady stuff the likes of which disappeared\na few thousand years into his future, if you counted time in that manner.                Morlei\nwas whining again. \"Do you know how nice it would be to actually drink that\nmyself, instead of relying on your tongue and taste buds and stomach to do it?\"                \"Shut up.\nIf you hadn't gone and gotten your previous body killed by that rogue warmouth,\nyou might be doing just that. I could have left your soul to dissipate into the\nether you know.\"                \"I\nmight have been better off if you had.\"                \"Enough!\"\nHis voice was louder than he wanted, attracting the looks of the entire tavern.\nHe apologized to those present. \"Sorry. I'm a little tired and I'm having an\ninternal debate. I'll be better after I eat and drink something.\" His voice\nwent internal again.                \"And\nhow do you intend to pay for it?\" Morlei asked from his shared spot in his friend's\nsoul.                \"They\nuse an old plastic money at this time. You saw me use it already, next door. A\nlittle magically enhanced information on the small flat card and I apparently\ncan have whatever I desire.\"                \"Good,\nBuy a way home.\"                \"Don't make\nme shut you up Morlei.\"                \"Fine.\nEat and drink and I will dream of salivating and digesting while you actually\ndo it.\"                Though\nno one heard their conversation to begin with, the voice went silent. After the\nmeal, and two or three more beers later, Keverne got up, paid the bill (\nleaving a large tip) and walked back outside.                \"OK.\nNow you can talk.\"                \"Now I\nhave nothing to say!\"                \"I couldn't\nbe so lucky. So if you have something to say, say it soon, because once I go to\nbed, I intend to stay there. So if you wake me up with some stupid idea or\ncrazy notion, I swear I'll climb inside myself and dig you out.\"                \"Touchy\ntouchy. I just think that you're wasting your time. What is it the ancients\ncalled it?\"                \"Called\nwhat?\"                \"You\nknow, wasting your time?\"                Keverne\nsighed. \"Like I know every idiom and saying from the old world. Maybe you mean \"a\nwild goose chase?\"                \"Yes! Precisely!\nI don't know what wild geese are, but legend says that chasing them is a\nfruitless endeavor.\"                \"You\nmay be right. But in the meantime, what we are doing is better than doing\nnothing. In a few more years, our time, the world will be dead. If we can\nmanage to find the balancing point, and tip it in the other direction, then maybe\nwe'll save our world.\"                \"And\nyou may destroy it as well. If you tip too far, you could end up saving the\nhuman race. Then we will never exist.\"                \"It's\ntoo late for that. We exist, and we will always exist. If I don't get it right,\nI'll keep coming back until I do.\"                And if\nyou never do?\"                \"Then we\nwill wander the temporal sequences for the rest of our days.\"                \"Days?\nDays don't exist according to you.\"                \"There\nwas a heavy sigh. \"Shut up Morlei.\"                Once in\nbed he regressed to his natural form. There was only so much one could do while\nasleep, and doing what constituted as magic required the user to be awake. The\ndoor was locked and the room secured. He slipped off his robe and used it to\ncover himself.                \"You\nknow, there are sheets and blankets for your comfort.\"                \"The\nrobe is all I need. Now shut up and go to sleep. Tomorrow I want to be off and\nsee if I brought us any closer to where we need to be.\"                \"Hrmph!\nIf what you told me is true, then each passing second is a page in the book you\ncall time, and you're trying to find one specific page, and then from there, to\na particular spot. I don't see it happening. I think you might be better off\ngetting there before it happens and waiting.\"                \"I've considered\nthat. If I can get close enough, I might give it a try. But for now, no more talking.\nIt's time for some sleep. Even I need to give my body time to recuperate.\"                \"Yes milord,\"\nsaid Morlei sarcastically.                 \"You\nknow my friend, if you still had you body, I'd take your tail and stuff it up\nyour ass!\""}