{"sf1_id":758457,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Ancient World","author":"AlphaColt","words":4189,"posted_at":"2014-09-19T18:38:00.000Z","tags":["Brothers","Death","Female","Feral","Fox","Game","Human","Male","Story Series","Teenagers","Virtual Reality","Vixen","Wolf","Wolfess","asphyxiation","choke","dying","genocide","kill","killing","murder","story","teen","teenager"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/758457-the-ancient-world","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/758457","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=758457\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"PrologueThere was once a world; a utopia filled with lush green forests,\nvast bodies of water, and mountainous ranges. The inhabitants coexisted with\nevery being and creature on the planet as they thrived from their world's\ninfinite resources. These inhabitants were one with nature, for they were\nanthropomorphic. This world was created for a single purpose; so that one could\nlive in peace, away from the retches of Earth. It was through the last breaths\nof a dying world maker that this was possible. Thousands of years ago, the\nold kings of Earth sought out these individuals for their own greedy purposes. A\nwhole world for themselves is what every king desires. This was a time of war. A war between the provinces of Earth, and\nthe world makers were caught in between it. Some were captured and tortured to\ndeath, for they would not create a world filled with violence. Others\ndisappeared, never to be found again. The last world maker was very old and\nweak. And as he lay on his death bed, he asked his followers to take him to a\nplace in the woods near the mountains where he visited often.  They laid him down next to some tall,\nmanipulated rocks that were etched in cryptic code. As the world maker took his\nlast dying breaths, he spoke to the imbued rocks and sealed the gate as\nhe etched more code into them. But before he died, he spoke to his\nfollowers and told them the secret to opening it, but it was in riddle:\"To pass this gate and to\nescape this danger, You must surrender yourself and be one with\nnature.Look to the forest and turn\nto the wild,For that is where you'll\nfind the key my child.A key to a place of warmth,\na place of prosperity,A place to settle down and\nescape this barbarity.\"Those were the last words spoken to his followers as his last\nbreath was taken from him. And so ended the life of the last known world maker.It did not take the followers long to figure out what needed to be\ndone, for the stones reacted to the presence of the wildlife around it. The\nanimals were not easy to catch. It would have been much easier to kill the\nanimals and bring them to the stones, but that was against their teachings.\nThey proceeded aptly; some caught wolves, mountain lions, and cougars. A few\nmanaged to catch some birds. Others went to the nearest village and lead the\ntame horses, cats, and dogs to the stones. A strange thing had happened though.\nOf the wild animals they caught, when they reached the stones they became tame\nas if they knew what was happening.One by one the old man's twenty followers took their companions\nand led them to the stones. The cryptic language etched in them illuminated the\ndarkness around them, shining bright blue. As they held their companion in one\nhand and touched the stone in the other, they were pulled into it, disappearing\nfrom this world and reemerging into another. As each follower went through the\nportal, they merged with the animal of their choosing and morphed into their\nanthropomorphic state as they entered this strange world the old man had\ncreated for them.Several hundred years passed and their civilization began to\nthrive. There was leadership, and their king was just and humble. A town was\nbuilt, creating a comfortable environment for all to live in. Life was without\ndismay...or so it seemed. Trouble was brewing on the other side of the portal. An\nevil king, who sought destruction of any civilization lesser than his, happened\nacross the stones while traveling. He thought nothing of them as he got closer,\nbut the horse he rode on accidentally set off the aura in them. This intrigued\nthe king. As he rode closer to them and touched the rock, he was instantly\npulled into it. The king reappeared in the strange world, not as an anthropomorphic,\nbut as a man and his horse. This was a safeguard that the old man imbued to the\nrocks. Only the innocent shall reap the rewards of this world. The king,\nfearing for his life, grabbed hold of the rock again and is ported back out to\nearth. As he reappeared on the other side, he had an evil grin on his face. He\ntold a messenger to bring forth his armies, and that there is new\nterritory to claim.All of the evil king's men wore wolf masks, enabling them to enter\nthe portal. Thousands of the king's men entered the portal and reappeared as\nhuman to the strange world. Marching along through the jungle they came across\nstrange beasts that attacked them instantly. Many of his men died, for the\nbeasts were strong. This didn't stop the king from reaching the town.\nThe inhabitants were caught off guard. No one had anticipated for this to\nhappen. As the king walked into the town, he saw the strange inhabitants as an\nabomination that needed to be exterminated. The males, females, even the\nchildren, were all struck down. It was genocide.The king's newly found world was his for the taking. The king and\nhis men laughed as they plundered through the town, burning it to the ground.\nAfter several hours, his men grew restless. There was a chill in the air.\nSomething wasn't right. As the men rested from their acts of evil, there was a\ncommotion coming from the forest. The trees moved and the ground shook. The\nbeasts of the forest were on a rampage. The balance of nature was out of\nalignment and the beasts laid waste to the evil king's army in sheer\nminutes...none escaped.For thousands of years the world was left forgotten. But now\na new threat is emerging; a threat that will endanger the lives of humanity. The Ancient World\"I'm home!\" my father says as he does everyday coming home\nfrom work. He walks to the kitchen table where I'm doing my math homework. \"How\nwas school?\" Unaware that the question was directed towards me, I look up\nat him, \"Oh...It was, alright...I guess.\" I say, but it really wasn't. I am sixteen\nyears old and a freshman in high school. It wouldn't be so bad, but I'm kind of\na loner, and I don't like sports. So I don't fit in with many of the 'groups'\nin school except for the nerdy group. So I get picked on...a lot.\"Oh it couldn't have been that bad eh sport?\"\"Ugh...don't call me that! I don't even do sports.\" I retort.My father laughs and smiles at me, \"Fine...what are you\nworking on there?\"\"Math! Wanna help?\" I say, teasingly, knowing he isn't very\ngood at it.\"Umm...you should probably wait until your mother gets home,\"\nhe pats me on the head and walks to the den.I roll my eyes as he walks away and I turn my attention back\nto my homework. My attention doesn't stay on task for very long though. The\nsmall TV sitting on the kitchen counter is on, and a reporter from a helicopter\nis on the news saying that some archeologists found some ancient carved stones\nthat date back thousands of years ago. It doesn't really interest me, but my\nA.D.D. prevents me from looking away. Just then, my twelve year old brother\ncomes in and asks me if I want to play some video games. I turn from the TV and\nglare at him. He really knows how to get me. I would so much rather be doing\nthat than my math homework. I look down at my book and back at him.\"Sure! I need a break from this anyways. Besides, we need to\ndo something to pass the time. The midnight release for that new game is\ntonight.\" I say as I get up from my seat.My brother smiles and jumps up and down yelling, \"Yay! I\nforgot about that.\"We walk to the living room and sit down on the couch. He\nalready has it on and both controllers are by the couch. I enjoy spending time\nwith my brother. He is really good at video games and presents a tough\nchallenge for me. I do mostly win though, but not always.We play for a few hours and its eight o'clock before my\nmother gets home and walks to the living room. She smiles at us and asks us\nabout our day then leaves to her room and we continue playing. I glance at the\nclock on the wall and its thirty minutes past eight.I turn to Johnny, \"You know what time it is?\"\"We're going to leave now? It's only eight thirty...\" he says,\na bit confused.\"Yeah, but if we want a chance of actually getting the game,\nwe'll need to leave early.\"\"Oh...Ok then!\" Johnny jumps up and turns the console off.We both walk to the den where our parents are watching some\nTV and tell them where we're going.\"Ok honey,\" my mother says, \"Johnny...stay close to your\nbrother.\"\"Ugh...I know!\" Johnny says in disgust.I just got my driver's license and my parents got me a\nlittle truck to drive back and forth from school. We hop in and take off\ntowards the city. It's only a few miles out, so it doesn't take very long. I\ndrive up to the mall parking garage and find an empty parking space and we start\nwalking towards the game shop in the mall. We can already see the line backed\nup throughout the mall.\"Oh man...I hope we're not too late.\" I say.We get in line behind a cute girl I've seen from school.\nShe's about my height, five foot and six inches. She turns around and catches\nme looking at her. I quickly turn away, but it's my brother who speaks first.\"Hi!\" he says with enthusiasm. I swear, he will talk to\nanyone he sees.The girl laughs and returns a simple \"Hello,\" then she looks\nat me. \"Hey, I know you from school. What was your name?\"\"Oh, it's...\"\"Jason! His name is Jason,\" my brother interrupts me before\nI have a chance to complete my sentence.She giggles, \"My name is Lily, but my gamer's name is\nLilura.\"\"Oh, I like it. Mine is Link.\"\"That's cool!\" she says enthusiastically. \"Ugh...how about\nthis line? I sure hope we got here in time.\"I nod, \"Me too.\"For the next few hours we all talk about the new game. It's\nthe first of its kind. A VRMMORPG they call it, or Virtual Reality Massively\nMultiplayer Online Role Playing Game. That's a mouthful, but the game itself is\ncalled The Ancient World. The game requires a headset to play. From what I've\nread, you start off in this new unexplored world. You have to craft your own\nweapons. You start off with whatever you can find in the world. Eventually it\nsays you can mine for better materials to make better weapons and such. You\nhave to have better weapons to kill more dangerous creatures. There wasn't\nreally anything about a goal for the game, other than surviving. Sounds like a\nfun game to me.Not paying attention to the time, the crowd ahead of us\nstarts to move. They are letting five people in at a time. It's our turn; Lily,\nmy brother and I, and two others walk in the store. When we walk in, there are\nhundreds of boxes scattered around the store, each with a different insignia.\nAll the other games had been moved out to make room for them and the store was\ndecorated with these blood red banners hanging from the ceiling; each of them\nhad the different insignias. They depicted different animals: a horse, a wolf,\na fox, and several others. I wondered about this as we walked up to the men\nbehind the counter. There were two middle aged men dressed in black suits and\nshaded glasses. They didn't say anything until all five of us reached the\ncounter.\"Hello, and welcome to The Ancient World. Each of you must\nchoose from the insignias before you, but be warned; you will not be able to\nchange it once you've entered the game...You sir,\" he looked at me, \"Which will you\nchoose?\"\"Umm...\" I hadn't really given it much thought. I figured you\ncould change it when you set up the game. \"I'll go with the fox please.\"\"Very well,\" he said in a sophisticated tone. The other man\nstanding with him retrieves a box with the fox insignia on it and hands it to\nme. He says nothing. It was a simple black box with the red insignia printed on\nit.\"Umm...how much do I owe you?\" I say. I'm rather confused.\"It's on the house, and that goes for the rest of you.\" He\nsays with a half grin on his face.'Ok..this is really weird,' I say to myself. I am both\nastonished and weirded out by the whole situation, but I do manage to say thank\nyou as I step back and wait for the rest to pick their insignias. My brother\npicks the same as I do, and so does Lily. The other two guys both pick wolves\nand we all walk towards the exit. I'm the last one to the door and as I turn\naround to look at the store for one last time, the man behind the counter says\none last thing.\"Enjoy...\" he says with an expressionless face.My eyes go wide as I close the door behind me. I was\nofficially freaked out. I know they tend to do these things on midnight\nreleases, but they really did a good job this time. I shake my head. Oh well,\nwe got the game and it's time to go home. Lily, myself, and my brother all walk\ntowards the parking garage and go our separate ways to our vehicles. As Lily\nwalks off, she turns around.\"Make sure to add me!\" she yells.\"Lilura, right?\" She nods and turns around to walk to her car. I stand there\nfor a moment, looking at her as she walks off. My brother looks up at me and\npokes me in the ribs.\"You like her don't you?\"I just roll my eyes and tell him to get in the truck. We get\nto the house and my mother is still up, of course. But now that we're there, she\nkisses us goodnight and tells us not to stay up too late. It's Friday night so\nwe don't have to go to school tomorrow. I look at my brother and we instantly\ndrop our things and open the boxes at the same time to get our new headsets\nout. They were really cool looking, also quite heavy. They were metal and made\nquite well; aluminum I think, and they were painted black. Another thing that I\nthought was cool was that on top of the device laid a small polished stone with\nthe fox insignia etched into it. They really put a lot of thought and time into\njust making the headset, which made me wonder about the gameplay. The game also\ncame with a controller. You use the controller to move around and the headset\nto look around at the environment. \"Ok, the instructions say to sit down somewhere before\nputting the headset on. I think we should play from our separate rooms since we\ncan talk to each other through the built in microphone.\" I say to my brother.\"Ok, I'll see you in the game then,\" he says as he walks towards\nthe door, but stops just before exiting.  \"Umm...how will I find you?\"\"I'm sure they have some kind of friend request system. Just\nlook up my name and you should be able to join my party.\"He smiles, \"Ok! I'll see you in the game.\"When my brother leaves, I plug the headset to on open outlet\nand place the headgear over my head. As I press the power button on the side, the\ndisplay lights up in front of my eyes. A black eerie background appears in\nfront of me, a dark forest with leafless branches that seem to be right in\nfront of my face. Then, words appear on the screen and mysterious voice follows:Welcome to the Ancient World young traveler.This is a world that has yet to be explored.The mysteries have yet to be uncovered.And you have been chosen to do just that.But be warned...There is a danger here that should not be taken lightly.Everything that lives and breathes here wants to kill you.Should you enter, there will be no turning back.Are you ready? ...Press \"A\" to continue...Ok,\nfirst of all how does this thing know I'm a \"young\ntraveler?\" And second, what the hell does it mean there's no turning back. Do I\nonly have one life or something? Damn this game is really freaking me out. They\nmade it seem like a regular survival game on the trailer. But now it seems like\nmore of a horror game. Oh well, I better hurry up and get into the game. I'm\nsure my brother is already in; he loves these kinda games.A press the \"A\" button on my controller and the screen goes\nblank. The headset starts to make a winding sound and I can feel air start to\ncirculate around the device. My eyes grew wide, but thought nothing of it as I\nrealized they were probably cooling fans. 'Well that's a cool feature' I\nthought to myself. Then the screen turned bright white, causing my eyes to\nsquint.You were warned...\"Ugh here we go with the creepy dialogue again,\" I say\naloud.Just then the fans start to wind louder and I can hear\nsomething on the headset powering up. A flash of light blinds me, so I close my\neyes for a few seconds. But when I open them...my headset is gone, the\ntemperature has changed, and I can see my hands in front of me, but they weren't\nhands. They were paws! I looked over the rest of my body. I had been morphed instantly\ninto the being of my choosing; a fox. I have a tail, and fur has covered my\nentire body, but I am sitting on a fallen tree in a dark forest like a human\nwould.\"What the hell just happened? I thought this was a visual\nvirtual reality console. Did this thing really just tap into my brain?\" I say\naloud as I stand up. \"No...that can't be it.\" As I stood up I could feel my\nmuscles being strained. I started jumping. My heart was racing and my legs grew\ntired. \"What the hell is going on?\" I yell. I can feel everything.Something from behind me startled me. I jump and turn\naround. There's something in the bushes, moving around. I can't see very well,\nmy eyes haven't adjusted to the darkness. To my left I could hear something\nelse, but it was further off. A deep howl from some creature ringed in my ears,\nmaking my hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The bushes stopped moving\nand the howling continued. I heard a scream. That was from a person! I start to\nrun, opposite the direction of the howls. I'm running through the forest,\ndodging trees and vines; the lush leaves of the forest brushed against my face\nas I ran past them. My heart was pounding, my adrenaline was pumping, I could\nrun faster though. With this body I felt less fatigue and could hear better. I\ngot distracted. I crashed into something, or someone. When I rose up off the\nground and looked around, I saw a wolfess on the ground, holding her shoulder;\nshe was scared.\"Hey! It's OK, I'm not going to hurt you. Let me help you\nup.\" I say to her.Reluctantly she holds out her paw and I pull her up to her\nfeet.\"What the hell is going on?\" she asks in a frantic voice.I shake my head, \"I don't know. I was in my room with my\nbrother and I,\" I stop mid sentence. \"Oh god! My brother!\" I say, looking\naround frantically. Then the howling continues. It was closer, and closing in.We both take off running, but it's too late. She was right\non my heel when the creature jumps through the brush and tackles her to the\nground. I stop and turn around. It's a feral wolf. But this beast is twice my\nheight and has her neck in his jaws. The beast has his eyes fixated on the\nwolfess. She is still alive. I take a step towards them and the beast looks\nright at me. He growls and clenches harder around her throat. She starts to\nscream, but is cut short as he crushes her throat in his massive jaws. She\ngurgles in her own blood as she desperately tries to breathe. Her eyes go wide\nand she stops moving.Is this really happening? I can't move, but as I'm frozen in\nfear I manage to take a few steps back. Tears are falling from my eyes. The\nbeast has caught his prey and hasn't shown any signs of pursuing me. The wolf\nkeeps a careful eye on me as I turn around to run. I look back as I'm almost\nout of sight and he has already started tearing apart his fresh kill. My heart\nis pounding out of my chest. I've never been this terrified. I've never seen\nanyone die before. She was innocent! All she wanted was to play a harmless game...and\nshe died because of it! I start to get angry. Who could have done such a thing?\nI was seeing red. All I can think about was getting revenge\nand killing anything that stood in my way, but I couldn't do that without a\nweapon. I stopped running and looked around for something, anything to defend\nmyself. Rocks and sticks were all I saw, besides the vegetation of the forest.\nI had an idea. While cautiously looking around, I grabbed a rock and split it\nin half over another. I then took a sturdy stick off of a branch that had\nfallen from a tree and started sharpening the end of it with the jagged rock,\nlooking up and around every other second or so. I could hear small creatures\nscampering around out there. They were watching me, I could feel it. My spear\nis ready; it's sharp. It would maybe last for a few strikes, but it was all I\nneeded for now.I continued to trek through floor of the forest. There was\nno moon. Nothing to light the sky except for the stars which shown brighter\nthan any I've ever seen. Even through the tall trees of the forest, they shown bright\nenough for me to navigate through the dark overgrown forest. As I jumped over\nfallen trees and dodged the branches and brush around me I could hear the squeal\nof something above me. It sounded like the high pitched scream of a bat. I continued\nto run. I didn't stop, but just then I sensed something behind me; it grabbed\nme by the arm and bit into it. I let out a scream from the pain as clamped its\njaw into me. I tripped and fell to the ground as I beat the thing off of me. I\nquickly rose to my feet and saw the creature flapping its wings on the ground.\nIt gained its composure and stood to its feet. It was only about 2 feet tall\nand resembled a moth.  But this thing had\nsharp teeth protruding from its closed mouth and talons like a hawk. My arm was\nhurting badly and as I looked at it, there was blood seeping into my fur around\nthe wound. I looked back at the creature and it let out its high pitched scream\nas it launched itself in my direction. I took the spear in my hand and swung it\nas hard as I could, landing the blow against its face. The creature squealed as\nit fell to the ground. Something hit me from behind and grabbed at my neck, but\nI rolled forward before it bit me, causing the creature to fall to the ground.\nI rose to my feet and took the sharp end of the spear and ran it through its\nabdomen. I held it there until it stopped screeching and moving. The other creature\nwatched the whole thing as it recovered from the blow to its face. I ran\ntowards it, spear in hand, and it took off into the air, screeching loudly.I yelled at the creature as it took off. It didn't come\nback. As I caught my breath from the fight, this overwhelming fear built up\ninside me and I came to a realization. I dropped my spear and fell to my knees.\nI was still breathing hard. I felt like I was about to pass out, but I shook myself\nout of it. This is to be my reality now. A world filled with dangerous\ncreatures; a world of survival and only the strong survive. I don't know why we\nwere summoned here, but I plan to find out. I AM going to survive this and FIND\nmy brother. I will FIND HIM! ...whatever it takes."}