FSE

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The tall, gangly figure in a tattered cloak was panicked as she rushed through the darkened corridors. They might learn, the humans might. There was a witch selling potions inside the village just beside their faction. The Father wouldn't like that. She ascended the steps to The Father's chambers, the witch was mocking them. It was a crime that had to be punished. Her long, branching fingers wrapped around the door's ring like handle and pulled. The Father was at his desk, for the most part he looked human. Sure he was a bit twisted and elongated, but he was one of the lucky ones. He was pouring over texts left behind by those before him. "Father, there's a witch! Down in the village! She-"

"Child, let me gaze upon you as you speak to me." She pulled back her hood, truly hideous, but a Father sees beauty in all things.

"She's selling potions to humans! If the humans-" The Father stood up and put his slender fingers on her bony shoulder, then smiled. His teeth were long and sharp, one of the ways you could tell he definately wasn't human.

"It is okay child, you worry too much. Send the guard. They can retrieve her when she leaves the village for supplies to make more potions." She turned away, her hand clutching an arm that remembered many lashes.

"You are a more forgiving Father than most..."

Samuel waited outside the village. He didn't understand what was taking Kalmithe so long. He was carrying the backpack full of supplies she demanded on taking and she got to go straight through while he had to go around, wearing her cloak. Though he was thankful for something to wear. And it smelled of her. Samuel buried his nose in the cloth and... he could feel cool air against the tip of his cock. He should think about something else. The rabbit pulled the bag from his back and placed it on the ground. He wanted to see what he had been carrying for four days. There were preserved fruits and jerky, some changes of clothes for Kalmithe, the pages from inside the room he barged into, and a few books. Other than that just herbs, roots and odd looking objects. Samuel sat down and gazed over the pages, there were illustrations on some. The illustrations were labelled in English, but the other writing seemed to blur his vision. Sometimes Samuel would swear he could make out a word, then he'd blink and lose it. He tried a book to the same end.

"Hey, bunny. Catch!" A carrot bounced off his chest and landed in his lap. He looked up to see Kamithe sauntering his way. "You were supposed to catch it!" The rabbit closed the book and frowned a little.

"Why can't I read this?" Samuel held up one of her select tomes.

"It's a special script. Only those born of magic can read it." She explained. "Don't worry too much about it. Now, eat something. The preserved food will last longer than this." She held up a bag of assorted food items, fresh from the market. He replaced the things from the backpack and slung it back onto his shoulders then picked an apple from the groceries, returning the carrot.

"We should keep moving." Samuel took a bite, a tad bit harder with his longer overbite, and began following the path Kalmithe had laid out. They hadn't gotten far from the village before a heavy fog began to surround them.

"Sam... I think there's something moving. No, there's more than one!" It was hard to make out how many there were, the figures seemed to take shape at will.

"Yeah! I see them too." The rabbit tried to keep fear from showing in his voice. Suddenly Kalmithe screamed as long, thin fingers clutched her arm.

"Anima erupit!" A ball of white hot energy burst from Kalmithe's mouth towards the figure grabbing her, but simply disappeared into the fog. The figure still held tight, until Samuel crashed into it with his shoulder. The thing stumbled and faced its attacker. Samuel could see its eyes, glaring at him. Then he felt its hand connect with his head. Samuel lost consciousness, watching the things surround Kalmithe, grabbing at her, planning to do god knows what with her.

The rabbit awoke with a throbbing pain in his head. His muscles ached from the unnatural position he'd been laying in. He wanted to stay on the ground and whimper, maybe even cry a little, but instead he forced himself up. Something was wrong. He couldn't feel where Kalmithe was, he should feel a pull towards her. Samuel closed his eyes, mentally probing for her presence. Nothing. He screamed in frustration, succeeding only in making his headache worse. If only he'd known what he was up against, where to find them. Going in to the town wasn't an option, a talking rabbit would be put in a freak show. He felt a wet sensation on his back. He dropped the backpack, it was dripping something. Inside he saw the shattered remnants of a jar of peach slices, the peaches and sweet syrup was spread across the contents of the backpack. He dumped it all out, salvaging what he could. Once again he found himself looking at the notes left behind by Kalmithe's father. He flipped through them, looking at the illustrations of all manner of creatures. Samuel stopped on a page. The picture showed a gangly, almost human creature. It was labeled fogwalker. It had to be one of the things that took Kalmithe. He stared at the text that filled the page, squinting, trying to see something. Anything really. His eyes grew sore from being unfocused for so long. He rubbed them, his paws came away warm and wet. It was just a stupid page, why couldn't he read it? The noxious blurs became clearer. His eyes harder and harder to keep open, his blinking and rubbing did nothing to alleviate the strain, but still the rabbit tried to make out the words before him. Slowly the page began to make sense. Apparently fogwalkers were part of a highly organized group that guarded the boundary between the mystical realm and the normal world along side a handful of other like minded, intelligent creatures. That is, until the fogwalkers became divided amongst themselves and broke off into smaller factions. Some stayed true to their goal, others became corrupted. They valued books and pretty much any supernatural object. That was all that Samuel could really understand. So he thought of what he could do and came up with nothing. He couldn't show up at the complex of some possibly crazed supernatural beings and ask for his... What was Kalmithe to him? Wait, that wasn't important right now. The point was, Samuel was empty handed. He looked at the pile of junk from the backpack. Or was he? He would have to look through the notes again...

This was it, it had to be. He spent days searching the cliffs and mountains around the village, this was the last one. Of that the rabbit was sure. He felt nervous, sick to his stomach. Anything could have happened to Kalmithe, he wasn't sure she was alive. No. She had to be. Samuel clutched a piece of stonework, covered in runes, twine connecting two ridges. Severing the string would allow several seconds to throw the stone before it would explode. He walked around the mountain, a tiring and tedious task as he scrutinized every ridge of the thing. The rabbit found it almost immediately. Not what he was expecting, but there it was. An entire side of the mountain was transparent. Through it he could see some type of market grounds, closed for the night. Not at all what he expected. He walked towards the transparent wall and tried to put his hand to it, it passed through. He walked into the deserted market and looked around. There were houses etched into the rock. He walked the streets of the empty village. Eerie. He hid under a cart at the sound of voices chattering amongst themselves, waiting until they passed and the silence had grown deafening before crawling out and continuing his search for some hint towards the hooded fogwalkers that had taken Kalmithe. Through the labyrinth of stone houses he found himself looking at the true wall of the mountain, a grand staircase in front of towering double doors. It was guarded by a pair of hooded fogwalkers.

Samuel kept low and held the stone in his sweaty paw. He should have tested one. The rabbit didn't know how big the blast radius would be, how effective it would be against the things, or if it would work at all. The idea seemed worse and worse as continued to watch the looming figures. Maybe he should turn back. The rabbit shifted against the rock house, small bits fell away and hit the hard ground. The guardsmen shifted and Samuel held his breath. No, he'd come this far. Sam bit the twine and when it gave away the runes glowed, his heart raced as he scurried into the open and threw it. One of the guards exclaimed as it thumped him in the chest and fell to the ground. The rabbit covered his eyes with his arm and prepared his ears for the blast, but it didn't come. The only thing he heard was a thumping noise coming towards him. He peered from behind his cover. The stone was rolling down the steps and stopped at his feet, the guards were gone. Sparing no time to question what had just happened Samuel rushed into the entrance, jarred open by the strange device. The large open hall had many doorways, few were guarded and the rabbit figured that prisoners would be guarded.

"Hey! Who- what are you?" The thing that had spotted him was like a twisted version of a human. Samuel twitched and pulled his backpack off.

"He's reaching for a weapon!" Before the rabbit could think they were upon him, pulling at him. More than anything his captors seemed confused as they talked in hushed tones.

The twisted things carried Samuel through long, winding hallways. It was hard to distinguish where he was being taken, everything looked the same. Finally he was plopped down in what looked like an office with a bed. The man, well he looked almost human, across the desk from where the rabbit sat frowned. The man inhaled deeply and his expression changed to an almost smile. "Is this how we treat one of our guests?"

"Father, he attacked us. Our soldiers at the front door had completely vanished. His bag has a small arsenal." The guard speaking to him pulled out some examples of Samuel's weaponry.

"This?" The Father held up the rune covered stone. "Practically harmless. Surely they've reformed by now, probably shaken, but mostly fine. Now, would it be unreasonable for you to let go of him?" The fogwalkers that dragged the rabbit along relinquished his arms and shifted in place. "What brings you here?"

"Well, um... some of you... guys took my... human- er witch friend." Samuel tried to explain wiithout sounding too odd. The Father thought on this.

"The unguilded potion seller?" Sam nodded. "She has been rather difficult to say the least, though her crimes were fairly harmless as her wares were less than perfect." Thinking back on Kalmithe's imprisonment actually seemed to upset the Father, his frown returned.

"Well, can she leave then? I mean, we're kinda looking for something." The Father eyed the rabbit then ordered the others out.

"Things aren't that simple, even if I let her go an unguilded witch will be stopped at every turn by any remaining members of the Astra Alliance. Though..." The Father rifled through his desk and pulled out two oddly shaped bits of metal. "Take them, they are guild talismen. They should help with incidents such as this. Tell no one I gave these to you."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Members of the Alliance mean well, we try and keep the unnatural from meeting the ordinary as often as possible, but sometimes other members can be less understanding. Besides as unnatural beings we should help each other out."

"...I used to be ordinary." Sam drooped after putting away the talismen.

"That simply isn't true, I can tell. You smell like one of us." The fogwalker smirked.

"Like one of you?"

"Yes. Tell me, how is it you found this place?

"Well, you guys live in mountains and stuff and I had been-"

"But why this mountain?"

"Half of it wasn't real." The rabbit had practically added duh.

"A keen eye for illusion, a sign of a true child of the mist."

"A what?"

"Half human, half fogwalker."

"What? How?" Samuel's head was spinning.

"Shameful to say that some of our kind fall from our perch to lie, sometimes forcefully, with humans. Tell me, did you know your father?"

"No. It's... My father left before I was born and my mom... she died giving birth." The room fell quiet.

"Things often end poorly when worlds collide. I-" The Father cleared his throat. Something seemed to be bothering him. "So, your friend... We should probably..." He nodded towards the door.

Samuel and the Father talked on the rabbit's fogwalker heritage as the Father showed him the way to where Kalmithe was being held. The myths and beliefs of the sub-humans. Sam's favorite was of how they came to be, a pact between a family and one of the Ashen Gods, but of course he'd only gotten the abridged versions.

"So what can I do? As a half fogwalker."

"It varies. Some can dissipate completely, not very likely though. No door remains locked to a child of the mist. You shall live longer than the average human. Perhaps far longer."

"And how about magic?"

"That is also a possiblity, but that also depends on the condition of your soul and your willingness to learn." The room Samuel had been escorted to was not a cell, but an ordinary bedroom. The Father swung the door open to reveal an angry, but not entirely disheveled Kalmithe attempting to scratch away a line of mage script with a fraction of a bedpost. It became apparent to the rabbit she was well taken care of, maybe even against her own will.

"My bunny! No! Sam, you have to run! They-"

"He's letting you go, he said you could have left earlier if you would have stopped attacking people."

"Attacking people? It just goes right through them! Stupid fog people." The witch pouted.

"Hey, I take offense to that." The rabbit said, joking. "After all, I'm sorta one of them."

"So that's why you looked weird before the-"

"What? Rude." Samuel lightly pushed the witch, her rebuttal was stopped short by an invisible wall.

"Dammit!" Kalmithe went back to scratching at the stone floor.

"If you would stop that, I could let you out." The fogwalker used a hand crank to shift a section of the floor, allowing the witch to walk free. Kalmithe gave the bunny a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. The Father's face hardened. "Keep quiet and stay close. We'll taking the back way out."

"Why?" Samuel cocked his head a little.

"She looks too human and you are a talking rabbit. The guards can keep quiet, but letting a pair like you two go would reflect poorly on my public image." The fogwalker pulled Samuel along and Kalmithe followed close behind. "Before I'd earned the title our previous Father had been stern. No more so than other sects, but... in some ways it has been missed. There have been whispers about my weakness as a leader." The rabbit detected frustration in these last few words. They had reached a guarded stone wall. The Father took a torch from one of the guards and waved them away.

"Why do you need four people to guard a wall?" Samuel wondered aloud.

"It's not a wall..." The Father closed his eyes, his long hand pressed against the wall and became a hazy version of itself. This close the bunny could see The Father's flesh giving away to fog at his will. The fogwalker whispered words in an ancient tongue and the wall lifted away with a terrible grinding noise. "After you." He waved the two forward as his body came back together and after he passed the threshold the heavy stone door came back down behind the two. On this side of the wall the tunnels were less developed, looked more natural. "We will have to go through the prison."

"The prison?" Kalmithe sounded concerned.

"Well that's the closest word I could think of, really we've been entrusted with especially dangerous entities as one of the last trusted members Astra Alliance. Highest security, you won't even see any of the prisoners. Although there were some break ins, they've stopped now." The Father's voice wavered a bit at the last sentence.

"If they're so dangerous who'd want to let them out?" Kalmithe's stomach sunk a little as they navigated the dark caverns.

"Not break outs. None of them made it out." The fogwalker's grim voice painted a picture of cramped and blood spattered caves in Samuel's head. As the caverns became cramped they had to walk in a single file fashion. Kalmithe grabbed Samuel's paw, he couldn't believe how wonderful it felt.

"Do you have any dragons?" The bunny asked in a more cheerful mood.

"They've been extinct for centuries sadly, hunted by humans eager to prove themselves." The fogwalker sighed.

"Didn't dragons terrorize people?" Samuel was confused, he'd read plenty of stories about dragons and they were more hunter than hunted.

"Sure, the occasional virgin and those lucky enough to have gold lining their pockets, but dragons... Once a dragon stakes its claim most supernatural beings know better than to trod on their land. So which would you prefer a town with less snobs and prudes or a town where any number of beasts lie ready to pounce on it?" The Father paused as though he posed a real question.

"I guess I don't know a whole lot about dragons... After the dragons then, why weren't more people pounced on?" Kalmithe giggled at Samuel's impression of the fogwalker.

"Like I said, the Astra Alliance. It was formed as humans found things new and more interesting things other than dragons to kill. Always to impress one another. One of the reasons we separated the natural and unnatural was to protect humans. The other was to protect ourselves." Footsteps echoed off of the walls as no one had much to say after that. Suddenly a harsh wind blew through the passage, and the torch went out. Kalmithe gasped and grabbed the bunny, bringing him closer in the darkness. He ran his paw through her hair and held her head close to his chest. He loved just being near her. An ear splitting cracking noise drew surprised screams from the pair and the Father offered a silent prayer to the Ashen Gods. The fogwalker grabbed the young witch and put the torch in her hand. "Light it."

"What?" Kalmithe was frightened. She was farther from home than she's ever been and the dark energy that loomed ahead was petrifying.

"Light it and stay here. I'll scout ahead." There was another thunderous crack and another. The torch sparked back to life, she handed it back. "The gift of the Mother, the flesh of man, risen from darkness by her tender hand...," The Father prayed once more as he traveled toward the source of yet another hideous boom and the growing malevolent force. Some time after he left Kalmithe found the courage to speak.

"He can't stop it. It's- it's death, it's filth, it's..." Samuel could feel her head shaking and each little jump at every quaking crack. Each one sounded like an omnipotent god snapping its fingers. "Hell incarnate." She finished her thought. Samuel held her close and they sat in silence. Soon the snaps stopped, but the Father hadn't returned. As time went on both began to fear the worst for the fogwalker, then shortly afterwards themselves.

"Hey. It's gonna be okay." Samuel whispered and squeezed her a little tighter. He wasn't sure of this himself, but he hoped for the best and thought of better times. Really the few good moments of his life were spent with Kalmithe and the really good moments happened when they'd been so close together. Though there'd been less clothing between his fur and her skin. The rabbit idly imagined his paws gently undoing the bottons on her blouse and-

"Are you poking me?" The young witch looked up at Samuel, he felt hot beneath his fur. "Really?" The rabbit shrugged and Kalmithe pulled away from him. "Pervert. Gimme back my cloak!" Unable to stop himself Samuel pulled away the cloth from around his body. "Nope! Never mind keep it on! Really at a time like this you'd-"

"Look it's him! The Father is coming back!" Samuel blurted out, mostly to distract the young witch.