FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Neko had a difficult time waking up after the drawn-out exertion she put her young body through. She wanted to lay down in the grass with her eyes closed just for a bit longer, yet the absence of warmth was an obvious sign that something wasn’t quite right. There was also noise. Neko blinked her eyes open, then pushed herself up to look in the direction of the squeaks.

“K-Kuni…”

The little fox immediately turned around, hir violet eyes cute and lively.

“What’s wrong, foxy? What got you upset?”

Kuni stared at Neko for just a second, then whirled hir fluffy tail in her face, yipping and barking in that high pitched way snow foxes had.

Neko rubbed her eyes. Something was bothering her Kuni. Something invisible, perhaps? Mr Toots was pacing around, and from the way he stepped, he seemed nervous too.

Neko couldn’t ignore this strangeness any longer. She pushed herself onto her feet, her eyes fixed on the giant tree. She took a few steps –maybe five- before the air started whirling and simmering before her eyes. A portal appeared out of thin air, fractured around the blackened edges. Inside was a peek into the other realm, a world where the ground was black smoke and the sky striped with nuances of red.

“N-no,” Neko covered her mouth as a cold shiver made her fur stay on end. She knew where that portal led, and for years she hoped it would stay closed.

Turned out fate had another plan for her, and Neko, in her innocent naivety of hers ignored all the signs of another invasion.

“Kuni. Mr Toots!” she called. The unicorn rushed at her side, while the fox kept a close watch on the portal.

“We have to go in there. She’s coming, and I don’t think I have what it takes to fight her here. We need to take this fight back to her, and do it as quickly as we can before she-“

Neko stopped as Mr Toots placed himself between her and the portal.

“What…what are you doing?”

The unicorn neighed stubbornly. He wanted her to stay, but why? She tried to go around him, and when that failed, Neko took a dive below his belly. Mr Toots just tripped her hands, making her fall unceremoniously on the grass.

“We don’t have time for this!” Neko grabbed a fistful of dirt, then threw it into the unicorn’s face. A sharp whinny escaped his maw, and in that second, Neko lurched towards the portal. Tendrils of darkness wrapped around her hands, then her chest, effectively strangling her entire body. She felt cold, blind, helpless as she broke the curtain between worlds. Forces tugged at her skin like barbed hooks. There was no pain, just an icy itch that got under her skin, spreading along her body until she felt only numbness. Neko felt like floating, but this wasn’t the calm flight of her dreams. The pressure in her head threatened to burst with the might of a volcano, and dizziness exposed her ears to a painful whistling. Still, Neko held strong. She had been through this before. She knew what to expect. Within a few seconds the coldness dispersed, and her feet touched solid ground.

“Unghh…” Neko pushed herself up, splitting the darkened haze that shifted along the ground as she did so. She entered a world of shadows where nothing had tangible shape. The ground was thick smoke. Trees uneven shapes jutting towards the crimson sky like spears. There was no color, or life, just an endless abyss of shifting darkness stretching as far as her eyes could see.

Neko shivered when something landed behind her. She whirled on her feet, fists held in a combat stance, ready to strike at whatever beast happened upon her.

“Yip!” Kuni’s soft paws pressed onto her chest, balancing the small fox while shi dashed lick after lick at the girl’s petite chin.

Neko pressed her nose into the animal’s fluff. Oh, she felt so warm knowing she had someone to share this forsaken land with.

“I’m so glad you’re here, foxy, but you shouldn’t have come. It’s really dangerous for you to be here!”

The air crackled. Neko drew back, and Kuni fell back on his fours, hackles raised over hir tiny fangs, but the charming unicorn that broke through the darkness cared not for the little fox’s threatening snarl.

“Mr Toots!” Neko shouted.

The unicorn head butted her with a strong enough shove to send her back a few steps.

“Kuni, no!” Neko yelled. “Leave him. I know why he’s upset with me. He…he just tried to protect me.”

Mr Toots stared with an impassive gaze. Though he couldn’t speak, those amethyst eyes told Neko everything she wanted to know.

“You’re not just upset, but scared…scared about what this place might do to us. To you…” Neko got up. She brushed her hand through his fading mane. The colors became duller. Muted. Even Kuni looked paler than usual.

“Oh, Mr Toots…forgive me. I should have given you the chance to offer your opinion. Instead, I dragged you into this.”

He shook his head.

“I’m wrong, aren’t I?”

The unicorn rubbed his nose warmly along Neko’s chest. “You came to protect me…” she winced softly, touched by the unicorn’s love. “We will make this right, Mr Toots. I promise I will get your light back. We will find the evil queen, and when we do, I am going to make sure she learns her lesson for good.”

Though she was afraid, Neko tried to keep her apprehension inside. She walked with firm steps behind Kuni, whose keen ears perked every time the fog shifted under the cold gusts that traversed this shadowed world. With Mr Toots behind, Neko felt safer. Protected somewhat from the permeating darkness. The path ahead of them twisted ahead like a serpent, tiring their legs while the cold air drained the heat out of their bodies.

Every minute felt like an hour. The sky never really changed, and nor did the landscape. Neko felt like moving in circles until the fog slowly thinned to reveal a crossing, and between the paths, a faded sign pointed ahead.

“Keep going that way, Kuni. Let us see where this path takes us.”

A mountain soon rose ahead of them. No…a wall of some kind. As she approached, Neko started to notice more details. The wall was not built from black mists, but from solid stone, retaining a faint semblance of its previous glory. There were no battlements to cover the archers or towers to warn of enemies. Instead, a different animal watched over the land from each parapet. There were hundreds of these statues, from mundane wolves to mystical beasts like dragons or gryphons. Neko’s heart thrummed with giddiness. She ran up to the gate, then tried to push with all her might.

“Nghhh…Unnfffff! It’s no use,” she backed down after Toots kicked at the sturdy wood for a few long minutes. “What we need is a golden key big enough to fit in that lock. Let’s go back to the crossing and see if the other roads can give us any clues.”

The first one certainly did. A dark thicket surrounded a pedestal upon which rested a chest. Neko brushed off the smoke. Glyphs appeared on the metal’s surface, glowing stronger the more she rubbed them.

“I can’t read this. Wait,” Neko narrowed her eyes as the glyphs moved into familiar patterns. “It’s a message of some kind. It says… whoever holds the courage to shatter overwhelming odds shall open me. It’s a riddle, or a challenge of some kind, though I cannot figure how we can prove ourselves.”

Neko checked the pedestal while Kuni and Mr Toots brushed through the trees. Kuni’s yip made Neko’s eyes perk up, and the growl of the bear made her flinch in fear.

“What was that?” she scanned the trees, heart pounding in her chest. “Kuni, come out! There’s a-“

Kuni darted out of the trees. A flash of red flared from behind, and in the next moment a bear five times the fox’s size splintered the trees into motes of darkness.

“Kuni, run!” Neko screamed. She crouched to grab whatever she could find, but nothing remained solid in her grip. Rocks turned to mist, and twigs filtered like sand between her fingers.

“Mr Toots!”

The unicorn backed away, afraid for his own life.

“No, no!” Neko threw herself against him. “You have to help him, horsey. He can’t win this fight on his own. The bear is gonna kill him!”

Mr Toots shook his head, pushing Neko aside, forcing her to watch how her little fox snarled at the gigantic beast.

“Kuni…” was the last thing she could say before the bear lifted its massive paw.

Neko closed her eyes. A yelp came, sharp and hoarse. She snapped her eyes open to see Kuni splayed on the ground, helpless before the bear’s humongous form. The next strike sent him flying into a tree, and the fox screamed louder than ever before it fell back, unmoving.

Neko’s violet eyes widened in shock.“KunIiii!”

There was a movement in the mist. Kuni pushed hirself on hir paws, then crawled towards the bear, hir muzzle twitching with the faint semblance of a snarl. Shi was wounded…why? Why did shi keep taunting that monster?

The bear growled back. It charged right after, but Kuni evaded the strike. The bear smashed head-first into a tree, then stumbled back, dazed, giving Kuni the perfect opportunity to strike. Shi clawed at the eyes and bit at the nose, forcing the beast back with relentless ferocity until it exploded in a cloud of smoke.

Neko gasped. Kuni won. Shi really did it, and still had the strength to boast with hir victory by pawing and biting at the faint wisps of light floating through the air. They entered the chest, one by one, flaring the glyphs until they burned with radiant fury.

The chest clicked.

“Let me, foxy,” Neko petted his head. “You did great, by the way. Awesome. Yes, you’re really, really awesome, but we need to see what’s in here!”

After Kuni stopped his sloppy licks, Neko pulled the chest’s lid up.

“It’s not a whole key…” she traced around the glyph encrusted base. “I think it’s a fragment. The other pathways surely have the remaining parts. Let’s go!”

The second chest was located inside a small cave. Neko entered alone, adamant in keeping her friends out of harm’s way. Seeing Kuni take all that punishment upon hirself hurt her more than any physical wound. With courage in her heart, Neko grabbed the small chest between her hands and brushed off the darkness until the message became visible.

“Selflessness is the trait of a true leader. Do you have what it takes to defend the weak, to acquire injuries in the name of the many, to withstand pain at the expense of your own life?”

Neko turned around. “Yes,” she whispered under her breath. “I will do whatever it takes to protect my friends.”

The cavern grew colder. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm, but the whimpers coming from behind made Neko look over her shoulder where a bundle of small creatures huddled into one another.

“Oh…” she hovered a hand over a group of abandoned puppies. “Where is your mother, cuties? You look so cold. Maybe I can-“

“Grrrrr…”

Neko fixed her eyes on the cavern’s entrance, where the growling form of a wolf blocked the exit.

“You’re not hurting them!” She got onto her feet.

The wolf advanced upon her. Neko knew she was at a grave disadvantage. Like Kuni, she stood before overwhelming odds with nothing but courage blazing inside her heard and determination coursing through her skin. Neko closed her eyes. She saw the mists. Felt them. Touched them. Though they shifted away from her touch, Neko knew they could do the opposite, so she formed her thoughts into a dagger as sharp as her will. A trail of smoke traveled from the ground, gathering inside her palm. Neko waited, and waited, and waited, and when the wolf’s cold breath fell on her face, she clutched the sharp object hard and drove it into the beast’s nose.

She missed. Neko jumped into the wall, barely avoiding the beast’s slavering maw. The wolf turned around, but it was not fast enough to avoid her second strike. Neko thrust the dagger into the wolf’s shoulder, unleashing a howling cry as cold as the cave itself.

The beast collapsed, its red eyes weak and unfocused. Neko knew she could kill it. She pressed the dagger’s tip against the beast’s neck. One push. That was all it took. Yet somehow, that seemed the wrong thing to do. The beast was wounded. Defenseless, no longer a threat to her or the pups.

“Nghh,” Neko cut a piece of her dress and placed it against the leaking wound.

The wolf yowled. Sharp, cruel fangs grabbed onto her hand, inflicting numbing pain upon her flesh. Neko gritted her teeth, keeping as much pressure on the wound as she could.

“Bite me if you want, but I won’t let you die. Not while I have something to say about it.”

The wolf’s eyes softened. Its teeth pulled back, replaced by the warm touch of its tongue. Every pass of the wolf’s tongue narrowed the wounds and cleansed the blood until no sign of damage remained on Neko’s smooth skin.

“Thank you, puppy,” she hugged the big fluffy wolf. “Thank you…”

The wolf’s whimpers vanished along with the cries of the pups, leaving Neko slightly sad even as she retrieved the second piece of the key.

“Come on,” she said to her friends. “We have one more piece to procure.”

The last challenge was perfectly tailored for Mr Toots. Neko had the feeling each of them had to be tested, but she didn’t expect the chest to match Mr Toots with humbleness.

“Hold back and lemme read,” she giggled as the unicorn licked around her ear. “The earth feeds us all. Earth brings us life. Are your roots rooted in fertile soil, or is the glimmer of metal blinding your eyes to the truth?”

Neko brushed Toots’ mane. “Sounds kinda cryptic, but I’m sure it deals with something related to humbleness. Courage, selflessness, being humble…these are all the traits of a king, or a queen. The one living behind that gate for sure! Go, Mr Toots. Prove yourself to the speaking chest!” Neko giggled like a wee little girl while her unicorn trotted towards the arrangement of rocks.

As soon as he approached, a bounty of ornaments blazed into existence. Golden chests littered with gleaming metals. Gem encrusted saddles. Tiaras or all kinds, leg guards, even helmets filled the bleak landscape with a dose of much needed color, dazzling the eyes with their beauty.

Neko was in awe. She had the wealth of a princess right at her finger tips. Who wouldn’t enjoy a dress lined with shiny gems or a scepter with rubies, garnets, and sapphires? The more she stared, the weaker she became to the touch of the gleaming metal.

And that scared Neko more than any beast.

“No,” she shut her eyes, grabbing onto Kuni’s fluff. “I don’t care about it. I don’t care about it. I don’t care about it!”

But what if Mr Toots cared? He lost his colors when he came into this shadowed world. What if he…failed?

Neko’s breath stuck in her throat when she saw him return with a peasant’s frayed dress in his mouth. It was crafted from simple linen, patched many times to cover the holes and the dirt stripes that made it look so poor.

“Oh, horsey…” Neko rubbed his jaw. “This is a girl’s dress. What can you possibly do with it?”

The fabric simmered, then turned into a wisp of light that traveled inside the chest.

“Well, that answers it,” Neko smiled, then went to retrieve the last part of the key. Her two remaining fragments flew towards the third, fusing with a soft clank.

“Whoa!” Neko grabbed the fully formed key. “It did all the work for us. Look!” she presented it to her friends. “I’d say this belongs to a king. What do you say guys? Want to meet some princes and princesses?”

The three of them returned to the castle with a cheerful gait. For the first time since they left their world, they radiated with pure happiness. Neko grabbed her key, placed it inside the lock, and used her entire strength to twist it. The key turned three times before the massive gates cracked open.

Kuni slinked through the crack, closely followed by Mr Toots. Neko had their tails to admire, but as soon as she entered the courtyard, her eyes were taken by the vast gardens stretching around her. There was actual vegetation growing on the ground. Trees surrounded the vast network of paths and flowers grew around the many statues built inside the living garden. The colors were still washed away, yet after so much time spent braving through cold and darkness, Neko found the castle’s courtyard to be a refreshing change.

“Stay close, Mr Toots. We don’t know who or what hides inside this garden.”

The unicorn trotted towards her side. With Kuni on her left and Mr Toots on the right, Neko took onto a dirt road, keeping a close eye on the trees whose branches shifted under the eerie breeze. Thankfully, no weird beasts pounced out from the bushes. The road turned like a serpent, becoming broader until it gave way to a huge, resplendent castle built from solid stone. Proud towers rose around it, carrying a raven upon their banners. The black bird had blue eyes and stood upon a sword crossed with a scepter. The ruler’s sigil, most likely.

A flicker of light attracted Neko’s attention. She looked closely at the castle’s massive gate. There was something shining upon the metal’s surface. The mist condensed around a glowing center until it took the shape of a four legged animal. The ethereal creature ran with swift steps through the air, its paws making no noise and stirring no dust in its wake.

Kuni approached the glowing animal, sniffing the air, then recoiled as the creature passed through him to stare at Neko with a pair of bright cerulean eyes.

“You’re not a fox,” she crouched, looking over the animal’s sleek body.

“I can take whatever shape I desire, young princess,” the canine said, shifting into a bear cub, then leaping into the air to shift into a proud eagle.

Neko’s eyes widened with amazement at the glowing trails left by the glowing spirit. “What are you?”

“A memory, you could say,” the light rearranged into the shape of a small canine. “Perhaps a guardian left behind by the castle’s ruler. It’s all the same to you, princess.”

“Why are you calling me princess?” Neko frowned.

“Because that is what you are.”

“I’m just a girl,” Neko said. “And you’re a fox, like Kuni, only that…your tail is not quite as fluffy as his, so tell me again, what are you?”

“Can’t you tell?” the spirit walked around on agile paws, then rolled on its back. Neko was surprised to see that even a creature of light mimicked the gender of animals. This one was clearly male.

“You’re a small fox of some kind.”

“Close, but not quite. I am a jackal. I happen to favor some of their traits.”

“They’re thieves!” Neko blurted out.

“Thievery is another word for opportunity, and it is my desire to offer you one,” the glowing jackal got onto his fours and padded towards the castle’s gate. “Follow me please. Everything will be made clear along the way.”

Neko summoned Kuni and Mr Toots at her side first. “What should we do, guys? I don’t trust that doggy. He seems up to no good. I think he will lead us into a trap, although...” Neko took another look at the bleak gardens. Under the crimson light pouring from the ominous sky, everything seemed lifeless. Everything apart from the proud castle rising ahead of her.

“Uh…” she looked at Mr Toots. “You want me to follow him?”

The unicorn nudged her again.

“What about you, foxy?”

Kuni dipped his head, then joined the jackal, running around him like a playful cub. Neko smiled. That was one way to give an answer.

The jackal parted the gates with his light. The blue streams rushed along the walls, igniting the globes mounted on the walls, filling the halls with a faint cobalt radiance.

“You are entering the home of Kyreth A’Shal, third of her name and ruler of the sapphire kingdom. This castle withstood many dangers, and brought many joys to the inhabitants within its walls. The stones you are treading upon knew the touch of every living being within the kingdom’s borders. Animals, men, Halflings, elves, dwarves, even dragons lived at peace with each other, a peace maintained by the grace of the castle’s ruler.”

Neko walked over the glimmering prints left by the jackal’s paws. Like their light, the land’s luminescence faded into nothingness. They climbed a row of spiraling stairs, and Neko couldn’t help but peek through the windows at the swirling sea of blackness that surrounded the castle. What could have brought such a terrible blight upon a peaceful land?

“Kyreth inherited everything. She had the queen’s wisdom, the king’s courage, and the loyalty of her people. Everyone loved her. On the day she opened her eyes, Kyreth saw life. Her entire kingdom stretched from the castle’s gate all the way into the swamps to pay tribute to her awakening.”

“It’s…wow,” Neko mumbled. “Kyreth was a real princess.”

“True. She was. But before a princess, she was a girl,” the jackal entered what looked like to be the bedroom of a young girl. He leaped into the bed, placing his forepaws upon the frame decorated with the shapes of small animals.

Kuni shuffled through a pile of clothes, while Mr Toots looked at the vast amount of toys stored on pearl colored shelves.

“She learned her first words in this chamber. Took her first steps right upon these boards,” the jackal leaped down, using a trail of light to slide a tome into his mouth. “Take it.”

Neko blew the dust off the cover. “The Eternal Kingdom…” she flipped through pages filled with glimpses of princes and princesses learning how to wield bows, swords, and other weapons.

“Which one is she?”

“Neither,” the book flew away from her hands. “Kyreth’s age is not yet over. Follow me.”

“But…” Neko looked around. “What about…?”

“All your questions will be answered in time, princess.”

They returned to the dim lit corridors.

“Kyreth learned the duties of a princess quicker than anyone before her. Toys no longer pleased her, and songs started to annoy her. Above all else, she wanted to learn the ways of the world, so that she could better prepare for when her time came.”

The jackal led the way into a dusty study. A worn desk bathed in the flickering light flowing through the vast window. The walls were not made of stone, but of wood, holding hundreds, if not thousands of books upon their shelves. Some reached as high as the ceiling, though the absence of stairs made Neko wonder how Kyreth procured all her tomes…if she ever had time to read everything.

“The study became her favorite place. The knowledge of the travelers was within her grasp. The mysteries of magic no longer tangled inside her mind. From within these walls of wisdom, Kyreth learned everything she wanted to know about her kingdom. Strange, how the peace of this study only served to quicken her temper.”

“What was she searching for?”

“What we all strive to do in our lives,” the jackal swiped a paw along the ground, leaving behind glowing claw marks. “A mark upon the world. A legacy to be proud of. Kyreth had a sharp mind for her age, but her desire to improve was sharper still.”

They exchanged the dusty walls of the study for the coarse sand of Kyreth’s training room. The arena in the middle had many foes, from simple peasants to mounted knights and towering dragons. Neko was awed by how alive these statues looked. If dents and scratches had not marred their surface, they would have certainly fooled her.

“This was her other favorite chamber,” the jackal said. “An inquisitive mind festers inside a rotten body. Kyreth knew that. She trained from dusk until dawn, impregnating the sand with her sweat and the walls rang with her ferocious battle cries.”

“What did she fight with?”

“Look around, child.”

Neko did, but she didn’t notice the weapon racks until the jackal’s blue light washed around the room. Kyreth had the arsenal of a whole army within her grasp.

“What was her favorite weapon?” Neko asked, narrowing her eyes at the beautiful craftsmanship of the spears, swords, bows, and the other impressive pieces of the arsenal.

“Kyreth didn’t believe in favorites. A proper tool for a proper task, she used to say during her sparring matches. The weapons owned her as much as she owned them.”

“So she was a warrior princess…”

“The best in the land,” the jackal said. “Yet betterment can be dangerous without the proper discipline to wield it, and the weight of knowledge can break the untrained.”

Neko was confused until the jackal showed her two other places. The vast meal room, where thousands of revelers drank, ate, and laughed as they watched the jesters dance in the ring or play games under the gaze of the spectators, and the blooming gardens, a nest of life where animals walked alongside humans, ate fruits from the bountiful trees or drank clear water from the streams.

Kyreth had it all, yet something felt terribly strange about her life. If her kingdom was so peaceful, what was she preparing for?

The answer was revealed when the jackal flooded the darkened chamber with his light. His azure brilliance ignited torches that blasted away the sickly crimson with their pure light, revealing an icy throne unlike any other. It was made of gems, flame-shaped ornaments decorating the high seat where Kyreth definitely used to stand.

“Everything led to this. A glimmering chair with power greater than anything else. After Kyreth ascended to the throne, she became too focused on her ambitions. The clash of steel rang in her ears louder than any song. The coarse embrace of the sand made her resilient to the peace of the blooming gardens. Instead of a gentle queen, Kyreth had become a warrior, and without an opponent to fight against, her pursuits took her in dangerous directions.”

“You mean…she became evil?” Neko’s lips trembled as she thought back upon the Evil Queen.

“The concept of good and evil is too abstract for me to engage in. There is no darkness without light, day without night, or a sky without its stars. Our enemies were not monsters, my child. The kingdom was not threatened by mystical beasts, vengeful savages, or anything like that. The greatest threat came from ourselves. Kyreth’s determination to protect her birthright instilled a sense of dread within her. What if she wasn’t ready? How could she learn more when every day got her closer towards her own demise? In her quest for knowledge, Kyreth sought to obtain the strength of the greatest beasts, the speed of the fastest chasers, even the soaring capabilities of the sky hunters. Quite ironic, how the desire to protect everything became her downfall.”

“What happened?” Neko whispered.

The jackal looked at her with his ghostly eyes. “Kyreth found the origins of darkness. She sought to eliminate it…and that is how her first mistake became the last. Darkness overcame her resilience, turned her strength into weakness, and preyed on her mind until Kyreth stood defeated. Then, everything she had good within her, every wisp of light, every mote of life was consumed by Darkness, who cast a shadow upon the whole world to remind everyone of the queens’s selfish folly.”

“So that’s why the sky is red. It weeps for her loss.”

“Nobody misses Kyreth, my child. Her kingdom was torn by rage, but soon everyone learned the futility of anger. Men and beasts alike retreated inside their hollows, waiting for the day when a princess pure of heart would ascend to the throne and straighten Kyreth’s selfish mistakes.”

“Me?” Neko blinked a few times. “You’re talking about me?”

“Who else is there?” The jackal flew around the throne room, making the torches flicker in his passing. “Fate brought you here, princess. If you choose to lift the shadows from our realm, meet me where she trained to combat the darkness and I will show you what needs to be done.”

With that, the jackal left, leaving Neko alone with her companions.

“What should we do, Kuni?” she hugged the neck of her fluffy fox. “Do you think I’m strong enough, Mr Toots?”

She got a warm nudge from her unicorn. Neko stroke his horn, then flowed into his mane, pulling him towards her chest. “We’re going to do this together. All three of us. And when we’re ready, we are going to bring light to this darkened kingdom.”

Neko traveled for days through the misty plains. In a land bathed in perpetual darkness, there was no easy way to tell day from night. Distance was measured only by the change in the landscape or the few resting breaks the group took when their legs became too weary. Neko ignored the discomfort brought upon by the costing journey. The armor weighted her down, yet her friends bore the brunt of the pain. Kuni acted as their scout, and Mr Toots allowed her to ride on his back when her own legs became too weak. Fatigue settled in. Hopelessness started to gnaw at their tired minds. Yet they pressed on through sheer determination, and soon enough the land started to change.

“That’s it,” Neko whispered as her eyes threatened to fall over her violet eyes. “The swamp of sorrows. That’s where…where…”

She fell into the unicorn’s fluffy mane. When she woke up, both Kuni and Mr Toots watched over her.

Neko rubbed them both, then picked herself up. She knew too well what happened, and was too embarrassed to voice it out loud.

“I’m alright,” she took her hand away from Kuni’s warm licks. “Run ahead, foxy. See if there are any easy paths for us to take.”

After the fox departed, Neko turned towards the magnificent unicorn. “Mr Toots, could you carry me on your back a bit more? I wouldn’t ask you this, but…” she looked back towards the spooky swamp. A sense of dread filled her. Whatever force hid inside that place still broke through her confidence.

“Nevermind.”

A nudge took her on the back of her neck. Mr Toots wanted to be ridden. With a weak smile, she clambered upon the unicorn’s back, hands holding gently onto his mane. “Walk slowly. I don’t want the swamp to catch us unaware.”

The air became thicker as they ventured inside the swamp. Shadows stuck to the ground like thick clouds, dispersing around the unicorn’s footsteps. Even the trees looked unfriendly, their crooked trunks and scrawny branches bending over like the bony fingers of a hungry monster. Neko’s grip tightened a little as a whisper came from behind.

“Did you hear that?” she leaned ahead to see her unicorn shake his head with a soft neigh.

“I’m probably tired,” Neko said.

“…all in vain. We’re lost…we’re lost…”

Mr Toots stopped. Neko too was just about ready to grab her gleaming sword.

“Kuni! Kuni, where are you?” she asked on a hushed voice as her eyes searched for any signs of the snowy fox.

A splash made her ears twitch. Neko’s hand rushed behind her head, fingers clenching on the cold pommel of LightBringer. The blackened mists shifted, but only Kuni’s radiant form broke through them.

“Unnhh…” Neko sighed. “I think it’s best if we keep close for now. There is no telling what this spooky swamp will throw at us.”

Whatever happened, Neko was ready to face it. She urged the unicorn into a canter, keeping vigilant towards the right while Kuni’s keen senses secured the other direction.

“Where has she gone?” the voice of a disheartened man sailed along with the wind.

“Our princess? Where is our princess?” a concerned woman asked.

Neko realized what these voices were as soon as the mention of a princess entered her ears. As they advanced into the swamp, the voices became a group, then a whole chorus, all weighted by the gloom of their princess’ disappearance. After they passed over a stream, the voices lessened. Neko hoped for a break. Then, a breeze made the branches shift.

“I will not agree to these ridiculous demands!” a powerful voice boomed from the depths of the swamp.

“I’m your wife, Targred. These demands are nothing more than friendly advice. Do you think I want to put our only daughter in danger?”

“Chatter, chatter. Words come pouring out of your mouth like a waterfall while the council turns against me. Have I lost my wits, woman? I’m crippled by disease, not by stupidity!”

“Nobody says you are.”

“Then why are you plotting to take over?”

“Take over? Targred…what got into you? Where is this coming from?”

“I saw you…sneaking late at night, filling my daughter’s head with heroic nonsense. She is a ruler, blazes take you, not a warrior, and she will remain in this keep for as long as I command this kingdom!”

The queen grew silent until whimpers carried upon the wind. She was crying. How could she not after such a heated argument?

Neko felt the woman’s sadness as her own, and for a moment she felt like crying with her.

“Shh…sleep, my beloved. Sleep…Tomorrow is your birthday. Tomorrow is the day where everything we have becomes yours…”

The squelches of Mr Toots’ hooves filled Neko’s ears until the next breeze brought along another voice.

“She left us. She betrayed her parents, then turned against us. Curse her. Curse her!”

Neko’s hairs stood on end. She knew this voice. It was the first she heard when Mr Toots carried her into the swamp.

“Our crops can wither. The castle can crumble. It’s late. Too late. My Nemor…where is my Nemor? Why did he accept to be her first scout? Why? It’s been four months now, and every day I wake up with bitter anger inside me. I think the same darkness is taking root inside my heart. I don’t think I can hold it back for much longer. She abandoned us. Betrayed us. She deserves to be PUNISHED!”

The man’s voice became filled with bitter hatred. “I came back from a failed hunt and found nothing. My entire village…swallowed by shadows. I’m the only one left. Why me? Why have I been spared? Is there a purpose for me? A reason I still exist?”

The wind acquired a chilly bite. “I know. Oh, I know. Pampered, selfish gnat! It is all because of her! When the darkness falls, I will sneak into the royal gardens and find her diary. A clue. I don’t care what it is as long as I can use against the council that sits idly while we starve outside the castle’s walls, and when that happens, I will repay her treachery with cold, gleaming steel! Curse her. Curse her!”

Mr Toots whinnied.

“I’m scared too,” Neko admitted. “So much hate…Don’t let it get to you, Mr Toots. Same goes for you, Ku-“ her words cut off when blackened mist swirled over the place where Kuni used to be.

“Kuni? Kuni!” Neko looked around, seeing no traces of her white fox.

“Find him, Mr Toots! Run!”

The unicorn pulled into a frenzied gallop, splitting the black mist with his radiant dash. Neko clung onto his neck with all the strength she had. Water pelted at her face like stones, and coldness slinked inside her armor like a snake, chilling her sensitive meat.

“Yip!” a mote of light darted from a bush. It was Kuni. He ran up to the unicorn, licking at his snout with his wet, cheerful tongue.

“Nghh, stupid fox! Don’t ever do that again!”

Kuni’s ears fell flat over his head, and Neko couldn’t remain mad at him for too long. She extended a hand, then grabbed the fox by both paws, mashing them against her chest.

“Don’t leave me again. I can’t lose you, Kuni. I just…I care too much about you!” Neko pushed her face into his luxurious fur, letting out part of the sadness that clung onto her ever since she entered the swamp.

Kuni licked her crystalline tears and nuzzled her reddened cheeks. When she calmed down, Neko placed him back on the ground and patted the unicorn’s neck. “I’m good. Let’s keep on going.”

The ground became wetter. Neko scrunched her face. Mr Toots’ hooves sank deeper with every step, pulling out thick slime on their way out. The sludge reached halfway past his legs, and the only relief came from the small islands scattered through this stinky bog. Everything was nasty about it. The air itself carried particles of slime that latched onto everything they touched. Neko tried to brush them off, but her touch smeared the thick fluid along her silver armor.

“Eww…”

Kuni too whimpered. She took him with her, least he sunk inside the festering slime. The fluffy fox provided a beacon of comfort, all warm and nice compared to the chilly mists that rose all around them.

“I was confident once,” a female’s voice broke from the depths of the swamp. “Brave. Naive. I was but a child. A girl that thought herself a warrior.”

“It’s her,” Neko whispered. “I think she-“

“My parents warned me of the price of knowledge. The eldest speak of its power, what many wonderful things one can achieve if she but opens a book… I opened tens at first, then hundreds. The secrets. I had to know them. Through the knowledge of others I became stronger and wiser than any king or queen that ruled before me. I thought I was above them…until my greatest enemy taught me how foolish I have become. The girl who thought herself a queen, broken, defeated by her own recklessness. Oh, I had strength, but not the willpower to tame it. I had wisdom, yet not the guidance to direct it. My enemy turned my weapons against me until even the light I weaved festered into darkness. I lost…everything.”

The wind picked up. “Learn from my mistakes. Turn back while you still can.”

“No,” Neko leaned forth. “I know you’re scared, Mr Toots, but we have to keep going.”

“What chance do you think you have? There is no hope against the darkness. Turn back…turn back, before you too become one with the eternal night.”

Neko gritted her teeth. “Shut up!” She yelled, and the storm picked up, throwing slime, mud, pebbles and everything it had at her. Neko grabbed onto her friends, braving against the whipping winds until Mr Toots jumped out of the bog. The winds calmed down and the voices turned into hushed whispers once more.

She could do this. She promised to. Neko wiped her face off the grime and stared forth. Somehow, she sensed her journey was at an end, and Mr Toots’ steps led her towards a festering lake that bubbled ominously surrounded by trees whose bark had been stripped. Some even had hollows in them, inducing a good scare for those foolish enough to look at them.

Neko kept her eyes on the pool. Something stirred inside. The bubbling intensified. A thick smell filled the air before a shape burst out of the thick fluid. It was a wolf, bigger than anything Neko ever saw, with eyes as red as the sky and claws the size of a hand.

“Another princess foolishly venturing into my den. How exquisite,” the beast licked its oversized fangs. “Why have you come here, child?”

Neko seethed when she heard that word. “You know why, Mr Darkness,” she jumped down from Mr Toots’ back. “I have come a long way to cleanse this world of your taint.”

“Brave words,” the wolf advanced upon her. “I wonder how you intend to back them up.”

“Kuni. Mr Toots…” Neko looked at each of her friends. “This is my fight. Step back. Find safety, and make sure nothing comes between us.”

The wolf unleashed the black mists upon them, blocking their path.

“Let them go,” Neko hissed.

“All three of you belong to me now. You can fight united, or die separately. The result is the same, no matter what you choose.”

Neko had about enough of those poisonous words. She grabbed LightBringer in one hand, then fell into a defensive stance behind Oathkeeper, a shield made of pure light that burned with flame-like patterns. She pointed the cobalt sword at the wolf, who bared his blackened fangs in response to the flaming runes that blazed along the sword’s length.

“You chose poorly.”

“We’ll see about that,” Neko dug her feet into the ground.

The wolf charged at her, a behemoth of living shadows that towered two heads above her. He swung with his paw, and Neko jumped to the side, leaving wisps of bronze light behind her. The beast’s throat rumbled with an ominous growl. He charged at her again, jaws clacking, but Neko once again leaped away as if she weighted nothing. The armor she wore had been passed from one Armored Princess to the other for generations. It was made from the lightest of metals and decorated with runes that quickened her steps and strengthened her arms. No ordinary girl could have stood against a monster on her own, but Neko was not just any girl.

The wolf came at her, again and again, trying to bite her head off with his gigantic maw or slash her legs with his savage claws. Neko fell behind her shield, and when the beast’s maw descended upon her, she slammed his nose with a burst of crackling light, distracting him enough to score a quick slash on his leg. The wound created a fracture of light in the beast’s shadowy hide. Neko swung her arm for another hit, but the wolf jumped back, touching the ground, growling fiercely at her.

“First hit,” Neko pointed at the sizzling wound with a smile.

“Foolish child. Only you can bleed. This scratch is meaningless.”

“If it is, why did you back off from your assault?”

“Graaarrrr!” the beast engulfed itself in a curtain of shadows, then sent the darkness at her.

Neko saw past his cheap tricks. She slammed her shield into the ground to create a barrier of light that burned through the curtain of shadows, a storm of radiance that pushed even the wolf back. With her visibility restored, she rolled underneath the wolf, then thrust her sword with all her might into his chest. The serrated blade burned with cobalt light as it dug towards the beast’s core. Neko pressed the blade up to the hilt, forcing a wild cry out of the beast’s throat. He rolled onto his back, swiping his paws at her. One scratched her plated shoulder, and another rammed against her shield. Before it mounted another strike, Neko slammed the monster’s neck with her shield and fell upon him with all her might, plunging her entire hand through his shadowy form.

The shadows crackled, then exploded with an outward blast. Neko’s legs left the ground. She flew through the air, watching how the mists engulfed the wolf’s burning wounds before the ground met her back.

“Nghh…” Neko grunted. The reprieve allowed the monster to reform. Instead of a wolf stood a woman made of the blackest mists. She had the same threatening eyes, but Neko paid no mind to her fair face or her long flowing hair. This woman had the same armor as she did, carried the same weapons, and that could mean only one thing.

“Kyreth…” Neko hissed. She towards the Armored Princess, holding fast onto her armaments.

“Wish I could speak your name with such reverence. Maybe if you had half my size, I would, but you’re nothing more than an insect in the wrong place.”

“I never abandoned anyone.”

“Neither did I. Can you blame me for wishing to detach myself from those fools? I was too good for them. Gah, to wake up every day surrounded by idiots is more painful than you can ever imagine, but I am going to help you with that.”

“I struck you down once, beast. What makes you think you have a chance against me?”

“Oh, you stupid, silly child. You are garbed in my armor, holding my weapons. I trained with them every day, and know every last one of their secrets. How long do you think you can last against me?”

Neko tried to hold her irritation back, but this cocky princess, queen, or whatever she was annoyed her far too much. She advanced upon her, shield in hand, forcing the shadowed form to grab onto her bow. The first arrow slammed like a boulder against her shield, and the second made Neko’s ears ring with an annoyingly high pitch.

Kyreth launched a barrage of shadowy arrows, forcing Neko’s boots to slide along the muddy ground.

She had to seize the advantage somehow. Neko looked around for Kuni. He was hiding behind a tree, far behind to avoid the princess’ gaze.

“Kuni, now!”

The fox leaped with a sharp yelp. The arrows stopped, and as soon as that happened, Neko tightened her grip and ran as fast as she could towards Kyreth, who aimed her bow at the little fox. Kuni darted around, evading arrow after arrow until one projectile speared through his paw.

The fox yelped in pain. Neko’s heart skipped a beat. The best way to help him was through victory, so she fastened her shield against the princess arrows. The shadowy projectiles exploded upon the shield’s surface, doing nothing to slow Neko down this time. She prepared to slam head-on into the princess when Kyreth threw away her bow. He rolled along the ground, drawing two daggers from her waist.

Neko prepared for a tough fight. She kept her shield close and tried to deflect as many blows as she could, but Kyreth was fast and daggers were the better weapon in close quarters. One of them managed to sneak behind Neko’s grip, slashing through her hand and filling her with numbing chill.

Neko pressed her jaws shut, narrowed her eyes, and grabbed her shield with both hands, swinging it with all she had at the furious princess.

Kyreth’s first dagger bounced off, and the second strike never came as the shield met her chest full-on in an explosion of light and darkness.

Neko flew onto her back while Kyreth staggered towards the bubbling lake. The bow flew back into her hand, ready to fire upon Neko once more if given the chance.

Neko was not going to allow that. She balanced her shield in one hand, leaned back as much as she could, then threw her shield forward with all the momentum she could muster. The projectile of light cut Kyreth in half. A scream filled the air, then an explosion of light engulfed her in a torrent of consuming flames.

Kyreth screamed. She might have dispersed for now, but the bubbling lake told another story. She was going to reform soon. Neko knew as much. She ran towards her sword, but the beast transformed again into a lizard with three long heads, all fixing their menacing gaze on her.

Neko ducked behind her shield. The blows came like a relentless storm, forcing her feet deeper into the sludge. The sword was too far out of her reach, and her shield battered harder with every upcoming blow.

Neko slid out of the straps. She waited until one of the heads bit her shield, then let go, allowing the monster to pull back with the glowing shield in its maw. Neko had enough time to map out the attacks. She knew the next head was just about to strike, and when it fell upon her, she shifted to the side, dashing a thin line of cobalt light right through the neck.

The head fell on the ground, wriggling and hissing below Neko’s flaming daggers. Her Arklight blades were just like Kyreth’s, only that their blades burned with the light of hope.

When the serpent struck, Neko scored another cut, separating the second head from the body. That was not a victory though. The severed heads grew tails of their own and soared on ethereal wings. After all the heads had been cut, Neko had an army of flying snakes to deal with. They came at her like the drops of rain, and she met them with vengeful light. Each time she cut a serpent, two more rose from its smoking corpse. Neko slashed five more times, then jumped away to see the giant lizard sporting not three, but fifteen different heads.

“Not good,” Neko slammed her dagger pommels together. Light flowed along the handles, feeding the flickering blades, turning them into swords.

The extended reach allowed Neko to cut danger long before it struck her, but even her cat like reflexes had a limit. As the number of snakes increased, so did her strength falter. Neko saw only darkness between her strikes. The monster was relentless, its flying snakes covering the thicket like a swarm of darkness.

They all pulled back, not to retreat, but to strike at her like an avalanche of unyielding darkness.

Neko had to use it now. She placed a hand on her armor, drawing upon the light within. Her runes flowed out of the armor to form a protective cocoon around her. Warmth filled her being. Strength coursed through her weakened arms, fortified her legs, and not only that. When she opened her eyes, Neko no longer saw a mass of darkness, but targets ready to be stricken down.

The snakes struck, piercing through the barrier. The runes emblazoned the ground with their blazing shapes, and as soon as that happened, Neko fell into a ferocious combat stance, cutting away at the shadowy shapes with unmatched speed. She became a blur of light against the darkness, her righteous blades forming a storm of light around her. Neko whirled around to evade and strike at the same time, dancing between the storm of darkness with the fluidity of a lightning strike, burning everything in her path. Shrieks rang in her ears as each fallen snake met the ground in a puff of smoke. Nothing distracted her. She remained a relentless force of bright fury until the body of the hydra revealed itself to her, and as soon as that happened, Neko jumped off the ground, driving both blades into the creature’s chest. Blue flames extended like webs along the monster’s body, causing it to explode for a third time.

Neko fell back on the ground, breathing heavily. Her legs shivered worse than her hands, and the light of the her daggers dulled considerably.

Neko sheltered them in their sheaths. She turned around, hoping the monster was done for…

But she had no such luck. From behind came a growl louder than any other, and even Neko’s violet eyes widened in surprise at the behemoth standing before her. Four agile legs encompassed the pool, fused to an agile body that sported not only wings, but a tail and a neck to match it.

It was the first time she saw a dragon, and this fascinated and terrified her in equal measures.

The beast roared.

Neko grabbed her bow, then shot it straight in the neck. The crackling arrow buried through the blackness, fizzling into nothingness. She launched a whole volley, aiming for the eyes or the wings, sending her shards of light against the beast, but with a single flap of his wings, the monster engulfed her light in a cloud of darkness.

It was useless. She needed LightBringer to defeat this beast, yet the sword was far, and she was so weak.

A whinny distracted the beast. Mr Toots and Kuni emerged from the forest, eager to lend their aid.

Neko’s shivering form was filled with dread when the dragon fixed his eyes upon them. She ran towards her sword, but the beast drew his head back, ready to unleash an attack. Neko threw one dagger at his neck, then the other, and when nothing happened she took hold of the Alrethian scepter, fusing her fear and strength into a beam of light that seared into the dragon’s neck hard enough to elicit a loud growl, but not quite enough to stop it.

A tide of shadowed flames erupted towards Mr Toots and Kuni. In that sliver of time, Neko focused all her willpower around them, forming a shield that stood fast against the consuming darkness. The dragon kept on breathing his blackened fire, and Neko forced all she had into the barrier until the cobalt light imploded around itself.

A blinding flash erupted outwards, forcing the beast back for a short while. Neko launched flaming balls that dispersed into nothingness as soon as they hit. She needed something stronger, bigger, but she felt so tired…

Mr Toots gave her hope. Neko dashed towards her friends as fast as she could, throwing off another barrier as soon as she reached them.

“Nghhhh…” she strained against the dragon’s shadow assault. “Kuni…Mr Toots…we can defeat it…but we need to do it together. We’re not inside his clutches. He’s in here with us!”

Kuni placed his paw in her hand. Mr Toots too pushed his head into her chest, his horn glimmering with multicolored light. Neko felt the warmth of friendship flow into her. She turned her eyes back upon the beast, grabbed onto her scepter, then poured everything she had. Her light mixed with Kuni’s violet radiance, then flowed into Mr Toots’s rainbow brilliance, forming a sphere of blinding brightness.

“Take this!” Neko shouted as she forced the storm of light upon the beast. The beam cut right through the flames, then impacted the beast with an explosion that filled the thicket and warmed the air with overwhelming light.

Neko opened her eyes. That was it. The beast was dead.

“We…we did it…” she panted weakly.

Kuni latched his paws around her neck. Neko was just about to hug him when a flurry of tentacles rushed towards them. All she could do was to watch her friends grabbed and pulled towards the mountain rising from the pond’s depths.

“Kuniii! Mr-“

Neko choked on her words as several tentacles wrapped around her own body. They pulled her off the ground, towards that looming darkness, only that it wasn’t a mountain. What rose ahead of her was a true monster, with too many eyes to count and hundreds of drippy tentacles. They entered through every hole in her armor, unfastening it piece by piece. Neko’s shirt was savagely ripped off, her underwear stripped to reveal her naked pussy. Within the blink of an eye, she was bare for the monsters desires, exposed to whatever perverted whims it held within its gargantuan head.

Cold and slimy, the tentacles moved along her body like snails. The strongest held her by the waist, her arms and legs both tied by another pair while three smaller ones explored her body. Neko shivered when they touched her naked breasts. She felt so exposed…yet that paled to the shiver that rushed through her when the tip of a tentacle pressed against her bare, naked pussy.

“Nhhh…no!” Neko struggled helplessly. “Let me go, you bastard. LET ME GO!”

The tentacles only wrapped themselves tighter. Neko seethed with fury. There had to be something she could do!

“Yip!”

“K-kuni!” her violet eyes fixed on the fox’s helpless form. Kuni too was completely tied, defenseless against the tentacles that brushed against his private parts. One wriggled around his shivering vulva while the other ran its tip back and forth around the sheath. It entered through Kuni’s hole, making the fox yap and bite at the air, then pulled back. Somehow, its intent was not to cause discomfort, and Neko started to realize what the goal of these tentacles were when Kuni’s vulva was invaded by the slimy tip. The little fox shivered as his female parts were slowly stretched apart. The stimulation carried through his entire body, but most of it seeped into his sheath, forcing it to get bigger in order to accommodate for the member growing within.

The sheath tentacle brushed insistently around Kuni’s bulge, poking and rubbing. It seemed to realize that part was sensitive, and when it wrapped tight behind his knot, the fox’s mouth erupted with a moaning yelp as desperate as his growing meat.

Kuni throbbed hard and fast as the tentacle applied rhythmic pressure behind his knot. Meanwhile, its twin started pumping in and out of his pussy, bringing out more juices with every trip.

The fox’s tail shivered as the warm pleasure filled his body. Neko knew why his eyes were unfocused. Why his breath became labored. He was brought on the very verge of ejaculation. She hoped for a miracle, but instead another tentacle came out of the bubbling pool. This one was black and thick like a stallion’s member, with an ominous tube for a head that kept slapping its wet lips together until it found Kuni’s cock. Once there, it climbed like a sheath along his exposed member, sheltering his flesh within its blackened bowels.

Then, it squeezed, and did it hard enough to force Kuni’s eyes shut. The pussy tentacle plunged all the way in, stretching the poor fox to high heavens while his cock bloated out with fresh seed. Neko gritted her teeth…

Then gasped as a stream of warm juices gushed out of Kuni’s stretched vulva. Neko knew that with every spasm of his fleshy lips, a fresh wave of seed traveled through his cock. She didn’t need to hear the smacking sounds made by the tentacle or see the vigorous grip applied to the base of the fox’s sensitive knot. That accursed tentacle sucked Kuni like the maw of a hungry beast, draining his seed dry.

“Ngghhh…No! Kuni, hold on! Don’t give it to him!” Neko shouted helplessly. It was obvious no creature could resist such overwhelming bliss. Kuni panted harder with every breath, his tongue lolling out of his maw from the intense surges of pleasure that tore at his sensitive privates with lashes of intense heat.

A whinny sent her eyes soaring over to Mr Toots. The unicorn too was in a bit of a bind, touched against his will by three eager tentacles. The first was highly interested n his flaccid sheath. It rubbed around the tip, wondering how to make it bigger, no doubt, while another rolled around the unicorn’s plump balls to get a feel of his spheres. The third tested the surface of his tailhole, and when it found his entrance warm and receptive, it poked its head in, stirring another whinny.

Neko hoped with all she had that Mr Toots had the strength to hold his seed back. He did not get aroused as quickly as Kuni, but then again, he was a unicorn, pure and bright, untainted by any form of corruption…

At least until the tentacles started working more seriously on his privates. They rubbed his sheath, wrapped around his balls to massage his heavy sack, and tested his warm tailhole. Mr Toots kicked his legs, but that did nothing to stop his pounding erection. His member grew frighteningly fast, and when it reached full mast, a tentacle immediately wrapped around the base of his flare, pushing and squeezing with all it had.

Mr Toots’s balls drew up, his tailhole spasmed hard, and a thick wave of glittering, rainbow-colored seed splashed into the bubbling tar pit. The unicorn neighed with all his might. His cock throbbed hard and fast, splashing its precious seed upon the wriggling tentacles until a vampire plugged his leak. That’s what they were. Suckers of essence. Neko despised them, yet none of her companions shared her line of thinking. On her right, Kuni was yowling his heart out while on her left Mr Toots fed the beast with his warm light, his flare milked tightly and intimately to make the seed flow faster. Neko counted the spurts every time his tailhole clenched. He gave about forty of them, spread across multiple orgasms before the tentacles eased their massage.

The vampire pulled back, exposing the unicorn’s dribbling flare. Even after all that pounding, he was still leaking seed.

Neko felt inexplicably warm. She wanted to hate the monster for doing this to her friends, yet the sight and smell of sweet unicorn cum awoke hidden desires beneath her tingling skin.

Two tentacles rubbed around her young breasts. Neko held onto her breath. Her small mounds felt hotter. More sensitive. And when the tips of the tentacles circled her nipples, a rebellious moan left her throat. Why? Why was she feeling so warm? This wasn’t what she wanted!

“N-no…” Neko’s eyes glimmered as a third tentacle slid towards her pussy. “Not there…no. Don’t….aaaaaaaaahhhhh!” she bit into her lip as the tentacle slid between the glistening folds of her pussy. Neko’s sensitive lips wrapped the intruder in their warmth. It was no wonder the tentacle sought deeper shelter. It slid into her pussy, bit by bit, testing her passage with its slimy length. Neko tensed as hard as she could, but the tentacle wriggled its head inside her, breaking her tension with ripples of heated pleasure.

“Oooohhh!” Neko breathed out a long gasp. “I…I don’t…I want you out!” she gritted her teeth. “Get…get out!”

The tentacle seemed to obey her will. It slid out alright…before it rammed back inside her like a lustful male.

Heavy eyelids fell over Neko’s glistening eyes. She bit into her lip harder, forcing a bit of pain to mix in with the strange pleasure rippling within her cunt. The tentacle wriggled inside her squelching flesh like a living cock, stirring her in ways she never thought possible. With her breasts slowly massaged and her pussy invaded, Neko’s breaths became faster, more bestial.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Something found her most secluded spot. It pressed against her nub of flesh, then rubbed around it, sending sizzling pleasure into the dripping depths of her pussy.

“Haaaawwwwww!” Neko burst out with a crying moan. This felt much too intense for her! With her sensitive clit assaulted head-on by another tentacle, she stood absolutely no chance at keeping her warmth inside. The pleasure built with crackling bursts, each spasm of her lips, each circle around her nipples, every rub around her clit heating her bliss to the point of exploding.

Neko tensed harder than ever. She couldn’t give this monster her light. She just couldn’t! So she held onto her heat with all she had. Her pussy squelched. Her clit burned with heat. Her skin flushed, sweaty and moist just like her lower lips. Neko rolled her eyes in the back of her head, shivering wildly. The smell of cum filled her nose, and all she could think about was a virile male like Mr Toots pounding away at her heat with his magnificent cock. He entered deep, came hard, filled her with more cum than she could handle.

“Nraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” Neko screamed as the hot fantasy sent her over the edge. A thick burst of juices splashed over the tentacles from her tight spasming cunt. The monster immediately summoned a vampire tentacle, its wet, cold lips kissing her pussy in the lewdest of ways as the little girl emptied herself with a series of cute screams. She knew it was wrong to feed her light to this monster, but by warmth’s heated embrace, it felt good to release after such an intense teasing. The wriggling tentacle stirred her right from the source. Her clit was a throbbing mess, and her breasts had never been so sensitive. The combined stimulation crashed into her like a storm, holding her trapped in their blissful clutch until she released every drop of her precious juices.

Neko fell limp. After four consecutive orgasms, she had nothing more to give. Tiredness crashed into her as hard as an orgasm, rendering her senses completely useless.

“K…Kuni…”

The fox’s tongue lolled from his mouth, his member still hard, his pussy still leaking.

Neko shifted her eyes towards the unicorn. Mr Toots was till awake, but he was so very tired. His balls seemed to have shrunk a little, but just like Kuni he was still feeding the monster with his essence.

Neko was the last to release, but the first to give up. She had all the reasons to. The fight drained her physically, and the pleasure sapped everything else she had.

With a long sigh, Neko closed her eyes, giving in to the concealing darkness.

She woke to the insistent sniffing of something or someone. Neko blinked her eyes open. A pair of red eyes stared back at her. Red eyes, long muzzle, sniffing nose.

A wolf.

“Nrrrhhh…” she looked around for the nearest weapon.

“Don’t,” the wolf placed his paw on her hand, strangely warm. “I will not harm either of you.”

“You tried before,” Neko said.

The wolf pushed his nose into her neck, nuzzling instead of biting.

Neko frowned, confused. “But…but why?”

“It is a long tale,” the wolf moved a few steps back. “What you need to know is that I am myself once more.”

“No,” Neko pushed herself up, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “No, first you threatened me, then tried to kill me, and after that…you know what? I don’t even want to talk about what happened!”

“Your combined essence freed me, child. Let me explain,” the canine sat on his haunches, the outline of his gender visible just like it was with the jackal. He had a bigger sheath of course, and closer between his hind legs a pair of sizable fruits.

“Fine,” Neko crossed her arms, naked as she was. “I’m listening.”

“Every world has its balance. Light. Dark. Day, night. You came here to face me, so I assume you have knowledge of what I’m speaking about.”

“Cut to the point, wolf. Tell me why you killed Kyreth.”

“I took her light, not her life. She was supposed to be the embodiment of all that is bright and pure, but her pursuits took her upon the wrong path. She thought she had something to prove. An ancient enemy to match her abilities against. This often happens when peace reigns for too long. Living beings lose their purpose and need to find a reason to exist past procreation or satisfying their basic urges. Kyreth was not the only one. There were others before her. Armored kings and queens who thought they found the root of all evil.”

“They didn’t?”

“They only found themselves, child. As a preserver of balance, I could no longer tolerate this lack of control. At the dawn of this world, I had a partner. We observed the rise and fall of entire species, but she thought the power of will should be bestowed upon our creations too. She wanted to share our greatest gift, and called me selfish for going against her judgment. She…” the wolf looked down. “She gave up her role to grant sentience to certain species, and this only led to endless cycles of trouble. Every time is the same. Someone achieves peace, there is a short period of happiness, then another conflict is started over nothing.”

“This sounds…deep,” Neko admitted.

“And tiresome. The legacy of my mate thinned with every generation. I saw less and less of her in these armored rulers, until she completely vanished, and Kyreth…she spat on everything me and my mate achieved. A stain darker than even me. I consumed her light to prevent another armored princess from rising, but in doing so I cast the entire world into shadows, my entire creation perishing under my own eyes.”

“They’re…dead? But the jackal-“

“Savroth. He’s one of our offspring, and yes, he can seed the world with life once more, but first I have to bring a measure of balance.”

“What does that mean?” Neko asked.

“Sacrifice, child,” the wolf stood up. “I am going to do what my mate did and remove the shadows from this world. As long as I exist, there will be no sunrise or life. Without my mate, the balance is broken.”

“But what about-“

“Enough,” the black wolf growled. “I told you what you wanted to know. Now leave.”

“I only wanted to help…” Neko whispered.

The wolf’s eyes mellowed. He brushed his head against her, flicking his tongue over her cheek.

“That’s warm. How comes you were so cold before…uhm…before you…”

“I lost myself in my own element. Your light reminded me of my purpose, and…in some ways, also reminded me of my mate. To think I forgot about her is…it’s…”

“You miss her…” Neko rubbed a hand through the wolf’s smoky fur.

“Indeed. It had been far too long already. Leave now. Please. There is nothing else in this world for you. Return to the castle. My pup will bring you back to your home world and, after that…see to my demise.”

“Is there no other way?” Neko’s violet eyes glimmered with sadness. “You can’t die, puppy! You can’t-“

The wolf’s cold nose pressed against her lips. “Go,” he then dashed a sloppy lick.

Neko hugged his neck for a good minute before she went back to her friends. Sadness gnawed at her heart on the way back. She won, but somehow, it felt as if she also lost something in the process. Perhaps there was another way to save this world. The puppy just didn’t find it yet. With a spark of hope burning within her heart, Neko rode upon her unicorn’s back, intending to do everything in her power to restore the balance to this shattered realm.