FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Gift

Edward's Intro, Part 3

copyright comidacomida 2018

Medved gnashed his teeth. "Do NOT trust them... they are no good."

Tom let out a snort, radiator still at the ready. "You cannot have my nehed, Ancient One. I will not let you take him."

At something of an impasse, I told them I'd be willing to be The Ancient One's Seer, but I was bringing Medved and Tom along to keep things honest. "Enough. Everyone. You, Lizard-Thing... if you need me as a Seer-or-whatever that bad then fine, but these two are staying with me to make sure you don't try anything."

The Amethyst eyes of the manlike Dragon peered down at me from beneath furrowed scaled brows and the words that came out of from between serrated teeth sounded almost bemused. "If we were to 'try something' do you honestly believe that these Guardians could stop us?"

Something about the straight-forward question mixed with the humor the Dragon obviously felt at my statement made me balk, but just for a moment. I never liked bullies, and regardless of how powerful this thing was I wasn't about to let it intimidate me. I shoved my finger into its chest, ignoring the fact that my digit disappeared into his misty form. "If you start causing problems then I won't be your Seer. It's that simple."

The Rhino remains where he was beside me, staring down the Dragon with the radiator still in hand but his statement was directed at me. "This is not a wise choice, Edward. The Ancient One does not understand humans. He sees you as a tool to some unfathomable end and cares only for himself. You have seen what he did to your mother... my precious Sophie. He is a 'mefletit'-- a monster... and you should not trust him."

I glanced toward Tom. In all ways, the humanoid Rhino looked like a monster, so it seemed almost ludicrous to listen to one of the spirits over another. When I returned my focus to the creature in front of me, however, I saw that the green and gold Dragon had been replaced by the floating red furry one. "Sophia was an error on all our parts in many ways, Sentinel. Having you and the Guardian with us is a reasonable request from the Seer. He is both insightful and fair. Surely you can see that it could only serve to benefit him if we were to join forces and work together."

The Bear, who I'd heard Tom call Medved stepped forward, interposing himself between me and the hovering red Dragon. "You cannot be trusted... and, even if you could, there are too many of you to act reliably in concert."

I watched as, before my eyes, the furry red Dragon shifted and spun, reforming as the serpent with rainbow colored feathery wings. Its Amethyst eyes were focused on me even though it spoke to Medved. "All the more reason that it is important for Edward to aid us. Imagine the harm that could befall his kind if we were released to the world without Duty."

Tom snorted from his spot beside me but, despite the combative sound he lowered the radiator to the ground, dropping it as he spoke. "What Duty could you possibly have, Ancient One? How could you feel any kinship for humans when you existed before they did?"

Medved growled softly in agreement. "Any spirit that can draw essence from the cosmos should have nothing to do with Our People."

There were too many moving parts in the argument for it to make any sense, and I promised myself I'd figure it out later, but the first thing I had to deal with was getting out of the hospital without anyone thinking I was crazy for arguing with myself. That and, quite frankly, the constant arguing was getting on my nerves. "I already made up my mind. Either you can accept it, or you can fuck off."

The Green Dragon had replaced the flying serpent while I was focused on the so-called 'guardian spirits', and he chuckled. "I like you already, boy."

Tom snorted, but did not comment, about-facing as he motioned down the hall. "It is your choice, my nehed. I will protect you from your decision as best I can."

Medved was a little more optimistic. "We will be with you, Edward, to help you in the way we could not help your mother."

Their constant references to my mom and some strange hidden past only got me more agitated but I promised myself I'd deal with it later when I wasn't risking being caught on a security camera throwing a tantrum at the stories told to me by 'imaginary friends'. Instead, I just about-faced and headed for the exit. I didn't quite make it before the next bit of chaos hit, and the door in front of me to the left burst open and I saw a Hyena man wrapped up a straitjacket fall into the hallway, cackling like... well... like a Hyena.

Medved and Tom immediately moved to flank me, each reaching in front of me to place an arm in the way of the laughing creature. It flopped around on the floor for a moment before it managed to get to its feet, glancing at the Bear and Rhino before looking to me. "I'm not crazy, you know... I just see more than you do. Like, right now, do you know that you have two wild beasts fighting over you?"

Before either of my guardians could stop me I spoke up, challenging the thing. "They're not wild... they said they're my guardian spirits."

The Hyena's eyes widened and his grin grew even crazier... and hungry. He started toward me but, before he could take more than a single step an orderly tackled him from behind. I was surprised that the big burly attendant was able to make direct contact with the Hyena since the thing was obviously a spirit, but he seemed to have little trouble. I jumped to the side as both of them went sliding across the tile floor past me; the Hyena slammed into the radiator attached to the wall and I watched in astute interest as it broke free of its pipes. It hit the ground, bounced, and then scraped its way to a stop right where the eerie, spiritual version had been placed by Tom.

Before I could ask any questions Medved motioned me forward. "Come, Edward... the longer we stay here the more attention you will attract."

Seeing a great amount of wisdom to the suggestion I resolved to ask about the strange coincidence at a later point and continued on down the hall. The Hyena called after me. "Wait! Wait! You can't leave! I need you! I want to be inside you! OW!"

I didn't bother looking back at what the orderly was doing to restrain the creature, but Tom certainly had a few select words to say. While the majority of what he said at first was in whatever language he'd been speaking that wasn't English, he finished his grumbling with "Despicable."

The rainbow-winged serpent casually soared over me and swooped down to flap along just ahead of me. He spoke while guiding the way. "Edward, you have lived your life only seeing a small piece of reality. There is far more going on around you than you have ever perceived. We have given you The Gift of Sight, and you can now begin to understand everything that had been hidden from you."

Even as the serpent flapped its wings its form shimmered and flowed, becoming the smooth, undulating movement of a snake swimming through the water and it was replaced by the red furred coils of the furry Eastern Dragon. Craning his head back to look at me, the Dragon spoke calmly but with a hint of importance to his tone. "This is a gift, that is true, Edward, but it is also dangerous to you if you do not heed our guidance."

A new voice spoke up from the doorway leading to the main hall of the hospital. It was a gruff, low rumble and had a really strong accent. "So yeh say, serpent, an' yet yeh couldn't keep 'is maw from goin gowk."

As the Ancient One's body rotated and coiled I was able to make out the form of a large, black-furred Wolf man standing in the doorway. His fur was so shaggy I almost though I was looking at a sasquatch before I saw his ears and prominent muzzle. He his thick mane was left to flow free except for two large braids which hung down either side of his face. While Medved and Tom both wore clothing that looked at least somewhat conservative, the Wolf had only a loose pair of cloth britches and his chest was left uncovered, revealing a number of spiraling blue tattoos splitting his fur around them.

Although both of my guardians appeared surprise at the Wolf appearing in the hospital the newly present Green Dragon replacing the red one almost seemed to anticipate him. "Seer. This is Treboada. We have promised him access to you. Respect our promise and permit him to attend you."

Having yet another requirement heaped upon me without even getting a chance to process everything that'd been happening was too much. I reached out and grabbed the Dragon by his tail. It got his attention and, as he turned around to look at me, I pointed my finger at him and declared in no uncertain terms. "Fuck. You."

Rather than getting angry at my refusal the Green Dragon actually paused a moment before glancing down at my hand holding the end of his tail. The very corner of his muzzle quirked for a half second before he declared "It looks as though there is hope for you yet, Boy."

He yanked his tail out of my grasp and strode past the Wolf. As he did so, the Ancient One took the form of the flying feathered serpent, speaking to him. "He will come around, Treboada... he lost his mother today after finally finding her. Give him time."

Rather than paying any attention to the serpent at that point, the Wolf's Emerald green eyes were focused wholly on me. "So... th' Auld Yin-- 'e's a right scunner, aye, boy-o?"

I was ALMOST sure he was speaking English, but I couldn't be certain. "Huh?"

Tom spoke up where I left off. "You have no reason to be here, Wolf. Return to your own people, Tribesman."

The Wolf leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms around his chest. "Th' bae there IS one a mine."

Medved snorted. "No. He is of our people. We are sworn to protect him and his line."

Treboada's sharp-toothed grin almost screamed at an eagerness to resolve the misunderstanding with violence, yet he still maintained an almost surreal civility about him. "Aye... th' people a 'is maw... but wha'bout 'is da?"

Despite having trouble following him due to his thick accent, I nevertheless picked up enough to figure out what he was talking about. "You know who my dad was?"

The Wolf straightened up, no longer leaning on the door frame, and he about-faced, heading off after The Ancient One. "Ah... so NOW 'e speaks... come along, lad... yeh got lots ta laern, an' yeh already start a ways bahind."

I--