FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A week after the trip to the planet of the Cat Elves, and the introduction of Tabaxi to our highly qualified team, he was fitting in quite nicely among us, Silverine announced that our five would be going to a new planet. With the usual tact he announced it had never been scanned or pinged, I think he does this deliberately, and once again I volunteered to do the ping.

So come Saturday morning, we arrived in the Great hall with all our equipment. My Eryx rested comfortably on my shoulder, and my bag carried it's usual twenty, twenty five kilograms of ammo and food. My sword was strapped to my belt, and my rifle over my other shoulder from my rocket launcher. Ryan Lewis would be coming with us, making it six, something all of us were happy about.

While we waited for Propani's party to teleport, I decided to try looking at everything in thermo, shutting down my usual vision finding. Technically the normal view and the thermo could work hand in hand, but I was always interested in how snakes in particular slithered around with naught but thermal imaging.

It is a very odd look, to tell the truth. In the Great Hall, all of the mighty pillars and tables remained the darkest blue. A pure white blur hung around the door, that would be one of the glowers, they left every single machine confused as to what they were. Every other living thing was a mix of red and yellow, and I looked at Simba idly. The lion was perfectly silhouetted by a small aura of heat, with the exception of all his tools, which were all stone cold. Just before Propani left I noticed his core temperature was a lot hotter, and his aura went out for metres.

Silverine nodded at us, and I stepped forwards, and hit my teleporter.

After forty four seconds I landed, hitting the stone floor heavily. I stood, and looked around. The thermo showed the entire place was just a stone room with thick beams holding up the roof, of the most solid wood.A single grated window at about two and a half metres up one wall was the only light source.Everything else was stone, and I spoke.

"Atmosphere, fine, gravity, fine, Picturesque, definitely not. Placing scanner." I did so, and noticed the door.

As I heard the others teleport, it came across me that the door was remarkably solid. It was made out of metal, and did not open from this side. It was like a door from a cell or dungeon, and I changed to X-ray and thermo to see how deep it was.

As I did, the door was at least six inches thick, whatever had to be in this room was immensely valuable, or at least needed to be isolated from everything else. But there was the rub, there wasn't anything in the room.

I heard the bang as my friends arrived behind me, and then several shouts of surprise. I turned, and heard Draco shout.There was other strange noises, noises of animals, in a deserted room?

"What the hell?" he seemed to be looking at a patch of room that was completely devoid of anything, and to my amazement, blew a quarrel of flame. Salbar drew his swords, gave a holy screech and began attacking an invisible form. Ryan Lewis had drawn his sword and was swinging, Javid was backing away from something else, and Simba was drawing his pistol.

I was past confusion. I couldn't see anything. I looked around harder, and my X-ray filter picked out a small skeletal creature behind one of the pillars. He, it was a he, was curled behind one of the pillars, holding himself tightly. Ducking past Draco, he had drawn his sword and was judging the distance between him and a invisible enemy. Either I was dreaming, or they were.

"Alduin, you're going to get killed. Look to your left!" Simba shouted. I had, and had seen nothing.There was a undead shriek of noise.

I drew my rifle on the run, and slid professionally to a halt around the pillar, aiming at the small creature. It looked up, and I saw it was a thin, haggard creature. He was holding himself around the stomach, and his legs blocked the sight of his arms.He looked wearily at me.

"You intend to kill me?" he asked, his voice was weak and pained.

"What are you doing to my friends?" I demanded.

"What I am doing is nothing that can hurt them. I am scared of them, I want you all to leave me alone." the voice replied.

"I don't mean anyone any harm, and neither will they, providing you stop whatever you're doing."

There was a pause, and gasps from my friends.

"Alduin, what..."Draco began, but the weak voice spoke.

"If you want to see, I suggest you open your eyes, creature." I dropped my thermo and X-ray, and opened my usual visual channel.

I almost fired then and there. Four huge beasts were in the room, looking at me, standing between me and the others. One was a long serpent, not unlike the huge creature that poisoned Kodey. It's tail twitched right next to my leg, and it's forked tongue tasted the air, hissing. I could see each individual scale glisten. Next to it, and in front of Salbar was a massive spider, like one of the Ghan Vrie except twenty times bigger. Then one of the armoured scorpions we had seen on the Euarctos planet, and finally a water demon, a huge sprite creature with a trident and huge bat wings. Each of them was at least two metres tall, and immensely scary.

"Um." I said intelligently, and then turned to the small creature. He was not tall, only about five foot, and very thin, his legs were spindly and faded. His skin was a pale green, and he looked up at me with sad, pitiful eyes. He grabbed the pillar for support, and as he stood I saw his arms. They were likewise thin and wiry,and while his four fingered right hand was fine, his left hand wasn't there. Instead there was a primitive two pincered claw, that wasn't much good for anything except holding things.He wore no shirt, only a rag one could call a skirt.He looked absolutely pathetic, the world had not been kind to this creature.

I spoke, and this time I was polite and full of sympathy, he deserved it.

"I'm sorry,"I shouldered the gun,"I was worried for my friends.So how do you do it?"

The four huge creatures vanished, and the small humanoid leaned against the wall for support.

"I can make people see things. I don't know why it didn't work on you, but I can make people see objects and animals that aren't there." the other five of my friends came over.

"You're an Illusionist with vision and sound, is that right?" Simba asked.

The figure nodded, and I could see him shudder involuntarily at the lion's presence.

We all sat down, and Draco sat down next to the fellow.

"So what is your name?" the dragon asked.

"I am called Emery." he replied, and Draco began our introductions.

"So why are you in here, it seems a little sparse?" Ryan Lewis asked.

Emery smiled, a very sad smile."I am in here because of what I am capable of."

Draco looked around." People imprisoned you because you cast illusions?"

Emery sighed, and looked away.Draco gently took Emery's left arm, just above the claw, and the creature looked fearfully at the dragon. Draco gently helped Emery sit down on one of his legs, and the humanoid lay his head against the dragon's chest.

"Tell me all about it." the dragon said soothingly. Emery took a couple of deep breaths, and I noticed he was silently crying. I looked down, ashamed.

"This is a wonderful little town, there are over two thousand of us. Almost a year ago, I used to walk among them, everyone else was unaware of my gift. My family had wisely kept it hidden, and I was told to practice alone, in secret. I was always told that patience was a virtue, and that to lose one's temper is to give up against the world.And so it was.

"I was quiet and shy through my schooling, and while many teased and taunted me, I bore it quietly. It wasn't just me, it was everyone doing it to everyone else, nothing really bad. And so I left school, and worked as a carpenter's apprentice. It was a simple job, and I could do what I enjoyed, although I really wanted to explore the land and visit other towns. So often had I seen some come in from other towns, and wanted to go back with them."

He stopped, and as Draco gently held him, burst into tears. Not one of us could look at him without feeling like we wanted to cry. I could already feel hot tears running down my cheeks.

Then a vision appeared in the room.Emery couldn't gain the courage to speak of what happened, and so was showing us with his illusions. We were standing in another room, looking into the carpenter's house. A slightly younger and healthier Emery was busy building a small chair, while the head carpenter was working on a table. It was fantastic quality, I felt I could touch the unsanded legs of the table.

Then there was a commotion outside, and as the carpenter moved towards the door, it was opened. There stood three of the same race, but they were burlier. The carpenter backed away, and the three stormed in. There was a huge argument over a cupboard that had broken apart, and the men wanted repayment.The carpenter backed further, trying to agree with what ever the men demanded, but one of them pushed the carpenter, knocking him to the floor. Emery, who had been watching all this, stood up, purposeful, and angry.

For Emery could bear torment to himself, but he couldn't bear seeing it done to other people, and while he couldn't take them on physically, he had his gift.

As the three stared at the one, they began to notice Emery's eyes were glowing. I shivered, and then a snake, easily five metres long and ten centimetres wide, began to slide from behind him, hissing, it's forked tongue flicking out. The men stared, entranced by the snake curling around Emery.

A full sized wolf came around from behind a desk, hackles raised and growling. A type of hawk like bird with great claws flew off into the rafters, and perched, staring at them. The men gave a shout and backed into one another. Than Emery began to distort, growing larger and taller, turning into a morph creature of ice. His eyes went black and his ears became pointed. Only because I wasn't straight on I could see Emery behind this spectre, he had just put this shadowy figure directly in front of him.

The ice creature stood up straight, eight foot tall, and created a massively real looking sword, six foot long and jagged. It roared, and the three turned and ran out the door. All the visions vanished, and Emery went back to his work. The carpenter looked astonished, and began to question Emery, walking over to him.

"What the hell did you just do?"

"Nothing." Emery replied, shrugging. But the carpenter was too stunned to be diverted that easily.

"Emery, tell me, how did you do that?"

Emery shook his head, and that's when all hell broke loose. Several of their race rushed in, and they grabbed Emery.

"He's a sorcerer! Bind his mouth!"

This was done, and he was roped, but not before Emery unleashed his gift.

The entire store was blown to smithereens, and standing amidst the ruins was a twelve metre long wyvern like creature. It had wings, and a dark, ugly head. The population scattered and ran, leaving Emery tied up. He struggled against bonds, but he was secure. The wyvern roared, challenging someone to come near. No one did, and the vision faded.

"It stayed by me, and I tried to stay awake. But I fell asleep that night, and all my visions disappeared. I woke up in here." Emery finished, holding tight onto Draco with one arm. His left arm dangled down, claw clicking.

"So how did you lose your hand?" Salbar asked, although we feared the answer.

"More came in, and questioned me. They were armed, I wasn't. They ordered me to tell them what I could do, and I refused. Then I sent out a fire demon, and as he advanced, they attacked it with swords. One blow went astray, and took my hand with it. It was excruciating, and while they fixed it with this thing," he clicked the claw together," I was left here, never to come into contact with anyone again. They feed me, but I am to stay here."

I turned and looked towards the door. It was thick, and made of metal. The walls were made of stone. There was a single grate for light, far too high for one of them to reach.

"Right, everyone against the far wall." I stood up, and went back there myself. Emery looked scared at my expression, and Draco picked him up, and carried him. Everyone followed my instructions, as I drew my rocket launcher. They retreated to both corners as I grabbed a round, and loaded the Eryx.

"Illusions are one thing, but this is too far." Draco muttered.

"Emery would be perfect for us, would you agree?He already mentioned he wanted to visit other places." Simba said.

"We'll have to feed him up a bit, he looks as skinny as a rake." Ryan Lewis replied. They were speaking in Centralite, and Emery looked confused by this alien language.

"Right,"I said in the local lingo,"I'm firing in five seconds." I counted four, and then fired. The thump was very loud in this enclosed space, and the projectile rocketed away into the door. There was a huge explosion,and as the smoke cleared, the door was still standing, but looked bent as hell.

"What the hell was that?" Emery asked, and as Draco explained I drew a second round and loaded it.

"Emery, is there anyone nearby this cell?"

"There used to be. I don't know anymore."

"Do you reckon you can guess what they'll be thinking?"

"What the hell was that?" Simba suggested, and Emery grinned.

"I hope he's only got one of those." Ryan Lewis laughed, and Draco chuckled.

"Famous last words."

The second shell impacted against the door, and the back blast whipped against our clothes. But the door was still standing.

"They really wanted to keep you in here, didn't they?" I looked surprised that the door was still up.

"Third time lucky." Javid said, as I reloaded. Salbar leaned against the corner, and merely waited. The third shell was fired.

There was a difference with this round. The shell hit the door with a huge explosion, as usual, but the blast backwards was noticeably less,and dust rained down from the roof. Emery got down from Draco, and began walking forwards. The smoke cleared, and the door had been blasted against the opposite wall. I jogged to catch up. Draco filed after me, and everyone after him. Simba was trying to find an open area so he could plant a scanner and began checks.

Emery walked out into the corridor. There were two guards standing some distance away, looking in horror at their prisoner walking out. They were both well fed, and a darker shade of green, until they saw me. Both literally paled and ran. I drew my sword and carried it in my less capable left hand. I was ambidextrous, but my right hand was my sword hand, to be honest. We followed the direction the guards had gone, and I could hear Emery's claw clicking together.

"So how does the claw work?" I asked.He shrugged.

"I clench my arm muscles, it closes, I release them, it opens again."

I stopped, and grabbed my knife from Veronica.

"You should really be carrying some type of weapon. Take this in the mean time." Emery stared at it in wonder, the glittering dragon knife was a marvellous piece.

Then we found the door outside, and Emery stepped out. Draco found a side door leading to a small guard room, and he went into there. Javid and Salbar followed, heading for a vantage point on the roof. Me, Ryan Lewis and Simba waited for a few seconds.

"He's loose! Get him, and don't be fooled by his spirits!"

I stepped out, and spun my sword in readiness. Spirit thoughts or not, I was amused to see them charge at me regardless. I stepped past Emery, changed into my bionic form, and as the leading figure swung at me, brought my sword up in a block.

The clang stopped everyone dead. Those charging looked at me, realising that this wasn't an illusion, and that a six foot tall creature was there, holding a sword. The leader had his blade pressed against mine, and with a casual flick I disarmed the bloke. His sword went spinning into the air, and landed point first in the ground ten metres away. Emery came forwards and stood next to me, just as Ryan Lewis and Simba walked out.

Salbar stood on top of the building, his swords drawn as he gazed down among them. Javid stood next to him, sniper rifle drawn and loaded. Draco was already far in the sky, no one had seen him.

"The sorcerer....he's made them solid!" someone shouted. Emery began to concentrate, and suddenly I saw myself changing. Before long I was a six foot armoured ice demon, and my sword was a solid ice sword, jagged and sharp. I bent down, and Emery got onto my back, clasping his legs around my chest and holding onto one of my shoulders with his good hand.

Simba closed his eyes and changed into his Apache form. The helicopter rose until it was level with me and Emery, his rotors buzzing. Ryan Lewis touched his necklace, and soon a skeleton wreathed in a long black cloak stood there, grinning permanently with his sword drawn. This was the famous character of Death from Terry Pratchett, and his eyes were supernova blue as his tombstone teeth smiled. His bony fingers tapped idly against the sword hilt.

The wind whipping from the helicopter's down draught, as well as the fact Emery was on my back suspended off the ground made it quite clear these were real creatures, and Ryan Lewis' disguise sent chills of fear through everyone there. Several took steps backwards, others threw away their weapons.I noticed that Emery was so thin compared to some of these specimens he looked alien enough to them, almost like a different species.

There was a god awful roar as F-111 roared overhead, Draco's plane form flying low and fast, and shaking everything in it's wake. I had my CAC-13 Phoenix as a form today,but with Emery on my back it could wait.They fell back, and I stepped forwards. Ryan Lewis noticed that my steps, thanks to Emery's illusion, actually left footsteps of dead ground. Simba had his cam pointing at Ryan Lewis for a couple of seconds, and I noticed his wrist didn't actually seem to be connected. There was the bones for his fore arm, then a small gap, and then his hand bones, which again had small gaps between the finger bones.

"You locked up Emery." I looked around, looking for someone to challenge me. No such luck, they just stared and backed.

Emery whispered in my ear."I think we have their attention now. If just me and you talked to them, maybe we could discuss something."

I repeated this in Centralite, and Draco rocketed overhead and flew towards some distant mountains. Simba rose higher, banked and flew off. Salbar leapt down from the building and landed beside me on one knee and did a short range teleport towards a cluster of trees nearly out of view. Ryan Lewis reformed and walked back inside. Javid joined him.

I was surreptitiously looking at my body at this moment. My hands were much the same, although my fingers were sharpened claws of ice. My feet were likewise. Cold blue flame flickered around my back, and while I wasn't to know it, I wore a crown of ice on my forehead. I had no hair, and my facial features had been dulled. I had a sculpted triangular nose with two small slits, my ears were pointed and flattened, and both eyes and mouth were just pools of blackness.I didn't know any of this, but Simba had thoughtfully recorded it. My weapons likewise had done the ice transformation, Emery was actually holding onto my rocket launcher to stay on my back with his claw, although he had wormed both feet between weapons and body.

Emery disembarked, and spoke.

"I wish to talk, not to fight."

Someone with a weapon advanced, although I think he had forgotten he was carrying it. I took a sidestep, and blocked his progress towards Emery with the sword, holding it vertically in front of him. He looked down, at me, and gulped. My voice dropped by an octave, and I tried to sound cold.

"You carry a weapon."

He dropped it, and backed hopefully. I picked up the weapon in my left hand, held it by the hilt, and then hurled it as far as I could. The blade whirred around like a rotor of a helicopter, and it landed point first in a roof a good eighty feet away. I sheathed my own weapon, and Emery sat down. I followed suit, and I noticed with amusement that icy tendrils were realistically questing from wherever I touched the ground.

Three came forwards, the rest very quietly headed back to their own houses, politely walking and then firmly bolting their doors. One was one I had recognised from the illusion Emery had shown me, the chief.

"Er, Emery, how...how, did you get out?"

"This creature carries a weapon which fires explosively. Three rounds and your metal door was history."

"So this is one of your illusions? You made them capable of interacting?"

Emery looked at me, and I spoke.

"The master wanted help, I was prepared to give it. He did not create me, but I came to his aid." The phantom wind fuelling my ice flames swirled, and then settled.Emery was good at this small detail stuff.

The little ones then spent the next half an hour arguing.Emery was naturally in a position of strength, they had had no right to lock him up, for he had done those involved no harm. It was obvious from my position that this argument had been used before by Emery, but only because I was there they actually listened.I tuned out of the conversation, and opened my link to everyone.

"This is the Ice demon calling in."I smiled and said in fluent Centralite,"How is everyone going?"

"I'm currently searching around the mountains, haven't found anything much." Draco reported in, over the whine of his F-111.

"I've mapped several hundred square kilometres of terrain with the scanner, we have found a simple road network between the four nearest towns." the lion added," I've landed about two kilometres from your position."

"I'm currently watching a group of these creatures in the forest, they seem to be carousing." Salbar said.

"Javid, Ryan, what are you doing?"

"Absolutely nothing of any importance." the wolf replied.

"He isn't." the human replied," I'm recording all of your channels to give to Tufty."

"Tufty will be delighted." Simba said.

"O.K. Also, has someone informed Central about Emery?"

Simba spoke."I was about to, actually.Should we tell them he's an Illusionist?"

"No." Draco replied," We'll keep that quiet for the moment."

"Right, I'll get the blower onto them.Simba out." he disconnected.

Draco and Salbar disconnected from the group channel. I turned back to Emery's conversation.

"But Emery, you can fool us with your illusions, you used it to scare people, did you wonder why we were so hostile?"

"I used my gift because someone was hurting one of my friends.Then I used it because you were trying to hurt me."

I was looking at my rocket launcher right now, holding it vertically in front of me. The entire thing was iced over, as though it had been left in a deep freezer for several days. The handle had been moulded to my hand holds, and the device bulged in the middle, where the ice was thickest. I say all this knowing it wasn't the case, any check with my thermal could tell me so, but it looked really cool. Likewise my rifle and it's scope were just tubes of ice. I was in all respects an Ice Lord, and the fact Emery could carry an argument while paying this much detail to me and my weapons showed the skill he had, he was a born multi tasker.

The other neat thing is if I listened carefully, I could actually hear the phantom noise Emery created for me, a polar flame, crackling and whistling in the wind.

I was disturbed from my reverie by Emery speaking to me.

"Alduin, the mayor wants to know what your intentions are here.What are you after?"

"I am after two things. The first is knowledge of this planet, and it's inhabitants."

"And the second?"

"I am to take Emery back to where I came from."

Emery stopped, and looked very scared. I quickly made some adjustments with my disguise necklace to look exactly the way I was currently, and I saw Emery drop his concentration, only to see me unchanged. The mayor and the other couple looked at Emery in astonishment.

I took off my translator, and took Emery's hand, looping it around both our wrists.

"Emery,"I said in fast and fluent Centralite," do not be alarmed by my request. You let slip that you had a passion for exploring, that is what we do for a job, we're offering you a place among us."

"But, you're all so big and imposing, what good am I?"

"You can cast Illusions, exceptional defence. And while big and imposing helps in certain ways, being small means you're less likely to be attacked because you're intimidating."

"I...I..." Emery, stuttered.

"Emery, think on this. You won't be held in fear among us, just awe. Providing you don't be mean to others with your power, you will be respected and treated justly, something I feel you lack here."

"But, er.I,I mean, I'm....," he paused, and took a breath,"How?"

"Just let me do my job now, and after I've got the knowledge I require, I'll take you myself. And first on the list is a trip to the food store, partly because that's where most of the scouts mingle, and partly because we're going to have to feed that thin body of yours up."

Emery blushed, paling slightly, and looked down at the ground. He was shy, who could blame him?

I unbound the necklace, and turned on my radio. This was pointless, because I heard Simba approaching as his helicopter form.

"Alduin, I heard all that. You take Emery back to Central now, I'll ask them the questions."

"Do you think Emery's ready, he seems pretty scared?"

"And do you think he's the first?" the lion asked, as he buzzed over the building and came to a halt above us.

As he began to descend, I spoke.

"My companion wishes to gather the knowledge we require. I will take Emery back to our world now, we will bring him back every now and then, if you can live with him." I managed a quick scowl on the matter, and Emery looked uncomfortable. The others looked away. Simba landed, and I took Emery's hand. We backed away as Simba changed into his lion form.

"Hold my arm." I instructed, and Emery held tightly just above the teleporter.

I hit the blue gem on the golden armlet, and me and Emery fell through the innumerable distance between this world and Central. After forty something seconds, we both landed on the solid steel floor of Central, and noticed Draco was there already. Emery looked around in stark astonishment.

"How, where, what is this place?"

"This is our base, we call it Central. Where it is, we don't know exactly but it's roughly the middle of the universe. As to how, we have teleporters on our arms, that allow us to travel the greatest distances between the stars."

I saw the familiar sight of Silverine, as Emery was looking the wrong way.

"And here comes our leader, although don't be too frightened, he's heard a bit about you."

Emery turned,saw what I was talking about and grabbed my legs, hiding behind me. The four foot eleven creature peeped out from behind my chest, at the sight of the seven foot eight Lupogriff striding towards us. I gave Silverine a look, suggesting that he should lay off his normal greetings.Silverine stopped at five yards, and nodded at me.

"Good morning Alduin, how is things?"

"Very good, Silverine, I brought back Emery, as we suggested."

"I can see that." Silverine looked down at Emery, and the little illusionist hid behind me again,"He doesn't exactly like me much, does he?"

I grinned and rolled my eyes."I can't think why." and Silverine burst out into laughter.

"O.K. let's have a look at him." Silverine got down onto his knees in front of me and I stepped aside.

Emery found his hiding place had moved, and turned to look at the Lupogriff. Even on his knees the wolf was taller, and Emery looked very shy in front of him.He looked down and put his hands behind his back.

"Well, he's not exactly strong physically, and thin as a rake.I guess all the power is mental." then Silverine saw the claw on Emery's right hand. He extended his hand and gently took Emery's arm. Emery shivered at the touch, as the Lupogriff examined the pincer.

"I guess," Silverine said slowly," that this once was a hand." he looked solemnly at Emery, and the green skinned elfling (for the sake of argument I'll call him that, Simba was busy finding out what their real species was), nodded once and hung his head down in shame.

Silverine nodded in understanding, and let go. Emery took his left wrist in his right hand, and looked at it. I caught Silverine's glance.

"Silverine, do you think Takori's race would be able to fix that?"

"Oh, I'm sure it's quite possible. The only thing is they are tigers, so to replicate his hand might take a while to design and create.Takori's away at the moment though, so we'll have to wait before asking."

Emery hadn't understood a word of this, but was waiting under the group stare of myself, Draco and the Lupogriff. I decided he needed cheering up, and squatted down, looking Emery in the eye.

"Come on, Emery, get on my back, I'll take you to the food store." I teleported my weapons and kit away back to Earth, and Emery tentatively climbed up onto my back, holding on with his one good hand. His head was level with mine, and I set off with Draco and Silverine down the corridor.