FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Water embraced him. Cold yet light, bubbles tickling his bare skin. His eyes blinked open to see the world warped by glass, his hands weak and his legs floating.

"SAM, he's wakin' up!" shrilled a cheerful voice.

The faces of creatures unknown peered around the glass, humans, dog, rabbit, dinosaur. A hand slapped itself to the inside of the glass with sticky pads on four yellow fingers as the square-headed human spoke in a military tone.

"Do you remember anything about yourself?"

No response.

"You were kidnapped by a mad scientist."

"Not it!" said the other human with steel legs.

"My name is Major-General Thomas Brightman." The soldier spread his hand towards the dog and rabbit. "These two were the ones who found you, traced your signal of distress."

"I'll always cherish it," said the lagomorph too fondly.

"Are you suffering any pains? If you can't talk, you can shake your head for no, and nod for yes. If you can't move your head, blink once for no and blink twice for yes. Do you understand?"

The creature blinked twice.

"Do you remember your name?"

Blinked twice.

"Are you hungry?"

Blinked twice again.

"You got any cats we could feed it?!" asked the rabbit.

"I'm pretty sure that breaks the rules of this base," replied Sam.

The eyes started to close. Darkness took him back as voices faded off into nothingness. The creeping anger had finally gone from his emotions. His own fury had been enough to deal with for so long. The water now faded from his skin, the tube emptying itself as he opened his eyes once more and collapsed forwards with a human and dinosaur grabbing-_ hiS tOUcH bUrNeD HiS sKiN _-he lurched at the nearest table and staggered onto his feet.

"Woah woah give him room, give him room."

Toes popped against the floor with a natural stickiness as he gripped the edge of the table. His legs were weak, his tail swished with a weakness he could not comprehend as he stared at himself in the polished reflection of the tabletop. Was that what he looked like? It had been years since he saw his own face. Green snout, purple eyelids and markings. In his mind he wanted to say that he looked like Luc Besson's wife, but what came out of his mouth was a listless gibbering.

"Ufnnmnnhuuhhbnnnmmbmm."

"What was that?" asked Sam.

"I think he asked if his butt looks too big in his original body," said Max.

"Well either way that's another case wrapped up li'l buddy." The dog slapped his hands together with satisfaction. "Yanno it's amazing what one can do with three feet of bungee cord, six boxes of tupperware and a whole vat of toxic acid!"

"Uh, aren't you going to explain what happened?" asked Kevin.

"No," said Max, "that's your fault fer not being there!"

The group had now reunited back at the base, with a large cryogenic tube that a body had once floated inside of. Thomas and Kevin looked mystified at the latest catch until Holt explained his best on all that happened with Oddclaw's occasional input.

"Is this lab still there?" asked Brightman afterwards.

"It is!" said Oddclaw. "Sam and Max made a tunnel out from the rock using the asssid we found."

"Then we realised we went the wrong way," added Sam, "so we had to double back hence the SIX boxes of tupperware and not the usual three."

"Guess it's time for another salvage operation then," said Izquierda cracking his knuckles. "I just hope that acid could be redesigned into something better, we don't have any use for it by itself."

"You can do lotsa things with acid!" said the rabbit. "You can melt your front door when you lock yourself out, or hide bodies MUCH easier!"

"Well neither of those are problems I have."

"Wow, what kinda weird life do YOU live?"

"A normal one?" the scientist replied leaning forwards with arms at his waist.

"So this tube is where the hostage was all this time?" asked Thomas pointing at the stasis unit.

"Somewhat," replied Sam with finger of educating, "his consciousness had been torn apart and placed inside seventeen different TVs, which we then had to download to our USB and reupload into his body through this thingamatube. As a result he'll be plenty confused and take a while to relearn some things such as motor functions and perhaps speech."

"Eghfergunmuhnruu," mumbled the gecko.

"Right, what he said. Mooshoo Pork, his kidnapper, said that his name was Gex and he was his mortal enemy, but that's all we know about him."

"What about his forces?" asked Thomas crossing arms.

"They weren't even real, just fabrications of televised static through his powers of the Media Dimension. We shut off his Media Enabler so all his remaining flunkeys are wiped as well as their outposts, which conveniently allows me to claim the fact that since they technically weren't living beings mean I never killed anybody and remain with a solid wounding-only record!"

"Don't spoil this for me Sam," simpered Max.

"Anyways, the only thing left now is Mooshoo's lab back in the canyon."

"And where is this Mooshoo now?" asked Thomas.

"He's in the trunk of our DeSoto."

"HoooooWHEE!" squealed Max. "We got 'im hogtied lahk ol' Bessie at the junior rodeo!"

"Max please, Bessie is an icon and former co-star of ours who we wish only the fondest of her success to."

"I still can't believe she's a bestselling writer! What do cows even WRITE about?!"

"Well if you learnt to read past a 3rd-grade level then you'd know, OOH that reminds me, Oddie could you go grab us a dictionary from the library?"

"Why?" asked the raptor shrugging.

"Just wanna settle sumthin' with Max, we'll just be in our room gettin' ready to ship out."

"You're leaving already?" asked Kevin.

"Well yeah," replied Sam straightening out his tie, "we got other cases too like the mutant alligator union strike."

"We're gonna go Pinkerton on their leather asses!" cried Max sinfully.

The raptor walked out to the library whilst Kevin gently put his hand on Gex's arm to lead him someplace else.

"You need some food buddy? I think we can get you something from the kitchen before Sam an' Max take you someplace"

"Mmhmm," mumbled the gecko.

"Alright uhhh, can you walk? The more you try the better it is for you to get your mind all connected with your functions."

"Mmm."

Taking his first weakened steps, the green lizard moved with timid shaking knees like a fox named Michael J. At least that's what Gex wanted to actually say, but his mouth refused to obey as his tongue flapped numbly between his teeth, struggling to form the most basic words as the synapses of his long-dormant mind kept trying to warm up with energy, like old Victorian lightbulbs.

"So what DID happen to him?" asked Thomas looking towards the limping reptile.

"We're not sure," said Sam, "but I bet you the centre of it was that weird rusty thing on top of the conduit that Mooshoo tried to zap Max with. It seemed to be a harbinger of hatred that could inflict the rage centre of the brain worse than an oboe recital at 5th grade."

"I felt the burning rage of a thousand victims!" cried Max with hands cupping the sky. "It tastes like purple and it tickled me!"

"When we left the base I decided to get rid of it, bury it under three tons of acid and wall it up in the deeper parts of the canyon."

"Like every other problem with the environment, just bury it deep enough an' you won't have to worry about it LONG after you're dead!"

"Well that's...comforting," said Brightman unconvinced with a nervous sidelook, "but as long as the problem is solved."

"It's solved in my book! And my book's got the official U.S. seal so it's GOTTA be right?!"

Oddclaw soon reached the library, seeing Anna once again at her desk reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

"OH helloooo Oddie!" she said smiling to him.

"Hello miss Kerkorian!"

"Oho dear come now just call me Anna."

"Do you have a...um...a dick-shun-airy?"

"Yeees, why?"

"The...um, Sam, the police, they want to read it."

"Oh, really what a surprise." She put down her book and headed over to the reference section. "What word were they looking up then hmm, the concept of justice perhaps?"

"I do not know. Why do you not like them?"

"Hmm?"

"You do not like the police, but...Sam and Max rescued someone."

"I do not hate THEM specifically, dear." The woman handed over the dictionary with firm plop into Oddie's hands. "Not those two that is, I just do not like those that they represent, the badges they wear and the blue that dog wears. I will not bore you with my stories."

"You never bore me," said the raptor with furrowed brow, "I like hearing you miss Kerkorian."

"Well that's kind of you. But I don't want to talk about it. One day perhaps, but...just make sure you bring that book back."

"Okay. I am sorry if I upset you."

"Oh don't worry dear, you never upset me. You always take responsibility for your actions unlike SOME people."

The way she said this gave a bitter sting so sharp that Oddclaw was surprised by the scent she emitted, causing him to balk to a submissive stance as he scuttled away with book in hand as Anna returned to her book. Heading towards the Freelance Police's bunk, he heard them coming round the corner with Jeremy's voice in tow. as Sam and Max took more time to gaze around the place, noticing the oddly-matched multitude of humans and machines working around the clock to make repairs and extensions further to the growing T.E.A.R. base.

"You sure got a lotta robots!" shouted Max a little too loudly.

"Yeah they all came 'ere a year back," replied Jeremy, "came from sum new island that just appeared outta nowhere, Odd's family were thuh ones to find it."

"Really?" asked Sam. "A whole island just appeared?"

"Oh aye uh, part of the anomalies we been havin'-OH, hey there dab!"

"Hello Jeremy!" said the raptor waving as all three of them waved back.

"Didya ever tell these two about the island yer family found?"

"No. The row-bots lived on an island, my family went to it because we wanted to, and then one row-bot chased us, because we stole ehm-murralds from a thief that stole them from the island's guardian. But the guardian became friends with us, and we stopped the thief, and many robots joined the humen because they like doing stuff."

"Hmm, sounds reasonable," said Sam opening the door to their room as they walked inside, "so uh what's all this place for, dino research?"

"The humen came to my world to learn things that could help save their home. I do not know how but that is what they said."

"So they're from the future?"

"Yes."

"OOOH duzzat mean you got laser guns?!" said Max grabbing the air with both hands.

"Yes, but we got them from the row-bots."

"SAM?!"

"We got plenty of those at home Max," said the dog firmly, "you can play with them when we get back."

"YYYYESSS!"

"Oh, I found a dick-shunary."

The raptor handed the book over as Sam flicked through the pages with a chubby brown finger tracing along down the P section cautiously.

"This reminds me I never got a chance to finish reading Catch-22. Shame, I was getting into it."

"Ahm sure they 'ave it in yer world Sam," said Jeremy smiling.

"Hopefully...AH, here we are. Padawan. Noun, an apprentice or student, coined by George Lu-"

"DO NOT SAY IT!" cried Max pulling his ears down hard. "HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED SHALL NOT WALK THIS EARTH!"

"Ahem...coined by He Who Must Not Be Named for the Franchise What Must Not Be Named-awwww dammit, you were right Max, that word's forbidden."

"Yes, and NOW you must accept your punishment with forty smacks to the butt!"

"Awww jeez it's been that long already? Hhhhcriminy, alright then."

Sam turned himself round on a chair before showing his large posterior to Max. The rabbit picked up the dictionary and after pulling down Sam's pants partway started to whap him on the butt with the book. Oddclaw watched confused at the whimpering canine and the gleeful rabbit as Sam's furry rump jiggled slightly with each whallop, to which Jeremy smirked at the sight of whilst muttering to the raptor:

"Remember when ah did that to you?"

"Yes," he whispered back, "it...it was fun."

"Whut're ya thinkin' of these two?"

"They are very good friends, like you and me."

"Hhhhhmhmhmhm...that's one way to put it."

"Can we have sex before I go home?" said Oddclaw purring as he leaned up towards Jeremy to nuzzle his arm.

"Hmhmhmhm...ah don't see why not," said Holt gently rubbing the raptor's scalp with a tender smooch to his snout, "but not fer too long, don' wanna make yer brother fret."

"Just a little sex."

"Aaaaaand forty," said Max with one final whap harder than the rest. "Now, have ya learnt yer lesson?"

"Y-yes?" whimpered Sam.

"Yes WHAT?"

"Yes, mister president."

"Gooood puppy." The rabbit petted the dog's head sweetly as Sam stood back up to lift his pants. "Now, you may return this."

"And give this back to the nice lady too," said Sam handing over Catch-22, "tell her I'm sorry I didn't have time to read, that I really enjoyed Yossarian's desperate flair for the ludicrosity of war and that I really liked her tattoo's script as an homage to the emerging movement of west coast hip-hop music."

"Thah rhymes of da STREET, YO!"

"O-okay."

Oddclaw was confused but went back to the library regardless to deliver said books and message in the best way he could.

Once the Freelance Police were ready for departure they stood waiting by their DeSoto outside the base's territorial fences. Gex was slowly walking towards them with zombie-like gait, his tongue still sluggish and unresponsive with Kevin escorting him by the arm cautiously. Oddclaw walked behind them curious of the soporific gecko whose tail slowly drifted.

"You still alright there green guy?" asked Kevin.

"Mmnnnmnmnmhrhrh."

"Okay well I'm sure you'll get your mouth back once your mind settles in, you get some good sleep and those two'll look after ya."

"Nnnrhhmnhn?"

"Doooon't worry," said the scientist patting his back, "just keep drinking fluids and rest up for a few days, or weeks, and no TV!"

"Nnnnnnhhhh?" whined Gex with deadened limbs.

"No I mean in general just, no TV, I worry about your brain."

"Nnnnhhhhh..."

"Oddclaw keep him upright while I get the door open."

"Okay."

The raptor stepped forwards whilst Izquierda went to open the gate with proper authorisation. Oddclaw took a moment to admire the new security they had beefed up around the place with higher fence walls and stronger electric currents, as well as a reinforced door made from the hull of a flying ship.

"Are you alright Gex?" asked Odd looking him over.

"Mmmnnnphhphhh."

"I am sorry for what happened to you. I hope you will be back to your normal self soon."

"Mmm."

"Sam and Max are very good, they will keep you safe back in their home."

"Mmm-mm-MMMNNGH!"

"AH, CAREFUL!"

He grabbed the gecko trying to walk forwards with a stumbling gait, but as soon as Oddie touched the gecko's arm he felt a cold ice clutch at his heart. Gex stood up sharp before snapping his head violently towards him and grabbed the raptor's hand with horrifying strength and a dead look in his eyes. The world blurred out of existence briefly as the gecko's mouth opened with slow shuddering lips.

"...hhhhh-h-h-hhhhhhe will sssssscour your blood from this earth."

"Wh-wh-what?!"

"_Hhhheeee hassss sssseen yourrrr sssssmile and how it burns him. _"

"L-LET, GO!"

"_Iiiii wassss the firrrrssst, and sssso sssshe shall be the last. _"

"Wh-who are you t-talking about, K-KEVIN HELP!"

"_Ffffouuur... remain. _"

The world came back sharply to both of them as Gex crumpled into Oddie's arms as he clutched him tight. Kevin came rushing to pull him up with a fretful smile.

"WOAHO there take it easy, Oddie's already taken."

"I-i...Kevin, he s-said something!"

"Huh?!"

He looked over Gex who returned back to his blank listless staring and foetid mumbling tones.

"Mnnnnhhhh..."

"Uhhhh...don't sound like it dinomigo."

"But...but I heard him," whimpered Odd.

"Maybe the brain's firing up finally and you caught a snippet of a word salad, it happens don't fret about it."

"Word...salad?"

"Jane can explain it for ya now let's go gecko boy."

They walked altogether to to the DeSoto where dog and rabbit stood with Jeremy and Thomas waiting alongside to see them off. The trunk of the car was open to reveal Mooshoo Pork hogtied and gagged with an apple in his mouth whilst Thomas stared on incredulous.

"THIS was the guy you fought?" he asked sneering.

"Sure was," replied Sam closing the boot, "can't believe we got the biggest one in the shop!"

"And on the night before Christmas," simpered Max, "Now Tiny Tywyn Lannister shall survive winter and his son Tyrion will be born and all shall be well in the land!"

"Yanno, I wouldn't have thought A Westeros Carol would be so popular this year, but it just goes to show that Charles Dickens was a master of his work to make a story so perfectly malleable to all places."

"BRAAVOS HUMBUG!"

"Well I had fun," said Jeremy shaking Sam's hand gladly, "yer a real sharpshooter an' a laugh to boot!"

"And you sir are the finest Welshman I ever had the pleasure of meeting."

"The only one!" chipped in Max.

"I had fun too," said Oddclaw as him and Kevin gently planted Gex into the backseat, "I am glad we could help."

"I had fun too!" The rabbit grabbed the raptor's hand for a vigorous arm-burning handshake. "Anyone who draws blood from a steamin' corpse with me is as good a friend to have!"

"I agree! You make a good hunter in a pack!"

"Gee ya hear that Sam, a PACK!"

"Iiii think the rats won't let you into their union Max," said the dog knowingly, "but I'm sure there's plenty other vermin in the city we could find to dominate under your rule."

"You mean besides Congress?!"

"HHHHAH!" Thomas suddenly laughed with a gasping snort. "HHHMHMHMHMH...ohhhh, alright tha-that was good."

"FUH-KIN' 'ELL!" cried Holt. "I didn't know they taught you robots 'ow to laugh!"

"Shut up Holt."

"Well I guess that's it," said Sam as he slid down over to the driver's seat, "thanks again for all your help."

"You sure you can get outta this dimension by yourselves?"

"Oh yeah we got it covered, Max?"

"HIT IT!"

The rabbit jumped hard into the passenger seat as he punched the glovebox to make something spring out of its compartment. A curiously simple-looking device that resembled a Rubik's cube having wires running all over it as Sam relayed instructions.

"Set coordinates to one-one, one-seven, two-zero-zero-nine."

"Got it!" The rabbit fiddled frantically in clicking the sides as Sam revved up the engine. "We're all set!"

"If we get this case done by today we might just catch two more days of Undercon!"

"OH YEAH that reminds me I almost finished the game!"

"For the seven-hundred-and-thirty-eighth time?" said the dog with raised eyebrow.

"I can't help it!" squealed the rabbit with fingers in the air. "It's just so FUN to kill everyone and end all their existence, it's the best game ever!"

"Well okay, but remember you have to stay four-hundred yards away from Toby Fox at all times or else he's legally allowed to shoot you with a T-shirt cannon. Oh yeah that reminds me!" The dog looked back towards the humans and raptor with a smile and his arm on the seat. "You guys are welcome to whatever you want in that Mooshoo Pork's base but, if you find a strange ancient-looking ruin with a silver sphere on your way there, DON'Tt touch it!"

"OH righ'!" said Jeremy with a snap of his fingers. "Completely forgot about that thing, yeah we're not touchin' that."

"Wait what's this about a ruin?" asked Kevin.

"I'll tell ya later but fer now, see ya Sam 'n' Max!"

"Goodbye Sam and Max!" cried Oddie waving. "Thank you for telling me about my father!"

"Wait, FATHER?!" barked Brightman.

"NO PROBLEM!" shouted Sam over the roaring engine. "AND REMEMBER, YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE THANKS TO YOUR FAMILY! DON'T EVER FORGET THAT KID!"

"YEAH, JUST LIKE HOW WE ARE THANKS TO OURS!" said Max with an absurdly proud grin. "EVEN WHEN WE FORGET!"

"SO LONG!"

"AUF WIEDERSEHEN!"

The DeSoto roared with a burning screech as Mooshoo Pork cried with frantic blustering from the inside of its trunk, the Rubik's Cube whirring with a dizzying array of colours including some that were not conceivable to the human eye. The car tore along the sand leaving two trails of fire behind it until it suddenly disappeared in a blinding flash of white. The humans looked nonplussed whilst Kevin shrugged and stretched his arms.

"WELP nnnnngh I guess it's time to salvage another pile of garbage from someplace else."

"Seems so," replied Thomas, "Oddclaw would you mind guiding us again for this?"

"I am always happy to help," said the raptor smiling with a spring in his step. "I will be your padawan today."

"Hhhahahaha," chortled Holt, "you crack me up li'l buddy."

Oddclaw soon returned home after hopping off the Petrie which landed on the beach northeast of the nest. Waving farewell to the humans he walked his way back with a stiffened gait, the sound of the starship's engines alerting a few scouts to his presence with Fishclaw amongst them.

"Welcome home brother," he said politely, "are you well?"

"Y-yes," he stammered with grimace, "I-i am well."

"Is...something wrong, you sound hurt."

"No I...a-aaagh."

"Do not move." He walked round him sniffing all over before noticing a rather musky scent from his brother's red rump. "Ahahahaaaa I see now, you had your fun with Hairnose again?"

"Yes," said Oddclaw smirking with a blush.

"Why are you embarrassed, you know we do not mind."

"I was not sure if...you would approve of me and a hairless-"

"Oddclaw, please. You know it does not matter so long as you find a mate to have children with."

"Hah, since when did you become mother?"

"When you and your sisters were born," replied Fishclaw with a childish tonguepoke that made his brother laugh.

"Hhhmmmhahahaha, alright I see, well another starbeast has been dealt with so we will be safe for another cycle-and-a-half."

"That is good! Barkclaw is waiting for you at his usual place with Stonevoice."

"I will see him after speaking with Alpha, there are some things he has to know."

Walking back into the Hunter's Nest, Oddclaw stiffened his walk back to a regular step as he went to tell the alpha his latest report on the anomalies. Amidst the squabbling shriek of raptors young and old Moonclaw watched the anthro stride towards the central rock gathering where her new leader made his home. Fishclaw was following up behind in finishing his scout duties, but he noticed the look on Moonclaw's face as she sat in the shade of a tree.

"Food for your thoughts?" he asked sidling up to her.

"Mmm-oh...hello."

"Do not worry about my brother, you can smell the hairless' seed on him but he will still want a mate."

"Th-that is-I...I..." the grey-scaled raptor stammered not knowing where to look, "I-i am not worried about that!"

"You do not think I recognise the look you give to him?"_insisted Fishclaw with a smile and a crooked head. _"It is the same one he gives you when you are not looking."

"I...I know that."

"Then what is the problem?"

She fell silent with a sullen look and the scent of fretfulness. She tapped her footclaw with growing nerves and a softened trill in the back of her throat.

"Is...Oddclaw would...does he judge others?"

"What?" asked Fishclaw.

"Is he...is he one to judge others often, or is he rather...passive?"

"Have you MET Barkclaw? Oddclaw was the only one of us to understand him, and he was the one to help him flourish as our best scout!"

"O-oh you are right I...forgot."

"Is there something you need to talk with him about?"

"Well, yes but I do not know how to begin to speak to him about it."

"Can you tell me?"

Moonclaw started to bite at her lip with increasing nerves as Fishclaw sat beside her, trying to soothe her stuttering panic and shifty looks with a calm radiant smile and concerned eyes.

"Moonclaw." His voice made her turn towards him. "Do you trust my brother with your life?"

"I...o-of course I do."

"And you trusted him enough to journey with him back to our home, so why can you not trust him with whatever this is?"

"I-i do not know!" cried Moonclaw with shallow breaths rising in her chest. "I must tell him...if he...if he wants to be my mate I have to tell him but I am so afraid tha-"

"Trust him." The oldest male of the family nuzzled her kindly. "Trust in my brother. It is frightening but you took that chance to trust him when you first met just as he did with you, yes? So trust him now. He is a good hunter. He will not leave you behind when you need him, I know he will not."

"A-alright...hm, I can see why you are the only one with a mate in the family."

"Someone had to play father...I only hope I can raise my children just as good."

"If you can teach an old fool like me how to not whimper like a hatchling I am sure you are worthy as a father."

"Hah! Alright then, I hope you and Oddclaw settle things well."

"Thank you Fishclaw."

Stepping off back towards his family nest, the red-backed male decided to sit himself down and take a nap to rest his weary bones. His mate was not present and neither were his children as he slumped into the nest and curled up in the late afternoon sun. The sounds of the tribe began to drift beyond his hearing as he fell into a brief but peaceful slumber.

"Daddy, daddy wake up!"

Fishclaw was roused from his sleep by one of his sons nipping him across the head. It was nearing sunset, the rest of his family now snoozing and cuddled up beside him as he sighed staring into the palest green eyes of his kin.

"Starleaf, it is time to sleep."

"B-but, but I found something by the water!"

"If it is another fish, do not touch it and we will see it when I wake up."

"N-no, no is a SCARY fish, i-i-it talked to me a-an' said bad things!"

"What...no, fish do not talk do not be silly."

"But, but daddyyyyy it scarin' meeeee a-ah can't sleep!"

The fear emanating from his son told him it was no joke as he roused himself up with a brittle yawn and cracking feet. Stretching like a feline to strengthen his legs he walked over towards the lake whilst carefully stepping over his family to not disturb them. His son hurried on ahead, still not quite matured out of his hatchling phase mentally as they reached the cool shores of the lake. The clouds of dusk turned the water into fire as Fishclaw sniffed around for the scent of piscine beasts.

"Where is it?"

"U-um it...i-it walked away?" said Starleaf unconvinced looking everywhere he could.

"Fish cannot walk except for the stonefish, do not lie to me son."

"B-but, but I saw it daddy, I saw it, i-it said things!"

"Like what?"

"That...th-th-that your eyes...yer eyes were gonna become a part of me."

"Wh-wh...what?"

His son turned towards him. His eyes had become the deepest black pits as his voice deepened to a monstrous crawl.

"I have need of you, hunter. Please, follow me."

"Wh-who...what have you done with my son?!"

"What...son?"

The young raptor suddenly bowed over with a shivering spasm and a silent cry of pain. His back began to split itself apart with the spine shattering in half as something birthed free from his frail corpse. A strange purple insect with unfurling white wings and large hooked mandibles on its face resembling a giant fly no more than 4 feet, dressed in the blood of raptors as Fishclaw screamed with horror and rage.

"N-NO, STARLEAF! STARLEAAAAF! WHAT IS HAPPENING?! Wh...what...have you done to my SOOOOOOON!?"

"Follow me and I shall show you."

The insect flew off towards the forest as Fishclaw chased after him, struggling to swallow the tears that stemmed from his eyes at smelling his son's blood on the wind beneath the creature's wings. He pounded his feet through the loosened dirt as he darted between trees with breath shuddering in his throat, creeping snarl across his teeth in a burning hate that transformed from his sorrow. The night began to creep on his back, shafting through the trees with black light as he felt the air change swiftly to a piercing cold shock.

"H-h-hhhhh! Wh-what...what is this?! WHERE ARE YOU!? Wh-WHERE ARE YOU YOU FILTH, I WILL EXTERMINATE YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY SON!?"

The darkness grew upon him as his vision started to turn weak. The trees became swallowed up in pure black mist that danced and weaved between the leaves. His breath started to cloud in front of his face as his maroon scales shook with the frigid cold. His eyes glinted to an icy grey as he caught a scent, chasing after the monster that left a trail of his family's blood. The further on he ran the more the darkness grew, soon consuming every piece of light from the entire forest as he relied on his sense of smell.

"Why can I not see?! Never I have seen a night so deep, where is he?! WHERE ARE YOU?! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME YOU BEAST!"

Further he went into the darkening woods, evading around trees now invisible amidst the ephemereal abyss. He found at last a tree of purest white, standing on its own within the eternal black. He rushed towards it as fast as his feet could take him, the ground almost nonexistent for not making a single sound nor even allow him to feel anything beneath his sole. The scent of the insect had disappeared by the time he reached the tree as he started to sniff around the pale ghost.

"He cannot have gone far...he did not seem to fly well with his paltry wings...h-hhhhhh...h-how...how could anyone d-do that to my son..."

Bitter tears dripped down his snout as he tried his best to focus on hunting. Fishclaw took a deep breath to assert himself and swallows his sorrows deep to refocus on his efforts. The scent of the tree was nothing he had known ever in his life, burning like fire yet cold as night with a sharp sting of icy flair to his nostrils that made him step back anxiously. But then he caught the second scent of the beast, and as he passed the pale tree it started to twist itself around to "face" him with the sound of crunching roots and twisted bark. He turned himself halfway round to see the entire forest had now become an empty expanse of pure white, blinding his vision almost fully.

"Wh-wha...why is it so-e-e-everything is shining! Shining like, s-stars swarming like flies!"

The trees had all but completely disappeared as he tried to walk forwards only to trip on an exposed root the same colour as the white itself. The scent had faded and he started to turn round in a circle frantically keeping his nostrils wide to catch any scent he could. Then he saw it. A shimmering wind like a leaf catching on the breeze.

"Who...who is that?! SHOW YOURSELF! I KNOW YOU ARE THERE BEAST!"

do you whisper to me

"What?! COME OUT AND FACE ME!"

are you singing your father's voice

"ENOUGH! FIGHT ME, NOW!"

The creature approached from in front of him, tracing echoes around its body to resemble something like a raptor and yet not entirely one that he could recognise. With silent steps the monster reached within striking distance but Fishclaw was shocked by the seemingly-empty creature. The soft winds through the white abyss created a silhouette, a sculpture made of glass that smiled upon him. The cold fire scent burned deeper in his snout as he backed off from its strong scent. The creature stepped forwards with smile frozen upon its translucent face.

"No...no, s-stay back, stay...BACK!"

two mouths you speak with, but only one shall scream

"Sh-SHUT UP! LEAVE THIS PLACE, GET OUT OF MY HOME!"

your eyes will sing even when your teeth shall wither and die

"GET AWAY FROM MEEEE!"

With lunging bite of fearful breaths Fishclaw snapped at the air as the creature dissipated into the mist and pale. As he started to calm his nerves with shaking claws and tapping feet, he turned round cautiously to try and pick up the scent but he found something far more strange than anything else he had seen.

"What...IS this place?"

A giant doorway appeared before him that smelt like the deserts of his mother's tribe, wafting heat with a scattering of sand across his feet as he now stood within an empty barren wasteland spanning in every direction. The door led into the darkness below of some ancient sunken mountain, one that was far too smooth down its sides to be naturally formed. The scent of his prey came from the passage as he walked in to feel the sand turning colder beneath his feet.

Sifting streams of dusted dirt came scattering across his head as he brushed it off with his front claws in traversing deeper within the strange narrow hallway that seemed to hug against his body. Rock and silt scraped against his sides as he squeezed his way through, his tail sleekly rubbing against the stone as he sucked in his gut and wrestled his way further in with scratches across his scaled body.

Fishclaw sighed through one last gap as he pulled himself free from the corridor to walk into an unusual room shaped in a serpentine fashion. The arid walls revealed strange carvings and fashioned runes that the raptor could not recognise, simple shapes of little sticks with hands and feet raising their limbs towards circles and crescents drifting above them.

"Did someone scratch these? But, they do not look like Barkclaw's scratches, who did this? ...this cave is not natural, it is too..." he scratched his front claws upon the perfect uniform wall, "too smooth like the bottom of the lake. Is this where that beast makes its home?"

The carvings told a story he could just barely comprehend, of creatures dancing in the sun and worshipping the moon, stick figures both great and small praising all of life and never fearing death as anything but a natural end to all and returning to the earth. Burials were synonymous with births, a child sprouting free for every body they planted in the earth. Soon he saw the figures had sprouted an extra set of elliptical shapes on their shoulders as they lifted across the sky, picking up their children and teaching them the joy of something new.

"Flyers? No...do flyers make these scratchings? The beast was like a smallwing, perhaps there are greatwings in this world."

The largest insect Fishclaw had seen before today was perhaps the size of a threehorn hatchling, twice as small as the monster he was hunting. Walking deeper within the twisting tunnel, the sand-coloured walls started to be replaced by something darker and more volcanic in origin. The scent of old fires masked the room as he went into another room, square-shaped with large half-circular alcoves in every section of the walls that showed large stands of melted wax which had long since burnt to their ends. The centre of the room showed a triangular dais raised upwards between six pillars, forming two more triangle shapes between them.

Fishclaw approached the centre of it sensing the creature's stench, seeing a large square depression in the wall beyond it with dozens of small holes perforated in the stone. The scent became strongest in the middle of the podium, burning thick within a rancid black hole of charred embers and withered flesh.

T H E O N E W H O C L A W S A T T H E F I S H

"Wh-what? Who speaks of me?!"

The pillars began to glow all around him one after the other, sending sparks of unnatural currents jolting between them to trap the raptor within a force field. The smell of danger brimmed fiercely to bade him still.

T H E S T A R S S H A L L G U I D E Y O U

"What is happening?! WHAT ARE YOU?!"

He turned towards the large square indent in the wall as he saw something flicker within the holes. It almost resembled the scales of a fish beneath the water as he focused his silver eyes upon it. The light moved much too fast to comprehend it normally, scattering in sharp brilliant flinches as he concentrated even deeper, slowly receding into his Killer Eye state. Time slowed down once again, the gasping wind of the caverns turned silent as Fishclaw stilled his breath. The crackling force of the pillars' electrical current even started to separate into individual streaking bolts as the light behind the wall moved gently towards different holes in tracing out a pattern. A recurring pattern as his eyes followed its movement at least six times before it stopped. The lightning stopped as the wall opened up with a crunching grind of internal gears unknown to the raptor.

"I...how does this...who knows of me here?"

Confused he walked on past the dais into the next room as the door fully lifted itself upwards. Grinding sand and dust went skittering along his back as an even grander room welcomed him. It was an enormous chasm, a twisting narrow rock bridge that spanned across a deep eternal abyss. Torches flickering on sconces either side of him were wrapped in strange grey materials like the thinnest slices of shale to create shadows that never were, more runes and carvings showing the stick figures flying across the world. Spreading their children, feasting upon new food, forming greater homes and worshipping new moons in its every phase.

The raptor did not trust this room, seeing another door at the end of it but fearing the rock bridge would be unstable. He smelt no wind in the place, nothing except for the fire dully glinting in their corners as he took his first step. Nothing happened. He took another step, cautious as always until his fourth step where he felt the air below him.

"GUH-A-AAAH! ...what?!"

He stepped on the rock bridge surely, there was nothing collapsing underneath his foot but he was certain he had felt a misstep. Fishclaw tried to step on where he had done so before with a tentative claw only to find it slipped right through the rock as if it never existed, a ghostly shimmer almost inseparable from the actual stone.

"H-how can that...but it looks just like stone! What if it-...maybe if I use my sight better like in the cave before."

Taking one step back Fishclaw began to focus once again as he burned his sight strongly into a sharp fuller point, pinpricking pupils of black slivers within an icy silver lake causing the fire to slow down their amorous dance across ember-filled sconces. With lungs stopping until he heard his heart beat slowly, he saw the true passage of the rocky chasm bridge with shock stilling in his mind.

"Light? A false...light?"

The stone bridge was only half as wide as he had noticed previously, but in his Killer Eye mode he saw that some of the torches were projecting fake images of stone square that blended in with the rest of the bridge. He strove to memorise the actual bridge layout with eyes roving all over in hyperkinetic mode, tracing out the false platforms and imagining them erased from his vision. He had done this before, when there were too many fish in one spot and he had to aim for the largest catch.

Taking more confident steps as he unfocused his peerless sight to ease off a growing headache, the raptor began to walk his way around the false gaps whilst his mind kept replaying what he had seen, memorising the platforms that did not exist and neatly walking past to reach the end at another door that opened up on sensing his presence.

"I have never seen stone move by itself...Oddclaw told me once the hairless have stone that can do such, is this...another home for them? An old home perhaps."

He walked through into yet another room, the last one of all as there stood something. A sphere of pure darkness, floating between four looming pillars with dark flames of purple flickering in a voidless wind. Silence filled the room with a crushing pressure upon Fishclaw's back as he started to lick his lips with a growing anxiety. The orb appeared to be a solid stone, but it was the blackest thing he had ever seen, so dark that the light from the torches did not even exist upon its surface.

"What is this deep stone? Is this my reward, or is it...something else?"

Stepping closer towards the sphere hovering upon its shrine Fishclaw sniffed at it to find not a single trace of any scent on it. All of his senses seemed to fail him except for his sight and touch which he was hesitant to use upon the glimmering object.

S T A R L E A F

"What...wh-why would you-what about my son?!"

T H E S T A R S A R E W A T C H I N G Y O U

"Watching...my son? B-but you killed him...you...your beast, your THING crawled out of his body like a rotting fruit!"

W I L L Y O U W A T C H T H E M ?

"Watch...them?"

W I L L Y O U K E E P T H E M S A F E ?

"Keep...the stars, safe? What do you mean? Wha-...what do you mean, answer me!"

From the roof there came a flap of greasy wings as something peeled off the stone to land upon the sphere, balancing perfectly upon it with four vestigial legs of wiry sinew. The wretched beast he had been hunting trapped Fishclaw in his gaze as its claws sunk into the orb and dipped through its surface like ink. Deeper and deeper until it pulled something free, lifting it out of the orb to reveal a raptor's skull with the insect's claws buried in its eye sockets. Once they had been hollow, but now they shone with a piercing light blinding Fishclaw powerfully as he stepped back, gasping from the raw heat that came searing from the skull.

Y O U M U S T W A T C H T H E S T A R S

"A-A-AAAAGH! BURNING!"

W A T C H T H E S T A R S O R T H E Y S H A L L S I N G

"A-AAAAAAAAGH, AAAAAAAGHH!"

T H E Y S H A L L S I N G O F Y O U R E X T I N C T I O N

"AAAAAAAARRRRGH! MY EEEEEEEYES, MAKE IT STOP PLEAAAAAAAASE!"

The raptor collapsed in a shrieking fit, his eyes starting to melt no matter how tightly he closed them, blood and whitened sclera dripping down his snout as he sobbed in screams, trying to look away. But something pulled his sightless gaze towards it, to the skull of his kind brimming with a cosmic heat. A heat of death as he heard his own scream echoing back from a skinless throat. The darkness came towards him to consume his face, his eyes devoured by a sinking pit and in the last moments of his existence when he felt all feeling from his body fade, he saw light from a million dots.

I W I L L B I R T H Y O U F R O M A W O M B O F S T O N E

W H E R E I W I L L T A K E Y O U R N A M E A N D E Y E S

I S H A L L A W A I T T H E N A M E O F A S A V I O U R

A N D W H E N H E F A C E S M E I N A S I L E N T R E A L M

I S H A L L R E L E A S E Y O U F R O M Y O U R S L E E P

T O W A T C H T H E S T A R S A N D P R A Y F O R D E A T H

Fishclaw woke up. His mind groggy in the midst of night as he looked around fearfully seeing his family laid beside him.

"Sh-shadetooth? Shadetooth where is-"

"Mmmmhhh?" His mate woke up with drooping eyes. "What is it dear? Another bad sleep?"

"I-...I must find Starleaf, wh-where is he?"

"Starleaf?"

"Our son of course, where is he?!"

"...we do not have a son called Starleaf."

His eyes turned blank, shocked to hear her say such a thing but as he watched over her shoulder the sleeping infants, he counted them to realise her words were true. Slowly he blinked with a weary head as he laid back down to sleep.

"Are you alright?" she asked him carefully.

"I just...had an odd dream, I was not sure what...was real and what was dream."

"Was it a bad dream?"

"It...was at the beginning but it became...something else. My eyes hurt."

"Rest yourself Fishclaw." Shadetooth leaned over to lick across his cheek and curl up against his back. "We are here for you, do not fear."

"I...I know Shadetooth. Thank you. Goodnight."

He closed his eyes again as he slept silently to the sound of his mate breathing against his neck. Peace came to him as his dreams did not return despite the echoing darkness he had heard repeating itself in his mind. He was afraid. But what was worse was the fact he did not even know what he was afraid of.