FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Grey wolf had become so accustomed to the big city, while he worked his standard office job that he relished the opportunity to take a vacation which involved deep backwoods hiking, they jumped at the opportunity. He didn't care if it was in a part of the world completely foreign to them, they just wanted to get out of their current situation.

It was a pink husky that offered the vacation plan, it honestly seemed too good to be true, but the wolf had weeks of overtime, plus nothing better to spend it on. Soon he was on the multi hour flight to an Asian country and checking into the foreign hotel, he asked the clerk what kind of places he could visit that were out of the way of the normal tourist trap and the clerk suggested he might be interested in a long forgotten national park that was avoided by the general populous, as an unseen guardian would cause tourists to disappear when they intruded upon their domain. The wolf took the warning to with a grain of salt, not being one for superstition, and quickly memorized the directions given by the clerk. His friend seemed more inclined to observe the more generic tourist attraction, but the wolf was unable to forget the story that clerk offered him. He wished his companion good luck, packed a bag with snacks and a few bottles of water and hailed a taxi requesting to follow the directions he was give, the taxi driver, a dark brown badger that seemed apprehensive, never said a word before he dropped the wolf off, kilometers from his intended direction and demanded payment there. Grumbling the wolf paid his dues thinking that the badger would be getting a 2-star review on his ridesharing app.

Before the wolf even thought about the app or the apparent haste the badger sped of it, he was enraptured by the staggering beauty of the path before him. One side of the road had a luscious forest, while the other side offered a deep valley with a mountain range off in the distance. Without thinking the wolf started walking, stopping occasionally for directions from his phone and snapping the occasional selfie with the gorgeous backgrounds to post later. He only paused for a minute when the paved road ended turning to a real walking path, leading into what seemed to be an idyllic forest painting. Checking his phone, he realized this is where the coordinates led to. Honestly, the wolf thought, I kinda expected just a normal park but something about this seems, right. The wolf stopped for next to nothing when he stepped onto the trail, his feet were moving of their own volition of this point. Mind hazy, his feet had him moving for what felt like hours and he only stopped for a moment to check his phone, it had only been 40 minutes of walking, but he almost swore that time felt different when he was following this trail, this trail felt right somehow, like he would find an answer to what he had been searching for all his life. He contemplated these feelings as he sat on a rock, observing a waterfall in the near distance. Leaning back and letting the sun beam down on his face he quickly wolfed down a granola bar and took a few swigs of water. Checking his phone again he realized he was out of service range and had no idea where he was, the realization terrified him for a minute. Only a minute though, his mind returned to the thought of walking, I just need to keep following this feeling and I'll find something that can help, the desperate wolf thought. Sitting up off the rock he started to pick up the pace, near speed walking at this point seeing tree after tree flash by his vision, follow, follow, follow was all that was left in his head. The wolf had began running at this point, thinking about following this trail, but there wasn't even a trail anymore. The wolf had been running through a dense forest of trees and rocks with no sign of human interaction in decades, maybe even centuries. The wolf wasn't even thinking anymore, he felt himself so close to what he was looking for, he could see it, a bright light streaming in from the treeline, jumping over fallen trees and stumps, not concerned for anything, until his foot got caught on a particularly high log and he crashed down to the ground with a hard thump and a half flip. The wolf was now staring up, up at the foliage above his head with just a few rays of light appearing between swaying branches. How did he get here? Why did he come here? Hundreds of questions began racing through his mind that were pushed aside while he was chasing his instincts. Oh god, it must be late, I need to get back to the hotel, now (pink dog's name) has to be waiting at this point. Pulling out his phone to see if by some miracle there was signal, but alas, no signal. The next thing he saw made him sit up from his laying position, it had only been 15 minutes since he last check his phone, this thing must be broken, that's impossible. He fully stood up, dusted his shorts off and turned towards where he came from, hotel. Now! He told his own instincts to prevent him doing anything else rash. But he wasn't strong enough, he looked back, and saw he was maybe 10 meters from the bright light of the clearing. I mean if I came all this way I might as well, right? The wolf decided, and spun around to walk towards the light and shielding his eyes from the bright sun streaming in, stepped into the clearing and gasped.

"Th-this is impossible?" The wolf exclaimed aloud. Despite living a very sheltered suburban life, even he knew what he was currently looking at. Fields, giant, massive fields of weed were planted in this clearing, stretching for as long as his eyes could see. Was this what drew me here? The wolf pondered as he sniffed a bud, what replied was a rather earthy almost subdued scent but unmistakable, weed, quality weed was growing in the fields. Maybe I could smell this from the park and that's how I knew to find this place, whatever it is, maybe I should just get out and leave, this is a scary amount of weed, who could possibly grow this much< Why are they growing so much? How is this hidden away from so many people? Is this the land of the guardian from tat clerk's tale? He wasn't lying!? Even more thoughts raced along the wolf's mind as he walked along the row of weed letting his hand brush by each stalk trying to find some answers to his questions. Eventually the field started to thin out until a lone log cabin stood out to the wolf surrounded by empty farmland and looming on the horizon, billowing a consistent cloud of smoke from its chimney. The wolf got closer and closer and realized the cabin was getting bigger than he thought, hell he couldn't even call it a cabin at this point, it looked like a damn mansion to him! The thing had to have at least 3 floors and as he reached the large porch, stepping on a board he made another judgement. This thing is sturdy, no give, and no creaking whatsoever. The person who made this must be a genius, the wolf mused as he approached the door and raised a paw to knock before lowering it. Wait what am I supposed to say, this is a cabin in the middle of nowhere, I can't just waltz up and tell whoever is growing all this product that I got lost, can I? His inner struggle was quickly silenced when he noticed the door wasn't even closed, it was ajar, and the lights inside were off. This place has electricity, I must have been knocked out when I feel, I'm hallucination. Even so, maybe they have a working phone in here... The wolf pushed open the door and gave out a meek "hello?..." Upon entry, tentatively closing the door behind him.

"Holy shit this is just getting weirder and weirder" the wolf muttered into the air, before him in the foyer was a large couch sat before a fireplace, but it was the material in the fireplace that confused the wolf.

"I don't think that's what they mean by smoking weed..." He chided staring at a whole weed plant, burning away in the middle of the fireplace, with half a dozen future victims sitting in a box next to it. Deciding not to question this odd choice of lumber the wolf quickly scanned the area for a phone before tip toeing their way room by room checking down a hall finding a bathroom, a few bedrooms and even a solarium with a few strange looking plants inside, but still no phone. Must be a crossbred variant of weed, given all the other plants around here the wolf assumed. He quickly returned to the foyer defeated and put his back up to the massive couch. Upon leaning on the couch, he noticed that there was something laying on the couch, and that the something stirred upon the light nudge leaning on the couch caused.

".....uhwuaan?..." The lump asked, dripping with quizzical sleepiness, almost unaware they were awake.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just leaving, no worries" The wolf stammered out trying not to shout out in panic as they backed away from the now rising lump, and the wolf immediately ran to eave looking at the lump which continued to rise from its sleeping position and stretching out, and then the wolf hit the door, that he closed behind him upon entry. Bouncing off with more than a little pain from a full force collision, and a lot more pain from the burning embarrassment he was currently experiencing. He closed his eyes wincing and began rubbing his forehead which bore the brunt of the door and when he opened his eyes later he found a shiny face looking down on his with an odd mix of confusion and curiosity. The face was unlike anything the wolf had seen before, it seemed to shine different colours the way light bounced off it, and it had distinct reptilian features, but he had never seen a reptile that looked so... regal. He shook his head of these strange thoughts before he cried out.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry I followed these directions from a guy and then I got lost on a walk and I guess I just kinda ended up here, please don't hurt me and I have a family and pets and stuff and..."

The dragon flashed what looked like a scowl before relaxing once again

"Hey you need to chill out..." He said in a smooth gravelly voice and breathed in, before blowing a cloud of smoke over the wolf, who was still pleading for their life. But when they inhaled the smoke in their panic, they found the panic quickly leave their body, the wolf was no longer speaking, just laying there, smiling dumbly. "Maybe I gave them a little too much..." The dragon absent mindedly remarked before dragging the once-wolf, now-vegetable to the couch to sleep it off.

Not long after the wolf began to regain his senses and realized that he felt the same way when he was on the walking trail as he did a minute ago, but this was so potent it caused him to forget everything, he just knew that everything felt so right in that moment he inhaled that smoke. Seeing the cognizant wolf begin to stir the dragon started to chew half heatedly on a bud, while thinking carefully about his next question.

"How did you find my house?" The dragon finally asked.

"I don't know" The wolf replied, "I was completely lost, honestly! There was just this feeling that if I went in a particular direction, things would be all good. He then cried out once again "Please don't hurt me!"

"Please, why would I hurt you, now dude, calm down, chill out, do I need to smoke you out again?"

"no..."

"You're a wolf, right? It's been a few decades since I've seen one of your kind, or really any other creature"

Decades? thought the wolf "Yeah I'm a wolf, but what do you mean by your kind, my kind of what?"

"Oh well you know, two legged, I used to be worshiped as a deity in this land long ago, but you know how things are, people move on, believe in different things. Honestly, this way is better, I hate being the center of attention. Everyone trying to be around me or asking for my blessing and all that. No, I feel better out here along in my cabin where I can keep all my harvest to myself. Now I would say, people only come around once ever few years. Generally, I just give them a quick puff of smoke and drop them all off at the exit of the park. That whole guardian story is just some rumors I started a century or so ago because I was tired of needing to tend to those lost children. But you say you were drawn here?"

"Yeah, I mean I was just, following my instincts. Moving in the direction of your cabin just felt, right? I honestly can't explain it myself" The wolf stared down at his feet and kicked at the floorboards, his feet not even touching the ground due to the sheer size of it.

"In all my years of living in this cabin I've never met any drawn to me, just pure coincidence. Having you be drawn here is different. I wish I knew more about that, maybe I should visit my sister and see if she knows."

"You have a sister?" The wolf asked, "There's more of you?"

"Of course there are, I have plenty of siblings, but usually I don't see them. I don't really go out of my way to visit them, and they don't come down and visit here. Honestly, they think I'm kind of weird, but I don't mind. Anyways she lives rather close, just a few hundred kilos away. We see each other rather often like once every 20 years I'd say.

"You're joking right?..." the wolf whispered. His mind was once again racing. Dragons aren't just a myth was the biggest factor, but things the dragon said were rolling around too, few hundred kilos? 20 years, short??? His mind was practically racing, so fast so that he barely registered the dragon saying make yourself comfortable as he flew out the door.

"Yeah sure... wait what?" The wolf had finally processed what the dragon had said when the door slammed shut. Alone, sitting there with the weed fire roaring in his ears the wolf hugged his knees on the oversized couch and took a few deep breaths to center himself. Sniffing through his nose he realized there was still a faint scent of the mysterious dragon lingering on the couch, pressing his nose right up to the cushion the wolf inhaled deeply, feeling a near instantaneous relaxing effect. Laying down on the couch face first in the scented area he took a few deep breaths before looking back up at the roaring fire and seeing new light, dancing along the edge of the flames as they flicked and died out. Entertained by this private show he opened up his backpack and began to eat the remainder of his granola bars. Kicking his feet back and forth, playfully this time the wolf wondered how long it would be for his new friend to return.