FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Every single thing in the universe has a history, but only a few things have a story, what's the difference? You'll have to find the answer.

A Dark History, a New Story... (Prologue)

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jack, Jack Sears, I'm 18 years old right now, and if you let me, I'll tell you my history, my story, and part of the story of those who helped me become what I am.

But before I start my narration, let me tell you about the planet I live in, it is called Garduk, after an ancient mythic entity, it is a planet of great dimensions located in the Lapa System, it is lighted by a sun by day, and by two moons at night, there used to be three but one was destroyed somehow at the end of the last war the planet endured 26 years ago.

Garduk is divided for government purposes into 8 continents, 4 terrestrial and 4 underwater, each of them has a "specialty" or "role" in the world, but they all have cities, schools, parks, malls, etc. These eight continents are:

>Rodina.

The capital of the world, the richest continent and the one with the largest population, it's also home to the recently established spaceport, which is located inside the biggest military facility in the whole world, the Gardukian Armed Forces Base or GAFB for short, which also holds the castle of the current ruler of the world.

>Heimat.

The industrial continent, it contains factories, assembling facilities, forges, and shops with everything in existence on the world, it's also where the main production of energy for Garduk is generated. Many people think the military has its own way and place for producing their gear, but it's actually here where their equipment is produced.

>Hazáját.

This continent is responsible of the food production, due to the vast quantities of fertile soil found here, although there have never been starvation problems in the world, new technology is constantly being sent from Bat'kivshchyna to accelerate the time of production and prevent this from happening.

>Bat´kivshchyna.

It's the leader on research and development of new technology, it's formed by groups of different universities, laboratories, research-development centers and testing grounds, all of them share the same information and communicate their progress to the others to assure a common effort and progress between them.

>P?íliv.

This continent is underwater but isolated from it thanks to a gigantic high-tech force field, so it's completely dry inside, many cities lie within it, it's also the safest place in the whole world after the Gardukian Armed Forces Base, and the preferred habitat for amphibian Gardukians, it excels at science and more specifically, bio-technology, the science of cloning, physical and chemical enhancement of subjects, and cybernetic biology.

>Milmul.

The deepest part of the world, it's the closest place to the core of the planet, temperatures are higher than any other places but not high enough to be a problem, and though it's at the bottom of the ocean, illumination and pressure control are possible thanks to technology, so any creature can live here. Due to the vast underground minerals and mines, most metals are extracted from here and taken to Heimat to be forged.

>Shio.

It's the least populated continent of the world, due to heavy underwater volcanic activity and numerous earthquakes occurring there, still, this is the preferred area for the huge-sized underwater creatures like primal Gardukian dragons and sea serpents that are considered as any other Gardukians and are taken into account by the government too, due to the small number of inhabitants in this continent, there is not a solid industry or production of some sort, but this continent is used as a testing ground for new technology, materials and experiments required by other continents.

>J?ra.

The continent with beautiful hollow underwater mountains used as residences and warehouses, they may look normal outside, but they are like labyrinths in the inside, each mountain is considered as a single society called "nome", so the mountains sometimes receive that name too, some of the nomes or mountains reach heights above water; this continent is the father of gardukian architecture.

Though geographically identified, there are no borders or boundaries between the continents, everyone is able to go as they please through the whole world, the only division, is politically, every continent has a Chancellor representing it in the Great Council.

A Chancellor's job is to oversee the progress of their assigned continent and directly report to the Tyrant himself, the ruler of Garduk since the event that marked this world 26 years ago, the Proteus Incident, The Council is formed by nine members, the eight Chancellors whose votes count as one and the Tyrant, whose vote is worth eight, as you can see, the Chancellors have enough power to stop the Tyrant but not to turn against him.

Though the government is a tyranny, because the power was taken through a coup' d'état, it is more of a benevolent despotism, the Tyrant has never overused his power and so far he's been a kind ruler, his government has supported and promoted new ideas and forms of thought, but more importantly, to work as a whole, to be united. He's gained the support of the vast majority of the population, and although there are some conservative opposition groups, none of them pose a real treat but one specific faction, a terrorist group calling themselves "The Tyrannicides", that have been plaguing the world for a long time now.

The space technology is the most recent accomplishment of the planet's joint efforts and the Tyrant's leadership, thanks to that, the first space fleet of Garduk is being constructed now. It's just a small exploration fleet conformed by a fully equipped and armed (GF CSS1C-A) Tyrant Class battleship to act as the flagship, two (GF EDSS-A) escort space cruisers, and some small ships for reconnaissance and light combat that are not yet in development. How do I know all this? Well... you'll get to know in due time.

But the Tyrant is reluctant to start an exploration of the galaxy while the world is not in total peace, so he has been improving a new plan to seek out and eradicate every single member of the Tyrannicides, but that is in the present time, I have many things about my life to tell you first.

With that said, I shall start with my story...

________________________________________________________________________________________

I was born in Rodina in the year 8 After the Incident, I was born as a healthy little ocelot and I was my parents only offspring, my father was an ocelot too, he was 32 at that time, and he was a strong, 6'6'' tall, warm-looking father, he had penetrating blue eyes, just by looking at them you could realize he was hardened by experience, his name was Julian, Julian Sears. My mother was a beautiful cheetah, she was 26, she was fit and a little smaller than dad, like 6'2'', her eyes were green just like mine, and unlike my father's, her eyes still kept a particular lively bright, her name was Grace, Grace O'Reilly, with these parents I was going to turn out being a spotted feline one way or another, they were both members of the armed forces.

The Gardukian Armed Forces aren't divided, the previous navy, army and air force were fused into one since the incident, now there is no distinction or barrier between them, they see themselves as a whole, and work as a whole too, there is of course specialization of military personnel to perform or excel at a specific task but it's a minor division depending on the unit's training and capabilities.

At that time, my father was a Major of the GSF (Gardukian Special Forces), he was an officer, and as such, he had to lead his team through the many situations that arose, and as the world was being plagued by The Tyrannicides since then, he had a lot of missions to attend, actually, he was attending missions all the time, and sometimes he took weeks or months to come back, I was too little to worry, I don't even have memories about this, just stories I was told by my father, my mother, and someone I'll talk about later, the good thing is he always came back. This only lasted until I was two years old though, because when he was promoted to Colonel, he was no longer required in the field, instead, he was in the HQ the whole time, something he didn't liked a bit because his former unit was disbanded.

My mother retired from the military in those days, she wanted to take full care of me and she did, she was always with me, she taught me how to speak, how to walk, how to play, how to love... I never knew what she did in the army, I never heard anything either so I can't really tell.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Four years later, when I was six, my father was assigned with protection of some soldiers, I'm not sure why, but since then, he was always being protected by two soldiers that acted as his personal bodyguards, my mother and I were also assigned with two soldiers for our protection, this was weird and I never knew the reason.

The soldier that was in charge of taking care of me was David Thorne, I still remember when I met him, my father arrived home, he hugged and kissed me as usually, and then he said:

"Son, come with me, I want you to meet someone."

I followed him, and when we were outside, I saw four soldiers standing there, one of them, in the middle left, was a brown lynx, the one in the far left was a komodo dragon, in the middle right was a horned owl with dark plumage, and finally, in the far right, was a black wolf, all of them had military gear and uniform, we approached the black wolf and my father said:

"Jack, this is Sergeant David Thorne, he will take care of you during the day, you can trust him as much as you trust me, and he'll be with you wherever you go."

"Be with me everywhere dad?" I said worried, "in the bathroom too!?" Everyone started laughing, now I realize that they were laughing at a private joke, my father just chuckled and said:

"No... let's just say he'll always be near you, even if you don't see him around" He turned to see the wolf and said "David..."

"Yes sir?" The wolf answered.

"This is Jack, take good care of him and protect him like he was me, because in a sense, he is"

"With my life if necessary, colonel" The wolf saluted my father and then looked at me and said "Nice to meet you Jack" He extended his right paw and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you too David" I replied "Are you--"

"You can ask him all you want tomorrow" My father said interrupting me "go get some rest now my son"

"Alright dad, see you guys" They stood firm and saluted me, I felt so important.

As I was walking back home I could hear one of them saying "You heard David? Even a kid fears your manners, what a shame! no more bathroom fun for you!" Everyone else started laughing again, and the wolf just growledangrily, I wondered what they meant.

Next morning I woke up around 7:00 am. I took a shower, got dressed, and when I got out of my room I saw him standing there, I could see him very clearly, he had a toned body, was like 6'5'' tall, had brown eyes and a distinctive white forelock I hadn't noticed yesterday, it contrasted with his pitch-black fur, it looked really nice on him, he also emanated a sensation of loneliness, and along with his wandering eyes, he gave me an impression of missing someone, as soon as he saw me he said:

"Hey kid, you're not an early bird, are you?"

"Its half past seven, isn't that early"

"Well, I guess it is, at least for a civilian like yourself, by the way, your mother is waiting for you at the kitchen."

"Thanks... I'll go see her."

I started walking downstairs towards the kitchen but the wolf didn't follow me as I thought he would, I got curious and asked him:

"Aren't you coming with me?" He stared at me for a second or two and then said:

"My job is to protect you not to follow you, Jack."

"Oh, ok, just forget it."

"Yeah sure, I'm eagerly awaiting your return" He said in an ironic tone, I didn't mind him at all and I went downstairs, where I found the brown lynx I had seen yesterday, this time I was the one who greeted.

"Hey, good morning uh... what's your name?"

"Good morning, the name's Zephyr, but everyone just calls me Zulu."

"Nice to meet you, Zulu, are you the one protecting mom?"

"Yes, indeed, but I will protect you as well in case... you know... if something happens..."

"I hope it doesn't."

"I hope so too, boy, I hope so too..."

He stood idle for some seconds, like lost in his thoughts and then walked off the room, I entered to the kitchen, and saw my mother cooking as usual, I sneaked up behind and hugged her.

"Good morning mom."

"Good morning, how's my kitten today?"

"I'm great! The house feels weird filled with soldiers though." I said scratching my neck.

"That's what I wanted to talk about with you" She served breakfast and sat on the table "These soldiers are here to protect us, I don't know how much time they will be here, it could be weeks, months or years, but they will leave someday and you may never hear of them again, that's why I want to ask you not to get involved with them."

"Sure mom, I won't" I said with a smile "can I eat now?" She rolled her eyes and said:

"Yes you can, but I hope you listened to something of what I just said, Jack Sears, your just like your father."

________________________________________________________________________________________

I wish I had... later that day I was able to talk with David, he was a great guy after all, maybe around his comrades he seemed like a different person, or maybe he was a different person with me for being a kitten, I still remember that conversation:

"Hey David, are you there?" I said looking at the door of my room, it opened and David came in.

"Yeah, I'm here, what's up?" He sat on a small couch.

"I just wanted to say sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I don't know, but I feel like you're mad at me for something, so...?"

"So what!?"

"Do you forgive me?" He sighed and said:

"I'm the one who has to apologize. I have no reason to treat you like that, you're just a kid."

"Then..." I offered him my paw "are we even?" He looked at me and said:

"No Jack, I owe you one" and shook my paw.

"Great David! Hey, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?" I asked curiously.

"Alright... but you can only ask me three questions" I nodded and started asking:

"How old are you"

"I'm 27, that's one."

"Umm... why did you become a soldier?"

"Good question, I wanted to help change the world, I enlisted into the Tyrant's army during the Proteus Incident, I was 19 back then, and I don't regret it, I still believe the world changed for good, and I'm proud I helped at least a bit. That's two"

"Wow, you sound just like my father. My last question... do you have any family?"

"I do, I have a beautiful wife and my little puppy, he's just your age, but you're a little older by months. And that's why I won't stay here for the night like the others." He clapped his hands and said. "And that's three, gotta get back to work now, see ya later" He was about to leave the room when I stopped him saying:

"Wait! You miss them, don't you?" He rolled his eyes and said with a smile:

"Of course I miss them, they're my family!"

"Hmm... then why doesn't my father feels the same?!" I said in a frustrated tone "He just cares about his work!" The wolf got close to me and placed his paw on my shoulder.

"Listen to me Jack, why do you think I am here? Do you think it's because I prefer work over my family? No Jack, it's because I have to be here, even if I don't want to, because this is my duty, and because I knew the consequences of joining the armed forces, it pains me not to be with my family, and I'm sure it pains to your father as well, but we can't just leave our careers just like that, we took a responsibility, we need to follow it and face the consequences, I'm not expecting you to understand all I just said, I just want you to know that your father suffers more than you think for not being able to spend time with you, I'm sure the time will come, just hold on until then and don't judge him, ok Jack? Just think about it."

After saying that, he gave me a pat on my shoulder, stroke my head, and left the room, I was too little to comprehend what he had just said, but I would remember those words in later years.

That was just one of countless conversations that we had, but several weeks passed and I did what I shouldn't have, I started caring for him, not the way you're thinking, I started seeing him as a big brother, a protector, and a friend, I became attached to him and him to me, it's funny how sometimes he called me son by mistake and didn't realized it, it's a pity he had to spent more time with me than with his own pup, I imagined how his boy was feeling not having his father around much, because... I had been feeling that for a long time.

Apart from that hidden guilt I carried, everything was great for me, every single moment I felt great, I had my family, some friends, I was great at school, and I was always with a bodyguard who was my friend too! Those were from the happiest days of my life and I don't think I would change something back then, unfortunately, in a few years my life was going to change radically, for bad.

Five years later, we were still assigned with protection, I was happy having David around but then something happened, the first of the many sorrows I would feel in my life, the lost of someone I loved and cared about, the beginning of my dark history...