FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A sound through the darkness pierced her senses. Something flickered in her mind, something twitching her claws and tensing her feet as she walked upon the crunching dirt she could feel but not see. The sound broke again, stopping her with a shudder as she staggered with a gasping breath, her tail flickering with eyes tightening as the sound called again.

"No. Not this time."

She tried to turn back, walking the other way as the siren's call pealed through the dark. The longer she resisted the greater her struggle, her back stiffening with a creeping urge as her steps became slower and her face clenched with invisible pain rising in her chest. Something burned with a cold fire, a silver gleam that blinded her enough as she stumbled harder with a freezing shock to her heart as something tore into her mind as if splitting the back of her skull. The dirt became solid, clacking taps of metal against her claws as a scent familiar came breathing through a mist in the dark.

"What...no, no I went...what?"

Towering walls reached above her with silver sheen as light came blinding from above, dispelling the dark as voices came rumbling down the hall that lured her in.

"She's responding well."

"Yes, her attention is on us everytime she smells us."

"Not as food I hope?"

"No. We've made sure of that with our new addition."

Something tingled in her teeth as she grabbed one of the walls, scraping her claws of shining blue as she stumbled with a heavy breath. She hated that smell. Thick, wet, cloying chemical that stung with a liquid fire as she shook her head frantic, desperate not to run as she forced her steps to slow, she crept through the opening hall of dark steel roof and floors with black marble. Glass windows revealed jungles behind them as large false verandas with plants scattered here and there with a pastiche of prehistoria painted across the back of each room. There were bones picked clean as she licked her lips, scraping the walls with her tail tips as the smell became stronger turning her sick to the stomach.

"This is a dream," she whispered, "I am gone from this...I am not here, this...this hell."

"She seems catatonic," said a deeper voice.

"That's odd," said another distorted, "she should have recovered by now."

"You don't think she's gone allergic?"

"We cleaned the metal with the same as everything else, she should be fine with it."

Scratching her chest she felt her heart turn itchy, tapping the screwbolt in her scales as a shudder turned her weak. Her legs almost crumpled, dragging herself forwards with her head turning warm from the air becoming thick, her lungs heavier than before as she almost collapsed. Then she heard the sound and immediately forced herself up in a stumbling run, her breath rancid as the glass blinded her from reflections of the light above. Burning fluorescent beams imprisoned her like a cage, forcing herself through the white lights as she broke through the glass in front of her. Thousands of diamonds tore across her skin, old red lace painting her body as she spun and fell into the leaves where a fresh cold wind embraced her.

"Is she...watching us?"

"No, no she can't hear us we soundproofed her unit after the last time."

"So how can she hear-"

"We pipe that in directly. Anything she does wrong, like before, we condition her."

She buried her head into the leaves, savouring the cool minted scents as she sighed hoping to shut out the voices. Moonlight cast upon her body, a silhouette of silver wrapped in jade, her eye staring towards the infinite black from where no star nor sphere she could see. Then she smelt it. The scent of Man.

"And here we come to our most prized subject, the mother of all our research you might say."

"Stop it," she whispered.

"Now as you can see she is much stronger than the others, but we have managed to train her well as a prime candidate perhaps thanks to her increased sapience."

"Just...stop it," she forced herself up.

"I am going to step inside her cage, don't be alarmed, there's a way to keep her at bay."

"I could kill you." She walked towards the scent. "All of you. I will kill you."

"Now you see she's taken an interest. She is quite hungry, we've yet to give her breakfast."

"I won't be your slave."

"Juuuust wait."

"I...will NOT be your PET!"

She charged by an instinct as the scent became stronger, shrieking at the shadow of a human against the wall that suddenly appeared from her charging run across the green expanse, a pool of emerald within the darkness. She could almost taste him, his confident arrogance and lack of fear that insulted her, burned her deep as her heart fumed with a vile insult. She would show him. She would rip him to bloody shreds, she would smear his organs on the glass in front of his family and drench herself in his red.

"TIME!"

The sound came back again.

"And there you have it."

She slumped falling with a screeching howl.

"The great predator brought to her knees."

Her screams echoed through the dark.

"With this bell, even the 'god-slayer' herself shall remain loyal to humanity. And that is an Ultratech guarantee."

The bell rang once again and her body shut down, her mind screaming from within as she tightened her claws and snapped her teeth with salivating shrieks. Her muscles froze and her tail spasmed in twitching thumps, kicking against the grass as she felt their hands upon her. Oiled fingers full of sweat and meat, so close to bite and yet never she could.

"Stop...stop it!"

"One day every household shall have a true intelligent beast worthy of human companionship."

"STOP IT!"

"With boundless intelligence you can train them to keep neighbours away, welcome your children, and in military use, seek and destroy your enemies!"

"I AM NOT YOUR PET, YOU FILTHY MONGRELS MY CHILDREN ARE NOT YOURS!"

"As for this one...well, she shall help us reclaim both the heavens and the earth in humanity's name."

"NO! NOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRGH!"

"RIPTOR, RIPTOR!"

"STOP, STOP TOUCHING MEEEE!"

"RIPTOR WAKE UP!"

Her eyes burst open as the darkness was ripped from her vision, a scent familiar to her drifting from the waking realm.

"H-hah...Sul...Sulphide?"

"Yes." He sighed nuzzling her face. "Are you alright? You were tossing about in your sleep and then I heard you scream!"

"It...it was nothing." She turned her head away.

"It certainly didn't sound like nothing...what happened?"

Riptor tightened her throat and sat up in her seat, pressing her back against the stones piled up beneath the roots of her den.

"Do you remember the labs we escaped from?"

"How could I not?" he snarled with a hiss. "Did something happen to you?"

"There was...an experiment they did, that I'm reminded of."

"...are you alright?"

"I will be."

She felt his body against her, nuzzling with tender licks as Sulphide curled up beside Riptor to feel her body unclench. A deep sigh escaped her chest as she slinked her tail around them, savouring the silence with small clinks of her steel appendage as two large blades scraped the earth.

"Nothing new today," said Sulphide.

"I thought as much," she purred, "is it nice out there?"

"You can come and look for yourself, get some sunshine out there you've been sleeping all day."

"Mmmm...it would help clear my head."

Pushing herself out of her seat, Riptor dragged herself out into the afternoon sun as the sounds of raptors regaled from the woods. Children became older, parents became wiser and the meat was plenty, the forest and the plains towards the mountains full of hunters that played with each other, searched high and low for rodents sneaking through the grass and having small bickering arguments that never amounted to more than a few bites. The shining sun through the trees warmed her heart and gave a surge of life that cleared the shadows from her mind as she walked down to the shore to greet Radium on guard/

"Hello there!"

"OH, hey Riptor!" the black-green raptor bowed. "Sleep well?"

"No, how are the slavefish?"

"Very good, just fed them, sorry you slept ba-"

"It's fine." She snapped a bit short. "Any news from our outpost?"

"Two scouts came back to report a small horde of skeletal beasts, they rose up from the sea just east of the pterosaur mountain."

"Undead?"

"From what they told me yes," he looked out to sea, "appeared a few days back."

"And what of the humans?" asked Sulphide bent forth.

"They were engaging with them, shooting lasers that seemed to work, but they also noted Oddclaw fighting alongside the-"

"Oddclaw?!" Riptor shot to attention and almost slammed her face against his. "What was he up to-"

"Riptor. Please."

"Hmph," she stepped back with a huff, "what else was there?"

"Well," Radium clicked his teeth with a nervous shuffle, "Oddclaw went with two others into a cave beneath the mountain, one we had not discovered on the eastern shore at its base."

"A cave?" Sulphide tapped his chin. "I don't remember any cave when I passed through."

"They came out later at night, no casualties and the skeletal beasts were repelled...also, one of the humans met with the feathered raptors in the forest."

"Really?" Riptor squinted with a snarl. "And why is that?"

"No idea," Radium shook his head, "they seemed very friendly, so it must've been some kind of trade deal."

"We know Oddclaw is friends with the pterosaurs," Sulphide nodded, "and the humans have those strange beasts in the settlement near the black mountains."

"You think there's something going on?"

"Definitely." Riptor walked past between them as she stepped into the water. "Something is happening. I can feel it."

"Feel what?" the yellow raptor asked.

"Something...I can't explain, something inside of me is just...pulling me."

The wash of the foam swept past her legs in a gentle soak as she took a deep breath, savouring the salted breeze as she turned back towards them.

"Sulphide."

"Oh no, no, I already went last mission."

"Sulphiiiide-"

"Please Riptor-"

"I'll go." Radium stepped up front. "I did it already but, you want someone with a little seniority to keep track?"

"YES, yes exactly!" the jaundiced raptor slipped behind him. "See this is good yes?"

"Hmph, alright." She rolled her eyes. "Will your mate be alright with the children?"

"Oh she'll be fine, though I'm more worried about Sunscreech's kids-"

"Don't be," Sulphide shook his head, "he's doing far better now, especially with his daughter taking responsibility."

"Ah, alright then. I'll keep track of the humans' movements over the next month and see what's going down."

"Good," Riptor walked back to the plains, "you don't have to leave immediately, give yourself time to prepare."

"I'll head out in three days," he took his bow, "I'll see you again before I do."

"Thank you."

Unbeknownst to them a raptor spied upon their meeting from the woods, the edge of the cliff hanging over the shore making a perfect vantage point where he heard everything.

"...what do they want with him?"

Sunscreech pulled himself back.

"She...does she know Oddclaw or...no, surely I told her before of him but...why does she want to know about him-"

"Father?"

He turned to look at his daughter of brown and teal.

"Sorry, were you sleeping?"

"Oh, no I was just resting." He slumped to his side and took a deep breath. "The sea smells good today."

"Mmhmm, and the leaves smell so good with it too," she sat down beside him, "Suntooth's sleeping still."

"He is fine yes?"

"Mmhmm, after that crawler before he's not eating them again."

"Good." He sighed. "How does one child have so much inside him?"

"Wellll, you seen how much comes out of our prey," she giggled licking him, "not any different with us!"

"That is true yes...haaah."

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No thank you Earthfang, I already ate. Did you eat already?"

"Yep, you want to do anything today?"

"I think today we should just rest." Her father nuzzled her chest. "We hunted well the day before and have plenty for today still."

"Okay...so what were they doing?"

"Hmm?"

"Riptor," she pointed her snout down at the shore, "was she talking with uncle Radium?"

"Ah yes," he licked his lips, "no just, your uncle will have to leave for scouting in a few days."

"Awww...OH, we should play with my cousins!"

"When your brother is better yes," Sunscreech chuckled licking her head, "we would not want to leave him out yes?"

"Mmhmm!" Earthfang curled up against his chest between his stumped arms. "You're right, this place is really lovely."

"It is...I like this place." They stared out to the great sea. "It reminds me of...no, never mind."

"So, who's Oddclaw?"

"What?" his eye gleamed with a creeping snarl.

"You were..." she gazed past him to the sky, "talking about someone called Oddclaw?"

"Oh, no that was...someone I used to know."

"Who were they, a friend?"

"No, just...let us speak of something else."

"O-okay, sorry."

"It is fine." He purred laying his head upon her. "Let us just rest for now, it is a lovely day and the sea is calm."

"Yeah..." she laid down with him, "do you think we'll ever go across the sea?"

"Do you want to?"

"Maybe...one day. I want to see what's out there...sometimes I dream I'm a flyer, flying over the sea and it's so big, so deep that it goes on forever and I never find any land, but it's okay because I can fly anywhere I want."

"Hmph...hope you're cleaner than a usual flyer."

"A-are they dirty?"

"The ones where I came from were."

"Well, I-i'll clean myself every day, if I was a flyer!"

"Hahaha, good girl." The father licked her neck with a soft breath. "But the home we live in now, you like it yes?"

"I do!" she yipped. "It's so big, there's lots of prey and everyone is happy!"

"So why would you want to leave it?"

"I-i didn't want to leave it, I just...wanted to see what was out there, but I would come back."

"Do you promise?" He stared with a solemn look.

"I promise." She licked his snout. "I won't leave you father."

"...thank you."

They settled down to rest in the soft ocean breeze, drifting over their backs with the tender song of the waves crashing against the beach. Sunscreech pulled his daughter close as she buried her head into his chest, the sounds of his laboured breathing soothing her to sleep.

"Anno...wh-what?"

James blinked as the flickering amber faded from his vision. His body felt suddenly fatigued and he collapsed stumbling against a crate of wine in the old stone cellar.

"What just...happened, I...feels like I've been asleep for ages I-...wait."

He caught one of the amber motes flitting through the air.

"...Baldwin."

He has tricked you.

His fist clenched white with infected anger.

Time has been lost, unacceptable.

"That...filthy wretched lizard-faced BASTARD!"

James drew out his fist and shot a powerful flame blasting a black char against the wall.

"HOW DARE HE MAKE A FOOL OF ME!"

He must be punished.

"WHERE IS HE?!" he stood up with a stagger. "LIZARD, ANSWER ME!"

Temper your wrath, your strength must be spared.

"HnnnNNRAAARGH!"

Marching into the depths the lemming pursued after Baldwin, taking the path the Blood-Beast had left through the wine cellar and into the ancient catacombs, the walls fading from pale copper to a silver-blue gleam as rows upon rows of coffins crumbled inside the walls with the dead in pieces. Some of the skeletons stirred in his passing, his cloak of tattered indigo being caught by their fingers as he tore free from their grasp and punsiehd them with his blade carving into their skulls.

"GET, OFF!" They groped for his ankles as he tried to weave past. "ENOUGH OF THIS!"

Kicking skulls and tearing ribcages he stomped through the halls before finding a room with three doors, one of which was locked by a magic field to the north as he went east to a long slanted rectangular crypt, jumping over the cracks and sunken levels of the earth as he found another path heading north to find an old workshop near the entrance to the sanctum.

"BALDWIN!" He thumped his fist against the door. "BALDWIN, OPEN UP!"

Fuming with twisted snarl he slammed his foot with such force that the door swung open with a crunch, Not a soul was in despite the fires still flickering with the pot now empty of stew. He glanced around the workshop briefly, tables cluttered full of blades with tools at their sides but no sight of Baldwin. He marched out of the workshop and went to the sanctum next door, a dark atrium with walls the colour of tombstones as he crept beneath arches and stepped over fallen columns. Sometimes rocks fell from above as he shielded himself with the umbrella, keeping his sword in hand whilst squeezing the handles of both. A great chasm laid to the north over an ancient river, channelling through the depths with a tender surge as he saw a shape standing with a wave across the gap.

"HEYYYYY!"

"WHA-...YOU!" the lemming thrust his finger.

"Bahdahdah-daaaah daaah daaaah BAH DAH-DAAAAAH!" The bangaa did a dance with arms spread. "Finally woke up didya?!"

"What did you do to me?!"

"I juszht put a Szhtop szhpell on you, wanted to szhlow you down a li'l."

"For what?!" James stabbed his brolly in the dirt. "Why do you delay me from seeking the depths of darkness?!"

"Becauszhe it'szh a really bad idea!" Baldwin cried spreading his arms. "I'm juszht trying to keep you szhafe, and if you don't want to leave then I'm gonna try to keep you away."

"So you consider me unworthy?!"

"Yeah, baszhically."

The lemming tensed his body with a shivering gleam in his eye, a burning hatred that fumed from his heart.

"You think me a child?" he clutched his chest. "The one who brought your forsaken city to this place, ME?!"

"Well, no," the bangaa clapped his hands, "but you DO have an umbrella fer a weapon an' that'szh szhtill kinda dumb-"

"Do NOT mock me lizard!"

"OKAY, don't uszhe the L-word, that'szh offenszhive. Alszho, if I really wanted to mock you, I'd have put a szhilly hat on when you were trapped, actually I got a bunch lying around if you wanna look REALLY dumb-"

"SILENCE!" He shot a blasting flame that missed Baldwin's head by a few inches

"Wow," he brushed the flame off his ear, "you really gotta work on your aim."

"THAT was a warning!" James tightened his fists. "Consider that restraint for cursing me, how long did you trap me?!"

"Ohhh about a year," he shrugged.

"A WHOLE YEAR?!"

"Well it waszh either that or let you szhtarve come on what you want me to do?!"

"I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME THE DEPTHS OF THIS ACCURSED CITY AND SHOW ME WHERE LIES THE DARK!"

"Nope," he crossed his arms, "not happening, not even if you szhay pleaszhe which you never have."

"THEN I WILL FORCE YOUR HAND!" screamed James sweeping his hands.

"Awhawwww with what, a puppet szhow?"

Swinging his blade behind the lemming narrowed his eyes and burst a frenzied gust from his umbrella that flapped open sharply, billowing his cloak with a surge of strength as the gale shot him across the gap towards the bangaa who grinned as if daring to be hit. Thrusting forwards with his blade James pointed straight for Baldwin's face before shadows swarmed his face, blinding him briefly as he felt the air disappear beneath him when he landed on terra firma. The canyon behind him and a long passage ahead of him, but nowhere was Baldwin to be seen.

"EYYYYY YA MISSZHED PAL!"

"WHAT?!"

He turned to see the bangaa wave from the other side he had come from.

"YOU, B-BASTARD FACE ME LIKE AN ADULT!"

"NAH!" Baldwin shrugged turning his back to him. "You wanna prove yerszhelf worthy you gotta come to ME!"

"I JUST FLEW ACROSS THIS BLOODY CHASM!"

"Pfft, szho I could do that too!" he walked off with blood-tattoo warping on his back. "I'm gonna go down where the plazha iszh, you know where the Blood-Beaszht waszh, meet me over there!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!"

Surging with fury he blasted himself back across the gap like a tornado, twisting his body in a frenzied spin before landing to rush straight towards the bangaa who walked through a solid door, melting through darkness as the lemming chased after him. Shadows haunted him as as he stormed through the sanctum, leaping over crypts and dodging through the decrepit remnants of its folk, ragged bishops and sodden knights dragging their wicked blades towards him in shrieking rancour.

"SOD OFF!" He punched a flaming ball through one skull. "BALDWIN! FACE ME YOU COWARD!"

More arms grabbed at him in his pursuit, wretched fingers twisting his robes as he hacked and kicked and burst thick magic from his body to shatter them against the walls with fire and wind. He marched further into the depths pursuing Baldwin's steps, black footsteps thick with simmering black guiding him as he gripped his shield and blade tighter when he pushed through into a lowered prayer room, resembling a hollowed baptismal font with pulpit above that gazed down at the fallen souls scrabbling for water in the dirt. Moogles, humans and other bangaas shuddered through their crippled spines digging up the earth and rubbing whatever felt wet against their backs, murmuring their regrets in Ivalician tongue.

"U-unclean, unclean-"

"S-save, me, blessed F-faram, hallowed be thy name-"

"To thy pantheon I await, where I szhall watcheth over-"

"A-amen...amen...h-hoh godszh let it be amen."

"You."

He pointed his sword at a bangaa who lost half his throat.

"Where is your master?"

"A-aaah...a-are you...have you come to...szhalvate me?"

The unbaptised staggered up with sobbing gasps and sunken eyes.

"H-have you come to deliver us?"

"WHERE is your master, the one with the tattoo on his back?"

"M-maszhter...n-no, do not purszhue him."

"Do not tell me what to do, tell me where he is!"

"Th-thither..." a human pointed with the stump of his wrist to the wall, "that way yonder he lies but...p-please, please save us."

"I have no means," he backed off from their reaching limbs, "I have yet to wield the power of the Dark."

"Can you...s-save us?"

"I...yes." James nodded with renewed smile. "I can save you. I will become your saviour if need be."

"Hoh, blessed...saviour, thanketh thee, please end our...o-our...our-rrhhhhRRRHHHAAAAAAAAARGH!"

One of the humans flew at him with a savage shriek, darkness infecting his mind to its fullest depth as he raked his hands like vicious claws that James parried with his shield. Forcing him back he was almost set upon by a moogle with a blade, screeching with sword raised high before he shunted his sword through its head and twisted off the neck, a bangaa with half its face suddenly grabbing his shield and frantically gnawing upon it. James shook with insulted fury and slammed them across the room with a torrent of water, gushing from his hand and spilling down the font. The wretched undead suddenly stopped fighting him to pile into the water and frantically spil it across themselves with shrieking primal glee, completely ignoring him as he burned with a deepening growl in his throat.

"You want water? YOU WANT SALVATION?!"

"P-PURIFY, PURIFY MEEEE!"

"F-FARAM, FARAM SAVE ME!"

"HERE'S YOUR DAMN SALVATION!"

He swung his blade upon the bangaa's back, crunching the spine before plunging his sword into another's chest and flooding white flames through its heart to send explosions of blessed agony that made the creature howl in a shocking scream before falling apart at his feet. The last two humans staggered back on what remained of their legs, trickling waters off their damp clothes as they reached up hands in protest with a softening whimper. He never gave them the chance, striking down with a roar that parted the waves as he shattered their skulls and cracked through their ribs, almost bludgeoning them with his sword in a frenzy that would cease only after a full minute. He stumbled out of the water, taking care to avoid the blackening ooze that filled to replace it as he marched towards the side door he had been pointed to.

"HHHHh...hhhh...this...filthy city I am so VERY sick of it already."

Embrace that fury.

"Yes...yes, it will keep me strong."

No more tricks from the lizard.

"No more. When I find him, I will force him beneath me, he WILL respect me and he WILL obey me into surrendering his knowledge."

Not just knowledge, but the power.

"Yes...power."

A smile trickled across his face without him knowing, eyes darkening like the storm as he found the room with the broken statues where a large hole in the back led into the mineshafts. Taking his time he scrabbled his way down with a slide of his feet, skidding the dirt across his steel boots as the slope expanded wider down the bottom into a russet-coloured cavern of deep rich ochre and twinkling gems vaguely discerned within the rock. Other creatures slithered through the murk, slimes and skeletons creeping around as the lemming leapt across plateaus and jumped with the wind under his feet, tracing the steps of the cursed bangaa as a trail of black led him towards the crossroads within the depths, further and further to the undercity as dark winds lured him to the scent of candles and rotting fruit.

Stepping back through the cobblestoned streets, the pale blue welcomed him with a bitter scent on the wind, pungent yet cool with azure flames blinking in the streetlamps as shadows continued to move with him. The dead still rose with a trembling fear, a shuddering crowd of citzens forgotten as boarded shops and broken houses remained empty of life all around him. Some of the roads had collapsed, forcing James to crawl through the old buildings through blown-out back rooms and dilapidated kitchens. Paintings hung in crooked frames, slashed in mockery of their picturesque views whilst dresses and toys laid scattered amongst emptied shelves and dressers. Soon he reached the square, the remnants of the fountain still shattered from the battle against the beast. A bangaa stood in the centre where the column had once been, striking a pose towards him reminiscent of an angel.

"BALDWIN!"

He pushed through a broken window and stomped across the square.

"Let us settle this, I will not leave until I have proven my worth to you as a successor. Is my power to bring this city here not enough, to show that I possess the strength to take on the darkness unto myself?! ANSWER ME!"

The bangaa did not move, still in ronde de jambe to balance on one leg much to the lemming's frustration.

"I...have HAD IT WITH YOU LIZARD!" He stomped his way up with a fist ready to punch. "YOU WILL ANSWER TO ME NOW, OR ELSE I-"

Wait.

"...what?"

The bangaa was not him. A similar pallour but very dead despite its bones being forcefully bent to a statuesque position. On the "statue" itself, was a piece of paper tucked into its garments, James pulling it out with great caution as he opened it away from himself, checked both sides and then read it from a distance by pinning it to the ground.

Hey James, sorry about not being around, something big came up. Blood-Sin business and all that. Don't worry, I ran out of Stop motes so this and any other notes won't curse you. If you want to wait for me, here's the address to my safe place called GODHANDS.

-Baldwin

"What...what is he up to?!"

Deceitful bastard.

"Yes, yes clearly this is some sort of trap, something is not...this is suspicious and yet, where else can I go?"

Tread with caution to his lair.

"He expects me to follow this, so now I must think how to surprise him by following this note."

A scouting of the area would help.

"Yes...that is a good start."

The back of the note had a small map of directions from the square, taking James down to the southeast of the undercity where more of the undead roamed the streets, knights and civilians lumbering with tattered clothes long since dried of blood to become a foul-crusted ichor. The further James walked the more exhausted he became, his stomach growling with a wretched hunger as he started to avoid fighting the undead by sticking to the shadows as street after street twisted him down the crumpled alleys and byways that hung over him with looming faces, the gasping eyes of hollow buildings trembling with ill winds. Soon he found the address in question, the word " GODHANDS" inscribed upon a sign hanging over the entrance as he braced his sword and looked over the place.

"No one here...place is a dead end, no means of escape."

Except for one who walks in shadow.

"Right yes, of course...how do I trap someone who can walk through walls?"

Set the house on fire with holy flame.

"...I hate how much that makes sense."

He clicked his fingers with a steady flame and walked forth into the house, gently pushing open the door with the quietest creak he could make as he scanned the immediate room for the bangaa. A beautiful workshop larger than the previous one with two levels in the same room, a forge and a chest to the far right past an iron bench of tools, and a small flight of stairs past the bench to a small converted living quarters where two chairs sat against a table. A bookshelf stood at the back in the dark, and a stove with a bubbling pot was boiling away with a note left on one of the chairs.

Hey James, glad you made it! I made you some stew, you're probably hungry since you "woke up" so take as much as you want! Don't worry it's not poisoned, and it's fresh ingredients! If I really wanted you dead I would have killed you when you were Stopped.

-Baldwin

"Huh," James scanned the paper and tossed it, "alright well, that's...odd, but I do agree-"

Do NOT trust him.

"I'm not trusting him at all I just think it...well, if he wanted to kill me he would have attempted so when he cursed me in place."

His mind is lost with the Dark.

"Could he...is this some sort of game to him?" he looked around the cozy room.

Kindness to prolong suffering, is a madness to itself.

"That...hmmmm..."

As he pondered this, the smell of the thick stew burned a hole through his gut as he groaned clenching his stomach, snarling whimpers in his belly as he felt a deepening abscess that turned him weak, the smell of meat and vegetables thickening his nostrils with salivating urge as he sat himself down to take a moment to breathe. Four minutes passed and he struggled to think, his mind consumed with voracity as his belly won out, grabbing a bowl to the side and scooping the the soup from the pot.

"Still very fresh...hohhh, smells wonderful too, did he really have this waiting for me?"

Beware his gifts.

"True it could be poisoned...but then, as he said, he could have just killed me instead of trapping me in stasis, why bother with this now...hohhhh sod it I can't keep up my strength and if ."

NO!

He gulped down some of the stew and feared the worst. The taste was wonderful, a perfect mixture of meats with vegetables soaking in the broth to give a robust flavour. His body felt fine, rejuvenated even as he sat in a chair and sighed with some relief.

"There, see, logic! No need to poison me if he didn't already do so before."

Many traps lie within these depths.

"True, but this seems an offering almost of peace...that said, why DID he trap me?"

To impede you. Prevent you obtaining his power.

"Ahhh yes," he took another sip, "that was it...well then I must prove to him I am worthy...but I shall for certain......huh."

He smacked his lips and drank again.

"This...this tastes familiar...is that...that's some sort of bird meat certainly, a bit gamey but...mmm, this vegetable taste is just..."

Another drink as he closed his eyes.

"Just...reminds me of...peas."

Darkness consumed his vision. When he opened his eyes once more, there came a searing shock, a flash blinding him as he staggered from his seat and gaped to grab at the wall and find a strange wooden texture beneath his fingers. Soft tender sticks he brushed with his hand as his eyes bleared out with a tender blink.

"Wh-what, what did...what?"

The ruins had gone from his sight, the smell of old tombs and the musty crypt now replaced by the soft green grass and the sea where he once lived. The sky shone from a window outside as a large table loomed above him.

"Wh-what...what is this?"

"Papaaa?"

A voice cried out that wrenched his heart, feeling it come from his own throat yet hearing it from elsewhere as he saw from the other side between the table's legs was a little lemming of clear green eyes, a small robe draped on his body waddling around the room.

"Papaaaa m'hungry!"

"In a minute son," a deeper voice called from his left, "now mother said you had to eat your peas."

"Nnnnnnh ah dun lahk peas."

"Wellll how about this, if you eat all your peas I'll take you to the beach."

"YAH!?" The boy grabbed at a chair looking up. "P-promish!?"

"Promise."

"This...this is..."

James stepped back with a fear pulling his heart, shaking his head at the sight of the child and struggling to look up at the much-taller adult, standing at the small kitchen corner stirring a pot wearing a long flowing kilt and a soft goatee upon his chin beneath the pale snout. He stared from the child's height, the world stretching above him as he pressed against the wall and clutched at his face.

"No, no wh-what are you doing, BALDWIN WHAT IS THIS?!"

Quiet.

"What?!"

Tis but a memory, what of it?

"I...I-i do not want to see this."

What does it matter if it already happened?

"I do not want to see this, ENOUGH!"

"Papaaa issit ready?!" the child squeaked.

"Just sit yourself up," the father said still stirring, "need to taste it first."

"Buh, buh, a-ah wannit tooo!" he scrabbled up in his chair and sat at the table. "I-it's mah fooood!"

"Well I have to make sure it's good enough for you, can't just make any old slop for my boy can I?"

"Whut's slop taste lahk?"

"Mmmm..." the father tapped his chin, "dirt, muddy dirt, been in the rain for too long so it's all verrrrry runny and cold and thick, like bad porridge."

"EWWWWW heehahahaha, sloppy groooosss ah hate porridge!"

"Hahaha, and that's why I want to make sure..." he took a sip from the pot, "that my boy, gets the best that I can give."[/i]

"Stop this!" James walked towards the door struggling to grab its handle beyond his reach. "S-STOP, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS!"

QUIET!

His mind stuttered with a sharp burn that made him flinch.

It is but a trick, an illusion of that lizard.

"I know, I know that but-"

All it is, is but a memory James. Painful, but old and healed.

"No...n-no, please, please do not-"

ENOUGH of your whimpering!

He slammed his head with a sudden jolt.

Take your medicine and watch, prove that filthy lizard wrong with your strength!

"I...no."

The lemming took a deep breath and turned back towards his past.

"I won't falter, this...this is just...poking at an old wound to see if I cannot stomach, to prove his point, well I won't have it."

Good.

"I won't, I shan't be toyed with by his bastard trickery, fine! Fine, show me, do your worst!"

"Heeeere you are," the father offered two bowls of soup,"one for you and one for me. Now remember, there's peas in there too so you have to eat them."

"An' if ah do, we go thah beach!?" the little one cried thumping his spoon.

"Exactly son." He tapped his snout. "Now eat up!"

The taste returned to him. Soft meat and tender peas, rolling about his tongue before he chewed and swallowed mimicking the boy's movements. The sweet juices of the lamb soaked into the slight bitterness of vegetable and made it easier for him to gulp. It was a taste he despised. One he had never spoken as he balled his fists when his father began to choke.

"Ugh...h-hrrghkh."

"P-papa?"

"Nnnnghrlhkh!"

"Papa whutcha doing?!"

"Stop." James gritted his teeth. "Stop it. Baldwin, s-stop."

"Papaaa dun be silly!" The boy got off his chair watching his father stutter. "Ah ate mah peas is not DAT bad!"

"AGHRHHRKHHR!" he grabbed the table with a shuddering fit. "SHU-HHHNNNH, SHUH, MUH-GHAAH!"

"P-PAPA?!" the boy snatched at his kilt with increasing fright. "Papa whu-whutcha doing?!"

"SHUH, GHRHRLHAAAARGH!"

He grabbed his own throat and turned short of breath, struggling to point at his neck and head whilst he fell to the floor with a painful shriek.

"HAAAARGH, H-HAAAAARGHKH!"

"PAPA STOP IT, STOP IIIIT!"

"NRRRHAAAAAARGH!"

"STOP, IT, STOP IT, STOP I-"

"STOP IT, STOP IIIIT!" he screamed. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS!"

"STOP IT, STOP IT!"

"STOP IIIIIIIT!"

"FHGHHNR RRAAAAAARGH!"

He felt his father's fist. Fear and rage burned through his head as his house shattered into a thousand pieces around him, the sound of himself screaming as he fell back against the wall. Sobbing. Whimpering. His father didn't cry with him. Only fury consumed him as a monstrous shadow, lurking across the walls that still remained as the voice continued to roar from around him. His father's words twisted into a mindless scream, the sound of hammering fists against the table and the voice he now feared with the slamming of doors.

"S-stop. S-stop it, p-please."

"James. James wake up."

"Stop, I-i've seen it already-"

"James, awake my lad."

His eyes blinked as he rose from his seat. A scent familiar to him drifted from his right, old parchment and a hint of wax with elderflower. The room returned to him as the workshop brindled its flame, crackling beside as he shook his head clear.

"A moment of oneirology gone off-kilter yes?"

"Yes, I jus-..."

Turning his head he closed his eyes shut from the first thing he saw. Then he opened them once more and jumped from his seat almost falling back against the stove with his sword brandished at his guest.

"WH-WHAT, TH-TH-THE, NO!"

"I wouldst have the same reaction too," said the stranger.

"N-no, N-N-NO, NO, NO YOU'RE NOT, Y-YOU CAN'T BE HERE, TH-THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"James you summoned an entire city to the depths of a mountain from another realm using a machine of the heavens."

The human rose from his seat with folded cloak.

"I would hardly think that you of all my students would consider things impossible."

Standing before him was Haytham Durai, a colder face and dishevelled robe showing the crimson stain of his belly. The lemming kept his blade upon him, shivering with a fear for a moment as something stifled in the back of his mind with a piercing cold that almost shut him down completely, staggering against the side of his chair with a sullen gasp.

"You...y-y-you...you should not be here."

"And yet here I stand," said Haytham, "now think, what is the most likely hypothesis for my reappearance?"

Do not be deceived.

"Deceived by what?!" James gasped. "H-he's literally there!"

The city is full of shadows, and all are his puppets-

"SHUT UP! SHUT, UP!"

He swung his blade in a frenzy to tear a groove in the chair, stumbling against the wall and taking a moment to pinch his snout with calming breaths.

"Y-you...you are dead. I KNOW you are dead."

"Correct," his mentor nodded, "I am dead indeed."

"Yet you are here before me...you...you have the wound still."

"A most grievous aperture upon my form, yes."

"And...you were never that grey before...hoh." He looked up with bitter eyes. "You are his spirit."

"Excellent." He clapped his hands slowly. "Your mind remains proficient I see, even if your morals are egregious."

"How...h-how did you arrive here?" He kept his distance and raised his blade again. "How did you even come here, after I-"

"Murdered me?" Haytham raised his brow. "Well, consider this cursed place upon which you stand was part of my former realm, the place of my origin. If one were to be deceased and pass to the gates beyond, wouldst they remain in the afterlife of your realm, or mine?"

"...you...y-you arrived here because, this...no." He shook his head. "No, no no, no, this, this is clearly an illusion."

Good boy.

"You are a trickery of the mind, something that Baldwin has conjured in order to halt me with!"

"Hmmm, interesting theory," Haytham clasped his hands, "you wouldst rather believe I am but a mere fabrication of delusion imposed rather than a phantasmagoric essence come to haunt thee?"

"Yes." James crossed his arms with steeling eye. "I was offered this soup, that was clearly drugged with something, had a terrible memory awaken from my childhood and now I see the ghost of m-my mentor no, NO this is far too convenient!"

"Really?"

His mentor hovered above his seat whilst his robes draped downwards around his feet.

"I came upon thee whilst you were sleeping, and so waited patiently for your awakening so as to settle a debt, namely that of my execution at your hands."

"Is that so?" The lemming swished his blade in a figure-eight. "For someone facing their killer you seem awfully composed."

"Because I know you James," he crossed his arms in mid-air, "I know that you are my student, and one who deals with the facts and logic, and I have had a great many months to accept my death. What I do not accept however, is your purpose for my death, the pursuit for this dreadsome knowledge."

"Are you SERIOUS?!" He snapped slashing the air. "You return from the afterlife just to STILL LECTURE ME?!"

"No. Not lecture you. Guide you."

"...what?"

The spirit walked closer as he landed upon a table, planting a finger upon the edge of James' sword.

"I know now that you can no longer be reasoned with. Your hands drenched with my blood hath proven that, and so if I cannot prevent you from seeking this knowledge...then at the very best I can stymie its accursed effects."

"If you were so against this then why would you help me?!"

"BECAUSE YOU ARE STILL MY BOY!"

His voice bellowed through the shop and he clasped both his hands against the blade.

"You are still...my boy, and loathe I am to admit, despite the terrible act you wrought upon me and your incessant madness that has taken hold of you, I still do not wish you to suffer for your ignorance."

"What...what do you mean?" James lowered his sword.

"If you are that desperate to risk your reputation for the good of your tribe in this depraved search for greatness...then the best I can do is to help allay the affectations of wroth you will incur for your deep transgression."

"You really want to help me?"

"No." Haytham stepped down to the floor. "But for your sake, I will. I am angered and saddened by what you did, and I can barely contain the sorrow that which I carry, so my only solace will be to prevent you from reaching your worst and to carry your guilt with my words and presence."

"I see." The lemming stepped back and walked down towards the street level. "Do you know where the source is?"

"I have researched plenty in my time," the human walked down from the air beside him, "in the depths of the city there lies a fortress built by Mullenkamp and her cult to contain the Dark best it could."

"A fortress beneath the earth?" he opened the door heading out.

"Precisely." Haytham blurred through the wall to meet him outside. "This fortress they call the Iron Maiden, named after the old torture instrument."

"I have noticed this place has an obsession with the macabre."

"Yes." They walked down the street between black-charred houses and blue-lit lamps. "The dead are many, and the cult that once lived here would revel in themes of death and the void."

"Is the Dark malevolent, truly?"

"The Dark is but an element of nature that none wish to acknowledge, a mindless torpid aberration of the realm I lived in that judges not but condemns all to a fate worse than death."

"Corrupting the soul yes?" James looked to his haggard face. "Is that what you fear for me?"

"Yes," he nodded, "and I hope you understand the great risk I undertake in coming here knowing that my soul too couldst share the same fate."

"Even those departed can be infected?"

"Correct," his hands went behind his back, "I cannot touch any of the dreaded fiends so I must ask you tread caution when engaging them."

"...I am sorry."

He stopped at a three-way junction to face him.

"I am...so...sorry, master. Please, understand that I never intended to-"

"Enough." He raised his hand. "Your words mean nothing to me now."

"But, NO!" James tightened his face with blistering tears. "I never wanted to, I did not mean to stab you I-i was trying to stop you from ruining my work!"

"And so you commit a deed inexcusable, that guilt shall be enough for you."

"I at least beg for forgiveness!"

"YOU DESERVE NAUGHT!" Haytham barked with piercing eyes of white. "You are a murderer, nothing will change that and you shall not find forgiveness from me, you will accept my gift of not losing your soul to the depths of Dark!"

"YOU ALMOST DESTROYED MY WORK!" he shrieked grabbing his own hair. "You were about to burn my book, my years of research you of ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW what crime you committed against me!"

"Does my act of preservation amend your act of desecration?! DOES IT?!"

The face of the lemming contorted from sorrow to anger, grasping at his cheeks with fingers digging into his flesh, his entire face shaking into a longful shriek before he shoved Haytham back with both hands.

"IF ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS BURDENING ME WITH GUILT, THEN I HAVE NO NEED FOR YOU HAYTHAM!"

"You think I desire to be here of my own volition?" the spectre crossed his arms. "Your posturing like a wounded viper only denigrates your purpose-"

"SHUT, UP, you and your BASTARD mouth running off with big words that NOBODY GIVES A DAMN ABOUT and only half of us understand! If you are not going to help me immediately then I need not you further slowing me down with the guilt I already carry in my forsaken heart!"

"...very well." The phantom Durai walked past him to point northwards. "Follow me, if you please."

Walking amongst the dead, James followed behind his mentor who strolled with a flagrant disregard, almost daring the masses of the fiendish inhabitants to touch him. His former student however was on guard, bashing them back with windblasts and fiery shocks that tore through the earth and repelled the undead with howling screams as they travelled to the end of the sheltered road where yet another junction laid, turning west to find a large room with a tremendous chasm. A giant sunken rift where butchers and tailors sloped, the old book-keeper's shop nothing more than a sloping ruin where many tomes were lost to the ages. A door to their left on their side of the ridge indicated another mineshaft, an old iron gate leading to a large but safe spiral staircase that took them to the bottom of the gaping rift.

Darker and colder the world became with walls of a deeper hue than the previous mines had been, a lush burgundy stone that caressed the light from unseen sources. Warm yet bitter winds teased the nape of his neck, like sirens from the lanterns fixed above his head. Sometimes he saw birds within cages, feathers from the bars falling through with skeletal beaks and wide dark eyes staring with open plea to be freed from their service. More monsters appeared, hounds with half-eaten faces and gelatinous slime hissing a strange sound that James swung upon with his sword and ripped through their bodies.

The gorging ooze he burned to a crisp until they blackened dead, but the dogs were vicious and set upon him three at once when he blocked with his shield to hurl one against the other, twisting his blade through a third one's skull through the eye and twisted with ripping force to hear it yelp when he shot a thick cloud of earth that crystallised to stone, crushing its head with a suffocating weight before he swept a thick breeze that threw the other wolves to the depths, crunching against the walls as he pulled his cloak tighter and followed the ghost through a twisting maze of narrow passages constantly rising and falling in mid-quake. At one point he found the remains of the sunken rift above, a pile of houses crushed into a single room like playing cards on top of each other as Haytham searched through the old book-keeper's shop.

"How far below must we be?" James asked looking up. "Must surely go beneath sea level at this point."

"Further than you think," said Haytham tossing books asunder, "Keep on guard whilst I peruse these volumes."

"Something there can help?"

"In order to reach the Iron Maiden, you must obtain three objects that will aid thee." He raised three fingers counting them off. "The book of Navarro, the pendant of Dahlia and the sceptre of MacGregor."

"A book, a pendant and a sceptre," James nodded counting to himself, "I assume they open a lock of some sort?"

"Correct." The scholar read one book and tossed it away. "The book itself is merely the canvas, as you well know, it is the means by which we shall form an esquisse. The sceptre is like the pencil and the pendant is but the brush."

"Why a pen AND a brush?"

"Well how else do you clean off the shavings, did Alistair not tell you?"

"Oh...yes, of course," the lemming sighed leaning back against the wall, "hohhh...saviour how will I explain this to him?"

"Hmm?" He grabbed a clean empty book and walked over.

"My brother...the last he saw of me was on that lonesome shore, hounded by guards after I killed you...moments after I assaulted his father."

"A pity for him, I do hope tha-"

"NO!" He snarled with gritted teeth. "I regret what I did to you, but I do NOT regret what I did to my father, he had coming to him!"

"Ohhhh bloodthirsty little runt, you wish to elevate to patricide then?!"

"If my father fought me again harder than you tried then yes...and my regrets for him would be harder to find than I had for you!"

"Well...I am more disgusted with each moment I spend with you." Haytham tutted turning away. "What vicious idolatry has possessed you I will never know-"

"Do you KNOW what my father did?!" He grabbed his master's shoulder. "My first memories are nothing but sorrow and fear, watching someone supposed to care for me turn into a monster blinded!"

"Oh stop it." He slapped James' hand off. "I am not your therapist James, but your mentor."

"No but you were a better father than him!"

"...what?"

He flushed with a sudden look and turned away sharp, stomping past Haytham with a brief march to the next passage.

"Wh-where is the next item, is that the damn book?!"

"Yes this will do," said Durai waving his book, "a clean copy of a compendium."

"You said it was a book of Navarro, does it have to be a specific author?!"

"Yes, she uses a certain ink, that makes the magic viscosity increase for success."

"Alright, fine, next is a pendant and sceptre yes?"

"Indeed, come."

Further into the mines they crept as James fought off beasts aplenty in their path, long-winged bats with vampirous teeth and brazen dogs of hellish descript that lunged for his throat before he ripped them through with shards of piercing ice and flames of shimmering white. Twisting paths led to a labyrinth of descending shafts that James slipped down through, his master former gliding with tender steps and drifting robes until he landed beside the lemming. Onwards through tightening crevices they squeezed and grinded through with James feeling his robe get snagged on the sharp stones.

"This is ridiculous," he scoffed, "one set of mines was enough but two, it is a miracle this worthless city hasn't fully collapsed!"

"Mayhaps consider the mines were before the city," said Haytham.

"That is even worse if they willingly built the city on top!"

"Are you here to criticise the infrastructure or to commit to your deed?"

"Ugh," he wrenched himself free from the thinning gap, "a pendant and sceptre, and then I can find the source of the Dark?"

"Yes," the spirit drifted through the rock, "but beware, only he who holds the Blood-Sin can succeed to the Dark City. Should one want to be a successor, they best be ready to offer they soul for it."

"I would give more than that," said James darkly, "the Blood-Sin is that symbol yes, the one that person carries on his back, Baldwin his name is."

"Ah, that be his name?"

"Yes, the bastard imprisoned me with a stop spell for an ENTIRE year, can you believe that?!"

He kicked a stone in the air before thwacking it with his brolly into the wall.

"Daring to call me unworthy, ME, the one who brought this bastard city of his here!"

"Have you noticed how those streets are cobbled with souls?" Haytham spread his hand behind him. "Rats in the oubliette we call this city, drowning in pools of congealed gore and concealed hate? Do you know why so many of them lie here?"

Haytham turned towards the lemming with a severe headmaster's look.

"Those who crave the Dark, cannot control the Dark. Understood?"

"I do," James nodded, "in that one must temper their urges an-"

"No. Not temper. Never have in the first place. So IF you desire the Dark, you have already failed. You must instead abandon your urges and look beyond it as a means to an end, as a tool not an objective."

"And how do you suggest that?" the lemming crossed his arms.

"As we sojourn these depths, I want you to reorient your mind to searching beyond the Dark, towards your future."

"I AM doing that, Haytham."

"Are you?" He walked leaning in close to his face. "Or are you so obsessed with one tree that you are lost in the woods?"

"What does it matter?!"

"The woods has many shadows, and all of them eager to devour you the moment you lost your way. The only means to prevent that, is to always remember where you walked so the knowledge alone shall protect thee."

"Ahhh...yes, I understand," he nodded.

"Good lad."

"Don't."

James grabbed his mentor's hand.

"I am not your good lad, not anymore."

"Indeed you are not." He wrenched his hand away. "The door there shall take thee to the pendant, I recall there was an old reliquary in some books I read of the city's youth."

"And what of Baldwin the guardian?" He looked to the door in question. "Will he not resist me?"

"He asked that you prove yourself worthy yes? Then prove yourself worthy."

Do not listen to him.

"...no."

A phantom is a hollow voice to a saviour.

"A phantom...such as you, is a hollow voice to this saviour."

The sorcerer turned with the coldest look into his mentor's face.

"I will prove to him, by MY worth, on MY terms that I have what it takes to control the Dark not for myself, but for the future of my people."

"...very well." Haytham spread his hands and shrugged. "Lead on James. Show us what you can do."

"Thank you."

He walked to the depths as Haytham stepped behind him.

"But remember James..."

His robes became clouded.

"The city watches all who tread...and never will it sleep, even long after you."

The moment his eyes turned away, Baldwin stood behind James with the devil's smile.