FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Near Axton Manor, November 1988.

Dietrich Ziegler's vehicle veers dangerously toward the shadowy tree line as he loses traction on the muddy road leading to a distant light atop the hill. He doesn't remember how he braved through sheets of icy rain to stand at the steps of Thaddeus Axton's enormous manor for the first time in his life.

All he can think about is saving Zephyr. He was born in the Zenith Genetics facility in the bay a few days prior on a hazy Halloween. From the moment his son was born, he knew something was wrong. Now, all he can think of is saving what's left of his family as his wife, tragically, didn't survive to see November, dying before she could hold her son and say goodbye.

Ziegler drapes a drenched lab coat over his head as he marches up the heavy golden doors of the manor, clutching a bundle of blankets in one arm as he knocks with the other. The raven-colored wolf shakes his small son, who stirs feebly, opening his scarlet eyes for a moment as freezing droplets of rain kiss his scorching face.

"Zephyr, please don't leave me all alone," Ziegler whispers, his tears falling along the rain baptizing the young wolf.

Knowing inaction will lead to failure, the timber wolf forces the door open when his knocking receives no response from the lion he knows is home.

Inside the foyer, Thaddeus rushes down the grand staircase, shielding his face from the frigid gusts trespassing his home from a broken doorway as thunder echoes its way up from marble floors to glass ceiling.

"Thaddeus, please," Ziegler says, his voice at the brink of breaking as another low rumble of thunder shakes him.

Thaddeus's azure eyes peer down at him with contempt from the top of the wide staircase. The manor, newly constructed, is littered with misplaced furnishings, all of which are drenched in the icy torrent spilling from the doorway.

"I'm afraid you've wasted what little time your son had left, Dietrich. Maybe if you'd taken him into the city, they could've given him more time."

"They already said there was nothing they could do!" Ziegler says, skipping steps on the grand staircase so that he isn't forced to look up at Thaddeus like a heeling dog.

"There's nothing I'll do for him," Thaddeus says firmly, turning his back and marching up the stairs.

Ziegler sobs as he clutches Zephyr close to his chest, the young wolf's staggered breathing growing calmer. Thaddeus pauses at the top of the stairs, everything in him pleading he turn to comfort the wolf who helped him survive his own loss, but Thaddeus knows he's not strong enough to gaze into his eyes again.

"The Zenith Crown will save him," Ziegler's voice cuts through his thoughts, booming over the thunder.

"It won't," Thaddeus says, trying to convince himself more than Ziegler.

"You have to at least let me try!"

"The Zenith Crown has killed far stronger than a dying cub, Dietrich! If he's destined to die, I can't change that, I won't change that, and I won't be the one responsible for killing your son. I trusted in this power once before, and it took her from me. I'll never forgive myself for that. I'm sorry, all you can do now is comfort Zephyr in his final moments."

"Why are you so afraid to wield the power that's been given to you!?" Ziegler shouts, the sounds of breaking glass crashing like thunder as he slams his large hands into a mirror's silvery surface.

"From the moment we found this power, all it's done is destroy us. Me from the outside and you from within. I won't allow this to destroy everything we've built. You're welcome to use any room you're most comfortable in. The more we debate, the less time you'll have with him to say goodbye."

Ziegler wraps his bleeding hand in a cold sleeve. He kisses Zephyr's forehead while searching for the words to tell him that the way he was born was not his fault.

Zephyr reaches out to his father with small, shaking hands. He turns away, unwilling to see his own eyes fade to nothing, but pain escapes from the holes in his breaking heart, causing him to utter the words that would save his life.

"I knew her, and she would've detested who we turned out to be. She trusted us and we betrayed that trust. The least you can do is try Thaddeus, for--

"Don't say her name," Thaddeus warns, growling and digging his claws so deeply into the railing, the wood snaps at his fingertips, cracking the carved flowers down to the base of their mahogany stems.

Ziegler follows the large lion down a stained glass walkway, the rain's reflection splotching the walls like the running paint of a watercolor.

"You never stopped to ask how much pain you would cause her if your experiments succeeded, let alone if they failed. We lost her that day because of our powerlessness to see those beneath us as objects to our experiments. I now ask you do the same today, but this time to save a life," Ziegler pleads.

"Dietrich, please understand I'm not responsible for what happens next," Thaddeus warns.

Thaddeus takes Zephyr in his arms. He cries and reaches for his father. Small tufts of bright red hair appear from deep within the bundles of blanket as Thaddeus carries him gently to his study overlooking his new garden a few floors up.

"Forgive me," Thaddeus tells the small wolf, who closes his eyes and drifts away to sleep in Thaddeus's vast and warm embrace.

***

Hours later, Thaddeus glances into the exhausted eyes of his oldest friend as he sits like a dying flower in the intricate garden he's only beginning to build. A towering conservatory looms over the grounds, half constructed.

"It's too early to tell how he'll react to the power of the crystals from the Zenith Crown, but it's looking promising so far, at least in prolonging his life. He's got a long recovery ahead of him Dietrich, so I suggest you go upstairs and comfort him."

Ziegler says nothing, peering past the woodlands toward the rising sun as he brushes at the silver lupine growing at his feet.

"Why him?" Thaddeus asks, sitting on the steps leading to the empty library.

"I ask myself the same thing."

"Why did he survive, when countless others couldn't?"

"Clearly, he's meant for this. Maybe his destiny was not to die, but to demonstrate to us what's possible," Ziegler says, picking the flower.

"Please don't skew this with your distorted idealism, Dietrich. If anything, this raises more questions than provides answers."

Ziegler tears the flower apart with his claws, allowing the petals to catch the cool breeze.

"It's as simple as fate. Zephyr is strong enough, and he'll lead the few who will pass this test in the future. I've always said, those who weather the tempest will see the dawn."

Golden sunlight shines behind them as the sun breaks above the crown of the forest, nourishing the flowers in the garden with promises of springtime after the coming winter.

"Your words frighten me, Dietrich," Thaddeus warns as the wolf walks back toward the library, "don't make me regret this moment."

Ziegler stares out at the fading darkness before him. He turns to Thaddeus, looking into the eyes of an old friend for the first time since that fateful day in the freezing tundra.

"This moment changes everything. Naturally, you'll come to regret it. We're approaching the dawn."

***

Zürich, January 2013. Twenty five years after that dawn and two years before the end of everything.

Zephyr stirs, his entire body agonizingly heavy as he tries to break the surface of a vertigo-inducing sea of drugs. He painfully opens bloodshot eyes to the blinding light staring back at him. He has no idea where he is, but he can tell by the taste of blood in his mouth and the sight of torn flesh that he lost something other than his sense of direction.

Dietrich Ziegler stands over him at the end of a small iron bed, his own face wrapped in bandages, the flesh underneath his fur held together with staples and stitches.

"Try to relax. Coming back from the dead can be a strange feeling, but you've done this once before, long ago, even if you can't remember. Thorne tells me it's an arduous process, and no one knows this feeling better than he does. He isn't exactly my biggest success, but he's far from my biggest failure. The Zenith Crown energy flowing within you nearly killed him when I first resurrected him, but there was something within him I neglected, something that made my experiment a success. Did you know that dragons like Thorne can regenerate entire limbs if necessary? His miraculous blood, my gift to you, now runs through your veins alongside mine. Together, we brought you back from the brink of death, all thanks to his adaptation."

Zephyr groans, trying to push words through the agony paralyzing every one of his six senses. Slowly, he tests his limbs, surprised he can feel every one of them under sheets weighing him down like iron. Even the smallest motion is pure agony, it even hurts to think. All he wants to do is die.

Ziegler prods him with instruments that burn like fire.

"Thorne is the exception in our animal kingdom. Natural adaptations like his are exceedingly rare. The Zenith Crown gave us an opportunity to not only regain those abilities, but to surpass them. When you use the powers the Zenith Crown gave you, it's like you're going back in time, back to when wolves like us were at the top of the food chain. You were always only the beginning, Zephyr. I've tried for so many years to convince you this is your destiny, but Thaddeus corrupted you."

Fueled by rage, Zephyr pushes his body up as much as he can.

"You can't go back in time Ziegler, no matter how much you try to."

Ziegler grins, one of his long canine teeth missing, a barren and bloody hole taking its place in his menacing smile.

"The animal inside of you seems to disagree. I think it's time he come out of the shadows to take his rightful place by his father's side."

A vivid orange glow illuminates the room as Ziegler sedates him, pushing him back under the depths until he drowns in a sea of drugs. He screams, slipping back into the black abyss.

The voice of the beast growls into the forefront of his psyche, erasing everything until only rage and instinct remains.

***

Las Vegas, April 2015. Three months before the end of everything.

On a warm desert night, Indigo Knight glances out at a familiar group of uninterested faces from beyond the blinding rainbow lights of their large stage. They adjust their headpiece, an extravagant crest of tall azure feathers making their small stature, five foot five from toe to tall ears, much more imposing. They straighten the cerulean feathers attached to the back of a tight corset as last minute makeup is brushed onto the soft features of their beautiful bunny face.

"Those real estate friends of yours give away tickets to my show to their brain-dead buyers. Do you know what I hear in their minds?" Indigo asks Orson, who shouts instructions to the lighting crew as he helps orchestrate one of the most popular shows in all of Las Vegas.

"What's that?" the buck asks, entertaining his rabbit while adjusting his glasses to read in the dim backstage light.

"Absolutely fucking nothing. I don't even know why I bother anymore; I want out," Indigo says, holding in their breath as their corset is adjusted to achieve an hourglass figure.

"That's not going to be as easy as it sounds. Is there anything I can do to make this any better for you?" Orson asks, following the rabbit as they burrow toward the dressing room.

"You can call three of your biggest friends over to our place after."

"I'm serious, Indigo."

"So am I."

Orson scoffs, looking for something to distract him as Indigo fastens sapphire earrings onto their long ears.

"Let's get this over with," they say, stuffing their cellphone into their bralette as they step onto the stage, emerging from a prismatic shower of rainbow fireworks and lights.

The wide azure tail-feathers of Indigo's gleaming showgirl costume hover over the glossy stage as they filter through the hundreds of voices in the room, trying to find someone distinguishable through the fog as music blares from large speakers.

Indigo approaches the edge of the stage, tucking the stunning plumage underneath their legs as their mind breaks through the soundless score to their one-rabbit magic show. The rabbit taps into the microphone, sending feedback into the noise flooding their head.

"Fear prevents us from embracing the perilous. It's primal, stemming from our instinct to avoid predation and to keep us from getting our throats ripped out by sharper teeth, just to survive long enough to multiply like rabbits," Indigo says with a wink and a laugh from the crowd. They rise, their stunning outfit catching every light and eye in the red velvet theater.

"It's hardwired into our brains, forcing us to actively evade what frightens us. It's our natural relationship with fear. My relationship with fear, however, has always been defined by my curiosity to understand the things that make us shiver. I'm not one for commitment either, I like seducing several fears at once."

Indigo captivates their audience with their rehearsed words and sultry tone. At this point they've done this so long all the enjoyment has long faded away, all that remains is deception.

The crowd is hushed, their attention to the rabbit undivided.

"I know, deep down, the ultimate desire we all share, is the exhilaration that drives us toward the things we fear most. It's the ultimate taboo. So, who's ready to conquer their fears tonight?"

"I am!" An afire voice roars from within the audience.

If the fire swelling in their heart doesn't tell Indigo who the voice belongs to, the vulnerable inner voice of the lion confirms it's Phoenix before he leaps onto the stage. Expecting to see a glimmer in Indigo's eyes, or any indication the rabbit missed him as much as he did, Phoenix is surprised their face is impossible to read as they glare at them from the opposite end of the stage. Phoenix's heart beats within his wide chest as he glares at the stunning rabbit that's been swimming in his dreams since the day they left the manor.

"I know exactly what you're afraid of Phoenix," Indigo says to boisterous applause from an audience who clings to every word.

The lion takes their words as a challenge, stepping closer and looking at Indigo with that charismatic smile they hate so much.

"What am I afraid of, Indy?" Phoenix asks, grinning as he places a hand at the base of Indigo's tail-feathers.

Flustered, Indigo causes the stage to erupt in bright yellow flames as they read the fears in the lion's mind. The intensity of the glaring inferno feels real against their fur as the blaze grows uncontrolled. Indigo peers deeply into his eyes. Beyond the flames, panicked shouting fills their ears as the crowd rushes over one another to abandon their seats in a rush for the exits.

"No need to panic, the fire is an illusion!" Indigo shouts into their microphone.

"Oh, it's very real! They're burning me alive!" Phoenix feigns, chuckling as he steps closer to Indigo.

"Missed me?" He asks as the velvet walls of the stage transform into the marble pillars of Axton Manor.

Beyond the illusion, Kyran and Aarden push past the stampede, teleporting through the crowd to make their way to the edge of the stage.

"Well?" Aarden asks, grabbing Kyran's arm when he hesitates at the steps leading to the stage.

"Well, what?" Kyran says, slapping Aarden's hand away so that he doesn't stretch the sleeve of his favorite jacket.

"Can't we just leap through the fire; do we have to walk through it?" Aarden asks nervously as a crowd of crewmen approach with fire-extinguishers.

"Please tell me you're not afraid of the flames, they're not real, it's just an illusion!"

"It feels real to me!" Aarden admits as he too begins to see the manor materialize.

Kyran scoffs and walks calmly through the flames. Aarden focuses on Kyran's tail as he pushes away the magic trying to convince his mind that the panther is being set ablaze before his eyes. Aarden stokes the flames, heat kissing his palms. He closes his emerald eyes and shakes the illusion away with logic.

"You're afraid of yourself?" Indigo asks Phoenix as the walls of the manor catch fire.

"I'm afraid of losing control," Phoenix responds, blue flames climbing up the red walls to melt their portraits. Phoenix takes a step back, but he shakes the fear out of his head as he steps closer.

"You look like Fletcher in that outfit, it's cute."

"What do you want from me?" Indigo asks coldly.

"Maybe I just wanted to see you."

"Why are you here?" Indigo asks, taking a step back each time Phoenix steps forward.

The flames vanish, leaving the four on an empty stage as frantic voices shout from the darkness beyond sweltering stage lights.

A heavy torrent from the sprinklers above rains down on them, dousing them and the stage in icy water.

"I'm sorry," Orson says, rushing onto the stage to embrace Indigo, who pushes him away as they remove the drooping headdress to shake their sopping head.

"Who's dad is this?" Phoenix asks, grinning at the crimson buck.

Orson glares at Phoenix, matching his intensity as he steps before the rabbit.

"Who's this, an ex of yours? He's got fire behind his eyes," Orson tells Indigo in a hushed voice as he pulls his soaked hair aside.

"You don't even know the half of it. It's nice to see you two again," Indigo responds as the loud sirens of fire engines grow nearer.

"I liked your show," Kyran says.

Indigo's nose furrows as they wipe the mascara running down their face. "No you didn't."

"We need to talk."

"Is it about Kamala?"

"Kamala?"

Indigo undoes their corset as the others follow them through the inner-workings of the venue. "You haven't been keeping up with your own sister?"

Kyran's attention is suddenly laser-focused on the zipper of his own jacket.

"Well, it's not like we ended on the best of terms. What has she been up to?"

Indigo's short muzzle peeks at him from the top of a lavender towel.

"You don't know?"

***

Later that same evening, around a fire-pit in Orson's garden, Indigo passes Kyran a letter. As the Zenith sit on comfortable lounge chairs beside a pristine pool, the orange desert sun sets before the distant mountains ahead of them.

Kyran scans it before handing it back to the rabbit.

"That's all Kamala said?" He asks, crestfallen. After all this time he thought she would have more to say, especially about him.

"That's everything. I haven't heard from her since," Indigo says, adjusting their top as they dry their body.

From beyond the tall glass windows, Orson observes them closely from his vantage point behind the bar, his eyes squinting as he ties his waist length hair into a neat bun.

"A little overprotective, isn't he?" Aarden whispers to Phoenix.

"Is he still staring?" Phoenix says, turning around to glare at Orson from behind smoked-glass lenses.

"I'm having a tough time believing you," Indigo says from the other end of the pool, their voice stiff as if they're speaking to strangers, "but I know you're not lying."

Indigo glances up at the clear blue sky as the same fear that drove them to the desert crashes back into their consciousness.

"Are you sure he's alive?"

Kyran's expression remains stoic, but the voice in his head shifts as storm clouds obstructs the clear blue sky in Indigo's mind.

"Why does that matter? Why are you more upset when I just told you Zephyr was alive, then when I told you he was dead?" The panther asks, shades of anger mixing into the concoction of thought Indigo can read in his mind.

"We must have different ways of coping. If you paid enough attention to anyone but yourself, you'd know our relationship was strained," Indigo responds, their eyes unseen behind heart-shaped sunglasses.

"That wasn't Zephyr's fault," Phoenix says as he slips back into his Zenith branded shirt.

"Nothing was ever Zephyr's fault, according to Dad. Zephyr is the only one he ever cared about. That's why I didn't bother showing up when Dad died. He wouldn't want me there anyway," Indigo says, their voice raised enough for Orson to approach the doorway.

"You're wrong, he loved you," Kyran says.

"He didn't love any of us Kyran. You spent so much time convincing yourself you were his son, you never realized you were just his pet."

Kyran presses his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he stares at his own reflection in the pool.

"We can do this with you or without you. I just wanted to give you an opportunity to choose for once in your life. But I see you've chosen to cower in fear as you always do. I hope you enjoy whatever miserable life you've made here for yourself, Indigo. You'll always be a part of The Zenith, and one of us, whether you like it or not."

Indigo rises, standing on the tips of their toes to meet Kyran's eyes, wanting nothing more but to make him face his fears then and there, but Orson is quick to jump between them before either of them have a chance to act on their rage.

"That's enough! Indigo, who are they and why are they in my home?"

"We were just about to leave. We're wasting our time," Phoenix says, gesturing at Aarden as Kyran teleports away.

Uninterested in their bickering, Aarden peers out at the desert for the first time in years, reminiscing on the joyful memory of the day he and Elio Xavier hiked along the majestic terrains of Monument Valley. That time is buried so deep in pain it's beginning to feel more like a dream with each passing day.

"It was nice seeing you again, Indigo," Aarden says, breaking his gaze from the horizon to follow the others.

"I'm sorry you're caught up in all of this," Indigo says, pity in their soft voice.

"I'm not. Maybe I just don't see it that way, but I guess we have different ways of coping."

"I don't need you lecturing me too," Indigo says, swirling a drink in their hands.

"Then how about a private demonstration. Tell me, what's my fear?" Aarden asks, daring them.

Indigo slumps back into their recliner.

"You fear being extraordinary by just being ordinary around us. You fear not belonging to this because you're not cursed to do the things we can do. I don't need to use my magic to know that," they say, drinking deeply and dismissing him.

"And your biggest fear is Zephyr, and I don't need to have any adaptation at all to know that."

Indigo downs their drink in one swift motion.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Fear prevents us from embracing the perilous," Aarden says, heeding to Phoenix's call.

Indigo storms into the home, but Orson stops them by blocking the doorway with his wide frame.

"What aren't you telling me?" he asks, trying his best to clear the anger in his tone.

"It's nothing, they won't be coming back, ever."

"Who are they?"

"Nobody."

"Don't lie to me!"

Indigo bites their lip, looking around at a strange home they never felt comfortable in, remembering they felt happiest when they had nothing but each other.

"Fine, fuck it. You said you wanted honesty. Here it is, they're my adoptive brothers. We were raised in a mansion in Northern California by a psychotic billionaire who experimented on us and turned us into monsters. Everything you know about me is a lie, but what I feel for you is the closest I've ever come to happiness, and I'm afraid of letting that go, so I lie to you because that's what I was raised to do. I've travelled around the world and gotten myself in more danger than you could ever imagine. And by the way, I can take care of myself, you don't need to protect me like I'm your housewife. I've killed guys twice as large as you, Orson."

The crimson buck stares stunned, the glass slipping from his hands and staining the aquamarine carpet.

"What are you saying?"

"I guess what I'm saying is I need some time, Orson. Because the truth is, I love you, and the longer I keep living this lie, the further apart we'll get. I hope you understand, but I need to go with them. If I don't, I'll have to keep up this illusion until the day I die."

Orson steps aside without hesitation, unsure what to feel.

"I understand. I'd tell you to be safe, but you seem to have that taken care of. Calling then and again wouldn't hurt, though."

Indigo reads the fear swimming in his mind. They've always loved the color of Orson's aura, a deep tangerine with hints of passion.

"I'll be back, and then we can talk about the rest of our lives, if you still want that."

"We're going to have to talk about a few things, particularly the whole killing thing, but we'll make it work. Just don't make me forget you."

"I promise, I'll tell you everything you want to know when I'm back." Orson reaches down and kisses the rabbit, forgetting what it felt like to feel his heart soar as they embrace, convinced that was lost long ago.

Indigo steps outside and whistles, waving for Phoenix to come back as he and Aarden struggle to remember where they landed the Cepheus.

"What about the show?" Indigo asks Orson as they make their way to the closet to hastily pack a pink suitcase.

"The theater is flooded; it's going to take months to get it all back together," Orson says.

"Perfect, and I have you to thank for that."

"I thought you were caught in a fire!"

"It's kind of cute to see how worried you are of me."

Indigo buries their face in the buck's chest. Orson wraps his arms around Indigo and kisses the space between their long ears.

"So, did you really kill or was that just something you said to scare me?"

"Let's focus on that some other time, darling," Indigo says as Phoenix peers up at them from the base of the stairs.

"Ready to go?"

"Almost," Indigo says, unable to hide their smile in seeing him again.

Orson glares up and down at the lion. Phoenix does the same. They're about the same height, but Orson's sharp golden antlers and glimmering silver heels give him the advantage. The two glare fire into one another.

"Take care of them," Orson finally says, suppressing the uneasy feeling in his heart.

"They can take care of themselves, but I'll bring them back to you safe, I promise," Phoenix says, meeting him at the base of the stairs to feel his strong grip. Admittedly, he's starting to fall for the handsome buck as well. Phoenix blushes, turning his attention away from his penetrating glare.

"Nice place you got here," he says awkwardly, glancing around at polished silver and glass furniture.

"Thanks. Would you like a drink, Phoenix, is it?"

"A bottle to go would be nice."