FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Azuri found himself flying over a lake that was just clear enough to see nearly all the way to the bottom. He could see the fish swimming and going about their regular lives like nothing was wrong. He wished he could have the simple life of being a fish, being free to do anything he wanted would be the best. Sure, he was free now to explore, but his mother could still keep him from exploring certain places. Fish didn't have to think for themselves, only by instinct when danger follows.

Azuri could feel his wings spread out as wide as he could. The air breeze past him and his fur, making him feel absolutely amazing.

He turned his head back to see how far he'd been flying. He couldn't see the forest anymore as he had been flying for quite a while now. Losing track of time while flying was probably not the best idea, but what Azuri really wanted to do was see the palace of Fuegolis. He'd been waiting a long time to see it for himself ever since he saw the pictures. Every night, the lights from the palace were bright and lit up like a star. Now that he was alone without his mom, he could finally go there. He wondered if his mom would dislike that idea. He should technically be traveling to much safer territories first before going to more dangerous ones such as this.

He didn't really care though, this was his chance to see it for himself. Trying to remember the map in his head and where the palace was, he started to turn to the left and began flying west. The entire time he had been in the air he'd been traveling north with no idea where he wanted to go until now. Based on where he was currently, he was nearly above Oceana city. This meant that if he started going west from there, he should arrive at Fuegolis pretty quickly. Fuegolis was in the hills, overlooking a huge desert. He figured it might be guarded by tons of Fuegans, so he should be careful while approaching the city.

As he flew high in the air, he could see the Fuegolis getting closer up ahead. He started to feel hyper as he slowly got closer to it. He saw many kinds of dragons leave and enter the city and palace, some of which were dragons he had never seen before. Then, there were the obvious Fuegan dragons lined up along the walls guarding the city. He hoped that they wouldn't attempt to attack him as he got closer. As he flew over one of the walls and two guards they glanced upwards at Azuri, but didn't react in a hostile way, instead nodding to him with a slight smile. This made him feel relieved as he found a good spot to land in a four way cross section.

He saw many kinds of shops that served meat, fruit, weapons, and even tools, but none of the shops really interested him that much. He only hhad two silver coins with him, so maybe he could at least get an apple with it. He started to walk around the streets of the city, an amused expression on his face as he looked around. Dragons flew in every once in a while beside him and nearly startling him, however none of them appeared to really care about his presence. It relieved him, so he continued going upon his way through the city.

Eventually, Azuri stumbled upon something that made his eyes widened. It was a dragon that had an entirely black shade of scales all over his body. Most likely if you ever saw him in a pitch black room, he'd be invisible. He heard about these dragons before, they were nocturnal. Azuri saw the sun literally right above him, which made him curious why it was up in the middle of the day. From what he remembered, they were called Stellarians. Stories say that they were fascinated with astronomy, constantly observing the night skies for meteors and stars, even constellations.

He wanted to go up and ask the Stellarian, but he remembered what his mother told him. "Don't talk to strangers," she had said to him sternly. How else was he supposed to meet new friends? Or perhaps did his mother just not want him to have friends from other tribes? Only friending dragons from his own tribe is very unfair. He instantly recognized three dragons at the end of one of the streets laughing. All three of them were from completely different tribes. One of them was a Oceanian, a Fuegan, and a Vaermesian which had light yellow scales with light blue sapphires along their necks to give them the ability to reflect light.

It was cool to be seeing a Vaermesian, they had cool abilities in the air. Depending on which one you find, they can control air currents and even create rainstorms. There aren't a lot of Vaermesians who can do that, so it was pretty rare. If Azuri was lucky, maybe he could watch one do such tricks. That would fill another one of his long life goals to experience. Something Azuri really wanted to see was a tornado. He knew those things were dangerous, but for some reason he just wanted to experience what it was like. Unfortunately dragons don't usually create shelters for them, so it wasn't easy to survive them. They usually recommend to just fly away and never get close. Not exactly a great idea if you are literally five feet away from one.

Regardless, seeing a Vaermesian immediately reminded him of some goals which made him smile. As he continued walking down the street, he heard what appeared to be a bell ringing from on top of the palace. He looked up toward the palace, immediately seeing three dragons standing on a balcony high up in the air. The palace was tall, standing about two hundred feet in the air with a castle-like appearance. Two towers on either side of another larger round building in the center, slightly shorter than the two towers. It was mostly made of a strong tan colored sandstone, supposedly strong enough to handle strong wind currents. It didn't even appear to have windows, which was probably the smarter idea when dealing with sandstorms.

Two of the dragons standing either side of another Fuegan. This one appeared to be larger than most of the other Fuegans Azuri has seen. He wore two earrings on both ears in a golden material. He wore a few fancy jewelry wrapped around his wrists, and even a collar around his neck. The collar appeared to be made out of more fancy jewelry, gold being the primary material of the collar. Azuri could instantly tell that this dragon loved gold and jewelry so much that he needed to show it off to everyone around him, reminding them that he was rich and needed to be honored and respected.

Azuri didn't like dragons like this, but he had to be respectful while he was here. Other dragons around Azuri turned their attention up to the royal dragon on the balcony, beginning to bow their heads respectfully. Azuri did the same, trying to keep his breathing calm while he did so. Eventually, the royal dragon started to speak which told him to stop and return his attention up to him. "Attention my wonderful dragons of Fuegolis, I have some wonderful news to bring to you all! Today, we are offering the chance to see within the palace walls and sleep in one of our fancy rooms. We are only offering ten free rooms, first come first serve!

The two other dragons standing on either side of the royal glance to each other. Their expressions told him that they were slightly worried by this announcement. Though, they seemed to be trying to keep it cool while the royal was standing literally a foot away from them. Azuri felt tempted. Should I take this chance to look inside the palace? I may never have a chance like this ever again. He thought to himself as he watched many other dragons begin rushing toward the front of the palace. He always wanted to come here and check what it was like. Though now, he had the chance to be inside one of the most fanciest places in all of the Azorian land.

He knew his mom wanted him to return back before sunset. However, the more he sat and thought about it, he was free to roam around outside whenever and however he pleased. His mother can't control where he goes. Well, maybe until he goes back and she begins yelling at him. This was his only chance to see inside the palace walls though, it's probably best to do it now before the offer never returns. Azuri saw two more dragons go past him and down the street leading up to the palace. He decided to start following them toward the palace walls in curiosity.

As he turned the corner, he saw the large gathering of dragons outside the front doors. It was chaos, many of them were shouting and pushing each other. It was causing multiple guards to leave the palace doors and attempt to push them back and stop attacking each other, which only resulted in a Fuegan, who was only about a foot taller than Azuri, and a Vaernesian who was slightly shorter than the Fuegan to begin clawing each other. The Fuegan tried biting at the sky dragon, but never reached it successfully.

This made Azuri feel anxious to approach, so he only stood about two or three feet away from the large gathering. It didn't take long until the front doors opened with the same royal dragon standing on the doorsteps. The entire group fell silent as they watched him overlooking the crowd. "Lovely to see you all here finally!" He says loudly to the crowd for everyone to hear, including Azuri still several feet behind the crowd. "Like I said, we're only taking ten dragons to come inside."

The crowd fell silent, before beginning to raise their claws into the air. Hoping for themselves to be picked. Azuri was hesitant, but he expected himself to not be picked. He was all the way in the back, surely the royal dragon wouldn't see him. However, as the royal dragon started picking out dragons within the crowd. He chose four Vaermesians, each one with different heights of one another. Then he picked out two Fuegans near the back of the group. Surprisingly, he also chose three Oceanian dragons which Azuri was a bit surprised to see roaming in this city. Usually Oceanian dragons don't come out this far due to the lack of water nearby.

That's when silence fell upon the entire crowd as the royal started to think. Looking throughout the crowd for the final one to choose. His eyes then fell toward Azuri's direction, still standing at the far back of the crowd. That's when his claws rose and pointed straight toward his direction. "And you!" Azuri's heart dropped as he pointed at himself in both confusion and worry. He didn't say anything, but he mouthed the word, Me? The royal dragon shook his head, "No, you!" He gestured his claw again, but it wasn't pointing at him, it was pointing toward Azuri's left.

Azuri turned his head and noticed another dragon standing literally right beside him. How did he not notice him standing there before? The dragon appeared to be another Florian, who was actually slightly taller than Azuri. Oh come on! That's not fair! Azuri thought to himself as the Florian excitedly flew off the ground and toward the royal dragon. He let the chosen dragons inside, the guards blocked all of the other dragons from trying to get past. Then, the guards closed the door in the crowd's faces. Azuri sighed disappointedly, but he kind of half expected it at this point.

The crowd finally dispersed from the front of the door, and Azuri began checking the rest of the city. Sadly, there wasn't anything else he found interesting so he decided to head back to the marketplace. He saw some of the same shops still open and selling various fruits. Azuri approached the shop and checked the prices written in Drakith. Luckily, the price for a single apple appeared to be one silver coin for one apple. Azuri thought to himself about the trip back home. He might as well buy two apples while he was here.

Approaching the stand, he saw a large dragon that appeared to be a Fuegan. Azuri took out the two coins and placed them on the stand. "Two apples, please." The Fuegan took the coins, turned and picked out two apples and handed them over. Azuri took them and thanked the merchant before flying off. Remembering the map in his head, he started to retrace the steps he took to get here. Azuri took a bite out of one of the apples and chewed with a slightly disappointed expression. He was still very happy to at least have came to Fuegolis.

Azuri could see the sun lowering to the horizon. The sky was growing bright orange, which made the view from above very beautiful. As soon as he saw the ocean where the Oceana palace was located, he turned south and started heading back to the forest. He was hoping when he got home, that he could tell his mom all about Fuegolis and the dragons he saw. Whether she'll like that he did or not he didn't really care, it was too late by this point for her to stop him.