FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sorry for the folks looking for smut, this is a story building chapter, working on the next one now where there will be smut a plenty for all you pervy folks. ;)

Tenja awoke at the side of the beast after what had seemed like a night and a day. It was next to impossible to tell in the lands strange lights. She struggled out from the sleeping wyvern's side and winced as her entire body seemed bruised and aching. Her tail moved awkwardly behind her as she dropped down to balance on her wings and feet. She could feel the ache at her loins, the stickiness that had been left behind from the ravaging she had taken. Her eyes flickered around the courtyard as she tried to force her mind away from what that might mean to her. Would it be like with the samebito and if she'd end up swollen with his whelps as she had been with the beast's eggs?

As she shifted she found herself focused on the torn wall of one of the buildings and she snuffed the air. It was thick with the male's musk and signs of his inhabitation of the inner corridors in the building. There were scrapes that showed against the carved pillars and claw marks over the polished marble. It let the spill of ice creep into the room so that there was a thick coating further back then she could see. She glanced back towards the sleeping animal and shuddered as she saw the fact that its cock was disgorged from its vent still. A good three inches showing darkly against the white scales along the under belly and for a moment it was all she could do to keep her eyes towards his head to make sure he wouldn't awaken.

Her eyes turned back to fall on the jewels that glittered against the dark black and silver marble as she gripped the edges of the torn wall and started to pull herself in. Her sharp eyes could pick out the place wasn't designed for humans. Everything seemed larger and strangely formed in her eyes. Some places weren't made for a human to sit, instead they had fanciful carvings of moons set in the backing and worn places where it seemed tails had once rested. She swallowed a little and each time she moved she made sure it was almost silent. Despite the aura of abandonment she felt a strange dread at what might walk in these halls. The lust for the jewels though overrode even that sense of self preservation.

"Be careful, you tread in deep places." The voice startled her into almost crashing into a chair that had been torn from the walls. She swung her head to see the Salamander hovering just above the nice with flames that encircled and coiled around its body as if ensuring it would keep warm.

"What-" She started to speak and her voice came out mangled in a snarl, her lips twisted up to show her teeth and the Salamander levitated closer towards her.

"Speak in your mind, child. I will here you." The spade shaped head turned to regard the broken walls of the palace with a look of almost pity that crossed his features. "Would you rob the very palace of the gods, thief?"

:I wasn't going to rob them! No one lives here but that animal.: She forced her mind to make the words before a hiss dribbles out past Rufus' lips.

"The gods once walked here, foolish girl, they left a part of themselves behind when they left. A ghost of who and what they were to this world before the surrendered it to the mortals they had created." Rufus stopped a few feet away from her and turned his head to look at her. "Would you pry and tear apart this building in the hopes to garner some riches?"

:Where did they go?" She folded her wings and shifted her tongue until she felt the sharp jab of the spine and scales against her tongue. She lowered her head until she dropped them down onto the ground before the fiery creature. There was a burst of heat and she shrank away as the very presence of it sent a fiery trail of heat down her side. She hissed out in distaste, but in a flash it was over and the items she was sent to fetch were gone from the patch of melted ice on the ground.

"Ahh good, you succeeded. Illthar will be very pleased with you." The reptilian head shifted to look into the hall and licked his lips with a lash of a fiery blue tongue. "Let me show you then, child. It is hardly your fault that you were never taught of what and how the world changed so many years ago."

++++

Tenja twisted her head around and her hair fell into her eyes as she stood in not the broken and abandoned castle of the north. But a hall that glowed with light that was captured in milky clear balls of light held to the ceiling by golden linked chains. Each globe gleamed a different color, from a gold that could have been firelight to ones that shown a deep azure. For a moment it was all she could do to stare at them before she realized she was human again and moved her fingers down to slide against her body. A soft hiss spilled from near her and she glanced over to see the Salamander settled on the marble floor and watching her.

"This is what it once was, when the gods still reigned here on earth." Rufus turned his head and then started off down the hall. His large powerful paws and claws clacked down against the ground dully one at a time. "They once roamed the earth freely and walked among your people to be approached and greeted as friends. When mankind became demanding and demanded even the smallest of trials be solved by their intervention they agreed to leave. Illthar told you they retreated here and set up their guardian's, but in truth it was only one who made the Ice Wyvern to protect this barren waste land."

The view changed as she walked next to the Salamander and she almost stumbled at the wave of dizziness that thrummed through her body. The halls changed and the found herself seated at the top of a tower that had no walls. Instead great crystal windows ran from floor the ceiling so she felt as if any moment a gust of ice laden wind would break through and freeze her in her place. In the middle of it all was a slender woman who had strangely elongated features. Sitting down she was taller than Tenja, her long fingered hands cupped close to her stomach as she seemed engrossed in some chore or another. Her hair was white blonde and pulled up into a loose knot at the top of her head, the girl so close she could make out the glitter of diamond pins that held it in place.

Tenja held her breath while she stared at the tall figure; her face was delicately made, but held sharp angles. She had the look of eagles about her, the look of someone who had been forced into the sweeping lady like costume when she should be wrapped in leather and armor. She should be wielding a sword and her hair tied into a braid. For a moment the world seemed to spin around her as she distantly heard the clash of sword on sword, yells and screams and over it all the harsh scent of coppery blood rode the air. The moment passed and she came back to the present to find herself staring into a pair of obsidian eyes, the only hint of her iris was a thin band of gold. She swallowed and involuntarily took a step back.

"Who is she?" She whispered to Rufus, half afraid that she would be heard by the imposing woman.

"Her name has been lost to time. Before the farmers settled the land, nomads and warriors were the ones who worshiped there. She was their patron, a woman of fire and battle. She led many tribes to victory personally, and was one of the most vocal about having to leave her people and lands to retreat here. She itches to hear the roar of her armies and the screaming of her name as a battle cry, so she took up the task of creating a guardian for their palace." Rufus reared up onto his haunches so that he could watch the woman with penetrating eyes.

She pulled out a chunk of ice as large as the thief's head and pulled it into Her lap. The soft voice whispered in a sing song voice as She began to turn it around and around. Each spin She made was used to work in shavings of dark almost black metal. Her long fingers worked and probed against the ice and while Tenja and the Salamander watched the metal shavings disappeared into the ice. The ice never melted even when it was obviously being worked between Her hands. It started to take on a blue cast to it and reformed under Her deft touch until before her eyes it became a perfectly formed egg shape. The Goddess stroked Her fingers along its side and whispered soft words before breathing along the shell.

"That is the first Wyvern's egg." Rufus hissed into her ear softly. "Created from ice, snow, and metal that is so hard that only the gods could forge it."

The world shimmered around her and she tried to blink her eyes to refocus them, but she found herself standing in the midst of a grand hall. Around her people moved, no they weren't people, they were gods. Her eyes widened as she saw that they only vaguely resembled humans. Her mind automatically tried to process their forms as being human, instead they seemed to be a mixture of the strange and fantastic. One man had a heavy beard but when she looked closer she saw it was truly moss that intertwined and spilled down his chest. Even as she gawked at it she could see several flowers burst forth and bloom before they faded away and withered. Another had the legs of a great bird, a sweeping tail, but his head was entirely human. All save the bright gold raptorial eyes that swept over the gathering.

Everywhere Tenja looked there were people that only had the vague shape of a human about them. Most were nearly twice her height or more and she found herself breathing in faster more panicked bursts. A sense of claustrophobia ran over here until Rufus lead her towards a quiet corner where the gathering was less thick. It was near a set of massive double doors which were opened up to let her look into the courtyard she had been forced to land in. This courtyard was nothing like how she had come to know it, it was flooded with lush growing things and strange animal life walked along the gilded paths. From a golden horned deer to a tiger with fur the color of cobalt.

She opened her mouth to ask Rufus what he was trying to show her when there was an ear splitting screech as a white scaled form came tumbling from a tree. The glide was awkward as it slammed into the cobblestones only to be gathered up by the gentle arms of the Goddess they had seen earlier. Her fingers stroked along the squalling young wyvern's back and she helped him back up in the heavily laden fruit tree. Even from here she could see his eyes followed her adoringly while he stretched his wings out to either side and started to get ready to leap down again. Her focus on the strange pair was taken away by the sound of angry booming voices.

"I can't understand them." She moved her hands up to her ears while Rufus stretched himself out on a chair and gave a slight secret smile.

"They are arguing over the way Man has started to grow overly bold. They have started to penetrate their borders despite the ice and weather." The Salamander blinked the flame-blue eyes as he regarded her. "Mankind has always looked for the easy answers, the gods of old, magic from the Mages, there is always someone else to blame for the misfortunes that fall upon them. It is one of the many reasons they have not flourished as their Creators would have hoped."

"I have nothing to be sorry for." She tightened her expression to one of anger and forced her eyes away from the strange arguing beings to the sight of the Goddess with the small wyvern coiled in her lap. The creature was as large as a dog, but in her lap it seemed cat-like in size. "How were we to know how to deal with what would happen when the Mages left us? We gave them all they could desire in offerings and gold. They could have at least warned us."

"Look, look at Her." The Salamander gestured with his slender muzzle. "She is his world, She gives him life and guides his steps. He has no mother or any other creature he can call kin but Her, and so he has given his love to Her as fiercely as any devoted child. Have you ever had children, Tenja?"

"Me? No." She furrowed her brow as the seen started to fade and change again, this time the court yard was scoured with winter snows and the creatures and gods that walked through them seemed to have fur rather than skin. A great ram with spun gold fur laid in the snow beside a diety that had thick fur like a leopard and her face seemed almost reptilian.

"Look at them." The creature bade and she found herself looking again at the Goddess, but...not the goddess. Her form was that of a pure silver Wyvern, though her eyes remained the same vivid coloration that they had been before. Beside her a smaller reptile crouched and nosed at her with soft keening noises erupting from under his breath. He seemed as if he were trying to cover her with one of his wings but each time he extended it she slipped away from him. Just out of the upset creatures reach until she gave a heavy flap of her wings and made her way up to the edge of the palace wall and settled down. Her eyes seemed to be locked to the grey clouds that roiled over her head rather than on the beast she created. He let out a sound like a moan and leapt up to join her and repeated his actions to try and cover her with his wing.

Behind her the great doors of the hall opened and the strange creatures stepped out, each one wrapped up in heavy fur cloaks before they looked up at the wall and the scaled pair. They spoke between one another in an almost musical language, their eyes going from their fellows and back to the wall. Even as Tenja watched a third and then forth Wyvern erupted from the skies to take up position on the walls. The first let out a mournful keening noise that the other two answered, though the Goddess seemed to hold herself aloof from their cries. That was until she one of the gods on the ground called up to her and she turned her eyes to glare at him. Rufus started to translate beside her.

"You cannot stay here, the palace will be given over the elements. Can't you feel it? The world is dying a slow death and we cannot stop it." An aged being spoke, his body seemed to have the texture of stone, even to the point of sparkles showing here and there through the darkness.

"And where will we go when we are driven from the last strong hold?" The changed Goddess bugled back. "We can stand and hold our palace, we cannot leave this world to the dominion of man! He leeches from the very magic of the earth and drains it dry."

"Do you thirst for one last battle? We cannot stay, they grow too strong and too numerous. It is only a matter of time before they see us not as gods but as demons. Then what shall we do? Slaughter them all until we alone remain? An empty world filled with meaningless gods." Rufus captured the scorn in the beings voice perfectly.

"There are others who could inherit. My creations are strong and free, they are unhindered by the desire to build and destroy. Why can't we leave the world in the safe keeping of the animals we have created? Animals without malice or rage?"

"This world cannot be ruled by the beasts of the air, water or earth. It was made and formed for Mankind and it is to their keeping we leave it. They can save or destroy it, but it will always be their choice. They chose to turn their minds from our ways and now they are slowly eating away all that we gave them like some mindless beast. Will you stay until they devour your power as well? For what? These creatures cannot be your frivolous pets, their only desire and meaning given to them by you." Rufus' voice turned into a harder tone and she watched the changed Goddess screech out and spread her wings.

"Better I stay and fight then run like a coward!" With one great beat of her wings she dropped down to land heavily on the courtyard and glared at the god who had spoken. "You who created mankind abandon them, now I shall abandon my creations? All because they do not live up to your standards?"

"No. We do not abandon them, we leave them to live their lives with the full weight of their choices. We cannot overshadow them and force them to walk a path simply because we desire it. If we did that they would never create or strive for better things. You cannot hold so tightly to your creation that it becomes a puppet and only changes when you will it. Set them free! Take away the shackles you have given them with their emotions and relieve them of their duty to watch this place." The being leaned forward to stare at the goddess' eyes as she gaped her jaws and peered upwards where dozens of the Ice Wyvern's gathered.

For a moment Tenja saw them through Her eyes. Each scale was burnished and gleamed with health, their muscles were perfectly honed from hours of flight and each glorious inch of them seemed at home in this rough wild setting. She could tell them apart as the goddess did. There was the one who had broken her wing her first year, there was the scarred male who had out flown the older ones to claim a mate, and there were the youngsters who were just learning to fly. For a moment she felt her heart wish to break, must she leave them? Must she abandon them? What would become of them.

+++++

The world yanked all out of proportion until she stumbled against the side of a wall. She almost went to her knees while her mind tried to still the dizzy turns and twists that she felt. She parted her lips for just a moment only to see the white-blue eye of the Salamander watching her impartially. She opened her lips to ask the question on her mind when she heard a low rumble come from her throat and startled looked down at herself to find herself once again in the guise of a Wyvern. The heat of the sun scorched her scales until she felt beads of perspiration rolling down her wings as the ice was melted.

"Do you understand yet, thief?" She swiveled her head up to see the Salamander perched on what looked like a rusted and pitted anvil. "You speak of abandonment and betrayal, but each turn of the wheel has been meant to set your kind on a course that would allow you freedom."

:The freedom to starve!: She hissed back and extended her wings up behind her. :The freedom to die of disease and famine and war!:

"The freedom to solve those problems yourself, Tenja, that is what is offered to you. Do you think that you should be given all just because you are due it? Or should you be challenged to come up with new solutions, new answers to the problems you face. The gods or mages could end famine, but in doing so we turn you into cattle. You obey and think no further than your next meal. The Wyvern's would have become nothing more than slaves had they been kept as pets. Told when to eat, breed, hunt, sleep. Yes it's a golden cage offered, but tell me thief, would you be happy in such a cage?"

Tenja shifted uncomfortably for a moment and shook her head roughly back and forth. It was the same reason she had never taken hire as a servant. True she would have been well fed and clothed, but her freedoms would have been limited. Still she glowered a little bit and looked down at Rufus while he coiled on the anvil. His tail hung down and his body pulsed and gleamed as if he were an ember in a dying fire. She finally flipped her wings on her back and kept one eye on him as she partially settled down on the grass.

:I won't forgive the Mages, I can't." She finally stated, holding onto the anger she had developed so long ago.

"I cannot make you forgive them, I can only explain why the world works. Perhaps your next trial will help change your mind more to our way of thinking. We have no wish to harm you, even now Illthar is petitioning on your behalf."

:Petitioning for what.: She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but the Salamander just shook his head and flicked his tongue out. Flames rolled down his body and trailed along the length of his spine while his legs seemed to lengthen.

She jerked backwards as the lizard grew and pulsed, the heat of his body almost singed her as the living flames erupted over the beast. Before her eyes the creature shifted and changed, he grew larger and bulkier. The head changed from a spade shape and started to broaden along the muzzle and tapered ears formed on the top of his head. She ended up having to squeeze her eyes shut before she felt and saw a flash in front of her before the darkness returned once again. She hesitantly opened one of her eyes and flared her nostrils open to see the changed beast in front of her.

It only looked like the Salamander had in small ways, the color of its scales, the brightness of its blue eyes, the fire that lapped around it's body. In all other ways it seemed almost horse-like, with long slender legs and a tail that rippled with living flames. It watched her a moment and then gave a toss of its head before it began to walk towards her. Some part of her registered the cloven hooves never smoldered the ground or scorched the grasses. She swallowed and made a move to shrink away but not before it extended its nose and touched her side with a flash of all consuming heat. She fell to the ground writhing with a bellow of pain and the calm voice of the creature came to her mind.

:It is not something I can ever explain to you, little one, but it will be something you must learn yourself. Time is short and your task is ahead of you and we both must travel far so may show you what your next theft is.: The voice held a hint of sorrow and sympathy in her mind as the pain blossomed through her back. The heat seemed to scorch every part of her being and her heat beat thudded within her ears. It was like a drum beat that blocked out the sound of the changed Salamander and even blocked out the sense of what she laid upon.

She felt her wings start to pull in against her body as the sail's were melting up and between her fingers again. The long slender wing fingers pulled back once more while the claws that hooked at each end started to retreat and turn blunt. She writhed and twisted against the grasses with a higher pitched call of pain and fear as her world seemed to narrow down to the simple sensations. Her wedge shaped head pulled back and she felt her teeth flatten down again against the darkness of her tongue. The heat made her entire body feel swollen and sensitive. Her jaws gaped as she panted ragged gasp after ragged gasp.

Her chest tightened and after a moment she felt the scales melt away into her skin, her hands once again involved mobile finger tips and her thumb curved inwards. She let out a shaking breath and drew her hands inwards against her body to feel the bare flesh become soft and human like once again. There was a sense of relief when her hair tumbled down along her shoulders and over the curve of her back. The feel that she was returning to human made her able to bear the heat that flooded her body. Knowledge she would return to her rightful form and she drew in a breath that let her chest expand, her hands slipping up to cover the swell of her breasts.

The heat ran down her body and instead of the bulk shrinking it seemed to spread outwards and shift itself. Instead of the powerful hind legs of a wyvern they seemed to split and she fell down onto her side to kick her legs out. She looked around in panic to see the changed Salamander sitting on his haunches and watching her with every evidence that he knew what was happening. A sick sound of crunching bone was heard and she cried out as she saw the legs split into two. Her lower body elongated itself, her spine lengthened and the scales were rolled under a rush of what looked like deep green fur.

A set of forelegs formed and as she watched a set of cloven hooves hardened and set beneath a spill of what looked like wisps of fur. The fur itself ran upwards to start to trace up against the arch of her spine so that the felt a tug and tickle. Her long hair was meshing with the deep green of the fur. She moved her hands back so that her breasts fell free and tried to feel her hair. To her horror she felt tendrils uncurling and twisting around her finger tips. They seemed curious as they felt along her digit and squeezed around the very tip. Her entire hair seemed to subtly shift, not in the wind she realized with a lurch of her stomach, but it moved of its own accord. They felt almost like thin vines she might find upon a tree.

While she was distracted her lower body had changed rapidly. It was vaguely deer shaped, slender and fleet with thin legs and powerful cloven hooves. She could feel her muscles rippling there while they formed and changed. Her underside was a pale tan color that spread along her haunches and all the way down to her knees. The strangest of all was the feel of her skin rippling with heat, as is ants were chasing across her skin and running over the curve of her stomach. She kicked her hind legs outwards in a silent struggle before her eyes erupted with colors. The entire world gleamed with brilliant blues, greens and red. A haze outlined everything, almost like wavering lines of heat she often saw in the desert.

Rufus shifted inside her circle of vision and blinked one mild eye. The strange draconic looking horse curled back his lips in an almost smile before he lowered his head. To her shock the teeth pinched against the soft hide on her haunch and she lurched upwards. Her long legs were stronger then they appeared, though she found it odd to balance on them. The weight of her fore body was far greater than her hinds and she glared at the Salamander, her ears flattened down beside her head. That stopped her from yelling and she lifted her hands up to find softly furred cervine ears on either side of her body.

"Why? What am I? What are you?" She finally let loose her questions only to hear a hissing laugh.

"We are going into the forest, the ruler of that world has an exception to my kind. Though as a firemare I can tread more easily and safely. You are a dryad, they were once so common here." His gaze shifted and looked afar for a moment. "Just past this castle there was a clearing where they would gather and celebrate. Men speak of them and satyrs as pagan animals. Lustful and without shame. They were innocent though, the sweetest beings that had ever been and they danced to the music of another world."

"Who rules the forest?" She moved one leg and then the other slowly to try and get her balance on the dainty hooves. "Where is Illthar?"

"We will talk as we make our way through the forest." The transformed Rufus turned and started off on a path that was barely recognizable as such. Only the fact there was a slight sparseness to the grass let he realize there once had been one here. She moved awkwardly to catch up to the fire creature and tried to grow used to the shifting views her eye sight caused.

"Illthar is detained at a council of Mages. He bade me come and fetch you from the North when you had completed your goal and set you upon the next task." The forest slowly closed around them as they passed through a pair of ancient oaks. "As for who rules the forest, that being has had many names throughout the centuries, have you heard of Yggdrasil?"

"No, should I have?" She blinked for a moment and tried to figure out how the creature even spelled that name, let alone was able to speak it."

"Not many have, not any more. When this land was new and the world young enough that each new dawn was seen as a miracle by your ancestors there was a tree that cast forth all the forests of the worlds. It was no just a simple forest giant, its roots plunged down so far into the earth that it pierced into the veins that run beneath the dirt. The liquid fire warmed it and it blossomed larger and more powerful than before. Even today the area around it is as warm as the hottest summer day so that the stags and hinds of the forest seek shelter around it in the winter. They say it was first formed by the gods first union together, where they lay upon the earth a sapling emerged from the males spent seed and stretched up towards the sky tall and proud. "

"So it's a large tree?" She frowned to herself as they passed deeper into the woods. The light grew dimmer and tinged green from the thick growth of leaves. Her strange vision seemed to respond more strongly to some areas though. Focusing in upon them but the differing light of green and blue was one she couldn't interpret. Rufus let out a hiss at her words and shook his head.

"No child, it is the great tree of all life. Tangled amidst its roots is a massive wyrm that sleeps beneath the soil and is held in slumber by the heat Yggdrasil produces. It spreads its seeds throughout the earth and where they fall ash, yew and oak trees grow. For hundreds of years one of its seeds were a greater prize then gold, jewels or silver. They were hoarded by families, wars fought over them, people died to keep them." He paused and looked back at her with a frown, "Do not judge, Tenja, to have such a seed and be able to place it on the burial mound of your ancestors was worth war. The tree that sprang up was always green and full of life. It lured and coaxed beings such as dryads, nymphs, and the old gods to come and rest beneath it. Those that died were taken into the roots of the tree and became a part of it. Immortality, girl, that was what the tree meant."

"I don't understand." She glared at him as she leapt awkwardly over a fallen tree and Rufus shook his head.

"I am not the Mage, I do not explain as well as he would. Yggdrasil is a tree, yes, but he is ancient and alive. In bygone days he would speak to those that petitioned him and it was from his seeds that every tree you see came from. He is change and he is a piece of the world that has intertwined so much with it that to kill him would destroy much of what you know and love. Those that meet him never return the same, some are driven mad by what he tells them, others find peace in his knowledge and others still find the strength and courage to set out to face the world. He is the tree of Knowledge, of Life."

"The tree talks?" She snorted a little and flicked her ears against her head. "It's a tree, they can't move, let alone talk."

"The tree is to a tree, what a Wyvern is to a gecko. There is no comparison. Look at your form! The deer I told you of first came to winter at his trunk in search of warmth, he welcomed them and found in them a way that he could extend his touch to the rest of the world. For all his wisdom, he cannot move from his home. The hinds that curled against his base were used to carry the first blossom of his seeds and the dryads were born from that union. Through them he could move throughout the forests and at his whispered words they would take the seeds he offered to gift them to the worthy. They were his messengers and keepers, they alone held the privilege of tending to his branches and bringing fresh soil to line around him.

"It has been so long since any family has remembered him. His offspring stand over great burial mounds in tribute to the battles that were once fought. The highest honor a warrior could wish for was to have a Mourning Tree placed over his and his comrades. That the roots would sink into the earth and penetrate their bodies to draw in nourishment so that it would grow larger. His memory would be one that no stone could rival. It was alive in the brilliant green of the trees leaves and the hardness of its bark. His soul would be drawn not just into the tree, but into Yggdrasil and embraced and guided to his way to the halls of his ancestors.

"Now Yggdrasil lives in his own memories of those days when brave warriors would dare to come into his realm and spill ale upon his roots in supplication. The Wyrm that guards the earth at his roots has gone still and quiet. Not even the birds roost within his branches and the dryads have grown so few they are barely whispered about in this woodland. Silence, he is silence and sorrow. Each year more of the great oaks that crown the burial mounds are axed down for their fine wood and the souls of those warriors are lost. I have heard it said that the cries of Yggdrasil can be heard each time one is felled, his pain is what made the earth start to dry up and the crops to falter. No longer did he send out his seeds to plant and spread the richness of the soil to the farmers."

"But...then what do you want me to do? If he's silent and withdrawn there's nothing I can do, what do you want me to steal? Am I to cut him down?" She followed through the paths that lead deeper and deeper. The forest seemed thick and heavy, and where there should have been the wild cries of birds and insects it was only silence.

"Be still your tongue, girl! Haven't I just told you that Yggdrasil is the Tree of Life. It is from his roots, his trees, his very presence that the forests thrive and crops grow. You will be our supplicant to him. The voices and faces of humans are no longer welcome, too often he has felt the death of his children to wish to hear their prayers. I cannot approach him, I am a creature of fire and he would strike me dead rather than see me enter his glade.

"It is you who can go, as a dryad. The dryads here were driven off by men." There was a sudden tone of disgust, "Men who thought their slender bodies and sweet songs were meant to seduce them. Many of them were captured, raped, or worse before they fled this forest and their Tree. The ones that do come here are brief comforts to him and they are always welcome. You must ask him for his seeds, Tenja. In this I will be truthful, he will plant them within your body as they did of old."

"No! I'm not here to be raped again!" Fury welled up inside of her as she stopped and drove her hooves into the ground. "I don't care if I don't get to be human again, it's not worth it. Twice now you've let animals ravish my body, is that what you desire? To see how many times I can be violated before I break?"

"Tenja.." Rufus turned the scaled equine head and for a moment she stared his eyes and felt the weight of his regret. Her heart hardened before he spoke. "I showed you the Gods in the North, did you not listen? Our world is dying. You must see it, why else would the Mages lose their magic, why would the gods desert us, why would your family's crops fail year after year? Each season that passes the world ages and grows tired and weary, how long before it starts to falter and then fail? You are our hope, Tenja.....

"I pledge to you, even if you can only beg for his seeds, I will see that one is planted on your families land. They will flourish again, your sisters and brothers, their children, they will not know hunger. That tree will thrive and grow and the nuts that fall from it will ensure that they need never know sickness again. It is much to ask of you, young thief, but we do not do this for sport or amusement. We do it to put the world on a better course."

Tenja stared at him, her mouth working slightly as rage and hope warred against each other. Rage that he would dare turn guilt on her. Dare to make her believe that she would be the reason her family suffered! Hope that he was right. If she did this one thing, she would be able to save them, give them a better life. For a moment her mind flared brightly with a vivid image of her youngest sister who had once been so happy and had soft chubby cheeks. She had been reduced to nothing more the skin and bones. Skin and bones and a wracking cough that had sucked the life from her. She stared at the Salamander who's eyes looked larger.

"Please,Tenja. We would not ask this of you if there were any other way. I give my oath that I will personally plant the seed on your family's land and ensure that it will thrive."

"Your word?" She insisted after a few moments, her short tail flickered behind her haunches as she could see the darkness further behind the foliage show streams of sunlight.

"My word. Even if all you can gain is one seed, that seed will go to your family." The Salamander stepped to one side and tossed his head. "Through there, Tenja. Yggdrasil awaits you."

Tenja drew in a shuddering breath before she squared her shoulders and took a step forward to slip past the dense bushes. The prickling leaves didn't brush against her sides, instead they seemed to part for her. As her hooves touched the thick carpet of grass she could feel heat raising up from it and a dread rolled in her stomach. She mentally latched onto the image of her parents, her family, it was for them. She was doing this for them. She walked through shafts of sunlight before she stood in front of the ancient tree that took up nearly the entire clearing. No, the clearing was made by it! The branches that stretched up forty...fifty feet in the air pierced into the sky and allowed nothing to grow here but the massive oak.

Her legs locked in place as her hair rippled down her back of its own free will and perfumed the air with the rich scent of jasmine and spring flowers. From the corner of her eyes she could see the tendrils budding as purple and blue flowers formed to crown her head as if she were a maid in the village's spring festival. She drew in a breath and tried to steal herself for what she was about to do when Yggdrasil spoke. The voice was dry and brittle, like dead leaves being blown across stone.

"Welcome.... "

++++

Illthar put his fingers on either side of his temple and leaned forward over his place at the table while his fellows argued and threw their hands about. He wanted to weep. What he had set out to do in the hopes of making a new world has become twisted and perverted under the hands of those he had thought of as his friends and colleagues. Didn't they understand what he was trying to do? He swallowed down what he truly wanted to scream out and lifted his head in time to see the eldest of the Mages stand up and lean forward.

"She could bring magic back to our world." His pale grey eyes seemed to pierce through Illthar's soul. "You have taken the steps to make it happen, who are we to throw away our only chance at survival? At the worlds?"

"She is only a child!" He protested and pushed his chair back as he stood. "I am not- We are not evil beings. What you suggest is evil, taking her life for the greater good." He slammed a hand down against the table. "She's given us the Samebito back in our oceans, she's retrieved both scales and spike from the Ice Wyverns, and even now she's bringing us seeds from Yggdrasil. And you want to ask for her very life? The Wyvern's scales alone are the purest magic we have left from the gods, we should be content with that!"

"Illthar, calm yourself. We do not wish to kill the child." Hassir glanced mildly towards him and he stifled the urge to slam his fist against the table again. He was not a boy to be throwing a tantrum. "If she truly does what you set her out to do, then she will have touched every element in our world. Not just the elements, but their very changing natures! Not only does she know Water, she knows it's harder and more aggressive form Ice. She will learn of earth and lava from Yggdrasil and who is to say she won't rise up and learn of the dancing flames from the phoenix or salamander?"

"No, it would be less evil if you wished her death. What you want is her life! The days that she has left would no longer be her own, how can you tell me you support this?" Illthar dropped back down in his seat heavily. "Life is a gift, as sweet as a ripe peach, as precious as a gilded jewel. I will not stand by and watching it thrown away!"

"Illthar, you are thinking in black and white. Look at us, we are aging and our Familiars are fading. What will you do when your Rufus can no longer spark his flames, will you watch him fade to embers? What will you do when the magic that once went into holding back the great dams give out and thousands perish in the floods? We cannot ignore what is going to happen, the girl can be made to understand."

"I cannot do this!" The words came out almost a plea. "We can find another way! I only meant to gather the things I thought I could use, that all my books had told me would be used to breathe life into a construct. I can still do it!"

Silence met his words for a few long moments, his fellows watched him with almost pity in their eyes as he felt his chest rising and falling rapidly. He knew they spoke the truth, some part of him knew they did, but the very idea made him violently abhor what he was doing. To his horror he felt his eyes start to mist over slightly and he dropped his hand to dig them in against the arm of his chair. The Eldest turned his head to look out at the twilight sky and spoke without looking towards Illthar.

"Every creation that has ever been made has required one thing we have left out of our books. Those who would do evil could find out too easily how to make creatures of darkness and bloodshed if we didn't. It requires a human to give their life in order to bring life to the creation. The girl must take that role. We will honor her sacrifice, Illthar, but there is no other way. Our time is growing shorter. Soon all magic in our world will be gone."

Illthar drew a breath and struggled to stop himself from screaming out in protest again. He lowered his head just as Hassir's hand dropped down onto his shoulder and gave a squeeze. His mind flickered to the thief out there and already taking up his third challenge. She thought she would be set free after all of this. How could he go against his word? The old man looked at his hands as they were held in his lap and finally nodded his head in a single motion.

"I understand. When the time comes, we will see it done." The words fell from his lips as his heart sank in his chest. He sent a silent prayer to whatever gods might be watching to keep Tenja safe. Keep her safe, keep her sane. Let her forgive him for what he would have to do.

---

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