FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Here's part 1 of the story...gonna take me a while to get the others up though

PART 1

Okay...finally got that out of the way...now I'm so hazy-headed I don't know where to start. Come to think of it...there really is no good place to start...I'll let this damned thing read my memory, that might give me something to work off of. Let's see...I was almost ready for mateship so...about 10 in dragon years...damn, what was that conversion? Oh yeah, in human years I was about 18 when this thing really started. Now to see the instructions..."clear the mind and recall the memory, the machine will detect your state of mind and begin to record" What the, it even records what I read?! Oh well...

The sun rose above the tree-lined ridge, its red rays falling on a dozing white-and-silver dragon. Like many others his age in this time, he was a runaway...he was also an orphan, which made being a runaway a lot easier. His glittering white scales were trimmed with spiky silver patterns, making him sparkle like fresh-fallen snow in the sunlight. His two thick, gracefully-curving horns were a strong metallic luster, slowly fading into a glass-like crystal material towards the razor-sharp ends. The two long scales sweeping back from his forehead were sidelined with smaller "spiky-hair" ice-blue fin-scales that dotted his head. Down his neck and back ran five curving ridges that looked like the conchoidal fracture of glass, and they ran halfway down to his tail where they ended in small triangular fins. His elbows, wrists, and ankles bore flexible but sharp spikes, and they were a bit scuffed from last night's brawl. Even as he slept he kept his silver-skinned wings tightly folded against his sides, hiding the hexagonal scales lining his sides like ice crystals.

A twig broke nearby, and he jumped up quickly, his deep-blue eyes scanning his surroundings quickly.

WOW, this thing is good! Ah crap, I just ruined it...well, guess I'll narrate now.

"Who's there?!" I growled, bristling. "Daran, if it's you I'll tear you apart, and I mean it this time!"

A squirrel ran by, and I looked at the ground, feeling stupid. Daran is so dead when I get my claws on him.... I winced as the pain in my groin slowly throbbed. He'd kicked me good...damn cheater, always breaking the rules in a one-one fair fight...my stomach gurgled and I rolled my eyes. I was always hungry...then again, there wasn't much food now during the famine.

"Well, might as well go hunting..." I stretched my wings, sitting there for a few minutes with my eyes closed as I let my wings act as huge solar panels. If I were to describe it...know how sometimes, when you're sick or really hot, you suddenly feel a strange flush in you and your temperature seems to change? That's what this feels like, but boy, does it feel gooood...being a white dragon, I don't heat up as easily in the light as most others do, a real challenge in winter even though I can survive far colder temperatures than the average fire or earth dragon. Luckily ice dragons have a 13% greater wingskin-area than others, all the more power to me... After sunning myself my eyes snapped open and I shot up into the air. My wings were still a bit beaten from last night, but the cold morning air felt so damn good I didn't notice the pain.

I caught sight of a movement below, and quickly swooped down, bringing my wings through the air quietly like my uncle had taught me to do when hunting. Whatever it was, it was big, and it was moving away from me.

"Mmmm...hope it's a deer, haven't had something big in a while." Keeping low to the ground I slunk through the trees like a white snake, using my limited camouflage skill to blend in. My prey moved behind a large, thick bush and stopped, and I grinned. This was too easy... gathering myself I sprang forward and cleared the bush, clamping my jaw around the creature's neck in a flash.

"WHAT THE--?!?" someone screamed, and I quickly jumped away.

"Oh shit...I'm so sorry," I said quickly, my wings folding nervously against my sides. There she was...Flora...the most beautiful dragoness in the entire world, and I'd almost had her for breakfast. She rubbed the dark-blue scales of her neck and glared at me, those stunning lavendar eyes smiting me.

"What the hell was that you little bastard?" she growled, getting up. I was actually bigger than she was but she towered over me as I guiltily stood there before her. I had to tear my eyes from her wavy blue horns and flawless ice-blue fins that swept back behind her head.

"Flora...really, I'm very sorry...I thought you were a deer or something, you were moving too fast for me to see you here..."

"Well next time use your nose with your eyes, dimwit!" Yep...she didn't like me at all. She turned and walked away, and I stared at the ground and sighed, my wings and tail drooping. She was so pretty and cute, but damn, what a temper...

"Sorry..." I muttered, even though she couldn't hear me. I looked up slowly as I heard her footsteps coming back to me but I didn't see her face.

"If you want I can help you hunt something, but it's not a date or anything," she said cautiously.

"No, it's fine, I hunt better on my own...thanks anyway..."

"Of course...the big ice dragon hunts all alone like the rest of his kind. Don't you attack me again or I will slaughter you."

Flora walked away, and I couldn't help but watch the way her perfect hips and tail swayed with each step. Damn, if she were any prettier she'd be a goddess...Deep inside, it hurt me knowing that she'd never like me. I was an orphan since I was 2 (dragon years), whereas she'd grown up with her parents but had always been off on her own, tending to mingle with the rough crowd. Surprisingly, she was still a virgin, or so everyone was led to believe...she was very protective of herself and so far as I knew she'd de-maled anyone who tried to rape her.

I shook my head sadly and walked off, suddenly not hungry anymore.

note: Well, I can't directly remember more than that..guess I'll let the machine take over.

Gale ambled aimlessly through the forest, his mind still on Flora, when he heard a loud scream behind him. He whipped around and the next thing he knew Flora shot by him at full speed, a long blue bullet tearing through the forest. Gale looked towards where she'd appeared from and saw two huge demons coming after her, floating silently through the air. They weren't "demons", persay, but they were evil nonetheless and wielded scary powers. They were like big floating blobs of opaque black gas with bat-like wings and multiple deformed limbs. Gale felt something rise in him and he angrily stepped into their path. Flora watched from behind a tree as he stood there, staring down the two evil creatures.

"Out of our way," one of them hissed. "We want that dragoness."

"Over my dead carcass," Gale growled, bristling.

A vicious fight ensued, and Flora watched in horror and amazement as the three scuffled. Gale was like a cat; in and out, flexbile and accurate with his attacks. The fight couldn't be described, it was too fast to really see what was happening, but Gale suddenly blasted the two creatures with his ice-breath and lashed at them, cutting them apart. Their frozen pieces fell to the ground, and he spat on them and walked back to Flora. She was hunkered on the ground and looked at him with renewed respect...demons were hard to kill.

"You okay?" he asked, the viciousness leaving his face.

Flora shook her head and tried to stand up, her hind leg giving out. "One of them hit my leg awful hard..."

"Anything I can do to help?"

She stood back and shook her head. "No, I can manage..." She tried to walk away and retain her pride, but her leg gave out again and she screamed and fell over.

"Obviously not," Gale smirked, and walked up next to her injured side. "C'mon, get up."

"Don't you tell me what to do," she snarled.

"Okay then, guess you'll need to drag yourself out of here." He walked off, just waiting. Flora stared after him...

"Gale!"

"Yeeeeees?"

"I...I need your help..."

"Was that so hard to say?" he asked, coming up beside her again. She put her foreleg over his back, but stopped when he looked back at her questioningly.

"What?"

"What're you doing?"

"Weren't you wanting me to get on your back or something?"

"Well, that'd be nice but no."

"'Nice'?" she asked, giving him a look, and he nervously gulped.

"I mean...well, what I....oh forget it. You're walking and I'm helping you, that's what I was intending."

She pulled her leg off his back and glared at him. "I can't walk, dumbass, you just saw what happens."

"Ever heard of the six-legged race?"

Flora paused in mid-retort. "Yes...but I've never done them."

He looked back and nudged her injured leg with his. "Keep your ankle by mine and lean on me so you don't need to use the injured leg."

She hesitated and glared at him again. "What is this?"

He returned the glare. "Hey, I'm just trying to help you here, if it's so hard for you to accept help then I'll leave."

She stared at him angrily, and sighed and adjusted her hip against his, tucking her leg against his. "Alright, now what?"

"You'll need to lean your shoulder against mine for better support, and keep your left leg against my right one." She did as she was told and he couldn't help but smile to himself as he felt her scales against his...she was so soft...Snapping out of his brief trance he slowly took a step forward with his right foreleg, and she mimicked his motions, watching his forelegs and doing her best to mirror him. "That's it. Technically you don't need to use your bad side if you're leaning on me, but knowing you you'd probably prefer using three legs."

She kept silent, feeling his motions along her side and using that to predict his movements. It wasn't long before she could perfectly predict him, and pretty soon, as they neared the edge of the forest, there was no better-coordinated duo than these two.

Wow...I'm seriously impressed with this thing. I know I forgot the "note:" tag but wow. Guess I underestimated it...I'm gonna narrate from here, I remember this part better now.

She quietly guided me as we walked...I could tell she was thinking pretty hard; she was unusually quiet and kept her eyes on the ground. She was so soft and warm against me, but I was more concerned about her and what she was struggling with.

"Flora...something wrong?"

"No."

"I can tell you've got a lot going on up there," I said, tapping the side of my head against her horns.

"It doesn't concern you."

"Okay fine, just wondering. Where are you going, by the way?"

"I'm using you to get back to my cave...I've been out since midnight at least."

She's pretty blunt, I thought to myself. "Okay then, your cave it is. But I take it you haven't had any breakfast?"

"I'm fine." Her stomach chose that instant to grumble very loudly, and I laughed and she groaned. "Okay fine...I'm starving."

"You want some food?"

She slid off my side and I stopped and looked back at her. She was sniffing off to the side, staring at a grove not too far away. "I smell deer down there." She sat down and glared at me. "You wanna help me so badly, go get me something. Show me your high and mighty ice dragon hunting."

"Flora, when I said no earlier, I didn't mean it that way. The only way I know how to hunt is on my own."

"Whatever. Go, bring me back something."

I sat down. "No."

"No? You just asked me if I wanted something, follow up on your offer!"

I shook my head. "Flora, I was being nice. The line was crossed when you began ordering me."

She growled and I growled back. "Damn you! Stop playing these games with me!"

I snorted with laughter. "You're the one playing games, all I'm doing is offering to help. Nothing more than that."

"Then how do I get you to follow up on your offer?"

"Some nice words never did anyone wrong..."

She growled again, but I just sat there awaiting her decision. Finally she sighed and stared at the ground. "Okay...will you get me something...please?"

"Now was that so hard?" I asked, standing up.

Flora watched as he silently slunk away, surprised at how fluidly he moved. note: How is it pulling this info on her? Oh wait...that's right, she and I traded codes...my bad...it started third-personing on me. He quickly crawled over to the grove, and she watched him disappear amid the tall grass and saplings. A brown animal leapt away suddenly, but in a flash he was on it, chasing it madly and playing with it before he lunged forward and brought his jaw around its neck, snapping its spine. He dragged it back to Flora, who was very impressed with his skill.

"Ummm...wow..."

"You're welcome," he said, dropping it in front of her. She looked at him quizzically.

"Aren't you gonna eat?"

"You're hurt, you need it more."

She fumbled for a bit, trying but failing to find something to say. With a groan she started on the deer, and Gale watched. His stomach was killing him, but he wanted to make sure she was fine before tending to himself. She ate so cleanly Gale was completely awed...She looked up and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do you mind?"

"Mind what?"

"I don't like others watching me eat."

"I'm not watching you, I'm watching over you."

"I can take care of myself."

He motioned with his head over her, and she looked back quickly and started when she saw more demons roaming around in the distance. "I don't think you want more of those on you."

She nervously finished off as much as she could of the deer, and Gale helped her back to her cave after freezing the deer carcass solid. She paused at the cave entrance, and muttered incoherently as she tried to find something to say. "Gale...can you help me to my bed?"

He nodded and she guided him into the cave. It was very peaceful and quiet, and had a calm feeling to it. Her bed was a rock shelf covered in furs from her previous hunts, and she pulled herself up onto it. There was a pool of fresh water from the groundwater table leaking through the wall, right within reach of her neck, so she didn't need to worry about water.

"Need anything else?"

"No." He turned to walk out, but she cleared her throat nervously. "Gale...I...Ummm...thanks for...for helping me..."

He gave her a small smile. "You're welcome." As he left he felt her watching him and smiled to himself. Maybe that was a first step, he thought to himself. As he walked out and looked over the meadow down the hill, his eyes wandered across the tan-and-brown sky. For years now there had been a haze across the sky, making everything seem dead and ominous. The sun was able to shine clean through the haze, but right now it was obscured as some brown clouds hovered before it. Gale sighed...he missed the clear-blue color of the sky. It was visible if one were to ascend a tall mountain, but the haze grew ever higher with each passing year.

"Guess I should go get a breakfast now," I said to myself...but I couldn't pull myself away from Flora's cave. I felt like I needed to protect her...but from what? Those demon-things couldn't enter caves or dwelling places...and so far as I knew, wolves weren't a problem lately with the decreased food supply.

"Gale? Are you still there?"

I turned around; apparently she'd smelled me or guessed I couldn't walk away so easily. "Yes, need something?"

"No, I...well..." I headed into the cave and found her staring at the water. "Gale...I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I shouldn't have been so mean to you..."

"You're fine."

"No I'm not! I hate being so damn cold to everyone but...I can't help it, it's how I grew up..."

"You don't need to explain it to me."

She groaned. "I just feel terrible about how I treated you..." She looked up at me. "I mean, you're an orphan like me, but you're not like everyone else, you actually offered to help instead of walking away."

"Well what else can I do? If I'd left you to suffer your way home or deal with the demons I couldn't live with myself."

Her eyelids angled and she looked upset. "No one's been nice to me like you have..."

I knew that, but the way she looked at me...something seemed to connect and I could somehow feel her pain. She looked away and sniffed, trying not to cry. Why she was so emotional all of a sudden was a surprise to me, only having known her to be cold and uncaring.

"You need anything?" I asked quietly, and she shook her head. Her old self kicked in again and she snorted, looking angry again.

"Go away, get out of my cave."

I was confused, but somehow I understood she wasn't used to being emotional and didn't know how to take it, so I quietly left. My stomach was wringing itself, I was so damn hungry, but as I walked through the tall grass back towards the forest Flora's face kept getting in my way. All I could see was that adorable expression, those bright, beautiful eyes...but her upset face just killed me. It tore me apart that she was so upset, but she was proud and wouldn't accept help so there was nothing I could to to help her. I suddenly remembered the deer I'd frozen and raced back, hoping it was still there. Sure enough, it was still frozen solid, so I scared away the birds vainly pecking at the ice and indulged myself in what Flora hadn't eaten (which wasn't much). note: Yeah you're probably tired of my interruptions, but I'd like to point this out at this time. Ice dragons are adapted to eat frozen food; our teeth are far harder and stay sharper than those in other dragons so we can crunch right through ice with ease. Earth dragons occasionally eat rocks and such for dietary reasons but only ice dragons can regularly crunch hard materials. As such we have incredibly powerful jaws. See why I bit Flora and the deer instead of some other method? Ice dragons are the only ones that go for the spine or skull. And with that I step off my soapbox of pride...

After pretty much picking the bones clean and washing myself off I stared at the sky, wondering what to do now. My mind reeled with the possibilities, but when I came back to reality I found myself looking back at Flora's cave. *sigh*...Why am I so attracted to her?, I asked myself. She probably can't stand me... Why was I so focused on her all of a sudden? Yesterday I hardly even thought about anything but my own survival, and now here I was only thinking about Flora. Why? She hated me...or did she?

My thoughts were interrupted when a shadow flew over me. I looked up quickly and snarled...there he was, the bastard to end all bastards...Gormath. A huge, brown-scaled earth dragon with a bad temper, suave speech, and one hell of a cunning mind behind those dirt-level features. He hated me with an unchallenged passion, but the reason was about as well-known as the particle physics of protomatter. Which technically doesn't even exist. He kept a distance from me, but I knew he was the reason behind the ambushes I had to watch out for whenever I was in town. He lazily flew overhead, his tan underbelly blending in rather well with the cloudcover. He swooped lower, and my heart skipped in fear---Flora. He was headed right for her cave.

Using my camouflage skills I disappeared almost entirely and slunk back to her cave, just ahead of him. She shrieked when I suddenly appeared by the opposite wall from her.

"What the hell?!"

"Shh! Gormath is coming!"

Her eyes widened and she looked fearfully at the cave entrance. "Oh shit...he's gonna kill me..."

"Why?"

"I pissed him off the other day by telling him to leave me alone...and then when he came after me I tore up his side." She shrank against the wall. "Oh please...please just let him be in a yelling mood..."

Something flared up inside me as I saw her hunkering against the wall. "Don't worry, he won't touch you." I blended in with the wall and held completely still. Had there been a better light source than the mouth of the cave (like Flora's uncharged flamestones hanging from the roots in the cave roof), Gormath probably could have seen my form against the wall, but the lighting was just right that I could easily blend in. I knew he was sneaking around outside instead of flying directly in---he wasn't one to directly confront something, physically or verbally. Eventually we both heard his heavy footsteps outside, and sure enough, his rocky silhouette stood in the cave entrance and he slowly entered.

"Hello, Flora," he said evilly, and I had to restrain myself from lunging at him. "Still abed?"

"Get out of my cave," she snarled.

"Oh, all in good time." He sounded calm but his face was livid. "Just wanted to stop by and chat about yesterday."

"About what? You trying to force yourself on me? I already told you no."

"That's just it," he said, and he stood right by her bed, between her and me. "No one tells me 'no' and you know that."

"Get away from me!" she shouted, and Gormath stepped back with a pained grunt as she raked his chest with her claws.

"I see you're hurt...that makes this all the easier," he said. His tone of voice made my blood boil...he was going to rape her. I was about to lunge at him, but he stopped and sniffed the air. "Aha...that bastard of a dragon was here, wasn't he?"

"You're the bastard! GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

"You've been with him, haven't you?" he asked, and I could tell he was angry at the thought. He bent over Flora...and stopped, feeling my jaw around his neck, right at the base of the skull.

"Step away from her," I growled around his scales. Flora watched, horrified as Gormath backed away and I dragged him towards the cave entrance. I laughed---he didn't dare try anything, he knew that any movement might make me crack his neck.

"Let go, Froststar, or you'll pay dearly."

"I'll let go when I'm ready, and you won't say anything contrary or it's lights out for you," I snarled, and he grimaced as I bit down slightly harder, my teeth making small marks in his scales but not piercing them. Luckily, my muzzle was long enough that I could hold him yet leave enough room to talk. We went outside the cave and I stopped dragging him, keeping my mouth on his neck as a means of leverage.

"So you're after the pretty dix, aren't you?" note: "dix" is one of a few dragon equivalents for "bitch"

"No, I merely helped her get home. Now when I release you, you are to get the hell out of here and leave her alone, you hear me?"

"Words, mere wor-okay!" he shouted as I pressed on his neck. "Okay! I'll leave! Let go!"

"Oh, I'm not finished with you yet," I growled, and I felt him shiver. "Explain to me why you had Daran come after me last night. And why you think you can go after Flora or anyone else on a whim."

"Daran did that of his own choice after he consulted with me."

"I won't accept that. What did you tell him?"

He growled---I was an intellectual equal and he hated it, seeing how he placed himself higher than others. "He was upset that you beat up his cousin two weeks ago."

"That's not what I asked."

"I told him you shouldn't go unpunished, that's all I said."

"And what do you have against Flora?"

"You mean 'with' her."

"I am this close to your spine," I snarled, pressing my jaw even harder.

"You know I have a collection, right?"

"That's a bastard's way of referring to those who create life." It pissed me off to no end that he referred to his "sex-slaves" as a "collection".

"She was going to get a handsome amount of money for it if she accepted."

"Get it through your skull that when asked, someone does have the right to say 'no'." I let him go, glad beyond belief to have his scales away from my tongue, and he whipped around only to have my claws right against the base of his jaw, right where the underside connected to the neck...right over his windpipe. "Get out of here. Leave Flora and other dragonesses alone. And you'd damn well better stop harassing me or I will have your hide." I pushed him away with my claws as a threatening gesture, and he bolted off, knowing I could best him in a fight if pushed to the limit. Earth dragons have amazing endurance and can take hard hits with their thick hide, but luckily I knew of their four weakest spots (the base of the skull, the base of the jaw, the legpits right by the underbelly scales, and a small area on the back at the base of the tail where earth dragons rarely have thick scaling). Watching him fly off, I headed back into the cave and Flora stared at me. I sheepishly looked away. "He's gone."

"Thank you," she said, and I felt my heart skip briefly---she was actually smiling! This was a picture moment, she had NEVER smiled at anyone before...all I could do was smile back. Something felt wrong in my mouth, and she looked at me curiously as my eyes widened. "Gale?" I ran out quickly and forced myself to throw up outside. "Gale?!" she called, obviously confused. "You okay?"

I froze the stuff in my mouth to get it out and spat out the pieces, then walked back in nervously, blushing a bit. "Yeah...yeah I'm fine," I panted, still shaky from the upheaval. "Damn bastard tried to poison me...I forgot all about that."

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine, it wasn't ingested a whole lot." I walked over to her side, eyeing her injured leg. "Wow...they hit you pretty damn hard, you're bruising through the scales..."

She looked at her leg and winced. "Hope it's not broken..."

"I can check if you want..."

She eyed me suspiciously, but stretched out her hind leg. "Better safe than sorry."

I sat back and felt her leg, closing my eyes and letting the sense-deprivation of sight heighten the sense of touch. She hissed in pain through her teeth as I felt her muscles...damn she was in good shape...Grunting, I shoved those thoughts aside the best I could and tried to find any breaks. "Hrrmmmm..." I sideglanced at her. "If I show you a power I have, will you swear NEVER to tell anyone else unless I give permission?

"Uhhhhh...what kind of power is this?"

"I need your promise first."

"Okay fine, I promise...but what is it?"

"Lean your head over here," I said, extending my paw and keeping the other on her leg. She looked thoroughly confused but leaned her head towards my paw. When the pads of my paw were touching her scales I closed my eyes and focused hard. She gasped as she saw what I was seeing---an "X-ray" view of her leg, but we were also able to see her muscles, blood vessels, ligaments...everything was transparent, as if looking through tinted glass, but her bruising was like an ugly stain. We could both see that she had a bruised bone. I stopped the vision and she pulled away quickly, looking at me in awe.

"Wha...what was that?"

"Some ice dragons have the ability to see through objects, or focus on something and see things different ways. The power is rare, though, now that ice dragons aren't limited strictly to the mountains where such a talent is almost vital." I let go of her leg and she stared at me. "Well, you've got a bruised bone but it should heal well, there were no other signs of injury other than that and the bruising."

She looked at the entrance to the cave, depressed. "Great...how'm I gonna eat?"

"I'll get you food until you're better...I don't have anything else to do all day but mill around town or through the forest."

She looked back at me with a smile. "You will?"

"Sure, you need it and I need something to do."

Her eyes watered over a bit. "Thank you so much..."

Gale smiled back and left her alone when she yawned and put her head down to rest. Walking outside with a content sigh, he spread his wings and took off, circling above lazily as he tried to decide where to go from here.

"Of course! Daran!" he said to himself, remembering last night, and took off for the ruinous city.

Oh wow...sorry, fell asleep briefly there. I'm gonna log off for a while and try to recall some memories so I'm not relying so heavily on the memory-scanning.

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