FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter five: Visitors in the night.

Veil's great wall stood before him. A formidable barrier against a direct attack to be sure.

With magics instilled in its very foundations it had the power to repel intruders from both above and below. It was even capable of forming a living army from its very substance to aid in its defense.

But it lacked the power to protect itself against more subtle, unseen attacks.

His hand reached out from beneath his mirage cloak and alighted upon its smooth surface. He touched the rune engraved upon its surface and spoke. "Agni, Rudra. I speak your names, and beckon you to sleep." He smiled, though there were none around who could see it.

There was no great stirring of magics. No faithful guardians to bar his path. Merely a door, flanked as always by fearsome stone statues.

The mirage cloak had required a considerable investment in time and energy. It did not offer him true invisibility, but rather, dulled the senses of those who looked upon it. Causing him sight and seen to vanish from before their very eyes.

They would be able to look upon him for but a moment before they forgot him. Unsure if they could even place trust their eyes. It was a small matter after that to erase whatever memories they had of him.

Those whose interest lingered too long could often be disposed of in more, suitable ways.

* * *

Navi drifted through the library. The nights belonged to her now. When no one was around, she was free to exist. Free to walk the halls unbound by the laws of the contract. It was a wonderful experience. And one she had quite thoroughly come to enjoy.

Tonight however, she was not alone. She could feel a presence in the library with her.

Someone was lifting books from the shelves before placing them back with such meticulous care, that not even the dust on their bindings would be disturbed.

Could it be Shiro? It would be like him to sneak into the library at night. She began to tremble. No. It can't be. This feeling. This overwhelming darkness. It's suffocating. It's spiteful.

A voice from nowhere and nothing said. "Tell me where I can find the Arcanum Arcanorum."

Navi didn't know who or what she was talking to but she sure as hell wasn't about to take orders from a mysterious voice. "I don't have to tell you anything."

* * *

Defiance? From a bound demon? "Insignificant insect!" He was incensed. "You are bound by the laws of the contract. You cannot disobey me!" He reached out with magic, he would invoke the contract, bend her will to his own. She maintained her stubborn expression.

His eyes flared wide in surprise.

"I can see it around you. Someone has given you a name!" His laughter was a sound without warmth. "What delicious irony! To think. Someone exists who is actually foolish enough to give a demon a name. This really is too much." He looked at her with eager eyes, hungry for detail. "Tell me you devoured his soul . . . no, no they would have destroyed you as well. And for a demon summoned to our plane of existence. Freedom is everything."

The feeling of power that surrounded her was familiar. Almost as if it was a twin to his own.

"Tell me. Who is the one who gave you your name?"

"I won't."

"Do not seek to defy me." The power that held her in thrall grew in force and intensity. "You have a name now. You exist, and you can be hurt. Hurt in ways that even I cannot begin to imagine." He sought the cracks in her mind. "A name is a spiritual construct, a vessel that defines thought and energy. Allowing it to exist without form." Slipping in between the places where thoughts joined together. "Strip it away." Navi. So that is her name. "And it leaves the soul bare." He delved into her mind, filtering through her paltry secrets until he found what he was looking for.

The memory of a face he knew as well as his own.

He left her lying upon the floor.

Shiro Tora is here and he has the book.

He laughed, not caring if anyone was around to hear him.

Everything is falling into place. Let the pawns play at their pathetic games. Only too soon will they realize the hand that moves them from the shadows. Is mine.

Leaving the library behind He went to claim his prize.

* * *

The halls of Veil Academy slowly began to grow transparent as he moved amongst them, silent and unseen. He slowed his step, treading cautiously. Something felt . . . wrong.

A trap perhaps?

Another step and whole forests began sprouting up through the floor.

No, a warding. Someone is attempting to draw me into the ethereal plane. And across the bridge that leads into dreams.

So be it, I will go to greet the one who stands at this warding's heart.

The further he tread the thicker the forest became. Lengthening until it stretched beyond the horizon. Whether he had walked for miles or a single step it mattered not. Here he was subject to the whims of its creator.

Eventually he came upon a clearing and stepped into a copse of trees bathed in moonlight.

A single stone set the stage. And upon it. Its sole occupant lay as regally as any queen. A great cat of purest midnight, who gazed at him with eyes of baleful golden fire.

Her voice shook the wood, and made the wind tremble in its passing. "Who are you, to dare trespass in this place?"

He held up a hand to ward her off. "Ah, no names. You and I both know far better than that. Let us say that I am but a watcher with an interest in dreams. I have come out of mere curiosity only."

The hidden forest rustled and moved. A living thing it bore silent witness to their exchange.

"Yet you have shrouded yourself in a clothes woven of twilight." She idly pointed him out with a paw. "What kind of watcher cloaks themselves in a mirage; but one who wishes naught but mischief of the worst kind?"

So she had seen him. Already he was slipping more into the world of her making. But she was not yet aware of his identity. For that would give her real power over him.

"It is a riddle for you, a mystery to be solved." His tone was musical, slipping into her ears with seductive promise. "Long has it been since I have played at the old games."

She roused herself, growing in size and power. "So you would think to trap me?" Her laugh was haughty and self assured. She was master in this place, and she would not have him forget it. "No, we will not play games this night. You are a mouse, a morsel to be devoured." She bared ivory fangs. "And I find that my hunger is great."

He rose to the challenge. "Then you will have to catch me first. For I suspect both of us will enjoy the chase." He had already begun to insinuate himself amidst the dream. Even if he was to be a mouse he could still wield his power, and even dreams followed certain rules.

He ducked amongst the many branches, running past the roots of trees that if they could, would have grown hands to snatch at him with.

The sound of her chase was thunder in his ears, her footfalls snapped branches and tore the earth. She would be upon him soon.

He ran faster. Seeking ever to escape the borders of her mind and into someone else's.

And there, upon its fringes he found it.

It was a place devoid of even malice. A world of endless ice and snow. A land locked in eternal winter.

Among its many crystal spires were beautifully wrought statuary. Marked as they were by a masters skilled hands; they stood as delicate and ephemeral as carefully spun glass.

They were all of her. A lone beacon of warmth amidst a frozen wasteland.

She stood behind him. And for a moment, for the breadth of a single heartbeat, a mere woman stood in place of the cat. But this was no longer her dream, it was someone else's, and here she was merely playing a part in it.

Creeping ice and freezing snow grasped at him with fingers colder than death.

Too soon he realized his error. In leaving her dream behind he had entered Shiro's. Now; both familiar and master stood arrayed against him.

No less a threat as he had planned the force of her wrath was terrible to behold. "He is mine." She said simply. "And I will not let you claim him."

She was once more the master of this place. A goddess born of dreams and nightmares, both terrible beauty and awesome powers were hers to command.

He drew shadows to himself. Seeking to leave the only way he knew how. By slipping between the cracks of night and day, the waking and the dreaming.

"I concede the battle to you, for here you are protected by your master's magic." She was watching him intently, her eyes seeking to pierce the dark surrounding him. He could feel the longing in her claws to tear his soul from his flesh. In sleep it rests within you, his dreams instill you with limitless power. He bowed to her mastery, a concession to a superior foe. "In this moment, I do not think that I wish to do battle with a high-immortal."

His words shook her enough to let him slip away.

* * *

He was quick to take his leave of Veil Academy. Lest she come searching for him, to draw him back into a world where she was the master.

She had been an unforeseen obstacle, an unexpected hindrance, but it was no matter.

Time enough there was to strip him of his defenses. Time enough to prepare him for the days to come.

His thoughts turned unexpectedly to the woman who had dared to defy him. Guard him if you must, love him if you dare. But when the time comes, together you shall rest; in that, eternal silent repose.

He would send word to the Purists. It was time to pull the strings, and watch as his puppets danced once more.

* * *

_To think there would be two of us here. Both of us watchers; immortals who would dare to bear witness to histories web and its weave.

Destinies grand schemes draw the very threads of fate together. It is ever thus, as it has always been. For soon enough, even the skeins of time shall rest in my hands.

Awaiting that day; is but a moments passing dream._

~~Excerpt, from the Memenos in Votum