FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

In the Verntax Mountains, a small village lies hidden among the range. Tall trees hid the village from two castle fighting a war against each other. The snow falling ever so quietly over the town, covering it in a thick, fluffy blanket of white powder. The town had two fires burning near a large wooden gate that guarded the small village. Two guards watched the gate as everyone slept in their warm houses.

In a cave off to the north, a small leopard lay curled up in a tight ball. Shivering from the cold, he had built a fire to warm himself. However, the fire would not last long without dry wood. The leopard soon fell into a cold, pain induced sleep. A single white rabbit noticed his small fire and carried him off to the nearby village. The leopard was given a warm place to sleep for the night and food would be prepared for him in the morning. The rabbit that had found him was to take care of him while he recovered from his frost bitten state. The leopard would then be allowed to leave as he pleased.

When the morning came, the small leopard was the first to stir. His nose twitched at the unfamiliar smells and warmth of the air surrounding him. It didn't take long for him to realize he was not in same dark, cold cave he had passed out in.

"Oh Seymore, what have you gotten yourself into now." He quietly whispered to himself as he sat up in the foreign bed.

The bunny heard him whisper, and came into the room he was in.

"You're awake! I was a bit worried you wouldn't make it."

She was a short, white bunny who was perfect for the snowy mountains. She wore villager rags but seemed to pull them off quiet well. Not a single spot on her fur was dirty, mostly because of the fresh snow that froze all the muddy water and melted into her warm fur to wash away any dirt.

"Wha? Where am I?"

"That's not important right now. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" The bunny seemed to be worried about Seymore, even if she didn't know him too well.

"I'm fine. Just..... Its nothing, I've been in worse."

Seymore looked around with closed eyes as his nose twitched, he could smell something scrumptious.

"Are you making something?" Seymore asked.

"Yes, I figured I'd make you something for breakfast. I was told to care for you when I found you, and you look like you haven't eaten for days."

As if on cue, his stomach let out a loud growl showing the world it's presence. He looked away embarrassed.

"You don't need to make a fuss over me, I'll get out of your fur in a bit." He said as he started to climb out of the bed. It was then he realized he was naked. "Oh! I almost forgot. I put your clothes, if you could even call those ripped pieces of cloth clothes, in to the wash pile. And believe me dear, it's no trouble." She said smiling as she walked out the small room. Seymore couldn't stand his hunger anymore and decided to settle into the bed and wait for breakfast.

The bunny walked into the room holding some fresh cooked steak.

"I don't normally eat meat, I do want to help you though." She placed the food onto a tray near Seymore.

"Would you like anything to drink? We have milk and some cold, fresh water."

"I'll have some milk. And maybe something to eat this stake with if you don't mind too much." The bunny left and walked back in smiling while holding a glass of milk and some silverware.

"Thank you miss.... Uhhh....."

"Christina, Christy for short."

At that moment, he had never smelled anything so amazing in his life. Christina had in fact been right about him not eating for a few days. He felt absolutely famished, and had found it hard to wait for her to get back into the room with the silverware.

Christina sat in a chair adjacent to the bed while he ate. She had never seen a leopard as they were rare in these parts, let alone a snow leopard. While Seymore was eating, he was very conscious of the fact that Christina was staring at him. Finally, Christina broke the silence.

"So how come you keep your eyes closed? I haven't seen you open them yet."

Seymore shifted uncomfortably. He usually didn't open up to people so as not to get attached, but he figured since she had been so kind to him so far, he'd a least let her know about about him.

"I usually don't open my eyes because I was born blind." He said as he opened his eyes to look directly at her. He continued as she gasped

"I've always had my own way to see things. I've been able to do it as long as I can remember."

As he continued eating, Christina could tell he wasn't going to say anymore, so she just watched him finish his meal and the glass of milk she'd given him.

After Seymore finished eating he got up and walked towards the door.

"Oh! You shouldn't move! Your wounds!" She got up and held her hand to her mouth in a gasping fashion.

"Wounds?" Seymore looked at his side and saw two deep, stitched up, wounds going far across his sides.

"You shouldn't move for a few days, your wounds may open up again." She walked over to him and grabbed his arm to help him over to the bed.

"I'm fine, I can walk over to the bed myself" he lightly tugged his hand away and walked back to his bed, grunting a bit as he realized his wounds did, in fact, hurt. A few drops of blood had fallen out as he laid down onto the bed.

"Sorry about your wounds. Do you know how you got them?"

Seymore thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't remember how, or where I got them. Not right now anyways. Sorry about your bed, it may stain a bit."

"It's nothing to worry about right now, just get some rest and feel better again soon." She walked away with a forced smile, knowing that he could somehow see it.

The room was rounded, as was most of the house. Most of the house seemed to be a mixture of wooden logs, and brick to provide structure. The bed was soft, now wet from his slightly open wound, yet warm from the thick blankets covering it. The house was warm, despite the cold climate of the mountains. The house was warmed by fire stoves placed around the house. The bunny could be heard jumping back and forth between the stoves, placing wood into each of them. Seymore relaxed into the bed as he felt himself sink close to sleep in the cozy house. He once again thought of the reason he had been in the mountains in the first place. It was still a bit fuzzy, probably because of whatever had caused his wounds.

He shrugged off his lingering feelings of doubt and decided he would remember later, perhaps after he had gotten more rest. With that, he decided to give into the sleep that had been gnawing at him for a few minuets now. His last conscious thought as he drifted into sleep was 'that rabbit sure is making a lot of noise'.

---

"How long does he have to stay here?" A mysterious voice sounded as Seymore slowly awoke from his dream.

"A week, maybe two tops. Just long enough to heal him." Christina could be heard, sounding like she was pleading to keep the leopard in town.

"We can't have him here for too long, he could be a spy for Thesvus, trying to gain our trust before attacking to gain a midway space." The voice sounded angry. Seymore sat up with a slight grunt and walked into the other room to find two people standing there, one familiar bunny, and one coyote. The coyote wore a black coat that covered his entire body, minus the head, and had many pockets that remained unused. A coat made for traveling long distances.

The coyote noticed Seymore and turned his attention to him. "Look who's up. You look to be in a bit of pain."

"Yeah, I'm still trying to remember what happened." He said checking the stitches again.

"Sure you are. Names Vincent. Mind telling me yours?"

"Seymore." He Replied, now looking at the coyote

"Well lad, do you know about the wars going on between the two castles?" Vincent asked folding his arms.

"Wars?" A sudden flashback happened in Seymore's mind. It was still blurry but he remembered an attacker in red guard armor.

"You seem clueless enough. Alright kid, I have to go now." Vincent said as he turned and left the house, leaving Christina in the room with the naked snow leopard.

"Would you like to put something on? It's a bit cold out, and I fixed your clothes." She asked hiding a smirk.

Seymore blushed a bit and nodded. "Sorry, I'm not used to having to hide myself, I'm usually by myself."

Christina left the room for a second and returned with his now repaired clothes which he gratefully put back on.

"I suppose I'll stop parading around your house naked." He said laughing nervously.

"By the way, who was that?" Asked Seymore.

"That was Vincent, the head of this village, and my husband." She sneaked in a small snicker. "I call him Vince sometimes just to tease him." Seymore managed a half-hearted smile. He was still feeling uneasy about his inability to fully remember what, or who had hurt him and for what reason.

Instead of dwelling on unwanted thoughts, he instead turned to his current situation.

He turned toward Christina. "Does what he said mean I can't leave?"

"Well, you can leave when you want but I really wouldn't suggest leaving until your wounds have fully healed, and I'm fully prepared to take care of you until then."

Seymore considered her words and finally gave a sigh of acceptance. Well, if you really don't mind me being here, I suppose I'll stay till my wounds have healed. I may have forgotten what happened to me, but I remember that I had something important to do."

With that, he turned back towards the room, and Christina figured she wouldn't bother asking about anything else since he probably wouldn't give her an answer. So she went back to doing the rest of the house work she had left to do.

---

Outside, a crowed had gathered. The town was preparing for a fight. The land was to soon be taken by one of the armies fighting near them. The castle to the south, ruled by Thesvus, wore red armor and flew a red flag with a dragon biting a bird skull off. The castle to the north, ruled by a woman named Ruby, flew a dark green flag with a bird flying near the sun. Their armor was mainly a dark green to blend in with surrounding trees but the snow gave them away. Neither castle had enough strength to full out attack without a point to rest between the two castles.

"We need to get every man and woman who has fighting skills to pick up a sword. We have to protect our village!" A man shouted from the crowd.

"We don't have enough people to fight back. We need a plan, someone who has had enough skills to protect us." Another man shouted out.

"We need both!" The crowd started fighting.

"HEY!" A booming voice shouted over the crowd. "Fighting here will get us NOWHERE! I have a plan, I have been working on it for a while. The castles are based on brute strength and are weak to magic, so everyone who can, shall learn magic." The plan was a lob shot but was the villages best hope. After the crowed calmed a bit, they did realize that it was rare to see soldiers of either side use any type of magic other that slight defensive magic. A small flicker of hope arose when they realized they might actually be able to defend their village using magic.

The crowd eventually all turned their attention to whoever had spoken earlier to find that it had been Vincent. They all rallied off of their leaders strength and readied for war.

"Alright, as it appears everyone is in agreement, I need all non magic using townsfolk to proceed to the armory and prepare for battle. All magic users report directly to me immediately for battle strategies."

Nobody had any better ideas so they went along with his idea and their only hope of surviving. They all got sent to do what was asked of them while the sounds of marching soldiers grew closer and closer.

Vincent came into the house in a rush. Seymore could hear his heart pounding.

"What's wrong Vince? Is everyone prepared?" Christina asked.

"Everyone is well prepared and the fight nears. I'm just worried about you." Vincent said with a shaking voice.

"Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Don't forget I have some magic of my own." She hugged him and when the hug broke she poked his chest, flicking her finger upwards with her palm facing up.

"I know. You have great healing magic but I am worried about your defensive magic."

"If it worries you that much, then do you want us to hide?" Christine asked with a sigh

"I want you to be safe. Don't attack anyone, please." This was a rare occasion, Vincent being so worried over someone else.

"I promise I won't." She hugged him one more time. "You stay safe too."

"I will. I promise." He hugged her and kissed her cheek, then left the room.

Seymore couldn't help but overhear the conversation in the other room. She had healing magic that she was fluent in and she had not used it yet! He could have been let loose a while ago had she healed him. He would have to talk to her about it later, but now was not the time by the sounds of things. Seymore heard the door slam shut, some yelling outside, then nothing. Christina walked back into room with an odd, almost frightened expression on her face.

"What's going on?" Seymore asked trying to pick up on the situation.

"You've heard of the war being waged by Thesvus right?"

Seymore just looked confused. "Argh! I feel like I should know something about that, but I just can't remember!"

Christina looked at Seymore with compassion. "It's okay, I'm sure it will come to you. But I'll just start from the beginning then. When this country was founded, certain people from different places of the world took power in the separate regions the country was divided into. For a while everything was peaceful and the land prospered."

Her expression darkened. "Then, everything changed when Thesvus took over his kingdom. He was full of darkness. Of greed. A few regions have already fallen to his evil. His next target happens to be our region and our queen, Ruby."

Seymore sat listening intently as he racked his brain trying to remember.

Christina continued. "The problem now is that the gap between his territory and the queen's castle is too great to march troops across. They need a resting point in between, and unfortunately for us, our humble village is directly in between."

"So that's what's going on outside?" Asked Seymore as he put two and two together.

"Exactly. We need to try and hold them off as long as we can. We've sent word to the queen in hopes of reinforcements, but they wont make it fast enough. We-"

She was interrupted by a loud swell of yelling followed by the harsh clang of metal against metal.

"They're here, we need to go and hide," she said as she pulled Seymore out of the bed. "I promised Vince that I wouldn't fight."

They ran into the main part of the house, then went through the kitchen. On the other side of the room there was a rough looking wooden door. The door opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down.

"Can you manage stairs? The cellar is the best place to hide."

Seymore nodded, and Christina rushed down the stairs. They chose a dark corner on the left side of the dark room behind some food storage shelves and sat down to wait out the violence taking place outside the modest house.

Yelling could be heard outside along with loud clashing metal. There was a window that Seymore could see parts of the battle through. There were men in red fighting villagers all over the place. The villagers consisted of men and women holding rusty and dull family swords. A few were using pitchforks as weapons. Some had no weapons at all and were waiting for guards to die so they could have their blades.

"DON'T FORGET YOUR SPELLS!" Vincent could be heard shouting outside.

Three people had stopped in their tracks and held out their hands. Lightning shot from two and ice from the third. Five guards fell from the shock and one was frozen by the ice blast, leaving three slowed by the cold. The red armored warriors were losing the battle.

"NOW GO! GATHER THEIR WEAPONS!" Vincent shouted again.

The people who were waiting quickly ran out there and grabbed the weapons. It was a blood bath on the field. About 20 of the enemies had fallen now, at a cost of 8 of the villagers total. Many were just wounded but to a near death state. There were very few healers in town, the most powerful being Christina.

"I have to go out there before they die!" Christine said, her voice shaking.

"You can't go out there, you promised Vince that you wouldn't." Seymore said as he grabbed her wrist.

Christine had a worried look in her eye as she sat back down after jumping up to leave. She looked away from the window, But not before she saw Vincent being attacked by two of the red armored enemies. She forced her eyes to look away.

"GAH!!!"Vincent shouted over the clashing blades and jingling armor. He had been stabbed in the upper leg, about an inch away from the bone.

Then a loud crash sounded in the upstairs living room.

Little did the whole village know, there was a small group of soldiers sent off to attack from the west side of town. The group consisted of about ten men, and had started going through houses trying to take hostages that were hiding to force the town to surrender.

One of them had entered the house that Christina and Seymore were hiding in. They fell silent to avoid being heard as more doors crashed open upstairs. One by one each door was busted open until the door leading to the cellar flew open and broke off it's hinges. The soldier that came into view was a lean wolf decked out in red armor and held a very intimidating sword.

He had yet to notice them, but they both knew it was just a matter of time. He wandered closer and closer scoping out the dirt floored basement for any signs of life. Then in a split moment, Christina decided it was better to catch him off guard than to let him find them. She silently grabbed a spare plank of wood lying on the shelf next to them and sprung from her hiding spot with a shout and swung as hard as she could. She caught him off guard as she had intended and the board connected with a painful sounding crack to the soldiers head.

But Christina's strong-suit was healing not fighting, so her strongest wasn't quite strong enough to finish the wolf in one swing. The wolf yelled in pain and grabbed Christina by the wrists making her drop her weapon.

"Dammit bitch, that hurt!" he barked at her while he made his way back towards the stairs with her squirming in his iron grip.

Seymore wouldn't allow himself to stand by and watch the one who had saved him and showed him such kindness to be dragged away and possibly killed. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd do, but he wasn't just gonna sit there. He silently jumped out of the corner and sprinted across the room with lightning speed. When he grabbed the plank that was dropped, it made enough noise to alert the wolf. But by the time he turned around, Seymore connected another solid hit to the man's head.

It seemed to stun him a bit more than Christina's hit, but it still wasn't enough to drop him.

"God dammit, how many of these bastards are there?" the wolf growled as he lashed his hand out. He managed to grab a hold of Seymore's wrists as well, and now had them both restrained.

They were dragged up the stairs as they struggled vainly. When they got back into the living room, the wolf slipped something around Seymore's hands to keep them still, and he was shoved to the floor. When he turned to do the same to Christina, she fought back again. She got her hands free and tried as hard as she could to just beat him senseless. It was doing next to nothing though, and behind the skirmish, Seymore struggled to free his hands. Suddenly fear kicked into his mind and he thrashed around in a panic trying to free his hands as his mind raced with feelings that were almost like claustrophobia.

Then in his mind, something snapped. He literally felt something unravel around his mind, and everything came rushing back to him. He remembered the red armored mage that found and attacked him in the mountains outside the village and placed some mind wiping spell on him. He also remembered what he himself was capable of.

On the other side of the room, the wolf had Christina pinned to the floor getting ready to restrain her again. Suddenly, the wolf had a ball of heat smash into his back and knocked him off of the bunny he held captive. He got off the floor and turned to find out who had hit him, and he was faced with the young snow leopard standing opposite him with two more balls of fire floating in his hands. There was small traces of burnt rope hanging off of his wrists, and his body had a bright red glow around it. The soldiers was not allowed time for another thought before Seymore unleashed a wave of inferno that shot the now unconscious and burnt wolf straight through the front door into the dwindling violence that was occurring outside the house.

The wolf crashed into two more enemies before falling down to the ground. A few of the enemies noticed and started freaking out.

"Fire force down! Lets go!" An enemy shouted.

The one Seymore had fought off had been the only mage the small army brought for the attack. The army was not filled with mages, in fact, only about 5 of the entire enemy army had magic. They thought the town would be an easy target so they took a small army and one mage to try and take over, thinking no one could use magic in the town. The army retreated and archers that were still able to stand took out as many as possible did so as they fled.

"H-ha! T-take th-at you b-bastards!" Vincent shouted before collapsing from his deep wounds. He had suffered one more strike to his back during the struggle inside Christina's house.

"Vince!" Christina shouted as she ran to him after seeing his body fall to the ground. "Don't worry! I will fix you right up!" She said as she cried. A crowd started to gather around them, hoping the leader of the village would not die from his deep wounds. After minor healing, he was brought back to Christina's house to be fully healed. The rest of the villagers started to clean and repair their damaged village.

"W-where am I?" Vincent said as he woke up on a bed to be greeted by the crying face of Christina an the unmoved face of Seymore.

"You are in your home, safe from harm." Christina said with a smile, crying a bit from happiness. Vincent grunted as he sat up in the bed and let what happened sink in.

"How are the other villagers?" he asked, immediately more worried for his towns-folk than himself.

"Don't worry, all the injured are recovering. The funerals for the ten villagers we lost are being planned, so you can mourn then." Christina said quietly. Vincent's thoughts brought him to remembering the mage being shot out of their house.

"What happened in there. Tell me everything."

Christina exchanged a glance with Seymore, she looked back and explained the whole story. Afterwards, Vincent thanked Seymore for saving Christina and giving them the edge by defeating the mage. He kept it in his mind to keep an eye on the strange leopard, and moved to get out of bed, for he had a town to look after. Christina protested adamantly and followed him out the door.

"Did you grab the armor off of the dead ones?" Vincent asked a villager who guarded one of the armories.

"Yes, everything is in here." He patted the door he was guarding.

"Good, we can grind off the red paint and have armor of our own. Get someone else to stand guard and take a break. Also send someone in to fix up broken armor. Replace old swords with the swords we scavenged and make sure everyone has one."

"Will do. I'm surprised to see you so serious today." The guard talked casually to Vincent.

"We lost a lot of men and women in that fight. I don't want it to happen again."

"Got it." The guard walked off to find the town black smith. He was a good smith but rarely got to work with metal anymore due to such a small village.

"You should rest. You aren't fully recovered yet." Christina said.

"I will be fine Christy, don't worry." He smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "I promise."

---

While Christy and Vince went off to check on the town, Seymore found himself getting bored and decided to stroll around the town and go over his recovered memories. He walked towards the center of town and the market. Everyone was scrambling around trying to stock up for a long period of time without supplies in case of blocked trade routes.

He sighed. 'I need to get to the queen as soon as possible.' He though to himself.

He thought back to when his kingdom fell. Well his dad's at least. He had grown up in the streets after his parents were killed by a petty robber. Apparently the guy couldn't bring himself to kill an innocent blind child. At the time he found himself wishing the thief had actually killed him. He spent about three years trying to fend for himself.

One thing about the king of his region was that he was extremely modest, and never thought of himself as better than the civilians. It wasn't uncommon to see him in the market place with one or two guards. One day, the king was attacked in broad daylight. It was a stray mage just looking for something to steal. He had taken out the guards quickly, but Seymore had been there at the time. While everyone was screaming and running away, he jumped to defend the king. He knew he could use magic, but had no skill at controlling it, and almost always hurt himself when he tried to use it. He managed something strong enough to set both him and the attacker on fire, and the thief teleported away.

The king brought Seymore back to his castle, and had him healed. After he awoke, he was greeted by the king himself. After some explaining about who he was and how he lost his parents, the king offered for him to live with him in the castle and train with his best mage to learn how to control his magic.

Life turned around for Seymore at that point. The king had really taken a liking to Seymore and developed a soft spot for him. After a few months, he even had legal adoption papers made and filled out and became his legal father since he had no kids of his own. After a few years, he gained fair control of his magic and many new spells. He joined into the kings militia mage wing of which there were only fifteen, and he had worked his way to second in command. He thought they were invincible and nothing would ever harm their peaceful reign.

That's when Thesvus moved in and his re-established life crumbled again. Thesvus had already claimed three other territories at the time, and his wicked gaze wandered to their region and his soldiers swooped in without a trace of warning. We were completely unprepared for an attack on that large of a scale. Needless to say, we lost. The elite twenty guards escaped with the king and queen and are currently in hiding farther into the territory along with the twelve mages that survived, him being thirteen. In that battle, number one fell. He had been his master and taught him everything he knew. He died fighting for his country, and left the mage wing in his care.

Shortly after, he was personally sent by the king to try and ally Queen Ruby in the territory directly north from their location in hopes of regaining the precious lands and civilians that were taken from them by cruel brutality.

He had been attacked on the way to the queen by one of Thesvus's mages with the purpose of blocking his memory. Obviously he had succeeded and left him for dead in the freezing mountains.

Seymore shook his head as he came back to reality. According to his senses, his feet had brought him to the outskirts of the village to a large flat rock standing above a field blanketed in untouched snow. He sighed and turned to head back to the village before he nearly froze to death again.

While Seymore was well lost in thought, he hadn't notice the other set of footprints behind him. As he turned around he had heard someone yip lightly. He could not pinpoint where the sound originated from. The wind and the echo had interfered with the sounds around him.

"Where are you?! Show yourself!" Seymore shouted, his voice echoing through the forest before it dissipated.

Suddenly He heard her speak again a few feet in front of him from around a rock. "I-I'm sorry sir. I just thought...." her voice went silent as she came out from behind the rock and looked at Seymore. She was a lynx. Her ears were long and fluffy, while her tail remained short. She hid her tail between her legs from nervousness, and partly from the cold. She was wearing warm clothing but the wind still pierced through and chilled her.

"You what?" Seymore said as he let his guard down and approached the shivering lynx.

She closed her eyes and stood straight up, all 5'6 of her. Her head was facing down as she shouted what she thought. "I just wanted to tell you that I think you're cute!"

"I...I what?" Seymore said, confused by the phrase.

"I saw you back in town and.... and I.... I wanted to tell you." She hid her face and quickly ran away.

Seymore stared at her back as she ran back towards the town. He shook his head after a few seconds when he realized he was still staring. He raised his hand to feel that his cheek was warm.

'What is this tingly feeling?' he asked himself as he started back to the village himself.

He tried to shake off the feeling, but it kept nagging at him. Finally he decided to look for her just to soothe his frayed nerves. He retraced his steps all the way to the market, but he couldn't find the mystery lynx. It was also about then he realized every time he stopped to look around, a pair of feet behind him stopped as well. He turned to look and felt the feet back up behind a wall. He took a couple steps in that direction, and he felt the feet take off in the other direction. Seymore broke into a sprint after the steps he was sure belonged to the lynx girl.

He rounded the corner in time to catch a glimpse of the one running away, and it was in fact the lynx girl. He kicked it into high gear, hoping to catch her and talk to her a bit. Excitement fueled his movements even if he didn't understand why. He followed her towards a small alleyway to the right of the main road. But as soon as he entered the ally, she was nowhere to be seen.

Then he felt a rapid heartbeat above him. He looked up and noticed her hiding in a balcony.

"Hey, it's alright. I just wanted to talk."

She peeked her head up a little bit, then gasped in surprise. "You're blind?"

Then Seymore realized he had been chasing her with his eyes wide open. He immediately closed them and turned away. "Sorry, I usually keep them closed so I don't startle people."

She popped her head out farther. "No I mean they are gorgeous!" As soon as she said it, she blushed and hid again.

Seymore blushed in return. "Well, th-thank you." *Cough*. He couldn't believe he'd stuttered like that.

"Anyway, I'm Seymore. I just wanted to talk I guess." He didn't think he could have sounded any stupider.

After a long pause, he heard her whisper. "What? Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

..."My name is Ashley." She said a bit clearer.

"Ashley." He breathed. "Well, I hope you wouldn't mind but i'd like to maybe get to know you better. Or Just talk or something. I mean its not like you have to or anything, its just..." Well this wasn't getting him anywhere he thought.

"Um... Sure." Ashley replied quietly.

Seymore hadn't actually expected her to say anything. "Oh...Well, Then would you care to meet me next to the fountain tomorrow at noon? I've kinda got things that have to be done today."

Another few moments passed by before she quietly agreed.

"Alright, then um ill see you tomorrow then." Seymore said as he walked back out of the alley and headed towards Christina's. As he walked, he felt strangely giddy.

'Does this mean I've got a...date tomorrow?' He shrugged off the thought. He was just going to get to know a new friend. Not mentioning she was cute. He shook his head and started into a sprint towards his temporary home. As he entered the house he found two people standing in the kitchen. It was Vincent and Christina.

"Are you sure?" Christina said in a singsong voice.

"Yes, I'm sure" Vincent said playfully.

"Okay, more for me." She said as she walked away, giving Vincent a wink as she walked out of the room.

"Ahem." Seymore said. Vincent and Christina hadn't noticed him standing there.

"Oh! Uh... Welcome Seymore. Where did you run off to? We have some stuff to give you for helping the village." Vincent held out a dagger. It was made of a strange dark metal, unseen by even the most infamous blacksmith that crafted with the rarest of metals.

"You didn't have to." Seymore stated as he looked at the dagger.

"I did. You saved Christina's life, and maybe even the entire village by killing the mage. It is the least I could do." Vincent held out the strange dagger, waiting for Seymore to take the blade.

"Uhh.... Thanks." Seymore took the dagger from his hands and felt a strange power surge through him. It felt good but not overwhelming. Nothing that would cause him to hunger for power.

"The blade is enchanted. Those who hold it feel their power increase slightly. This one boosts magical abilities slightly. The dark metal is found only in the deepest parts of the earth. This one was made out of many chunks of the metal that we found over almost 300 years of searching. It is one of the rarest blade in the world. The chunks are large but shrink when heated then cooled. The blade itself is small but its power is large." Before Vincent could continue, Christina walked in holding a tray filled with assorted foods.

"You didn't give it to him already did you? I wanted you to wait for me. I wanted to see his reaction." Christina seemed to be messing with Vincent more than anything at this point.

"I had to. I just couldn't wait." Vincent said, messing with her in the same way.

"Well it better not happen again." She said as she walked over to him and poked his side as she placed the tray down.

"Hey! You know that tickles!" He jumped to the side to avoid her finger a second time.

"That's why I do it silly. Anyways, where have you been?" She asked Seymore as she sat next to Vincent and leaned on him a bit.

"I was walking around town. Nothing much otherwise." He said as he blushed a bit under his fur. The color of his fur didn't hide his blush too well and Christina quickly picked up on that.

"Meeting the villagers are we?" She said with a sly grin on her face

"I talked to a few." He said, his face still glowing a constant red.

"Who did you talk to?" She asked, her face still holding a grin.

"I met a girl named Ashley."

"How did you manage that? She rarely talks to anyone." Vincent broke in with a shocked expression.

"She came up to me." Seymore said as his blushing died down a bit.

"She must really like you then." Christina's singsong voice sounded again.

"You think so?" Seymore said, not realizing how hopeful it sounded.

"She hasn't talked much to anyone. In fact, I think she's only ever said "Hi" to Vincent when she first came to town about a year ago." Christina's voice returning to normal.

"No one knows why." She said as Vincent poked her side. She let out a loud 'Nyah!' sound as she jumped back.

"Don't do that!" She shouted playfully. Seymore decided to leave them alone for a bit and walked into his room. The day went on as normal until night came. Vincent left to watch the gate as soon as it got dark, but not before planting a kiss on Christina's lips, and Seymore climbed back into bed for the night and slowly fell asleep to dream about the girl he was about to meet for the second time.

---

When Seymore awoke, Ashley was the first and only thing on his mind, apart from the strange dagger he had received yesterday. After he put his clothes back on, he slipped the dagger into his pocket just to make sure he had it with him in an emergency. He felt that same rush of strength again as he picked it up.

'I could definitely get used to this feeling. I feel like I could do anything!' He pulled the dagger back out of his pocket to look at it again. As he ran his fingers along the incredible steel, he felt strong. The blade had it's own aura of strength and courage. He smiled as he put it back again realizing just how lucky he was to wield such a weapon.

He walked into the kitchen to find Christina fixing some late breakfast.

"Well good morning." She said to him in a cheery manner.

"Good morning." He said not really paying attention as he had other things on his mind.

She noticed right away and could already figure out what it was he was thinking about. "So where are you meeting Ashley today?" She asked with a playful smile.

That got his attention. "W-what are y-you t-talking about?" He frowned at his foolishness and looked away blushing while she laughed.

"You are meeting her today aren't you?" She asked again more seriously than before.

He paused a bit, then answered truthfully. "Yes I am. By the fountain at noon."

Christina walked across the room and placed her hands on his shoulders. He looked up surprised, then she raised her hands in front of his eyes.

"I can allow you to see with your eyes for a short period of time to actually see Ashley today. Because you were born blind, it wont be permanent and I would have to assume you would only get about an hour of sight. After that, your eyesight would fade again. Is that okay?"

Seymore had never gotten such an incredible opportunity before. He just nodded knowing she could feel it. He felt a warm glow surround his face, and after a few seconds he saw small points of light appear. Then a few more. Soon he was greeted by the sight of white furred hands, and the glowing stopped.

"Well what do you think?" She asked as she brought her arms back down.

Seymore was utterly speechless. He looked down at his hands and he could actually see them. He looked around the room taking every detail, including the bunny in front of him. He definitely could see what Vincent saw in her. His head was spinning with all the colors he had never seen before.

"Thank you so much for this gift, Christy. I-I, I don't even know how I could repay you."

She waved her hand. "I think you're forgetting who saved who's life the other day. I was in debt to you before this. Also isn't there something more important to do right now?" She asked smiling.

Then he remembered what he was given sight for in the first place, to be able to actually see Ashley. "Oh, yeah! Ill be back later." He said as he took off for the front door. As he opened the door, he heard Vincent yell "go get her tiger." He blushed and kept going.

Seymore walked outside, his mind still spinning from all the new colors he had never known existed. His mind was rushing, trying to absorb every sight he could before the effect wore off. The town was covered in the cold powder known as snow. The buildings were made of cobble stone walls and wooden roofs.

"It's so beautiful" Seymore stated with awe in his voice.

The village was rather bright and colorful. The torches around town burned with bright orange and yellow mixtures. The metal holding the embers looked like a dark iron burned well by the flames. He walked around town for about 10 minutes before realizing his plan again.

"Oh! Thats right! I have to get to the fountain as soon as possible!" Seymore quickly ran towards the center of town, and the fountain. He saw a familiar figure standing near the fountain, yet it was also completely new to him at the same time.

"Hey!" He waved towards the figure. It was Ashley. She was a sight to behold and then some. She looked really shy but in a cute way. She was wearing a sweater that was a bit too large for her, and pants that fit quite well. She held the sleeve of her sweater in her hand, folded over to not let any cold in, up to her face as to hide it. She turned towards Seymore and smiled a bit as she saw him, still trying to hide her face.

"H-hi there...." Her voice seemed smaller than he remembered. Perhaps it was because he wasn't focusing on his hearing for the first time in his life. Seymore walked closer to her and saw her eyes for the first time. He was stunned by the brilliant shade of hazel he saw.

"Wow." He stated, almost stunned by her beauty.

"Y-your eyes! You aren't blind after all?" She stated, surprised.

"No, I only have about 50 minutes left." He looked away from her.She shook her head obviously not understanding. "The one i'm staying with here is a healer. She fixed my eyes for the time being, but it won't last forever because I was born blind." He explained.

She still looked confused. "Then how were you following me yesterday?"

"Well, i'm a mage and use a sort of vibration sense and transmit it into a sight pattern. I can't see details, but I know what's all around me."

"That's really cool!" She said opening up a bit, although she still blushed and looked away.

"Um, I hope you don't mind me saying, but since I can see right now, I figured i'd let you know I think you're really cute too." He said blushing heavily and scratching the back of a leg with the other.

"Oh...Thank you." She smiled and played with the end of her beautiful sandy blonde hair.

A few seconds passed in silence, then Seymore broke it. "So do you want to walk and talk? Could you maybe show me around a bit?"

"Yeah, sure." She said as they started walking and she took the lead. She headed towards a part of town he hadn't been to yet, although right then he didn't care where they were going as long as he went with her. As they went, they talked a bit about themselves. More Seymore than Ashley, but she was slowly starting to open up more.

Seymore decided there was no use in denying it to himself. The longer he was with Ashley, the more he liked her. He was absolutely sure that he wanted to be more than friends with this gorgeous lynx. He tried to resist the urge, but decided to go for it and reached out to grab her hand. She jumped a bit, then actually slid her hand out of the sleeve to intertwine her fingers with his. He heard a purr start in his throat, and she soon gave her own to match his. She led them out of town to a small clearing on the edge of a white covered forest.

"This is my favorite place in town. I'd always go here to think." Ashley said as she stared wistfully out into the forest. While she stared at the forest, Seymore stared at Ashley. He felt it was now or never, and went for it.

"Ashley." He said, drawing her attention. He looked into her eyes. "I'd really like to be something more with you."

She didn't look away, but the blush was very apparent. "I-I...I think i'd l-like t-that."

He figured she'd be too shy to move first, so he did instead and leaned in. She got the hint and only hesitated a moment before leaning in as well. Seymore could feel her paws tremble in his, then their lips connected. They briefly brushed at first, then made a more solid contact as their hands slipped free from each others and slid around the others body. The passionate embrace that lasted only a few seconds felt like years before their lips parted; both of them were breathing heavily.

She stepped back a bit and stared into his eyes. She noticed them start to fade to the blueish-white she saw yesterday. Seymore blinked a few times to get accustomed with the familiar darkness once again as the healing spell unraveled. He sighed a bit already missing the vibrant colors of the world. They started back to the village hand in hand with every shade of pink showing through their face fur.

"You know, I think I like your eyes this way anyway. It suites you." She murmured as she laid her head on his shoulder while they walked. He laid his head on hers ignoring the curious glances the other villagers gave them. At that particular moment, no one in the world mattered more than each other to them.

They walked over to the fountain back in town and sat there for another hour, talking about nothing and everything. Seymore felt more alive and happy with her than he had throughout most of his life. It was starting to get dark out due it being winter and Ashley had to go before it got too dark out.

"Wait! Umm... one quick thing..." Seymore said, blushing deeply. He didn't want to leave her alone without doing something first. She sat close to him, just shy from touching his leg as hers was next to it.

"Y-yes?" She said, still being extremely shy around him yet more open than before.

"I just wanted to...." He placed his hand on the side of her face and leaned in close. She quickly caught on and leaned in towards him. It seemed as if time had slowed down. His heart was racing and his palms were sweating once more. Seconds seemed like hours as they enjoyed their kissing embrace.

"Thank you." She said, without her shy stutter. She quickly hid back in her shirt with her hand back to her face. "I-I have to go. C....can you meet me here again tomorrow?"

"Y-yes." Seymore said, quite happy from being able to learn more about her and just being around her. She nodded and Seymore watched her go before heading home himself. Seymore entered his temporary home to be greeted by Christina and Vincent sitting on the couch in the round living room.

"Hey killer, how'd it go?" Vincent asked jokingly.

"Good. It went good." Seymore said, slightly dazed by his amazing day, plus the fact that he was going to see her again tomorrow.

"Good. Hey, if you want dinner then it's on the table in the kitchen."

"Thank you." Seymore said.

Seymore walked into the kitchen and sat down. The meal was good, great actually, but it didn't taste near as good as Ashley's lips. He dropped his fork and coughed when he realized he had made the comparison. He quickly finished his meal and headed for his temporary room.

He crawled into bed and cast his blank gaze at the ceiling. He replayed the day's events over and over again in his head. Ashley's all around cute stature, her shy smile, the passion when they kissed. He blushed and smiled. He knew he was happy, and yet the last thing that came to his mind as he drifted into his dream world was the nagging feeling that something bad would happen soon. He needed to get to the queen.