FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Feeling was the first sense to return to me. Dull throbs of pain all over my body drew that conclusion. I was lying in something soft and slightly scratchy meaning grass or some equivalent. A gentle breeze caressed my face as I breathed in what was possibly the freshest air I had ever tasted. A slight coughing fit informed me of my heavily parched throat. I was alive.

Sight was the next to return. I was momentarily blinded by a bright light before my eyes readjusted and came back into focus. Green dominated my vision. I was lying on my back in a patch of grass at the base of a tree, oak if the leaves were any indication. The sunlight filtering through the branches felt warm upon my bruised and battered form, relaxing me. Taste was next and all it reminded me was that my mouth still had blood coating everything inside.

Smell came next. With it came the scent of the forest. Flowers of all sorts assualted my nose with their fragrances, pines graced me with a familiar aroma, fresh water made it's presence known amongst the smells, dominating them was the scent of rich and fertile earth. That left me confused. My confusion became even more pronounced as sound reached my ears. There were birds singing, water was flowing nearby, the wind was blowing and rustling the leaves nearby. How had this survived?

The battle in Paris had been the epicenter of several hundred miles of dead land, destroyed forests, dry rivers and lakes, and the wildlife had fled the land. So...............where was I?

Grunting with effort, I sat up and looked around, shocked by my surroundings. I was sitting in a small clearing in a healthy forest in what seemed to be the mid-morning sun. The oak tree behind me was near the center of the grassy glade, standing tall and solitary. A small stream crossed my sight, running from a pond to my right. The pond looked to be about half the size of an olympic swimming pool, getting deeper as it got closer to a stone wall behind it. A two-story waterfall emptied into the pond , rippling the deep, crystal clear water, sending a fine mist into the air. Flowers and ivy grew along the stone walls to the right and left of the waterfall. More flowers grew in patches around the edge of the clearing, beyond were trees of all varieties. Oak, pine, willow and birch were a few that I could identify.

I sat there for several minutes, regaining my strength as I slowly let my surroundings seep in. I also took the time to examine myself, using aura to determine the extent of the damage and heal the remainder. My back had healed for the most part, a few small cuts lingering here or there, far outnumbered by the numerous new scars adorning my back and, possibly, the rest of my body. My legs and arms had healed completely, the scarring stopping at my knees and mid-forearms, respectively. My chest was the worst for wear but, even then, the damage was slight and easy to take care of. All in all, I was okay, if a little stiff, sore and bloody. My clothing, consisting of a skintight muscle shirt and baggy khakis (all black as everything else in my branch of the service), had about a dozen tears and cuts each, all easily repairable. My boots, on the other hand, were worn and in tatters. The black, steel-toed boots that had served me well for the past half-decade were literally being held together by my laces.

I shrugged slightly before removing them. I'd rather go barefoot than have a pair of boots that had out lived their usefulness. A quickly muttered incantation and a small burst of mana made short work of them, ash dissolving in the wind. A sharp, harsh cough brought my attention back to my parched throat and bloody mouth. A deep rumble immediately after signaled my intense hunger. Wincing a bit, I finally heaved myself to my feet and stood. Reaching skyward and stretching, I felt and heard several dozen pops and cracks as my bones realigned in rapid succession. I dropped my arms and sighed in sweet relief before walking to the water, rolling my shoulders to get rid of any remaining kinks as the cool grass tickled my feet.

Upon reaching the shore, I kneeled down and dipped my hands into the water, cupping a small amount and bringing it to my face. A brief examination satisfied my curiosity as to its' cleanliness before I leaned my head back and let it run down my throat. A large swallow later, I sighed softly as the cool liquid brought much needed refreshment to my mouth and throat. Taking a few more swallows, I cleaned my mouth of the accumulated blood and sated my thirst. As the surface shifted, I saw a distorted reflection of myself. Having gone several years without seeing my own face, I was curious to see what the horrors of war had done to me. After a few moments, the water settled, allowing me to see the man I had become.

The face that stared back was me with some slight changes. Although it was thickly matted with blood, I could see that the white in my hair had grown into larger streaks over time. It had also gotten longer, touching just below my shoulder blades instead of brushing the back of my neck. Faint, dark circles beneath my eyes made them seem darker, midnight blue in place of saphire, and illustrated just how much sleep I had gotten in the recent months. A long, thin, jagged scar, courtesy of a Turkish assassin 2 years ago, crossed my left eye, starting just above my brow, slanting 45 degrees and ending about an inch from my jawline. Pronounced cheekbones and taut skin showed my lack of real nourishment and food, while paled skin reminded me of how long the sun had been blocked by airborne dirt and dust. Still staring at myself, I ran my hand over my torso. Soldiers rations and brief starvation had greatly reduced my body mass and cut my weight. I silently counted my ribs as my other hand came up and felt the slight caving of ribs to stomach, prodding at hard muscles just under the surface. I was far leaner than was healthy for someone of my size and structure, maybe twenty or thirty pounds below. My mind's eye depicted me as a skeleton, drenched in blood, with muscles and skin. It wasn't that far off, either.

Movement beneath the water caught my attention as fish of varying sizes flitted to and fro. My stomach made itself known once again. Slowly laying my hand just above the surface, I waited for the right moment to strike. The key to success when fishing this way: lots of patience and lightning fast reflexes. Literally. By changing the nature of your chakra to resemble lightning, you can channel it to your muscles and make them faster. As an added bonus, with enough control, you can shock whatever you touch without affecting anything else. It especially helps when hunting or infiltrating places. Either stun or kill with a mere touch and no mess. In hunting, that means catch, fry and eat in a single motion. Perfect for a hungry man with a pond full of fish.

When the moment came, I lunged and grabbed as many fish as quickly as I could in my poor state. I rapidly ended up with four fish, each thicker than my wrist and just under a foot long. At a few pounds each, they would satisfy my hunger for a while. Picking one up and frying it, I began to eat rapidly while I thought about my current situation.

To the best of my knowledge, I was in unknown territory with nothing but my wits, my skills, a fully-stocked medical pack and the various weapons that I carried on my person and in my pocket dimension. Lost? Yes. Unprepared? Definitely. Weaker than I've ever been? Yep. Incapable of making things work for the better? Hell no. Feeling the need to give up? Not in the least. No matter where I was, I was going to make the most of my new settings. There wasn't anyone to tell me otherwise. As I finished the last fish, I stopped as the full implications of that last thought sunk in.

I was free. Free from the service, free from the rules, free from the egotistical assholes that issued the orders, and most of all, I was free from the war and the pain it caused. A brief, soft chuckle escaped my throat. Then another. Before long, I was rocking back and forth on my knees, loud peals of laughter ringing from my voice, tears of mirth and happiness leaking from my eyes. Eventually, it died down and left me feeling far lighter and happier then I had felt in years. A wave of relief and exhaustion swept through my body as I collapsed onto my back, content and satisfied with my new life and surroundings. Crossing my ankles and folding my arms behind my head, I slowly drifted off with newer and better thoughts dancing in my head.

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When I awoke, it was mid-afternoon. I sat up and stretched, feeling more refreshed than ever. I stood, fully intent to go and explore the forest before I realized that I was still drenched in blood. A small sniff let me know that, although the blood was dry, it still smelled as if I had just been splashed with it. Blood, fresh or not, was not a good thing to have on your body when exploring the wilderness. It attracts a lot of attention. I needed a bath.

I went to the edge of the pond and proceeded to strip off my shirt. Best to get my clothes clean, dry and fixed first. And so, kneeling in the grass, I began to wash my shirt, getting all of the blood out before stitching up the rips and tears with small chakra bursts. When I was content with the smell, I heated the remaining water in it and evaporated it before setting it aside and removing my pants to repeat the process. Once my shirt, shorts and pants were clean and dry, I began to fully examine myself.

My thoughts several hours prior couldn't have been more accurate as to my physical state. I could clearly count each of my ribs and detect the faint outline of some of my larger organs beneath my abs. Kinda sick in my opinion. The dried blood made me seem ghoulish. The jagged criss-crossing scars now lining my body looked like they belonged on an amatuer's patchwork quilt. My limbs still had some bulk but were getting extremely thin. Despite all that, I was fine and all I needed was some food and exercise to get back within a healthy range. My examination finished, I stood and dove into the deepest part of the pond and swam around in the warm water for a short while. As I floated, my thoughts began to go back to the stereotypical males: women and/or sex.

Don't laugh. I was serious.

When you're a soldier, sex is one of the last things on your mind. For the most part, you focus on the mission. When you're in a war, you focus on survival. The Juggernauts were a perfect example. Before the war, in the United States, we were heroes and could sleep safely, most of the time. Elsewhere, we were hunted with a passion. Those problems were easily avoided with proper guards and security measures, magical or not. Then the war came. The war began a year-and-a-half ago. Hard to believe it was only 10 months ago that people looked up to us. First it was the foreign countries. Then, our home betrayed us. Families were tortured and slaughtered, houses burned and demolished, possessions destroyed. It became a free-for-all on anyone in or related to the Juggernauts, no matter where, or who, they were.

Anyway, after the war started, sex was reduced to raping prisoners and innocents. In the Juggernauts, we called it "release". No pleasure, no ecstacy, just emotional release. I lost track of the number of women who came to me. Mothers, daughters, sisters. Each one came for even the smallest sense of comfort. Some came to release stress. They usually ended up naked next to me, still attached to my hips as they cried themselves to sleep in my arms. Others came just for someone to hold them and for a shoulder to cry on. They stayed the night wanting to wake up next to a warm body. It still hurts remembering those nights. Holding each one as they shook, cried, sobbed and just poured out their hearts. Feeling their tears hit my chest as they gasped for breath and tried to get themselves to stop. Hearing them drift off to sleep, praying that the Hell going on was just a horrible nightmare.

That's what hurt the most. No one wanted any of this. Not me, not them, not even the bloodthirsty beast buried within us.

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Sometimes I scare myself. Anyway, I would greatly appreciate if you would tell me what you think and if you could give me a few ideas of how I can improve. Thank you!