FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The fly flowing the next card was almost all of 30 hours. I ended up having to stop and rest after my wings arms got so tired there was the distinct possibility of my falling out of the sky. Where I stayed was a tall, limestone sea stack that had intricate imprint fossils pressed into it. Inside the gave was a nice cover of sea moss that was extremely soft to walk on and cool to the touch. I pulled most of it up and shoved it near the back, making a very soft bed that put me to sleep almost as fast as I lay down. The next morning I was woken by the bright orange-pink sunshine as well as a cool, salty gust of air. I stretched out, lowering my front half to the ground like a cat. I remained like that for a few seconds before I walked to the entrance of the sea cave and looked outside. The stacks were enveloped in a cloud of fog and the sun was reaching through it, leaving golden rays in the wakes of the small cracks in the fog.

"If I knew how to fish as a dragon", I smiled at myself as I flared my wings and jumped from the stack, "I could get used to living over the ocean."

I used the next card in The Order (what I had taken to calling how the cards were organized), which was that of the Mink, a silver threaded card that portrayed a Mink in a tree, to guide me to my destination, which for all intensive purposes, seemed to be Europe. When I arrived, the continent was shrouded in darkness due to the shift in the time zones. The card lead me to a small village with only a few lights in several small cottages on. The village consisted of some 25 or so small huts constructed of differing materials and varying in size from storybook witch huts to two story houses with glass windows and concrete foundations. There was a normal sized road that snaked throughout the village that was formed out of what looked like recycled asphalt. It had also been freshly lain, the smell still lofting in the air. I began to circle around the village, following the card. As a few street lines came on, more of the town was revealed to me. There was an old west style main street that had a row of buildings on both sides. I could see signs for a McDonalds, post office, small conveniences store and a gas station as well as an auto garage. I could see a few small cars parked outside the bar, along with what looked like a Shelby Cobra, the one car I was familiar with.

The card floated to a small, cobblestone building and stopped at the door way. I could only make out one scent, a males, inside. From the smell, he was 20 something and seemed to not be under too much stress. I could also make out the smell of fresh tea, baked bread and cooking meat. I found myself rather hungry from the flight as well as the stress of John's recent death, so against everything my mind was telling me, I knocked on the door.

A short, oddly dressed man answered. He was about 22-24, about five six and wore blue jeans with a red and brown stripped shirt and a red and black scarf. His hair was a bright blonde and his eyes were hazel brown. He almost didn't seem surprised to see me.

"Oh no, no, no", he said quickly, "you shouldn't be in the open, come in quickly."

He stepped aside and ushered me in, wasting no time locking the door behind me. The inside of his small house was a single room separated by a wall of Oak wood planks, which held a few shelves that had many jars of items and curious objects. To my left side was the kitchen. In one corner there was an old, coal fired stove that held a pot boiling soup and a pan with frying steak. There was a small oak table with two chairs on either side in the middle and the floor was made of what seemed to be shale sheets set into stone/tree sap mixture. To my right was his bed room. It held only a small, twin bed with a red quit and a single pillow. There was a couch at the foot of the room and a small coffee table in the middle of it. The house was lit by only three light bulbs, only one of which was one, though it was still more than adequate to light the entire house.

"What is your name strange dragon?", Remmy asked as he went into the kitchen.

"Emelia", I answered.

"What has brought you to my home?", he asked getting several plates and bowls out of a cupboard.

"I was flying over", I answered, "going to see an old friend when I smelled the food cooking. I was just going to ask if I could have a little bit to eat as I flew, because I haven't eaten much these past few days. I didn't mean to disturb your evening."

"Nonsense", he said placing the bowls on the table, "it's not often I receive visitors. You are welcome to stay for as long as you need."

"Hmm, what's out of place?", I asked myself, "what is off here? Why do I even think something's off?"

I sat in the hallway as Remmy removed a small head of lettuce, three tomato, a small chicken breast and some peppercorns from a short, fat refrigerator and quickly threw together a good amount of tossed Chicken Salad

"Please sit", Remmy said filling the plates with steak, freshly baked bread, and the salad. The bowls he filled with chicken soup and he poured us each two drinks, tea and ice water.

I sat back on my haunches at the table and waited for him to start eating before I did. I wanted to simply scarf it all down, but forced myself to eat slowly so it lasted longer. Remmy took a bite of his steak and then asked.

"You've lost someone close to you recently yes?", he asked.

I nodded, shooting him a confused look at the same time.

"How did you know?", I asked.

"I've been around a while", Remmy said, "I pick things up. Siazach is your cursor no?"

I felt the beef in my mouth just kind of slide down my throat and sink into the pit of my stomach.

"How did...", I began, but he motioned for me to stop.

"Siazach and I have rivaled for ages", Remmy said, "thousands of years, my Hunters and I have played this game with him. I trust he has cursed me, otherwise you would not be holding that card in your palm."

I looked down at the card in my paw. It began to flash a bright silver.

"Knows of his curse and of you", Remmy said, "Siazach has tried the same on me countless times, "after you place my card, you'll want to head to Mt. Fujimi Kiado. Once there, search in the forests for a large temple, there, you'll find Otani, the master that trained me to deal with the supernatural and the guardian of all remaining Japanese and Chinese Eastern Dragons."

"Remaining?", I asked tilting my head, "there are more?"

"Two or three Hundred", Remmy said, "many of these are young children, just hatched or birthed by their mothers. I have set foot in the temple only three times over the course of my million years in this form, Otani takes great caution in protecting the last of the natural dragons on the Earth....but I sense you are not natural."

I shook my head, "part of Siazach's curse was he trapped me in this body....do you know a dragon named Ulysses?"

"Indeed", Remmy said, "a young yet brave warrior. At 25 years old he managed to lure Siazach to this realm and track him quite far. We have not heard word of his endeavors for some time. Have you news on him?"

I shook my head, "yeah...but it's bad news. Siazach unzipped him and killed him. I won't tell you how, it will give me nightmares."

'I see", Remmy sighed, "be that as it may, if you remove your pack from your armor I will pack you plenty of food to make it to Japan and to find Mt. Fujimi."

I reached up my vest and un strapped my assault pack and handed it too him. Remmy walked from the kitchen to his room, where I assumed he kept the pantry. He also very conveniently dropped his wallet. While he wasn't looking, I reached down and picked it up, quickly sliding his card into the leather folds and placed it back where I found it. When Remmy came back in, he picked it up and slid it back into his pocket without so much as a glance at me. He set my pack on the table and I strapped it back to my vest.

"Your armor carries US Weapons", Remmy noted.

"I was part of a US Army project called Draco", I began, "I kind of just drifted into and out of it, so I don't know too much, other than they exclusively trained dragons for combat."

"I see", Remmy said, "there is an empty hut that I own at the end of this street. I'll turn the power on from my room and you can stay there for as long as you require."

"Thanks", I said bowing slightly and heading to the hut. It was almost identical to Remmy's except for the fact that it had no divider, and it was air conditioned. Only a small window unit, but I was fuckin hot, so it would have to do. I pulled off my vest and sat it in the corner of the room, grabbing only my radio out of it and laying it close to my head, setting it to a British Talk radio show called Top Gear. They were playing a piece about a car called the Ruf Yellowbird, which apparently had driven to 211 miles an hour and was the fastest car in the world. I wasn't all that into cars, since I couldn't even drive them anymore, but it was still an interesting show. I had just been hit by the food coma and was starting to doze off when a voice came over the radio.

"Emelia?"

It was Hudson. I turned off the show and picked up my radio.

"I don't know if you can hear me", Hudson said, "but if you can, The guys and I are at the airport in Iraq getting ready to go home."

There was a long pause.

"Not that you care, I guess you have other things you need to do, but Raven's been disavowed, we've been deemed undeployable until further notice and it's likely we'll be leaving the Marines. Our court date is set for the 17th of June. If you can show up...it would mean a lot."

Hudson didn't say anything else after that. I pressed the talk button after about a half hour, but ended up not saying anything. It was for the best I guessed, though there was the small fact that I wasn't sure what the best even was anymore. I'd seen enough shit these past few weeks to give people nightmares for the rest of their lives. I wasn't too sure what I would end up doing after this business with Siazach concluded, maybe I would stay at the temple and try to find a mate. If what Remmy said about their being cubs there, then that meant that there had to be male dragons there too, but then again, I wasn't sure what would happen to me after the curse was lifted. I wasn't sure if I would beable to take the transformation from dragon back to human...and to be honest I wasn't even sure Siazach would allow me to live, especially if I was able to lift the curse on my own. I was also wondering if Siazach would come and try to kill Remmy and I overnight, because I would.

"I hate thinking like this", I sighed to myself, "why me? Why do I have to be the one to play this game?"

"Your greed will be your downfall", Siazach's words played in my head, more "Red Brand Taunts, 2.99 at Wallgreens". He could say everything he wanted, I wasn't greedy.

"Fuck you", I huffed, "I'll play your game and I'm gonna win. When I do I'm going to finish you."

With those frosty thoughts, I fell asleep.