FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 25

Camped in front of one of the windows by Jem’s front door, his nose pressed up against the cold glass, Dax kept a close eye out for the collie. After having demolished Jem’s sleeping arrangements, the wolf was significantly inclined to head off Jem before he walked back in the door.

“Ah, by the way Jem, do you happen to have a fireplace at your residence?” Varun asked as he and Jem walked down Tedrah’s cobblestone streets, the old man eliciting some stares from passersby. Seeing someone’s entire left arm encased in ice is a fairly uncommon sight though, you have to admit.

“A small one yes, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough to-“

“It’ll make do,” the master quickly cut him off as he raised his right hand to shoosh the collie. “We’ll make a quick stop by your place and then you and Dax can go clean up the guild from there.”

“W-wait just the two of us!? Surely more manpower than that is needed to get rid of those ghosts. And uh… Dax?”

“Nah, it should be fairly simple. The majority of them won’t even put up that much of a fight and the ones that do can’t harm you too severely now that you can fight back. That and the fewer cursed weapons we have to keep track of, the better.”

“But, DAX. He has only the most basic of training when it comes to magic, and as far as I know absolutely NO training whatsoever with any kind of weapon”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, you’ll see why I’m pairing him up with you soon enough. You have nothing to be concerned about.”

“And the spade you cursed earlier? Any reason why you left that back at the graveyard?”

“It’s not going anywhere. That and the curse placed upon it will fade overtime, so there’s no danger of it being used to cause any trouble.”

Jem pulled his lips back into a frown and breathed through his teeth, a little incredulous of the master’s plan to say the least. “Aww don’t be like that. The only way to make a curse a lasting attribute of a weapon or tool is during the creation process. Trying to tamper with and curse a weapon any time after that will only yield temporary results.” As they walked by a quaint storefront, the master spotted a broom propped beside the entrance. He yoinked it as they passed by, a frustrated groan rising from the collie in response.

“It’s for a good ca-“ Jem scrunched his eyes shut and promptly shook his head, refusing to acknowledge so much as another syllable of that sentence.

“Oh, he’s back!” Dax exclaimed as the collie and old man came into view from his position. He rose to his feet and slid out the front door, careful not to open it too far lest someone get a good peek inside at the ruined bedframe and mattress. “Jem! Where did you go this morning?” The wolf called out as he jogged on over to the old man and collie.

“Oh you know, just tending to some busywork with the master. Nothing you would have liked, that’s why we let you sleep in,” Jem tried to state with a straight face as he hid the severed hand behind his back. “Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god it’s so cold and slimy to the touch,” he mentally screamed.

“And mast- oh my goodness what happened to your arm?” Dax asked alarmed as he gawked at the old man.

“Bah, it’s nothing to get worked up about, I’ll be fine. Speaking of errands, Dax, I have one for you. I need you to go help Jem. He’s going to be clearing out the ghosts haunting the guild shortly and he could use your assistance.”

“R-really?! Of course I’ll help!”

The old man chuckled as he patted the wolf on the head with his good hand. “Good to hear. Now, before I send you on your way, you’ll need to be properly equipped. Jem, let’s get you geared up.”

Without hesitation the collie lobbed the severed hand to Varun and quickly unsheathed his sword. The old man let the broom drop the ground as he grabbed Ruo’s appendage out of the air. Dax picked the broom up and held it tight with both hands as he watched the display unfolding before him. His curious eyes focused on the master as he turned to face Jem and ran the skeletal hand over the collie’s sword. The dull gray steel of the sword took on a faint blue glow. The wolf’s eyes lit up as he watched the collie slice through the air, the blade leaving a wispy bluish trail behind it.

“That looks so cool!” The wolf replied in total awe. “Oooh thank you for letting me help fix the mess I made master! What neat weapon do I get? I wanna help clean up the guild of those pesky ghosts!”

“That’s the spirit Dax!” The master said with a smile as he warmly regarded the wolf. “But you already have everything you need to help clean up the guild!”

“What do you mean master? All I have is this broo-oh,” Dax replied disappointed as he looked down at what he held tight in his hands. “Awwwww…” he whined sadly as his ears flattened against his head.

“Have at it boys!” Varun said with a wave of Ruo’s hand as he walked past the wolf and towards Jem’s abode, desperate to start up a roaring fire.

“You heard him Dax,” Jem said with a shrug as he held out his cursed weapon. Dax’s shoulders drooped as he obediently followed, letting out a great sigh as he began to ponder just what kind of a mess the local guild members left after fleeing in such a hurry the day before.

----------------------------------A couple hours later-------------------------------

The spectral bear that first accosted Dax let out his final ghostly wail as Jem sliced through his ethereal body like paper. Jem looked on sadly as the bear quickly began to fade and crumble into nothingness. With a smile and a look of peace on his face, the ghost vanished completely from Jem’s sight. “That should’ve been the last of them,” Jem mumbled tiredly as he rubbed an arm across his brow. “Might as well go inform master,” he thought as he sheathed his sword and began making his way out of the library. “How are you holding up Dax?” Jem called out as he made his way into the main guild hall.

“It’s going to take me forever to clean up everything…” Dax whined as he poked his head out from the kitchen. A depressing amount of food had been left out on the tables in the main hall and in the kitchen, a fair deal of it having gone bad and becoming unsafe for consumption. Tossing out all that food was turning out to be a lengthy and messy process. Poor Dax still had yet to even tend to any of the guest rooms or bathrooms.

“Try your best Dax. You’ll get plenty of help once the other guild members start to filter back in. For now though, just do what you can.” The collie heard a soft aroo in response and shook his head as he pushed open the front doors to the guild, stepping out onto the darkened streets. The clouds had thickened considerably during the afternoon flurries of snow having begun to drift down from the clouds as the sun set. A light dusting covered the streets as Jem meandered on back to his home. A gentle orange glow could be seen through the windows as he approached the front door.

Similar in setup to Russo’s home, Jem’s abode was located along a back street branching off one the main roads running through town. Smashed between another couple’s home and a bakery, the collie was very satisfied with his setup. The sweet aromas of the bakery made their way into his home with ease and it was always a wonderful scent to wake up to each morning. Two windows on the front of his house, one to the left and right of his door, let plenty of natural light pour into his home. A small fireplace was huddled in the far back left corner, a basic walled off bathroom was opposite of it in the far right corner. Along the left wall stretching from the fireplace to his dresser were racks for his weapons and armor. They were still mostly empty, but old swords and armor that had seen their fair share of action had slowly begun filling them up over the years. To the right of his door was his bed and well, heh, Jem’s gonna be in for a surprise when he takes a gander at that as soon as he steps through his front door.

“Master? How are you faring?” Jem gently called out as he cracked his door open slowly. “Di-“ Jem’s inquiry into the matter of how well the ice was thawing was abruptly cut off as the collie stared slack jawed at what remained of his bed.

“I’m doing quite well actually, thanks for asking,” Varun replied with a smile as he turned towards the collie. “I uh, take it your bed didn’t look like that when you left this morning? Because that’s how it looked when I came in earlier.” The old man turned his attention back to the fire as he rubbed his hands together. Warmth bellowed out from fire into the room, flames licking at the steel cover every now and then. The old man’s eyes focused intently on the flame as he began to speak. “…Seeing as how you’ve lent invaluable assistance to the guild on such short notice, I figure I can russle up a nice reward for you as a show of gratitude. I’ll order up a nice new bed frame and mattress for you, hell, I’ll splurge and get you one stuffed with goose feathers.”

“G-goose feathers?” The collie stuttered as he imagined what it would be like to be practically sleeping on air. “I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you master!”

“Not a problem. I was... also thinking I could get you a new weapon crafted while I’m at it. Using this,” Varun remained facing towards the fire with his back to the collie as he raised Ruo’s hand. There was an uneasy silence in the room, save for the occasional cracking and popping of a log lodged in the fire.

“Thanks but no thanks master,” Jem quietly replied as shades of orange dancing upon the armored parts of his vesting were warped and stretched as they made their journey across his chest.

Varun let out a tired sigh as he rubbed his forehead. “Jem, you are one of the most trustworthy individuals in this guild, I’m gonna come right out and say that. That’s why I brought you along today; to show you and tell you some of the secrets our guild has been hiding.”

Jem looked away guiltily as he rubbed his shoulder. “Why hide it though? Why not come out with the truth?” Jem prodded, doing his best to mask the feelings of hypocrisy and shame that threatened to spill out.

“Methodically, slowly but surely, generations of guild masters have done all that they could to wipe out any trace of Ruo’s legacy and memory. Nothing that man did should ever be spoken of, for fear of some fool getting it in their head to imitate him or resume his work.”

“Is it… truly that dangerous to let the truth be known?”

“For the past two centuries Ruo’s research and writings have been doggedly hunted down and destroyed. Better they be lost to the world than fall into the wrong hands. It doesn’t matter if his work could potentially advance the magic world by decades, if not even centuries! The means he went about yielding his results, no knowledge is worth that much spilt blood.”

Jem shifted his feet uncomfortably back and forth as the master paused to take a breath. “By chance Jem, did you figure out where exactly those ghosts originated from in the guild?”

“It was the library. Dax tipped over a bookcase while… climbing it to get to a top shelf. It smashed open a large hole in one of the walls that led into some chamber. I didn’t investigate it further, but that chamber specifically is where they were pouring out of.”

“Alright then, that’s what I needed to hear. As far as I can tell, what remains of Ruo’s legacy is this,” Varun held up the severed hand, “and whatever is to be found in that chamber. Jem, I implore you to reconsider my offer for crafting you a weapon. If this remnant of Ruo is completely used up in the creation of a new weapon, that means there is that much less of him left to stain this world. Hmph, and you can be assured that the weapon you’ll receive will be a powerful one. It will not only have the ability to curse others but it will be imbued with some of Ruo’s own frightening magical power. You’d be doing me a huge favor forcing his power to be put to good use in this world.”

Jem grit his teeth as his eyes shied away from looking at the hacked off appendage. “I’ll think about it,” He barely said above a whisper.

“Thank you, Jem. I know I’ve heaped an awful lot on and dragged you through some less than pleasant situations today, but your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Make no mistake about that.” Varun grunted as he placed his hands on his knees and slowly lifted himself off the ground. “And it is with great shame that I ask for your assistance yet again. I’ve asked a lot of you today already, but would you be willing to help me clear out that chamber you found?”

The collie scratched the back of his head as he looked to the old man. “Might as well. The sooner that gets taken care of the better, right? Besides, it’s not like I’m going to be sleeping at home tonight,” he said as he kicked at a stray plank by his collapsed bedside.

“No time like the present, eh?” Varun said with a tired smile as he pat the collie on the back as he walked past. Jem hurriedly put out the fire before locking up and chasing after the old man. As he walked alongside the master, Jem brushed his shoulders to remove the accumulating snow, the weather having taken a turn for the worse. The two quickly made their way back to the guild as visibility took a dive and the dustings of snow rapidly transitioned into blankets.

---

“That’s right, I had forgotten that this was here,” Varun mused as he stared at the gaping maw of darkness that Dax had inadvertently created in the library wall.

“Hmmm?”

“The guild didn’t start out looking the way it does now. When Ruo first set up here, the magic guild was little more than a stone shack. The focus was less on helping people and more on research.”

“And from what I’ve gleaned from earlier conversations, that research was utterly abominable,” Jem replied as they cautiously approached the darkness. Varun concentrated a great deal of magic into his left hand, hopeful that everything still worked as it should. With marked difficulty the magic burst and crackled as it took on a bright yellow glow. Holding his hand up high above his head, the master cautiously stepped into the chamber, the magical voltage concentrated in his grasp pushing back the darkness with its glow. Jem followed closely behind.

“When Ruo passed on, very unwillingly relinquishing his title in the process, the next guild master simply built on top of and around Ruo’s shack, sealing it within the new guild’s walls. In all honesty it would have been better if they had utterly demolished it, but I can understand why they didn’t. I can imagine they were terrified of what they might find.” The old man glanced to their right. Dozens off bodies lined the wall. In some spots skeletons were stacked upon one another, two to three bodies high.

“They had good reason to be,” Jem said quietly, the stench of death relentlessly assaulting his nose. The piles of bodies vying for space gave the sealed off shack an unnervingly claustrophobic feel to it. “Straight ahead master,” Jem stated as he held one hand over his nose and pointed towards a desk with the other. Pushed back against a wall, piled up skeletons threatening to spill over onto it, was a centuries old desk. In the light cast by the master’s magic, a book of sorts could be seen resting prominently on it. Varun’s eyes narrowed as he set his sights upon the text. A bolt of lightning thundered from his left hand and reduced the desk, the text, and the surrounding bodies to less than ash in a violent flash of light. The room temporarily went dark as the master worked on channeling magic back into his fingertips. Magic sparked back to life in the old man’s hand after a few seconds and the room was dully lit once more. Looking at the back wall, Jem was taken aback at how seemingly nothing remained after but a single magical strike from the master.

Varun breathed heavily as his eyes darted around. “Jem, I need to be absolutely certain that not even a trace of Ruo’s legacy lives on. His writings, his research, not even his memory can be allowed to remain. Would you assist me with the unenviable task of checking to see that nothing has been hidden among these bodies?” The master gestured towards the dead that surrounded them on all sides.

Jem shuddered at the thought. “I’m sorry master, but, that’s just too much,” he said in a hushed tone as he turned his back on the master and climbed back out the hole into the library.

“I understand Jem,” the master replied as he watched one of his most trusted subordinates depart. “I have already asked far too much of you today,” he thought to himself as a bolt of lightning erupted from his outstretched hand to vaporize a good dozen bodies packed into a corner. As the chamber went dark once more Varun sighed. “It’s my responsibility after all. Shouldn’t have dragged him into this, there was hardly anything left to clean up anyway.” Traces of the forlorn expression etched onto Varun’s face were illuminated by the sparks of electricity jumping from the magic that had begun to condense in his palm. “Even so,” his brows furrowed as he set his sights on clearing out another corner, “it’s a relief knowing that it looks like the next generation has what it takes to confront and redress problems like these.” A look of unwavering determination plastered across Varun’s face was lit up as another bolt of lightning rocketed forth from his hand.

---

Leaning against one of the guild’s main doors, propping it open slightly, Jem looked out upon the quiet snow covered streets. He smiled as the wind blew a stray flake towards him. It floated on down and landed on his nose, melting quickly on account of the collie’s body heat. The snow had been piling up at a good pace ever since the master returned the guild after thawing out his arm. His tail wagged slowly as the footprints in the snow disappeared under the freshly fallen flakes. Being rewarded with such a peaceful and pleasant sight was almost worth having to suffer though a day like today. Almost. “Too bad there’s no one to share this sight with,” Jem thought as his smile curled back slightly into a more somber expression. The clang and clatter of dishes and the intermittent rumblings of thunder coming from deep within the guild attested to both Dax and the master’s preoccupations. Jem breathed in deeply, his nostrils drawing in the frigid night air. He breathed out slowly through his mouth, watching the condensing fog from his breath float out before him as snowflakes tumbled through it. The collie’s lips curled up into a grin as he scratched at the fur on his chin. “Heh, whenever he gets back, Russo’s going to be pleased as punch when he finds out he got out of ghost busting duty,” Jem thought out loud as he chuckled to himself. “That bum picked a hell of a good time to take a trip.” A sudden gust of air whipped up the snow on the ground, causing it to twirl about the air, sparkling beautifully in the light escaping from the propped open door. Jem sighed happily at the sight and closed his eyes. The gentle whistling of the wind and flapping of wings putting him at ease as he tuned out the rumblings and clangings coming from behind him within the guild. Wait. Wings? Jem cracked open an eye as his ears perked up. His ears swiveled about as he listened intently. “Huh, could’ve sworn I heard something…” He said as he stared out at the streets before him. Performing one last double take Jem slid back into the guild, immediately locking the front doors behind him.

---

“Son of a bitch, he isn’t here,” Umbra growled to herself as she glided through the night sky, high above Tedrah’s rooftops. The demon slowly descended as she made her way across the city, her dark form nigh invisible high above, even with the pure white snow falling all around her. She came to land on a path just outside the Tedrah’s limits, her yellow glowing eyes looking back towards the peaceful city with disgust and contempt. “Where could that spineless little shit have run off to?!” She yelled as she clawed at the air and bared her fangs. “Dammit think. Someone, somewhere, in that town has to know where he is. Sooner or later someone will fuck up and let slip where he’s hiding.” Umbra leaned back against a tree along the roadside, digging her claws into its trunk and tearing at the bark as she brainstormed. “Rumors were that he was a guild member…” She narrowed her eyes as she dwelled back on the collie and old man she had seen going in and out of the guild hall throughout the day as she made her rounds about town, scouring for a damnable human. “Those two ingrates seem like a good place to start,” she cooed as she weighed the pros and cons of a subtle versus straightforward approach to trying to extract information from them. The sound of snow crunching under footsteps snapped up Umbra’s attention and derailed her train of thought.

“Looking for someone?” A familiar voice cooed out to her as a hooded figure approached. Pulling down his hood, Russo shot the demon a snarky and arrogant grin as he took slow measured steps towards her.

“YOU…” Umbra seethed with rage as she gazed upon the human’s smug visage, grinding her teeth in response. Her teeth curled up into a devilish smile soon enough though as she realized her great fortune. “Thanks for saving me the trouble of hunting you down, human. This’ll be nothing like last time, I can assure you.” Razor sharp claws extended from tips of her fingers as she growled in satisfaction and narrowed her gaze.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Russo shot back. He pulled tight some new black gloves that came up to his forearm as magic began to gather in his palms. His cloak swayed in the wind and snow began to collect upon his shoulders as he faced his foe, ready to kick off their rematch.

Umbra smirked as she whipped up a gust of wind with a strong flap of her wings, sending a blast of snow straight towards Russo. “Shit!” The human yelled as he found himself blinded by the sudden onslaught of flurries.

“Too easy,” Umbra stated in satisfaction as she hurtled herself forward with a flap of her demonic wings, closing the gap between them in the blink of an eye. Pulling her arm back, she thrust it forward with all her strength, the momentum easily letting her entre hand pierce into Russo’s skull through his right eye socket. A sickening squelch could be heard as Umbra grabbed around in the human’s skull, her clawed fingers carving a bloody mess. She trembled with excitement as she pulled back out, her hand surely soaked with his life blood. The human collapsed onto the ground in deathly silence, snowflakes rapidly piling upon his motionless body.

“I’m disappointed in you Russo,” Umbra stated as she looked towards his body. “After going through all that trouble to find you, I was expecting more of a fight.” She gazed proudly upon her bloodied hand, smiling as she felt blood trickle between her fingers and drip onto the pristine snow, staining it black. “The fuck?” She muttered as she gazed at the tainted snow. She held her hand in front of her eyes, the ones that shone like fog lights in the darkness, and was surprised to find a black bile covering it. Umbra’s turned back towards Russo’s body as a low laughter began to emanate from the corpse.

“Oh, you are good, real good.” Russo said as he continued snickering, slowly rising to his feet, shaking off the snow that had accumulated on his person. A dark cavity remained in the right side of his face where Umbra had made her strike, seemingly depthless and without end. As if his face was but a broken mask, cracks and fissures began to spread out from the cavity. “A convincing facsimile, no?” Russo? said with a smile as he approached the demon. A soft white glow appeared in the dark cavity, the light reflecting off the snow illuminating a crescent moon buried deep within it.

“Ah, it’s been how long now since I walked this realm? You’ll have to forgive me for misleading you, I’m a tad out of practice when it comes to-“ When Russo? was within striking distance Umbra lashed out at him with her claws. She grunted angrily as she felt no flesh rending beneath her fingers, the satisfying feeling having been replaced by a chalky and cold porcelain crumbling in her grasp. His entire left cheek and portions of his jaw and lip having been clawed off, Russo? took it in stride as he continued smiling with what remained of his mouth. His remaining eye fixated its gaze upon the demon as darkness spread out from within to fill the newly christened gap. Fractures spread out to his nose and up towards his left eye socket as monstrous curled teeth appeared within the gap to fill in for lacking jaw line. “As I was saying, I’m a tad out of practice when it comes to manifesting in the mortal realm. So, for simplicity’s sake I borrowed the appearance of the mortal I last interacted with to facilitate the process. Based upon your reactions I approximated not only his appearance but his mannerisms fairly accurately,” he said with arrogant pride as what remained up of his lips curled into a smile. The gnarled teeth filling the gap in his face attempted to force a Cheshire grin. The mismatched teeth and lips curled into different kinds of smiles made for an eerie sight.

“Fuck you,” She angrily snarled as she flapped her wings and began to take off into the night sky, in no mood to converse with someone she couldn’t kill.

“I believe it would be in your best interests to hear what I have to say,” Russo? impatiently stated as the black gloves upon his hands began to melt into his flesh, his arms taking on their hue and color. Umbra paid him no heed as she soared high above. A black bile began dripping from his fingers as his arms and fingers split apart, revealing hundreds if not thousands of tentacles wrapped around one another. He raised what remained of his right arm towards the snowy sky, tentacles surging out and up towards the demon. The sound of something slithering and snaking followed Umbra as she rose higher and higher into the sky. In her contemptuous curiosity she craned her head back to see what it was; a mass of tentacles coiled around her, binding her limbs and wings close to her body. Her head whipped back as she plummeted towards the earth, the tentacles dragging her down at breakneck speeds. She slammed into the ground with a thoom, a plume of snow rising from the impact site. She groaned painfully as she felt herself being dragged through the frigid and unforgiving wintery landscape, snow pelting down on her all the while.

“I said it before, and I’ll say it again. I believe it would be in your best interests to listen to what I have to say, for I believe we both desire something similar,” Russo? said once more as he hoisted Umbra above him and dangled her in the air. “You and I both desire a fight, albeit for different reasons. You want to partake in one, while I want to watch the spectacle of it.” The night black tentacles constricted tight around Umbra’s ribs to cut off so much as an attempt to interrupt. “To the far west of here, in a podunk town called Yash, you will find the human you are searching for. Lash out at him everything you have, don’t hold anything back. I expect a hell of a show from you two after all,” He said as he narrowed the gaze of his remaining eye and forced an unsettling Cheshire grin on his face.