FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

PM me if you have something special you want in this story. Ideas are always welcome^^

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As Xenorosth woke up, he found that everything he saw was a dream. Or was it? Everything felt so real. Even his emotions were still there. He didn't understand why. Pieces of this puzzle must have been missing. Normally he always figured things out when everything was in place. He stood up and walked off his comfy cushion, deciding it was time he got up.

Ashira was waiting impatiently for him. She spotted him and impatiently nudged him along. Xenorosth wondered why he was rushed, but before he could ask Ashira already gave him the answer. "Come on! You need to see the town a bit to get your baring. And don't worry. I'll be right next to you the whole time ok?"

Xenorosth was immediately overwhelmed by attention when he arrived at the city. Everyone wanted to see the hybrid hatchling from the Midnight dragons' turf. He had got greetings from random strangers who would walk up to him. Some just wanted to say hi, some wanted to over him a tour of the land, and some even asked if they could be of service to him. He quickly rejected the offers as graciously as he could. Ashira always had her eyes on him too. She was overprotective. She would let out a growl for anyone who made Xenorosth nervous.

He once saw Flare in hills just walking idly around. Xenorosth blinked and chased after him. Even at his Flare's walk, the difference in size made it difficult to catch him on ground. He called out to him, but Flare wouldn't stop. Soon it got too tedious and he flew off after him. He soon heard Ashira call out and order him to get back to her side. She didn't know that he met Flare before. He still ignored her calls, relieved to find someone else he felt comfortable with.

"Hey! Flare!" Xenorosth shouted. When Flare finally noticed him he turned around and smiled at the hatchling. Xenorosth observed Flare's features for the first time up close. The first time he was thinking too much to get a good glimpse. Flare seemed to have a more muscular appearance then the other dragons he had met in this realm. He must have been a warrior in a war or something. It was the only thing he could think of. He had to be at least the height of a tree. From the tip of his tail, to the tip of Flare's snout were about 2 trees long. His red scales, dazzlingly bright, shined in the red moon.

Xenorosth noticed that the moon gave a tint of red to everything and quickly looked at his own scales. They looked as if they were purple. Xenorosth amused himself with this for a second. How did he not realize it sooner? Flare's voice jerked Xenorosth back to reality.

" Hey! I thought I'd find you here eventually. I see Ashira brought you." Flare greeted. No sooner then Ashira was mentioned, she had arrived right at Xenorosth's side.

"Greetings Flare. You two have already met?" Ashira interrogated. Apparently, she figured out what was going on. She didn't seem very happy finding this out just now. From what Xenorosth knew of her, she always liked to know other peoples business. She was nosy, but Xenorosth knew that she meant well. Xenorosth nodded and Flare smiled. Ashira frowned.

"Yeah, we've met before. Yesterday, in fact." Flare told Ashira, fighting back the laugh that Xenorosth could tell wanted to escape from his mouth. He, too, wanted to laugh at Ashira's expression.

"Hey, lighten up! Don't get so worked up about it. He watched the night sky with me is all." Xenorosth said with a laugh. This made Ashira smile slightly. Then she licked Xenorosth's face playfully. The unexpected lick made him stumble backward. He rubbed his head against his arm, violently trying to get the slobber off of him. Both Ashira and Flare laughed as the hatchling fell tripped over his own tail and fell onto his back. Even Xenorosth laughed at himself.

They both stopped and talked a while. They talked of how they got their scales to shine brighter, how much they have hunted. They exchanged secret hunting locations and techniques. It was amusing how they went on and on about such minor things. Xenorosth then realized he never really knew how to start small chat. He never talked to anyone but his mother at home. Ariel's cavern was isolated from all the other midnight dragons so he had no one his age to talk to. No one else dared to get as close to the border of the black dragons' turf, fearing they would be kidnapped and enslaved. Xenorosth shrugged at the though and focused back on Flare and Ariel's conversation.

"So you wouldn't mind if I show the hatchling around, do you Ashira? I'd love to take him to see the sites." Flare asked. Xenorosth liked the idea. He could finally have some guy time. He never had any before. He looked at Ashira pleadingly. She thought about it for a moment. Then she nodded. Xenorosth let out a pleased hum, excited to spend his time with him. Flare grinned as well.

Ashira nuzzled Xenorosth and whispered to him "Be careful." Then she flew off. Be careful? That made Xenorosth laugh. Ashira was talking to someone who had crossed leagues of enemy territory, almost being captured in the process, and was even struck by a bolt of lightning. Now he was told to be careful. He thought now that he was in a safe place that there would nothing that would try to harm him.

"Well? You coming? I'd like to show you the lava pulls. They're great for a swim as long as you have the scales for it." Flare asked, making Xenorosth forget Ashira's warning.

"Wouldn't it burn me?" Xenorosth asked. He wasn't a fire dragon. Surely he loved the warmth, but Xenorosth didn't think that he could take the heat of lava.

"Only if you fear it. It's close. You will see," Flare replied with a grin. This confused Xenorosth, making Flare laugh. Only if he feared it? He didn't feel like asking so he just followed Flare. He probably wouldn't understand it unless he was given an example anyway. Or at least he would be in denial.

It didn't take long to figure reach where they were going. As Xenorosth and Flare reached the top of a hill, the temperature rising with each step he took, of a hill a huge span of bright, red, and glowing lava came into view. Many dragons were there already. It must have been a swimming place for these dragons. He saw many dragons in the lava, encouraging him to try. Flare coaxed him ahead. Xenorosth grinned and flew ahead.

"Welcome to the lava pools!" Flare shouted happily to Xenorosth. He had a wide grin on his face. He followed Xenorosth, smiling at the hatchling's exuberance.

Xenorosth slowed down to the edge of the pool. Flare watched Xenorosth test it to see if it would burn him. Flare shook his head and pushed Xenorosth in. Xenorosth yipped as the glowing red lava engulfed him. He flailed in the lava, and then all the sudden lay there motionless, realizing that the temperature was pleasantly hot. He quickly relaxed he muscles. Flare's eyes sparked as waded in to the lava, smirking. He seemed surprised with something. He dragged Xenorosth into deeper levels of the lava.

It turned out having a different scale color then everyone else, he stood out quite obviously in the midst of all the red-scaled dragons. Everyone gave him greetings as is he was a neighbor. It made Xenorosth quiet uncomfortable.

Flare seemed to notice after a while and asked "Would you prefer it if we had our own little private pool?"

Xenorosth nodded and quickly headed towards the rocky land again. Flare easily beat him to the lava's edge.

"Follow me," Flare commanded. Xenorosth had to jog to keep up with Flare's walking pace. They walked around the edge of the lava. They stopped at the bottom of a very high cliff. It looked to be at least 500 feet tall. Xenorosth looked at Flare confused. Was this it?

The next few thoughts were cut off as Flare gently placed a claw on the wall. As if the cliff recognized the claw, a door-shaped area on it started to glow a bright red. Xenorosth watched, utterly transfixed, as the glowing area of the cliff revealed a very large cavern. The ceiling was twice as high as Flare and it looked like it could fit a whole party of dragons. As Flare entered, half pushing Xenorosth in, he pointed to an entrance all the way to the left.

"That way. That one is my personal lava pool," Flare told Xenorosth. Xenorosth barely heard him. He was still gazing at the vast cavern. This was in a cliff? He would never fully understand any of these abilities until he learned them himself. He slowly walked Flare's section of the colossal cavern.

"You have to teach me how to do that trick with the cliff side!" exclaimed Xenorosth. Flare chuckled.

"The firelock? You can try the midnight lock when taught, but I doubt you could do the firelock," Flare said with amusement, "That trick isn't of your kind. It is very, very hard to teach spells that are not from your own region. Your kind is the midnight and black dragons. You can use the materialization, illusions and teleportation of a midnight dragon and the ability to control pure darkness, like the darkness inside of a cave, or the shadow of a tree. However, controlling fire isn't normal for one like you. And I don't need to..."

"But I can already shoot firebolts." Xenorosth interrupted, "I figured that out as I crossed the black dragon territory.

Flare was slightly startled with this news. He started pestering Xenorosth to show him. When Xenorosth refused, Flare refused to walk until he shown him. Xenorosth thought he was being silly, but the look on Flare's face quickly changed his mind. He held up a claw and focused it on the wall. He gathered a certain warm energy that lay within him. Then he focused the energy to his hand. Then he shot off the energy. A midsize fireball shot from his hand and hit the wall. It burst and the remaining sparks fell to the ground.

Flare looked stunned. He picked Xenorosth as easily he would a deer, then started walking quickly, as if he was worried someone had seen Xenorosth. Xenorosth growled and rumbled in protest, but he wouldn't let go until they were at another firelock. He set Xenorosth down, opened it, and rushed Xenorosth in. Flare then closed wall back. It didn't amaze Xenorosth less seeing the spell done a second time.

Flare then pinned Xenorosth. He yipped, caught off guard.

"What is with you?" Xenorosth snarled.

"Stay still! Let me look into your eyes. Just a second." Flare commanded. It was almost a plea. The fearful edge in his voice made Xenorosth blink and stay still. Flare looked at him closely. Then suddenly Flare lifted his claw off of Xenorosth and took a few paces back.

"What? What!" Xenorosth asked frantically.

"By the love of the Dark Realms we live in! You have attributes of all dragons! How is that even possible?" Flare mumbled. He started ranting to himself. Xenorosth shook his head. He finally noticed that he was on the edge of a lava gigantic lava lake. Xenorosth eagerly jumped in. He watched Flare curiously. Flare was getting control of himself again.

"It looks you have abilities beyond any of us in this realm." Flare said when he finally recovered. Xenorosth shook his head, not understanding.

Seeing this Flare clarified himself a bit. " You can use any type of power. You have the ability of a water dragon, black dragon, fire dragon, midnight, ice, emerald, and all the other dragons! You I can see them all in you waiting to be awakened, you have a great journey you must undertake in. We will stay here only a moment. Then we must begin your training to master fire as soon as possible. Dark Guardian, you are indeed in a precarious situation. Having to go all over this world to train. This will be a pain for you."

Xenorosth looked at Flare in disbelief. How could he tell that? This was too stressful. He didn't want to deal with this. He just collapsed in the lava, letting himself sink in. It was ridiculous.

Flare shook his head and joined Xenorosth in the lava. Flare could tell that Xenorosth didn't believe him.

Who was he to argue with him while he was relaxing? He would talk to him about it on the way back when he was calmed down.

Together they took the rest of the day to just relax lay in their private pool of nice, hot lava. Flare didn't want to upset the hatchling dragon any more then he was. He was already under a lot of stress. He didn't want to cause anymore...

That night Flare and Xenorosth lay together next to the private pool. Flare quickly fell asleep, but Xenorosth couldn't do so much as close his eyes longer then a second. He lay there for hours and hours, curled up next to Flare, trapped in the labyrinth of his thoughts. He knew Flare wouldn't lie to him about such a serious matter. What he also found is that he didn't know exactly how he was supposed to accomplish everything he was supposed to. There are a lot of elements and powers to learn. And how was he supposed to get to some of the places. Like in the water dragons' territory! The water dragons live in sea! He couldn't hold his breath forever could he?

Now that Xenorosth thought of it, he should plan on visiting all of the dragon territories in the Dark Realms. It'd be wise to learn a little bit and practice as he went. That meant now too. If Flare was right, there was no time to mess around. It was time to train!

Xenorosth got up from Flare's warm side and looked at the firelock. That was going to be his first task. To try to break that lock. But how? He was never told the details about it. Xenorosth thought about it for a while, then decided that in order to attempt this he should ask Flare for directions and perhaps even tutoring about it. The little blue hatchling nudged Flare, lightly at first, but when it became obvious that light coaxing wouldn't do it he tried ramming him on the side. Flare woke up to that all right. He instinctively clawed at the dragon that rammed him. Luckily, Xenorosth teleported away, just in time to avoid the attack.

Flare then realized whom he had clawed at and abruptly stopped. "I am so sorry! I didn't... I thought..."

"Yeah, yeah! I want you to train me in the art of fire. Starting with that lock over there," Xenorosth told him, cutting off Flare. Flare blinked in surprise. Obviously, he was sure that Xenorosth would have still been recovering from the news he had given him.

"Right now? You think you are ready?" Flare asked, almost in disbelief. Xenorosth nodded. After all, if Flare was telling the truth, then he had no time to waste. Flare grumbled a little, reluctant to get up. Xenorosth walked over to the lock curiously, followed by a drowsy Flare.

"You know how you focus energy right? Like when you do a fireball. You focus the energy down to hand.

All you have to do is focus it on the lock." Flare instructed. Xenorosth stood there in thought for a moment. He tried to make logic of it. As he did so he focused energy to his hand. He made a fireball and shot it at the lock. To Xenorosth's and even Flare's amazement the lock opened.

"I guess that is one way of doing it. Though next time try to do it directly from mind to lock instead of mind to hand to lock." Flare suggested. Xenorosth nodded and entered the labyrinth that was his own mind. He looked around. He wasn't sure what he should be looking for this time. He found his energy source. This wasn't new to him seeing as he would go here every time he had to use a spell.

Xenorosth looked closely out for something he didn't normally see, his tail stroking the side of the wall searching for something like an indent or crack in the walls that might cause suspicion. The normal light in his mind gave a faint glow, helping him see a little bit better. He closely examined the walls trying to find something on the smooth stone. He focused intently on the wall as if the answers were written on the wall.

Suddenly, just as he was about to give up, a mysterious glow came from the side on the wall. It was shaped like a miniature entrance. A door! Xenorosth pushed on the rock and it gave way to an infinite plain

As soon as Xenorosth took a step onto the mental plain he felt extremely exposed. It was as if he was a book to be read by anyone who chose to. It made him feel dizzy. He quickly withdrew back into his own mind, slightly shaken. He shook his head trying to recover from his dizziness.

Flare chuckled. Obviously, he expected that first reaction. Xenorosth growled a little in frustration. He could have at least given him a warning.

"You will get used to the feeling of openness. Once you are used to it, you can do a huge amount of things. One of the most common things that dragons do when they leave their mind is enter another dragon's mind so they can talk. If you can locate your mother's mind, you can tell her how you are at the moment. Now try using your mind to lock the firelock. It should be simple."

Again? You had to be kidding! Xenorosth was already dizzy and very much reluctant to do that again. He hesitated for a moment. Then he reopened the door to the exit of his mind and cautiously left again. Again he felt that feeling of exposure. It still made him feel sick and dizzy. As he spent time getting used to the awkward sensations, he felt his way towards the lock.

He soon felt a strange heat radiating from what appeared to be a mental version of the firelock. He then channeled his energy onto the lock. He could do this directly because it was a mental version. Or Xenorosth thought it was anyway.

The deed was done. Xenorosth quickly withdrew back into his own mind once more. Then as reality came back to him, he looked at the wall. It was up and locked. Flare was beaming with happiness.

"You did it! There may be hope for you yet!" Flare exclaimed.

"What's that supposed to mean! ‘There may be hope for you yet!'" Xenorosth grumbled with an irritated snort.

Before Flare could retaliate, a thunderous roar came outside. It was soon followed by growls and snarls of many fire dragons. Flare ran over to the main cavern of the private pool back to the large firelocked door. Xenorosth yipped and flew after him. It took a moment but when Xenorosth finally caught up, Flare was in the main cavern, looking around in awe at the chaos. Everyone was rushing in from the pools. What could be causing all of this? Xenorosth couldn't help but wonder what was over there.

Xenorosth took off in flight again, passing Flare. Flare hissed angrily, commanding Xenorosth to get back, but unfortunately he couldn't hear Flare due to the commotion going on in the main cavern. He dashed ahead and out into the lava pools. Flare tried to catch up, but he soon lost sight of him and couldn't catch up due the crowds.

As soon as he exited, he realized why everyone had entered.

"Xenorosth! Come out where ever you are!" Rang out from the skies, full of menace that immediately sent shivers down Xenorosth's spine. It made him hiss to himself. Only one dragon had ever had that effect on him.

"Yamizephyr!" Xenorosth yipped.