FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 11: Fragmentation

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

“Ladies, Archie- We have found ourselves in quite the interesting situation here,” I muttered as we stood over the holographic map displaying the space around us. To be more precise, it was displaying an entire quadrant of the star system. “After reviewing some Imperial charts, I decided to set up a couple of stops we need to go through for the next week. Passing around these three planets, our main destination is this specific planet.”

“You found another Crest?” Addie inquired with a hint of hope. Unfortunately for her, I had to squash that optimism with a grim look.

“Not… really. While there is a small chance of finding Ice somewhere living in two of those celestial bodies, I don’t think we will since these maps have been updated recently. Which means a fleet has already gone around and scanned the area thoroughly.”

As the young queen lowered her gaze in annoyance, Carmesi lifted a hand up with a confused look. I gave her a nod, curious of what she wanted to ask.

“Yes?”

“How are you sure we will know when we are close to another of us?” The Fox Prime asked. “I thought there was no way to find the others.”

“Well, that is because circumstances change and because there is one thing that I learned by reading some old data from the Empire,” I happily announced before starting to explain. “Crests tend to feel a ‘pull’ when a Crest of opposite element is close to them.”

…

“You mean that… if I get close enough to Water-”

“Or Ice.”

“Or Ice, I will... ‘feel’ where they are or something like that?”

“It would be a more general sensation than that. You will feel a pull from within trying to have you want to check on planets we will come close to during our trip around the galaxy,” I further explained. “From what the documents we got about it, old accounts from Prism that were recovered from the Empire mention how bickering was common between the old Crests, mostly between those that were recognized as ‘natural enemies’. Nothing that ended up in bloodshed, but it was the reason for competitions to become essential to preserve peace and harmony on the planet.”

“So I’m just a detector now?”

“You have more personality than one,” I mirthfully replied, getting a snort out of the woman. “But seriously, if I had alternatives, I would have taken those. This really is the only way to find Crests.”

“It’s not that bad,” Grace commented. “Sure, it means we will have to keep an eye out for any strange interest for any of the planets we will come across with, but I don’t think it’s that unpleasant.”

“It isn’t that, I know better than questioning what Theo actually thinks of us,” Carmie admitted. “It’s just… I’m bored. It’s been a long while since we had a serious fight with our enemies.”

I frowned. “Well, we have been on the run for some time now, but I suspect you will be happy to know that once we arrive at our last stop for the week, you will have the chance to train your cadets.”

That got her attention to me.

“You mean we are actually stopping?”

“We need to scavenge for resources. We aren’t in dire need right now but-”

“But it’s only for the best that we do that now that we are not intensely chased by the Empire,” Addie completed for me, nodding in agreement to that line of thought.

“Which is why I picked the best planet out of the ones around. Food, resources that can be used for any fixing, or to improve the current state of the ships,” Archie added with a grin. “We can use the units within the ship to recover minerals, synthesize medicines, and create weapons depending on what we find.”

“Maybe recover some new plants too?” Grace offered, fascinated by the chances of expanding the little garden she had begun very recently. It was good to see that she didn’t drop that peaceful hobby.

“It shall be done, my lady!” The spirit agreed loudly, gaining a giggle out of the Gazelle Prime before the ball returned to the Fire Crest.

“Still, do I even have the time to start training the troops?” Carmesi pressed on with a concerned tone. “Wouldn’t we need to move out of that planet once we are done scavenging for stuff?”

“We shall take two days to get everything running smoothly,” I answered quietly. “Now that we have the chance to carefully get enough things before resuming the run, it would be best we took some time in this important situation. The next time we stop, it will be probably to have you train the men even more and… then resume the run.”

“We are only running… that isn’t good,” The former Imperial Captain remarked with some irritation.

“It’s not something that we have much of a choice about,” Adela pointed out. “I understand you want to attack the Empire, and, believe me, I want to do that myself, but we can’t just try to fight them when they will not hesitate to exploit the disadvantage we have.”

“So we just run? Nothing else?”

“Only until we find an advantage to even the next battles,” I answered, drawing her bored look back on me. “And you know this too. The moment we get the advantage, you can be on the first line to handle the future battles with the Imperial Forces.”

“I will hold you on that.”

“Oh, trust me. I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun considering how vicious you get when you are angry.”

The Fox Prime grinned giddily at that comment, finding it to be more of a compliment than a jab I had thrown her way. She really was prideful of her short-temper…

With this reunion wrapping up, I followed Archie back to the cockpit. While the spirit resumed control of the ship, I sat down by one of the many available seats in there. With Adela deciding to join Grace for a quiet session of gardening, and Carmesi checking on any exercises she could offer to her newest toys- subordinates, I was pretty much left alone with what to do during the next few hours.

So I decided to keep the Nanozell Spirit some company as I took this opportunity to think about recent developments.

“Do you think we will manage to find another Crest so soon?” I asked the partly-busy spirit, gaining a frown out of him.

“Statistically or do you need an opinion?”

“I have seen the data. Just give me your thoughts on the matter,” I muttered quietly.

“It’s… a tough call to make, boss,” Archie admitted. “I believe it’s possible. Maybe if it’s played on the chances that we have been quite lucky until now. But… I still don’t think we will find anyone anytime soon.”

I nodded, conceding to his point without hesitation. As much as I shared Addie’s hopes of finding someone else to join the crew in the matters of days or event weeks, we were still running in a very complicated situation. The Empire was certainly keeping chasing us, no matter how fast we were to them. It was only a matter of when they would find us and how we were going to handle it, either through battling or making a run for it and keep up the cat and mouse play.

“Let’s hope in good luck then. Actually, wouldn’t it have been hilarious if there had been a Crest of Luck?”

“Maybe. I mean, if they weren’t loyal to the Empire, then sure,” The spirit remarked and I shivered at the possibility of such a bizarre addition becoming the worst enemy to fight.

“That sure is going to make sleeping difficult.”

“Doubtful,” The spirit mirthfully shot back. “The queen would cuddle you up well enough to put you in the sweetest of dreams.”

I huffed. “There is no need to flex that you peeked at us while we were sleeping-”

“And sharing a shower together.”

My eyes narrowed after hearing that interruption. It was blatantly an admission from the spirit that had peeped on the time together with Addie.

“You watched?”

“Hehe, sorry boss.”

“We really need to find some rules about the showers,” I lamented in faux irritation, deciding to not press any further and retreat to my thoughts for the time being. There was a lot to unwind, and much that I wasn’t exactly sure I was ever going to understand considering the depth behind it all.

Starting with the fact that the Narakhans that were helped a few days ago were really devoted to Addie’s cause. It was easy to see how much respect they had for us from the daily messages. Everything was mostly formal, with just some minor allusions from a few female ones that seemed to have grown some interest in me.

I could tell it was just a case of ‘damsels-in-distress’, with their affection mostly born from the fact I was the one that learned that they could be cured by the marks, and I really didn’t blame them for thinking so highly of me.

Digging further into the Imperial files, I learned that even though the best known cases of criminals were Primes, there was a large number of Narakhans that were known to have deserted active duty. Some even managed to push away the influence of the Emperor’s mark through sheer willpower, but only a few came close to actually fight the entire thing off and that usually didn’t go beyond a few hours of lucid control over their actions.

These people were killed on sight, with only a handful being spared out of the chances of having them ‘re-educated’ and sent to handle different activities across the Empire. Some managed to live through the treatment, others weren’t… that lucky.

The deeper I looked into the matter, the more I realized how much of a terrible monster the Emperor really was. It’s one thing to kill off any threats to your people… but that entire narrative was crushed by the cynical take the guy had over the few groups that were still part of his kind. I was so angered by this, I started wondering if he was born evil, or if something had been behind this horrible creature that so eagerly flaunted himself to be an Emperor. A ruler.

As I pondered about this, I felt my mind growing tired and, considering how early I had to wake up to be prepared for the reunion, I planned to take a little nap before doing anything else. One muffled yawn later, my eyes were close as I leaned back on the chair and allowed the silence of space to lull me away from that difficult predicament.

_ If only I knew that there was something worse on the other side. _

------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------

The first thing that hit me as I woke up, was the brightness that forced my eyes to keep close for a while. There was some loud cheering, I was standing and soon I was pushed forward. Panic continued to rise the more I struggled in what felt to be iron chains restraining my arms together, allowing only my legs to move.

The crowd that I couldn’t see just yet was chanting from a distance and the deafening noise was incredibly unnerving to me. Finally, my eyes adjusted to the light and… the chains that were holding me put seemed to break the moment I could properly see. I almost tripped forward, but I caught myself just in time to see a problematic issue in front of me.

The monstrous giant in front of me roared fiercely, causing the spectators of this brutal competition to scream in pure eagerness at the viciousness of my… opponent. Giving a quick look around as I backed away from the current threat, I realized that I was now walking around what looked to be an arena of sorts, one similar to the coliseum.

The Narakhans screaming for violence to finally happen, the impressive size of the setting, and me being forced to face what looked to be an elemental titan. The humanoid stood several feet taller than me, and its body was partly muscled. Violet magma bubbled between the cracks on its solid stone-like skin. No intellect, only ferocity.

I had yet to understand what was happening. Why was I here? Where was my sword? And… Why couldn’t I use any magic at that moment?

This last element was worrying since I would have expected it to actually work. Yet, here I was, trying to find a way to get off this awkward predicament. Thankfully enough for the deities watching over me, I found a battle hammer that had been left within the battle ground after its former user was supposedly devoured by the monster from the fact the weapon was still attached to the skeleton’s hand and arm that had survived for that long. It was heavy, but I could take a swing without feeling unbalanced or risking to trip myself while attacking.

I turned around, the behemoth already rushing towards me with impressive speed when I gave it my attention once more. I had to play it safe and rush away from its trajectory, allowing it to go past me and slam itself on the barrier that protected the spectators from any attack from within the fighting area. Recoiling at the failed attack, the elemental beast barely noticed that I was already preparing to hit its left leg. The physical damage was perhaps not enough to rip apart the bastard’s leg, but it helped in breaking its bone, or whatever was giving its leg structure, and brought it down on one knee.

Pain and frustration were displayed by its furious growling, but it was all for naught as I jumped up from its aching leg and then up to the back of its head. With the beast still close to the barrier that kept it from killing the Narakhans watching this madness unfolding, I delivered a powerful blow by forcing its head to hit the barrier once again, this time with more strength than before. It collapsed down as I returned back on the sandy floor.

It tried to crawl away, growling and roaring fiercely in an effort to live through this.

Live, survive, hope, beg. _ Kill, kill, KILL. _

I felt its massive skull caving in as I dropped down the last hit, the hammer doing its job and delivered the killing blow. There was no gore or anything that could have made many squeamish, with dark smoke coating the now-deceased being before a crystal formed at the epicenter of the smoke. It looked so beautiful, so mesmerizing. Enough for me to start walking towards it, despite the fact my brain was screaming that this was a blatant trap.

My body was just too endeared to it, and it continued to advance towards it. One blink, I could see my arm, the next one I had light-gray fur and several cuts all over it. Panic surged at this very development, realizing that this was no longer my body and- and- Then I stopped. Or rather, I was stopped by something I hadn’t perceived until that moment.

“ Enough ,” A feminine voice said with a serious tone, drawing me to a pause as I turned around to be greeted by a cloaked figure. “ That isn’t a power you want. Not when its main purpose is to ensnare, control… destroy all logic within its slaves. ”

“Who- Who are you?”

“ This is unimportant. I believe you have people to go back to. People that care a lot to you. ”

I took just a step towards her. “Who are you?”

She ignored my question and, right before I could press that query once again, I found myself falling down into oblivion, the floor disappearing beneath my feet. I struggled, trying to find a way out of that darkness that had swallowed and…

And soon...

_ I was being… shaken. Awake. _

I woke up with a terrible headache, glancing at a confused Archie as he gave me a close up of his concerned expression.

“B-Boss?”

My panic was momentary when I saw him this close, but at least we didn’t headbutted each other with that sudden wake up. My head was in pain when I realized who I was looking at.

“Archie,” I replied quietly. “Was I… moving in my sleep?”

“A little bit, yeah. Your… your pulse was also picking up,” The spirit replied. “The cardiac anomaly was what really concerned me. Your heartbeat just started intensifying by the minute, and...”

I sighed. “What?”

“Your heart… it stopped working for a few seconds. I thought it was a heart attack or something similar but… diagnosis confirms that you are free from fearing that kind of circumstance.”

“What?”

“It was really brief. About five seconds-”

“Archie, a human body shouldn’t be able to do something like that without a heart attack,” I interjected, now fully awake and trying to grasp at the news. “Did you start the scanning for any anomaly?”

“I’m checking your blood right now, boss,” The floating spirit assured with a hint of nervousness. “I should have results in an hour from now.”

I ignored the fact he took a sample of my blood without asking, knowing that there was a greater issue I needed to make sense of. I slowly nodded at him, my mind finally bringing up the chances of this being tied to the strange dream I just woke up from.

I didn’t say anything, still shaken by what I had seen there and… I decided that I really needed to waste my mind on other topics. Something that could keep me distracted while Archie searched for any issues within my body. I was sure I hadn’t been taken by any of the taint I had cleansed a while ago, so I was confused by what was that last bit.

_ Like seriously, I need to drown myself in training right now or I’m going crazy with all this stuff. _

---------------d-d-d-d------------

I sat down for a moment, trying to recover from the intense training session I had just finished. The more I got stronger, the more the need to increase the difficulty of the exercises became a must if I wanted to be in the best shape possible. Magic, swordsplay, and even reading old documents from Prism were going to make the difference once we arrived on Earth.

There was a lot to unravel of what I was discovering. A greater look in their society, the way affairs were handled by the only government, and what made them so unprepared to handle the invasion from the Empire. The impressive amount of details was enough to leave me baffled.

Names, dates, places, explanations and a daily tale of how things really worked back in Prism. I was blushing when I ended up finding the spot that confirmed Adela’s explanation that Royal Knights tended to marry with Queens and become King-Consorts to them. Similar to how the situation with Queen Elizabeth II was, except I was not a noble, I didn’t have to follow any etiquette, and I could potentially mess things up if I didn’t find a balance between being the guy with the plan and being the guy that was seriously concerned with his girlfriend’s safety.

If until now training had served to keep me busy from dealing with what had happened mere hours ago, then I sure as hell now knew that this method wasn’t working anymore. At least, not in the way I intended it to, by having me think of simple things. Like fighting, or improving any combo and correct remaining flaws to my posture. It took me receiving a sudden slap on the back of my head to realize that I was no longer alone in the gym room.

Tripping down at the sudden hit, Carmesi huffed as she made her presence known by towering over me. The Fox Prime stared down at me, a mix of confusion, fascination, and annoyance flashing through her eyes as she waited for me to get up.

“W-What was that?”

“Me telling you that it’s lunchtime,” The young woman reminded, my eyes widening as I realized that I had indeed wasted that much time in my thoughts that I barely remembered what time it was. “So, what’s with the whole ‘hardcore training’ you’ve been going for?”

“Bored,” I quickly excused myself, only for the Fire Crest to scoff at me.

“Bullshit. You’re not the kind of guy that is into training this much,” She rebuffed. “In fact, I bet there is something really frustrating that got you to come here and focus only on training.”

“Maybe you’re seeing a lot about it. But that’s why I got there and-!!”

Her right hand grasped at my shirt and she lifted me up a little bit. My eyes narrowed back at her pissed look as she started glaring at me.

“So I’m seeing ‘a lot’, am I? I bet you weren’t even expecting to be caught here on your own,” The Fox Prime fiercely pointed out. “So you either tell me the truth, or I make sure you’re going to spend two days at the med bay.”

Violent as usual, but I could tell that most of that was actually concerning. Surely this is a bluff, one that I figured I could shrug off if I wanted to. And so I spoke up and told her the truth.

“I think… I almost died a while ago.”

…

“What?!” Carmie exclaimed, pushing me a little off the hug. “You did what?”

“I didn’t exactly do something to get to that point. I was just sleeping and… then things started to get really weird,” I explained slowly. “I was having this strange dream, which I’m quite sure wasn’t a normal one since I woke up right in an arena and… I was facing a massive monster. A crystal and-”

“Hold up. Take a moment to recollect your thoughts,” She urged as she settled me down. Concern was finally overwhelming her personal frustration. “What happened in this ‘dream’?”

I sighed, trying to put my uneasiness under control for this very moment.

“I woke up in this arena. A big place with hundreds of people around, all Narakhans, and I was supposed to face something I could only describe an elemental monster.”

“What kind of elemental?”

“Well… I think it was supposed to be a magma-related creature. It was structured so eyes, mouth nostrils, plus several cracks on his body showed an orange brightness inside it.”

“Sounds like an elemental golem. But those are… extinct,” The young woman pondered quietly. “I believe those were banished when the Emperor decided to impose the first rules to Chaos-Makers. Some constructs were outright banned and… the place you brought up might be the Discorded Ground.”

Confusion swelled in my eyes. “And you know this-”

“Because it was destroyed during the first years of the Empire,” Carmesi continued for me. “So if you saw it in a dream, then somehow you saw… the past. But still, what happened next?”

“My heart just stopped working for a couple of seconds,” I answered nervously, seeing how her body tensed up at that news. “It was around the time I finished the golem off and was about to… grasp at the crystal in there.”

“Crystal?”

“A violet one, yes. I believe it was something that was offered after beating that monster since it appeared to replace it.”

Much to my surprise, the Fire Crest narrowed her eyes in pure confusion at what I had just said.

“That’s… not possible. The reward of winning at the Discorded Ground was to live for another day. Whatever you saw was either about something I don’t know completely about, or maybe it isn’t what I just brought up.”

I nodded, for some reason I felt the need of keeping the whole ‘cloaked lady’ detail off the tale since I… I felt it was best to be left untouched. It was like a nudge of sorts, one that had me really worried for a moment since I thought of the chances of this individual being more than she let me see her as.

After calming the Fox Prime down by assuring her that I wasn’t in danger of dying again anytime soon (even though I didn’t have enough proof to confirm this), I mentioned to her that it would’ve been for the best to not have this told to Grace and Adela. She nodded at this, understanding why it would have caused quite the trouble if the news got out and-

“...I want a favor.”

I frowned. “What?”

“A simple favor, to not tell the little Queen about this little issue,” The Fire Crest elaborated. “Actually, it’s more of a positive thing for you. I want you to… share the bed with me for tonight.”

“Sharing as in-”

“Sleeping,” Carmie flatly interjected. “I hope you don’t mean you thought that-”

“Nope. I’m… a dumbass.”

The young woman nodded. “Good. And, before you go, there is a thing you can already do to me.”

“And that is?”

Carmesi didn’t say anything else, merely leaning forward and landing a quick peck on my lips with her own. My eyes widened in surprise as she leaned back with a tiny red hue on her face.

“That.”

…

I was caught off-guard by the move. Many were the questions that had me pausing over this development, and for a moment I thought it was a prank. And then I realized the Fire Crest wasn’t the kind of person that would go so far to pull a prank on someone. Especially if the target of said prank had just poured part of his insecurities out like that.

So what had just happened? And why could I tell there was more to it?

“A-And now, d-don’t you fucking dare forget about that. Or I will make that early threat I gave you is going to be the least of your trouble.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am.”

“Carmie is fine too,” She calmly remarked, smirking eagerly at me before leaving me to gauge what had just happened.

…

…

Carmesi had just kissed me and… and I was supposed to spend the night with her. For some reason, I felt dread as I imagined the trouble I was going to have to try and explain this to Addie. How was I supposed to motivate this sudden decision?

I had a few hours before nighttime, but that didn’t exactly mean I had the chance of finding an idea with that little time. I was confused, worried, panicking, but, worst of all, troubled by what the future had in store for me.

Groaning, I started to place back down the equipment I had been using to train and walk up to the kitchen to get the cooking started. I was completely unaware that another Crest had decided to stay around, seeing the little interaction I had with Carmie and… grinning as she wondered what could be done with this.

_ All in the name of cuddles and snuggling. _

--------------d-d-d-d---------------d-d-d-d-------

AN

A cloaked woman, a crystal… and Carmie trying to plan out a snuggling session with MC. Yep, nothing to worry about.