Fursekai: Volume 1.1

1

With a gasp the young girl wakes up. The first thing she notices is how dark it is. Then she starts to feel the cold as her body starts shivering uncontrollably.

"Thank god your okay." Her supposed younger brother says.

Looking up at Johnny, Maria wonders why he looked older than he had a few moments ago.

Then realisation sinks in, after she remembers what had happened.

Frantically she looks around her, hoping to find everyone safe and happy. But the only ones she sees is Johnny and a sleeping Elaine, who looks a bit younger than before.

"Where is everyone else?" Maria asks her brother.

He simply responds with a shrug.

Maria waits until after he's gotten a fire going to ask him any more questions.

"Where are we?" She asks.

"Don't know, but it's not Earth." He replies.

"What makes you say that?"

"All the inhabitants are furries." He tells her.

"Furries?" She asks, tilting her head in confusion.

"Anthropomorphic animals. Like Zootopia." He explains to her, while drawing a crude example in the dirt by his feet.

"Oh. How long have I been out?" Maria asks.

"Only a few minutes. That being said you only just arrived in this world." He replies.

The entire time he has been staring at the flames in front of him.

"I just arrived? Then how long have you been here?" She asks, even more confused than before.

"About five days." He says, pointing his stick at a nearby tree with five notches.

"If I got here after you, then how did you find me? Actually, how did we even get here?"

"I found you because you fell on my head after appearing a few metres above the ground. As for how we got here, your guess is as good as mine." He says, pointing at the sky above his head.

"Oh, use this." He suddenly says after pulling something out of his pocket and tossing it at Maria.

In her hand she has a strange looking compass that doesn't seem to point anywhere.

"What is it?" She asks, looking up at Johnny.

"It's an age compass. At least, that's what I heard the local kids call it. Supposedly it can guess your real age without fail. When I picked it up it told me that I had aged up three years." Johnny explains.

When Maria looks down at it she sees that a number had appeared.

Fourteen.

"It says I'm two years younger." She tells him.

"Ahh. The same thing happened to Elaine. She's thirteen again." Johnny comments.

Their next few weeks is spent fishing and hunting for survival in this strange world.

Then Elaine got hurt. Badly.

While trying to get a few bird eggs she fell out of a tree and broke her leg.

Because of this, Johnny snuck into the nearby village to procure some medicine. Needless to say he got caught.

The three soon found themselves standing before the man everyone pays for protection.

A large, ugly, fat hog.

"What disgusting creatures." The hog snorts as he looks at the three humans.

"You may be young females but I have no interest in playing with ugly toys like you." He adds.

"Sir, if I may. Their scent is unfamiliar and hard to pick up. They could make useful assassins." The man next to the hog says.

He is a frail weasel with sharp teeth and disgusting eyes.

"Good idea. Some at least." The hog says, looking at Elaine.

"Dispose of this one." He orders.

As soon as one of the guards tries to touch Elaine, Maria jumps forward and pushes his hand away.

"Insolent brat!" The guard shouts, pulling out a whip.

"Hold it." The hog orders.

"While it would be fun to break her, that may also cause her to become an inferior assassin. I've found that assassins are generally better when driven by something." The hog explains.

"How about this child. You do as I say, and she won't get hurt. The same goes for you boy." He adds.

Both Maria and Johnny agreed without hesitation.

And that's how they came to be employed by Baron Eudoros. But, their story in this world is not yet over.

Stay tuned.