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Chapter 2 - Those of a Different Color

A story involving a world of various furry races, such as moogles, foxes, and so on. Unfinished; any ideas would be most appreciated. PG, some violence.

Chapter 2 - Those of a Different Color

Chapter 2 - Those of a Different Color

Chapter One: Those of a Different Color
(First draft, July 2003)

"Little brother...." sang a small voice from below the floorboards of the loft. "Where are you?"

One could hear only a light snore in response.

"Kodiro?" sang the voice again, louder this time. "Are you up there?"

Again, only light snoring was heard in response. Then, a sound of fluttering wings echoed up from the ladder below as a white furball jumped up to the loft. It was Adira, a young moogle with well-groomed white fur, piercing emerald eyes, strong red wings, and at the age of nine, she was the youngest flyer in their entire village. She looked around the loft, from one sunlit wall to the other, trying to find ... him.

Ah, there he was. A few feet from the corner, curled up and sound asleep right next to a pile of dried straw. That was Kodiro, her brother, a younger moogle of about five years age with blue eyes. Kodiro was unique among their village for his brown fur. It was not a terribly dark or "dirty" brown sort of fur, but sort of a medium brown -- the kind of brown that, if you hold it up to direct light, glows in a golden color. Although other moogles of the village would make fun of Kodiro's brown fur, Adira never hesitated to defend her brother, her precious "golden moogle".

Adira kneeled and then sat down near the pile of straw and her brother. "I knew I'd find you here," she purred quietly.

No response from Kodiro.

Adira looked more closely at him. She shouted a single word at him -- a greeting, one of the most common words in the moogle tongue and the single most important: "Kupo!"

"zzz.... zzz... mm...wha?" came a muffled reply from her brother.

Adira giggled a bit at her brother's sleepy response. Suddenly she pounced upon and tackled him, sending herself and himself rolling across the floor as they kicked up a layer of dry straw. They hit the nearby wall and bounced off. After a few more somersaults, they stopped rolling, and Adira was on top, now pinning her abruptly-awakened brother to the floor.

"Kodiro!" Adira greeted him. "Are you awake yet?"

"Ki...!" the brother began, yawning. "What was that for?"

"You overslept again. It's almost noon! The elder sent me to get you."

The word 'elder' rang Kodiro's ears like a bell. Suddenly he sprang up, tossing Adira aside as he scrambled to get his feet onto solid floor. "The elder?"

Adira stood back up, beginning to pick some loose straw from her white fur. "Yea. The elder said he wouldn't begin today's story until everyone is there. Including you."

"Story time? Aww man... did I miss anything?"

Adira glanced a light slap off of Kodiro's face. "Silly! He SAID he wouldn't begin until everyone is ready to hear it. You kupo?"

Kodiro blinked a few times to help stay awake. "Oh. Right....," he yawned.

Adira walked over to the wooden shutters, unlatched them and swung them wide open, and light filled the room from outside. The change of lighting was intense; Kodiro had to shield his eyes from the window for almost a minute, until he was adjusted to the bright light.

"I'll meet you there," Adira said as she hopped up onto the window-sill and stretched out her wings for a quick glide down. "Last one to the elder's house is a rotten Kupo Nut!"

Adira jumped out, flapping her wings to maintain a smooth downwards glide. Kodiro ran to the window and looked out.

"Hey--! No fair flying!!" Kodiro shouted after her. Only five years old himself, Kodiro's own wings were neither large nor strong enough to support him in flight. He looked around at the outer wall of the shed. Suddenly, out of nowhere an idea of how to get down came to him. Carefully, he climbed up onto the windowsill and then hopped out. On the way down, he sunk his claws into the wall to slow his descent. After scraping down about three feet he came to a stop, his claws holding him fast about six feet above the ground.

Quickly, he looked around trying to grasp for another idea. He didn't feel he could jump down from this height, but something told him to try anyway. So after a moment's hesitation, he pulled his claws out of the wall all at once and came tumbling down.

Fortunately, it was a soft, sloped landing, and Kodiro landed rolling. For about ten feet. By the time he came to a stop, all four feet were on solid ground but he felt quite dizzy from the trip. He shook his head a few times to clear up. As soon as the ground stopped "moving" under him, he stood up and ran the rest of the way to the elder's hut.

Adira was out front of the house, looking at him concernedly. "Are you okay!?"

Kodiro stopped in front of her and brushed himself off. "Y-yeah, kipo. I'm fine."

"Why didn't you take the ladder? You could've hurt yourself!"

Kodiro looked back at the shed and the claw marks he had left on the wall. He looked back at Adira, smiling. "It was faster this way...."

"Whatever," Adira chuckled. "Come in, we're late."

Adira opened the oak door to the elder's hut and led Kodiro inside. All nine of the other young moogles in their village were settled down around the elder in a quarter circle: some sitting up, others layind down, one or two trying to catch a wink of sleep. But when Adira and her brother walked in, all eyes were open and fixed on Kodiro. Adira returned the glares with a stare of her own, strong enough in fact that some of the other kids, in particular those who liked to make fun of her brother.

Adira walked to the right and picked out a spot for her brother, and he seated himself down. Adira sat next to him on his right side, keeping a watchful eye on the other moogles in the room.

"All right, everyone," the elder spoke up. First he turned to Adira. "I see there was no trouble finding him,"

"Kupo," Adira responded. "He was just sleeping in again."

The elder gave a kupo in response, turning to Kodiro. "Not much for mornings, are we?"

Kodiro nodded. "Kipo. I was tired."

The other moogles in the room giggled at Kodiro's pronunciation. But then they noticed Adira looking back at them, staring angrily.

"That will be quite enough from you," the elder stated, standing up. The elder singled out the three kids who were giggling. "You..., you..., and you..., -- the three of you shall go to the library and look up the word 'kipo' in the encyclopedia. Return once you have finished and tell me what you learn."

The three young moogles fell silent. "Us?" One of them asked.

"Exactly," the elder replied sternly. "There will be no story today for you three. Off to the library with you! Miko..." The elder calld to his mate in the other room. She walked out into the room. "What is it?"

The elder pointed at the three moogles. "Take those three to the library and watch over their study." Miko nodded, and then escorted them out of the room.

After they left, the elder explained himself to the rest of the children. "Kodiro was, in fact, not speaking poorly. The word 'kipo' is a part of our tongue, just like the word 'kupo'. It is, in fact, an older variation of 'kupo', dating back very far in our books of history. It may not be used much today, but when it is, it must be respected just like the rest of our language. Kupo?"

All the moogles nodded in agreement. Kodiro spoke up. "It is? I just thought it sounds cooler..."

"Yes, it is...," the elder nodded. "Anyway, now I can begintoday's story. Who has heard of a village named . . . Mokupa?"

Adira's right hand shot up into the air, but she was alone. The elder chuckled for a moment. "Does anyone besides Adira know of a place called Mokupa?"

There was a moment of silence, then the elder continued. "I thought so. Anyway. Today's story is not about that village, or what happened to it. Today's story merely begins there. In the village of Mokupa, there was an elder. A very wise moogle; he studied history, legends, and myth. But most of all, he was especially interested in the stories of the Dark One."

The elder began. "There are many versions of the story, but all of them like this. It began a very, very long time ago. Three thousand years, they say; one hundred generations, at the beginning of all history books.

"Today, we call it the Dark Era, the reign of the Dark One. No one truly knows who he was, or how he came to be the Dark One now. Some say he was a warrior. Others say he was a scholar. But both agree, that somehow he communed with one of the elements of magic itself. We say that, yes, it must have been the element of Darkness.

"Anyway. About the Dark One. They say his fur was black as a moonless sky, his wings dark as the storm cloud, and eyes as cold as death itself. His power, was unthinkably immense. Anyone who dared stand in his way, he destroyed. He sought power; oh he sought it all right. He wished to take claim over the entire world and all the races in it.

"One by one, he killed the greatest warriors in the land. They say that our kind had existed in two clans: the warriors, and the scholars. Well, they say the Dark One drove all of the ancient warrior moogles to extinction, leaving the scholar clan among our kind.

"Could anyone stop the Dark One? No. Race by race, he sought out and eliminated warrior clans of all races throughout the world. Whomever and whatever was strong enough to threaten him, he killed them and enslaved the rest. Even the mighty dragons, the oldest, wisest, and strongest race in the land; he wiped them all out. Using entire nations as his slaves, he built his mighty citadel.

"But..., legends also say, that even while he tightened his grip over the world, there was one who rose to challenge him. They say his name was Angelus. They say that he had sworn himself to the element of Light and the force of Good. They say he was a warrior from our kind, possibly the last of that clan. They say his fur was gold, his wings silver, and his eyes blue like the sky. He worked silently at first, sowing resistance and upheaval in the Dark One's lands. Then, while the Dark One's servants were distracted, he approached the mighty citadel itself and challnged the Dark One.

"They say the Dark One recognized Angelus, but by then it was too late. As strong as the Dark One's powers, Angelus had become stronger. They say that the two warriors fought in a mighty battle. The Dark One used all his tricks, countless spells of dark magic, but they simply evaporated in the light Angelus brought forth. They fought for days. The Dark One's citadel came crumblind down all around them, yielding to the power of light.

"Finally, they say that Angelus landed a crippling blow to the Dark One, sliced off one wing and then the other, and the Dark One was near defeat. And then --"

The elder stopped and paused for a minute; the silence was deafening.

"What happened?" Kodiro asked.

The elder shook his head. "Legends and history are silent. No one knows how the battle ended. All they could find, was Angelus's sword. There were no traces of Angelus, nor any traces of the Dark One. It was as if they had both simply vanished.

"Many believe that Angelus destroyed the Dark One, once and for ever. Others believe that the Dark One was defeated, but not destroyed. Perhaps both of them perished in battle. All we know, is that they found only Angelus's sword."

The elder stood up. "Oh, yes. They also say, that one word was found carved into Angelus's sword, one word alone. It said, 'Remember'."

"That is all for today's story," the elder concluded. "Go now, and remember it well."

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Allester on July 18, 2006, 1:39:13 AM

Allester on
AllesterWhen I read someone saying you were the best at fanfiction I had to see for myself, and while I've seen better not many better. Congratulation 9.8 stars

spinnerofmagic on July 3, 2005, 4:37:54 AM

spinnerofmagic on
spinnerofmagicThis story has a very unique concept, you have great talent as a writer. :D **favs your story** I just wrote a story in the anthro category too, I'm just starting out, but it's supposed to be a big series. Well, see you :)