Old Art - 2012

Ryou sprinted down the narrow alley, Jacey following closely behind. He approached the corner of the building and listened for any signs of humans. The blue Fennec Fox knew this area of the city had been mostly abandoned since the start of the war over a decade ago, but it was still a restricted area, off limits to hybrids, and he figured some minimum precautions couldn’t hurt. Hearing only his breath and the wind whipping up and down the wind tunnel streets of the city, Ryou and Jacey proceeded quickly across the street and into the next alley.

Jacey followed quickly after Ryou, still trying to catch his breath from the last sprint. He hoped Ryou had some clue where he was headed, since the fox hadn’t mentioned anything about where the archives were located. Jacey had only read briefly about the Terra Archives a couple of years ago on the net, and he had no idea they were only a few miles outside of Ironstock. How Ryou knew about it was anyone’s guess. Supposedly, the archives held physical and electronic copies of a large percentage of human knowledge, as well as a vast wealth of knowledge of other species. Truly, the place would have to be enormous to house such volumes of information. Jacey was still unsure of what Ryou hoped to find there, but if Ryou had anything specific in mind, the archives would be the place to find it.

Ryou slowly walked out into another desolated street, the pavement warm on his paw pads from the bright afternoon sun. He turned and looked one way down the street, seeing no building that resembled the Terra Archives. His instincts told him that they were close, and as he began to turn his head the other way, he realized immediately his instincts were right once again. Ryou’s eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open as he stared at the gleaming, black, monolithic building that towered several stories above him and extended several blocks in both directions. Its grandeur was beyond what he had even imagined. He was so shocked that he hadn’t even managed to completely turn his body around to face the building, as he simply stood frozen in the middle of the road. Jacey too stared from the alley, awestruck, at the monstrous structure. Ryou felt a giddy anticipation rising inside of him and he simply couldn’t wait a moment longer to see what secrets were in store.

A possible passage for my novel, Eidolon.

Original character sketch by Speed on FA; coloring, background, and story by me.