Storyline of Furfire

The following covers the storyline of the webcomic Furfire.

Escape
After a faro-bird knocks him unconscious during a mid-air battle, Savrin plummets to the ground. After unwillingly acting as a cushion, Diane ropes him (literally) into assisting her plot to rob an ancient temple. Diane inadvertently reveals her plan to the archaeologists at the temple, who promptly tie them up in a tent. During their excavation, the archaeologists trigger something ancient, releasing a horde of zairabats and opening a magic portal. One of the zairabats manages to give Diane a poisonous bite, putting her life in severe danger. With nowhere else to go, Savrin and Abbie leap through the portal with the unconscious Diane in tow.

The Time Temple
Several hours later, the trio land in a mysterious room with a pool of water. Soon discovered and led out of the temple by Quvas Litefoot, Savrin and Abbie realize that they were not in Talla'doon anymore. Quvas escorts them to the throne room of the Chief of the Wildtra.

The story then focuses on the present-day Talla'doon, detailing an exchange between the human Tyler Winchester and the rat Jaster Maivin. Jaster realizes that Tyler had seen Savrin, one of Vandabar Micker's former students, at the temple. Jaster then tells the tale of the Twilight Magic Team, of which Vandabar and Jaster's boss Cavecor Javrafar had been a part of. After an inexperienced Cavecor fell under the influence of the mysterious Shadow Dark, he turned on his fellow Team members, planning to usurp their elemental powers. Vandabar was the only one to survive Cavecor's assault, and he ran away into the night. Soon he began training new recruits, but only one had true potential: Savrin. He was the counterpart to Cavecor's new student, a female kangaroo he had mind-controlled when she was an infant.

Wildtra - The First Tribe
After Diane is taken away for healing, Savrin and Abbie find out that the Wildtra chief believes that they are a sign that an ancient legend has come to pass, that Diane is some sort of princess and the two guys are gods. In the guest room, Savrin takes a few minutes to worry about Diane and ponder where they were, theorizing that the portal had sent them into the past. Abbie initially discounts the notion, but the actions of the tribe members cause him to rethink this position. A festival is held in honor of the "gods."

Tai'far
Diane sneaks into Savrin's room while he is asleep, wakes him, and tells him that she overheard a guard plan to overthrow the chief along with something called the "Tai'far." Two shadowy assailants kidnap Diane and render Savrin unconscious. When he awakes, Savrin learns that the Wildtra chief and Abbie have gone missing as well. He eventually discovers their trail in the woods. Another shadowy faffur attacks Savrin, slashing Savrin's ear. Quvas appears in the nick of time, killing the assailant and removing the poison spines now embedded in Savrin's ear. Quvas unmasks the corpse, revealing a black weasel - a Tai'far assassin. The Tai'far are the "hidden enemy" of the Wildtra, the ones who the gods in the legend were supposed to dispatch. While the chief believes in the legend wholeheartedly, Quvas has his doubts. Diane and Abbie languish in a Tai'far prison.

The plot also shifts again to the present, centering upon a skunk named Taxwin. He is apparently drowning his sorrows and his memories of female named Lilly in beer when the feline faffur Katina appears to drag him home. Elsewhere, Tyler has a clandestine meeting with an unnamed male feline. Vandabar is shown practicing his fire magic and wondering where his lost student Savrin had gone.

Zephyr's Tale
Diane and Abbie discover a firewolf furmential in the prison cell next to them who promptly attacks Diane; Abbie halts his attack. The other prisoner reveals his name (Zephyr) and his heritage (firewolf furmential), the latter via transforming into his firewolf form. He notes that he had been in the prison for 9 months, and then launches into a story of how his brother Inavara betrayed him during a raid on a Tai'far camp, leaving him with a mysterious female Tai'far captor.

The Fur Hunter
Quvas seems to become quite aggravated whenever someone mentions his son’s death, even going as far as physically threatening Savrin when he asks a question about the incident. Then, without warning, they are ambushed by Maxwell Freeman, aka the Fur Hunter. Maxwell manages to paralyze Quvas and is about to remove his tail when Savrin hurries to the rescue. During the ensuing fight, Maxwell notices that Savrin did not appear to possess the abilities of a full-blooded furmential. While Savrin distracts the hunter by burning his leg, Quvas runs away, but Maxwell lodges a poisoned dagger in his arm. Savrin and Quvas do escape from the hunter, though. In his thoughts, Maxwell acknowledges that he cannot pursue the pair in his current state while also revealing that he works for Inavara.

At the same time, ten miles away, Diane accidentally creates a hole in the prison wall while bemoaning her lack of thieving skills. She also grudgingly helps Zephyr escape from the leg-chain that had been nullifying his magical powers; he immediately blows up the bars separating him from Abbie and Diane. Zephyr silences Diane’s angry protests with a kiss, which only incurs more of Diane’s wrath. The bickering continues until a sudden noise discloses the presence of what appeared to be Zephyr’s captor.

Loss of the Love
Back to the present, the plot focuses on Taxwin, who has a flashback to the times when he was training to become a member of the New Twilight Magic Team with the love of his life, Lilly, Vandabar’s top student. Taxwin had a nasty habit of teasing Vandabar’s “son,” Savrin. Vandabar sent his students on a simple scouting mission, which went horribly wrong after a surprise attack left Lilly dead. It was then that Taxwin left the New Twilight Magic Team. Shortly after that, Savrin ran away.

In the past, Quvas rested after Maxwell’s attack. Unbeknownst to him, the poison was taking effect. Savrin thought about some of the things that had been said about him in recent days and remembered what Vandabar had said to cause Savrin to abandon the kindly old horse. One day, Vandabar had recounted the tale of the firewolves, that had one day gone rabid and began a massive killing spree. After one of these slaughters, Vandabar had found Savrin in the ruins of the city and revealed that Savrin was most likely a human-firewolf hybrid. The shock of this information sent the young Savrin into a powerful rage, destroying the room. Terrified of what lay within him, Savrin ran away, leaving Vandabar to call weakly after him. Quvas quickly brings Savrin out of his reverie.

Queen of the Tai'far
In fact, the visitor is not Zephyr’s captor, but her daughter: Yuira, queen of the Tai’far. She uses her powers of hypnosis to hold Zephyr in a daze until Diane breaks her mesmerizing gaze with a piece of rubble. Yuira retaliates by putting Diane in a chokehold until Zephyr utilizes a flame spell to break the hold. When Yuira returns with reinforcements, Zephyr once again becomes a firewolf. With Abbie and Diane on his back, he blasts the wall to create and exit and leaps out into the moat.

In the present, Tyler stands watch outside of the ancient temple. The male feline (Tyler revealed that his name was Fu) contacts him telepathically and reminds him of his task, which is apparently to retrieve a carving from the ruins.

The Yellow Rose
The wound is affecting Quvas more than he lets on. Despite his valiant attempts to continue, he collapses. Quvas then comes to the realization that Maxwell’s dagger was poisoned. Since the rules of the High Guard state that one cannot return if one has been injured outside of the village, Savrin takes Quvas to the nearest town in order to heal him and allow him to return to his tribe. As the town isn’t exactly friendly towards furmentials, Savrin disguises himself with a stolen robe. At the Inn of the Yellow Rose, a pink and yellow vixen (HollyAnn) comes to Quvas and Savrin’s aid when Savrin gets into a fight. Conveniently enough, Hollyann is also a healer. Due to the seriousness of his wound, she uses a rather unorthodox method: She allows him to die, then resurrects him. Because of his brush with death, Quvas finally comes to terms with his son’s death. Later that night, Savrin goes to thank the vixen, but she had already disappeared into the forest.

Diane, Abbie, and Zephyr survive the leap from the prison tower into the river. Diane and Zephyr promptly resume their bickering. The three find a log and peacefully float down the river, lulling Diane to sleep; she has a dream of her beloved father disappearing into a bright light. Shortly afterwards, the log washes up on the shore. Zephyr roughly retrieves his blade from Diane; after a jibe from Abbie he threatens to turn the blade on him. Due to this, Abbie promptly kicks Zephyr out of the group.

Yuira meets with Inavara, who apparently plotted with Yuira so the two could gain power in their respective groups.

The Brothers' Feud – Part 1
Zephyr is resting on a branch when a figure cloaked in shadow knocks him out of the tree. After a short battle, the figure uses a confinement stone to seal Zephyr’s firewolf form and then reveals himself to be Gera, Zephyr’s godfather. He also informs the feisty firewolf that his brother, who he thought was dead, was in fact very much alive. Zephyr learns that he cannot return to his tribe because Inavara erased any trace of him from their memories.

Abbie and Diane wake up early in the morning, just in time to hear the cry of a Tai’far pursing them. When confronted by the Tai’far, Abbie takes it upon himself to defend Diane. One attempts to kill Diane, but Inavara cuts it down in mid-leap, reminding the Tai’far that he wanted the pair alive. As Inavara threatens Diane to divulge Zephyr’s location, Zephyr solves that problem by appearing to confront his brother. When Inavara shifts to his firewolf form, Zephyr finds himself unable to do the same due to Gera’s confinement stone. Thus, what appears to be a David vs. Goliath battle commences.

During a nightmare about his past, Savrin suddenly awakes in a strange realm. A spirit informs him that it brought him into this realm to comfort him, as the spirit had overheard Savrin’s nightmare. Then the spirit sends Savrin back into his body, but its parting words strike Savrin as particularly odd… what did it mean by “You hold my only safety?” Something Quvas says triggers an enraged magical reaction from Savrin and he falls unconscious, so Quvas decides to go back to the camp to find out what exactly is wrong with him. The spirit drags Savrin back into the other realm. The spirit finally shows herself, taking a canine form. She tells Savrin that whoever has the sword (the sword Savrin had stolen from Vandabar before he ran away) is her keeper.

The Brothers’ Feud – Part 2
As Diane and Abbie run away from the battle, they encounter Quvas and Savrin. After the cheerful reunion, Diane speedily returns to her argumentative ways with the furmential. Savrin notices a couple of bright flashes emanating from the clearing where Zephyr and Inavara were fighting and flies over to help, but he distracts Zephyr, giving Inavara an opportunity to knock him out. By now, Inavara has reverted to his lower form. Zephyr recovers in time to return the favor. Savrin creates a smoke cloud to facilitate a hasty escape. They do not get far before Inavara finds the pair and knocks Savrin out. As falls down towards the river, Zephyr uses an airshell necklace to allow him and Savrin to breathe underwater. Abbie, Diane, and Quvas rush over to where Savrin and Zephyr fell into the water, only to see Inavara about to flush them out with fire. Inavara flies off after a tense standoff with Quvas. Abbie pulls the two firewolves ashore. As the group leaves, Inavara spies on them, with a few silent parting words for his brother.

Xasalas
In the world of Talla’doon, Xasalas is the weeklong holiday at the end of the year celebrating peace and unity, where everyone tosses aside their differences. Abbie walks through the snow until he runs into Diane, who had been caught stealing some fruit. Hiding Diane in the snow, Abbie led her pursuer in the wrong direction. Abbie and Diane then head to the cave where Zephyr and Savrin were waiting. The mere mention of Xasalas stirs up some old memories of Savrin’s past. Stomping outside into the snow, Savrin remembers the last time he had celebrated Xasalas, before the taxes became so high that Vandabar could not afford presents. An avalanche catches Savrin off-guard, but he emerges unscathed. A light-fly named Eoira leads him to a Xasalas party, where all of the magical folk can frolic. Savrin awakes to Diane and Zephyr. Was his Xasalas experience just a dream? Zephyr discloses that he had a similar experience years ago, something only those of magic could experience.

Sleepers
In the present, Tyler and another human meet with Fu and present him a charcoal rubbing of the massive boulder. Fu throws away the rubbing when he realizes it is a fake. Tyler’s partner had been continually aggravating Fu with his angry comments, eventually drawing the wrath of the faffur. Fu sends Tyler off to the college to get a copy of the map from the leader of the excavation.

Returning to the past, Diane and Savrin resume arguing and Abbie finally reveals that he had been acting stupid all along simply to build Diane’s self esteem. The three finally get around to making formal introductions. Abbie tells Savrin that he is adopted, and Savrin informs the others that he was abandoned as a baby and is a human/firewolf hybrid. Savrin has another angry reaction when Abbie mentions the Great Slaughter, forcing Abbie to knock him out with a blow to the head.

The spirit in the sword draws both Zephyr and Savrin into the spirit realm. Savrin decides to call her “Kira” as opposed to the gibberish that is her real name. Kira tells the two firewolves to seek out the elf Erior and they awake shortly afterwards.

Without warning, Zephyr and Savrin fly off. As it turns out, they flew off due to an encroaching band of thieves: The Red Claw. Abbie manages to kill one before they all attack the heroes. Quvas and Abbie fend them off for a short while before Savrin and Zephyr leap into action, driving the thieves off after Zephyr handily dispatched their leader. The gang stumbles upon the apparently abandoned Wildtra village. While exploring the village, Zephyr and Savrin discover a little Wildtra girl. Zephyr almost attacks the girl, but Savrin stops him just in time. The little girl is Tara, daughter of the Wildtra chief and Quvas’ “niece.” Apparently when the Tai’far had attacked a couple of days before, they had put everyone into a deep sleep with their powder.

Warrior's Vendetta
A black musteline faffur approaches Inavara in the forest, claiming he knows where Zephyr and the gang have gone. A tense truce is reached as the two trek towards the Wildtra village.

Everyone in the village has fallen into a deep sleep except little Tara. Savrin, Zephyr, Diane, and Abbie head over to the bath-hut, for they haven’t washed in days. Diane is the first to sample the wonders of the bath-hut, until Zephyr accidentally wanders into her room. Outside the village, the musteline and Inavara make their stealthy entrance. The ferret trips Zephyr, taking the opportunity to compare the feather he carried around with him to the feathers on Zephyr’s back: An exact match. The ferret lays down the challenge and a swordfight commences. The battle turns into a fistfight after they abandon their swords in the wall. While Abbie throws a dirt clod at the ferret, Quvas sneaks up from behind and delivers a hard knock to the back of the head.

When he awakens, Sable Flame (for that is his name) states that he is out to exact revenge upon his father’s killer. The only evidence of the horrendous crime had been a single feather, apparently one of Zephyr’s. Diane postulates that Zephyr was framed. Regardless, Zephyr becomes so enraged that Abbie and Quvas dump him in a bathtub to cool off. He emerges in a robe which he immediately complains about. Abbie takes matters into his own hands, yanking Zephyr’s wing until he quiets down. Next, Sable turns his attention to Savrin, managing to irk him as well. Inavara waits outside, overhearing the conversation in its entirety. Everyone leaves the room except for Tara and Sable. Sable privately reveals to Tara that he believes that Zephyr was framed. Savrin has yet another nightmare, this time about being attacked by Inavara in firewolf form.

In the morning, Quvas unties Sable and lets him go, but not before Tara drags him back to say his goodbyes. Inavara accosts Sable in the forest, but Sable simply sprays something in his face and runs off. Later, Inavara ambushes Sable again, but this time a sword battle ensues. Sable coats his blade with a sleep-inducing herb he was collecting earlier, effectively knocking out Inavara for the next hour. Sable saunters off into the distance and Inavara flies off into the sky when he awakes.

Inner Demons – Part 1
Zephyr quickly returns to his teasing ways after Savrin drops a bucket of water. Savrin grabs his shirt and yells at him before collapsing. His voice quite oddly changes as well as his eyes, which become a deep shade of red. Savrin definitely does not appear to be himself, as he promptly threatens Zephyr, both physically and verbally. His magic is considerably stronger, as he almost incinerates Diane, but she ducks. He would have killed Zephyr had it not been for Quvas’ interference. Quvas quickly realizes that this was not Savrin. The spirit possessing him calls itself “Yuumei.” “This is my body now,” he claims. Abbie once again leaped into action, putting Savrin/Yuumei in a sleeper hold, taking him out for the moment. A blue mist emanates from Savrin and he apparently returns to normal.

In another location, a blind wanderer asks for directions. But when two ruffians attack him, he handily takes them out. One of them gets up and tries to attack him again, but the wanderer casts a spell that shows him two possible futures and warns him to choose his actions wisely.

Inner Demons – Part 2
Savrin awakes with no recollection of his transformation. Abbie had suffered some injuries during the fight, and was recovering as well. Being a furmential, Savrin is good to go while Abbie is still unconscious. The others do not mention what had happened earlier that day when Savrin joins them for dinner. Afterwards, when Zephyr and Savrin meditate, Savrin notices something odd occur. Zephyr reveals that he had performed a firewolf bonding ritual, one that linked their magical energies together. The resulting conversation awakens a disgruntled Abbie. Quvas recommends another day of rest, which everyone takes gladly.

The next morning, everyone awakens feeling refreshed. Quvas stays behind to watch over the sleeping populace while Diane, Abbie, Savrin, and Zephyr venture forth in search of a cure. While Diane and Zephyr argue again, Savrin wonders why he and Abbie had been injured. Something spooks the hoofra (their term for an equine animal), who throws Abbie onto the floor and sends the cart crashing into a ditch. A group of Tai’far assassins approach and Yuumei possesses Savrin once again. He reduces three of them to ashes and the last one runs away. But before Yuumei can turn on Zephyr, Savrin regains control of his body. The hoofra returns to Quvas, who starts fearing for Diane’s safety.

In another section of the forest, the leader of the Red Claw, Uito, curses Zephyr and promises revenge. Inavara appears, fire blasts the leader, and hurries off, muttering about how he had to “amuse myself with lesser beings.” A canine stranger remarks on Inavara’s talents as he walks by; Inavara demands to know who the stranger is.

Inner Demons – Part 3
After noticing the remains of the cart strewn all over the side of the road, Savrin gives up hope of finding a cure for the sleepers until Zephyr yells some sense into him. Savrin, Abbie, Diane, and Zephyr make a pact to stay together no matter what. Continuing on their trek, Diane refuses to walk past a pole with a strange carving on it and gets into an argument with Abbie over it. Yuumei for the third time possesses Savrin and tells everyone to be quiet. It seems that the carving on the pole causes anger in people and devours them and their emotions. Yuumei reveals that he had been lying dormant within Savrin since he was born. While Yuumei and the carving converse in the language of the spirits, Abbie, Diane, and Zephyr begin arguing again, only feeding the carving. Yuumei attempts to burn the carving, but to no avail. The statue retaliates with an energy blast to Yuumei’s back. Zephyr attempts to burn the statue with equally ineffective results. Yuumei gets up and tries again, succeeding this time. He promptly falls unconscious and Kira brings Savrin into the spirit realm. In the land of the conscious, Zephyr tells Abbie and Diane of Kira’s existence. Naturally, they think he is insane. When Savrin awakes, Zephyr throttles him when he denies the presence of Kira in his sword. Abbie truly believes that Zephyr had gone crazy and slaps him silly.

At sunset, the group reaches the resting house of a Dr. Simeon. Zephyr rests comfortably while Abbie disregards all of Savrin’s questions about what happened with the carving. Savrin has yet another odd dream, dragged into the spirit realm by Yuumei. Savrin looks into a mirror and is shocked to see Yuumei leap out of the mirror in Savrin’s form. Savrin awakes screaming. He manages to reassure himself that it was only a dream… until he heard Yuumei’s voice. Shortly afterward every other character without exception became possessed by a similar inner demon. The reason was never fully discovered, but the most widely accepted theory is that everyone was just that much of an attention whore.

Against the Sides
Professor Fetch has just finished teaching a class in the present. Tyler tries to get his attention (as part of Fu’s mission), but he just misses Fetch; Tyler dejectedly leaves the college. Jaster appears and drags him off to a meeting with Cavecor. Along the way, Tyler bumps into Palen. Cavecor asks Tyler about the “New Twilight Magic Team.” When Tyler comes up with nothing, Cavecor nearly kills him for neglecting his duties. But the Shadow Dark takes control of him and he gives orders to both Tyler and Jaster.

Cavecor flashes back to three decades ago, when he was just a fledgling member of the Twilight Magic Team. Frustrated by his inability to control his element, Cavecor angrily leaves the training center. He enters a tent in the local carnival and the mysterious blind wanderer from the end of the “Inner Demons – Part One” arc is sitting at the table. He warns Cavecor to refuse the ancient power that will allow him to vanquish the Twilight Magic Team, but Cavecor cockily refuses the advice. The Shadow Dark (in his faffur form – a black horse) approaches the Time Guardian and demands that he tells him the future. The Guardian refuses and the Shadow Dark attacks. It is unknown as to how this battle turned out.

Back in the presence, Cavecor realizes the folly of his deeds, but it is too late to change it. Jaster calls up a shadowy assassin and tells him to eliminate Fu, as per the Shadow Dark’s orders. The assassin’s enigmatic thoughts (“It’ll be like a family reunion”) suggests that the assassin is somehow related to Fu.

Katina enters Taxwin’s apartment, only to find him moodily sulking, pondering revenge for his dear Lilly. Katina proposes that Taxwin return to Vandabar and Taxwin finally agrees. While they walk through a park, a trio of punks accosts the two. While Taxwin momentarily holds off the three, Katina uses her water powers, but all it does is further enrage them. Vandabar senses Katina using her magic and sets off to assist her. Out of nowhere, Palen appears and kills the three. Taxwin recognizes Palen as the one who killed Lilly. Palen quickly takes him out, but she runs off upon Vandabar’s arrival. After they leave, one of the punks - a female bat - is actually alive. Palen sneaks into Taxwin’s room and stabs a picture of him, an act of symbolism.

Brave New World
The story goes back to the beginning of time and shows three unnamed gods and shows how they changed mortals into guardians and set them the task of keeping the universe safe. They are introduced as they gather together. Nature, Time, Death, Life and a unspecified one (possibly Youth judging on his actions). The five guardians come together and combine there powers to create a new world. We slip into Diane's dreams. She dreams herself as a young child and a shadow voice offers for them to 'play with fire'. She wakes up with a jolt and when she confesses the dream to Abbie he firmly tells her to forget about it. Zephyr wakes up and goes to talk with Savrin who is musing how much his life has changed. He asks Zephyr what happened when he blacked out in the cart Zepyr replies with the cryptic question "do you know who you are? really?". The group continue on there journey. After only walking a short while Abbie demands they take a rest after Savrin claims. After a brief discussion an there next action, suddenly reality starts to warp and Savrin finds his friends are frozen to the spot.