Desolate King

My prayers were answered. 

There were no dreams to suffer from and the night passed without a hitch.

The morning was just like any other in this new home of mine. I freshened up and started my training routine.

My movement training seemed like the most fruitful. Jumping, dodging, side-stepping and rolling felt a little smoother every day. Practicing without something actually attacking me was not optimal, a little vain even but it was just preparation for the coming battles. Muscle memory isn't something to scoff at.

The rest of the training went exactly as it did for the previous two days, however, I didn't push myself today. I even skipped the shock training.

There was no need to tire myself out before meeting the King of the Desolate lands.

Frankly, I expected this meeting to take place at least a few months later, maybe even a year later but it's early arrival is a little underwhelming. 

Completing my training, I went to the stream and washed myself. Making sure to take note of my surrounding on my trips to and fro.

I think some of the creatures have come to understand that this area had a new ruler and just steer clear of it. Maybe.

One could only hope right?

Sitting on the steps of the Jager, now completely clean and fresh, I just looked up at the sky. The sun hadn't made its way up to the center yet. The weather was calm and clear. I was getting used to this.

All it took was a journey that took a couple of days and I had managed to find a location with great weather. The Cosmic Radiance had changed a lot. Both in life and the enviroment. Farah changing from a desert land to the most fertile and resource rich lands was one of the major results of this. The Melting and Freezing lands were also a result of this. The climate became extremely harsh but they had only experienced the biggest change due to the Cataclysm. His powers had changed everything. Even after his death, his power still affected the land. 

 I moved spots. 

Laying down on the ground, I stared back at the sky. It was calming but did little to affect my nervousness for the upcoming meeting.

I started moving my feet as I laid on the ground. Then I moved my knees and finally my arms. Restlessness had taken over.

My chest felt a little heavy and the weight just kept increasing as time went on. I started gulping and swallowing as well.

It wasn't just nervousness I felt, it was also anticipation. I wanted to meet the strongest. I wanted to set a goal to meet. I wanted to see how far I was from the pinnacle.

I knew the King was at the pinnacle of strength in this world, simply due to the fact that if it wasn't the Desolate Lands would have been overrun by humans. It was not a guess, it was a deduction and those seldom dissapointed.

A bird flew across the sky.

I couldn't guess the kind though. The underside was too dark to identify and it was too high up. But it still served as a distraction. The restlessness was detrimental for sure.

A sudden inspiration flashed through me, I pulled out my device, navigated to the music application and played whatever was on it. Mama had a quite a few songs on this. Most of which I had heard before. 

This seemed to do wonders to my mental state, as I fully relaxed and just lay in wait.

Waiting for the creature to arrive.

Come to think of it, it hadn't told me its name.

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THUD

I got up and stretched. My bones cracking as I moved. I turned to face the origin of the sounds.

The creature had come.

I hadn't thought of it, but this guy was massive. Easily twice my height. And his fur just added to his size, while also covering his muscles.

It beckoned to me, "Come."

"Wait." I said. Following which I went into the Jager and grabbed my bag. "Lets go."

It pointed at me, "Follow." And started jumped across the trench.

THUD

I jumped after it, clearing the gap easily in an effort to one up the creature, but it didn't even look back.

It kept going into the jungle.

And I followed it. My device mapping my location as I followed it. I dropped a nail and stepped on it securing it to the ground after every few steps. I had a couple hundred of them in my bag. They were quite small and weighed less. But that didn't mean they weren't strong enough. Most structures relied on materials like this.

The creature led me past countless trees and bushes and even a stream. Another water source, and I didn't even have to search for it. Good for me. This creature was my goldmine. It had just brought positives to my life till this point. Helped me when I was ambushed. Gave me food for a couple days. Led me to a stream. Even providing an audience with the king?

Such a nice guy.

RUSTLE

I turned around and stopped. The creature stopped as well.

An enemy?

I lowered my body and prepared to move.

And a creature shot toward me. It appeared slow in my eyes and I side-stepped the incoming attack. Executed without a hitch. The training really paid off. I moved the same moment I thought if moving, of course a minute delay was still there but that was acceptable.

It wasn't that I was slow to react in previous situations, I was just not warmed up. My few days of training had already oiled up my engines and increased smooth performance. Doding here affirmed that thought.

Snapping out of my thoughts I dodged the next attack by shifting to the left. I didn't make big movements and barely dodged it. Call it ego or cockiness.

I focused on the creature as it shot past me.

A snake.

Not just any snake, a Cerastes Horn. A pale green horned snake. With two horns above its eyes being its standout feature followed by into sharp pointy tail. These creatures had evolved from just being poisonous to being extremely posionous. They also rubbed their scales together to create a disorienting screech that aimed to either distract or scare any opponent it faced.

After missing its two attacks, it stopped, hissed at me then proceeded to rub its sales together.

KREEEEEEEE

SKREEEEE

That was an annoying sound for sure. High pitched yet scratchy. Like sliding your foot across marble.

But this did not affect me at all. I had been through the endless chittering in my dreams. Compared to that, this felt like nothing.

It them levelled its head at me. This time slowly. I prepared to dodge.

SPRAAAAAAAYYY

A spurt of yellow liquid shot out of its horns at me. 

I jumped back and completely dodged the spray. 

I readied myself to kill the creature.

BANGG

The creature's head popped like a balloon, a rock embedding itself on the ground beside it.

"Stop breath." I looked to the giant. "Poison spread."

The poison was spreading through the air? I immediately halted my breathing and moved backwards then around to where the orange beast stood.

And without wasting a second, he started moving again. I looked at the corpse for a second and started following him.

Restarting my breathing after crossing a significant distance, I asked the creature, "Hey, What are you called?"

"King calls me" It didn't even look back. "Maurice."

Maurice?

A normal name? Not an animal name but a normal human one. And the King had called it that. Could the King be a human? That would explain the interest in me.

Since there had been no evidence of the existence of a species similar to Maurice. I could give his species a name. 

I decided to do tthat later as we broke out into a clearing. Maurice slowed down and led me into a large cave connected to a cliff.

The cave of my dreams. It was everything I ever wanted. The entrance of the cave had vines hanging over it, almost like a curtain.

Maurice pushed aside the vines and walked in, I followed behind closely. 

There were wines inside and they were folded and tied up in different shapes and sizes, sort of like ornaments. The King was most definitely a human. These looked way too intricate for a creature.

The pathway inside the cave led to a large opening, with a pond in it. A fucking pond. This was most definitely the cave of my dreams. High ceilings, bio-luminecent plants lighting up the inside of the cave and most importantly a water source, all enclosed in this beautiful fortress of nature?

Ahhh, it sounded too good to be true.

"Maurice! you are back. And you brough the guest with you! Come... come."

A voice sounded across from the pond.

I walked closer to see the owner of the voice.

.....

Yeah....

Sometimes.... deductions can be wrong.

They can be extremely wrong.

Staring at me was a creature that dwarfed even Maurice. Its blue scales shimmering in response to the lighting. It took a couple steps toward me. A bi-pedal reptile with a long tail. Spikes or Plate-like protrusions ran down its back all the way down to the end of its tail. Its large arms waving with each step it took, five large claws extended forward, each one as large as its hand. Jutting out from its elbows were blade like appendages. Its slit eyes had a little yellow behind them. Its mouth opened revealing a row of extremely sharp teeth.

I took a step back in shock. My body shook, a reaction elicited by the creature. Fer creeped into my very being.

This wasn't a human for sure.

"A human child. Its been a long time since I've seen one of you." Its mouth moved a little oddly but the words still came out.

"What a....are you?" I asked back, the shock of this meeting still not overcome and fear growing.

"Me? I am Dragoon." It said. "And I am a Dragon."

A dragon? The creature I had ended up meeting was a dragon. I was in a very bad position.

There were records of dragons before the Cosmic Radiance, but it was only after the effects of the Cosmic Radiance that these creatures were sighted. And every single sighting had always mentioned that these creatures were near unkilliable and were capable of mass destruction.

And somehow, I had ended up facing one.

But one thing bugged me.

"Don't dragons have wings?"

"AGHH Maurice do you hear that? The winged lizard revelas itself a couple times and now everyone thinks dragons have to have wings. We should have revealed ourselves a few times as well." The dragon responded looking toward Maurice.

Maurice nodded in response, "Can after."

The dragon looked at me, "Boy, there are two types of dragons, winged and wingless. Dragons can only be classified as such, if they can fly and wingless dragons can fly. Now, having wings is actually a detriment. Makes you an easier target to hit." The dragon seemed to be teaching me? Or was it trying to convince me?

I nodded fast in reply.

"Now, why are you here child? Why have you entered and made yourself home in this forest?" The winds picked up in the cave, crackles of electricity echoing as well. 

I wasn't afraid of most things after my experiences. But this. This was different, I felt it. A difference in existence. Even if I threw everything in my arsenal at this monster it would just shrug it off.

"I....I..."

I turned and ran. Turning into lightning and travelling across the nails I had put into the ground as I travelled here.

"Oho.... looks like we have someone similar to us Maurice."

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Manager here, We might return to normal schedule in a couple of days. Second, two new characters, bonus points for guessing where the name Maurice is from and Dragoon is the same as the best bit-beast. Finally, Stryke's emotion varying after every fight is intended. He is a kid who thinks that he is mature enough. His beating of fears is just him convincing that they aren't an issue.

Also leave a comment.

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