Chapter 15 : Tantrums

Jack felt pure terror as he reached for his tail, only to remember that he had dropped it out of shock after seeing the beasts talk in English. Then he tried feeling for his other plasma pistol, however the beast swatted it away with an appendage. Lowering his visor was also out of the question, it would only push the tail downwards, potentially cutting off his nose.

This time even his instincts were telling him that he was in danger.

"Drau stop it, let the J...Jack speak", His saving grace came in the voice of the beast he was using as a test subject a few minutes prior. Jack remembered that the other beasts called him Kraw.

After Kraw's words, the beast binding Jack growled in annoyance before forcefully taking it's tail away from his forehead. In doing so it cut a vertical line from the center of his forehead to just above his left eye, cutting through his eyebrow.

Blood rushed out the cut, temporarily blinding Jack's left eye, but he ignored the searing pain, just thankful that he was alive. He then unconsciously moved towards Kraw, the beast he was least afraid of. "Thanks", he said and Kraw responded with a snort before facing aside.

"J...Jack, why did you kill one of my agents?" Lira asked once more.

"As i said before, he attacked us first we didn't...."

"And it still continues to lie!", Drau, whose tail tip was still painted red roared, causing Jack to move backwards until he was literally standing underneath the beast which had saved him, Kraw.

"Drau, why don't you explain to us everything our late brother told you about his encounter with the J...Jacks from the moment of first contact to the moment this J...Jack killed him", Lira said.

Drau huffed, he was not sure why his Queen was so accommodating towards the J...Jacks.

"Brother was sleeping in his castle when he heard voices talking in our tongue so he went to investigate. Upon setting eyes on the newcomers he was surprised to see beings with the same shape as our dormant form without the horn and small size. He was about to introduce himself when one of them attacked him, however the attack was weak and did not manage to break his hide".

"Then the J...Jacks jumped out the window before he could say anything and began running to the strange metal cocoons they flew in on. Not knowing whether those machines were weapons or not, brother stopped the J...Jacks from reaching them since he was not sure if he could survive an attack from the machines".

"When brother landed in front of them, once more the J...Jacks attacked him. This time they had attacked in unison so their attacks had more power. Brother was able to defend himself, but the J...Jacks attacked until all the fur on his forelegs was gone!. Then he stood up, very angry that he was being attacked for no reason, that was when he saw a critter hiding behind the J...Jacks."

"The critter had a claw pointed at one of the J...Jacks back and was about to kill it when brother attacked. For some reason the critter left the J...Jack and went for brother. This critter and my brother fought and brother was about to kill it when one of the J...Jacks cut his tail off! That was when this J...Jack and the rest teamed up to take down brother." Drau said as he stared at Jack in hatred, who only hugged the leg of his protection tighter.

However, the beast who was his only hope swatted him away and he rolled into the center of the group. "Explain yourself and you better be convincing, i have better things to do", Lira growled.

Jack angrily stood up, he was in pain and scared, alone in another planet surrounded by talking animals but he was still a Paladin. He was one of the 6 elites of the human race and his pride could not allow him to grovel any longer. If he was to die anyway, he would rather die proud than hiding under Kraw.

He wiped the blood off his face with the feathers on his suit, annoyed that it had no piece of cloth whatsoever. "What would you have done Lira?", he sniffed, not in grief but in pain, the same pain which did not deter him from looking Lira straight in the eyes. "We came here looking for technology and weapons, and the first thing we saw was that fucking castle!" he shouted.

"First of all that castle is similar to the buildings of our own planet, secondly those things you call critters are very similar to the young ones of our kind, third, you guys all look as scary as hell!, So forgive me if we panicked okay!?. This is the very first time my team has been on another planet and we do not know how things fucking work around here alright!!".

"We saw what looked like an enemy and we attacked. What would you do if you went to a place you are not familiar with and see something which looks exactly like your young ones fighting against something you have never seen!?. So i am sorry alright!?, i am sorry for killing your brother, i know how it feels". Jack said, a few tears mixing with the blood on his face.

"How could you possibly......"

"Because my entire planet was killed off, my team and i are the only survivors". Jack said. "And by the way, my name is not J...Jack, I am Jack fucking Wolfe and i am a fucking Paladin!" he shouted, internally cursing at the fact that the beast might now call him 'Jack fucking Wolfe'.

"Is Jack your personal name?" Lira broke the long silence after hearing Jack's tantrum. What Jack did not know is that the beasts were having a mental conversation the whole time.

To Lira's question, Jack nodded. "Yes, Jack is my personal name", he almost said that there were actually plenty of people named Jack and that it was a popular name when he remembered that he really was the last Jack.

"What is your race name?" Lira asked.

"We are called humans", Jack answered before asking, "I am getting tired of calling you beasts in my head, what are you guys called?," he asked as he calmed down. The danger he felt from being among the beasts was slowly lowering and he knew that they were no longer going to kill him, even though Drau still looked like he was sucking on a lemon.

"Our race is called the diir and unfortunately there are only about 15 of us left on this planet". Lira sighed as she sat down, exactly like how an earth lion or cat would. Jack could hear the regret and see the sorrow in her eyes.

'Diir?, where have i heard that word before?' Jack wondered. For one of the smartest humans alive, Jack's memory was not the best.

"What happened?" he asked, "Those things you call critters don't seem that powerful to me". Jack remembered how easy it was to kill the one which had connected to Hugo.

Kraw sighed as he moved closer to Lira. "It is not that they are powerful it's just that....."

"My Queen!" Drau suddenly shouted "I was just trying to connect to Gyr but i failed.....the humans have taken another life".