Chapter 11 - In the Brute's Wake

Fral was looking over Drag'lan, waiting for him to awaken, when her dad popped in. A large bruise was beginning to form where Drag'lan's elbow had met his skull. Her dad was dealing with the obvious pain very well.

He looked at Drag'lan and shook his head. He said "I saw the fight between Alaric the Slayer and Vyl'kar. Drag'lan fought somewhat like Alaric today. However, there is one clear difference between them. Alaric stopped just shy of killing his opponent, yet Drag'lan never ceased delivering blows. He fought like a beast in the ring. Why did he not stop when you and Greth'ler pulled him back?"

Fral shook her head. "I don't know." She said. "But he did warn me that something like this would happen. I didn't know exactly what he meant though."

Her dad looked at her. "He did?" he asked, curious.

"Yes." Fral said. "But this I don't get. Why did he chose me to warn of this?"

"Well, he does seem to want to open up more around you. You're also the one he seems to trust the most out of our family." Her dad replied.

Fral thought back on this, and saw that he was right. However, why does he trust her so much?

Meanwhile, Drag'lan was having what would probably be the most illuminating dream yet.

He was in a hive. However, there weren't any Xenos around. He saw 2 figures in the distance. He walked towards them. Once he got somewhat close, he saw that they were his father and Herol'Frag. They were both fully clad in armor and looked as if they had been expecting him.

His father looked furious with him as he said "What the FROYL happened in the arena! I thought your mother and I had taught you how to control your anger!"

"I don't know what happened back there. After he dislocated my elbow, something just...snapped, in my head." Drag'lan said.

Drag'lan's father brought his fist back and moved to punch him in the chest, but Drag'lan merely parried it.

"Dad, you trained me in hand-to-hand combat since I was like 3. I think I can keep you from hitting me." Drag'lan said.

Drag'lan's father lowered his fist. "Yes. Apparently, you can."

Herol'frag chose to step in at that point.

"Alright, you two. Stop this. This isn't why we came." he said.

Drag'lan's father stepped back. "You're right. It's time for him to know the full extent of his abilities."

Drag'lan was confused. What did his father mean by that?

"Now, Drag'lan, there is something you must know about your Brute heritage." his father said. "There is a rare form of rage that Brutes sometimes go through. This is called a 'Fixated Rage'. While in a Fixated Rage, you will only focus on one target. Even after their death, you will continue attacking them. This won't stop until something causes you to cease moving, be it temporarily or permanently." His father said.

Drag'lan nodded, knowing this to be true.

"Also, while in a fixated rage, you will do just about anything to break free of those that hold you back."

"But why do we Brutes do this?" Drag'lan asked.

"Genetics. simple genetics." His father replied. "It's just something we do naturally."

"Either way, you acted much differently from other times. In that arena, you acted like a BEAST. While Brutes do that, your mother came from the Guardians. They tend to have more control over their feelings than Brutes." His father continued.

"Well, is that all you wanted?" Drag'lan asked.

"Not quite." Herol'frag said. "Soon you will meet the person whom you passively despise."

"Why are you so cryptic?" Drag'lan's father said. "Why not just say what you want him to know?"

"Because then the words won't have meaning." Herol'frag replied.

The pair then faded out as Drag'lan's view blackened.

Fral was just walking into the room when Drag'lan stirred. He was just turning over on the bed, but was showing signs of consciousness. She rushed to his side and said "Drag'lan, can you hear me?"

Drag'lan's eyes opened slowly. "Fral, where am I?" he asked.

"You're safe; You're in my house." She said.

"What happened during the Clan Rites?" Drag'lan asked.

"You went completely berserk. Killed Leir'gorl." Fral said.

"Fuck..." Drag'lan said. "Please tell me it wasn't too bad."

"If by 'it wasn't too bad', you mean a pulverized neck and multiple compound fractures to the skull, then yeah, it wasn't too bad." Fral said gravely.

"SAFVA GROYL U KOY! I knew something like that was going to happen." Drag'lan said.

"I don't wanna think I wanna know what you just said." Fral said, somewhat amused.

"Trust me, if my mother were still alive, and she heard me say that, I'd be in for it." Drag'lan replied.

He then sat up and put his hand to his head.

"Damn. My head feels like someone hit it with a rod of solid steel." He said.

"An enforcer hit you square in the head. I would be surprised if you didn't feel anything." Fral said.

"Don't forget to tell him what the results were." Fral's dad said as he walked in.

"Oh, right, I forgot. You passed the clan rites from what the head elder said, Drag'lan." Fral said.

"Great. Just what I wanted to hear. What about your brother, though?" Drag'lan said.

"Oh he was victorious as well. He'll be inducted into the clan in a few days most likely." Fral said.

"That's good. Now, tell me, what EXACTLY happened after I went berserk." Drag'lan said, now serious.

Fral's dad stepped forward. He looked serious as well.

"You were brutal. After you started going berserk, you went slamming straight into the wall of the arena after charging at Leir'gorl. From what I heard, you made quite a large dent in the wall and cracked it even further." Fral's dad said. "After that you floored Leir'gorl before he returned the favor, but you flipped him over your head effortlessly. You then hurled him, ONE-HANDED, to the center of the ring, which was easily 30 feet."

"Damn it...my adrenaline rushes make me SUPER strong..." Drag'lan said under his breathe.

"You then charged at Leir'gorl and punched him in the gut. Then you hay-makered him in the side, causing him to fall." Fral's dad continued. "After that, you jumped on him and pummeled him. I don't think he lasted much longer after that."

"Safva groyl u koy...I did more damage than I thought..." Drag'lan said quietly.

Fral's dad said something about checking on his mate, and left.

Drag'lan got off the bed. His head was feeling better, but he still felt the sting of the blow.

"How long was I out for anyway?" Drag'lan asked.

"About 2 hours." Fral said.

"Well, what's the plan for now until I go on my first hunt?" Drag'lan asked.

"Not sure, to tell you the truth. I know you need to be inducted into the clan however." Fral said.

"How long until I'll be able to be inducted into your clan?" Drag'lan replied.

"I'm not completely sure. You may not be allowed to fully join the clan at all." Fral said.

Drag'lan sighed. He knew what could keep him from joining the clan. It was the fact that he killed a Yautja in the arena.

It turned out that Drag'lan was actually going to be inducted into the clan. Upon close examination, Leir'gorl was actually found to be a Bad-Blood by the Elders. This information allowed the elders to overlook what Drag'lan did to him, as it would've been either Drag'lan or the Bad-Blood in the end. Two nights later, Drag'lan underwent the induction. He stood at the temple, knelt before the High Priestess and the High Elder read the clan rite transcripts.

It was done, Drag'lan was now fully part of the clan. Fral hadn't been as happy as she was that night in her entire life.

The next day

Drag'lan sat in the living room of Fral's place. It was hard to believe that he was part of the clan now.

Fral walked up to him.

"Drag'lan," She said, "My brother's group won't be ready to hunt for a while, so I was thinking of getting you some armor made. What do you think of that?

Drag'lan shrugged. He didn't care honestly.

"Very well. Let's head to the smith to see what he can do to make you some armor." Fral said.

Drag'lan shrugged again. "Fine." he said. "I'll need something to draw with first, though, as I plan on having a custom armor set."

"Okay, here you go" Fral said, pulling out some paper and handing him an item that could only be a pencil, only sized for a Yautja.

Drag'lan took them with a word of thanks. He then sat down and started thinking. He tapped his chin a bit, thinking on how to design his armor. Something came to his mind, and he snapped his fingers and began drawing. He dragged the pencil across the paper in straight lines, getting the basic design done. He then tried to get the raised parts of his armor to be shown. It didn't go too well, so Drag'lan erased them. He started with his chest-piece, then added in his idea of shoulder covers, as well as bracers. His next target was then the leg-plates. He finished off with his greaves and boots. His gauntlet, greaves/boot, and shoulder plate designs had what were best described as spikes on them. The ones on the shoulders were the most pronounced. He set the pencil down and looked at Fral.

"What do you think?" He asked.

Fral walked over and looked at his drawing. She nodded. "Not bad. Though I must ask. What are those spikes for?" she said.

"The spikes are something that some Regollen use for secondary weapons. The ones on my shoulder-plates are for if I decide on charging at my enemy. The others are for assistance in hand-to-hand combat. The ones on the gauntlets are meant to be driven back behind me, while the ones on the boots are meant to be driven into an enemy by kneeing them." Drag'lan said.

"Fair enough, but I doubt the smith would be able to make them too sharp." Fral said.

"That's what these are for." Drag'lan said, pulling out the small box containing the whetstones.

"What's inside the box?" Fral asked.

"Just a set of whetstones made from the rock on the planet we met on." Drag'lan replied.

"How sharp can they make stuff?" Fral asked.

"Oh, it varies from stone to stone. These ones," He said, pulling out a light brown stone, "can sharpen stuff, but not very well. The stones increase in sharpening ability to these ones," He pulled out a white stone after saying this, "Which can sharpen blades to the point where they can be as sharp as your wrist-blades, or so I've been told."

"Did you use the white one on your combat knife?" Fral asked.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" he replied.

"Because if so, then they are as sharp as our wrist-blades, because your combat knife was what sliced my hand, remember." Fral said.

"I remember that clearly. Well, the knife is sharp enough, then. However, let's see what the smith thinks of the designs I have. They're more like Regollen armor, mind you." Drag'lan said.

"I don't think it will matter much, but okay. Let's go." Fral said as she stood up.

Drag'lan stood up and put on his harness, and he only put Physique and Ethereal in their sheaths. He didn't know why but he felt as if he'd need them today. He left Toxin and Regoll there, as well as his guns. No need going out looking as if you're searching for a fight.

The pair stepped outside and sealed the door behind them. Drag'lan caught that SAME blur again, but this time, he was ready. As it seemed to disappear, he saw it run down the street, and dashed after it, drawing his swords as he went.

Fral saw him take off and started dashing after him. She knew he had seen something that time, and was intent on finding out what he had seen.

Yautja saw him coming and hastily got out of the way. Drag'lan kept his eyes locked on the blur as he ran, making sure to keep it in his sights. He saw it run into an alley of sorts and get itself cornered. He approached it and saw as it uncloaked that it was another yautja.

The yautja stared at him beneath its mask. How had Drag'lan managed to follow him so well!

Drag'lan stared at the yautja and noticed that it decently armed. He noticed only 3 weapons: a set of wrist-blades, a Plasma Caster and its spear. The yuatja entered a combat stance, and Drag'lan entered his. He saw three dots appear on the wall next to him and they traveled to his chest. He saw the plasma caster heat up and dove to the left to avoid it. The plasma caster went off and the yautja leaped onto a building and attempted to scale it.

Drag'lan saw this, sheathed his short-swords and leaped at the yautja, grabbing onto it's waist and causing it to lose its grip. This, in turn, sent both of them falling to the ground. Drag'lan's short-swords got stuck into the ground, so he unlatched his harness and sprang up.

"I suggest you tell me why you were watching me, now." He said

The Yautja looked at him, extended its wrist-blades and said "Ell-osde' pauk, ooman!" before proceeding to charge at him.

Drag'lan chuckled to himself.

Wow... He thought, Deja Vu...

Just like in the dining hall, he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. The world seemed to slow down for him. He sidestepped the charge and kicked the yautja's legs out from underneath them. The yuatja hit the ground hard and Drag'lan pinned it there with his boot.

"Do you wanna rephrase that response?" Drag'lan said.

The yautja just growled as it struggled against Drag'lan's boot, but said nothing.

Drag'lan put more pressure on his boot, grinding the sole into the yautja's back. He heard the yautja's growl become laced with pain.

"Are you sure?" Drag'lan asked.

Fral caught up with him and saw what was going on. "What the heck is going on?" She asked.

"Oh, hey Fral. Just found the person that's been watching me." Drag'lan said.

The yautja he had pinned continued to struggle against Drag'lan.

"Go to hell, ooman." It growled.

"I don't plan on going there anytime soon, you coward. Now, I'm gonna give you a chance to regain your honor. I suggest you take it." Drag'lan said. He had just barely reduced the pressure on his boot when it acted.

The yautja broke free this time. It did so, but only because Drag'lan had loosened the pressure on his boot. It placed its hands on the ground and shoved, pushing Drag'lan up as it did.

Drag'lan hadn't expected that to happen, but that shock was short-lived. As he was risen above the ground, he leaped backwards, landing perfectly on his feet. The yautja rose to its feet and charged at Drag'lan again.

Drag'lan sighed.

Well, this isn't going to end well. He thought. Might wanna get it over with quickly.

The yautja made a wild swipe at Drag'lan, but he just ducked underneath the blow and hit the yautja in the stomach with his right hand. It did what he meant for it to do: It caused the yautja to fall to its knees. He then delivered a punch to the back of its head, which knocked it out.

He then grabbed the yautja by the legs and hauled his ass out of the alley. Yautja in the streets were shocked to see him dragging an unconscious yautja out of an alley.

Fral sighed to herself.

He has such an unorthodox way of dealing with spies. she thought. Now it's time to play damage control.

She stepped out of the alley. Other yautja were even more shocked at the sight of this.

Fral looked at the bystanders and said "It's alright. Just a slight misunderstanding."

They just stared at Drag'lan, who dropped the yautja's legs and walked back into the alley, so that he could get his harness.

The harness was still stuck in the ground, so Drag'lan just gave it a good tug and it came free rather easily. He put it back on and locked it again. He then walked out of the alley and back into the street.

When he got out there, the yautja was still there, as expected. He looked at Fral and said "Shall we continue to the smith?"

Fral nodded. "Yes. Anything to get away from the crowd." she said.

The pair resumed walking down the street. Drag'lan seemed to make so many yautja uneasy as he passed. What he had done to Leir'gorl had spread like wildfire, so he was somewhat feared by many. Drag'lan somewhat preferred it that way. It meant that they would leave him alone, hopefully.

Fral was silent as they walked into the forge. She saw the forgemaster, Val'hariz, walk out, wringing his hands. He froze when he saw Drag'lan.

"I knew you'd find your way here eventually." Val'hariz said. "You're here to get a personal set of armor, I take it?"

Drag'lan nodded. "Yes. Here are the basic designs I came up with. Hopefully, it can be done." he said as he handed over the folded piece of paper containing his armor design.

Val'hariz unfolded the paper and looked over it. His eyes widened as he saw the specifications.

"I'm not sure if this will be possible. I think that standard Yautjan armor should be used instead." He said.

Drag'lan shook his head. "No, this is what I want my armor to be. I don't plan on cloaking at all. So, if I don't cloak, then why not have thicker and larger armor?" He said.

Val'hariz just looked at him. "What do you mean you don't plan on cloaking? Every hunter has a cloaking system. Even the Slayer has a cloaking system." he said. "Besides-"

Drag'lan locked eyes with the forgemaster. "I am a brawler. I prefer to be staring my enemy square in the face when fighting as opposed to sneaking around. So, I have no use for cloaking. Please just try to make the armor." He said, steadily growing annoyed, which showed in his voice.

Fral was amazed at what was going on. Nobody, to her knowledge, had argued with the forgemaster.

Val'hariz sighed. "Very well. I'll try, but on one condition. You will assist me in the creation, because I haven't made anything like this before." The forgemaster said.

Drag'lan nodded. "That will be fine with me." he said.

3 weeks later

Fral and her brother Ter'thig were standing outside the armory, waiting for Drag'lan to come out in his armor. Val'hariz had been working with him for the past 3 weeks on Drag'lan's armor set. They were near to being finished, because Drag'lan was becoming somewhat excited. This made them somewhat anxious to see what his armor would look like when finished.

They heard some noises coming from the armory, then some clamps. They then heard movement. They also heard Drag'lan say "Very nice. Good range of motion, light-weight. You really earned the title forgemaster." Before they heard metal hitting the floor. The door to the armory opened and Drag'lan stepped out. Both of their jaws dropped.

Drag'lan's armor was a lot more bulky than they had thought. It was barely 1in thick, but it was thicker than they thought it would be, and the spikes/blades made him seem a lot more intimidating. His shoulder plate had blades that were curved up and out. They seemed to be like 3 or 4in long.

Fral stared at him in his armor. Apparently, the design didn't fully transfer over to the final product. He had a large chest-plate which covered his torso above his waist. His shoulder-plates covered his shoulders and the outer part of his chest. He had no guard on his upper arms, but that didn't matter. His gauntlets were in the normal Yautjan style, with his right containing a set of wrist-blades and his left containing the computer that would link up with his mask and armor. As he said, there were about 2in spikes coming off where his gauntlets started covering his elbow. They seemed blunt, but she knew that appearances are deceiving. Drag'lan's leg-plates covered his thighs. He had what could be best described as sabatons going from his feet to about 3in over his knee. The part that covered his knee was a mix of knee-guards and spikes. They differed from his original designs, which had had only spikes. She liked the look. He didn't have a mask, but he looked fine without it.

Drag'lan looked at them. "So. What do you think?"

Fral looked into his eyes and said "It really fits your personality. The armor looks like it fits you perfectly."

Drag'lan nodded. He was glad that Fral approved of his armor design. "It looks like we'll have to wait to see what my mask turns out to be like. Val'hariz said that he'll make the mask personally. But that's beside the point."

Fral looked at him, curious about something. "Drag'lan, were you serious about not planning on using a cloaking device in your armor?" She asked.

Drag'lan looked at her. His eyes said the answer without him having to use words.

Fral looked somewhat sad at this. "It's rather disappointing to think that you won't be fully embracing our styles."

Drag'lan looked at her and said "I'm a Brawler. I have no use for stealth. To the Regollen, unless they are an Ambusher or Hunter, the use of stealth was dishonorable."

"Also, as I told you a while back, I plan on mixing both Regollen and Yautjan styles. This is going to be one of those things that I'm mixing." He said.

Ter'thig looked at Drag'lan's armor in awe. He hadn't been around to see what Drag'lan's designs for his armor were, so the finished product blew his mind.

He looked at the blades on his shoulder-plates with curiosity. "What are those blades for, Drag'lan?"

Drag'lan chuckled. "They're for impaling enemies that are dumb enough to provoke me into charging." he said.

Fral's brother winced. "Ouch. Sounds painful. Also, doesn't that armor feel heavy at all?"

Drag'lan shook his head. "Not in the slightest. Regollen armor is much heavier than this stuff. I could probably run with this stuff on for about 6 hours straight and not feel fatigued."

Fral's brother gaped at him. "I heard you were tough, and now I can see why."

Drag'lan turned around. "Well, I'm going to go take off this armor. It wouldn't do too well to use the armor too much right off the bat. I want this to be somewhat secret."

Both Fral and Ter'thig nodded, knowing this to be correct. Drag'lan went back into the Armory and took his armor off. The trio then walked out, going to head to Fral's place to hang out.

Drag'lan noticed again how people seemed so on-edge around him. Then he noticed someone they seemed even more on edge around. He saw that the person was a human.

He turned to Fral. "Who's that guy?"

"That's Alaric the Slayer. My dad said you fought like him when you underwent your fight in the Arena. They say he took out Sil'cais the Scourged, the most infamous Bad-Blood, and a known serial murderer and rapist." Fral said.

"Do you know anything about his past at all?" Drag'lan said.

"Not in the slightest. Nobody, to my knowledge, truly knows Alaric's past, aside from the fact that he kicked the living shit out of Vyl'kar the Vast and Sil'cais. Rumor has it that he's part Yautja, but he seems to only like 1 or 2 Yautjas. He shows a lot of disdain towards those that show dishonor, just like you. That is the extent of my knowledge."

Drag'lan thought for a bit, rolling the name "Alaric" over in his head. Then it hit him; Alaric was the name of the person the Yautja that had taken out his USCMC squad were searching for.

"They're not the ones with the boy named Alaric."

He didn't know why, but he had to talk to Alaric. However, something else wanted him to attack Alaric. He strained to retain control, until the images of his dead squad came back into his mind. Something snapped in him, and he blacked out.

When he came to, he was in a bed in the infirmary. Fral was next to the bed, accompanied by Ter'thig, Greth'ler, and Fral's dad.

Fral's dad looked at Drag'lan and said "What the HELL were you thinking? Few people could survive what Alaric did to you!"

Drag'lan looked at Fral's dad, confused. "What happened? I don't remember a thing."

Fral looked at him, worried. "You did something I doubt anybody would do: You blind-sided Alaric, punching him in the side of the head. I saw the entire thing. You did pretty well for yourself, until he roundhouse kicked you to the head. You collapsed after he did that. Ter and I brought you here to recover. All that dropped by asked what happened, and when I told them, they were all shocked that you survived, and even then only with a slightly fractured skull."

Drag'lan shook his head, feeling something like a headache coming on. "Oh, Chrystoll Frolier. My head hurts like hell. What shape was Alaric in after everything was said and done?"

Fral looked at him, smirking somewhat. "Why not just ask him yourself?"

Someone stepped out from behind the group, and Drag'lan saw Alaric the Slayer. He was about 6ft even from what Drag'lan could tell. Alaric had spikes for hair like his, only longer, reaching down to the middle of his thighs, whereas Drag'lan's reached only his shoulders. He didn't seem so strong as he was made out to be, but neither was Drag'lan. Drag'lan saw Alaric's eyes and was somewhat surprised; He hadn't seen a human with scarlet eyes ever before.

Drag'lan coughed slightly before saying "I owe you an apology. I attacked you without provocation, reason, and without honor."

Alaric just looked at him, staying silent. Drag'lan was somewhat compelled to explain further.

"I don't know what drove me to attack you as I did, but that doesn't matter. It happened, and I am apologizing for it. Hopefully, at a later time, we can engage in honorable combat." Drag'lan said, keeping eye contact.

Alaric didn't say anything, but turned and left the infirmary. Drag'lan watched as he left.

"Okay, did he say anything while I was out?" Drag'lan asked the group.

Fral shook her head. "Not that I remember. Dad, what about you?"

Fral's dad shook his head as well. "Same here."

"Great. So, how long was I out this time?" Drag'lan asked.

"Only 15 minutes, by my measurements." Fral said.

Drag'lan went to the edge of the bed. His body felt fine, with the exception of his head. The headache was slowly receding, but was still there. He stretched a bit, and stood up.

He turned to Fral and said "Let's go. I need to sharpen my swords again. Hey Greth," He turned to Greth'ler at this, "You wanna see what I'm like in non-competitive combat?"

Greth'ler shrugged. "Why not? I still need to see how you fight under normal conditions. However, shouldn't you rest for a bit more until moving?" His English had improved greatly as time had passed. He was doing quite well with pulling sentences together.

"Nah. This headache will go away in a short amount of time. Let's go spar." Drag'lan said with a smile as he started to walk out of the infirmary.