Planet Ferora,
Rimor's pov
Planet Ferora looked desolated. The buildings, structures, and homes were all in the rubble. Rimor could see bodies of citizens lying dead on the ground. It made him sick. Who would do such a thing?
Those...those dam cultists left no survivors except for the ones who were out of this planet. They murdered everyone in cold blood. He felt sad and disheartened at the prospect of so many lives cut short. They left none alive, be it a man, woman, or children. But he moved forward, to bothering to conceal the Atman since no one should be here anyway. There were even rumours across the galaxy that it will be deemed a lost planet by Chaos and Order soon.
He looked around and spotted a nearly intact home. It was small almost unnoticeable but still standing. He walked into it. It was a simple home but the floor was cracked, the roof looked like it could topple over at any moment. The whole house was covered in a layer of ash and dust. He moved further inside, what he saw was the most gruesome sight of all.
It was a woman with pale skin and dark hair, small greenhorns on the sides of her head. She was lying on the ground, her face coated with dried blood. The corpse of her body was clutching a tiny girl with similar features to the woman. The young girl's eyes were open, empty and vacant. A body with no soul. A circle of their blood was spilled9 on the ground.
Rimor gagged at the sight. He noticed something unusual in their wounds, their foreheads were marked with the symbol of those cultists. A burning fury raced through him; those imbeciles branded their innocent victims.
He couldn't help them now but the least he could do is give them a proper burial. He sighed morosely and dug up two graves side by side. He did not know what the culture of this planet was for their dead so they did what did on Earth.
He said quick prayers for whichever afterlife they went to and moved on. "Do not be so saddened, Pai. You could not have saved them. It was their turn to go as the fates decreed and you do not defy them unless you want serious consequences," Skia told him.
"You are probably right."
"When am I ever wrong?" she huffed in his mind.
"Well, that was that one time with the stuffed animal..." he trailed off.
"Enough. You promised not to speak of it again." He could imagine her violet eyes shining with embarrassment.
They didn't talk much after that; well, they didn't telepathically talk much after that technically speaking. He walked through the destructed paths and tried to find some clue of who these monsters could be but he came up empty.
A 'ROAR' then echoed from the end of the road. He quickly hurried over, turned at the corner, and hid in the shadows to see what the commotion was about. He could vaguely see three armoured figures battling an enraged dragon. The dragon looked different than a normal one. It looked ancient. Its emerald scales shone in the dark and its wings were narrower and wider. The dragon also had a slimmer and agile body than usual.
Rimor cautiously edged closer to the battle but was careful enough to say in the shadows. He would the figures fighting more clearly now. Two of them looked female while one was male. One female had an elongated sword, the other one had two long knives while the male one was launching arrows into the dragon's hide.
It was clear they were losing and the dragon wasn't even concentrating on the fight. It looked and angry more than anything. The arrows that were shot got stuck in the razor-sharp scales and the knives and sword gave only small cuts and bruises. The fighters were tiring fast but the dragon was not hindering one bit.
Rimor wanted to help them but he didn't want to hurt the dragon either. Somewhere within him, he felt a weird kinship with the dragon although he did not understand why. Then the male fighter did something incredibly reckless, something Rimor might've done as Percy. He raced the dragon from behind and jumped onto its back. The scales on the dragon's back stiffened and grew sharper until they were piercing the boy's skin. He let out a pained shriek and fell to the ground on top of a female fighter with a 'THUD'. The dragon shifted its onyx eyes to them and opened his jaw letting out a stream of fire. The female fighter pushed the boy on her aside as the flames engulfed her. When the fire subsided, he could see that she a few minor burs only. She must be somehow fire-resistant.
While he was observing them, the other fighter approached in a surprise attack and wedged her sword into its leg. The dragon growled menacingly and its tail faster than he could've comprehended hit the girl and she fell to the ground. The dragon started approaching the girl slowly but Rimor knew that he had to do something and fast or these people could die. So, he did the first thing that came to mind. He took out a plastic ball and there it accurately at the dragon's snout.
As soon as the ball hit its target it blasts open and pink smoke erupted from it. The girl that was about to be devoured looked at in confusion and mild shock. She then started looking around and the dragon did so too.
Rimor ran up the road a little and waved his arms. "Hey, leave her alone," he yelled. The dragon then spotting the culprit of the pink gas in his snout batted its wings and flew at him.
"Oh no," he said in a low voice staring wide-eyed at the incoming dragon. He turned around and fled in the opposite direction. "I didn't think this through," he thought. His speed and entrance were pretty high from occasionally racing with an overly fast tigress but a flying dragon was completely another thing. It swooped down and flew in front of him. He looked back for a moment and they were a considerable mile away from those fighters.
The dragon growled, "These inconsiderate beings are a thorn in my side."
Rimor looked at it in surprise. "Did you just talk?" he asked.
The dragon looked mildly surprised as well and some of the anger in his eyes gave way to curiosity. "A speaker? I haven't met one in decades." Its voice was feminine yet strong.
"You mean others can't hear you talk?" he asked.
"To understand a dragon's speech is an ability given to only a few beings."
"Oh," he replied intelligently.
"I give you a chance speaker why did you defend those killers? If you are their ally, I will rip you to shreds along with them."
"Oh no. I do not know them. I only thought to defend them because they seemed innocent to me. Why did you call them killers?"
" Do you not see the state this planet is in? I woke up from my slumber two days ago, only to find the people here dead and the planet in shambles. Those are the only creatures alive that I have seen here. They are not native to this planet so they must be the killers trying to eliminate any survivors. Are you one of them?" she demanded.
Percy's eyes widened in realization and he shakes his head. "No, I am not one of them. Though I do not believe that they are the killers you seek either. The killers had attacked this planet two months ago and fled without a trace. They would not come back."
"Then why are they here?" she asked, her nose flaring in irritation.
"I do not know but I could ask them. They are most likely here to investigate and find out more about the actual murderers," he told her.
"Why should I believe you?" she asked with an indignant huff.
"You don't have to but clear your mind of the anger and vengeance you wish to seek. Do not let it cloud your judgment. Maybe then the truth will become clear to you," he said softly, sending silent waves of hope into her.
He cautiously walked towards her and stared into her onyx eyes. The anger that could only be seen on the surface started to dissipate slowly. The dragon let out a sigh and said, " Thank you for helping me. Had I continued on my path for vengeance for this planet, I might have killed many innocents without a thought."
He cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Why are you thanking me? I did not do much."
She snorted humorously and replied, "I am old enough to feel the waves of your power calming me and giving me hope. Though I have not heard of such a thing, I do know it was you."
Huh, who knew. "How old are you?" he asked curiously. He knew that dragons could not live too long so how much older could she be. She looked young to him.
"I am over a hundred years old. Although that is considered quite young among my kind," she chuckled.
"Over a hundred? Woah. What are you anyway? At first, I thought you were a dragon but no dragon can live for over a hundred years and be considered young," he said.
She looked at him in amusement before saying," I am not a dragon. Although they are my brethren, I am what you would call a Draconis."
He stared at her in wonder. A Draconis. Those were as rare as they come. "What's your name?" he asked.
She cocked her head to the side and said, "You can call me Regina, speaker. What do they call you?"
He looked at her, humour shining in his eyes. "Well, they call me a human but my name is Rimor."
"He also goes by Percy," a voice he recognized as Skia said in his mind.
Judging from the shock on Regina's face she heard her too. The tattoo on his bicep tingled and shot out of his arm forming the shape of a black tigress. Regina's eyes glittered as she saw Skia.
Skia licked her paw casually and says, "He also masquerades as an assassin called Aleixo to kill evil-doers at times. "
Rimor looks at Skia incredulously," Ski, you can't just spread all my secrets to a Draconis we just met."
"Do not despair young one, I won't be sharing your secrets any time soon," Regina reassures him.
Percy looks gratefully at Regina. He raises his hand and asking permission with his eyes. When she leans into his hand. He grins and pets her snout over the smooth green scales. Then a bright silver light surrounds Regina and her form disappears into a silvery light up his arm. "What happened?" he asks out loud.
"I believe we have bonded," Regina said sounding shocked. He looks to find where the voice came from but comes up empty. Skia just looked at him, amusement flickering in her eyes.
"Where are you?" he calls out.
"Percy, look at your right arm," implores Regina's voice. He did as she asked and gasped at the beautiful but definitely new tattoo marking his arm. It is a silver tattoo showing Regina breathing fire. "Does this mean you're using telepathy like Skia now too?" he wonders.
"Yes, I am using telepathy," she admits.
"Earlier, what did you mean by we've 'bonded'?" he questioned.
"Every Draconis in the universe has a mate but since we're so rare and scattered that many don't find their mates so, we are given another companion with whom we bond. It is a greater chance to meet the companion than our mate because each of us has many chosen companions but it is a game of chance of whom we meet first. We bond to them by any kind of physical contact. Now, we are bond mates until we die or I find my mate," she explained.
"Wait, does this mean you're coming with us?" he asked.
"Yes, Didn't I just say that?" she huffs in annoyance.
"Do not worry, he can be dense at times but he makes up for it, I suppose," Skia says.
She then disappears into a black blob and settles on his arm as well. He looks around cluelessly for a moment before turning back and deciding to check on the fighters.
He walks back half the distance before seeing three straggling figures walking towards him. He recognizes them as the fighters and jogs over to them. The girl who had the burns looks much better, the man was struggling to walk but he was managing and the girl who was hit with Regia's tail had a bruise on her face but otherwise looked fine. He guessed that they used some sort of healing or else they would've come earlier.
'Thank goodness, they didn't though,' he thinks.
"Where is the dragon?" the girl with the bruise demanded.
"I am a Draconis, thank you very much," Regina says in his mind.
"It flew away when I hid from it and it couldn't find me," he replied smoothly.
The man in the middle looks at him suspiciously before asking, "What's your name?"
"Rimor," he simply states. The girl who looked quite healthy then took his arm and started dragging him with them.
"Well, Rimor, you have to come with us," she says while struggles to get out of her iron grip. He finally stops struggling and asks, "Where are you taking me?"
She seemed shocked by that question but answered nonetheless, "To her highness, Lady Order's planet, Vima'at of course."
"What?" he digs his feet in the ground causing her to slow down. She looked at him in annoyance before dragging him with inhuman strength. "If you haven't realized it yet, we are agents of Order."
He looks at the symbol on her shoulder closely and cursed silently. How could he have not noticed; they were most definitely agents of Order. Let's hope they don't dig too much farther into his past or encounter Lady Order herself.
