Chapter 40: Hail to the Queen.
With each footstep that the queens took the whole arena seemed to shake underfoot, Ryan was panting heavily as he watched them slowly encircling him and his new friend, this constant combat and having to almost constantly use his Dream Warrior abilities had really taken its toll and he was exhausted.
Ryan had never seen one of these creatures up close before but the way his Matriarch had described them so vividly in her stories had painted a very explicit picture of them in his head, they were so feared that to beat one of these things was described as holding one of the highest honor in Yaujta society, so how the hell was he expected to beat three of the things at once?
That's when it hit him, he wasn't supposed to beat them, from the very beginning they'd stacked the deck against him, they couldn't afford him to win because of what he represented and if he won they'd be forced under their own laws to acknowledge him and what he represented, as this realization sunk in Ryan felt a cold worm of determination crawl up his spine and into his chest, it seemed to reach his heart and with every beat spread to the very furthest points of his body like a cold fire. He felt his grip on his swords tighten and he heard the leather on the grips creak slightly as his fingers bit into them, he felt his heart start to beat more steadily and he felt strength return to his limbs, his body was preparing itself for the fight of his life.
The nearest of the huge creatures regarded Ryan with an almost curious head tilt, she seemed to be more threatened by the hissing angry lizard to his left, but a swift and shrill shriek soon silenced Ryan's Vexor lizard, he could feel fear ebbing from the big lizard in waves, he needed to act quickly before his companion's resolve died, so turning quickly to look at the nearest of the massive creatures he stared her down, she seemed almost fascinated by him in the way she kept coking her head from side to side as if she couldn't quite gauge if he was a threat to her or not, a sudden idea sprung into his mind and he decided to make it count, so focusing his strength into his speed he took off directly at the massive female at top speed.
The queen shrieked in both surprise and anger at his sudden move and responded by cracking her long barbed tail in his direction, but at this speed he saw it coming a mile off and was easily able to dodge around it and use his swords to deflect the barbed tip as it jabbed over his head, in fact that was exactly how he'd hoped that she'd respond to his sudden burst of speed, as she pulled her tail back to try again he reached out and grabbed hold of it, this yanked him off his feet and swung him around her back at incredible speed, using this velocity increase Ryan released at the last possible second and hit the wall, using a combination of the velocity from the queen's tail and his own strength he kicked off the wall backwards which sent him soaring into a high arc, he was upside down now looking down on the confused queen from above as he held his arms out to his sides to stabilize his body during the large arching backflip, he just hoped that he'd judged this right.
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The guard's head imploded with a shower of glowing green blood as Shena slammed the Sword of Perseus down on him, it had managed to change itself into a rather large two handed bastard sword this time which had caused her to have to change her attack pattern at the last minute, she had been using speed to confuse him right up until this moment, from her right she heard a massive roar and turned to look just in time to see Tik tear another guard's arms from their sockets and proceed to beat him rather violently with them, as she watched this she was rather glad that the clan Matriarch was on her side, she made a quick mental note never to anger her soon to be mother in law and moved on to the next guard who now had a picture of pure fear painted on his face as he watched the two advancing females.
After they were finished with the last of the guards Tik and Shena headed through the freshly hacked open door into the arena, as they walked down the dark corridor that led them to where the prisoners were transferred to the cells that led them into the arena Tik glanced at her young companion, "Brace yourself for a serious fight here young one, what we've faced so far is nothing compared to what we're going to face on the other side of these doors" she said, Shena nodded with an air of cold determination, but before they reached the doors a lone figure walked out in front of them, Shena's face hardened as she saw who it was, "That's the Arbiter that took Ryan from me" she growled in a voice filled with rage, instantly Tik's face hardened behind her mask, so this was the pauk responsible for taking her beloved son.
Oddly the figure didn't move as the two angry female swiftly approached him, also odd was the fact that he didn't seem to be armed with anything, but it was only when she got close that Tik noticed something that stopped her in her tracks, it was his eyes.
Reaching out a hand she stopped Shena from advancing, the young girl turned to glance at the Matriarch with confusion on her face, Tik gestured for her to wait as she sensed something very wrong here, finally he spoke.
"You're Tik eleth aren't you?" he asked in a cracking voice,
"I am and you're the Arbiter that took my son for this vile judgement aren't you?" she replied in a calm voice that had obvious barely restrained anger bubbling under it,
"I am, my name is Fen Ra Sharna and I want you to know how very sorry I am before you pass your judgement upon me" he said, his words surprised both Tik and Shena and they both glanced at each other,
"If you are sorry that you did it why did you do it in the first place?" Shena roared at him, he looked directly at her for the first time and his eyes stunned her enough to cause her to take a step backwards, they were they eyes of a haunted man, full of fear and pain and anguish,
"You have to believe me when I say that I thought that I was doing what was right, but he showed me, he showed me just how wrong I was about everything, all that pain, all that suffering that I have caused to so many, all that love I have destroyed because of my blind ignorance, I am responsible for this, I have taken so much beauty from this dark universe and burned it to ash, I am unforgivable" he said in a voice so filled with pain that Tik actually felt sorry for him, what had her son done to him?
"Showed you how?" Shena asked suspiciously,
"He showed me his life, every thought, every feeling, every want, every love, I saw it all" the arbiter said in a pitiful voice, then he looked at Shena,
"He loves you you know, it burns in his heart like an unstoppable fire, such a beautiful and powerful thing and I tried to destroy it in my ignorance, it's what's driving him out there I'm sure of it, I know I don't deserve it but please forgive me, I had no idea that such a beautiful thing could exist between different species" he said, Shena clenched her hand to her breastplate as she thought of the male she loved out there fighting for his life, then an idea struck her,
"If you want to be forgiven for your crimes then you must repent for them" she said, she noticed Tik glance at her curiously from her right, the Arbiter's eyes brightened with what looked like a ray of hope,
"Repent how?" he asked,
"Join us and help us fight to get him back, you said you were ignorant, well now that my beloved has awakened you to the truth that you were blind to, so that's no longer an excuse, now it's your turn to stand up like a true Yaujta warrior and fight for what's right" she said in a rather strong and proud voice, Tik eleth actually found herself rather impressed by her young companion's ingenuity, pretty smart to turn your enemy to your cause, the Arbiter stared pacing back and forth as if he was having an internal debate but then he rushed up and grabbed Shena's hands, his sudden movements caused Tik to nearly take his head off, but when she could see that he meant her no harm she stopped herself,
"You're right, by the goddess you're right! It's so simple! I'll fight for you, I'll help you get him back and after that I'll fight to stop all of this" he said with what sounded like happiness in his voice, then he released her hands and turned to face Tik eleth who was now holding out a sword to him,
"Betray us and I'll skin you alive" she said in a menacing voice, he took the sword,
"Don't worry they'll never fool me again, your son showed me the truth and now I know what I must do" he said, then looking back at Shena he smiled,
"Thank you" he said, she nodded and together the three of them turned and moved towards the cell doors that lead into the arena.
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Ryan's back flip maneuver paid off as when he flipped his legs back under himself he managed to land right on top of the queen's ridged head, he grabbed hold of the leathery ridges and held fast he saw his Vexor lizard throw itself at the queen nearest to it and now the two were locked in a bitter struggle as they clawed and shrieked at each other, the queen quickly thrashed and tried to unseat him from on top of her head, with his left hand he grabbed ahold of the side of her face and screamed, "Let me see you!" as he pumped the last of his strength into once again triggering his Dream Warrior abilities and with a rush his conciseness joined with the queen's.
The queen's mind was stronger than he'd ever imagined, it wasn't easy to connect to her mind like it had been with any other being he'd tried this with, she was fighting him and he could feel their minds wrestling for dominance over the other, but in a flash of inspiration Ryan stopped trying to control her mind and simply fought for a stalemate, every move she made he countered and blocked her, this frustrated the queen and she tried harder but it was in vain as his mind was too difficult to penetrate, eventually she quit trying and Ryan was able to slip his mind into hers and he felt the two entwine, like lovers melding together for the first time and her emotions slipped into his mind.
Much to his surprise the first thing he felt was not the dark evil that he'd been expecting, but it was fear, raw powerful fear and a drive to survive, he saw her memories and her capture at the hands of a hunting party as they'd destroyed her hive, he felt her pain as her daughters and sons were mown down without mercy, he felt her anger at her imprisonment, but the emotion that stood out the most for him was the fear, fear of the unknown and what was happening to her, he'd never believed in a million years that a creature like this would be capable of feeling fear, but also he felt her intelligence, he'd always believed that these creatures ran on a dark version of instinct, but how very wrong he was, in that same moment she'd been able to see his memories and had seen the entirety of his life and also now knew and understood why he was fighting, in that moment a bond and connection was formed between them and he heard a rather feminine voice in his head, "I see you now young one" it said.
The queen reached around and gripped him in her strong claws but rather than harm him she placed him down on his unsteady legs in front of her, his resources were all but depleted now thanks to having to use every bit of energy left to him to establish a connection to the queen's powerful mind, she was now staring right at him her face only inches from his, "You are not like your kin" she said inside his head,
"No I'm different from them, but you also are not what I imagined" he replied rather wearily,
"You saw what you were taught to see" she replied, this made sense to him as his perceptions of these creatures had come from the stories he'd heard and from his battles with them on the field,
"Isn't that true of all of us?" he replied, she seemed to nod at this,
"But we both wish to be free of this place and to live free" she said, Ryan nodded,
"Then our goals are the same" she said slowly,
"They wish me to kill you to prove my strength" Ryan said, as they were speaking there was a howl of pain from his left, he turned to look and as he did he felt stabs of pain through his torso, his Vexor lizard had been killed by the other two queens while he'd been conversing with this one, he felt his companion's pain as if it was his own and his dropped him to his knees as he hugged himself as he felt the life leave his companions body, a feeling of cold dread washed over him in waves, after they were done with the mighty lizard the two queens turned their attentions to the stricken boy,
"As my sisters wish to kill you for what your kind has done to us and our kin" the other queen said in a rather calm voice, Ryan felt the panic rising within him, he had no strength left to fight them now, he'd played his last Ace on a gamble here, but had he struck out?
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The bars that separated the main arena floor from the cell area proved no challenge for Tik's dual plasma casters and they exploded outwards with two well placed shots, they were well beyond the need for stealth now, the blast tore a rather sizeable hole in the separating wall which she and her two companions charged through with reckless abandon, the sight that met her filled her with dread, her son was there wounded and bleeding on his knees before three kiande amedha queens, Tik roared in primal rage and charged the nearest queen at full tilt, from both her left and right she heard two answering roars from both Shena Black Crest and from Fen Ra Sharna as they both charged the other two, but just as she was raising her blades to strike at the queen something appeared directly in front of her blade and it took all of her strength to stop her downward swing from striking her now standing son.
"No! Stop!" Ryan yelled as to his surprise he saw his Matriarch charging at the queen, using everything he had left he sprang to his feet and dashed forwards, he put himself in between the two charging groups and held up his hands to stop them, as he did he felt something like a bubble burst inside him and he was suddenly filled with an energy that he'd never felt before.
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From the highest stand a watching Paya smiled to herself and she turned to her two companions, one was a young man dressed in simple clothes carrying a harp by the name of Angus Og and another in a long hooded black cloak, carrying a both a staff in his hand and a sword under the cloak by the name of Gwydion.
"It begins" she said smiling at her two companions,
"He's awakening" Gwydion said looking at the young boy standing between the two groups,
"Hopefully you haven't chosen unwisely here Paya" Angus Og said regarding the young boy with a curious eye,
"Search your heart Angus you see his strength as I do, this young Hybrid Dream Warrior and his Human father are the keys to both their salvations, without them both races and many more are doomed when the Creeping Blackness comes" Paya said,
"Damn Loki what in all the heavens was he thinking when he released that nightmare into the mortal realm" Gwydion said kicking a stone at his feet angrily,
"You know what he's like, totally hates mortals and our dependence on them, I think in his twisted mind he wants to prove that we don't need them and to try and take the universe back to the way it was in the beginning" Angus Og said glancing at his old friend,
"Well whatever his reasons, it's up to us to stop it, come now I have another to visit" Paya said, both her companions nodded and all three of them turned and walked into a dust cloud that swept them away as if they'd never been there.
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"Ryan move out of the way they'll kill you!" Tik eleth growled at her son as he blocked her strike on the kiande amedha queen, but her son didn't move he stood firm, oddly the queen's didn't move either, they didn't attack either him or them, they simply stood there hissing angrily, swishing their tails from left to right as they faced down they group of Yaujta that had charged in, but for some reason they refused to move past her son, Ryan turned to look at her and to her utter shock his purple eyes appeared to be glowing,
"No, they won't" he said simply, his voice sounded different, broken to the point of utter exhaustion but at the same time containing a strength and determination that reminded her of only one other, her beloved Ack.
Ryan turned to face the queen's and he reached up and held out his hand to the queen nearest him, it was at that point Tik noticed a purple energy pulsing through his veins making them all stand out from his skin, the queen regarded him with a suspicious glance but then she lowered her head and allowed his hand to be placed on her skin, the area where he touched lit up with a purple glow, then he turned to face her and offered his other hand out, Tik didn't know what the pauk was going on here, but she knew one thing, she trusted her son and he was a Dream Warrior like her beloved life mate, so she decided to trust his judgement, slowly and cautiously she stepped forwards till she was right next to him, she couldn't believe she was this close to a kiande amedha queen without it striking her, it was an absolute miracle, but for some reason the beast trusted and responded to her son, so what sort of mother would she be if she didn't trust his judgement, she bowed her head and Ryan placed his hand to the side of her head, instantly she felt a buzzing in her skull, it wasn't painful but it was strange, "Now see each other and know each other" he said and in a flash Tik's mind was filled with the thoughts and feelings of the queen and vice versa the queen's mighty mind was filled with the images of Tik's life, as the connection was established bright purple light shot from both the queen to her two sisters and joined them into the link, the same happened from Tik to both Shena Black Crest and Fen Ra Sharna, suddenly the whole group was overwhelmed with a collective consciousness, their entire collected experiences both good and bad shared among each other as if each of them had lived many different lives.
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In his box high above the arena the clan leader couldn't believe his eyes, not only had three intruders burst in and tried to stop the trial, but now the young Dream Warrior hybrid who up until this point looked like he was about to fall to the queens was doing some sort of Dream Warrior magic and had joined the whole group together with some sort of purple light with him at its center, as he watched the boy glowed like he was made entirely of light, he'd heard of the might of Dream Warriors but he'd never imagined that not only could they stop a kiande amedha queen in her tracks, but by the looks of it control them, this could get very bad very fast if he turned those beasts on them, it was time to put a stop to this, he signaled to his personal guards and they responded.
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Ryan felt an amazing range of emotions flowing through him like a living network as all of the now joined group shared thoughts, emotions and experiences, it was like being in a bubble filled with happiness, love, joy but then at the same time horror, fear and pain, it was an incredible experience that no words could really give credit to, the one that really touched his heart the most was the mutual understanding that he felt coming from all sides now, the Yaujta understanding the Xenomorphs and vice versa, but then a sense of danger that was coming from the queens caused him to sever the link and return everyone to normal.
As the link was severed they all looked around in surprise, Tik was amazed beyond words at what she'd just experienced, she'd never imagined in a million life times that the kiande amedha queens would have emotions like that, but then Ryan cut the link and she was alone in her head again, blinking a few times to clear her head and re-orientate herself she glanced at her son, she knew why he'd severed the link because as he'd felt it so had she, a sense of danger coming from one of the queens as they'd sensed something.
Shena Black Crest shook her head to clear it, then she turned and upon seeing the male she loved standing there tall and proud she ran to his side, as she reached him he smiled at her, "I knew you'd come" he said, without saying a word she threw her arms around him and held him against her, she'd longed for this for what had felt like a life time, to feel his body against hers and to feel his warmth again, she swore that no matter what happened from this point she would never leave his side ever again, live or die here, she would do it at his side where she belonged.
As she did there was a roar of rage from the stands that both she and Ryan recognized, it was Shena's father, "Take your hands off her you filthy half breed scum!" he roared, this was met by a far more fierce roar from Tik, hers was so loud it echoed from the walls and seemed to almost shake the entire arena's very foundations,
"How dare you call my beloved son scum you pauking coward, come down here and face me!" she roared in a voice so fierce that it struck fear into even the hearts of the battle hardened warriors present, Ryan and Shena looked at each other and instantly as she saw his eyes she knew that he had a purpose here, she nodded and he disengaged from her hug and walked over to his raging Matriarch, he placed a hand on her massive arm and she glanced down at him, he smiled at her drawing his mandibles up and showing his warriors teeth in exactly the same way that his father did, it was enough to calm her, then he stepped forwards away from her and turned to face the crowd,
"You call me scum, you call me a filthy half breed but yet here I stand having taken all of your trials and having passed them, I have fought everything you have thrown at me despite the fact that you stacked the odds to try and make it impossible for me to win, what warrior here can say that they would have stood a chance against one let alone three of these beautiful and magnificent creatures in single combat?" he said in a loud proud voice as he swept his hand to gesture to the three kiande amedha queens who had moved to surround him in a protective circle like bodyguards protecting their charge, but anyone could see that this boys words were touching them as well because instead of a battle stance they now stood tall and proud at his sides,
"You say you have passed but they do not look slain to me" the clan leader said as he and his personal guard made their way down through the stands to the arena edge,
"The rules state that I must defeat them, it does not say that I must slay them, I do not wish to slay them and they feel the same about me and given that they entered the arena with every intention of killing me and here I am still standing I would interpret that to mean I have a victory" Ryan said calmly, one of the queens hissed at the clan leader angrily, Ryan reached up and placed a hand on her flank, she glanced down at the young Dream Warrior stood at her side and she nodded at him, there was loud chatter among those gathered in the stands, surprisingly it seemed that the majority of the crowd seemed to agree with Ryan,
"Then there's the matter of the unforgivable interruption of the trial by these others" the clan leader said, this was followed by a chorus from the crowd who agreed with him,
"They never landed a blow on a single opponent that was mine to face, so other than making a very dramatic entrance into the arena they neither changed the outcome nor fought any opponent meant for me, so the outcome was the same" Ryan said, this was met by murmurs of agreement from those in the crowd in agreement with the young Dream Warrior, suddenly the clan leader felt nervous that so many of those gathered here seemed to be in agreement with the young half breed,
"Well there is still one more trial for you to face young one, if the patriarch of the Black Crest family wishes he may face you in single combat and if any of your companions so much as flinch in your direction I will find you in breach of the trial and declare your guilt" he said in a smug voice, Ryan could hear both Shena and his Matriarch angrily clicking their mandibles from behind him,
"Very well I accept those terms, my companions here will not interfere, if he wishes to face me, it will be in single fair combat" Ryan said, he felt all of his companions staring at his back, the clan leader turned to the Patriarch of the Black Crest family,
"What say you? Will you face him?" he asked, there was a roar from the crowd,
"I will and I will destroy him for defiling my daughter with his filth!" he replied, this nearly triggered Tik off again till she saw her son's eyes and she instantly recognized that look, it was the very same look that her beloved Ack had when he had a plan, but he couldn't stop the anger of Shena, she raced forwards and addressed the entire crowd,
"Who the Pauk do you think you are! You call the male I love with my entire heart and soul filth, well then that means that I am filth too and I'd rather be filth than whatever you proclaim to be, his clan is the most honorable and strongest I have ever met, they accepted me without any judgement despite the fact that you would exile me for simply loving, well I have laid my heart claim to this beautiful male and his clan Matriarch has accepted it, I don't care if he's half ooman or even if he was fully ooman, he is the strongest most beautiful male that I have had the honor to lay eyes on, he has treated me with nothing but love, respect and honor, he has displayed more of the values that you claim to uphold than any of you gathered here and yet you have the audacity to put him on trial for merely existing, I don't care what he is my heart simply cares who he is and I will happily stand, live and die at his side as I know he would at mine" she roared, then she turned directly to face her father in the crowd, "I am not one of your pauking trophies to be hung on a pauking wall, I am flesh and blood and my heart wants what it wants and I don't give a pauk what you think of me or him, I love him and I won't let you or anyone else tell me that it's wrong, I renounce your bigoted name and your close minded ideals, I am now and forever from this point Shena of the proud clan Mason!" she roared in a voice that put Tik's battle cry to shame, Ryan walked over to her and placed a supporting hand on her shoulder pauldron, she turned to face him before tearing her mask from her face and pulling him into a passion filled kiss that caused quite a stir among those gathered, some roared in anger at this spectacle while much to the surprise of a few, more of those gathered roared in support of the two young lovers, as they parted Ryan smiled at her and he saw the love and fire in her eyes, "Kick his arse my love" she said with a dark smile, he nodded and turned to face the clan leader again, as he did Tik eleth came over and placed a proud hand on the young girl's shoulder and nodded approvingly of her display of defiance and love in the face of everyone here,
"You do our clan proud daughter" she said and Shena simply smiled at her clan Matriarch, the clan leader banged his fist on the rails to get everyone's attention because the spectacle had caused quite an uproar amongst those gathered,
"Very well, the rest of your companions will step down and this will be a fair fight, single combat in the oldest of Yaujta tradition" the clan leader yelled and the crowd roared in agreement, Ryan nodded to his group and they all begrudgingly retreated to the edges of the arena, it was quite a spectacle watching three Yaujta warriors and three kiande amedha queens walking together like they were old comrades in arms, then as he turned Ryan saw that Shena's father had entered the arena and was standing facing him, his ceremonial armor shone under the lights,
"I am going to destroy you and hang your head on my trophy wall scum" he growled,
"Well either that or I am going to destroy your reality" Ryan replied, this angered the elder Yaujta male and with an angry roar which Ryan echoed they charged each other swords drawn high.