Chapter 12: Hidden World.
Zed seemed to be the only one who was having an easy time running on the fine, ever shifting sands of the desert, his huge paws acting like snow shoes spreading his weight as he ran, the others were not having such a fun time.
Their boots were sinking into the fine sand with every step but not one of the running Seekers slowed down, keeping up their incredible pace, Seekers, like Hunters, are not just soldiers, they are trained athletes who could push their endurance to obscene levels and Jack introduced SAS style endurance training into both the Hunters and the Seekers training to ensure that they could keep going no matter what was thrown at them.
In fact, he based a large part of the training section on the legendary SAS selection which was infamous on Earth for pushing candidates well beyond the endurance and breaking points of the vast majority of the Human race.
But he wanted every single Hunter and Seeker that put on the armor to not just be at that level but beyond it, this in his opinion would give them all a huge advantage on a prolonged battlefield because even with their modern tech you never knew when you were going to have to go old school and just hoof it, just like now.
Now Jack had taught every single candidate tricks for surviving this kind of endurance training, like mental detachment, you sent your mind to another place while your body just carried on, it helped you to push yourself through your limits, the trick was to keep your mind away from your body so that it didn't realise what it was enduring, kinda like the way some people used music while running to help them focus.
Though under the glaring and burning hot sun all of them were glad of their armor's cooling systems which regulated their body tempretures, even Zed's armor had one which the huge six legged fire tiger was undoubtably grateful for with all that fur right about now, in fact, the only one who wasn't having to push their endurance here was Analise who was riding on Zed's back as he ran.
"Why do I get the feeling you are imagining our Grand Matriarch playing volleyball again?" Mav panted all of a sudden, making Jack laugh and cough as he was running as they followed the tracks in the sand, all the Seekers had a very close relationship and despite operating as military unit they spoke to one another like friends or family.
"I would, except her actually doing it for real kinda ruined that fantasy, as good as it was to see her in a bikini jumping about on the beach the squad of Battle Angels repairing facial injuries from high speed ball to face impacts kinda ruined it because everyone started putting on armor, or at the very least helmets to play against her, it's just not sexy, you know?" He replied, making them all laugh as the memories of the Seekers Vs Hunters beach volleyball competition flooded back, the joy of many pretty Yautja and human girls in bikinis had been short lived by the utter war that had broken out on the court.
"Wasn't as bad as that time Monty tried to get the Hunters to play dodgeball as part of their PT regiment," Analise said, and that made them all wince and laugh some more.
"Yeah, he forgot to factor in just how competitive Yautja girls get and he failed to explain that the objective was just to tag your opponent, not put them through a pauking wall," Mav said, making Jack laugh.
"I think I'll just go back to my Tik doing a Baywatch slow motion run in a red swimsuit fantasy," he said.
"What's Baywatch?" Analise asked, and Jack laughed.
"Ahh, I sometimes forget that a sizeable chunk of our population have never even set foot on Earth, let alone ever saw our entertainment history, Baywatch was a television program that told fictional tales of a group of lifeguards on a beach who did stuff like solved crimes and mysteries and before you ask, no, I have no idea why lifeguards would be doing such things either, but they did, though I think it was just an excuse for them to show us images of pretty women and men running around in very little clothing," Jack said.
"So you came up with our Grand Matriarch in a red swim suit running along a beach?" Mav asked, and Jack laughed.
"You forgot the slow motion, the slow motion is very important," Jack said.
"Hmmmm, I wonder why?" Analise said sarcastically, and Mav laughed.
"Because physics, that's why, and hey, I'm not giving you stick about the mental image you're now having of a certain red scaled dragon-like boy running along the beach in a thong stopping to shake the spray off his tail now am I?" Jack said, and Analise snorted in her helmet.
"Well I wasn't until you said it," she exclaimed, and Jack grinned.
"And now you can't unsee it and you're welcome," he replied.
"By Paya, the way you lot are acting anyone swear I'm going to ravish that poor Draconis boy like I'm some sort of scale predator," she said, and all of the others laughed out loud.
"We're just cheering you on is all, it's obvious you like him and to him you are the very first female who has not tried to hurt him, use him, rape him or abuse him, so you have an opportunity to teach him the truth of love and how it feels to be cared for and about, we all know you're a good person, Analise, and you'd be good for him and we all believe he'd be good for you, I wandered in his mind and his heart and I saw who he is and he is an immensely kind and gentle person who just wants to be loved, oh, and he thinks you're the most beautiful thing he has ever seen," Jack said, making Analise stutter.
But before she could come up with a response Jack stopped and brought his fist up, the group froze and began scanning three hundred and sixty degrees as they sought out any threats nearby, but not one of them saw anything.
"Does anyone body else feel that?" Jack asked, his eyes sparkling under his helmet as he reached out with his abilities.
In fact, all of their eyes were glowing now as they all reached out, suddenly both the Tamers turned their heads towards the mountains and pointed at the same spot, "There," they said in unison.
"Whatcha got?" Jack asked.
"There is a strong pull of nature there, I feel a huge mass of life," Rita said, and Analise nodded in agreement.
There was also a huge build up of energy in that area as well, but Jack was picking up something else as well, something spiritual.
"You feel that, Mav?" He asked, and Mav nodded his head.
"There is a large flux of spiritual energy in this area, I would advise caution here, Grand Patriarch, they could be using spirits to either defend or shield their location," Mav said.
Jack nodded thoughtfully, it was rather smart really, suddenly the name Ghost Slitherers made a fair bit more sense, if their equivalent of Soul Knights used the dead to hide them from the living then chances were they really didn't want visitors but Jack hoped that being Dream Warriors like them would at least give them some trust points, but either way they were here to save these innocent people from either the wrath or influence of the Nightmare Assassins, a battle they could not afford to lose.
As they climbed out of the sandy desert and onto the edge of the rocky mountains the group followed the tracks of the two Nightmare Assassins to the edge of the rocky outcrops where the ground turned into a mixture of flat rock and gravel that actually made them start to wish for the sand back.
Suddenly Jack began to sense a darkness and a powerful anger from not far ahead of them, "We're close," he said, and Zed made a low growl as if agreeing with him, the big feline's ears were swiveling as he tracked some source of unheard noise.
"Zed has them, they are just ahead," Analise said, her voice low and dark.
"Let's get these fuckers, I am not going to let them hurt a single scale on those innocent Ghost Slitherers, they are our brothers and sisters and we will protect them," Jack said, and the other three nodded.
The four Seekers moved tactically towards the source of the energy they were sensing, out of seemingly nowhere a huge cave mouth appeared, it was almost perfectly camoflauged by the layout of the rocks, if you looked at the mountain straight on you'd never see it but at the angle that they were stood below it showed up, it was like an optical illusion or one of those paintings that changed perspective if you viewed it from different angles, the four of them switched to Night Vision as they reached the cave mouth, huge stalagtites and stalagmites created the illusion of a giant mouth filled with huge, pointy fang-like teeth.
Jack keyed his comms, "Seeker one one to Dreamer, we've reached what appears to be a cave of some sort leading underground into the mountain range, we've tracked two of the Nightmare Assassins here and are heading inside to apprehend them, we may go off comms or lose bio signals depending on how deep this goes, I will leave a signal relay at the cave mouth, it may help, but if you don't hear from us in a couple of hours send a team to this location, over," he said.
Tik's voice came back almost immediately, "Roger that, my love, and I can tell you now if I do not hear from you in a couple of hours I will be coming down there myself to search every single inch of those pauking caves and Paya help anyone who may have harmed any one of you, Dreamer, over and out."
Mav glanced at Jack who just shrugged with a grin, "Our Grand Matriarch never pauks about, does she?" He said, and Jack laughed.
"Not when me or our cubs are concerned, no, no quicker way to make her go from happy Tik to beat you to death with your own arse hole Tik than to threaten one of us in front of her," he said, making the others laugh as every one of them knew the extent of their Grand Matriarch's power and protective streak only too well, it was the stuff of legends.
Analise hopped off Zed's back and patted the huge tiger's flank, he would be moving ahead of them leading the team in the hunt, he would also be the first to hit them when the time came, there was nothing like an angry armored fire tiger coming at you out of the darkness to really shit you up and throw you off your game, especially when you then got ambushed by four armored Dream Warriors as well.
The cave narrowed into a series of tunnels that branched off in a multitude of directions, the Seekers weren't really looking for the Ghost Slitherers yet, they were focused on the Nightmare Assassins, they wanted to stop them reaching the Ghost Slitherers and inflicting any damage whatsoever on them, so following Zed's powerful nose the team took turn after turn through the winding rock tunnels, after a while Jack's comms unit beeped to let him know they'd lost the relay and they were now cut off from their support.
"Tighten up, people, by the numbers, I would prefer this to be a capture mission but no matter what we protect those innocent Ghost Slitherers so lethal force is authorised," Jack said, gaining three nods from his team.
The corridor led to a huge dead end that ended in a huge circular room lake, a kinda antechamber, it was almost shaped like a bell and it made their footsteps echo, Jack got a very odd sensation traveling over his skin like an electrical charge making his hair stand on end and by the way he was acting Mav was feeling it too but oddly neither Analise or Rita were reacting which to him indicated that this was a spiritual phenomenon than a natural one, that's when he noticed the cloud against the ceiling.
"They're above us!" Jack yelled, and the four Dream Warriors burst away from the spot they were standing, turning their weapons skyward just in time to see the two Scalathor Nightmare Assassins burst out of the clouds of dark energy that they'd been using to hide their presence.
The two female Scalathor moved like acrobats, landing back to back in the centre of the room, both were brandishing wicked looking bladed weapons that had serrated curved blades, each one was as black as the night sky.
One of the Scalathor had bright yellow scales and the other a deep blue color, but it was their eyes that instantly grabbed Jack's attention, black and cold just like their weapons, well, all except for their vertical slit pupils which were an angry shade of blood red.
"You are like us! You must be the accursed Dream Warriors the Dark Seed warned us of!" one of them hissed in a dark, deep voice.
"Got it in one, Nightmare Assassin, now why don't you put down that weapon and let us free you from the darkness that has invaded your mind, let us show you who you really are, what you are supposed to be," Jack said.
Their dark eyes darted from one to the other, "You let this male speak for you? What kind of female are you?" one of them snarled aiming her question at Analise.
"Unlike you we do not oppress our males, nor they us, we see strength through unity, not oppression," Analise said.
The Scalathor scoffed, "Unity, what a weak premise, males are for serving, pleasuring and making young, that's it! They are no more your equal than that animal there, it is just like the Dark Seed told us, you are weak, pathetic, but this is something that you will learn in time and also in time you will see the Dark Seed is correct but by that point it will be too late for you, just like it is for these pathetic Ghost Slitherers, they will either bow before us or be destroyed, just like you!" one of them yelled before as one they launched themselves at the four Seekers and one tiger.
Jack saw the closest one rush right at him and even before their blades crossed Jack felt her hatred and her determination being channeled at him, it obviously gave her a form of strength, a surprisingly effective one, she could obviously channel it into boosting her strength, but there was one flaw in her attack, she was under the belief that simply because she was female she had an advantage over Jack because he was male, now this might have been true if he was Scalathor, but Jack was not Scalathor and Mav was most certainly not.
Her small curved blades glanced off Jack's huge blade, sending a shower of sparks that lit the air around them like little fire works, Jack spun, using the huge sword to block her follow up attack before planting a heavy full frontal kick straight to her solar plexus and sending her flying backwards where she turned over in mid air and landed on her feet, using her tail to stabilise her backwards slide.
Her friend was not fairing well either, she was currently under siege from both Rita and Analise, they were hitting her from both sides while Zed circled and waited for an opening and despite the speed at which the two Dream Warriors and one Nightmare Assassin were moving he found it.
The huge tiger leapt forwards with a mighty roar which startled the woman, causing her to turn but Zed had not been trying to attack, only to distract her and it worked because from both sides at once Rita and Analise shot in, putting their modified Yautja style wrist blades to good use by plunging them into her torso from both sides at once.
The look in the woman's eyes told them she realized in her final seconds that she'd been tricked, even as she began to fall the pair withdrew their blood soaked blades and spun to face the last remaining one who rather than attack Jack again dashed backwards to her fallen friend, but it wasn't to save her, far from it, her intention was far more sinister.
She leapt over her fallen comrade and jammed her hand onto her chest and she began muttering something, a second later jack realized what was happening, "Soul Tear! Stop her!" he yelled, but it was too late.
In only the fraction of second that she was stood over her fallen comrade she tore her dying friend's soul from her body, it was like she tore a handful of black smoke from her chest, causing the body to arch, it was a technique a Soul Knight knew well and it only had two purposes, to a Soul Knight it was a way of releasing a soul from a dying body and releasing it onwards to begin its journey to the afterlife, but it could be used in a far more insidious way, by temporarily joining it to your own and feeding on its power, kinda like attaching a battery booster to your own soul but it utterly destroyed the soul, being turned into energy, turning what was left of the person into a faint whisper of the person they once were, a shadow.
The black cloud now seemed to surround her body, clinging to it like it was vaporised oil, her eyes glowed brighter in an insidious blood red color and her face contorted into a dark sneer, "Even as one I am more than a match for you, first I will destroy you then I will take your strength and use it to destroy those pathetic Ghost Slitherers, they will bow or die, these are the command of the Dark Seed and I and they will obey!" she snarled in a slightly echoing voice.
"Mav, summoning, now! I'll keep her busy! Analise, Rita, bind her!" Jack yelled, and he got three nods.
"Zed, get on her, boy!" Analise yelled, and the huge tiger leapt at the Nightmare Assassin, causing her to jump away and instantly Jack leapt at her, bringing his huge sword down, only for her to catch it on her own curved blade and deflect it, the pair crashed together over and over as the other three began chanting.
Jack kept her away from them, drawing on his considerable boosted strength to hold her in check and it worked beautifully, as one both Tamers let out a tremendous yell and out of the very rock around them green and black roots burst forwards and wrapped themselves around her arms and legs, Jack knew it wouldn't hold her for long but it was just long enough because no sooner had the plants wrapped her than Mav finished.
Grey smoke poured into the room like it was seeping in through every single crack in the place, "Souls of the honored fallen, of the glorious passed, I call on you, aid us, help us defend your brothers and sisters from evil, you sense us, feel us, know our hearts and intentions to be pure, we come to defend those who are innocent from harm, lend us your strength and help us to drive this evil from your home, we will stand for you in your time of need, the Children of Paya here to stand for the children of the Great Tree, stand with us," Mav called, and instantly the grey smoke swirled and pulsed like it was deciding what to do, before it surged and surrounded both Jack and Mav.
The pair of them glowed brightly as the smoke changed to a bright electric blue color and both of them surged forward just in time as the Nightmare Assassin broke free of her binds, but she wasn't fast enough and both of them grabbed her, "Let's see who's pulling the strings in there, shall we?" Jack yelled, but before he had a chance to reach into her soul he heard a sharp crack from her jaw.
"Not this time, God Slayer, I go to the Dark Seed and you shall not stop me and soon the Dark Seed will sprout and its darkness will drown this universe and then you will see the truth and it will swallow you whole," she said, and with that the cyanide in her hollow tooth kicked in and with a racking gurgle her body went still as thick white foam flowed out of her mouth and her eyes ceased glowing, with an echoing distant scream the black smoke that was surrounding her exploded away from her body, vanishing into the darkness.
"Fucking suicide tooth, they're fucking serious about us not capturing one of their Nightmare Assassins," Jack said, standing up and letting the body of the dead Nightmare Assassin lay down on the floor, he leaned down and closed the woman's eyes and crossed her arms over her chest in a sign of respect, he quickly searched her body but found nothing of any interest.
Analise leaned down and checked the other one, and found equally nothing, "They came down with no support and no comms, this was a one way trip, a suicide mission," she said.
"So they never intended to capture the Ghost Slitherers, this was really only a kill mission, well, I guess unless they believed that they could turn them against their own people through their isolation infected with their hate," Mav said.
"I think we should pull out all the stops to find the Ghost Slitherers ourselves, the Serpentinus might not know how to handle or train them but we do, hopefully we can not only help them to understand who and what they are but to make peace with it and use it for the good of their people," Jack said, and the others nodded in agreement.
"Hey, is anyone else seeing these?" Rita said suddenly, and Jack looked up from the body and looked to where she was pointing.
That's when his infra red lamps lit up the walls and his mouth promptly fell open, the whole wall and the ceiling were utterly covered in primitive cave paintings, the paint seemed to react to the infra red light and seemed to make them glow with an almost ethereal light.
"Oh, wow, these are incredible," Jack said as he realized he was seeing the story of the lives of these Ghost Slitherers unfolding through a primitive medium, one image on the far left of the cave had lots of little painted Serpentinus in a huge group and one segregated from the group, like it had been cast out.
The image showed what looked like the lone Serpentinus literally begging to be let into the crowd but was shunned and cast out to be all alone, now given how social they were living in little packs so that they had these extended families and essentially were never alone Jack could only imagine the existential horror that these poor people must have experienced being all alone like that, not knowing what to do or where to go, shunned by their sisters and brothers.
As he followed the images along he could actually feel the pain and the fear of the little painted Serpentinus as she or he slithered the world alone looking for someone, anyone who would accept them, who would reach out a hand to them and say, "It's ok, come with me, I'll keep you safe."
The paintings went on to show the lone Serpentinus slithering its way through a lonely world 'till it met what jack could only assume was the Great Tree, it directed them to find others like them and to hide from the world, so that's what the little painted Serpentinus did, it traveled from the desert, to the jungles, to the forest and beyond, finding others like itself and gathering them together.
Now the little painted Serpentinus had itself a family and now they left the world that had cast them out behind and took refuge in the caves and they vanished from the world, that's when he saw it, after following the pictures along like a story Jack found a glowing hand print.
Now it wasn't glowing with light, it was like it had an aura swirling around it, Jack retracted his glove from his right hand, exposing the skin underneath and slowly he placed his hand against the glowing hand print, instantly the aura began to pulse and swirl around his hand, it seemed to pull his own aura to it and joined with it.
Instantly Jack felt it in his mind and images began to cycle through his mind like it was telling the story of the lonely lost Serpentinus, that's when it hit Jack what this was, somehow not only had the Serpentinus Ghost Slitherers had managed to create an imprint of all their experiences and not only that but they'd linked it to the Great Tree, so only a true child of the Great Tree who had the gift could pass and it required you to add your experience to the mark, it was like a spiritual monument.
But as a Dream Warrior Jack could access it and he found he could not only access it he could walk among that vast collection of memories and experiences but he could add his own to it, it was like he copy pasted part of his soul into the collective for others following the path to lead them here could live his life like he'd just lead the lives of hundredsof those poor Ghost Slitherers all at once and in a way it made him smile because he hoped that by seeing his memories it would give them hope and show them there was another way.
Now as soon as the process was complete a second aura lit up to his right in the shape of an archway, when he reached out and touched the wall where the glowing arch was he realized that there was nothing there, it was some form of high grade illusion.
"Holy shit, it's a false wall, guys, put your bare hand on the wall over here," Jack said, pointing to the handprint and one after the other each of them added their memories to the mass, each marveling at the wonders of it, but then they saw the archway and it seemed to amaze them as much as it had Jack himself.
"Oh, wow, this is incredible, I've never seen anything like this before, they've figured out how to imprint psychic energy onto inanimate objects, that's incredible," Analise said, obviously impressed.
The four of them and one tiger began to move through the tunnel which seemed to wind downwards like some sort of huge spiral staircase but in the form of a ramp, but it eventually led down into a second antechamber, this one had more paintings, though these ones were far more detailed, showing huge paintings of the Great Tree surrounded with Serpentinus all holding hands.
There was another tunnel and they followed it and when they reached the end the four of them stood in utter shock and amazement, what greeted them was an absolute miniature paradise.
It was like a self contained oasis right in the centre of the mountain which like a volcano appeared to be utterly hollow, right in the centre of it was a tree with a huge pool of utterly clear water that was surrounded by thick, lush grass and surrounding that was what looked like a little village of circular houses made from wood.
There were a variety of Serpentinus from many different genus slithering about all over the place doing normal day to day stuff, like on the right side there was a little blacksmith station that drew Jack's eyes, there was also a little baker building making bread with white smoke lazily coming from the large chimney on the side of the building but they could smell the fresh baking bread as it wafted across to them.
It was now that the Serpentinus packs slithering about going about their day seemed to sense the presence of the strangers in their midst and as one they all seemed to turn towards the group and as one the whole lot of them vanished back to their homes and the air was filled with panicked shouts and moments later they returned all armed and obviously ready to defend their home from the outsiders who they most likely thought were Scalathor.
"Weapons away and power down your casters, Analise, stand Zed down," Jack said, she nodded and touched the big tiger on the head and the big cat simply laid down on the grass and began to clean himself.
The Serpentinus slowly and cautiously slithered towards them, there was a group of at least two hundred of them, they seemed to be armed with a variety of bladed weapons. bows and even spears, one of them slithered from the group and jack instantly noticed that it appeared to be a male and this actually surprised him as honestly this was the first one he'd actually seen, he appeared to be of the Cobra genus, looking like Leba from Celia's pack.
"Who are you and how did you find this place?" the male asked, flaring his hood in an obvious threat display, as at the same time he pointed his long halberd like spear at Jack.
Jack knew that the Serpentinus wouldn't understand him as he spoke so he set the translator in his suit to Serpentinus.
"Please do not fear us, we come in peace, brother, my name is Jack Mason and I am Grand Patriarch of Clan Mason, we came here to your world to defend your people from a cowardly attack by the Scalathor, one that also had the intention of finding and either killing or converting you and your fellow Ghost Slitherers to their cause, we are only here because we simply wished to meet you and to show you that you are not alone in the universe," Jack said.
The lead Serpentinus looked confused and looked Jack up and down with bright purple eyes, "Wait, you don't have a tail! You mean to say you are not Scalathor?" He exclaimed, and Jack shook his head and with that he removed his helmet and signaled for the others to do the same.
When confronted with four aliens and two very different different alien species there was a flurry of surprised faces and flickering tongues, the leader slowly and cautiously approached Jack, keeping his weapon trained on him, the guy was huge, from tip to tail about fourteen foot long.
As he came close Jack could see the light glowing in his eyes and he smiled as he knew he was reaching out using his abilities and Jack reciprocated in kind, "Y-Y-You are like me! Like us!" he exclaimed, and Jack nodded.
"We are called Dream Warriors, we are children of Paya, the Great Huntress, we've met your Great Tree aboard a Scalathor freighter where we rescued a member of your species, we reached out to it and it asked for our help in saving its children from the coming darkness, so here we are because that is what the Guardian Core and what Clan Mason is all about, strength through unity and protecting those who cannot protect themselves, that's when we got wind of yourselves and knew that we had to meet you and we learned Scalathor Nightmare Assassins were coming to kill or convert you," Jack said.
Suddenly the Serpentinus's eyes widened and his tongue began going ninety to the dozen, "The children of the stars, you're the children of the stars, aren't you!?" he exclaimed in a soft excited sounding whisper, a whisper that quickly began to echo through the crowd.
Jack cocked his head curiously, "I'm not sure but we are aliens if that's what you mean so I guess that could mean yes, but I'd have to know more to give a definitive answer," Jack said.
"The Great Tree told us many circuits ago that one day that children who were born far beyond the stars would come to us and would lift us up, that they would take us by the hand and guide us, that their arrival would signify the dawning of a new age, an age of acceptance for our kind among our people, that these star children would make us stronger as well as showing us the way to protect our people," the male said, and Jack smiled and he once again removed his glove.
"Take my hand and let me show you, brother, there are no lies and no secrets between our kind, so let me show you who we are and what we are, so here I am, see me and let me see you," he said, and just like that the male Serpentinus gripped his hand and just like that each of their eyes changed as their minds interlocked and their lives flooded together like two rivers mixing to become one.
What Jack saw disgusted and outraged him, it was like a fire burning hot in his soul, he saw this poor male's life from beginning to this moment, he saw his family pack's reaction when as a young boy they saw how different he was, how they tried to hide him from the world, locking him away in a basement to keep him away from other people, so they wouldn't see what he was and chase his family who were from a very rural area away.
He saw the day when they finally threw him out before he was twelve years old and this poor male whose name is Vallaran was forced to flee his village and to wander the world alone and scared.
Jack felt the tears streaming down his face as he felt the pain and the fear and how close to death he came before by absolute sheer luck another Ghost Slitherer found him and brought him here, over time he grew into a fine male who was determined to protect all the Ghost Slitherers here like they were all one giant pack, soon he became the leader of the settlement and made it his mission not only to protect them but to search for and find more of them and to bring them to safety.
On the other side Vallaran also had tears streaming down his face as he saw Jack's life, all the things he'd been through, all the things he'd seen and then the world he and Tik had built and what they'd based it on, "I-I-It's beautiful, it's so beautiful, y-y-you've built paradise, with your bare hands you built paradise and now you came here across the ocean of stars to protect us, literal stranger aliens to you because you cannot bare the thought of anyone hurting us or taking advantage of us like that, I-I-I feel it, I feel the love you have, the burning desire to protect, it's incredible," Vallaran said, and Jack smiled.
"It's something you can have, Vallaran, we'd more than happily help you, not only in your quest to find more of your brother and sister Ghost Slitherers, but of training you to protect the ones you love as well as educating your people about who you are and showing them that you are nothing to fear but to embrace and to be proud of and if you wish it we'd be more than happy to take you to our homeworld where you can train as Seekers of Truth, from there the choice will be yours, you can either come back here and form your own version of the Seekers which we'd be more than happy to help negotiate integrating with your people's military and showing not only the Royal pack how you could be a major asset to them, or for any who wish it you'd be more than welcome to join the Guardian Core as full blown Seekers and earn yourself a place on our home, a place that you can build with your own hands and become a member of our pack," Jack said.
To his absolute surprise the huge Serpentinus male broke down, he began sobbing and hugged Jack right in front of everyone, it was obvious to Jack that this poor male had never experienced such pure and unadulterated acceptance by a complete stranger other than when he'd been taken in by the Ghost Slitherers.
Jack turned to the Seekers, "I'm going to perform a mass joining," he said, and the three of them grinned and nodded and Vallaran's eyes lit up as he saw in Jack's memories what he meant, then he turned to Vallaran, he also saw that Jack was the only Dream Warrior powerful enough in generations to be able to pull something like this off.
"With your permission," he said, and the big male nodded in agreement and with that Jack reached out with his mind and pushed his power right up, letting it surge through him and fill him up, his power lifted him from the ground and he held out his hands before power like purple lightning shot from him and joined every single one together just like a huge version of that handprint they encountered.
In an instant the thoughts and memories were blended together in one huge mash and each and every one of those people felt the entirety of everything, the same expression that Vallaran had and soon tears were flowing from every single eye in the gathered crowd and literally every weapon clattered to the ground as they saw the truth of their visitors.
Jack slowly lowered back down to the ground, his hair still wavering and crackling with electrical energy, slowly he placed his hands on Vallaran's large shoulders, he was slightly smaller than the females in the crowd around him as were all the males in the group, "From this moment you, your people and all Ghost Slitherers are under the protection of Clan Mason, never again will you be cast out or treated with distain or dishonor, you will be given a place of welcome among our kind and not only that but we will restore your people's place of honor among your own kind, we will make them see your worth and your value, never again will a child Ghost Slitherer be forced to slither the world alone and afraid, never again will they be cold and hungry, together we will show them who you are, blessed children of the Great Tree, just like any Serpentinus, from this moment you are protected," Jack said, his voice booming across the area and reaching the ears of every single one of them.
The outpouring of emotion was wonderful to see and instantly the group found themselves surrounded by very enthusiastic Serpentinus who were hugging them and accepting handshakes, even Zed was getting petted and stroked and he was like a giant housecat, purring away happily, nuzzling against them.
Suddenly Jack noticed a lot of little heads popping up from around the little circular hut and curious little tongues began flickering away, he couldn't help but smile as slowly and cautiously little children began to emerge from their hiding places to see their strange alien visitors.
This was the first time any of them had seen Serpentinus children and they were the cutest little things in the world, all dressed in their little peasant style gear, lots of hand woven flax and cotton shits and skirts, even the males wor skirts but given that they didn't have legs it made sense.
Jack noticed that there were some mixed versions of the genus among them, he noticed one little female clutching a little hand stitched dolly that was a very crude little Serpentinus to her chest, she looked like she was a mixture of a type of Viper and possibly a Python.
She slithered up to Jack and looked up at him and he smiled at her, suddenly he was glad they hadn't brought any Battle Angels with them, the girls among their number were notorious when it came to gushing over little ones of any species, it was often hard to pry a newborn from the cooing and squealing girls to hand them to their birth mother in the hospital hive and with the cuteness of these little Serpentinus with their huge eyes and happy, innocent smiles and flickering little tongues would have those Xenos gushing.
"Hello there, little one," Jack said softly as he crouched down to look at the little girl and her dolly.
"Hello, my name is Silica and this is Saba, you're a boy, aren't you?" the little girl said, looking up at him, and Jack nodded.
"Yup, my Name is Jack Mason, but you two can call me Jack," he said.
"My mummies tell me it's the duty of all the girls to protect our boys but our boys are strong and they protect us too, do your girls protect you too?" she asked, making Jack chuckle softly.
"Oh, yes, you should meet my wife, she's the strongest girl you'd ever meet, she's big and powerful and there are few foolish enough to mess with her loved ones, her wrath is the stuff of legends, but to those she loves and cares for you could never meet a more loving or gentle female, she would protect any person here with her dying breath," he said.
Silica nodded, obviously understanding, "My mummies are really strong, they protect my daddy, keep him safe and my little brother too," she said with such passion in her voice that Jack couldn't help but smile.
"Don't you worry, little one, the Guardian Core is really strong and we will protect both your mummies and your daddy, not to mention you and your brother as well," he said, making her smile.
"My Jack, why do people hate us, what did we do wrong?" she asked so innocently and sweetly that it actually tugged at his heart strings.
"People are often scared of what they don't understand, i was lucky when my powers awoke, I was among people who understood what I was, if I had been among my own kind undoubtably they would have been scared by me as well, it was one of the reasons that myself and my wife Tik eleth formed Clan Mason, so that people like me would have a safe place to turn, to understand who we are and what we are capable of, to harness it and to become what we are meant to be," he said, and the little girl smiled.
"That sounds like a beautiful thing, I saw the pretty place in the dream you sent me, can I go there? Can I see it for real?" she asked, and Jack smiled and nodded.
"Yes, of course you can, and if you want to and your mummies and daddy allow it we can even teach you how to become a Seeker like me, would you like to see what Seekers can do?" he asked, and she nodded curiously.
"Now I myself am what we call a Soul Knight, see Analise over there, she's the pretty lady with blonde hair who has the big tiger," Jack said, pointing, she nodded, looking at Analise who was showing the Serpentinus how to properly pet Zed and tickle under his chin.
"She's what we call a Tamer, now, Soul Knights can speak to the dead, we see them as if they were as alive as you or I, Tamers on the other hand communicate with nature, they feel the power and beauty of mother nature and can control it," he said, and she looked amazed.
That's when Jack began his Soul Summoning, he began to chant softly and focused his power, being the most powerful Dream Warrior in generations had its benefits, smoke began to rise from all around him, creating a grey tornado around him until it exploded outwards, creating a wash that flowed over the entire village, startling the other Ghost Slitherers who all turned to look at him as he levitated in place, holding his arms outwards.
"Souls of the honored beloved passed, hear my call, I offer the chance to meet your brethren and your beloved ones, enter through my power and come," Jack said loudly, and almost instant the smoke took form and became see-through Serpentinus, much to the surprise and instant joy of the Ghost Slitherers.
There were cries of pure emotion from all around, as lost fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters were reunited with their left behind ones, to Jack's pure delight he saw the conversations sparking up, it was a beautiful sight.
When Jack shut down the Soul Summoning he found himself utterly surrounded by Ghost Slitherers all hoping to learn how he did that, "This is just one of the things we can offer you, any Soul Knight among us can do this, just like any Tamer among us can do this..." he said, turning and giving Analise a knowing nod as he let his voice trail off.
Analise smiled and began her own kind of summoning, though this one wasn't to the souls of the dead but instead to something very much alive, a pulse of power rippled out of her outstretched hands and no sooner had it touched the ground than the flowers all around her began to bloom, creating an explosion of color to ripple outwards across the village as the plants responded to her call.
There were cries first of alarm and then of wonder and then of pure joy, "C-C-Can you teach us this?" some asked, and there were nods of agreement all around them.
"That and so much more, there is a place on our homeworld that if you search the memories from us that you will see, it's called the Temple of the Seekers, look and see it for yourselves, see what it is we do and teach there, we can show you how to do the most wonderful and beautiful things," Jack said.
Each of them searched the memories and there was a flurry of curious tongues as if they were actually trying to reach out and smell this place filled with wonders across the ocean of stars, "We want this, Grand Patriarch, we want this wonderful thing you offer us, please, take our packs with you, please," Vallaran said, and Jack nodded.
"You can all come with us, but pack light when you come to us, we will give you all you will need," he said, and Vallaran immediately started yelling instructions to his people and they slithered off in all directions to start packing.
Jack had never seen such determination in his life, they packed their meager belongings and pretty soon the entire group was ready to go, so with Jack and Analise at the lead then the group and Rita and Mav at the rear the entire group left their little village.
As they slithered up through the passages they spotted the two dead Scalathor Nightmare Assassins and Jack saw Vallaran looking through his memories until he saw the battle, "They were coming to kill us," Vallaran said, and Jack nodded.
"When it comes to their kind we prefer to capture and free them from the power holding them but they gave us no choice," Jack said, and Vallaran nodded, seeing both Jack's memories and the way he had treated the body after her death.
"You pay respect to a fallen enemy, this is the sign of an honorable being," he said, and Jack nodded.
"Thank you, Vallaran," Jack said, and with that the group headed outside.
"Seeker one one to the Dreamer, come in Dreamer," Jack said into the comms.
"Good to hear your voice, my love, how did it go with the Ghost Slitherers and the Nightmare Assassins?" Tik asked.
"Two Nightmare Assassins accounted for and dealt with, I'm going to need you to send down some landers to pick up about two hundred passengers, over," Jack replied.
The surprise in Tik's voice was evident, "Over two hundred new Dream Warriors!?" she exclaimed.
"I think they prefer the name Ghost Slitherers but yes, they wish to come with us to be trained at the temple, over," he said.
"This is wonderful news, my love, I'll have Sela eleth get her Saviors to bring down some shuttles and pick them up, will you be returning as well, my love? Over," Tik asked.
"Not yet, we're heading back to the capital, don't want to leave until we're sure its secure, on that front any word from Seeker two one or Seeker One two? Over," Jack asked.
"No, nothing from either our beloved cub or Seeker one two yet, we have been scanning the area but the Nightmare Assassins are as good at hiding themselves as you are during my time of the month, over," Tik said, making Jack chuckle but truly Yautja PMS was no laughing matter.
"Well, once the Ghost Slitherers are safely aboard the shuttles we will head back to the capital and reinforce them, hopefully those other two Nightmare Assassins don't reach them before we do, Seeker one one over and out," Jack said.
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Liam felt a tongue flickering near his ear for the fifth time in an hour, "Leba, it's really hard to focus with you tasting my ear," he said without opening his eyes, though honestly he didn't need to open them as thanks to his Soul Sense he could see them just fine, though it was like looking at them through shadows and their bodies glowed like they were made of blue shimmering smoke.
Plus it wasn't just what his eyes could see, Soul Sense allowed him to see everything around him like he was standing outside his own body looking at it, that's how he knew it was Leba hovering over him taking notes, he watched her hood flaring curiously, he even saw the blood pulsing to the muscles that controlled her hood.
It sent sparkles of light along her body as her life giving blood moved through her, he could also see the three members of the royal pack that were with her observing him, "S-Sorry, my beautiful husband, but I cannot resist watching you, this is utterly fascinating and how did you know it was me? Veme was studying you earlier," she replied.
So Liam decided to scare the crap out of her, "Because I can see you," his voice said from behind her head and she snapped around, her hood fully flaring in alarm, when she turned back his eyes were open and as one her and the three members of the royal pack gasped in amazement.
"His eyes are like looking at miniature galaxies!" one of them who Liam had learned was called Sama and was actually Leba's twin sister exclaimed.
"See? What did I tell you, sister? Gaze upon the beauty that my pack has bagged for ourselves and feel the envy, this is our beauty and no one else's, I get to gaze into these exquisite eyes whenever I want now, not to mention the rest of the beauty he now hides," Leba said, first looking at her sister before shooting Liam a playful look which caused him to flush bright red.
"By the Great Tree, they change color!? You never said their skin changes color like this!" Berra, a leaf color Asp genus said, darting her head forwards and examining Liam from very close up, nearly making him recoil.
"Yes, we got, errr, a glimpse of that beauty you spoke of when Ciri and Grand Patriarch Jack shocked you all out of bed this morning, it's safe to say I'm rather jealous of the husband your pack have secured for yourselves," Sama said, smiling at her sister who smiled proudly at Liam who chuckled softly to himself, he definitely was not used to being put on a pedestal, let alone one so grand.
"So what are you doing, Seeker Liam?" Sama asked, moving her head around him, looking at him from different angles.
"I'm meditating, or at least trying to at the very least, I'm also using my Soul Sight to try and give me an early warning on anyone approaching us," Liam replied.
"Soul Sight? What is that?" Sama asked curiously.
"Our husband is a Ghost Slitherer, remember? He can do amazing things," Veme said proudly.
"Dream Warrior, but I guess it's essentially the same thing, we have a variety of abilities based on what caste of Dream Warrior we belong to, I'm a Soul Knight so my abilities are based primarily in the spirit realm, I can see the dead, call them to me for aid or to boost my strength, or even to hide me from sight among a great many other things," Liam said.
"It's true, he literally vanished from sight last night, scared the scales off us when he just popped up again behind us," Celia said from where she was sat at Ciri's side.
"What other types of Dream Warriors are there?" Ciri asked curiously.
"Two that we know of, there are the Tamers which are lead by Jack's son Ryan, who you met already, their power comes from their connection to nature, they can call on it, bend it and twist it to their needs, anything from summoning a bunch of local predators to fight for them, to using plants to shield friends, or slow down and restrain enemies, that's kinda why Analise walks around with that huge pet fire tiger of hers, she's got a whole pack of them back home and to her friends and loved ones it's like having a pack of giant kittens wandering about the temple, to her enemies or the Clan's enemies there is no scarier sight than those tigers charging into battle dressed in their armor, imagine a whole lot of angry Zed's charging right at you wearing full armor," Liam said, and he could see both Leba and Sama looking at one another obviously impressed at the thought.
"The final caste are the Seekers of Balance, they are kinda a blend of the two, unable to use the higher their abilities of either group but their speciality is finding others like us, they are tuned to the energies our kind give off, but ironically that also makes them pretty rare, we only have a small number of them in our ranks currently, but fortunately our Grand Patriarch is also the most powerful Dream Warrior to have existed in many generations, he is the chosen one of our Lady Paya, personally blessed to defend us and all, they call him the God Slayer," Liam said, standing up and stretching himself, watching as the girls all subconsciously flicked their tongues at him.
"God Slayer?" Leba asked.
"He defeated the dark God Loki right at the beginning of the formation of our Clan, pulled him out of an innocent Dream Warrior called h'chak, a Yautja female, a kind and gentle member of the Yautja which kinda sounds like a double negative given how aggressive they tend to be, but what that poor girl suffered is beyond measure, but the way our Grand Matriarch tells it, it would have been too easy for him to just kill her, he wanted to understand her and to find out why she had gone bad and what was driving her to do the horrible things she did, what he found chills the blood of every Dream Warrior that hears the tale and it is one of the very first things that Seekers are taught, what we are is determined by who we are, being a Dream Warrior has its risks and is a bit of a double edged sword, it leaves us vulnerable to influence and in the case of h'chak and others possession by dark forces, she was a prisoner in her own mind, forced to watch as Loki joy rode around in her body, using her powers to do as he pleased," he said.
"T-T-That's awful!" Ciri said, utterly fascinated by the conversation now, it seemed that Ghost Slitherers and by extension Dream Warriors were a fascination of hers.
Liam nodded, "It's why the Seeker temple exists, to train us not only how to use our abilities but also how to discipline our minds and to protect ourselves against these influences, to use our powers for good, to hear the call of the good deities like Lady of the Eternal Hunt Paya and your Great Tree, in fact, I'm convinced that's how the Great Tree was able to reach out to our Grand Patriarch in the first place," Liam said.
"Well I for one am incredibly glad that he did, I have never been more thankful to our Great Tree than I am now, the Great Tree completed my pack in the most wonderful and beautiful way, by leading a beautiful, proud and strong mammal male to our door and into our loving coils, he rescued our beloved pack sister then showed us the truth of beauty and love," Leba said, slithering up to Liam and wrapping her coils around him before embracing him and bumping her snout against his nose, he knew from their memories that this was a form of kiss to them.
Sev, Veme and Celia instantly slithered over and joined in the wrap and Liam found himself wrapped into four sets of powerful rippling coils as each of them leaned in and each gave him a tickling kiss which he happily returned.
Suddenly Liam began to sense something, it was like a black oily smoke drifting through his senses, "Girls, let me go!" he said, his voice suddenly tense and immediately Celia was concerned.
"We didn't wrap you too tightly did we? We know you don't like being restrained," she said softly.
"No, it's not that, there's something coming!" Liam exclaimed, and Celia's eyes went wide with understanding and the four girls unwrapped him and looked at him for instruction.
Liam quickly deployed his helmet, "Secure the royal pack! And mine as well," Liam shouted to the royal guards who instantly reacted, hustling the now obviously frightened regent and her pack along with Celia and hers into the corner of the room and surrounded them.
The royal guards put a wall of meat and scales between the vipers and whatever threat was coming, with Liam at its head, he was the tip of the spear, he didn't know how in the name of hell the Nightmare Assassins had managed to slip past the other Seekers or the Hunters but they had.
"Seeker one two to all nearby Seeker call signs, the enemy is inside the walls and approaching the saferoom," Liam said into the comms.
"Roger that, we're on our way!" Ryan's voice yelled back.
They'd chosen this room as it was the most secure as it had no windows, just one way in and one way out, as Liam drew his swords and powered up his plasma casters he turned to face that one entrance as did every single one of the weapons of the guards, whatever was coming it was almost here and he was ready to face, he would defend those he loved with his final breath if need be, but come hell or high water it was not getting to his girls, not while he still drew breath, he would fight for his love, no matter what.