THE 25th CENTURY RAPTORESS
Azhratha Version
"Akrath..." Natzeth started. The Vedetha Davir Sria was almost having his belly touching the ground, and backed away, a grin on his face. She smiled back and got ready to just if he were to leap up. Akrath leapt. Squealing in a playful fright, Natzeth rolled to a side, but couldn't get away QUITE on time. His body hit her back, and they slowly began to roll down the low slope. "AKRATH!!" she laughed, and tried to get him off her juvenile body. "Nononono..." Akrath began to tickle her even as they were rolling. She squealed.
From the top of the hill, Haenthi looked down at them. Amnoth was grinning. "We leave when?" Haenthi sighed, looking at the two dragonlets, Natzeth about 6 and Akrath 9. They might not have been the same color, but they were in love at this age already...
"Tomorrow or the day after. I need permission to leave first. But it doesn't look like they will be stopping us." Amnoth said. "More knowledge about paralell universes and dimensions and other planets will be good for Udunshraa's library.
"Honey, what about Akrath?" Heanthi asked. "Hm, what?" he turned his head to her. "Now, don't say you haven't noticed Nat and Akrath's love to each other..." she tapped her claws on the ground. Amnoth flinched. "No, I fear not..." Haenthi just shook her head.
"SRIATHA VEDETHA AKRATHA IDITHA AVI'NETASHAA TEL'LEVRATHA... come here NOW!!" Netasha stepped out from the trees. "Huh, where did he go?"
Haenthi reluctantly pointed downhill, were the two dragonlets were pouncing on each other. Netasha shook her green head and galloped down the slope, to her son. Oh well, he prolly had forgotten something or so.
When she vanished with him, and Nat’ came running back up, breathless but smiling, Haenthi said: "Natze, we are leaving tomorrow or the day after. You better say bye to Akrath, hm, honey?" Nat' listened up. "WHAT?" she asked, still panting. "We are leaving Avishraa tomorrow or so." Haenthi stroked her shoulder. "But... but... Akrath..." Nat’ made a face and pointed into the forest.
"Hon, look..." Amnoth began. "You know we stayed here longer than we could. I have to get back to work. That means species, places..." "...galaxies, planets and sun." Natzeth finished, sighing. "So? Can't you leave me here?"
Haenthi bit her lip. Then she said it. "Natze, a group is splitting from the Davir Kaea. They seem to be a little insane, but strangely powerful." "So?" Natzeth spluttered. "They will be suppressed, just like the Hzataalar Sria." "Point is, they feed on chaos, and you know chaos is stronger." "So?" Natzeth didn't care. "I want to stay with Akrath."
The next day, they left. Akrath and Natzeth were both weeping, but Akrath seemed to have been told that it was necessary. 'Stupid adults...' Natzeth thought, as the Dimensional Gate closed behind them and left them in a lush, green forest on another world. 'Great, I wish Akrath were here, without him, these things lack a meaning.'
In her sleep, the azure dragoness murmured, turning on her side, trying to make the memories go away…
Chapter 2
Natzeth and her parents tumbled out of a too-high rift that tore open upon a strange land. They sky was a radiant blue, patched with black, as the pale form of a sun tried to penetrate the clouds. "Whoah..." Amnoth stuttered, and stared upon the land. A lush forest lay before them. Haenthi looked up from behind them, gazing in awe. "Wow..." she stammered. Natzeth sat down, and only looked, almost shocked by it's beauty.
And they would have sat there for further hours, if not a sudden screech of anger, followed by another, almost more evil in tone. They swirled around almost in unison. Brown, bipedal creatures stood there, face like an octopus, and dangerously clawed. They spread their tentacles and hissed again, menacingly, then bounded forward, in graceful leaps. The three dragons fled, but made sure NOT to scatter as the two creatures hunted them.
'WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE????' Natzeth asked, mentally, panicked. 'YOU THINK I KNOW???' Amnoth answered. They entered the forest, immediately were bathed in blue-green light and plays of black as the palms and unidentifiable trees swayed in the breeze. From where the voice came, they never found out. 'These are PARAMITES, and if you can split the two, they will cease to attack.' a voice advised.
When they had followed the advice of the strangely un-draconian voice, and the 'Paramites' had fled, all three of them collapsed, exhausted. "Jikes..." Haenthi breathed. A head peaked out of the bushes, huge, red, orange and with black eyes. Amnoth screamed. The face screamed back. As the entire creature found it's courage, and showed itself, they could see it was a mere human-sized critter. With a mask of distorted dimensions. "Sheesh... calm yourselves." the critter said. After they did, he added: "I am a Mudokon... what strange creatures are you, and what do you seek in Paramonia?" Natzeth thought quickly: "Mudokon? Critter, we are dragons. We come from Avishraa and seek info about alien creatures. These... eh... Paramites? They seem intriguing."
"They are holy." the Mudokon said. "My name, for your info is BigFace." "BigFace, eh?" Amnoth giggled. The Mudokon didn't react. He was staring at Natzeth. "Oh my word..." he would have been pale if there were not his mask. "What?" Natzeth backed away a little, shivering. BigFace stared intently. Natzeth gazed over to her parents, questioningly. They shrugged. "Your future... does not look very pleasant, my friend..." BigFace finally managed to say. "EXCUSE ME???" Natzeth almost laughed. "It is true..." BigFace began. "Loss of five close friends, wars and terror..." he stared. "...you have a love?" Natzeth nodded. "Okay..." BigFace stopped dead. "Well, you will meet another, and he has bad news."
"Are there any GOOD news?" she asked. "Oh, yes..." BigFace said. "Two children." Natzeth smiled. "Hey, cool. I thought I'd never return to Avishraa." "Not Avishraan." "WHAT?" BigFace became silent. "Tell me, Mudokon." "No."
Natzeth shook her head, disbelieving, and turned to her parents. "What is he TALKING about? When we get back to Avishraa, I will take Akrath for a mate... he has agreed already, I heard. So, why does BigFace here say I will have two children that are not Avishraan?" she paused. "I will certainly not take an otherworldly dragon for a mate." she hissed. "Not you." BigFace whispered.
"WHA...???" Natzeth got the shivers. "You are insane, creature of this... planet."
"Oddworld." BigFace said, nodding. "Ha ha, in ODD we trust..." Natzeth spat. BigFace shook his head. "We believe in SHRYKULL... and maybe he can protect you of your fate, ... Davir Sria." "How do you...?" "Shrykull's powers are many." BigFace bowed. Natzeth sighed. "What do I have to do, to be protected by this... eh..." "Shrykull." BigFace ended. "A rune, on your forehead." Shrugging, Natzeth stepped towards BigFace. "Go ahead."
BigFace raised his three-fingered (or were there four? hard to tell...) hands and there was a flash of light, which jumped over to Natzeth. She screamed in fright, but nothing had happened, actually. "You now bear the rune of Shrykull. It will enhance your magic. And then... with a LOT of luck, you have a chance of escaping your fate." BigFace muttered.
A puddle of water, wherein the sun reflected itself, was the best mirror around, and Nat' bent low to gaze into the water. Upon her crest was a black mark, circular, spawning four bent 'flames'. "May Shrykull protect you." he said. "And your family as well... and believe me, one day you will return..."
Her mind wormed out of the dream. Bothersome. Her parents both vanished after that – Haenthi ripped to shreds by a carelessly done portal … her father stuck in another dimension, or drifting through a dimensional rift. She was alone. Now. Before. And in future.
Chapter 3
She landed on the ground of a deserted seeming planet. "Great." she muttered. "Nothing but canyons and sand... and sand and sand." She gazed upon the light-brown play of tints. "Drat." she mumbled. "Oh well... I will have to seek shelter, I might aswell start to move." She began to walk toward the largest canyon around. And before she reached it, the ground gave way beneath her feet, and she tumbled head first into a tunnel. A voice swore. "Got too close to the top aga..." it stopped dead. "Oh my, what are you?"
She gazed up, to see a dragon, slender, snakelike, with the wings able to transform to another pair of arms. "I am a Davir Sria... you?" she asked back. "Aeroe. My name is Tianjarin, but you can call me Ior." the Aeroe smiled, warmly.
"Natzeth. Pleased to meet you, Ior." The dragon was staring at her. "Ehm.. could you quit it?" she asked. "EH? What?" the Aeroe seemed confused. "Oh, yes, sorry."
He helped her up and motioned her to follow. She was amazed - so many carvings in the walls!! Beautiful!!
"I have never seen you here, friendly dragon." he inquired. "Natzeth, please." Nat' muttered. "Natzeth... where do you come from?" Tianjarin questioned. "Avishraa." she answered. "This is Aeros. You are a traveller?" he asked. "Yep." she grinned. "That is interesting." Ior said.
They broke out of the tunnel, and the view gave way to a city carved into the wall of the canyon, below of which was a river of lava. "Jikes..." Nat' gazed down. "Hanging City." Ior smiled. "Come, fly over with me." Nat nodded, and Ior flicked his wings out, and launched his graceful body into the air, spiralling stunt-like to the city. The dragons were GLIDERS. Amazing... "Hey, come over!!" Tianjarin's voice was veeeeeeery faint. "Okay, HERE I COME!" she cried back and flapped her wings, gaining altitude. She could see Ior now. His face had a look of surprise.
As she landed he asked: "You can fly?" "Sure. All dragons I know can fly..." she said. "You can't? Don't worry, it has it's problems. Directionally you get confused quickly..."
Ior nodded.
That night, after getting a room for herself, she slept in the Hanging city. It was warm and cosy, and the air was humid from a waterfall not too far away, which sadly soon dwindled and vanished, even before it could reach the lava below. This was a desert planet.
"Pssst." a voice woke her. "Hm? What?" she opened her eyes lazily. Her eyes caught hold of a vague silhouette to the purple skies. "IOR! What are you DOING here? You should be on your way to Tercialacalis!" she hissed, silently. He shook his head. "Was there." he calmed. "ALREADY?" she was amazed. She thought: 'Oh well.' He nodded again, and motioned her to follow.
"I made a startling discovery..." he whispered, as they were on the other side, in the system of tunnels. "Something's on this planet... and it ain't Aeroan." Something sent a cold shiver down her spine. "N... not Aeroan?" "Sericals. Seriacals. Sericalids. Something like that..." Ior sneaked along the cave. "And... why are you taking ME there?" Natzeth eyed the tunnel, but steadily followed. "You are not of this world either... you might be able to fight them..." She stopped. "WHAT??" "Calm yerself. I know it ain't easy, but you MUST try..." Ior pleaded.
They moved on. Somehow, the tunnel was only getting darker. "Ior..." she muttered. "I am not a hero." Then there was no more light. A sudden flare of a sign... the ones on Ior's wings. A trap, or some other danger. "IOR!!" she cried. The signs calmed down again. "I'm... I'm okay..." he shook himself. "Just hit something..." She sighed in relief. "Good." she said. They moved further.
The tunnel was getting lighter now, and not long, it opened to a lush forest, and the humidity of the air struck them heavily. "JIKES..." Nat breathed. "This is an artifical forest, Nat’." Ior said, pointing out a few signs. "Ehm,..." Nat' eyed him. "Do me a favour and call me either Natzeth or Natze, but NOT Nat’, okay?" "Why?" Tianjarin gazed at her. "Nat is a name only those closest to me are allowed to say... mates. You know?"
"Strange culture, but okay, Natze." Ior's eyes were sparkling. They entered the forest, carefully. Something about Ior bugged Nat'. Something... that she couldn't straighten out. "You are staring at me, Nat." Ior grinned. "Cut it out, okay?" "Yeah, sure..." she said, and shook out of the thought.
Ior sniffed at the ground. "Hm... this is ... their forest." he said. She nodded. "I figured as much."
She sat down, and gazed about, clueless to the next move. "Ior?" "Yes?" "You know of these... Sericalids. Why?" "Was here before." She nodded, "okay." Ior lowered his reptilian head. "WELL... actually..." he began. "I am one." She leapt back. "But you are Aeroe?" "Small problem," Ior hissed, menacingly. "Now... now, Tianjarin, snap out of it..." Natzeth stepped back. Somehow she hit a barrier. "Wha...?"
Ior snickered. 'Okay, bye world...' Natzeth muttered, in her mind, and closed her eyes. "No one said I would KILL you, Nat’..." Ior hissed. She opened one eye and looked at him with it. "Not?" "No." Ior grinned. He grabbed her by the collar and heaved her up. "Not DEATH." She whimpered. With an almost reluctant move, he threw her into the nearest tree.
She landed in the tree, scraping her back almost open, and whimpered. She wanted to die, nothing more than that... torture was NOT better... "What are you?" she whispered, out of breath, eyes closed. "That is not of importance, Natzeth." the dragon-silhouette hissed. "Why do you hunt me?" she whimpered. Her mind had puzzled together: 'He must be either possessed, or REALLY one of the Sericalids "WHY?!" the voice of the dragon laughed. "You have broken the law, Natzeth... and I am here to punish you for that." "What did I do?" she was almost too soft to hear, her voice. "You KNOW..." he hissed, and approached her.
'AMNOTH!' she cried mentally. No... Amnoth was not here. He had vanished, just before... 'AMNOTH!!!' she screamed. The dragon snickered. "Sriatha Azhratha Amnotha... and whatever the rest of his SILLY name is, is NOT here... and therefore CANNOT help you!!" Natzeth squashed into the corner. "Leave me.. please..." Natzeth whispered, as the evil creature continued to approach...
She woke up, bathed in sweat. ‘Relieving that, not again…’ she thought and nearly gagged in her Udunshraan cave. She rolled on her side and forced herself to fall asleep again…
Chapter 4
She opened her eyes. Had something happened? She heaved up, finding herself shivering in fear. Right now, she knew not why. She just felt terribly, terribly weak. Wincing as she got up, she gazed around. A forest? On Aeros? How had she got here? Her mind was swept clear. Forcing herself not to ask questions, she began to walk the way back, collapsing in a helpless heap now and then when her legs gave way...
When she finally re-reached Hanging City, she did not have the energy to fly over the canyon. The next second, as she leapt, she felt her wings fail her and she fell. Strangely, none of this had meaning as she fell... and fell... and fell... Suddenly a shriek and a thump. What? Oh. She had thumped onto the back of a large... whatever they were called. Delayed, the pain was signalled to her and she screamed as she felt it echoe through her body. The Cephalonathus turned it's enormous head and spotted her. It cawed, questioningly, but the next moment, flew high, much higher than she ever had and turned...
Before she fell again, she could see there were about a dozen of these creatures, circling around a rock in the lava stream at the bottom of the gorge. And then, her claws lost grip. This time, though, she managed to spread her wings in time and glided to the city, which was so close, it was a miracle.
The Cephalonathus ignored her and joined his friends. She landed, exhausted, on the barren ground of the rock city. Then she fainted.
She awoke again, an Aeroe looking down at her, she was feeling strangely warm. A second look at her surroundings showed she lay in a bed. Immediately, she heaved up.
"Shhh." a voice hissed, she noticed it actually came from the Aeroe. "Are you okay?" ... "I... I think so..." she muttered and her voice was hoarse, raspy. What had happened? "I am Grotos... what happened? You landed here and just screamed. It took you hours to calm down. I had to drag you here. What is wrong?"
"I... I wish I knew..." Natzeth croaked. "I really do..." She rubbed her throat, as if to feel whether it was really because she had screamed, or if it was maybe ripped to shreds, as it felt like burning fire.
Grotos inclined his head politely. "Rest now. I hear you wanted to leave yesterday. Do you want me to bring you to a portal once you are feeling better?" Grotos inquired.
"That would be great, yes, thank you." Natzeth stared blankly. Then, her vision blurred and all went black. In this darkness, it took her a while to realise she had once more fallen asleep.
She stood on the barren ground of the center of the city and stared blankly as Grotos showed her the way to the gate. She wanted to know what had happened. Here and now. The gate shimmered, an artifact to the Aeroes. "Where does this lead to?" she asked. "It changes the end all the time, we don't know." Grotos shrugged. She just nodded. Her head was heavy, she had immediately stood up after even the first ray of light hit the window and now she wished she hadn't. She approached the portal, neither eager to use it nor eager to stay here. Reluctanly, she waved. And entered it.
As she did, all her thoughts cleared. She could see all again and she opened her mouth to scream but then she was in the rip,... and her scream drowned, her vision gone, her soul floating though time space, she realized that had been it. Her soul raged in anger. 'So, you even dared?' she managed to think, and then sobbed, mentally, before the rip spewed her out.
Her surroundings were strangely... distorted. Actually, she was crying, she noticed. "CURSE YOU!" she screamed... wanted to scream. It was as though her voice was still raspy, no sound came out. Just a small hiss... she wiped her eyes, snorted, and looked up. She gasped. The place was covered with ferns, huge, and cycads of old. Where was she? As she gazed further, her right eye caught the sparkle of something big... she turned her head, and saw a huge dome... made entirely out of crystal. "Wow." she said, whispering. She got up, as she had fallen onto her knees while landing, and stared at it for a moment, before walking towards it.
She reached it's perimeter, and saw the inside was carved... as a matter of fact, it was a city. Carefully, she peeked inside. Within were creatures resembling dragons - yet without wings.
The great thing sparkled. A rustling by her side made her swirl. There was another wingless... it stared at her. Now only did she notice it was only about 80cm long... she bent her neck so she could come up to it, not to far from her as it was on a branch. The tiny creature just stared back, unafraid.
"Es-na as Kinalojo? Es-na as kazyeeqen? Es-na as nateh?" it inquired. "Excuse me?" Natzeth frowned at the strange words. "Oh, you only speak english..." it sighed. "Well, okay. You're a dragon then." "What did you ask before?" she asked back. "Nothing. Come, you are welcome to enter... where do you come from?..." the creature stopped dead. "Oh, sorry. Come, follow. My name is Siarra. You?"
"Sriatha Azhratha Natzetha Azhratha avi'haenthia tel'Amnoth." she replied. "Any short one?" the little one mocked. "Yes, of course..." she frowned. "Natzeth." The Scyphonyx nodded.
Chapter 5
"Siarra?" Natzeth asked. "Yes?" the tiny creature came into what was now Natzeth's cave. "Can I thank you again for all of this? I think I need to move on now..." she commented, and checked her surrounding again. Siarra smiled. "Na es as i kazyeeqen." it commented. "Thank you." Natzeth replied, who had learned that this meant: 'You are a good dragon.'
Nevertheless, she stayed a few more weeks and built up a strong and solid mindlink to Siarra, who she found too interesting to leave fully. Siarra was seeing this as a gift of gods, and it took a while to convince her this had nothing to do with big sorcery.
For the last time, Natzeth woke up. She forced herself to. The Aeroan world had been a shocking memory enough, She refused to let her mind drag her through the mindless torture it had been through when the Stycophysises had captured Siarra.
‘The negative aspects of mindlinks.’ She thought, miserable, and wept.