THE 25th CENTURY RAPTORESS
Darkness
Iziijenja muttered a low note as something awoke her. At this point, she didn't know what, just this something had stopped her from sleeping. Again she muttered and rolled to her other side on her bed, over her stomach as to avoid another raptorian backache.
She halted instantaneously and her eyes snapped open to the sounds. Sounds it had been? She blinked at the impenetrable darkness before her eyes as they tried to adjust. Gods, no... VOICES.
~Mom...~ she telepathically asked the other Deinonychus. There was no response and she was about to repeat it in a more irritated and afraid tone when she remembered that psi would not wake someone up as it was integrated into dreams. She sighed, softly, to herself, took a big breath, also to calm her racing heart, and said: ~Mom, this is a dream. Wake up. There are Stycoes in the Real World and your daughter the tkanala needs you, mmmkay?~
Her mother slowly awoke, but with so little noises it took Iziijenja a while to even notice she was awake, by the sheer soft movements of her mom. But her outline was there. And her vision was adjusting faster than had hers.
Her mother sared at her a moment. No, not staring at her, staring through her, definately, trying to suck up words and phrases from what was going on in the main cavern. It was very hard to hear from up here. And there was no way to escape except the stairs down, which seemed to be blocked right now.
~We've to hide.~ her mother finally concluded and slid to her feet, swiftly and soundlessly. ~Get over here, IzI.~
Wordlessly the young Deinonychus followed, thinking to herself that the hiding point had been clear to her... she grumbled inwardly. Her mother was fumbling with something Iziijenja still couldn't make out, some metal hood from the sounds of it, but what were sounds to a creature not born to them?
"... highest place ..." " ... think ... so stupid?"
IzI froze at the sound of the voices that almost casually came closer. Again she forced her fear down.
A soft clank.
The young raptoress snapped her snout over to her mother and there was a gaping hole of darkness, a shimmering square of dim silver below it. Of course! She'd been told there was the emergency exit, but not even all Deinodons of Crystal Peak knew that. It seemed her mother knew. Thank gods.
The voices had gone silent right after the clank. Neither of the raptors had moved, in fear of more noises confirming the suspicion of the Stycoes.
Laughter.
IzI cringed a bit.
Her mother nudged her foreward and she shook her snout, backing from the nudging. ~Mom, damnit, go first, I'm still in a condition to dodge them for a while.~
Her mother had symbolically opened her mouth to protest back, but then shut it again, narrowing her sapphire eyes and sliding into the large nothingness. It was meant to be able to allow 'mimids and Utahraptors to pass through, so it was large. She vanished in the nearly opaque darkness and Iziijenja hesitated. She watched a fire flicker bounce shadows against the rather smooth walls of the staircase. Coming closer.
Something wasn't allowing her to move and she cursed it.
~Are you alright, you're not following...!~ a desperate voice snapped her out of dreaded thoughts. Her mother sounded dearly concerned.
~I'm... yes, I'm fine. I'm coming.~ she assured, nearly stammering.
Reluctantly she set a foot into the blackness, head low. Then she padded into it and stared, trying to adjust her eyes to the new darkness. 'Seteh meti zetu queta atheon?' she asked herself.
"Damn, I knew I was right!" a voice hissed.
Without deciding to wait for her eyes to adjust she darted forward, banging her head mildly on the top of this construction once, realizing maybe letting your eyes adjust could be a bad idea too. She closed them as not to expect to see anything. Her claws hit a metal wall with a clank and a corner the next moment, she supressed a yelp and a wince, then changed direction.
She felt a sharp claw shred through the skin of her tailtip, flashing pain.
~IZI!~ her mother called, feeling her despair. ~JUST RUN!~
She was running, damnit. Whatever followed her was fastenough to match her species top speed. So it was either her species or some robot.
The next moment, two strong paws clamped shut over her tail tip, yanking her off her feet. A deep, gutteral snarl made her whimper as she tried to yank her tailtip back out of the grasp, she kicked out at the snout of the mildly silhouetted shape, but they were easily dodged. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!" she shrieked.
Pain flared up her cheek. For a long moment of silence, she was bewildered. Where had that come from? She stared at her captor. Shimmering red eyes stared back. The silhouette was indeed one of a Deinonychus. Again her foe growled. 'Gee, how original.' she thought, trying to cheer herself up as she brought a paw up to her cheeck and felt claw marks. He'd simple smacked her. That'd been one powerful smack, though...
"Wh... what do you want?" she stammered, nearly whimpering.
She yelped softly as he yanked her towards him, placed a foot on her belly and kept her pinned that way. His claws pulled out something from another something that her eyes couldn't make out, even on his - as far as she could tell - amber scales.
Something whipped through the air and she raised her arms reflexively to block what she thought was supposed to hit her. A cold sensation wrapped around her wrists and bound them to one another as her opponent snickered a note.
She tried to yank the chain out of the stycoan Deinonychus' grasp, whining a note. She felt her scales scrap against those of her other wrist as this movement only pulled the chain tighter. By some clever and incredibly swift move he'd made them interestingly effective.
~Iziijena?!~ her mother asked.
She did not answer. Could not. Stared up at the other Deinonychus, eyes spelling 'why?'... and his gaze cold and nearly paralyzing.
~IZI?!~ the voice repeated. No... no... her mother would try and save her now and get caught too...
Her throat felt blocked a bit and tears welled in her eyes.
"Stop whining." the other snarled, finally revealing his voice. It was different from the normal stycoan ones. Warm. Definately a crass contrast to his eyes. With a swift movement he clutched her upper arm and set her onto her feet. Then he swirled and dragged her back the way they'd come from.
Chapter Two
Selection
Brownish green scales towered before her and she cowered a bit as a final yank brought her into full view, out of the darkness. A huge creature, the Igunodon barely fit into this room height wise. He brought his massive head down to her and let his gaze study her scales. "Remind me to take you on hunts more often, Barteqaj." it said. It's voice was strangely unfitting to its booming size, more than double hers.
"Baratequaaj." the Deinonychus corrected, sighing.
"Or that." the Iguanodon snorted softly, placing his paw below her jaw and lifting it a bit so she would look at him. He stared into her eyes. "What's your name, prisoner?" he demanded.
IzI squeezed her eyes shut, whimpered and tried to raise her paws to remove the large and dangerously spiked paw from below her muzzle, an attempt that failed as Baratequaaj slammed his foot down on the chains and pinned them to the ground, forcing her down a bit in the move.
"Answer." the Iguanodon hissed.
"Iz.... Iziijena..." she stammered, softly.
"Iziwhatever." he repeated. He shot the other Deinonychus a glance, who grinned almost wickedly. "Does your kind always have these stupid names?"
"J'st call 'er IzI. And me ArA. I said so b'fore." he shrugged a bit.
ArA he was called? IzI stared into his direction for a moment, then was reminded by a comparatively soft nudge of the Iguanodon's paw to look back to the deep gold eyes of the same.
"Then again, Barateaj, remind rather not to have you accompany me." the Iguanodon sneered, not looking at him, still studying her face.
The Deinonychus laughed softly, a horrible sound in the ears of IzI, even if it wasn't directed at her or her feeble attempts. "Or continue not being able to say my name, Dontes." he shrugged.
Dontes? This was Dontes? Iziijena's eyes widened a bit. Then she had chances of a quick death? Thank gods.
There was a sudden flash of navy and Dontes let go of her snout. For a moment of confusion, she saw nothing. As she finally identified the fast shape to her her mother she opened her mouth to yell a warning.
Dontes was faster. A triumphant "Hah!" marked the way of a well aimed swipe with his huge paw. The navy flash thudded into a wall, squealing a note of pain, then fell to the ground, breathing heavily, clutching her side. A clear crimson slash marked her chest region.
IzI stared, mouth still open. That had been to fast. That was unfair... She felt the tears return and silently run down her snout as she let herself sit down, defeatedly hanging her snout.
Baratequaaj raised a scaled brow. "Weaklings." he grumbled, something only IzI heard.
She hated him. She hated him dearly. Most of all, she hated the fact he was right. "Uio huites na?" Iziijena stared at the former Deinodon. It was a former Deinodon, nothing else explained the name. He looked at her. And smirked. "Sa mjema huises."
Dontes gazed to the two conversing. "Care to chat in english? Or is it some private talk?" he snickered.
Iziijena blocked out the meaning of the words. She didn't care to hear such answers. Her gaze travelled over to Jenjejoa, bleeding, hardly moving. She'd never seen her mother so spiritless. Maybe she just wanted to die?
"Alright, onward." Dontes instructed and Baratequaaj pulled the captive after him again as they walked to the stairs, past the near-corpse of an empty eyed, soul shattered Jenjejoa, the sight driving tears to IzI's eyes once more... and then down them, all views to her mother blocked by rocks and cement and white paint.
The young Deinonychus closed her eyes and let it be. If these things were to happen, she didn't want to see them. Her muscles rippled a bit as her mind briefly rebelled to agreeing to these happenings, but she forced the thought away again. There really was no alternative. She sighed, and tasted a single tear. Meeting ground level jolted up her bones as she hadn't expected the end to be there through her closed eyes. She still didn't open them, let herself be dragged, roughly, towards wherever. After another minute of walking and feeling the cool air of the night envelope herself and her two captors, she nearly collided with what she knew to be amber scales.
"Gal, watch where you tread." ArA snapped. She lowered her snout a bit and averted her gaze at the same time. "Sorry." she whispered, a still fearful whimper.
She felt the chain rub over her scales, nearly hurting them as Baratequaaj fumbled with them. The next moment, the was done with and she was about to open her eyes again when a cool snake lay around her neck, briefly seeming intended to strangle her as the effect was nearly achieved, then fell limper, but remained around her neck. She snapped her eyes open.
The sight hurt her soul. All Deinodons that had not been left to die or had escaped were neatly rowed up here, from smallest to largest. Her front faced a neclace of Coelurosaurs, Compsognathus to Syntarsus. She gritted her teeth. Behind her had to be a Struthiomimus or likewise, judging from the make of the claws that hugged her tail.
Anger blocked out fear. This was unfair, very. She would gladly give her life if it meant to brake this chain. Break their plans. Their neat organisation. Their disrespecting of her faction. She felt a gaze on her snout and raised it from the smaller Deinodons, who were all silent, and met that of a sneering Baratequaaj. This wasn't racism, not at all. It was just as the traitor had said. Selection.
Only the strongest survived.
The others were prey.
One of the Compys managed to look back over his shoulder and saw Iziijena. His eyes went wide with fear as she looked down and he quickly resumed looking back to the front. Did she look that angry? Guilt overwhelmed her. She had never intended to scare the small one. She hopedhe would look back and understand. As this did not happen she nudged the critter before her. "Sst." she demanded.
The Coelurus looked back at her. "Hmm?"
"Please pass on to the..." she raised her snout and checked. "... Fourth dino to the front." She paused, trying to think of the message body. "Tell him I'm sorry, that gaze wasn't meant for him."
The Coelurus gave her that grin only a doomed one could, dripping with sarcasm almost, but sarcasm for or against what? He passed the message on. "HEY, no talking over there!" ArA'd finally snapped out of his stycoan thoughts and narrowed his eyes. All fell silent.
IzI sighed a bit. This wasn't working. She stared back at the traitor as he met her gaze, obviously realizing she was the culprit who'd started this. Their gaze didn't break for quite a while and she had to bite her tongue a bit as not to scream in some emotion spawned from anger and frustration. And a bit of envy, even if she would never admitt that.
"SEE HERE?" she finally bellowed. "There, THERE is a traitor of our group! He dares call himself Baratequaaj! He dares use the language of the native!" she snarled, loud enough for the entire chain to hear.
For a moment, everything fell silent.
Baratequaaj chewed air as a few eyes nervously scrolled his shape.
Silence. Nothing.
The next moment, a shot tore the air and the chain swayed a bit.
IzI shivered. 'Unfair, you're all so unfair.' she whimpered inwardly, too shocked to cry.
She tried to look over her shoulder, but as even half of the movement got her an angry growl of the Deinodon behind her she abandonned the plan, tears streaking her snout. And then she allowed herself to cry, finally. She sobbed, softly, to herself.
"There there... I was right, wasn't I?" the voice of ArA teased. "They're all weaklings." Iziijena looked up just as he placed his paw onto her shoulder and stared her down, smirking. She stared back with eyes of despair and hopelessness, barely able to make out his outlines through the veil of salty water.
She didn't hear any gun shots anymore. But that didn't mean there were none. Shocked, she realized she ceased caring. Dontes shifted his weight to infront of her. "Barteqaj?" he asked. The voice sounded far, far away. She wasn't sure if they were talking about her.
She sang. To herself, in her mind, a soothing tune that lulled her, slowly.
From far, far away she saw Dontes nodded and moved on. She watched him, calmly, as he wandered to the rest of the row. He may have killed the Compsognatid that had been so afraid of her. Or might have not.
Chapter Three
Silver Water
She woke up after a while of not knowing she had been asleep. Her body lay leaned against a wall, still chained up, but it was a more individual chaining this time. The soft movement of the ground below her seemed to signalise they were all moving. She blinked and finally managed to snap out of her self induced trance.
"And look who wakes." a voice muttered. She looked up to see a rather angry looking Struthiomimus, neck feathers bristled, glaring at her. "Feeling happy about that the killing started after your speech, eh? Feeling triumph? Satisfaction? EH?!"
She whimpered softly. "No..." she said.
"Then it not even had some positive effect on you?" the Struthio sneered. "Gee, then my best friend died for nothing?"
She found it better to shut up. And did, somewhat relieved the questions stopped coming after that, aswell.
Silence. Again.
She huddled up as much as the chains let her without pinching something and began to sing to herself in mind again. The ground moving a bit helped soothe her, even if the destination was probably that nice little continent Anacondas where no one ever returned from? Or what was that?
Maybe she had dozed off again, but she only returned to the real world fully as a warm paw placed itself on her shoulder. "Sst." a voice whispered. She moaned in protest, but that only got her a more defined grip to her shoulder. She opened one eye and saw Baratequaaj. "Wha...?" she asked.
"Quieten down already. Everyone else is asleep." he hissed lowly.
If she hadn't seen him sneer at her mother's attempts to save her, she'd have immediately been alert and willing to follow. Now she blinked, wondering what he was up to.
Just as swift as he’d been wrapping her up with some, he untied her.
Again she just managed to return a baffled blink. Finally she found grip on herself. “What the hell are you doing?” she hissed back, sure not to miss out to show her feeling of dislike towards him, mixed with a bit of confusion and irritation. She wasn’t used of people she’d officially declared as traitors coming back to her with anything but a knife in the paw.
“Shht.” He said again, more definedly, gripped her paws and pulled her to her feet, then guided her along the - probably - ship’s interior, through a few doors he all hastily locked behind him, as if time between patrolling shifts were too short to leave time to do it thoroughly.
Which wasn't too crazy an assumption.
She followed, just as swiftly, yet without the plan in mind he had, whatever it was.
"Okay, okay..." he finally said, sounding nervous. "In here. Now!" he ordered and nudged her into another room, then darted into it after her and banged the door shut. She was about to complain in someway when he said "Sst!!" again and she fell silent, pouting. For instants, nothing but silence followed.
Then she heard the footsteps of some creature, probably a Ceratopian or sorts...
Startled, she listened to them dim and vanish. As they had gone for good she took a deep breath. "Alrighty... gee thanks." she stammered, baffled. "Why the heck did you do that?" she asked.
"No paticular reason." he smirked at her, trying to keep his cool look, even though she knew by now very well he could look concerned if he wanted to.
"Don't lie." she demanded.
"Don't make me bring you back, bigmouth." he hissed lowly.
She opened her mouth... and shut it again. He surely wasn't exactly the politest Deinonychus she knew. He could at least give reason for saving her, afterall, it was her life they were talking about. 'Yea, and he probably just saved it, idiot.' she snarled inwardly, scolding herself.
He nudged her out, gentler this time and they walked with less speed along the corridor, broad for a species their size. ~How did you get to work for these yerks?~ she mindspoke, since he obviously had established some sort of a mindlink to her, whether permanent or temporary, that was a question that'd remain unanswered for a while.
~Bad luck.~ he nodded his snout a bit, silent.
~Bad luck?~ she asked back.
~Yea'. Mother and father kidnapped, they raised me.~ he grumbled.
~And why then did you turn back to the Deinodons?~ she asked.
No answer.
She sighed a bit, but then remained silent. In her eyes, he had no right to be upset. He grew up with it and wasn't hated. That was a privilege as a meateater. And then there was the way he'd treated her earlier today ... her thoughts stopped for a moment and she blinked, confusedly. Today? Or had that been yesterday? It was hard to tell. Nevertheless, he had no right to be upset because of her wanting an answer to a simple question.
~Well?~ she repeated.
~Well what?~
~Nevermind.~ she shrugged her curiosity off.
He padded on, her following after, slowly losing track of the way, slowly losing herself in the pure white that never quite seemed to refract light, but seemed to be the light itself... she walked on, oblivious to anything but the fact he was there and there were the walls. And there was her, somewhere. Somewhere, but where? She blinked and for a moment, she knew it again.
And then it slipped her mind again.
And she sang.
Since he was leading her whereever, she could concentrate fully on the tune. It rippled and hummed through her mind and she smiled. She felt him smile too, but wasn't sure if it was because he could hear her sing. She let him smile.
Her concentration allowed her to finally make out the song title and the song lyrics. She smiled as she remembered the author aswell. And smiled at the sweet lyrics, even if they had a deeply depressing teint.
>> When once the dawn does rise no more,
and cries of waves don't reach the shore,
when last plant whithers, dies away,
mouths are shut and have no say,
then time has come to reunite,
to stop this mindless, evil fight,
for that once more the rain may fall,
the Rhamphorhynchus again call,
for love, for peace, for unity,
Let us all sing to be free!
Only together we are strong,
only together survive we so long,
The day will come when stop this war,
Because... what are we really fighting for? <<
The song was ancient, she knew. Very old, by some old and rather dead-by-now poet... SandWing. It was a children's poem and the tune was more or a low hum than a melody. Strange how the centuries had managed to prevail the context of this poem, making it ever valid.
She idly wondered if the war would never have continued if this poem would not have been written.
What a silly thought.
~What ARE we really fighting for?~ she finally struggled back to the surface of her mind and asked. Baratequaaj looked over his shoulder breifly, so much could she make out. He muttered an answer. But it wasn't telepathic and so she didn't understand.
Maybe now was time to return to the real world.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
She felt a soft nudge at her side and it helped her. She gratefully accepted the help and pulled herself back to reality even as they trotted into some sort of room. She still had no idea what the former-Deinodon-former-Stycophysis and so on was planning. It seemed so abstract.
Made no sense.
No sense at all.
He didn't move. He stared at her as if expecting her to do something and again she forced herself back to the real world, reluctantly. There was little in this room. Bleak walls dominated and made any objects whither to a nothingness without any meaning whatsoever. She stared at the walls a while. Then her eyes hurt from the light.
She winced ever so softly and looked to the ground that did a far less good a job of refecting the light from the bright ceiling lamp. After a while of squeezing her eyes shut repeatedly, she shook her snout and her plume of feathers and looked up so she could see at least a few scales of ArA.
"Okay." she said, finally, and nearly had a surprised squeal follow. She'd been using so much mindspeak she had forgotten what her voice sounded like... no, wait. Her voice had become a raspy deep rumble. She didn't feel so well and that might have resulted from the - she inwardly cringed at even thinking the word - transport.
She was amazed he didn't cut the silence with some witty remark as she gasped for some sort of a breath that would give her her old voice back. The silence was truely overwhelming and she needed something to say, desperately, get rid of it... she wondered if she hated the Stycoes or this silence more.
"I... why are we here?" she finally brought over her lips as she spoke, raises a paw to her head and closing her eyes again as if it would help drown out not only the light, but the silence aswell.
She slowly opened them again.
Wha... ?
And blinked.
Darkness? Where did the darkness come from?
It took a frighteningly long moment to realize it.
She swirled with her remaining power, but that swirl was rather strangled as Baratequaaj swiftly recaptured her, swinging a chain over her snout and having it connect with her neck. Nearly just as swiftly she brought her paws up and slid them under the chain, yelping as her airpipe gave way a bit, then returned to a normal state.
Her dizzyness failed to lift and she cursed it. 'Go away, go AWAY!' she yelled to herself, trying to SCARE out the dizzyness, obviously in vain. He yanked her closer, trapping her paws onto her neck in her own made trap. She whimpered softly and tried to squirm out.
~Stop it, stop it, leave me alone...~ she said, unable to force actual words into the real world, neck too surrounded by glistening gold metal. She whimpered again.
"Shh..." he repeated, suddenly sounding more sinister than he ever had before, the hissing sound more pronounced as it shivered down her spine. "Quiet, prey..." he smiled - she could feel the smile in the back of her neck, just as she could feel his scales touching those of her back, hugging her, nearly - and slid his free arm around her shape, coming around her chest and holding her close.
She didn't like this at all. Why was life so selectively cruel to her, and seemingly only her? She canked at the chain but only pinched some scales in effect, the sharp, needle like pain forcing tears into the corner of her eyes.
He hugged her close, ignoring her struggles, rather weak attempts, and rubbed his snout along the side of her neck, gently for a moment, then alligned it with her pained snout and she could see his eyes half closed in a triumphant grin.
Maybe she hated that grin more than this evil, evil traitor.
He stroked her scales with his free paw while demonstrating he was freeing up the one holding the chain by taking the gold into his teeth, sinking them in, almost and yanking a bit to demonstate it was very well capable of holding her.
Her paws ached, still trapped.
She closed her eyes and kept them closed. If only she could block out touch aswell.
His paw traced circles on her belly, so softly it nearly tickled her. Her skin crawled slightly in effect and if she wasn't trapped between choice hand and embrace, she would have run away somehow. ~Why, damnit?~ she asked, supressing her own tears.
He snickered softly and slid his paw further down, teasingly close to her slit. "I said before. Because I simply can." he breathed past her ear. She didn't know how he was handling the chain and speaking, but he was, and this perfected use of utilities scared her to the core. She allowed herself to shiver.
He let his paw travell even lower and two tolons stroke just around the perimeter, taunting her, enjoying her fear. He seemed to absorb every shiver. Every twitch. She knew. She knew he was smirking, too. She just felt it. And for an instant, briefly, she felt triumph. He had no secrets. Not anymore. She'd know everything.
This sensation was rudely shattered as he slid one talon along her slit, unvoluntarily making her shiver once more.
"ArA? ArA?" a faint voice, like that of an angle called from somewhere in the corridor.
He growled, an angry grow as he'd never uttered in her presence before... and it was such a relief, though. He dropped her, licked over his talon once, whipped air with the golden chain and darted out of the room in a split second, slamming the door. Leaving her in here.
Locked.
Alone.
Darkness her only friend. Then again, she'd grown up with that, hadn't she?
Chapter 4
Black Blades
Somehow she'd managed to curl up into a sphere of scales and sleep. She didn't know how she'd managed, nor how she'd stopped herself from endlessly sobbing, but it had worked and that was the main point.
She knew that because she could not be back in Crystal Peak. Her memory was good enough not to fail her and that nearly depressed her more. She was alone with Silence. And she spoke to Silence, asking why it followed her. There was no answer.
How could there?
Silence was a creature of no speech, no noise and no movement.
But it could have tried to communicate in mind with her, she was sure, and it upset her a bit no one seemed to care about her anymore. She was not insane. In this dream, Silence had a shape. It was a certain amount of thicker air, swirling around her like a blanket of caterpillars, just much softer.
Silence also seemed to guide her.
And she walked steps and asked herself what these steps were for. They spiralled up somewhere, endlessly, darkness, her usual friend, enveloping both the stairs behind her and those infront. There was a limited amount of stairs she could see at a time and it bothered her to the soul.
She nearly lost her balance as no more steps came and they were whereever they led...
Her heart nearly stopped.
She was home alright.
A bleak, yawningly white skeleton stood in the center of the room, shining almost and driving away all the darkness. As she continued her stare, the skeleton moved and fixed her with empty eye sockets.
She screamed a short note, but somehow it ever even reached the dream.
"No, no!" she uttered a strangled cry. "I didn't leave you, they TOOK me away!"
The skeleton continued it's piercing gaze. If it's fleshless muzzled could have made any facial expressions, it may have been of a reluctant smirk. She could feel these things.
She sobbed in her dream. Not because this might mean the loss of her mother, but because she knew that unseen smirk. She'd felt it a million times over by now, both in reality and in replay version.
"Mom..." she tried.
The skeleton still didn't move anything but it's snout.
IzI ceased sobbing after a short amount of time and shook her head in sad regrett. "I... I should have stayed, right?" she asked, softly. "Tried to save you?"
The skeleton's white color flared up even more, so much the darkness practically rushed in to choke it... and then managed. In a blurr of motion, something happened her eyes couldn't truely comprehend nor follow till it was completed. Black scales hugged the shape of her mother, such a deep black the blue she had in memory seemed almost like royal blue.
She had to look away to avoid hurting her eyes.
There was a new source of light around this creature, though.
Fire?
IzI yelped as she remembered the legends.
"Ekii... ekii..." she stammered, not able to choke out the full length of the word. '... kavkem.' she finished inwardly, backing away and back to the stairs. "Pyreraptor..." she whispered as it left her field of vision. As it did only did she feel enough courage to dart around and run away her back facing the creature.
She collided with it snout first.
Yelping.
Crying.
"LEAVE MY DREAM!" she yelled at it's face, terrified.
It grinned down at her, no longer a virtual grin, a rather real one and real eyes stared down in their golden sheen to her, shimmering, pulsing between amber, silver and the known firey colors.
She couldn't move. There were only two friends around here. And even though she was aware they would not be around outside the dreamsphere, she called them. "Silence! Darkness!" she whimpered.
She knew Darkness was there first. That was the positive thing about Darkness, one could see it, if not touch. It began consuming the contrasts and contours of the ceiling and the walls behind the Fire Raptoress. Slowly moving in, like a hunted to it's prey. It seemed to gather on one spot too, and at one short point in time she felt it. She truely felt it.
The Fire Raptoress swirled, brought her off balance with a well aimed knock of the tail ... and obliterated darkness with a wellaimed ball of ... fire? Or what was it? it was hard to tell, but with a mental shriek, Darkness was gone. Absorbed and only its children lived. Shadows. They cowered as far from the light as they could. That was normal, they always feared the light.
Iziijena got up, shivering nearly violently.
With a shriek of rage she leapt forward, claws posed for a kill, aimed at the throat of the Pyreraptor, hit air, hit nothing, the shape swirled, colors swirled, lost themselves, faded... and she fell. She had no idea where to, but she fell.
She didn't stop falling even after she thought impact was way overdue. She twisted around in the air, trying to make out a ground. There was none. She flipped onto her back, gracefully, and stared back. There was no ceiling anymore, either, consumed by the black haze, far away.
Red and blue contours flashed past her. They kept repeating, so she was able to make out things after a while.
Afraid?
No, she wasn't afraid. If there was no floor, there was no fear of the landing.
She squinted at the blue, trying to make out what it was. Blurry, the shape began to take form and she tilted her anout a bit to surveill her mental image. It was a claw. A sickle. Nothing more. Smooth, not chipped, not blood stained, nothing except it's usual aura of representitive friendship for the Deinodon faction.
She struggled to remember the meaning of the blue color, but it was lost in the void of her mind somewhere, maybe she left it where the ceiling had vanished to?
She now focussed on the red image.
There were two shapes, it was the first thing she could make out.
As she stared at the red hues, it began to resolve to a flower like image, but it wasn't Lossosian, yet she knew it, from various stories. And pictures. And lastly she remembered from photos aswell, from far away. Far Away being Terra. She squinted again and then she remembered the name. 'A rose.' she nearly gasped. She remembered that it had more meaning than just 'plant', but shook her head as she tried to figure that out aswell. Her mind was asleep, like her body. She wouldn't be able to remember the meaning till she woke up.
A shadow slid into the silence, poking his muzzle around the door and seeing her asleep, smirking, he crept in and closed the door quietly then walked over to her, looking down at her, through the darkness, nearly studying her shape.
Iziijena lay curled up, fast asleep, falling in her dream but still smiling, she looked content.
The other shape seemed to be a rope for the moment she looked at it and reminded her of painful memories. But as she swam closer while she fell she saw details she had missed. Reptilian scales coated this creature, and there was an eye. 'Creature.' she classified it for the moment.
Even as she thought the word 'creature', she ceased falling, caught by a pillow of thick air, scales tickling in response to the density. And floated.
The creature was staring at her, blankly.
She stared back for a moment, then shrugged.
As she began rolling to her side to get up, it darted out of it's petrification. For instants she had a nagging fear it would attack, bite, rip, shred, entrap, anything of the sort. It didn't. Instad, it wrapped it's thick, sleek shape around her arm. Hissed softly, but not threateningly. She stared at it again and it stared back.
Just as it had before.
"How can you see something is not there?" it asked, grinning, fangs gleaming.
And nipped her neck, so gently that she never felt the teeth sink into it and kill her. She never knew.
Just woke up.
Baratequaaj ran his talon over the chain still wrapped around her neck, if only loosely, binding her, and almost for a moment hadn't the heart to wake her, but then tugged the chain sharply. "Wakey, wakey, little pet!" he nearly hissed.
Iziijena gave a strangled yelp and snapped her eyes open, her neck plume feathers bristling to a huge fan. She gasped, and took amazingly long to remember, recall and place into the right categories what happened and that this wasn't a dream. Not at all.
The Styco smiled down, liking her plume and purring evilly. "Nice to see you awake again." he grinned, leaned down a little and lifted her up. She startledly gazed at him, then tried another weak squirm away and a short whimper escaped her lips as her memories fully impacted. She stared, petrified.
ArA smirked darkly and takes her chain in his paws, putting a little presssure into pulling her toward him. "Are you going to be a good girl and come to me?" he asked. She whimpered again and didn't reply, just her friend silence did. She kept her paws so that the chain wouldn't severe her neck anywhere, or scales. He frowned a little and pulled a little harder "Now, don't make me angry, you dont want to see me angry." His eyes nearly shimmered as she saw them, a glint like maybe a Pyreraptor's gaze.
She shook her snout softly, in a way of saying: 'That's true, I DON'T!'
He took the remaining step closer to her and smiled. "Come on, you should have come to me, show me what a good girl you can be."
She wormed out of a tight grasp, amazed by herself for an instant, then backstepped a bit, keeping her gaze locked onto him, keeping her distance but didn't dare back more, mainly because of the chain, which finally pulled tight enough to remind her. She forced herself to calm down, somehow and manages a bit.
He let out a low growl to show his disatisfaction and in the same movement as he stepped right against her, tugged the chain very hard toward him. "Bad! Girl!" he snapped.
Iziijena whimpered a note and the rest was strangled, more by herself than the chain. She averted her gaze and closed her eyes, twitching once. He hissed softly as he pressed his form against hers, moving around hers swiftly almost, holding her close to him, transferring the chain to his muzzle, holding her chest with one paw, and her tummy with the other, always keeping an amazing grip on her, leaving no way to escape.
She shivered a bit, then shifted her weight a bit, trying to find a way out of this without strangling herself in effect. As she reached a critical point, she froze and backtracked, carefully, almost.
He purred softly at her rather pathetic attempts to escape, as his paw traced down her belly and around her slit again, teasing, lightly. "Such a shame we were interupted the first time, my pet." She disliked being called pet. Very much so. She shut her eyes tightly and shivered, gritting her teeth, trying to ignore what was impossible to ignore.
He smiled a little at her shivevering, loving her fear as he traced his paw ever closer to her slit, teasingly slowly. Iziijena squeezed her eyes shut and shivered, pressing back into his shape, not caring this time, her whole shape twitching and scales rippling a bit. He smiled a little and ran his talon over her slit once, purring. "Has my little pet decided to be a good girl?"
She whimpered, freezing, no longer moving backwards, feeling his scales rub along her back, and she tried to minimize the effect. She strangled down a breath as she felt his talon tickle her gently, she tensed up.
ArA cooed almost softly to her and pulled him against his body softly, stroking a little more intensly over the outside of her slit. Iziijena forced herself not to reflexively move away from the paw. She bore it, teeth gritted, a soft, very soft shiver running over her body, unsupressed.
He smiled and whispered into her ear: "Would you like it if you weren't about to be strangled?" he taunted. "If I released the pressure on your neck a little - and I will - but you'll have to do something for me." he purred, continueing to run over her slit with this talon tip.
Iziijena whimpered very softly. ~L... like what?~ she mentally stammered.
Again he purred softly. "Place your paw on mine and press my talon into you." he smirked evilly. He didn't care much for the actual answer. It was a yes/no question the captive was probably going to say no to, if it was a yes, he'd be fine with that too.
She felt a tear trace her hot cheek and remained silent. She wasn't going to do that. She supressed another whimper and flexed her toe claws. He frowned a little and getly moves his muzzle, pulling tighter on the cord. "Come now, I know you want to be able to breathe easier." he teased her a bit more, rubbing his talon a little harder, just parting the flesh, but only just. She shivered again and winced in effect, clacking her claws against the golden steel, the sound tearing through some of the silence that was there.
He continued to pull it tighter, not enough to actually strangle her, but enough to cause her a lot of discomfort. "Come on." he mock-urged. IzI gagged and moves her neck back a bit to cease some of the pressure. Then she remembered moving back was a back idea, but just a bit too late.
ArA frowned a little and tugged the cord even tighter for a few seconds, cutting a little against the flesh it contacts with as he, without much finesse presses his talon into her hard, before releasing the pressure with the cord again. "Bad girl.. a very bad girl." he grinned.
She yelped a soft note, struggling a bit, squirming softly, relaxing for a second only to tense up again and try to block out reality... in vain. What worked before doesn't now. Life gets tough when you forget the lyrics. As she pressed back, she pressed against his slit, which was wanting to be released.
He pressed his talon deeper into her up to his knuckle and smirked. She bit her tongue a bit as she felt it slide in her, not sure if now would be a good time to just go with this... He drew his talon out a little and traced it back up her tummy. "You have made my upset with your disobediance little one, woudl you like to make me happy again, I'll give you one last chance." he offered, enjoying making her think he'd really care whether or not she'd comply.
Iziijena shivered, then ceased movement for a moment of silence. ~What sort?~ she managed to mindspeak. ArA smiled and dragged his talon, still damp with her taste up to her muzzle. "Lick my talon clean." he smirked. She moves her snout aside, pressing her lips together, eyes still closed.
The Styco lifted his other paw and held the underside of her muzzle, forcing it toward his talon. "You can't evade me that easily." She whimpered softly, through clenched teeth. He pressed his talons into her jaw and pulled it down slightly, pressing his other talon to her thin lips. "Now!" IzI tried to snap her snout away and failed, feeling the talon enter her mouth and her not able to stop it. Nearly lulled by the smell she gives in and stopped resisting, but refused to help either. He pressed it into her muzzle and rubbed it over her tongue a little, pressing his slit to her undertail teasingly. "That's better."
She drew her snout back finally and forced herself to swallow it, blocking out the taste. Again she almost felt her senses being lulled and only managed a very soft whimper towards him pressing his slit closer to her. He nipped her shoulder lightly. "Much better..." he gently rubbed his hot slit against her, it burning to be released, but himself not quite ready yet, enjoying teasing her, he released the pressure on her neck to where it was just a restrained as opposed to any pain and linked his paw with hers, caressing it down her chest. She whimpered another soft note, not able to retain any of these protests, wanting to because she knew it might mean trouble.
He smiled to her and traced her own talons over her tummy. "You know what I am going to do with this cute little paw of yours?" he breathed past her ear. She shivered again, foot claws flexing, trying to move out of the way as her fear was spurned for a moment again. She ignored his words, didn't want to know, whatever it was.
Baratequaaj smirked and traced down over her slit, before forcing her talon into her. "That." he softly said. She yelped softly, tugging at her paw, desperate, backing off now, too afraid to care about that it is no better. He held her fast, to him, and tightened her chain a little, holding her paw still in her slit. "Oh no, you're not getting away yet."
Iziijena shuddered now, tugging at the chain. ~Please let me go!~ she mentally whined. He smiled a little and bit her shoulder gently, letting her take her paw from herself. "Oh, in time, in time." ArA let his slit relax a little, his shaft begning to poke free against her from behind.
She whimpered softly again and tried to squirm free again, senses lulled, thinking a rather hard task, or so it seemed. He held her tighter. "You know if you would just relax it would be better for you." He lifted her tail a little and nibbled on its tip, letting himself erect more, his tip pressing against her slit from behind.
She felt her resistance slowly give way, the nibbling somewhat hybnotizing in effect, almost. She moaned a soft note. Baratequaaj murred softly to her and pressed more against her slit, waiting a little bit, seeing if her body will betray her and push back against him. She supressed a shiver and pressed her talons into the palm of her right paw, telling her body to stay where it is. To stay. Not move.
He nibbled along her neck, almost gently and slowly rocked his shaft tip back and forth over her slit, teasing her and her body. "How long can you last little one?" he taunted. She shivered now, tensing up fully, trying hard not to either bite her tongue of or scream. A soft tickle ran through her again and she nearly gave way, entranced somewhat.
ArA purred a low somewhat hypnotic purr as he nibbled round and over her head softly, continued matching his rubbing with the rise and fall of his purr. "How long little one, I think not much more..." he smirked. She twitcheed, yanking once at the chain around her neck, very unsure if she can even keep up her resistance one more second.
He pulled the chain a little tightly against his own neck and nuzzled along the side of her muzzle, ever so teasingly applying a little pressure to her slit, his tip pressing against it, threatening it slip into her, then stopping. She clamped her snout tightly shut, gritting her teeth, but then opened it again and whimpered, muscles twitching and herself pressing back a bit, but not enough.
ArA kissed the side of her muzzle a little and pressed forward once more, only needing alittle movement from her, to give herself to him. "Come on, I know your body wants it..." he hissed softly.
She whimpered louder this time and moved her snout from the kiss, plume of feathers brushing his snout a bit. She feels the urge to do as he had said and give herself to him, but her mind rebelled with such a force it's hard. Again he purred softly and resumed his nibbling and agonising caress with his shaft, rubbing over her slit, just pressing enough to part it. "Give yourself to me." he whispered. She shuddered and even just that nearly is enough. Whilst it didn't cover the distance needed, the movement finally snapped a link to her mind and her bady shifted it's weight to further back.
He murred loudly as his shaft pressed first hard against her slit, then into her slit, spreading the lips of it gently, he held her to him and smiled. "Good girl." he smirked, before holding her tight and bucking his hips forward hard, burrying his shaft deep into her, before she changed her mind.
IzI cried out, sucking in a breath, surprised at the sudden speed change, clawing a bit at the chain around her neck and trying to ignore the dull pain in her slit, which is accompanied by a strange wave of pleasure. He held himself deep in her, still for a little while, a slightly drunken look of male pleasure washing over his muzzle, slowly he began to draw out again, then almost painfully slowly back in, while his paw comes up to restrain her neck and chest more.
Her breathing began to transform to a soft pant as she finally accepted it, seeing no point in fighting, logic mind only having access to her paws that still are wrapped around the chain and pulling softly. He gently released the chain a little, enough to hold her to him, but not to hurt her as he thrusts, making each thrust harder than the last, murring loudly behind her. She allowed her panting to lull her senses more, becoming slightly erratic as she moves up to him and away, if not quite as much as a totally willing raptoress would.
He smiled at his almost complete control over her and moaned softly, her tight slit caressing his shaft with each thrust, moving slightly to angle his thrusts to please her more, willing to please her - just a bit - for giving in to him.
[ - too be written ^^, - ]
Chapter 5
Hunter Blood
[ - beginning to be written - ]
She hugged the steel walls that were the inside layer of this ship's hull, ear pressed against it, the rhythmic drumming of the waves vibrating though the consistancy. She supressed another whimper, not daring to open her eyes... maybe ArA was closeby, any movement might be lethal.
She found it ironic that she could hear the rain aswell. It reminded her of the Water goddess, Loonai. Was she trying to help? Or was that rather egoistic, to think she had time for a case like hers? Maybe it was just supposed to be a heavy ironic inlay, like one of those bad movies where all the scary scenes had thunderstorms and lightning. She blocked out the thought as it only scared her more. At the same time, she noticed that if it was an ironic inlay, it was a big one. The rain was soft, probably even warmed by the currents near the Cetarosian coast.
"Where are you?" Baratequaaj chanted, and above her she heard the soft clank of claws on crisscrossed wire. "Oh Iziijeeeena." he smirked. He paused, perfectly above her. She froze ... had he spotted her or was this a horrible coincidence? Her neckscales and feathers bristled in anxiety as a tear rolled down her snout.
She felt a soft vibrating tone run through the hull as he placed his paw onto it. 'Don't move, whatever you do, IzI, don't...' she told herself, barely breathing. The next moment it impacted through her as he drew his claws over the smooth surface, a shattering shriek of a sound tore through her body and she had to let go to avoid dying, she felt, and staggered a bit.
"THERE you are!" Baratequaaj snickered and performed a swift sliding movement down to her level. "Not nice of you to run away like that, you know..." he narrowed his eyes at her even as she backed away once more.
Again she whimpered, gaze darting briefly around ArA even as the same advanced, like some looming shadow, but an evil one. There were many places she could risk to escape to, risk to try it, but somehow her head still rang from the terrible screech. The situation seemed so overwhelmingly hopeless to her. But she didn't want to give up, not in a million years.
He was rather close now, almost too close to risk one of those escape routs without certain capture. She snarled a soft note, lowered herself to the ground a bit, then leapt, straight at her foe. Startled and not having expected that, he backed one step. Enough for her to grab hold of a metal pipeline just over her snout, running below the patternd floor of the corrindor to who-knows-where. She twisted around even in the air, spurned but very much only fear, and locked her toe claws with the nearest paralell running one.
ArA snapped his snout up and hissed. "Do you really think I can't jump?"
That was true. She'd thought that and it was wrong, as usual. Not wasting her time with an answer she somehow managed to turn around, tail dangerously in reach of ArA who made a quick leap for it... but missed as she clambered up the second pipe, ducking low to avoid scraping her snoutscales on the crisscross wire. She edged to it's side along the lethally smooth surface.
The Stycophysis narrowed his eyes and attempted another good leap, grabbing onto the pipe with one clawed talon, hissing lowly, other swiping for her foot nearest to him. The pipe vibrated with the new weight and she nearly slipped, but instead leapt sideways, rather obviously losing her footing on the pipe, then falling, barely able to lock her claws into the side of the corridor that snaked over these metal bodies.
She winced a bit and began gathering the little energy she had to pull herself up, not an easy task. She cursed the fact she was so weak, at least, compared to most other Deinonychae. ArA easily slid along the pipe with his paws attatched to it. "Where exactly do you want to run to?" his eyes gleamed a bit, so she could see through the wires, and again, he seemed right. She shut up. Somewhere to hide, of course. Hide, or keep running. One of both. Whatever came first.
She took a second to catch her breath on the corridor, then got to her feet and began running along it. She didn't look back, if he was after her, she was doomed. For a while and through twists of the path, she listening to the soft thud of her paws against the metal. She wasn't running all too fast, but had neither heard anyone behind her, nor had this path left her quite without choices of left and right turns.
She nearly ran into a set of railing as her mind had started drifting from it's current setting and to somewhere a bit more pleasant. Paws clutched over it's top, she wheezed a bit, wondering just how close she had been to... she stared down. Next to her was a staricase she could well start descending, but her gaze was fixed on the source of a soft and repeated clacking sound. Two large cogs merged in about the middle height of the room, top one vanishing somewhere in the ceiling, bottom one in the floor. She didn't know what it was for, but figured it had to have something to do with the engine.
"Gottcha!" a voice hissed and she didn't even have time to snap her snout around, even though she knew very well. Warm paws covered hers and blocked her way to escape to the sides. She uttered a frustrated cry. "Quiet." ArA hissed, digging his claws into her paws a bit, which only contriubuted to another cry escaping her lips. She tried to snap her paws out from between metal and scales. "I said QUIET." he hissed. it was the first time she felt he was not all too superior. Obviously he didn't like his prey ahead of him.
She paused her struggles for a moment, eyes searching the railing, the region, for something to do. The fact her mind had excersised some distance helped her not just focuss on herself in this case. She narrowed her eyes a bit, staring out front and to the clacking, interlocking wheels. She nearly just ignored the snicker of the other Deinonychus as the same calmed and got a hold of his usual attitude.
'Idiot.' she thought and inwardly shook her head in near-sorrow. In a swift movement she wirmed her paws free, having gathered well enough energy, latched them onto his wrists, hearing a surprised squeak - 'Childish idiot, to that.' she told herself, smirking now - and yanked him over her shape with some help of her tail. He was surprisingly light. Or maybe it was the situation.
He had not much time to complain as she pushed him forward, in hopes maybe those toothed giants would grind him to death. He didn't complain. Instead, made some use of his agility and twisted around, snapped his wrist around and yanked her down with him. She nearly stumbled into the railing, then slid over it even as she tried to comprehend the complex movement. Oh, joy. She was gonna die with him? How tragic. She bit her tongue in though, sourly.
Latching her other paw onto his wrist, she managed to yank lose again, and used her legs to propells herself away, and him further into the region of the grinding forces. She smirked a bit as she landed on all fours on the midlevel see through floor and snapped her head up a bit to watch.
It was a pity she'd not seen the actual impact, but the brat lay next to the moving, hungry giants, unmoving, not even twitching. IzI rubbed her snout a bit, almost content. "Bastard bit the dust." she whispered to herself, supressing another well of tears. She padded over to his shape.
The snout looked torn. Bone on the right side of his muzzle top shone clear white, embedded in crimson liquid that rolled down the golden, amber scales. His entrie right side seemed severly bruised and battered. A darkred patch of blood began oto ooze from a wound on his leg. "Good riddance." she hissed, resisting the urge to kick him just once more to make up a bit.
Something yanked her down, making her fall to the side. Her eyes widened a bit as his eyes snapped open and he pulled over over to him, paw on her ankle. "Jeez, you don't EVER die, do you?" she choked out. "No, I don't die that quickly." he hissed, a deep, angry, very angry sound. "You are so dead." he added, bearing his teeth.
She thrashed, claws flexing and slicing across his paw, terrified now. She hit and he let go, whereafter she scrambled up and backstepped from the wandering, bleeding zombie, in lack of a better term.
He brought a paw up to his snout, carefully testing the searing wound that had been shredded into his muzzle. He frowned deeply. It wasn't hurting as much as he thought it would, so he could shrug and ignore that. His gaze latched onto her and he snarled again. much more definedly than ever. With another incredibly swift movement he tackled her, nudging her over the railing in a gesture of 'leave me and I leave you, if not, then not'. He watched her yelp in surprise.
He didn't care to watch her grinded to pulp, so he turned and padded out, paw tending to his snout as a shriek tore the air. He narrowed his eyes again. "Byebye." he smirked to himself, suppressing a chuckle. No one messed with him, no one. Especially not his kind.
He heard some voices along a corridor and briefly stopped walking over the blank steel of the middle of the ship. He blinked down at himself. He was tracing blood everywhere... oh gee. After a momen,t he identified the voice as that of Dontes. "DONTES!" he called out, putting in as much anger and pain as there was. More anger than pain for sure.
The Iguanodon muttered a short word, then burst out of a side corridor, skidding to a halt. "Baratqaj!" he exclaimed, eyeing his shape with a shocked expression. "What the hell HAPPENED?"
{ yeah, still busy writing this one too... -.- }