I had taken my ship to the research station the scientists were based out of. They had a large hangar where they worked on modifying their engines to make them faster. I had been surprised at how quickly they had abandoned all prior modifications and shut down the various research bays as they made room for my ship. I had only known they had abandoned all other modifications and research because when I brought my ship in, there were still remnants of the work stations they must have used that were hastily taken apart and random papers were scattered everywhere.
I had felt a little guilty about that. The magnetic propulsion engine seemed to be their newest focus and a part of me wondered about the aliens who had spent years of their lives learning and training to work with their engines and how to improve them only to suddenly be told to close up shop and stop all research because it was now made defunct. It was something I did mention but my worries were brushed off with a simple 'innovation is always something to be celebrated'. Which I did understand and to be honest all the scientists had seemed more than excited when my ship arrived.
I had to admit that my ship looked rather... rough next to the sleek lines of the hangar and even their ships. I could definitely tell it wasn't nearly as high tech. Which had been a bit embarrassing but everyone had seemed to marvel at the fact that I had managed to travel so far in space in something so 'primitive'. At'kat'vo and Il'tig had greeted me first, along with more K'gtar scientists and told me that they had spent a good portion of the night after the space trips, designing how to reduce the 'overly dangerous rattle' my ship had when it reached high speeds. Their conclusion was a single formed nano carbon structure on the outside.
At'kat'vo had clicked at me 'no seams, no rattle'.
I had told them they could do whatever they wanted to ensure they were satisfied with how safe it was. They had seemed pleased with that and then that had devolved my life into nearly a week long research cram session with me at the center of it. They had wanted to know each and every possibility and capability of the engine, the good, the bad, the truly horrendous. I had been leery of that, of course I had been. They had wanted schematics and the exact purposes of what each variation of the engine could do. As someone who wanted to mitigate the negative effects, I had wanted to say no.
Then I had been introduced to The Accords.
The Accords was the Galactic Union's peace agreement. Which was the simplest way to explain it. It went far and beyond a simple, 'we won't war with you', type of document that countries signed to ensure peace. It was a massive, collective grouping of inventions, treaties, laws, binding legislation that make up the very core of the Galactic Union that required a minimum of a hundred different people, each assigned a single section, to be able to go through it all in any sort of timely manner. It was big and for a good reason. Every single invention that had ever been made, for good or bad, had been shoved into The Accords along with how it was to be used and what uses were strictly prohibited.
If the Council of Lev'twi brought up to the other Councils that someone had discovered, perhaps a thermo-nucleus radial cluster ray that instantly fried the neurons of the brain of whoever was unfortunate enough to be in the way, it was added the The Accords under the section of 'This is how this is made, this is what this does, don't ever fucking build or use it'. Which I hadn't made up. Four hundred years prior, a k'gtar and a hant scientist were testing out a device that theoretically was supposed to help activate neurons in those that were functionally brain dead to try and jump start them to bring them back and they created a device that immediately fried neurons instead. Completely accidental but due to the serious nature of the mistake, it was added to The Accords and needed to be signed by each individual Ambassador and the Supreme Council to show they wouldn't build or use it.
I had asked about it, all the deadly uses for pretty much all of their technology were in there. There were hundreds of thousands of years of deadly innovation packed into the massive document, mostly thanks to the ilthi and their massive historical record. Any fears I had of the horrors of humanity chasing away our interstellar friends due to how horrible we could be was washed away as I read some of the weapons they had created. Some accidental, some decidedly not. Humans were just starting on the creative ways to kill people but the ilthi made it look like humans were having playful sibling squabbles using sticks.
Mare-aidee explained that the ilthi had thousands of years to get it out of their system, most of the alien races had and that humanity had done nothing that hadn't already been done before and way worse. She then explained that they outlined the horrendous uses so that everyone would know what to watch out for in case someone actually built the devices listed. It made it easier to find perpetrators and when everyone had access to the exact same technology and nothing was hidden, it made it harder to subvert the unsaid rules and made it easier to disarm or neutralize the threats because once something deadly was discovered, the entire Galactic Union worked together to find a way to protect against it.
Which is what would happen with my engine, especially the negative aspects such as levelling an entire city, creating massive electrical killing fields, crushing force, suffocation, and everything else that I had figured out it could do. I gave them how it all worked and they would then work on how to protect against it or how to neutralize it entirely. Which was amazing and made me feel far better about the entire thing. They also explained that the life changing innovations were always added so that all the planets had the same base technology and that funds would be allocated into making that innovation better or to expand its uses.
Loril-ee had then told me that all the funding for the modification of their propulsion engines would be rolled into funding for my engine. While each innovation was important, it would fall under an umbrella and interstellar space travel, subsection propulsion, was what my engine fell under. The other uses of my engine, such as the shielding, would be tested against their current ones and if they were found to be better than the current, those projects would get scrapped and that funding would roll over to that particular use to make sure it was being used and studied to it's fullest potential.
After that I hadn't minded handing over all that I had about the engine. I had been told it would take a while to translate the documents and schematics into something that they could use. Which made sense, sure math was the same across the board but the symbols used for it were something that probably changed drastically across the board, as well as symbols used to denote certain things.
Which is where most of my week was spent. I had to translate symbols from my schematics into something they understood, usually it was the standard, 'this symbols denotes a break from the wiring diagram and if you find the other matching symbol, that is where the rest of the diagram is without needing to show how long those wires are.' or 'that's a shock hazard symbol. It means don't touch that when it's powered on because you will be electrocuted'. Which they, of course, had an equivalent to but the written language barrier and symbols were an issue to work through.
But we had been going non-stop for nearly a week. I thought the aerospace scientists at NASA had driven me nuts, the full scientific body of Torin was driving me to the brink of insanity. Top specialists from all over the planet had come to the research center to speak to me and to check out the ship, which was now kind of stripped bare as they prepared it for their modifications. Not that I minded, I trusted the scientists working on it and it wasn't like I couldn't make another one using the parts lying around, would have probably been better looking than the first one I made in my garage.
However I had been nearly run ragged and practically collapsed into the guest bed at Mare-aidee's at night only to wake up and head to the research facility and do it all over again. We didn't really leave, food was brought to us by whoever went to get it, but we had been knee deep in sorting through logistics and research and schematics. I sometimes felt like I hadn't come up for air in what felt like years. It was starting to slow down, I knew it was. Most of the schematics had been translated and a vast majority of symbols had been explained so it wasn't quite as bad as it had been but it we were still slogging through it.
Granted I was learning all I could about The Accords and the hierarchy of the Galactic Union. Which was a mainly science based state of ruling. They prided themselves on innovation for bettering each and every race. That trickled down to all aspects of their societies, it was uncommon for someone to not have at least one form of secondary schooling, or the equivalent of an earth PHD. Which was interesting to learn. Even Gal'rug had three. Physics, biomechanics, and funnily enough chemistry. Which he told me was for his clan because his family were the traditional alcohol brewers and he said it didn't feel right to not get the education for it.
It was strange because I was so used to being on earth where that seemed a bit unattainable for most people, that secondary education was more of a luxury. I had even asked about unskilled labour work and had confused the entire Torin Council so much that I honestly think that they thought their translators had bugged out on them. Turns out they didn't have a concept of 'unskilled labour'. Every single job was viewed as requiring skill and those that hadn't needed much skill or required zero skill, were automated. Which was honestly a bit refreshing to come across.
I was growing more and more interested in learning about the culture. Which I truly believed came from the fact I was kind of science'd out. A week of going over wiring schematics, build schematics, putting out data or explaining it, and answering innumerable questions had kind of burned me out. I knew why we were doing it and why everything needed to be done and why it all had to be sorted. Still didn't stop my brain from practically begging me for a break.
I rubbed at my forehead as I marked another bit of my anti-gravity schematic as the lines turned to squiggles until I managed to blink them away. I was honestly done with all of the science stuff. I had felt the same way once I got started with the scientists on earth. I figured, like with all animals, humans needed some variety in what they were doing in order to keep focus. We would get incredibly bored otherwise.
A large body seemed to thump down on the heavy metal bench next to me and I looked up at Gal'rug. He fidgetted for a bit before he bent his head down towards me. "Grogs don't like stagnation with tasks." He almost stage whispered it to me and I found my mouth twitching upwards. It was funny he was bringing it up when I had literally just been thinking about it in terms of myself. "We get bored." He patted the top of the table lightly and there was a small silence. "I am bored." He stated it so evenly that I snorted slightly, chuckling as I shook my head. I felt for the guy, I really did. I was starting to get that itchy, need to move around and get away from all the science stuff, feeling as well.
"Are you?" He nudged me slightly but when I looked up at him he wasn't looking at me, seemed to be looking around as if trying to spot anyone else and I frowned.
"Honestly, Gal'rug, I am-" I barely got the words out before he was up and grabbed me around the waist, lifting me to my feet. I yelped at the suddenness of going from sitting to standing before laughing.
"Good!" He smiled down at me, his tusks nearly glinting. "We are escaping!" With that he scooped me up like a bag of potatoes, slinging me over his shoulder before he bolted.
"Gal'rug! Put her down!" I could see Loril-ee flapping her wings, looking more than agitated. I couldn't help it and burst into laughter. Regardless of being man handled like a sack of potatoes, at least it was entertaining.
"No! No more science!" Gal'rug shouted it out as he shoved through the exit. "We are going to the arena! Great fun to be had!" He didn't put me down as he carted me towards a rather bulkier looking sky cruiser. I was used the sleeker one that Mare-aidee and I used so I figured it was his personal one. He deposited me in the passenger side and grinned. "By the great tusks this will be fun!" He looked so excited I couldn't help but smile back. Like a little kid at times.
He got into the driver's seat and it wasn't long before we were airborne and flying through the sky. "They kept telling me I was not allowed to bring you to the arena. I said you needed a break but At'kat'vo told me that the arena would scare you and that you were fine but you looked bored, like a grog gets bored!" He boomed out a laugh, almost wiggling in his seat, and for such a large person, it was hilarious.
"I was getting bored. Humans need variety and enrichment otherwise we lose focus and get bored." I certainly would take getting man handled into sky cruiser by Gal'rug rather than spent more time going over schematics that were starting to go funny every time I looked at them.
"Ha! I was right!" He thumped his hand off the steering wheel of the cruiser "By the great tusks! We will have a heart thumping good time, yes?" He looked at me eagerly and I nodded. I wasn't quite sure what to think about the arena, the grog thought it was spectacular but everyone else said to avoid it at all costs. However I was more than open to try new things and experiencing new cultures, at least once.
We pulled up to the coliseum type building and it wasn't long before he parked his cruiser in a bay and we both got out. I ignored how the ground opened up and the cruiser sunk with the bay. They took underground parking to perfection. There was rarely any above ground space craft, everything was geared towards being people friendly, if the sky cruisers weren't being used, they were out of sight in the underground parking. Which was honestly nice, they had trees and gardens pretty much everywhere and it felt very calm and tranquil.
However the energy in front of the coliseum was very energetic and almost electric and there were a lot of grog moving towards the entrance. Gal'rug grasped my shoulder and shook me slightly, the excitement radiating off of him. We walked towards the large building and there were quite a few grog who were staring at me, no one seemed upset, more shocked at seeing me or excited that I was going inside.
"We are going to see the winged horror!" Gal'rug thumped his chest with his other hand and I nodded, looking around with curiosity. Despite the roman looking architecture, everything inside was fairly standard with a bit of an art deco style flair that always made me chuckle when I remembered that type of style came from the grog. True some of it had been inspiration from the antywn but the grog, despite all their loud brashness, liked pretty things and making things look nice.
Gal'rug tugged on my shoulder, guiding me towards one of the lifts. We got on and were taken up fairly high. I could hear loud cheering and was surprised because there had been no sign of it outside of building but they sounded loud. Granted it was a giant group of grog so it shouldn't have been as surprising. They were just a boisterous and loud sort of people but I had to give it for the building engineers for the incredible sound proofing they did on the building.
We made it to what I assumed were our seats. There was one that was raised slightly and Gal'rug gestured for me to take it. I kind of made me think of a booster seat for a kid but I figured I was fairly shorter than all the other spectators so I couldn't complain about getting a seat that lifted me up so I could actually see. Once I was settled I looked down at the area in the center. It kind of reminded me of a monster truck arena, dusty and oval shaped. However there were several giant rocks and something akin to a small mountain. It made it look very much like some strange sort of desert mountain area.
Gal'rug nudged me with the back of his hand and when I glanced at him he pointed down to the arena. "They are going to be fighting Tel'bak'gorth. She is a massive winged horror from the desert mountains on Torin. She is the top rated winged horror on all of Torin, she has innumerable hits to her name and at lest three deaths. Granted those are more accidental but whose counting!" I nodded slowly as I scanned the arena, wondering how he knew which creature they would be fighting because I couldn't see anything.
The cheering around us grew and Gal'rug punched at the air. "Yes! It is Haf'luk the Tuskless!" He nudged me with his elbow before pointing down to the arena where a rather grey coloured grog carrying what looked to be a two handed ax and wearing leather armour was. He let out a roar and swung his ax around and the crowd went wild. "He is thought to become the next reigning champion! Seeing him face off against Tel'bak'gorth is amazing. He has been working his way up to her but she is a difficult opponent!"
"So he fights the winged horror?"
"Not really. There will be four-Oh!" Gal'rug cut himself off. "There they are!" He pointed down to the arena where three other Grog came in. "Yes! Kas'tara the Gutter is in battle gear today!" He cheered loudly as a silver haired, brown skinned Grog, that seemed to be female, dressed in similar armour to Haf'luk walked in. Her hair was braided neatly and she swung her spear around her head, setting off the crowd. Gal'rug shoved at me again before grabbing me with a quick apology he nearly unseated me. "She is a three time arena world champion! She has faced off against Tel'bak'gorth four times!" He nearly shook me, the excitement pouring off of him and I found myself smiling. He reminded me of my brother and his daughter when they talked about monster trucks.
"So they fight the winged horror?" I asked the question loudly and he stopped halfway through a nod before looking at me.
"No. They have to fight each other while dodging the attacks of the winged horror. Points are scored for each opponent you take out and you gain more points for sacrificing your opponent to the winged horror but lose points for directly attacking her or taking a hit from her. Top points are given to any warrior still in the ring after fifteen minutes and the goal is to be last warrior standing and lasting the full fifteen minutes against the winged horror hunting them." The rules seemed more than interesting and I nodded.
I looked down at the arena, looking at the other two Grog. They both had black hair and green skin but one was in what looked to be half metal armour and carrying a sword and the other was holding a mace in the plain leather armour. "Okay. So who are we cheering for?" I wanted to make sure that I was cheering for the right person.
"Whoever you want! I am cheering for Haf'luk but Tel'bak'gorth is always a crowd favourite. She has taken out several champions in her career. I would not be upset if Kas'tara took the win today either. She is an amazing warrior!" He nearly vibrated and I smiled.
"Seems fair." I was partial to wanting Kas'tara to win but I also was super excited to just what the winged horror looked like so I could judge where to put my faith.
"So we can see their hit points." He gestured to a wide holographic screen that appeared. Four avatars appeared, each with the image of the warrior down in the arena and there was white bar underneath each one. "When they run out, they are down and need to leave. Their armour is built so that damage caused by Tel'bak'gorth will not fry them but it knocks out a lot of hit points." I looked at the screen and then glanced at where the warriors were each hyping up the crowd and posturing at each other. It seemed almost like a video game. "Generally it is safe and people rarely die but serious damage can be done and we have medical teams on stand by. Everyone else likes to grumble that it is barbaric but it is controlled." I gave a small ahh that was drowned out by the cheering of the crowd as Kas'tara and Haf'luk seemed to be facing off against each other.
"So you want to be the one who isn't out and who lasts fifteen minutes in the arena with the winged horror?" I glanced at Gal'rug and he nodded.
"You also want to have the most points. You can get to be the last but might lose based on a low point score. The objective is to take out the most opponents so you can get the most points." At the explanation I nodded again. Symbols appeared above the floating avatars and I blinked right as Gal'rug grabbed my arm, inhaling sharply. "Here she comes!" He tensed as he pointed to the opening of the arena, up high. I looked around and there was a heavy roar, like metal against stone and my mouth dropped open as a giant red dragon dived into the circular arena.
Gal'rug and everyone else leapt to their feet, giving a wild cheer as I stared with wide eyes as the fucking dragon let lose a belching bellow of fire that spiralled in the air before it roared so loud my ear nearly rang. That was a fucking dragon. The winged horror was a fucking dragon. Excitement surged through me and I lurched to my feet, cheering wildly for the dragon.
A huge horn with drums sounded and it was suddenly pandemonium.
I watched, nearly leaning over the grog in front of me as I watched the dragon climb around the arena, belching fire and taking swipes at the warriors. I barely focused on them, my eyes glued to the dragon named Tel'bak'gorth as she lunged around one of the large rocks and encased one of the green grog warriors in fire as he tried to run. I inhaled sharply but he was unharmed when it flew away with a flap of its giant wings. His avatar blinked red on the screen and the white bar disappeared entirely.
"Gra'tot is out." Gal'rug nudged me and pointed at the avatar. "Kas'tara got him easily. He should have seen that move a mile away. She was toying with him. You can tell she has battled with Tel'bak'gorth before. She knows how the winged horror works. She is using it to her advantage. Smart warrior but- Go Haf'luk!" Gal-rug punched the air as the other green grog warrior's avatar went red and the grey grog lifted his ax in triumph.
Time ticked on and my heart was in my chest as I spotted the dragon again. She was lurking at the top of the mountain, her large head swinging back and forth watching the two warriors who were left and clashing. Gal'rug grabbed me again, pointing to the dragon. "That is a new trick! She has unsettled Kas'tara. She never sits back and watches like that, her handler must have done something new because she never does that." I glanced down at the silver haired grog and she did seem to be eyeing the dragon more and more.
The entire thing was amazing and I was still on my feet, nearly standing on the edge of my seat as I watch the two. Kas'tara sprang into action, she rolled backwards, narrowly missing the ax that was thrown at her. Not the big one but a smaller throwing one Haf'luk must have had on him. There was a boo from the crowd, as if they didn't like the move before it erupted into cheers as Tel'bak'gorth pulled her head back and unleashed such a giant spray of fire that nearly two thirds of the arena was encased in flames from her perch.
"By the tusks!" Gal'rug shouted it out before hauling me close, nearly picking me up. "I thought she was being craven but she knew it was coming! She knew it! I have never seen a spray like that! Haf'luk is down to a quarter hit points!" He pointed rapidly around the arena and to the screen and I couldn't even blame him. I was completely absorbed by what was going on as Tel'bak'gorth gave that screeching metal roar and soared into the air, dowsing the arena in fire again and again as she circled it with her big red wings. She was giant and even from my seat far up, she looked magnificent. I was upset I hadn't brought my phone so I could record the battle. No one back on earth would believe me when I told them that I saw a fucking dragon.
There were several minutes of Tel'bak'gorth chasing the two warriors around, randomly belching fire and roaring before Kas'tara got up close and personal with Haf'luk and with a well placed move, sent him stumbling right into a fiery blast from the dragon, knocking out the rest of his hit points right before the horn blast and drums sounded again. The crowd went wild and I joined in, cheering loudly and clapping my hands enthusiastically. The very air was energetic and Gal'rug hauled me up, giving me a nearly back bending hug before he set me back down and cheering extra loud.
I wanted to watch another hour or more of that. It was amazing and my heart was pounding as Kas'tara's avatar and her dwindling hit point bar was enlarged. "She almost beat her personal best! Nine thousand, eight hundred points! That was an amazing match! A heart thumping good time! Did you like it?" Gal'rug grinned at me and I grinned back.
"I just saw a fucking dragon. I'm fucking ecstatic!" I turned back to the arena and watched as the dragon seemed to almost prance to the center of the ring where another grog was waiting beside Kas'tara and a giant, what looked to be metal ball. The large red dragon seemed to knock her head into him before he patted the metal ball and she pounced on it much like a cat. "They're friendly?" I looked at Gal'rug and he nodded.
"The arena ones are more docile, the wild ones can and will eat you but they are intelligent animals. Her trainer is proud of her, I can tell. She pulled out a lot of new tricks." He shook out his arms before he paused and looked at me. "What is a dray-gun?"
"One of the imaginary things my species dreamed about. It looks just like her. Just ignore it." I said it absently, watching Tel'bak'gorth roll around the dirt of the arena scratching and clawing at the giant metal ball before I glanced at Gal'rug. "Can I pet her?" I was so excited that all I could think about was just touching a real fucking dragon. I didn't care what the others on the Council said, the arena was fucking amazing.
"The warriors will be down signing scales for fans and Tel'bak'gorth's handler will be down there too. We can ask." At the response I grabbed his arm and yanked as hard as I could.
"Let's go!" I was practically vibrating as I jumped off my seat and wanted to bolt down to the lifts. I was in my thirties but if you had a chance to touch a fucking dragon, you took it.
Gal'rug snagged my arm, pulling me to a stop. "Not losing you in the crowd." He gave me a warning look and I huffed slightly before nodding. We headed down the stairs to the lifts and there was suddenly a tall grog female in front of us, stopping us dead. She was dressed in rather fancy looking red robes and her hair was plaited with strands of gold.
"New alien, did you like the battle?" Her voice was pitched in excitement and I was a little shocked before nodding almost frantically.
"That was the coolest thing I have ever fucking seen in my entire life!" It was. I wanted to see another one but first I wanted to touch the dragon.
"She was cheering just as loud as we were! Cute little thing!" The grog male that had been in front of me during the battle grinned as he walked by and the female clapped enthusiastically.
"I cannot believe it. I just cannot! Gal'rug the Council's Man, you did not let me know you were bringing her here! I would have given you better seating! This is amazing. Simply amazing! She loved the battle!" She turned to the crowd, pointing at me. "She loved the battle!" She bellowed it out and a loud cheer sounded and my face went bright red at all the attention. They seemed super excited that I enjoyed myself as much as I did.
"Apologies, Tak'ala the Battlemaster. It was a quick decision to come." Gal'rug grasped my shoulder and I looked up at him as he glanced down at me. "This is the arena coordinator. Any battles that happen, she arranges."
I nodded at that before turning and smiling at her. "It was an amazing experience. I really loved it." I had and I knew so many humans who would absolutely adore the experience as much, if not more than I did.
"This will be front page news! My arena will be the envy of all the rest. Come! Come meet tonight's warriors!" She reached out for me and I paused for a moment.
"Can I touch the dragon?" I looked at her and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and Gal'rug cleared his throat.
"The winged horror, she would like to meet Tel'bak'gorth." As he said it she nodded.
"Ah, yes. She is a magnificent specimen. I can surely convince Yek'tak to allow you to meet her in the flesh." At that I beamed, the excitement rising up that much more. She waved us both forward. "Come, come!" Gal'rug and I followed closely behind her. The grog lingering around grinned at me and several thumped their chests in Gal'rug's direction and he nodded at each gesture.
We came to a different set of lifts and Tak'ala gestured us forward. We followed and then we were descending rapidly. "I cannot believe you enjoyed it. It is amazing! Us grog have been wanting others to join in our traditions and culture but they are always so stuffy. Call us violent and primitive! All we want is a heart thumping good time!" She thumped her chest as if agitated but was grinning so wide I figured she was more happy than anything else.
"Humans also love alcohol, they can drink it. They have monster tru'ks too. Giant machines that they fight in machine wars!" Gal'rug was nearly bouncing before he grabbed my arms and squeezed me almost affectionately. "They will be great friends to us grogs, great friends!"
Tak'ala looked absolutely thrilled. "I will have to learn about these machine wars! When more humans come I can arrange for one in the arena!"
"By the tusks that is a great idea!" They both sounded so excited about it I had to laugh. The arena had been a good distraction, I no longer had a headache and was relaxed, well to a point. I still wanted to touch the dragon.
The lift stopped and we all got out. We were in what looked to be a locker room. "Warriors! You had a special guest for the battle. The new alien!" Tak'ala swept out of the way and gestured at me and the four warriors who had been in the arena all turned to look at me with wide eyes.
"Her name is Rox'ie." Gal'rug said it almost proudly and I gave them all a small smile.
"Hi." There was a bit of silence and I watched as one of the green ones had a bandage wrapped around his arm. It looked like he had been hit and actually hurt.
"Did you... did you enjoy it?" Kas'tara asked it slowly as she looked me up and down and I grinned.
"I fucking loved it." At my words all four of them burst into cheers, thumping each other on the back and generally acting boisterous and happy. There didn't even seem to be any rivalry or irritation about how the matched turned out. I was growing rather fond of the Grog. They were just so...happy. It was hard not to like a group of people who wanted you to feel welcome, were constantly excited, and just over all happy.
"This one will be for the news!" The non-bandaged green grog said it, his tusks glinting with silver caps.
"Fuck the news, this one is going to be my biggest achievement!" Haf'luk shouted it out before he shoved Kas'tara. "Especially if you have anything to say about it!" At that the two grog laughed loudly, thumping on each other's back.
"Rox'ie would like to met Tel'bak'gorth." Tak'ala said it quickly as she gestured me and Gal'rug forward. "I think I can convince Yek'tak-"
"You show him one look at her and he will keel over and die!" Kas'tara snorted and Haf'luk thumped her on the back again and she proceeded to throw him into a head lock, giving him what looked to be a rather vicious noogie. "Fall all over himself that the new alien wants to meet his winged horror before anyone else's. He will never let anyone live it down." She grinned and nearly wiggled in my stop with excitement. I was going to meet a fucking dragon.
"Make sure you bring her back through here. We will sign her scale before we head out to the main area." The bandaged green grog said it and Tak'ala nodded almost absentmindely as she lead us through the locker room and down a hall that lead right out to the arena. My mouth dropped open at the sheer size of it. Looking down at it from our seats had made it seem smaller but being down on the ground level, standing on the dirt, it was absolutely massive.
"Yek'tak, Tel'bak'gorth has a fan who would like to meet her!" Tak'ala called it out and an older looking, slate grey grog came forward. His one tusk was chipped and he had a bite mark scar on his neck.
"Who is wasting you're time, Tak'ala..." His voice trailed off as he caught sight of me and his eyes went wide.
"Hi, I'm Roxie, I would absolutely love to meet Tel'bak'gorth, if that's at all possible." I bounced on the balls of my feet and clasped my hands in front of me and he just stared at me with those wide eyes.
Without looking away from me he turned his head to Tak'ala, "By the tusks... punch me. I must be dreaming because that is not the new alien coming down to the arena to meet my girl." He breathed it out and Tak'ala pulled back and socked him hard enough in the arm he grunted. It seemed to snap out of it and he lifted his hands as he nearly stormed towards me. "By the tusks!" He breathed it out. "You are smaller than I thought. You want to meet my girl? My award winning, champion winged horror?" I nodded and he grabbed my shoulders, beaming so wide I could nearly see molars.
"Absolutely! I will even let her pick the scale to give you!" He thumped my back as he whirled around and whistled loudly. Gal'rug stepped up behind me as that giant dragon peeked over one of the giant rocks and it's yellow eyes landed on me. "Telly-girl! Come here, come meet a fan!" I wasn't quite sure if the dragon knew what he was saying but it stalked towards us. Its head was nearly as tall as Yek'tak and its breath was hot. He patted the long, thick neck and turned to me before gesturing me forward. "Come on, Rox'ie. She will not bite. She used to when she was younger but she's old enough now she knows how big she is and adjusts for it." I felt suddenly wary, my heart thumping in my chest as those yellow vertical slit eyes focused in on me.
Gal'rug patted my shoulder and I took a bolstering breath before walking over. The closer I got, the larger I realized Tel'bak'gorth was. I knew she was giant but standing right in front of her head, staring at her giant teeth, it was enough to have me gulping. "Good dragon." I held out my hand and she exhaled hard enough my hair was blown back from my face and I blinked in shock.
"Rox'ie is human. A brand new species and she wanted to meet you. Before Gett'era'gor and Fid'het'gra." Yek'tak said it loudly, roughly patting her neck and she extended her nose and bumped it against my hand. My heart damn near stopped at the contact. She was covered in fine scales, much like a snake but I could see they grew bigger further from her head and had more defined edges.
I grinned and patted her nose, the fear fading to exhilaration. I was the very first human to pet a dragon. No one else could ever live up to that. My life had been fulfilled, I knew if I had died in that moment, I was set. I had lived the best life ever. She nudged my hand harder before extending further and nudging me with her big nose, giving me a very close up of her giant teeth.
"You are beautiful!" I ran my hand over her head as she turned it, blinking one big yellow eye at me.
"By the great tusks! This is a truly amazing moment. Telly-girl, you just got bragging rights over all of Torin." Yek'tak sounded almost emotional and Tel'bak'gorth huffed out a hot breath before pulling her head away and turning it around to her back. There was a moment before she straightened back out and dropped a dinner plate sized, red shimmering scale at my feet.
"For me?" I looked at her and she huffed again before turning and lumbering away.
"Ahh that's a special one." Yek'tak came over and I crouched down and picked it up. It was smooth on the inside but a bit rough on the outside and the edge was dull and chipped a bit. "She gave you one of her nesting scales. It means she likes you. Probably because you just made her value triple and she can lord it over that pompous green bastard. She hates that winged horror. She will be preening about this for years." He gave a similar sounding huff to the dragon's and I grinned as I stood up. I was holding a very real dragon scale in my hands.
I turned and showed it to Gal'rug with a wide grin. "I gotta dragon scale!" I nearly squeaked I was so excited.
He came over and bent down to look at it. "By the great, giant tusks of Torin, a genuine nesting scale." He nearly breathed it out as he looked at it. "That's a real treasure. I am envious. That is magnificent! You have to get it signed." With that he grabbed me and nearly hauled me towards the arena door.
"Thank you, Yek'tak! I'll treasure it! She was amazing to watch!" I called it out as I nearly jogged to keep up. The older grog thumped his chest at me, bowing his head and yellow eyes landed on me and Tel'bak'gorth lifted her head and sent out a blazing column of flame that had me giving a small cheer.
A dragon.
I had met a fucking dragon.