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[b][u][center]Galactic Enlightenment

Chapter 2: The Outsider

For Txeptirea

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

[i]The stars spun as they always did, but not so brightly as they usually did. Einar floated among them, the great dark dragon casting his mind among the blazing points, slipping through the darkness between them, searching for the reason behind the dimness.

Yet, despite his search, the stars grew ever dimmer. What light he grasped for faded before he could close his claws around it. What stars were in reach faded further as he pursued them.

Through it all…pain.

Not physical pain. That was gone. In the dream, it did not exist, though he doubted he could walk again after what happened. His foot must be gone, after the weapon of the Metal Ones had struck him. Yet he didn’t feel it, in the star-dream.

Pain came in the form of emptiness…of darkness…of separation. The stars, the stars, they fled from him, retreating into the great black abyss that was nothing. Einar roared at them, commanding their presence, but they no longer listened. Nothing listened…for he had no more authority over them than the smallest hatchling.

Something had gone wrong…something had gone horribly, horribly wrong…

And so he fell. No longer flying in the star-dream, but flailing for life in the abyss between stars…[/i]

#

The first pinprick of light summoned his mind, and Einar roared himself to wakefulness. Wrenching himself to his feet despite the throbbing pain, the great black dragon [i]searched[/i] for what lay about him...and found nothing.

That was not to say that he saw nothing, but he could not [i]search[/i] as before. The world did not glimmer. The heartbeats of the eggs did not touch his mind, nor his soul. Not even the broken body of his cave-brother, Geir, broken on the flames of the Metal Ones, could be felt, and death could always be felt.

Einar panted as he pushed, feeling his blood roar through his ears as he strained to feel, to hear, to [i]search[/i] for what had happened in the caverns. At the very edge of his awareness, he could ‘hear’ one heartbeat, feel the glimmer of the light of life from someone.

That was enough.

He took a step, and growled at the pain that rushed up his leg. Looking down, however, brought him pause.

In his sleep, someone had bound him. Wrapped round his feet were broad metal boxes, blocking his soles from the vibrations of the world below him, and metal rings around his wrists left his hands feeling nearly as numb. He lifted a black hand to his neck, barely feeling the smoothness of metal beneath his fingers rather than the bumps of his own scales.

His breath came faster as he looked down between his legs, and found a ring, a pulsing, lit-up ring that caged his maleness. Einar growled deep in his throat at the sight of it. To restrain another like this, to blind and deafen them to the universe…whoever had done this had either great bravery, or great foolishness to their credit. He would rend their body limb from limb, and then feed them their own flesh for this.

He was so deep in his rage that he almost didn’t hear the sound of footsteps coming down one of the tunnels. The dragon dropped himself to the floor, crawling to a space in the shadows. Just as before, the intruder would pay. None of the Metal Ones had survived his first attack. This one would be no different.

And so he waited, and waited. The darkness felt like it crept into his bones, and Einar smiled to himself as the footsteps came closer, closer. There would be no warning. Only destruction.

The footsteps stopped, and a beacon of light shone through the tunnel, casting a small spotlight where he had been laying. He heard someone fidgeting down in the darkness, but didn’t move. Only waited.

“Come out, dragon…I don’t want to hurt you.”

A voice. A spoken voice. It had been…decades, if not longer, since anyone had spoken to him out loud. Thoughts were faster, deeper, closer. Einar wasn’t sure if he liked it.

The Metal One stepped into the cavern, standing near one of the egg-circles. The dragon waited. If he would come in closer, the eggs would be safe. There would be no damage to the little ones, no more pain for them. No more to [i]listen[/i] to from within the shells.

He was hidden, yet the Metal One turned to his shadow. Einar snarled as the creature pointed at him.

“Come on, I can see you. There’s no reason to stay in there…I won’t hurt you.”

The dragon growled. There was no reason to talk. No…no way to even [i]speak[/i] with this creature. The powers of [i]speak, listen, and search [/i] had been completely taken from him, he realized. To them, he would be nothing but a dumb beast. No wonder they would treat him like this. Like the dumb beasts that they –

[i]Can…can you understand me better like this?[/i]

His eyes went wide. The creature could [i]speak?[/i] It…impossible!

He slowly pulled himself out of the shadow, slowly moving closer and closer to the strange thing. The Metal One looked him in the eyes the whole time, even as Einar pulled himself to his full height. His wings flared out behind him in the usual display, but the creature didn’t pull back, nor did he try and puff himself up.

This was…strange.

He growled in his throat, and pointed towards the collar around his neck. Yet, the creature shook its head. Refusal? Einar grabbed the collar again, this time giving it a hard tug, trying to make his point.

[i]I can’t take it off of you. You’ll kill me, won’t you?[/i]

Perhaps. Perhaps he would, if he had the power to. The powers that let him communicate, the power that let him see, the power that let him listen, they were gone. Likely, so was the power to [i]touch[/i] another.

But he needed to know. This deafness, this blindness, was driving him mad, and he couldn’t take it for much longer. He grabbed at it again, pulling at it frantically –

The Metal One lifted its hand, and suddenly, his arms were pulled away. Einar stared at the slight haze around his wrists, at the way that they moved without his consent.

The Metal One had the ability to [i]touch[/i], then…

And he had nothing…

Which meant that he had been put through the [i]dran-par[/i], the draining. The knowledge was enough to calm him, enough to bring his heart down to a quieter pace. The [i]dran-par[/i] was a punishment that he had endured before, a thing that he knew. Eventually, it would fade. Eventually, he would have his power back.

The Metal One looked him in the eye, and the voice came back to his mind.

[i]Can…can you talk to me? This way?[/i]

Einar supposed…supposed that he might. Those drained could still speak, though they could not project. But if the Metal One was already within his mind, then all he needed to do was lower his own barriers.

Which he did.

There was some satisfaction to seeing the Metal One lurch back as Einar pulled down his mindwalls. The dragon’s entire memory and years of existence poured out through their link in the space of a few seconds. Not naturally, either. He forced it out, pushing it against the Metal One, making him see it, making him go through the same harshness that any who dared to look into a dragon’s mind would feel.

But…

But not for long. The Metal One had placed the bindings on him, for one reason or another, and they might be important. He might need this one. He pulled back the memories before they could drown the other, and reestablished most of the walls. Most of them.

[i]What are you, Metal One?

I…My name is…Zephyr.[/i]

It was a strange name, a non-dragon name, but the dragon could live with that. The creature seemed almost ready to vomit. Amusing.

[i]What’s your name?

I am called Einar, the Star-Chaser.

Star-Chaser? Are you an explorer?

A scout. A scout for the Nightwing Flight.

And…who are they?

They are my people. I am a Nightwing dragon, and they are the Nightwing flight. The dragons that come in the dark between stars, the power that will swallow all those that oppose us.[/i]

It was not idle boasting, either. Einar had been part of many attacks on the planets that they’d found. The people on them were soft, weak, unable to fight for themselves. Only those like the Metal Ones posed any threat, and they were weak enough to be fought by a single dragon.

Unless things went wrong, as a sudden spasm of pain through his foot reminded him.

The Metal One shifted back and forth, and Einar took the lead.

[i]How did you put me through the dran-par?

The what?

The draining. You have taken my power…why?

Wait, you mean…you know you’re weaker? It’s not just because of the –

These bindings stop me from using my power. They don’t stop me from feeling it. Why? Why did you take it from me? This is not your strength, but mine![/i]

He growled, but before he could take a step forward, his entire body was wrapped up in the power of the Metal One’s mind. It was so strong, so forceful, that there was no way that he could even move his littlest finger, let alone his whole body. Were he not suffering the draining, though…

He continued to growl as the Metal One touched his mind again.

[i]I needed to know. It was an experiment.[/i]

He didn’t know the word, but as a clumsy newcomer would speak, the feeling of it came across. Cold, calculating, process and thought to find the answer to a question. Regardless of the effects on the person it was used on.

The Metal One shook his head.

[i]No, no, nothing like that! You liked it, I swear. I was doing my best!

You touched me and drained me, for no crime of my own! You stole my strength! You left me with nothing!

I didn’t! It’ll come back. I just needed to see what this is like. And it’s opened my eyes in so many ways. There’s so much…so many things wrong with the Agglomeration, where I’m from. So many things that you could teach us.

You want no teaching. You want power.

No, please, look into my mind. Look, to see the truth.[/i]

Einar couldn’t, but he had no need to. The creature pushed its mind at him, forcing him to look at its history. Visions of far-off worlds, where people lived a quiet life, where people worked and slaved away at a hundred different projects at the commands of a few families. Places where the riches built up at the top, and occasionally came down to those that were favored. Places where the Metal Ones kept order, and occasionally meted out punishment to those that deserved it.

More, more, and more came through, showing him the others – those like him, those with the powers – that sat at the top. Nobody questioned them, nobody…

[i]They go unchallenged?!

There has been no reason –

To stay at the top, one must earn it! One must fight and be pushed, to struggle and to get better! To be allowed to take it and hold it in ease…You may as well make yourself a child again![/i]

Einar raged in his mind, hard enough and loud enough for the Metal One to pull back. The human – a word he finally knew, from the contact – held its head, shaking and pale. The dragon didn’t care.

The people that live deeper in space were worse than even the greatest Star-Chasers had imagined. Not only did they hoard the things that everyone needed, but the rulers were children. They were ruled by those that had the minds and souls of selfish children, who could only do what they did because of blind luck and blood. No challenge, no earning their power. This was the worst, the most wrong thing that he had ever heard of.

And now…now these humans were trying to stop him and his kind.

The human let him go, and Einar started pacing, growling under his breath. This was not the time to be suffering the draining. There were other egg chambers across the planet, other caverns watched over by other members of the Nightwing flight. If they were under attack as well – and the human’s memories said that they were – then it was only a matter of time until one of the humans got lucky.

He turned to the Metal One again, pointing to his head. They were connected in short order.

[i]You will release me.

You have got to be kidding me.

You will do it. This is torture.

And I’m pretty sure that you’re going to kill me if I do. I rather like living, so, do you mind if I don’t?

I mind very much. There are others out there. Other dragons that are watching over places like this. I need to know what has happened.

…Look, even if I release you, you won’t have the power to reach that far.

How do you know? How…how does a human even know how to commence the dran-par?

Well…I did end up…um…milking you for quite a few hours.

…Milking?[/i]

The Metal One turned red in the face, and gave him the memory.

[i]What? What is this? What were you…you did that?! And…that?! How…how did that even work?![/i]

The human turned redder, but it was too late. It was Einar’s turn to be flooded over by the human’s memories, to feel them running over him and surrounding him with the sensations that came along with them. He saw the human on its knees while his shaft was milked. He saw the human sucking him down, licking him, drinking his seed and all of his connection to the universe. He saw the human taking off its armor and…and sliding itself back, and…

He slumped forward, panting as his mind was overwhelmed with the raw lust of the thoughts, shaking his head rapidly to try and clear it. It didn’t help; his shaft throbbed up against his belly, and Einar couldn’t even stop it.

Perhaps that was why he didn’t hear the approach of another. Perhaps that was why Geir took them both by surprise.

The link between him and the human was broken, and the loud clang of armor hitting stone snapped him out of his trance. Einar rolled onto his side, looking up as another dragon – a shade or two lighter than him, a dark, dark gray – stepped through the tunnel. He recognized him. Geir, one of the other cave watchers, someone who had been assigned to a nest over fifty miles south of his.

As the human groaned in the corner, Einar looked up, and tried to [i]speak.[/i] Still, nothing. The things on him affected him as strongly as the draining did.

Geir looked at him, and shook his head. The other dragon didn’t even [i]speak[/i] to him, but instead turned to the human.

Einar knew what was going through the other dragon’s mind. It was the same that had gone through his. A Metal One had found the nest, and needed to be purged. He didn’t know what had happened at Geir’s nest, nor did he care. If the human was destroyed, then he would be locked in these restraints forever. He would not allow it. He would [i]not[/i] be blinded and deafened for the rest of his life. He would not become one of the [i]dim-scal.[/i]

The black dragon leaped to his feet, grabbing Geir by the arms before the other dragon could focus a killing [i]touch[/i] on the human. He swung his fellow Star-Chaser around, pushing him towards a wall and pinning him with his bulk.

[i]Einar! Let me kill it!

No.

It’s one of them! They killed –

They killed Sindri too! But I need it alive.[/i]

He felt the build-up of the other dragon’s power, the [i]touch[/i] reaching around for him, and he moved. Einar ducked and pulled at the gray’s tail, pulling him around and throwing him to the ground. Geir rolled before he could land another blow, and he rolled as well, putting himself between the gray and the human.

Geir glared at him, and he felt the slow gathering of the [i]touch[/i] around his body, the other Star-Chaser not about to let him get that close again. He was at a disadvantage, a big one; there was no way to get through that fast enough, and if the gray was smart enough to be [i]listening[/i] as well, he was in trouble.

One way to find out. He lashed out with a quick kick, sending a pebble shooting off of the floor and towards the gray’s head. It was caught, several tail-lengths from the other dragon’s face.

[i]Why are you defending it?

It…it has used the dran-par on me.

You are…

I am NOT dim-scal. Not yet. But if you kill it, I will be.

You would deserve it, losing to it.

It wasn’t here. It found me sleeping.

Hmmph.[/i]

It was humiliating to see Geir smirking at him, more so because he was right. Being caught sleeping was worse than being beaten in battle. At least in battle, one could give an accounting of oneself. Caught while sleeping, however, left one with nothing to defend themselves.

He didn’t dare look over his shoulder. His only chance for getting out of this battle with any pride – or indeed, his life – was to keep his eyes on Geir and hope that he broadcast some signal that he could read. Einar hadn’t fought without the powers for a long time…he hoped he still could.

As the human groaned behind him, he felt the [i]touch[/i] on his arm. As soon as he did, before it could squeeze tight, he swung his arm forward. Split second, split movements. Move where it wasn’t. Be where it couldn’t be. Keep the grip from freezing down where it could stop him permanently, and work where it was slow.

Those were the teachings given to every dragon, in the fight for dominance. The powers worked on the others. To fight each other, one needed more than the powers.

But it still helped to have them, and Einar grunted every time Geir pushed him back with a blast of force, unable to get through without his own [i]touch[/i] to counter it. And it was getting harder and harder to keep out of the full body grip that Geir was trying to trap him in.

As he was knocked back again, barely avoiding landing on eggs, the human reached out to his mind again.

[i]Why are you helping me?

I will NOT become a dim-scal. I will not!

What is – it doesn’t matter. Does he know about me having your powers?

No.[/i]

Why it mattered, he didn’t know. It wasn’t like the human could –

Suddenly, Geir was lifted off of the ground. The gray dragon shouted, turning his head, but it was too late. The human swung Geir around like a rat on a stick, slamming him to the ceiling, floor, and back again, beating him against the very walls of the cavern.

It was…astonishing. Though Einar had used that same move against the humans that he’d fought, it was rare to see the powers used on a dragon. It…it simply wasn’t something that they did, unless someone had gone completely rogue. As he supposed he had. To see how quickly the human had mastered it, as well…

The [i]touch[/i] wrapped around him, but it was the human’s rather than Geir’s. He was lifted up, held beside the unconscious gray, as the human walked up to the pair of them. The Metal One held its side, shaking its head.

[i]That…really hurt.

Geir has always been one to strike quickly.

Why…why did you help me? Really?

I told you. I will not be a dim-scal.

But what is that?

A dragon who is blind, deaf, and numb to the universe. It’s what you’ve made me with these.[/i]

He kicked his legs, showing the metal boxes along his feet, and waved his arms to display the rings on them.

[i]They’re…not boxes. They’re boots.

It doesn’t matter what they’re called.

No, but…I…

You’re afraid of me.[/i]

The human nodded.

[i]You should be.

I figured that…but what can I do? I don’t want to leave you like that, but you will try and kill me. I know it.

…If you will give me your word, human, that you will allow me times to feel the universe again…then I will not kill you.

This feels…like a bargain.

Perhaps we are…

What do I get? Besides my life, because I have that now.

What do you want?

What do I…I want this.[/i]

The human turned its hands upwards, gesturing at the [i]touch[/i] it used to keep him and Geir suspended. It gestured towards the stars, towards the ground, everywhere.

[i]I want this feeling…I want to be like this all the time. But with you, there isn’t enough. I would leave you a, a dim-scal if I kept taking it from you. So…help me. Help me have enough dragons with me so that I can have this all the time, and not weaken you. Give me this…and I will give you even more.

What can you possibly give us?

The worlds that you need. I know the maps of the Agglomeration. I know where you can go, what you can use...and maybe things will change, if you take me with you.[/i]

Knowledge. Knowledge of where to go. A Star-Chaser could never turn down that sort of information, not and maintain their position. They were scouts, and this would be perfect…

Besides, there were always dragons that were barely pulling their weight. If that was the human’s price, to have the connection to the universe that the more worthless dragons did, then it seemed a fair thing.

[i]From me to you, the power of dragons and the help in gaining it. From you to me, the knowledge of the stars and my own freedom, as often as I can have it.

I agree.

Then so do I.[/i]

Einar bowed his head, feeling only a slight twinge of regret at the deal that he’d made. It was only slight, though. The Nightwing flight would still rise. They would still conquer. The deal that was made with a human was a deal that would last as long as needed. And there was something different about this one, this…Zephyr. Perhaps it would be –

The dragon gasped as his shaft was suddenly squeezed, the human’s armored fist pumpin it up and down. Einar growled, looking down at him.

[i]What are you doing?

I’m feeding…some from you, and some from Geir.

Feed from him first! He’s the one with more power, and is more dangerous!

Hmm…You have a point.[/i]

Einar wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed at the loss of pleasure down below, but he was thankful that the human listened to him. He turned his head, watching as the unconscious gray was slowly pumped by a metal fist. The other dragon’s cock started rising, slowly but surely, and it throbbed with a life that was almost equal to his own cock.

It was strange, being so deaf to the goings-on of one of his own kind. Geir had been a friend, before, but a rival as well. They had shared a number of different things, gone into the same battles, fought the same foes. He would never live down being the first to lose to a human, though; the gray would never let him forget it.

But at least he could watch the human tease his rival now. That metal fist slipped away as the gray started oozing pre down his cock, dripping towards the floor. Surprisingly, the human put a bowl down there, some basin that would catch it, before reaching out with the [i]touch.[/i]

It didn’t take long for deep grunts and moans to slip past his rival’s lips, and Einar chuckled to himself, storing the sight deep in his memory. There would be much to tease him with, from the way that the gray arched his back in his sleep to the way that his cock twitched needily every time the human took a small break from squeezing it.

Despite the human’s strange way of staring at the gray’s cock, it didn’t seem willing to push Geir over the edge. Einar cocked his head to the side.

[i]Why do you hold back?

Because I want him built up...I want to see how much he will spurt if I make it take longer to get there. It’s a common human thing. We call it edging.

Edging…[/i]

There was a similar concept for his people, though it had less to do with a final pleasure and more to do with empowerment. Those dragons that would take pleasure for themselves, and build it and build it, so that it might grow their own power. Consistent pleasure, like what the human was giving the gray, would build up the connections to the universe, and so long as they didn’t give in to temptation, it would make them stronger.

At the same time…

Einar couldn’t help but throb a bit, his cock responding to the whole show that was going on at his side. He didn’t quite feel jealous, but he could feel his own need getting stronger and more insistent with every so [i]touch[/i] stroke that the human gave. The gray’s shaft bounced and drooled, spitting pre into the air only to have it caught and dropped down to the bowl below.

He squirmed as he imagined that being done to him, remembering the memories that the human had shared. To think that the [i]touch[/i] had been used by a human, of all things, to reach inside of him and...and milk him. It was a keen humiliation…

So why did it make him so hard?

Einar shoved that thought away. It was a respect for strength, nothing else. The human was clever and had used its position well. There was nothing else…

Still, he throbbed all the more as he imagined himself in Geir’s position, of feeling that touch to his cock, of being pumped and teased, made to drool out his power for someone that was strong enough to earn it…

The gray dragon grunted, gasping in his sleep, and Einar realized that the [i]touch[/i] was speeding up. The human had decided it was time. Lifting up the bowl, the human held it under the gray’s cock...and kissed the head.

It was enough. Geir came in fountains and geysers, covering the bowl and filling it to the very brim. The dragon squirmed and panted in his bruised, unconscious state, before slumping back in the hold that the human retained on him.

Einar shook his head, unable to believe how much the human had managed to take from the other dragon. The bowl had to be filled with enough seed to have come from a good three dragons, not just one. No wonder he, himself, had felt so drained upon waking up. No wonder the star-dream had been turned into one of darkness and fear.

Geir deserved what he would receive in sleep, but Einar felt a strange tinge of fearful arousal as the human sucked down the seed in the bowl, only to turn to him.

[i]Now, it’s your turn.[/i]

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]