The planet of T'Rahzahr Pt3
#55 of Exploration
"Devlin, can I drive there?" I asked the hell fire dragon.
"Why would I stop you?"
"Well, officially, you and Draco are the leaders, and we are in front of the the,"switch language," natives."
"O.K., fair enough.Does Simba and Draco want to do the same?"
"No, I want to fly." Simba replied, and I heard him change into his Apache form. Draco changed into his Land Rover, and I into my Audi. The sensei looked in interest at my chassis.
"I can see why you're a scout, your methods of disguise are, well, teleportation, altering one's form, and you have devil made weapons."
"Oh please." I replied." They are not devil made, just advanced.Two hundred years, you'll be making these.And the teleporter and alter form were not something I was born with, I was forced into one, and was gifted the other."
"The only question is, which way around?" Devlin suggested innocently. I ignited my infernal combustion engine, and gently applied the acceleration to the sophisticated four wheel drive system.The Audi revved as the Land Rover started off.
"False start."Devlin said as the Land Rover bounced over a pothole. I pressed a little harder, and the Audi lurched forward, then finding the power band, accelerated quickly. I made a late change into second at thirty five, and blitzed past the Land Rover, which I suspect was in top gear.
The Apache hovered above the party as me and Draco rushed ahead, and conversation between the sensei, Orion, Dev, Javid and Salbar became difficult.
The Audi bounced down the mostly uneven road, past the foot traffic. My engine was only just sufficiently loud to give people time to move, and as I weaved underneath stalls and under carts, people wondered who and what I was.
The Audi was built low to the ground, and occasionally a carter would get a surprise when I passed underneath his axles. Draco's more lumbering form, due to it's absence of my cushioned suspension, bounced drunkenly over every bump, but his passage was the more unstoppable type, due to the throaty roar he emitted after revving the engine to go over a crest. The Apache left the five trying to speak, and gave chase after me, and I could see in my rear vision mirrors the looming gunship.
"O.K., Simba, let's see if one of my modifications works."
I mentally gave myself a command, and a fire erupted in the engine as a special blend of NOS mixed with my petroleum energy. There was a resultant burst of blue flame from my exhaust, and I surged forward. I crashed through a small wooden stall, leaving a car shaped hole in the wall, but it was disused, and I screeched to a halt outside the door proclaiming that inside was the Fire Mistress. I changed into my bionic form, and opened my bag.
One of my Lift Plus bottles, which still had the seal on it, was now completely empty.I looked through the glass as the Apache changed beside me, and Simba looked at the bottle.
"What did you do?"
"I made a slight modification to my car after doing a Google search. If you do a specific blend of nitrous to petrol, you can seriously boost your acceleration. Get it wrong, and consequences are dire, but I can mentally change the flow, so it wasn't hard."
"And?"
"It appears that for a ten second burst of nitrous oxide, I emptied a bottle of Lift.Talk about expensive on the pedal."I smiled, opening the bottle. There was a smell of fuel, and I shrugged, replacing the cap and putting it back in my bag. Draco pulled up.
"I saw that, Alduin." he said, changing into his dragon form."Does it boost your top speed?"
"I ran a series of tests over the last week, and the original scale top speed was one hundred and sixty kilometres an hour. Given the boost, I got it to two o' one.Still not as fast as some of our previous car forms, but still not bad for a twenty five year old car."
"They put that car out in '84, didn't they?"
"Indeed, and it very quickly won rally championships like no one's business." I agreed.
The remainder of the party arrived.
"Why do I smell burning?" Salbar asked.
"Either the fireballs inside, or my fuel/nitrous mix." I replied cheerfully."After you, sensei?"
The sensei knocked gently on the door, and a plain clothed sleek creature stood in the door. It was male, and it bowed to us.
"The Mistress is in the room, Orion."
We walked past the creature, standing in a very plain hallway. Orion went past a few doors, and opened one.
"Shut the door, this pupil is trying to concentrate!" a female voice commanded. It was iron toned, and Devlin shut the door behind him.
The room was heavy with smoke, but brightly lit. This was in art due to the large numbers of candles in the room, but also because of the blazing ball of pure fire the student was trying to hold. The student was a furred creature, and was trying to concentrate, trying to blank out his mind, finding the balance of fire and cold. The fire ball was on his hand, and indeed licking around his fingers, but it was not burning him.
Then the pupil made the mistake of turning to see who had entered, and as like me when people burst in the room when I'm doing piano, his concentration faded. The fire seared his hand, and his fur caught fire. He yelped, and the ball dropped from his hand. Diving forwards, I caught it before it struck his toes, while Orion brought his fingers together, and the fire went out on the apprentice's hand, and suddenly Orion was holding a very small ball of fire, barely the size of a golf ball.
Because I was in bionic form, the fire did not burn me, but I felt the impulse to concentrate, to keep the flame going. I stood, concentrating as hard as I could to keep the fire alight. The flame quivered briefly, and I thought I had it, and then it winked out.
"Pity, he almost had it there." the voice replied, and we all turned. A female fox in long garments was behind the door, so none entering would notice her until she saw them. She looked at us shrewdly, while the apprentice held his hand in pain. Simba went over to him, drawing one of Arachno's patent medicines from his first aid kit.
"Fire Mistress." Orion managed a half bow, the small ball of fire still in his palm.
"Orion, you come with a lot of people today, what is your purpose?"
"They herald from another planet, and they wished to see you."
"How interesting." she looked appraisingly at the party." Two dragons, one of them a special dragon, his runes make it obvious. A serpentine creature, a wolf, a feline creature, and a robotic being."
"He is termed human, Mistress." the sensei gave a short bow.
"I see. Human, I see you tried to keep the fire going, but concentration is not enough.A good first effort though."
"I am honoured, Mistress."
"So are they here to learn magic from me?" she asked imperiously to the sensei.
"No, my lady. They saw your sign, and wished an audience."
"Their magical aura does not seem to be much at all, a great pity. The human and the dragon glow slightly, as does the lizard, but have none of the others experienced magic?"
"Why me?"I looked confused. The Fire Mistress looked at me.
"You claim not to know the magic that pulses in you?" she stood, a very slender figure."It seems almost an echo of magic, but you could control it."
"There must be some mistake, I could never do anything like Orion..."
"Orion has practised for fifteen years, of course not. On the other hand, you do have a natural aptitude.To explain..."
She summoned and threw a fireball at me. I raised my hands desperately, and felt something surge through me, moving fast towards my fingers. My fingers glowed as I caught the fireball, and it hung in mid air.
"How the devil?" I and Draco asked at the same time. The fire Mistress smiled nastily.
"Don't think for one minute that's you. That's me, using the power which you have in you. If you practised for fifteen years, possibly less, you might be able to cast fire like Orion manages, but you have to train yourself to work with fire."
"I have this sort of power?" I stuttered, and then the fireball cindered across my chest, leaving a soot streak.
"You do, except you do not know how to use it.As does the dragon, and the serpent. His magic is different to mine, but it is still magic." she directed a glance at Draco and Salbar.
"What have we three done to grant us this?" Draco asked.
"You and the human have the same thing, the lizard's is different energy to yours."
What did I and Draco do? I started inwardly going through the planets backwards, eliminating things I had done with anyone else, or rather only me and Draco had done.
"The goddesses." I suggested to Draco.
"Not again.How many gifts did they give us?"
"Enough to last for eight thousand years?" Simba asked innocently."There must a be a linger of magic in you, enough to wake your natural abilities.I highly doubt you could cast a fireball, but try a small flame, or something."
I looked at my fingers doubtfully, and then shrugged. Enough had happened to me, I was prepared to give it a go.I closed my eyes, and concentrated.
"Concentrate, and relax." the fire mistress ordered."Do not think, except of fire, let the flame take control, let it pulse through your body. That's the only thing I will suggest."
I tried to do as she said. It was like my yoga moments, picturing the fire sharply in my mind. I brought my thumb and two fingers together, and felt a blazing inferno surge through my arm. It concentrated on the point between the three points. I concentrated further, relaxing as much as was possible, and felt my hand quiver with the power I was attempting to find.
Then there was a moment of pure power, as the flame caught, and I felt it's heat against my steel skin. I opened my eyes, and for half a second I saw a flicker of flame between my fingers, dancing back and forth. Then it flickered out, and I staggered backwards,feeling awful. It was as though I had been struck with a dose of the flu. Draco was still concentrating, and I saw a glow around his fingers, before he too conjured the flame.
He kept his eyes shut, and the flame continued. Then it winked out, and Draco collapsed backwards into Devlin.
"Not bad for a first attempt, both of you."
"I feel like I'm going to be sick."I muttered, sinking slowly to the ground.
"It always feel this bad the first time." Orion replied,"It's your body having trouble with what you're trying to create."
He popped a fireball into existence, about the size of a crystal ball, and tossed it from hand to hand.
"You make it look so easy." I sighed, getting gently to my feet.
"That's because the Fire Mistress taught me how to do it." Orion replied.Draco regained his composure.
"I can blow flame a lot easier than that."
"Limited range." the Fire Mistress said, in a no nonsense tone of voice," Orion here can chuck a fireball five hundred metres."
"And she can manage three times that distance." Orion replied. The apprentice sat cross legged while his Mistress spoke to us.
We talked to one another on the subject of magic for a good ten minutes, and then she informed us that her apprentice needs to get back to her lessons, and we were firmly told to leave. We did so, and I breathed a sigh of relief as we stepped onto the street.
"Draco, I'm going for some Aerial Recon."
"Certainly, Alduin. Could I try something , might come in handy?"
I changed into my Lightning form, and he attached the cameras. Under his instructions I ignited the engine, keeping it in horizontal mode, and then picked me up by the wings. I pushed all power to the engine, and Draco threw me upwards as I shifted.
This was terrifying for me, fearing I wouldn't build up enough speed, but Draco had a lot of strength in his arm, and as I slowed, gravity's grip on me faded, and I began to rise on my own power. Draco cheered, as did Simba, as I rose at about eighty degrees, disappearing into the sky.
"It worked, although I thought it wouldn't for a second." I said.
"I was just wondering if we could provide the initial burst to get you going. Means you could get in the air a bit faster."
I roared past two thousand feet, three thousand feet, and pulled up at four and a half thousand feet, looking over the miniature town. Several main roads ran in different directions, and a lazy river ran to the North West.
"Nice serene place." I commented.
"Orion just asked how fast you can go?In fact, we all want to see you at full tilt." Devlin asked.
"O.K., just give me a run up." I said, flying away from the town.I flew for about five kilometres, and dropped my height to a hundred metres, angling around directly at the town. I kept at full tilt, and felt my speed increase.
"Eight hundred and eighty, nine hundred and twenty, nine sixty, nine ninety, afterburners."
The afterburners ignited, and I surged forwards, trying desperately to hold the thing straight.
"Mach 0.96."I said, my teeth chattering as I tore over the landscape."Mach 0.97, 0.98,0.99."
There was an almighty boom, and I tore over the village. I was concentrating on slowing gently, as Simba spoke.
"Mach 1.01, that is quick."
I ignored it until my speed dropped under the thousand kph mark, I slowed drastically, until I was cruising at about two hundred kilometres an hour.I breathed for the first time in a minute, and spoke.
"When I land, I want a replay of that." I said, switching to vertical flight above a forest. I gently descended, throttling back and forth to avoid trees until I landed on the leafy ground. I cut the engines.
"Simba.I've landed. What did you see?"
I opened my interlink, and received the packet of data, opening it up. Simba was staring directly at my approach, a small dot growing larger by the second.Then with a phenomenal roar, I passed directly overhead, and there was a sharp explosion as my craft broke the sound barrier. The tiles of the nearby roof tops shivered, one or two that weren't nailed down shook loose.The trees shivered, and a huge gust of wind blasted the party in a V from my passage. Bales of hay disintergrated,and then I was gone, my blasting noise fading to a distant whine.
"Nice flying, Alduin." Simba said.
"I'm coming back, I need some medicine." I said, changing into my Audi form and slowly driving over the grass and through the undergrowth. I felt very unwell, the drain placed upon me immense. And Lift Plus didn't work to boost it, because it was more age weary.It didn't shorten my life, like Salbar's run did, but I felt like an old man for about two hours afterwards.
So when I drove gently into the town, I came over to the party, who were sitting outside an old fashioned cafe. Draco had brewed a cup of dragon coffee from nowhere, and Javid was drinking one of his own drinks. I came to a clanking halt in front of the lion, and Orion looked over the table at me.
"Hmm, the blur seems to have faded.He's not going half as fast now."
"I'm not going a hundreth."I replied, changing and slumping into a chair." Still, we got a large amount of land mapped out."
"And very quickly too." Simba smiled, handing me a plastic cup filled with liquid.I drunk it in one go, and leaned back on the chair.
The sensei was speaking to Devlin about Central, and Orion was listening in. Salbar looked pityingly at me, he knew just how miserable I felt.I passed back the cup, and let my hand slump down.
"So what's happening now?" I asked.
"Well, there's bugger all to do now. We've got a scanner that's doing terrain surveys."
"Good." I replied.
"So we were just wondering should we go and show Orion to Central?"
"What's his opinion of this?" I questioned.
Orion was still listening to Devlin explain to the sensei, and I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, and I smiled.
"Enjoying hearing about it?"
"It sounds fun."
"Then let's not waste anytime, let's go see it." I stood, and as everyone else did, I extended my arm to the fox. He took it gingerly.
"How does it work?"
"Close your eyes, count to forty.On three."I said, as we squadded up, fingers hovering on our teleporters. "Three."
Bang. I could feel Orion's hand double it's grip, as we were hurled through the distances involved.
Then we arrived, and Orion fell to the floor, the albino fox thrown completely by the landing. A glower appeared, and while I wanted to continue our game of buggering off whenever the glower spoke, I wanted to show Orion around, so I stayed. The glower stopped in front of us.
"How was the rather short trip?" it asked innocuously.
"Rather informative, master glower, and before you ask, I am not here." I replied, saluting. The glower chuckled.
"And why is that?"
"Because I think I'm going to be ill." I said, walking past the glower. Javid casually sidled past, as Simba and Orion followed suit. Draco and Salbar looked at one another, and drew lots.
"Paper, scissors, rock." Draco said, and there was a whoop of glee from Salbar, and a moan from Draco.
"A rather unique way out of volunteering, Alduin." Simba said, as the five of us walked towards the food store.
"I'm running out of excuses, it will be bordering on the ridiculous next." I replied, smiling at Orion."No one likes spending too long with the glowers, no disrespect to them, but they scare the willies out of me."
He was, of course, unused to my terminology, but got the general drift as we arrived at the door to the food store.
I pushed it open, and noticed that everyone was around one table, or correction, most. Iris was there, her chest bloated and swollen, like,wow.
Valmeero looked up." Hey, Alduin, Iris found out she was pregnant recently."
"I kind of guessed, although I was wondering where she had been. Who's the father?"
"No idea yet." Iris replied, looking proud but slightly tired."And I'm not going to find out, I want it to be a surprise for me."
"Well if said child sinks his claws into you, it might be important.Have you worked out when?" Devlin asked, standing beside me.
"Central New Year was when it happened."
I interrupted."That's not surprising. How many had it off with you then?"
"Twenty, or there abouts.How come you guys are so early back?"
I stepped aside, as Simba prodded Orion to enter.
"This is our newest scout, his name is Orion."
There was a mass movement to the door to greet the newcomer, while I sidled over to Iris, who was sitting in a chair.It wasn't bulging, but it was noticeable.
"So how long do elves take?"
"Four months, I'm going to have to spend a lot of time in bed."
"That's not a bad thing."I replied."So have you had a guess at the father?"
Iris laughed."Alduin, you and twenty others all fucked me that night, it's a matter of chance."
"No offence, I'm just hoping it isn't me.I was never born to be a father."
Devlin came over likewise."If it's a dragon,you will probably have to make a visit to our planet.It's due in three months, correct?"
"Indeed." the elf replied. Devlin smiled.
"Just in time for our festival. You are most welcome to come."
"I will too, you keep hinting at it." I added. Devlin looked at me, he seemed to be thinking about me going to this festival, even though I had no idea about it.
"You a hundred percent sure about that?"
"Better than being ten percent sure." I replied with a smile, turning back to Orion. He was being bombarded by questions, and I raised my hands for silence.
"O.K., give him time to answer them. Orion, have you explained your special abilities? Winslo, have a look at this guy."
The bunny stepped forward, and waited for Orion.Orion popped a fireball into existence, holding it in two hands. Winslo smiled, and stood back.
"Cryogeni locomotor!" A bolt of ice erupted from his hands, hurling itself at Orion. Orion hurled the fireball forwards, and the two intersected.There was a pure interstellar white where they did, and it vanished after a second. Winslo relaxed his hands, and ice began creeping along the ground around him, expanding in each direction from him. It clung to the ground, tables, chairs like weed, and tendrils of it brushed people's feet. Orion held his hands together, and a bubble of fire blew out from him, vaporising the ice.
"Fire and ice." Silverine smiled."There may be no survivors.Where's Draco?"
"He lost, again." I replied, keeping a straight face as we went back to the tables, to have a proper conversation. Orion sank into conversation naturally, although he was still a bit weary of the Lupogriff, and some of the more menacing in the party. The old age syndrome raised off me, and I realised there had to be a way to break Mach without going through all this. Unfortunately the fastest plane with VTO was the Lightning, so I would have to cheat to get anything faster. Ryan came over.
"Hey, Alduin, just for the record, I've changed my form."
"Which one?"
"I've dropped the Cougar APV."
"For?"
"M1A2 Abrams."
I laughed." Oh god, we have two tanks now, awesome. You and Simba should come to our planet to have a race."
I had enjoyed being a tank, but I'll keep with my Quattro, thank you. Besides, the NOS function was handy, and the engine note was crisp and choir like for a car. I bid farewell, and teleported back to my home planet. Gareth was at the food store, instead we had a storm in full flood over the town. Rain washed away everything, and I sat down, looking the drops run down my windows. In my backpack was the book the dragon had given me during the church service, and I added it to my increasingly large collection in my drawer.
Bang. I turned, Orion was with Javid.
"Ah, Alduin, I just wanted to know where you had gone to. Your teleporter is a work of art. How does it work?"
"It is not my realm of tech."I replied, smiling and coming over to them."I couldn't understand half of their mechanisms, but Abby will happily explain."
Orion decided to stay and look around. We went through the bedrooms, and the kitchen, and moved to the bathroom. He was confused by the principle of running water, so we decided to teach him. We stripped down together, and pushed him gently towards the shower, while I got it running. Orion looked in slight apprehension at this device, but as it got to it's normal warmth, I helped Javid pushed the fox in. Orion briefly resisted, but landed directly under the spray. He gave a yip of surprise, and we got in after him, Javid shutting the door.
Once under the spray, Javid got the dispenser of liquid soap, and started rubbing the fox down, leaving foam over his body.I had helpfully directed the water away from him, until Javid had finished, and then I turned it back on him, and all the dirt he had accumulated from fighting was washed away in the rivulets of water.He stood under the water, loathe to pull away from the heat, while Javid and self soaped ourselves down.I was in charge of the spray, and I pointed it at Javid, and then finished by cleaning myself. I left it pointing at Orion, and Javid went for the fox. Orion went down, squirming under the colonel, but they writhed about on the floor of the shower, determined to exude dominance on the other. One of Orion's flailing legs took mine from underneath me, and I got involved, personally.
I hit the ground hard, and as Javid and Orion rolled, grabbed Orion around his shoulders, locking my arms around his shoulders and levering backwards. The fox pulled at me, but by then Javid had Orion in a pin.
"Don't you dare!" Orion shouted, before my cock slid into his ass.He howled in surprise, and then again as Javid pushed his in too.We fucked him in alternation, Javid going in as I went out, and vice versa.Both of us stroked his cock, one hand each, and his protests dimmed. We got to our feet, Orion impaled on us. He was slightly shorter than us, so when we stood straight, even with him deep on our cocks, he wasn't touching the ground. The same happened to me when Dev and Draco did me together. He kicked out with lack of success, as we continued our going over, and let go with a howl as he ejaculated.
Me and Javid finished, and I spoke over the hiss of water.
"Right, Orion, against the wall."
We let go, and he fell backwards against the wall, wondering what my intention was.I got down onto my knees, and sucked on his cock. I felt Javid's sodden furry arms wrap around my chest, and felt him sit on the back of my legs as he thrust into my own ass. We were all enjoying ourselves so much, Orion had gotten over our prank, and was exerting a little domination to us. With his hands, he made Javid come closer, and the pair of us worked his cock, me sucking his member, Javid licking his base and testicles.
Orion let go again, and I swallowed his cum.Javid finished a few minutes later, and then both Orion and self turned on Javid.Having shown the new fox the ropes, I let them teleport back to Central after finishing in Javid, and threw myself back down on the couch, ready for some serious thinking, about the entire adventure.