by Maia Starr
“Michelle! Michelle, I'm coming for you,” I shouted as I began to swim in her direction. But as I did so, a dark shadow moved over me, blocking out the sun. I looked up into the sky and saw a large red dragon flying low above me. Its large body was monstrous, and the clawed feet were stretched out, ready to grab. The long tail moved from side to side behind it. I looked in the direction that it was diving.
“Michelle! Michelle, watch out!” I said as I pointed in the air.
Michelle looked up and screamed at the top of her lungs. But it was too late for her to dive. The dragon snatched her from the water. Her legs kicked the air.
“Michelle! No!” I shouted. I looked around for the two warriors that had brought us to this planet. They were in the water far in the distance, helping the other women. The women were in a panic struggling to swim. I yelled out to them.
“They have taken her! They took Michelle!” I shouted trying to wave down the warriors and point in the sky. But with the chaos of the battle and the sound of the waves crashing, they could not hear me. I was confused and frightened.
The battle overhead was intense and only getting crazier. I saw two hybrid dragon men fighting in the sky. They were punching each other, and as they did so, they were plummeting towards the ocean. Splash! They sunk into the water. Was this the normal state of this planet? Were they in constant battle all the time? Or was this a one-time thing? The unknown only added to my sense of panic.
I paddled, staying afloat, and began to swim toward the other human females in the water. At least I would be in the safety and comfort of a group. But as I swam, I noticed a dark shadow once more. I looked up into the sky and expected to see a dragon. But I did not see that. I looked back down into the ocean beneath me, and the shadow was getting larger.
“Oh shit!” I said as I realized that whatever it was, it was in the water and it was coming straight towards me. I swam faster and faster. Then I felt something grab my waist. I shot straight out of the water into the air. I screamed. I looked and saw that it was a hybrid dragon alien man that had me by the waist. He was flying over the ocean and through the chaotic battle. I screamed in fear.
“Put me down! Put me down now!” I shouted at him.
“Stay still, human female. If I were to let you go now, you would drop and hit the water hard. You would not survive,” his deep voice said. I looked down; he was right. I could not see the face of the alien that had me. My back was flush against his body as he carried me. He was flying very fast. I did not know where he was taking me, but I would probably see Michelle once more.
“Damn opposition!” the dragon alien shouted as he dodged a gun blast. He swerved one way and then the other, flying with precision. It would have been impressive were it not for my fear. Finally, land came into view. I turned over my shoulder to see that we were far from the battle. I turned back to the land. It was a very small island in the middle of the ocean. The white sand was gleaming, almost like glitter. There were a couple of tall trees in a beautiful green and blue color, and they reached high toward the sun. It was very lush, like a miniature jungle. We landed in the sand. The strong hands moved from my waist, and I turned to face the alien that had taken me from the ocean.
“Where are we? What are you going to do with me?!” I shouted as I stepped away from him and finally got a good look at him. He was very tall, just like the warriors that had taken me away from Earth. He had light gray eyes that were startling to look at. His black hair was long down to his shoulders, and it was wet and stuck to his face. His face was smooth and tanned with a square jaw. His broad shoulders were strong and straight and led down to strong muscular arms. He was not wearing a shirt, and his six-pack abs were very well-defined. There was only a loincloth covering his waist down to the middle of his thighs. Large boots went up to his calves and had holsters on them that carried a gun, knife, and other devices. I was startled by the way he looked like a Tahitian warrior with massive wings and tattooed patterns of scales on his arm and shoulder.
“Do not question me! What were you doing out in the ocean? That is no place for a human female!” he scolded me. “You should be back in the village!”
“I was not out there by choice!” I shouted back at him in anger.
“You humans are helpless! You always need our help! You should not be here!” he shouted as he stomped in the sand toward me.
“I don't even know where here is! I am not here by choice! I was taken from Earth, so you can stop shouting at me, you jerk!” I shouted at him as I stepped toward him with my hands on my hips.
“Sure, that is always the story that you have. You are too soft and to helpless!” He shouted.
“You don't know anything about me!” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Stay here. Hide. I will come back for you when the battle is over, even though I don't want to and I should not have to,” he said with disdain.
“What?! You are leaving me here? You cannot do that,” I said, pushing my finger into his strong abs. They were as hard as metal.
“Watch me,” he said, leaning over me from his tall and impressive height.
“Ravinn!” another voice interrupted us.
I turned to see one of the warriors that had abducted me landing in the sand with Stephanie.
“ Biyen,” the warrior that had saved me said as he walked over to him.
“Thank you for fetching this human. There are two more that Jitu is bringing. He should be right behind me,” he said as he turned and looked into the sky.
“You are welcome, Biyen. Now I must get back to the battle,” the warrior with the gray eyes said as he gave me a dirty look. I hated him already.
“Ravinn, the battle is over. The opposition retreated,” Biyen said.
“What?! I should have been there to fight to the very last second. I would have been if I had not taken the time to rescue her,” he said pointing at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. He kept the insults coming. I ran over to Stephanie.
“Are you all right? Did you see Michelle?” I asked her quietly. She was visibly shaken.
“No. She must be with the other warrior,” she said.
I walked the edge of the sand on the shoreline and looked up in the sky, blocking out the sun with my hand. Then I saw the silhouette of a warrior flying in the air toward us. I was relieved to see that it was carrying something. Finally, it landed, but it only had one female in his arms, and it was not Michelle. It was Brenda.
“Michelle. She is not with you?” I said to him as he put the other female down in the sand.
“This is the only one that I found,” Jitu said.
“No. She is still out there. I saw a red dragon take her from the water! We have to go after her! You must get her back!” I shouted as I ran in a panic from one warrior to another.
“The opposition has taken her,” Biyen said to Jitu.
“There will be no getting her back now,” Jitu said.
“No. That would be a dangerous and foolish mission. It is not worth it. You have three here already, and that is plenty,” Ravinn said.
“How dare you say such a thing! Who are you to say what a life is worth! You are a pig!” I said as I narrowed my eyes at him and stomped in the sand over to him. If he wasn't so tall, I would have slapped him, but I was about three feet shorter than he was.
“I am a Draqua, that is who I am. Now we should get back to the village before the opposition comes back and catches us without the rest of the army,” he said as he dismissed me and moved over to the other warriors.
“Yes. That is a good idea. We should go now,” Jitu said as he moved over to one of the women and grabbed her, scooping her up in his arms carrying her like a baby. She let out a little squeal before he shot straight into the sky.
“I will take this one,” Biyen said as he grabbed Stephanie in his arms and shot into the sky. I looked over at Ravinn. I narrowed my eyes at him. I did not want him to touch me. But what choice did I have?
He gave
a heavy sigh in annoyance. He scooped me up into his arms, putting one arm underneath my knees and the other around my bottom. My eyes grew wide in shock. I quickly threw my arms around his thick neck as he shot straight into the sky. I could feel the wind from his wings as they moved up and down. He went very high as he followed Biyen and Jitu out over the ocean. I was quiet. I did not want to talk to this warrior. If he said one more thing to piss me off, I would bite his chest.
Ten minutes later, we came to a large landmass. I could see a village that was made out of huts in the trees like massive tree houses. Bridges very high in the trees connected them. I was astonished by it all. It was actually very beautiful, like a tropical paradise. The clear water underneath us was filled with sea life.
The warriors that carried the other women landed in the sand along the seashore of the beach. They placed them on their feet. The warrior that carried me, however, was not a gentleman. He put his feet in the sand as he landed and then threw me onto the ground. I rolled onto the sand. It was soft sand, and I did not get hurt, but my pride was very wounded. I spit sand out of my mouth.
“What the hell! You didn't have to do that!” I said to him.
I heard him laugh. I hated him so much. I wanted to get revenge on him somehow. I wanted to show him that I was not a helpless human as he thought. I wanted to embarrass him. There were so many things that I wanted to do to him out of frustration and anger. But I did not know that those feelings would change drastically and what I wanted to do to him was much dirtier than embarrassing him.
CHAPTER TWO
RAVINN KEED
Even though I was a hybrid and my mother was a human female, I had become increasingly annoyed by the large population of human females on Kelon. They seemed to be more than we needed and they all were very fragile, weak, and helpless. It annoyed me to my very core. The only good thing that came from having the human females on Kelon was the sect of Draqua known as the opposition. I hated the opposition, but they did bring a good fight, and that was the only thing I liked about the opposition.
I loved a good battle. I loved to defeat the enemy and the adrenaline rush that it gave me. I lived for it. So having the opposition out there waiting to spring battles on us was just what I lived for. Without them, we would have no battles at all and my sharp skills as a warrior would be wasted. I could not have that. I had battle in my blood, and I needed to release it.
So when we heard that the opposition was shooting down village ships as they entered Kelon over the ocean, I was one of the first ones to fly out and meet them. I flew hard and fast, ready to engage in combat. I did not wait for a ship; I flew out there with nothing but my hard scales to protect me. It was fine; I was a quick flier and able to maneuver swiftly. When I arrived, I let out a yell at what I saw. “Whoo! Save some for me!” I shouted in joy. I zoomed straight into battle, aiming at a green dragon that was shooting fire at a ship. I hit him hard in the belly with my shoulder, driving him away.
The battle was fierce. It was chaotic, and I was having a great time. But when a yellow dragon that I did not see coming knocked me out, I fell into the ocean and sank deep into the water. I was out only for a few seconds, and when I came to, I saw the small, fragile body paddling in the water and knew it was a human female. What the hell was she doing in the middle of the battle? It annoyed me. I swam straight for her. I grabbed her and shot straight into the air. When I put her on the small island beach, I finally got a good look at her.
She was wearing tight pants with boots and a tight top of knitted cloth. And her red hair was wet and stuck to her. Her tight clothing left little to the imagination, and I did get some pleasure at looking at her bouncy breasts and ample hips. But that was it. That was as far as my pleasure went with this human female. She was defiant and ungrateful that I had saved her. So when we finally got to the village and to safety, I threw her onto the sand. It was what she deserved.
I laughed at her irritation that I threw her on the ground. I began to walk away, but she stopped me.
“Wait! Where are you going? You have to help her,” she said as she stood in front of me with her hands on her hips.
“What are you talking about? Get out of my way, human female,” I said, pushing her aside and walking past her. She ran and caught up with me again.
“My friend. The dragon took my friend. It was a red dragon. You have to track her down and bring her back here. If it were me, she would do the same,” she said, looking up at me with her blue eyes.
“There is nothing that I can do for her. We have no idea where the opposition is based anyway, if they are on this planet at all. They are probably on another planet. We cannot spend the resources to look for one human female. We have more than enough of you here on Kelon as it is,” I said as I began to walk away again.
“If you are too scared to do it, just say so. If you are a coward, just admit it,” she said to me.
I growled. I turned back to her and took two big strides and got in her face. I was boiling with anger. How dare she say such a thing about me. She did not know me. She did not see and witness the many battles that I had fought and won. Her words were like poison to me, especially because they were coming from a useless human female.
“I am no coward! Do not call me that ever again or I will have to hurt you. Not even the king himself would be able to save you,” I sneered at her.
“I am only calling it like I see it. You have too much fear of the dragons to go after her,” she said as she crossed her arms across her chest.
“Enough!” I shouted at her. I put my hands on her waist and lifted her up into the air. She screamed.
“Ravinn!” a voice said. I recognized it immediately. I put the human female down and turned around. There, standing in the sand, was a female Draqua. She was a hybrid like me. She was tall like me. She was strong like me. She had black hair and black eyes and was the most beautiful stunning creature I had ever seen. She stood there in a sheer white dress with a yellow cloth covering her breasts and a yellow loincloth on her waist.
“Talia,” I said walking toward her.
“What are you doing?” she said with a bit of jealousy in her voice.
“I am only exchanging words with these human females that we rescued from the battle. It is nothing. Let us go,” I said, trying to get her to walk away with me. But she was not so easily convinced. She walked toward the humans.
“Oh, more humans. Just what we need. These look older than the usual batch, and a bit fragile,” she said as she judged them.
“Excuse me,” the redhead human said.
“What are you called, red-haired human?” Talia asked.
“My name is Amelia. What are you called?” the red haired human said angrily.
“My name is Talia. Biyen, should you not be taking these humans to be registered at the port?” Talia said.
“We were just headed that way,” Biyen said with a smile. He knew that Talia was being jealous.
“Please, come this way. We will get you fed, cleaned up, and registered,” Biyen said as he led the human females from the beach towards the village. As the human called Amelia walked away, she looked back over her shoulder at me. Her blue eyes narrowed in hate.
I rolled my eyes at her. Where did she get off trying to force me to go find her friend? I was nothing to her. Sure, I had saved her, but that was it. I would never see her again. She would not be in my life. I was not going to sacrifice myself to save her human friend. Talia turned back toward me.
“I did not like seeing your hands on that human,” she said as she seductively walked toward me.
“Trust me. My hands were on her in a bout of anger. If you had not interrupted, I probably would have snapped her neck,” I said playfully to her.
“I hope that is true. I do not like the idea that you are touching this human female. She was very ugly, wasn't she?” she said.
“Yes, she was. Just like all human females. She does not compare to you. They are small and weak. You are
tall and strong and rightfully the Draqua that I should be with,” I said to her.
I was always doing this. Talia was very insecure that I was going to leave her for a human. And although I had no intention of doing so, her insecurity came from a valid place. She was not able to create offspring, like all the female Draqua on Kelon. It was something that had developed over the last couple of decades. That was why most of us were now hybrid, born of human and Draqua. It was like a plague on the Draqua on Kelon. But there were many that thought it was only a passing phase and that soon a new generation of Draqua female would be able to create offspring. But some took this belief to the extreme and they fought over it, they were called the opposition. They split off from the village and for almost two decades had been at war with us. It was a complete mess. But it did afford me the chance to sharpen my battle skills.