Hakona: Dragon Warrior (Scifi Alien Dragon Romance)

by Jamie Phoenix

  Standing next to him, she was able to fully grasp how large he really was. Even though she had always been slightly short, at only 5’5”, she never felt completely tiny. Standing next to him, easily measuring at least 6’5”, she felt puny and insignificant. It wasn’t just his height, but his massively huge frame and rippling muscles that made him seem even more overbearing.

  He didn’t wait for her to get her footing completely before tugging her forward, leading her towards the door. She tripped over her own feet, but his tight grasp around her wrist prevented her from falling forward.

  “Where are we going?” she pleaded between cries.

  He didn’t answer her. He didn’t even look down at her. He kept his focus in front of him, and once they had left the small cell she was being held in, he simply turned left and continued to walk purposely forward, dragging her along beside him.

  She tried to take in her surroundings as best as she could between her tears. There was a ringing in her ears caused by the tightness in her chest and stomach that threatened to squeeze the consciousness out of her again.

  It was obvious they were in a cave of some sort. Everything was made of stone, and there were no windows as far as she could see. Occasionally a passageway would lead in one direction or the other, all lit up by rows or torches hanging from iron castings on the walls.

  They passed a few others who looked like the man holding onto her. They all had the same blue skin, with scales protruding in different places. They had the same black hair, black eyes, and stern expressions.

  He led her down one narrow hall then another. She lost track of how many turns they had taken and in what direction. It was a maze; the entire place was a labyrinth woven into the side of a mountain, at least as far as she could tell.

  As they went, their surroundings changed slightly. The passages became less narrow, and the ceiling above them got higher and higher. She could see that up ahead was an opening. It didn’t lead outside, but into a room—a large chamber.

  The man holding onto her stopped and looked down at her, the haunting smile still on his face. “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Ready for what?”

  “To meet our leader.”

  His voice was calm but his tone was heavy. She felt like his words floated in the air around her, threatening to crash down on top of her and consume her completely.

  He pushed her in front of him, grabbing onto her shoulder and forcing her forward. As she walked, she felt the nerves and anticipation buzz inside her. She had no idea what to expect when she reached the opening. She tried to prepare herself for anything.

  She had no way, however, to prepare herself for what she found.

  The chamber was enormous. The ceiling, high up above their heads, was only barely visible. It had to be at least 200 feet high. The room itself was the size of a football stadium—not just a football field, an entire stadium. There were large pillars forming a circle around the perimeter, supporting the stone structure that looking like the inside of a beehive. There were rooms and inlets carved into the sides of the walls. It looked like a small city in there. It was impossible for her to absorb it all in one quick glance.

  She didn't try to, though. She didn't care about the chamber, or the seemingly infinite passageways and rooms that speckled the walls around her. She didn't care about any of that because her eyes were drawn almost immediately upwards.

  She froze in place. The man who had brought her there moved to her side and crossing his arms over his chest let out another hearty laugh.

  Standing motionless, her mouth hanging open slightly, she watched. She watched as the figures above her moved through the air. Despite their swift, effortless movements, and their almost graceful agility as they climbed higher up or dove down lower, they still instilled in her a feeling of fear unlike any she had experienced before.

  Their size was massive and their bodies covered in scales—all glittering in the light, seeming to change colors as they moved. They had wings that appeared to be made of leather, and fangs that protruded from their giant mouths. They had long tails and even longer necks that supported their enormous heads.

  They were dragons!

  She stumbled back, opening her mouth to scream but unable to produce any sound. The man turned to face her, his arms still crossed over his chest.

  “Are you…?” She finally muttered.

  He watched her, calmly, while the realization worked its way through her. His expression didn’t soften; he didn’t show any signs of concern or worry for her. She felt her breathing become labored, and she tried desperately to gasp at the air, pulling it into her lungs in quick, short gulps.

  Reaching out and once again taking her wrist in his hand, he turned and dragged her deeper into the chamber. In the center was a large fire that illuminated the room with reds, oranges, and yellows. Just past it, she saw a sort of platform, elevated slightly, with a stone throne in the center of it. As they got closer, she saw a man sitting on the grey-black chair. Even though the seat itself was huge, the man sitting in it made it seem small. He consumed it completely, his massive frame filling it and almost spilling out over the sides. He wasn't a fat man, by any means. He was all muscle—hard, chiseled muscle. He appeared to be firm and as stone-like as the throne he was sitting on.

  Like the rest of the others, he had blue skin, dark features, and dark blue tribal-like patterns covering his body. He eyed her suspiciously as she and her guide got closer to him.

  “Good work, Hakona,” he said to the man standing behind her.

  “Thank you, Bodaway,” he replied firmly.

  He turned his attention to Allison. “My name is Kasma,” he explained, “but you may hear me referred to in another way as well.”

  She looked at him, her eyes wide, not sure how to respond.

  “I am the Bodaway—the leader of my people.” He pushed himself up out of his chair and began walking in her direction. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions. That is fine. You may ask them. But, we have some questions for you as well that we will expect you to answer in return.”

  She felt a shiver run down her spine as he grew closer to where she was standing. He was taller than Hakona, the man who had brought her to him if that was even possible. His mere presence was enough to make her feel dizzy.

  “We are the Samou,” he explained dryly. “We have been here for as long as time itself has existed on this planet.”

  “Samou,” she repeated the word slowly.

  The Bodaway continued to speak, slowly, so she had the ability to digest everything he said. "We believe in living in peace with nature. We protect it, and it protects us. We are one with the ground, the sky, the trees, the animals."

  He stopped speaking. By now he was standing directly in front of her, his size dwarfing her. He leaned forward and placed his face just inches from hers.

  “And you—you come here and upset the land, tear down the trees, and treat it as if it were your own to conquer, occupy, and destroy.”

  Unlike Hakona, Kasma didn’t have scales on his face. But they covered his body almost entirely, making it appear like a thick coat of armor. His black eyes burned into hers.

  “We just needed a place to live,” she tried to defend her team.

  “What we are speaking of is your kind’s disregard for our planet. You cannot tell me that you did not know that the trees were there when you were knocking them down to construct your camp. You cannot tell me that you did not know of the air around you when you started to pollute it with your chemicals and devices.”

  She didn’t know how to answer his accusations. He was right; they had destroyed what little part of their planet they had explored. They had developed it, turned it into something it wasn’t before—and not for the better. The bulldozers they had brought with them had worked their destruction, effortlessly, for the first two days they were there.

  “We needed to establish a camp. We needed to…”

  “Survive?” he asked, c
utting her off.

  “Yes.”

  “So, in order for you to survive, you have to destroy?”

  Once again she felt the tears begin to form in her eyes. She was overwhelmed by everything that had happened in such a short time. She couldn't think properly to answer his accusations. She couldn't form words, either vocally or mentally.

  “You come here, with your fancy equipment and your machines of destruction and think you’re superior. You think you’re entitled to our land, our resources, and our planet?” His voice was growing louder, almost reaching a yell.

  “No,” she said softly, but it appeared he didn’t hear.

  “You call yourself a biologist, but you have no idea of what you’re dealing with! You don’t understand life itself. You have no respect for it. If you knew, you would.”

  Allison began to sway back and forth on her feet, consciousness fading in and out. “We will leave,” she said between sobs. “Just let me go back to my camp. I will

  tell them everything, and we will leave.”

  "No, you won't," Kasma said firmly. "You won't leave. Your kind is greedy. You want this land. You won't leave it. We've been watching you," Kasma explained. "Hakona and his men have been watching you since the day you landed here."

  She fought the urge to turn to look at Hakona. Keeping her focus on Kasma, she inhaled slowly. “Okay,” she said confused. “What does that have to do with us leaving?”

  “We know why you’re here,” he explained. “You have destroyed your own planet, and you’ve come to do the same to ours.”

  “What’s going to happen, then?” she asked weakly.

  “We’re not sure yet,” Kasma answered. “That’s why we brought you here. We want to know more about you.”

  “You seem to know so much already,” she said quietly.

  “Excuse me?”

  She was surprised that she had said the words out loud.

  “I just meant,” she said nervously, “that you’ve been watching us, and you seem to know everything about us already. Why do you need me here?”

  “We know some things, but not everything. We intend to get the other answers we need from you before we act.”

  “I don’t know if I can tell you what you want to know,” she said. She had no idea what they could possibly need to ask her, but she was just a biologist. What could she know that they would want to find out?

  “We’ll be the judge of that,” Kasma said calmly. “Hakona here is our head warrior, responsible for protecting our people and our land from intruders. He will make sure to get whatever information we need from you.”

  She turned to look at him. His eyes were still fierce, and his expression stern, but somehow he didn’t seem to have the same intimidating presence he had before.

  “Take her back,” the Bodaway said quickly. “I’m done with her.”

  Without a word, Hakona spun her around and began leading her back to her cell. Her head was still spinning, trying to process everything that had just happened. She felt scared, not just for herself, but for everyone who had come to Planet 48-Z with her. They had no idea what was lying in wait for them. They had no idea of what they would be facing if the Samou did decide to attack. They were no mere humans. They had the ability to transform into terrifying creatures.

  When they reached the small room she was being kept in, Hakona pushed her inside, stepping in after her.

  “Someone will be by for you tomorrow.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you’re going to continue to stay here with us, you’re going to work. We all contribute here. If you want to eat, you need to earn it.”

  “Please, let me go back to my camp. Let me tell them—I’ll tell them to leave.”

  “No,” he said firmly.

  "We'll leave. I promise we'll leave!"

  “You won’t.”

  “Please,” she said, reaching out to him. He stepped back quickly, avoiding her touch.

  “Don’t beg. It’s pathetic,” he said sharply.

  And with that, he walked out of the room, letting the door slam behind him.

  Chapter 3: Learning the Way

  The next day, as Hakona had said, someone came to her cell for her. This time, the person who stood, waiting for her was a woman. Her frame was smaller than Hakona's, although still significantly larger than Allison's. Her hair was long and hung down nearly to her waist on her right side. The left side of her head was shaved almost down to the scalp, and the tribal signs that wove their way throughout her skin were visible there.

  “Hello, Allison,” she said as she stepped into the room.

  She was wearing the same animal pelts that everyone else, including Allison now, wore.

  Allison didn't answer her greeting. She pushed herself up, however, and walked over to where she was standing. She must have been at least 9-10 inches taller than her. Every one of the Samou that she met had made her feel like a dwarf compared to them.

  “My name is Queane,” the woman said softly.

  Her voice didn’t carry with it the harsh, authoritative tone that Hakona’s or Kasma’s did. It was sweet, almost melodic. But, the stern expression on her face was the same, and still filled Allison with a feeling of fear.

  “You have been assigned to work with me,” she continued. “Come.”

  Allison followed her out of the room. She knew there was no point arguing or refusing to go along with whatever they told her to do. At that point, her main concern was keeping herself alive. As they moved through the passageways, she looked with fear at everyone they passed.

  No one tried to restrain her as she walked down the hall. Her hands weren’t bound, and she walked on her own accord. For a split second, she considered trying to flee, but that would do her no good. Inside the caverns, she had no idea where she was going, or how to get out. Not only that, but she had seen what the Samou really were. She knew what they could become. That fact alone kept her tied down. It filled her with such a deep sense of fear that she didn’t dare make them angry.

  Queane led her down one hall then another. They walked for nearly five minutes before Allison could see a very bright light up ahead. It was the sun. They were going outside. Again, any thoughts of running were buried down deep—it wasn’t worth the risk.

  As they stepped out into the fresh air, Allison let it fill her lungs. When she looked up and around them, she realized her assumption that the caverns were carved out of the side of a mountain was correct. She hadn't realized, however, how truly enormous that mountain was. She turned around slowly to look up. They had exited through a tunnel that led straight into the side of a steep cliff. The gray and black stone ascended above her, seeming to touch the clouds. It was taller than any skyscraper she had ever seen. She squinted her eyes, trying to find the end of it, the point in which it turned in on itself and disappeared. She couldn't find it.

  Turning back around, she continued to take in her surroundings. The trees that grew up around them were enormous. Their trunks at least 15-20 feet around and they too reached high up into the sky. The branches, some hanging so low as to touch the ground, were as wide across as a sidewalk, and the Samou walked back and forth on them, as calm and peaceful as if they were out for a Sunday morning stroll.

  High up above them, other Samou, in their dragon forms, buzzed in and out of the leaves, diving down and disappearing back into the thick branches and out of sight. She could spot small wooden structures perched precariously throughout the trees.

  “Do you live up there?” she asked Queane, who stood quietly at her side, giving her a moment to absorb everything around her.

  “Some of us do, yes,” she answered. “The others live in the caves.”

  “Isn’t it scary?” she asked.

  Queane let out a soft laugh and continued moving forward as she answered. “I suppose it would be for you.”

  Queane moved forward, leading her deeper into the forest surrounding the Samou camp. The fauna around them seemed to
change slightly as they got further from the cliff. The flowers that grew up around them were huge, like everything else on the planet, apparently. They were beautiful, though. The brightly colored designs that decorated their leaves amazed her. She stopped from time to time, leaning in closer to examine them.

  “You best hurry,” Queane said to her over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t want to get left behind here.”

  “Why’s that?” Allison asked as she quickened her pace to catch up.

  Despite her naturally shy nature, Allison had always been curious. That's what interested her in nature. She had always felt like there was an entire world, all around them, still waiting to be discovered—in the plants, trees, animals. They had their own code, their own system. And she wanted to know it. And Planet 48-Z had its own system completely different than anything she had ever seen before. Shy or not, she was going to ask about it.

  “Don’t tell me you’re stupid enough to think that we’re the only animals on the planet.”

  “Animals?”

  “Yes,” she said stopping suddenly and turning around to face her. “What is it that you call your kind? Humans?”

  “Yes.”

  “Humans are animals, as much as anything else.”

  “I know that,” Allison replied, defensive. “I’m not an idiot.”

  Queane scoffed. “If you say so.”

  “I wasn’t asking about your statement. I was asking what other animals were living here?”

  Queane turned and continued walking. “I don’t know how to call them in English,” she said passively.

  “What are they like?”

  Queane looked back at her again, an expression of annoyance on her face. “If I asked you to describe the animals on your planet in one or two quick statements, could you?”

  “No, I guess not.”

  “How do you expect me to do it, then?”

  “Your statement made it seem like you were referring to some specific animal—something I should be afraid of.” Even though she could tell she was bothering the woman, she didn’t care. She found her quick answers rude and annoying as well.

  “Are you not afraid of us?” Queane asked, again not answering her question but continuing the mind games they all seemed to enjoy playing with her.