Chapter 15: What it Means to be a Raptor Warrior

The realization that humans were no longer the lone sentient form of life in the universe took me a long time to accept. Seeing that our fate now hinged on the mercy of alien races that seemed keen on destroying us, I asked my father for encouragement. He told me that sometimes your would-be enemy today could become a potential ally tomorrow. He also said that they could become an even worse enemy than you imagined. I guess it all depends on the circumstances.

Ryan was thoroughly enjoying himself. Not only had he passed the Test of the Flames, albeit unknowingly, but he had just scored a position on the same team as the girl of his dreams. Everything seemed to be looking up. And yet, despite Ryan’s optimism, he had a feeling that something was coming, something that he couldn’t explain. Whatever it was, it reminded him of the day his parents died, and it permeated his mind with an ominous dread. Ryan then decided not to let some abstract feeling of doom keep his spirits down, so he walked into the cafeteria whistling.

The cafeteria was an impressive structure built into a giant yellow-leafed tree. By far, the most sophisticated tree house Ryan had ever known. Elevators took attendees to different levels of the tree, each level offering different menus. Service droids buzzed cheerily as they served guests and cleaned up messes. Holographic games whirled all around the tables for entertainment.

The bathrooms weren’t too shabby either, shined to perfection with toilets that massaged his buttocks as he disposed of his business. And best of all, the food tasted amazing. The cafeteria’s selection offered a wide assortment from alien delicacies, like space worm eggs, to more classic human meals, like pizza, though some of the pizzas had eyeballs instead of pepperoni.

After living off scraps for five years, in Ryan’s scientific way of thinking, he reasoned that he should eat more now to make up for lost time. With his plate piled so high that bits of food kept spilling from his hand, Ryan hummed merrily, drawing many sidelong glances. Most of the other Grunts in the cafeteria were much younger and they regarded him warily, or at least seemed baffled by his unhealthy helping of the potluck.

Some things never change.

Ryan sat down at an empty table, eager to partake in his very large meal when he noticed how quiet everyone became. The silence seemed perpetuated more out of fear than contempt. It took Ryan a few moments to realize the source of their fear came from a large shadow cast by a very large person behind him.

Ryan turned around slowly to stand face-to-face with an eight-foot-tall lizard man in gleaming red and silver armor with symbols of titanic clashes of mythological creatures painted on his breastplate. He had blue scales that shined prominently from his exposed head and tail. Wingless Dragons his father had called them. The earthbound Drakes of Sauria. The Wingless Dragon’s azure eyes pierced Ryan with the intensity of a predator. Ryan gulped loudly.

Then the thing spoke in a voice so deep that it shook the table. “So, you’re the upstart. They didn’t tell me that you were descended from my people. I’ll test the fire of your blood and your heart soon enough.”

“Uh...”

Apparently, ‘uh’ seemed to be some kind of insult for giant, psychotic lizards, because the Wingless Dragon sneered at Ryan, showing him his fangs. “Stop mumbling like a Borvanian Weremouse! You got something to say, then say it, and don’t waste my time with meaningless doddering!”

The guy obviously didn’t know the meaning of the phrase ‘inside voice’ as he yelled more than spoke. “Can I help you, Mr. Wingless Dragon, sir?” said Ryan as meekly and respectfully as possible.

“Wingless Dragon,” repeated the lizard man before bursting into laughter that made Ryan’s whole body vibrate. “It’s been an age since I heard someone refer to my people in that way. We call ourselves Saurians, or sometimes Earth Dragons. Outsiders often refer to us as Raptor Warriors as we share a common ancestry with the most cunning and fiercest of dinosaurs from the elder days. You may ... for now.”

“Ah! Okay,” started Ryan, trying not to feel rebuffed at being called an outsider. “So, Mr. Raptor Warrior, sir. Is there anything I can help you with ... sir?”

“You are in my chair.”

Ryan tried to be indulgent to the belligerent being. “This chair. Oh, I had no idea. Let me just move my stuff. I’ll ... uh ... dust that off for you ... get it nice and clean. I really am sorry about this. If there is anything else you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Ryan knew that he was babbling, but he tended to do that when he got nervous, and a fully-grown Wingless Dragon tended to have that effect on people. He gathered up his stuff and gave the chair a nice brush off in the hopes of appeasing the brute.

“I’ll just be going then,” Ryan told the Wingless Dragon before walking away a little too quickly.

The Raptor had apparently not been appeased. “Was your father really descended from the proud race of the Saurians?”

Ryan froze. This guy has just entered the territory of no return.

“Because if he was, then he must have seen you as unworthy of learning our ways, for surely there has never been one born of our blood as weak and feeble as you. One so obsessed with avoiding conflict that he would beg and grovel to someone who has so blatantly dishonored him.

“It should not matter the size of your opponent; anyone possessing a true warrior’s heart would not flee like a coward at the first sign of trouble. You are a cringing cur possessing neither ferocity nor vindication.”

Ryan felt uncertain about what some of the Raptor’s words meant, but he got the general sense that he had insulted his father. No way would he let that slide. Ryan dropped his plate, turned around, and marched boldly to face the towering Saurian. A staring contest of epic proportions ensued between them.

“I may not be entirely sure what you just said, but I get the feeling that it’s an insult. So, will you kindly take back what you said about my father and about me being a cur, because I’m pretty sure that I’m not ... a cur ... whatever that is.” Ryan tried to sound confident, a difficult undertaking when he barely stood higher than the guy’s kneecap.

The Saurian smirked in amusement. “So ... the timid has some fire after all. But is his strength a match for his tongue? Honor demands a response.”

“If you want honor, pal, then you got ... I’m sorry, but can you give me like five seconds real quick. It’s really hard doing this stare-down thing with you ... literally staring down at me. Plus, it’s kind of giving me a crick in my neck.”

The Raptor seemed perplexed before asking, “Well then, what do you propose?”

Ryan held out a finger before heading to the table next to them to do a little rearranging. He dragged a table to sit in front of the Raptor and stepped up onto the table, but soon realized that it still wasn’t tall enough. Ryan then jumped down, grabbed a chair, and set it on the table.

Ryan became aware of the very awkward silence that settled over the area as the Raptor crossed his gargantuan arms impatiently. As Ryan stepped up to the table and the chair, he finally stood eye-level with his opponent as the confrontation resumed.

“There! Now, as I was saying. If you want honor, pal, then you got it.” Ryan tried to sound as intimidating as possible while standing on top of a makeshift foot ladder.

The Raptor chuckled slightly before saying, “Amusing, little one. But ‘as I was saying,’ honor demands action. So again I ask, what is your response?”

“Just ... give me a moment to come up with something, huh?” asked Ryan, racking his brain for something cool to do.

“Battle rarely waits for the weak,” retorted the Raptor without even twitching.

Does he always have something to say that sounds freakin’ awesome!

Ryan then noticed the floating chandelier hovering just above the Raptor’s head. A thought occurred to him, but before Ryan had time to consider how stupid the thought was, it came true. The guidance system suddenly exploded in a shower of flames and the chandelier spun out of control. Ryan wasn’t sure how he’d done it by just imagining it, but things didn’t go exactly as he had fantasized.

First off, the chandelier didn’t just fall on the Saurian’s head; instead, it started zooming all over the place in an uncontrollable descent, knocking away tables and young Elementals in its path. Food went flying, most of it piling itself on the Raptor’s head, making him look like a giant, scaly pastry. The chandelier finally stopped flying, and then crashed down into the Wingless Dragon’s back. He staggered, but otherwise seemed unfazed.

“How’s that honor taste now, bub,” gloated Ryan unapologetically, feeling cocky, even after being grazed by a little ketchup from the food frenzy.

As Ryan jumped down from his perch, he accidentally stepped on the Wingless Dragon’s tail which wagged on the floor next to him. For future reference, it is the worst possible outrage for a Saurian to have someone step on his tail, especially when he’d just gotten a good taste of the morning’s menu all over his armor. Ryan didn’t learn until later that stepping on a Wingless Dragon’s tail was the equivalent of touching a man’s unmentionables.

Barely containing his rage, the big Raptor shouted a curse in an alien tongue and said, “You mock me and then you have the gall to besmirch my honor by laying your filthy feet on my pride as a warrior!”

“What?” asked Ryan, soon realizing where he stood. “Oops. I didn’t know you guys made such a big deal of your tails.”

The tail moved as fast as a whip and swatted him off like a rug being pulled from under him. Ryan quickly rolled backwards and regained his footing, bringing his fists up to defend himself.

Though the Raptor didn’t attack, he still looked angrier than a Dwarf at a barbershop. “I declare Voruck! We settle this dispute tomorrow at the training arena! Come if you have the courage!”

Ryan stood up proudly. “I may not know what a Voruck is, but I’ll be there! Count on it, scaly!”

What have I done? thought Ryan in terror.

“I thought we agreed no more Voruck challenges,” said Éclair, beside herself with anger as she argued with Grafael in her quarters.

Grafael remained as stubborn as ever. “No, we agreed no more fighting. Voruck is different. It is a sacred ritual passed down by my ancestors for settling disputes.”

“Oh, stripping down half-naked and beating each other to a bloody pulp isn’t fighting.” Éclair’s own scowl could match the Saurian’s. “Well, excuse me for having a mind, walnut brain.”

Grafael smoldered at her. “You don’t understand! The boy insulted my honor ... his superior! He was to prove himself to me, not the other way around!”

“Honestly, what did you expect him to do?” asked Éclair in exasperation. Éclair had difficulty remembering Grafael being this angry, except maybe when she made him eat his salad.

“I expected him to simply stand his ground from my insults, which were clearly just for show, and not to humiliate me in front of the other Grunts. And certainly not to step on my tail, the most precious heirloom that a Saurian possesses. Besides, if he survives, it will prove once and for all whether he deserves to be counted as a full member of Squad 99.”

Éclair rubbed her head in defeat. Men are all the same no matter what species they come from. The only way for them to relate to each other is with their fists.

“Look, Grafy, Ryan is not like those other creeps that got shoved at us,” pleaded Éclair, making one last attempt at reason. “Sure, he’s a bit of an arrogant punk, but you’ve got to admit that there’s something different about him.”

When she said this, Grafael had a faraway look on his face, and he suddenly seemed older and wiser somehow. “I know. I saw the fire in his eyes. Men and Morlocks have cowered under my shadow, but not this half-breed brethren of mine who has not even come of age.”

Grafael spoke with grudging admiration as he thumped his tail rhythmically. “That is why I must do this, not just for the sake of my honor, but for the boy’s sake as well. I can’t fully explain why, but this must be. You know just as well as I that warriors cannot truly understand one another until they have faced each other in combat.”

Éclair knew her chances of budging him would be slim, but something in her told her not to try. “Just please don’t kill him ... and try to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible. He is still a Grunt after all.”

Grafael seemed to grimace at the prospect of a painless fight. “I will not go easy on him. The life of an Elemental is a hard one, and now is as good a time as any for him to learn that fact.”

Éclair frowned in disapproval, forcing Grafael to compromise slightly.

“But I will not be cruel. I will defeat him soundly. If he passes my test, then he will be one of us and that will be the end of it. If not, perhaps the council should reconsider their decision on the boy’s future.”

That was probably the best she’d get from Grafael, so Éclair decided to persuade Ryan to reconsider. Éclair wasn’t quite sure why she acted so protective with Ryan, but she somehow felt it her duty to look after his wellbeing. Fools like Ryan Uruks needed all the help they could get.

It took him a while, but after asking around, Ryan finally managed to find the arena. Ryan also found out that the Elementals didn’t typically use land vehicles to get around even though their headquarters was the size of a city. The reason was because Elementals could move so fast on their own that they typically didn’t need land vehicles. There were still plenty of ships docking at various ports around the dome and in the trees, but no speeders or hovercraft, just a bunch of Elementals jumping around like ninjas.

So, unfortunately, Ryan was forced to walk to the arena. All in all, a fairly imposing structure. It stood on a round platform high above the ground suspended between four mountain-tall trees with cables. The trees had pink leaves which seemed a strange contrast to the otherwise savage nature of the platform.

The platform had one of those light escalators that carried spectators up through gravimetric distortion fields on a pathway made of green light. Dozens of people had already begun to float up to the platform via one such field. The arena was about the size of a football field with a coliseum-like stadium where the audience viewed the battles at their leisure. A vast, round pit filled with sand sat atop a large tree in the center, almost like a bowl. Large stone columns, each about thirty feet high and five feet wide, dotted throughout the field to be used as obstacles.

Ryan had been told that they used the arena both for training and for public events, like the challenge that Grafael had issued to Ryan. A few service droids flew around, selling concession food to Ryan’s chagrin. And to add to the pressure, the stands were packed with hundreds of young Elementals all waiting to watch Ryan get eviscerated. Basically, not a great day.

Ryan did a little research and found out that Voruck was an ancient Saurian ritual in which two combatants fought with their bare hands, sometimes to the death. No tricks. No weapons. No Elemency.

Oh ... and no clothes. Well, that’s not completely true. I’ll get a loincloth, thought Ryan despairingly. So not only was he about to fight an eight-foot-tall dinosaur with impeccable combat skills, but he’d have to do it half-naked too. Hopefully, Éclair won’t show up.

As if on cue, Éclair seemed to materialize right next to him.

Her appearance startled Ryan so much that he yelped before tripping over himself and falling in the dirt. With as much composure as possible, Ran slowly rose to his feet and dusted himself off. “Someone should put a bell on you, you know! Doesn’t anyone here just walk up and say ‘hi’ like a normal person?”

Éclair ignored his comment, glaring daggers at him, clearly displeased about something.

Her silent hostility made Ryan feel awkward so he decided to try and say something funny to fill in the silence. “I get the general feeling that you are displeased about something. Or am I mistaking that glare with constipation?”

Man, that came out wrong! I really need to work on my people skills. It’s not easy when your one companion for five years is a gluttonous pigeon.

“First of all, that’s nasty ... and how could you say something so vulgar in my presence.” Éclair’s glare could freeze a man’s heart.

Ha! I get why she’s so cold ... it’s because of the ice thing!

“Second, I leave you for five minutes and already you’ve gotten yourself into trouble. Honestly, what’s wrong with you?”

Believe me, sister, I’m still trying to figure that part out, thought Ryan idly, but he didn’t say it for obvious reasons.

“Look! Jumbo was the one who picked the fight! I just don’t like being pushed around ... I’ve had enough of that. If I don’t assert myself now, no one around here will ever respect me, and you know it.”