Fell Dragon
Welcome back Readers!
I decided that today was the day that I would introduce Fell Dragon Book 2. As this book progresses, some of you may not understand some of the references or characters. This is because the book comes after the Seeking series.
To avoid confusion and making the book unreadable. I have decided to make a supplementary document that goes hand in hand with the book. You can find this info here.
I am warning everyone, if you thought the Fell Dragon Book 1 was rough, this book is going to be far worse. Despite this, I hope you all enjoy continuing the tale of Fell Dragon.
Sleep was hard to come by in the following weeks, months, and in time years. The twins were born and were named as heirs as soon as their cries filled the hospital room. Kristen and Barbara. The King’s new heir and new Princess. No one spoke of what happened with the winged creature or what happened. The war against the lizards moved on for some, but for others, not that much.
Many humans were brought back with the favour given up by Saita and agreement with Viribus and Kiai. Karesh and Furor were the first of many to be returned. They were not kept in the dark for long. Karesh was enraged at his involvement in his daughter’s kidnapping and continued to war with those around him. Having only spent a few scant months with his newborn twins, he prepared for war, but against who it wasn’t known yet. Karesh barely looked at the children when he left to get support from Pura. Doran, guilt-ridden, followed blindly the orders given to him by his friend and king.
Astec was shattered at the loss of his friend and partner and vanished for a few months before finding his way back to his father. Not wanting to talk about what happened to him. Kiai could not move on, somehow blaming and pulling into herself. Pura, distraught over the fact that a war he had declared was used as a cover to steal Saita stepped down in favour of his uncle as soon as he arrived on his planet and Pura was not seen again.
Aleux blamed himself for being weak, discarded his studies and joined his father in his maddening quest to fight unknown and unseen enemies. Never resting, burning with a self-hatred no one could take from him.
Myla lost her voice that day. She would only cry until the day her son and daughter drew breath, and only then did she echo anything that was in her heart. The kingdom mourned for their Princess and sent emissaries far and wide to search, but nothing was ever found and soon she was declared dead, and the search ended.
Saseric refused to believe that Saita was dead. There was no way a biological construct would be created and then killed. No, there was something bigger happening here even if the humans refused to see it. He searched, called in all his favours; even as the years slowly ticked away. He was going to find something, even if it was a body that could be buried.
Slow to forgive, the humans eventually allowed for the allyship between Karesh and Saseric as the Prince-now-King made a considerable effort to remove anything lizard related from the human planets. In turn, Karesh had gifted several uninhabitable planets, not fit for humans, but perfect for some of Saseric’s people to him. It was a dangerous joining, but Saseric needed this. His people needed this.
Four years eventually passed, and soon even Saseric was starting to think that Saita had been buried somewhere so deep that even those deepest in the underbelly of the underground could find her. She was likely dead, but he could not bring himself to admit this much less convince Karesh who too sought some sort of answer.
“She would be about 21 now.” He said to no one in particular as he walked around on an abandoned planet that showed great promise for a few of his people.
His assistant, half-snake, half-woman, who slithered next to him knew that he was silently musing to himself, so she remained silent. The last four years had seen a growth in their species that had never been seen before. They needed to expand to new territory and slow down egg harvesting. This was a wonderful time for them. She didn’t want to ruin this for him.
“Tell me about this planet?” He asked.
“Rumours, nothing else.” She hissed as she checked the clipboard. “There was a lab here some years ago, but it was demolished, and the previous owner has stopped payments on this planet. Thus, it is up for auction. It would be perfect for my species, Your Majesty.”
“It would seem so, but I am a little concerned.” He lay a hand upon the soil. “I feel movement below the surface. There are machines under the ground. I believe that the surface lab may have been destroyed but not the one that runs underground.”
“Who would build a laboratory underground?”
“Someone who has something to hide.” He rose to his feet. “We have free reign to look over the whole planet before purchase, correct?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Let’s go see the ruins for ourselves.”
“I thought that you would never ask.” She grinned.
Saseric didn’t allow all of his guards to follow him but couldn’t stop the few that were particularly loyal. He grunted his displeasure when he noticed at least four following at a discrete distance.
“I swear it is like they forgot who I was.”
“Was.” Reminded the woman.
“Touché.”
Eventually, they made it to the ruins of what was once a building. Saseric wasn’t sure of what he would see, but he was very sure a human body with a crushed head against a tree was not one of those things. The body was fresh; blood and gore still dripped from the wood. He squatted and examined the body. It was a rather fat man dressed in a lab coat. Upon his hands were black gloves and next to one was what appeared to be the edges of a data screen. It was off and showed no data.
“Well, this is interesting.” Saseric touched the blood and rubbed it between his fingers. “This is fresh, hasn’t even happened an hour ago. Was the previous renter a human?”
“According to the notes, yes. A one doctor Sellious, a cellular Biologist with a panache of the study of Genetics and... eugenics.” his Assistant paged through the pages she carried and paused. “Hold on.”
She rolled the papers up and put them in a pouch at her side before pulling out a data pad of her own. “Doctor Sellious...Doctor Sellious…”
It is rare that lizards go pale, but Saseric saw his assistant’s scales go pale white even in the glaring sunlight, he knew something was wrong.
“What?”
“This doctor is wanted by many human planets in conjunction with unethical eugenics programs. At the beginning of his career, he was granted cells to work with but upgraded to children the longer he worked.” She hissed. “Why the hell was this planet rented to a mad man?”
Saseric wiped the blood on the ground then grimaced. The ground felt strange. He knew his assistant felt it too because her coils were slowly digging into the soil. Then she recoiled and leapt, or leapt as much as what a half-snake could, with a look of disgust on her face.
“Ash.” was all she said.
Saseric dug in the soil until he found what he suspected spooked his assistant. A shard of bone. He set it to his tongue and found it to be porous. It was human.
“I think we need to contact the human king.” He said softly as he got to his feet. “They will want to know about this.”
“Your Majesty, perhaps we should not be here.” Said one guard.
Saseric spied something dark among the ruins and he found himself walking towards it. It was a door, and it had a blood smear on it. Something had flung it open with tremendous force.
“There.” He pointed. “Our dear doctor came from there.”
“Your Majesty please.” Begged one of the guards. “Return to the ship so we may look into this ourselves.”
He ignored them and made his way to the door. He viewed it from the blood-smeared side to the outer side. It was heavy. Almost too heavy for him to move by himself. He also noticed what seemed to be a magnetic lock. A force from the inside had flung the door open despite the lock. He stepped into the corridor. He was truly curious now. The corridor was metal and was lined with lights at different intervals on either side. He noticed the walls were dented in several places and more blood smears.
“Something was pissed off at the doctor.” He muttered as he heard his assistant slither in behind him. “The floor will be cold, so don’t get sluggish.”
“It is actually well heated, and I hear a lot of machinery.” She slithered ahead. “Here is a lab to the right. He was growing something.”
Saseric came to have a look and was shocked to find a room of at least twenty cylinders that contained what he could only assume was some kind of foetus.
“It is in human script.” He said as he looked at the letters and numbers. “S-AY-8-A.24, that one seems to be S-AY-8-A.25. Looks to be like clone research.”
“It is not illegal to do clone work.” Said his assistant as she slithered around each cylinder. “He would have had no reason to hide this.”
She leaned back and then declared. “These are all dead. About three months developed then just died.”
A guard approached Saseric with the data pad and one glove that the doctor had had on. Saseric put the glove on and gripped the data pad. It came alive with a file that contained a few video files. Curious he activated one.
“System piece eight is now in place in the central cavity. Experiment S-AY-8-A has handled the eight surgeries quite well. It has shown remarkable healing and resilience. If this keeps up the next twenty surgeries will be completed in the next year, and not two like Edzeeker said. The project should be completed in a total of three, maybe four years.”
The video showed a human cavity splayed open with a pumping heart and inflating and deflating lungs. A metallic disc, no bigger than a large coin was in the man’s hand. It had several wires that were leading into the chest cavity already. The man then scooped up the heart and held it in his gloved hand before putting the disk in the space that had been occupied by the heart. With one hand holding the beating heart the other moved and tucked wires away until the person performing the surgery was happy with the placement before placing the heart back in position.
Saseric was not one to be squeamish, he couldn’t afford that with his previous job, but then he noticed something that made his stomach constrict. A hand, just within the edge of the camera’s recording window. It was in a restraint and was straining against it. The person, who was being operated on, was very much conscious of what was being done to them.
“I think I know why he was doing his experiments underground now.” Said Saseric as he killed the video in disgust.
He went through all the video names in the collection. There were twenty-eight in total. Each one was sequential. He assumed that each video corresponded with a surgery. Each one also had a date. Dates which were spread out over the course of the last four years.
“What was he trying to do?” Asked the assistant as she came to peer over his shoulder.
“I have no idea, but it got him killed.”
A guard, who had been standing close to the door suddenly hissed and spoke. “I taste someone on the air.”
Saseric froze. How stupid! He thought to himself. The doctor clearly had not killed himself. There was something else down here.
“We should go see.” Said the assistant, suddenly far braver than what her face showed.
The guards looked at each other and frowned. They did not see well in this type of light, but they could make their way with the use of their scent-collecting tongues, but they wouldn’t be able to plan if they didn’t know what they were to face. This was a danger they didn’t want their new King to face.
“Your Majesty.” Started one.
“Do you want this planet or not?” Said Saseric with a grin. “We will need to clear this out one way or another, so we may as well do it now.”
The assistant grinned, she was thrilled with the idea, the guards; however, not so much. Saseric hadn’t felt this way in ages. A hunt! Royal life had not dulled his senses for a second. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. The guards had been right. There was another presence here. It was a few rooms away. What he found strange was that it wasn’t trying to hide but rather seemed to be sitting in one place.
“I know where it is.” He led the way from the room they were in towards the room that contained the person.
They heard the person long before they saw it. As they approached the sounds it seemed to be a person in distress the rooms got darker and darker. Saseric looked up and noted that the bulbs of the lights had been destroyed and the glass was littered all around them. He slowed his procession down as they came to the final room. There were no lights burning here but rather several screens of computers that illuminated the person that sat on the floor with their arms curled around their legs. The person was rocking back and forth slowly, methodically while almost growling to themselves. Now that Saseric was closer he could hear words now.
“Dead. Dead. Finally dead.”
The air tasted familiar; the voice was harsh but struck a familiar chord with him. It was too dark to see the figure’s face, and the long hair obscured any other features. As he neared, he noticed the arms shaking in what seemed to be pain. He smelt blood and saw one hand was coated in the substance. It was the blood of the doctor. The air was tense as the lizard kind watched the figure rock back and forth as if not noticing them. Saseric smelt death, fear, and pain. This was the last living thing down here. Whatever the doctor had tried to do had clearly failed and ended with his demise.
Fearlessly, Saseric stepped into the room, and the figure immediately went to a crouched position like an animal and watched him through dishevelled hair. Marks were coming from the upper arms of the person, tendril-like tattoos, which just managed to poke out from under the short sleeves of a shirt that appeared too small for the person.
Saseric took a step forward before the person issued a growl for him to stop moving. He obeyed and looked around the room. One screen had a flashing set of numbers and a few photos, it was damaged, but Saseric could read the letters with no problem.
“S-AY-8-A?” He queried.
“Don’t say it like that.” Hissed the creature.”
The Lizard king waved the data pad at it and said. “I saw what he did to you.”
With a wave of a hand, the creature slapped the device from the Lizard without even moving from where it was. Saseric rubbed at his wrist and whistled through his teeth. He had been unable to follow the movement, but he had seen her crouch back down further in the dark. Her clothes fit poorly, too short for the frame that she had. It was a she, and the marks seemed to be coming from her chest rather than her shoulders.
“But you are S-AY-8-A?”
“Shut up.” Breathed the creature.
“What happened here?”
“Don’t want to remember, can’t remember.”
The voice, the smell, different yet familiar, if he could just see her face. He stepped forward to try to engage, and the creature leapt at his throat. A guard intervened, and though he had a weapon ready the person dug its teeth into an arm while its right hand powered forward and dislodged the shoulder and then pulled the arm from the guard. The lizard screamed and was quickly silenced when the loosened arm was used to knock him unconscious. Saseric took this chance to grab at the creature. He gripped at the shirt and slammed the warm body against the wall, activating a light switch. What he saw shocked him.
Unkempt grey-blonde hair hung in a face which showed mismatched blue and grey eyes. The tattoos were edging over the collar of the shirt she wore. Black tendrils that were edged with red that seemed raised and painful. The eyes were slitted with anger but relaxed a little now that she could see who was before her. Saseric released the woman and stepped back as she wiped her mouth where the purple blood had stained it. He was almost not sure if his eyes were betraying him or not at first, but then a filthy hand wiped the hair from its face. Confusion was on her face. She looked to the withering guard, her hand that was now purple, then the red one, then to the arm, then to Saseric.
“Can he regrow that?”
“I think there is a more important question here.” Said Saseric with a quivering voice.
Saita sat down heavily, looking exhausted and close to starving. She was breathing hard and simply said. “I want to go home.”
Four years have passed and she has been found. What fresh horrors has Saita had to endure, and what will her family think of her as she is now. Guess you'll all have to wait for the next part.
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