As Kaito slowly opened his eyes, his vision focusing, he saw a group of Draconians all around him, staring him down.
Startled, he bolted upright, causing them to scatter slightly.
"Wha—who—where am I?!" He asked wide eyed.
He looked down and placed his hand on his chest, memories flooding back.
"What the… I was shot right through the chest. Ho–How am I alive?" He thought to himself in shock.
His fingers brushed over the spot where he had been hit, but there was no hole. He felt nothing but faintly scarred skin but free of pain. The sound of footsteps caught his attention. Talon stepped into the room and walked over to him.
"Nice of you to wake up, rookie. Figured you were down for the count for good this time." She said somewhat teasingly, yet there was a bit of relief hidden beneath it.
"Talon! You're okay! Thank the stars… I thought you were—"
"W-W-Worry about your own ass first you damn idiot! You were basically being dragged away by the grim reaper!" She cut him off, her tail whipping around behind her.
Kaito's grin faded slightly. He grabbed her arm, slightly pulling her to him.
"Wait, where's the rest of the crew? Are they okay?" He asked, his voice now filled with panic.
Before Talon could answer, Enaros spoke up from across the room.
"Likely captured. The starborne troupe… those you fought earlier… they've probably taken your friends."
Kaito turned toward him. He was going to say something until Kaeline's voice cut through.
"You're awake Kaito. That's good." She said calmly with a small smile on her face.
"Kaeline! You're okay too!" He replied.
Kaeline chuckled, reaching out to ruffle his hair.
"You did good back there, Kaito. Saving everyone? Not bad for an unlicensed rookie. Not bad at all."
Enaros, standing off to the side, glanced down with a conflicted look on his face. Before Kaito could respond, a sound from the other side of the room caught their attention. Nix slowly began to wake up.
Enaros ran to his son's side in an instant. The gathered villagers moved aside to give him space.
"Nix! My son, you're awake!"
Nix blinked groggily, before he fully came to. A tired smile crossed his face as his dad hugged him tightly.
At the same moment, an elderly draconian man entered the room. His scales were a shade of a rotten banana. His wings on his back drooped down. They weren't as large as Enaros's. The few villagers immediately parted for him, bowing their heads slightly as he approached. He stopped beside Nix, placing a hand gently on the boy's head and closing his eyes. After a long moment, he smiled.
"His essence… it's like his mother's. My daughter."
The elder's voice wavered slightly as he looked over towards Enaros, tears forming in his eyes.
"Nix has awakened it."
The room erupted into excited chatter. The villagers whispered and pointed like crazy. Talon and Kaito exchanged confused looks.
"Uhhhhh… can someone explain what's going on?" Kaito muttered out.
The elder turned to Kaito.
"Our kind has a rare gift, passed down through select bloodlines. The ability to heal is sacred among the draconians. Nix has inherited this gift from his mother."
Kaito looked over to Nix, who was looking slightly embarrassed as the attention shifted to him.
"Nix, that's amazing! You're like… a legendary healer or something!" He said with stars in his eyes.
Nix's face lit up as he tried to hide the embarrassment.
"But this gift comes with great responsibility. It will not be easy for him to master, and it may take a toll on his young body."
He looked to Enaros.
"You must guide him wisely."
Enaros nodded, then turned back to Kaito and the others before speaking.
"Forgive me for the suddency, but before we go any further, you must know about the starborne troupe. These… beings… are no ordinary warriors. They've brought ruin to our village and countless others. They have four key members and each is as dangerous as the next."
The crew leaned in as he continued.
"First, there's Jorak, the one you fought Kaito. He calls himself… The Beast… Putting his… unusual personality aside, his strength is unmatched. I've seen him tear through entire squads of our elite warriors with his bare hands, though he doesn't seem to be the brightest of the bunch."
Kaito clenched his fists at the memory of his fight with Jorak.
"Yeah, I noticed. I kicked him hard enough to send him through buildings, but he shrugged it off like it was nothing."
Enaros turned his gaze to Kaeline.
"Then there's Velzari. His abilities seem to revolve around energy-based attacks of some sort. He can fire beams of pure energy with pinpoint accuracy and devastating power from his hands, mouth, and even his tail."
"Energy attacks… So he uses pure essence based attacks? This guy could be dangerous." Kaeline thought to herself.
"Their leader, Sera Vex, is another story altogether. It's rumored she manipulates strings to control, bind, and torture her victims." Enaros continued with.
Talon's face shriveled up.
"Strings? Ugh. That sounds annoying."
Enaros paused and glanced over to Nix who was standing silently beside Kaito.
"And then there's Aqua. We know little about her, except that she's powerful beyond measure… She seems like she's on an entirely different level than the rest of them."
Nix's head dropped slightly hearing this.
The elder looked over to Kaito and began to speak.
"You… young boy. What is your name?"
"Oh, me? Uhhh… names Kaito. Nice to meet you… Uhhh, I'm so sorry. Can I get a timeout here? Where in the stars are we? Who are you? I'm so lost here." He asked while holding up a timeout sign with his hands.
Talon shook her head and let out a puff of air while Kaeline chuckled.
"Hohohohohohohoh. Forgive us for the confusion young lad. My name is Navru. Our kind…. We are draconic hybrids, descendants of dragons. Some of us bear wings, horns, or scales as reminders of that lineage."
Kaito's eyes and mouth both widened in awe as soon as he understood the elder's words.
"Dragons!? You're saying you're part dragon!? That's insane! I thought dragons were just myths from Earth!" He said, getting extremely close to the elder's face.
Talon used her powers to drag him back towards her, allowing the old man to breathe his own air before speaking.
"How and in the stars do you know that? You've never been to Earth?!"
"Old man Farro used to buy books from these two shady guys, on the Thalorian black market. Some of the books and other things were supposedly authentic human books from Earth. I got a lot of other things as well like music, movies, video games, and more stuff. I brought all of it with me on the ship after we left Thalos. Wanna take a look sometime?"
The elder tilted his head.
"Earth? I've never heard of such a place... Our kind has lived here on Draconis Prime, for as long as our histories record. The only other worlds we know of are our moons and the fabled Zephyros—the home of the most powerful among us. The Dragon Gods. Draconis Prime is a world steeped in legend. Our three moons are Khorath. It represents power. Vysara. It represents wisdom. Then there is Aelrith. It represents love. Legends say that there are portals of some kind, ones that can teleport you to one of these worlds, but no one in the last 10,000 cycles of our sun have been able to find them."
"Dragon gods? Moons? Portals? This all sounds… confusing." Kaito said as smoke seeped out of his ears.
"But what does it have to do with the starborne troupe?" Talon asked.
The elder sighed.
"Our people have always lived under the guidance of the moons and the legends of the gods. Zephyros, as the stories tell, is a world of great power and riches. It is said only the most worthy may find it. For centuries, we believed it to be nothing more than myth… until now. Most of our people didn't believe in such things as other kinds like you all, not until the starborne troupe."
Kaeline's eyes narrowed as she chimed in.
"It's likely the orbital trajectory of your star system is what made Draconis Prime so elusive for all this time. Your star doesn't follow a stable path like most others—it wobbles unpredictably, causing the system's position to shift constantly in the galaxy. Sometimes even leaving one galaxy and landing in another. It's like trying to hit a moving target whose movements are completely unpredictable."
All of the villagers in the room exchanged puzzled looks. Enaros scratched his head.
"Orbital… trajectory? What are you even talking about?" He asked, completely confused.
"It means your star system… the sun's position isn't fixed, making it nearly impossible to locate without advanced technology or… insider knowledge." She replied.
The elder stroked his chin.
"You're saying this world of ours along with the rest is hidden… and yet the starborne troupe found us?"
Kaeline nodded.
"Exactly. Which raises the question—how? The starborne troupe may be powerful, but they're just a slightly above average crew. A crew of their level shouldn't have the resources or knowledge to locate a system like yours."
Talon crossed her arms.
"And why here? What's so special about Draconis Prime that they'd go through all that trouble to find it?"
Kaito's eyes widened as he remembered something. He looked over to Enaros.
"You said earlier that the starborne troupe were taking your people, loading them onto ships and they were never seen again. Right?"
Enaros nodded grimly.
"Yes. They've been taking my people and many others. Entire villages emptied, dragged onto their ships. None of them ever come back."
Talon's eyes ever so subtly widened hearing this, coming to her own conclusion.
"Experiments... Star travelers don't normally abduct entire populations. And if we assume the starborne troupe are working for someone else, it makes sense they'd want to harvest whatever makes this world unique—including its people."
The elder's eyes dropped slightly to the floor.
"There is one more thing… a reason why the starborne troupe might be taking our people. Some among us, though exceedingly rare, have a gift—an ancient connection to the energy of nature itself."
Kaeline froze stiff.
"A world with beings that possess nature energy… A star with an abnormal orbital trajectory… These people… could they be from one of those clusters? I've heard of stars being ejected, but this far out? I need more information. I need to get Elysia here somehow to confirm." She thought to herself before turning to the elder and speaking.
"Nature energy? That's impossible. Harnessing nature energy is a myth. No race in the known universe has been able to harness it in millions of years. And those who were said to… vanished."
The elder shook his head.
"It is no myth. My people have safeguarded this gift for generations, though it has grown rarer with each passing generation. When Nix healed Kaito, he tapped into the essence of the world itself—nature's energy. This is what the starborne troupe may seek. They wish to capture those with this gift… perhaps to replicate it."
"So they're kidnapping entire villages, hoping to find someone like Nix?" Talon asked.
Kaito clenched his fists as he looked over towards Nix.
"Then we'll stop them. Whatever they're planning, it ends here."
In a room aboard the starborne troupe's ship, Sera knelt before a distorted holographic figure… A holographic figure wearing the same mask as the man at the tournament who slipped into Kaeline's mind. The energy in the room was tense and her usually flamboyant demeanor was replaced by an unusual nervousness for once.
"M–M–M–M–M–Morgoth your excellency, I'm pleased to report that our operation is progressing smoothly. We've captured several Draconians already, and—" She began to say before being cut off.
"You have not captured enough. Your progress is insufficient. Why have you not yet found the remaining villages?" A distorted male voice asked.
"Ahhh uhhhh.. well, you see, the draconians are quite adept at hiding in nature. Their connection to the land makes them… slippery."
"Who gives a shit? Burn the forests. Destroy the land. Rip apart their precious nature until nothing remains."
"O-Of course, Your excellency. I'll… consider your suggestion." Sera squealed out, bowing down urgently as her small blue wings on her back flapped like crazy.
After a long moment, she raised her head, her tone shifting to something with a little more confidence.
"But before you go, there's news I believe you'll find… interesting."
"Speak." The projection instructed bluntly.
Her theatrical flair creeped back into her voice.
"A crew of star travelers has crash-landed on Draconis Prime. But not just any crew… The Starlight crew led by the legendary S-ranked star traveler, Elara. Not only that, but among them… is a human."
The figure went completely silent before muttering something.
"They're… on Draconis Prime? But they were just…"
Sera nodded quickly.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Isn't it thrilling? I thought you'd want to know. Imagine what we could learn from—"
"Where is Elara!? Is she free!?" The holographic figure asked urgently.
"No no no no, Morgoth your excellency. I've got her bound with no chance of escape! She should be no worry to us!" Sera said reassuringly.
The holographic figure let out a small sigh before looking back towards her.
"Good. Ensure that holds true. If she gets free, you all are as good as dead. And we can't afford to lose you or Aqua. Sera, your new mission is to bring Elara. At all costs. As far as the human reported… he could care less. Do as you please. Tell the others to continue to look for a candidate that possesses nature energy. Do not fail us. Perhaps then, you'll finally earn what you've been asking for."
Before she could respond, the hologram flickered and disappeared. She sat in silence for a moment before leaping to her feet.
"Yes! Finally! I knew they'd see my brilliance! After all this time, my talents are finally being seen by them." She said excitedly while jumping up and down, her small wings on her back flapping wildly.
She danced around the room excitedly. With a snap of her fingers, she called for her lackeys.
"Bring me Elara and the rest of her crew! Get them dolled up—we're putting on a show!"