Chapter 70 - EVO

Chapter 70 - EVO

***Tirnanog, The Plains***

***Magnus***

Listen, Loops, you are sharing your quarters with not one, but two beautiful drakes in their prime. A week with plenty of opportunities and you are telling me they arent even looking at you? I dont believe it. Theres is no way nothing is going to happen if you just stay persistent, I argued.

Which is when I had an idea. Maybe you can get them on board with a threesome? Are they worried about being left out if one accepts you?

Threesome?

The young drake ogled me with big, round eyes while it listened to my teachings.

Yes, mating, you know? With both at the same time? I clarified. Dont tell me you dont have orgies in that colony of yours.

No. Mates are two. Loops shook his head vehemently. Only strongest males get more than one mate!

I blew out my cheeks, getting somewhat frustrated with counselling the drake on his woman troubles. Not that I was the best guy to ask. I had made it to thirty until Astra hooked up with me. And it had to be said she took the initiative. Not to mention, it was kind of her last opportunity to escape an unwanted match.

Maybe I should do some serious introspection before I dared to help others with relationships.

But I would be damned if I couldnt help Loops with two haughty females!

And who says you arent strong enough for two mates? I asked. You are my mount, so you should have one for every day of the week!

Loops needed to man up or drake up.

Am not. Loops looked at the ground and managed to seem downcast. He was a perfect, oversized pile of misery and he had no shame to communicate his feelings to me.

Arrgh! You are giving me heartburn! I tore at my filaments. This guy had self-confidence issues! Why did he have to load his bull onto me? But as long as Elegance doesnt reciprocate your advances, theres no harm in trying to hook up with Cadence, right? Theres no rule against impressing more than one female?

Loops tilted his head like he always did when he tried to wrap his mind around a human concept or way of thinking which was alien to him. Finally, he nodded.

I looked up and praised whatever force was watching over drakes. It had taken us far too long to get to this point. Loops was fixated on hooking up with Elegance who only ever gave him the cold shoulder. If the woman didnt want him, then he had no moral responsibility towards her.

I returned my attention to the drake. Good, listen. Be a gentleman, which means being polite and nice to both Cadence and Elegance. Just as we said. Impressive flights and bringing them good food. Both of them.

Loops eyes drifted away from me.

Hey, pay attention, boy! I raised a finger and waved it until Loops returned his attention to me. And once the girls realize they dont have your sole appreciation, its their turn to become proactive. Just remember, when you finally get your chance, dont ask for permission to get some action. Ask for forgiveness afterwards.

Most importantly, he had to make sure to knock them up the first time. As timid as Loops was, he wouldnt get many chances.

Loops eyes flicked back and forth while he had his head lying on the floor of his stall like a tired cat. It looked like my plan of inciting envy between the females was too complicated for the creature.

Though, I didnt buy his act for one second. The drakes were much smarter than the Aerie were giving them credit. Admittedly, if Loops was an example to go by, then drakes had a serious attention-span issue.

Loops, are you listening?

Loops nodded.

Then why are you looking so guilty?

Magnus said: secret plan.

Someone cleared her throat behind me.

I sighed and followed Loops guilty expression towards where Astra was standing at the door to his stall.

She tilted her head and purred, So he shouldnt ask for permission, but rather for forgiveness? Please explain.

I turned back to Loops. You should have told me! Traitor!

The drake rolled its eyes. Actually rolled its eyes at me!

And why is your response so human? I pointed a finger at him. Who taught you to roll your eyes!?

Was he somehow looking up the fitting gesture inside my brain and using it?

Astra cleared her throat again and Loops turned inside his stall. Then he rolled his body up until all I could see of the huge creature was a mountain of coiled, scaly drakeflesh.

He had shown me the cold shoulder and pretended to sleep. The audacity!

The drake quite obviously didnt want to be involved in whatever was to come.

He scratched the back of his head with a hand as big as a sledgehammer. I dont know many people who can challenge my Precognition without overwhelming me.

Astra waved her hand in a welcoming gesture. You can join our training if you want. We are doing morning exercises at sunrise in the courtyard. Bring your partner too.

Elijah looked uncertain but nodded. Ill do that.

Our socializing was abruptly interrupted by an animals call. It sounded like a loud bleating.

We looked over the parapet but saw nothing before the bleating came again and a herd of huge creatures trampled over the crest of a nearby hill. They looked like elk at the first glance, but their bodies and tails had more in common with a fox. Meanwhile, their extremely elongated heads had nothing in common with any creature I knew from Earth.

One of my sub-identities quickly provided the correct number.

The fleeing herd consisted of fifty-two animals which flowed down the hill and through between the sahernas feet like a school of fish. Each of the elks was as big as a truck with some being even bigger. They still were nothing compared to the saherna.

They were followed by a large pack of gutters. For the first time, I noted with excitement, I had recognized an animal from a previous encounter. The stupid dogs had given me tough times back at the Old Camp until Mark taught me how to hunt properly.

The deadly fluffballs yowled and followed the herd with foam at their mouths.

Do we have to be worried about the gutters? I asked, remembering their claws which would be the perfect tools to climb a sahernas bark-like skin.

No, Elijah answered. They wont try their luck with the saherna if there is other prey. Though, they must be desperate and hungry if they are hunting a herd of lightelks. If they are very lucky, they will catch a sick animal. But its more likely for them to get killed when the herd decides to fight.

As if on cue, one of the larger lightelks turned and charged the pack of gutters. It lowered its antlers which began to glow and spark. The clear sign of electricity had me activate my Second Sight and I watched in awe as the arching plasma between the creatures antlers coalesced into a ball of lightning.

The elk bleated like a ram-horn and launched the ball of concentrated plasma with a flick of its antlers. The light shot away and impacted right in the middle of the pack.

One of the gutters vanished in a blinding flash while others got singed and stunned. All I could see remaining of the primary target was a blackened spot on the ground and some fluff in the air. The elk had vaporized the gutter!

Then the huge lightelk trampled right through the pack while sweeping its antlers, claiming more kills. It was as if a car had run over a group of people, causing carnage supreme.

Only a handful of gutters were desperate enough to jump onto the lightelk. Their claws dug into the animals flanks and they began to climb, causing huge, bleeding wounds.

But the lightelk was having none of it.

The animal threw itself onto its side and rolled, crushing the pesky nuisances which dared to attack it. When it came back up, it was in a prime position to fire up its main weapon again, but by this point, the pack of gutters was already fleeing.

Another fluffball evaporated when the plasma ball caught up to it. Then the pack disappeared behind the crest of the hill, leaving behind over a dozen of their number.

The predators are starved after the winter, Elijah commented drily. They will come back and eat their own once the herd has passed. If they are lucky, the bull will bleed out and they will have a feast, but I doubt it. The wounds look superficial.

But I didnt listen. My mind was too distracted by what I had seen.

The phenomenon of a lightning ball wandering through someones bedroom had been disproven as a hoax long ago though there were still people who claimed to have witnessed such encounters.

Which wasnt to say similar phenomena didnt exist. Scientists could replicate short-lived plasma balls inside the laboratory. There were even real documented lightning balls though the conditions to form them naturally were only right high up in Earths atmosphere. Too high for any human to encounter them without satellite observation.

Yet, this creature had just used electricity and magnetism to shoot plasma at an enemy.

Thankfully, my sub-identities had paid close attention. If I could replicate-

A mad giggle caused me to look over to Astra who was cradling a tiny pinprick of light between her hands. She threw her hands out in a pushing motion, and the tiny plasma ball flew away from us. It dispersed quickly and winked out after it left Astras control, but it was more than enough as a proof of concept.

How did you do that? I asked.

I just copied what the elk did? Astra pointed over the parapet. The saherna had left the scene of the battle behind, but it was still visible. Why havent we thought of this before? Its way more complicated to pull off, but it takes much less power than a normal lightning strike.

The lightelk was working out its frustrations on the gutters who were too injured to flee. Despite presumably being a herbivore, the elk had concerning murderous tendencies. One by one, it stomped each body into the ground as it made sure none of its attackers would see the light of another day.

I took Astra by the arm and turned her in the direction of our quarters. We have to find out how this is possible.

Just before we marched off, I remembered Elijah had been watching us and turned to address him, Oh, sorry, but we just found a new application of our mutation. Tomorrow?

No problem, Elijah waved us goodbye with a forced smile on his face. After experiencing the standard lightning strike first-hand, he was probably already imagining what it would be like to endure a smaller version of the elks lightning ball.

I then frogmarched Astra to our quarters while quickly trying to explain the impossible-seeming physics behind this phenomenon. Not to mention, it would be quite the ace in our set of skills and had to stay hidden.

Elijah having seen Astra improvising a small lightning ball wasnt ideal, but nothing could be done about it.

For a moment I played with the thought of eliminating Elijah, but discarded it quickly. He had proven himself to be a tough nut to crack. Too tough to take on silently without preparation. And by the time I managed to come up with something feasible, he would have already shared the knowledge.

No. It was better to sweep the knowledge beneath the rug and hope it wouldnt spread beyond Elijahs circle.

And who knew? Maybe throwing balls of lightning wouldnt turn out to be a viable skill anyway.