Aurelia: "Come with me to Ggigantjia, there are humans and elves. They will welcome you as a savior."

Louise: "Is that true?"

"I assure you!"

Louise: "And Vicky and the other dinoraptors?

Aurelia: "We will find them a place and a domain to hunt. They will be under my protection and the hunters will be forbidden to harm them."

The goddess could see that the wyvern before her had a good heart and was not a bloodthirsty monster. If she became the companion of a hero, she could also be a candidate.

Then Louise decided to follow the goddess, her eyes full of promise.

Aurelia knew Enka's way of thinking and her plan.

Tau went along the mountainous cirque with the Octahedron in the middle, which was like a mountain touching the sky and piercing the clouds.

It was a perfect figure but also frightening.

From time to time, a "Gong" shook the valley, which was like a kind of sounding board.

What was surprising was that below the surface, the base was like the top: sunken into the depths of the earth, perhaps even touching the center of the earth.

It was mystical, divine and demonic all at once. Frightening. That was the only word.

Just looking at the figure made you feel dizzy and sick to your stomach.

Kedra: "Dad? shall we see the figure?"

He looked down.

Volkor said, "Yes, we're going to face the Destroyer, pray to Enka and ask him for a favor, if you ever want to find Sit.

His mother followed Roth and looked at the monstrous mountain, praying to the black deity for mercy.

Volkor stopped in front of a valley made from an ancient glacier.

"This is where we descend! Beware... there are monsters here. They feed on the energy that emanates from the artifact."

The view was breathtaking and you could see the tens of miles of impact from the figure and the crushed rocks..

Kedra" Master Volkor, is the mountain doing all this damage?"

He looked, "No... not exactly... the frozen earth is intact... and it has gone into a larger earth and is embedded in it.

These are the rocks and mountains that have fallen back to the earth in the form of lava, earth and rocks. Gaia, here resisted but 1/3 was destroyed.

The earth is buried under the ice and forms a kind of underground world, a layer of eternal ice serving as a vault.

It is accessed through the octahedron which is a tomb, an arch and a doorway at the same time but also the lair of the Destroyer."

The deserted part of rock and bushes gave way to trees, oaks and the group decided to take a break at the edge of a lawn

The hundred or so tribesmen had made a makeshift camp and a fire was warming the cold mountain nights.

It was still daylight and Kedra felt like rain, but it was slime.

He raised his head and saw a huge gorilla that must have been about 6 meters tall with huge pectorals and hands as big as Norman cupboards.

He was on a branch and jumped on the branch below, but it did not hold his weight.

Immediately, the hunters grabbed their spears and Kedra stepped back.

The aggressive gorilla had made a mistake

Then Rapetou jumped to protect his friends and got between the gorilla and the humans.

The wyvern did the same and began to whistle.

The scalded gorilla hit his muscles hard and tried to grab Rapetou's neck, but Rapetou turned 180 degrees and his poisonous tail hit and lacerated the ape's mouth.

The cries redoubled and he lunged to grab and bite the dragoraptor.

He then spat poison right into the eyes of the gorilla who went into a rage of pain.

He couldn't see anything, the dinosaur's poison combined with the draconic genes were taking their toll.

The gorilla wanted to seize the hazar and relied on hearing but the hunters were not stupid,

They banged their skin shields like drums and the gorilla was disturbed.

He showed his fangs and howled as he rubbed his eyes, but he soaked his hair with the sticky venom and wanted to lick the corrosive substance out of his eyes. They could still be saved if rinsed out but the effect was a very, very strong tear gas.

Then Rapetou jumped on the back of the gorilla, ejecting so as not to be seized, while leaving a horrible wound made by his hind paws... They were real scissors.

The humans threw their spears, which wounded the gorilla, which began to flee, but the drago Dylo flew away and soaked its wyvern stinger with deadly poison.

The wyvern did the same, but another gorilla, probably the female, jumped from another tree and crushed Rapetou to the ground.

As she fell, she slammed both fists into the wyvern's back and it crashed into the dragon's side.

It was a devastating blow and the wyvern lost her breath, shocked and unconscious.

Rapetou was also gasping for breath, probably with broken ribs and perhaps even his spine.

The monkey picked up the gorilla and didn't wait to be picked up. She pulled her male out of danger and disappeared into the forest.

The fight had probably started over territory.

Rapetou could not move, the pain was excruciating and he begged to be put down.

So Volkor applied first aid but the dylo was badly injured. He was shaking all over and could barely stand up.

The wyvern next to him was in a coma, his vertebrae were displaced and given the weight, they were untransportable.

So Volkor made a decision: "Kedra, go with your mother to the point here, south of the mountain, in the swamps. Take the tablet and put on my cloak with the symbol of the Destroyer. When you see a dinosaur dragon 3 times the size of Rapetou, get down on your belly and shout "ENKA!" and "RAPETOU."

They are smart enough to understand and will bring help. Only the 2 monsters are strong enough to carry the 2 unfortunates. "

Kendra:" But if we go for it, we could all arrive and get help..."

Volkor: "And if the monkeys also arrive with "help" they will be doomed! Rapetou is my friend and I also owe him my life. You too, don't forget it!"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Volkor then cast a medium healing spell on the two dragons and he saved his mana reserve in case there was an unexpected fight.

As usual, he had the spears planted on the ground for a fawn to impale itself in case it was tempted by a human snack and he charged the fire with mana to repel and scare away as much of the local wildlife as possible.

Tau sat down at the edge of the fire next to the former emperor.

"Isn't your magic working?"

"OH yes it does, but if I exhaust my reserves, and a saber-toothed tiger appears, I will be exhausted and unable to protect you all. And our 2 dragons paid a heavy price. Those two monkeys could have slaughtered every last one of you. It's time you learned to defend yourselves against monsters..."

Tau: "I've never seen a monkey that size, not even my ancestors..."

Volkor : "I will be careful, if you are decimated... the elves alone could not be the cause"

Tau : "I am afraid..."

Volkor : "Even with powers, even under Tyrant, I still have a place for fear, and that's what saved me. The only thing is that one must not be paralyzed by fear or have one's judgment clouded. It must become an ally by becoming a kind of alarm, a sixth sense.

And this is cultivated through experience and perseverance."

The shaman sighed and they fell asleep comforted by the warmth of the fire and the relative protection it offered.

The next morning, Kedra, Berth, and a warrior set off running south, guided by the dot on the recharged tablet.

Berth recognized through the reflections of the structure, the shape of the circular village with its buildings going around, a buffer zone and finally the fortifications and in the center, the temple and the leisure, logistic and command centers, leading to the subway network connecting the Enka palace and the dwarf fortress, outside the mountain, probably buried under millions of tons of stones and rubble, but maybe still intact by the eternal ice?

The cold was biting but bearable for her who was a high human, having the blessing of the Destroyer and being part of his army, under Bello.

She secretly loved him, but did not want any conflict with Sarah, the chancellor, and she had become attached to Tiamat who gave her good advice. She had even become a friend but she felt the tension between the primary goddess and the fallen goddess, at best a half goddess.

Secretly, she prayed for Bello but also for her friend and some Kobolds. She had even shared her bed with some of them but without going too far. Just a little tenderness, because most of them were reincarnated, killed friends who came back as Kobolds. And with their old memories, Berth comforted them by giving them a little human warmth.

But now she admired her man, Tau, and was proud of Kedra.

Kedra resisted a little less, Enka's blessing being reduced to 50% due to his origins, except for the exceptional grace of the deity of darkness and time.

The warrior was suffering the most and with his layers of fur and the magic screen of protection invoked by Volkor his beard was starting to frost and his breath resembled the expulsion of steam from a locomotive.

The temptation was strong to go and get medical supplies but if Volkor said we had to find the tribe, that took priority.

One of Hans' psychological drills for the military was to focus on the essentials and not to be distracted by your surroundings or by others, even if they were yelling.

A mission was a mission and nothing should distract a soldier.

He explained by example that a chain of command was strong if everyone followed it without taking initiative. This should remain the exception and not become the rule.

The disobedience or distraction of one often led to the death of a companion.

And that was why life was good in the Village. Everyone could count on each other in any circumstances.

The "Haste" spell allowed the group of 3 to go 3 times faster and the blue dot was getting closer to the red dot.

If one could get a drone or an aerial view, the group would have seen parallel lines in the tall grass following them and others joining them in a pincer movement.

Then Berth stopped and for a moment she heard a few footsteps echoing on the ground, in sync with her own.

"We're not alone! Get ready!"

She stopped and slowly dropped to her knees.

"Do as I do!"

Then she hissed and shouted Enka in a Draconic accent.

Immediately afterwards, "Huah Huah..." was heard, the typical raptor bark.

With the sound going in a circle she knew they had fallen into their death trap.

She pressed the raptor sound pad to indicate that they were in the same camp.

Suddenly, a raptor, armed with a spear leapt up and landed in front of Roth, nose to nose and Roth lowered his head in submission.

"HUAH!!!????"

She held out the cape with the symbol and the raptor relaxed

"HUAHH! Huahh!"

Others arrived and surrounded the 3 humans.

"Rapetou! GRAH! GRAH!" shouted Roth.

They looked at each other and the humans were able to stand up.

"ROAH!"

And Roth understood that she had to follow them.

They jumped over rocks and behind them was a cave.

They entered the cave, which opened up into a hidden valley where they had made their home.

There was a mass grave that was regularly burned for the smell. This was where they threw the remains, mainly bones and meat stuck between unusable bones and cartilage.

The smell was overwhelming and showed the borderline between the animal kingdom and the smelly kingdom, not to mention the human kingdom.

Roth was confident and not unnaturally afraid, but it was something else for Kedra and the warrior. Every second, every minute was an achievement to have survived.

Fear was sweating and it excited the raptors who were reveling in the sensation.

They were neither the first nor the last humans they would devour.

On earth, it was a terror tactic to devour humans alive in front of survivors that they left on purpose to tell...

A bit like the guerrilla techniques where mass rape was a weapon of war.

Some of them, for fun and provocation, were chattering their teeth and curling their lips, showing their canines, to instigate terror in their "guests".

Then all stopped and the birds, even the insects, fell silent.

It was like a silence, then, very lightly at first, a vibration.

We could see in the mud, a puddle in the shape of a giant paw...

The water began to vibrate, even before a noise came.

Kedra: "Mom... this is the end... we're all going to die in pieces.."

"Shut up, you idiot, your fear will cause us to have an accident! You are a man now! These raptors are our friends. I recognize some of them. And the vibrations, that's Vicky or Apex!

They're scary but good-hearted... although Apex loves to gobble up humans..."

"MAMAAN! I'm scared!!!"

Then, Kedra began to cry, feeling a shape against her back..a pressure..a snout..a gigantic snout...

Which sniffed..And threw the poor young man to the ground in the mud.

"VICKY!!!" screamed Roth with joy!

But Vicky was confused, yes, she recognized Roth but she couldn't put a name to each head... She was more dino than dragon and even less human.

At almost 10 meters tall, she was still adept at not being spotted by Kedra whom she had taken by surprise, lured by the scent of fear and... prey.

Vicky didn't know if she should eat Kedra or lick Roth...

But Roth grabbed her muzzle and stroked her head with his tiny hands.

"Vicky... how happy I am to see you alive... We need your help! Rapetou is badly hurt... a Kong attacked us. We're with Volkor.

Vicky frowned. She didn't like Volkor. He was an enemy. But a friend now, but for a long time he was an enemy. In short, it was complicated for her. Dantinne told her what to do and everything was easier before. And Apex was even more stupid than she was. She was following the raptors that...were following her...and it was chaos.

They were together around a fire, going back to the old ways of the Jurassic jungle... Basically, these dragons were no more evolved than cro-magnon cooks, hunters with only Vicky knowing how to manage fishing and oysters...a feat in itself. But hunger was her best ally in intelligence...

Roth looked at the state of the camp.

"Vicky??? This is your tribe??? but... what the hell!!! Everything and anything...."

Vicky lowered her head.

"Vicky not chief..... raptor chief..."

But Roth could see that the raptors were following Vicky..

She sighed.

"Look, Vicky.. we're going to help you....a tribe of humans worship Enka.. grandmother Enka.. okay? They will stay with us like in the village... okay? Do you follow me?"

"Yes, Roth.." replied Vicky painfully with her big jaw.

"We're going to look for Rapetou and his mate and bring them here to recover."

Vicky, all panicked... Rapetou is going to die??? SALE KONG! I'll bleed him!!!!

"STOP VICKY.. I promise you, we'll take care of him! but AFTER.... SAVE RAPETOU!!! SAVE RAPETOU!!!!"

Vicky nodded and repeated "Save RAPETOU. SAVE RAPETOU"

Roth was afraid of the gigantosaurus' stupidity. It was a miracle that she survived...

Then Vicky started to cry... "Nicolai Nicolas.... I miss him.... I wish he would come back and climb on me!"

Roth put his hand to hide his face and could not admit the stupidity of the dinosaur in front of her.

"Why is it talking!!! this is even worse, she thought to herself."

Then, with a chuckle "Say... Vicky, do you know how the little ones come into the world?"

Vicky: "They come out of the eggs.."

Then she stopped... Vicky was too stupid to make the connection between climbing on her. For her it was natural, like a caress, like a pleasure but she was not aware of the shame or embarrassment and even less of the relation between mating and laying eggs and having babies...

It was this kind of etiolated situation that represented a danger with these unpredictable giants.

An accident could happen quickly and Vicky was like a time bomb.

She needed orders and a guide. The creature was lost without Nicolas who had raised her since she was a child. She had been adopted twice. Once by two nice Carnotosaurs who had lost their brood to dilophosaurus and who had taken poor Vicky all alone and abandoned by her even more stupid mother. She stayed a little with her father who was also torn apart by the Dilos, too many and still very small, she had taken refuge under the wings of Nicolai who had managed to cast a shield spell to protect them both until the Dilos abandoned them and attacked the corpses of her adoptive mothers.

Since then, she has followed Nicolas' every move with her paw, even before he became a Gigantosaurus dragoon.

Her influence has allowed the dinosaur to be more than a wild and bloodthirsty beast like those of his race. And, surprisingly, she loved to play! A ball in the camp was forbidden! Vicky would have wrecked everything following the ball!

Those were good memories.

And, to the general surprise of the other two humans, Vicky was glad to have someone to lead again.

"We'll need wood and rope to drag and secure the wyvern. Vicky, we're counting on you to shoot Rapetou and the wyvern.

The dino didn't understand anything but was happy to obey.

Vicky and Apex set off with a few raptors to join the human campfire.

They were visible from far, far away and it was a miracle they didn't get attacked even more. They were protected in some way by the raptor clan.

It was going to be a clash of races but between cro-magnons and cro-raptors, it should pass.