Previously on Protector’s of Worlds:

After being captured by a race of Lizardmen called the Iguackos, Calem, and Marcel met with a rather unexpected guest, a human girl named Julie Edens!

They noticed a strange-looking bracelet she wore, now knowing she was the third one. As the Iguackos left them alone, Calem and Marcel told Julie the terrible truth about what happened to their home. This causes Julie to break down and weep as the two comfort her.

What will happen to our heroes? Let’s find out, shall we?

X

After Julie left their house, Calem and Marcel sat down on their beds. Having just told Julie what happened to their world and how she was involved, they thought it would be best if she had some alone time.

All they could do now was wait…..

X

As the hours passed, The two were doing different activities. Calem, who was lying on his bed resting, and Marcel, who was doing push-ups. When they felt enough time has passed, they left their house and got a view of the Iguackos' home.

It was a village in a huge open field with huts made of straw and wood covering every corner of the ground. The two proceeded to walk as they watch various Iguackos doing different tasks like sharpening stones, constructing new huts, and slicing meat into tiny pieces. Some of the members greeted them with generous gestures but noticed some glared at the two with anger and disgust, obviously hinting they didn’t want these visitors in their tribe.

As this was going on, two massive creatures in the far-off distance were hiding behind the trees, observing the Iguackos with drooling mouths and vicious sharp teeth...........

X

Calem and Marcel then came to a stop when they noticed Julie talking amongst a group of Iguackos with Floso in it. One of the females notices them before nudging Julie with her shoulder, turning her head towards them. She excuses herself before approaching Calem and Marcel.

“Hey there,” Julie said, seemingly calm as she got close to the two.

“Feeling a bit better?” Calem asked.

“Yeah, still a little shaken from what I just learned, but it’s getting there,” Julie replied. “It….just won’t be easy to get over.”

“We know,” Marcel said, trying to give her some relief.

“This evil…..What is it exactly?” Julie asked.

“From what we have learned so far, some guy described as a “powerful leader”. I’ve only met him once through a drone,” Calem said.

“We have been meeting several of his servants,” Marcel said.

“And what are they?” Julie asked.

“Robots,” Marcel replied in a quick manner.

“R-Robots?” Julie asked curiously.

“Yep. A variety of deadly robots sent by this evil to kill us.” Marcel said.

“Is it because…..he sees us as a threat? Julie asked.

“Yeah, I believe so,” Calem said.

"For what reason?" Julie asked again.

"We don't know, but it has to be something," Marcel told her.

While they were chatting, Floso approached them, curious to know what the three humans are talking about.

“Hello. Hope you don’t mind the intrusion.” Floso said.

“Not at all. Join in.” Julie said, okay with her reptilian friend being apart.

“You’re…..Flo, right?” Marcel said, trying to remember her name.

“Close. It’s actually Floso.” Floso said, correcting him.

“Oh, sorry. Takes me a while to remember names.” Marcel said.

“It’s fine,” Floso said. “Julie…..told me about what happened. So horrible, knowing that you had a part in the death of your family and friends.”

“Yeah…….Something we’re never gonna forgive ourselves over.” Calem said in a down and sad voice.

“I know, I share that same guilt as well,” Floso said, catching the attention of Calem and Marcel. “A mistake I did a long time had horrible consequences.”

The four didn’t say anything after what she said as their eyes started to look down, completely silent as the voices of other Iguackos filled in the void.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“S-Sorry….” Floso said, trying to break the silence. “Didn’t mean to make it more depressing.”

“No worries…” Marcel said. “So…..How did you two meet?”

“Well, it’s a very interesting story,” Julie said before telling them everything.

A few months ago, after the Earth was destroyed, Julie somehow managed to escape through a portal, which led her to Florelvazon. Upon exploring the massive jungles and encountering various creatures, she came into contact with the Iguacko tribe, whom she saw while hiding behind a tree. They were doing their usual stuff until a deadly carnivore attacked them. Julie thought about running, but the screams and cries were enough to change her mind. As the carnivore cornered a mother and her child, a rock was thrown at its head, irritating it. It turned its head back to see who threw it and it was none other than………Julie!

“I’m not gonna lie, I was terrified,” Julie said.

“So, why did you do it?” Calem asked.

“I didn’t want to stay hidden and do nothing. It just……..felt like the right thing to do.” Julie said, getting a nod from Floso.

“So, what happened then?” Marcel asked.

“What happened is that I decided that Julie would stay with us.” A voice said, turning out to be Velu’s as he joined in on them. “It was courageous what she did, but foolish and stupid.”

“Her fighting skill was lacking and she would’ve died if we didn’t stop the creature,” Floso said.

“So, while she stayed with us, I and my granddaughter decided to train her,” Velu said, before turning over to Julie with a smile. “And what a fine student she is.”

While they continued to chat amongst themselves, in the far distance, a female Iguacko came running which drew the group's attention before shouting….

“Arctolozex!! Arctolozex!!”

This confused Calem and Marcel, wondering what she could be saying but they turned to Julie, Floso, and Velu, who all had expressions of dread on them.

Before they could ask, the female was ambushed from behind by a large predator. It then bites down on the female with its giant jaws, causing her to scream in agony as it rips her lower half off before swallowing it whole. As it turned to the now frightened tribe members, another one of its species appeared from behind.

They were quadruped reptilian creatures that were about 17.5ft tall and 30ft long with brick red skin, red-brown back armor with spikes, brown ochre underbellies, and long tails. These creatures are the feared Arctolozex’s which means in the Iguackos language “Terrible One”.

One of the Arctolozex lets out a terrible roar as they both charge, causing the Iguacko to scatter. While some managed to get away, some weren’t so lucky as the carnivores tackled them and ripped them apart.

With danger in sight, some males and females arm themselves with spears and bows while most females take the children to safety. Floso, Julie, and Velu join them while Calem and Marcel go after one of the Arctolozex.

X Calem and Marcel X

The two chased after one of the carnivores while passing through fleeing Iguackos. Calem touched his gauntlet and Marcel slammed his two together, summoning their armors. As the Arctolozex was about to ambush a male, Marcel was able to quickly grab its tail, stopping its movement.

“Go!” Marcel shouted at the male Iguacko, causing him to flee for his life.

The giant predator then starts shaking its tail around, trying to get Marcel off and it does, throwing him into a hut. Calem summons his sword and proceeds to slash at the carnivore. Despite its size, the Arctolozex was able to quickly avoid the sharp blade before smacking Calem with its tail, crashing into a rock. Just when it could clamp its massive jaws down on him, Marcel who recovered, punches it right on the jaw, causing it to stumble to the left. With it dazed, Marcel reaches his hand to his friend, who grabs it as he pulls Calem up.

Shaking its head and recovering from the punch, the Arctolozex roars at the two, looking for a challenge. Marcel cracks his knuckles and Calem takes a sword-fighting stance, ready to face the deadly carnivore…….

X Julie X

Having cornered the other Arctolozex, the Iguackos proceeded to fight back, throwing and jabbing their spears at it with some managing to hit its legs and torso. This only managed to aggravate it as it started hitting them with its massive paws and smacking them with its tail, knocking some of them back. Julie and Floso, who were just done helping others evacuate, came across the two battles.

“Go help your friends. I’ll deal with this.” Floso said, grabbing a bow and arrows before joining her people.

Julie then touches her bracelet with her index and middle finger as the air around her starts to surround her, covering her in a small tornado before purple light starts to leak out…..

Back to the battle, it was mainly in the Arctolozex’s favor, using its speed and size to outwit the Iguackos. One male tried throwing his spear at it, but this caused the giant to duck and rush to bite him. He would’ve been dead if an arrow didn’t strike the Arctolozex right on the snout, roaring in pain as it looks around to see who did that.

Kneeling on top of a hut was Floso, who was pulling the bow back and shoots another arrow, hitting the snout of the creature again. The constant arrows and spears stabbing it made it angrier as it rushed past the others, heading straight toward Floso. In a hurry, she jumped off the hut, as the Arctolozex crashed into it, forcing it to collapse. Getting out of the rubble, the giant carnivore then chases after Floso, who uses all of her speed to escape. Despite this, The Arctolozex managed to catch up with her and pins her down with its paw. Before eating her, it roars straight at her face before a rock, launched at great speed, hits the predator right in the eye, having it back away from Floso before scratching its hit eye with its paw, breaking the spear in half.

With it distracted, Floso recovers until a male Iguacko approached and reached his hand to her. He was about 7ft tall with two massive scars on his neck, orange eyes, spikes under his chin, a red crest, missing the tip of his tail, and a necklace with an enormous tooth in the middle.

“Took you long enough, Roin Desen,” Floso said as she grabs Roin’s hand before pulling her up.

“Ready to finish this?” Roin said as other Iguackos join in, ready to fight.

“You bet!” Floso said in a determined way, ready to launch an arrow.

X Calem, Marcel, and Julie X

Marcel landed a right and left on the creature’s jaw, knocking a few teeth off and dazing it. He then grabbed its left front leg and throws it over him, having it hit the ground with its back. Calem fires lightning beams from his hands toward the Arctolozex. This frightened the carnivore as it rolled out of the way of the beams. Quickly, it grabbed Marcel with its jaws and throws him into Calem, knocking the two down.

Intending to finish them off, it stopped when a blast of wind hits it on the left side of its face, not hurting it but merely distracting it. Looking to its left, it sees Julie now wearing armor. The armor had a purple/pink/violet color scheme, a pink visor lens and a mouth guard with holes, pink lines on the chest, helmet, legs, feet, and arms, purple and pink shoulder pads, breast armor with a hot pink coloring, and a violet fin-like crest on top of her helmet.

She proceeds to run and the Arctolozex responds by swinging its tail at her but Julie was able to avoid it by doing an aerial cartwheel, jumping over it. It then tried biting and clawing her, but she then does back handsprings to avoid the sharp teeth and claws. Every attack it threw was easily evaded by the speed and agility of Julie. She holds her left hand out as air is sucked in, forming a pole-like weapon before disappearing, revealing it to be a halberd. With fast movement, she unleashed a flurry of slices to the creature's snout, leaving deep cuts as blood start spewing out. It then turned to a back-to-back battle with the Arctolozex trying to bite her, only to have the speedy Julie evade and slice with her halberd.

Calem and Marcel get up and help her finish this. She uses her speed to get underneath the Arctolozex and slashes both hind legs with her halberd, leaving deep cuts and causing them to collapse. Calem climbs onto its back and jumps high, forming a ball of electricity in his hands. Marcel then flips the carnivore onto its back before lifting it and throwing it into the air. Calem fires a lightning beam at it, electrifying it as it lets out a loud agonizing screech. Calem managed to land safely but the Arctolozex crashed to the ground, creating a massive dust cloud.

As the dust clears, the Arctolozex, still alive and smoking from the beam starts limbing away, giving up. Calem and Marcel proceed to fist pump, having just defeated the threat.

“Nice work, you two,” Julie said, joining in on their success.

“Thanks,” Marcel said. “Nice armor you have.”

“Thank you,” Julie said.

X Floso and Roin X

Spear after spear rained down on the other Arctolozex as it roared out in pain. Roin Desen takes this opportunity to climb onto its back with a spear in his hand. Upon reaching its head, he plunges the spear into its head, piercing the skull. The carnivore reacted with great pain as it stands on its hind legs as Roin Desen jumps off before it falls on its back.

With its belly exposed, the Iguackos proceeded to attack, stabbing with their spears and launching arrows. Having had enough, the Arctolozex gets back on its feet and runs off, having some Iguackos chase it off.

The carnivores now defeated, the tribe of Lizardmen celebrates their victory with some lunging their spears into the air while others hug one another. Roin and Floso, looking at each other with such affection, embrace before kissing each other on the lips. The three humans join in with them just as Floso rushes over to them and hugs Julie who wraps her arms around her. Calem and Marcel proceed to celebrate with the rest of the tribe.

As the children and females come out of safety, Velu, who saw Floso and Julie talking with each other, smiles, knowing that he trained the two well…..

X

In the jungle, the two Arctolozex proceed to tend to their wounds, one licking the cuts and one pulling out spears. One of them decided to rest and let the injuries heal until something strange happened. The two massive carnivores were surrounded by a strange greenish gas, coming from an unknown source. While nothing happened at first, their vision was starting to get a bit hazy as the trees, creatures, and plants were looking blurry. After a while, the two collapsed, one of them knocked out.

Just before it could pass out, one of the Arctolozex noticed something approaching it: something big and robotic that chuckled with anticipation as the carnivore's eyes closed shut.....

While our heroes celebrate, a new adversary appears! Who is it?! Find out in the upcoming chapters!!