After Vuthe went to bed Tizanta made her way to the camp of the Army unit. Two soldiers stood guard, obviously a little perturbed by how open the Thelvadore Soldiers were in their… individual activities. There were open fist fights, sparring, but also what would be displays of intimacy for humans. Like a lot of kissing and hugging. And of course, real intimacy as well.

Tizanta chuckled as the perturbed soldiers turned to her. „Good evening. What can I help you with?“, the blonde woman asked Tizanta. She looked decently pretty, but also battle hardened.

„Good evening. I wanted to ask if it was possible to use your communications hub to contact someone? It’s a private matter“, Tizanta replied with a pretty smile. She knew exactly what kind of effect her smile had on people and was surprised at how much both self-control both soldiers had.

„I’ll need to ask our second in command for that, I’m afraid. Please wait a moment“, the woman said and turned around.

„No problem“, Tizanta told her before the woman walked away.

The man looked at Tizanta. He looked like a muscular type with slightly tan skin, and the typical soldiers haircut. „Hey, uhm…“, he started hesitantly, before pointing towards the general direction of the camp, „Is that normal? Like… They just, uh… Go… at each other. It’s like watching animals in a zoo.“

Tizanta laughed, „Well, there is a big difference in society and sexuality between humans and dragons. Most of our soldiers are dragons, although only half-breeds. The beastkin usually stick to themselves. But for us dragons this is normal, yes. Those that fight are testing who is stronger, therefore who holds more respect. We are very open about everything, and honest to a fault. We also have different understanding of intimacy. A kiss is no more important than a handshake to us. But don’t pull a dragon by their tail. That’s molesting, if its without their consent. Oh, and never ask a dragon for their scales. Most of them will probably outright kill you“, she shrugged with a small smile, and waved into the general direction offhandedly, „Although this might be a little more… extreme than usual. We have been fighting non-stop for two and a half thousand years, so we are all a little on edge. Usually, you’d only find a little of all this happening. But they need some time to unwind.“

The soldier looked at her with wide eyes. Then he shook his head. „Jesus christ… That I’d ever meet a dragon. My son won’t believe me. Can we take a picture together?“, he asked.

Tizanta smiled, „Sure. Just keep it to yourself. But I don’t mind. Although I’m not technically a dragon. I’m a Serpent. It’s a different kind of draconic.“

He looked confused for a moment, then shrugged and pulled out his phone. She took a step closer and stood behind him, to fully show off her draconic features. „Thanks“, he said, after he saved the picture, „Gotta say you look fascinating.“

„Thank you very much. I’m often called the most beautiful in our court“, she said with a smirk, „If you ever find yourself with more questions about draconics don’t hesitate to come to me“, she told him, as the woman returned.

„Boss said you can leave us a message and we’ll get it through“, she told Tizanta, who had turned to the woman upon her arrival.

„Wonderful. I would like to contact two people. The first is Scarlet Savart. The second is your best magical trauma expert“, she told the woman with a smile.

The man frowned, „Trauma expert? What’d you need them for?“

Tizanta looked at him, this time with a serious expression. „I will not disclose that information. I also expect that the trauma expert is trust worthy. If I hear anything about him telling your people about my friends’ problems, and believe me, I will, then I won’t hesitate to intervene. Have I made myself clear?“

Both soldiers got into a ready position. „Is this a threat?“, the woman asked with a serious tone.

Tizanta turned to her and let loose her aura just a bit. Hers was by far not as threatening as Vuthe’s, but the pressure was still overwhelming for humans. „No. This is a promise. Don’t test me“, she said with a cold voice that made even the soldiers shiver. After a moment she reigned her aura in again and smiled, „Besides. The reason I ask for this Trauma expert is to avoid any altercations because of my friend’s mental health. Wouldn’t want a mad dragon run around killing people, would you?“

The two pale soldiers shook their heads. „Good. Now shoo, deliver that message. Oh, for the one to Scarlet Savart. Tell her there is an emergency family situation she needs to deal with. I’d like for her to tell me a time and place in which she can meet someone. But don’t tell her anything else. Just that it’s a family emergency. If she asked who sent it, just tell her a good family friend and that its urgent.“

The soldiers nodded and the woman turned to leave. „Thank you“, Tizanta said as the woman walked away. She looked at the man. „Now. How long do you have to stand guard? Would you mind a drink after you’re done? I believe you are curious as to what we went through and I would like some more information on what this world has to offer.“

The man shrugged, although he still seemed a little on guard, „Won’t be too much longer. And sure. Although I gotta say… I’m… It’s… Ugh“, he shook his head. It seemed that he wanted to say something but didn’t know the right words. He cleared his throat and looked her straight into her Night-sky Irises. „I’ve heard rumors. One of my friends was there with you when you talked with the major. Is it true that you came originally from here?“

Tizanta sighed. She didn’t want to outright talk about it, but it wasn’t a secret per se in that sense. Sooner or later, they would find that out anyways. She nodded, „Yes. The five of us, that’s Vuthe, Calagrophy, Castaphiel, Corellanium, and me, all originally came from here. I can tell you the story over a drink later. Although it is my understanding that your government already knows a small part of the story. No matter, I can fill you in. Just… don’t go around and just share it with everyone. Sure, eventually everyone will know. But for the time being we’d like for this to stay under the rags so to say. It’s not a secret, but we don’t want it shouted from the roofs, you get me?“

The soldier nodded, „Of course. How long were you over there if I might ask? I didn’t know we even had dragons here. Or, eh, Serpents?“

She laughed, „Well, you don’t. The magical density isn’t nearly strong enough for that. We were humans before. As for how long we spent over there? In your time, just about fifty years. But for us it’s been a lot longer. Two thousand Nine hundred sixty three years to be exact“, she shrugged.

He looked at her with wide eyes, „What?! Jesus christ, how old are you?!“, he asked, shocked.

Tizanta chuckled, „I personally am Two thousand nine hundred and eighty. All of us are within about six years of age, with our Queen being the youngest and Corellanium the eldest. But you should go back to your duty“, she said and waved her hand. A small token appeared in it, which she handed the soldier. „If you’re ready to have a drink just crush it. That way I know to come find you. Don’t worry I’ll know where you are“, she gave him a mischievous grin.

With that they said their goodbyes and she wandered off. It was a good opportunity for her to learn more about the current stage of the world. And she hoped that she could get some other soldiers to agree to a drink as well. She had noticed that here and there some of the human soldiers looked at Vuthe’s troops with disgust, despite the Majors previous statement. Oh well, such people were everywhere.

An hour later she felt her token being crushed. She was currently bathing, so she quickly delivered the soldier a message with a sending spell. And half an hour later they met at the Entertainment Tent that Vuthe’s troops had put up. The soldier was already waiting, standing to the side, and seemingly completely lost. He was wearing casual clothes and looked around. Tizanta walked up to him with a wave, „Hey there“, she greeted him.

He looked at her then waved at her with a smile, „Hey there, uh…?“.

„I’m Tizanta isk Thesekar“, she said, offering him a hand.

„Dave Platora“, he answered, shaking it. He was surprised by how firm her handshake was, by her frail looking appearance he would have guessed to be much weaker. And it appeared that his surprise showed on his face.

She smirked, „Serpent, remember? I could crush you in my sleep without even wanting to“, she snickered and he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

„Uh… Ehm… Yeah“, he mumbled.

„Come on, lets get some drinks. You should stick to ale. Most of the stuff we have here can probably outright kill you it’s that strong. We draconics need some serious percentage to get through our innate poison resistance“, she said as she lead him to one of the tables to the side, greeting people as she walked.

Once she arrived at a table further in the back she sat down and waved the impromptu waiter over. It was an older Tiger Beastkin, with a wicked scar over his right eye. „What can I getcha, Realmbreaker?“, he asked in a rough, but friendly voice. A small smile was on his lips. The man, Chester, was a mountain of a Beastkin. Tiger Beastkin tended to be slightly taller and more muscled than humans, but he truly was one hell of a man. His fur was in disarray, but Tizanta knew that was normal for him.

„A Dragons Breath for me and some light dwarven ale for Dave over here“, she said with a smile.

Dave looked at the man in curiosity and with a hint of fear. „Dave, eh? Yer new play thing?“, Chester mused.

Tizanta chuckled, „Maybe, maybe not. Wanted to have a chat to learn a few things about the current state of the world.“

Chester grunted, „I’ll be honest, Realmbreaker, I’m feelin‘ a lil uneasy. These people are… weird. Even for humans.“

Tizanta shrugged, „You’ll get used to it. Now chop chop, I’m thirsty“. With a nod Chester walked away and Tizanta turned back to Dave, who looked shocked.

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„Don’t worry. He likes you. Otherwise he’d torn your head off and be playing bowling with it“, she chuckled, „Jokes aside tho. He’s a nice guy. Fierce warrior but a real nice guy. You should have seen him with his kids“. Her face fell. „Well… Before… Just before…”, she said quietly, turning away.

Dave needed a moment to get his bearings. It didn’t take a genius to understand that something very bad happened to them. „What happened to them?”, he asked quietly, not being able to stop himself.

Tizanta looked at him with a blank face, „Humans got them. They were captured, sold into Slavery, and quite literally raped to death. We found the bodies in one of the mass graves outside of one of the Human capitals.”

While Dave had experienced quite a lot in his time as a soldier, this let his blood run ice cold, and he felt his face paling. „Oh… Wow… That’s… that’s awful…”

Tizanta shrugged with a pained smile, „Everyone here has similar tales. Some better, some worse, but all are here because of all the shit they had to go through under the humans.”, she said, then shook her head, trying to shake off the funk. „But enough of that. I didn’t bring you here to tell you about our suffering. Tell me a little more about here, and what I need to know.“

Dave nodded and began to tell her all about the changes that occurred in the past fifty years. Mostly life was as usual, although a few things had changed. The Government funded school for example, was for children with outstanding magical abilities. Enlistment was forceful and secretive, which of course led to a lot of distrust and displeasure, but the new mages were really needed. The monsters appeared more often as of late. Only recently did Dave’s squad deal with a monster den not far from here.

Monsters were magically changed animals. In the same vein as demi-humans were born from normal humans due to the mana present in the environment, monsters were born from animals. For the longest time it wasn’t an issue really, but fifty years ago both demi-humans and monsters suddenly and drastically increased.

The governments had also drastically changed worldwide, but he didn’t know the details for that. There were rumors in the magical society that it was because of an incident fifty years ago, something about weird magical events or some such. Tizanta was fairly certain that was when she and her friends were summoned to the other world. After that there were a lot of new species of Demi-Humans being born as well. The magical world had to adapt a lot and quickly, as suddenly high-born vampires, fairies, and similar races appeared.

„Now“, Dave said after he finished, „I want to know about you and yours“. He sipped at his beer that had been delivered during his explanation.

Tizanta nodded, „Well, where to even start. It’s a long story, but to give you brief rundown from my perspective. When we were summoned to the other world our original bodies died. Our souls were transferred to dragon eggs, or a serpent egg in my case. Calagrophy, Castaphiel, Corellanium, and I had been lucky. While we were born into slavery, and had to endure quite a bit of torture, our situation was a vacation in Hawaii compared to what Vuthe went through. At first, we didn’t even know there was a fifth person as she was reincarnated somewhere else. Five centuries was she there, getting drugged, tortured, and raped, used as a sex toy for the most deprived fantasies the nobles could think up. The four of us broke out after a few years, two decades at most, and began to find out more about the world. We worked as adventurers for a while, but we all knew that the situation was shit for the normal population. We had plans on dealing with it.“

She took a sip from her drink. „We started planning, made quiet inquiries, at this point we were already pretty high ranking adventurers, and began to map something out. I infiltrated a kingdom to act as a spy and collect information, while working as the head guard, and eventually head of the secret spy corp. I learned a lot about organizing and running such an outfit there and helped stop a good amount of the more… immoral things the kingdoms did. Fast forward five centuries of doing this and that, mostly trying to figure out how to go about helping the people and doing exactly that, we eventually heard tale of a dragon that was out for blood. And it was a unique one too. We were dispatched as an adventurer team to deal with it. Mind you, we all pretended to be human, switching guilds and names, kingdoms and associations to keep up the guise. So, we went and looked into this rogue dragon. Rogue dragons exist but are really rare. Most of the damage caused by draconics are lesser draconics who aren’t as intelligent or more animalistic. So, all of us were a little uneasy about this. Sure, we were dragons, and we were already pretty strong by that point. But neither Corellanium nor me were much of a fighter. We both specialize more in support and utility.

„Low and behold, the rogue Dragon was Vuthe. She wasn’t really rogue in that sense; she was just pissed. Her entire life was torture, rape, drugs, betrayals. She had just decimated a secret order of assassins which worked for a kingdom after they betrayed her. She only had a few friends in that order from what I heard, and all of them turned on her the moment she displayed reluctance to follow orders. It took us a long time to subdue her. Luckily Calagrophy recognized her. She had gone to the same school as Vuthe during an exchange program and saw her relatively often. They didn’t know each other well, but our appearances strangely stayed the same, even after our rebirth. Of course, Cal wasn’t sure if she was only imagining things, but at the same time, the four of us were already reborn. So why couldn’t she be the same? And lucky too, turned out she was like us. However, during the five centuries of hell she went through she had lost most of her memories. She was honestly very childlike. Although a very, very dangerous child. We took a good while to help her amnesia, and eventually all got on the same page. Vuthe was even more determined than us to end the nobles. They were responsible for her situation after all. So, we started our revenge plan. I’ll… skip the details. Most of them aren’t… pleasant. And some I don’t want to disclose just yet, until I have a better understanding on how your government will react. Safe to say we were merciless“, her face fell into something dark and cold.

„If there is one thing that noble who came here was right about, then it was that we waged a bloody mess of a war. But I won’t say more. We are done with fighting, all of us. All we want to do is to live in peace and quiet.“

Dave had listened to her story with great interest. He was just about to ask a question as a small ball of energy flew straight into Tizanta, nearly throwing her off her seat.

„MOOOOOOOOM!“, a young voice yelled out in glee. The culprit was a young girl, who looked to be around eight or nine years old. She had similar features to Tizanta, yet she had a touch of green in it. „Ever since we came here you spent all your time with the council! I’m tired of Dad trying to get me to scheme with him!“, the little girl pouted.

Tizanta chuckled and returned the embrace with a warm smile. „I’m sorry, love. There were a lot of things I had to do and I had to take care of our Queen.“

The girls pout turned into a smile and she snuggled against Tizanta. „I know… Its just… its so boring. Nothing is happening. There isn’t anyone I could play with either…“

„You have Chastilia though?“, Tizanta asked, one eyebrow raised.

The girl stuck her tongue out with a disgusted look, „Bleh. She’s stupid. All she does is doing dumb stuff. I don’t wanna play with a Hydra.“

Tizanta chuckled, then looked at Dave. „Meet my little daughter, Kalaria. She’s a mix between Serpent and Hydra, quite the unusual mutation.“

„Uhm… Hi?“, Dave said to the girl, a little surprised and shocked by the ball of pure energy. Before he could say anything more the girl had jumped off of Tizanta’s Lap and straight at him.

„Hi! I’m Kalaria! You’re a human, right? You look so… weird. And your clothes too. You’re part of the other group in the camp, right? What are you doing here? Do you want to kill us too? Are you strong? I bet I can beat you.“

The stream of questions and commentary of the girl didn’t seem to end, until Tizanta said with a stern voice, „Kalaria. He’s a guest. Treat him nice. And don’t fight with him, we both know you would kill him by accident.“

That stopped the onslaught of the girl and she looked dejected. Dave didn’t know how to deal with the situation. „Uhm… Yes. I’m a human. And yeah, I’m part of the army“, he said, then looked helplessly at Tizanta.

„Kalaria is a little energetic. Ever since the war ended and she doesn’t have anyone to fight with she puts all her energy into annoying others.“

Despite her harsh words, Tizanta’s voice was warm and full of what one might describe as motherly love. „She’s only a hundred and twelve, so its normal for her to be energetic, but she really is… extremely so.“

„Hundred and twelve?! She looks like eight!“, Dave exclaimed with disbelief. Tizanta chuckled, repeatedly surprised just how much she forgotten this world is different than the other.

„Well, yeah. We age differently. Draconics are considered children until they reach around two to three hundred, it kind of depends on the race. She will mature more quickly than other serpents because she’s half Hydra. Still full blooded Draconic though. Its a very rare mutation, a Wyrm as we call it. She inherited her father’s physical strength and my intelligence and magical strength, which is extremely rare, even for the already rare mix race. Usually these kinds of crossbreeds end up with more detrimental mutations than helpful ones.“

„Mom! I’m not some kind of museum piece. And I’m already hundred and twelve, I’m not a child anymore!“, Kalaria complained as she snuggled closer to Dave as if he was her dad and she tried to flee from her mother.

„That… Uhm… That’s a lot to take in“, Dave said. He was stunned out of his realm. This little girl that looked like she could be his daughter, was old enough to be his great-great-great-grandma. Yet, from her behavior it was very clear that she was indeed still just a child.

Tizanta shrugged, „I mean, yeah, I guess from your perspective this doesn’t make much sense. You’ll get used to it though“. She ordered another drink and emptied her current one. „Just be happy you can be gradually introduced to all of this. Imagine being… well, you, and suddenly wake up in a dragons body. You gotta figure out a lot of that yourself. Especially when it comes to our specific abilities. It took me the better part of a year to figure out how to shift or use my magic.“

Dave shook his head and ruffled Kalaria’s hair, „I mean I know some long living species. Elves can reach five to six hundred. But they mature the same as humans do. Physically at least. Mentally they take about thirty years“, he shrugged, „This is far out of my experience though. And hearing your story, I doubt the higher ups will be happy about any of this. You’re basically a fighting force with natural disasters as your foot soldiers. You went through centuries of combat and conquered a world. I bet most of the people in charge don’t care for your motivation or your past. Honestly, at this point I’d bet all my live savings that once they get wind of it, they will do their damndest to put you in shackles. If not physically then metaphorically. You are, and sorry if that is a rude comment, probably the worst thing that could’ve showed up at this time. An uncontrolled factor, one that is important enough to threaten the world. I like you, really. You seem like a nice person. But they only know the stories. I wouldn’t be surprised for a moment if we got orders to kill all of you and we meet on the battlefield. Not that I have any illusions about winning against fucking dragons.“

So far Dave had remained quite friendly and relaxed, but he delivered that analysis with the cold precision of a military mind. He didn’t seem to like it, but Tizanta knew that he wasn’t wrong. She sighed, defeated. „Look Dave, I know. And I also know that our word really isn’t enough to ensure them. I just hope it won’t come to that. There are… many people within our ranks who won’t be able to take any more fighting. Mentally, I mean. There are already a few at the breaking point. And I don’t think we can control them if they lose it. Well, we can subdue them, but not without a lot of collateral damage.“

Kalaria had remained quiet through all of it but looked up at Dave with a concerned frown. He looked down at her with a smile, although it was obviously a forced one.

„Dave, can you do me a favor?“, Tizanta asked after a moment of thoughtful silence.

He looked up at that, „What is it?“.

„I’d like to talk to the people in charge, but off the record. The last thing I want to do is for more fighting to break out. Maybe I can smooth some things over and explain it to them. But I don’t know how to do that without raising a lot more suspicions.“

Dave raised his hands defensively, „I’m not telling you no, it’s just that I don’t have these kinds of connections. You might be better of asking the Major. Is it true that some of your little group are his lost brothers?“

Tizanta nodded, „Yes, Castaphiel and Corellanium. They might be able to help me out with that I think“. There were a few moments of awkward silence before Kalaria made herself known.

„Tell me more about this world!“, she demanded of Dave.

Happy to have a change in topics he smiled, „Sure, little one.“

„I’m not little! I’m older than you!“, she retorted with a pout. Laughing about that Dave shrugged. Together Tizanta and Dave told Kalaria about this new world. The little girl was glued to their lips, taking in all the explanations and anecdotes in with a gleeful smile.

All to soon the evening was over, and Dave was about to pass out. A long day and probably a few drinks too many Tizanta escorted him to his tent, before going back to Vuthe’s after bringing Kalaria to her father.