Chapter 23
Buff Ville
As soon as we entered the planet’s atmosphere, Pantharax body was engulfed in flames. Gravity was nowhere to be found as we found ourselves flung towards the ship’s ceiling before it finally stabilized, and after a rough landing, we were met with a vast plain with black patches on the ground.
Before Pantharax spit us out, Mahaar went completely silent, getting emotional as he saw the black patches that covered the land, I told him that he can take all the time he needed and he can follow us whenever he felt better.
Right after we set foot on the planet (or floated in Saido’s case), the ground shook slightly, probably an earthquake or something I didn’t bother with until minutes later. I looked back at my dragon and I’ll be damned, that thing never failed to impress me.
“What the fuck, you can do that?” It shrunk from its colossal form into something the size of a blue whale, it just replied with a purring noise as it didn’t move, Cordi said before we land that it’ll adjust itself to the planet, so the organic parts of it takes over the techno-mechanical ones, a necessity on this EMP-releasing geography.
Now I knew what caused the earthquake, I turned towards the blue forest to see a hoard of bazillions of animals running at us, all hints of intelligence missing from their eyes, black filling their bodies. Some animals looked feline-like while some was a mixture between a bull and lizard, but their main defining trait, aside from being over-muscular for a forest animal, is that most of them had a pair of extra limbs.
Behind us, my peripheral vision caught a moving figure of a Grokati rapidly closing on us, evident hostility on his form towards the unmoving dragon.
“Lablab” I hummed, shooting vines out from my feet into the ground and spreading it around the area, ready to catch whatever comes close, be it the charging animals or the hostile Grokati, Saido started casting some big spells but cut short by Pantharax.
The dragon finally made its move, turning its head at the horde's direction, opening its maw and shooting the most terrifying fireball I’ve ever seen, and as soon as the ball touched the ground in the middle of the incoming stampede, it was like the area turned into a burning hell.
That’s a fucking nuke!
“Glacies” Saido felt the incoming shockwave of heat, talking to one of his balls as dome of ice started forming around us to counter the coming heatwave, but in the face of this white fire shit, his Ice didn’t work, and the dome melted even before its completion, making Saido and Ryola run back inside the dragon, frantically waving for me to join them.
“Fuck” I was nailed to the ground by the vines, I also couldn’t risk leaving the Grokati while Pantharax is doing its shifting thing, it seemed that he too felt the danger indicated by temperature increase and hid behind a rocky dune.
The heatwave was getting closer, it wasn’t life threatening since Pantharax shot its fireball a couple of kilometers away, but I knew it would hurt like a bitch, I had to act fast.
I quickly went into my inner database, searching for some answer, and fortunately found it in time.
“Devil worm” My pores started weaving white thread and covering my body, and in a few seconds, I was encased in a devil worm cocoon, that was somewhat heat resistant, and the heatwave hit.
I didn’t know my body had so much water, discovering a new level of sweating, the inside of the cocoon’s wall was soaked while the outside was charred, hardened, and black with soot. I cracked the cocoon open and wormed my way out as any good caterpillar would.
Noticing the Grokati frantically starting to flee, I willed the veins to grab him and bring him over.
Not wanting to have a bad first impression on the first local I saw, aside from him wanting to kill my dragon, I put on my best non-murder smile and spoke to the terrified giant, weakened by shock and heat while retracting the entangling vines from his body.
“Hi, there” He spoke, the smile worked, aside from being a bit shaky, he was calm and collected, indicated by his intelligent eyes which didn’t match well with his bulky muscle-riddled body, he asked me why we are here, and since I didn’t know his intentions, I just gave vague answers while trying to ask some general questions that made him wary of me.
Pantharax spat out my companions, Mahaar included. I saw them approach and as soon as the Grokati did, he fell on the ground, his eye widening as if he was witnessing the birth of a deity.
“Welcome back, son of Loftaar. Welcome back, Alpha of the prophecy” Ignoring me, the Grokati spoke to Mahaar like he was addressing the buff version Grokati Jesus, my friend just walked up to him and patted his shoulder. Great sadness in his tone while he spoke “Glad to be back, Hofzaar”.
So his name was Hofzaar, the “aar” must be a thing here
“She lives?” Mahaar asked with a grim expression, and the Grokati nodded “She’s doing well, allow me to guide you to the tribe, we have to move before the darkness launch another attack” he warned, it seemed that the animals were mind controlled by the black patches on the planet judging by the way they moved, aside from the taint of course.
“Let’s go then, but… Panthy?” the thing was way too large to walk into a dense jungle, but as if it was reading my mind, it shrunk in size even more, giving me a crazy idea.
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On the back of Pantharax, we flew to the village. The lush forests under were teeming with sulking black creatures. But the flight experience was more than amazing, making me wish that I could sprout wings and fly without killing myself.
The Grokati called Hofzaar was shaking with flight phobia, saying he never rode a flying creature before, but his eyes darting between the platinum arms of the grim Mahaar and Saido’s head where the orbs reside. Ryola sat back in a meditative posture while examining the surrounding areas.
We also passed over untainted areas, where the same animals hunted and grazed instead of moving around like zombies, these ones looked even more muscled and bulky, even the smaller rabbit-sized ones, even the trees looked thicker than usual.
“What the hell is this, the gym planet?”
An hour later, the village appeared in sight, surrounded by a mountain range hiding it from the untrained eye. We landed exactly in the middle or a circle of spear-wielding Grokati at the village’s outskirts, whom hostility instantly vanished when they saw Mahaar climbing down the dragon’s back, and with a slight bow from them, we all unmounted the dragon who shrunk to the size of a horse when I asked it. His larger form wasn’t going to do us any good inside the village.
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The guards quietly led us inside, as if they already knew that we were coming. The village itself was nothing to scoff at, tents and huts of stone, wood, and straw, with soldiers scurrying at every corner. It was clear that they were at war.
A group of elderly looking Grokati was waiting for us at one of the larger huts, the oldest overlord in the front made a strange gesture that I perceived as a wave to Mahaar as we approached because Mahaar did the same.
“Welcome back child, we are glad to see you safe, she waiting for you insi-“
“No need, I’m already here” a woman’s voice cut the old man’s, and the elders made way to a short, stout woman with six arms. And by short, I mean it was around two and a half meters tall. For her size, she looked like a group of Mr. Olympia’s bodybuilders blended together in one being, all her six arms thick as tree trunks, a dozen pack abs, and calves thicker than my both my thighs.
She approached eyeing both Mahaar and Saido, with a few glances at Ryola and the dragon, she ignored my presence like I didn’t even exist and stood for a while eyeing the group.
“You left free and came back a servant. You left a proud overlord and came back a regular” She calmly said to the Grokati who’s eyes stuck to his feet like a child being scolded, he opened his mouth to speak but she didn’t let him “Forgive my intrusion, your highness, but what brings you here to this dying planet?” she mockingly spat in Saido direction, who slowly floated up half a meter, not evenly looking in her general direction.
“If you have no business here, take your servants and leave at once, including this useless trash” she pointed her chin at Mahaar, one of the elders tried to warn her of something, but she raised a palm stopping him. The word trash seemed to hurt Saido’s pride as his orbs started to immediately hum while Ryola’s gloves already changing shapes.
“I think that’s enough!” I fought my anger and swallowed the insult, this woman seemed important to Mahaar, and if I let Saido go all out, a genocide will happen in this place, I also didn’t know how the dragon will react if something happened, nuking the village wasn’t an option.
“And who might you be?” the woman turned in my direction raising an eyebrow, Saido immediately answered before she even completed the sentence “He is the one we all serve, and you will address him with respect” his black eyes were now glowing with power, he was ready to turn the woman into ash in an instant, most of the elders took a few steps back, some even running inside the tents, the woman, however, didn’t flinch, walking in my direction.
“You all serve you say? this weakling?” she eyed me with a provocative smirk while pointing her index up and down. By now I had enough, I wasn’t going to fight her, but she reminded me of something I hated from the bottom of my soul, abusing power.
“Hi there, your bulkiness,” I said with a mocking bow and a smirk of my own, and it successfully hit a nerve as she turned to be short-tempered, her face turned into a foul frown, and the fist of her mid-right arm was immediately flying to kiss my face.
I had no time to dodge as the punch was lightning fast, getting hit by a punch like that would hurt like hell, but a golden blur by my side gave me all assurance I needed not move.
Her fist was stopped by a palm bigger than her own, it was like two small cars crashing, the mighty dementor of her broke down and her eyes went wide as she saw the golden tattoos dancing on his body.
“That’s enough, Mother,” he said with a pained expression, looking at the woman with pity.
“By Gola, you… you finally…” tears started to form lines under her eyes. Their fists grinding against each other until the woman pulled her son in a hug and broke down wailing, her strong dementor breaking.
Minutes passed and no one moved, the woman still sobbing in Mahaar’s arms, until finally she regained her composure and wiped her face. “Let’s go inside” she weakly whispered to her son who followed her into the hut. I didn’t mind them catching up and took the opportunity to explore the village.
“Ryo, Sai, let's give them some time together, plus I’m kind of hungry” I jumped on Pantharax’s back and Ryola followed, as for Saido, a group of a forty or so Grokati in white robes came running at him, hounding him with eyes of absolute admiration. Led by one of the elders who tried to stop Mahaar’s mother earlier.
“Your Highness, might we ask, what are … Who are you?” The man who seemed like their leader spoke with sparkly eyes.
“Saido” The Noran announced with fake ignorance, buffing his chest and floating a few centimeters higher.
“Esteemed Saido, I’ve been a cosmic controller for more than three hundred years, I’ve seen more controllers than I can count, most were a single element with the occasional dual controllers and a handful of tri controller. But this… This is something that us controllers could only dream about, even in legends, there wasn’t a single soul across the universe who controlled more than four of them” the Grokati dropped on his knees, followed by the others “ we ask your esteemed self, controller of all the six natural elements, to bestow some of your knowledge on us, even scraps would be fine” the group turned into a silent grovel, waiting for the Archmage’s answer.
Saido pondered for a few moments, the orbs moved to playfully dance across his hand “I suppose I can spare some time” he announced, enjoying the praise but no visible signs of pleasure on his poor poker face.
“We’ll go then Saido, feel free to follow us any time” I waved him goodbye and went on to explore the village of the buff giants of Mahaar’s homelands.
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The place was nothing impressive, we spoke to some locals who said that they used to live inside the mountain itself, but everyone was evacuated when the Darkness took over the depth, sealing all entrances and building this primitive village. They also said that the war is taking its toll on everyone, Mahaar’s brother, the warlord Amaar had turned mad after killing the Octamanus, he and a handful of Dominators raised an army and started attacking other tribes, pillaging and massacring everything that stood in his path.
The surviving tribes were struggling to repel the constant attacks from both Amaar’s army and the darkness, and this village there was a union of three tribes merged together, led by the Matriarch, Mahaar’s and Amaar’s own Mother.
We continued strolling on the dirt roads between the huts until we reached some kind of a marketplace, where food, trade goods, animals, and weapons were sold. Some form of a muscle mass of a meat being grilled at a food stand, and I heard Ryola’s audible gulp, so I decided we’d give it a try.
The fuck? It’s like eating rubber
My teeth were sharp enough to grind the meat but I didn’t enjoy it, the vendor said it was from a creature called Lsa’nx. Ryola, on the other hand, didn’t mind the hard meat, shoving piles of roast inside the black hole inside her.
A noise caught my ears, I stood and excused myself, giving room for Ryola to strip the meat stand clean. Walking to the source of the noise and cheering, I saw a ring surrounded by large group of Grokati, two fighters bashing each other’s skulls inside, while bets are being taken. The enthusiasm in the air was commendable, so I approached to take a closer look, leaving the dragon with Ryola.
Squeezing myself in, I got to the edge of the ring. Two large Grokati exchanging punches in a primitive brawl without finesse, most of the Grokati present, including the two fighters, had only two arms like most of the village.
“Come on guys put some technique into it” I joined the shouts, trying to mix in with them. However, …
Well fuck me
Complete silence, everyone stopped, the fighting stopped, the cheering stopped, the betting brokers stopped, everyone’s eyes were looking at one thing… Me.
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I found myself at one corner of the ring, with a cheeky Grokati with colored sunglasses with a loud squeaky voice that didn’t fit him.
“Warriors, today we have a challenger. In the right corner, we have… what’s your name again?” the “announcer” squinted his eyes while addressing me!
I rolled my eyes and decided to play his game. “Cena, my name is Don Cena” as soon as I said my “stage name”, my PDA started playing some familiar music, making me chuckle loudly.
The announcer shrugged off and continued “In the right corner, we have the challenger, Don Cena” the theme song played again and I groaned “He’s one of the visitors who accompanied the alpha here to Masdak, let’s hope he put up a good fight” the crowd instantly booed, aside from a clap that turned out to be Ryola that finished her meal and joined the crowd.
From the other side, a lithe female overlord leaped inside, to my surprise, she wasn’t super bulky like “everything” here, she had lean and toned muscles, making her look more agile and graceful.
“On the left corner, we have the fan favorite, Oojin master, and one of the champions of this arena, Laara of the Blue Tusk tribe” the crowd roared and Laara raised her four hands, boasting to her fans.
“There are no rules aside from using weaponry, are you both ready?” The female Grokati started emitting a strange aura, activating her Oojin “I’m ready” she said pumping four fists together.
“Don Cena?” the announcer turned to me.
“umm, no? Oh fuck you Cor- “and the announcer didn’t take it for an answer.
“BEGIN!”