Chapter 14

Earth
Spectre Base, Canadian Rockies
August 13, 2019
17:22 PDT (20:22 EDT)

We couldn’t see anything but a bit of land and the open ocean. Omar would be checking the area before anyone else went through, so he proceeded through the portal. As soon as he got to the other side, a shield formed around him. He took a quick look around, and then just stood there.

“What is he doing?” I asked.

“Scanning the area. If there is anything within a kilometer of the island, he’ll let us know,” Yuki answered.

After a few minutes of waiting, he raised his hand and motioned us forward.

“I’ll go first. Jonathan, you follow behind me, and girls follow behind him,” my mom said, while turning towards the portal. “Let’s go.”

She went through with her firearm at the ready. Like Omar, as soon as she was through, a shield formed around her. I followed with my sisters behind me, and Yuki followed behind us. Each of us had put up our shields, and as soon as Yuki came through, the portal winked out.

“Why have you brought so many people?” a female voice asked shortly after the portal closed. It seemingly came from everywhere at once, but when we turned, we couldn’t see anything. I tried reaching out with my mind, and couldn’t sense anything either.

“We didn’t know whether or not this was a trap. I still don’t know that it isn’t, actually,” my mom shouted.

“You don’t need to shout. I can hear you quite clearly. This is no trap, I assure you. Why are you searching for a dragon?”

“We wish to make a trade, which is why we offered so much gold for a dragon to contact us. We weren’t expecting you to also have a Precognition Skill Gem in your possession.”

“What could a dragon have that you would be interested in paying so much for?”

“I’m not comfortable releasing that information without being face to face. Here is how serious we are about making a trade, however,” she said. When she was done speaking, stacks of gold bars appeared on the ground beside her.

“Very well, I am coming down.”

At that, we all looked up and could see a shape circling above us. After a moment, it drew its wings in and executed a very steep dive. As it got closer and closer, I was amazed at its size. I couldn’t tell how big it was since all I could really see was its head and it’s body, but it looked huge.

When it was about five hundred feet off the ground, its wings flared out with a very loud noise, and it continued to glide in a large circle before landing in front of us. Now that it was on the ground, I could see that it easily had a wingspan of at least two hundred feet, and from head to tail, was probably close to that as well. It just stood there for a moment, before it slowly started to shrink in size. A minute or two later, a seemingly young human woman was in her place, and she was walking towards us. As she got closer and closer, I could have sworn I had seen her from somewhere.

She stopped about ten feet away. “Greetings. My name is Selalea. Now, what interest does the Adventurer’s Guild have in dragons?”

“Greetings, Selalea. My name is Alexandra. The people with me are Omar, Yuki, Aleena, Lucille, Alexis, and my son, Jonathan,” my mom replied, pointing to each of us. “Have you ever heard the term ‘Scyftan’?”

She thought for a moment and then nodded. “I have, though I do not know what it refers to. The first time I heard the term was roughly thirty-four hundred years ago. Over the years, I have heard it less and less. What does that have to do with why you’re searching for a dragon?”

“Everything. You are looking at seven Scyftans. We are a race of shapeshifters that first arrived thirty-four hundred years ago. The first twenty-three hundred years were spent researching Earth. Eleven hundred years ago, more of us arrived after an event on our homeworld forced us to flee. A few decades after we arrived, we created the Adventurer’s Guild to help get humanity back on track.”

“Your people created the Adventurer’s Guild?” she asked, sounding surprised. “We had always assumed that humans finally came to their senses. Are you saying this isn’t the case?”

My mom shook her head. “No. They would have continued delving into dungeons while neglecting all else. As to why we’re here, and willing to offer so much gold; Scyftans have the ability to scan creatures, allowing us to shapeshift into that form whenever we would like to afterwards. Omar, is it clear?”

“It is. Nothing within a kilometer of the island, and no satellites are focused on us.”

“Thank you. Jonathan, ladies, would you please give Selalea a demonstration?” she asked, looking at us.

I nodded and began shapeshifting into my Seotross form. I couldn’t see what my sisters were transforming into since they were behind me, but I was able to see Selalea’s eyes grow wider, especially when I started getting so much bigger, and an additional set of arms grew alongside my regular ones.

“As you can see, my people are able to shapeshift into many different forms. There is one species on Earth that has always eluded us. They always have incredibly strong shields, and tend to be reclusive.”

“You’re referring to dragons.”

“I am. About one thousand years ago, a member of my species made a bargain with a dragon. The dragon said that if the woman brought an amount of gold equal to her body weight, the dragon would allow herself to be scanned. We’re hoping to make a similar bargain.”

“What is involved in this scan?”

“Every creature we’ve come across has a small area of their brain that contains all the information about their species. When we scan someone, we enter the part of the mind that this information is stored in and transfer a copy to our own minds. With this information, we’re able to know exactly how the species’ body works, and transform into a version if it at will. A scan takes very little time, and does not harm the individual. If you agree to allow us to do this, you should be able to keep track of where we go in your mind, and follow what we do.”

“What stops a Scyftan from going somewhere other than where that information is stored?”

“You can keep track of any of us at all times. Besides that, it is extremely taboo to enter parts of someone’s mind if they do not wish you to be there. If someone is caught doing this, the punishment is death.”

“That is not enough for me. I am one of the oldest of my species, and as such, I know a great many things. Any of those things could likely be learned by you before I could react and eject you from my mind. I do not know you, and do not trust your people. Yet, at least. That does not mean the answer is no, just that I will not be doing it. Does it matter how old a dragon is for you to scan them?”

“As long as the brain is fully formed, we can scan them. It doesn’t matter if they’re a newborn or ancient.”

“Very well. I will allow my youngest son to be scanned for ten gold bars for each scan. He is only four years old, very much a child, and doesn’t have any sensitive information. That being said, if any harm comes to him, our species will be at war.”

“I can agree with that. Another Scyftan can shield the entirety of his mind except for the part we need to scan. This will ensure his safety. I’m not about to plunge our two species into a war. There will be a lot fewer Scyftans on Earth in about six months anyways.”

“Now that makes me curious. Why would Scyftans be leaving Earth in six months?”

“Earlier I told you that Scyftans originally came to Earth around thirty-four hundred years ago, which is when you first heard of them. Those Scyftans were scientists that were studying the planet. Two thousand years after they first arrived, a coup took place. Our king and queen were slain, and others were forced to flee. The young man, and three young women standing behind me are the children of our king and queen. In six months, we’ll finally be heading back home to depose a tyrant.”

“I see. This may change things.”

“In what way?” my mom asked.

“Am I correct in thinking that the big furry man standing behind you is now the King of your people?”

“He is the rightful king, yes. Why?”

“Then I will make a bargain with him,” she said. Looking at me, she continued, “Jonathan, is it?”

I tried to talk and remember I couldn’t. I did the only thing I could do, which was nod, and then started shifting into my human form.

“He just learned how to transform into that form this morning, and can’t yet speak in it. He’s shifting back into his human form. Girls, you can shapeshift back into your human forms as well,” she said, looking over to them.

“What did he shapeshift into? I have never seen anything like it.”

“A species native to our homeworld, called a Seotross.”

I was finally done shapeshifting, and walked to stand beside my mom.

“Nice to meet you, Selalea.”

“You as well. Should I call you King Jonathan?”

I rapidly shook my head. “No, thank you. I’m not a fan of the whole king thing. Jonathan is fine.”

“Jonathan, then. The price for allowing your people to scan mine is the relocation of my species when you depart.”

“Relocation?” I asked, totally flabbergasted. “What makes you think we have that capability? Why would you want to leave, anyways?”

“I know more than I initially let on. I know there are well over one hundred thousand, if not many more Scyftans on Earth. If most of those will be gone in six months, then that means you have a way of transporting them all off the planet. Earth is too small for humans and dragons to coexist any longer. It used to be that we had the entire planet to ourselves before humans evolved to the point they are now, while continuing to breed like rabbits. Many older dragons are content to sleep for years at a time, while younger dragons are chafing at the rules. They want their freedom back, and that won’t happen on Earth without a lot of bloodshed.”

“Why do you think that it won’t happen without bloodshed?”

“Humans have always hunted dragons whenever we were seen. It used to be that they weren’t a threat to us. Now they are a threat since they have access to modern weapons, and are able to reach levels that used to be impossible. Right now, humans think dragons are nothing but myths. If we showed ourselves, we would be hunted endlessly, and would force us to defend ourselves. That wouldn’t be good for humans, or dragons.”

“How many dragons are we talking about?” my mom asked.

“Approximately eighty thousand or so, not including the five hundred sixteen thousand and two eggs as of our last count.”

“Over five hundred thousand eggs?!” I exclaimed. “Why so many, and how big are they?”

“Necessity has driven us to store our eggs in certain conditions so they do not hatch. There is simply not enough space, or food for another five hundred thousand dragons on Earth. Thankfully, a fertilized egg can go tens of thousands of years before hatching when conditions are right for it. They are roughly beach ball sized.”

“I’m assuming they can’t be placed in dimensional storage, which means a lot of cargo space is needed for them.”

She nodded. “Living organic matter placed in dimensional storage quickly becomes dead organic matter.”

“Can you give us a few minutes to talk about this? I need to get another person’s thoughts before I can agree to your proposal.”

She nodded again. “I will wait here.”

“Thank you,” I said, turning towards the rest of our group.

[What do you think about her proposal?] I asked my mom.

[I didn’t think the situation is as bad as she says it is. I can see where she is coming from, though. If most dragons are even half her size, they must go through a lot of food, and need a lot of space. Unless they remain in human form most of the time, which I doubt. Even then, they would still need to eat the same amount of food in their human form.]

[Do you think we should accept it?]

[I think we should give it some serious thought. I got the sense that Selalea is very strong, equally as strong as Yuki, Omar, or myself. We could probably defeat her by working together, but it wouldn’t be easy. Now an individual human might not be as strong as Yuki, Omar, or myself, but they would have a massive advantage in numbers. That isn’t even including the massive stockpile of weapons they have.]

[If we say no, then in a few years, a war much, much worse than World War Two could engulf the planet. If we say yes, then we may gain a powerful ally, as well as make it a lot easier to man the ships on their way to Earth right now.]

[I didn’t even think about that. If even half of them can crew the ships, then it will be significantly easier. Do we really want to give them that much trust, though?]

[I don’t think they would abuse it. They don’t seem like bad people at all, they’re just frustrated with their situation.]

[I’m going to create a link between you, Tich and myself so we can discuss it. He’ll let us know if we can make it work. Over five hundred thousand beach ball sized eggs will take up a lot of space.]

I concentrated for a moment, reaching out to Tich up on the moon, and established a connection to him before adding my mom to it.

[Ah, Jonuth, Tesze, what can I do for you?]

[I trust that you were briefed that we were meeting a dragon?] my mom asked.

[I was. How did that go?]

[It’s still going, actually. That’s why Jonathan contacted you. Selalea, the dragon we’re meeting with, gave us a very interesting proposal when I let slip that many of the Scyftans on Earth will be gone in six months or so.]

[Oh? What kind of proposal?]

[The dragons want to be relocated to a planet they don’t have to share, like they do with Earth. Apparently there is tension amongst the younger generations and the older generations. She basically stated that sooner or later, a war will spark between humans and dragons, ] I cut in.

[If we agree to this, we also may be able to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. In return for transporting them off the planet, and to a new one, they’ll allow Scyftans to scan them. Paying with gold, we would have been able to have maybe one thousand Scyftans scan dragons, which would have been invaluable. Now, we’ll be able to have every Scyftan that is interested scan a dragon, though we might restrict that, somewhat, ] my mom continued.

[You said two birds ... what’s the other one?]

[I was getting to that next. Apparently the dragon population is at around eighty thousand. I was thinking that we conscript as many as we can as part of the agreement. Even if it’s only half.]