Pak yawned and stretched as he finally woke up. He had a good dream last night, one filled with wine and giant bosomed women. Those type of dreams always made him happy, and woke him up to a present surprise in the morning. After he had calmed down, he began to look around the area which they slept in. The cave was half empty now, only filled with him and his little imp named bastard. The thing was still asleep, and would remain asleep until someone woke him up. Pak was missing someone else, however, and that was the new female he was traveling with. Mozoga was what she called herself, a strong and handsome female that represented the whole 'lotta woman image Pak always wanted in his women.
Her stuff was still around so he only assumed that she left to fetch breakfast, or bathe herself. Pak enjoyed the thought of her bathing herself, and was extremely happy to go out and search for her now. Silently, Pak moved through the forest which covered the cave. Past this tiny shade of trees was a giant plain filled with animals of different sizes and different intelligence. None of that interested Pak now. He remembered that there was a pond somewhere near here, especially made for cleaning and drinking. Pak moved there, keeping his high hopes up that he would see a certain someone in all her glory!
Mozoga had indeed been bathing, however she was completely done before Pak had even awoke from his slumber in the cave. She had allowed herself to air dry, and was just finishing redressing in her black leather outfit. She grinned, looking at her flat muscled stomach and patted it. She had been working out hard recently, trying to increase her strength and was not only seeing but feeling the benefits of these hard workouts. Although all this exercise had resulted in something she had known was going to happen, but she did not mind so much.
She needed to go get Pak to get some food for her to feed her growing muscles, and grinned at the thoughts of delicious rare steaks and meat and licked her lips. She knelt beside the water and scooped a handful of water in her hands and drank that before scooping another double cupped handful and raising it to her lips and downing that as well. She froze, hearing something come towards her through the trees and grabbed the haft of her weapon beside her. It was never safe in Nysa, and she always kept her weapon nearby, though not always her shield. She left that back in the cave with Pak not feeling the need to carry that to bath.
As the noises of something or somebody drew closer, she grinned and hefted her weapon and readied herself for a fight. Then suddenly she heard the breathing and saw the horns of her traveling companion and she sighed and dropped her weapon back to her side. She had been kind of hoping for a good fight, but seeing it was just Pak her hopes where crushed for the moment. That was alright, Nysa was a pretty violent place. The strong or smart survived, and the others died. She knew this all to well, and thus she worked at keeping her body in top condition so that she could help protect her new friend Pak and that irritable little gremlin he had with himself.
Pak was extremely disappointed when he found Mozoga fully dressed. He was expecting to see her raw body, and admire all that she kept captive under clothes. If only he could, then his dreams would be even more pleasant.
When Pak saw Mozoga carrying her sword and prepared to cut him into two, however, he was almost extremely relieved that he did not catch her bathing. She lowered her sword with disappointment, as though she was expecting some action. Pak was sorry to disappoint her, but also very happy he did. "You seemed to have gotten up early, were you enjoying yourself?" Pak walked to the pond and gathered some water from it, placing the liquid inside a small water skin. "I am ready to leave when you are, but I must go wake up Bastard in the caves. He is asleep, and should probably be looked after before he wakes up and burns something."
In that moment, Pak began to sniff the air. He caught the strange smell of burning wood on his nose. After sniffing a bit more, he realized what exactly he was smelling. "Oh no," Pak said to himself and raced off to the cave where he last left his imp. When he returned, he noticed a certain wooden shield that belonged to a certain hulking orc caught on fire. it was burning extremely bright and illuminating that dark shelter. Standing above the burning shield was Pak's imp, Bastard, dancing over it as though it was a campfire. "No, no, no!," Pak scolded the tiny pyromaniac, fearing of what the giant female would do.
Mozoga nodded as Pak spoke, knowing this to be true about his little rat. The thing did enjoy lighting things upon fire. When Pak took off, she frowned and followed after him. She finally saw smoke, and knew what was happening. The faun's prediction was coming true and the little devil had lite something upon fire. She simply really hoped that it was not something to terrible important for them to get by with out. Stepping in to the cave she looked around and instantly saw what was wrong.
Her shield lay on the floor, a burning conflagration with the little demon child dancing above it. Her face fell in to a scowl of anger and rage, and she moved forward and back handed the small imp away from her shield. She then grabbed a blanket and smothered the flames out, before carefully pulling the blanket away and grimacing in pain and anger. Her shield lay ruined, the metals used to bind it together and increase it's durability where scorched and warped, rending the shield useless right there. Even worse, the wood was charred and blackened, with several wide holes in where there fire had chewed through the wood in certain spots. She looked up at the imp, growling softly but then sighed and hug her head in shame, staring at the floor. Her father's shield, brought with them from Earth was completely destroyed and worthless now. All because of some little imp.
Pak began to sweat when he realized that Mozoga had followed him. The imp still danced around the flaming shield as though he had won some type of fearsome battle. Bastard's celebration ended, though, when Mozoga walked up to the imp and back handed it across the cave. Pak stared at his imp as it soared, worried for his little companion for only a slight sun movement. The imp only stood back up and commenced its dancing, Pak face palmed.
His imp was an incredibly durable little thing, built to handle any abuse which anyone gave. Pak specifically chose this one because it had no sense of pain and no sense of sentient thought. This was mainly because Pak could use a creature like that for diversions and sacrifices. Unfortunately, this imp proved more troublesome than helpful as it burned everything it could that was in its sights. If Pak had a silver coin for all the times this creature nearly started a forest fire, Pak would be very rich.
As Mozoga dealt with the fact that she had just lost something very important, Pak silently watched her from behind. He leaned against the cave's mouth, allowing her enough time alone to cope. She looked at the imp again with anger, then only shame as the sadness became very overwhelming for her. Pak sighed when the imp began to run to the outside as though it had not done nothing wrong.
Slowly, Pak walked to Mozoga. Of course, she could hear him coming by the clack that his hooves made. He moved a little closer to her until he was right behind her. He stared at the charred shield, then at her. "We can bury it if you want," he said to her, hoping that this was the right things to say for this moment.
Mozoga stood up, lifting the burnt shield off the floor. She looked it, then back at Pak who had come up behind her before throwing it away in to a corner. She turned around, brushing her hands off on her cloths. Thankfully, her clothing was already black so the black ash did not bother her cloths. She shrugged her shoulders, and sighed looking at Pak and shaking her head.
"Ish alright, Pak. I should not hold on to shuch thingsh shuch as that. Yesh, it hash shentimental value, however the pasht ish the pasht. I shalt shimply make a new shield. Hopefully one with out that nashty wood with in it."
She shrugged her shoulders again, then looked past Pak outside of the cave at the sky and grunted. She was ready to get going, and she lifted her weapon and slid the metallic haft through a leather loop in her belt and let the weapon settle there. She then moved off in to the woods, walking past Pak and the little imp as she went.
"We should get going. Ish getting late in the morning."
Pak raised a brow as he saw Mozoga stand and toss away her shield. "Ish alright, Pak," the orc said. "I should not hold on to shuch thingsh shuch as that. Yesh, it hash shentimental value, however the pasht ish the pasht. I shalt shimply make a new shield. Hopefully one with out that nashty wood with in it."
"Well, luckily for you, our next village is a faun one, filled with alcohol and weaponry. Alcohol for me, weaponry for you." Pak moved to gather his bags, taking out his map as he did. Then he walked to where Mozoga was, listening to her as she said that they should keep moving.
"The next village isn't far from here," he told her, looking upon the map with intensity. He bought it from some clerk a long while ago, and it proved useful for him so far. Most maps he saw clerks sell seemed to have the wrong information on them. When he would map out his location to the last places he visited, he would always find towns and tribes in the wrong area. It made him angry and he would always burn the incorrect maps, leaving without pay. One of these days he would make a map of his own that actually made sense.
As he walked along with Mozoga, he pointed to the space that was in front of her. Using his magic, he formed an apple of a very larger size that floated in the air long enough for Mozoga to catch. That would be her breakfast for the day since they both had a heavy meal of meat and water the night before. They needed something healthy to balance their health. Mozoga was a growing woman, Pak noticed, and he did not want her heart collapsing on her like one of his good friend's did one time.
Behind Pak suddenly came the sound of a wagon. He turned his head to catch the view of a friendly looking older Faun and two Rahbops pushing a very heavy looking supplies cart. They were traveling along the plains, so the Rahbops pushing wagons were not very rare to see. The older faun quickly caught up with the group and paused to talk to them. "Would you travelers like a ride to the nearest town?"
Mozoga walked along with Pak, contemplating what the little faun had told her. They had weapons and stuff at the next town, and she might be able to get a new replacement shield. The idea of simply "buying" another shield did not entirely enthrall her however, she so she contemplated the idea while they walked along. She would buy one of course because she needed to, but it was unlikely the fauns would have what she was looking for or needed. Being of such a larger size them most other beings, she needed something larger then anything upon Nysa would build really. However, she would still look and see for there was no harm in attempting to see if they had anything.
She turned her head when she heard the wagon as well, and watched as the friendly looking drive came up towards them. The driver stopped beside them when he had gotten along side them and Mozoga looked first at the driver, then the rahbops, then Pak. She then looked at the driver again and nodded. "I think my friend and I would like a ride, but are you shure that your rahbopsh can carry my weight? I would not burden them so if they will tire. Walking for me ish no problem."
The old man laughed at Mozoga's question. "Nonsense," he said, choking on his laugh a little. "These beasts were specially made to carry large items! You won't slow them down one bit. Besides... You don't look that heavy! I bet I can carry ya!" The old man smiled at her. Pak knew that he was lying about him carrying her, and probably about the Rahbop carrying her, just to make Mozoga feel better. She was just a large individual, but the faun wondered if the old man's flattery would harm her or make her feel better. She seemed indifferent to all of his compliments, as though she was fighting against something with him. Pak wondered how she would feel towards the old man.
"Thanks for the help," Pak told the man. He then said to Mozoga, "No harm in testing things out." Pak climbed aboard the front seats of the wagon. There he fitted perfectly with old faun, but the space was only for them two. Mozoga would squish both of them if she tried to climb aboard. "Try the back," he told her.
The back of the cart was filled with crates, but Mazoga could create a perfect space for her if she stacked them. Once she was perfectly situated, the old faun would signal the Rahbop to move. The cart would be much slower than before, but at a faster pace than Mozoga and Pak would travel on their feet. When a steady pace was set, the old Faun would turn back to Mozoga and ask, "It's not too bumpy back there is it?" To whatever Mozoga said, he would laugh. "We're almost there! Won't be too long. It's quite rare to get visitors to our great town now a days, so I'm so happy to see visitors!"
"Why is it so rare?" Pak would ask.
The old faun would pause for a moment, then would answer Pak's question with a darker tone. "Well... You see..." He would start. "My village is cursed..."
Mozoga listened to the older faun, and nodded her head causing her horned headdress to wave. She watched at Pak climbed in to the seat beside the other faun and moved behind the cart. She grabbed several crates and lifted them with ease and settled them apart until there was room for her. She then climbed on to the cart and settled in the small spot she had created and let the driver she was good to go. The driver gave the rahbops the signal to move and they where moving.
It was a little bumpy, but no more so then it probably would have been riding up front and they seemeed to be going slower then when the faun had originally showed up. However the rahbops neither seemed to complain or protest, nor did he driver. In fact he turned and asked Mozoga if it was to bumpy and she simply shrugged her shoulders to indicate it was alright in neither direction. They continued to ride along, and she was staring out of the back of the cart watching the road slowly and ponderously disappeared behind them in to the distance. She stared of in to the space until the older faun began to speak again, and she started listening in intently.
She listened as the older faun told them it was good to have visitors, and then listened to Pak ask why that was so and listened to the drive begin to explain that his village was cursed. At this Mozoga turned her head around to eye the male as she frowned in worry. It was not a frown of anger or dislike, but of worry because she did not like the idea of young faunlings disappearing from their homes and town for no reasons other then that they where disappearing. That simply sounded far to outlandish for her and had a ringing of true and terrible evil behind it. She wondered why somebody or something would steal children to accomplish its goals, poor children who had not grown up to achieve their full potential strength yet.
"A long time ago... A giant monster with the breath of fire came to our village. It was clear that this monster was powerful, as it aura was mighty strong! That beast demanded us to feed it our cattle, or it would feed on us. Naturally, my village did not agree to that monster's terms. We had the animals on our sides, our imps, and the great Nysa herself watching over us. We knew that we were stronger than the beast, so we drove it off!"
It was around this time of the old Faun's story that he became a little sadder. Pak could tell that it was hard for him to tell more, as he would pause every now and then to prevent himself from crying. "After we fought against it, the beast left.... Or so we thought. Pretty soon.... Our children began disappearing.... Every-... Every night, a new one was taken." The old faun couldn't keep it in after long and soon felt tears flow down his hairy cheek. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to get this way, and I didn't mean to scare you away from my town either. We're almost there, but if you want- I could probably take you through my town as well."
Pak said nothing, but thought to himself. The old faun was so cheery during the beginning of their meet, to suddenly become all teary eye'd meant that this 'curse' had a heavy impact. His heart went out to the village folk, but his mind focused heavily on the monster that this man was talking about. Never before had he ever heard of a creature breathing fire. Starting a fire maybe. What sort of creature could be so powerful as to hold fire in its mouth? Pak wondered.
Mozoga listened as well from the back of the cart, holding on to a side bar upon the cart as they bumped along towards the village. The male's story was saddening, making Mozoga's lips turn down as she listened to the story the male told. She knew exactly what sort of creature flew around, spewing sparks and flaming death from between it's lips. She lived inside the skeletal remains of one after all. Although she doubt it to be the same one that this male spoke of, it was completely possible there was multiple ones through out Nysa. After all, this was a rather large land, with many places for them to live and hide and plenty of game for them to hunt and feed upon. A fire breather here in Nysa could hide long, and feed well, and thus grow to great lengths and become most powerful. She blinked back her own tears, hoping that the children from this town had at least died quickly and painlessly.
"The fire breather.... it was a dragon." She said it gently, and simply in a matter of fact voice.
Pak jumped up at the mention of that name. "Dragon? I have never heard of a being such as that. What is a dragon? And why have I never heard of it?" Pak was a very knowledgable person on this world. He knew of the legends of Nysa, the Anubis colony that guarded the pyramids, and even the lowly gossips made by Chlorai, but never had he heard the mention of a dragon who could breath fire. How could anything even breath fire? It was such a hot element that it would burn a beings very inside.
The older faun made a similar motion as Pak when the word dragon was mentioned. Pak thought that the older one would have the same reaction as Pak, but whereas confusion was written on Pak's face, familiarity was written on the old faun's. "Yes, yes, yes!" The wrinkled grandfather said. "That's what it named itself... Dragon. And there was another! A skinny fellow that wore a mask. None of us could understand the language, but there was one word that they muttered over and over again: Kindred. I don't know what it means, but it was repeated, so it must be important."
Mozoga blinked, tilting her head. Pak had never even heard of a dragon? She thought dragons where fairly universal creatures, upon every world. Her forehead furrowed as she realized that Pak did not know what these creatures where. She contemplated how to tell him for a second, but then the old man commented and she listened carefully to what she was saying. She contemplated upon this for a few minutes, reaching up to scratched at a spot just beneath her eye for a second before sighing.
"I do not know what thish ish about another pershon there. I've never heard of shomething like that before? The only thing I know about shomething like that is draconiansh....human who naturally shpeak to dragonsh and sometimesh ride them. Pak, a dragon ish a large reptilian, only it hash wingsh and can fly ushually though there are shome who do not have wingsh. They breath shtuff, like fire or shcalding water or acid, and are very shtrong and powerful both physhically and magically. That ish what a dragon ish."
She stopped talking, frowning deeply and shaking her head.
"Ish a very bad thing to be on the bad shide of a dragon. Like I shaid, they are very powerful and live a very long time. They alsho never forgot what wash done to them in the pahst, good or bad."
