Nature Of Draco-Fox: Part 24.5 AU

First off, this chapter is optional. Read it if you want, it contains some information and minor later stuff not yet written from the 'Services No Longer Required' lite lit-rpg story featuring a much older, less developed world of Draco-Foxes. Lite lit-rpg because hard stat numbers exist, but don't determine things as much or at all over Skills.

It can also be read if you want, as all in Noah's mind too.

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S.C. Experimental Ship
Translated Human time: April 29***^(th)*** Year 2137 Draco-Fox year: 6129.
[] manual translated terms
Memory Transcription Subject: Noah

Everyone quickly gathered everything they brought with them from their quarters in the [Iron-Tree] and returned to the experimental ship. I talked with the captain, explained the situation, and he had the ship dock. Or more ‘accurately’ attach itself to the infrastructure of the giant Anti-Matter powered station that served as a ‘hyper-net’ node and jump-ship.

I was also able to put in a call to the U.N. Secretary General, and well, I now realize how lenient the last Secretary general was. The good news is at least I’ll be able to spend more time with Tarva, once elections are held, and she’s out of office again. The bad news? My diplomatic and scientific career is over.

I, no. I have to be honest, I’m not happy with what she did. We have talked about adopting, Either a human child or a venlil till her corrections are confirmed to be successful and stable. Then have a donor from someone else who had the reversal help her bring into the world an unedited Skalgan.

No. I’ll think about that later. First we have to get back home. I look at the Captain as he watches hundreds of Draco-Fox ships at a time slave themselves to the same ‘small moon’ sized station. In total about 10,000 ships.

I can understand the concept of anti-matter bombs, but an anti-matter reactor, I thought the annihilation of two fundamentally opposed forms of, well, matter was uncontrollable!

“Kalbur here.” Skulk [Tree-Bark]’s true A.I. speaks over the intercom, and I guess over all ships present. “The station’s tow capacity has been reached, Prepare for Anti-Matter powered K-F drive jump in shortly to Wriss, near the amassing S.C. counter fleet. They have been notified of the change in the situation by one of my youngest daughters. Jump time is estimated at 20 min’s for a real time-lapse of 1 min 45 seconds. For our non-Draco-Fox passengers. First jumps, can be as you would call… Trippy. Keep in mind nothing you see, hear, feel or taste is real. I suggest you stay strapped in for the duration.”

She then counts down from 10...9...8………...3….2...1…

{Memory playback halted. Input Masquerade clearance level class S. Or resume from next unclassified portion.}

{Code: linguini creamlike gong festival mumps kissing POSTBOX}

{Code plus genetic identity confirmed, resuming playback}

??

Unknown date, Unknown time.

Memory Transcription Subject: Noah

This isn’t Earth, nor is it the bridge of the ship I was on.

I can see what is a tree like plant. Yes, it looks similar to a tree. It has bark, branches and leafs. But the bark has a slight rust tinge, but the leaves are a slightly off shade of green compared to the Earth trees. The grass under my boots is obviously grass, yet like the trees it’s different. The same off shade of green and the shape is more wavy? The sky is a slightly whiter shade of blue, yet it has the same clouds one would see on earth.

The breeze is nice though, it reminds me of area’s on earth far from civilization, but is odd since not to far off in the distance I can see an honest to god castle walls surrounding what wouldn’t be out of place middle-ages village on Earth, if one was back in the late middle-ages.

Yet, from here, it’s empty. I see no one on the walls, no one at the gate, and no one in the windows of the buildings taller than the walls.

Taking a few steps, my boots crunch small twigs.

“Nice isn’t it? Simple and pure.”

I nearly jump out of my skin at the human voice behind me. Whipping around I nearly fall on my ass as I see an albino Draco-Fox female, two 6 inch long blades attached to her wing-claws. She stares at me with blue eyes that lack irises. It bores through me to my soul.

“Wha..” My voice fails me, for at that moment looking at her eyes I now understand the primal, all-be-it ‘trained’ fear of Predators the Federation species had. Only to be replaced with confusion, as the Draco-Fox female ‘muzzle’ paws after looking at me.

“Right, cloak of the office and all that.” She mumbles before her hands remove the blades, which don’t cut them somehow. They disappear in a gold glow, replaced with a handkerchief which she wipes over her eyes. A small breeze flows out from her in all directions and when that item too disappears in the same gold glow. Well, she’s still and albino female draco-fox, but a normal one with stark blue eyes.

“There, better? It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve seen one of my former kind I just ‘had’ to say hello. Especially since you’re traveling through where we reside. So I rushed over without thinking with my office garb still on.”

“Who?”

She then snaps her fingers, a so human like motion I never saw any of them do. “Oh right, Introductions. I’m so used to those I handle already knowing who I am. You ‘may’ have heard of me in your diplomatic talks with our children. Or, at least the name I adopted to keep part of their past, in the past. Syine, but you can call me what I was called when I was human, oh, about 10,000 or so years ago by your perception of time. Ryine.”

I feel myself pale. “The… Their goddess of death and rebirth? Did… Did I die?” She goes wide-eyed, mutters to herself, chastising herself before rushing to my side to keep me from falling over in fright. I needed it because my legs went completely numb.

“Whoa, hold on there Noah Williams. You’re very much alive, I can’t reap Human souls. That’s Human death’s job. You know, the guy who gets a kick out of being a Skeleton, wearing a cloak, and carrying a scythe?” Ryine helps me sit down before taking a seat in the grass next to me as we face the empty town.

Taking deep breaths for what feels like several minutes, I eventually calm myself enough to look at her. She’s just been sitting there waiting, as soon I do, she moves her head to look at me. Kinda reminding me of the ‘draco’ part of the name of their species.

“Yea, they, or we. Since I’ve been one for eons now. Have forgotten the name we gave ourselves, in favor of one given to us.”

I just look at her confused.

“Oh sorry. I’ll keep our conversation verbal only.” She looks back to the town.

My mind just races, and I say the only thing that comes to mind. “I have so many questions…”

Ryine just, giggles. “Well, we have a bit of your time, it moves differently here. So…” She goes about tracing numbers and letters in the dirt and grass that make my head hurt.

“A few hours is what you’ll feel, as only 20 mins pass in the bubble of reality you arrived in and the 1 minute 45 the jump will take fully in the lower dimension.” She erases the math with a clawed foot.

Okay, I breathe in, then out. “Where, am I?”

Ryine smiles wishfully at the town. “A recreation of a moment a close friend made on the home planet of us Draco-Foxes. The name of the town is Draguilliers. His home, the name of the Clan it belonged too was lost to time, he knows it but as long as he won’t say it. It has been forgotten. The Clan is part of Skulk Renoir. It shares the name of the Skulk causing issues for you, but that’s about it. The clans and their focus changed over the centuries.”

“I see.” I mostly didn’t but, for some reason I get the hint it’s a refuge for someone. Like a shrine to a passed loved one. “And, um your species name?”

I watch as she sighs. “Yea I knew you were going to ask that. I can’t get away with ‘it’s complicated’ can I?”

I quirk a brow. “Hey, no, not whatever this is. I doubt it’s a hallucination. But there’s always a chance of it being one. I am going through a completely new form of FTL and the A.I. warned me there would be.”

“It’s not a hallucination.” She simply and mater of fact like states, then looks to me. “Still, I’ll try to shorten the story. Magic ‘was’ real. It’s a viable path of development, if you’re careful in guiding your children. We, or, well at that point. They, were not. They stagnated. It’s very easy with that path to get to the point that advancement just ‘stops’ because things are comfortable enough.”

She gestures to the town. “There’s also the magical version of what you would call the Dark-Forest theory that exists too.”

“I’m familiar with that theory.” Replying, as my mind tries to wrap itself around this, many scientists on Earth claim we live in that right now. They’d have a fit with this… I’m most likely going to have a fit later. This changes many things I studied and know.

“Good” She says. “Because they ran a-fowl of it. They are called the ‘Continuum’. Who viewed themselves as the end all, be all, of civilization. If you were magical, and were on their radar, you were either going to become a part of them. Your culture and such be damned. Or you go away. Either way it was done without your say on the mater.”

Looking at her “So. Like the Federation?”

Ryine looks to the sky. “In a way, yes. So, answer me a question Noah. How long do you think it took them to get to this point?” She points to the city.

I rack my brain for what I was taught in history class. “I think it would was about 7 to 9,000 years from the start of civilization for Earth I think. So I’ll guess about that long for them.”

Ryine shakes her head. “20 to 30,000 thousand years and that’s after the first two invasion attempts from the Continuum. As for how they won, they begged the gods they had at the time for help, and the gods gave them help. Three times they gave them help when the Continuum tried, and three times it backfired on them.”

Wait… “Their actual history was summoning things from another world? Like the old shows from Japan? I’m starting to think this is just all a hallucination.”

She sighs. “Yes it happened and trust me again, no it isn’t a hallucination. I have no clue if the gods we replaced got the idea from that media or someone on Earth knew about gods doing this and used it to make a fortune. Either way, yes. First they summoned Humans, they then made their own kingdom and pushed out the draco-foxes from that area.”

She stops and I watch as transparent human figures fade into existence wearing your semi typical fantasy garb walk down the cobblestone path at the entrance of the city. Alongside Draco-Foxes wearing similar gear. They seem like they’re getting along well enough.

She looks at me. “They’d have entire groups summoned, not just the handful. My ancestors when I was mortal, and human, among them. Before you ask, though, ‘that’ story is far longer than this, and we don’t have the time. What you’re seeing here is just an echo of the few that lived among the Draco-Foxes. The human kingdom viewed us in the way the former Federation viewed the Yotul.”

“I guess that’s my cue. I hate this form, so limiting…”

I gulp and hear another human like voice, from the side as a sandstone colored Draco-Fox female with black lines unsteadily approaches. Yet my head hurts looking at her.

“Who?…” Asking while watching her sit down next to ‘Ryine’.

She looks at me. “Sandstone. Yes, not a Draco-Fox name. It’s a kind of name used by a species not of the universe you come from… Oh right, the way you’re traveling now can breach the multiverse. You’ll just need to feed an entire star into a K-F drive to do so.” Then to ‘Ryine’.

“This is unusual, but I did expect you to talk to him. Could’ve been more subtle and just stayed in his head rather than drag him here to Rohoka’s hometown.”

Swallowing once, I process this. Another ‘god’, yet what does it have to do with the species name? Wait, Rohoka? That’s the name of the figure of myth they talked about and the name of the class of giant battleship they have.

Sandstone perks up. “Oh. Right, you were at that point. To be honest, it was the name the first group humans, and then the humans in general called them. To the Japanese they summoned they looked like someone crossed a ‘western dragon’ with a fox for the females, and a ‘western wingless dragon’ with a fox for the males. It just stuck, like how Human stuck compared to Children of Adam. Also yes, Rohoka’s real, it’ll be up to him if he wants to say hi.”

I watch as Ryine just glares at Sandstone. “I was getting to that.” She then looks to me as I open my mouth, about to ask her what she meant about the ‘limiting’ and why she hates the form.

“Sorry, but in the interest of time, I’m going to not ignore what I said earlier, and answer directly. Sandstone right ‘now’ is the goddess of Den and Plenty for the Draco-fox. But ‘shi’ was the goddess of magic, and will be again, maybe.”

Sandstone just lightly flicks Ryine’s ear. “I was going to say that… ANYWAY. To continue to answer the earlier question, I’ll pick up the story from here. More or less after the first victory using the summoned Humans against the Continuum. Resulting in a lot of human culture, and Earth animals via beast-tamers influencing them. The humans took over a few northern Skulks and made that area theirs.”

The cooperating ‘echos’ turn violent against each other. After a while they just, keep away from each other resulting in no more fighting. Sandstone gestures, or controls this, I can’t tell which.

“Eventually a peace was reached, they stay there, we stay over here, ceding part of their home-world. Losing part of it to the saviors brought to make sure they didn’t lose all of it. Just like the children they are, or ones who have a bit of trouble learning. The Continuum came knocking again only a few thousand years later. Not only did they have trouble cooperating with the human’s who by then had a full on kingdom, but they still were losing to the Continuum despite the Continuum not advancing down the magical path.”

Humanoid lupine figures, actual scaled kobolds, a species that looks like a more humanoid version of the Krakotl and real life ELVES! Appear in the scene on the road in the distance. Attacking both human and Draco-fox.

Sandstone stretches, and for a split second. I think I see, some kind of feline, centaur thing sitting there. Female, but a bit on the lower torso that isn’t female. I get a twinge of pain in my head and Sandstone’s back to the female Draco-fox.

“So they do what they did last time. When things got seemingly to hard for them, they ran to their parents for help to make it easy. Being the ‘loving’ gods they were, they answered their prayers. ‘Bring us those who can help, those who are better than Humans.’ So the gods grabbed a starship full of the species I was when I was mortal, from the neighboring dimension. One where they were ‘made’ by humans to be ‘better’ than the life they created before. Made sure they couldn’t replicate their tech, or at least the exotic stuff from the world they came from.”

She sighs. “They wanted the Draco-Foxes to stay on the magical path after all.”

Sensing a pattern, I speak up. “They win, then turn around and take more of the Draco-Fox home planet for themselves rather than cooperating with the Draco-Foxes.” The moment I finish, Sandstone looks at me, and for another split second, with the accompanying headache. I see that feline-taur form. Less happy this time, and I again feel the same fear as I did earlier.

Is this what every federation species feels when they look at us?

“You’re smarter than you look or your actions indicated Noah Williams. I mean, getting the Humans into a war without a proper military. Giving promises you had no power to actually keep, but your superiors were forced to otherwise it would ruin the overall goals they had? Really smart of you then.”

She laughs. A laugh I do not like the sound of.

“Yes. Because the Draco-Foxes said they wanted something better than humans. Their loving gods at the time grabbed a ‘small’ about 10,000 to 15,000 population of my mortal species, that got drunk on the ‘romanticized’ tales of their creation by humans. When in actuality their creators both loved the science of doing so, and needed a species resistant and hardy enough to help clean Earth up from world war 3. Who got angry when ‘their’ version of the Federation gave them a world to their own, but let other species, Earth and alien origin on it. The Humans first like group of my mortal species.”

Less defined versions of this Feli-taur species appear in the show on the cobblestone road. Wielding guns that shoot energy beams. Vaporizing; human, Draco-Fox, and the others. The magic and abilities they wield are no match for sheer technology. It stops when they claim an equally large part of the road that the humans did. Only, instead of occasional interactions, they kill those who get close, and throw out small forms which look like cubs that appear to not meet their expectations.

I also see they seem to kill those of their kind displaying the same powers as the Humans and Draco-Foxes. I don’t think I like them…

Looking at both of them while turning my back to the road. I’m in fact weary of Sandstone returning the glare. “That’s two, Ryine, you mentioned three?”

“So that’s where the two of you are.” A child’s voice comes from behind me, maybe I shouldn’t turn my back to that road. Turning around again, I see a small male Draco-Fox child. Maybe no older than 8 or 9 years old if I recall the biological section of the information given to me by Undach. Red and Copper colored fur and scales, with splashes of white that would match a fox’s fur coat back home.

I should know better though. “You’re not a child, are you?”

This ‘child’ walks up to me, then glares up at me. Making eye contact makes me nearly collapse on the spot. “Human.” He then turns to Ryine and Sandstone.

“Why is he here?”

Ryine just shrugs. “I wanted to talk to a human, and he’s the most interesting one of the group that are ‘traveling’ in our dimension. I mean the captain of their ship may be nice, but I’ve heard literal trillions upon trillions of trauma dumps. Besides, Human Death’s pissed at Krakotl for that billion soul job earlier. So I won’t have his help to calm the captain down if I chose him.”

Sandstone gets up, and walks over to the ‘young?’ Draco-Fox, then flicks his ear. “If we were to let magic back into our quadrant of the galaxy, Noah Williams here would have a decent gift of magic. That and to rub his face in his own idiocy. Is why I’m here.”

He ignores the flick. “So your entertainment.” Staring at me while he speaks. “And that is why you’re telling him things he shouldn’t know.”

Ryine shrugs. “He’ll forget once the K-F drive his ship is slaved to re-enters their normal space. Till we let magic in, that is. Then he’ll get one hell of a headache as it all comes back, or an aneurysm.”

Wait, I’ll forget? Maybe this is a hallucination, that changes…

He’s walked over to me, reaching over and grabs my shirt, pulling me closer. “Alright, I can sense your time left here is counting down. So I’ll be brief. I’m the god of change, I may also be called the god of War. But I’d say change is better, because what is war, but change through violent means?”

Letting me go I watch in fascination, and fear as he goes from a nine-year-old, to an adult in a mater of seconds. “When I was nine, in the age of the third and last Continuum attempt. We summoned Human heroes again. The first group summoned for this arrived in my hometown in the middle of that early phase of the war. I, was the child of an average merchant Den. We kept our heads above water, but not by much. The Human who have been bestowed the class of ‘thief’. Decided that my Den’s store should ‘donate’ stock to the party for their deed in ‘saving’ us lesser beings.”

He takes a step back, and his form starts to grow. Neck growing longer, horns longer, tail and other limbs longer as well. He even grows a pair of wings yet doesn’t take loose any Draco-fox ‘masculine’ features. No, the wings look like what ‘should’ be on a male of their species if they had them. Sharper, angular, more aggressive.

In a deeper voice he continues as he flaps them. “My parents… They said no. They pointed out the heroes can get stock from ‘open’ stores, as per their contracts. Ours was closed because the town gates were closed due to their arrival. We sold goods to travelers passing through. With no travelers we’d get no customers. So why stay open and lose money?”

I realize these are features one associates with a western dragon, yet as I think of this other features change. His ears become longer, more traditional Youki Kitsuine shaped. I know the shape due to popular hologrpahic show with one that I watched not long ago.

Or was popular until an Anti-matter bomb erased Tokyo.

His muzzle becomes more vulpine, growing whiskers even as his dragon horns grow larger. Along with his claws on his hands and feet as they become a bit more canine too.

“He didn’t take my parent’s no for an answer. Used his ‘Thief’ skills to break into the store. I, in the back of the store, having been helping them restock the front of the store with my parents like I always did when I was old enough. Watched in horror as the ‘Human’ ruthlessly killed them, while making it look like they killed each other. I snapped, gained the class that led. To. This.”

The Vulpine features don’t end there. He becomes more quadrupedal, yet he looks like he can stand on two legs if he wanted. Then his tail fluffs up, and splits into, eight others, making nine in total. Becoming a mix of a western dragon and a Youki Kitsuine. Towering over me at least at 10 or more feet.

“Eventually I got my revenge on him, and learned of the latest Continuum attempt to take over ‘my’ kind’s world.” He glares down at me, and that feeling of staring down a predator returns. I want to run, but I know that I wouldn’t be able to if I tried.

“When that was taken care of, we threw out the Humans or made them into Draco-Foxes if they demanded to stay. Then just threw out the other species as well. Some random planet, they could earn on their own like the Humans did Earth, or we did ‘here’. ” He does look over at Sandstone.

I gulp once as his head lowers and takes a long breath in, taking in my scent before looking to Ryine and Sandstone. “Are you two satisfied?”

I hear Sandstone sigh behind me. “Really? Do you have to scare him?”

Rohoka growls back. “You were going to, I noticed the short flashings you did at him of your true form earlier.”

“Well yes, he should learn to stay off of our children’s home.” I hear her reply like a child losing the chance to play with a toy.

“I swear you two never grew up.”

Ryine loudly interrupts the two, only to watch in utter confusion as she walks up to Rohoka. The moment she grabs an ear, the monstrous form is now back to the nine-year-old Draco-Fox boy. She then drags him, by the ear, despite his protests. Over to Sandstone.

The moment she grabs ‘her’ ear. Sandstone becomes a slightly smaller than Rohoka feline-taur of the ‘second summoned’ species, looking childlike hirself.

Shi similarly protests to Ryine, then shi and Rohoka start bickering at each other like fighting siblings. Over whose fault it is Ryine’s acting like their parent again.

Don’t know why I just used that, but the more I look at ‘hir’ the more my head hurts, so I look away.

“I’m sorry Noah Williams. I wish I could explain what you just witnessed, but we’re out of time. You’ll shortly exit Jump space, and forget all of this. If the masquerade as it’s called ends. You’ll remember, if you survive the shock. Until that hypothetical time, try not to screw things up more than they already are.”

{Closing Classified Transcription, Resuming normal playback}

Ugh… My head hurts. I recall some kind of forest and town before it slips through my mind. Looking around, everyone on the bridge is sitting back up in their chair, or pushing their heads off their consoles. If this is what they do for FTL travel. The Draco-Foxes can keep it.

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