The War of Three Kings (CLOSED)

[Dotaria]

Year 2713

The Dotarians, an intergalactic superpower, are at war with the He'rat Fuum, an alien race who has been at war with Dotaria for the past 50 years. The war has been a stalemate for 20 years, with small skirmishes here and there between the Dotarian Legions and the He'rat Fuum Squadron Fleets. Lately however, with a failed coup, the He'rat Fuum have launched a surprise invasion of Dotarian interstellar territory, and have decimated cities and have sieged 2 Dotarian systems. The failed coup has been exiled from the capital planet of Requiem, and are on their way to an unexpected, technologically inferior planet, filled with barbaric peoples of epic proportions, being 10 to 12 feet tall, tusked like boars, and horned like bulls, a very savage race who is mostly nomadic. Their mission is to slaughter the people of this planet and establish a base of operations to help the He'rat Fuum destroy the Confederacy. A war of three kings will be fought, but who will prevail?

No Mercy.....

A picture of the Herat Fuum leader, Yura Vokar:

[Roxolani]

"Silence! We have better things to discuss than these petty city politics!" Riorn yelled in the chamber, silence immediately falling across the great metal room.

"We have found new people on our northern border. They have taken my tribes hunting grounds and fire their guns on us without care. We call on you for your support in eradicating these hostile beings," He continued, looking each of the other 14 members, daring them to deny him.

Finally, the weakest of the gathered clans stood, only recently having joined the council, "The Broken-tusks will stand with you. We have the least to offer you, but we offer all that we can."

Riorn looked at the boy standing and chuckled a little bit, shaking his head, "Will the rest of you let this whelp prove himself better than you? Are all of you so blind as to not believe they will not go to you next when we are finished?"

"It is not as simple as that. You know that none of our peoples are equipped for this. The winters come and our warriors must hunt, or we will freeze and starve," replied Jirak, leader of one of the other northern clans.

"He is right. None of us are prepared for a war," said another, this time one of the leaders from the south.

"Well I'm not asking you to tear off your damn beards and tusks and drop your balls in the ice! I'm asking that you send as many of your warriors, and your hunters, and your healers as you can spare," Riorn said, looking around and with a sigh, dropping his head," I have said my piece," he continued, "Does anyone else have anything to put before the council?" He asked, looking around for a moment before turning around to the door. "Then let us leave. I will be expecting you all soon." He said, grabbing his massive halberd off the rack and walking out into the evening light, massive city stretching from horizon to horizon below him, the foundries and markets, houses and manors, and all other buildings in the city slowly quieting as the sun sank down in the south. Riorn looked around and with a nod to the guard, had his wolf brought out, and saddled.

"Hyeah!" He yelled, putting his heels into the wolfs sides and launching off down the streets. After a few hours of running down the street, he finally made it to the gate, riding out into the open fields. He let out a blood curdling yell as the wolf turned north and they rode back home.

[Dotaria]

The New Order of Dotaria

"Inferior whelps," Janik Goor said as he put a bullet between the eyes of a dying Rox. He was the leader of the "Coup", and he tried to assassinate Hunter Mathias himself. He hated the Confederacy, he thought that they were the most Dishonorable people imaginable, and these pathetic aliens were no better.

"Establish a F.O.B., we will stay here for a while. Let these pathetic monkeys try to kill us," He ordered, then went back to his ship.


The Dotarian Confederacy

Hunter sat in his palace rubbing his temples. Ever since he made it back to Requiem, which was 3 days ago, he hadn't taken off his armor, being too busy dealing with losses from the He'rak Fuum. The recent assassination attempt only further exhausted him, because the people responsible had left the system, and he had no idea where.

"My Lord," Bors said, walking into the room.

"Bors," Hunter said, "tell me some good news."

"I actually do have some good news. We have found where the cowards who tried to take your life have run off to. Its a pretty big ass planet, 4 times our size."

This raised Hunter's eyebrow. A planet 4 times the size of Requiem? Requiem had a 15,000 mile radius. "What is he doing there?"

"Seems like he is killing the indigenous species there, probably trying to set up a base of operations."

"Hunter nodded and stood. "Ready the Vengeance."

[Roxolani]

"Charge!" yelled Riorn, having only gotten back the day before to find out that 8 of the villages had been raided, his home village having been the very last. He had sent out scouts and they had come back with new that there was a small scouting party only a few miles west traveling down some of the game trails in the woods. Now, they ran from the cover of the brush and trees of the forest into the clearing that the scouts had chosen for a rest.

"Runak Rox!" Came the reply from the 7 warriors with him, the wolves charging out behind their masters. Each bound of their massive frames bringing them yards closer to the surprised group. After only a few minutes the clearing was covered in blood and corpses, only one alive, and that one tied to a tree with broken arms and broken legs.

"Where is the rest of your people, little thing?" Riorn tried in Roxon. Then, noticing the words in latin on the creatures gear, he tried the same sentence in broken latin, his men mostly unharmed with only a handful of slice wounds on their unarmored arms and on the wolves.

[Dotaria]

The New Order of Dotaria

They stripped the man of his armor and beat him, squeezing the broken bones to get him to talk.

"Where are your people?!" the biggest one yelled, in Latin.

The man chuckled, "You're nothing!"

The big one hit him again, "Tell me where!"

"Fuck you!" the man yelled, turned his head to one side, and snapped his own neck by turning it as fast as he could to the other side.

"Where?!" He asked again, then pulled the man's hair to see if he was dead. "DAMNIT!!!" he screamed, and ripped the man's head off and tossed it into the surrounding forrest.


The Dotarian Confederacy

The Vengeance entered the system the Coup was in, and saw the enormous planet looming before him. He was in awe of the planet, but the awe soon evaporated at the sight of 5 Xenos Class Ships orbiting the planet, and sensors picked up that they were arming weapons.

"Ahh shit!" Hunter said, relieving the Helmsman, "Battle stations!!!"

The shields and weapons of the dreadnought charged, and Hunter destroyed one ship in a single volley, even though the other four fired on him and knocked his shields down to 25%. He then brought the ship around and fired again into the ships, destroying 2 of them and damaging a third. The other side fired another volley and knocked Hunter's shields completely down, and damaged one of his engines. The last volley destroyed the rest of the ships, and Hunter put the Vengeance into orbit around the planet, coming to the northern pole of the planet, where he could see fires from the surface of the planet.

"Launch scouting drones, I wanna know what's going on down there," Hunter said.

"Aye, Milord," Bors said, and attended to his orders.

Hunter folded his arms, and stared at the planet's surface....

[Roxolani]

Riorn had sent his men back to the main camp, ordering them to have all the warrior and hunters in the camp armed. He knew that his tribe would have at least 20,000 men and women mustered, not including the healers and wolves. All of the other northern tribes had sent men and most of the central clans had sent in warriors. Only one of the southern tribes had arrived, the boy that had spoken out had gotten his men there, and they were all ragged and tired, not to mention freezing, used to the hot, tropical southern climate.

Riorn was pissed off that the prisoner had been of no use, his claws tearing through the mans abdomen only to grab the man's spine and tear it out. "Damnit!" he had screamed, until he saw the sheet of paper on the ground. It had fallen out of his pocket and was a map of the world so far, showing each of the villages burned, as well the location of their base. He saw all of the tents in rings around what was the center plaza of his home village, even the tall wall surrounding it having been burnt to the ground. He noticed who was doing what and where the people were. He always had one eye on the large tent in the middle of the plaza, obviously something of importance, but he was unsure what. After an two and a half hours, he turned around and ran back towards his village, meeting up with the army after only a few miles.

"Is this everyone?" He asked, Jorna, his second in command and high shaman of his tribe. He saw all of the banners and all of the Chieftains armed with their blades and hammers, their cold metal armors covered in furs to keep them warm.

"Yes, Chieftain. This is all of us." she said, motioning to the 100,000 or so troops, most of them riding on wolves, though some even rode war mammoths.

He yanked out a dagger from his boot, and started drawing in the snow. "This will have to do. Their base is a few miles west of here, in the ashes of my old village. There are many of them, all in rings around the center, but I don't think they know we are even aware of them yet. If we use the mammoths to make a distraction, we can bring most of our forces behind them from the other side and slaughter them. Understand?" He asked, looking up at the figures around him, expectingly.

"Aye," they all said in agreement, every one of them spitting on the map in agreement.

"Good. Then lets get started." Riorn said with a grin, replacing the dagger and throwing the halberd over his back. He hopped on his wolf, and the group surged forward, eating through the distance in around 20 minutes.

"Get to you places!" he whispered, the Chieftains all nodded and rode to their places, after about 5 minutes everyone was on the move, though invisible in the pitch black of the northern night. The mammoths and those riding them had gone south, only 50 or so mammoths, each with 10 men on its back, and then the 3 thousand others that rode with them on their wolves. To the north, Riorn with the rest of his army sat in wait, watching for any movement in the camp to indicate their being found out. When the first rays of dawn hit their backs, a loud, deep horn was heard over the white plains and forests, followed by the mammoths trumpeting, as well as the war cries of those with them. Riorn could just make out the figures storming the southern end of the camp, going in and out of tents to slaughter the surprised enemies. Within minutes a bell was heard as well, the rest of the army coming from their tents, weapons ready.

"Runak Rox!" He yelled, suddenly as he charged down the slopes leading into the camp, a roar of voices following his own as the horde of man and beast charged down the slopes into the camp.

The surprised soldiers of the New Order of Dotaria, charged to the south, following the sound of the horns, only a handful of men registering the yells from behind them and charged the coming onslaught, only to fall victim to the stampede. By the time the Order knew what was happening half of them were dead. Riorn was like a storm, his halberd cutting and slicing through every foe within reach. After a while, having waded through most of the enemy's ranks and covered in blood, he came face to face with the man yelling orders in the plaza. Sizing the presumed leader up, he raised his halberd, a good 15 foot long and he speared the tip through the mans arm, and into the ground, kicking his weapon away.

"I'll deal with you later, whelpling!" He roared through the melee as he yanked off his gloves revealing his long, metal coated claws and started slashing and scratching through the others. After a few hours, the battle finally ended, a good 30,000 Rox dead, and all but the leader of the Order slashed to bits. Riorn, yanked out his halberd and spat in the face of the figure, his blood starting to ooze from the wound again, especially after Riorn put his heavy boot on his stomach.

"Get up... I said get up!" he yelled, kicking him into the ranksthe surrounding chieftain, only for him to be kicked back. "Tie him up and bring him back to camp once that arm stops bleeding, we'll see why he's here and where he is from. If he gives us nothing useful... We kill him." He said, speaking only the last three word in Roxon, the rest in Latin so he could understand.

[Dotaria]

It was at that moment that three Dotarian Pelican Dropships descended from the sky, having onboard 120 men in all. They landed next to the procession and deployed out of the Pelicans, weapons at the ready.

"Runak Rox! Rilak!" one of the aliens said, and the whole procession rushed the Dotarians. Not shortly after, two commands could be heard over the shouting.

"Hold your fire!!!" came from a Dotarian.

"Rox!!!" came from the alien forces.

The alien who called the charge grabbed a Dotarian officer, who happened to be Jason Heckler, First Officer of the Dotarian Military. Bors, High General of the Dotarian Military, held a sword at the alien's throat, and his pistol toward the procession, who were aiming their weapons at them, creating a Mexican stand off. There was then shouting in both languages for the other to put down their weapons, and this continued for roughly half a minute, until the alien who grabbed Jason was knocked on his back by an unknown force, and the procession stopped entirely, watching a Dotarian walk down one of the Pelican ramps.

"Who is your leader?!" He shouted, some of the words lost to the crowd, but the general idea getting across.

A huge alien, roughly 12 feet tall, walked forward. "I am," it said.

"Your name?"

"You first asshole!"

Hunter paused for a minute, and said, "I am Hunter Mathias, Ryse of the Dotarians and Leader of the Confederacy. Now answer me!" and his voice rumbled the ground around the army, full of power and anger.

The Alien looked at his army, then back to Hunter, "You don't scare me, little man, but I am Riorn, of the Snow-Claw Clan. What is your business here in my home? Speak fast, or I'll have you gutted and your blood shall decorate my wolf's fur!"

Hunter glared at the giant in front of him, not intimidated at all. His men were ready to lay waste to the personnel here, and the gunships were more than able to provide the cover his men would need, but he kept his discipline. "I am here looking for a man wanted for crimes against his Ryse and people, and for genocide against the peaceful peoples of your planet. We do not wish you harm, but if you do not cooperate and show us bodies and prisoners my men will fire on you, without hesitation." and with that, the Vanguards and Knights pulled the charging handles on their weapons, loading a round into their chambers.

The alien shrugged, "These are our lands here, and you hold no power here. We hold the man you seek, but he is going with us. You kill us, you lose your man."

Hunter then knew that the only way to get his point across to these people was a display of power, and he ordered Drop pods to land all around the army, surrounding them. His men moved out, and tanks and APC's rolled out too, ready to kill. Then Hunter said slowly and calmly, "I will not ask again. Hand him over, and your people live to regain their Honor."

"Your man will be killed by my hand before you kill us all," Riorn said, defiantly.

"And you will die before any of you men will," Hunter said, sparring with the alien.

"And? My men will still carry my wishes, and we'll die to the last man."

Hunter chuckled, and walked up to the army, with his Kingsguard urging him back. "I'm not afraid of you, and you're not afraid of me. There is only one difference between us, I have the means to end your world as you know it, and your people will die. But... You are the only race to ever stand up to us, in the disadvantage that you are in, and still openly defy. You have my respect as a people, but do you have the balls to come forth and talk with me, so we may negotiate?"

"I'll court with you, but only if your people leave and you stay. What happens then?" The alien replied, with his army laughing at him.

Hunter laughed too. "Fine!" he said, then turned to his men "Back to the ship!"

"Milord, I will not-" his Kingsguard commander, Larek, said, stepping toward Hunter and making Riorn growl.

"What did I just say?!" Hunter yelled, then said closely so the aliens couldn't hear, "I want a MAC cannon aimed at this position. If they make a move and I don't tell you to stand down, blast them to kingdom come."

Larek was displeased, but obeyed. He took all of the Dotarians away, leaving Hunter by himself.

"So, go the balls now?" Hunter asked.

"Now we can talk," Riorn said, then turned to his men and said in Roxon, "Leave us!"

"Stand down," Hunter mumbled over his intercom, then took his helmet off.

"What makes you think you have any right to come here and have authority over my people?" Riorn asked.

"You are harboring a fugitive of Dotarian law, and you are also technically not in a position to negotiate. I can have this whole planet destroyed with just one word, that is my authority. But I also respect your valor and your men, which is why I didn't have you killed. You should be thanking me," Hunter replied cooly, obviously getting tired of the alien insulting him.

"Firstly, you are not in Dotaria. I have something you want, so that gives me plenty to negotiate with. A great leader knows when to use force, when to use diplomacy, and when he has no authority and is trespassing on others land. You apparently know none of these things as you continue to threaten a people not scared by death. As for your respect, I don't give a damn about you or your opinion of my peoples. We simply defend ourselves and what is ours from those that attack us. After all, who's fault is it that they can't keep their men loyal? Besides that, I don't thank those that don't deserve it. We fought. We killed. We died. This is our land. You are either to power drunk from your boot lickers, or too foolish to understand this. We do not come to your lands and slaughter your kind, look for war, trespass in your nation. What makes you think we will forgive you for doing it to us?" the alien passionately replied, but Hunter was unmoved.

"I may not be in Dotarian Interstellar Territory, but a piece of Dotaria is orbiting 10 miles above the surface of the planet, with all guns pointed at you. You don't really have something I want, as a matter of fact, destroying this planet would be an easier way of executing him. I know when to use force, it is you who do not know when to stand up for your people, or to do as you are told to secure their lives. We do not seek to enslave you, we only want a single man, and maybe to help your backwards people assert yourselves on the Universal stage. You don't know when you have something good in front of you, ripe for the taking. This man, this traitor, was given all that he asked for, in return for his service in my military. Obviously, he thought that taking money from another race of beings to secure a throne for himself was a better way to go, and this race has the ability to destroy both of our people, so you will excuse me for being so rash. We appreciate your sacrifice to bring this man and his followers down, and we will barter weapons and supplies for you to rebuild, but my boot lickers? You DARE insult my people? What is keeping me from ending your pathetic life right now? And looking for war? I was looking to end it before your people got killed, but you can only navigate the void of space at such a speed," Hunter said, then added, "I'm not asking you to kiss my boots, or take my cock up your ass. I'm only asking for the prisoner, that's it."

"Well I never asked for your people to come here. I never said I would hand him over. I never said that he was even still here. As for my daring, you know nothing of it. As for the backwardness of my people, you know less than the dirt on your boot. I'm done dealing with you and your ignorant set of bastards. When you are willing to shut up and accept that you are, though not powerless, not the man in-charge, send me and my stick-throwing morons some smoke signals," Riorn spat at him, "But until you get your head out of your ass, and that from your shoulder, do mine and your people a favor and fuck off. You prisoner has until morning to find out who executes him. Me, you, or your ship." He said spitting in front of Hunter, turning around and walking to his troop, the furs on his gear blowing behind him.

"I am having fun with you.... You complete me," Hunter chuckled, mocking the alien. He was getting tired of this conversation himself, and said, "No one has ever disrespected me like you have. I am here before you as your equal at this minute, but you don’t understand the gravity of this situation, and you never will. Leave me then, go ahead, but I’ll make sure that you live long enough to watch your people burn, so that you may take to the afterlife that you are the one responsible for the death of your entire race. I have a chip on my shoulder, I deserve it. I have scratched and clawed, and fought, and saw men die for thousands of years and I will continue to see it for thousands more. You don’t know what that’s like, nor will you ever do. I EARNED my place in this universe, and you’re just a chieftan of ash and embers!" Hunter yelled.

The alien turned, "Not impressed."

Hunter shouted, and lunged the full 20 feet and grabbed the alien by the throat, slamming him down on the ground.

[Roxolani]

Riorn grinned, not wasting a second so grab the figure on his back by the base of his skull and rip hip off of Riorn's back and catapult him into the hard ice just a few feet infront of himself. Still on all fours, he grinned, the snow painting his brown beard white, and lunged for the figure in the snow, planting his hard forehead into the back of Hunters head until Hunter used his telepathy to shove him back. Riorn landed a few yards away. He shook his head and let out a loud bellow as he stood, Hunter standing back up as well. Hunter growled and with a flick of his wrist, a sword appeared there, the grip obviously comforting to Hunter as he grabs it a swings it around. Riorn himself reached down for the blades in his boots, daggers to him, although each of the blades almost as long as Hunters own. The two figures lunge at each other, hacking and slashing and parrying like madmen, the glorious war dance singing as metallic aloe met metallic aloe, neither man taking any serious wounds through his gear. Suddenly both daggers and sword flew away, leaving the two men with naught but their fists. Both men took a second to look the other up and down, Hunters arms were bleeding and had slices through his gear, not deep enough to hit bone or even a major blood vessel, but still deep enough to need stitches. Riorn on the other hand had slices across both his hands, the knuckles visible as chunks of skin that should be covering that flap around in the wind. His legs are also covered in wounds, a deep stab visible in his calf dribbling blood into the snow, only to quickly freeze. The two figures charged one another again Riorn swatting Hunter like a gnat, and knocking him off his feet and onto his back a few feet away. Riorn reached over and grabbed the figure by the throat, lifting him up and letting his claws break the skin on Hunters exposed neck, and letting the little bits of blood dribble down his fingers. He suddenly rammed his head into Hunters, again, again, again. After 7 hard head-butts, Riorn spat in Hunters bruised and bloodied face, Riorn's own face discolored and bleeding from the impact in the ice, the exposed skin of his arm also bleeding a deep crimson as Hunter clawed and grabbed at the man's wrist.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't tear your spine from your back and whip you with it..." he growled through his teeth, wiggling his clawed fingers in the flesh of Hunter's neck some more to emphasize his point before he suddenly gave him another head-butt. "Silence will get you no-where trespasser." He said, both of them breathing raggedly, Hunters a bit more labored than Rionrs' breaths.

[Dotaria]

Hunter began to laugh. "There are forces in this universe you, nor I, will ever understand. Do you even know how to kill me? You could try to the end of your days, and I can guarantee it will never happen. Try it Rox, kill me!"

Riorn roared and tossed Hunter back into the snow, then picked up his halberd and Hunter's sword. He stuck Hunter in the shoulder with his own sword, then brought the Halberd over Hunter's neck.

"Do it weakling!" Hunter yelled.

Riorn roared and stabbed down, punching through armor, bone, and heart. He then spat on him and said, "Pathetic," and lifted the halberd up, but Hunter's wound began to heal back. He kept his halberd hovered over the Hunter's head until he was done.

"Pathetic?" Hunter asked, then ejected another blade from his wrist and stabbed Riorn in the leg, making him roar in anger, and stab down with his halberd. Hunter expected this, rolled to the side of his bad arm, and grabbed the pole of the halberd as it hit the ground. He then used his leverage to unstick himself from the ground and head butted the Rox, temporarily disorienting the alien for a fraction of a second, enough to arm himself by ripping his sword out of his arm.

"Die!" Riorn yelled and made an overhead slash to Hunter's head, which was easily avoided because of the limp in Riorn's side with Hunter's blade still imbedded in his flesh. Hunter then brought his sword up and stabbed for Riorn's chest, which was protected by a plate, so it glanced off his chest, giving the alien his arm. The alien picked Hunter up by it and swung him over his body, slamming him into the ground. Riorn took advantage of Hunter's disorientation and brought his halberd up for a killing blow, which was met with Hunter's sword and shocks of electricity and ozone, knocking Riorn back a couple of steps.

Hunter kicked himself back up and slashed at the alien, who blocked his blow with the halberd, then went to pick Hunter up and over him again, which Hunter expected. Hunter landed on his feet this time, and blocked a blow from Riorn again, this time from the side, and kicked his knee out from under him, bringing Riorn to his level. Hunter aimed an overhead slash on Riorn, and Riorn raised his halberd above his head to block it, and the pole was cut clean in half. Hunter kicked the Rox back 30 feet, blood following the body. Hunter walked up to him.

The alien spat out blood and said, "You have no Honor."

Hunter, heaving from exhaustion, said, "I won't kill a foe who cannot do anymore harm upon me. You are defeated, killing you would be pointless." Hunter then brought the blade of his sword to Riorn's neck. "I will however, give you a token of my esteem," he said, then burned a slash into the Rox's cheek.

"You will never get him!"

"And you will never kill him. You don't know how to kill me, how can you kill him?"

"I'll find a way!"

Hunter felt blood about to run out of his nose, a sign of over exertion. "Only to have him escape your clutches? You may have captured him, but it is only a minor inconvenience for him. He can kill his guards easily and run away into the night, and you would never know. Why don't you understand that you can benefit from this, you whole planet can benefit from this, if you give me the man I want. I'll even kill him in one of your villages, just let me kill him," Hunter pleaded, "I don't want to do you harm, you forced me by Dishonoring me. A Dotarian Ryse is not a Ryse if he cannot uphold his honor, you FORCED me to do this. Explain to me why!"

[Roxolani]

"I force you because you do not know how to not be the leader. Army, and immortal or not, you lack the honor and humility to bring yourself to ask. You come to what is not your demanding that which you have not fought and died for. If you would have but asked for him instead of making demands, he would already be yours," the Rox sneered, the coughing up a bit of blood and spitting it on Hunter, before struggling back to his feet. "Though now you have dishonored me and my people. You will admit defeat to get your man." He said, holding the end with the blade like an axe, and the other half like a short staff or a mace.

[Dotaria]

Hunter laughed at the alien. "I know nothing of being a leader? You know nothing, Riorn." He then saw Riorn following something on his face, and wiped by his mouth. Blood was there, pouring out from his nose, which ment that if he were to push himself much longer, he would end up killing himself. Hunter nodded, looking at the blood. "It's a draw then, both of us are too badly wounded, so lets call it a draw."

[Roxolani]

Riorn smirked, "The only thing that exceeds your insolence is your stupidity it appears. However I grow tired of you and your women so I will agree to your draw. You will have your man in the morning. Until then, I want none of you on my lands. Your strays have already scared the game so we will have to come to an arrangement with the other clans to pay for this. When the sun comes over the North Forests, YOU land. YOU kill him." He said as he turned around and spat out more blood, grabbing his halberd and walking back to his people.

"We march." He ordered, grabbing the prisoners skull and knocking him out with a head-butt.

[Dotaria]

The next day, Hunter landed next to Riorn's village, with 15 Pelicans, loaded down with medical supplies and food. He was the first to step off, with only his Kingsguard commander in tow. The rest of his men pulled out the supplies, laying them out by the Pelicans while the Rox villagers investigated the newcomers.

"Where is Riorn?" Hunter asked, and almost instantly he saw a huge Rox step out of a tent at the top of the hill that made his village. Hunter nodded his way, and turned to his men. "Keep everything here. They can investigate, but don't hand them anything without Riorn's blessing. I'm going to speak to Riorn myself," and with that, he picked up a MediPak and called Larek and Bors to his side.

They were walking to the village when they were stopped by 6 armed Rox guards. "These wolves are for you to ride to the Chieftain. I assume your lordliness an ride?" one of the guards said, mocking Hunter.

Larek ejected his sword and stepped toward the guard, but Hunter put a forceful hand on his chest. "We're guests here. No bloodshed," he said, then turned to the guards, "We can ride, shall you lead the way?"

"Aye, fallow," the guard said, and mounted one of the wolves.

The Dotarians mounted the wolves, and quickly got the hang of riding them, because they weren't that different than Dotarian horses. Within an hour, Hunter could see Riorn's tent, a massive structure of furs of different kinds of Roxan animals. Riorn stepped out at the sound of the wolves' footpads, and limped his way to meet his guests.

"So, I see you found my village! Hope your lordlieness didn't get a chapped ass on the way here," Riorn said, obviously still angry over the night before.

Bors chuckled and said, "You may want to watch your tone, I'm not as forgiving as my Ryse."

"Bors," Hunter said sharply, then turned back to the Rox, "I'm actually quite fond of the wolves, riding them is a smoother ride than the horses back home."

"So I see it isn't just the Ryse of Dotaria that is arrogant," Riorn said, ignoring Hunter's complement of the wolves, "Follow me to the prisoner."

Hunter dismounted and followed Riorn, keeping his company with him to keep conflict from happening. "I slept on our heated discussion last night, and I have brought you medical supplies and food, with men ready to distribute them, if you wish. Its only a sign of goodwill, not an attack on your people."

"I appreciate your gesture, but we have healers of our own. You can give them to the High Shaman, who is lurking somewhere around here. As for the food, I have no need of it. Killing game is more valuable, because it also gives you clothing," the Rox said paranoiacally, but noticing a great change in Hunters tone.

"As you wish, I'm guessing that's him?" Hunter said, gesturing to a Dotarian chained to a gigantic tree that was being tortured by his guardsmen.

"Aye, thats the bastard," Riorn said, growling.

Hunter walked up to the traitor and punched him several times. "You didn't think you could run away forever, did you?"

"Fuck you Hunter, just kill me already."

"Don't be so open to death, I heard traitors burn in hell with Timeo," Hunter said, then turned to Riorn and said low, "Can we make a fire? We'll need a pretty big one."

"Sure," Riorn said, and beaconed the guardsmen by the prisoner to gather wood for a fire, while Larek and Bors drew their swords and held Janik (the Dotarian prisoner) at sword point.

As the Rox guards set out to create the fire, Hunter addressed Janik, "Janik Goor, you are hereby charged with treason to your Ryse, People, Government, and waging unauthorized war and genocide against peaceful peoples and hiding behind the Flag of Dotaria while doing so. With attempted murder of your Ryse, and fraternization with the enemy Ha'rat Fuum. How do you plea?"

"Not to mention the slaughter of innocent women and children," Riorn added, receiving a nod from Hunter.

"I plea Guilty, now kill me already," Janik said.

"As you wish," Hunter said, just in time to see the guards bringing 2 logs on each of their shoulders, eight in all, and they started to put them in a "teepee" formation. Hunter broke the chains and forced Janik in the middle of the Teepee of Death (lol). He then willed the earth beneath him to come up and secure Janik to the ground. The guardsmen then put kindling and dried bits of wood around him, encasing the traitor in firewood, and poured oil over the man, that was made of the burned corpses who supported the coup. One of the guards then handed Riorn a torch.

"Any last words?" Hunter asked.

"Yes as a matter of fact. The Ha'rat Fuum will destroy Requiem. They will glass the planet and kill every single person on it, and there will not be a damn thing you can do about it. Fuck you and your 'Leadership'. Now kill me already!"

Hunter nodded, then turned to Riorn, who was fighting the urge to set the Dotarian on fire himself. He handed the torch to Hunter, and stepped back.
Hunter then walked up to Janik and said, "This will not be quick, and you will receive no mercy killing. You will burn in life as you will in death." and with that, he forced the torch in the woodpile.

The sickening scream that Janik let out was so horrible that it reached to every crevice of the village. Riorn laughed, and Hunter just stared into the flames, much of his anger burning away with the traitor. He still knew that he only removed a fly compared to a hive of wasps that the Ha'rat Fuum presented to his people. This was the darkest time of his people's history, not counting the Uprising. He knew he needed help bolstering his forces, and that help would only come from Riorn.

"Shall we talk, Riorn?"

[Roxolani]

Riorn spat in the fire as he sat down on the bear pelt, gesturing for Hunter to sit on a deer pelt beside his own. "What is it you wish to speak of? Know I still don't trust you, nor can I speak for the entirety of my race when I speak. I will not even offer the clans in my vassalage that they must uphold my words to you here. I do not know what your purpose is bringing food and medical equipment, but it will get you no where until you have shown you can be trusted. And that will only get you so far." He said looking up and trailing off as he could smell the freshly cooked venison and bread in the bowls, as well as their strong whiskey. He took a skin containing the alcohol, and the bowl, and motioned for Hunter to do the same. "Though you may consider breaking fast with me to be a first step to amicable relations between us..." he said through a mouthful of meat and bread.

[Dotaria]

"Much appreciated," Hunter said, first taking a swig of the whiskey, knocking the wind out of him, and he took a bite of the venison, which tasted of garlic and sage. "There is a storm brewing on the other side of my territory."

"And this effects me how?" Riorn asked.

"If Dotaria falls, Roxis will be next."

"My people don't fear death, but if you're asking for help, be straightforward about it."

Hunter nodded, and took another swig of the whiskey and another bite of the venison. "We need help. Two of my star systems are besieged, and our capital is threatened. We need men to bolster our forces, and since you gave me a run for my money, I can only wonder how the rest of your men will act in a war like what we're fighting."

"You do understand that I am one of the greatest warriors in the history of my people, correct? That being said, we cannot leave now for winter comes and we must do what we can to survive. When the spring thaw comes, if you are still living to tell your tales, we we help you if you can provide the transportation, food, and shelter once we are there, you provide my people with your technologically superior gear, so as to better fight and live, you leave us in units with our own tribes, and all of this is up to the High Council to decide. If they agree to it, then it will be put before the Lower Council so that even the vassal peoples will have a say. I will not force anything upon them, nor will you. In honesty, you will be the first outsider to step foot into those sacred halls. You walk in with me, I will introduce you, and you will ASK FOR SOLDIERS TO ASSIST IN YOUR DEFENSE. The first time you say anything that is not border-line boot-licking in that council, is the first and only answer you will hear: 'No.' Know that I will support you in the council chambers but my voice will only carry over a few of the mountains in that great range," he said, relaxing a bit, though still keeping his halberd within easy reach of him. As his voice was raised the pack that was asleep raised all of their white furry heads and padded over beside him. "That, and you must not harm any of the beasts on this place. They are sacred and you know not our ways. Do you understand the things that have been said?"

"I understand, but my people may not be able to survive your winter. I can provide all of the clans weapons, supplies, armor, anything you need," Hunter said, satisfied.

"If you have everything for our people, why do you need our help?" Riorn asked.

"The thing is, if I had enough people alive to fight in my Legions, I would not be asking you. My people have been at war for 50 years, and 70% of my people's population at the start of the war have been lost. We're endangered, and time is running out for us. If time is running out for us, it's running out for you too," Hunter answered.

"Then you are permitted to stay here, with one other person, but the rest of your people must leave to your ship. You and this other person are welcomed here as my guest," Riorn said, satisfied with the talk.

Hunter wasn't as satisfied however, "Time is running out for my people. I can't stand idly by while my people are slaughtered. I need help now Riorn."

"Then send your men back, but I have offered as much as I can," Riorn replied, "I am truly sorry about this, but asking anymore of me will get you nowhere, as I have already done what I can do."

Hunter sighed, "Thank you Riorn, and I will make the necessary arrangements for my people." and was received by a nod from Riorn, who then limped back to his tent.

Bors stood. "I'll stay, send Larek back."

Hunter nodded, "Larek, if I hear anything from you you will receive a fate worse than Janik. They will test your patience, but you will ignore them, understood?"

Larek nodded, and walked back to his wolf. A couple of guards then approached Hunter and Bors with furs and poles for a tent. "This is a shelter for you, you build it."

"For the cold too," a woman said, walking up to him and tossing him some furs at his feet.

"Thank you, where shall we build?"

"Where you're standing," the woman replied smartly, and Hunter could smell ozone boiling off Bors, indicating his anger was about to burst.

"If you speak to my Ryse in that tone and way one more time, I'll cut your fucking tongue out!" Bors yelled, making the whole camp surround them to see what was going on, including Riorn form his tent.

"Bors, that's enough!" Hunter yelled, moving on him.

The woman continued to lash out at Bors, "Your Ryse doesn't deserve respect, you pathetic little-man!"

Bors lunged at the woman, but Hunter caught him by the throat, and slammed him on the ground, creating a small crater from the force of Bors hitting the ground. "Bors that's enough!"

Bors punched Hunter, and went after the woman again, who pulled a blade out and was ready to fight. Bors ejected his own blade out and connected swords with the woman, making Riorn run as fast as he could to the two fighting.

Hunter beat him first, grabbing Bors by the throat, whipping Bors around to put himself in the middle, and receiving a slash to his back, slashing the back of Hunter's unprotected head and leaving a gash on the back of Hunter's head. Riorn grabbed the woman and tossed her back, saying something in Roxan to the woman, and them moving to Bors, grabbed him by the arm, lifted him up, and backhanded him further away. Hunter readied his hand for his weapon, opening it behind him in a staggered stance, but he didn't eject his blade. "That's enough, I can handle this Riorn."

"Obviously you can't, because your people are still attacking us in our own camp!" Riorn roared.

Hunter's anger shook the ground around him, and his eyes started to cloud over, but he found a way to keep his anger in check. Through clenched teeth, he said, "Bors, get up."

Bors got up, shaking with anger and reeking of ozone. "Your Honor is-"

"I don't give a damn about that right now!" Hunter yelled, in a tongue that was unintelligible to the Rox, Dotarian. "I only care about the survival of our race, and these people," Hunter pointed to the people around him, "are our only fucking chance! We're only prolonging the inevitable! We NEED them!"

Bors clenched his teeth, but understood, and sheathed his weapon. Hunter turned back to Riorn, "We aren't used to your ways, you will have to give us some time to adjust."

Riorn nodded, "I understand, but this is the last outburst. If this happens again, you can go back to where ever you came from." He then turned to the woman and said a few words in Roxan, and went back to his tent, limping more than before.

Hunter turned back to Bors, more pissed at him than all the 1200 years they knew each other. "Build a tent of Earth," he said, then followed Riorn with a MediPak.

[Roxolani]

Riorn throws the front flap of his tent open and plops back down on the bear hide with a wince as he grabbed his leg, falling back on the Alpha Female of the pack and blowing in her nose. He was cooing and making baby faces at the wolf, he tail wagging happily as she licked his face when Hunter walked in carrying the MediPak and offering it to him.

"Would you like me to fix that leg?" Hunter asked as he opened the Pak and grabbed the tools for the job, offering them up.

"No. I am the Chieftain. I will have my battle scars and I will let them heal the way they were meant to." He said as he stopped rolling around with the massive wolf, scratching her behind the ears as he awkwardly moved his legs around out from under him.

"Alright, suit yourself." Hunter said as Riorn resumed playing with the massive furry canine, rolling around like a small child, his deep chuckle filling his tent and the air around it, lightening the mood.

[Dotaria]

3 days later

It was time for a hunt, the food stuffs had to be filled before the winter set in, and there was still much work to be done. Riorn ordered, much to the Dotarians' displeasure, the Dotarians to hunt with his tribe. It took a day's ride to the Hunting Grounds, and Riorn laid the ground rules out for the Outsiders.

"You keep what you kill. If you want food, you kill for yourself," Riorn said.

The Dotarians were given a stone knife each as their only hunting weapon, which was almost the size of their sword. "What is the biggest game here?" Hunter asked.

Riorn laughed, "It's the mammoth, and there is absolutely no way you two can kill one, not by yourselves."

Hunter nodded, and followed Riorn, with Bors in tow.

After a mile, Riorn turned to Hunter and asked, "Why are you following me?"

"I'd like to learn your ways, if that's okay with you," Hunter replied.

Riorn's eyes narrowed and kept moving. After a few miles of stalking through the forest, they came to a cliff overlooking a plain, with huge, monstrous mammoths walking and grazing. They crawled further up, around a huge rock, to get a better vantage point.

"That's a mammoth?" Bors asked.

Riorn turned to Bors then back to the mammoths, "Aye, but we don't have the numbers because of Janik."

"Well, how would you kill one, if you had the men?" Hunter asked.

"We'd surround it, and keep it at bay for someone to climb on it's back, up to the face, and gouge its eyes. After that, gods willing, the mammoth will fall over and die," Riorn explained.

Hunter looked at the rock next to him, then back to the procession. "How would you bait a mammoth?"

Riorn shrugged, "They're intelligent creatures, so make them curious."

"Would firing one of your arrows at it help coerce it over?" Hunter asked.

Riorn was about to put Hunter down, but then thought about it. "They can't penetrate their skin from this range, but they would feel it. It may come over."

"If we can bring one of them over here, and push this rock over to break it's spine, we could turn the odds to our favor," Hunter said.

Riorn leaned over the edge, and started to grin, "Now you're thinking, Hunter!"

Minutes later, Riorn assembled the whole hunting party, 15 men total, and explained that Hunter had a plan to take out a mammoth, which in itself would fill the food stuffs for months. He then left the floor to Hunter.

"We need you," Hunter pointed at the second biggest Rox in the group, "to help the Chief push on this rock. Bors and I, since we can build up momentum, will run at the boulder and knock it over the edge to where the mammoth will be. The rest of you will split up into two groups and flank the cliff, hiding until the boulder hits its spine, in which case you will do as you would do any other time you would hunt a mammoth, stick the piss out of it. We, Bors and I, will most likely go over with the boulder, but our armor will allow us to land safely. We need rope for the other two up here to repel down and help. Who has rope?"

A couple of the Rox handed some rope to Riorn, who he started to get ready to use to repel down. A Rox in the group, however, voiced his concerns to Riorn in Roxan. "We shouldn't trust these outsiders Chieftan, they know nothing of the hunt."

"I don't recall asking. They've already put the plan through me, and I'm saying we're doing it. End of discussion," Riorn replied, then spoke to the Dotarians, "How will we know the right time?"

"If you can fire an arrow where we tell you to, your men can put an 'X' in the ground once they get down there, so we know when to launch the boulder over," Hunter replied.

Riorn nodded, then addressed his men, "Positions."

Within minutes, the men were in their positions and a mammoth was lured over, a huge male about 76 feet tall. Riorn looked over the edge, and when he gave the thumbs up, Hunter and Bors looked at each other. "Ready?" Hunter asked.

"Ready," Bors said, getting ready to sprint.

"Go!" Hunter said, then darted toward the boulder. When they hit it, they went over like expected, and the boulder hit the rear of the mammoth, breaking its hips and rendering its hind legs useless. However, Hunter and Bors didn't plan on landing on the thing's back like they did, but they improvised, crawling on the thrashing mammoth's back as fast as they could to go after the eyes. Once they reached the eyes, maybe over the course of a minute or two, they shoved their stone swords in its eyes, and within seconds, the mammoth went limp and took Hunter and Bors with it, falling down to the ground.

Hunter regained his senses, and saw Riorn over him, offering his hand to help Hunter up. Hunter clapped his hand, and he was hauled up onto his feet. He did the same to Bors and said, "Congratulations, you did better than I thought you did. Using your environment, you helped the tribe take out this mammoth. You helped with Honor, Hunter and Bors." He walked over to each of the tusks and broke off the tips of them, making 3 inch long pieces, and handed them to the Dotarians. "That is your first kill, wear it with Honor."

[Roxolani]

All of the Rox took out their small metal knives and shaved the mammoth, as well as gutted it, and started to weave it all into 3 long, thick, strong ropes. Riorn looked over and saw Hunter and Bors still tying to figure out how to start one. He rolled his eyes and ordered 3 of his men from his rope to go help them with theirs. After about an hour, everyone was working on the 3rd rope, the other two complete and ready. Finally it was done and they wrapped the ropes around the animals neck, chest, and hind legs. attaching it to the wolves and everyone grabbing on where they could.

"One, two, three. PULL!" Riorn shouted, all of them surging forward at once and after a few grunts, the mammoth started to slowly pull froward, all of them pulling the gigantic animal towards the forest, getting as close to the forest as they could before stopping.

"We'll have to bury it in the snow for now and go get more people to carry the meat. Hunter. Bors. You two go hunting. I want sabre-toothed cats and bears to be brought to me. You want to prove your hunting skills, then do this for me WITHOUT ARGUEMENT. The rest of us will go hunting for rabbits, deer, and some other small game. I am letting you two do this because you will need more standing among my tribe before the council will listen to your footsteps without laughing," Riorn said as he waved them off and ignoring anything else they said, all but the smallest of the others also going off.

"You. I need you to take one of the wolves and ride back to the camp as fast as you can and bring me 15 of the strongest you can find. Men or women," he said as he squatted down to the young man infront of him, this being his first hunt as well. "Bring them here and simply say, 'Mammoth flesh.' when asked about why. Understand?" He continued, the boy nodding and, untieing the rope from his wolf, one of the smallest in the pack and one of the youngest. The two charged off into the snow, dissappearing among the snow covered foliage within seconds.

"And now to cover you up..." Riorn said, turning around to the mammoth, grabbing his halberd from the small scabbard his gartgantuan wolf wore strapped around its chest. "Not to mention, let you boys free." He said as he untied all of the wolves from the rope, knowing they would hunt for themselves and then return with anything from a squirrel or hare, to a deer. He untied the ropes from around the mammoth and wrapped them up around his arm and now, a good hour after the groups stopping at the forests edge, he swung the halberd over his head into the snow and then twisted it to the side, using it as a shovel and swinging the snow ontop of the beast, knowing it would keep it nice and ice cold, avoiding the rot.

After a good 6 hours of shoveling, he began to chop down one of the trees, after getting halfway, he walks about 20 yards away and, dropping the halberd, he charges the tree, tackling it into the snow with a loud "CRACK". He rubs his chest as he gets up, already feeling a bruise forming as he winces and growls as he puts the tree on one of his shoulders, clambering up to the top of the mound of flesh snow and dropping the tree ontop, marking the spot.

"Great Spirit..." He mutters as he sits down and rests his back against the tree, groaning for a moment and then falling asleep.

He sleeps for around 5 hours before his eyes snap open, looking around, holding his breath, before realizing where his is and exhaling sharply. "Spirits damn it..." He muttered as he got up and shaking his head, looking around for his halberd. He groans and closes his eyes, getting on his knees, he holds up one of his hands, willing the weapon to come to him. He held his hand up and after a minute, the halberd slowly rose from the snow and drifted through the air, landing in his hand as he gasped and coughed, shaking his head as he stayed on his hands and knees, the amount of mental exertion he just went through making him weak in the knees. After a few minutes he gets back up and shakes his head, the snow falling from his beard as he looked around and growled, noticing the small stack of animals with small teeth marks next to the mound of snow and the large white bundles of fur all piled on top of each other just at the tree-line.

"Finally... Good omens." He said, picking up the spotted rabbit by the ears from the pile and slicing through it's throat, taking a deep drink of its blood before dropping it on the pile and covering that with snow and a small branch ontop of that mound.

[Dotaria]

Hunter and Bors had picked up a good bounty, having 15 Saber-tooth cats and a bear. They had to build a travois to carry them all, and they both dragged the travois toward the mammoth mound. They had so many of the cats because they were ambushed by a pack, and the bear was a lucky hunt, following it into a cave and chasing it down. They all had throat slashes from the stone knives, because they heard that they would regain more respect if they killed their prey like so. When they returned, the saw more people at the camp site and more dead animals being butchered and prepared for the trip back to the village. Hunter and Bors pulled their catch over to the pile and began to butcher them, following the directions of a polite Rox woman.

Hunter started to cut the bear open until he smelled the ozone in the air. It was faint, but it was there. He smelled the air and tried to follow the scent, until he saw Riorn and his eyes widened.

"Bors, you smell that?!" Hunter whispered excitedly in Dotarian.

"Aye, but I thought it was you?" Bors said.

Hunter shook his head and said, "Help her." He then followed Riorn, who was overseeing the efforts of the camp. He then called out his name.

Riorn turned, "Ah, you're back! How was your Hunt?"

"Good bounty, can I talk to you real quick?" Hunter said, then walked past Riorn, indicating for Riorn to follow.

"What is it?" Riorn not moving to go anywhere, still looking around and taking note of the kills.

Hunter turned to Riorn again, "Just please follow me, I need to talk to you and us be alone."

Riorn looked around, put a hand on the hilt of one of his knives, and followed Hunter. Hunter led him to the cliff where they pushed the boulder on the mammoth. Hunter then turned and drew a knife.

"So you brought me here to kill me? And to think I was beginning to trust you," Riorn said, and pulled his knife.

"No, its not like that. I smelled ozone, a distinct smell that only happens after someone uses telepathy. Take this knife out of my hand," Hunter said.

Riorn cautiously walked up to Hunter, expecting a trap.

"No, not like that," Hunter said, "Without touching the knife."

Riorn stopped and after a few seconds, cautiously sheathed his knife. He then brought his hand out and the knife obediently flew to his hand.

Hunter's eyes widened. "You're telepathic?"

Riorn weighed the knife in his hand, "Telepathy? What the hell is that?"

"The ability to change your environment using only willpower," Hunter explained

"Only a few of us can, but we don't consider it a particular part of our existence," Riorn said.

"You know I can help you harness this power, right?"

"Harness? How can you harness something that just happens?" Riorn asked, intrigued.

"Watch me," Hunter said, then opened his hand toward the temporary camp. Within seconds, Hunter held a killed rabbit that flew to him.

"Is this your telepathy?" Riorn asked.

"Yes, but I can take this further," Hunter said, then willed a small patch of hair to pull away from the rabbit with his other hand, and placed it into Riorn's hand.

"This is something I would be willing to learn," Riorn said, then dropped the hair.

"Can I touch you? I only need to touch your temples," Hunter asked.

"What the hell would possess you to do something like that?" Riorn asked.

"All telepaths have hidden potential in their brains. As of right now, if we were to go by my people's standards, you would be using possibly 1 to 3 percent of your brain's potential. All I want to do is to see and tell you what you're capable of, that's it," Hunter said.

"You hurt me, you won't live to tell your people about it," Riorn said.

Hunter dropped the rabbit and walked up to him. "Backup for a sec," Hunter said, and Riorn took a couple steps back. He then opened his hands to the ground and willed the earth beneath him to form a sort of pedestal for him to stand on, because of Riorn's height. "Alright, step forward."

Riorn cautiously stepped toward Hunter, and Hunter placed his fingertips to Riorn's temples and closed his eyes. He was swimming into Riorn's mind, seeing all of Riorn's memories. He saw a boy looking at a burned village, with a dead man and woman at his feet, and tears streaming down his face. There was so much pain in the memory, which made Hunter almost leave Riorn's mind. He then saw a boy fend for himself, making shelter and killing for food, allowing nature to harden him like steel. He then saw a man, covered in beautiful paint, in prayer and having others chanting in a language he didn't know at first, but became intelligible as the chants continued. The man then opened his eyes, and past battles began to form in his mind, from chieftains alive long before Humanity became Dotarian. He saw the building of a great city of metal in the middle of a massive field, from horizon to horizon with a lake to its back. He saw tribes fall and rise, rise and fall. He saw more than could be imagined, and knew then the vast consciousness of Riorn and of the people. He then saw Riorn's brain, with synapses firing off like flashing lights. As expected, Hunter turned to his right and saw Riorn, and he saw himself standing on a platform, surrounded by the synapses.

"What the hell is this place?" Riorn asked.

Hunter smiled, "This is you my friend."

"This is..."

"Beautiful actually," Hunter said, then walked to a synapse.

"So what are we doing here?" Riorn asked.

Hunter touched a synapse, and instinctively knew exactly what Riorn was truly capable of. He was stronger than most Vanguard Knights, and with proper training could rip fleets apart with his mind as Hunter once did.

"You can become immortal, Riorn," Hunter said, "You can have more power than you can ever imagine."

"That's oddly discomforting," Riorn said quietly.

"You were planned by fate Riorn. You, whether you like it or not, are your race's greatest protector and servant," Hunter said, walking back to Riorn.

"Well shit," Riorn said.

"I'm serious Riorn, you are similar to me to your people. It wasn't an accident or your skill that made you chieftain of the oldest and strongest tribe of your people. This was planned for millennia, and was planned by forces beyond our reckoning," Hunter said.

"I'm not saying I believe you, but I don't understand what this means," Riorn said, "I do know however, that the meat is going to spoil, and we need to get it home to my people."

"As you wish," Hunter said, and closed his eyes. He then opened them again and saw himself touching Riorn's temples, and surrounded by snow.

Riorn opened his eyes, and blinked a few times. "Pick up the rabbit," he said to Hunter. They then walked back together to the camp.

[Roxolani]

Riorn finished tying the small game kill to the mammoth ribs around him, the tusks on his shoulders, ribs overlapping around Riorn's chest and torso, most of the other bones dangling somewhere on his body as well as the smaller game. All of the mammoths meat as well as the deer, sabre-toothes, and bears all having been butchered as well and put either on the back of one of the tribesmen or one the back of one of the wolves. The group moved forward most of the day, having started running at dawn just a few hours before, they ran in silence until the sun disappeared. When they could see the moon higher in the sky, they came to a stop.

"We will camp here for the night. Don't eat any more than you need to for more running," he said, grabbing the skin of water at his side and taking a long, deep drink of his water before re-corking it and putting it back at his belt.

After 4 hours of resting and eating when they were hungry, Riorn stood up, having taken a short nap himself, and looked around.

"Alright. Up. We run some more," he said to the men through the small slit in the bone caccoon. Everyone groaning as they slowly got up, even some of the wolves whining. He growled, as he stumbled up, the heavy bones still weighing him down. He finally managed to get to his feet and started off again, at first walking, but then he managed to get up to a jog as they continued in the night. They continued this pace, stopping in the mornings for a small meal, and stopping in the evenings for a small meal for the entire 5 day journey, nothing of note really happening other than the continued running. Finally they reached the edge of the village around midday through the 5th day and they all stopped, panting with exhaustion. Some of the women from the village came over and helped the party, relieving them of the meat, everyone but Riorn being relieved: Riorn lost a little bit of the weight as one of the women took the kills tied to the bones he was covered in. He slowly managed to stumble up the hill, barely managing to not stop, until he got to the shaman's tent, stepping in and collapsing.

"Shaman! Get these damn bones off of me!" He growled as the three women all started pulling the bones from their chieftain. When they finally had all of the bones off, he rolled over and grinned, and laughed, coughing a little as he did.

"Anyone want to help me to my tent?" He asked breathlessly, looking up at the three women standing around him.

"Gah... Damn it. Get up." the Head Shaman said as she grabbed him around his chest, the other two grabbing one of his arms and pulling him up with a few grunts and groans from all of them. "I've got him from here..." The Head Shaman said to the other two, draping one of Riorn's arms over her shoulders and they exited the tent, slowly walking up the last quarter of the hill. When they did reach the tent, the woman dropped Riorn onto his furs and sat down beside him.

"How was the hunt?" she asked him, taking the water skin from his belt and draining the rest of it, with a grin, looking down at him to almost dare him to say anything.

"Thirsty?" He asked, making as though to reach for his skin, then with a shocked "OH" look he looked over and glared at her, his look shooting sarcasm at the woman. "It was well. The new-comers have proven their ingenuity. They also said we might be "telepatic, telepathic, telepahic, something like that. Anyway, they can teach us to further use our... abilities." He said, explaining the entire conversation to her.

"It sounds like you and this "Hunter" are starting to get along really well. He also seems eager to gain you and your peoples trust. Help him." she said as she got up, going to leave until Riorn reached out and grabbed her ankle, making her fall forward.

"Ugh!... Ass." She said as she stood back up and stuck her tongue out at Riorn, both of the busting out laughing as she left and he slept, knowing he would be awoken when the meat was prepared and everyone was ready for the feast to ensue.

[Dotaria]

When they made it back, Hunter and Bors's first stop was to the river, where they drank their fill and stripped from their armor, submersing themselves into the cold water. Hunter spent 3 minutes at the bottom of the river, meditating on his time on the hunt. He then opened his eyes, swam up to the surface, and swam to the river bank to get his things.

Bors was there drying himself off, willing the water to come off of him. "So, is our telepath Riorn?" Bors said, in Dotarian.

Hunter did the same and grabbed his jumpsuit. "Yeah, and he's pretty strong too."

"How strong? Bors asked.

Hunter pulled his legs through the leggings. "He can only do simple summoning, but he only uses 2 percent."

Bors's eyes widened. "That makes only a handful of telepaths stronger than him." he said, then started putting on his jumpsuit.

"Yeah, and almost all of them are in this system, and not on the front lines. It's been a week, I wonder why Riorn hasn't taken us to Roxis yet," Hunter said.

"Roxis?" Bors asked, "Did you meld with him?"

"Had to, I couldn't sense his power. These people are more resistant to us than most, and they don't even know it. It's probably why I started to bleed when I fought him. Sure, I can kill him, but with proper training he would be the strongest opponent I've ever face," Hunter said, zipping up the jumpsuit. It then glowed along his spine and his skeletal system, harvesting the energy from his body to power the suit.

"What did you learn?" Bors asked, zipping his up.

Hunter shook his head. "There was so much in his head that it was hard to tell. These people have used telepathy for a very long time, longer than we have, but it has always been in a very dormant state. They use telepathy to teach new chieftains about the wisdom of their ancestors. He lost his parents, fended for himself in the wilderness as a child, and rebuilt his clan after an invasion. He's a remarkable person, Bors."

"Aye, but he didn't almost kill himself to destroy a star and a Praxian fleet like you have," Bors said

"He's capable of it, but the experience would probably kill him. He's a formidable ally, Bors. He could help us more than anyone else in the Coalition."

"Except for the Atlanticans," Bors said, smiling.

"No," Hunter chuckled, "but very, very close. We better head back before we're missed."

"Aye," Bors said, mounting his wolf after putting on his furs over his armor, "It's to my understanding that we're supposed to have a feast."

"Aye, ya are!" a feminine voice said on top of the nearby hill. She was covered in bone and fur, and Hunter could sense her telepathy. She was the High Shaman of the village, not someone to trifle with.

"Afternoon," Hunter called, "Just went in for a dip!"

The woman chuckled a little and walked her wolf to the Dotarians. "The feast will begin in a couple of hours. Since I didn't see you around the camp, I figured I'd look for you. My chief will be expecting you."

Hunter nodded a bow to her, "Shall you lead the way?"

She smiled, oddly polite which put Hunter on edge. He wasn't used to any sort of Rox kindness, and didn't trust the aliens like he put himself out to be. "Aye, this way," She said, then turned her wolf around and trotted up the hill, with Hunter and Bors following her.

[Roxolani]

The High Shaman took her time once they got back into the camp, slowly making her way up the hill with Hunter and Bors in tow. As they slowly made their way towards the Chieftain's tent, they passed all of the fire pits with meat cooking, kettles with water boiling for stews, there was bread rising on heated stones, and a variety of other foods.

"I didn't realize that your people could find so much variety in foods in this climate. Usually one of my men would be lucky to find anything at all in this kind of cold," Hunter said as he and Bors rode next to the Shaman, Bors's mouth was visibly watering at the smells around him.

The Shaman chuckled and shrugged, "We have always lived here. We know where the plants and animals hide. It is our way to survive here," she said as they passed out of one set of fire pits and into another set.

"Bors. Control yourself. You're drooling more than the wolf..." Hunter said, with a chuckle, the shaman looking back and smirking.

"Here. Maybe this will keep you steady until the feast." The woman said, holding out a large loaf of bread to Bors and Hunter from one of the bags at her side.

"Thank you..." Bors said, not paying much attention anymore as he grabbed the loaf, still warm from the ovens and tore a piece off, revealing the herbs mixed in with the bread and pockets of butter as he took a bite and it melted in his mouth. They continued up the hill for another hour, joking here and there, until they got to the top of the hill.

"I'll wake him up," she said as she motioned for them to stay on their wolves and she herself slipped into the tent. A moment later there was a growl, followed by a groan, after a minute for him to slip on his armor and furs, he groggily stepped out of the tent, and blinked into the evening light, the wolves from his tent standing on his left and behind him, the Shaman on his right.

"Damn it woman how long did you put me asleep for?" He asked, as he stretched back and his entire back popped, sounding like slowed down, much deeper pitched machine gun fire. He then moved his head side to side, cracking all of his vertebrae there.

"Long enough that I hoped you would quit being so damn ornery..." she said with a smirk, Riorn turning around and grinning.

"Well I'm still breathing so you obviously failed that," he said with a chuckle the Rox unit, shaman, chieftain, and wolves all stepping towards the Dotarians. "Are you enjoying yourselves after the hunt?" He asked them, both of them nodding, Bors pulling small pinches of the bread out of one of his bags, only having eaten about half of it.

"I see that Driera has been helping you fill up before the feast with her sticky fingers," He said shooting her a look, her only response being a shrug.

"Ah well, I guess childhood habits are hard to rid yourself of," he said, giving her a playful shove as she looked away and then standing there innocently.

"How are people so massive so damn playful?" Hunter asked observing the two figures, shoving and feigning punches at the other, laughing and grinning like small children

"How are people so small so serious?" Riorn laughed, picking up Driera and throwing her over his shoulder and suddenly walking over to Hunter and Bors causally, Driera kicking and punching his stomach and his back.

"So what's your favorite stuff to hunt?" He asked casually, all of the wolves jumping up and down around them yipping playfully.

[Dotaria]

"Back home, on Requiem, there are birds with the wingspan of your arm. Those, and there are also bison to shoot too. I must say though, the mammoth got my adrenaline pumping more than most fights, so probably the mammoth," Hunter replied, and was agreed too by a grunt from Bors, who had a mouth full of bread. Hunter snatched some out of his hand went to snacking, and received a slap on his hand from Bors.

The Shaman squirmed out of Riorn's grip, and the two of then started laughing. "Alright woman, where's the food?" Riorn asked.

[Roxolani]

Driera shrugged and stole one of the pelts draped over Riorn's shoulders, wrapping it around her own, "It's not done yet, but it's going to be by the river. Probably another half an hour before it's done. Are you strong enough to ride to the river? I know how you feel on the hunts..." she asked, keeping a hand on his shoulder, her tone half scolding.

"I can ride to Roxis. I'll fall more times that can be counted, but I could ride to Roxis..." he said, reaching over and grabbing a handful of the bread from Hunter and a handful from Bors, shoving those into his mouth with a grin, crumbs falling into the snow as he chewed and swallowed.

[Dotaria]

Hunter chuckled and made for the river, followed by Bors, Riorn, and Driera. They made it to the river right as the food was being served. Riorn climbed down from his wolf and grunted when he hit the ground, then he spread his hands out wide, "Finally! Somebody got off their arse and fixed something to eat!" and he received a cheer in reply.

Hunter and Bors climbed down from their wolves, and made their way to the food tent behind Riorn and Driera. They grabbed wooden plates, which were as big as Bors's torso, and started to put small portions on their plates.

"Oh no, this won't do Hunter," Riorn said.

"What? We rarely eat a lot in my society," Hunter replied defensively.

"This is a feast, you eat double your weight at least!" Riorn said, and with that, he started piling food on Hunter's plate, his eyes growing wide.

"Well shit, when in Rome..." Bors said, and started grabbing food and piling it on his plate.

They then moved to the drinks, with many barrels of Roxis whiskey laid about, being exploited by the many Rox who were planning on sleeping next to the fires and not in their tents for the night. Riorn grabbed a cup, able to hold 2 gallons, and filled it to the brim with whiskey, sloshing it to Hunter who had to will the food and drink to be lighter so he could carry it.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Hunter chuckled, and took a long, deep gulp from the whiskey. He was beginning to get used to the drink, living with the Rox for almost 2 weeks.

"Well I figured that if I couldn't keep your ass dead on that field a few weeks a go..." Riorn said with wry grin, himself grabbing a cup three times the size of the one given to Hunter and filling it with whiskey as well, setting that one off to the side to go and get him a plate, piling it unbelievably high, with meat filling one half of the plate, a loaf of bread on top of that, a bowl of stew and a bunch of cooked onions, leeks, and other vegetables piled in the other corner, grabbing his drink and walking to his fire with at least 4 times the food that Hunter had piled on his plate.

"May we dine with you, Riorn?" Hunter asked, nodding toward Bors.

"I don't give a shit, go ahead," Riorn said, plopping down on his furs and digging into his food, "Driera should be here any minute."

Almost as if she materialized, she appeared behind Riorn and said, "Already here!"

"Well set your food down but stand up with me when I give this damn speech..." He said growling as he took a deep draught of his whiskey and set it down beside his plate, tearing off a piece of meat and shoving it in his mouth. When Driera was standing beside him, half of his weight on her, he let out a loud roar, nearly deafening to Hunter and Bors, although the entire congregation heard it and immediately fell silent.

"Brothers and sisters! I'm sure you all know why we're gathered here in a feast today, so I'll add another reason to make you feel a little stupid..." he said with a grin, that answered by a small laugh from the crowd, "Let us also acknowledge that these new comers have shown that they are willing to try and learn our ways and help us. Therefore, I believe that we too shall help them soon. Now that this damn speech has been said... LET'S EAT!" he finishing with a roar and plopping back down to dig into his meal, tossing the small strips of fat or especially burnt edibles into the fire in front of them all, mumbling something as he did and then going back to shoveling it into his mouth. Driera chuckling as she ate more daintily at first but then followed Riorn's lead and eating it as though it could still run off.

Hunter and Bors's belief in Spero called for the same ritual, which Hunter found quite ironic. He ripped a handful of meat from his plate and tossed it into the fire, then pressed his hands together in prayer. Bors did the same, and after a minute, they dug into the food, washing it down with whiskey and snow. Hunter after a while, abruptly stopped eating.

"What's wrong with ye?" Riorn said, with his mouth full and a drunken slur.

"I find it hard to have an appetite with the war going on. I'm sorry, the food is great, but I cannot eat," Hunter said, bowing his head with his apology.

Riorn swallowed his food with a nod, "I know. You feel helpless here and I feel bad that I can do nothing to make things faster. We will be leaving for Roxis in 3 days time on wolf back..." he said, looking at the three figures around him, "All of us. The shaman will lead the tribe while we are gone the High Shaman needs to come with me for this," he said, looking at Driera, who responded with a nod, though still shoving food in her mouth, just more slowly.

"Thank you Riorn, but don't let me put you off of your appetite too, I dunno if you'll survive," Hunter said, jesting to brighten the mood.

Riorn smirked and spat in the fire, "Believe me when I say that is quiet impossible. You try going 8 days without food, and only enough water to stay breathing and moving and see how much it takes for you to even consider lessening your damned appetite," he said through a mouthful of whiskey, bread, meat, vegetables, soup, and some thing that Riorn had pulled from presumably his pocket and shoved in his mouth.

A child ran by Hunter, and Hunter called to the boy in Roxan. When the boy came over, Hunter gave him his plate but kept his whiskey. He then pulled out a cigarette from his armor and lit it up, filling his lungs with smoke to lighten the edge of his guilt. "So what is it like being in the great city?"

Riorn said nothing as Hunter called the boy and handed him his tray. After the boy ran off, he said, "The city would probably better suit you. It's more "advanced" with their metalic building and flying ships. I still prefer my people's original ways of life, out in the wilds and minding our own business, just living as a family, if that family is one man and his wolf, all the way up to a family this size!" he said, spreading his arms out wide, snatching the bread and meat from Driera's hand right as she was about to bite down on it.

She smacked him and took the bread back, "It's actually a beautiful city. It used to be covered in smog until the filter systems were planted all over the city. Now, it shines like crystal."

Riorn smirked, "It's still an unmovable city of metal. If they would live how the ancestors lived and how we always have then there would be none of that damnable pollution to corrupt our lands." He said his disdain for the city clear in his voice, his tone ensuring that everyone knew he was ready for this discussion to stop.

Hunter continued though, but gingerly, "I find your way of life to be more serene than the politics of modernization, but entering this war will be the first time your people asserted themselves on a galactic scale. You may just see more cities spring up, and planets that will follow under your control. Your people have been around for almost 50,000 years, soon you'll have to sprawl out."

Riorn gives him a glare, "You are welcome to the planets around Roxas but my people will not turn into some greedy war mongering intergalactic empire. The people in the city would be the only ones who might want that and they are too scared of change for that to happen. The clans choose to live like this. We choose this struggle because it is how we were meant to live. I will hear no more talk of a multiplanetary Roxan nation. We would not even be having to consider going to war outside of this planet if your rebels hadn't landed here. We Rox do not like any changes to our way of life and we have to much tradition on this planet for that. The blood and bones of our ancestors are buried in this place and I know that none of the northern tribes would ever forsake that. The southern tribes hold to the same principles as us as well. Let me make this clear, Hunter," he said having put down his food, "Me and my people will help you as a mercenary force of sorts. We are our own people and these are our lands. We are satisfied with these lands and we will not be persuaded otherwise. Now I will be a poor host and tell you that we are going to find a new subject or we will no longer speak," he said with a growl, looking around at the three others around the fire.

Hunter put his hands up in surrender and dragged on his cigarette, "That's fair enough, I don't mean to anger you. We're simply talking and having a relatively good time." A beeping noise was made on Hunter's armor, and he put his hand to his ear. After a few seconds, his eyes started to widen. "WHAT?!"

Riorn was puzzled, "What's going on?"

Hunter pulled his hand away slowly and tears started to fall from his cheeks. Rocks then started to levitate around Hunter, and his eyes started to cloud. Bors threw his plate down and yelled at Riorn, "Get away from him, move!"

Riorn growled and began barking dogs and people running away from them, Riorn grabbing Diera and throwing her as far back as he could into the snow, himself charging out, grabbing her by the back as she tried to get up and carrying her out, once they were all back, Riorn growled in her ear, "Don't move." and then he started lumbering back, hollaring at Bors, "You sons of bitches what the hell is this?! I will personally burn your sorry hides to the ground unless I understand that noise and what the hell he's doing!" he yelled, still keeping his distance.

"Just hold on Riorn!" Bors yelled, then turned to Hunter, "What's going on, Brother?"

Hunter, in his anger, grabbed Bors by the throat. "They took the Prometheus System! Now they're besiegeing Sol! Requiem will fall within a day or two, Time has Run out!" he said with a deep voice of a thousand demons, then tossed Bors aside as he was gasping for breath. He began pacing back and forth, like a lion in a cage, with more tears falling down his cheeks. "My family is in danger Bors! Rayne, my children, Parliament! EVERYONE!"

Bors finally could breath. "What? Hunter, we can't do this on Roxis, not with them! Calm down!"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Hunter screamed, then pushed Bors to Riorn's feet with a sweep of his hand, willing the air before him.

"Hunter! You learn to control yourself or any hopes of Roxan assistance will be dashed! I have told you how little I can do for you at this moment! Now control this or leave this planet. NOW!" Riorn ordered. His people stood back watching the spectacle as Riorn stood tall in the midst of the storm that Hunter was creating.

Hunter thrusted his hand out to Riorn and lifted him up 15 feet off of the ground, willing the air to crush every square inch of Riorn's body. He then blinked as if snapping out of a trance, then dropped Riorn. Rocks were still flying, and a Pelican flew nearby and landed close to the Village. Hunter looked at Riorn, who was getting up angrily, and said real low, with his voice still altered, "Imagine if Roxis was being destroyed, and you were helpless to stop it. Imagine your family here being butchered and you can't do a damn thing about it. I have to leave..." then to the whole clan around him, "I am so sorry." He then summoned his helmet, put it on, slammed the face mask over his face, and flew to the stars by his own willpower, leaving the Pelican for Bors.

Riorn stooped down to Bors, "Are you okay?"

Bors coughed up blood then got up. "That's my family too," Bors said, then walked away from the clan, with tears of anger and sorrow streaming down his face.

Riorn spat, and called after Bors, "Tell Hunter I said to protect his family, but that he was just putting me and my entire race in that situation. I am aware of the feeling but trying to piss me off at knowing the feeling as well will take away what respect and honor he has learned. If that happens again around MY family, he will have to kill me." He then turned to his people and said. "Go home and rest. The feast is done." He said as he walked past Driera and started the trek up to his tent.