The Wolves

Earth

Underneath Jarvis Island, South Pacific

August 14, 2019

04:48 HST (10:48 EDT)

We turned left upon leaving the egg chamber, continuing down the tunnel we were in. We came across a few dragons on our way, but there weren't too many. Soon, we arrived at another set of doors. When they opened, I was afforded a view of a very large cavern, with a lot of buildings below us, as well as around the edges. There were even a couple of relatively small dragons flying around. Not all of them were blue, either.

"What does a Black dragon control?" I asked, watching the smallest of the dragons flying overhead.

"Earth. Black dragons are largely responsible for excavating caverns like this. They're the smallest dragons, but are very strong and quite powerful in their own way. They can lift their own weight with telekinesis, and can also spit molten rock."

"Molten rock?"

I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye. "They eat food like the rest of us, but also occasionally supplement their diet with rocks. Their body is able to superheat the rocks, melting them, and later on they can spit them back out as a stream of molten lava.

"What are the other breeds of dragons?"

"The other five are Yellow, White, Gray, Purple and Chromatic. Yellow dragons are middle of the pack when it comes to size, and spit extremely corrosive acid. White dragons rival the size of Red dragons, and are able to breathe and control ice. Gray dragons are on the smaller end, and are even more streamlined than Blue dragons. They are unmatched in the air and are able to control the weather locally. They breathe lightning. Purple dragons are masters of the arcane. They are slightly bigger than Yellow dragons, and are able to project beams of pure arcane energy. As well as being the best teleporters, they are also able to open portals, something they share with the remaining breed of dragon."

"Chromatic dragons are very rare, though that will likely change when we arrive at our new home planet. For the longest time, there were only seven different breeds of dragons. One day, a Blue dragon laid an egg and she was very surprised to see the color of it. It was a mixture of Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, White, Gray, and Purple. When the egg hatched, the young female whelp had the same coloring. As she grew, it was found that she possessed the abilities of all seven breeds of dragons. She wasn't as good at controlling her abilities as other breeds of dragons, but she could use them. She was deemed a Chromatic dragon. To borrow a human expression, a Chromatic dragon is a 'Jack of all trades, master of none.'"

"Over time, more Chromatic dragons were hatched, though it didn't happen very often. At least not until the original female Chromatic dragon mated with a male of her own kind, producing a Chromatic egg. Even so, currently there are only seventy-six Chromatic dragons, along with slightly less than six hundred eggs in storage."

"So that's why you said the coloring of my scales was interesting? Because I share the same coloring as Chromatic dragons?"

"Yes, though after seeing your sisters and the other Scyftans shapeshift into Chromatic dragons, I think that is because you are Scyftan, not for any other reason."

She led me through the city, showing me around. It was very similar to a human city, though without sunlight. One of the things I saw was a restaurant, where dragons in their human forms were eating massive plates of food. Selalea explained that even though they look small, they still have the appetite of a very large being.

Before long, she led me to something I had seen before on television. On top of a raised platform, was a large circular object made out of stone, and dragons were transiting through it.

"Is that a stargate?" I asked.

"A stargate? Ah.. you are referring to that television show where people use an alien artifact to travel to other worlds. It may look similar, but rather than a wormhole, it is just a regular portal, kept open by the ring and powered by Mana Crystals. It also allows transit both ways, rather than one way at a time."

"I think I'm just going to call it a stargate."

"Very well," she chuckled. "Are you ready to meet the council?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

"You'll do fine. Come with me," she said, leading me over to the portal.

There were quite a few people coming and going through the portal. It was easy enough to allow two lanes of traffic. Even from this side, I could see a lot of people coming and going on the other side.

Selalea went through, and I followed behind. Upon arriving at the other side, I could see that there were eight additional portals, set up along the edges of the large, circular chamber. Each portal had two dragonkin guarding them, giving me a good look at the different breeds. Black dragonkin were the smallest at around seven or eight foot tall, but looked much more muscular compared to the others. While the Black dragonkin were brawny, the Blue and Gray dragonkin were much less so, looking like nimble athletes. As I continued to scan the room, I saw that the other dragonkin fell somewhere in between in terms of body type.

We continued over to a portal that was being blocked by two dragonkin; one red and one white. Both were the largest males I had seen at this point, both being ten or eleven foot tall. Both were dressed in thick plate armor with slightly glowing lines and symbols covering the surface. Both had weapons that were covered in the same sort of runes, though they glowed different colors. The Red dragonkin had a large halberd covered in red runes. I wasn't sure what the runes did, but I could imagine it had something to do with fire. The White dragonkin wielded a scythe that was just as big, and covered in its own white runes.

As we approached, the two dragonkin nodded and moved out of the way so we could go through the portal. On the other side were four more dragonkin. Two of them, a Blue dragonkin and a Gray dragonkin were guarding the portal from this side. They were smaller than the two guarding the other side of the portal, but looked no less formidable. Both were dressed in some sort of leather, rather than plate, though it was still covered in similar runes. Their weapons were different as well. The Blue dragonkin wielded a trident as I had seen other Blue dragonkin use, and the Gray dragonkin was using a spear.

The other two dragonkin were red females, who seemed to be waiting for Selalea. As we passed them, they filed in behind us, and we continued down a long hallway. There were light globes placed periodically, and I couldn't even tell how long the hallway was. From my perspective, the light globes seemed to get closer and closer until they seemingly formed a long line. I knew it would be a decently long walk.

"I noticed that the dragonkin guarding portals were all wearing enchanted armor and using enchanted weapons. Why is that?" I asked.

"It all goes back to our race not being able to level. While dragonkin do get bigger and stronger as they age, just like dragons do, that can only go so far. The enchanted armor is used to help bridge the gap. It makes them faster, stronger, and more resilient."

"What about the weapons? Why use melee weapons and not firearms?"

"It's just the way it's been," she replied with a shrug. "They are also armed with firearms, but they aren't needed down here."

"Oh. What do the enchantments on the weapons do, anyways? I noticed that the enchantments glowed the same color as the dragonkins holding them."

"Different things depending on the dragonkin. When a dragon channels mana through their weapon, it activates the enchantments. Those enchantments can be anything from added weight and strength, to causing their weapon to be coated with the power they are able to wield. For Red and White dragonkin, that is fire and ice, respectively."

"Power they are able to wield? So a Red dragonkin can control and breathe fire as well?"

"That's right," she answered with a nod. "Other than not being able to fly, dragonkin are really no different than dragons."

I continued to ask questions, and she continued answering them as we made our way down the hall. As we got close to the council chambers, I could see there were two Chromatic dragonkin guarding the entrance,. Both were between nine and ten feet tall, and wore plate with runes that were a bit more interesting than others I had seen. Where runes covering the armor of a Red dragonkin were red, the ones on a Chromatic dragonkin were ever-changing in color.

They stepped to the side to let us through, and as they did, a set of heavy doors opened inward. Upon closer inspection, I could see that they were slabs of granite about two feet thick, and were covered in runes. When we were through, the doors automatically began to close. When they stopped moving, runes on the door and the walls of the room began to glow.

Turning back around, I could see a large granite table with seven people seated already, and two vacant chairs. I followed Selalea around until we were standing just behind the vacant chairs. Before moving to sit down, she turned to me.

"Jonathan, meet my fellow council members. Going clockwise around the room, we have Pharomna, leader of the Blue dragons," she said, gesturing towards a young woman wearing a blue dress. She smiled and nodded, allowing Selalea to continue.

"Beside her is Olmith, leader of the Black dragons. Next is Bonakr, leader of the White dragons, and beside him, Bonanem, leader of the Yellow dragons. Following him is Shaemu, the original Chromatic dragon,who is their leader. After her, we have the leaders of the Gray and Purple dragons. Linvalma, and Savarnei, respectively. My fellow council members, meet Jonuth Kidravia, the rightful king of the Scyftan people."

We all exchanged greetings, before sitting down. Besides Bonanem, who seemed not to like me at all, the rest of the council members seemed pleased to meet me.

"Is it true you can shapeshift into a Chromatic dragon?" Shaemu asked, abruptly.

"Shaemu!" Bonakr snapped.

"Don't snap at me, old one! I'm curious!"

"Everyone who has scanned a dragon so far has turned into a Chromatic version when they shapeshift. I might be able to shapeshift into one of the other variants, but I'm not entirely sure," I answered.

"Hah! You don't even know your own capabilities?" the man dressed in yellow sneered.

"Bonanem, is it? I don't know because three days ago, I didn't even know about my heritage. It was kept from me to protect me, since the man who had my parents murdered still had people searching the galaxy trying to find me. There are currently three separate parties, that we know of, on their way to Earth to kill me."

"Maybe I should just do their job for them, save them the trouble," he spat.

"Try it," I chuckled. "If anything happens to me, Abi will start bombarding this mountain from space. She knows exactly where I am right now, and passed it along to me as soon as we went through the portal to get here."

"Enough!" Olmith commanded. "Bonanem, you will remain cordial or you will be ejected from this chamber. You know we have the votes to move forward with or without your vote!"

"Very well," he glowered, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.

"You have our apologies, young man. Now, we were told you have some things for us to look at," Olmith said.

"That's quite alright, thank you," I replied, taking the tablet and the holographic projector, which was a small puck-like object, out of my inventory. I slid the latter across the table, and activated it with my tablet. Above it, appeared the first of the planets.

"This first planet is called Gnara 3," I said, reading off the tablet. "It's about thirty-six hundred light years away from any other civilizations. As you can see, it is similar to Earth, though is roughly four times bigger. Six continents cover approximately forty-eight point two percent of the surface, with water covering the remainder. Gravity is slightly higher at one point zero-six times Earth's gravity, with air pressure at sea level also being slightly higher at sixteen point three pounds per square inch, or about eleven percent higher."

"Moving on to wildlife, it is very diverse, with plants and animals commonly growing larger than anything you'll see on Earth," I said, tapping next on the tablet, causing three different animals to appear, in place of the planet. "Here are three examples of very large animals you'll find on Gnara 3. The first is a very large bird, reminiscent of the mythical Roc. They rival dragons in size, and were found to prey on herbivores, roughly the size of elephants. They roost high up in the mountains, and are quite prevalent on the planet."

"As for land mammals, the largest you'll find is something similar to a bear, but many, many times bigger than anything you'll find on Earth. They are solitary apex predators, and live on every continent. The largest sea creature recorded on the planet is similar to the megalodon from prehistoric times on Earth, though even bigger. The average size was about two point two times the size of the largest animal on earth, the blue whale," I finished. "Any thoughts on this one before I continue on to the next?"

"Pharomna, Linvalma, both of you would know best. What do you two think?" Selalea asked.

"It is a promising world," Linvalma replied. "If the gravity and air pressure is accurate, then it will be well within our range. It will require slightly more effort to fly, but shouldn't have too big of an impact. Early generations of dragons will probably evolve pretty quickly to the added gravity and pressure."

"I concur. We won't be able to swim as deep, but we don't go very deep on Earth, anyways. If creatures grow as large as Jonuth says, then food must be very plentiful there," Pharomna said.

"For clarification, what is the highest gravity dragons can withstand while still being able to fly?" I asked. "I can probably narrow the list down a little."

"No more than one point two times Earth's gravity," Linvalma replied. "Anything more than that, and we won't be able to fly."

I nodded and looked through the list. There was only one planet outside of that range, and it was a little bit smaller than Earth, so I just deleted it.

"There was only one planet above one point two times Earth's gravity. Any more thoughts on Gnara 3 before I continue?"

When no one spoke up, I continued.

"Next up is Bryke 8," I said, putting it up on the holographic projector. "It is about twenty-two hundred light years from the closest civilization. It is a bit smaller than Gnara 3, but still about three and a half times the size of Earth. Gravity is higher than Gnara 3 at one point twelve times the gravity of Earth, with air pressure at sea level being one point two times higher. It has three very large continents, as well as a large number of smaller islands as you can see. Land takes up approximately sixty-eight point six percent of the surface, with the remainder being water. Overall, plants and animals are smaller than on Gnara 3, but still larger than on Earth. Any questions before I go on to the third planet?"

No one spoke up, and I continued.

"Serth 7 is next. Fifty-four hundred light years away from the closest civilization, it is roughly the same size of Earth, though is more dense. Gravity is one point seventeen times the gravity on Earth, with the air pressure at sea level sitting at one point four times higher. It only has two continents, though it also has hundreds of islands that are five square kilometers or larger. Land covers twenty-eight point eight percent of the surface, with water taking up the remaining seventy-one point two percent. Plants and animals are much more in line with Earth, with most animals being very slightly smaller because of the higher gravity. Any questions or comments about this one?"

"It's definitely too small," Olmith said. "Both Gnara 3 and Bryke 8 look good, but I'm not sure how well they will be able to support us as we grow. We're going to need a lot of food, and a planet that small won't be able to support us for long. We would probably be looking for another home to colonize within one hundred years. Can you remove all planets that are less than two times the size of Earth?"

"Sure, one moment," I replied, going through and deleting planets under two times the size of Earth. When done, I looked back up. "That leaves three more planets to go over. Next up is Muna 1. It is eleven thousand, eight hundred light years from the closest civilization. Gravity is one point eleven times the gravity on Earth, and air pressure is one point four times higher. Its twelve continents take up sixty-four percent of the surface, with the remainder being water. There is a very wide variety of plant and animal life, thanks to the many biomes on the planet. Any thoughts?"

No one spoke up, so I looked down at my tablet. When I went to the next option on the list, I couldn't help but laugh. Looking around the room, I saw looks of confusion. "My apologies. It seems the people that put this list together saved the best for last," I said, pressing the button to put it up on the projector.

"These are Mezotis 3 and Mezotis 4. Planets such as these are extremely rare. They orbit each other, as well as the sun. Each is approximately four point three times the size of Earth, and are nearly identical in terms of gravity and air pressure. Mezotis 3 has one point zero-five times the gravity, and one point one times the air pressure, and Mezotis 4 has one point zero-six times the gravity, and one point twelve times the air pressure. There are some pretty big differences in the planetary surfaces. Mezotis 3 has three supermassive continents, taking up thirty-eight point nine percent of the surface, and Mezotis 4 has eight massive continents taking up forty-nine point two percent of the surface. Mezotis 3 has many mountainous regions, while Mezotis 4 has fewer, with more plains."

"Plant and animal life is also quite different, with some animals on Mezotis 3 rivaling those on Gnara 3," I said, putting some creatures up. "The largest flying animal is reptilian, rather than a mammal. They are similar to Quetzalcoatlus from prehistoric times on Earth, though many times bigger. That isn't to say that there aren't any feathered birds, just that flying reptiles rule the sky. On the land front, reptilian animals reign supreme as well, with large reptilian apex predators walking on two, four, and even six feet. In the water, mammals are the biggest, with large whale-like creatures dominating the oceans."

"Over on Mezotis 4, it is a lot different. Reptiles are less prominent, and mammals dominate air, land, and sea. Animals are much smaller than Mezotis 3, however. The largest flying animal is no larger than a young dragon. On the ground, the largest animals are roughly the size of elephants, with the largest being something similar to a large cat, as you can see here," I said, changing images once more. "There haven't been any large animals recorded in the oceans of Mezotis 4. Instead, there are packs, or pods of mammals similar to dolphins that are the apex predators of the oceans. They seem to be incredibly smart and use tactics and communication to corner prey. Any questions?"

"How close is it to other civilizations?" Selalea asked. "You would think two planets such as those would be colonized quickly."

"It's actually the closest to other civilizations at about one hundred fifty light years, and is in Scyftan space. It says that they were a candidate for colonization about eight hundred years ago, but with the war breaking out between The Scyftan Empire and The Confederation, it was put on hold. No one is currently living on either planet."

"If they are in Scyftan space, then that means they are your planets. Why would you be willing to give them away?" Shaemu asked.