Chapter 115: Midnight Along the Vast Fields
Ye’tab looked at the tiny creature in front of him that took out three armed Dryadalis like it was nothing. This was nothing like how the pet species were described when he first heard of them. In fact, if she didn’t bear a slight resemblance to Pippa Flynn, he would never have thought that she was... human to begin with.
Well, that and the fact that she was obviously nesting right now. How the Njeriuujk couldn’t smell it was utterly incomprehensible to him. He could smell it across the table, and it was experiencing more than a few changes as a result of it.
He could still feel the blood pumping in both his hearts, causing his muscles to double in size, and his hearing and vision to become better than ever before. Hell, even the Njeriuujk underwent a physical transformation when the pet was in danger.
Ye’tab racked his brains, trying to remember where he had read about this before. It was in one of the tribe’s oldest collections, written several megaannum ago, about a species that were able to transform the males around them. But he couldn’t remember exactly what it was about.
Besides, if she was able to transform the males around her, then why didn’t the Dryadalis change as well? Why was it only he and the Njeriuujk that did?
Dropping the vasfuggony’s skull, he took a few steps toward the female. He raised his arms to show that he meant no harm but was quickly brought up short when the pet spun around, grabbed as many of his furs as she could, and then disappeared.
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Midnight fought to calm his breathing and heart rate down, but the very idea that Merciless, the tiny female that only came up to his chest, would run headfirst into danger sent his adrenaline pumping.
He knew that she was an arms dealer. She was the one that provided him with many of the harder-to-find weapons that he was searching for and even managed to kill eight zmajs on her own. However, that didn’t stop him from having a visceral reaction to seeing her running head-first into danger.
He looked down at his hands and stomach, utterly devoid of fur, and then touched his chest, finding a different texture of fur.
He wanted to panic, thinking that that was the only obvious thing to do given the current situation, but found that he couldn’t. It felt like the first time he transformed into his adult form. It was different but, at the same time, familiar.
"My Lord," came the voice of his first officer and best friend through the earpiece implanted in his head. "The four remaining zmajs have been delivered. Want me to send the money?"
Looking around, he realized that Merciless was nowhere to be found.
Letting out a low grow in frustration, he started stalking down the now empty corridor. "Transfer the money," he authorized. "And clear the halls when I come in. I don’t want a single soul around me when I return to the ship. Do you understand?"
"What about the camera feeds?" asked the first officer, not at all surprised by the request.
"All feeds are to be turned off until further notice," growled Midnight as his long strides ate up the distance. However, a small voragyvis hiding in a darkened corridor caught his attention. He paused for a second to look at it. "Come here, little one," he purred softly, crouching down to look at the highly venomous creature.
He had just witnessed Merciless’ voragyvis take out a fully grown Dryadalis in a matter of clicks, but that didn’t phase him at all. In fact, he was now more fascinated by the creature.
It was small enough to be a cub with grey and black stripes and six big eyes. "Come on, you aren’t going to want to be here much longer," he said again and slowly extended his now furless arm to the creature.
Its fangs clicked nervously as its front two legs slowly stretched out to his hand. They tapped on his palm a few times before it slowly crawled onto Midnight’s massive palm.
"That’s a good cub," rumbled Midnight as he gently petted the very top of the voragyvis’ head.
The creature chirped a few times before crawling up onto the Njeriuujk’s shoulder. Like he had seen his father do a few times. He hooked his front two legs over the front of the shoulder pads and into the thick fur while the remaining six legs gained purchase around the back.
Midnight shrugged his massive shoulders and realized that the voragyvis weighed almost nothing. "Let’s go find that female, shall we?" he said with a slight smirk on his face. Petting the top of the creature’s head, he continued to walk down.
Hanger Bay 89T was empty, just as he thought it would be. Making his way to the hanger bay right beside the empty one, he walked into a bunch of Arrainaians guarding the door.
"Why do you stop me?" demanded Midnight, coming to his full and intimidating height. The Arrainaians were about half the size of him, their pale skins shining light blue as the harsh lights of the corridor shone off of it. Their large, round eyes reminded the wolf of the fish that were abundant in the waters of his home planet.
They were the dominant species of the Etune Galaxy and, as such, were responsible for the running of the space station that they were currently on.
"We are here to place you under arrest," said the leader hesitantly. His blue eyes shot around the corridor, and Midnight could see the water dripping out of him.
"And why would you want to do something as stupid as that?" asked Midnight cocking his head to the side. His eyes followed the Arrainaian’s throat as the creature took a gulp. "Are you aware of who I am?"
"I know that you are involved in the confrontation in the shopping mezzanine," said the guard as he jabbed his trident toward Midnight, attempting to look more intimidating.
Midnight simply sneered. "I am Midnight Along the Vast Fields. Son of The One Chosen to Lead. The future leader of the Njeriuujk and the undisputed Alpha of the known universe. Who are you to stop me from boarding my ship after ripping apart the disgusting vasfuggony that threatened me and mine? Tell me, who are you so I can add your name to the list of beings to kill."
Midnight straightened. He rarely enforced his will on the lesser species of the universe, but this milingona was keeping him from his ship, and that was just not acceptable.
