Puff the magic dragon, lived by the sea....
Vault - Karin City - Gorean Occupied Karin
OCCUPATION: Day One Hundred Seventy Three
*AD NAUSEAM*
"You poor thing," the Matriarch said as she swung in her gilded cage, watching Sal-zÿr prepare for his battle again. "You must be terrified."
The great Gorean rotated his scaled head. "Don't be absurd." He ruffled his broad wings and flexed his claws, "I have won every battle we have fought in this pathetic pantomime."
"Have you?" The Matriarch observed in a matronly tone. "And how many cycles have you remembered? I am into the thousands, and I know that there were more than that before I started to remember."
Sal-zÿr paused, his forelegs moving him around to face her fully, his wicked horn dipping as his weary eyes looked at her. "What?" he rumbled dangerously.
"You are tired of this, as am I, as are all of us caught in this loop without end. How long will you permit this to continue?" She settled her skirts neatly about her, her earrings jangling as she moved. "Only you have the power to end this."
"I am not the Emperor of Man," Sal-zÿr bellowed. "I am not the one who created this unending hell!"
"Aren't you?" the Matriarch asked, looking puzzled. "Because it seems to me that there is only one thing in this play that refuses to change... and that is you."
"I will not be beaten!" Sal-zÿr roared in frustration and anger, rearing up onto his tail and spreading his wings as he leapt up to the ceiling, sweeping around the rocks as he climbed the geo-thermal vent to the surface.
The Matriarch settled in again, wishing she had a cup of tea one of those loops.
Humbolt Building - Karin City - Gorean Occupied Karin
OCCUPATION: Day One Hundred Seventy Three
*AGAIN*
Edward waited, watching him come, leaping from a tall building to glide across the city towards the domed building where the Emperor of Man stood waiting. The wind was cold, cutting even through the Dragoon coat Edward wore, the hat tucked low on his brow, the fur going some way towards keeping him warm.
"Stop!" Edward commanded, as the great teeth drew to within a few feet of him. The massive wyrm froze as Edward stopped time about him, maintaining his concentration as he moved.
A hop bounded him up onto the bottom lip of the gaping maw. Using the Gorean's nostril as a second step, he climbed up and onto the nose, fumbling along scales as he hooked an arm around the horn, taking a deep breath as he looked right into the Gorean's blood shot yellow eyes.
"Now then," he coughed, shivering in the cold, "this has to stop, and I know you can hear me. I want you to promise to hear me out before you eat me this time... okay?"
The Gorean remained motionless, frozen in time.
"Right," Edward snapped his fingers, "time stoppage thing..."
He released time, and the Gorean beat its great wings, grabbing a hold of the building and shaking its head to rid itself of the human attached to his horn.
Edward clung on for dear life, digging his fingers into a snarl in the horn, bouncing up and down with the creature's muzzle as it tried to toss him free. He gritted his teeth wondering if that was what it felt like to be in a rodeo. Probably not, he decided, because bulls seldom ate their riders.
"S...stop!" Edward said, jarred and rattled. "Or do you want a repeat of the loop where I popped us both into orbit?" he watched Sal-zÿr's shudder, nodding. "Yeah, remember that one? Messy and painful for both of us..."
Sal-zÿr drew his head back. "What do you want!" he bellowed in fury.
"To talk terms," Edward said, squishing his eyes closed as he awaited the next round of violent shaking.
"Terms?" Sal-zÿr asked, pausing.
"Terms!" Edward repeated, opening an eye and looking at Sal-zÿr's face beneath him. "Terms of your victory."
"You are surrendering?" Sal-zÿr asked, a note of hope entering his voice.
"Nope. Well... yes and no." Edward smiled, gingerly rolling so that he still held onto the horn, looking at the Gorean's eye. "You want the Apilon Rift, all of it right?"
"Yes," Sal-zÿr replied, "I already control Karin..."
"That's debateable right now," Edward responded, pointing to the city walls where the Imperial troops ringed the city. "You control the city. And the Eisenhower Jump Nexus. We control everything else. And you're losing the ground war for Karin."
"You want my surrender?" Sal-zÿr laughed. "You must have lost your mind in these loops."
"No, I lost that the moment I realized I was in love with a complete dork." Edward shifted his footing, looking the Gorean right in the eye. "I want to cut a deal with you. The war stops; you withdraw from Karin, taking all of your troops with you."
"And what do I get?" Sal-zÿr asked.
"An alliance," Edward stated. "The Polians are your enemies, ours too. The Amsus are their allies, also our enemies. Instead of us kicking the crap out of each other... help us beat them. There are tonnes of worlds through the Jump Nexus that you can't reach because we stand in your way. You leave me the Apilon Rift and I give you an open door to the rest of the Galaxy, and the riches of the Hegemony."
Sal-zÿr looked thoughtful, considering the small god's proposal, swinging his head again to consider the battle raging outside the city walls, fliers roaring as they duelled EV-II fighters and F-120s.
"I want another caveat to this deal." He said, breaking his long silence.
"What?" Edward asked uncertainly, aware that any bargaining with a ten tonne lizard wasn't likely to go well.
"That you keep the Apilon Rift for one hundred years, a lease by my leave. But when those one hundred years are over, I will take it back." Sal-zÿr smiled and Edward rose on his nose with it. "That is plenty of time for you and your verminous race to leave this planet and all like it in the Rift, for any that remain will become my property." He stared a baleful eye at Edward, "to do with as I see fit."
"There are those that will object..." Edward replied cautiously, knowing that it wasn't a deal in his favour, but if it saw an end to the occupation...
"A one hundred year lease," Sal-zÿr stated, "and I will withdraw from Karin and aid you in your war with the Amsus. In exchange, I get a total victory in what, to my species, is but a blink of an eye."
Edward sighed, knowing that he had no other choice. "Deal..."
And the deal with the devil was struck.
ANOTHER END, ANOTHER BEGINNING