Tal’on
landed on his feet without Graf’tal beneath him. That in itself was surprising
enough, for he had just been astride the elder dragon seconds ago. Even more
upsetting though was the fact that he was not anywhere he had ever seen in his
lifetime of over one hundred years, and surrounded by beings totally alien to
him. He recognized only those three facts before the intense vertigo he felt from
the aborted Jump brought him down on all fours to steady himself on the
unusually patterned rock surface below his feet.
The
beings were screaming and shouting. They were small, two legged creatures with
pale, non-scaled skin from the neck up and on the hands. However, the rest of
their bodies were all different colors. As many colors as Tal’on had seen in
all his life and then some. No two appeared the same. On their heads they had
fur like the beasts his kin hunted and ate at home. Some ran away from him,
while others charged forward with metal sticks. When he raised his clawed paw
to fend them off, they struck at him with the sticks. The weapons were charged
with something which made the muscles in the area hit contract violently,
causing great pain.
