Chapter 7 – Brothers

„Who are you?!“

Drake asked mentally and watched the corocodile man on the ground. At the same time the crocodile opened his mouth and asked the same question with a deep, growling voice. Both of them looked stumped as each of them had used the newly learned language and way of speaking. Drake changed to his own language and asked:

“Lets speak in my language!”

Unfortunately at the same time a growling voice said the same in his head. Once again they were shocked and looked at each other unbelievingly. All of a sudden amusement appeared in

the eyes of both of them and they started laughing.

“Lets talk in your language then” Drake said mentally and grinned.

He felt a strange familiarity with the crocodile. The crocodile man nodded approvingly and directly started to talk.

“My name is Hekth’Sai, proud warrior of the Du’Shalan tribe, which lives in this valley! Somehow I feel familiar with you, so you can call me Sai!”

the crocodile said and a proud look appeared in his eyes.

“My name is Drake Cal’anar, you can call me Drake! I am the successor of the last Taran’Kha and a proud battlemaniac! It is an honour to meet you!”

Drake said and his gaze was equally proud.

“Its an honour! Did you have the same dream as me?! I think I saw your past”

Sai said and nodded lightly with a questioning look in his eyes.

“Yes I saw your past too! It seems like we are somehow connected now…” Drake said.

“Thank you for killing the Zecais and saving me, but how did you do it? I was sure that I would die!” Sai asked.

“I…well I kind of imparted my bloodline onto you…I think?” Drake answered awkwardly.

“WHAT?! How can this be, you can impart your bloodline?! This is impossible I’ve never heard of something like this before!” Sai shouted and leaned forward in excitement.

“It was the only thing I could think of and I kind of paid a price for doing it, my blood concentration is a lot weaker now! The faint pattern on top of your head changed into a dragon from something unidentifiable! Also you grew almost a head bigger and you seem stronger!” Drake said defending.

“THE PATTERN ON MY HEAD CHANGED?!” Sai roared “Doesn’t that mean that you can teach me bloodline techniques?! And by the way how the hell did you manage to get this scorpion tail bloodline technique?!”

“The ghostly tail? I made it myself…wait didn’t you see my memories?! And unfortunately I can’t teach you any bloodline techniques, I haven’t even managed to get my Taran’Kha tattoo into the shape of a normal tattoo!” Drake answered truthfully.

“Yes I saw your memories, but the part in which you carved the pattern into your forearm is kind of blurry and I can’t remember much of it. Would it be possible to use your blood, or this technique to impart bloodlines into my tribe mates?!”

“I won’t use my blood again…I lost enough already, although you became a lot stronger. I can try to use the technique on your tribe mates, but I don’t know if it’ll work and besides that I don’t think they will get such an upgrade as you…by the way did something change inside of your body?”

“Hmm…maybe we should still try. They can’t become weaker. Well now that you say it, something indeed changed in my body. My former normal red soul is now looking like a bright red ball of flames and a sea of blood lies underneath it, moving, as if it is alive…” Sai said.

“Your soul changed into a flaming ball?! And a sea appeared underneath it?! Wait lets try something…! Try to move the blood energy from the soulsea into the dragon pattern on your head…maybe something will happen…” Drake said excited and as soon as stopped talking Sai closed his eyes and tried to feel his blood energy. After some time the bright red sea started to move and a small string started streaming towards the tattoo. As it reached Sai’s head, the dragon tattoo started to glow in a red light and Sai abruptly opened his eyes. Slowly the shine from the tattoo spread over his back and on his arms. All of a sudden with a ‘suuu’ sound sharp red glowing spikes appeared out of no where and connected themselves with the back and the outer arms of Sai. There were five spikes symmetrically on his back and three spikes on each arm. The spikes were looking very dangerous and as the last spike finished condensing, Sai’s reptile eyes started to glow in a fiery red light. He looked extremely intimidating and cruel. Sai roared and punched a nearby boulder with the spikes on his elbow, using all of his strength. With a loud ‘boom’ the boulder was crushed into small pieces and powder. Dust swirled around the figure of the crocodile and when he turned around excitement and the urge to test his strength appeared.

“DRAKE!! I am strong…! LETS FIGHT!!” he roared loudly and the nearby trees bend from his voice. Drake started grinning and started channelling his power into the ghostly tail tattoo and his body. With a crackling sound white scales emerged on his shoulders, chest and legs. A dangerous light entered his eyes, which had turned silver and as the ghostly tail appeared above his left arm he laughed lightly.

“You have guts to challenge me!! I will show you what it means to be strong!!” Drake shouted with a growling voice and the urge to battle shone brightly in his eyes. Both of them kicked their leg into the ground, pushing them into the air and towards the other. Sai’s body, which was almost double the size of Drake’s made a loud whistling sound while travelling through the air. He roared again and rammed directly into Drake. Both of them got blown away, without any injuries. They looked at each other and started laughing again. While still laughing both of them sped up and directly ran towards each other. They hit in the middle and tried to push with all of their power, but no one could move the other one. Suddenly Sai swiped his arm and Drake dodged the red glowing spikes closely. Directly after dodging Drake tried to stab Sai with the ghostly tail, but this move got blocked by Sai’s crossed arms. The ghostly tail couldn’t penetrate the black scales! Both of them didn’t give up and tried to hit the opponent with their attacks. If a master of martial arts would watch, he would have died in shame, as none of the two fighters got any martial techniques. Both of them were just punching, defending and reacting. Even though none of them really had a fighting technique Drake was a soldier and he had killed hundreds of beasts in two years. Moreover his soulsea was a lot better developed. After countless traded and blocked hits Drake somehow managed to punch the chest of Sai, who was sent flying for some meters. Sai directly rolled around in the air and landed on his feet while sliding for some steps. His gaze directly locked onto the position where Drake stood before, but he had vanished. Suddenly Sai sensed extreme danger and turned around as fast as he could. He couldn’t keep up with the speed of Drake who was moving like lightning and his head got hit by a hard fist. He was knocked to the ground and lost control over his soul energy. The spikes and the red glow in his eyes disappeared and his scales which unknowingly had turned a lot harder turned back to normal.

“HAHA!! That was an impressive fight!! Drake you are worthy to be called my brother!!” Sai roared laughingly while standing up.

“When did I call you my brother…?!” Drake muttered quietly but satisfaction was in his eyes. Sai was truly strong and they would be a lot stronger when fighting together, so Drake didn’t hav anything against becoming brothers with him.

“We are already connected by blood, so why not become brothers? Lets make an oath!” Drake said and gazed sternly at Sai. Sai’s gaze too, got more serious and he walked towards Drake. They stood in front of each other and looked the other in the eye. Drake solemnly lifted his left hand and placed it on his chest. The other hand got stretched out and Sai, who mimicked Drakes movements grapped it with a firm grip. Drake started talking and Sai repeated the verses.

“I, Drake Cal’anar, successor of the last Taran’Kha and battlemaniac swear on my strength..-”

“I, Hekth’Sai Du’shalan, warrior of the Du’Shalan Tribe and battlemaniac swear on my strength..-“

“…my life…-”

“…my life…-“

“…and my future love that I will be your brother of life time…-“

“…and my future love that I will be your brother of life time…-“

“…fighting countless enemies side by side, protecting your back, until I die!”

“…fighting countless enemies side by side, protecting your back, until I die!”

“With this we are now sworn brothers, who will roam undefeated through the universe, never bending our heads, never surrendering, We Are Brothers In Life And Death!!”

“With this we are now sworn brothers, who will roam undefeated through the universe, never bending our heads, never surrendering, We Are Brothers In Life And Death!!”

The first sentence was said in a solemn voice, but with every part their voices became louder until they roared the last sentence into the heavens, as if they were challenging the universe.

Both of them were trembling in excitement and the claw mark on their chests started burning in a dark red light. They both felt that they had done something incredibly good and important. It was not obvious, but it felt right. They were brothers now and in both of their proud looking eyes tears started to appear as each of them thought of the brothers they lost.

“Lets go…I will take you to my…our village…we are brothers and you are now formally a member of my tribe. You full name will from this day on be: Drake Cal’anar Du’Shalan!”

“Yes little brother…lets get going! As I got the name of your tribe you will get the name of mine, even though I am the last member of it. From this day onwards your full name shall be: Hekth’Sai Cal’anar Du’Shalan and I believe we will some day stay on top of this world!”

“Wait why am I the little brother….” Sai started to protest but immediately remembered the memories of Drake. Drake had lived a longer time and he equally had experienced a lot more hardships.

“Well…alright but can you at least call me brother…its not like I just hatched….” Sai said somewhat grumpily.

“Haha alright brother…you are right we are equals and we will call each other the same! Lets go I am eager to start training and maybe develop my own martial technique!” Drake said while laughing and started walking.

Sai laughed, quickly overtook Drake and started to lead towards his village.