Page 68 of Caveman Alien's Terror

I take a step closer. The terror he instilled in me is still there, although nowhere near as strong as before. He’s still deadly. “I think I know. And now we will find out. If it is as I think, you will not kill anyone. Not even Tarat’ex. No matter how much you want to.”

He shows the world how to arch an eyebrow the right way. “I’m not in a position to harm as much as aspront.”

I pull the dagger out of its sheath made of thick lead to conceal it fully from even a dragon’s acute senses. “Oh, I know that.”

Praxigor’s eyes go big and round, and he hisses between clenched teeth as he stares on the dagger. “That…”

I hold the dagger up so it catches the light. “Yes, Praxigor. It’s a gold dagger. With a steel core, they tell me. For strength. Only gold can kill a dragon, you see. That’s ancient knowledge that only some of the shamans possess. Did you know I was close to giving it to you before? But you changed the topic or did something mean to me, so I didn’t. If you had only been nicer!”

He ignores the dagger and looks me straight in the eyes. “I was nicer to you than any dragon has ever been to anyone before. I confess it puzzled me. Now it doesn’t.”

I go all the way up to him. “Stretch him out more.”

The cavemen obey and pull at his arms. The cracked scales are pulled further apart, giving me many perfect places to ram the gold dagger into his golden flesh and kill him.

I look up at the giant who is right now completely at my mercy. He was right — I was playing with forces I didn’t understand. Now he’s about to die because of me. And my silly fantasy about finding Cora is over. She’s obviously long dead, alone in the jungle. She probably didn’t last as much as a week.

Also because of me.

The shaman’s ultimate duty is to kill the Darkness, Melr’ax said. But what if the darkness is inside you?

I put the dagger in the dragon’s hand, curling his fingers around it. “Here is your gold. Now show me that you love me.”

23

- Praxigor-

It’s very pure gold around a core of worthless iron. The gold is pitted and old, but it doesn’t come from a dragon’s hoard. It has been cast in the shape of a dagger, and no attempt has been made to sharpen it because sharpening pure gold is not possible. It’s a crude thing, made with little care.

But it’s gold. And it’s enough.

“Thank you,” I hear myself say. I must be the first dragon to ever utter that phrase.

A hot light spreads from my hand, up my arm, and then to the rest of me. I become strong; I become dragon; I become Praxigor. Light engulfs me as I Change to my real shape. My mind sharpens and becomes ruthless. The ropes snap and drop from me, the slayers scream and run, the world turns from green to glorious gold.

The pain in every part of my body drops away as I come alive again. The too-tight skin expands to fit me again, the scales gohard, and there is a joyous release as the muscles grow longer and thicken. The world shimmers around me, the dull colors becoming sharp and clear.

I laugh in sheer bliss as my wings reach their full size. Beating them, I take off from the ground, enjoying how I raise a huge plume of dust over this wretched village as the crowd disperses and the slayers flee. Only Astrid is left, staring up at me.

Wind whips and whistles along my scales and spikes. My tail curls up in sheer delight before stretching out behind me, long and agile and deadly.

Oh, this is magnificent! I’m myself again!

24

- Astrid-

My brain turns itself inside-out when Praxigor turns into a full dragon. It’s the strangest, most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen, and on planet Xren, that really means something.

But the end result is marvelous. He’s a full dragon, big and blue, long and sleek, studded with dangerous spikes all along his back. A mythical being, absolutely. And yet, here he is.

I do a slow fist pump, all to myself. He really is a dragon!

Luna hisses like crazy, her tails looking aggressive.

I’m not even scared. I feel panic tugging at the edges of my mind, but I ignore it. It has nothing to do with me.

The cavemen flee wildly. They must feel the terror deep inside them, dispersing and running to their caves as the dragon circles their village lazily, tail waving calmly this way and that. At any moment I expect him to start the killing. I’ve no doubt he could take out all of us with a single flame or a swipe of his talons.

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