Ratchet and Clank: The Iron Devil(Discontinued)

Chapter 27

Let me tell you a story. Hundreds of years ago, when the Awoken began to build their kingdom on the borders of the known universe, their Queen, Mara Sov, wanted one thing: for her people to have a safe haven to call home. She tried many things, such as force fields, cloaking devices, and creating artificial anomalies to deter outsiders. This all worked, but the Queen realized that it was only a temporary measure. So she decided to look for other options. More...unusual. She started looking through her kingdom's archives, thinking she might find a spell or something. However, nothing suited her taste. Disappointed by this, Mara decided to leave her people for a few days, leaving them in the care of her younger brother, Uldren. She traveled from planet to planet, visiting temples, libraries, and archives, anything that might give her an idea.

But she found nothing.

Deciding that there was nothing that could make her kingdom more secure, Mara decided to spend her last day before returning home in an abandoned temple. It looked like any other such structure left by ancient civilizations. Ruined stone covered with moss, the smell of mushrooms, the classic charm of such places. The queen was about to go to sleep when suddenly something caught her attention. An image of a pedestal flashed through her mind. There were runes on it, the same as those on the walls of the temple. She knew it could be a trap, but her mother always told her that visions should not be ignored. So she grabbed her gun, straightened her short, snow-white hair and headed deeper into the temple. All the way, she was accompanied only by the sound of her own steps, dripping drops of water here and there, and small twigs breaking under her shoes.

After walking through many corridors, Mara found herself in a huge room. There were the same runes on the walls that she had seen on other walls along the way. On two opposite walls there were monuments depicting tall creatures, which were unfortunately difficult to identify. The only detail that stands out is the scales covering their bodies. In the middle of the room there was the previously seen pedestal, which this time had something on it. A large, orange egg. Upon seeing it, the woman immediately felt the power flowing from it, how chaotic and unpredictable it was. The senses screamed at the Queen to get as far away from this object as far as possible and forget about it. She even wanted to do it, but thoughts of her kingdom and its protection came back to her mind. So she decided to take a risk. She approached the egg and, after saying a magical incantation, transferred it to her pocket dimension, where it would be safe until her return.

When Mara returned to the Reef and examined the egg, she realized what a great threat she had brought to her home. You see, it wasn't an ordinary egg...

It was Ahamkara's egg, also known as the Dragons of Wishes.

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Fikrul had quite an interesting life. From the very beginning of his birth, he belonged to a band of Eliksni raiders who robbed anyone they could and did not care whether their victims survived or not. All that mattered to them was the loot. But for Fikrul it was different. He remembered perfectly how shamans told stories about the Great Machine, a mechanical being that was somewhere in the universe and gave civilizations technology and magic. He was always fascinated by these types of stories. When he was just a hatchling, he wanted to once meet the deity of his race. However, when he grew up, he realized that there was no point in counting on it. He was downright furious with the Great Machine, because according to elders, it once visited the home planet of Eliksni, but quickly left it, causing their race to crumble. Did it think they were unworthy of its presence? Were they insects to it, as they were to most of the races in the universe?

However, despite such hatred, the love for paranormal beings was still in Fikrul. He began to research and look for beings that he could worship. However, after several dozen years, his search came to nothing.