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Tarik transformed to a wasteland as dragon riders and Leona tamers invaded it. Zargo steadied his breathing as he sat behind cover in the dying battlefield. It was not a battle anymore, though, it was a slaughter. He raised himself to glance at the legendary beast tamers in all their glory. They looked plain enough: a shade of brown colored their skin, and they had just one pair of arms and feet. That did not begin to describe them, though. Two of the bigger looking Beast Tamers dragged a boy out of a tent, and his howling filled Zargo's ears. "Boy. stop crying." One of them ordered, alas, the boy did not stop. A slap landed in the boys cheek, knocking him to the floor. The tamers got their wish as they always do, and here it was silence. Zargo found himself running towards the boy, insane, but necessary. The tamer who slapped the child eyed him, and stepped in his way, whistling. Deciding that he might as well take the risk, Zargo smashed into the tamer, knocking him to the ground. He got back on his feet before the tamer reacted, and ran towards the boy. Yet the next thing he knew was that he was on the ground, and a growl filled his ears. His body froze as the saliva of the Leona dripped on his face. Leona were the most monstrous of cat creatures,Their three faces all stared at Zargo, and the elongated tail of the beast held him down. His eyes were a deep shade of green, that Zargo would only notice with the lion so close to his face, and the leona's teeth were sharper than Tarik's greatest spears. "You tarikan scum." The tamer who Zargo knocked down stood up, and spit blood at him. "He gave you a good hit there." His fellow tamer replied, and laughed at his ally's embarrassment. "You'll pay." The tamer declared to Zargo, and made a few weird sounds as he pointed towards Zargo. In only a second, the Leona pounced, going for a bite on one of Zargo's arms, and it was a clean one. Muscles and bones were teared through all the same, and his arm fell, yet he remained standing due to shock. The tamer kicked him down to his knees, and whispered "You had way too many arms anyways." Anger filled Zargo, the four arms he had represented their race, it matched the four foundations of Tarik that their holy books spoke of. "You are old, and experienced from what I can tell. Tell me of the dimatine we seek." "On my dead body. You call us scum, yet you steal from us. Those rocks are the stuff of legend in our planet, they give energy to the planet itself. Giving them to you would leave our planet to collapse." He gritted his teeth. "We are the beast tamers. The legends that were birthed on earth but since then have conquered many planets and gave them life. We will take what we require, and you'll be paid back in due time." The tamer recalled, as if it was something that was brainwashed into his brain. He then hit Zargo's head, which left him passed out. God knows how long later, the eyes of the tarikan snapped open. His three remaining hands were tied to a rope, and alongside him lay the boy he tried to save. Where were they though? He asked himself, only to be answered by the strong wind blowing at him. His hair moved backwards as the clouds of the planet spread to make way for him. He was on a dragon. He looked down on the green skin of the beast, and he'd been bigger than he expected. The dragon's fearsome wings that were one with his arms swung at the air, giving him so much power he could fly. "Old man, where are they taking us?" The boy next to him whimpered, shaking in his place. Zargo could not afford to scare the boy if they had any chance, but he could not lie either. "I'm not sure. But they kept us alive, there has to be a reason for that. Many others could not say the same." His voice turned sour, almost angry. "Why did you try to save me then? If you thought they would kill you?" The boy asked, and only a child raised in war could understand enough to question such things. "It wouldn't have been the first time I saw a child die powerless to these beasts. I would not let it happen again," he clutched at where his fourth arm once was "even if it means sacrificing all of my arms." A long silence followed, but the boy was the one to break it. "I've never been on a dragon before." His four arms touched the dragon's skin. "My child always wanted to ride a dragon when he was young, I remember him and his vow: one day, I'll get big and beat a dragon then make it my friend. That way, I'll be able to fly anywhere I want, he said." Zargo's eyes watered, but he would not let the tears show. "He could get a chance now, although not under perfect circumstan-" "No. He can't. I did tell you, it was not the first time. They killed my son, those monsters, and I'll kill them."
