Valtoe'ktek was immediately taken to a strange but very familiar environment for her, she tried to move and with difficulty she did so pushing aside the pieces of an egg, after doing so she understood where she was.
Because the first thing she saw was an alpha lizard woman, not just any, her great height of 2 meters (6.562 feet) a very rare height in this subspecies of round scaled lizard men, after all the subspecies did not have the suffix "slender" for nothing, with her muscular and strong body her beautiful attributes stood out, especially those bright white scales like marble.
On her body scarlet red tattoos mixed with some black ones, forming patterns in the language of the nation, on her neck a pendant with a symbol of the four goddesses made of gold and decorated with a sapphire, a ruby, a black opal and an emerald, gave her a unique sense of elegance and power.
The woman spoke with arrogance and pride: "So my daughter has already been born?, I was already getting tired of only slaves being born and my daughter still being in her egg."
At her side the Vatili bowing her head says: "Yes, my Mataki'la, the young lady has recently hatched, do you wish to see her?"
The Mataki'la nods and without directing a glance at the Vatili walks by herself into the incubator, Valtoe'ktek upon seeing her searches until her eyes rest on her, then the lizard woman takes her and lifts her, mysteriously Valtoe'ktek is able to perfectly feel the touch and all her sensations, as if she were living this at this very moment…
The woman only looks at her and tells her: "You… as my daughter deserve a name, an epic one that resonates through generations in the glory of the clan of the great warrior Ktek, you will be called Valtoe, champion and with that, your name will be Valtoe'ktek, the champion of Ktek."
That is right, although it is obvious this woman is her mother, the Mataki'la of the Ktek clan and the strongest warrior of the entire clan… or was, her mother died a long time ago, during the war of the centennial marshes.
After that Valtoe lived in a progressive manner, her mother fed and trained her daily, when she did not do so Valtoe played with her companion with whom she shared a nest… her giant wood scale lizard, Nekari, her life was normal until the age of 10 which was when her mother departed for battle and never returned.
Although Valtoe by her own right is the young lady of the Ktek clan, she was forced to be raised by the Mataki'li and the Mataki'ku, the regime was tyrannical but she endured it, when the day came to be in power… she would make them pay for what they did to her.
…
When Valtoe finally saw her entire life and was brought back to the present, by Feicui Long's question to Zathare'k: "You did not tell me that the alphas are biologically stronger and more talented than their counterparts."
Zathare'k shakes her head saying: "No, I did tell you, the Mataki are the strongest."
Feicui Long thinks it over and remembers that she did make that specification, realizing his mistake he says: "Alright, I am sorry."
Then returning his gaze to Valtoe'ktek he tells her: "Now what did you think of the view?, are you going to answer my questions or do you want to relive a little more those memories with your aunt and great aunt?"
Valtoe furious wants to attack this damn man, but she calms herself, because whatever that was it felt so real that she could feel every sensation, every bit of joy, sadness, rage and more specifically pain, she did not fear pain, but reliving pain, over and over again, is another matter.
Valtoe then sighs with anger saying: "Ask human."
Feicui Long nods and asks: "You surely must know why they came here, what is your purpose?, what are you looking for?, how many are you?"
Valtoe speaks without hiding her anger: "We are 2100, our purpose is simple, we are the vanguard to bring the army and we are looking for things related to our goddesses, things lost a long time ago."
Feicui Long put on a serious face as he speaks: "That is very unspecific, but continue, for what purpose do you want to bring your army?, who are you going to declare war on?, what things were lost?, when will your army come?"
Valtoe looks at Zathare'k and at the canteen and tells him: "Could you give me a little bit of water?, you know I am also thirsty."
Feicui Long nods and signals to Emma who passes one of her canteens and gives it to the lizard woman who drinks quickly, then Valtoe answers again: "We want to destroy our enemies once and for all and we are not going to declare war on anyone, we are going to end an ancient war, the things that were lost were many, things stored in temples, divine treasures like the serpent idol."
Valtoe takes another sip and then resumes her answer: "Our army will come once we have located the location of the serpent idol in the lands of the filthy fauns."
Feicui Long then enters the truly important questions: "How many troops does this army that will come have?, how many great clans participate?, who gave the order?, if the war is ancient as you say, why did you not finish it before, what was it that changed?"
Valtoe a little more comfortable for satisfying her thirst says calmly: "This first army that will come will be 5 thousand troops, but if it is not enough the council plans to send up to 20 thousand more, in addition all the clans will participate and this order was given by the council itself ordered by the great serpent shaman, the order is to recover the idol or die trying."
Then Valtoe straightens up and looks at Feicui Long before answering the question in a very serious manner: "This war has lasted centuries, originally we lived here in the sacred mountains and our territory expanded to the swamps, but after a catastrophic event that we faced where the four goddesses were gravely injured, we had to flee while the guardian serpent stayed behind to eradicate the enemies."
Although this was not related to his question, Feicui Long did not interrupt, on the contrary he stayed to listen calmly.
Valtoe continues with her account saying: "During that first escape the fauns took advantage to attack us and steal part of our treasures starting a war, we continued living in this forest leaving the mountains, but the fauns continued harassing us and taking our territories, the last time was about 250 years ago, where the Niska clan owners of the last city and territory outside the swamp were defeated and lost the serpent idol in the process."
Feicui Long then noticing an inconsistency says: "But if the fauns were so strong why did they not eliminate all of you?"
Valtoe answers him with a rare calmness in her: "That is because 500 years ago the great faun, the supreme lord of the faun realm of the frosts was killed by mortals, you do not know for what reason they came but they killed him and all his elite, that weakened the fauns enough and with the protection of our goddesses they have not been able to invade the swamp ever."
Feicui Long raises an eyebrow thinking 500 years ago some mortals… was that not the poison hunters team of the guilds union of that came to exterminate the sect of the thousand poisons of the nagas and the lamias?, it makes sense then if they saw that this faun leader could become the next threat that they decided to kill him on their own, Feicui Long then signals her to continue with her account.
Valtoe then continues: "In fact those who took the green city of dusk were the few remaining elite troops and tribes, shortly after due to their internal differences the realm fragmented into large, medium and small tribes, even so they were still stronger than us by a small margin."
Valtoe smiling looks at Feicui Long before saying: "But it seems that the luck of those bastards ran out, because we do not know what happened, but 6 months and a half ago a horde of beasts that later would become a beast tide attacked the central area of the sacred mountains, all the remaining elite tribes were eradicated and the faun tribes were separated into two sides, not counting that even others also suffered damage."
Feicui Long listens to that and thinks that Valtoe is right, he does not know what the hell the fauns did but that is too much bad luck, first encountering an extermination team of the guilds union of the 14 mortal races, then a horde of beasts that emerged mysteriously, it is almost as if fate wanted them dead…
Valtoe did not wait for Feicui Long's signal and resumed the explanation saying: "Our spies noticed all this and with this, plus the help of the great flying lady, a divine being that the council plans to decree as the fifth goddess that has helped us recover and strengthen ourselves, we have more than enough strength to surpass them by a small margin with the added advantage that the disorder will make things easier for us."
Feicui Long realized that these lizard men were more intelligent than he thought, then he asked one last question with a serious face: "Well, that dark and evil serpent that appeared in the sky is your guardian serpent?"
But to everyone's surprise, Valtoe was not the one who answered but Zathare'k quickly angrily, something extremely rare with her calm character shouts: "No!, the guardian serpent is not evil!, it would never be, it is a just goddess, that represents the earth, nature, beasts and power!"
Emma then frowns and says: "How can it be good if it demands sacrifices to act for its believers?"
Zathare'k shakes her head fervently while holding a necklace on her chest and says: "Never!, none of the four goddesses asks for sacrifices, we are not barbarians like the fauns, we do not worship that kind of gods!"
Zathare'k then taking her necklace shows it and says: "This look at it, look at it, feel its aura, its aura is not dark it is not evil!"
Emma and Feicui Long feel it and just as Zathare'k says they feel a sensation of calm, as if they were anchored to the earth, a strong vitality and a great power being emanated.
But Feicui Long frowns because upon looking at it well something does not add up, it is not because she lies, but the symbol of the serpent is very strange, I mean it does have an elongated and cylindrical body like one, but its head is very strange it is very similar to that of a dragon, almost as if it were…
When Feicui Long thinks about it his eyes open wide…