“Shut up, Enor!” another man said. He looked at the others to ask, “Why the fuck did we send him?”
“Because he volunteered.”
“My name is Valen.” Good Cop extended his hand through the bars.
Normally, I would offer the name I preferred. But I wasn't about to let my kidnappers call me Met. “I'm Demetrius.” I got up and shook his hand. “I'd say it was nice to meet you, but it's obviously not.”
Valen chuckled. “I apologize for treating you so terribly, Your Grace. But when we heard tales of the wondrous things on your planet, all created by humans, we knew you were our chance.”
Shit. Someone must have overheard me bragging about Earth. Kas was right. I should have kept my damn mouth shut.
“Your chance for what?” I asked.
“To balance power on Serai. The Dragons have ruled for as long as history has been recorded. They believe themselves to be the elite race, born to rule all.”
“Yeah, I got that. It's very Nazi of them, but at least they're not into genocide. Or are they? Has King Kaspian hurt your people in some way?”
“No. And we're not against him personally. We're simply tired of being seen as lesser.”
I snorted. “I feel you, man. Those Dragons can be elitist pricks. Even Kas says some dumb shit to me. Shit that makes me want to smack him. But it sounds as if they've been raised to believe that shit.”
“Exactly!” Valen pointed at me. “They have. They believe that being the most powerful makes them the best.”
“Might makes right.”
He blinked. “That's an interesting saying.”
“Dude, you think this problem is limited to your world? Even on Earth, where there are only humans, people believe the strongest should rule. And we split ourselves up into races too. Some races believe they're better than others. Wars have been fought over it.”
“But you are all humans?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you are one race. What is there to fight about?”
“Oh, so very much. But I think it all comes down to the fact that people like to form groups. They want to feel superior. It doesn't matter if you're human, Dragon, or Tyasmoran. We're all the same in that respect.”
“But your people—the humans of Earth—have found ways to empower themselves beyond what they're born with.”
I stared at him.
“We've heard stories,” one of the others said. “They say that humans on your planet have weapons that make them as powerful as Dragons. Some of them even imprisoned you and the King.”
“Very briefly.” I crossed my arms.
“We don't want to overthrow the Dragon Kings.” Valen held up his hands. “We just want them to see us as equals.”
Shivers ran over my arms as I thought of how far humans had gone to do that very thing. “I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.”
“What did you say?” Valen whispered, his expression going horrified.
“It's a quote from a scientist who the made greatest weapon on Earth.” I frowned. “Actually, he quoted a religious text, but that doesn't apply here.”
“A religious text about destroying worlds?”
“Oh, most human religions have something about the end of the world in them.”
“Humans of Earth are rather grim.”
