The sea of Phorusrichians parted almost perfectly as Venotarian, Stryka and Matthew walked down the Phoenix’s ramp and into the landing bay. It reminded Matthew of the times before a fight when he’d be led into the ring that was made up of the bodies of the spectators, and he felt all of their eyes boring into him, some praying that he’d win, some praying that he’d get knocked unconscious quickly so they could have a poke between Jong’s girlfriends legs during 4th lesson.

But this time round it was surprisingly friendly, he had established that humans weren’t well like by Phori for some reason that he was sure he’d find out soon. But once he got past that tiny hurdle he was sure he’d be accepted. When he looked at some of those he walked past he noticed that there were certain groups -some larger than others- that looked more or less the same. He had thought that Stryka, Venotarian and Ravaak were all different colours just because this was their variation in appearance, like how no two people look the same (except twins). It was now that he realised that the different colours were merely different races, and in fact (in his eyes at least) there wasn’t much difference between individual Phori of the same species. He saw plenty of Stryka and Venotarian’s species in the crowd, but none of Ravaak’s.

They left the hangar and entered a long blindingly white corridor. “I trust the journey wasn’t too unpleasant?” Venotarian asked Matthew, his eyes never once leaving Stryka (who was naturally trailing behind). “It wasn’t too bad”. Venotarian didn’t quite understand this expression but he guessed from the tone of voice he used that it was positive.
“I must say, considering you aren’t from the generation we left you are quite calm”.
It took a bit for Matthew to get what he had just said, when he understood it he scoffed at it slightly; “Dinosaurs and people never met”.
*
In Venotarian’s head that word, reverberated angrily. In the transmissions he had watched there had been a few mentions of these creatures ‘Dinosaurs’. He had seen how they were portrayed, as huge dumb lumbering beasts or savage hunters that kill for no reason. Indeed they were his ancestors, though perhaps in the same way that a fish was this human’s ancestor. If he weren’t aware of this human’s vast ignorance of what was around him Venotarian would’ve been angry at it assuming things about his race.
“For a start we are not ‘Dinosaurs’ those creatures died out long before we arrived.” This was a blanket phrase if he’d ever uttered one, but it was easier to grasp than ‘Well 99% of them were wiped out and some continued to live on the earth and evolve, like us’.

“Perhaps you could say we are their descendents, our ancestors survived the great collision and continued to live on and evolve until now”. It would’ve appeared arrogant for him to say that they had reached their evolutionary peak. Quite simply though there was nothing that could be improved, well that was what he thought anyway (though some would say that Venotarian’s ego could do with a tweak or two).

He could see the human trying to grasp what had just been said. They knew of evolution, the transmissions had shown that, albeit a recent discovery. “And by the way, us and you did coexist, for a long time actually”
“Too long if you ask me” piped in Stryka from the back. Venotarian ignored him.
*
Looking at Venotarian, Stryka and the curious Phori who were sticking their heads out of the doors they passed he could see what Venotarian meant, they had evolved, quite frankly they had evolved so much that only their heads resembled that of a Dinosaur’s.
They were all bipedal, the majority were tailless and they had evolved two thumbs. Seeing as his dream had always been to become a Palaeontologist (apart from one year were he’d wanted to be Virgil Tracy) he knew quite a lot about prehistoric life (more than most people, for instance he knew that Dinosaur’s never flew, and that there was no such thing as Brontosaurus), he figured that the Phori’s ancestors had been a raptor of some description, of course after 65 million years of evolution it was hard to tell which one. But his knowledge of prehistoric life also meant that he remembered one glaring fact that flew in the face of what had just been said.
“The fossil record stops showing…erm…your ancestors at about 65 million years, and there’s never been any evidence for…erm…creatures like you”
Venotarian turned to him and in the manner of a used car sales man muttered “We are very careful of who, or what knows of our presence”.

This statement created many questions in his swirling head, why did they need to hide their existence from a race that quite frankly needed to remember that they weren’t the only ones in the universe. But he decided not to question that topic, so he put forth the obvious question. Stryka had said that Venotarian would want his moment of glory;
“Why exactly am I here? I mean, why me? I aint special”.

They had reached the end of the corridor and in front of them was a glass door which seemed to lead to nowhere. One of Venotarian’s guards reached forward and pressed a barely visible button next to the glass. The glass promptly shot up and disappeared above them leaving a rather large cavity in front of them Venotarian and his guard brushed past him and walked into the cavity. Matthew realised that he was expected to do the same and so he found a small place between Venotarian and the wall and stood there, not sure what to do next. The guard pressed a button once again and the glass lowered. Leaving Stryka on the other side of it merely watching them.
“Why’s he staying here?”
“Oh he’s being anti-social…he does that, good luck”.
Matthew turned to look at Stryka but found that he had been replaced by a wall.
“Oh it’s a lift!” This turned out to be another one of those moments that what was sad in his head was much better than how it sounded in reality.

When the lift eventually stopped and the door was made of a sort of metal, so he couldn’t see what was on the other side. And it seemed to be refusing to open, but it only bothered Matthew.
“Faram” began Venotarian in a voice that showed he was trying to be sensitive but didn’t quite know how to. “A long time ago our lord, Phorus gave us a prophecy for the time that we were at our darkest time.” He looked straight at the human and hoped that he understood so far “the prophecy foretold of when we would return to our rightful home and defeat the Dark Lord Mercentae”. Matthew nodded, he understood at the moment, though he still didn’t understand what some ancient religious writings had to do with him. An obese Leyther with more grease in his hair than a Birmingham chippy.     
“now, until recent time we didn’t understand what our lord meant.”
“and this is your darkest time?” Matthew asked, he’d figured that it was, but he just needed to clarify it.
“Yes, admittedly we aren’t at war, but we don’t have a home either and if we don’t act soon our planet will be destroyed.”
“By us?”
“No, by something much more powerful, something that we don’t even understand yet, all we know is that the Dark Lord will arise for a third and final time”
Matthew decided to come out with it, he was getting slightly annoyed now.
“But what do I have to do with all this?” Being in a cramped lift wasn’t helping with his mood.

Venotarian closed his eyes and tipped his head back, like he was dredging something heavy from the very back of his mind;
“…three warriors, a powerful trinity, one a child of Phorus with nothing but a lust for peace. The other two” Venotarian paused he was choosing his words carefully “sons of the Southern Land, one led by his heart the other by the fire, their trail shall be strewn with temptations of death and dishonour. And the end will be decided by them, one shall fall for everything.” Venotarian left this strange trance like state looked at Matthew, “That the basics, I had to translate it to your language, and in doing so some of the power of it is lost” Matthew nodded not too sure what to say to that, admittedly it sounded like something that would be written on the pencil case of the most unpopular kid in class but he was starting to understand, Stryka was the ‘child of Phorus’ and he was one of the others, these ‘sons of the southern land’. But who was the other?

It would appear that this last thought had been unintentionally vocalised as Venotarian silently signalled for his guard to open the doors. The door raised slowly with a less than enthusiastic grown to reveal a large room, it too was brilliantly white and was almost was large as the landing bay they had been in just a few minutes ago. Two Phori walked around the room carrying equipment, while a third one was stood on the far side of the room, Matthew looked up to what the Phori appeared to be tending to. And everything he had seen suddenly took a back seat. Throwing the evolution of Dinosaur’s into some kind of super race, or a prophecy by an ancient god whose name hadn’t been uttered on earth for nearly two thousand years. That would seem normal to what he saw before him right now.

Against the wall furthest from him was a large cylindrical glass tank, it appeared to be filled with water. It reminded him of a fancy fish tank, except there were no fish taking up residence inside it, instead there was a young boy, about his age, floating in the middle of the tank, he had various tubes and cables attached to him and a mask covering his mouth. The boy was almost the exact physical opposite of him, whereas the boy had muscular pectorals he had flabby man boobs that had been the constant source of amusement during swimming lessons. The boys stomach was almost flat whereas his was considerable more rounded. But it wasn’t the differences that struck him, it was the similarities. This boy had his eyes, those light blue innocent eyes made all the more tragic by the mind that lay behind them. He had only ever seen eyes like them in a mirror, but now there were two more, staring back at him through the tank. Almost as though they were thinking the same. Also, as similarities go, having the same chin isn’t exactly top of the list of things people look for in an “how uncanny is that?” competition it was something that shouted out to him. He had always had a unique chin, and he’d spotted it on this boy too. It even had the prepubescent down that had excited him when he found it on one of the rare days he’d looked in a mirror and he thought he had a beard growing. Until he realised it was merely ‘bum-fluff’.

Matthew walked towards the tank, he wasn’t aware of anything else in the room, not even Stryka’s hand clamping itself on his right shoulder, it was less of a sign of affection than a measure to make sure the human didn’t try and do anything stupid…again. The boy in the tank cocked his head at Matthew, not quite sure what to make of him. He tried to get closer but Stryka wrenched him back into him so he could whisper in his ear “I see he went for as much shock as possible, I’ll get Roozeana to let him out, then you can meet face to face, at last” Stryka then softly spoke in his own tongue to the Phori nearest the tank. When it turned around Matthew realised that you didn’t need to be one of them to realise that this was a female. The first he had knowingly encountered. She walked towards a control panel and delicately tapped a button. The substance in the tank slowly drained away and as it lowered the boy did too so that he was gently brought to the bottom of the tank. The various tubes and the mouth piece were disconnected and disappeared into the top of the tank. All the boy wore was a white pair of what looked like underwear that had been made for someone or something much larger. Roozeana was quickly behind him with a blanket of the finest sheep’s wool and draped it carefully round him.

His mental state after being confronted with another version of him was naturally confused and his mind was currently tying itself in knots. But also for the first time since his father had disappeared and his mother had replaced him with the much more reliable comforting embrace of Wine, his mind felt…complete. It was like an entirely new wing had just been open and he hadn’t even been aware it was under construction, he raised his hand to his head, and the other did the same.
“Ah yes” Roozeana spoke in a kind soothing voice that he preferred over any of the males raspy growls “that’s the mental connection opening itself up fully”
“Mental connection?” Matthew asked
Roozeana looked at his double “explain Dephchare if you would”
Suddenly Matthew’s mind was alive with the echo of a voice ‘its how I know stuff about bein’ human, and how you know stuff about these lot…by the way I’m Dephchare, you must be this Faram dude I’ve bin hearin’ about?’.

“Erm yes I am…” he said out loud, this was obviously one of those things he’d need to work on.
“Do you need any time to bond?” Roozeana asked tentatively.
“Err” began Matthew.
“No I’m sure we know enough about each other already…also there’ll be time fer bonding on earth…right?” Dephchare looked at Matthew expecting reassurance. Matthew simply grinned like an idiot not quite sure what to do. He was impressed by whoever this was though; he clearly had more confidence around the Phori than he thought he himself ever would.
“Can I just ask something?” Matthew said calmly, afraid to look this new him in the eye. “Who is he? Where did he come from?”
Venotarian stepped forward to offer an explanation but Roozeana got there quicker; “He’s a clone, of you, we used some DNA we acquired from you when you were just an infant”
This last statement just made him feel even uneasier; “You took DNA from me as a baby? How?”
Roozeana shook her head, “I’m not at liberty to say” but while she said it she looked at Venotarian guiltily. She wasn’t a big fan of lying.  
  “So when do we head off home sir?” Dephchare asked boldly.
“Well Faram needs to be checked over and given his Vambraces” Venotarian said, making sure everyone remembered he was there.
Stryka’s ears pricked up upon hearing mention of the Vambraces.
“Surely you can’t be considering giving them the Vambraces” It appeared that he had once more found something to be angry about.
“Dephchare’s already been issued with his” Roozeana said in an effort to show that it wasn’t her decision to make, and she didn’t agree with it either.

“What are Vambraces?” asked Matthew genuinely interested; if Stryka didn’t want him to be given something it must’ve been something important.
“Vambrace’s are weapons made by the cults of Norgor and Isen, they were said to enhance a connection with their respective deities, luckily it did nothing of the sort, and so the weapons were left in a vault…which is where they should’ve been left” he added sternly while glaring at Venotarian disapprovingly. And from behind him Matthew sensed Roozeana doing the same.
“Nah no worries, its not like ‘m gonna abuse ‘em or anythin’, I mean, they hurt” Dephchare said as formally as he could manage.

All this talk of cults, deities and pain had still failed to enlighten Matthew. Venotarian appeared to pick this out and he smiled at Dephchare. “Why don’t you show Faram what we are talking about?” Stryka was about to protest but before he could Dephchare smiled and closed his eyes, suddenly two metal spikes erupted from his back, as they grew larger they folded out until they appeared to be long claws with hinges at certain points to allow articulation. Then the claw on the ends folded out until it was a crude hand made up of metal talons and hinges. The look on Dephchare’s face and the amount of blood flicked around showed that it was indeed a painful process, one that he didn’t really want to go through himself.

“You know what? I agree with Stryka, they look far too dangerous to be given to someone as young as me”.
Roozeana was already running a scanning device up and down his arm and it was then that he noticed two arm shaped objects on the table. They appeared to be a mass of metal struts, like a brace for his arms. ‘Arm brace, Vambraces, smeg!’ but it was too late, one of the two assistants had his right arm firmly in her grip. Before he could protest both his arms were locked in the cold metal embrace.

In the background he could hear Stryka’s shouting protests and Roozeana’s soothing words, but all he could truly focus on was the amazing pain in his arms. The Vambraces were working their way into his arms; it felt like he had lots of burning razor blades being forced into his flesh. It hurt more than all the times he’d been stabbed and burnt combined.  Suddenly the pain disappeared and he was left with a slight stinging sensation as if he’d been stroked with a batch of nettles.

And so there he was, huddled up rocking backwards and forwards sobbing to himself and attempting to rub his arms better, despite the fact that all his fingers were numb. Roozeana crouched down next to him and put one of her long arms round him, her skin wasn’t as he’d expected, instead of being scaly a rough as he’d imagined it was smooth and warm. With her other arm she injected him sharply with a large needle he hadn’t even seen her pick up.
“Its done” she whispered in his ear softly. He looked up from the comforting darkness of his folded arms, his pupils wide from pain. “Your one of us now…or at least as close as possible”. He didn’t understand, he tried to voice this but his jaw quivered and he merely sounded like a window licker.
“That injection contains Phori hormones, over time they should become part of your DNA’s structure” said Venotarian stepping in, reminding people he was still there.

Roozeana’s head snapped up, she stopped embracing Matthew and walked off to the table once more, Matthew dreaded what was going to come next, he hoped that it didn’t involve probing. But rather than the large many pronged object he’d expected her to have it was just a small rectangular box. “You just reminded me, Stryka this is for you” she threw the object to him and he caught it smoothly.
“What is it?”
“It’s a reconfiguration device”. Stryka didn’t need to speak to show that he had no idea what one of those was. “Well you can’t walk around human settlements like you are now, I believe stealth is an important factor?” Venotarian nodded, he didn’t want the human military forces to know of them, they had a habit of investigating things that they didn’t need to. So no doubt a 7 and a half-foot Phori wandering the streets would get a bit of attention. Stryka knew what was coming next and he let out the appropriate groan “Ah slag, why can’t I at least be a canine?”
“Because we don’t know enough about their genetic structure for us to change yours in it, do you understand?”
*
He shook his head, all he knew was he would be spending the next few years pretending to be human, the thought disgusted him. Then something popped into his head “where will we be based? Like you said, we can’t do what we are doing in the middle of human settlements”. Venotarian of course answered that question. “There is an abandoned human building half a mile away from Faram’s home”
“And how do I found that building?”
“The replicator has a tracking device, it’ll lead you to it”. They really had thought of everything, this wasn’t just a quick idea, they had clearly planned everything before he had got out of stasis, which was something he had been meaning to bring up. He had been deceived within minutes of becoming conscious again. They had led him under the assumption that he had been in one of their tanks for a few weeks or months at the most, but he had now come to realise it had been twelve years. To a Phori that normally wouldn’t sound like a long time, twelve years was practically a heartbeat, unless that Phori has a grudge, in which case being cheated out of twelve years of his life was a terrible crime. He had decided he would address the problem upon his return.

Roozeana smiled at him meekly, he couldn’t be angry with her, his old friend, but Venotarian was another matter. But like most of his grudges he had decided to hold onto it. “I’m guessing you want me to try it out” she nodded. It was just for her. He held it on his chest, “now what?” she took a step forward and pressed a button on the box. A long fine needle slammed itself into his heart, it didn’t hurt him much. He felt a warm fluid gushing into his heart, and as the huge muscle pumped one more time he could actually feel it surging through his body. It was only then that the pain started.