“You are absolutely… short," he notes in turn. "You shall be my first subject here on Rextopia.”
“Named the place after yourself, did you?”
“I did. I felt it appropriate.”
I’m sure it did. Rex has the kind of demeanor which makes him being generally in control seem sensible.
Now that he’s closer, I see that his face is truly incredible. Very handsome, but also very alien. He has a splash of gold scaling around his brows, and then those very dark orbs which mark him as something strange, though I suppose horses have very similar eyes with the big darkness. He exudes calm and strength. I have to admire that he was stranded here and began to immediately take command of this new realm.
"As my subject, you shall kneel when you greet me. You shall worship me, and above all, you shall obey me.”
* * *
Rex
She is looking at me as if she suddenly does not understand. I wonder if our dubious linguistic connection is suddenly gone.
“Uh. Yeah," she says in a manner I find charmingly awkward. “So, where I’m from, we don’t really worship people anymore? It’s not really a thing.”
She is not what I expected. I thought they would send someone rougher, perhaps more dangerous. She is supposed to be the worst of the worst, and yet she seems to be entirely, well, normal. Inoffensive. Perhaps even average.
No. Those things must be illusions. She has come here because she deserves to be here. None land in this world without cause. This human, this Kristine, needs to be instructed in the ways of my realm.
“You are no longer where you have come from. You are here now, and you are my subject. In time, you may even become a loyal subject.”
She wrinkles her forehead and then shakes her head completely.
“I feel like I don’t want to do that, though.”
I can see that she is headstrong. That must be part of the reason for her arrival here, which remains a mystery no matter how much she may have pretended to explain herself to me. This is not a place for the innocent. But my realm is also not a place for the rebellious and disobedient. I would take her and whip her, force her into submission. It would be easy enough to do, though it would no doubt be less effective than making her force herself into submission. So, instead of enforcing my will with rough physicality, I bring her to sudden acceptance.
“Very well. Enjoy your stay on Rextopia.” I swing myself back up into the saddle and make preparations to leave.
“Wait! If you leave me here, I’ll die. I don't know how to survive in a world where there are no supermarkets.” She calls out with true desperation and fear, indicating she does understand the grave danger she is in.
She is not stupid, this human female who finds herself here for all the punishment in the universe. Though it would have perhaps been more kind to allow her to be consumed within seconds of her arrival, it would also have been a waste.
“There is only room on this dinosaur mount for loyal subjects.”
“Fine! I’ll be your loyal subject.” She gives in after four sentences, and my kingdom doubles in the blink of an eye.
She is a good and sturdy subject. I have not encountered her species before, but I find her quite fascinating. I am curious about the reason she wears the image of some kind of clawed creature upon her chest.
“Have you battled long for your ginger lord?”
“What?”
I gesture toward her clothing, which bears the visage of what would appear to be some kind of diminutive feral beast.
She looks down at herself in surprise. “Oh. Oh, this is just a cat that likes lasagne. It’s not like, a lord or anything.”
“Why would you wear the imagery of something you do not believe in?”
“I… uh… I mean, I believe in liking lasagne. I’m just not going to go to war for a made-up cat.”
“Ah.” I pretend I understand, though I understand nothing. In my previous realm, only warriors wore such symbols. They were sacred and they were defended with fierce aggression. This human barely seems to care about her cat idol. I wonder if that is the cause of her misfortune.
I believe this world we now find ourselves in to be a realm of punishment. The beasts which roam it are dark and violent, they consume with ferocity and they at times seem to feel nothing besides a deep and complete hunger.
This human must also be hungry. I know I was ravenous when I found myself cast here. I know that I wished to consume the lives of others, to take them and destroy them. She is angry about losing her human riches, limited as they may have been.
I reach down and pull her up behind me. She makes various squeaking and grunting sounds which I take to indicate surprise and general excitement. Then she wraps her arms around my waist. I realize she is merely attempting to remain mounted for she clearly has no balance when it comes to riding. I like the way her soft hands feel pressed against my abdomen. I have not had any contact with another hot blooded sentient being for many, many months. So many months, I have lost count of them.