Rise of Kings

Chapitre Un

"Well kid, you were born into a family of just you and your parents (I can tell by your mannerisms), you're really antisocial to say the least, and you had a... Wife? No, girlfriend. She must've died, (you've got a lot of sadness, I see plainly), and your magic control is... Well to put it bluntly, you have barely any control over it all. I can tell by the rapid color shifts, obviously revealing your mood." He added, "You've got a lot of anger from bottled-up grief. That's really not good for your health."

Skrilliant sat on the stairway, dumbfounded. He realized his mouth was agape and closed it as the old wolf named Memorian sauntered back into the kitchen.

"How... How can you tell all that?" He said in a weak voice.

"There's a lot you have left to learn, dumb-nut. That's why I'm here, to teach you," Memorian replied, spreading honey on yet another piece of toast. "Now c'mon, have some brunch," he said, offering Skrilliant a piece of his half-eaten toast.

Skrilliant refused as politely as he could manage and stepped forward into the living room. "Why are you here? What are my plans to you?" he asked.

"Well kid, your plans of revenge I've known for quite some time. As for teaching you, that's exactly why. I don't want anyone to pick up on those plans as easily as I did, especially Mira. You know of her, correct?" Skrilliant nodded. "Good. Well, her and I have quite an erm, complicated relationship, and I really don't want her to get all mixed up in this mess," Memorian continued with a faraway look in his eyes.

"But... I thought it was she who ordered the attack on Vesria?" Skrilliant asked confusedly.

"Oh, no, that was entirely the fault of that retard wolf, Greely. Mira has almost nothing to do with that attack," Memorian said, a defensive tone poorly hidden by a veil of indifference.

Skrilliant suspected there was more going on there than Memorian let on, but for one reason or another, he decided not to look into it. "So, how do you know my plans?" He asked suspiciously.

"'Really can't call those little scraps of treason a plan, though, can we? Going into the Shaman's hideout and attacking them? Did you really expect that to work?" Memorian asked passively. Skrilliant sighed and shook his head. "Well, I know of your plot for revenge through a little trick I caught from Zios," he said, an amused look spreading across his face as Skrilliant looked more and more confused.

"I'll explain the details when I'm teaching you, but it's basically feeling the earth, and all the energy flowing through it. When you listen hard enough, you can hear and feel whatever there is that lives and thinks. When I discovered your plans, I was hoping to find where my next meal was hopping around in the woods. Revenge though, is juicier than rabbits, so I came down to Vesria. Except, y'know... It's destroyed. So I gave up for a few months and killed time in the caves surrounding the city." He finished, scratching his ear with a broad hind paw.

Skrilliant thought for a moment, then asked, "So, if you say my plans aren't any good, then what do you suggest?"

"So, I was thinking we could get right down to business, since I have lots to do in other parts now-a days." Memorian said, casually twirling a knife suspended in the air with levitation. "If you have any maps or anything lying around here, that'd be great," he continued. Skrilliant nodded and walked upstairs to retrieve a map from his bedroom.

He came down a minute later, his fur looking more reasonably managed and carrying a map in his jaws. Memorian grunted in approval and spread the map of Jamaa across the dark oak coffee table in the living room.

He pointed to a spot right where the statue of Mira, the great blue heron, was on the map. "That's where the entrance to the city is, yes?" Skrilliant nodded in reply. "You see, the Shamans still don't know about the passage, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Greely's onto us. Before he actually finds any way into it though, we need a preeminent strike so as to minimize the threat. For that," Memorian continued slowly, "I think we'll need to capture Greely. How, though, I have no idea..." his voice trailed off.