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Quest: Labyrinth of Davaathia {New beginnings pt.3} [Private Group]

Started by almighyxcavus, October 02, 2017, 08:20:24 PM

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Celegwen

Hakan knew that he was going to have a complicated - to say the least - conversation coming when Darkhor awoke. So don't want to do this, he thought to himself, rubbing the back of his neck.

He just walked away, climbing up into the crows nest to be alone. There was nothing he could do. It was over and done with; a result that didn't really surprise him. He knew the fate of any children he conceived, so he had been preparing himself since he found out about the pregnancy. Darkhor, on the other hand, will have no warning as to what happened.

Taiga nodded to Kara after the babies were taken by the unknown man. His appearance would have shocked most people, but the very few things could really surprise Taiga. There was a part of her heart that broke for her brother and Darkhor. Hakan should've known better than to get himself into that situation, but Darkhor was made a victim of her brother's games.

She saw how upset Rima suddenly became at the infants passing and stepped over. "There was nothing you could have done," Taiga said softly. The tenderness in her voice was one none of them had heard from her, but it was a delicate subject.

Rima, Kara, and Kiron immediately turned their attention to her, and Taiga leaned against the side of the ship. "It's something Hakan should've told Darkhor a while ago, but there was nothing you could've done to save those children. You can have all the healers in the world and it would still be pointless.

"Those kids were never even truly alive. If an Elemental spawns a child, it will be dead or powerless. If it's dead, it was never actually alive. At least not with a full soul. It might've seemed like they were growing and healthy, but he all was carrying were ten little parasites that fed on his energy and would've come out dead anyway." It was a dark thing to put into words, but it had to be said. With the passion Rima had in her eyes, it was very possible she would try to get the babies back. That would only cause more unnecessary pain.

"Land!" Hakan called from the crows nest. He pointed in front of the ship, revealing the defined outline of Yoreiq.

almighyxcavus

Kiron flew up to the crow's nest. He couldnt believe it, there was no way they were an entire day ahead of schedule. But Hakan was right, the port of Ainu was seamlessly drawing closer and closer with every minute. Kiron shouted: "LAND HO MATEYS! RAISE THE BACK SAIL AND SWAB THE POOP DECK CAUSE WE'RE GONNA DOCK SOON!"

Kiron was overjoyed, the sight of land was a miracle. Two months on the ocean was a practical nightmare to experience. It was good to finally able to settle on firm land for a little bit.

Kara was still tending to Darkhor. He started to nudge a bit showing signs of consciousness. "Hey Dark? You there bud? It's me Kara. Im taking care of you." Kara's voice was sweet and gentle, like a mother looking after her child. Kiron overheard this and was slightly shocked that this over the top woman could actually show signs of being normal for once, but hey who on this is normal in all retrospect?

SeRimas docked in the port of Ainu where they were greeted by many of people with beautiful and gorgeous wings. He turned back to the crew: "Everyone! We leave for the island at sundown! In the meantime have some fun and resupply we're gonna need it!" Kiron was carried off by many gorgeous women with wings, he tried his best to fight back but there was just too many. Oh goodness Rima please dont get the wrong idea please.

Kara chuckled before realizing Dark had finally managed to open his eyes. She could imagine how he was going to react once he fully awoke. Dark please let me explain everything...

Darkhor Saurguse

Darkhor had awoken but something just... felt... strange. When he heard and saw Kara speaking to him and it dawned on him that his babies were not there with him. Tears began to stream down his cheeks as he clutched himself and brought his knees up to his chest. The drakkollis had a long whine that came from his throat. Afterwards his voice croaked and he reached out to Kara, "Where are my babies? And where is that bitch Hakan? What did you all do to me? You... kicked me in the head..."

Darkhor had his head hung down and his arm dropped limply. He sighed and spoke quietly, "I don't know if I want to see him or even speak to him... He... lied to me... that has broken my heart more than anything in my life." The last part of the sentence became a whisper, "I have never been this sad in my life... Not even being driven from my own homeland and so many close and dear people that had their lives lost made me this sad. I feel so... tired..." Then he started yelling, "What is this deep feeling? Does Hakan even realize what he has done? And I will ask again... Where are my babies?!" The drakkollis's voice cracked and sounded dry and he sounded he was in despair.

Meanwhile Raukaas was hanging out with Taiga and asking a whole lot of questions like any curious child would do. The little drakkollis would ask some of the same questions he asked before that were from a day ago like, "Are we going to be there yet?" But it never seemed to cease with his unending curiosity. He was determined to do things, things that his father was already quite capable of doing.

Sheshia

Rima watched as the women carried Kiron. She whistled to Pepper who comes running. "Okay little buddy let's go find stuff to eat." Rima smiles a bit scratching the little guy's head. She was still upset about Darkhor's babies but it would be better if she moved on from that even if she was still aching on the inside.
Pepper squeaked and climbed onto her shoulder, "Maybe find some chickens to eat and go whore slaying." Pepper tilts it's head as the two of them get off the ship searching for food, drinks and crazy fan girls that need a lesson. Soon they disappeared in the crowd of people doing who knows what.

Celegwen

"I'll stay," Hakan whispered to Taiga, as she approached him and left Raukaas to his father's care. "You have bigger things to worry about."

"I wouldn't just to that," she said. "Darkhor's awake." Hakan's groan was all she needed. Taiga squeezed her brother's shoulder and walked off the ship.

The crowds at the port were bustling, and everyone was excited to meet the newcomers. Taiga avoided it, leading Calconirr and Kaeligar off the ship. The horse ignored everyone, while Calconirr enjoyed the attention to his master's surprise. She locked eyes with a young man with scaled wings, standing with a young woman. They were far from the crowd, but he immediately saw Taiga. She started in a sprint down the beach, followed by her animal companions, and leapt into his arms.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you!" She said.

Otikoro smiled, placing her back down on the ground. "I think I do, Tai. How have you-"

"Not the time," she said, cutting him off. Oti looked at Shreya, who handed him the rootsphere. Brother and sister sat down together, fingers interlocked.

Oti looked at Shreya. "Find my brother on the ship," he said. "His name is Hakan. Tell him who you are and that I sent you." Then, he took a bite of the rootsphere and had Taiga do the same to begin the ritual.

Meanwhile, Hakan stood at the edge of the ship. He paid no attention to the women flocking around Kiron, nor Rima suddenly running off. The man walked over to Darkhor with his eyes seemingly glazed over.

"They're dead, Darkhor," he said simply. It wasn't the most sensitive he could've been, but there was no use beating around the bush. "They were never alive in the first place. Sorry I didn't tell you, but if you want me to be honest, I expected to be long gone by the time this happened."

Smiley

Shreya nodded and gave Taiga a friendly smile before running off towards the ship. Her nose twitches as she retraced Taiga's scent. The crowd made it difficult however due to the different fumes coming from all types of places.
The ship was final in view, Shreya gently pushed past people giving small 'excuse me's and pardons if she thought she was to pushy. The ramp was down on the dock. Shreya's eyes looked around as she made her way up to the main deck of the boat. She saw Hakan standing at the edge of the boat with Darkhor. They seemed to be in a intense conversation.
Shreya didnt catch what Hakan had said though for she knew it was not her place to ease drop into private discussions. Shreya didn't want to intrude but she was given an order so she coughed loud enough to grab the two male's attention.
"I'm sorry to interuppt" Shreya excused herself for she felt wrong disrupting a conversation that seemed important. "You're Hakan right? My name is Shreya and your brother, Otikoro, has sent me to find you" the eolf looked at Darkhor and gave him a simple nod in greeting.

almighyxcavus

Kara sat Dark up for a moment and embraced him with a sincere hug as she spoke into his ear. "You had an accelerated pregnancy. All of your children, every, single, one was stillborn. Dark please dont take this the wrong way ok? Heck I even had an old friend of mine come and make sure that each and every one of them were taken to Paradise." Kara's voice began to break, "I'm so-sorry Dark. I had to give you a discount C-section in order to get them out. I didn't want you awake because I could only imagine the pain you would be in. Please forgive me..."

This was unnatural for Kara, this display of emotion only came out at something she truly despaired. The death of children was no exception to this. She remembered each one of their cute little faces and the realization that each one of them were stillborn. It brought a tear to Kara's eye. "I'm sorry..."

Kiron was being handled by a group of women as he perused through the markets. He caught a glimpse of Taiga and what he presumed to be her brother Otikoro. Kiron snuck his way away from the girls and sat a fair distance away observing the ritual they were performing.

Darkhor Saurguse

Darkhor was not surprised nor was he expecting all of this at this point. He just then said very quietly, "Nothing." The drakkollis just... simply stood up and ignored Hakan walking right past him. He obviously was not stable upon walking out, his body was shaking and trembling. Stretching out his massive wings then folding them.

Stepping down the SeRimas he was ignore the crowd at first, he didn't acknowledge the wolf that had interrupted the conversation. Darkhor was done talking and didn't wish to speak further. At the moment he had begun to walk along the sand someone there found Darkhor to be very familiar. He saw Taiga and Otikoro sitting down doing a ritual of some kind but he stayed a certain distance away from them to avoid to be disrupting anything accidentally. The drakkollis felt lightheaded and weak standing still and not sitting down.

A young drakkollis had seen it. The thought crossed his mind immediately, "Darkhor... Oh my gods..." The Nigasche drakkollis sprinted across the beach yelling loudly in excitement and happiness, "FATHER!!!" He ran and jumped hugging Darkhor burying his face into his arms crying. The young drakkollis with dark brown tanned skin who stood 6 feet tall whose body was very muscular made a weak punch to Darkhor's shoulder sobbing, "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE ME LIKE THIS AGAIN!"

The moment of this Darkhor's knees buckled and he collapsed, "Froig..." He didn't have it in him to speak even with someone he had not seen in a while. Within seconds later he felt himself suddenly being lifted off of the ground and being carried towards the crowd. Froig had completely lost his fear of all the people but it was only temporarily until he would realize where he was. The drakkollis then asked Darkhor, "Where's Raukaas? Is he OK? Is he here?! Please please please tell me father!"

Raukaas ran down the ship's ramp, "Dad!....." Then the little drakkollis made big wide eyes, "FROIG?!" He made a shrill cry and ran up to him stopping when he saw he was carrying their father. He waited patiently until Darkhor was set down, "I never thought I'd be actually carrying dad. It was always the other away around." Then the two drakkollis looked at each other and hugged one another, "What's wrong with father?"

Froig finally asked the question setting Raukaas down who answered, "He's been really sad..." Then nodding his head with a look of growing concern, "What is he sad for? Do you know why Rauk?" "Uhm... Just... ask dad or everyone else who was on the trip...", Raukaas looked down at his feet not really wanting to talk about this but rather just spend time with Froig and the others having fun. Froig asked quickly, "Dad. Can you answer me? Or is this not really the time?" Darkhor did not give the response Froig wanted, he just sighed and put his head down.

The young drakkollis just tossed his hands up and let them fall to his sides, "Great... He's acting like he just lost mom all over again. He didn't speak for a full month and just... did this... and cried and slept a lot. He also didn't eat hardly a thing and I thought he was going to die. Rauk just forget I brought this up." Then he walked away and poked Raukaas on the shoulder who squeaked and squealed running off. He ran right past Taiga and Otikoro screaming with delight while Froig chased right after him yelling, "Raukaas! Get back over here! Uuuuggggghhh fine..." He tagged Rauk who turned around clung onto his back. The first instinctual thing Froig did was fling him off of his back, when the little drakkollis fell he got back up grabbing him and squealing not even caring that he was flung a bit frighteningly aggressive strength which the older younger drakkollis could have hurt him.

While the two were focused on one another and Kiron being preoccupied with the crowd of people Darkhor got up and wandered off. It was aimlessly going in different directions. The adult drakkollis wasn't thinking straight and ended up about in the same area of where Rima was possibly at. He found Rima shopping for food and some supplies. Upon walking up to her he made a deep and menacing growl directed at Rima.

He stared down at her, the eye color turning to a sickly yellow color. A long drawn out hiss came out breathily as he loomed over her. Aggression was present but all that came to mind was anger, revenge, fear, jealousy and the need to pick on something in a cruel way to satisfy his needs. Darkhor Slammed a massive hand down in front of Rima. Not a word was spoken as he shoved her further away from the group and the others people who were present, he felt that sudden loss of control of himself and he was not able to regain it continuing to do his actions.

Sheshia

Rima jumps a bit when Darkhor slammed his fist down on the table infront of here.  "What gives Dark-" She glares at Darkhor about to say something else bit he started pushing her away from the group. Making her drop the potatoes.  No one messed with her potatoes but in this case this was different as he was twice her size.  She felt a dark and angry aura coming from him. This wasn't good,  he was growling and hissing. This got her terrified as she never seen him this way before. Even when he was a hormonal mess going up and down on emotions like the waves of the ocean.

Pepper and Rima look at each other for a moment before Pepper glares at Darkhor and bares his teeth fluffed up. By now they we're pretty far away.  She has enough of Darkhors little antic and elbows him in the leg and pushes him away,  "Hey! " She backs up a bit ready to slap him if needed or summon her dagger.  Pepper was defiantly ready to sink his teeth into the giant being. They weren't  the kind to be pushed around much. But if they had good intentions they were find but if it was aggressive like in Darkhor's case they would not stand for it.  "What the hell gotten into you you giant chimera lizard!?  "

Celegwen

The ritual being performed was simple, but time consuming. For anyone watching, it would seem like they were just holding hands in a meditative state. For anyone with a keen eye or experience with the astral plane, they would be able to see the souls of Taiga and Otikoro sitting beside their bodies.

Rootsphere was a cleansing agents of sorts, specific to possession. As long as the possessed person had someone stronger to hold onto during the expulsion of the spirits, the ritual should go smoothly. The souls exit the bodies, and the possessing spirit is left with nothing to really cling onto. Overall, the ritual took about half an hour, but to those involved, it felt like mere seconds.

Hakan looked at the eolf girl and smirked. "I am. Any friend of Oti's...such and such." He looked her up and down. "My sister's preoccupied, so I'll introduce you to everyone else. That's Kara. She's a little emotional right now. Long story, but I'm pretty sure she's in love with me."

Followed by Strinti, Hakan and Shreya walked onto the island; Hakan's first time in Yoreiq. It was certainly beautiful, and there were so many people! That came as a bit of a surprise. They took care to walk around the crowd. Hakan pointed out Taiga, then Kiron who apparently was watching the ritual take place. He told her who Raukaas was, but couldn't figure out where the other drakkollis had come from. Continuing on, Hakan followed the path on which Rima had gone, until...

Shreya and Hakan stopped, seeing Rima in a defensive stance against Darkhor. The man ran up to them, standing between them and keeping clear of the pissed off ball of fluff. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked. "Oh, uh, Rima, Darkhor, this is Shreya. Shreya, Rima and Darkhor. Now, everyone just calm down! We're finally off that damned ship, so now is not the time to rip each other apart!"

Smiley

Shreya calmly walked over to the three nodded at the two looking back and forth between the ruffled people and the creature on Rima's back. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the three. The scent that Rima carried was one of agitation yet hinted with fear. Darkhor had the scent of anger and an aura for revenge. Not only that, Darkhor looked like he was about to explode for his eyes seemed to glow and the noise his throat was making was threatening.
Shreya's body tense glad she stretched her wrist and flexed her fingers, most likely getting ready for a fight. She kept silent though watching the scene unfold and the body language of the creatures in front of her.

almighyxcavus

"Hakan's right. Dark hun, what has gotten into you this time? Come with me because you are not ripping anyone apart when we literally have some free time to relax after being on the ship for two damn months. Come with me." Kara motioned Dark to follow her over to the local market. "And if you don't come I'm going to knock you out again." She said jokingly with a smile.

Kiron was fascinated with the ritual that Taiga and Oti were performing. He was just sitting there and so was sh... Kiron had fallen asleep within the first 5 minutes or so of watching the ritual. At this point it would take a miracle to wake him up.

Darkhor Saurguse

Darkhor was now very silent and his tail didn't waggle around like it had always done even when he was seen upset and the whole roundabout of emotions. His growling and hissing had stopped completely. The drakkollis's face was expressionless which none had seen him do before. He stared at everyone around him with a cold look in his eyes which was very eerie. He let Rima go and turned around summoning his long sharp iron claws.

The drakkollis has never shown anything eerie about himself ever until now. Taking his claws he began to tear and cut his feathers off of his wings. The already bare spots from before were now much more visible. The black foggy mist enveloped him for around maybe 10 minutes or so which  blew away revealing Darkhor. Around him a pile of his own feathers lay, his wings were completely bare, dragon and devil like now.

He whirled around to face them which his appearance had slightly changed. Darkhor looked more like a devil with his wings like this and that his teeth became a little more sharp. The drakkollis finally spoke,  "Feels better this way. That is what father told me. He just told me to do this so I did. I am angry but it feels pleasing because father Duarthi demands it to be this way. It shall be... Sacrifices in innocent blood and fire to burn the bones of innocents. Yakzerrassa shall shun upon my actions." He made it sound like he was blaming his father for all this but all in reality it was directed towards Hakan. He dragged his sharp claws in the sand before bringing it back up.

After all that he became very silent and followed Kara slowly in his steps, "Ignore everything I just did..." He whispered to Kara, "Forgive me... I just can't bare to see Hakan anymore... I also..." He trailed off as he walked but it was another thing that was obviously bothering him.

Sheshia

Rima was shaken up from what just happened. Darkhor seriously was fine but maybe the lose of his children could have pushed him over the edge, still that was uncalled for. Not to mention he completely changed. Black fog was never good but she couldn't see anything no matter how hard she tried to see if their was an aura about him.

Pepper was still pissed and fluffed up but he eventually settled down, making a slight mental note that he would need to be even more weary around the foggy-spiky pissed giant. He nuzzles close to Rima and she picks him up holding him close keeping quiet, "Lets go buddy we still have shopping to do." She looks at Shreya with a questioning expression, "Sorry you had to see that." Pepper sniffs the air around Shreya before jumping back a bit still shaken up about the encounter with Darkhor.

Smiley

Shreya watched as Darkhor turned from rage into a creature but it was over in a secpndeaving behind a perhaps guilty man.  She watched as Darkhor fade fron view along side Kara.
With the whole ordeal out the way, and for good hopefully. Shreya smiled and replied with "it's okay" before turning her attention back to Pepper. The poor creature was so terrified she was shaking her fur off.
Shreya felt bad for Pepper and carefully scooped her into her embrace, softly mumbling something in her ear making the creature calm a bit.

Celegwen

With Darkhor slinking away from them, Hakan just shrugged. He didn't know what was going on with the drakkollis, but he really didn't have the energy to care too much. Kara seemed to have him under control, and it was probably best that Hakan didn't force his presence. "Big baby," he grumbled.

He walked over towards his siblings. The ritual would probably be almost complete at that point, so he figured he'd actually greet his brother. Hakan saw Kiron passed out on the beach and smirked, knowing he was spying on the ritual. He kept his distance as well, watching his siblings' souls renter their bodies. They fell limp, then awoke with gasps.

The duo stood and embraced each other. Kaeligar got to his feet, shaking out his mane, and Hakan walked over. Though he and Taiga managed to see each other seasonally, Otikoro living across the sea made visitation a bit more difficult. The brothers squeezed each other with smiles, then Oti landed a powerful right hook on Hakan's jaw. The young man fell to the ground, his jaw having made a crack! Taiga watched in shock, as Oti helped Hakan up. Crack!

"What the hell?" Hakan said, laying on the sand again with his hand on his jaw.

Otikoro's eyes burned. "You were foolish enough to conceive a chi-" He stopped himself, scowling for a moment. "Children. Not only that, but then you lied to the one who carried your parasitic spawn! And you used Tak'karan's timespren! He should kill you, but we'll have to settle for me." Oti slammed his fist into Hakan's cheek, drawing blood on his fist and Hakan's face and forcing Hakan to eat sand.

Taiga put her hand on Oti's shoulder, silently telling him that it was enough. Hakan definitely got the message. Oti ran his hands back through his hair, smoothing down the messy locks and taking a deep breath. He calmed himself and smiled. "I see Shreya's made herself welcome," he said, seeing the girl hug Pepper. "Good."

Hakan looked at Oti in disbelief, spitting the sand out with a grimace. "I'm gonna..." She gestured towards Kiron and jogged off in his direction with her wolf and horse following. Calconirr laid halfway on Kiron, the large wolf repeatedly licking the dragon man's face to Taiga's amusement.

almighyxcavus

Kara smiled as she half turned towards Darkhor. "Don't worry about bro, and being completely honest, I kinda like the no feather look. Suits the devil side of you pretty well. Now what you need is just some time to relax and get stuff off your min-" Kara bumped into a sign that read:

Ainu's Luxury Hot Springs

Rubbing her nose a bit she spoke again: "Sweet! We're here! I highly recommend putting away your claws though. Ya might scare off other patrons, even though they should be accustomed to travelers already. I'm gonna head inside, meet me in about 15 minutes in the forever pool. It's a hot spring and a waterfall at the same time! How cool is that! Anyways, I'm going to go have some fun before we meet up." Kara smirked.

She yanked off her bandages revealing her breasts, before screaming: "Ladies! Here I coooooooome!" She sprinted off towards the woman's changing room leaving Dark just outside of the entrance. It wasn't long after before you could hear the screams and moans of other woman in the room.

Calconirr's attempt at waking Kiron was quite the waste of time. Kiron had entered a trance-like state altogether. Whether it was a side effect of the ritual, or just plain magic, no one knew.

Where the hell am I? Kiron looked around and saw nothing but astral walkways to what seemed to go on forever. He chose the one straight ahead of him. It was the only pathway that seemed to be a straight line. As he walked the stars began to come closer, almost forming a wall around him as he walked. He was forced to stop for a moment when he saw a star project his birth. It had to be Kiron because of the tiny wings and the color of his scales. He looked nothing like his father in terms of scales, but the dragon face made perfect sense. He moved along the walkway, he witnessed what happened to him as a child. Raider's had snuck into the captain's quarters and stole Kiron right out of his mother's arms. Thankfully they didn't perish in the fight, but his father Aithusa could not find the thief at all.

Kiron kept moving, he couldn't bear to see the rest of what happened. He saw his oprhanage in another projection. The place where everyone hated him, just for having dragon blood. He continued and saw himself grow, the day he was stoned, the day he was raped, the day he became the sword of Ardal. All leading up to today. He saw Calconirr licking his face attempting to wake Kiron up.

I guess I do have some good friends here.

Indeed you do, grandson.

Kiron whirled around to see grandpa Zu once more. I told ya I'd visit when ya made it to the island.

Kiron rushed over to the astral wolf and hugged him. Zu patted Kiron's head before almost choking from Kiron's bear hug. SO what's going on now? Well, the ritual your friend performed, released the spirits within her body. Thus they have no control over her now. In theory that is a great outcome, but in practice, they are basically waiting to kill you before you reach the labyrinth. Great. So what do we do then? The best thing you can do is try to get into the labyrinth as fast as possible. I don't have much time, you're about to wake up. Just be careful in the labyrinth, past the 20th level, things start to get rough.

Wait! Wait!

"Wait!" Kiron spoke as he finally left his trance-like state. He looked over to Calconirr, who was still licking him. "Ah bud, I didn't think you of all things actually liked me."

Darkhor Saurguse

Darkhor waited there and thought to himself, "Why am I just waiting here?" He dropped the claws on the ground and stripped of all his clothes not giving a shit of how others would think. He didn't use any dressing rooms and just went straight to the spring. The drakkollis slipped into the water his body changing again and laid back. Within a few minutes or so he just fell asleep soaking in the warmth.

Smiley

When Pepper seemed to calm down Shreya handed her back to Rima, patting the small creature on her head, a simple friendly gesture. The noise of someone getting punched drew Shreya's attention back towards Otikoro and Hakan.
Her eyes landed on Hakan, who was on the ground holding his bleeding cheek and a very pissed off or frustrated Otikoro, Shreya cpuld not tell. However, she did know that whatever Hakan did to get punched he derserved it. A hum of approval sounsed from Shreya's mouth as Oti calmed down from his anger high. She got Oti's attention with a simple wave and gestured towards signaling that she was ging to shop and look around. The girl did not wait for a response and disappeared into the crowded like it was nothing.
The shops lined up offering a bunch of supplies and goodies that Shreya needs or wants to treat herself with. Her eyes gleamed as she looked at some aketchbooks and new knives, however, the thing that caught her eye most was a necklace with black string and a pair of small silver feathers attached to the string.

Celegwen

Taiga crouched next to Kiron on the ground, her elbows resting on her legs. "He doesn't like you," she said. "He's tasting you. Cal." She patted her hip twice, and the wolf sat down.

She stood, scratching behind his ears. Taiga glanced back to see Oti walking over to them. He put his hand on his sister's shoulder, wiping the blood off of his fist and offering to shake Kiron's hand. "You must be Kiron," he said with a genuinely polite smile. "My name is Otikoro. I am Taiga and Hakan's brother, and the Water Elemental."

Hakan winced, touching his cheek and standing. He got slightly dizzy, but quickly regained his composure. Avoiding eye contact with Oti, Hakan walked into the crowd to join Shreya. He smiled slightly when she found a silver feather necklace. "Allow me," he said, pulling out his coin purse and taking the necklace. He held the necklace up, silently asking for permission to put it on her.

Oti's smile suddenly faded, as he looked intently at Kiron. "That was quite a dream," he said. "You've had an interesting life, but this person... Zukiro, is it? His warning stands true. The labyrinth you are to enter has dangers like you've never seen. Nothing you have ever learned will compare to what you'll experience, but I can guarantee it will be an incredible adventure."

His smile returned. "I've ventured into this labyrinth more than once, so heed my advice. Listen to my sister, if she warns you of something. You can listen to my brother at your own discretion. He is a fool and knows nothing about what you're to face. One more thing... Listen to your grandfather, but do not rely only on the words of a deceased wolf."

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