I made my way back to the Grey Lizards' base as quickly as I could. I also made sure no one followed me. When I arrived back at the location, I activated the Formations in order it was explained to me, and appeared inside their base. 'It took me a while to reach this place, with these bags full of stuff' I thought. Although I could carry that much, doing so for an extended period of time tired me out anyway.
Just as I was about to reach the open area, a Formation appeared out of nowhere, stopping me dead in tracks. "What the?" I asked myself. A familiar voice sounded in my ears. "You bastard! Let settle some scores, shall we?". I asked confused, "Alicia? What do you mean? What are you doing exactly?". She walked up to me, then replied in an angry tone. "You have no clue, do you? I almost died thanks to you!".
I was even more confused. "What the hell are you on about? We haven't seen each other for a long time. When did I want to kill you exactly?". She activated more Formations while replying, "You damned blocked! You almost destroyed me, with that fucking Varent! How are you going to pay me back for that? HUH!". My mind went blank for a while. I was only able to utter "Oh...".
"Don't "Oh" you fucking bastard! I almost died there. If not for the Formations protecting that place… Pay up". I replied, "Alicia, calm down. We can talk about it". She increased the pressure on the Formation, while I grunted. "Talk about it? TALK ABOUT IT!? I demand compensation, NOW!". I replied a bit angry, "What the hell do you want me to do!? You know damn well I have no money!". She activated more Formations. The pressure increased, and I dropped to my knees unable to stand up anymore. "You dare speak back to me?".
"Alicia! Stop it". The voice of the leader sounded from behind. "Shut up Tulin! This doesn't concern you". I could feel the rage building up inside me, but I suppressed it. "You are right, it's my fault. I can't turn back time anymore, what's done is done. I can only apologize". The force holding me in place stopped, and I was able to move again. Just as I stood up, Alicia's hand was already outstretched in a slapping motion. I could easily evade it, but I deserved to be slapped. "Pak"... "Ow!".
"What the hell are you made out of?", she asked while holding her hand. I didn't feel any pain, instead Alicia felt pain. I said, "I'm sorry. It was never my intention to bring you harm… I was being too reckless". She said, "Come, we will talk in private". Before I followed her though, I left the bags with the leader. "Those are the things, you can start working…". "I said follow me!" Alicia interrupted. I quickly followed her.
We entered one of the empty rooms, where she activated some sort of Formations. "Go on, how are you going to repay me?". I sat down while replying, "You know I don't have any money I can give you? Besides, money doesn't solve this... I can give you medicine. Not that I want this to happen again, but it's the most valuable thing I have with me". She stretched her hand out, while replying with two simple words. "Give me". I took out the Golden Iris from my Storage Feather, and passed it to her.
"This is improved medicine, that even Suly didn't get. It's the best thing I can create currently" I said. She looked at it suspiciously, as if I handed her something fake. "Seriously? You think I would give you something fake? After what happened to you? I can acknowledge my mistakes you know". I then added, "Only one other person in the world has this medicine. That is only because he provided the herbs for me". She hid the bottle, then said "Fine, I will forgive you".
She sat down as well, and stared at me. I wasn't sure what to say. The only thing that came to my mind was my weapon. "Do you have my…". She interrupted, "We can talk about it after I get some answers". I nodded in agreement. She said, "I'm aware why you destroyed Varent. I also find out about their cooperation with Eterians. That doesn't mean I approve of what you did". I replied, "Yea, you are not the only one who told me that". She nodded, "At least you understand. You did what you thought best, I can't fault that. I will only ask you to be careful, next time you want to pull something like that".
I agreed, "You are right. That is why I want to end this war". She asked, "How will you end it?". I shook my head, "I don't know yet. There's been enough bloodshed. If I can expose Eterians, they might stop waging that war". She asked surprised, "So you want a peaceful solution?". I sighed, "I'm no longer able to distinguish who is right, and who is wrong. Why do Eterians fight? Why did Humans destroy Bramans? Why Furians joined the war? All of that is unknown to me. Vanauts are misunderstood, Golems were sick of life, Atols always chose to help out and do whatever was right… It makes me think we are the bad guys here".
She replied, "You wouldn't be wrong". I asked confused, "Do you know something?". She laid back in her chair while replying, "In a way. I chose to live outside, because I could gather information. Lizards are blind Nex, they chase after power. They are the ones who want to own North. Voltars were always annoying and arrogant. The Formations and whatnot inside their cities… Why do you think they wanted for those buildings to float? So they can look at other from above. Shades have their own internal struggle. They might be treating each other well now, but that wasn't the case before the war. A dog eat dog world, if you know what I mean".
I nodded, "I'm aware of those things. But I still don't know the reason for this war". She replied, "Because you don't know about the past. I don't know much either, but I managed to figure some things out. Humans were never saints Nex, but Bramans were even worse". I asked, "What do you mean?". She continued, "You know about Hydra right?". I nodded, while she said "Then you should know one of the theories behind it". I asked, "Are you saying that Bramans really had something to do with Hydra?".
She nodded, "That is what I believe. I'm not completely sure, but it seems probable to me. If Hydra is here due to Bramans, there is no wonder why Humans would want to exterminate them". I asked, "Didn't Hatmandor deal with Hydra?". She replied, "Yes they did. But as you saw yourself, they didn't destroy it. You ever wondered why?". I asked, "Because Hydra was too strong for them?". She replied, "That could be one explanation. Another would be… They wanted to use it themselves if such need arose".
I asked, "What about Eterians and Furians then?". She replied, "Eterians were weaker than Bramans. No, I shall put it differently. Eterians couldn't manipulate Bramans, their illusions and charms simply didn't work on them… At least according to the stuff I unearthed. Bramans were fighting a losing war against Humans, it's not true that Eterians stayed out of it during that time". 'Humans always told me we were betrayed, does that refer to that then?' I asked myself.
She continued, "As for Furians? You are mistaken. They are not fighting willingly". I already suspected that Eterians manipulated Furians in a way. She confirmed my suspicion. I said, "I kind of expected that. I also figured out, how they could control them. Eterians have access to special poison. A poison that seals Auras. Furians have Auras too right?". She nodded, "That is true. If such poison was used, they would be better able to control the whole Furian population. I didn't hear about this poison though, but it seems you are quite sure". I replied, "But that is present, what about the past?".
She said, "Look at Lizards. The Royals manipulated the whole race into believing we betrayed them. Couldn't Eterians do the same to Furians. Convince them that Humans are their enemies. There will be those who don't believe it, just like there are Lizards who don't believe Royals. But Eterians can easily control that, and that they did for a very long time. A lot of that is speculation, as I don't have concrete proof. Yet it just fits together, doesn't it?".
It did fit together, but I wasn't sure why the war started in the first place. I asked, "Couldn't Eterians slowly overtake the whole North? Why wage a war? Why do such a thing? Revenge? Showing off?". She shook her head, "That I don't know. It's weird to me as well. If Eterians slowly manipulated the higher standing people, and controlled everything from the shadows… It would be possible. Somehow, it seems to me they are rushing. As if they have very little time". It kind of looked that way. 'At the beginning, they wanted to overtake everything quietly, but then they changed into frontal attacks. It does feel like they are running out of time, but what exactly is rushing them?' I asked myself.
Alicia said, "The Land of Mirages is the answer. You wanted to disperse the mist, if we can achieve that, we might be able to learn a few more things". I nodded, "Yes, I will go back to check the mist out. I also brought equipment from Sedon. As long as we have means of defending, we should be alright… So what about my weapon?". She sighed, "It's not done yet… In a way. The weapon is finished, but I still need to do all the Formations… If not for...". I stopped her, "I get it, it's my fault. You don't need excuses really, I will wait. I asked because I'm curious". She added, "It will be done. You will get your armour with the weapon when they are ready. Find out what that mist is about, then return here". I nodded and left the place.
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