Father Arin stood from his throne and approached Tempest. “Follow me,” he gestured. The man led him to a small office room located to the right of the throne, the walls lined with bookshelves and a large wooden desk positioned in the middle of the room. The wise, old figure took his time approaching his desk and sat down. Father Arin then lifted his head and met eyes with Tempest.
“Tempest Amar, son of Hat’os Amar, Ambassador of Cur.” Father Arin greeted him in his own native language.
“I was not aware you spoke my tongue, Father.” Tempest hmm’ed in respect. “I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised.” One thing Tempest did not understand though, was why he would not speak Sulvikian before in front of everyone else.
“As you should be.” Father Arin nodded. “It is wise not to let even your closest comrades become aware of your strengths. Remain unpredictable.” Father Arin answered Tempest’s un-verbalized question. “I wished to speak to you alone because I have been yearning to discuss Aneurin’s situation with you face to face.” Tempest nodded, and the man continued. “I wish to tell you Aneurin and Farah’s story, and to better explain to you your coming here.” Tempest nodded and waited for the man to continue on his own terms.
“As you have found out back in your desert home, almost twenty years ago my teams found Aneurin and Farah, along with Farah’s brother, as young children being held captive in Ray’as territory.
“Farah and her brother were sold into Ray’as slavery by their own mother, who was young and did not want to be responsible for raising children anymore. They do not remember her, but they remember the day they were brought to the Ray’as’ custody very clearly. Aneurin, however, we were unsure of until recently. Until your team discovered those Ray’as notebooks.
At the time of their rescue, we did not know what the Ray’as were planning. Upon your discovery of the notebooks, we know now that they were trying to create the ‘perfect weapon of war’. In trying to do so, they were experimenting on human children. We did not know it then, but Ray’as technology is very advanced. They have technology that allows them to give a person the qualities and natural instincts of many wild animals. They call these qualities ‘genes,’ and by fusing these genes with Aneurin’s human genes they were hoping to create a weapon of mass destruction. Eventually, Aneurin will transform into a beast-like creature and will destroy many civilizations, thousands of lives. He could by himself wipe out half of Euphasia.
“They experimented on Aneurin while he was still in his mother’s womb. We believe that his mother died very shortly after Aneurin’s rescuing. And it has been made obvious to us that neither Farah, her brother, or Aneurin are aware that Aneurin was experimented on.
“We now know that Aneurin is not the only weapon. There are many, and each has their own trigger. Aneurin’s trigger is Farah. It seems it was a horrible mistake to keep them together after their rescue.”
Father Arin paused to take a breath, and to shake his head in disappointment at his League’s own decisions.
“Why did you not separate them when we found out that Aneurin would be triggered by Farah?” Tempest asked, this particular issue having bothered him for a while.
“We were afraid that if we did, that Aneurin would be triggered by the anger of being separated from her. And this is where you come in, Tempest Amar of the desert.”
“You want me to stay with them and observe them, and try to find out if there is anything that can be done to prevent Aneurin’s transformation.” Tempest Amar rolled his eyes at the obviousness of it all. “I thought we had already established this.”
“I just want to remind you of your role in all this. They think that it’s a foreign exchange program... Just let them believe that.”
“It doesn’t matter to me what they believe, really.” Tempest shrugged. Father Arin remained silent, Tempest’s response being good enough. “Do not worry, your trust is well placed. If I am discovered, I have an entire city back home to lose and a family name at stake.”
With that, the desert nobleman sauntered out of the room, letting the large wooden doors shut themselves behind him.
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