Ocean Blue

Chapter 15

(Have some human Lotor because hngh, I miss him so much)

"Welcome."

Keith blinked at the white-haired young man in front of him. "Who are you? Are you the 'wise man'?"

"Wise. Knowledgeable. People often confuse the two. I like to think that I am wise, though."

Keith blinked again. "Okay. Fine. Are you the one we came here to find?"

One white eyebrow rose. "I don't know. Am I?"

"Look, I don't have time for this. The villagers told us that we had to come up here to find some kind of elusive wise-man that has apparently ordered them to kill all the whites. Is that you?"

"You are a touch impatient. I would advise slowing down. If you do everything in a rush, you might make a mistake."

Keith growled, grabbing the man by his collar. "I did not fight through four warriors who were fond of punching me to deal with some smarmy white-haired cryptic who won't even give me a straight answer! Are you the person that I was sent up here to find?!"

"Yes," the man answered simply, "My apologies for Zethrid, Narti, Ezor and Axca; they're quite protective of me. My name is Lotor. Now, release me, Keith."

Keith let go in shock. "How did you—"

"I know many things." A slight smile curled at the edge of Lotor's lips. "And it's not exactly hard to guess when you hear people screaming the name Keith all up the path. You seem like the kind who would constantly have people screaming at you."

Behind him, Allura, Shiro and Romelle entered quietly. Lotor's gaze slid over all of them, lingering on Allura. "Hello, Princess."

Allura flushed a bright red. "Um- I'm not—"

"We're all friends here, Princess. There's no need to hide."

Keith stared at her. "Whoa, wait, Princess?!"

"That's not really the word," Allura snapped, "It's just- the best translation into your tongue."

"And you were mad at me for hiding things? Allura—"

"It doesn't matter, okay?" Allura yelled, "My people are dead, except for the few on this island! It doesn't matter who I was the princess of!"

"Stop this," Shiro said sharply to Lotor, "Stop dividing us."

"You did that yourself, with secrecy and lies. I simply accelerated the rate. Now, why did you come here?"

"You have orders down in the village," Romelle asserted, "You say to kill any man with pale skin."

"No, I told them merely to protect themselves from those who would enslave and kill them. They chose the path of death." A brief smile flitted across Lotor's face. "Amazing, how the human mind twists towards violence. If there is a death sentence on your head, rest assured that I release you from it. But that's not all you came for."

It wasn't a question, but Allura answered anyway. "No. We need to know about the pirates who are hunting us. Are they human?"

Lotor shook his head. "Far from it. They are what you call Ilimu, although they prefer to call themselves the Galra."

"What do they want?"

"What they've always wanted. The ruin of the world as we know it. They are after a few things. Or, rather, their leaders are. First, they want an amulet."

An image of an amulet appeared, a mass of loops with a glittering red gem in the center.

"This amulet has extreme power. It enhances strength and enables the user to clone themselves. No one knows for sure what other powers it might have, but they do know that it is a very dangerous artifact."