Memoir of Xayah - The lost sparrow and the lonley fox

[4.2]

The Vastaya might have seen again the rage that she was trying to suppress, so he had decided to use some diplomacy. She thanked him because calm was what she needed at that precise moment. Only if she was holding her nerve she would be able to face that conversation without killing her interlocutor.

« As I was saying, we are just some war orphans that want to make our world a better place, but on our own is very difficult: if we use the dark power of the shadows, we will become stronger. But, as you are surely thinking, it is very dangerous to gain the power of the shadow arts without training. We need guidance, someone who could teach us how to use them. » explained Zakai.

The conversation was becoming interesting. She had thought that darkness was an independent entity and that it had gained more power because of the distraction brought by humans. Knowing that someone was able to control it, she could answer some doubts. She had them since she had freed the temple of her tribe from the shadows, and now she had the situation more clear.

«Do you want to join the Order of Shadows? » asked, hoping to gain some information about them.

Her instinct was telling her that the two points were connected: if a group was involved with darkness, they will be able to manipulate it.

But Zakai denied and changed the subject.

«To join them means to bow to their leader's will and I do not want to kneel before a psycho. So, after some researches, we have found amore powerful source that will not make us enter a group. »

She would have never expected that, but she was listening to that human.She did not agree with his ideas and she would have never trusted him. But his plan could involve her mission.

Zakai opened one of the pockets on his belt and took out a piece of paper. He opened it and put it on the table, showing a map of that southern region of Ionia. There was only one big center, the other were all smaller. Probably they were in one of them.

There was only one point circled with charcoal at North-East,where there was a huge forest. It was an isolated hill where there was a temple, far from any kind of human settlement.

«This is called the Temple of Whispers. You can visit it only if the adepts allow you, but nobody is willing to do that. Nobody knows their rituals and nobody knows exactly who are the monks. Rumors say that they have been the same for centuries » , explained Zakai, pointing the building, « But the noxian soldiers had no fear and they tried to plunder it, so now we have some concrete information about it. »

He was coloring too much that description, trying to create an evocative atmosphere. And because she preferred to get directly to the point, those words were unnecessary and boring.

She wanted to tell him to cut it short, but she was not in the mood for another mischievous smile and for more gazes filled with suspicion.

«The small platoon they had sent came back decimated and empty-handed. The survivors did not dare to tell immediately what happened, but they decided to not attack the temple anymore. Then, with time,emotions cooled down and some Ionians near to the Noxians gain some information, so they were able to piece together something. The soldiers were infected by an obscure entity that had driven them crazy, so much that they had killed each others.»

When she was recreating the scene, a cold chill ran down her spine. Brothers that killed their brothers against their will, used as puppets by a stronger power.

She should have declined his offer at that precise moment, knowing that she was going to face something really dangerous.

But the consciousness that she was near to discover what happened to her tribe stopped her. She had wandered so much looking for answers, but she had no results, only vague theories and ideas too far from the truth.