"Reveal yourself", the ancient Kobold's command was laced with code to compel obedience but there was nothing hidden, "Allen" it finished.
"How did you know?" he asked unthinking.
"That voice will follow me to my grave", came the answer, "I was there when they brought you to the Portal room", her shoulders hunched, "heard you spew nonesence about sacrifices and then saw you pouncing on a Player" she sat on a thronelike chair, "dismembering him and calling for healers to cement his torments for no apparent reason but your amusement".
"Oh" was all he could think to reply when memories of the incident flooded his conciousness, "he deserved it", he added when more memories came from the first time he met Devo.
"No doubt about that", the ancient one said, "we found out about his deviant ways a short time later", she sighed again, "but you couldn't know it at the time", was her conclusion.
Allen was surprised to realise she wasn't wrinkled, but scarred all over, "what happened to you?" he asked unthinking.
She squinted towards his auditory projector, "three hundred years of incessant war happened to me", she kept looking for him with different types of visory spells but failed, "are you really a ghost?"
Playing around with the properties of his sensor, "I'm not sure actually", he replied, "the system said I was a backup brought up by a spell", he added color to his outline and she stared directly at him, "I only had one hour and could answer three questions at the time", he tried to change the shape of his projector but it distorted his vision too much, "and then I forced the system to make me a dragon and you probably know better than me what happened after that".
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Scratching her chin in contemplation, "Indeed", she finally said, "but where were you for the last thousand years?", her eyes sharpened, "where were you when we were purged?", her fists slammed at the dest, "hunted like animals for a prize?" she stood up and Duster caught her breath making her look at the young Kobold, forcibly relaxing her muscles, "what do you want with that child?".
"well" Allen answered with a nasal tone from the old Genie in the cartoon, "see there", he protracted his words with long pauses, "mostly I was reading".
"READING" the old one shouted, her anger flared to new heights, "READING WHAT" she equipped a huge Naginata that seemed to appear out of thin air and slashed the desk in half charging at the offending dot in the air, "WHAT WERE YOU READING" her blade cut through the floor, "THAT WAS MORE IMPORTANT", the speed of her attacks made Allen dizzy, "THAN OUR PEOPLE'S LIVES?" a hit to Dusters stomache crushed the youngster at the wall and she crumbled to the floor, "OUR FREEDOM?", she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Allen was mentally reeling at the attack, although he did provoke her it never occured to him she would actually attack, even hitting Duster without stopping for breath, he studied the weapon for a few seconds and then redefined it as immobile, stopped in her strike the old Kobold broke her fingers when she tried to move it, screaming in pain and anger she kept slashing at the air where Allen was floating until she ran out of stamina and drooped to the floor in a heap.
"Why did you abandon us?" she accused between breaths, "we believed in you", sobs escaped her, "I was faithful", heaving racked her whole body, "the others called us zealots", a surprised gasp was heard from the corner of the room.
"NANA no", Duster cried, "you were never one of them".
The old one looked at her hurt greater great granddaughter, "I was", she confessed quietly, "and I don't regret it", gathering herself up she walked over to the wounded youngster, "we were great then", casting a spell that mended the Kobold's broken arm, "greater than we will ever be again", she helped the girl stand, "so many lost", she whispered in visible sorrow, "so many" she finally sighed.