Zorhan thought he knew what torture meant, deprive a Kobold food and comfort, change his sleeping hours, beat and stab him a few times, maybe use magical effects on sensitive scales, and you got a haunted husk desperate to please.

Zorhan knew nothing about torture, in less than a day he was a mental wreck, the forcefield surrounding him was one sided, he could walk, or more often stumble through it at any moment, using any skill made the field soft and let the ferals outside stretch it until they touched but didn't touch his scales, biting and never penetrating his skin, but if he moved or shivered then he would get past the stretched membrane and feel their teeth and claws.

Zorhan was outclassed from the moment he set foot in the harbor looking for a job on a ship, his assassin class let him fake all the seaman skills of climbing and ropework but the actual work was alien to him and the orders unknown, he was caught within an hour and pulled into the conspiracy a minute later, he could kill the emperor, there was ambition for a fledgeling assassin if he ever heard of one.

Sneaking into the room carrying a bucket of water was easy, but from that point onward everything worked against him, he could swear the carpet tripped him on purpose twice, that chair never had so many legs and don't get him started on the whispering doorknob.

Thinking about himself in third person, "he is distraught", was a sign of, "madness", like hearing, "voices in the dark", he was, "left alone in the dark for too long", even the feral moved, "away", all, "alone by himself".

"Who are you?" Zorhan cried.

"He speaks", the voice answered, "could he be our salvation?", a feral looked at him with sad eyes, "you touched the crystal", maybe not a feral then?

Falling to the floor with a sigh of relief as all tension left his body, he let the speaker touch him and watched in horror at the message on his display.

[System: Attention Zorhan use of rogue elements detected please provide NPC verification or an operator will be assigned within <143:59:59:999> hours]

The timer started dropping it value and Zorhan could just cry, "how come you can speak?"

"Elixir of wisdom" came the answer from somewhere in the dark, "it changes something and lets us speak and understand the Players"

"But you are also Players", that was the new word of Allen, ferals were taken over by Players that were payed to do wanton damage.

"Ah you know the emperor's secret", pause, "soon it will not matter to you rogue", the voice continued, "you will be one of us and unless the emperor decides to show you great mercy you too will be silent", a bark of laughter, "we are his secret weapon against the empire", explaining, "once he gets through the guilds he will release us to rampage in the empire", another pause, "you were lucky to be caught already in the campaign", it said, "some of us are waiting for over a hundred years", laughter again, "lurking here in the dark hold", another dry laugh, "killing time", more of a cough, "the emperor's secret weapon"

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He could tell them it wouldn't work, and when the Player stole his body and memories they will know anyway, but he hoped the emperor's attack will come before that and the empire will cure these talking ferals the same as the others and ruin the Human invaders' greatest weapon.

Needing to hide his memories of the cure pushed zorhan to reflect on his recent past, he hid those memories from himself, not wanting to face the consequences of assaulting Gem and hitting the crystal, he stayed in the empire long enough to see the changes, the ferals going back to their lives, even to see youngsters experimenting with feral fever, his mother was dead, it was the truth.

His mother died to protect him and others, her sacrifice was not smaller because a cure was found years after she gave her life for the greater good, it was a tragedy, but he needed to leave it in it's place or disgrace his mother's sacrifice, it was not meaningless when she did it, but the only way she knew to prevent years and decades of seeing her suffer as a souless monster.

He shouldn't have hit Gem, he should not have attacked the crystal, it was too late now, but he had to at least forgive himself if he ever woke up in the empire after being treated for the plague, he should have taken the vaccine, swearing to his greater great grandma that he will not be a feverist was nice in the protected areas of the empire where treatment was available every morning but out here in the frontiers, no one even heard there was a treatment let alone vaccination.

Did making foolish decisions made him a fool?

He was smart, but could he also become wise in time?

He was there when the crystal cured Garnet, and countless others after that, but did he know what Allen did?

Thinking of Gem made him flinch in pain, he killed her in his rage, to control his actions he had to understand them, to understand he had to clear his mind of guilt, Gem, the carefree girl that was his only friend, wasn't carefree, she was responsible, sensible and caring, she didn't just befriend him out of shared misery and bullying by the older children.

Gem was better than he deserved, she forgave him when he couldn't look himself in the mirror, she was his strength when he decided to go to the pirates, she didn't push him away like he accused her in that anger filled night, she let him go so he would not be hurt every time she smiled at him.

That forgiveness had strength he couldn't even fathom the depths of, a well of power so rich and deep he would never go thirsty again if he just listened, she was right, to care for others was the greater sacrifice, and in this dark pit of despair he needed strength, he needed to care.

The other ferals around him weren't the enemy, it was the pirates and their cruel emperor that were the enemy, he shouldn't fear the ferals, he should care for them, he knew there was a cure, but he knew there was danger in telling others about the cure, but the cure had two parts, one was the language and here some ferals could talk, the other was treating them better, not as monsters but as people, not sick and insane individuals but as someone who was wronged and hurt by the people they cared for, the real Kobolds were trapped inside the feral and he knew they can be freed from the Player's control.

The emperor knew he wasn't a Player, it wasn't just a deduction, there was a way to know it, the ferals also left him alone as soon as the clock started.

 Deep in thoughts, reading through help files and menus like Gem told him Allen did, he still didn't have his answers after five days and watched in horror as the timer reached zero, now he had nothing but time as his body rose and walked to join the others, Zorhan didn't waste his time though and he created a memory gem where he hid all his memories of the cure so the Player wouldn't have access even if he wanted to while Zorhan searched for his own salvation.