Dalric sluggishly made his way up the stairs, Though his body had made good progress in returning to some semblance of normal, it was still a long way away from it. Each step came with a side of dull pain. He'd need some proper rest and maybe healing at some point, but for now duty called.

The stairs lead to what looked like the back of a mostly barren warehouse. Before he could even turn his head to browse its scant few contents, Ryku's helper quickly pulled him out into the sun. Time was of the essence she claimed. It really must have been.

While she tugged him over to the gate he at least got a good look at what the above-ground level of the base looked like. It was much the same as he saw the day prior ago, mostly barracks and storage with a few auxiliary buildings in between. They failed to hide the clear military presence, but that likely wasn’t the goal. Between all the plain, poorly built structures, the uneven 'roads', the lack of any technology Dalric didn’t recognize, and the basic wooden walls, there was nothing that would lead one to believe a multilayered facility resided underneath. They’d hid the depth of their presence well.

Though, from the glimpse he got the docks may have been the one thing that betrayed that purpose.

"Dalric!"

He had already sensed Ryku on top of one of the sentry towers, but seeing the concern in his expression was unexpected. He wasn't the only one either, there were tens of people standing on top of the wooden wall. The ones that weren't looking forward, looked back at him with relief plastered all over their faces.

Ryku hopped down and jogged over, "We have a serious problem."

Dalric could feel the tension, "I hear some panthers are looking for me?"

"I believe so. Thank you. Take this to Gio, he'll know what to do." After handing his helper a note and sending them away they both continued towards the gate, "Adlar has been speaking to them. They won't tell him what they want specifically, but they keep insisting on meeting 'the angel'. Adlar didn't know who they were referencing, but if I remember correctly you were identified as an angel when you first arrived?"

Dalric raised an eyebrow, "I did look the part. Who's Adlar?"

And where did he learn the All-tongue?

"I thought so. Do you know why they're looking for you?"

Dalric thought for a moment, but only one thing sort of came to mind, "If they were tigers maybe, but I'm confident I've not come across any panthers."

A deeper look of concern flashed across Ryku's face, "Tigers? You've met the tigers? Are they hunting you?"

"I don't imagine so. Though, we probably aren't on very good terms. Anyway, who's Adlar?"

"That's the part you—open the gate!—The atka. His true name is Adlartok."

"Ah."

That made sense. He’d been meaning to speak with the atka again, but never got around to it. Or more accurately, never felt comfortable enough to do so. Now that he was staying awhile, maybe he could make some light connections.

Ryku turned to him as the massive wooden gate began to slowly split, "We didn’t speak on it much, but I mentioned ‘reigning beasts’ when you asked about who inhabited the jungle. These panthers, and the tigers, are both a part of them. I don't know your history with them or why they're so adamant about speaking with you, but they need to be handled delicately."

“Delicately you say...”

Dalric was far from top shape. Even still, from what he’d seen of the Menos, the unenlightened members of their colony were far from a concern. Even their ‘Toucheds’ could be handled fairly comfortably. Unless they sent out a full squad led by their Enlighteneds, which they shouldn’t have any reason to do, he wasn’t too concerned.

Ryku seemed to notice, "They are very powerful. I'm sure you're stronger than any of them individually but they have numbers. Whitesails went to war with them in the past and it cost them dearly."

"War? You didn’t mention that."

"I apologize, it slipped my mind. But Whitesails marched tens of thousands into the jungle at that time and they were still pushed all the way back to their border."

That… doesn’t make sense. Seventh lied? The colonies shouldn’t have survived that. Even if the majority of soldiers Whitesails sent were riflemen, tens of thousands? There used to be twenty-four of them, but still…

The gate finished opening its bosom to reveal Adlartok and the two drakens standing in front of four overgrown black panthers. There were no roads or checkpoints so they simply stood a few steps out from the edge of the jungle. It was far enough that they all stood outside his ahjer sense's range, but from what his eyes could could gleam the panthers' muscularity made them appear much more formidable than the first tigers he stumbled upon. That wasn’t a good sign.

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Assuming muscularity meant anything that is.

Are the Menos just weak? But Ryku sounded more concerned about them than he does these panthers.

“Compared to the tigers, how powerful are these panthers?”

Ryku frowned, “As a Paragon, a Taiyo native, and a former caravan master I’ve had near complete access to information about the Akai Ken. Until fifteen minutes ago, I didn’t know there were panthers.”

“Hm… I see.”

He didn’t really. What did that mean? How did he just not know of one of the colonies' existence? His current country went to war with them, right? They learned nothing? Even if they tried to keep the details of their embarrassing loss undercover, the Paragons were a multinational organization with imbeds into multiple governments, right? They knew nothing as well? What now?

He didn’t visibly react though. His presence had released a lot of wound up tension in both Ryku and those standing around. Any crack in his calm could cause issues he didn’t need right now. He’d just have to venture forward.

“Let’s see why they’ve come out of hiding.”

Ryku’s frown dropped, but he stayed still, "I'll wait here in case things go wrong."

Dalric slapped his back, "You want to be my student yet you have no faith in me?"

"I just have an ominous feeling. They've never behaved like this before. Seeking out people? Coming to a human base? Unless for another war, I can’t see why they would go to such lengths. The beasts don't make friends with outsiders and… you don't seem the type to make friends at all. "

Dalric smirked as he walked beyond him, "It'll be fine."

Though he said that, some concern was warranted. He was all of a sudden a lot less sure of the information he acquired from Seventh. If he couldn’t trust anything the blue tiger had said, then he had no clue what kind of encounter he strolled toward. More than just what he said, Dalric couldn’t trust what he had gauged power-wise. He thought back to the strength he felt from Seventh and his group. If that wasn’t the average… if that was the low end of colonies…

Then for all he knew there were four Enlighteneds waiting for him. Even just two with two extra Touched would be deadly for him at the moment.

It shouldn't come to a fight though. It was possible Seventh hinted toward the infighting to cover the fact he planned to seek backup, but Dalric hadn’t done anything to cause anyone to seek bloody vengeance. He'd been threatening and maybe a bit insulting, but that wasn't enough to wage war. War was an expensive thing.

Wait... They called me 'the angel'... Seventh knows I’m human. He also knows my name. If he was sending out his allies to attack or even just to probe me, he'd at the very least give them the appropriate detail on who to look for... I’m rushing to conclusions.

As he continued to physically step forward, he mentally took a step back and re-reviewed the situation. Unfortunately, while a number of possible explanations popped in his mind, nothing seemed more likely than anything else. There were just too many unknowns, too much missing information.

He was quietly thankful that he had a wealth of backup.

That thankfulness waned as soon as the panthers came within his sense's range. What he felt immediately reconfigured his approach plan. Three of the panthers were of little note. Two seemed to be Touched, but fairly weak ones. Their strength was comparable to that of the riftans, not a pushover at the moment, but far from any real threat.

The other one, the central panther, was unmistakably Enlightened. In fact, by ahjer they were even stronger than Seventh. He couldn’t be sure that meant that they were an archon as well, but it certainly wasn’t a good sign either way. Fortunately, the weakness of their subordinates limited their overall threat profile to within a manageable margin. He could enter the conversation from a position of power.

Dalric confidently levied his gaze on the lead panther as he strolled over to them. At first, his stare was met with disinterest. After a few strides, it transitioned to vigilance. He had a guess as to why, but if he was correct that would mean the panther had a more than ten fathom range on their ahjer sense.

That would make them a very annoying opponent.

"Who is that one?" Her voice was not what he expected. There was no steel, no bite, no aggression to speak of at all. It was the opposite, faint and wisplike. It was as if a ghost had whispered to him.

Adlartok replied, "That, Madam Selene, is who we believe you're looking for." Unsurprisingly, His All-tongue sounded nothing like his actual tongue. Dalric had only spoken to the atka once, but there was an aged serenity to his voice then. Now his tone held the kind of energetic optimism only the young and naive had.

He wanted to chuckle, it had been a long time since he’d heard such a contrast in a person’s voices, but the timing to do so passed before he could.

Selene sharply raised the clawed end of her paw to Adlartok’s face, "You think I'm blind? He is not an angel."

Why are you looking for an angel?

Adlartok raised his middle two legs. They did very little to hold up his weight and in truth seemed much closer to a pair of arms now that he had them raised. A very odd sight as far as Dalric was concerned.

"If you would wait just a moment please. After speaking with him, I'm sure you'll find the answers you seek."

"I do not trust you."

Selene pounced, feinting like she sought the atka, but instantly incapacitating the two drakens. Her paws radiated mist-attuned ahjer. When she swiped at their heads they reflexively positioned their weapons as guards. Apparently, they didn't know that mist attunements were nigh-impossible to block without either a spell, an enchantment, or an opposing attunement. Or they just couldn’t sense it to begin with.

Fortunately, the attack’s ability to phase through defences came at the cost of the ability to actually hit anything. Her paw sailed through both their weapons and their bodies, leaving them physically unharmed. The actual cost of the ethereal paw was that it messed with ahjer in their brains, knocking them out. Briefly.

While she handled the two draken, the other three panthers captured Adlartok. He did little to resist, opting to make pleas for peace instead. They fell on deaf ears as he was wrestled to the ground and placed beside the drakens. Both of them came back to their senses while he was being brought down, but they wisely refrained from resisting as well. All three laid below Selene in a matter of seconds.

Dalric watched all of it occur while keeping his stroll steady. He noticed the mist-attuned ahjer as soon as Selene raised her paw. If it was anything else, he would have dashed over, but knowing its limitations gave him calm. If Selene wanted to kill all three of them, she could have done so on her own. Knocking them unconscious was a gesture of peace, or at the very least a willingness to not resort to conflict.

Finally, a good sign.

"Tell him to stop at once!"

"Dal—"

Dalric halted a few fathoms away from them, "I don't need a translator."

Selene's vigilance almost instantly turned into disbelief, "A human? Speaking the tongue?”

Right.