“You are not completely wrong” the Kenman told him, “They are murderers… Of the worst kind. They enjoy it: inflicting pain, making someone suffer, making someone bleed.”
“But you don’t know their purpose” the Kenman then continued after a moment of silence, “You don’t know their aim, which is what you should have tried to find out.”
“Why would I care?” the blonde then asked confused.
'As long as I can beat them... or well... the Kenman I guess... Why would it matter?' Aldryn could not for the life of him understand the other man's point of view.
This caused the other man to look at him silently for a moment. Then, with a shake of his head, the Kenman continued.
“If you know your enemy’s aim and motives… You can easily determine their course of action” the older man then explained.
“In our case…”, the Kenman quickly continued, “The Scavengers will want to take Klyran to their leader, hence he should be unharmed. Now we know a location where they will have to stop for a bit and we could catch up to them and help him.”
“Why would their leader need Klyran?” Aldryn then asked confused.
With a sad sigh, the Kenman told the blonde apostle just what kind of organization they were facing. The Scavengers were a group of people going back thousands of years, to when the world was still ruled by Thraes. According to the Kenman, there was once a Half-Thrae, a human father and a Goddess for a mother. But because it was only Half of both kins, neither accepted it. As the hybrid grew, it gained strength and begun fighting with other Thraes, but never could win against an actual God. So it grew mad in its desire to grow stronger.
At some point, the half-human half-Thrae once saved a village of humans by mistake. And for their salvation the humans begun to view it as their God. It made the hybrid’s arrogance swell. For once in its life, it was recognized. Then, one of those humans, who self-declared himself to be its apostle came bearing a gift to its God. A spell, darker than any other that existed. It would give the hybrid more strength with every enemy that it could defeat. A spell that would make it absorb the power and the essence of its opponent. But for the spell to work, it had to be laid on the target while it was still living and once dead its hearth has to be eaten.
Despite the horrible method, the half-Thrae few ecstatic. It begun hunting creatures of all kind. To try out the spell, it first hunted not another Thrae, but another kin. At first, it hunted predators animals and gained the ability to see in the dark. Then, it went after an ostrich and learned to run fast. It devoured every animal in existence and gained the perks of every type. Then, it moved on to humanoid targets. It gained every possible advantage that it could. But that greed for power, at some point, turned into hunger. It no longer wanted to devour just for strength. It begun wanting a taste of every living creatures.
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The village that viewed the hybrid as a God also indulged it. They would catch all the animals that they could and those that they couldn’t the half-Thrae would help. Seeing their loyalty to him, the Half-Thrae begun catching different kins again, only this time, it didn’t ate them himself, but fed them to the villagers. Despite it being a spell of their own making, those people saw it as their God’s blessing. And so they grew stronger, and brought it better prey.
Despite the heart being the most potent in stealing the ability of another, the other parts were also usable. The Half-Thrae would gift those remains to those it trusted the most first and then to the rest. That was why they were called the Scavengers, because they gained power from the scraps left behind by their master.
“So you see now?” the Kenman then asked after finishing his story, “Klyran is most likely unharmed and well… They wouldn’t risk killing him without bringing him to their God and without the spell in place.”
After that, Aldryn fell silent. He never heard of such a story before and neither had the Fox. It was a lot of information to take in. The thought of such spell existing out there was horrifying.
“They want to devour him” the blonde said with horror.
“He is…. a one of a kind creature here” the Kenman solemnly nodded.
“And Shyra’s creation? Its a Ryan as well” he tied to argue.
“A dead one” the man said back, “Klyran is the only living Ryan in this world at this moment.”
Those words caused Aldryn to fall silent. He wasn’t sure why, but whenever he was around the Kenman, he felt as if everything would be okay.
The two of them continued to walk toward the mansion. They knew its general location, but it was tricky to approach it unnoticed.
“We should not cause trouble until we know for sure that Klyran is there. Once we do, its important to get as close to him as possible without being detected” the Kenman continued.
They would walk silently and would stop whenever a sound was heard. All the while, the Kenman kept muttering something to himself. Curiously, Aldryn approached him to hear and was surprised.
“You brought him to me and now refuse to tell me where he is” he mumbled angrily, “See if I ever do something for you again.”
Those words greatly confused the blonde, but he chose not to comment on it.
“We knew that guy was crazy from the start so why are you acting surprised?” the fox them rumbled at the back of his mind.
“The Kenman is not crazy” Aldryn then scoffed at it, “He is just…peculiar.”
“Yeah right” the Thrae huffed, but stayed silent otherwise.
The Kenman, who was talking to himself suddenly stopped. He was looking in a certain direction, as if looking at someone specific. When Aldryn tried to glance, he could see nothing but trees and a few birds.
“Finally” the man muttered and then begun walking in that direction.
His steps were confident, for the first time since they were in this forest. As if this time he knew not the general, but the exact location of the mansion.
“Yup... Definitely not crazy” the fox suddenly mocked its host.
“If the mansion does ends up to be in that direction then no, not crazy” the blonde scowled back in his mind.
They walked around one more hour before the Kenman stopped again and gestured to the blonde to do the same. When Aldryn approached him quietly, he also noticed what caused the other man to stop. There was a mansion not far from them. It looked abandoned and any human would think that. But the blonde’s eyesight was better than a human's so he could see some shadows moving through the windows.
“This is it?” Aldryn asked him and received a nod in reply.
“We’ll wait for it to get dark and then try approach it if possible” the Kenman whispered back.
“And if its not possible?” the blonde then asked again.
In place of replying, the Kenman simply shook his head with a sigh. He then started walking around the mansion, trying to observe it from all the angles. He tried to see which side had more doors or windows. Try to determine the layout of the building based on what he could see both outside and inside through the windows. He also tried to understand how many people were in there and if there were any reinforcements standing outside. Once satisfied with his plan, the Kenman waited for the dark.