“You can’t just go killing things when you’re stressed you know.” The woman said softly. “Please, calm yourself. I’m here to help you, King Naadi.”

Naadi’s eyes widened, and he jerked his hand away from her. “How do you know my name?” With a closer look, he realized that she was from the Epe Tribe; the clan symbol was tattooed onto her forehead, though partially hidden by her puffy afro. A spy? Or an assassin?

“Relax.” She muttered, her eyes boring into his own. “I get the impression you think I’m one of your enemies; although you could say I’m from the ‘Epe Tribe’, I am not of the ‘Epe Tribe’ of this forest.” She backed away, pressing her hand up against a nearby tree. Her fingers slipped through the bark as if it were liquid, and she reached deep inside the tree for several moments.

“Don’t play with me.” Naadi’s eyes narrowed, and he gripped at the air. “If you came to get in the way of my revenge, you better leave me alone. I refuse to play your games anymore, you understand?”

“I’m sorry. I just thought it’d do you some good to calm down before we talk.” She retrieved her hand from the bark of the tree; resting in her palm was a handful of tree sap, luminescent and cobalt. “Your third eye is in severe danger, you know that? You’ve been neglecting your spiritual health, and if you continue this way, you might just die for it.”

Naadi’s eyes narrowed, and the magic energy around him began to spike up in shape. If she wasn’t going to tell him who she was, then she was fair game. He couldn’t take any more chances or suffer from any more setbacks. I will not disgrace the royal family any further.

“See how your energy flails about wildly? You’re slipping, losing control of your mind. You can’t think clearly either; you’re in bad shape.” She explained, pulling a leaf cup out of her pocket and carefully letting the tree sap ooze from her hand into the cup. Glancing at Naadi, she carefully took a step forward.

“Don’t get any closer.” He warned.

“Attack me if you want, but I can’t stand idly by and watch you self-destruct.” She took another step forward, and then continued to close the distance in between them, staring at Naadi as she did so, as if she were daring him too. Naadi’s hands twitched, the magic energy around him flailing wildly…and then it retreated back into his body slowly. Even if she really were an enemy, he couldn’t kill someone so unwilling to fight back.

But if she makes any sudden movements…. His eyes darkened and he tensed up as she offered the cup to him. “I’m not going to drink that. You just said you were from the Epe Clan; why would I trust you?”

“You trusted me enough to let me come this close, right?” She retorted. “You’ll only be hurting yourself if you don’t drink this. This tree sap has spiritual healing properties; it’ll do your third eye good.”

He gritted his teeth…and took the cup from her hands, staring at it suspiciously. Although he couldn’t completely trust her, his senses were telling him that she wasn’t trying to harm him. He couldn’t sense any malicious aura about her. And if she was trying to kill me, couldn’t she have just forcefed that sap to me while I slept?

With a sigh, he swiped the cup from her hands and put it to his lips…and slowly drank from the leaf cup. The sap didn’t have any particular taste, yet as soon as it ran down his throat, he felt a strange calm overcome him. His suspicions, his fears, his rage sort of faded, not completely vanishing, but becoming background noises in his mind. It felt like he’d regained some sense of control over his life.

“...Thank you.” He said, closing his eyes as he downed the rest of the cup. Everything feels so much more…clear.

“You’re welcome! I know it’s easy to get lost in your goals, but every once and a while, you need to take a break to care for yourself spiritually. You let your third eye get bogged up with feelings of anger, doubt, and self-hatred. And when that happens, you can’t think rationally. You must take care of yourself spiritually if you wish to keep on going.” She explained, glancing around the clearing as she spoke.

“You’re right.” Naadi hadn’t been feeling exactly like himself ever since he’d entered the forest. He was more critical of himself, harsher, and less empathetic. And if I’d just taken a step back to calm myself, I might have been able to kill the Locket Bearer by now. I was the one setting myself back, and the Master of Epe knew it.

“Yes, my sister is quite the tricky one.” She chuckled.

“What?” Naadi said, dumbstruck. “Sister?”

“If I told you who I was before I gave you the cup, would you have trusted me?” She asked with a smile, and Naadi shook his head, seeing her point.

“But how are you, her sister? That would mean you’re a magical beast- and yet you don’t look like one at all.” Naadi asked.

“It’s just cloaking. Once you live a couple thousand years, you get the hang of it.” She smiled at Naadi, almost teasingly. “My name is Adeyemi. If my sister is known as the Master of the ‘Epe Clan’, then I’d be the Master of the ‘Epe Forest.’. I’m sort of like a guardian of this forest.”

“So, you’re her sister,” Naadi crossed his arms as he thought. “But you don’t intend to stop me, is that it? You aren’t on her side?”

“I’m not on any side, really.” Adeyemi said. “I don’t even mind if you go ahead and kill the Locket Bearer. Not at all. No, my real concern is something much graver.”

“Graver?” Naadi echoed. Graver then the Locket Bearer? Could she be talking about Alci? It’s true his power was disturbing, but it’s nothing compared to the destruction that damned locket could unleash on the Northern Lands.

“Have you ever considered the Locket Bearer might just be a little kid trying to find his way in the world?” Asime stepped into the clearing, his hands resting comfortably in his pockets, and a smirk on his face.

“It’s you.” Naadi realized with a jolt. “You’re…” Naadi closed his eyes. …What’s his name again? I think it started with an A. Something like…

“Wha-you forgot my name?” Asime yelled, and then lowered his head with a sigh as Adeyemi laughed at him softly. “It’s Asime. I’m Alci’s friend, you remember? I was the one that showed you to the Master?”

“Don’t worry, he’s not exactly loyal to the Epe Tribe. He’s more aligned to me, then the Master of Epe.” Adeyemi said hastily.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“So then what were you doing in their village?” Naadi asked. He wasn’t exactly sure if he could trust Asime; he didn’t seem like a reliable person in the slightest.

“Trust me, man, I just pretend to be one of their warriors. And that’s only to watch over Alci. He’s the one you should really be watching out for, you know; not that silly kid with the freaky locket.” Asime said, shaking his head as if the very idea of being scared of Urn was ridiculous in of itself.

“You’d be foolish to underestimate him. He may seem harmless, but that’s only for now.” Naadi spat, his eyes narrowing at Asime. It looked like they had no idea; surprising, considering the reason why they were trapped in the forest was the locket. “He’ll get stronger, and so will the locket. And when that day comes, he’ll finish what his grandfather started.”

“Maybe.” Asime agreed, putting a hand to his lip. “But he didn’t exactly seem like the evilord type. He seemed more like a reckless adventurer; he used pretty questionable tactics while fighting you, but I didn’t sense any malice from h-”

In the blink of an eye, Naadi swung his hand towards Asime’s throat, his finger inches away from the beastman’s neck, magic energy spiking from the tip of his nail threateningly. “You were watching while we fought?”

“Oh, fuck me.” Asime groaned. “Adeyemi, please help me out here.”

“You’re on your own, I didn’t tell you to do that.” Adeyemi shrugged her shoulders at Asime.

“So, I can assume that you were the one who rescued him, right? What was your reason?” Naadi questioned, staring Asime dead into the eye; he’d know if Asime lied.

“Alright, man, you have no idea how bad it looked! You were just tossing the kid from left to right and he had no chance in hell of beating you! I couldn’t just stand by idly.” Asime reasoned, and Naadi shook his head.

“That’s right. He had no chance of beating me, so he resorted to every ugly tactic he knew; using living beings as if they were nothing more than puppets.” Naadi said, thoroughly disgusted. Manipulating living beings and forcing them to attack someone they could never hope to beat without mercy; it was unforgivable. And what made it worse is that the boy was actually having fun while doing it. “He was smiling, you know.”

“That is cruel. I’d understand if you had tried to kill him yourself, but you saved him? Why?” Adeyemi asked.

“Wait, wait, wait! I did try to kill him!” Asime explained hastily. “I admit, I rescued him first because I felt bad. And then I realized that if he was alive, Alci would have to kill him, so I tried feeding him to Zeadra. But trust me, I’m not gonna do it again! Now that I realize he’d be better off dead, he’s all yours.” Asime muttered the last part, glancing off to the side as he did.

Naadi narrowed his eyes and concentrated, trying to scope out any malicious aura emanating from Asime…but his magical energy was strong and true. He was probably telling the truth, that much was clear. Pulling his hand back, Naadi nodded his head at Asime. “Sorry for doing that suddenly, but I had to make sure you weren’t a threat. While I can understand your reasons for doing it .... don't do it again.”

“Right, right, I won’t!” Asime said nervously. Psycho. He thought.

“What’s all this about Alci, though? I can see why you’d fear him, I ended up clashing with him a bit ago, but I can’t fathom how he’d be a greater threat then the Locket Bearer.” Naadi said.

“Well.” Adeyemi started, stepped away from the tree she was leaning on, pacing around the clearing as she spoke. “Let me start by saying the ‘Epe Clan’, of this forest, is not the true Epe Clan. My sister and I came from the true ‘Epe Clan’, a tribe of magical beasts with a shared magic source of forests.”

“Apologies, Adeyemi, but what is a magic source? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing.” Naadi asked. Thinking about it, my knowledge on magical beasts is pretty limited. It would have done me some good to research them before entering the forest.

“Every magical beast has a magic source in which they draw their magic from. Take Zeadra for example; her magic source is the waterfall in which she resides, which is why her magic skills are water based. Like I was saying, us of the Epe Clan commonly have sources drawn from forests. The Epe Forest is my own magic source.” Adeyemi said, gesturing to the trees around them.

“Now, about fifty years ago, the Epe Forest was abundant with all sorts of high-ranking magical beasts from the Epe Clan. This was before Banjoko Creshun came to the Epe Forest; at the time he was rather young, only around your age, but his power was immense, and his motives unknown.” Adeyemi recalled, her eyes narrowing at her mention of Banjoko.

Banjoko. Naadi clenched his fists as he thought back to the horrible nightmare he had; even in his dreams, that man still found a way to torment him. “Any sort of power he had at that time was miniscule to what he displayed when he attacked the Northern Palace.” Naadi said.

“He was that strong, huh?” Asime muttered.

“Yes. Like I said, we had no idea what his motives were, but without warning, he began to kill off the magical beasts residing within the forest, one by one. Not even the youngest were safe.” Adeyemi’s eyes darkened. “He was a merciless beast who’d turned us, the apex predators of the forest, into meek prey. Day after day, my sister and I would wake up receiving news about more and more dead magical beasts. We tried fighting against him; tried joining our family and friends in the battle against him, but it was to no avail. And for some reason, us two were the only ones he left alive.”

She rolled up a sleeve, and Naadi’s eyes nearly rolled out of his skull at the sight; from her wrist upwards, her entire arm was nothing but bone. “Of course, he scarred us for life in our attempts, leaving us weakened and feeble to this day. When he was finally finished, he left the forest without a moment to waste, casting the barrier that seals every inhabitant born within this forest here. And my sister changed. Normally a magical beast’s magic source is the same from the moment they’re born; yet my sister was an odd case. Her magic source changed from the Epe Forest to her own rage.”

“...I see.” Naadi replied, not sure how to feel. Now that I know this, I understand her motives better. But I’m not going to just hand over the Locket Bearer to her either. He wasn’t going to punish the Epe Clan for the trouble they’d caused, but that didn’t mean he was going to let them keep him from doing what needed to be done as King. This goes beyond even my desire for revenge. I am the blade that protects the Northern Lands from danger; I must strike down the Locket Bearer so that justice can prevail for all who were wronged by that locket.

Adeyemi turned towards Naadi and smiled; her eyes seemed to see right through him. “And because her magic source had changed, so did her magic skill. She gained the ability to create children from her own rage, so that one day, one would be born with the power to harness that rage. You, the modern ‘Epe Clan’, are called beastmen because you are descendants of a magical beast, but through magical means. It’s also why you’re more like humans than magical beasts, apart from your ability to absorb magical energy.”

“So then Alci is the one capable of handling her rage? That explains the strange power he showed off when we fought...” Naadi mused.

“Exactly.” Asime chimed in. “And it’s getting stronger too. As beastmen, we can awaken like humans, but we also have magical sources like magical beasts. But to awaken, we must go through an ordeal relating to our magical source, you get it?”

“I tried to steer Alci onto the right path, but it’s clear my sister has finally gotten into his head.” Adeyemi sighed. “Since his magical source is his rage, to awaken, his rage must increase exponentially. My sister wants to awaken his rage over and over again by doing terrible things to him, and then set him loose on the Locket Bearer. But I’m afraid once the Locket Bearer is dead, we all will be next in line.”

“You may be right. I don’t think I’m at the level where I could beat him myself…” Naadi said, reflecting back on his battle with Alci. Even now that he was in top form, he still wouldn’t be much of a match for that much raw power.

“And that’s why I helped you. I want us to work together. If we can just get him away from the Epe Clan, we’ll be able to get through to him! And if you help us do that, I assure you, we can help you get revenge on the Locket Bearer.” Adeyemi said, glancing at Asime, who nodded at Naadi.

“Well, what do you think? How about it, Naadi?” Asime asked.

“I think this has nothing to do with me. I came to this forest to kill the Locket Bearer.” Naadi said. But still; even if he killed the Locket Bearer, Alci would kill him right after that. Helping them was the only way he’d be able to push onward; and he wasn’t fond of just letting Alci’s rage swallow up innocent lives either. “But I’ll join you. How do I help?”