King Of Limbo

As Aron revealed the fate of the Drakar to Rose, who happily agreed, Lorserv eyes tinged with worry. He of course couldn't understand the language they spoke in but a feeling of a grim fate worse than death awaiting him arose.

His worst fear was perhaps getting treated in the same humiliating way as they treated the tulsa they captured.

When the thought of that became a possibility in his mind, Lorserv's desire to surrender vanished. If such a fate was what awaited him, then he was better off risking it all to attempt to escape.

So in the next moment, whilst Aron's attention was still on Rose, he raise his head and burst forth all the power he could muster into wings and fluttered them violently.

Aron was quick to feel something wrong so he quickly distanced himself from Lorserv. In his mind, cornered opponents could sometimes be far more dangerous.

Once some space was created between the two, Lorserv didn't hesitate to take off into the sky with all his might.

The others were stunned just like Aron for a moment and stood back as a caution but soon they regained their bearings.

Rose then extended her arm toward the fleeing Drakar, ready to deploy her scouter on him.

However, Aron waved dismissively in her direction. "Don't. It's desperate so there's no telling what it could do."

Aron's words had some truth so Rose didn't argue on the matter and just lower her hand, she wasn't willing to risk losing her scouter. She instead turned her attention to the remaining three, after all, they were now potential subjects for her to experiment.

As she was doing so, Aron walked up to her and took out his rune brush. "Let's use this chance to teach you something else." He offered before walking over to Mikaa, who was closest.

Upon reaching him, Aron crouched down and warned. "If you move unnecessarily, I'll kill you."

Mikaa didn't answer. How could he? He was barely maintaining his consciousness.

Meanwhile Rose came from behind and observed as Aron began drawing runic lines on the Drakar's body while lecturing.

"These are restrictive runic lines of the sixth tier, I won't demonstrate them again so pay close attention. After this you can use them on other, giving you basically power of their movement."

Rose was please inwardly, although she remained calm and collected on the surface, just the way she looked at Aron's hand movements showed the level of interest she had.

It was subtle but Aron could notice it. It was through this way that he felt he could keep her following him and helping where a high level of intellect was needed.

He was of course very cautious of what he did and didn't teach her. In his opinion, it was far too early to give her a lot. So he opted to provide her information he already fully understood in and out, so that even in a scenario where she betrayed him occurred, he would be ready.

While the two continued to focus on runes, Jagu informed Jin that it was now safe to come into the central dwelling.

Once Jin arrived and the others arrived, they were shocked by what they found.

For Mrah and Khalel, they expected to find a huge bloody scene whilst Jin just expected at least some injuries on them since Aron seemed extra cautious.

But everyone was practically without a scratch, which led him to ask Jagu. "Was the opponent that weak?"

Jagu smiled at the question, at with his new reinvigorated confidence, he answered proudly. "No, we were just that strong."

He followed up his answer with a laugh, which he hadn't done in what felt like forever, surprising even Jin who seemed put off by it.

"Has anyone ever told you that your roar is scarier than you laugh?"

Jagu didn't care for Jin's sharp words; nothing would ruin his good mood at the moment. "Good! Let them be fearful."

The two didn't seem like they were going to stop exchanging pointless banter anytime soon so Aron decided to remind them of their purpose there, specifically Jin.

"Weren't you eager to save your kind? Unless you've changed your mind, they should be in those dens up there. It's best you hurry, there's no telling if the other Drakar may return."

With a new sense of urgency, Jin rushed to the aid of the others whilst Jagu remained to watch over Rorguvv and Amarr, just to make sure they didn't try anything like Lorserv.

As Jin was rushing to the dens, he stopped for a moment near the focused Aron who never ceased drawing runes and said in genuine manner. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Aron's answer was plain and difficult to decipher whether or not he actually cared for Jin's thanks. But to Jin it seemed enough and he gave a smile before running off.

Rose then turned her attention to Aron, just looking at him for a moment as if studying some subject. It was so intense that he could feel his gaze on her, something he found fairly uncomfortable. "I told you to pay attention."

She then proceeded to give the faintest of smiles at his words. "You sound like an aged lecturer who hates his job."

Her light mocking caused him to return her gaze before replying. "And you sound like a bratty child who doesn't appreciate the contents of what she's learning."

Rather than end it there, Rose found herself enjoying her pointless exchange with Aron. There was no logical means to it like every other time they talked, but it was still enjoyable. A realization she found odd but not unwelcome.

But before she could explore this new intriguing side to conversing with Aron, an uninvited guest appeared in the form of…

"Can Evanora also learn?"

Both Aron and Rose turned to find Evanora squatting very close to them. Either they were both too absorbed in what they were doing, or she just that hard to detect.

Aron just shrugged it off and returned his focus to the runes he was drawing, however before he went far, Evanora extended her hand and pointed.

"Evanora remembers that line goes there." Her hand was point near Mikaa's shoulder, where Aron was currently headed.

"You remember? From the time in the academy?" Aron furrowed his brows at this in slight disbelief.

Either she had just made an extremely lucky guess, or she did indeed guess from the similarities it had with the runic pattern Aron drew on her back at Galos Academy.

The reason Aron greatly doubted this was because her attention was never on her body at that time and the runes immediately fade once drawn, unless invoked. This meant the only way to remember was if she remembered according to the path taken by the brush as it traveled her body, but that was far more impressive… if true.

Without knowing the exact reason, he downplayed his surprise, there was no sense having Rose be too involved in Evanora's affairs.

Luckily for Aron, Rose had a different understanding of the matter so her focus wasn't on how she remembered.

"You mean to tell me, you taught this little odd girl something this complex, yet decided to wait this long to teach me? Are you trying to say something about my intellect?"

Insulted. Rose infact felt insulted by the circumtances. There was something she simply found very uncomfortable about Evanora being no knowledgeable on.

To that, Aron could only answer. "The circumstances were different. Besides, odd as she may be, her memory is very impressive, however that doesn't equate to intelligence. Now if you have no further questions, can I carry on with the runes?"

The mix of Aron's impatience plus his reasonable answer had Rose not pursue the matter further, though deep down she still felt irked.

This feeling would only grow worse when Evanora raised her hand to ask.

"What are runes?"

…

Meanwhile at around the same time, Jin had gone into one of the dens and was carefully making his way forward looking for captives.

'This place reeks and gives me the creeps.'

Drakar dens were in no way beautiful, being nothing more than dark, warm, moist caves with all sorts of strange insects he had never even seen before, hence the worry.

Soon though he managed to find an open area much larger than the rest of the den with elements of a Drakar having lived there.

'Is that supposed to be a bed? And they call me a savage. Hmm?'

Jin's attention soon turned to a large hole a bit further away where he could hear whispering. It was immediately obvious to him that it was likely where the captives were kept but he still didn't rush and proceeded carefully so as not be surprised by anything.

His steps were so light and silent that the captives within the hole didn't even hear him arrive at the edge. Most were just alerted by a figure appearing, worried that a Drakar may have appeared to eat them or perhaps toy with them out of boredom.

However, after a minute they managed to register that the figure was in fact a human.

"A person! It's a person!"

"Save us please!"

Cries of help were quick to erupt once he was seen by the female captives that occupied that particular holding.

Jin took a moment and saw the terrible condition some were in, mostly due to the environment but others clearly originated from fights between themselves.

The desperateness some had towards leaving had them balling their eyes out while kneeling in his direction, it was a sight Jin found both angering and pitiful.

He was just about to calm them down when a voice called his name. "Jin? Is that you, you drunken bastard?"

A familiar vulgar voice had Jin turning his head in excitement to see someone he actually knew. "Scarlett? And…Claudia?"

He could see her figure clearly and she looked to be in much better state than the others aside from some loss in weight and dirtiness.

Next to her was Claudia who looked slightly worse off and Aela, whose face he remembered but not name.

"No, it's yer mother. Are you just gonna ogle at women or tell us what's happening? Is it safe to come out?"

For capable users of mana like Scarlett and Aela, escaping the hole itself was a simple task, so the dangers outside are what concerned them.

"Oh right, yes, but Aron says to hurry so I'm not sure it's completely over."

At the mention of his name, all three girls had complex expressions.

'Aron…'