Welcome back, gang. Now in the previous chapter I brought the ThunderCats into the story. Also I showed a bit more focus on Balor. His child-like curiousness makes him fun to write and he is an interesting contrast to the older evabon Gard. Balor will be getting plenty of character development, I'll promise you that.

The Terror of Kleos

As they all travelled in the tank Balor thought about home. Was his mother still alive? Had the Scourge of Mumm-Ra started to raid the village daily? He wished he knew. The Scourge of Mumm-Ra led lizards, monkeys and jackals! Was the Scourge truly an evabon? What kind of a monster could command such a gang of marauders?

"Hey!" Balor looked over at WilyKit. He had learned the names of the ThunderCats and found them to be strange and different from his name or the names of his fellow evabon. "What are you thinking about?" Balor sighed.

"Home." Balor thought for a moment. Would there even be a village when they got there?

"What's it like?" Balor's eyes closed for a moment and he smiled happily. He wasn't thinking about how it was currently, he was thinking about how it used to be.

"Simple and happy." The smile faded from Balor's face as he thought about how it was. "Now everything is so complicated and sad."

"Because of the Scourge of Mumm-Ra?" Balor looked over at Lion-O as the leader of the ThunderCats kneeled next to him. "Gard told us about him, what your village is going through." Balor sat up a bit causing Calaban to look up at the young evabon protectively. "He told us that you called him a giant. He said he had a cousin like that and also how evabon like that are born. Do you know how?" Balor shook his head. "Then I'll tell you."

"Lion-O, I don't think that's such a good idea." Balor looked over at Tygra. What was this stranger of orange and black talking about? "He's just a kid, information like that will give him nightmares!"

"He has to know, Tygra!" Lion-O's voice was aggressive and assertive. "He has to know how that monster that's been terrorizing his village was created so no more like that can come into existence." As Lion-O began to explain to Balor, the young evabon quickly placed his hands over his ears. He didn't want to know. Lion-O just looked at this with an understanding look in his eyes. Balor wasn't ready to know how to prevent something like the Scourge of Mumm-Ra from being born. Balor felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Cheetara looking at one of the scars that Balor had gotten from Kleos' whip.

"Who did this to you?" Usually stoic, Cheetara looked in horror at the scars on Balor's back. Gard must have not told them about Kleos. Hattanzo and Lynx-O knew so why didn't they tell the ThunderCats either? WilyKat and WilyKit both walked over to take a look as did Tygra who al shared Cheetara's horrified expression. Lion-O merely looked away with a pained look on his face. They must have not seen his back when he was brought into the tank. "Balor, tell us!"

"Master Kleos." Balor closed his eyes. Kleos had put fear in Balor's heart. He did not know how to speak the name without fear. "Master Kleos did this to me!"

"Master Kleos?" Tygra's voice was filled with hatred for the name. "Why gives him the right to do something like that to you?"

"He's our shaman but he's not like other shamans!" Balor spoke quickly, his voice full of fear, his eyes closed unless Kleos would suddenly appear. To Balor, Kleos was a sort of bogeyman. The boy feared the mad shaman and did not want to be hurt by Kleos. "He appeared one day and killed our old shaman Father Amotken and cast out our other shaman Mother Coatlicue." Balor began to tremble in fear but then he stopped when he felt a gentle touch. He looked and saw Calaban licking his arm. The fear left him and Balor looked at the tolac, seeing the gentleness of Gard in Calaban. "Kleos is just as bad as the Scourge of Mumm-Ra I originally came in search of help against the Scourge but I think I might have found help against Kleos, too." As Balor calmed down with the fear leaving him he heard a voice.

"Village in sight. Here's hoping this isn't another detour."