Spoilers for the manga chapters 43 - 48.
I do hope I've managed to capture Ferid's mannerisms correctly. I mentioned the board game 'Risk'. It's a strategy game for multiple (2 or more) players. I like it better than chess as a comparison because I think it's more realistic than chess. It's somewhat popular where I come from; everyone knows it by name at least.
Why is it that when I read the manga it feels like there is too little content per chapter and when I rewrite it, it feels like the chapter tripled in size? The prequel will go on until chapter 13 or 14, but I'm not so sure about the length yet. I'm also working on the plot but my brain keeps sabotaging itself by imagining very cool but very unrealistic scenes.
Edit 07. June: I will have the next chapter finished in June but I don't know when. I am currently preparing for a big exam that I mustn't/dont want to fail.
Staying at Kunda hadn't always been easy with a vampire and a boy who slowly transformed into a violent demon. But the locals accepted it since it also meant protection from the horsemen and more food for them. They hadn't gone far, fearing to run into the man-eating monsters. Now, with the soldiers here, they could mount small exploration expeditions to some neighboring village or town and scavenge for food.
After one month Shinoa gave up any hope she had that Yu would return to normal like he did before. He was now a demon for two hours every day around noon and each passing day that time grew by two minutes. It was time to move on.
"Since we are all together and awake we should talk about what we are going to do next," Shinoa opened the discussion. "Mitsuba, would you please summarize the things we need to discuss?"
Mitsu cleared her throat. "Okay so listen up! We have two main points: Our safety and the people we left behind. First of all, we can't keep running forever. The demon army will try to capture us again as we are a part of their experiment. Also running won't help since Yu is turning into a demon and we need to stop that. On to the other point, there is Shiho's sister we need to save."
"So we first need to save Yu and Mirai and then we could run away, right?" Narumi asked and Shinoa nodded. "Then we should go back to the JIDA," Narumi continued. "They can provide treatment for Yuichiro."
"Don't joke with me!" Mika looked ready to murder the older man and Shinoa shuffled closer just in case a fight broke out. "I'll never give Yu to the humans!"
"You can't protect him when he's a demon and neither can you stop his transformation. So shut up if you don't have any better ideas!"
Mika took a step forwards and Yu grabbed his sleeve. "Please don't fight. And don't make this all about me either. I'm not that important."
"Shut up! My friends died protecting you! My friends died because you are important because of the experiments done to you! Don't go around saying you're not important!"
Shinoa looked worriedly at the two guys. Yu never considered the feelings of the other people and Narumi still hadn't healed. She hoped that his words meant that he wanted to protect Yu, the person, and not just Yu, the experiment.
For a short time there was silence.
Then Yu said: "I … I want to meet up with Guren. I want to save him and I'm sure he'd help us."
"Yu! We can't trust him!" Mika shouted.
Before Yu could retort and they'd started fighting again, Shinoa agreed with Mika. "We can't trust Guren right now, because he is possessed by a demon, who was once my sister. There is no telling what he would do to us."
"So it seems we cannot cooperate with any human," Narumi said. "Hey vampire! Do you have any ideas?"
Mika scoffed. "So the blood from earlier was meant as a bribe?"
"No. It was meant to help you. If you have a suggestion then please talk to us," Shinoa disagreed.
With one look to Yu's 'I told you so; You are really stupid'- face, Mika sighed and said: "There is a vampire who was involved in the 'Seraph of the End'- experiment. We can probably trust her. She … is the queen who raised me. But I don't know where she is, since she was captured by the vampires."
"Are vampires less dangerous than the demon army?" Narumi asked.
"Yes. They are not interested in anything but blood, not even power, unlike the humans."
"Well, that's just how the JIDA is," Narumi agreed with Mika. "I vote for the vampire's suggestion."
One by one the others agreed too. Mika hadn't expected that. To be honest his plan wasn't that much better than the others, but at least they would stay away from the greedy humans. He had no idea where Krul was and frankly he was worried. Who knew what Ferid would do to her? And then there is the Progenitor council …
"Alright." Shinoa put the tips of her fingers together. "Then let's first save the vampire queen and then Kimizuki's sister and Guren."
"Yes! Let's go!"
The rest of the group were amused by Yoichi and Yu's outbreak.
Kimizuki pointedly asked: "Is this a system where only the idiots react?"
Yoichi smiled a bit embarrassed and Yu only huffed. "But to save the vampire queen, what should we do, Mika? Do we have to infiltrate Sanguinem?"
Mika thought for a second. Yu wouldn't like what he was going to say next. Hell, he himself didn't like it one bit. He'd like to Ferid dead more than anyone, but right now this repugnant noble was their only hope of finding Krul.
"The queen was caught by Ferid Bathory. Do you remember him Yu?"
"Ah." For a second Yu's brilliant green eyes clouded with anger. That guy! "The guy who separated us … and killed Akane and our family." Unconsciously Yu's hand flew to his sword. Just touching it gave him comfort. Right now he wasn't that weak anymore! Right now he could kill that damn bloodsucker! But … "Didn't I kill that guy?"
"You shot him in the head with a gun," Mika stated and Yu finished his train of thoughts: "Vampires don't die from something like that. … Wait, so he's still alive?!"
"Yes. You've met him in Shinjuku, when we first reunited," Mika answered and Yu looked at him perplexed. "You seriously did not notice him?"
"Ahaha, I wasn't really focusing on anything, but you."
Mika thought that Yu really needed a babysitter all the time. Maybe it wasn't so bad that he met those humans. At least they watched his back.
"Would someone mind to fill me in?" Narumi asked. Well, he was the 'new' squad mate. They hadn't briefed him on Yu and Mika's history yet.
"So it's about what happened to them when they were in the vampire city," Shinoa began, but stopped when Yu abruptly turned his head and looked east at the coast. His whole body was stiff and Shinoa was reminded of a dog who suddenly heard a strange noise. "What's wrong, Yu?"
"Ah, it's just that I hear this strange noise. Can any of you hear it?"
To Shinoa's ears it was all quiet and peaceful. Was the demon-transformation affecting Yu's senses?
"I can't hear anything," Yoichi softly said.
"But I can hear it now. It's a car engine."
A cold feeling crept up their backs. "Is the demon army already on to us?!"
"I'll go and check," Yoichi said, drawing Gekkoin and jumping on a house.
Shinoa looked over to Yu, who was talking with Mika. Yu didn't look like he was possessed by the demon, but they were cunning creatures. The demon could pretend not to be in control. But certainly Yu was becoming more and more like the demon. Shinoa missed the air of hope the boy had had around him.
"There! I see them! … It's not the demon army! It's that vampire we fought at Nagoya city hall!"
Shiho's eyes were wide open in fear. "The monster with the red hair?!"
"And there is a silver haired vampire with him!"
Mika froze. "That is Ferid Bathory," he stated quietly. "They're the ones that caught the queen. We should not get involved with them right now! We need to be the ones to dictate the terms of our cooperation!"
Shinoa nodded. "Then let's take the stimulant pills and run as fast as we can! If they are truly targeting us then the villagers should be alright."
They sped off towards the mountains. Hopefully the vampires would leave the villagers alone. Hopefully they wouldn't follow them either. Hopefully they are just passing through. But that wasn't very likely. They would have to fight.
"Mika? Is that Ferid guy strong?" Yu asked.
"Yes, very strong. He is the second strongest vampire in Japan, right after the queen."
For a second Mitsuba lost her balance, but she kept going. "Wait! You mean he is stronger than the red haired vampire?!"
"The JIDA's files say that Crowley Eusford is a 13th progenitor! The higher the rank the stronger they are," Narumi filled them in.
"Ferid is a seventh progenitor," Mika stated. A seventh. Mika had no idea why he and Crowley had been able to capture Krul. A seventh progenitor shouldn't stand a chance against a third. Most likely she was too distracted. Still she should have been able to defend herself.
"That's bad. If he catches up to us were done for," Shinoa uttered.
Mika glanced at Yu. What would he do to save his friends from Ferid? Would he use his seraph for them again?
"Say Mika, did I only escape because Ferid wanted me to?"
'Yes, certainly. Ferid let you escape to drive you into that Guren's arms,' was what Mika thought. But right now they couldn't afford any discord. First they had to flee. "Probably. But he didn't tell me any details …"
Yu clenched his jaw and Mika knew what was going through his head. 'Guren is good. Guren is innocent. Someone must be manipulating him.' There was a tug in Mika's heart. 'I hate to break it to you, but most humans are greedy. Your Guren would do anything to obtain power.' Then Yu's eyes gained a determined look. That couldn't be good! His stupid brother was probably thinking of solving it all on his own, selling himself out to protect his friends.
"Don't Yu! When I said I'd go alone to Ferid's mansion, you were angry, right? I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have gone there. Maybe then Akane and the others would still be -"
"No it's not your fault Mika! It never was! You see-"
Shiho shoved Yu forward. "Stop chattering and concentrate on running! We can sort this out together after we escaped!"
"Exactly!" Yoichi shouted out between breaths. "The world might be destroyed and we have no idea what's going on and who else is on our side, but even if the world gets more chaotic, we'll always be comrades!"
"Well spoken," a new voice said from behind them and suddenly Crowley appeared right in front of them. "I couldn't have said it better. Now I just need to delay you until Ferid gets here."
Within a second Mitsuba was thrown off her feet and flew through the air, blood gushing out of her upper arm. Crowley caught the blonde and threw her at the ground. The entire group froze.
"Mitsu!" Shinoa's cry brought them back from their paralysis and Yoichi drew his bow.
"Good, good. If you're willing to fight, then I can stall you until Ferid arrives," Crowley hummed slightly amused. When was the last time he fought without having to hold back?
Mitsuba listened to the vampire with wide eyes. They couldn't beat this vampire! She threw her arms around Crowley's legs. "Leave me behind! You must go on without me! I'll hold him back!"
"No way! We're comrades! We stick together!" Yoichi shouted and fired at the vampire. Crowley deflected his arrows without any visible effort. The archer drew more power from his demon and the violet tattoos spread on his face.
Shiho bolted towards the vampire, Shinoa and Narumi at his flanks, and activated his demon's special ability. The coffin appeared and the countdown began.
"I've seen this before. I'd like to get out of range so would you please let go of me?"
"Never! I refuse to be a burden anymore!" Mitsuba cried out and only gripped the vampire's legs harder.
"Really now …" Crowley ducked to avoid Shinoa's scythe, picked up Mitsuba by the back of her uniform and pried her from his legs. He threw her against an advancing Narumi and in the last second jumped out of Shiho's reach. The four didn't hesitate and attacked the vampire from all sides with impeccable teamwork. Still Crowley wasn't bothered by them and blocked or dodged every of their moves.
While his teammates fought the progenitor, Yu watched them frozen in terror. "We … can't win this. This guy defeated Mitsuba and Kimizuki in one shot. But he is only toying with us."
"He is buying time until Ferid arrives," Mika stated. "If he catches us it's over. Let's just run away together, Yu!"
"I won't leave our comrades behind. They're fighting even though, or because, they know that the vampires are after me."
"Then if we escape they won't have any reason to fight anymore," Mika said feeling relieved.
"No! They might get killed or turned into livestock! I won't stand for this! The last time I ran away I lost my family and you were turned into a vampire." Yu held up one hand when he saw Mika opening his mouth to retort. "It wasn't your fault. We're involved in some big scheme, but I believe that if we face it together we can overcome it! Without anyone dying too!"
Mika sighed. "You really think it's going to be that easy, don't you?"
Yu laughed. "Well, if you lend me your strength …"
Mika sighed again. Why was his stupid brother always this stubbornly optimistic?
"Stop fighting! We surrender!"
Crowley looked somewhat pleased. Or maybe he would have preferred to fight on? Who could tell?
"Yu!" came the collective cry from the team. "What the hell are you talking about?! Draw your weapon and fight!"
"No, it's alright. They're after the 'Owari no Seraph'-experiment. They're after me! Isn't that right?"
Crowley shrugged. "I don't have any goal. I'm just following him," he said pointing at the rapidly approaching car. Apparently Ferid wasn't a good driver because when he braked he misjudged the distance and Yu had to jump out of the way. Or maybe that had been intentional.
"Hey, you two! I heard you are being attacked by a dangerous vampire so I came to rescue you! Hurry now, get in the car," Ferid said with a grin on his face. Yu wondered how Mika managed to survive without killing that guy. It hadn't been a second but Yu already wanted to chop him into pieces.
"Ferid. You're not up-to-date. They've surrendered."
"Wha-?" Ferid looked from Crowley to the two boys. "Were you always this obedient?"
"It's not like we can win against you. And we've deserted from the Demon Army. We have no idea who our enemies are. You're after me and I want to know why! I also want to know what's going on here. That's why I'll cooperate with you as long as nobody gets hurt!"
"Ahaha!" Ferid laughed. He sat on the trunk of his car and twirled the keys around his fingers. "After everything I've done to you?! You must have some very weak morals." He steepled his fingers in front of his chin. "You'll really cast aside all your anger and hatred for me? I've killed your family." He watched in amusement as Yu started to tremble. "And I enjoyed it. I've lured you into a trap and played with your hopes. And you're saying you'll forgive me?"
Of course it wasn't that easy! Yu had already enough on his plate trying to hold back a demon and a seraph! And Ferid's rambling didn't help a bit. It would be better if he were dead. It would be easier if he were dead. And it would give Yu great pleasure to kill him! He'd just have to give in to this feeling, let himself be drowned away by hatred and the desire for revenge. Then he'd have enough power to kill that fool! 'Just give in and kill him,' it chanted in his head. 'Kill him. Kill him! Kill! KILL!'
The curse-marks spread over Yu's face, two horns popped out of his head and one eye turned red. "I'm gonna kill you!"
"No Yu! Don't!" Mika shouted and the others chimed in.
Ferid only chuckled. "Crowley," he whined. "Please protect me! A dangerous demon is after my life!"
"Excuse me? You're stronger than me."
"Eh? Really?" Ferid dodged Yu's blow and his beautiful car got split in half. "Oh no! My car! Didn't you say you were going to forgive me?"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Oh, I guess not." Ferid jumped away again. Yu's attacks were so predictable. Of course, possessed he gave up his brain-power for brawn-power. But it was really boring Ferid. Maybe he should just end it? "Mika~! Don't you think it's bad for him to use his demon's power so recklessly? Maybe he'll turn into a real demon! I'm really~ worried here!"
In the blink of an eye Mika was behind Yu and held him back. "Calm down Yu!"
"No! He killed our family!"
"You already knew that! Don't let him get to you!"
"Why? He killed them for sport! For FUN," Yu spat. "Why shouldn't I take revenge?"
"Because he's more powerful than all of us together," Mika tried to reason. "All of us couldn't take him on and certainly not you alone!" Yu was still shivering. Yu was still fighting. Mika felt that clearly.
"Mika, let go of me! If … if you don't … I'll kill you too. … No. … Stop it … demon."
"Mitsu, where is the demon restraint?"
"It's here but I'm not sure we can get to him in his condition!" Mitsuba answered. Yu could easily kill Mika and maybe others too, if they weren't extremely careful. And then there are those vampires. Did they have a truce now? They never agreed on it. With Yu gone berserk it would be a great opportunity to capture the group, even though they would have overpowered them anyway.
"So … do we have an agreement?" Kimizuki asked the two bloodsuckers.
Crowley only looked at Ferid, the head of this operation. He laughed. "Why not? There is no way for you to stop Yu without endangering yourself and we wouldn't want that now, do we? But I have a drug that will turn Yu back to normal! Now, who will be the first to beg 'Please, Lord Bathory, help us poor souls'? I won't help you if you don't."
The teenagers looked at each other. Was this guy missing a few screws? They thought they were to be working together from now on, but this filthy vampire insisted on humiliating them?
Shinoa lowered her head. As the leader she was responsible for everything her group did. Being a leader meant caring for everyone under her command, taking the blame for their wrong doings, praising them for what they did right and being their scout, their guardian and their beacon of hope.
Shinoa opened her mouth and softly said: "Please …, Lord Bathory,-"
Suddenly Ferid flicked her shoulder. "Just kidding! I'm here to be friend with you." He slowly approached Yu and Mika with a syringe in his hand.
Crowley sighed. "I'll tell you something, Miss Leader. The only thing you'll ever get from him is trouble. So never trust him."
Shinoa thought that she would rather die before trusting Ferid Bathory the slightest bit and she wondered why she should believe Crowley, of all people.
A shout startled her out of her thoughts. "Don't come near him Ferid! Leave us alone!" Mika stood protectively in front of Yu who had slumped on the ground. Most likely he was talking with his demon now.
"Well, I would but then he'd turn into a demon and we wouldn't want that now, would we?"
"Don't screw with me, Bathory! You don't want to save him! You want to use him!"
"How do you know what I truly want? But I know what you want. You'd only need to inject these dangerous drugs into Yu. So do you want to do it or should I?"
Mika drew his sword and pounced at Ferid who didn't move an inch. Instead Crowley blocked Mika's blow, seized one of his arms and pushed him to the ground. The younger vampire squirmed, but Crowley was just too strong. He could only helplessly watch as Ferid approached his last family member.
Yu just passively watched.
"My, my, aren't you a cutie? You've grown up well and you retained your pretty eyes even with the demon rampaging inside of you." He softly touched Yu's lips with his thumb. "May I drink your blood before treating you?"
"What would I get from it?"
Ferid chuckled. Namanari. Cold and calculating. They would offer up themselves, blood, body, and soul, if it meant gaining something important in exchange. "Then~ let me tell you a little secret about this drug. This is the very same drug Guren uses to restrain his demon. And I this one from him."
Yu harshly grabbed Ferid's arm, the one with the syringe. "So you know about Guren! Tell me what you know or I'll beat it out of you!"
Ferid snorted. "One secret at a time, little Yu!" He bit Yu's neck and injected the contents of the syringe into Yu.
Mika could see the blood running down. Then he remembered something Krul told him about dealing with stronger opponents and kicked an unsuspecting Crowley in his balls. Mika was at Yu's side when Ferid let go of him and caught his brother. The horns and curse marks were gone and Mika held her brother tightly in his arms.
He seethed with rage. "I'll never forgive you, Ferid," he spat. "I won't let you make him into a pawn in your despicable plan."
"Mika, Mika." Ferid shook his head. "I just saved your brother's life. And, why do you think it's my plan anyway? Poor little Mika. We should have played 'Risk' together." Suddenly his voice lost its annoying teasing lilt. "This is no one's plan, child. Someone started meddling with the fate of this world and everyone died." Then he laughed. "That's the truth about the experiment called 'Owari no Seraph - The seraph of the end'." Ferid threw the syringe into a trash bin. "And now we need a car. I'll take you to the place where the experiments were conducted."
Shinoa walked up to the men and placed herself between the Hyakuyas and the vampire. "And why should we go there?"
"Hmm, because, my little friend, the information you want is there."
"And why should we believe you that you are going to take us there instead of selling us out to your vampire comrades?" Narumi asked pointing his trident at Ferid.
Ferid looked taken aback, but he was just acting. "Oh my. Haven't we just agreed on a truce and sharing our information? Just between us, Makoto Narumi, you can't trust me, but you have no choice."
Shinoa looked at Narumi with narrowed eyes. "He is right. We have no choice right now."
"That is not acceptable," Narumi said. "This guy has done nothing that would make him trustworthy, on the contrary!"
Shinoa's voice cut through the air sharp like a knife. "Then if you can't trust him, you'll have to trust in me, your leader. We will follow him for now and see what he has to say. That is an order!"
Yoichi swallowed. He'd never seen Shinoa this serious before and he felt like if Narumi didn't step down a fight would break out. He himself wasn't a fan of trusting this silver haired vampire either, but they needed more information. Narumi finally lowered his weapon and Yoichi breathed a sigh of relief. "Everyone," he called out, his voice still a bit shaky. "I found a bus."
"Wow," Ferid called out and sped over to the vehicle.
Yoichi felt a cold shiver run down his spine as the vampire passed him far too close for his liking. Didn't someone once say that the seventh progenitor Ferid Bathory liked small children? Yoichi wasn't oblivious to the opinions of other people and he knew that most of them found him cute. Maybe he should take care to always be with someone. Just in case.
"Crowley! Try to hotwire that bus please!" The vampire clapped his hands and smiled like a little kid on Christmas.
Crowley silently got to work and examined the engine. "Get comfortable. This will take a while."
The shadows were already growing longer when Ferid started to bother his partner. "Crowley~! What's taking you so long? I thought you were better at working with machines."
Crowley didn't even look at him. "It's not like one of your classical cars, you know? But …" He connected two wires and the bus sprang into life. "I'm done."
Ferid turned to the waiting teenagers. "Sorry for the wait you guys! But the bus is now moving so get a move on and get in!"
None of the teenagers seemed to be very enthusiastic about getting on the same vehicle as that Ferid, but they didn't have a choice. Also having Ferid and Crowley drive meant that they would arrive at their destination much earlier than if they were travelling by themselves.
They took the seats farthest away from Ferid. Yu still hadn't woken up and was soundly asleep with his head on Mika's shoulder. Crowley was driving. He was a good driver even better than Kimizuki or Narumi. 'Maybe he had been a chauffeur before he was turned into a vampire,' the humans thought.
Ferid looked at the group gleefully. "This is so much fun! It's like were going on a picnic or a road trip. Papa is driving us, Mama packed the lunchboxes, and one of our adorable children is sleeping like an angel."
"I hope he doesn't mean us when he said 'lunchboxes'," Kimizuki murmured.
Mitsuba was hugging herself. "Was getting on this bus really a good idea? This guy gives me the creeps."
Shinoa put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We had no choice," she said with conviction in her voice. "We need the drug for Yu and we need the information he has about the 'Seraph of the End'."
"You guys are so naïve," Mika said. He sounded slightly disgusted, but they couldn't tell if he didn't like what they were currently doing (which he certainly didn't) or if he was thinking about the time Ferid had played him. "We are already a part of his game. He knew that we couldn't resist his offer."
"Is that guy that smart?" Narumi inquired.
Mika nodded slightly. "He is. But he is also an abnormal person. You never know what he is thinking about."
Ferid approached them. Even in a moving vehicle on a bumpy road he was still flawlessly keeping his balance. "Now you are a subordinate of Guren Ichinose's right?" He asked Narumi.
The older soldier widened his eyes. "How did you know that?"
"I told you," Mika muttered. "Don't bother listening to him. There is no way to tell if he's speaking the truth."
"Oh now you've wounded me Mika! I try to be as honest as possible. How about I save the explanations for when Yu wakes up. It should be soon anyway. Five, four, three," he started counting down. Exactly when he said 'Now', Yu opened his eyes.
"Yu!" "Yuichiro!"
Kimizuki looked at Ferid from the corner of his eyes. The vampire was smiling. How did he know when Yu would wake up and how did he keep track of time without a clock? "He is hard to deal with," he hissed under his breath.
"I'm sorry for going on a rampage everyone," Yu apologized.
Shinoa waved her hand. "Don't worry about it! I guess we would have done the same in your place." She felt two hands on her shoulder and when the person spoke a chill ran down her spine and Shinoa wrenched herself free from Ferid's grasp. The vampire didn't react to the girl's actions. "Good morning Yu! So? How do you feel?"
"The medicine works," Yu coldly replied.
Ferid laughed. "And where is my 'Thank you'?"
"That will depend on your story. How are you involved with Guren and what do the two of you want with the 'Owari no Seraph'?"
"Patience dear! Tomorrow we'll meet up with Guren and I'll answer all your questions. Until then just relax! Ah, by the by, do you want to make a toilet break?"
"Why are they taking so long? It can't be that hard to empty your body," Ferid sighed. If they were late then the other progenitors would be very displeased.
"Maybe they are trying to figure out how to escape from the perverted kidnapping," Crowley suggested.
Ferid sighed. It would be troublesome if those kids started running again but he hadn't heard anything, so he believed that they were still inside. If they did not come out in ten minutes he would go and take a look. "Really? Personally I don't think you're that perverted. I've met worse people."
Crowley gave him a lopsided smile. "Like yourself?"
"Whaaat? I'm just a harmless weak vampire!"
"Sure, sure."
"I'm bored Crowley! Let's play 'word chain'! I start with 'Apple'. Now say something beginning with 'e'!"
"I don't want to."
"But I'm so bored!"
Crowley narrowed his eyes at his partner. "Then would you fill me in about where we actually are going to? I don't believe that we are going to the place where the experiments took place."
"Right you are! Bravo! Ten points for Crowley!" Ferid applauded.
"So you lied to them. That doesn't really surprise me. Where are we really going to?"
"The Osaka bay. We are going to meet up with Guren there."
Crowley let his brain process what Ferid just said. The he shook his head. "I don't get it. You promised them that we would go to the place where the experiments were conducted and that they were going to meet Guren Ichinose. And now you say that you'll just let them meet Guren somewhere else? I don't understand what you are getting at."
Ferid cocked his head. "Will it become clearer when I tell you that we are going to meet some progenitors before we see Guren?"
"Not really."
Ferid laughed again. "Well, I guess you'll just have to trust me that everything will go according to my plan."