There's gonna be a song in the next chapter of The Ancient's Staff. I
advise all of my readers to go to either Theria's site or Sora's site and
download the song "Kamen no Shita no Namida" so you that you can listen and
sing along. I love that song so much that I just had to put it in my fic.
Theria's site: http://www.theria.net/yst/cds/index.html
Sora's site: http://www.sorakun.net/ystmp3/index2.html
Day one, Oleiriset thought, closing his eyes as his face held an expression of controlled tranquility. He had centuries more experience than Kayura had at mentally sensing and feeling the outside world. His mental boundary easily transgressed the nether world into the mortal world, where the two instinctively vile entities waited expectantly for their big battle. Oleiriset was glad that he learned from outside sources about the Inferno armors. If he went to Africa to investigate the other Inferno without any prior knowledge of its nature, he would have fallen into the same trap that made Hariel insane.
Finding the two armors, the queen's advisor suddenly felt agitated and angry at his circumstances. The Inferno armors had their plans and Oleiriset's plan might come too late and miss any chance of usefulness.
White Blaze rested outside an arcade store and waited contently for Ryo and Mia to exit. He tried to relax his worried nerves and to enjoy the day when he heard a familiar voice yell out his name.
"Psst! White Blaze!" called out the other tiger, the prophet of the Inferno, from around the corner of a building. "Danger awaits you! I believe you forgot about the Black Inferno."
"What!" He ran after his counterpart along the sidewalk. The sidewalk vanished, replaced briefly by African savanna, and then reappeared again. The same thing happened 1000 years ago for his first battle with the White Inferno. Turning around, the Guardian of Virtue ran towards Ryo, the White Inferno's chosen victim. Like the other horrified citizens, Ryo watched the apparitions appear and disappear but slowly gaining a foothold in Japan.
Then, Black Blaze walked in front of him and said frankly, "The descendent of Morhiko will soon need our help. We need to join again."
"Morhiko's descendent? What's wrong with Sai?"
Black Blaze spoke seriously, "Sai will stare directly at the truth of the Inferno. I do not know if he will understand it, but he is more skilled with Torrent than Morhiko was. He might be able to make the right decision, but we must be there to influence him in the right path. We will split again, when he has made the correct decision. Chaos will soon envelope the city and I must guide you to the other Inferno."
"Ryo, what's wrong with White Blaze?" Mia asked the teenager as she pulled out her car keys and headed towards the door to follow the tiger. No one saw the two tigers merge again.
"I don't know," Ryo answered, distracted. He felt as though something was coming for him, as though a major part of his destiny arrived. It is my destiny to be a Ronin Warrior, Ryo thought, not understanding the sensation as the fighter's lust for battle touched his veins. Whatever is going on, the Ronin Warriors need to fight again!
Grumbling to himself, Oleiriset wandered through the halls of the castle. Locating Kayura with his metaphysical sense was easy; finding her through the intricate hallways was trouble. He finally arrived at her bedchambers and knocked three times on her door until he heard her call to enter.
Kayura sat cross-legged with the staff glowing gently in front of her.
Trying to appear harmless and casual, Oleiriset asked, "You are in communion with the Ancient One, I suppose?"
Kayura nodded. The Ancient was infamously well known throughout the netherworld so she thought nothing strange of Oleiriset's question. She effortlessly caught the staff as it fell since it stopped glowing and the spirit of the Ancient began to rest. "We are alone now."
Oleiriset unconsciously spread his arms out, indicating emptiness. "I have nothing major to discuss. I merely wish to thank you for saving my life. I never wished to disturb your meditation. I shall explore the other parts of the castle now." He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Kayura shouted, standing on her feet.
Oleiriset glanced behind his shoulder.
"Your aura seems familiar somehow. I wonder if you are related to someone who I once knew."
"I never met my parents and I was raised with the snake demons, if you were assuming that we met in our early childhood." Oleiriset then opened the door and almost walked straight into Sekhmet.
The impassive former warlord of Venom placed his hand on Oleiriset's shoulder forcibly to push him aside and walked past him. Then, Sekhmet said to Kayura, "I have the reports that you and the Ancient wanted. Dais already reviewed them and he thinks the northern section needs our central focus as soon as possible. Kale refused to give his opinion because he felt tired of reviewing."
Kayura did not know whether to laugh or to feel annoyed; she knew the nether world needed constant watching, but like Kale, she also felt tired of looking after the nether world. With a silent sigh, she took the reports from Sekhmet and sat down to review them with the Ancient after the former warlord of Venom dismissed himself.
Sekhmet exited the room. He saw Oleiriset standing near the wall. He warily eyed the man's observing expression. Not knowing why, he instantly distrusted and disliked the other man. When Oleiriset glanced at him, Sekhmet pinned him against the wall. "Are you sure that you never met your parents?"
"I am absolutely certain. I never once met my parents. Do you trust me?"
"No," Sekhmet scowled.
"Well, I wonder why. I am telling the truth."
Kale's sudden curiosity and constant questioning amazed everyone at the castle. Dais never thought anything odd about the former warlord of Darkness; he also enjoyed the social interaction that resulted from the personal questions. In truth, the more they discussed their past, the more they discovered about their own pasts.
Dais's only complete memory of his grandfather, Jiguro, was his grandfather's funeral although certain parts blended together because Dais, only five at the time, grew bored and ignored those parts of the funeral ceremony. "I remember that after the funeral, my grandmother, Keiko, spoke with me about my grandfather. She said something like how I had to inherit and nurture my family legacy. I don't remember exactly what she said, but there was this stranger at the funeral. He seems familiar now." Dais frowned thoughtfully, struggling to form a better picture of the stranger. "Something was unusual about the person. The person stood among all of the mourners as though he was one of them, but he appeared fit for performing ceremonies. When he walked, I saw that he held a-"
Dais stopped suddenly. His eye widened in shock and his mouth straightened. Subconsciously afraid of falling, he leaned against the table. He remembered that the person also stopped to talk to him about Jiguro. A clearer picture formed in his mind. Dais spoke again awkwardly, but with growing conviction. "I- I think that person. was actually the Ancient One!"
Kale stared at him with wide-eyes. An old habit wanted him to laugh at the strangeness of the revelation, but he learned enough in the past two years (especially in the past two days) to know that a little truth existed in everything. "Really?" he said to Dais as a compromise between the old and new habits.
Dais nodded.
"So Talpa wanted you to know how to read," Oleiriset mused, more to the thin air than to Sekhmet, as he walked stiffly through the library. He guessed how Sekhmet gained the knowledge after the former warlord of Venom read aloud a difficult word in a scroll. Oleiriset hated Sekhmet's hard glare and constant patrolling like a dumb dog watching and stalking its prey. "You probably felt truly special once you learned how to read and write. You believed that Talpa had only your best interests at heart, correct?" He swore he heard a slight growl behind him and he suppressed a smile, knowing that he hit a spot of truth about Sekhmet's past.
Trying to calm his nerves, Oleiriset sighed and asked Sekhmet while keeping to his mission, "Have you known people who are inflicted with a certain illness?"
"What do you mean? Everyone is sick at some point in life."
Oleiriset never turned to face the former warlord of Venom; he might lose control of his nerves if he did. "I talk about a special illness which causes people to commit spiteful acts of malice. I believe you understand what I say."
"You speak in riddles!" Sekhmet snapped.
The man breathed deeply, reminding himself of a small part of his plan for Sekhmet, Get him angry and then have him focus his anger on Naga. "Queen Naga suffers from such an illness. That is why she wishes to injure you again. In most cases of the illness, there is no cure. I thought you understood the illness because the majority of your village displayed symptoms of the illness, especially in their treatment towards you."
The former warlord of Venom scowled. He felt as though Oleiriset tried to insult him by using heavily veiled words and implications to anger and to stultify him. However, he strangely remembered a situation that fit Oleiriset's description of the illness.
When Sekhmet was five, his grandfather, Nazaka, left to fight a battle against the snake demons. His grandmother terrified him so he waited silently near the window for hours. From his earliest memories, Nazaka always fought the snake demons and came back alive with little or no injuries so Sekhmet never worried about his grandfather. Instead, he wished Nazaka would return soon to protect him from his scary grandmother. His grandmother always seemed to hate him for an unknown reason. After an hour of waiting silently without any movement, Sekhmet believed that if he left his grandmother alone, his grandmother would repay the favor and leave him alone.
However, his grandmother acted illogically.
She approached him and said callously, "Your accursed father is trying to kill my husband at this moment."
Sekhmet did not flinch despite her words and her tone. He never had an opinion about his father and never had any assumption of how a father should act. He merely accepted her words as fact and decided that his father was a bad person. Not worrying, he believed his grandfather would win so he said simply in a dull tone, "Okay."
"How dare you!" she spat suddenly.
"What'd I do wrong?" Sekhmet asked fearfully. Only five-years-old at the time, he trembled easily.
"You and your father." she sneered scornfully and then shouted, "You tortured my daughter! For nine months, I had to watch my wonderful daughter suffer against her will because of you! Oh, you destroyed her. you destroyed her. and I will always hate you. Now, your father is trying to kill my husband!"
The helpless five-year-old boy cowered tearfully while she ranted hatefully. He did not remember hurting anyone and he never wanted to hurt anyone. Eventually the boy's grandmother tired, satisfied with her treatment of him, and walked off, mumbling spiteful sayings.
Nazaka returned hours later to find Sekhmet still cowering timidly near the windowsill. Nazaka's wife greeted him warmly as though nothing malevolent happened. Sekhmet's grandmother acted more cheerful than usual. Although Nazaka was full of energy when he returned, the sight of his family suddenly exhausted him. Nazaka told his wife that he would go to bed soon and that he wanted her to wait for him.
After she left, Nazaka picked up Sekhmet and carried the boy to his bed.
"I'm sorry," was the first thing that Sekhmet said to him.
"Sorry for what?" Nazaka asked. After Sekhmet repeated what his grandmother said, Nazaka told him, "Don't take what she says to heart. Just ignore her."
"But why does she say those things?"
Nazaka sighed, "She's- She is sick. She has been sick for a long time. Just ignore her."
Sekhmet learned at an early age that people were violent and hateful. None of his recent experiences with people disproved what he learned when he was five.
"Come in," Kayura said absently, hearing a knock on her door. Busy reading, she did not look up.
Oleiriset entered. "I was unable to find anything worth reading in your library and I remembered seeing a collection of scrolls in your room. May I know what you are reading?"
"I'm just reviewing my notes," Kayura said, absorbed in her work. She paused to walk mechanically to her table and take a sip of tea. Then, she began reading attentively again.
"Notes over what?"
Kayura looked up thoughtfully. She felt as though he should know the information already. "It is stuff the Ancient One wanted me to memorize. The previous bearer of the staff can only remain inside the staff for ten years to teach the next bearer." In addition to learning how to use the staff, Kayura also had to learn about the entire history of the Clan. She wondered why Oleiriset was interested in her notes and said dismissively, "Dinner should be ready soon. Will you please tell the others that I will be a little late?"
"Certainly." Oleiriset bowed down and left.
Kayura sighed. Why did Oleiriset's aura feel so familiar? He said he was half-snake demon and that Sekhmet also had the blood of the snake demons, but Sekhmet's aura was more similar to Kale's than Oleiriset's.
Finding the minor mystery unimportant, she decided to focus on her studies again. A system of balance kept the interconnecting spiritual and mortal worlds in order. If the balance was unsettled, (depending on the thing toppling the balance and the speed/force with which the balance was toppled), the health of the mortal world would decline into a barren wasteland or the mortal world would be destroyed instantly. The absence of a natural force and empowerment by an unnatural force were also dangerous to the world's health.
"Did you tell us the truth last night?" Sekhmet asked Oleiriset before the queen's advisor entered the dining room.
His eyes widened and his face seemed to jerk back in surprise. "Why do you ask?"
Sekhmet scowled. He hated explaining himself because not even he understood his own actions and thoughts. Fortunately, his distrust of the man was easier to explain. "You have snake blood."
"And you are still suspicious of me because of my blood?" Oleiriset inquired with a nervous chuckle.
Sekhmet nodded.
The man's eyes hardened as he said sternly, "Well, let me tell you the truth about me. I was born directly from the harems of the snake demons. I have no idea who my mother and father are. Naga tortured me until I screamed and begged, but she is merciless. You also have snake blood so if I am evil, so are you."
Dinner passed amazingly without any fights. Dais and Kale started to discuss their grandfathers, as usual now. Then Oleiriset commented that Dais had a nether curse because of his white hair and Dais said he inherited it from Jiguro. Dinner passed uneventfully and Sekhmet went to bed quickly afterwards.
Sleep came easily and unexpectedly. That night he dreamed that he walked peacefully through a summer landscape. The dream surprised him because he rarely dreamed and the scenes came too quickly and too fluidly to come from his mind. Knowing that the dream was not his own creation, Sekhmet searched through the summer landscape for the person who created the dream. He stopped as the creator of the dream stepped into view. Then Sekhmet kneeled humbly in front of the Ancient One, who sent his spirit out to communicate with the former warlord.
"Something troubles you," said the Ancient One.
"How do you know?" He thought his own emotions were mysterious and undecipherable.
"I watched you long enough. I can tell when something troubles you."
Letting go of his emotions, Sekhmet shouted out, "Oleiriset is lying! He said he never met his parents, but he lies!"
"Certain emotions are attached to lies - a slight twinge of guilt, fear of being caught in a lie, or self-acknowledgement of a lie. There is usually a combination of those three emotions in a person when the person lies. Does Oleiriset experience those emotions?"
"No, but I know he lies! He lies somehow!" Sekhmet sighed and humbled himself. "I can't explain how I know. I can't explain anything."
Theria's site: http://www.theria.net/yst/cds/index.html
Sora's site: http://www.sorakun.net/ystmp3/index2.html
Day one, Oleiriset thought, closing his eyes as his face held an expression of controlled tranquility. He had centuries more experience than Kayura had at mentally sensing and feeling the outside world. His mental boundary easily transgressed the nether world into the mortal world, where the two instinctively vile entities waited expectantly for their big battle. Oleiriset was glad that he learned from outside sources about the Inferno armors. If he went to Africa to investigate the other Inferno without any prior knowledge of its nature, he would have fallen into the same trap that made Hariel insane.
Finding the two armors, the queen's advisor suddenly felt agitated and angry at his circumstances. The Inferno armors had their plans and Oleiriset's plan might come too late and miss any chance of usefulness.
White Blaze rested outside an arcade store and waited contently for Ryo and Mia to exit. He tried to relax his worried nerves and to enjoy the day when he heard a familiar voice yell out his name.
"Psst! White Blaze!" called out the other tiger, the prophet of the Inferno, from around the corner of a building. "Danger awaits you! I believe you forgot about the Black Inferno."
"What!" He ran after his counterpart along the sidewalk. The sidewalk vanished, replaced briefly by African savanna, and then reappeared again. The same thing happened 1000 years ago for his first battle with the White Inferno. Turning around, the Guardian of Virtue ran towards Ryo, the White Inferno's chosen victim. Like the other horrified citizens, Ryo watched the apparitions appear and disappear but slowly gaining a foothold in Japan.
Then, Black Blaze walked in front of him and said frankly, "The descendent of Morhiko will soon need our help. We need to join again."
"Morhiko's descendent? What's wrong with Sai?"
Black Blaze spoke seriously, "Sai will stare directly at the truth of the Inferno. I do not know if he will understand it, but he is more skilled with Torrent than Morhiko was. He might be able to make the right decision, but we must be there to influence him in the right path. We will split again, when he has made the correct decision. Chaos will soon envelope the city and I must guide you to the other Inferno."
"Ryo, what's wrong with White Blaze?" Mia asked the teenager as she pulled out her car keys and headed towards the door to follow the tiger. No one saw the two tigers merge again.
"I don't know," Ryo answered, distracted. He felt as though something was coming for him, as though a major part of his destiny arrived. It is my destiny to be a Ronin Warrior, Ryo thought, not understanding the sensation as the fighter's lust for battle touched his veins. Whatever is going on, the Ronin Warriors need to fight again!
Grumbling to himself, Oleiriset wandered through the halls of the castle. Locating Kayura with his metaphysical sense was easy; finding her through the intricate hallways was trouble. He finally arrived at her bedchambers and knocked three times on her door until he heard her call to enter.
Kayura sat cross-legged with the staff glowing gently in front of her.
Trying to appear harmless and casual, Oleiriset asked, "You are in communion with the Ancient One, I suppose?"
Kayura nodded. The Ancient was infamously well known throughout the netherworld so she thought nothing strange of Oleiriset's question. She effortlessly caught the staff as it fell since it stopped glowing and the spirit of the Ancient began to rest. "We are alone now."
Oleiriset unconsciously spread his arms out, indicating emptiness. "I have nothing major to discuss. I merely wish to thank you for saving my life. I never wished to disturb your meditation. I shall explore the other parts of the castle now." He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Kayura shouted, standing on her feet.
Oleiriset glanced behind his shoulder.
"Your aura seems familiar somehow. I wonder if you are related to someone who I once knew."
"I never met my parents and I was raised with the snake demons, if you were assuming that we met in our early childhood." Oleiriset then opened the door and almost walked straight into Sekhmet.
The impassive former warlord of Venom placed his hand on Oleiriset's shoulder forcibly to push him aside and walked past him. Then, Sekhmet said to Kayura, "I have the reports that you and the Ancient wanted. Dais already reviewed them and he thinks the northern section needs our central focus as soon as possible. Kale refused to give his opinion because he felt tired of reviewing."
Kayura did not know whether to laugh or to feel annoyed; she knew the nether world needed constant watching, but like Kale, she also felt tired of looking after the nether world. With a silent sigh, she took the reports from Sekhmet and sat down to review them with the Ancient after the former warlord of Venom dismissed himself.
Sekhmet exited the room. He saw Oleiriset standing near the wall. He warily eyed the man's observing expression. Not knowing why, he instantly distrusted and disliked the other man. When Oleiriset glanced at him, Sekhmet pinned him against the wall. "Are you sure that you never met your parents?"
"I am absolutely certain. I never once met my parents. Do you trust me?"
"No," Sekhmet scowled.
"Well, I wonder why. I am telling the truth."
Kale's sudden curiosity and constant questioning amazed everyone at the castle. Dais never thought anything odd about the former warlord of Darkness; he also enjoyed the social interaction that resulted from the personal questions. In truth, the more they discussed their past, the more they discovered about their own pasts.
Dais's only complete memory of his grandfather, Jiguro, was his grandfather's funeral although certain parts blended together because Dais, only five at the time, grew bored and ignored those parts of the funeral ceremony. "I remember that after the funeral, my grandmother, Keiko, spoke with me about my grandfather. She said something like how I had to inherit and nurture my family legacy. I don't remember exactly what she said, but there was this stranger at the funeral. He seems familiar now." Dais frowned thoughtfully, struggling to form a better picture of the stranger. "Something was unusual about the person. The person stood among all of the mourners as though he was one of them, but he appeared fit for performing ceremonies. When he walked, I saw that he held a-"
Dais stopped suddenly. His eye widened in shock and his mouth straightened. Subconsciously afraid of falling, he leaned against the table. He remembered that the person also stopped to talk to him about Jiguro. A clearer picture formed in his mind. Dais spoke again awkwardly, but with growing conviction. "I- I think that person. was actually the Ancient One!"
Kale stared at him with wide-eyes. An old habit wanted him to laugh at the strangeness of the revelation, but he learned enough in the past two years (especially in the past two days) to know that a little truth existed in everything. "Really?" he said to Dais as a compromise between the old and new habits.
Dais nodded.
"So Talpa wanted you to know how to read," Oleiriset mused, more to the thin air than to Sekhmet, as he walked stiffly through the library. He guessed how Sekhmet gained the knowledge after the former warlord of Venom read aloud a difficult word in a scroll. Oleiriset hated Sekhmet's hard glare and constant patrolling like a dumb dog watching and stalking its prey. "You probably felt truly special once you learned how to read and write. You believed that Talpa had only your best interests at heart, correct?" He swore he heard a slight growl behind him and he suppressed a smile, knowing that he hit a spot of truth about Sekhmet's past.
Trying to calm his nerves, Oleiriset sighed and asked Sekhmet while keeping to his mission, "Have you known people who are inflicted with a certain illness?"
"What do you mean? Everyone is sick at some point in life."
Oleiriset never turned to face the former warlord of Venom; he might lose control of his nerves if he did. "I talk about a special illness which causes people to commit spiteful acts of malice. I believe you understand what I say."
"You speak in riddles!" Sekhmet snapped.
The man breathed deeply, reminding himself of a small part of his plan for Sekhmet, Get him angry and then have him focus his anger on Naga. "Queen Naga suffers from such an illness. That is why she wishes to injure you again. In most cases of the illness, there is no cure. I thought you understood the illness because the majority of your village displayed symptoms of the illness, especially in their treatment towards you."
The former warlord of Venom scowled. He felt as though Oleiriset tried to insult him by using heavily veiled words and implications to anger and to stultify him. However, he strangely remembered a situation that fit Oleiriset's description of the illness.
When Sekhmet was five, his grandfather, Nazaka, left to fight a battle against the snake demons. His grandmother terrified him so he waited silently near the window for hours. From his earliest memories, Nazaka always fought the snake demons and came back alive with little or no injuries so Sekhmet never worried about his grandfather. Instead, he wished Nazaka would return soon to protect him from his scary grandmother. His grandmother always seemed to hate him for an unknown reason. After an hour of waiting silently without any movement, Sekhmet believed that if he left his grandmother alone, his grandmother would repay the favor and leave him alone.
However, his grandmother acted illogically.
She approached him and said callously, "Your accursed father is trying to kill my husband at this moment."
Sekhmet did not flinch despite her words and her tone. He never had an opinion about his father and never had any assumption of how a father should act. He merely accepted her words as fact and decided that his father was a bad person. Not worrying, he believed his grandfather would win so he said simply in a dull tone, "Okay."
"How dare you!" she spat suddenly.
"What'd I do wrong?" Sekhmet asked fearfully. Only five-years-old at the time, he trembled easily.
"You and your father." she sneered scornfully and then shouted, "You tortured my daughter! For nine months, I had to watch my wonderful daughter suffer against her will because of you! Oh, you destroyed her. you destroyed her. and I will always hate you. Now, your father is trying to kill my husband!"
The helpless five-year-old boy cowered tearfully while she ranted hatefully. He did not remember hurting anyone and he never wanted to hurt anyone. Eventually the boy's grandmother tired, satisfied with her treatment of him, and walked off, mumbling spiteful sayings.
Nazaka returned hours later to find Sekhmet still cowering timidly near the windowsill. Nazaka's wife greeted him warmly as though nothing malevolent happened. Sekhmet's grandmother acted more cheerful than usual. Although Nazaka was full of energy when he returned, the sight of his family suddenly exhausted him. Nazaka told his wife that he would go to bed soon and that he wanted her to wait for him.
After she left, Nazaka picked up Sekhmet and carried the boy to his bed.
"I'm sorry," was the first thing that Sekhmet said to him.
"Sorry for what?" Nazaka asked. After Sekhmet repeated what his grandmother said, Nazaka told him, "Don't take what she says to heart. Just ignore her."
"But why does she say those things?"
Nazaka sighed, "She's- She is sick. She has been sick for a long time. Just ignore her."
Sekhmet learned at an early age that people were violent and hateful. None of his recent experiences with people disproved what he learned when he was five.
"Come in," Kayura said absently, hearing a knock on her door. Busy reading, she did not look up.
Oleiriset entered. "I was unable to find anything worth reading in your library and I remembered seeing a collection of scrolls in your room. May I know what you are reading?"
"I'm just reviewing my notes," Kayura said, absorbed in her work. She paused to walk mechanically to her table and take a sip of tea. Then, she began reading attentively again.
"Notes over what?"
Kayura looked up thoughtfully. She felt as though he should know the information already. "It is stuff the Ancient One wanted me to memorize. The previous bearer of the staff can only remain inside the staff for ten years to teach the next bearer." In addition to learning how to use the staff, Kayura also had to learn about the entire history of the Clan. She wondered why Oleiriset was interested in her notes and said dismissively, "Dinner should be ready soon. Will you please tell the others that I will be a little late?"
"Certainly." Oleiriset bowed down and left.
Kayura sighed. Why did Oleiriset's aura feel so familiar? He said he was half-snake demon and that Sekhmet also had the blood of the snake demons, but Sekhmet's aura was more similar to Kale's than Oleiriset's.
Finding the minor mystery unimportant, she decided to focus on her studies again. A system of balance kept the interconnecting spiritual and mortal worlds in order. If the balance was unsettled, (depending on the thing toppling the balance and the speed/force with which the balance was toppled), the health of the mortal world would decline into a barren wasteland or the mortal world would be destroyed instantly. The absence of a natural force and empowerment by an unnatural force were also dangerous to the world's health.
"Did you tell us the truth last night?" Sekhmet asked Oleiriset before the queen's advisor entered the dining room.
His eyes widened and his face seemed to jerk back in surprise. "Why do you ask?"
Sekhmet scowled. He hated explaining himself because not even he understood his own actions and thoughts. Fortunately, his distrust of the man was easier to explain. "You have snake blood."
"And you are still suspicious of me because of my blood?" Oleiriset inquired with a nervous chuckle.
Sekhmet nodded.
The man's eyes hardened as he said sternly, "Well, let me tell you the truth about me. I was born directly from the harems of the snake demons. I have no idea who my mother and father are. Naga tortured me until I screamed and begged, but she is merciless. You also have snake blood so if I am evil, so are you."
Dinner passed amazingly without any fights. Dais and Kale started to discuss their grandfathers, as usual now. Then Oleiriset commented that Dais had a nether curse because of his white hair and Dais said he inherited it from Jiguro. Dinner passed uneventfully and Sekhmet went to bed quickly afterwards.
Sleep came easily and unexpectedly. That night he dreamed that he walked peacefully through a summer landscape. The dream surprised him because he rarely dreamed and the scenes came too quickly and too fluidly to come from his mind. Knowing that the dream was not his own creation, Sekhmet searched through the summer landscape for the person who created the dream. He stopped as the creator of the dream stepped into view. Then Sekhmet kneeled humbly in front of the Ancient One, who sent his spirit out to communicate with the former warlord.
"Something troubles you," said the Ancient One.
"How do you know?" He thought his own emotions were mysterious and undecipherable.
"I watched you long enough. I can tell when something troubles you."
Letting go of his emotions, Sekhmet shouted out, "Oleiriset is lying! He said he never met his parents, but he lies!"
"Certain emotions are attached to lies - a slight twinge of guilt, fear of being caught in a lie, or self-acknowledgement of a lie. There is usually a combination of those three emotions in a person when the person lies. Does Oleiriset experience those emotions?"
"No, but I know he lies! He lies somehow!" Sekhmet sighed and humbled himself. "I can't explain how I know. I can't explain anything."