Lam's words were akin to the loud sound of a bomb detonating to Mane's mind. And he blanked out for a fraction of a second. Yet the words Lam spoke kept resounding in his head. During that brief spell Mane could have sworn that his brain replayed those words at least 5 times. And each time it sounded more unbelievable than the former.
"Hold on Lam," Mane rubbed his temples once he had recovered himself. "What do you mean by 'all of them are traitors?'" Mane asked. How could every Elemental Ancestor turn their back on the Elementals?
"It is exactly as I said," Lam started before continuing thusly, "When we searched their places like you asked us to we saw all we needed to see. It didn't even take long. For they didn't take much care in hiding evidence of their conspiracy. The only home we had to search a little bit deeper was Ancestor Origin's. But what we found showed that all of them are indeed traitors. The only person who has no idea of this is Grandpa Pier."
Lam sighed and explained with a slight tremble in his voice. The Ancestors usually stayed away from each other's home. The only house they did convene in was Ancestor Origin's. So it made sense that since Grandpa Pier was not in the know, the oldest ancestor had to keep his place 'spotless' on the surface. But what Mane didn't understand was Grandpa Pier's stand. The fact that they hid things from the youngest Ancestor meant that he knew nothing about this. The question was why hadn't they told him anything yet? Were they perhaps waiting for the right moment?
"Why are they keeping their betrayal away from Grandpa Pier? What are their intentions?" Mane asked the question that bugged him most. There was much he wanted to know. But this one was top of the list.
"Because of who they had made the deal with," Lam clenched his teeth when he said this. And Mane who knew who the mastermind behind all this was sighed sadly. He wanted to be the one to tell the twins about the Demon God. But it seemed that they had not just stumbled upon the name of the Demon God, they had walked right into his den.
"Pazuzu," Mane frowned and said.
His words caused Lily who had her head on her chest to lift up her head and stare at him in shock. Lam who sat before him had his mouth wide open as well. For several seconds the place was quiet. Lily was the first to recover her bearings. And once she did she didn't ask any questions. She didn't ask Mane how he knew that name nor did she question why he kept such information from them. She just slipped back into his chest like a pitiful little bunny. Lam recovered soon after. And once he did he sighed and said,
"Of course you knew. Why else would you ask us to search for a traitor?" It was only now that Lam realised that he had missed something so important. How could the Ancestors betray their race and move to another race of similar standing? If they had been forced to make such a decision, they surely they did so because there was a power much greater threatening to end their lives. And this power was Pazuzu.
"Anyway, they made the deal with Pazuzu when he last appeared. They wouldn't stand in his way when he comes, and they would offer the souls of young, talented Elementals to him when he finally returns as homage to him. In return, Pazuzu wouldn't destroy them when he brings ruin upon this world. Although they would lose a lot – their foundation, pride and some of their own family members – it would ultimately lead to the sparing of their race. It took them many years to make such a decision. But they were certain that Grandpa Pier wouldn't agree to this." Lam went back to the issue at hand quite quickly. And soon he gave Mane the reason he wanted.
"Because of you," Mane frowned and said.
"Yeah," Lam admitted. Grandpa Pier was famous for his love and connection to his family. And he treated Lam and Lily like treasures. But something else had a similar position in Grandpa Pier's heart – his integrity.
This was a man whose pride made him refuse his own son when the boy went against him. This was a man who considered the heritage of his people as more precious than anything else in the entire world and wasn't afraid to fight for that. For a man such as this, convincing him to join an evil that was willing to swallow the world was akin to throwing an egg at a stone. And it was even harder to do this when you added that he had to give up his own grandchildren. For surely Lam and Lily would be sacrificed as well when Pazuzu returns. After all, they were the most talented within the younger generation of Elementals!
"Now I understand why the Elemental Ancestors never leave Amalgamation," Hildegarde who sat on Mane's head had a huge frown on her face. Mane agreed with her statement. For she was absolutely right.
Ancients and Barbarians also had their rulers. But unlike with Elementals, Ancient Elders and Barbarian Ancestors rarely stayed behind in their cities. They were always out and about, seeking for a means to stop Pazuzu or generally searching for ways satisfy their own curious nature about the world. But the Elemental Ancestors were always around. Apart from Ashera, the others who survived the last war were all here. They didn't go anywhere and whenever they did, they didn't go far.
Besides, when Mane recalled the words of Ancestor Origin to Ancestor Bold, he was sure that they were really traitors.
"You have been shackled in Amalgamation for too long. I can feel your unease."
That statement was the first part of Ancestor Origin's speech to Ancestor Bold before he sent him off to kill Dan. Mane thought it odd at the time. For Ancestor Origin spoke as though the others were forbidden from leaving the city. But Mane just chalked it off as him thinking too much into a simple statement. After all, how could an Ancestor be forbidden from doing anything? But now it made great sense.
"Based on what you have told me, Elementals plan to betray the world." Mane stated in confirmation of what he had heard. The Three Great Races had called a temporary truce to their long conflict because of Pazuzu. They planned to stand against him together when he returned. Losing the Elementals literally meant losing a third of their forces. That would have been a big blow – had Mane not known.
"Yeah," Lam nodded his head.
"Where you able to procure any of the evidence?" Mane asked.
"No," Lam smiled bitterly. "The things we found were so overwhelming that I don't know how we managed to search the other homes after the first few. We couldn't think straight. I am sorry." Lam blushed slightly in shame. He was ashamed to admit that he had been so disoriented that he had ignored part of the order Mane had given him. Lily who was within Mane's embrace blushed as well and buried her face deeper into his chest.
"That's alright. It is good you didn't take anything out anyway." Mane wasn't bothered at all.
Initially the plan was to use the evidence as bait to draw out the culprit. That way the others would see and apprehend the traitor. But since they were all traitors, there was no need to go that far or do that much. For they could easily approach each other and ask whether any of the others had come for the missing item. And though the evidence could be used to convince the other races that the Elementals planned to defect, Mane didn't find that necessary. He was strong enough now that his words would hold all the weight in the world.
"There is something else I am interested in," Mane stated suddenly.
"What is it?" Lam was curious. He reckoned that he had reported everything that he was meant to report. To him, all that was left was finding a solution for this situation.
"From what you found, were they any who had accepted this because they had to? Where there any who may not want this?" Mane's eyes flashed brilliantly when he asked this question. He failed to believe that all the Ancestors wanted this. Clearly, this was a difficult decision to make for any one of them. But Mane felt that some may have only accepted this because the others were in favor of it.
"I am not sure," Lam shook his head apologetically. He had been too disoriented then to notice anything unusual. But Lily chose this moment to make her contribution. Proving her abilities as a Scholar, she revealed the emotions she felt from two particular Ancestors – emotions that suggested helplessness and the desire to be untangled from the traitorous web they had crawled into.
"Ancestor Storm and Ancestor Ice. Those two felt a bit different. I could feel their disgust with themselves within their notes. The two are particularly close too, so it makes sense that what one feels is shared by the other." Lily mumbled quietly into Mane's chest. But it was loud enough for both to hear it.
"Well done Lily," Mane smiled and kissed the top of her head softly, forcing Lily's face to turn completely red as she clutched him even tighter.
"Stop harassing the poor girl," Hildegarde chuckled and hit Mane's head softly.
"Ehem. What do you suggest?" Lam had an unnatural expression on his face seeing Mane's blatant action. And was quite eager to change the subject.
"I think we should convince them that there is no need for them to compromise," Mane smiled and said.
He planned to deal with this himself. But his greatest worry still remained the Nature Barrier. With Ancestor Pier alone, it would be impossible to stop Ancestor Origin from activating the barrier against him. Mane did leave a small contingency plan when he fixed the thing, but he would rather not resort to that for it could destroy the entire barrier. And Mane didn't want the only gateway to the other worlds destroyed. However, if they were able to get Ancestor Ice and Ancestor Storm to pick their side, that would be greatly significant. For with the three choosing to abstain from using their 'Keys', there would be no way Ancestor Origin can activate the barrier!
"But how will we do that? If we talk to them they would know that we know their secret and it could become tricky. How can we even convince them to abandon their stand?" Lam asked worriedly. There was a great risk in revealing their knowledge to the two ancestors. They could easily lose their lives!
"Well, we need to convince them that we are much stronger. And that we have the potential to grow strong enough to deal with Pazuzu when he returns." Mane smiled mysteriously and said.
"How would we ever do that?" Lam sighed and said. However, his words hardly left his mouth when a powerful aura filled the room and held him captive. A great fear that he had never experienced before gripped him, and his eyes roamed his eye sockets in distress.
"With this," Mane's booming voice infiltrated the mind of the young prince as his power grew even stronger. Then it quickly disappeared.
"How?" Lam stuttered once he had returned to himself. His eyes were reddened in distress by what he had experienced. And he sought an explanation. As for Lily, she had no idea what happened. For Mane had kept his aura away from her. She looked at her brother in confusion, curious to know what exactly had terrified him so.
"Oh, I broke through recently. I can easily handle all the Ancestors now"