Gato set his hood over his head and affixed his tail to be hidden under his coat before he began to hurry out of the door. Before he left he stopped and turned to Arash.
"Dear Arash I almost forgot to give you your gift!" Gato smiled as he reached into the bag on his shoulder and pulled out a small monocle.
"What's this?" Arash asked as he inspected the eyepiece.
"Very expensive" the cat cackled, "and it's also a god's eye. The god of gambling to be specific. If you use that monocle you will always be able to tell when someone is lying."
Arash marveled at the glass as it was extremely smooth for an eyepiece. It also seemed to hum with the flow of magic. It was tinged with silver and had a black chain to attach to his pocket.
"It seems our masters have a new Ally" the beast stirred inside his subconscious, "the god of the gamble is a great one at that. He and his brother, the god of games, are very close and have never beaten each other. Every match ends in a draw between them"
"Interesting." Arash responded, "so it seems that we may win this war after all."
That thought brought smiles to the pack for just a moment before Gato took his leave. Leaving Zara and Arash to the dank, dark room alone
"By the way." Arash asked the beast, "throughout all of this, you never told us your name. So what is it"
There was a momentary silence, then the beast responded.
"I do not have one." It said with a tiny of sadness in its voice.
Arash thought for a moment and a memory of his village guardian dog spirit came to mind, "I know! We'll call you Hetzen!"
There was silence from the beast followed by a yip of joy, "thank you Arash, this name suits me and makes me very happy!"
Zara turned to Arash, "well we best rest, for now, we have quite a long day ahead of us."
Arash nodded in agreement as he stood to head towards his bed. He plopped down on the bed and the wood creaked as the feathers and weak springs beneath barely supported his weight and stressed the cheap supports below.
And with that, they slept.
__________
The god of the gamble looked down on Arash with a wide smile. He had sent him a treasure that would allow him to beat any enemy on the side of the darkness when it came to wit, now it was up to them.
It seemed that every god had chosen a side and war was ready to be waged.
"Brother dearest I hope you're right." The god of the gamble said to himself, "this may be the biggest gamble I've ever made, and father seems unhappy. Just the way I like it."