Over the course of the next few days, Cao Lin was responsible for taking care of Divyat, even though he was a captive, she was able to have everyone else ignore his presence by telling them his wounds are infected and that until they heal, contact with him could raise the risk of some sort of sickness getting around, with him being a human and all that. Just that tidbit of information alone made Divyat realize that perhaps the people here did not understand humans as much, if they thought he actually had diseases that could be spread. That kept them away from him, long enough for his arm to completely regenerate and the feast of his wounds to heal. However, by this point Divyat was practically skin and bones, the rate of his Qi recuperating was not fast enough to keep up with his healing as even the surplus of Qi from the beast core was already spent. It got to a point where Cao Lin was actually worried that his body's healing might actually be what would end up killing him.
But he had successfully gotten through that, and in and out of itself even if he was frail and weak looking with his ribs poking out, he'd do anything to get out of this place right now. So finally the day when the 'Boss' of the bandit camp, the head honcho responsible for both his rescue and imprisonment, would see him and deliver verdict finally came, and frankly speaking Divyat was a nervous wreck. So much so that he was unable to even eat the food that had been given to him that morning, all he did was pace and pace, until finally he heard the tell tale sound of a metallic bolt lock being pulled back. His heart gave a jolt as he sat upright and watched in rapidly increasing horror as giant snake man thing slithered into the room, resting at a height of almost 8 feet tall, yet still had a significant amount of his trunk or was it coils, outside of the cell.
"Naga!"
Divyat called out in a whispered breath, the golden eyes bearing down on him locking him in place as the Naga let loose a powerful snort in return, lightning and a purple fog arcing around his body, to show that he was well into the elemental manifestation stage, if not past it. His upper body that was reminiscent of a human's was sculpted to perfection with a smatter of creamy grey snake like underbelly, but scaled like the body of a dragon. His head was somewhat anthropomorphic, but it was still the head of a giant snake, and the exposed fangs did nothing but increase the sense of horror Divyat was feeling. Then he stopped, Divyat idly realizing that the coils of the Naga was right around him, so all it would take was a simple thought to squeeze the life out of him.
"At least you know your place human. Hisssssssss" his voice… well his voice was not what Divyat expected. He was calm, cool, collected and wizened. Like the voice of an elder that has seen more to life than most would ever expect. Where he expected ferociousness he saw wisdom, where he expected blind animosity he saw indifference. This Naga was not the kind to act on an impulse, he was slow, and with the way he kept on observing Divyat as if expecting him to speak first spoke of a mind that was as diabolical as it could possibly get. As if he had sprung a trap and was waiting for Divyat to walk right into it… just like a snake.
"But your eyes are those of a survivor, a predator. Yet it is haunted, the makings of a predator but you're still a terrified pup. That much I can understand, I headed witness to the horror the Rizal Empire laid on your home, and the subsequent trials of you and your brother and what you did to the Winter Stag hisssssss!" the final hiss was one of intense anger as the coils moved forwards to completely wrap around Divyat. He barely had the strength to move, much less react to the antagonistic action, all he could do was stay there and drown in fear as his plans of keeping this secret close to his heart and finding a way to warn the bandits of inevitable arrival of the Rizal Empire.
"Surprised? You should be, but rest assured I was not present at the events themselves, I just had Cao Lin take them from your mind while you slept. In all of this you are innocent, just some useless boy being blown about and driven by the winds of fate and nature, caught up and swept up in a blizzard of epic proportions that you could do nothing about. I pity you, but still you have robbed us of our most astute defense against your human filth! You must pay, and you must pay with your life!" the Naga moved forwards, quicker than Divyat had any time to react and sank his massive fangs deep into Divyat's shoulder, it went deep enough that Divyat could feel the fang scrape past bone to pierce into his heart.
Unknown to him, sigils flew through the fangs to flow deep into his body, slowly growing into a talisman that was placed firmly on his still beating heart, pulsing purple and black, with every bit sinister in it's appearance as it was in it's intention. The Naga released him, letting his body fall to the ground as Divyat stretched his hands to his neck, expecting to see blood and a massive hole, but there was nothing there but unblemished skin. He looked up at the Naga, making sure to scoot as far away from the Snake Demon as he could.
"When I said that you would you would pay with your life, I never meant death boy! The power you have can will rule this part of the Ghadovara mountains, And it would even allow who wields it a chance to do what for thousands of years my people have not been able to do… take back our lands from the humans. But I can't wield it, I'm sure you must have thought that just like you killed the Winter Stag, if someone else kills you they would take the power, and you would be right, but only for the spirit weapons that lay slumbering within you. The Spirit Root in you is the true gift, an automatic key to the domain of winter. He chose you… with your measly strength even injured you would never have been able to even leave a dent on the winter stag. I don't know why, but that old bastard chose you to inherit his will and power, going so far as to even bestow upon you his spirit and the physique of a beast.
The power with you will only see maximum gain and display when it is wielded by who it is meant for. And in this case that's you, and now I control you. There is a seal over your heart, any thoughts of escaping my grasp or attempting to do anything to endanger me would cause you great pain, and in extreme cases death. However, you will keep your mouth shut of this meeting, no one else has to know about as it is between me you and Cao Lin. Not a word of this to the lord of this hideout."
And that was when Divyat realized that so far, he hasn't been talking to the so called 'Boss' of the bandits. But whoever this guy was, he was now the most terrifying person he has ever met, excluding that twice cursed fucker of an Emperor. Divyat got back up to his feet, his heart still pounding as he held his hand around his neck, still feeling phantom pains from when the Naga had bit into his neck.
" I will make you powerful boy, but in all of your power you will belong to me. It seems the time for the Great prophecy to come true has arrived, an Era of Gods is about to dawn upon us, and now I control one of them."