After sending a runner towards the castle to alert the King of their arrival, General Hunt began to escort the group in the same direction. Ken took a peek behind him, seeing the last embers of the flames die out on his house. His heart ached as he took in the sad state of his charred home. With the significant amount of damage done, the place would definitely need to be rebuilt.
"So," Hunt said, pulling Ken's attention away from the charred house, "Could you explain to me what happened?" The man gave him a hard, questioning look. "A couple of people had broken in with the intent to kill me. They said something about a Captain Stone and that they knew I was an Inheritor," Ken replied.
Both girls kept their heads forward, but it was obvious their attention was on Ken. Giselle didn't miss the fact that even though it sounded like he was speaking the beast language, the movements of his mouth were wrong in a strange way. It was a bit bizarre seeing it herself.
"They also had strange tattoos on their hands!" Dex chimed in. Ken turned his head towards the white mouse, "Did they? Huh, I didn't notice it." The people around Ken looked puzzled for a moment. "Did your…friend say something?" The large man asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah, Dex said that they had tattoos on their hands," Ken replied. "Where exactly were they located? And what did they look like?" Hunt asked, unsure of whether to look at the mouse or Ken.
Dex turned his head towards the man saying, "It looked like a snake with horns! It made a circle on the back of their left hand." Hunt eyed the mouse, as did the two girls. After a short moment, the General looked at Ken and asked what the small creature said. Ken relayed the message, causing Hunt's brows to knit together.
"Is what he says true?" Hunt asked in a serious tone. "I swear that's what I saw!" Dex protested, confident in his answer. "He says it's true," Ken shrugged, "Dex isn't a liar."
"Hmm, that description sounds familiar," Giselle chimed in, getting the attention from the two men. "I'll have to ask Wes, or even my father if they have heard of such a mark."
"You shouldn't have to feel the need to weigh in on this," Hunt said. "Nonsense," Giselle waved her hand dismissively, "As I have said earlier, we do have business with him as well." The lion girl gestured towards Ken, causing the young man to feel a bit confused. 'It must be because of her,' Ken thought as he shot an annoyed expression towards Lina, who had been silent up till this point.
"What's that look for you brat?!" Lina suddenly blurted out after noticing Ken's expression towards her. Giselle gave her friend a questioning look, as if trying to communicate telepathically, 'We're supposed to befriend him, not get on his bad side.'
Realizing her mistake, Lina was about to apologize but was cut off by Ken's own retort, "There you go again calling me a brat? You're the one who won't leave me alone!" "Well you sure are acting like one! If we didn't show up to save your sorry ass, you'd be dead!" Lina was somehow having a hard time controlling what she was saying at the moment. She wasn't sure why, but something about Ken irked her.
"Yeah, thanks for stalking me you creep," Ken said with his nose in the air. "I am not-" Lina's sentence was cut short as Giselle took this moment to step in. "I apologize for my friend here," Giselle said as she shot Lina a stern look. "She's…eccentric," Giselle tried to play off her friend's annoyance with a laugh, causing a pout to form on Lina's face. 'I'm not eccentric!' Lina thought inwardly.
"She also doesn't know when to leave someone alone," Ken scoffed, then held out a hand towards Giselle, who grasped his hand with her own. "I'm Kenneth, but you can call me Ken," he said politely. "I am Giselle. It's nice to meet you, Ken." Giselle said with a beautiful smile. 'Soft,' Ken thought as they shook hands. Ken took a moment to study the taller woman.
She was a little taller than the fox girl, so she had more than a few inches on him. Where her fox friend was athletic and slim, the lion woman had curves that could capture the heart of any man. Though her clothing was somewhat plain at the moment, it certainly didn't hide her wonderfully carved body. Her beauty could give the most beautiful goddess a run for her money. Giselle's dazzling yellow eyes pierced into Ken's own golden left eye, and then shifted to his right gray eye.
"Beautiful," Giselle whispered to herself as she stared deeply into his different colored eyes. Ken heard her of course, causing his face to redden while withdrawing his hand from hers. His heart picked up in pace as the lion girl continued to study him, not even realizing what she had said.
"Ahem," Ken coughed, "It's nice to meet you."
Hunt continued to walk silently behind the trio, only picking up on Ken's half of the conversation. Ken had been talking in the human language called 'Common', but to the girls he was talking in their own language, thus inadvertently making them speak in their own language. The General couldn't speak the beast language himself, but going off of what Ken was saying, it looked as if things were calming down now that the Princess had stepped in to talk to the boy.
"So Ken," Giselle started, "Did you say your little friend there is called Dex?"
Nodding, Ken replied, "Yeah, it is."
"Nice to meet you Dex," Giselle smiled charmingly towards the white mouse. "Nice to meet you!" Dex squeaked back to the woman with a wave. "How adorable," Giselle giggled. "He says it's nice to meet you," Ken chuckled, looking at his little companion.
Lina scowled internally as she watched her friend have a lighthearted and pleasant conversation with the white-haired boy. While she knew she might have been a little too demanding of him when they met last, it still hurt her pride slightly seeing how easy going he seemed to be with others.
"What are you doing here, if you don't mind me asking," Ken questioned. Giselle thought for a moment before replying, "I don't think it'd hurt to tell you. Lina and I are with a delegation that was sent here to have peace talks with Centralis. Though, we do technically have one other task." The woman smirked slightly as a puzzled look painted Ken's face.
"What's that?" He asked, slightly more intrigued. "It's to find out more about you," the lion woman replied casually. "Me?" Ken pointed to himself, "I'm just a nobody."
"I think we both know you're not," Giselle smiled, "You're an 'Inheritor'."
"I keep hearing that word, but I don't know what it means," Ken sighed.
"Inheritors are people who receive power from the gods," Giselle explained.
"You mean my ability to talk to creatures?" Ken asked.
"I am no creature," Giselle stated, knowing that wasn't what Ken had been trying to say at all. Her impression of the young man so far was good. Her conversation with him up to this point had been a pleasant one.
"I-I'm sorry. That wasn't wh-" Ken stammered, but stopped when Giselle let out a laugh, causing his face to go red. "I'm just teasing you Ken. Yes, it is partly that. We believe you to be the Inheritor of Ransein, the beast god."
"He is considered to be the first 'Beast-Kin'. A being born from two primordial beings that later created the beast folk population," Giselle continued.
"Wait," Ken held out a hand, "Don't tell me he…"
"Oh gods no," Giselle laughed, "He was able to turn beasts into half human, half beasts just like himself. How exactly he did so has been lost to time. But it is said that the beast folk that live today are descendants of the beasts Ransein transformed. When they transformed, it allowed them to form their own cores which in turn, allowed them to develop powers. At least for the creatures that didn't have powers already, of course. Though we don't know much about what happened with beasts who already had cores. It is speculated that they became known as Dragons, Manticores, Phoenix's, and a few other races. Though I'm sure you're aware that those mythical beings haven't been seen in ages."
"Interesting," Ken quipped, "But I have another question. Are there other Inheritors? Or am I the only one?"
"There are a few others," Giselle answered, "Though I have heard that most are located in the continent north of ours. As far as I know, there are only three Inheritors on our continent. There's the 'Wondering Oracle', though he is a bit of a recluse and very old. Not much is known about him. Then there is the High Elf Queen. It's said nature magic is second to none."
"What about the ones on the northern continent?" Ken asked.
"I personally don't know much about them. The only one I could tell you about is the Demon Queen," Giselle answered.
"Are all of the Inheritors royalty?" Ken grumbled under his breath. "No," the lion girl laughed, "Only a few are as far as I know."
"So what about the Demon Queen?" Ken asked curiously.
"It's rumored that she's the Inheritor of Chaos," Giselle said a bit more seriously than Ken expected.
"Chaos? You'll have to forgive me but I really don't know much about god's and the like," the young man stated.
"Chaos isn't just a god, but considered a Primordial. Think of them as a step above gods. Primordials are some of the very first beings ever existing. We don't know much about them, but they are considered a lot stronger than normal gods," Giselle explained.
"Wouldn't that make her a lot stronger than anyone else?" Ken asked with a bit of worry in his voice.
"It would," Giselle's lips pursed slightly, "Yet she doesn't do anything but protect her own nation. It's said her power is related to darkness, but I've heard a few different answers. I heard she rarely uses her powers unless it is an absolute necessity, which is few and far between."
That came as a bit of a relief to Ken. He had a growing feeling that he was about to be thrown into a world which he knew nothing about.
Shifting the topic a bit, Ken asked, "What do you guys want with me?"
Another smile painted Giselle's gorgeous face, "We would like to aid you."
"Why?" Ken blurted out. "Because you are an Inheritor. Not only that, but you are Ransein's Inheritor. The god who is said to be the reason why our kind even exists to this day," Giselle replied, "Your life is going to change drastically. The Jackalope showing up only cemented that fact."
The young man shuddered at the mention of the creature, subconsciously reaching for his throat. That was not exactly a pleasant memory, especially since it hadn't even been a single day since that occurrence.
"What do you mean by that?" Ken grimaced slightly. "Jackalopes are said to be a sign of great change. We have had a few show up in our kingdom throughout our long history, and each time a great shift happened. You only became an Inheritor recently, yes? That, along with the fact a Jackalope appeared before you should be cause for some worry," Giselle said matter of factly.
Ken sighed as he pinched his eyes together. While he was glad he was getting some answers, he found himself having even more questions. His easy going life he had the last month felt like it would be the last time he'd truly be able to relax.