Vaar slowly calmed down after shouting on top of his lungs, the lines in the air unwillingly returning back to the cane in his hand. The spirit strings had already dispersed and the spirits returned back to their positions, the way to the outside free now for every beastman wishing to leave. Vaar looked over to Orou, pondered something for a few seconds and finally, said something that surprised Orou.

“You’ve done well, what do you think about joining me in my conquest? Your talents would be very useful in the upcoming battles.” Although it was an interesting proposition, he didn’t have any interest in staying together with Vaar for any longer, not to mention if there wasn’t any magic to be seen in the near future. Orou responded by simply hissing at Vaar and turning around to leave, hoping that he wouldn’t break his side of the deal. Turning his head around, he saw Vaar heading towards the village centre, where a large crowd had already formed.

Orou’s first interest was to find Grizz and then get the hell out of this place, his mind was already set on exploring deeper into the beastman kingdom and seeing what secrets he could uncover. As Orou made his way to the house, he saw Grizz excitedly packing what few things he had with him, his face becoming even more jovial when he saw Orou.

“I can’t believe I’m free so soon, I thought I would have to stay here for a few years at least.” He let out a sigh of relief and after making sure the house was devoid of any of his belongings, he started heading out of the house, relishing his new found freedom and basking in the sun.

Grizz’s emotions changed on the fly, one moment he could he grieving and the other he could be jumping in joy, which was what was happening currently. His expression turned weird when he saw the crowd of beastmen surrounding the town centre and Vaar slowly approaching them.

“We’ve been imprisoned here for years on end, our families have likely forgotten about us. If we returned back, they would spit on us, the rest of the society would despise us, treat us like outcasts. The king would ship us out to some other shithole, leaving us to rot away in the middle of nowhere!” Vaar stood in the middle of the village centre, surrounded by every beastman in the village looking at him, their eyes glimmering with hope.

“We will not be despised by those who abandoned us, we will not be shamed for our choices and we will not be oppressed!” He continued, his voice becoming louder and louder, practically shouting by the end of the sentence. The beastmen were restless, some had gripped their swords tightly, continuing to stare at Vaar.

“I will lead us to overthrow King Azal and carve out a place in the world where we can live without worrying for our safety, a place where we can embrace our blood and not have to worry about keeping our emotions in check.” His voice was both royal and imposing, practically resembling a king speaking to his subjects evoking emotions long suppressed from the beastmen.

“We will force the beastmen to acknowledge us and fear us, to learn how to respect us. Join me and together, we will take what’s rightfully ours!” The entire village was drowned in chants and shouts, yells and cries of excitement. Vaar’s roar was deafening and the roars that accompanied it were even more guttural and filled with emotion. The commotion lasted for a long time and Vaar did nothing to stop it, further enticing them to discuss with each other and showcase their emotions.

Even Orou was forced to admit that this would make this blood boil if he was a beastmen, but he wasn’t. It was an impressive spectacle and Orou was excited to hear more details about why they were here, but this didn’t change his mind on leaving this village. Grizz had a scowl on his face, his disdain for the beastmen here was evident, no longer masked as it was before.

“A kingdom of ferals, what a joke. Even if they did somehow overthrow the current king, they would tear themselves apart in no time. If Vaal doesn’t plan on regulating their emotions, what happens once they let loose and start eating each other? A bunch of savages, nothing more.” Perhaps now that he had no more bindings to this village, he could say what was truly on his mind, his voice drawing a few heated glances from the edge of the crowd. Grizz nervously looked over to Orou and beckoned him over, pointing towards the western exit and hastening his step.

Orou gave Vaar one more conflicting look before turning back to Grizz and quickly slithering next to him, his fangs bared at anyone who dared to glare at them. That seemed to dissuade any action towards them as they returned back to discussing the revolution. Orou expected some protests against them leaving, but as they passed through the western gate, they encountered no resistance.

“Do you know how hard it was for me to try and befriend them, I’d rather die than be branded as a feral again,” Grizz spoke with seething anger in his voice which made Orou wonder if he was truly feral or not. Vaar spoke about them keeping their emotions in check, but Grizz wasn’t doing an awfully good job of either. It didn’t matter as long as he could safely travel the beastman kingdom and it wasn’t like Grizz held any chance of killing him either.

Orou could hear the chatter even up until the point where the village was no longer in sight. Grizz breathed a heavy sigh of relief and surprisingly, brought out a map from one of his pockets. When Grizz caught Orou staring at the map, he simply squatted down and let Orou inspect it together with him. The map wasn’t that big, showcasing two territories divided by a massive forest and multiple cities on the edge of it.

“This is where we are, we need to pass through the border, through the town of Lium and head further north-east. That’s where Onilia, my place of birth and one of the five large cities of Solus is located.” He pointed his finger to a red spot on the map with a marking underneath, dragging his finger to the east, he pointed at the edge of the forest and then further north-east, deeper into Solus.

“I knew this would be useful one day, I stole it from my brother a while ago and I’ve kept it ever since.” Grizz laughed and rolled up the map, placing it back in his pocket, he looked over to Orou and continued: “I’m not sure how I’ll get you across the border, but I’m sure I’ll think of something. I have my contacts in Lium, probably could have saved me from going here if I had more time.” He scratched his head and pet Orou’s, his footsteps much more energetic than before. While Orou wasn’t particularly happy about Grizz’s show of affection, he made do with his feelings and started following Grizz, letting him lead them towards Lium.