With another sigh and a shake of his head Aldryn stood back on his two feet and put his dagger away. He looked around the bodies scattered on the ground. When the Kenman finally approached the two of them, he was holding in his hand what looked like a stick. Then, when the blonde took a closer look he noticed that it looked more like a metal tube with a pointy edge. Without offering any explanations, the Kenman rammed it into the ground and pressed on the flat end. In that moment, Aldryn felt his magic being restricted. It was a heavy feeling deep in his gut. Despite his magic being on the weak side, he still felt it strongly. Even Klyran begun to squirm in discomfort.

‘So this is the magic cancelling device’ the blond thought. He was curious about it, but at the same time couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

While the apostle was lost in his own world, the Kenman grabbed his sword and swiftly cut down the chains that were around Klyran.

“Thanks” the young Ryan said, but didn’t rush to stand up.

“Why does the Kenman knows how it looks like and how to use it?” the fox then mentioned, snapping Aldryn out of curiosity.

“That’s right!” he suddenly exclaimed, causing the other two men to look at him.

It made him blush, just remembering that they couldn’t hear the Thrae as he could.

“Why do you know what that is? And how to use it?” he asked then Kenman, only for him to look at the device again sadly.

“It’s something that my people developed before their deaths” he murmured quietly, sitting down and gently stroking the small device.

“Why do the Scavengers have it?” Aldryn asked dreading the answer. He could only think of two things and both sounded horrible in his mind.

‘He either gave them away willingly, or those bastards found a Kenmen city and robbed it’, the blond didn’t even know which of those two possibilities sounded more horrific to him.

“They must have found one of our labs and stole them” the older man said with a sigh and then took the device and fisted his hand, breaking it pieces.

‘Yup…’ Aldryn nodded to himself, ‘Both horrible situations.’

“The good new about this is that there were only a limited number of those devices made and they were all prototypes” the Kenman explained as he stood up.

‘And there he goes speaking in his own language’ Aldrny thought with a blank face.

“I mean…How much of that did you understand?” the blonde then asked the fox.

“Uhm… Everything?” the Thrae told him with a sigh.

“Really?!” he exclaimed in his mind, “What’s a… How did he call it? Propertype?”

“Prototype” the fox sighed again as if it was exhausted, “It means that it’s a sample of something that is not fully ready.”

“Why would they make more than one then?” Aldryn then wondered.

“More models would easily help them determine a fault in the product and figure out ways how to improve it. It is also useful to have more than one if you plan to test it” the Thrae patiently explained.

“How many of them are there?” Klyran asked suddenly, bringing the attention to him.

“Around 500 I think?” the Kenman contemplated.

“500?! That’s a lot” the blonde then suddenly shouted.

“Not really” the other man simply shook his head, “Those things can only be used once and they have many faults. They break easily. They overheat or can be overpowered” he explained to them.

“Do you think they could have figured out how to make them?” the Ryan then asked, taking the broken device from the other man’s hand to look at it.

‘I can’t believe that someone can create something this small and powerful’ Klyran could not help but marvel, ‘I wish I knew how to do that’

“Not likely”, the Kenman shrugged, “This thing is too complicated to understand for someone who didn’t have a Kenman’s education. Even among our people, only those considered geniuses could participate in such projects”, he explained and then looked around.

“How are you kids feeling anyway?” he asked, but his sharp eyes were looking all over the place.

‘They are surrounding us’ the Kenman cursed in his mind then, ‘Should I lock the kids some place safe and then go get them once I deal with those pests?’ he wondered while glaring at a nearby window.

“There are people surrounding the mansion” the Thrae gently supplied to its host, causing him to tense.

“How many?” the apostle asked out loud causing Klyran to look at him and notice his eyes looking at every window.

‘Don’t tell me…’ the Ryan then thought and grasped his shoulder, ‘There are more of them?’ he wondered and begun trying to detect any presence, only to feel a sharp pain in his temple.

“Are you all right?” Aldryn quickly asked, noticing his friend stumbling when he tried to stand up. The action also didn’t escape the Kenman.

“Yeah” the Ryan nodded and stood up.

“Are you hurt?” the Kenman then coldly asked, causing Klyran to flinch.

The small action didn’t evade the older man and he turned to face the black-haired Ryan.

“Are you hurt?” he asked again and this time and his eyes narrowed, as if daring the other to lie.

“I am not hurt per se” he spoke and unconsciously played with his finger, which Aldryn also quickly recognized as a gesture his friend made whenever he was nervous.

“If you are hurt… It’s best if you tell us” the blonde encouraged him.

‘This is not good’ the blonde thought to himself, ‘But I don’t see any injury on him’ his eyes quickly scanned Klyran’s body.

“I also can’t smell any blood” the fox assured him.

With a tired sigh, the Ryan turned to his true self. The scales appeared all over his body, while his wings unfurled at the back. Even his tail seemed happy to be free once again. And that was when the damage became apparent.

The wings had red marks all over them, along with the base of the tail. The Kenman approached the young serpents and gently traces his finger over them.

‘It’s that damn device’ he thought angrily, ‘I should have destroyed that project and any trace of it long time ago’ he then felt resentful.

Aldryn also looked at the marks in horror.

‘He must be in so much pain’ the blonde thought and then looked at his hands, feeling useless, ‘And I can’t even use a healing spell on him’ his fingers clenched, ‘I must be the worst Oracle of Light to have ever lived.’

“They don’t hurt” Klyran gently said, referring to the marks that they were looking at, “They will heal. I am sure of it” he assured them.

‘Rather… I have a horribly headache’ he said and his brows furrowed in pain.

“His horn” the Thrae then said in a weak voice, “Poor thing”

Those words caused the blonde’s head to snap upward. The Ryan being a few centimetres taller than him. He reached is hand upward to assess the damage, the action quickly being noticed by the Kenman who glared at the broken horn.

‘Those bastards! They Dare!’ he could not help the anger that engulfed his whole person, ‘And after I announced to those morons that those two children are off limits and under my protection’

“It’s fine” the Ryan then said with a blush, “I have a headache, but other than that I am fine” he repeated, “I can fight.”

With a nod, the Kenman took out one of the blades that was attached to his hips and gave one to Klyran.

“Show me what you learned” he said and turned around, “I will lead the way and you two deal with those who slip by me”

With those words he begun walking confidently toward the door.