Mythran's Master Of All

Ren closed his eyes as the bright light engulfed the apparition completely. It screamed for what seemed to be a long time, but was probably only a few seconds. When it stopped, the light didn't die down, however. Ren slowly opened his eyes and was surprised at what he saw.

Before him stood a wizened old man with wrinkled features and a big smile on his face. He wasn't any taller than Ren was. The picture in Ana's old storybook, The Guide To Infinite Joy, didn't do the Elder of the Tribe any justice. The old man opened his mouth and a bunch of weird sounds came out of it. The old man smiled wider, waved, and then faded from sight.

Teepo jumped side to side, turned around in a circle, hung his head and sighed.

“Teepo! What was that?” Ren asked.

“That was the Dance of Departure. It's to send souls on their way to the other side.”

“Is that what happened?”

“Yes. The holy light you used has cleansed the corrupted soul that had been trapped here for centuries.” Teepo said and looked at Ren. “The Elder thanked you for freeing him from his accidental imprisonment and waved goodbye.”

“You could understand what he said?” Ren said, surprised.

“Of course. Every beetle knows the Core Language.”

Ren thought he might be lacking in some basic knowledge. “You'll have to teach me one of these days.”

“Sure. You only need a year or two to learn the alphabet first.” Teepo said.

“A...a year or two just for the alphabet?” Ren sputtered.

“Well, if you know a quicker way to memorize 236 consonants and 53 vowels, and be able to recite them in the proper order...”

Ren shook his head. “Lets leave the language lessons alone for a while.” Ren said and rolled his eyes. “A long while.”

Ren put the handful of arrows away and finally had the chance to look at the statues closely. They were made of some kind of metal. Ren didn't know what kind it was. Smelted? Coated? Bronzed? Ren couldn't tell, even when he ran his hand along one of the shields. It moved slightly and Ren looked behind the shield and saw that it was just sitting there. It wasn't a part of the statue. Ren lifted the shield from the statue's grip; it was heavy, but manageable. It was about 2 feet wide and 2 and a half feet long, with a rounded top and a slightly pointed bottom. Ren put it in his inventory and went to the other statue. It had a similar shield and Ren took that, too. Ren then turned to the chunk of ore that sat in the rock column. He took out his mining pick and quickly dug out the chunk and stashed it in his inventory. Ren turned around and ran for his life. He knew what was coming. Teepo chittered in delight. He knew what was coming, too. He always enjoyed it when Ren ran.