Day 22

Hyru was in his trophy room, looking into the "Stone of 
Goth" as he had been doing more often recently.  Hyru 
was pondering over his latest question to the stone and 
then abruptly put the stone down in its place at the 
center of the room and walked over to his chair behind 
the stone.  Hyru then sat down and began laughing 
silently to himself.  "It is finished.  Nothing can stop
me from being ruler.  The events I have set in motion 
cannot be changed.  I will be ruler no matter what," 
thought Hyru, "I no longer need to interfere.  All I 
need to do is wait.  Then soon Monic will be mine."  
Hyru stopped laughing at that last thought, settled into
his chair, and stared blankly into the air, waiting....

Day 26

Esimed looked up from his bed.  His wounds had been 
healing faster than the healer had expected.  Esimed 
glanced around the room to see if anyone was there but 
the hut was empty.  Just then he heard a scream and saw 
the healer run in through the door.  He had blood 
running down from a large wound in his head and had 
several other cuts on his body.  "Raiders....," was the 
last word he said before collapsing dead on the ground. 
Esimed suddenly realized that not all the raiders had 
been killed.  He must have missed a few of the raiders 
or they might not have all shown up at the battle.  
Whatever the case, they were coming for revenge against 
him since he was the person most responsible for the 
deaths of the raider's comrades.  Esimed got out of bed 
and limped toward the window trying to escape before the 
raiders found him but it was too late.  "Where do you 
think you're going?"  Said one of the five raiders that 
had just entered the hut.  Esimed turned and looked at 
the men.  Five raiders, all armed with blood stained 
swords and all extremely pissed off.  He needed to get 
away because fighting was out of the question.  Esimed 
saw the raiders start coming at him and he was about to 
give up when somebody grabbed him and pulled him through 
the window.  It was a very large man with gray hair all 
over his body and he had a ripped green uniform on.  He 
must have been excedingly strong because he put Esimed 
on his shoulders and began running very fast, away from 
the raiders who were now pursuing them.  "Are you all 
right?"  The man asked Esimed.  "Well until you pulled 
me out of that hut I wasn't but now it seems to be 
getting better.  Who are you?"  "No time to explain now.  
I think its time we lost these guys," the man replied.  
With out another word the man started running even 
faster with a speed Esimed had only seen in wild 
animals.  The man darted back and forth in between 
trees, taking them deeper into the swamp.  Esimed looked 
back at the raiders, who were having a hard time keeping 
up and following this strange man.  Then without a 
thought the man jumped into the air, past the 
tree-cover, and landed on the top of a large tree.  He 
didn't stop though and kept leaping from treetop to 
treetop until he was sure the raiders couldn't find 
them.  The man then took one leap and landed gracefully 
on the ground.  Esimed was shocked at what had just 
happened.  This was no ordinary man, he thought.  And 
what made him even more mysterious was the two symbols 
he had on his arms.  Esimed, while glancing back at the 
raiders, noticed a Kin Shi Tal symbol on one arm and a 
Z symbol on his other arm.  "The Kin Shi Tal don't have 
powers or men like this," thought Esimed, "So what's 
this guys story?  I had better play it cool until I 
find out."  The two had stopped to camp for the night 
and the Z tattooed man had built a fire.  "Are you 
hungry?"  The man asked Esimed.  "Sure.  Got any food?"  
"No.  But I am sure I could hunt us up some.  Hold on 
I'll be right back."  "Don't you want a weapon?"  Esimed 
asked offering his sword.  "No.  It will only slow me 
down," the man said as he was leaving.  It wasn't too 
long after that the man had returned with the dead body 
of a delant.  He tossed the animal on the fire, after 
ripping off the skin, and sat down to let it cook.  
Esimed was surprised once again that this man had 
successfully found, caught, and killed a delant at 
night and with no weapons.  "Ummm... did you get lucky 
and find it in a trap?"  Asked Esimed.  "No.  I just 
found his tracks, followed them, and killed him.  It 
wasn't that hard.  You know it is easier to kill them by 
hitting them just below the neck to stop their heart 
then it is to use a weapon.  Less mess to."  "But how 
could you get close enough to him to do that, much less 
have that kind of strength to stop his heart?"  Esimed 
asked forcefully.  He was fed up with all the secrecy 
and wanted to know who this man was now.  "Well I know 
the delant is very agile and has a thick hide but lets 
just say I'm not normal."  "Well duh.  That's obvious," 
thought Esimed.  "But since you would have figured it 
out eventually I will tell you.  My name is.... Was 
Talock.  I was once a member of the Kin Shi Tal.  That's 
where I got this tattoo.  But the other tattoo I got 
after undergoing an experiment of theirs.  The leaders 
of our clan didn't like how slow things were going for a 
change to a non-anarchical society.  So they initiated a 
plan to make super soldiers that cold take over the 
world and organize a government that would bring order 
to Monic.  I was there supervising the first attempt at 
this.  The mages and healers took a Foustine and tried 
to give it human attributes.  To this end they thought 
they could make a soldier that would follow orders but 
also have the powers of a beast.  It failed and the
creation called project X was killed.  However they 
weren't ready to give up.  The next experiment involved 
taking a Kin Shi Tal agent, namely me, and combining it 
with a Foustine.  The mages worked there magic and the 
healers used their herbal potions to finish the 
experiment.  It was successful and I was one with the 
Foustine.  I performed all the tests they asked me to 
do.  Sure enough I had great strength, heightened 
senses, powerful agility, hunting instincts, speed, 
and higher endurance.  I also evolved this hair 
covering my body, sharper teeth, and claw like nails on 
my hands.  Everything the Kin Shi Tal wanted was coming 
true.  I had exceeded their expectations.  I felt proud 
to be apart of the great Kin Shi Tal cause.... but now I 
am nothing more than a hunted beast.  No longer a man 
but a freak."  Esimed looked confused and said, "But 
why is that now you are hunted?"  "Well about a few 
weeks later after the testing," the man paused, "They 
tried to kill me for no apparent reason.  I think they 
may have changed their minds or feared what I was.  But 
for some reason they wanted me dead.  I had to escape so 
I fled to the swamp and have been living here ever 
since."  Esimed felt pity for the man but couldn't help 
but feel there was more to it then that.  He felt as if 
the man was keeping something else from him.  The Z 
tattooed man was hiding a dark secret and Esimed decided 
the guy freaked him out anyway so he was going to get 
far away from him as soon as he could.  Night passed and 
morning came.  Esimed awoke to the sun shining down on 
him from the sky.  He looked around the camp and didn't 
see the Z tattooed man anywhere around.  Esimed got up, 
feeling better, and decided it was time to go.