''We should talk about the Valtrek situation later, we would need to spend hours of talking in order to get good into that concept, because I have alot to say about that.' Kiran thought to her.
He then paused for a moment.
'You know, you might not be aware of it, but you are becoming one of us more and more, the fact that you admit you took your luxury for granted is a big step, especially for someone like you who has been experiencing that luxury for most of your life. But I think why Jack is sometimes uncomfortable around you or some others of your group is because he is still a true follower of the traditions and culture that our ancestors have built up, and more importantly sees Aliah as something that others can take an example of. The fact that none of you really are interested of doing anything with it does keep a bit of a hole between relations, let me explain why this is the matter, because it's different then all of you seem to presume as of yet.'
'With tradition and culture, we use those words very loosely, we don't worship our ancestors or have any religious acts, none of that nonsense... I think you can relate to how some heroes of your race have done deeds that are remembered to this very day, where they are known among legends and heroes of your race right? We have those too, but we see our ancient heroes not just as forgotten legends and honour them by placing a few statues, we see their deeds as a sign of admiration.'
'Some of those heroes still walk among us to this very day, There is Amriel Adaptus, the current prince of and leader of the Terran race, not only did he idealise the term *shadow walker*, but he is the grandson of Aliah, I think you can imagine how much people look up to him.'
'Then there is Clan Karviah, he is an absolute hero, Karthspire respects Clan more than anyone else in existance, and will constantly talk about him when he is talking about of his war stories. Clan is considered to be the strongest Raukan alive, not just because of feets in terms of strength and combat experience, but the way he masters the bezerker flaw that all Raukan have, he controls his own like it is not even there, outside of battle, he is calmer than ever, but once the battle starts to get tense, he charges into battle like a complete bezerker, his weapon called the Axe of Morkai cleaves trough enemies with absolute ease. Not only that, but he seems to have this inspiring feel, whenever he is leading the battle, those who are fighting alongside him seem to lose all doubt and fight harder then ever before, I can know this, I have had the chance to fight alongside him in the past.'
'And then we have Silver, oh boy... everyone's view on him can differ, for my own view, there is a rather very tense feeling between me and him, he was the one who ordered me to be put on the firing line, and would have gotten me shot for desertion. But I cannot deny that he is an uttermost smart tactician, and his experience is the very reason why we haven't lost this war yet. That is the sole reason why I haven't beat him to an inch of life. That ignorant bastard...'
'There are some more notable ones, but there is one you might already know, you know who that is? Caerson... He might be very secretive and in denial about his accomplishments, but he has done things that saved countless of lives, I am going to tell you his biggest an dearest secret. Caerson and Amriel where very close, at some point Amriel had gotten possessed, so in order to save his life, Caerson used genetic manipulation, and so forced the possessor to be bound inside Amriel like a prison, but this did take a pretty dark turn, because not only had Amriel now a very dangerous entity trapped inside of him, he was now capable of accessing its powers... I think you can see where this is going? Caerson had turned his prince and best friend into a walking time bomb with very dangerous powers, and with that very act created the term *shadow walker*.'
'To give you a description of what a shadow walker is, it is a person who uses dark and dangerous methods on themselves in order to battle their enemies. There are different ways someone can become a shadow walker, but the most popular one is injecting yourself with the virus, but not let it reach to a point where you still retain most of your personality and still have control over your own body. The shadow walker gene makes it possible to halt the virus to a certain point and stop it from progressing, but it has major consequences, one of them is that everyone around you will start to call you an abomination and usually will want to kill you. Even those dear to you will start to despise you for using methods that have started this entire war, to begin with. While Amriel is the embodiment leader of this Shadow walker thing, Caerson is the one who made it all possible, something that has turned him into a former shell of himself. That is pretty much why he has become the way he is now, dressing in cloaks in order to hide his own shame behind it. Gotta have pity with the man, I haven't seen him in a long, long, time.'
'And I admit that I have grown to respect you more than before, perhaps because I can see things in you that are similar to myself, or because I have become a man that has nothing left beside the prospect of vengeance, and uttermost retribution. Then you start to feel things that you never knew you had before.'
'But also, not to burst your bubble... But Celestia is still stronger than you, not by a whole lot. You do surpass her in terms of battle strategy and how you take on your opponents, there is no question about that. But I think you are forgetting she has alot of untapped potential, Jack has been pleading Celestia and Luna to fight more for a good reason, it is only recently that she has started to be more active in battle. If she would be jumping and air flipping like you do in battle, she would surpass you for sure. You have been utilizing your skill in battle for most of your life while she has been very inactive, sitting on her throne sipping tea, the but potential she had a thousand years ago never left, but has been lying dormant for far too long, as much as it might hurt your pride, you are going to have and accept that fact, I think a good lesson here is to drop all the competition in who is stronger and instead focus on doing your part, at what you are good at.'
'Because I am going to say something here that will have alot of purpose to you, there are those who are always will be able to go stronger than you, but strength doesn't mean much if you don't utilize it to your fullest potential, and the only way you can utilize that potential to its fullest is if you start taking a single combat role rather then take multiple. Celestia is both a magic user and a heavy weapon user at the same time, and strong as she may be, she will never be able to utilize one path completely if she uses both, but I think that seems to fit her best. You have the advantage of not having magic, or atleast not being able to use it, because this way you are not hindered by the prospect that you CAN use it, thus it can motivate you more to complete a single combat role like being marksman of spear user, rather than trying to multiple paths at the same time but never realising your full potential.'
'Once you get that new body, you will be getting a fresh start as well, what I know about you is that you are good with that bow of yours, but also are very experienced with spears. Don't get the wrong tough, you should still learn multiple things, but if there are situations where you need to be at your best, you need to choose the path that you have utilized completely. What I am trying to say here is, if you, for example, choose to use a spear user role, utilize that completely, drop your marksman training and other roles altogether and only focus on the spear training. In situations where you are forced to use your bow, use your bow, and in that sense, you are training as well since you are using it.'
'What I personally think? You should utilize that spear role of yours, because you can reach heights beyond what you are aware of, but at the same time, drop that competition thought altogether, don't strive to become the strongest, you are trying to force yourself that, and thus slow yourself down without realising it. If there is one mindset that will help you strive the best is *I don't care about how far I go or how strong I become, I am one among thousands, but I don't fight for the sake of my own desires, I fight to strive a future for others and thus so will others for me, because in the end we all stand united.*, That is one of Aliah's famous quotes when he addressed his students, and ironically, those 4 famous individuals I named followed that advice, and look what happened to them, they became heroes, did things that most would falter at. Remember this very specific quote I am going to tell you, and don't interject or try to form an argument againts it, just listen to it, and whether you want to follow it or want to ignore it is your choice.'
'*Those who seek to strive for the uttermost power and want to be praised will only get stuck in the false dream that is clouding their judgement, those who deem pride and their own needs to be more important then others will start a path that will give nothing but loneliness and arrogance. Those who drop every ounce of their desires and utilize the advice given from those around him will strive to uttermost heights, where greed, arrogance, pride or selfishness will never play a part. Desires are the thing that stops you from becoming a hero, those who claim to be heroes are the ones who will never get the attention that they desire, only doubt, and start to think if they really are the heroes that they claim to be.*' Kiran was saying this quote to her in such a way where he was using his own thoughts as a way to make his own voice sound like Aliah's in that very quote, creating an inspiring effect.
'I think you can see why so many respect him like that? I sure know that Jack looks up to him like some sort of Deity, which I find pretty hilarious. But I see Aliah more as a person who knew what he was talking about, and based his words on what he had experienced, rather than thinking what was right. Of course, he managed to follow his own words, because to the people who had known him, they described him as an odd person, normally every person has this form of selfishness, but they said Aliah was acting like he was completely devoid of those things, almost as he had never been born with them, go figure on how strange that sounds...' Kiran thought to her.
'I did ramble on for far to long, but atleast I got my words across.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Yeah, she did, perhaps i should have shown it better that i appreciated it, but i bet you already know why i wasn't capable of doing it better, i am just very distrustful around others, well, except around You and Luna, well Festus also for that matter. The matter of the fact is that i want to be around specific people at specific moments, but when it is not that person, i tend to feel uncomfortable, and just avoid the situation. I guess i...' Jack stopped in mid-thought, as he was just too tired to say anything, and started to close his eyes.
He wasn't falling asleep but he tried to stop focusing on his surroundings, in order to stop any anticipation in the hope time would go faster for his mind.
But he held on tight to her scales, to make sure he would get blown off due to the speed they where going at.