Learning the Lies [Travel]

It was a warm day as Diego and Trixie walked with Gallus to a nearby town. Gallus had need a pair of hands to help him carry back supplies and Diego had volunteered to help. They made their way down a busy dirt road that meandered along the edge of a forest. Trixie bounded through the trees while the two rangers talked.

"What are your plans, Diego?" Gallus asked. It was the first time the big bear of a man had asked about Diego's future.

Diego stayed silent as he thought about what he wanted to do. He had gotten stronger and it seemed that Trixie had as well. With that part of the plan complete, it seemed that finding Jagang was all that was left. "I plan to find Jagang, but I haven't thought about leaving yet." He glanced at the man, "I still haven't paid you back for all you have taught me."

Gallus grunted, "That is true, I have dedicated my time teaching you and feeding you. I don't do it for any specific kind of payment though, I do it to teach people." He ran his fingers through his beard, "I hope you stay around, you do your part around camp and help out."

They made their way into the small town, following the road to find the general shop. Diego and Trixie stood outside, watching as people walked by. After the talk with Gallus, Diego started to ponder what he should do, lost in thoughts and oblivious to what was going on around him. Should he stay around a little bit longer or should he make his way around to the Capitol, to find traces of Jagang.

"Diego?," a familiar voice asked.

Diego looked up and blinked. Shura, his trainer, stood next to a 20 meter tall gorilla-looking creature with four arms. The gorilla's name was Puny and he wasn't actually as scary as he looked. In fact, when Trixie had sparred with him, the gorilla took great care with the amount of force he used. "What are you doing here, Shura? How have you been?" Diego asked, clasping the man's arm with joy.

Shura let out a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, "I've been looking for you for two weeks. I was worried about you." He smiled at Diego, "I have been well. Since we last saw each other, we had traveled the Desert of Forgotten Souls training. What have you been up to?"

Diego was excited to see the Fanalis, the journey they had taken together about a year ago had been an exciting time. He had missed the man. He gave Shura an enthusiastic tale of the events since they had last seen each other. He told him of the jobs he had done in Heliohapt, taking out the black fingers, telling stories to the orphans, meeting Ishaq, his friend at the Gilded Cow, and the journey he had taken since leaving, in search of Jagang.  

Shura looked shock to hear about Diego getting attacked by bandits and losing Trixie. By the time the story finished, Shura looked like he had a thousand questions. "I don't know where to begin. There are some things we need to talk about." He started pacing as he talked, "First, Jagang never came to Reim. He's still somewhere in the desert. When I got back to the Capitol, I ran across Ishaq. We met several years ago, Puny and I had helped him out. He's one of the few humans I can respect, he places great care and value for others.

Anyway, he started talking about you and how he had found out that his friend in the city guard had lied. It seems when his friend had asked about Jagang, news had reached Sergeant Ahmed. It seemed Ahmed had learned about Diego's desire to find Jagang and he made a false report of the man's location." Shura looked flustered, "Now you tell me that you were trained by Gallus?"

Diego didn't know what to think. He had risked Trixie's life over a nasty lie and Ahmed was to blame. He couldn't be mad at Ishaq, but a tiny part of him was, for sending him out to Reim. He instantly regretted it, remembering Ishaq asking Diego not to go and the learning experiences he'd had since then. "That's a lot to take in, Shura-"

A deep voice interrupted their conversation, "Yes, he was trained by Gallus. Do you have a problem with that Shura?"

Diego turned to see Gallus, standing with several bags in his hand, full of various supplies. "You know each other?"

Gallus grunted, "Not in a good way, I'm afraid." He let out a sigh, "I'm afraid the way he remembers me, it's not at all in a good way."

Shura took a step forward with a scowl on his face, "That man is a slave-trader. Him and his friends ransacked my town and sold us all into slavery!" Shura looked like he was about to punch the man, but Diego stepped in the way. "What are you doing? You would defend him?"

Diego shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to defend him, but I mean for you to listen." He turned around with a stern look on his face towards Gallus, "Is what he said true?"

With a sigh, Gallus set his supplies down before looking Shura in the eye. Gallus had a sad, distant expression as he spoke, "Aye, I was a slaver in my younger years. I was angry at the world and hated everyone I met. I thought everyone was against me. Then, I met this group of people with an idea and they gave me power. I was drunk with it, thinking if anyone couldn't stop me, then I was right to take their life. I got caught up in some bad professions after that. I used to smuggle slaves and I didn't blink twice. After I got promoted, I started to think otherwise.

When the gang I ran with would ransack villages, it was terrible. I started having nightmares after seeing the things some of those men would do. I remember Shura, he fought tooth and nail to protect his parents as two of my gang beat them. He said something to me that shook me to the core. 'Who are you to take away my family's right to life?' That stuck with me and it changed me. A couple years later, I became a different person, teaching kids like you Diego, how to survive so they have a hope of fighting back against people like me." Gallus let out a deep sigh and got on his knees. "Shura, I never had the right to do the things I did. If you want revenge for my sins, I give you the right to take away my life."

Diego stood stunned, his heart hurt that Gallus had done such things. He almost wished he hadn't stopped Shura from hitting the man, but he had seen good in Gallus' heart as well. Shura's scowl burned into Gallus, his eyes wild with rage. He let out a roar of frustration and kicked one of the bags over. "I want to old man, I do, but I don't see the same look in your eyes that I remember. Diego," he looked into his pupil's eyes, "Is he still an evil man?"

Diego looked between his two teachers, the two men who had given him so much and shook his head. "No, not anymore. Ever since I met him, I have seen him selflessly give himself to teaching a group of kids to fight. He's a good teacher too. Who he is now, I can respect him."

Shura listened to Diego's words and let them sink in. He exhaled and offered his hand to Gallus, "Then, I have no right to your life."

Gallus accepted his hand and stood up, "I apologize Shura for the pain I caused you. I can only hope to pay off my sins one day." He looked to Diego, "So, what are you going to do?"

Diego thought a moment, "I think I'm going to help you carry these supplies back to camp and then I'm heading back to Heliohapt."

Gallus grunted, "Sounds good."

Diego, Trixie, Shura and Puny spent the night at Gallus' camp. After waking up, the group made their way to the port city. They found passage on a ship leaving for Heliohapt and said their goodbyes to the green landscape, heading back to the desert lands.

[1431/200]

Back in Heliohapt, Shura led them to a small village a few hours south of the port. They came to a small building near the outskirts. An old Fanalis woman was tending a garden, when she saw them approach.

"Shura, how good to see you! How have you been?" She asked, giving him a hug.

Shura smiled, "I've been well." He pointed to Diego and Trixie, "This is the boy I told you about. I think he would be a good fit."

Diego raised a brow, "A good fit for what?"

The Fanalis woman waved away the question, "Just wait here." She hobbled into the house and closed the door. She came out a few moments later with a large, furry white spider with an adorable face. "This is Zanzibar."

The spider was about half the size of Ella and it skittered towards Trixie. The tiger sniffed the spider, curiously and Zanzibar took that as a sign of permission to jump on her back and started cuddling. Trixie jumped and turned her head, but when she noticed it wasn't trying to hurt her she calmed down.

Diego pet the spider and smiled at him, "Hello, Zanzibar, I'm Diego." He looked up at Shura, "He's a cute fella."

Shura nodded, "He is and he's yours." He saw Diego's confused face and he laughed, "I've seen the bond you have with Trixie and you now know how to fight yourself. A beast-tamer like you is rare, one with a good heart." He pointed to the old lady. "This is Alera, she was my trainer and she also gave me my second beast. I felt like keeping in with the tradition."

"You have a second pet?" Diego had never seen it.

Shura had a sad look on his face, "It died a few years ago. I got in a bad situation and was outnumbered. I try not to talk about it." Even Puny looked sad.

Diego let Zanzibar crawl on his back and hug him, "I promise to take care of you Zanzibar. There's one thing I have to ask, if you ever want to quit following my path, let me know? I don't want to ask you to do anything I wouldn't." Zanzibar snuggled on his back and wiggled his furry white mandibles. "What can he do?"

Alera looked at Diego, "He can make webs, and his species can both heal and poison, but he'll have to get of age to develop the poisons."

Diego was impressed, "Thank you both." He felt Trixie swat at Zanzibar and the spider made a weird hissing noise before projecting a web from its butt, wrapping the tiger in a web with a three meter radius. Trixie whimpered and Zanzibar plopped down from Diego, walking up to her and rubbing against her. Diego unwound the web from Trixie, releasing her. "That's an interesting ability."

[D-tier training: 478/250]

Training: Webbed Net:

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