Chapter 414: Leap of Faith (1)

Heaving a sigh, Aiden looked down onto the slightly trembling, nervous little skink leader, before finally speaking up and voicing the question.

"Thuk, leader of the skinks, I have heard your plea. I understand your plight. Would you be willing to place your trust in someone like me and join my cause?"

Suddenly memories flashed in Thuk's mind. Events of the past, the image of his parents, his birth village far away in a marshland, where several other types of Lizardman lived together forming a real community.

Those early days were the best days of his life. Several other types of lizardmen, tall, short, hulking monstrosities or lean, human-like figures lived together in large settlements they called Temple-Cities.

Their kind was devoted to their Ancient Ones, the proud and mighty dragons that vanished from the face of Eora many, many millennia ago. Still, their heritage, their glory continued living on with their distant descendants, the wide variety of lizardmen.

In his home, each individual race had their own job, their own function that ultimately continued to make the entire society work without any real issues.

As Skinks, their main responsibility was border patrol and being sent out as scouts. Being small, agile, and fast creatures together with their natural affinity to the swamplands, they were perfectly suited for the role. 

His father, just like him, was actually one of the rare variants, a mutation in their race, which they called Chameleon Skinks. The main difference they shared was their slightly larger size compared to their kin, their oversized yellow balls of eyes and their namesake, their unique racial trait to blend their skin tone with the surrounding environment, giving them a vast boost to their stealthiness.

Unfortunately, their 'Golden Days' as he often liked to remember it came to an abrupt, and disastrous end. During one night, whilst most of them were asleep, suddenly loud strange, loud noises scared the temple-city residents out of their beds and homes.

Before the scouts could come back, huge, towering metal contraptions appeared. They looked like large metal golems, with a much leaner, human-like shape and a glass, crystalline cockpit at the center of their torsos. 

These machines were humongous, towering over the skies, some even reaching 10 meters in height. Their metal limbs ended in a variety of oversized weapons: Sometimes a humongous bastard sword's blade, a giant hammer-head…in some cases the chained metal spiked ball spilled their kin's blood.

Thuk gulped, closed his eyes, and shook his head, dispelling the bad, nightmarish memories and slowly cleared his mind. 

This wasn't the time to reminisce or think about the bad. This was his and his people's chance to make the decision that would change their destiny. All the bad, all the death they have seen… 

This was the moment, to take that first step towards the oh-so-sweet allure of revenge.

Thuk clenched his fists, there was no more hesitation in him. He slowly opened his mouth, and firmly, curtly responded to their new lord's call.

"Yessh, my Lord. Pleasshe allow us to join! Let me and my brotherssh and sisterssh ssherve you from here on out! Pleasshe give us the chance for a better future, to take revenge on those that tormented ussh!"

Aiden smiled as he listened to the little figures hissing, blurred answer. He nodded at his declaration, at his plea, slowly reaching out and placing his right hand over his feathery top of the head.

"Rest assured, Thuk. I promise you, just like I promised to the others before you: I will not rest until your hearts are calm. If your heart's desire is dead set on revenge, I will give you the opportunity."

Finishing his speech, Aiden's head gradually lit up, a similar golden shine that kept glowing in his eyes now covered his palm and the back of his hand like a coat of glove made out of this intangible source of energy. 

Deep inside Aiden's core began to buzz with excitement, guiding the stream of [Soul Power] towards the connecting point. 

As the energy kept gathering at his palm, Aiden smiled warmly. Ignoring the stunned gazes of Drake and Scarlet, or the excited looks of the surrounding skinks, Aiden calmly expressed.

"Don't resist what's coming. Accept the gift I'm giving you, and be reborn as a new member of our family!"

Looking at the scene, Drake wanted to call out his friend but was quickly silenced with a single glare of Lily and Galina, causing him and even Scarlet to look with even more confusion of what was happening. 

'Just who are you Aiden…' He muttered inwardly, a complex conflicting cavalcade of emotions raged a storm inside him. He didn't know what was the right path to take. Was it okay to follow this strange, mysterious friend of his? Still… remembering all their shared past, or the troubles, the challenges they faced ever since they rescued their sisters from that awful place, he was always honest, straightforward with his actions.

Yes, he might be a naive little boy that was sheltered through his early life, and may truly be ignorant of all the world's darkness… He was still his best chance to rescue his remaining two brothers..

So what if he were or perhaps may not be human at all? Did it matter? 

His face contorted into a frown, as he kept looking at his long-black-haired, exotic-eyed friend… 

As for his sister, Scarlet, she had her own conclusions for a while now. She was fairly certain that Aiden, Lily and as it seemed, Galina also shared a big secret. 

However, instead of worry and doubt, only a smile started curling up the edges of her lips. There was a growing lust in her eyes as she eyed the boy. 

'He may be the one… She also hides something dark and forbidden inside him…' She mentally remarked. 'Mother… I may have found the one you saw…'

Feeling the warmth atop his head, Thuk's first thought was to escape. His instincts were deeply ingrained into his body, it wasn't easy for him to go against them. Still, in the end, he managed to listen to his newly accepted Lord's advice, and whilst tightly clenching his small fists, he managed to not move but let the energy slowly seep into his body, through the top of his head.

A comfortable sensation quickly spread around in his body, reaching all ends of his small frame in mere moments. He could feel as the new, invading, unknown power made its way towards his dull core next to his heart and slowly penetrated its crystalline walls. 

A new unknown feeling began to rise inside him as a golden seed was quickly formed inside the protection of the crystal walls.

Suddenly, his eyes went wide as his heart thumped loudly once, before setting itself into a rapid, heavy, rhythmic beat.

His core, that although was already present inside him, but was still in the process of gathering his own energies to allow him to step into the first step in his evolutionary path was now glowing with the same golden luster, the color of the energy that filled it up. A powerful pulse shook his small frame, he jumped up from his kneeling position, his eyes wider than before.

The shock however was only temporary. In a few seconds, as he understood what was going on, he looked up at his new master with watery eyes. He wanted to thank the master for his benevolence…