Chp.2: Discussing what to do

Haku was definitely too confused at that moment. Few times in his life had he found himself completely unable to judge a situation, and this was one of them. That mysterious visitor with his mere presence had already created too many questions and had questioned many things he believed, but when he started talking about prophecies, ancient scriptures, lords of the world and ancient dragons who were apparently served by numerous mysterious races, all combined with the fact that quell'arachne continued to call him 'my king', had thrown him quite a bit. And he didn't like that at all.

He tried to make up his mind, summarizing all the information (too much information, moreover confusing and unclear!) that he had obtained up to that moment. For starters, there was a mysterious race that he didn't know about, and since no Academy of Magic books seemed to mention them (Maldor had told him everything he'd read in them, including geography books that spoke of the distribution of the various races on that continent and the other three), it was likely that the rest of the world was also completely unaware of the existence of the arachne. This meant that the mysterious race must have been in hiding for a long time, and indeed Arethar had spoken of over twenty thousand years. This meant that what he was facing was a member of a very ancient race that had been segregated from the world for some reason and that for some reason seemed to view dragons as masters. And since there were apparently other races who felt the same way, and who Arethar had said were also in hiding, it was probable that they too didn't appear in the books and therefore were unknown even to the newcomers. This created many possibilities both positive and negative: these new races could have been allies… but they could also have been enemies. Arethar seemed to believe that dragons were masters, and perhaps his people felt the same way… but would others feel the same way too? And why? Why so much veneration? He doubted that it had appeared out of nowhere, something must have happened in the past… perhaps it was the same event that had driven those strange races into hiding for all those thousands of years.

However, for the moment it didn't make sense to think about the other races since at best they would have been a future problem since at the moment they didn't know his and his family's whereabouts (didn't even know they existed, in fact); however, there was at least one whole people he already had to worry about. He had chosen the Thul Oasis as a destination because he thought it was a happy island in the middle of a desert, where no one could cause them problems; but apparently there was a whole race under their paws at that moment. And he still didn't know the motivations and intentions of these arachnes. Sure, Arethar seemed compliant and respectful… but there was no guarantee it wasn't just an act. It was possible that the arachnes aimed to lure them into a trap and then kill them all in one fell swoop because they were convinced they would not succeed in a frontal assault; after all, all the newcomers they'd met didn't like dragons, and those who'd chosen to join them had only done so by accident. He had never met a newcomer who as soon as he saw a dragon thought of making friends with it, much less idolizing it as that arachne was doing. Therefore, he couldn't help but be suspicious.

If it had been anyone else, Haku would have rejected the offer to go to his city without a second thought; but Arethar had managed to upset him. How did he know his name and all those of his siblings, and know their characteristics to the point of recognizing them immediately? She couldn't have spied on them, they would have known otherwise: no one could fool the dragons' powerful senses, not at close range at least, and to hear them speak and therefore pronounce their names that arachne would have to be no more than a hundred yards away. them, and it would have been impossible for him to hide. And Haku was sure that if a half-spider and half-man creature appeared in the beastmen city asking for information about him or his family, it certainly wouldn't go unnoticed. All the clues hinted that that arachne really knew everything about them long before meeting them, and that therefore those 'ancient scriptures' and that 'prophecy' really did exist. This lowered the chances of a trap, even if it didn't make them disappear. But if they were true, then what did that mean for him and his family? Haku didn't like anyone telling him what he should do in the future, because he wanted to be the one to choose his own destiny... but if someone twenty thousand years ago was able to predict his existence and his coming to the Thul Oasis with so much precision to even describe his characteristics and his siblings upon their arrival, then the future written in the ancient scriptures of the arachnes was the true one? Was there a possibility to change it or not? Too many questions that remained unanswered, and that worried Haku more and more every moment.

In the end he decided that the situation was too absurd to ask any more questions, also because he was sure that Arethar would again speak in an incomprehensible manner and would provide him with new doubts rather than answers, so he decided it was time to stop for a moment and talk with his siblings. "You" he said looking at Arethar. "You keep saying you'll do my bidding, so now do as I tell you: go under that tree over there and don't move until I tell you you can. Now"

He expected at least some resistance, instead the arachne replied: "As you wish, my king" and immediately went where Haku ordered him to go, leaving them alone. From the expression on his face it almost seemed as if he had been given the best gift in the world; maybe that weird fellow was really convinced that dragons were some sort of superior entity, because he seemed to have the same relationship towards them that the newcomers had towards their gods.

Haku waited for the arachne to be exactly where he had indicated, so as to be sure that he couldn't hear them, and then he turned to his siblings. "So, what do you think?"

His brothers and sisters were just as confused as he was. Maybe even more. "We were hoping you would tell us" Maleficial admitted. "I mean, that guy is… well…"

"He is completely out of mind!" Kialandì concluded the sentence for her. "I mean... did you hear him talk about us? We seem to be celestial creatures who can move the sun and the moon if they want to! That spider-like man thing must have clearly eaten some hallucinogenic mushrooms while he was underground... and a decidedly powerful one, I have to admit"

"But we can't ignore the fact that he knows us… and that he knows us very well" Serengal reminded them. "Don't get me wrong, I'm too not sure he have all his marbles... well, I don't even exclude the possibility that he really made use of some hallucinogenic mushrooms... but certainly this cannot have miraculously revealed our identity to him Crazy as that guy is, I think the ancient scriptures and the prophecy he's talking about aren't bluster. Maybe it's worth trying to follow him and find out what's going on"

"But what if it turns out to be a trap?" Tikka asked. "I don't trust that guy. He may be completely mad, but he was clever enough to spot us, climb the underground caverns up to here, recognize us at first sight and confuse us with his words, and there are few who can boast of having confused us and even less what they can boast of having confused Haku. I don't trust him. We can't follow him, it's too dangerous"

Haku let out a snort bringing his attention back to himself. "I don't trust that guy either" he said. "But we can't just ignore him. Even if we sent him away, what would stop him from doing something else to get us to go with him? He might kidnap people we care about, or start killing them as a warning to us. And even if we kill him, apparently he's not alone, so someone else will take his place. Now that guy is very compliant, but we don't know what he would go to do in the face of a flat refusal from us. It is clear that he badly wants us to go with him to find his people, or he would have revealed the contents of the ancient scriptures right here and now, without needing to make long journeys. He wants us to go down there, and I don't think he will stop before to have gotten what he wants. He seems crazy enough to convince himself that this is his sacred mission and that he must carry it out at any cost"

His brothers and sisters looked at each other in concern; in fact, that too was a possibility. Many of them had friends among the inhabitants of that oasis, friends who were much more vulnerable than they were. Not to mention that the presence of an entire people so close to them meant that potentially the whole of Iluvatan City was at risk. They couldn't just take that arachne off and ignore it; they had to act with caution. "So, what do you propose?" Glausar asked.

Haku gritted his teeth slightly. The truth was that not even he was sure what the best course of action was to take; the situation was too uncertain to be able to establish a safe plan. For him who liked to have everything under control, this insecurity was quite annoying. "For now, let's buy time" he said. "I doubt he will answer us if we ask him direct questions, but if we offer him to stay with us for a few days, he might miss something. Let's pretend we have to talk to the Council about this before leaving the oasis and check his reaction; if will accept means he probably has no hostile intentions or he thinks he has enough strength to rout the entire Iluvatan City even with all defenses ready, if he refuses it means he is probably planning some attack and wants to push us away because we are the main defense force of this place. Once we have this information we will evaluate it and decide what to do"

It seemed like a good proposition: accepting or rejecting Arethar's proposal regardless, not knowing what they were getting into either case, was too risky, so the best solution was to keep the situation in stalemate and wait for their 'guest' to give himself away and revealed something that would allow us to better understand his intentions. "Just to know" Darbi suddenly interjected. "In the hypothetical and unlikely event that everything that guy said is true, and that there really is a prophecy about us… what will that entail?"

Obviously that was a detail not to be underestimated; Haku noticed that many of his siblings seemed concerned about that. Oddly, Rhaegal seemed to be slightly more tense than the others, and Darbi also seemed less calm than usual… but perhaps he was exaggerating. "Unfortunately, we don't know. If this prophecy really exists, perhaps we could use it to our advantage to predict certain events... although I'm not sure if it can be changed in any way. We will have to consider what to do after we discover this; at the moment , we don't even know exactly how these prophecies work, nor how reliable they are... even if, given the ease with which that guy recognized us, it is probable that they are a lot. It is useless to worry now, we will reflect on it when the time comes"

That answer was acceptable. It wasn't pleasant, as she was insecure and nobody likes insecurity, especially in a situation like this, but there weren't many alternatives. "So, everyone agree? We invite him to stay and try to find out more in the coming days?" Haku asked. At everyone's assent, he let out a snort. "Okay, then I'll go tell him. Gosh, what a day..."