Something flashed into his eyes when she asked why he joined the Conquerors. Something that caused him to get so angry and the reason surely wasn't because of power.

-Rollan-

"Oh come on," Rollan groaned as he peered into the sky, in search of Essix, "Where are you, Essix?"

He could sense her near, very near, but he couldn't seem to find out where the bird was. Just then, he heard soft crunches, growing louder and growing nearer. He turned around too late as a wooden staff came crashing towards his head, sending him falling back with a groan. He glanced up and his eyes widened that he had to blink back a couple times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

Looks like he found their target...or more like the target found him.

"Meilin, wait," his gaze swiveled to the group behind her who had just emerged from the woods, "Don't hurt him."

"I won't hurt him," Mistress Meilin, or Meilin since her father was dead, muttered darkly as Rollan quickly stood up and brought out his daggers, "I'll just give him what he deserves."

"And what exactly do I deserve?" Rollan asked nervously as the girl in front of him tightened her grip on her staff. She looked nothing like the calm Mistress Meilin she saw at the party.

"What happened to the whole of Zhong," she advanced, her eyes filled with hatred and rage, "What happened to the people in Zhong. What happened to my father!"

Meilin unexpectedly swiped her staff with such speed, making Rollan stumbled back, barely dodging the attack. Before he could fully recover though, the staff had swept below his feet and he fell back with a thud. Rollan, overwhelmed from the speed of her movements, scrambled back as he looked at her with shock. No one ever told him that this girl could fight!

"Meilin, don't," the boy that Rollan recognized as Shane, exclaimed, "Don't kill him!"

"And why not?" Meilin fired, her gaze never leaving his.

Before anyone could reply, there was an ear-splitting screech that Rollan quickly recognized in relief. A moment later, he saw the falcon diving at Meilin with claws outreached which Meilin managed to block with her staff. The distraction was enough for Rollan to stand back up as the falcon quickly landed back on his shoulder.

"Took you long enough," Rollan muttered to the bird who only screeched indignantly.

Meilin was about to attack when Shane spoke, "Don't attack him!"

"And why not?" Meilin fired once more, "Is it because of a bird?"

Essix screeched in anger, almost breaking Rollan's eardrums in the process.

"She's not just a bird, Meilin," Shane replied, trying to keep his voice calm, "He summoned Essix the Falcon. He summoned a Great Beast."

Before Meilin could reply, there was a growl and Rollan noticed a huge leopard, standing beside a Niloan girl's side. Rollan recalled that the girl was Abeke and the leopard was Uriah or Urama or something. It's not his fault that the Great Beast's names were so hard to remember.

The leopard growled and Essix, once again, screeched in a not-so-happy way.

"I don't think Uraza here seems to pleased," Meilin said.

"That's because he's in the wrong side," the girl named Abeke spoke up.

Of course Rollan knew he was in the wrong side but he needed to work with them in order to save his mother.

Anyways, it's not as if that changed anything, Rollan though bitterly, I've always been in the wrong side when I became a thief.

There was a bright flash of light and there appeared a huge panda. Rollan, again, tried to remember the name of the Great Panda yet failed once more.

The panda looked at Essix. The look on the panda's face made it hard for Rollan to read for all she could see was serenity. Essix screeched but the expression on the panda hadn't changed. Uraza growled which sounded angry but the falcon seemed to refuse.

"They're communicating," the man Greencloak spoke and Rollan recalled that his name was Tarik.

"And it seems to me that they do not like him or his Spirit Animal," Meilin muttered, shooting a glare at Rollan who tried to avoid her gaze, "It's obvious that he's on their side."

"But we need him," Shane told her, then said to Rollan, "Listen, these Conquerors only want your Spirit Animal and your talisman. They'll just turn on you-"

"They don't know I summoned Essix," Rollan interrupted him, "None of them know."

That seemed to have silence them as they looked at him in confusion.

Then Abeke asked him, "Then why did you join them?"

Before Rollan could tell them that it was none of their business, a new voice had already beaten him to it, "Him joining is none of your concern."

Rollan turned to find that Zerif had walked into the clearing, followed by Devin and a group of Conquerors, easily outnumbering the others. All of their faces gave nothing away but Rollan's stomach twisted in anxiety, wondering if they've heard. Then he mentally face-palmed as he remembered that Essix was literally on his shoulder.

"I'm surprised you haven't told us of your Spirit Animal, Roll," Zerif went on, his voice cold yet calm, "We could've helped you of your bond. We could've given you a stronger bond."

A stronger bond? Rollan thought in confusion.

"Roll, please don't listen to him," Tarik told him, "I've known Zerif for so long that he'd only use you to get what he wants. He only wants power, he doesn't care about you at all."

"And so do you," Rollan then fired, suddenly feeling a wave of anger, "I already know that he doesn't give a care about me and so do you. You only want me on the team because I summoned a Great Beast. Because I could make your forces stronger. No one paid much attention to me until you guys discovered that I summoned a Great Beast."

"That's not true-" Tarik began but Rollan interrupted once more.

"Why would you even care about a thief?" He snapped, "Especially a wanted thief of a continent? Not even a single person in Erdas cares about me so I might as well don't care. I don't even care if i'm on the bad side right now, it wouldn't even make a difference if I join you."

"Then why join their side?" Meilin then called out, her voice tight with anger, "Why join murderers instead of joining people who are actually trying to do something to win this war and save Erdas?"

"I-" Rollan caught himself as he remembered of his mother who was in the hands of the Conquerors. This fueled his anger more as he replied darkly, "That is none of your concern."

"Roll has made his decision," Rollan hadn't noticed that Zerif was at his side, "Roll has joined his side and soon, there will only be one side standing. Attack!"

-Meilin-

"Attack!" Zerif, the man who killed her father, commanded and the Conquerors advanced.

Meilin braced herself to fight but was suddenly pulled back by Abeke.

"We need to run," Tarik told them and took off to the woods.

The others quickly followed and Meilin had no choice but to run as well, before calling Jhi back into passive. She cast one last glance back, her eyes meeting the boy's eyes. She knew that she had hit a sensitive spot once she had asked that question. There was a reason he joined and it didn't seem as if he joined because of power.

They followed Tarik as they ran through the forest as fast as they could, trying to dodge the obstacles in front of them. She could hear the crunching of feet from the many Conquerors who were running after them in pursuit. They burst out into a clearing and kept on running until a withering howl stopped them.

They both turned around and Meilin almost lost her balance from the huge animal that had burst out from behind them.

A wolf.

Meilin found herself staring in awe into the wolf's cobalt eyes, filled with wisdom. The wolf gaze seemed to be on Uraza the leopard who was out in passive mode and Meilin thought that the wolf had nodded. Then it turned back and the calm animal turned into a fierce wolf as it growled at the first Conquerors who came into view.

"Over here," she heard a voice and she turned to spot a boy in tattered clothes, waving at them, "Quick, follow me."

The group took off after the boy as he led them through the forest. They ran as fast as they could until the boy disappeared into a bush. They followed after him and suddenly found themselves into semi-darkness. Meilin soon realized that they were in a cave with a small hole which provided them little light. Everyone stood there for a moment in silence, only hearing their ragged breaths.

"Thanks," Abeke panted out, breaking the silence.

Meilin glanced at the boy and studied him. Through the semi-darkness, she saw that he had blonde hair with green eyes

"No problem," the boy replied, hearing a Euran accent, "Anyone could've done the same."

"Who are you?" Shane asked in curiosity.

"Well, it doesn't really matter much," the boy answered hesitantly, "but...I'm Conor."

-Rollan-

Rollan was currently standing inside the Earl's main room with Essix perched on his shoulder, refusing to go into passive mode. Zerif was in the same room with a couple of Conquerors, including Devin and his brother, Dawson, whose boar was in passive. Raisha, the girl who summoned Gerathon, stood nearby, looking dull and sad which made Rollan wonder why. The Great Serpent was passive as well.

He studied the girl though he didn't understand why she was sad.

"So, Roll," Zerif growled, "You think you can hide the fact that you summoned Essix the Falcon after we've just made a deal?"

"The deal didn't include revealing your Spirit Animal," Rollan retorted.

"Yes, but the deal did include bringing me the Great Beasts and their talismans," Zerif fired.

"What's so special about these talismans anyways?" Rollan snapped, "I don't get why you're so obsessed with such items, unless you're very fond of making yourself look good. Oh wait, never mind, you are."

Zerif chuckled darkly which sent thrills down Rollan's spine, "Well, perhaps it wouldn't hurt if I told you the truth about these talismans. Like yours, the Copper Falcon which is Essix the Falcon's talisman, it holds great power like all the other talismans. Because of each power they all possess, when all the talismans are here combined, they hold even greater power that it could destroy all of Erdas."

He then revealed what looked like a talisman, a symbol of a serpent engraved on it, "To further explain, let me show you a demonstration."

Rollan's gaze quickly flitted towards where Raisha was and noticed that her talisman was gone. That's when Rollan realized why she had looked so sad.

"The Jade Serpent, for example, creates the Bile," Zerif said in a dark voice as one of the Conquerors stepped forward with a jar, "And the Bile, well, it's much better than the Nectar of Ninani."

"The N-Nectar?" Rollan stammered, knowing what the Nectar was.

"Ninani the Swan holds the Marble Swan," Zerif explained, "The Marble Swan creates the Nectar which prevents the bonding sickness from happening. Something happened years ago that the Greencloaks somehow had infinite Nectar without using its talisman."

"Now, as I was saying," Zerif started doing something with the talisman and Rollan turned rigid as he saw a familiar black substance drip out from the talisman, "The Bile, not only does it prevent bonding sickness, it's the only cure. And it's much better then that Nectar, it makes you choose whichever animal you want and it makes you control it."

It turns you into a monster, Rollan added in his thoughts as the memory of the horse flashed into his mind.

Rollan glanced at Devin and Dawson. Dawson's face was filled with horror while Devin's face was grim with a twinge of guilt.

Zerif then grinned in satisfaction and started walking towards Dawson with the jar, "There will be another slight change to your quest, Roll."

Zerif extended the jar to Dawson who glanced at Devin with terror. Devin only avoided his gaze, his eyes filling with regret and guilt. Something in Zerif's gaze made Dawson flinched as he reluctantly took the jar with shaking hands. Zerif, losing his patience, then pushed the jar and made Dawson drink the black substance inside. He quickly pushed the jar away as he coughed, his face twisting in disgust and horror.

Zerif only smiled darkly as he turned his gaze on Rollan, "You'll be switching sides."

- - -

2039 words! (Not counting the author's notes)

Conor has finally decided to reveal himself, a wolf (you might've guessed who) has appeared and helped them escaped, and i'll leave you guys to what might've happened after this...