We headed off again, Tigra taking the lead as she had a map of the location, if she needed a map, it just showed how few Animalia came this way. I wondered if she was right about the twin lion swords being within the temple, if so they must have been so lonely.

I thought back on when I helped the serpent god class talisman Yuuma who had been alone in the shrine for decades before I showed up, consumed with darkness which had fed on his anger and doubt. Would these two spirit have gone through the same? Would they be inflicted by the darkness?

I couldn’t help being filled with question, how closely was I tied to the legendary Fang of the past, considering I already wielded two of his talisman and if I could obtain these two, then I would wield them all, apart from the one who had been forgotten, I wondered if I would one day find it and share its power too.

Our pace quickened as according to Tigra’s rota, they would come into the area about midday, changing over from the others guarding the temple.

“Wait, why are they guarding an old temple for?” whispered Brendan as the question popped into my head too.

“I don’t know,” shrugged Tigra. “I asked Gual, but he did not know either considering how long it has been since anyone has come this way.”

“We’ll soon find out,” I commented. I almost panicked when I thought about the knights who might be on duty, if they caught our scent especially Tigra’s we would be in trouble. I sighed, I almost forgot I could distribute my scent upwards, there wouldn’t be much problem doing it with multiple Animalia.

“What’s up with you?” asked Brendan.

“I was just worried for a second, considering everyone is identified by scent remember,” I mentioned.

“He’s right,” slumped Tigra. “I shouldn’t have brought us here.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry, remember when I told you about how I could get Larana to manipulate the wind around me to disperse my scent upwards.” Tigra nodded. “Well then.” I smirked as the wind blew gently around us then upwards. “I’m sure I can manage three.”

I got to thinking as I completed what I had done with our scents, wondering if there was another way to disguise someone’s scent completely, seeing as a lot of Animalia used their scent to identify each other, which on missions could be a downfall, if they picked it up before you could complete what it was you were sent to do.

“And he’s thinking,” commented Tigra.

I rubbed my head. “I was just wondering if there was something that could be done or made to completely disguise one’s scent.”

“That would be interesting,” admitted Brendan. “You’d need a conduit of some kind…”

“Can we please stay focused on the task at hand,” snapped Tigra.

“You mean the task you set yourself and us to try and claim the twin lion swords which I think Dumah put knights to prevent anyone from gaining their power,” I smiled as I responded really quickly.

Tigra sighed. “Yes.”

“Alright then.”

-

We spent the next two days making our way through the knights guarding the area, it had been quite taxing as there was a lot of them. This was a complete waste of the knight’s time, but they had no choice as I saw the dark energy enveloping each Feles we avoided.

I felt sadness for them, they most probably didn’t even realise what they were doing half the time. I needed to somehow learn how some were affected but others were not.

It got more difficult the closer we got to the temple. I was glad the place was surrounded by a thick and wild forest, otherwise this would have been nearly impossible, especially with Tigra and Brendan, if it had just been me, I would have flown in no problem.

The number of knights we saw didn’t actually make sense, even Tigra noticed there were far more here than in the whole city of Cathopia.

“We don’t have this many knights to spare for guarding a temple,” commented Tigra.

“Knight shift switch,” I whispered as we ducked into a bush.

We came across a group, they said nothing to each other as they switched duties, no reports of what might have been seen or general chatter on how boring it must have been. It reminded me of those walking on to take down the village under Yuuma’s protection.

“Weird,” commented Brendan.

“They are identical,” I pointed out. My nose twitched searching for different scents, I was surprised I hadn’t noticed earlier that they were quite similar, there body posture was the same, same species, same face.

“Are you sure?” questioned Brendan.

“No question about it,” I replied.

“Clones,” said Larana, holding a sad expression on her face. Had she seen something like this before.

“Impossible, there is no such thing as clones,” snorted Tigra.

“That is where you are wrong.” Larana looked out at them. “In long times forgotten the dark powers found a way to manipulate cells and create millions of clones imbued with dark energy for an army that ravished the land.”

“How?” I asked.

“By using the powers of lightning gifted Feles,” replied Larana.

“What?” Tigra stared at her.

“As long as they had a power source, even the lives of others, they could make as many clones as they wanted,” continued Larana. “That is why, even today such lightning powers are rare compared to others.”

“There are more here, plus…” I paused then looked up sensing something. “Get down.” They did as I instructed, lowering closer to the ground. I looked up as we hid in the bushes, flying overhead was an Avis.

“Is that?” whispered Tigra.

“Yeah one of Dumah’s main unit,” I responded.

Over the last two years Dumah had put together his own personal unit of knights, containing a variety of Animalia. The Aquila Valli, related to the eagle, Cutter the Carcharias, cousin of the shark, Scorlax the Scorpiones, Seth the Ursus Maritimus, a white version of Brendan.

They were a deadly combination and claimed they did everything under the king’s orders, but with Dumah pulling the strings, I very much doubted it. They all crawled with the same dark energy Dumah had, but the city didn’t seem anymore infected than usual, the same fine mist circling around the city.

“Come on!” shouted the Aquila by the name Valli. “I want this place guarded by two times more, no one is to reach the lion’s power only Dumah.”

I raised an eyebrow, Dumah wanted to try claiming the twin swords that house the lions. I had to see this, could he control a power that had only been described in legend and only used by Fang, a warrior of light.

“Does that mean Dumah is coming?” questioned Tigra.

“My guess he is already here,” I replied. And with my words everyone in the area began heading towards the temple.

“Come on,” I encouraged as we quickly and quietly followed behind, this was going to be interesting.