And so I told him everything. Matemai was surprisingly a very good listener. He was leaning forward, elbow on his knees, tea cup in one hand and his smiling face intent. His face light up even more when I told him about Jena the dragon. He was so excited that he was vibrating. I was beginning to think that Matemai was one of those people who were always genuinely happy. Through all that vibrancy, he didn’t interrupt me even once. He listened to the end and then finally asked questions. And man! he asked a lot of questions. He was very through, without passing any judgement. Just a happy inquirer. There more he asked, the more I realized how the bright atmosphere he created made me feel comfortable enough to answer without hesitation. Was it a skill he has like my way-finding skill?

  “So let me get this straight,” he finally said leaning back and placing his cup on the carpet. “You have claimed old Jena the Mage’s lair now and the dragon too. Then when the dragon did something you didn’t like you left in a huff!” He throw back his head and laughed, slapping his knees. I could sort of see the humor in that and I smiled at him. I had behaved childishly but if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have met him, right? All is well that ends well and all that.

  “Do you even know what you have done?” He shook his head and sobered a little bit but the merriment never left his eyes. Matemai was really carefree and cheerful always. “I am glad I found you. You are a wonder!”

  Now that puzzled me. Why would he think that. I hadn’t done anything impressive. I asked, “How so?”

  “Well, you left a dragon for one! Do you know how many people would do unspeakable things just to see one?” Matemai lifted his thick eyebrows at me, his mouth curved in a smile.

  I was bound to the silly dragon, I could afford to do that. “I don’t take kindly to being manipulated and Jena needs to learn to have a proper relationship with me. I am bound to him. It won’t do to be his slave.” I said without venom in my voice just simple resignation. I simply couldn’t master the same level of annoyance I had when left Jena in the morning. I narrowed my eyes. I know this world was changing me but what was going on here? I hated slavery with a passion of a thousand suns but somehow I am not suddenly okay with this. Was Matemai doing something to me, too. I felt exceptionally light and happy. Like all this doesn’t really matter at all.

  “Matemai?” I cocked my head to the side and looked him straight in the eye. “What going on?”

  Matemai’s eyes widened in surprise, “You caught that? You even more powerful than I had hoped.” He grinned.

  “Please, explain yourself!” As soon as I said that it felt like a very thin veil was lifted from my head. Then I got really annoyed. It was like all the annoyance whooshed back into place. Mental attacks were the worst!

  “Don’t be mad please!" He implored with raised palms. "It one of my passive skills. If I don’t actively suppress it, I can make people feel the same way I am feeling. Sort of an emotional amplifier. Nothing serious I promise. What I find interesting is that you detected it. Its very subtle that many people to even realized it. What more, you have snapped out of it, all by yourself.” His lips crinkled a tiny bit and the laugh lines on his eyes creased just a tiny bit more. Matemai was very happy with his find. That just annoyed me even more.

  “How does it work?”I asked trying to control my annoyance. I can do this. Blowing off my top at him will not solve this. I needed information and lets face it, there was nothing I could really do to him except derail this conversation.

  “It’s not a spell, it just me.” He hesitated, sighed and said, “I can lower people’s inhibitions.” He looked slightly embarrassed.

  I couldn’t believe my ears! He had an ability that gets people drunk without touching them or making them drink anything! I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. I was probably already drunk. Which means my judgement, risk assessment, decision-making are all compromised. Why hasn’t the oath activated? Does it mean he has broken the oath? That was a bummer to realize the oath wasn't as water tight as I had thought. Well, wait! He said I had resisted it thus why we are having this conversation, right. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  I opened my eyes and asked quietly, “Did you do it intentionally?”

  “Sort of,” then he rushed to say, “It’s a passive ability, like I said. I can lock it in. Do you want me to lock it in for this meeting. But you might want to consider training your mental resistance.”

  “No, thank you. I don’t want to train anything. I just want to be clear minded for this discussion.” Without having to worry about my judgement. I can also training will come later, I thought to myself.

  “Okay, I can do that.” Matemai said with amusement in his eyes. Right now, his relentlessly cheerful mood wasn’t doing anything for me. I was annoyed and wasn’t sure if I can trust him, oath or no oath.

  Ding!

  You have detected and resisted a mind control ability.

  Your awareness has gained plus 1

  Congratulations!

  Plus 1 mental XP.

  Do you want to spend your XP?

  At least something come out of this, I thought as I heard the ding. Which reminded me about the magical bonds. “Was it the same magic with the magical bonds you used on us earlier?” I asked.

  “No, those were to suppress your powers. We really didn’t know if you were safe to approach.” Matemai answered.

  “So instead of talking to me, you kidnapped me? Tell, Matemai is it the way of life here? Violence?” I realized I was being antagonistic. This wasn’t going to help my cause. I need information from Matemai. On his part, despite the mental game he played, was honest with me. “I am sorry,” I asked. “Let me phrase that again. Can you please tell me more about this world that I find myself in? It seems to me, to be full of violence.”

  “Of course!” The smile never left his face. “There is so much to tell but I will just give you a brief history to what concerns you at the moment. We will have enough time to talk some more, I am sure. You asked if you were summoned. The answer is yes but not by me directly. Ishe, our ruler, a descendant of Jena, ordered the summons.” He raised his hands as if in surrender, “ Before you ask, no, he is not a dragon-kin. One gets their mutupo from their father. Maybe it is the same for you in your world?” I nodded in agreement. “Jena did not have any male children and so he didn’t have anyone to carry the dragon-kin mutupo.You already know that the other dragon-kin left with their dragons when the Grootslang came for us. Ishe was hoping the summons would bring one of those who left to come and help us. I refused for two reasons. First off, summonings are forbidden because you never know what will happen or come through. We already have enough problems as it is. Second, the dragon-kin who left didn’t want to be involved when they left. I don’t think anything as changed. If they wanted they could have come back but they still haven’t.” I didn’t voice my suspicions that maybe they couldn’t come back even if they wanted to.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Ishe’s people made the summoning in Nyajena City and nothing came to their circle. He thinks its a failure. I knew someone or something came through, just not where they had intended. This is why summonings are forbidden. You arrival coincided with the Mist coming all the way to Nyajena for the first time in years. Ishe thinks its his summons that caused it. Maybe he is right, I don’t know but I used that as an excuse to come here and investigate the Mist. Officially I was send by Ishe. I was worried that the summoned someone or something might not be friendly and maybe too powerful for us. Imagine my relief and joy to find you.”

  “Because I am powerless?” I teased him with a smile.

  “No, no, no! You are not powerless. Actually I think you are the most powerful dragon-kin we ever had.”

  I snorted at that. “Yes, yes, yes. Flattery is welcome.” I gave him a mock bow and smiled back at him. Somehow during his telling, my annoyance had drained away. I was 80% sure he wasn’t using is mental magics on me. “Please explain to me how mutupo comes into all this. In my world, my mutupo is fire but our sacred animal is a snail not a dragon. In fact we don’t have dragons.”

  “That is very interesting. You don’t have dragons? You will have to tell me more about your world but not now. In this world, your mutupo and your magic or class are linked. For example, I am Matemai, elephant – our classes are variations of the mage class. If I wanted a crafter class, I could probably get it but I can never be as good a crafter as a Rhino or Buffalo crafter. Or at least I have to work thrice as hard to achieve what comes naturally to them. A long time ago people used to be able to tame their sacred animals and bond with them. They would be like their familiar and help with their class. If I had an elephant companion like you have your dragon, he would not be able to help me with the crafting class.”

  “Hold on, are you saying you can bond with an elephant in the wild and it will becames sentient?”

  “Oh no, no! It was a long time ago when people could bond with animals. We don’t even know how it use to work. It's all legends now. We only know of dragon-kin and they also didn’t know where dragons came from. The dragons choose them not the other way around, as with yourself.”

  “Am I the only dragon kin left?”

  “As far as we know. I haven’t met any Mlilo in my life.” Jena said.

  “Okay. So, what is so important about the dragon-kin? I mean, what it is that you want help with so badly that your ruler risks a summons?”

  “You can help fight the Grootslang. We think it's back.”

  But isn’t that what killed Jena. Why do they think another dragon-kin will succeed where he failed. I didn’t say that, instead I asked, “Why do you think that?”

  “The Mist.” The way he said it despite his happy face communicated fear and mystery, “It is more frequent now. Monsters are attacking villages and cities randomly and in hordes. There are lost more mysterious illness and deaths. If those were the only problems, we would have been able to handle them. The main issue is since Jena died, fewer and fewer people are getting classes. It's affecting everything in our land. We don’t have enough classed people to handle everything. We don’t have enough warriors, healers, crafters or anything. As a society we are painfully and slowly dying off. ” When Matemai said this he was utterly serious and the smile was gone. It was the first time since I have met him that his face was completely devoid of a smile. It send a chill down my spine.

  “What does Ishe expect the dragon-kin would do? They can’t slaughter your monsters for you. That's why they left remember?” Except for the monsters and the Mist what Matemai described to me was what a normal world was. We don’t have classes on earth, people have to just learn how to do things until they are good enough. It seems to me, people in this world, depended so much on magic that when the magic fails they don’t know what to do. What was worse, they seem not to want to do anything else. Maybe I was being too harsh, I don’t know the situation. I haven’t lived through it.

  “He was clutching at straws. The situation is hopeless.” Matemai answered my question.

  “Is the hopelessness creating the violent society I am sensing or were you always a violent people?” That sounded harsh but Matemai didn’t seem to take offense.

  He was quite for a moment, thinking then said,“Well, I wouldn’t put it like that but essentially, yes. The rule has became protect yourself at all cost. It’s just the survival instinct kicking.”

  “You mean the mighty rule and the weak suffer.”

  “Again, I wouldn’t say it like that but yes. The weak suffer the most that is why Ishe did what he did.”

  “Are you say Ishe is a benevolent ruler? Why then did you hide the fact that someone came through?” Something did not add up. I knew because of the oath, Matemai had to tell me the truth. But telling the truth and being honest are two different things.

  “Ishe, for all his greatness, does not react well to disappointment,” Matemai said carefully. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

  “There is something you are not telling me.” I looked at him carefully. His normally expressive face was bland as he stared back at me. His eyes were saying something. I just could figure out what.

  “I live to serve my Lord.” Then I caught on, he can’t say it. Maybe he is also under another oath to Ishe. Of course he is. Now it made sense why he was eager to make an oath with me. Just like Ishe’s oath was protecting Ishe’s secrets from me. Matemai’s oath with me, protects his secrets from his Lord!

  “You sly fox! You used me!” I laugh without malice.

  I shoulder sagged with relief when he realized I understood what was going on.“Technically, not a fox." The east smile was back. "Elephant, remember? I knew sooner or later you would figure it out.” Well I hadn’t quite figured it all out yet but I will.

  “So what do you want from me? I have to warn you I am not fighting any monsters. That baby hyena is still haunting me.” I gave a shiver.

  “Nothing really though I would appreciate access to your library when its activated.”

  I looked at him in disbelief. “You did all this for nothing?”

  “I would call it nothing but yes. I was hoping you would want something from me.”

  I was confused, “like what?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged, “help with the system.”

  “You would just help me like that?” Of course I needed help with system but there is nothing for free, ever!

  “Anesu, I don’t think you realize how much power you weld. You are bound to a dragon. Whether I help you or not you are going to grow powerful beyond what I can imagine. I just want to be aligned with you.”

  “Oh,” the was a slight twinge in my heart. I had thought we were becoming something, not quite friends but something close to that. Realizing that he just wanted my power was disappointing. Is it going to be like this in this world? People only befriending me for my power.

  “Don’t look at me like I send you to slaughter a baby hyena. Why are you disappointed. I am offering my services to you for free. Just in case you don’t know, I am a level 47 mage.” One corner of his mouth lifts and he chuckled. The happy-go-lucky Matemai was back.

  He was right of course but it still hurt. “Great! Where do we start?”

  Ding!

  You finally found a way to learn you magic.

  Way_finder plus 2 XP

  Way_finder 6/10

  You have 1 unspent mental XP.

  Do you want to spend it now?

  More XP for me, yay! I quickly assigned it to my intelligence.