Chapter 285

She is blind…

There was no light in the room. Darkness was present, and yet Max didn’t notice at first, his Sonar skill having given him the layout of everything.

Only in the brief moment the door was open and he had seen Aimee’s mother did Max notice the eyes.

“He is a friend. He… his name is Max, and he saved me from those…”

Her voice changed, taking on a tone and language similar to when she had conversed with the two red snakes.

Max could sense the older woman backing up slightly, clinging to Aimee’s arm with her hand.

When she finished speaking, Max felt a twinge of pain in his stomach as the older woman dropped to the floor immediately.

“I owe you everything. If my life has value, it is yours to possess.”

Moving forward slowly, Max summoned a small fireball, letting it illuminate the dark glass building, watching Aimee as she squinted.

He put his hand on the woman’s shoulder, amazed that she didn’t flinch at all.

“You owe me nothing. My mother raised me to care for all life, and she would not allow me to claim ownership of another.”

A single tear came from those milky white eyes, and the woman nodded, lifting a hand and putting it on Max’s.

She froze the moment hers touched his skin.

“He… you’re not… daughter, what have you done?”

Trembling, the older lizard woman began to slide backward on the ground, escaping Max’s grasp as she put a hand out before she hit a rickety chair. Using it she stood, moving around the chair and hiding behind it like it was a shield of some kind.

“He has no fur! No scales! He is a smooth skin!”

Aimee rushed to where her mother was, then reached out and grabbed her hand, which clutched the chair, small nails digging into the dark wood.

“Mother… he is a guest, and Max saved me! Do not treat him like this! Where is our honor? Power and strength is everything, and he has so much. He has—”

Ripping her hand from Aimee’s, the older woman shook her head, pointing a finger in the direction she believed Max was standing.

“No! They always bring death! You know the stories! They trick us! All have lured us to—”

“He wears a collar!”

Aimee’s shout echoed in the small room, only about an eight-by-eight area, drowning out the loud wind that was howling outside.

Five seconds passed without any sound except the storm as the older woman stood there, jaw open and the skin around her neck slack.

“A collar… who would put one on him?”

“The one we do not mention past the sand, jungle, and rivers.”

I swear there is nothing worse than people talking about you while you’re standing here…

Listening to the two of them, Max couldn’t help but wonder what people he assumed were like himself had done to this place. It wasn’t long ago that he had learned of gods sometimes sending others to different planets to gain power.

Are gods sending their people here? Is there a…

“Aimee… is there a tower here? Something that rises to the sky?”

Both women turned and looked in his direction as Max changed the subject.

“There is one, but only a few chosen ones are allowed inside. If Igarra determines one is worthy, she allows them to enter the tower. She is also the one who runs the games.”

“Games?”

Nodding, Aimee didn’t reply but instead gently coaxed her mother to the chair and helped her sit down.

“There are gladiator tournaments that happen on a regular basis. So many different creatures and beings compete. I have never seen them, but the rumors are that she even commands dragons who fight for her pleasure.”

Max felt the hair on his neck rise up at hearing about someone powerful enough to control dragons.

“Who is she… I mean, what is this woman?”

Laughter came from Aimee’s mom. She shook her head and wagged a scaled finger in Max’s direction.

“She is Igarra. First of her Claw! Slayer of Iron Scale and Clutched from Suljin herself!”

“Suljin?”

A low growl came from the woman whose house he was standing in.

Squeezing her mother’s shoulder, Aimee said something again in a language his ring didn’t translate.

“Forgive her. Suljin is our mother. All of my people come from her. She is what you would call a god.”

“She is THE god!”

“I mean no disrespect,” Max replied. “Forgive me. I have only been free from my cage for almost seven days. Everything about this world is new, and I am grateful for your daughter providing me with a path here. Just as I am grateful for you providing me shelter from the storm outside.”

Wishing he still had everything that had been in his bag, Max let out a groan when he realized it had been left outside.

“Forgive me, or I would have brought a gift.”

A chuckle came, and Aimee gave her mother a gentle shove.

“He saved me from the sandstorm, Mother. He runs faster than any we have ever known. Even when the storm was upon us, Max dropped all of the items he had in his pack to wrap me with it and carry me like you once did when I was little.”

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Cocking her head to the side, the older woman blinked a few times and then finally nodded.

“Very well. I still owe you for saving my daughter. I do not have much, but you are welcome to it. All the water I have is stale, and I’m afraid I haven’t had a fire going in a while.”

Max chuckled and pointed to the ball of flame in the air, causing Aimee to laugh.

“What is so funny?”

“He is able to control fire and has a small ball of flame hanging near our roof. I will get the tin set up, and he can start a fire.”

Once again, the older woman’s jaw went slack, and Aimee began to move around the place, peering into another room before grunting and heading into it.

“Able to control flames…”

“And summon water so cold it can freeze your tongue!” Aimee shouted from the other room.

Grinning, Max didn’t care that the older lizard woman couldn’t see his smile. Had he wanted, he could have put his whole fist in her mouth due to how open it was right then.

***

“I have not tasted water this fresh in… since I was about your age.”

Aimee nodded as she ladled another cup of water to her mother, filling the outstretched glass.

Max studied the mug he held, marveling at the glass it was made of. It was, like the building, a dark glass, and even after clinking it a few times against the floor, it did not chip.

“One of our villagers is responsible for making the houses and other objects. She has the power to control sand. Most would never dishonor her, or she might remove one’s home.”

“Do all the women get angry easily?”

Both of them laughed, and Aimee even snorted, her nostrils flaring.

“Not many men would be brave enough or foolish enough to ask that question around one woman, let alone two,” she replied. “Many of us are temperamental. The men often do the hunting and care for the young, depending on the power their mate has.”

“Are the men not strong?”

Laughter came from Aimee’s mom as she shook her head before taking another sip of the warm water.

“It is not that our men are not strong but that we women are much stronger. There was a time…”

Her free hand began to trace the scars on her face, stopping before her eyes and then let out a sigh.

“I was overly ambitious… I challenged another and lost. The fact I was left alive was done so that my… Aimee as you call her, would perhaps get a chance to regain the honor I lost. It appears Suljin has become angry with me, as she still has no power of her own.”

“How does one get power? For your people?”

“We take it.”

Max was surprised at the matter-of-fact response and tone from the older woman.

“How?”

Sighing, she took another sip and ran a finger along the cup.

“There are many ways to gain power. Orbs, crystals, potions, and even the hearts of some foes can grant our people strength and… magic, as you called it. Acquiring those things is difficult, and while our men can gain power through fighting and killing things without needing those items, the women must have them. Often, a male will bring a gift, an offering to procure our hand. If we deem it a worthy gift, we accept it, using the power from that to travel with them, growing stronger together. In time, our mate will fall behind, becoming weaker than we are and will stay home to care for our offspring.”

Max watched as Aimee said nothing, occasionally bobbing her head, but never taking her eyes off her mother.

“My partner was strong. He was one I respected, and the gift he gave… oh, it made me so powerful.”

Her grip squeezed against the glass cup, and for a moment, Max wondered if she might break it.

“I became too overcome with greed. I tried to reach the moon above, and I wanted to pursue the tower. That was my downfall.”

“Did you ever step inside it?”

Scoffing, the woman shook her head.

“No… Igarra gave me a quest… I failed it and as such was stripped of my power. She took it from me. She then…”

A lump appeared in the older woman’s throat as she coughed and drank the last of her drink.

“She sent me back here. When I returned, broken and weak, my partner left me… leaving my daughter to care for me. Since then… no one has offered her anything.”

Sniffling, the woman was almost unable to be heard as she whispered, “She has become cursed like me.”

“How can we get Aimee one of these items?”

Wiping her snout, which had gotten a little wet, the older woman shook her head.

“That would be impossible. Without any tokens to trade, and having lost whatever items you once had, earning them is…”

She set her cup down on the small table near her, slid down from her seat, and began to slide across the room on her knees, her old and worn robe dragging on the floor.

“You could go to Quan Ma! You could fight in the tournaments! Tokens could be earned, and you could surely find someone to remove the collar and buy my daughter something that would grant her power!”

“Mom!”

Max ignored the look on Aimee’s face. It was hard to read because the facial features were different, but she was blinking rapidly, and her nostrils were expanding almost just as fast.

“How dangerous are these fights?”

“Max, you can’t! Some people die! The stories I’ve heard tell of horrible beasts and opponents!”

“Yet you say he killed a pack of demon cats!” her mother exclaimed. “There is no doubt he could easily win a few fights!”

Running his hand through the hair on his head, Max chuckled as the sand filled mess reminded him that he had changed so much in the last week.

“Aimee, I need to go to the city, and if tokens are required to purchase my freedom from this collar, then I will say that I don’t have much choice. Tomorrow, we have to leave anyway. The one who is hunting me will start tomorrow… if he hasn’t already.”

Grunting, Aimee glared at her mother who was still on her knees before Max.

“Mother, you dishonor me. You might as well ask if he will father my clutch!”

Max felt his cheeks go red at the potential idea of all that, and Aimee turned to see how his skin had changed colors.

“Are you ok? I have never seen your skin turn that red before.”

“Perhaps it is a mating trick! Designed to lure you closer!”

Groaning, Max ignored both women, who now seemed interested in the color of his skin, while he tried to ignore the timer he felt running out.

Tomorrow… I need to get away from here.

Looking at the two of them and how Aimee now stared at him a bit differently, Max stood up and gave a bow.

“If you don’t mind, I need to rest a little before the trip tomorrow. That corner over there will work just fine.”

A chuckle came from behind him, and Max was grateful that he couldn’t understand whatever words were spoken in the language those two were using.

Tanila would kill me if she thought I sired a brood of lizard kids.

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