"[Get him new clothes]," Yeza ordered as soon as she found one of the servants. "[We are going to the basement]."
Yeza was leading Khan across the palace. He had covered his chest, and the Niqols had healed his injuries, but his robe still had that ominous red patch. It wasn't ideal for an envoy to come out of a political meeting with bloodied clothes.
Khan hid how well he had learnt to understand the Niqols' language in the last period. He had been on Nitis for a little less than two months, so his knowledge was far from perfect. Still, his deep immersion in the aliens' social environment had allowed him to get better quickly, especially when it came to simple phrases.
Khan wanted to preserve some advantages, even if they were slight. A minor slip-up on the Niqols' side might allow him to gain important information or connect events that he thought to be unrelated. Of course, that was a general mindset. He didn't reveal his above-average knowledge of the alien language to Yeza only because of her connection to Liiza.
Khan didn't know how to interact with Yeza. He felt to have taken a glimpse at her true face during their previous conversation, but that didn't exactly bring his relationship with her to a friendly state.
Yeza remained the ambassador in charge of managing the humans even if she had shown her motherly side before. Khan felt that she liked him, but she still was the woman who had cheated on her husband for the greater good of her species. He believed that she wouldn't hesitate to forsake her feelings to make use of his position inside the Global Army.
On the other hand, Yeza was his girlfriend's mother. Khan wanted to know her better, especially after learning that Liiza might have misunderstood part of the events involving her family.
The strangeness and awkwardness of the situation made Khan remain utterly silent as Yeza led him across the staircases and toward the first floor of the palace. He didn't even ask her where they were going.
Yeza ended up opening a secret passage behind one of the silk-like artworks hung on the walls of the first floor. She could unlock hidden menus when she placed her palm on the dark and smooth material that made the palace, and one of them granted the two access to a descending path.
A servant reached Yeza and Khan before they could step into the path. The Niqols kept a folded and clean robe on his raised palms as he waited for more orders.
"Change," Yeza ordered as she tinkered with other menus to adjust the illumination and temperature in the passage. "Don't let the dirty clothes touch the carpet."
Yeza basically stated that Khan had to change there, but he didn't mind. She wasn't paying attention to him, and the servant was wearing a blank expression that almost made him look like a puppet. Also, Khan had lost his sense of decorum after his life in the Slums. Ending up in his pants in the middle of an almost empty room wasn't an issue.
Khan felt surprised to discover that the new robe was warm. The Niqols had actually heated it before bringing it to the first floor, and Khan couldn't help but express his gratitude in the alien language.
The servant didn't react to those words. He limited himself to grab the dirty robe and turn to leave. The emotionless interaction made Khan wonder whether he had done something wrong, but Yeza didn't miss that interaction, and she didn't fail to address his doubts.
"Some Niqols still don't accept our new ways," Yeza explained while showing a complicated smile to Khan. "Those attached to the old ways often work in similar buildings. This art tells our history."
Yeza caressed the artwork hanging at her side, but Khan felt the need to comment. "Isn't it dangerous to have xenophobic Niqols living with the ambassador in charge of the relationship with the humans?"
"Oh, no, they are professionals," Yeza responded. "They wouldn't let their beliefs ruin their work. Zura is simply jealous because I don't open my legs for him."
Khan fell silent and decided not to ask more questions for the time being. It felt too awkward to learn about Yeza's sexual life as her daughter's boyfriend.
Yeza led Khan through the descending path. Her previous tinkering with the menus had filled the area with a dim azure glow that revealed its details. The secret passage didn't feature any carpet or artwork, and the hall that unfolded after reaching its end resembled a larger version of the training camp's prisons.
Cells with bars made of black metal with multiple red spots filled both sides of the hall. Chains built with the same materials occupied their insides, but Khan didn't fail to see how everything appeared quite dusty. It seemed that no one had been inside the prisons for a long time. A dark moss had even started to grow in the corners of the room and some humid spots.
Yeza didn't stop there, and Khan made sure to follow along. She crossed the whole hall and opened another descending passage after reaching the opposite wall. The new path appeared almost identical to the first. The only difference was that the room at its end carried different cells.
The same glass-like material that made the palace's windows divided the hall in half and separated the other side into multiple smaller cells. Moreover, azure symbols shone on those dark surfaces to control the environment inside each cubicle.
The symbols' shades gave Khan the idea that the Niqols had created that layer of the prison after meeting the humans. The clear contrast with the red spots on the metal bars on the superior floor gave birth to two very different pictures in his mind. He almost felt able to see the old and modern versions of the alien species in those differences.
"It won't be a good sight, especially for you," Yeza announced.
"It's fine," Khan responded.
Yeza glanced at Khan while showing a slightly sad expression. She didn't know too much about him. The Global Army had to send general descriptions about all the humans arriving on Nitis, and Khan's report had a few more lines due to the issue with the Aduns and his many feats. Yet, she still ignored how much he had to suffer to gain that resolve and detachment at such a young age.
Khan appeared more mature than most Niqols, even if the aliens had to join hunts fairly early on. That felt a bit too much, but Yeza could only ignore her feelings since she had political duties to attend to.
"Mistrust between our species still exists," Yeza explained as she approached one of the cells. "That's natural due to our respective goals, so I can't completely trust your superiors. I don't trust you either, but maybe I can appeal to your compassion and sorrow. I only need you to focus on your feelings for the girl from my species before giving your answer."
Yeza covered two fingers with mana before touching the azure symbol on the dark glass and changing some of its lines. The material quickly became transparent, and Khan's expression turned cold as soon as he recognized the creature contained inside the cubicle.
Monstrous growls that Khan had heard in the village reached his ears as Yeza continued to move the lines of the symbol. She was lifting the restrictions of the cell. Her last movement even allowed the creature to see what stood outside of the cell.
The growls intensified at that point. The mutated Niqols inside the cell was short, barely one meter and twenty centimeters tall. It stood two monstrous legs. One of them was hairy and ended in a hoof, while the other was smooth and had a slimy liquid above it.
Its torso had lost every humanoid feature. Bumps covered in scales, chunks of hair coming out of open patches of skin that leaked blood, and what seemed to be a three-fingered hand grew from that part.Â
Khan felt lucky that feathers covered the creature's head. A horn seemed to grow from the center of its forehead, but it wasn't long enough to show its entire shape. Other strange features covered the monster arms, but Khan moved his cold gaze on Yeza at that point.
"Did you show me the ugliest mutated Niqols on purpose?" Khan asked in a cold tone.
Mutations usually led to death when they were so unstable, but the creature in the cell had managed to remain alive even if it had developed body parts that could often create conflicts in a single body. The chances of something like that happening were almost non-existent, so Khan guessed that Yeza's choice had been part of a plan.
Yeza was perfect in her pretense. She didn't show any reaction until her mouth twisted in an emotionless smile and she decided to admit everything. "I had to cause an intense emotional reaction. You have probably found Niqols in the same condition during your mission."
It felt strange to see Yeza show such an aloof face. She always relied on evident emotions to affect the behavior of those around her. Her current expression appeared entirely out of character.
"Why?" Khan asked.
"Because of your scar," Yeza explained. "You probably know a bit about problems caused by mana. I've asked your superiors if they could turn these Niqols back to their original form, but they wanted something in exchange for that information."
"Are you asking me to betray the army?" Khan asked as his eyes returned to the cell.
"I'm asking you to show mercy," Yeza corrected.
Khan had to muster the entirety of his mental strength not to answer that question right away. Yeza had picked correctly. Khan knew enough about mana infections to have a real answer to her question. He also had a weak spot for the Niqols, even if she ignored how deep his reasons for that were.
Making the other recruits decide to reveal something would have been easier for Yeza due to her many talents, but she wasn't sure about their knowledge. The same applied to Khan, but she could at least guess that he knew a bit more about the field.
"What do I get if I help you?" Khan asked coldly.
"Do you like Nitis?" Yeza questioned.
"Very much," Khan revealed.
"I can give you political relevance as long as you remain here," Yeza promised. "I can turn you into the bridge between our species after the crisis. It will take a few years, but you would gain enough merits to climb the ranks of your army or establish yourself here. The choice would be yours."
Those were words that Khan had dreamt to hear ever since acknowledging everything that could have hindered his relationship. Yet, he didn't let his hopes get to his head. Yeza could take back those promises whenever she wanted, so he wanted something else for the time being.
"I also want to know more about the Niqols' ways," Khan demanded, "Especially when it comes to everything that you can do with mana."
"The academy will eventually teach you that if you become good enough in manipulating mana," Yeza stated.
"I'm talking about the old ways," Khan explained.
"Why would you even want to learn methods that we have abandoned?" Yeza asked while turning to show her confusion to Khan.
Khan couldn't reveal anything about his meeting with Zalpa. Truth be told, her methods had left him quite surprised, especially when she had uncovered the hidden parts of his nightmare. The old ways seemed to have a profound understanding of mana, and Khan wanted the chance to study them.
Moreover, Zalpa knew about the problems that daylight could cause. The knowledge hidden in the old ways seemed to go past what the Niqols held now, and Khan wasn't scared to pay the price for that power.
"I want to fuse our methods while keeping the human ways as the core," Khan voiced a partial lie.
The Niqols were fusing the methods of the two species, but they still founded what they developed on the three fields connected to mana. It made sense for Khan to desire to do the opposite.
"Sure," Yeza quickly agreed. "I'll send you a list through a secret channel. Pick a field, and I'll give you what we have."
The knowledge of the old ways was useless in the hands of a single recruit. Khan wouldn't even be able to reveal it to his organization without arousing suspicion, so Yeza felt safe sharing it. She would also keep the truly important aspects of those fields for her, and Khan wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
The silence that followed their arrival to an agreement felt heavy, but Yeza respected it. Betraying your species wasn't something easy, but Khans' explanation arrived sooner than she expected anyway.
"Even our best technology can't turn them back," Khan revealed. "They have remained in this mutated state for too long. I'm sorry."
****
Author's notes: Just to give you the heads-up, the new cover should arrive soon. I've already shown the sketch that the artist has sent to the others on my discord. The plan to have a cover for each volume seems sound, so remember that you can always find the old ones on my Instagram and discord.
