Emir and Aldrin sat at the table, silently gauging each other.

  “Since you are my guest, you go first,” Emir broke the silence, gesturing with a hand.

  Aldrin leaned forward, placing his elbows on the carved map table. There were hundreds of questions that he wanted to know the answers to. “I do not know where to begin,” he admitted to Emir, who only smiled.

  “You’re not very good at this game,” Emir teased.

  “I didn’t realize it was a game to begin with,” Aldrin countered.

  Emir held up his hands, conceding defeat. “My apologies, Lord Progenitor. It is a simple game of figuring out what the other needs by getting to know them. It helps avoid needless bloodshed. Much of which you have had your fair share of so far.”

  Aldrin sat back and crossed his arms. “I’m assuming Moira told you that then.”

  Emir chuckled. “Moira is a tool in a game of beings much higher on the food chain than she realizes. The very same food chain you’re climbing up.”

  Aldrin dipped his head. “Alright, first question then. How do you know my parents?”

  Emir scoffed and clicked his tongue. “My boy, they never told you of their adventures?”

  Aldrin clenched his jaw. “No, Mom died, and my dad was framed for it.”

  Emir tried to hide his surprise, but Aldrin saw it before it was replaced. “I am sorry to hear that. If I had known, I would have come much sooner.”

  “My question,” Aldrin tersely said.

  Emir huffed. “Your parents had taken a Quest given to them to help the kingdoms of Eurai quell unrest because of drought. If I remember right, your father was an earth mage and your mother, a water mage. Uniquely suited to combat our environmental needs.”

  “Your kingdoms can’t produce mages of that caliber on their own?” Aldrin asked.

  Emir grinned. “A question, an answer and repeat. It is now my turn.”

  Aldrin simmered but relented with another dip of his head.

  “What do you seek?” Emir started strong.

  Aldrin frowned as thought about it, remembering his conversations and everything he’s been through so far. “Freedom to be allowed who you are regardless of the stigma held against you. Where you can be accepted on merit and not scorned because of your appearance.”

  Emir finally sat back in his chair, the answer he hadn’t expected to come from the man before him. “I expected you to say something more along the lines of world domination, given your… circumstances.”

  Aldrin shook his head with a grin of his own. “That might be part of it, but Ebira is to be the funnel for my true kingdom across the sea.”

  That piqued Emir’s interest once again. “Where your kin are?”

  “Question, answer, repeat.” Aldrin stated the rules back to Emir, suppressing his grin from widening.

  Emir had to blink as he realized he had broken his own rule. “You’re right. Go on,” he gestured for Aldrin to ask his question.

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  “What are you to my parents?” Aldrin asked.

  All warmth and the jovial attitude Emir displayed vanished in an instant. “I owe them a life debt. They saved many of my people, including ?my brother, whom you’ve already met. Our families are linked through the debt, which ?means it extends to you.” He watched Aldrin process it, watching as his eyes sharpened. Emir couldn’t hide his pride, seeing Aldrin grasp what was being implied. “My turn; have you killed innocents?”

  Aldrin looked away in shame. “My first night, five and one escaped, luckily or unluckily, depending on how you want to look at it…”

  His admission and the remorse he felt for it raised Emir’s respect for Aldrin. “Sometimes things we want to control cannot be controlled. We can let it define and shape us to be better, or we can let it consume and destroy us. It’s all a matter of choice, Aldrin,” Emir reassured sternly, seeing how Aldrin still held some discomfort about it.

  “You sound like everyone else. They should be afraid of me, and yet everyone I encounter seems to understand and have sympathy for me,” Aldrin said, looking back at Emir, searching his eyes for any deceit.

  Emir shrugged. “Well, it would be entirely different if you were cold-hearted and didn’t care about your actions, or what you are and what you did. Just from these small interactions we’ve had so far, you are not. Now it's your turn.” He took a sip from his wineglass.

  “What is it you want with me?” Aldrin asked.

  Emir gently placed his wineglass down and folded his hands back together. “I owe your father, Darius, and your mother, Helene, everything I am today. Given my trade specialties, there are whispers of Vampires arising from their crypts and tombs on the Forbidden Continent, Undead gathering en masse and moving, organizing even, Elven clans disappearing overnight because of some prophecy only they know of. Then, Moira sends me a message about a Vampire Progenitor within Ebira. I connected the dots, which led me straight to you. I just didn’t expect you to be the son of the people who saved my life and the life of my homeland. Small world,” he said with a grin.

  Aldrin took it all in, giving nothing away. “That still doesn’t answer the question.”

  “The Scarab Sons are known mercenaries, raiders, pillagers, whatever you want to call us, but in reality, we are more than that. You see, when your mother and father first came to Eurai we told them tales of how the kingdoms used to be water-based cities until the Progenitor Wars when the gods clashed, pushing the sea so far from us that we became the desert kingdoms we are known as today. Your mother, of course, was not one to believe in gods because she believed that gods were supposed to take care of their people that worshiped them, not condemn them to generations of harshness.” He paused, gathering his thoughts. “You take after her. She organized the warring tribes and clans, who fought over the little water in the desert, into one cohesive unit that went to each kingdom offering alternatives then made our ancestral gathering point an oasis that all kingdoms go to for their water. Your father helped shape the roads that trek through the desert that we still maintain today. With their help, they single-handedly reshaped and reformed Eurai.”

  Aldrin’s eyebrows shot up to his head upon hearing the exploits of his parents. He was still too young whenever they left for their adventures and Quests granted to them. They kept him in the dark on a lot of things, wanting nothing of their children to have dreams of becoming like them and instead wanting them to have a comfortable, normal life. Well, as normal as they could, given they were transported to a different world. Even so, hearing about how they changed the history of a dying kingdom into a prosperous one made Aldrin feel small compared to what he’s done so far. It was no wonder Jace and Adeline pushed themselves as hard as they did. Their parents would be counted among the Legendary Adventurers if things had played out differently.

  Yet, a seed of anger and resentment sprouted within Aldrin’s heart when he realized the same kingdom, Dremetica, had cast them away like broken tools. He balled his fist, feeling the vampire side of him race to the surface at the injustice of his parents. He slammed his fist on the table, nearly cracking the wood, but the enchantments ?stopped any damage from happening.

  Emir watched Aldrin closely, letting him feel his emotions. “Good, you should feel angry. They wronged your parents,” he whispered before he continued. “As I have said, I owe your parents a life debt, as does all of Eurai, for without them, we would be a shadow of what we once were. Killing each other over a single pond of water.” He took a sip from his wineglass and placed it down again. “What I want with you is to now repay that debt. The Scarab Sons are freedom fighters, sold not for money but on the promise of a better future. A future you dream of, a future your parents sowed the seeds of. For too long, Dremetica has let its own kingdom fall to ruin, letting slavers run amok while its Queen hides among her palaces and the nobles squeeze every drop from their subjects. I propose an alliance between the Scarab Sons and your soon to be kingdom.”

  Every thought Aldrin had paused at Emir’s declaration. “But-”

  Emir held up his hand. “I do not seek an answer now. I still have to speak with the other Khals, but once I tell them who you are and what happened to your parents, they will call for blood and justice. They will approve ?of the alliance. For now, I offer protection within the Scarab Sons as I am sure you seek to free Ebira from the gangs that plague it. I was steadily working on it before you came, but now with your help and from your Orc allies, Ebira has a chance. We just have to take it. Are you with me, Aldrin, son of the saviors of Eurai?” Emir said, rising to his feet, holding out a hand for Aldrin to take.