A Change of Heart

That act of generosity has probably given me his favor, not that I want it. I just need him to lead me to the ritual chamber to finally end this once and for all. And the greedy look in his eyes tells me that those crystals are far more precious than I thought. A good thing that I only changed half of the crystals in my possession. Apparently, just 9 are enough to buy me a guide.

"Hmmm, that doesn't solve all the problems that you have caused me. But well, I won't tell all of it to your masters, I will maybe spare you the torture before your death. Now give me the crystals."

"SSSurely not. You will forget your pr-promise quicker than a slave is eaten. I will persssonnaly deliver those things like I was ta-tasked, sleek sleek."

"Insolent rodent, so be it. TOMPAS!"

"Yes, your highness."

"Kill everyone that has seen the ratman, and bring me my foolish son and his follower. Bring them to the secret room. At least their deaths will bring more power to the ritual."

Quite the ruthless fellow. Sacrificing his son on a whim. I truly wonder how the djinns royalty managed to survive for this long. Probably his two others sons are knowing his secret and just the honest and proud military son is kept in the dark. I liked him, at least he was courteous and respectful. Such a shame.

"And you my rat friend. Follow me, I will not let you make me lose more time. The sooner this is finished; the sooner you will return to the hole that gave you birth."

"And the sssooner your sand will rest for eternity, sleek sleek."

"Damn you, vermin."

And while we kept exchanging such pleasantries, we walked across many corridors and stairways. At the bottom of it and near what should be the imperial dungeon, we stopped by a painting. It was representing the Tomb Kings, but this time, they were seen assaulting the wall of the Sand Empire. Well, I guess that history is written by the victorious. The emperor removes the painting and then begin to chant something. Shortly after a door emerged.

Inside I could see hundreds of djinn magicians chanting something. In the center of all of them, multiple circles, squares and other things could be seen on the ground. That should be the location of the ritual.

(Yes, but now that we have arrived, I just need to tell you a minor problem.)

What? Don't tell me I won't survive the collapse of the ritual?

(No, that is fine, especially after our little trip to Fairy Town. No, I am talking about the fake mark; the power of Salazar here is corrupting everything it touches. And that is eroding my imitation.)

Tell me we have some time.

(You have a day, so it is like I said a minor problem. I just wanted you to know that you can't stay here forever. And that, at some point, maybe they will notice that the mark is weaker than it should be.)

And you expected me to fully trust you on the sole job you had. No, don't talk anymore, I want you to monitor the Tompas and see when he brings the prince. If I begin to walk in the center of the ritual with the heart of the sorcerer-king, I will be obliterated. The fact that they still haven't notice that I have that on me is a miracle.

(Provided by your best god, Oslo. With Oslo, the problem disappears.)

It does not even rhyme. Just do as I say. Now the emperor is looking at me like he is expecting me to give him my crystals. But I literally bypass him and go toward the high ranked mage nearby. And how I find out he is the chief of the local congregation. Simple, he is the only one without a veil or a mask.

"Here, take thossse crystals for the ri-ritual. A gift, to the po-poisonous one, sleek sleek."

"As the master command."

But before he leaves, I show him the other crystals, the ones that are contaminated. To which he immediately exclaims.

"Don't bring that near the ritual, that won't do any effect and will even increase the burden on our shoulders. Such beautiful sources of life destroyed by your spells. As expected of the ratmen. Now leave."

Well, I expected a similar reaction. But at least, what both the Tomb Kings and Oslo said are true. This ritual is based on life and death has no place near it. The problem is, we need to wait a long time before the second prince arrived. I don't know how to make the emperor let us stay ... Nevermind, it doesn't look like he wants us to leave, we can wait apparently.

(They are coming, but it is weird, they are controlled or something like that. They are just mindless, following the guard without question or even a reaction.)

That's bad, I expected the prince to at least put a fight or divert the attention of the emperor. Because he is currently looking only at me, expecting me to make a mistake so he can personally kill me. The pleasure of making me killed by my own supposed masters is not enough apparently. I guess the servants of Salazar have some of the problems of their master.

Just when I finally see the prince and the brigadier general, I know that it would be hopeless. They are totally lifeless, and only their limbs are moving. No reaction, they are not even turning their heads when they are taking a curb. Just two puppets.

"Tompas, make them remove their clothes and armors. I don't want some interferences. And let Ahmad goes first. I will wake up Selim to make him see his own foolishness. And to see his despair, knowing his own father will sacrifice him. Kekeke. That will be funny."

Like I said, servants, learning from their master. The two puppets quickly remove anything that is not sand and I can see Ahmad reaching the edge of the ritual. And then he stops. Well, to make his son sadder, why not kill his follower in front of him. I am betting on that reason.

Slap

That should have hurt. If he was really conscious. Wait, I think he is getting back to our world. Welcome Selim, you have slept for only 30 minutes but your world will crumble soon. I hope you will spend your last moments with your family.

"Wha-wha..wher..Tomp..FATHER? Where am I? What is this, the last thing I remember is…? Wait? Who are this people? And the ratman is here? But-but Tompas..."

"KEKEKE, stupid as always, not like your two brothers. They are making their father proud. Not like you. Yearning to be the strongest warrior. Treating with the ratmen when you are seeing them. Even making them walk on the ramparts. LETTING THE WORLD KNOW THAT WE ARE WORKING WITH THEM!!!"

"But-but father…"

"You are my biggest failure. Your mom, should she find peace one day, would have been so ashamed of her son. You don't even realize the situation that you are in. Look over there, who is it?"

"Where, what… Ahmad? Why is he naked?"

"Enjoy the scenery."

And like me, the prince is looking at the former brigadier general that have breached the first circle. He slowly walks inside, losing his body with each step. When the center was just three meters away, he stumbles and falls. His body disappearing before it even touches the ground. Of course, the chant of the priest never stopped. Probably outside, another meter of the desert was created.

"AHMAD!!! AHMAD? What-what have you done to him?"

"KEKEKE, how can you be so stupid?"

Slap

"Why do you think we were spared by the ratmen during the Portal War? Because we were already working with them. That vermin that you see here, is just an envoy of the Clan Masters, to finally remove the only thing preventing the djinns to rule this world, the Tomb Kings. But while you thought they were a threat to this world, it was us. If not for them, we would have already conquered this world and destroy any living beings centuries ago, even millennia ago."

"But-but they were our enemies?"

"Yes, and for the first time in your life, you did something good. You allowed him to find those Tomb Kings, and as expected he killed all of them. But while the ritual is working again, the other races need to be kept in the dark. Because otherwise, they will barge into this room and destroy it. That's why everyone that had contact with this ratman needs to die. You included."

"You will kill... your own son?"

Before answering, he quickly cast a spell, probably the mind control he used. The anger and panic on the face of the prince are fading, and he is returning to his immobile stance. I need to act now.

"Ca-Can I make him carry sssomething, sleek sleek?"

"Hum? What is it vermin?"

I show him the Pathfinder inside my hand. I have to bet that he will accept this as a living being.

"Kekeke, well that's a living being I guess, you plague masters won't even spare a little scarab. You probably won't use it anymore, just put it on his shoulder."

I arrive near the prince and because of my small size, I try to make it convincing that I can't reach the shoulder. Then I look at the emperor, who is visibly exasperated. He makes the prince bend his knees allowing me to place the scarab. I place something else inside the body of the prince. It is curiously soft and malleable. I expected his skin to be hard to breach. Well, the fact that he can't react is probably part of it. After doing this and verifying that nothing can be found on the stomach of the prince, I back off.

Then, the emperor begins a monologue, like every evil person likes to do. But since the mind of the prince is already gone, I don't know the utility. Maybe it is directed at me. But in the end, like his follower, Selim can be seen walking toward the center of the ritual. The scarab was the first casualty. Shortly after, the prince is under the assault of the old spell. But he is resisting more than Ahmad. Guess the first warrior of the empire was not a joke. He even managed to reach the center. For that, I begin to lightly clap my hand, while snickering. And that doesn't escape the vigilant eyes of the emperor.

"Why are you doing this, he can't hear you. Just a pathetic worm praising a foolish tool."

This time I truly laugh. He is really the perfect evil man, can be hated by everyone and no one will cry when he will die. At least I won't.

"What's so funny, ratman?"

"Maybe it'sss the fact that there is no such thing asss an envoy of the Cl-Clan. Or maybe is thisss, sleek sleek!"

And I point the gem that can be seen inside the chest of the prince. A shocked face can be seen on both the emperor and the high priest.

"Ta-Tadaaa!"