In Need of Greater Knowledge

And then, a few hours later, Rolf and his thugs came for him. Now it was his turn.

Synizn's thugs silently dragged away the limp, unconcious form of Fred from the wine cellar. Synzin had finished with Fred and didn't need him anymore. And what he did need he would not find here. He knew that now.

Synizn took a deep breath and tried to still the troubled beating of his heart. 'Patience,' he thought, 'my redemption is at hand. But I must be patient.' But it wasn't easy for Synizn, and it galled him to be so close and yet still so far away from his goal. But at least he was more sure now of the path that led to that redemption, thanks to the two little demifoxes.

After examining Fred and Astra, Synizn had confirmed that they were no longer human. Not even a little bit. From first glance at the pair, this was rather obvious. But when dealing with powerful and unknown forces of magic, few things are ever simply "obvious". Things are never exactly what they appear to be. But in this particular case, they were. Fred and Astra were now, from their furry snouts to the tips of their bushy tails, completely indistinguishable from demifoxes. In point of fact, they were demifoxes. Not some twisted half-human were-things, or some kind of contagious pan-morphic neo-creature, but real flesh and blood demifoxes.

Synizn wasn't all that surprised, considering everything he already knew. It was still amazing to him though, realizing what Minestus had managed to accomplish. Transforming a man into a frog was relatively simple if one had the requisite skill and knowledge. But transmorphing a Man into another sentient Race... that was supposed to be impossible. But then, Minestus had never been one to surrender to the impossible.

The Crystallic had been the key to Minestus' success, of course. And now the Crystallic was in Synizn's possession. But it had proven to be a frustrating dead- end. The Crystallic was the key, but Synizn could not unlock its power. And just what else had he expected? He'd only had it for three days, while Minestus had learned to master the ancient artifact over the course of.... well, no one really knew how long the dark dragon had had it. Certainly for more than a century. So it was absurd for Synizn to think he could wrest its secrets in only a few days.

But perhaps there was an easier way to learn the secrets of the Crystallic. Why spend years locked away in study and research when all that work had already been done by Minestus? Somewhere in that monster's mountain lair Synizn hoped there would be a record of the dragon's labors. Everything Minestus had learned of that mysterious magical gem. If Synizn could find that record, then it would be child's play to wield the Crystallic. And the first thing he would do would be to undo what Minestus had done to him. No more would he be trapped in the form of a man, and the curse that burned in his blood would be stripped away as if it had never been. Yes, his long nightmare would finally come to an end and Synizn would once more reclaim his true heritage as a Dragon.

All he needed was a little patience.

1. Synizn leaves Walants behind and rides toward the Foxes Forest

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