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A woman clings to the stalactite wall with nothing but her tail, almost like she's floating in the air, taking in the two of you with great amusement.

You feel uneasy.

It isn't Ho'olheyak's sudden appearance before you, rather that you realize how Kal'tsit, of prudence comparable to an automated machine, has made a mistake so rudimentary, even to you.

Ho'olheyak gently lands beside the two of you. Her mirthful smile draws scratches across your beating heart.

I thought you were more cautious than that, Rhodes Island physician.

But to be fair, mm-hmm... I'm surprised you two managed to find this place. Kristen never even told me its exact location.

K'uk'ulkan.

Betraying the Maylander Foundation is tantamount to funeralizing your future in Columbia. What Kristen promised must be far more generous than what Maylander could give you.

You and your clan chose a path of no return. And you're trying to find the source of your race's power from Control and Loken's research.

I advise you to stop. This is not pursuit of the historical self, it is simply self-destruction. A vast time has elapsed in which the Elders have lost their legendary powers, and now compared to the remaining Ancient races, have no—

Kal'tsit's speech is interrupted.

Ho'olheyak's tail has quietly pressed against your throat.

Yes. There's a sort of pressure your calm expression and tone of voice wreak. One that makes your database of a brain capable of turning words into weapons.

But you know that sometimes... speechcraft just doesn't work.

The Sarcophagus from Loken and the files Kristen got from who-knows-where are enough to round off this dream we've had for a long time, a dream filled to bursting with power and might.

Look at this now... look at me. My plumage, my flesh, my tail. Memory tells me how it's all begotten by my blood, a high blood by any other name. The K'uk'ulkan blood.

I'm very strong, aren't I, 'Doctor?'

Can't deny it.;Please loosen your tail when you speak.

Hahah... I don't mind your composure one bit. But, you see, if I felt like snapping your neck, then it wouldn't take much effort to do it.

I remember it happening just like this before. Without all that fantastical equipment, Kristen's hardly stronger than the average person, and I could've just as easily throttled her.

But she downplayed, minimized. Rejected 'power.'

I don't really like the oddball scientist type, but she made me realize—outside of my lineage, what do I even have?

It's a cruel irony. The words she says cling to you. She humiliated the calling and the memories I succeeded. I wanted so badly to return the favor—

—but she seemed so impossible to strike at. The placidity, like she'd gotten everything life had to offer.

So placid, it made me... envious. Made me want to claw myself apart, it shook me so badly.

She... won you over?

What is it you want?

I want to see how she ends, to guess her true intentions, to unearth her legacy. And then, I'll snatch away every last little thing that made up her mind when she ridiculed me.

Maybe I'll find the answer, just like that. Before I return to my longed-for age of the K'uk'ulkan's unrivaled dominance, I want to know, in our modern sense, what worth that has—

—what worth I have.

That's what I, Ho'olheyak, want to do. I hope you won't get in the way, 'Doctor,' Dame Kal'tsit.