Role

Chapter 4

The cities were no refuge from Them any longer. He had to move on, to run, to
hide, to learn to fight back against Them. Yuno headed for the docks as the
sun sank low in the sky. He found cargo being loaded onto a ship and slipped
into one of the boxes. The box was loaded into a vessel making its way across
the sea to Hamsah Mu'tazz. Days had come and gone when a sickly, starving
Yuno climbed from the box and slipped past the gate of the desert city.

"They are here. The operatives. They know where you are," a voice cautioned.
"KILL THEM!" came another, familiar voice.
"Run, run! Get out of here! Hide.They will find you. Sly, They are," another voice
offered panicked advice.

Yuno's eye twitched and his cheek ticked. He saw a cart with some desert
dates and stole a handful. Shoving the nourishment into his mouth he tried to
think. To come up with a plan They would not expect. Yuno knew the voices he
heard were right. They were out there. They did know where he was, and he
would have to learn to fight or run if he was to keep from falling victim to
one of their Devices.

As fate would have it, the docks of Hamsah dump you right at the street of
guilds. For a few coin, he could learn any number of useful skills. Magic,
stealth, martial arts, weapons - what would They least expect? Just then a
man in sorcerous robes began to contort. The man's face stretched into a
beak, his arms morphed into wings, his legs shrank into claws that tucked up
into a feathery body and, with a leap and a few beats of magical wings, the
creature disappeared into the sky. "They will never track me like that!" Yuno
thought, and so found himself writing his name on the registry at the
shapeshifter guild.

Choosing to join the shapeshifter guild would have a profound impact on his
life, but not nearly so profound as what was to happen next. The voices
suggested several courses of action:

"Make for Galadon, lose them in the bustle," one whispered.
"KILL THEM ALL. KILL THEM!"
"Seek the Fortress of the Light. Get help to save you from Them."
Another voice balked at this suggestion angrily, "No, no, not the Fortress.
They are the Them. They want to make you like them. Take away your Will. Use
the Device on you. Seek the Scarab temple!"
Still another panicked, "Run! Hide! Escape where they will not expect."
"KILL THEM! USE THE MAGIC!" It seemed that particular voice was always
elbowing its way to the front of his mind.