A Trinket for A King || Sworn to Secrecy

It was on the mountain, of course it was. Between the dangers of the peak there had to be some treasures. Aegis had found one of the treasures, picking it up and looking at it shimmer in the light. A lox, no, a serpent? Perhaps a mix of both, is what Aegis thought. A statue of a serpent-like aqualox with gemstones on it's cobra hood and a round orb between its front paws. Questions sparked about the image of it quickly- was this a god? An ancient symbol of the power of the world manifested into the shape of an aqualox? The symbols were intricate, and it was no surprise that something like this had a lot of work put into it. The body made a shape similar to the number eight, or perhaps it was meant to be an infinite sign? Was this a sign of infinity? It was up on this peak, perhaps it was a symbol of infinite love passed on from one to another as a show of fidelity? To show that their love would be eternal.

Aegis' thoughts were cut short as he heard a whisper, though he found no other aqualoxes around, let alone any other creatures with the vocal cords to allow them to whisper in a similar fashion. It was just him and... the trinket. He wasn't an idiot, and was keenly aware of the magical and supernatural forces that sometimes manifested itself around objects, and this was absolutely no different. He knew that it wasn't an aqualox talking- well, not one of flesh and water. It was the trinket speaking to him in a language he didn't understand, one that he could only imagine was dead long before he existed- long before any of the aqualox living today existed- perhaps he would have a language like that in the future given his immortality. But that wasn't the important aspect of this right now. The important part was that the trinket was talking to him, and that the object in his paws reeked of secrecy.

Aegis was no stranger to secrets.

Sometimes, things had to be kept away from the eyes of the many. In some cases, it was to protect the masses from the danger that could come from the secrets being revealed. In other cases, it was to keep the secret safe from the bad intentions of others. And, with situations such as the one Aegis was in right now, it was a twisted mix of both along with a mystery of if he even should keep it a secret. He was prone to secrecy, it hadn't been a question for him as soon as the trinket started speaking in tongues. He didn't have the knowledge around the object, didn't know what it was trying to say to him, but he knew that he could find it out in his own way- without the fear of the object being taken away, or perhaps something worse. After all, his curse was not a victimless one, he had seen the life be drained by those around him, and if you look back far enough, others have seen the same.

Should someone see that a lox like him was carrying a mysterious trinket, he wouldn't be surprised to find himself at the end of a weapon, being questioned and threatened to drop the trinket and never return to the city. In that situation... would he drop it? Would he be willing to do such a thing when it seemed so fitting, like the trinket had chosen him among all aqualox for his special soul and strange curse? Would he be willing to be hurt in order to protect the trinket? Would he be willing to hurt others for the same reason?

He shook his head, he was thinking far too much about it- he was starting to make himself worry over nothing- he didn't even know if any of the aqualox who had seen his curse in action were even alive. Well, Rorqual was alive, but that was different... could he trust Rorqual with this? His crush- his friend, he meant, didn't seem like one to share something if there was even the slightest worry that Aegis would be hurt because of it. Heck, the poor thing had even willingly almost lost his life just to be around him! It was terrifying, but it was also something that showed a lot of courage in regards to making Aegis feel like a normal aqualox instead of the monster that he believed himself to be. No doubt that this would be more of the same, yes- he could trust the other aqualox with this. Unfortunately, he was the only one he could trust with this. He had to keep it a secret, yes, but at the very least they could keep it a secret together.

Rorqual had agreed with him, of course. Something like this seemed ancient, seemed like it was kept a secret for many years- who knows who could have held the secret first. An Ancient kind, a dark villain of the past lost to time, perhaps the aqualox that the trinket was carved to look like hid this secret for itself. Perhaps they were even talking to this creature, who was no doubt desperately trying to get them to understand the words of their dying language. But they couldn't let the world know about this. It would only lead to hardship on their end- and who knows? Maybe they could be saving the rest of the world around them by keeping this a secret, by putting it to themselves in order to decode this mystery and unlock the answers.

It would be so much easier if they could understand, if they knew what the trinket's voice desired for itself. That would have to be the first mystery to unravel, of course. They had to find out how to communicate with the trinket in order to help it and find out what it desired. And they didn't need anyone else's help for something like that, Aegis was sure of it.