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Lloyd, Sora, Frak, and Riyu strolled through the village of the Dragonians, hoping to find some information as to where Arin had gone.
Lloyd made sure to thank Tyr after he rested for helping them out. They were only a few days into their search for Arin, and he’d almost gotten them all killed. He needed to be more careful. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to the kids. All the more reason to figure out where Arin was.
All of a sudden, Sora stopped strolling along the path. She stopped right in front of one of the various vendor tables. Something must have caught her eye. Lloyd would’ve just shrugged it off, if Sora didn’t make a comment about it.
“Wow, these designs are beautiful.”
Lloyd walked up next to her to get a closer look. He almost gasped in recognition, before stopping himself at the last second. They were definitely in the First Realm, that was for sure.
“It's an old Oni design,” Lloyd said as casually as he could. He remembered seeing similar designs in the Oni Temple. He quickly blocked out any other memories from that place.
“What’s an Oni?” Sora asked. Several Dragonians within earshot of them gasped. “Did I say something wrong?”
Lloyd gulped. This definitely wasn’t the best place to be talking about the Oni of all things. Not that he really wanted to talk to his students about anything related to that anyway. He didn’t hate the Oni or anything like that anymore, but there were still a lot of things he was uncomfortable about with that part of his heritage.
Frak pulled Sora aside, so the Dragonians couldn’t hear them. “The Oni were this race of super-evil demons at war with the Dragons a long time ago, and—”
“Why?” Sora interrupted.
Frak raised an eyebrow. “Why, what?”
“Why were they at war with the Dragons?”
Lloyd’s eyes widened. He’d somehow never thought of why the Dragons and Oni were at war in the first place. It was just something most people accepted.
“Because of... evil reasons.”
Lloyd had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. It reminded him of his hatred of the Oni a few years ago. It definitely wasn’t a belief he was proud of now. He was tempted to tell Frak that not all Oni were evil, but decided against it. He wanted this conversation to be over as fast as possible.
“So you don’t know?”
Lloyd sighed. He figured he should probably say something. It might be a little weird if he stayed quiet for too long. Hopefully, Sora’s curiosity had its limits. “The Oni and Dragons were part of the First Realm, and were at war even before the First Spinjitzu Master was born.”
“And he was like a relative of yours, right?”
Lloyd resisted the urge to facepalm. He practically just told his student that he wasn’t fully human! Although, there might have been people in the First Realm too. He hoped with all his might that that was true.
“Right.” He paused for a moment. “He originally came from the Realm of the Oni and the Dragons, too.”
“That's exactly what I was gonna say.” Frak piped up.
“The First Realm? But where was that?” Sora asked.
Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief. For once, he was glad that Sora hadn’t connected the dots. He wanted to steer this conversation clear of any Oni talk.
“I think… we're in it now. This must be where the First Realm appeared during the Merge, but only Dragons and these Dragonians are left here now.”
“And they're on our side. Man... if I ever saw one of those evil Oni…” Frak shuddered.
Lloyd frowned and crossed his arms to his chest. He really needed to tell Frak about Oni like Mystake. But, a Dragonian village definitely wasn’t the place for that conversation. He could already feel the stares of Dragonians on him.
“I wonder if anyone has seen Arin.” Sora wondered aloud.
Lloyd smiled, appreciative of the subject change. They should be focused on finding Arin right now, not the inhabitants of the First Realm.
He didn’t like lying to his students, or at least not telling them about this. But, Frak made it clear that that would only terrify him. Lloyd didn’t want to freak anyone out with his weird non-human blood.
He’d tell them, eventually.