The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 48

Loki and I weren't called upon by Kaylinth as much as I had expected, just a bit at the beginning so he knew a little more about his children but after that, we were free to roam among the treasure. In a way, the hoard reminded me of Smaug's treasure, only much much smaller. The cave itself interested me more than the treasure in it. The majority of it was clearly natural but there were certain sections that looked very artificial. In the very back of the cave, we found a series of tunnels that were far too small for a dragon to have made. I doubted he even knew they were here. There were no markings on the walls to indicate or even hint at an origin.

Not long after entering the tunnels, Loki and I stumbled upon what seemed to be a very old bedroom but all that was left was the carved-out alcove used as a bed. Seeing it reminded me of my old life, it looked vaguely like a hospital bed, or a regeneration pod. The reminder gave me an idea.

"Loki, do you remember the promise I made you? About my memories?" Even in the darkness of the cave, I could see his surprise.

"Are you certain you have enough energy?"

"If you let me ride you back to the clearing, then I will." I could feel the conflict in Loki's emotions but I didn't probe. He had to make this decision for himself.

"Will it hurt you?" He finally asked.

"No. Unless you ask to relive a memory in which I am injured. In that case, we will both feel the pain."

"So you want to me to choose a random memory? I don't have any limits?"

"I think you know what those limits are already, Loki. If it's something I'm not ready for, I'll tell you."

"But I know nothing about your life, where do I start?"

"Well first I'm going to need to give you some background history on Shifters. That may make it easier. Our government was led by a Council of ten of the most powerful Shifters, hence my ten rings. It's not like there were other Shifters that weren't on the Council of about the same power level, no. The Ten were a product of selective breeding and unlike the story of Khan in the Midgardian story of Star Trek, it actually worked. They were charged with the protection of the Shifters and were pretty much royalty. Both of my parents were on the council, along with my aunt. Other members of the Ten had had children, although not with each other, and their offspring were treated like royalty too, they went to the finest schools, received the best training there was, and had nearly no exposure to the majority of the Shifter population. My parents didn't want that for me. So, when I was born, they raised me in secret, my aunt was the only other member of the Council to know that I existed, the rest of them thought I had been a stillborn. My parents taught me how to Shift and use my magic at as soon as I could walk and then they taught me how to conceal my power. They created a disguise for me and sent me to an ordinary Shifting school under a false identity, Itaria. That's where I got the idea of using near-anagrams of my name. Nobody at my school knew who I really was, they thought I was a middle-class Shifter just like them.

I still participated in traditional events for high class Shifters. For example, when I came of age, I was sent out into the wilderness for a whole year and in the time, I was expected to find and tame a large wild beast."

"And that is when you found Kayerith."

"Goodness, no. I found myself the equivalent of a wild horse and tamed him. In fact, the attacks from the Enemy started not long before I got back. By the time I returned, two of the Ten had already been mysteriously killed and their rings passed on to other members of the Council."

"I thought you said that the Council members had offspring. Shouldn't the Rings have gone to them?"

"Only some of them had kids but they weren't much older than two millennium old and the age requirement for the Council was five millennium."