75. Ell-rom

75

ELL-ROM

" I will do my best to master it," Ell-rom promised, even though he didn't know how he was going to accomplish that.

The earpieces were too convenient to take out, but if he wanted to learn to speak the local language, he would have no choice but to do so, and then he wouldn't be able to communicate with Jasmine and Julian and everyone else.

"You can use an online program to learn," Kian said. "I'll have my assistant send Jasmine the link, and I'll also get you a laptop. It's time you started learning how to use the device. It will help you learn everything faster."

"What about a phone?" Jasmine asked. "Now that we're not spending every minute of the day together, it would be nice to be able to call Ell-rom when I worry about him."

Ell-rom shook his head. "You worry too much. What can possibly happen to me in the underground of the keep that no one other than the clan knows exists?"

"You might fall down and break something, and you can't even call for help. That's why you need a phone."

As the topic of conversation shifted to all the conveniences and inconveniences of modern life on Earth, Ell-rom's mind drifted back to what he had learned at the start of tonight's dinner. The world he had awakened to was far more complex and darker than he had been led to believe.

The coddling hadn't been ill-intentioned. It was done out of concern for his fragile state. In a way, Ell-rom was grateful to Kian for letting slip those dark topics. It meant that he thought he was well enough to learn about the evils of this world and no longer regarded him as a patient who needed to be shielded.

What he wondered now was how much of this world was filled with evil and how much was filled by good people like the immortals, gods, and humans he'd met so far, who were fighting that darkness.

Kian seemed to think that evil was on the rise, but perhaps it wasn't as bad as he had made it sound, because he didn't seem alarmed—just angry and frustrated.

Then again, evil was evil, and unless faced with strong resistance, it spread like wildfire.

How did he know that? Perhaps it had been part of the education he had received in the temple that he remembered viscerally but not consciously and intellectually.

Returning his focus to his dinner companions, Ell-rom considered asking about the prevalence of evil on Earth but then thought better of it. He had been enraged when the topic of abusing children came up, and he'd almost lost control. He shouldn't go back to talking about things that brought him to the brink of detonating.

It was a serious handicap that might impede his ability to help the cause. Perhaps Jasmine was right, and his personality was more suited to the gentler occupations of spirituality and counseling.

Maybe his destiny wasn't to become a fighter.

He was dangerous because he didn't know how his power worked and how to direct it, and he also didn't know how to learn to harness it. Unless the Head Priestess had trained him and he just couldn't remember it, his so-called alleged talent was better kept dormant.

Later, as they prepared to leave, Ell-rom pulled Kian aside. "I meant what I said. I want to help, but perhaps I should focus on non-combat activities until I know what my hidden talents are."

Kian regarded him with suspicion in his eyes. "Are you starting to manifest compulsion ability?"

Ell-rom was glad Kian suspected compulsion and not the much worse talent he might command.

"Not as far as I know, but since everyone keeps telling me about how powerful my father and mother were, I'm worried about some hidden talent manifesting at the worst time."

Kian seemed to relax. "That's a valid concern. When you get strong enough to start training in the gym, we will push you to see what you are capable of."

"Push me how?"

"Wrestling, fencing, all the things you might have been taught and don't remember. Muscle memory is better than conscious memory, and you might discover that you are a formidable fighter."

Ell-rom chuckled. "I doubt it, but I'm curious to find out."

He planned to do as little as possible in those mock fights in case his fighting abilities were dangerous to his trainers. In fact, he might just claim an aversion to violence.

Given his blood phobia, that would be entirely believable.