As Karyu entered the forest, dark thoughts began to enter his head. The snapping of trees rang out like gunshots in the background, and there were screams and sounds of crossbow-fire. There was a smell of burning trees. A series of numbers flashed through Karyu's head, which were casualties and material costs. The more Karyu thought about those numbers, the more a terrible rage built up in him.
As a branch snapped under Karyu's forepaw, he looked down, and he saw that his paw had changed. Every time the feelings of rage bubbled through him, the more certain he was that it was real. Instead of the usual soft, lion-like look of his paws, his paws were taking on a look of gnarled, wicked, demonic claws, with long, angry talons meant for tearing souls out of their bodies.
Or maybe there had just been too much nutmeg in the soup he had had last night. A little nutmeg makes a little magic. A little too much nutmeg makes far too much magic. He decided that he was going to have a word with that chef.
He looked back on himself, and he saw that the flesh all over his body was becoming glossier, taking on the hard, waxy-looking finish of demonic hide. Other changes spread among him, the proportions of muscles changing and his teeth growing out into terrible, fearsome fangs. Every part of him was looking more and more like a polished weapon.
With a shriek of pain, he hunched his back as an extra set of wings shot out from his back, and he screamed and clutched his paws to his chest as it also exploded in pain, from new muscles and new skeletal structures growing inside. He was breathing heavily and rapidly, with a bellowing, eldritch, grunt that kept getting deeper as his hind-legs thrashed helplessly at the forest floor.
Overall, Karyu's body was looking less and less like a snuggly animal, and it was looking more and more like a terrible, fearsome creature that could succeed in protecting whatever it was loyal to and destroying whatever it was opposed to. Karyu's body had become that of an enforcer, and while he was still beautiful in his terrible way, his was a visage that let anyone that gazed upon it know that one lived only because he chose for one to live. If one stood near Karyu now, one knew that one continued to exist, rather than being incinerated in a single instant, only by Karyu's consent.
Karyu thought at this point about turning back, for it was not too late to walk away. He was not sure that he wanted to become a demon. However, Anija's words rang again in his ears, "Madurai’s functions as god of law, not just of war, can make Madurai an enforcer of peace and protector of alliances." Madurai was more than just a god of war or a god of law, though. He was a god of loyalty. Loyalty was different from love. Loyalty was a violent emotion. It was a murderous emotion. It was a vengeful emotion. It was an force that had split kingdoms and divided continents, yet it was also a force that had raised armies and built nations. Loyalty punished in excess when it was wronged, and loyalty rewarded lavishly when it was respected. Loyalty was to the death, and to walk away from it was death.
"That is what was missing from Valarius," Karyu said aloud, as he continued his trek into the deep forest. No matter how terrible his new form was, he had been inside the Kingdom of Valarius. He had seen treachery. He had seen the fruits of soft-handing followers that showed no clear signs of devotion. He had seen what happened to a kingdom in which no sense of patriotism was fostered: it rotted from the inside, and as a consequence, the innocent families that lived in it stood to lose everything they had invested their lives in building. Every brick that a housewife had lain down in her garden to separate a bed of flowers from the grasses would be tilted over. Every plank that had been hammered, by a husband, into the outer wall of a house and sealed in with a traditional mixture of tar and mud would be torn down. Cherished memories would be erased forever. When loyalty counted for nothing, among those charged with protecting a kingdom, families within that kingdom stood to be torn apart, and people's lives' work--and things that had taken generations to grow--stood to be destroyed.
As Karyu stood back up and continued his journey into the forest, a rage grew in him. Every moment that he thought about all that could have been lost, due to the disloyalty and treachery within the walls of Valarius, he became more embroiled in rage and more vengeful against any force that might have seeded it. They would pay. There would be punishment. There would be vengeance.
The Heart of Apollyon turned out to be hidden in a very old mud-brick fireplace that had collapsed under a tangle of tree roots. It was an amazing thing that the fireplace had protected the crystal. If it had only been left out or stored differently, the tree roots would have grown in around it and wrung out its existence. For better or for worse, the crystal that could build peaceful republics or carry out mass genocides...depending on who chose to use it and how...had been preserved. Karyu would be its bearer.
At this point, two of the dragons, so far, have completed their quests in their own unique ways:
Anija had completed her quest by the use of diplomacy and kindness, and the dragons had cheered the hearts of a people that had rarely had very much to cheer over. True to her nature, she had carried out the quest in the most angelic manner that was possible, by opening the hearts of the people and healing where possible.
Vrackie had completed her quest by virtue of cleverness and slight-of-hand, using transformation and invisibility to conceal the Crew from detection. The involvement of the Crew had never been discovered by any enemy that survived. A few discreet assassinations and a very minor battle, and the mission had been accomplished, not quite bloodlessly but VERY cleanly.
It would be Karyu's turn, now.