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It was with many laughs that Riff, once he could get his phone, told the Mountain the little (or rather BIG) scare he and Skozz gave Linnux.
Khampa, on the other hand, did not laugh.

When a few days later, the wolves came for their visit, they met a grim Bodi.
"What's wrong?" asked Riff as he saw the young dog's expression.
Bodi signaled the wolves to follow him.
They did so.
It brought them to the training grounds.
For a few moments, they watched as Khampa alternated between blasting dummies with his Flame and seeming to focus on something, then collapsing.
"He's been like that since you told him about Linnux's return," sighed Bodi. "He's trying to... to do whatever you did to awake that other power."
"You mean growing?" realized Riff.
"Yeah... I've been studying the scriptures of the Flames on my side."
"The what?"
"Well..."

FLASHBACK

"What we're doing here, dad?" asked Bodi.
He and Khampa were in an old ritual cave, a few days after Linnux' defeat. He remembered this room a bit, he hadn't been here for a long time ago, he was just a child back then...
"This is the place where the Paw art was created," replied Khampa.
He showed his son a few writings on the walls of the cave, describing the art.
"See, there's no mentions of another form of it than through righteous anger. I don't understand why they never mentioned it..."
"...Uh, dad? Why's this part on a stele?"
"A stele?"
Indeed, one of the paragraphs was inscribed on a stele embedded in the wall, while the others were inscribed straight on the walls.
"I don't know, I never thought about it," admitted Khampa. "...You think it's important?"
"If the movies Angus and Darma showed me taught me something, it's that this is very suspicious," replied Bodi, before knocking on the stele.
It sounded hollow.
The two mastiffs exchanged a glance, the older one surprised, the younger one wry.
Before grabbing knives to begin detaching the stele.
And indeed, behind it was an alcove, containing...
"A book?"

END FLASHBACK

"That book's called the Scriptures of the Flames. It contains apparently the truth on the origins of dad's Flame . Only a portion was readable, everything else seemed just some nonsense. But before your call, we realized that this majority was actually coded. I'm close to break that code, I know it, but he refuses to listen..."
In front of them, Khampa collapsed again, yelling in anger and exhaustion.
"Maybe he'll listen to you, since it's about that?"
"Okay, I'm gonna talk to your old man," accepted Riff.
"Skozz, could you help me with those scriptures in the meanwhile? Better not disturb."
Skozz nodded.

"Look, Khampa, you could use a break. Or better yet, call it a day. Bodi told me you spent all your time since the call training non-stop."
"I don't need a break, Riff!" snarled Khampa as he got back up. "I need to manage to awake to this!"
"Come on, five minutes, that's not gonna kill you!"
"...Fine," sighed the old mastiff.

"What's wrong?" asked the small wolf as he and his former enemy sat on a bench.
"You really need to ask?" muttered Khampa. "Linnux has returned. We need to be prepared."
"Pff, he has no assets anymore, there's nothing he can do," smirked Riff.
The guardian just gave him a look.
"Okay, yeah, dumb comment. He's a tenacious bastard, and I wouldn't be surprised if he had some trick up his sleeve. But still, what can he do against that?"
He punctuated the "that" with a flex, to indicate what he was talking about.
"That's the other problem," grumbled Khampa.
A cold silence followed.
"The hell that's supposed to mean?!" snarled Riff.
"It's not personal or an accusation! It's just that... That..."
And suddenly, all the incomprehension he had felt all these weeks, all the frustration he accumulated during these last days, burst.
"GODDAMMIT!! This... this incredible other power... You and Skozz managed to call upon it, to unleash it the very instant you awoke to your Flames! THEN WHY I, WHO TRAINED AND FORGED MINE FOR YEARS, CAN'T DO IT?!"
Riff felt his vexation die. Presented like that, it did look pretty damn unfair...
"The worst part is, I can feel something! I can feel something beyond, deeper! But when I try to reach it, it's just impossible! WHY?!"
Riff, not knowing what to answer, just patted him on his back.

Art by  timmyjcoyote
Khampa and Riff © Zheng Jun and Ash Brannon