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Members of the honor guard seem to bristle, and Cracked Claw seems ready to attack, but a gesture from Elder Shadow stills them again. An attendant is seen re-equipping Golden Eyes as she takes her place, however.

"Your right to speak is fair, so long as you give your name to our people." He beckons the X-Men to begin the ascent up the ziggurat. "But you will hear our grounds as well."

The old male murmurs, and his fur seems to bristle momentarily, energies swirling around him as the sky darkens above the temple and images begin to form upon it, like tribal paintings. "Our people once lived on the surface as do the humans, and the primal spirits nourished us, granting us a slowness of life that the humans could not comprehend. Eventually their numbers and presence grew to be a danger to us, and we withdrew to this sanctuary, sealing it away from the outside world. We have lived in balance, our small numbers sustaining themselves with what our land and water provides. Once a generation, we grant a scout the right to venture to the surface and survey humanity, in hopes of the day they would seem ready to accept us."

One level below the one the honor guard and Chris are on, a male of middle age stands. He leans heavily on one leg, supported by a crutch, and seemingly malnourished. Elder Shadow continues.

"Although it has always been our regret that the humans make war with one another... it is more tragic that they seem to make war on the world." Images of various industrial expansions and pollutants swirl across the tapestry in the sky. "They know nothing of the primal spirits any longer. Nothing of the world's breath and pulse. They gouge it for metals that sparkle... blacken the sky... and slaughter races to their end for adornments or to fatten themselves."

He sighs heavily. "Worst of all to our hopes was how they treat you... the 'mutants', for the imagined crime of being different. Many said no further scouting should even be made, but Swiftpad, the scout you see before us," he gestures to the hobbled one "--was not convinced. He begged me to let him proceed with his task, and I relented. He was taken by humans who live for nothing more than scraps of paper with imagined value. His blood was taken, to create pitiful beasts, and it is only through chance that he escaped to return to us."

A collective mix of hisses and growls swells from the crowd, but Elder Shadow silences them.

"We cannot stand by while our mother is bled slowly, and the humans will never accept guidance from those so different. Our only hope, the world's only hope, is to change. To unify." He pauses, seemingly sad to say the next words. "To be transformed."