Cornelius's History

Frost eavesdropped on Cornelius's bedroom door, pressing her ear carefully against the door. Angry voices came from within, and quite a few manly grunts.
"I told you, somebody wiped my memory! I must find my past before I manipulate the future!" Cornelius screamed.
"Cornelius... if this journey takes you through the the ancient lands..." Ruby replied. Frost found it odd for Ruby to be saying those words. It was almost as if she knew the risk, and actually cared.
"I must find my family. I heard that they live in Libya, even if I have to fight some of Apophis's chaos snakes first." Cornelius said. Ruby started to make worried whimpers, but Cornelius muffled them.Frost tried to push the door closed as Ruby pushed her way out.
When Ruby seemed to push even harder, Frost became invisible. Cornelius and Ruby left the room to tell Lisa his decision, and Frost took the chance to teleport back to her castle.

The next week, Frost came back to find Cornelius packing up some grenades, an amulet, some food and water, and some armor/weapons.
"Where are you going?" she asked Cornelius to not arouse suspicion.
"I'm going to Libya." Cornelius said. When Frost asked why, he explained everything Frost already knew. Frost let out a fake gasp.
"But Libya is out in the Twoleg world! Where in Libya are you going?"
Cornelius sneered, which Frost guessed was his way of grinning.
"I have an idea. I remember a small bog in the middle of the desert for some reason. You're the only person I told, Frost, so far, and I think the other Alphas would think I've gone bonkers if I tell them." Cornelius whispered in Frost's ear.
Frost understood why, as there was no way a bog could exist in the middle of a desert naturally. But then, how did a canyon exist right next to a beach? Jamaaasian nature could be weird.
Cornelius sniffed Frost's fur, and frowned. She was afraid she had done something wrong when he smiled.
"You're half phantom, and your childhood isn't exactly clear, right? Well, I'll help you then. Touch me." Cornelius said. Frost let out a breath of relief.
Cornelius touched all of his bags, and Frost touched him, careful to make sure that her armor and inhibitor rings were in place.
Space sped by them, and they were in Libya.

Sand surrounded them, and a few crocodiles were basking on some rocks nearby. The sun scorched Frost's thick fur.
"Yo, Cornelius, where have you been all these years? The crocodile tribe has told stories about you for so long!" one of the crocodiles said, his eyes glimmering with remembrance.
"Before I answer your question, answer mine." Cornelius said.
The crocodile nodded.
"Where are you crocodiles living?"
The crocodile stared at Cornelius... and laughed.
"Over that sand dune over there. You'll see the bog." the crocodile said, and pointed to a small sand dune about half a mile away.
"Why are there crocodiles in the desert?" Cornelius asked.
"Oh, the elephant tribe kicked us out of the jungle. We traveled for miles, until we found the ancient bog, where the tribe originated." the crocodile said.
Cornelius seemed to still have a hundred questions in his head, but he shook them away and slithered over the dune, Frost trailing behind.

To his surprise, there actually was a bog in the middle of Libya! Somehow, the poachers hadn't noticed all that illegal leather on legs, but it may have just been one of the crocodile's magic.
Or maybe, the bog was just a mirage?
What was even more surprising was that  the bog was real, with crocodiles that treated Cornelius like a celebrity.
"Wait, so you were one of the chiefs that stopped the huge oasis feud? I thought you were named after him or something." Frost said, looking at Cornelius. The crocodile almost yelled at Frost, but the leopard put on a puppy-dog face, and he had to give in.
"Hail Cornelius! Hail Cornelius!" the crocodiles in the bog chanted. The humid area with exotic plants made Cornelius wonder why nobody else knew about it.
His instincts told him to go toward the center.
At the center, there was a purple water swamp with crocodiles swimming in it, and the current chief sat on a grand throne of opals. The chief looked up from snacking on an antelope, and looked at Cornelius...
...with disgust.
"I know your history, Founding Father, and it's nasty. I would prefer that the leopard not hear it." the chief hissed, mouth blood-stained. Frost winced, not just because of the chief's kool-aid colored mouth. She handled many tragedies on her own, and she could hear somebody else's tragic story with ease.
"She has her own tragic story, chief, and besides, she needs to cool down in the shade anyway."Cornelius said. Frost huffed with relief, as the dry desert really made her sweat a lot.
The chief's face looked torn between decisions, then sighed.
"Have it your way, as you are an important figure of history, but remember that I'm boss in this place. I could tear the leopard apart if I wanted." the chief said.
"Tell us the story, stop stalling!" Frost snapped. The chief looked angered by her defiance, but told the story anyway.
"Cornelius, you were born in a critter mill, where animals are force-bred to make nice babies for eating. Twolegs can be really disgusting, anyway. However, your mother thought that you had special powers (he was a reborn Alpha that had been killed during the First Phantom War) and saved you from the Twolegs, shielding you from any attack, but died. Just as the Twolegs were about to kill you,  a crocodile from our tribe saved all of the animals in the critter mill and set them free."
 "However, you were a worthy croc for our tribe, and the current chief decided to take you in, brainwashing you in the process of acception. You grew as a sorcerer until you became chief in his stead!"
Cornelius looked puzzled.
"That's all?" he said. Frost whispered something in his ear. (She whispered "He's trying to say that you know the rest.") Once she drew back, he sighed.
"Well, I guess that a knowledgeable Alpha needs to know their past." he said. The chief looked puzzled.
"What's an Alpha, and why are you a spirit?" he asked Cornelius.
"Before I answer your questions, tell me why the crocodile tribe is in this sorry bog."
"Fine," the chief replied. "I'll tell you."
"So, after we buried Ruby, Otto, Edmund and you, we were being blamed for causing a drought, just because we had powers over the demons. We fought the other tribes fiercely, because we had our own water to protect, but eventually they shoved us away from the river. Because we had come near Libya, we summoned yet another demon carriage and went to Libya, where we found the place where the tribes originated."
"We've sent a scout recently, and they've come back telling us the other tribes have also relocated. The elephants are in Nigeria, the giraffes in South Africa, and the rhinos (for some reason) in Madagascar. Tell your friends this, if you can contact them, okay?"
Cornelius nodded, and told the chief all about his adventures in Jamaa.
They exchanged stories for so long that Frost actually ate two meals in that span.
Where?
Of course, it was so long that she even had time to swim through the Duat to get home, see?