The Master Hidden One and Mentor Serey Sayavong (formerly Kasikor Srae) stands before his apprentices in the shadows of an Angkorian temple, as he views the Brotherhood as a machine. He loves his country so much that he has become a master mentor to his own students to ensure that country survives. If an apprentice is defective or "human," it is discarded or purged to save the whole nation.
"Look at your hands! Are they stained with the soil of the paddy, or the blood of the Javanese oppressors? I was born Kasikor Srae—a creature of the mud in the smoke of burning stalks. I watched our lifeblood—our rice—turn to ash while the Javanese laughed and heard the screams of those who could not fight. I left that boy in the fire so that a man of iron could rise. I watched the rice fields turn to ash and That man died in the flames. I fled into the shadows of the jungle, not as a victim, but as a seed planted in the dark. The jungle taught me what the village could not survive the monsters of the Order. Today, only Serey Sayavong remains. I am Serey Sayavong. To the people—the elders, the children, the farmers—you are their shield. You will feed them. You will love them. You will ensure that no stomach in this Empire is empty while the Star Stone shines. There is no room for the human heart. In this Bureau, a 'mistake' is a death sentence for a thousand innocents. I will not tolerate the rot of human error. There is no 'trying' in the Hidden Ones—there is only the Creed and the Result. If you are lazy, you are a traitor. If you talk back, you are a cancer. If you harm an innocent person or a child of this Empire, I will not just expel you; I will erase you. We feed the people, we guard the Star Stone, and we obey without question. To let go of your past is to become a weapon. To hold onto your ego is to die. You think freedom is the right to be idle? You think independence is a gift? No. Independence is bought with the sweat of the farmer and the blood of the Hidden One. We are the hidden roots that allow the Khmer lotus to bloom. Work until your bones ache or find your way to the gates of the underworld. Work. Bleed. Obey. For the Khmer, for the King, and for the Brotherhood!".
"The Master and Mentor of the Hidden One — Serey Sayavong".
