Dragon Gods Reign

[Capital city]

Sitting atop the pile of debris that once constituted the seat's thrones, Alicia looked down at the cheering masses with a soft smile.

After the meeting with Ceretar, she had returned to the main hall of the castle while the others directly returned to the nearby forest as none of them were interested in joining the celebrations. This combined with her doing most of the fighting that has been noticed resulted in Alicia becoming the focus of much of the celebrations.

Since then a couple of days have passed, with the situation slowly calming down. Under Alorick's leadership, the last few stragglers inside the city had been destroyed after the counterattacks led in large parts by his organization had fully reclaimed the wall around the same time she had fought Vika.

What little opposition to his leadership had reared its head was swiftly stamped out by Alicia who put the ambitious individuals in their places. Of those, a majority had been bloodline sorcerers which, while regrettable, wasn't too unsurprising.

During this time the civilians were busy completing all urgent tasks. From allying the dead and giving them a proper send-off to establishing temporary facilities for the wounded, they worked tirelessly to complete these imminently needed tasks.

Only once the last undead and monsters were cleared out of the city, the dead were burned, and the situation of most wounded had stabilized did Alorick allow the celebration Alicia found herself in at that moment.

“No interest in joining the rest?” Alorick asked as he walked towards her.

“Not really. I'll be leaving soon anyways so I would like to keep the flair of distant guarding going till then.” Alicia answered him.

Nodding in agreement, Alorick wasn't particularly surprised by her decision.

“You'll always be welcome here, of that I'll make sure.” He said.

“And I will absolutely return to see what became of this planet under your leadership.” Alicia said, rising from her seated position.

“If you ever rethink and decide to accept my offer, you know how to notify me.” She said and started making her way down the pile.

As soon as she did, the first few people noticed her moving and started moving to clear a path for her. A few also realized her destination upon seeing Alorick's melancholic expression.

By the time she had reached the ever-expanding path that had formed for her, they had started clapping their hands in applause. And as Alicia walked towards the hall's exit, the gesture slowly spread through the room.

Crossing the room while showered by their applause, Alicia had a wide smile on her lips by the time she stood before the exit. Without looking back, she pressed off of the ground and returned to her true form.

Taking a quick look back to see multiple streets erupt in applause and other gestures of praise as she flew by, she felt a sense of accomplishment as she turned to leave the city.

Around half an hour later, Alicia descended onto a small clearing in the nearby forest. Returning to her human form to not tower over the relatively small trees around it, she looked around as she searched for Darganth.

“How did it go?” Jennia asked, walking out of the treeline and into Alicia's view.

“Good, and here?”

“As good as it can go when having a former seat and a vampire in one place. Well, Sonita and Vika are both still unharmed, though I was starting to wonder for how much longer.” Jennia said.

“Tell my brother that I'm here, I'll go deal with the two.”

“Alright, I'll show you the way.”

Turning around, Jennia led Alicia about one or two hundred meters into the forest. By then, three wooden huts had come into view. Formed out of one solid piece of wood, it was clear that these were created artificially with the help of magic.

Pointing Alicia towards the two smaller huts, Jennia walked towards the largest one.

Following her directions, Alicia stopped a couple of meters away from them and unleashed her dragon's fear. Instantly she felt movement in both buildings, followed by Vika arriving before her shortly after.

“You're already back?” She asked with a small bow.

“How is the situation in the city?” Sonita directly asked when she arrived a moment later.

“Better than you feared, especially the death toll. But that is secondary right now, I want to know what exactly happened.” Alicia demanded.

At her words Sonita started avoiding eye contact with her, giving her all the information she needed and bringing Vika no small amount of satisfaction.

“With her, I would have at least understood it somewhat, but you were the one to ask to work for me.”

“Yes, but I didn't expect to have to work with a vampire, monster corrupted or not.”

“But can you, because you still can stay here?” Alicia asked.

Hearing her tone that left no room for discussion, Sonita momentarily remained silent as she pondered over it

“It will take a bit, but yes.” She finally said.

“Good, then I'll give you that chance but only once. And remember, you saw joining me as an opportunity to rise to greater heights, I accepted because it doesn't affect me negatively. But when that changes, I can and will change my decision. In general, I will help you gladly, but only as long as it isn't to my detriment.” Alicia said.

Listening to Sonita getting chastised, Vika silently chuckled in glee.

“The same advice rings true for you. Though you didn't start this conflict between you, you did fuel it.”

Letting the following silence reign for a couple of seconds, Alicia nodded in satisfaction when she saw both nodding in acceptance.

“Good, then get ready to depart.” Alicia said before turning to make her way towards Darganth's shelter.

Seeing him standing outside while leaning against the wall, she walked over with a tired face.

“Regret it already?” He asked.

“A bit, but I would still do it again.” Alicia answered.

“But be prepared that this won't be the last time, building up an entire group around oneself isn't easy.”

“Still, it's worth it. Besides, I can take you as an example to give me an idea of how to act in certain situations.

Before Darganth could voice his agreement, Allaire and Jennia walked out of the building, interrupting them.

“You'll do just fine, I believe in it.” Allaire said supportive.

“I hope so.” Alicia said.

At that moment Sonita and Vika walked over to them, prompting Darganth to turn towards the wooden building and cast a quick spell on it. By the time he turned back, it was already starting to rapidly rot away behind him.

“Seems like everything is ready.” Darganth said.

“Then let's go, I can't wait to see such a massive world as you described for myself.” Alicia said.

Using a spell to bring down the last two houses, Darganth nodded and they made their way towards the clearing from where they started the way back to where they had arrived in the pocket realm.