Dragon Gods Reign

[Elven Capital]

“Alright, what did you invite us for?” Darganth asked, taking a seat opposite of Yldra.

“I heard from Ilshas and I'm both intrigued and slightly concerned. Dragons as a group being more active can mean many things and as it comes from you I doubt it will stop only in this world. So I wanted to get the full picture directly from you.” She explained.

“Let me guess, you want to be sure that I will leave you enough freedom.”

Hearing his question, Yldra smiled sheepishly at the fact that he instantly managed to see through a part of her intentions.

“Well, I wanted to formulate it towards all dragons, but yes.” She said with a slight chuckle.

“The same either way. Because no, I don't plan to force any dragon to anything though I doubt I would even need to do so with most.” Darganth said.

Watching him attentively for any signs of lies, Yldra sighed in relief when she found none. With the burden of concern lifted from her shoulders, she was about to shift the conversation toward satisfying her curiosity when Allaire interrupted.

“Wait, how come that is your only or at least main concern when dragons as a whole have spend centuries living alongside him without trouble?”

Hearing her question, Yldra was momentarily irritated. Realizing a moment later that she wasn't the only one who seemed to hold this misconception, she quickly explained.

“The thing is, they were concerned about it. It's just that just like most longer-lived species, dragons rarely change, and even then it's mostly under extreme circumstances. Thus most held these fears when they were younger and slowly lost them. But if now isn't an extreme circumstance, then what would be?”

Hearing her explanation and seeing both Neandra and Darganth slowly nodding, Venrie, Jennia, and Allaire gained at least a superficial understanding. But as they lacked insight into living so long they had some trouble imagining its details.

Venrie was still the closest among the three to understanding it as high elves often live for thousands of years. That was without even factoring in that each one had more than enough talent to become a mana user, lengthening their lives even further.

But despite this, they got the gist of her words and nodded in understanding, and thus Yldra turned her attention back to Darganth.

“With my concerns out of the way, what exactly do you plan? And more importantly, how much fun can I get out of joining in?” She asked with an excited grin.

“Generally I plan to take the divine kingdoms of primordial's as a reference, but I have yet to make any concrete plans so I could accommodate some of your ideas. But before any of that, I plan to experiment a bit and start with just this universe. And as for fun to be had, it depends on what you consider it to be.”

This answer caused Yldra's smile to widen slightly before she clarified, “As long as it's the same as what my siblings told me I think our definition of fun overlaps at many points.”

“Then definitely. Do I seem like someone who would do something bothersome if it's not necessary?” Darganth asked.

Now Yldra fully broke out into a crazed grin, laughing in amusement at the prospects his words were implying.

“Then I'm in. Considering what my siblings told me, there is little that would make me skip this chance.”

Hearing her affirmative reply, Darganth started to smile. While he would never have a shortage of dragons under his command, ones that would be a more permanent force for him and wouldn't return to their layers after some time were still rare. Especially as he had never even seriously considered limiting the freedom he gave other dragons even if it would benefit him.

“By the way, this offer also extends to the two of you. I doubt both getting separated from Yldra or relying on her would not sit right with you.” He said to Venrie and Neadra.

His word slightly surprised all three of them, though they just sighed slightly in response. Only Yldra let out a small defeated chuckle.

“How did you know?” Neandra asked.

“Mainly because I know her siblings and experienced their rebellious phases. Irsyr is many things but good at raising children isn't one of them considering that nearly all of his children purposefully defied him at one point in their lives.”

His words prompted Yldra to nod in affirmation before adding, “Don't misunderstand, he is a great father just a bit too hopeful and expecting that his children take after him. All these expectations are just annoying and even though he means well, his communication is lacking.”

Nodding, Darganth reminisced for a moment as her words brought up old memories, something that didn't go unnoticed by Yldra.

“Remembering something, I heard you experienced these phases of some of my sisters.” She said with a grin.

This earned her a glare from Darganth, Allaire as well as Jennia, though the latter too quickly switched target to Darganth. Under some slight laughter from Yldra, he pulled them in his embrace to placate them.

Seeing the grin on Jennia's lips, Darganth wondered whether her annoyance was genuine while Allaire's seemed to be very short-lived. Rolling his eyes at Yldra to show his annoyance, he nonetheless couldn't help but smile slightly.

“That bit of fun aside, who exactly do you plan to get as subordinates? Just dragons or also lesser dragons and members of other species?” Yldra asked him after some time.

“Mainly dragons and lesser dragons, though I won't bar any species as a whole. But dragons and lesser dragons will have it easier to join and dragons will likely have fewer levels of authority between me and them. The rest will probably stay under their current rulers who will in turn answer to me.”

“So we could keep our position?” Venrie asked in surprise, reconsidering the offer when he reaffirmed this after already wanting to deny it.

While without it she would have rejected it without having to think about it for long, now this changed massively. Even if she would still have to follow his orders, she was quite sure that the freedom with which she could act would nonetheless increase as his protection would help her greatly, especially once he returned to his peak.

As a high elf whose ancestors came from a far more advanced universe, she had heard at least some tales of his power and thus knew that such an offer was one that even many gods would kill for. And considering that Yldra seemed to trust him, she came to a decision even though it took her some time.

Glancing over to Neandra who had previously followed their conversation while leisurely lying on the couch, she saw her similarly deep in thought.

“I'm accepting.” Venrie said after a few more moments of silence.

This brought another small smile onto Darganth's lips and Yldra reacted similarly exited.

“Glad to see your decision.” She said with a bright smile.

Seeing their interaction, Nearndra's thought also came to an end though her mimic showed a far less decisive result.

“If I am to join I want to have a few things sorted out beforehand.” She said.

“Oh, demands?” Darganth asked with an eyebrow raised, the atmosphere growing heavier as he stared her in the eyes.

“Somewhat. I want to know what exactly the position of lesser dragons will be, if it isn't sufficient you can count me out.” She said, showing no signs of backing down.

This kept on going for a few seconds when Darganth started to grin slightly, though still keeping eye contact. Amused that she didn't show any signs of being intimidated, something he doubted few could do in her position even among gods as she surely was aware that one signal from him would lead to Irsyr attacking her, his evaluation of her rose considerably.

Despite this she was the first to back off, her gaze drifting down while she leaned against the backrest of the couch. Sighing barely audible from the mental pressure, Darganth noticed the look of determination on her face. Impressed by the determination he saw in her eyes, he wondered for a moment how a being with such a, from his perspective, short life could show such willpower.

Their contest had involved not a single drop of mana, making their power difference meaningless, and willpower was both something hard to define and hard to train. Instead, most beings would rely on magical means to intimidate as these were far more effective in both offense and defense. The latter was responsible for a large part of Darganth's new-found respect for Neandra as she hadn't simply used a spell to steel her nerves.

He was just about to respond when he remembered something that made him pause, with Jennia instead continuing.

“If you want to know, lesser dragons will fall under my command. Being ruled by one of their own should ease any worries at least somewhat, or?”

Her words caused a brief flash of anger in Neandra's eyes, one she quickly calmed. Looking at Jennia with a mix of emotions, irritation being one of the most prominent, she gauged the seriousness of her words.

“What, did you hope for it?” Jennia asked when she noticed this.

In contrast to Darganth and Allaire who knew what she was doing as well as Yldra and Venrie who managed to see through it, Neandra was too distracted to do so.

“Yes. While you are a lesser dragon, being his wife separates you from a lot of the struggles we have to deal with. That is without even mentioning how much favoritism dragon-hydras get.”

“And a Wyvern is better?”

“I have at least experienced how some dragons treat us and will stand up to it.”

Staring at each other for a few seconds, Jennia suddenly stopped with a disappointed but also relieved sigh when she noticed a slight nod from Darganth.

“You really mean it, now I almost feel bad about wanting to annoy you. I don't particularly care who acts as a leader for lesser dragons, I would just have done it till I find a good candidate.” She said.

This sudden change in attitude startled Neandra greatly and she took a few seconds to adjust to it. Once she did, she glared at Jennia in annoyance though the latter just shrugged it off with a grin.

At the same time, she noticed both Venrie and Yldra laughing slightly at the previous display. His didn't help the annoyance she felt over it, something that Jennia noticed.

“If it helps, messing with you was just a nice side effect, I mainly wanted to test you.” She said, eliciting a small sigh from Neandra.

“It does, but only barely.”

Noticing the underlying aversion that still remained in her tone, Darganth added, “Will it make your decision easier when I add my help in reaching being of legend status?”

This made her perk up while also mostly calming her again. And without the irritation and anger over Jennia claiming she wanted to take the rulership she desired most of her life, she finally thought rationally about the offer.

But despite both parts of Darganth's offer being extremely enticing, she still hesitated. She did this not from any logical standpoint but from her experiences and their resulting distaste for serving others.

“Maybe it helps to be reminded that two hundred years is a very short time and with my blessing, you could ascend any day.” Darganth said, shocking her.

“How do you know?” She said in shock. Even Yldra and Venrie were stunned by his words and the flicker of worry told that it was a sore spot for them.

“How wouldn't I? The fact that your life force is dimming is openly visible if one knows how to perceive it. From there it's just calculating while considering the life extensions your constant absorption of mana brings.”

Only from this explanation did Jennia and Allarie understand what he meant with previous his words.

“So that's why the continent has been this active lately.” Allaire said.

“Partially. It's not just me but also the human and beastman emperors that are nearing the limit of their lifespan. Had it been just me then I would have just killed these two and the dwarf emperor just before going into isolation to give my successor a better chance.” Neandra corrected her.

“And due to it the two are getting restless and dragging the entire continent into a war.” Allaire said with a sneer.

“That's definitely going to waste some of our time.” Jennia complained.

“Well, it's still better than the alternatives as it hopefully means that Neandra won't have to attack the emperors in their cities.” Allaire said in return.

“Besides, maybe it will bring some interesting fights with it.” Darganth added.

Allaire and Jennia just smiled lightly at his words, having already expected them, while Yldra chuckled slightly at the thoughts this gave her.

“For the battle maniac side of you, this must really be a great time.”

“A bit, but it's not like it was bad before. Back then I had more time to just have fun, now I can't really plan it and just go with the flow."

“On that note, free for a sparring fight?” She asked Darganth.

“Gladly. But where comes the sudden interest from?” He answered with a smile.

“Want to measure my skills and who would be better?”

"Then what are you waiting for?" He said with an anticipatory tone.

With no further words, Yldra teleported both of them to the outside, with the rest following after with a short delay as they were surprised by the suddenness with which the topic shifted.