Dragon Gods Reign

[Venrie's residence]

“Sometimes I wish elven politics were this easy.” Venrie said with a sigh as she dropped onto the couch.

Laughing lightly in response, Neandra sat down next to her.

“Can be arranged, my offer for that still stands.” She said with a grin.

“As much as they annoy me sometimes, I still need the nobles.” Venrie answered with a wry smile.

Hearing Neandra's disappointed grumble in response, the others let out a small chuckle as they joined the two on the couch.

“Are you sure this was enough?” Darganth asked Neandra after a few minutes of simply enjoying the moment.

“Should be. They can try and test my patience but then I'll just have some newly freed-up territory to distribute.”

“It's your call but don't hurry this just for me, we have time.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, Neandra reassured him that this wasn't the case. At the same time, Venrie looked on slightly critically before voicing her concerns.

“Are you sure that would be a good idea? I may not be an expert in the field but from what little of the void I now know it doesn't sound good if something is wrong with it.” She asked.

“Honestly, I don't know. It could be tomorrow or never that the first outside group manages to pierce through it so I can't even know. But worrying about that would keep me from enjoying myself fully so why would I? Besides, I refuse to give the three primordials even the smallest of victory I can deny them, even ones like this.” Darganth said.

“Understandable.”

“And now that Neandra has finished up here it doesn't matter either way. The only question now remaining is when we make us on the way.” Jennia added.

Hearing her words the others looked at each other until their eyes stopped on Yldra. Letting her make the decision as she was the only one for whom it could matter as it would signal the end of her assignment, they waited for her to do so.

Thinking about it for a moment, she just shrugged.

“For all I care we can go right now. Jennia would probably even prefer it, or?” She said.

At this, Jennia perked up before nodding energetically. Seeing this, Allaire couldn't pass on the opportunity to make a joke at her cost.

“Missing your mommy already?” She asked in a teasing tone.

Ignoring the laughter from the others, Jennia pinched Allaire's hip. Recoiling slightly from the sudden jolt, Allaire glared at Jennia who chuckled at the response. Sighing and taking it with humor, she sat back down next to Darganth.

“In all seriousness, when do you want to go?” She asked, a soft smile on her lips as Darganth's arm snaked around her shoulder.

“As Yldra said, gladly right away. For one, yes, I do miss my mother, but I also can't wait to see my father's reaction when he sees me.” She said, her tone growing darker as she mentioned Vorthos.

As she mentioned the last part Allaire was reminded that this was part of the reason why Jennia wanted to go to the dragon peaks. Amused at the prospect of what she would do, her smile became somewhat gleeful.

“Seems like it will be fun to watch.” Yldra said when she noticed this reaction.

As a daughter of Irsyr, she was obviously aware of Vorthos's presence and his purpose as the Void clan's last outside barrier, both for humanoids and the solar dragons. Back when she learned about him she had also learned that he was the only dragon-hydra in Ikrus, making it easy to guess Jennia's connection to him.

While she didn't envy him in the same manner as solar dragons did, she had no intention of skipping the likely amusing sight of his meeting with Jennia. And if it were to undercut her expectations she would just change that herself, the presence of the void clan's princess being more than enough to shock him.

“Well, it seems like Yldra won't get to delay introducing us to her parents any longer.” Neandra joked.

“Right, because me having a relationship with the woman that tried dozens of times to force her way into the dragon peaks wouldn't get a reaction from him.”

“Tsk, I was just bored, no big deal.” Neandra answered her with a slight pout.

Before she could complain further that Yldra brought this up Venrie interrupted her.

“So?” She asked, looking towards Yldra.

“We can just use your portal back to the forest. Teleporting inside the dragon peaks is restricted even for me.”

Hearing her words, Darganth chuckled slightly. This turned the other's attention to him, prompting him to explain once he noticed.

“Irsyr always does this around his lair. With the void clan specializing in the space element, most simply teleport and he wants to restrict that. And admittedly he is right, the sight of dragons flying around the mountain peaks where they lair is an imposing sight. Whether it's worth the inconvenience I can't tell, in the past I would just ignore it and teleport.”

“Definitely not worth it.” Yldra complained as he finished.

As the others chuckled at her expense, Neandra realized what that meant.

“So we have to walk through the maze of canyons around it?” She asked, clearly not amused by the idea.

Seeing Darganth nodding in confirmation, Neandra grumbled in annoyance. Momentarily debating whether the possibility of meeting one of the dragons that denied her entrance in the past was worth not going, she rather quickly decided that it wasn't.

“Maybe you can get some revenge, I at least would do it.” Jennia said when she noticed her conflicted thoughts.

This possibility quickly grew on Neandra, her grin slowly widening as she thought about it more and more.

“Then one last thing before we go there.” Yldra said, getting the other's undivided attention.

“I doubt that we'll be there only a day or two so Venrie, you will have to deal with the nobles before we go. So how about we use the opportunity to pay a visit to your palace and if they don't cooperate, we'll help you deal with them.” She said.

Nodding in realization at the first part, Venrie looked at Yldra with a raised eyebrow at the second part of the sentence.

“You can gladly come along but don't intimidate my subordinates.” She said.

“Of course not, I meant to convince them.” Yldra said with a fake laugh.

Despite her saying this Venrie kept looking at her questioningly, prompting Yldra to try and look innocent. Keeping this playful facade up for a few moments, she sighed defeated when she noticed that Venire wouldn't drop the matter this easily.

“Fine, but the next time they are an annoyance for you I won't let it slide. Irritating you is a fun that's reserved for me.” Yldra said with a slight grin at the end.

“They are trying to do what's best for elven-kind, not irritate me. Admittedly though, often the main difference is only whether annoying me is a side-effect or the purpose.”

“And that you enjoy the second case from some people.” Yldra said.

Smiling in response and wordlessly confirming this, Venrie didn't add to the matter further.

Continuing with their banter for some time, the six of them soon made their way to the elven palace.

Walking through the large corridors that stretched through the entire building like a maze, they became amazed by the intrinsic pictures covering nearly all surfaces.

The ground beneath them seemed to have no real form, instead being an endless expanse of a starry night sky that was filled with moonshine. Whenever they sat down a foot, a cloud would form from the surrounding nothingness and coalesced to form the floor they walked on.

But unless one focused on it it would seem as if each cloud were at a vastly different height, giving the illusion that one wasn't simply walking on the normal floor covered in an illusion. Instead, it looked as if each person was truly walking in the endless dark sky, with it even blending out the sights on the walls.

Presented there were video-like depictions of all manner of scenes, each one documenting a different part of elven history. Some showed pivotal or famous moments that happened in this universe, some showed ones from outside it, while others in turn depicted elven myths.

As they walked through the hallways Darganth paid particular attention to the last ones, finding more and more of those he already knew about. From the alleged creation of their kind by their god to a story of how they would one day unite under him and rise to glory, from previously unknown elves becoming great heroes to the prosperity brought by great kings.

Among all of these he not only found those stories he knew were either false or true, or at least largely, but even those he personally witnessed or even influenced.

“Well, seems like what are myths for us elves are either simply history or fictional stories for you.” Venrie commented when she noticed his reactions to some of the portrayals.

“Not entirely, some of these I've never heard of.”

“Still, I've always wondered how many of our myths were true.” Venrie asked.

Hearing her curiosity, Darganth chuckled a bit due to the expected question.

“It would take too long to go through all of them but I can say that the story of how the elven races were born is completely false. And it's not even the most famous story that was fabricated around it. The only partially true part is that while he isn't the first elf ever born, Galathar is the first to become a legendary being.”

“Hm, not too unexpected. Him being created by Vunreon's will itself as the first member of a species of humanoids that is fated to rule all of existence is a bit far-fetched.”

“Yeah, it's part of the reason why this version of the story isn't widely used. Though personally, I don't find it to be the most exaggerated one, one group of elves had claimed that he is fated to supplant Visuria as primordial of light and elevate the elves to what the angels are now. That were fun times, he had to cower and plead before her for years. Hadn't he done so she would surely have erased his existence completely. ” Darganth said with a light smile.

Amidst small chuckles from the others at the story, he continued answering Venrie's questions about the different myths until they reached the council hall.

This hall had a vastly different aesthetic from the rest of the palace, using the complex enchantments and formations to create a practical room for commanding and planning. The starry sky instantly changed to a map of the continent right at the doorstep, with the walls being covered in everything from projections of written reports to scenes from all over the continent, showing the efficiency with which a good light magic user can gather information and accurately share it.

Already gathered there were ten legendary ranks, each one turning towards them as they walked through the door. As soon as they saw Venrie step inside they bowed.

“Welcome back your highness.” They said in unison.

“Did anything happen during my absence?” Venrie asked.

As she listened to report after report, Venrie made a mental note on any matter that could need her presence and thought for workarounds.

Enduring nearly an hour of this, she finally closed the matter with a tone that left no room for discussion. And while the council wanted to protest nonetheless, upon seeing Yldra's threatening smile they gave in.