Tales of the Arcane is back! Sorry about my hiatus, been very busy and/or tired. Now, it's time to continue from this cliffhanger!
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"Now. Where are the rest of the dragons?" You demanded, your eyes glowing with power waiting to be unleashed.
"I will never tell a tyrant like you." The dragon responded angrily. "Us dragons will never bow down to the likes of you!"
"You won't have a choice." You smiled evilly, making the other dragon feel quite uneasy. "Tell me, or I'll wipe this town off the map."
"Please do not harm this community." The other dragon begged, his tone shifting drastically. "This community is not like other draconic communities. This place is where many elderly, sick, and weak dragons come to rehabilitate. We are not strong like most others. The other communities of dragons have abandoned us, making us completely independent from the rest of the dragons."
"I don't care!" You boomed, making small plumes of black fire come out of your mouth. "Where are those communities of dragons!"
"I can't tell you!" The other dragon yelled. "I truly do not know."
"Then why were you acting so high and mighty before?" You asked angrily, rage building up inside of you.
"I wanted to deter you from trying to find the others." The other dragon answered. "I don't want Rowan's kin ruling over my race."
"Fine. Seeing how you don't know, you are useless to me." You sneered angrily. "I don't want to kill any other dragons unless I have to. I'll keep to my word." You grinned evilly as you created a small ball of black energy and hurled it towards the other dragon. "That doesn't mean I won't hurt any." You laughed evilly as you flew farther into the mountains, faster than any other dragon could.
It took a while, but you eventually found another community of dragons. This one seemed much more lively than the other one. There were many more dragons than the previous one, with many of them seeming much stronger than those from the other community. Still, none could match your strength. As you approached the community, you were surprised that there was no guard like the other one. You just waltzed on in. After reaching all of the other dragons, you noticed many eyes on you. Those eyes all seemed quite frightened. You loved the feeling of weaklings looking to you in fear. As you continued through the town, you started to notice some more dragons looking at you with an uneasy tone. Eventually, you made it to the leader of the town. He was another dragon (NO SHIT SHERLOCK) about the same size as you. His scales were blood red, as were his eyes. He was a Crimson Shade Dragon, a species of dragon that has mastered the art of going unseen. They were master assassins. You could also tell that this dragon was quite powerful. Using your abilities to detect magical auras, you could tell his was quite strong. But, again, nothing compared to you. "Who are you?" The red dragon asked calmly.
"My name is Gannoth Tyrell. I am the familiar of Rowan Tyrell, who you probably know about." You responded proudly.
"My name is Izedin. I am the leader of this community of dragons." The red dragon stated. "Why is the kin of the Dark Sorcerer here?"
"Ooh.. Dark Sorcerer! Never heard that one before!" You laughed. "Anyway, I'm on a personal mission to become the King of all Dragons."
'That's absurd." Izedin laughed. "Yes, dragons live in a society where the strong lead, and I can tell you are far stronger than I am, but all of the dragons of the world will never unite under one leader. That's why these communities exist."
"Well then, things are going to be changing around here then." You smiled evilly. "Rather than living separately, I will unite all of the dragons. Under myself, dragons will rule the earth!"
"That's almost impressively optimistic." Izedin responded. "You might not have met many other dragons, living with the Dark Sorcerer, so you probably do not know this. Dragons tend to be extremely proud. They will not bow to those they do not accept. That is why uniting the dragons is nearly impossible."
"They will accept me." You chuckled evilly. "I know they will. Dragons tend to follow the powerful. I just so happen to fit that description. The question is, will you?"
"What do you mean?" Izedin asked. "Will I accept you as my new leader?"
"Exactly. You've already observed that I am far more powerful than you are. With my power, and your knowledge of other dragons, we can rule the world!" You explained enthusiastically.
"I have no desire to rule the world." Izedin responded. "All I want is to be happy. All I want is to see my community happy. If you promise to me that you will keep dragon-kind happy, I will bow to you."
"I will keep true to my word. Dragons who accept me will stay happy. Those who go against me will not." You answered. "That's part of being a ruler."
"I understand." Izedin stated. "Gannoth Tyrell. I will bow to you." The crimson dragon bowed down, the other dragons around you following suit. You have gathered your first subjects. "My Lord, what is your first decree as ruler of this community?"
"Well, I was going to say that you were still leader of the community, and I was going to find more dragons to accept me as their ruler." You started. "Izedin. You are still leader of this community. If I am going to be the King of Dragons, I'm going to need people still leading their communities. In essence, I will be king of the country, and you will be the mayor of the town. Now, can you point me in the direction of more dragons to have accept my kingship?"
"Certainly My Lord." Izedin responded humbly. You liked the "My Lord" thing going on. Izedin magically created a map of the world, and marked every place he knew of a dragon community. Once you had the information you required, you said your goodbyes, and flew off towards the next one.
Over the next month, you made your way to every community on the map, and with the help of other dragons you recruited, found more that Izedin did not know about. There were many hardships along the way. Not every community accepted you like Izedin's did. You had at least one fight every day, with some resulting in the deaths of many dragons. Yet in the end, you were successful. Every known community of dragons that wasn't destroyed in a fight had accepted you as their king. Over this time, as Rowan had said, you had to fend for yourself a lot. Hunting for food, strengthening your survival skills, and growing as a dragon. You gained even better control of your magical abilities, and your transforming abilities. Transformations were seamless and instantaneous. During your daily telepathic chats with Rowan, you were able keep from getting homesick, which helped you get through the month. The whole month was just a journey. You saw the whole world, from the frigid north of Brus, to the tropical Moricana in the south. The mountains of Feldor in the east dwarfed Kelper's, and the desert of Kastos in the west seemed to stretch without end. In the end, you realized just how much work taking over the world would be, even for someone as powerful as Rowan. Granted, Zebulon could do it in the blink of an eye, but he's Zebulon. Once you were finished with uniting all of the dragon communities, you enacted your first decree as King of the Dragons. You recalled the empty space that was Kitria. You could have dragons reform it into a kingdom of dragons. The decree was spread through the dragon communities with the help of small messenger dragons you recruited. Within hours, every dragon had relocated to Kitria. Once you noticed that they were all there, you made your first truly royal appearance to your new subjects.
"Hello my Draconic brethren." You yelled, starting your speech. The crowd of dragons roared their applause, some shooting magic into the air. "Calm down my subjects. This was once where the kingdom of Kitria existed. However, it is now nothing but a barren wasteland. Considering the lack of life here, I felt that this was a good place to restart a dragon civilization. No more will dragons live so separately from each other. From now on, this place will be known as Kitria, The Kingdom of the Dragons!" A faint murmur could be heard from the crowd. You could tell that the dragons were slightly confused. "We have many Terraclaw and Florawing dragons who could help recreate a country, and make this wasteland bloom. If every dragon helps, I can assure that this will not take long at all. I too will help in making this kingdom flourish. As your king, I can assure that I will not let any of you down. Now who is ready to make this place home?" As soon as you asked the question, you received another roar of applause. "Let's work!" As if they were being controlled by a hive mind, the dragons started to reshape the land in front of them. Rivers were reformed by the Aquatail dragons, forest were created by the Florawing dragons, and mountains were formed by the Terraclaws. You even annexed the former Firenze, seeing how it bordered Kitria (and Kelper. I made a whole map that I'm trying to figure out how to upload. It's a mess, but it works.) You were very strategic in choosing Kitria and Firenze, seeing how they are both very close to Rowan's castle in Kelper. Overall, you were very happy with the way your quest ended.
By the end of that day, the dragons were finished reforming the land, and had a country they could call their own. You set up the "Capital" in the far north of the country, as that was the closest point to Rowan's castle. You decided to fly around the country to observe how the dragons dispersed themselves. You noticed that they reformed the communities they lived in before, but the attitude towards other dragon communities seemed friendlier than before. Everything turned out perfectly. You flew back to where you set up your capital, only to find Rowan there. You switched to your human form, startling some of the dragons. "My Lord?" One of the dragons asked.
"Yes Lantra?" You asked, looking up towards the huge (compared to your form now) dragon.
"Why did you just become a human? And one that looks demonic?" Lantra asked, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Well, it's easier to communicate with my Master this way." You explained. "I told you I was a familiar to a sorcerer. This is the sorcerer."
"My apologies My Lord! Please forgive my rudeness." Lantra begged.
"Why are you begging?" You laughed. "What rudeness? Lantra! You did nothing wrong!"
"Thank you My Lord!" Lantra bowed quickly before flying off.
"Some of these guys are so weird." You laughed. "But I'm their king now! I'm king of the weirdos!!"
"No Gannoth." Rowan laughed. "Your king of the most powerful race in the world. But, I will agree that some of these dragons are quite strange."
"Yeah..." You laughed, before running to hug Rowan. "It's been too long Master!"
"Settle down Gannoth!" Rowan yelled, startled from the surprise hug. You loosened your hug, but still held on. "You really are King of the Weirdos."
"Master." You laughed. "Anyway, what's going on?"
"Well, I deliberately kept this a surprise for you." Rowan started, stretching his hand out in front of him. He opened it, palm towards the sky. Immediately, gold light glowed from it, and 2 golden crowns formed in it. One was ornately decorated with dragon wings, while the other depicted two dragons breathing fire in opposite directions. "This one is for you." Rowan smiled, handing you the one with the wings. "This is to show that you are King of the Dragons. It'll adjust to whatever form you are in, and if you do not want to wear it, just take it off, and it'll become a ring. If you take it off of your finger, it'll become a crown if you want it to."
"Thank you Master!" You smiled, putting the crown on your head. "What about the other crown?"
"This one is mine because I've taken control of Kelper." Rowan smiled, putting his crown on. "I needed something to do besides destroy stuff, so now I am the king of the Kelper Kingdom."
"So now I'm the King of Dragons, and you are the king of The Kingdom of Dragons. We're quite the draconic duo." You laughed.
"And demonic..." Rowan added, smiling and showing his small demonic fangs. "I'd suggest introducing your subjects to their king's master."
"I will in due time. They just got settled here." You responded. "How did the people of Kelper react to your takeover?"
"As I expected. Most pledged fealty out of fear, while some tried to rebel. Killed them like a fly." Rowan explained. "You would have liked the show."
"Well, my dragon fights were fun, albeit a bit more casualty-heavy than I'd like to admit." You smiled. "Umm... Since you became King of Kelper, do you live in the capital?"
"No. We still have our old castle. I did some remodeling in the Crater of Porentia and made it a capital city." Rowan smiled.
"Good. I put my capital here so it would be close to home." You smiled, thankful that everything worked out in the end. "Oh Master! There's someone I'd like you to meet." You yelled. "Follow me!" You brought Rowan over to Izedin. "Izedin!" You yelled towards the large red dragon.
"My Lord, what do..." He paused. "My Lord? I heard your voice, but I don't see you."
"I'm down here!" You yelled. Izedin looked below him to see you and Rowan.
"Are you not a dragon, My Lord?" Izedin asked.
"Izedin. I told you I was a familiar to a sorcerer. This is my Master." You explained. "I am truly a dragon, but for many reasons, I prefer to go by this form. Easier to get around, I can actually sit at a table, and I can look my Master in the eye. My true form is that of a dragon, but much smaller than that which you'd seen previously. Believe me when I tell you that even in this form, I am more powerful than any other dragon."
"I can tell. Your aura is still as immense as it was before." Izedin stated, observing what you explained as true. "I don't sense anything from your Master though."
"I keep my magical aura hidden as to not make people faint from its intensity." Rowan explained.
"I'd believe it." Izedin nodded.
"I've witnessed it." You smiled. "Anyway, I wanted my Master to meet my right hand man, or dragon."
"Pleasure to meet you Izedin." Rowan smiled, bowing to the dragon, seeing how he couldn't shake hands with him.
"If you are my king's master, then you are my master as well. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Master." Izedin bowed to Rowan.
"Even though I am your king's master, your king's word is still final." Rowan smiled.
"But you should still listen to my Master." You quickly added. "Anyway, I'll see you soon Izedin."
"Goodbye My Lord." Izedin bowed once again, saying goodbye to the two most powerful beings on the planet.
The two of you made your way back to Rowan's castle, where you started discussing plans for Kelper. Rowan didn't want to be a tyrant, but he still wanted to rule with an iron fist. His 4,500,000 person kingdom wasn't going to last if everyone hated him.
The date was December 8, 695. This date will be known as the day when dragon-kind united under one ruler. Mankind will soon bow to its rulers. But not without resistance, struggle, and many challenges for those who are trying to protect the world, and those taking it over. The real battle has yet to be waged. Darkness and light shall battle head to head, and only one will be victorious. Will You and Rowan succeed, or will Leopold and Gabriel? The choice is yours.
End of Chapter
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