A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.
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Lord Feryzen laughed at Ohms's reaction.
"Now, now. Save that for later. We've stalled too much time. Also, how about you go to Priedo. Your condition is not good. You essence is in an abnormal state. I assume that it was you that reversed time?"
They were caught off guard. "Y-You know about that?"
The Lord laughed, "I'm a dragon. I'm sensitive to high-leveled magic. Priedo, help the poor Lord. If leave be, it'd be too much work."
The hardworking mage walked to Ohms Xirquit. Franchetti rubbed her hands on his chest and nodded, telling him that it's alright, that there's nothing to be suspicious about.
"Thank you, My Lord. I hope there's something I can do to repay you,"
Lord Feryzen waved his hand, "Oh, it's for the Prinsiaze. You produced fine, brilliant sons. Very unique. Firsts in history. They are very blessed and gifted, but they are very secretive. Oh-hohoho!"
A beard to hold is what he lacks and he'd be Santa Claus whenever he will laugh.
Priedo brought serenity to the anomaly in Ohms's essence. At long last, he's back to normal and the prickly fever is gone.
"Tha---" The moment he was about to say it, something got stuck in his throat. "Than---"
Lord Feryzen quipped, "Don't say it if you can't. But you can write it down. Oh, I'm just kidding. You're very much welcome."
Ohms frowned when he laughed at him again. Priedo went to King Liorei to heal him when the Prinsiaze gave him a nod. But the King already regenerated. Wattroid brought the King back to his feet and helped him sit down, back to His Equal's side.
"You can sit here," Azarese said and pointed the empty seat on her left, "Let's get acquainted. I like you. Your brother knows. You don't mind right, Watts? I hated your mother but I loved her for birthing you both. Right, mother-in-law?"
Franchetti Xerene was mortified. Ohms turned to his brother, and he don't know if it was rage or an unknown upsetting feeling that pinched his heart when his brother gave him a wry smile.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Shh, you are both mine, one way or another. I can match your freak better than your bastard sister can. Oops. Sorry not sorry."
King Liorei never tilted his head so quickly in his whole life because of her statement. Franchetti Xerene gripped on Ohms's hand tightly, a sign to not look at the King or it will give him an idea. He already has, but they can't risk on giving him a proof. At least not this time.
They settled down. Ohms sat beside Azarese who only smirked at him with a wink before going back to Watts. His hands were shaking and he look pale.
Watts Xirquit walked to the side of the table with a pen for the table.
"W-Where..." He gulped. His eyes... He couldn't look at anyone, "Where are we going to s-start?"
Azarese raised her hand. When she caught his attention, she gestured him to come. She grabbed him by the collar and stand up and dragged him out. But she returned to take Ohms with them, too, and a reminder for those who were left,
"Give us a couple of minutes. Or an hour. Depends. Bye~"
She slammed the door closed and brought the Xirquit siblings to the bedroom. She threw both on the bed.
"What the fuck? What the actual fuck!?"
Ohms was about to push himself back up when she pushed him down with her foot.
"Stay. We're going to have a threesome." And she licked her lips with a devilish smirk.
Prince Valerian swing his feet below the table. The room is very quite and awkward. He's feeling restless and bored.
"What are they going to do, Uncle? Why is Uncle Watts sad?" He asked before laying his head on the table.
"I don't know. Adult stuff," Prince Valor subtly lied with a shrug.
"How about we teach you our mother tongue? A language, one of the firsts and the oldest. It's now forgotten and unused by the common people, but we preserved it and we are still using it to this day. It's called Li'runa."
"Li'runa?"
Lord Feryzen pushed his chair back and lifted the Prinsiaze to put him on his lap, "Prinsiaze, you're light. You must eat a lot or else, the Ki'zaar will be upset because his heir is very, very thin."
"I will! Then I will challenge my Daddy and Uncle into an eating battle! And we will hunt and fly, when I got my wings!"
Lord Feryzen was truly delighted to hear it. Surely it will come. He couldn't wait to see it happen. A vision that will soon become a reality. The dragons will dance in the dominated skies once more.
"Now, I will tell you a tale about how your father, the Ki'zaar, fought and won his first war."
Lord Feryzen gave Priedo a look. Slowly, he raised his hands, palms facing outward, and began to channel his magic. As he did, a soft, radiant light began to emanate from his fingertips. The trails of light wove together, forming detailed, three-dimensional images that floated in the air like holograms. The images were vivid and lifelike, each one a fragment of the story he was about to tell.
"Our descent, the Zin Draji Teivel is not the only dragon-ancient shapeshifter there is. The word 'descent' is used to classify races that can shapeshift into an Ancient. Dragons, mermaids, foxes, and the like uses the same term. But now, those descents doesn't use the term anymore and it's fine."
"The Deities hated our descent. As the Forefather always say, the very first Ki'zaar and Zin Draji Teivel descent, it was because of our Deity-creator. Our patron Deity, the banished Deity, the Deity of Moons and Darkness, twin of the Deity of Life."
Prince Valerian gasped.
"The Deities hated our patron Deity, because she's the one who gave life to Veils. The Deities accused us of being one, too. Thus, turning the whole world against us. Our Elders fought countless wars and grieved to countless tragedies. Every descent and creation in Dragunovv prey upon us that our Elders made a decision: hide. When we flee from our land, the other families divided it and attached it to their landmass. We settled in an island. Our numbers were so few that we almost faced extinction. The Elders enchanted concealment around the island so the other descents may never find us. We lived in peace and my brothers and I were born after a century."
Lord Feryzen brushed the Prinsiaze's hair. His smile is sad and the Prince noticed it.
"Our life was peaceful until your Uncle, Valor, was born. We had to raise him in space because his power is very dangerous and unstable. Because of that, we were found. My brother, the Ki'zaar, made a plan ahead of time and evacuated us. Your father didn't want to left him behind. He wanted to fight alongside him, but we can't risk losing him, too. We found another land that is far from the other empires and concealed its entirety again. Your grandfather fought bravely to the end, but he and his army were outnumbered. He lost. We accepted our defeat."
Prince Valor's jaw tightened. It was because of him that they were found. If only he received a different power, then maybe... Just maybe, their Elders are still alive.
"I was the one who crowned your father, for I am the last Elder they have. Despite our loss, the Ki'zaar lifted our spirits up and promised us a bright future. Until we saw what our enemies did to our kind. We didn't know that they've been parading the late Ki'zaar's head around the world, ate his and men's flesh, and the Mi'zaar was defiled every day for years until they grew tired of her and beheaded her."
Prince Valerian covered his gaping mouth.
"He did it alone. He avenged them alone. Your father became our hero as he became the most fearsome dragon they've ever seen. They dubbed him 'The Wrathful Void' and did the impossible. He was the first in history to be able to command the vicious Veils. That's how he earned the title of a Veil Lord. The very first Veil Lord. He brought the ultimate and most catastrophic devastation across the world that the Deity of Nature, Gaeia, and Deity of Life, Elu'via, sent their legionaries to stop him. The Ki'zaar poured everything he's been bottling up inside him and advanced. He did that for us and for our fallen kin, for our patron Deity, for us. When I came to take him home, all I could see everywhere I look were flames. Even the oceans were set ablaze. The color of his fire breath? Black."
The Prinsiaze's eyes sparkled from his swelling admiration for his father. He felt a deep-seated desire to honor his father's legacy and live up to the immense expectations placed upon him. With every heroic act recounted, the Prince's mind raced with thoughts of his own potential and future. He is his heir. Sure, he is as powerful as him. Black fire. Does he have it, too? He hope so. The narrative also instilled in the Prince a heightened sense of duty and purpose. He felt the weight of his father's crown more acutely, understanding that his destiny was intertwined with the fate of their descent, their survival.
"Is that... The time Clastigaufeas traveled to bring Siofra back to this world? That war. That was during it, right?" Voltage Xirquit speculated as he align the events from the Lord's story to theirs.
"But she never mentioned anything about a dragon. She would have, if it was truly during that war," Duke Paris replied, trying to make a point. But he's also considering what Voltage Xirquit said.
"The Ki'zaar was only out for days, but the damage he left lasted for thousands of years. They've never seen us again after that. Therefore, we have no records and knowledge of the events during and after that because we were enjoying peace and security in our kingdom. But I am quite confused about that, too. I wonder, despite such feat, the Ki'zaar was never mentioned. Not in the books, even in gossips. It's like the war didn't happen. Like it never took place."
"Must be the work of those dumb Deities. They did something. That's why nobody knows about me, too," Skadi Eira hissed and looked above. Then she remembered that they're not outside since she saw the ceiling and not the sky.
"Jealous cowards. I'll get back to them. Once I have my memory fragments back, of course."
"Memory...fragments?"
Skadi Eira nodded and showed them the one the White Phoenix gave her, "Like this. This contains my memories. Look closer and you will see Orithyia,"
"O-Orithyia!? The first Empress of Heart, the Matriarch!?"
Skadi Eira raised her eyebrow at the Lord for his exaggerated reaction.
The Lord palmed his head, "The events are messy. I was born late, I am not as bright as the Elders, but I've read countless books and records. Though they're much more about our patron Deities... Ah!"
The Lord was moved. His enlarging eyes landed on Prince Valor who was startled.
"You, didn't the Ki'zaar gave you one that looked like that before? Argh, my memories are hazy but I remembered seeing the Ki'zaar holding something like that. He took it above when he went to play with you. Where is it?"
Prince Valor's heart skipped.
How could he forget? He liked the shining thing so much but he couldn't accept his defeat back then so...
"I threw it."
"WHAT!?"
"Blessings of the Moons, you did what!?"
Lord Feryzen lifted the Prinsiaze and put him back to his seat with utmost care. Then he hit Prince Valor on his arm, "Why did you do that!? Why would you throw something so precious!? What if it's His Equal's memory fragment!?"
"I didn't know!? And it's just shiny! I didn't see any moving images in it? If I know, then I would've kept it. And if the Ki'zaar knew, he wouldn't give it to me either!"
The Lord hit him again. This time, harder.
"Of course, he would give it to you. The love he bears for you is great. He'd give all the precious things to you, especially when you're still a hatchling! Did you know that when you were still an egg, he filled your nest with random gifts? He even stole the Ki'zaar's crown and placed it on the top of your shell!"
Prince Valor blushed. He knew that his brother is crazy for him, but not to that extent!
They trembled when ice starts to coat the walls of the room. Icicles bared themselves like fangs from the ceiling, and the largest one is over the Prince's head.
"You brat! You threw my memory fragment away!? Where is it now!?"
"Aaahhhh! Uncle! I-I don't know, I'm sorry!"
Prince Valerian clapped his hands as he laugh out loud.
Priedo stepped in to save his poor Prince.
"I-I may have known another, Your Divine Almighty!"
They stopped and looked at him.
"When the Mi'zaar arrived, the Ki'zaar asked us to bring only the finest gifts there is in our kingdom. We worked altogether to offer gifts for the Mi'zaar, some even went to the extent of producing their own to express their love. A-A youngling... A youngling found something that is very much like that, Your Divine Almighty. When we asked where he got it, he said that he found it after digging the soil. The size is as big as my palm."
"Yet another reason why we must return. Sooner. Very sooner," the stressed out Lord blurted while massaging his temples.
Prince Valor was sweating buckets. Where did it go? Where did he throw it? Which direction? He's doing his best to remember. What if it got sent to a planet of fires? Or planet with nothing but acids? He's doomed. He's going to die. His Equal will kill him.
"Please don't kill me," he begged and clasped his hands.
"I won't, if you bring me the one you threw away."
Prince Valor flinched and looked at his Uncle. He's begging for his help, but the Lord shook his head.
Yup. He's going to die.