Tate did not have to wait long to be called up to the office of General Atlas Marks. The lady who had gone to tell the general of his arrival attempted to escort him but he informed her that he knew the way and left her behind.
He had visited once before he left just to say goodbye. Nothing had changed in the past five years. He knocked on the heavy wooden door that was surprisingly plain for belonging to one of the most powerful men in the Empire besides the Emperor himself.
"Come in." Came a gruff voice.
When he pushed the door open a very familiar scene greeted him. A large man was sitting behind an equally large desk. The man almost seemed untouched by time except for the gray that was creeping into his hair.
The man looked up at him locking him down with a familiar piercing stare. "You're here." Was all he said. He put down the papers in front of him and leaned back in the large chair. Even as someone who did more paperwork than field work these days Atlas Marks was a formidable man. He had forgone his jacket and it was tossed over the back of his chair. His undershirt was cut off at the shoulder exposing his massive arms chorded with muscle. His black hair was wild and long and his beard was even wilder.
Tate had always thought Atlas and his dragon Maxis were a perfect set. Maxis was an Earth-type dragon and was among the largest dragons recorded to date.
It was a terrifying sight to see the two of them flying towards you as your enemies.
Tate sat down without ceremony. Tate and this man were well past all things civilized. Atlas had actively tried to kill Tate for most of his childhood. Not out of an evil intention but with the mindset that if the kid didn't survive he didn't deserve the place people were giving him as a genius.
Atlas would have been the very first to admit that he had not wanted a child for an apprentice and that he had believed the Academy was exaggerating Tate's advanced talents. Tate had quickly proved him wrong. These days he was quite proud of himself for training such an exceptional dragon warrior. The shame of it all was that now most of that training was useless.
The investigation into who had attacked Tate and Aquana that day was still technically ongoing. Atlas had a few suspicions but if the people involved were who he thought they were then the matter couldn't be settled by just killing them. Not to mention they'd covered their tracks so well that he'd yet to find a shred of evidence to support his theory.
For Tate's part, he currently had no interest in finding the culprits. He mourned Aquana but above all, he knew deep down that to throw his life away for revenge would have been seen as a disrespectful action to her memory. She'd had very strict thoughts and ideas on ethics and morality.
He did not let himself wander down that path because he knew it would have been the opposite of what she would have wanted. However, if the culprits were ever brought before him, he had no idea what he'd really do.
They didn't say anything for a very long time. To an outsider, it would have been an awkward silence but to the two of them, a thousand things were said without needing to say a word. In his life, there was probably not another human who knew him as well as this man in front of him did. General Marks knew all his strengths and even his weaknesses. Atlas visited often during his days as an instructor at the academy. Most of the time it had been like this, except the general would pay him no mind and do paperwork while they sat in silence.
"You've lost your boyish looks while you've been away. That's good, you look like a proper man now." Atlas nodded in satisfaction. "Now, it won't be so embarrassing to be seen with you."
Tate smirked, "Master, you're as vain as ever I see."
"Of course, do you know what I had to suffer with a snot nose kids like you following me around like a puppy all these years?"
"So sorry to have caused you pain."
"It was painful, your legs were too short and you were too slow. When you grew some you were still baby faced, it was embarrassing." The general shuddered at the unpleasant memory. "I trained a hero, but when he went out into the world and did his heroic deeds he couldn't even grow a decent beard, pathetic."
Tate grinned at the older man. "Well, I've not come to talk about my face."
"What did you come to talk about then, your face is an interesting subject what could be more important?"
"I want your advice on how to turn down the Emperor's plans for me."
Atlas sputtered trying not to laugh rudely. "Why would you think I'd know anything about that."
"He's your half-brother, at some point in your life you convinced him not to kill you. I know that he killed the rest of his siblings so why not you?"
Atlas Marks looked downright comical when he was in shock. "How long have you known about that?"
Tate shrugged and answered vaguely. "Long enough."
Atlas rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a good thing you have never been known to run your mouth or I'd have to get to killing you right about now," he sighed. Atlas got up from his chair and went to the door. He poked his head outside checked both ways and then closed and locked the heavy door. He returned to his chair at a leisurely pace.
When he sat back down he was glaring at Tate. "The reason I am not dead is because I am only a bastard, which I'm sure you know. I was born to the late queen and her lover before her marriage. I was given to my father to raise. When the Emperor found out about my existence I'd already made a name for myself as a talented Dragon Rider. He offered me a deal."
"What kind of deal."
"One you can't make."
"Why not?"
"I made him a blood oath. If I ever raise a sword or claw against him I'll drop dead."
A blood oath could only be made between blood relatives, it was a tricky oath to make and disastrous if the terms were manipulated by one party. No one did it because the risks were too great.
"Why didn't he make that deal with his other siblings?"
The general reached for a mug sitting on his desk full of an unknown liquid. "He did but they didn't take the deal. Sadly, I'm the only one who decided to bend the knee." He didn't sound very sad when he said it, more like completely indifferent. "It worked out well for us, due to the absolute foundation of distrust, we have come to the other side and created an immovable tower of trust."
Tate sighed. "Well, you're right that's no help to me."
"What's the matter, being an advisor doesn't meet your fancy." Atlas was mocking him now.
Tate glared at him. "You know it doesn't." He ground out through clenched teeth.
Atlas looked at his apprentice with pity. "You cannot return to the sky, boy. It's impossible."
"I know."
"Then what is it that you want so bad? I'm not saying this to be cruel but you are about as useless as a person comes. You can't fly in the corps, you can't join the regular army because you would rank too high, and you can't teach at the Academy anymore because there are no positions. You could just live a life of dissipation. Why don't you go tarnish that heroic image I helped you get and pursue the life of a vagrant and a rake?"
"Well, you're just full of good ideas aren't you master." Tate deadpanned. He reached out and grabbed the general's cup from where he had just sat it down and took a sip. It was tea. Tate looked at it in surprise.
"For heaven's sake, what did you think it was? It's just past noon."
Tate shrugged and put it back.
Atlas seemed to think for a while, all teasing aside he gave the question some thought. "Well, I don't know that you can change his mind but try to think of something that would benefit him or the Empire. Even if it's just a little more appealing to you than the advisor position that's something. You're definitely a problem for him, you are a hero so he must give you a place of honor, but you don't fit into any place he actually needs someone. At least I assume that's the case, who knows maybe you as an Advisor is a critical part of his grand plans moving forward."
"Yes, yes, as you said earlier I'm a useless possession to the Empire." Tate sat back and looked past the general out the window. He saw a green dragon swoop by and his heart skipped a beat.
The general looked at him with pity when Tate was distracted. As much as he liked to tease his protege, his main reason was to distract Tate from what he really wanted. Atlas couldn't give Tate what he really wanted anymore, no one could. Sometimes when something is lost it can never be regained. A dragon rider only hatches one egg in their life, that was the way it was, the way it had always been. There was no way for Tate to go back to the sky.