ONE MONTH AFTER THE WAR…

Inside the throne room Of the Wyvern's Keep was a round table surrounded by the Rulers Of Dragonhold. Although, one seat was empty.

Lady Arnarra Of the eleven kingdom of Elandria was absent.

At the head of the meeting was King Oberon Thorne, Sovereign of the Nine Kingdoms and Ruler Of the Continent Of Valaross.

Thamoryn, The Grand Magus Of Dragonhold stood behind him.

To his right, sat Cedric Greystone, Ruler Of Xathia, and to his left, Lady Selene Of Zahkas. The other rulers filled the other seats.

"Thank You All For Coming" Oberon started. "This is my first meeting with you Rulers as Sovereign and—"

Oberon was cut off abruptly by Lord Ivar's snickering.

"Accept my apologies Your Grace, please continue" Ivar said, almost mockingly.

The King took one breath in, then exhaled.

choosing to ignore the slight rather than dignify it with a response.

"So this is my first meeting with you Rulers as Sovereign —"

The snickering came again. You could see the Ruler Of Skallgard trying his hardest to suppress the laughter.

Several rulers exchanged uneasy glances. They already had an idea why he was laughing.

"Lord Ivar," Oberon said sharply, his tone carried irritation with it, "I will not have that kind of disrespect in my throne room."

"Oh come on Oberon…" Ivar threw his hands up in exasperation.

"It is Your Grace, Lord Ivar…" Oberon cut back in to remind him. "Refer to me accordingly"

"Bollocks!" Ivar called out in that viking accent of his. "You know what, i'll get to it out straight. It is after all why i chose to attend this in the first place. Skallgard is pulling out of the treaty. We intend to become Kingdom independent of Dragonhold's rule"

That utterance raised the tension in the room instantly.

The truth was, ever since after Xathia's successful war on Dragonhold, the other kingdoms had realized that the Dragon wasn't protecting the Capital anymore.

The Dragon was the reason their Kingdoms were conquered a hundred years ago, and forced from being independent kingdoms to coming under one sovereignty.

But now, with the Dragon gone, what real power did Dragonhold still hold over them? What kept their kingdoms bound beneath that rule?

"Moreover, what power do you truly have here?" Ivar pressed. "Everyone in this room knows the story of the war, and we know that at the end of the day, the true authority over this city, isn't you Oberon. You still cave in at the words of Crowley's bastard!"

Ivar laughed, and a few rulers turned away; some in embarrassment for Oberon, others to hide their amusement.

Thamoryn also seemed agitated at that, and it looked like she was going to react.

"Silence!" Oberon slammed the table with his right fist. He had this frown on his face, with streaks of lightning dancing around his eyes.

Ivar leaned back in his chair with a smirk, watching for Oberon's next move.

"Need I remind you, Ivar, that your land is buried under snow and ice for most of the year? Nothing grows there for months. Leaving Skallgard with no choice but to cross into Dragonhold's territory just to find food. Territory I could have sealed off with a snap of my fingers."

Oberon snapped his finger as he spoke to drive the point home, then continued

"Now unless you have made plans to travel to the continent across the seas for the singular purpose of daily bread, I suggest you shut the bloody hell up and cease those foolish thoughts at once."

Ivar's smirk faded and his expression contorted into a frown. He looked pressed, defeated and didn't mutter any more words.

Then Oberon shifted his focus to the others on the table, "same goes for the rest of you. Each Kingdom here has grown in need of something only Dragonhold or Xathia can provide. I suggest you have that in mind when making foolish decisions…"

"For those who only respond to a show of force. Know this. Aiden, the one who single-handedly defeated eight captains and a grand magus. Yes, that Aiden, stands with Xathia. With me. And if any of you think you can challenge that, I welcome you to try."

There was silence in the room for a long moment

Finally, Lady Selene broke the silence. "You've made your Point, Your Grace." She bowed her head slightly.

Then Oberon stood, "In 7 days, my coronation as King will happen and everyone seated in that room, is expected to swear allegiance to me. That was the purpose of this meeting, to make sure we have no grievances between ourselves"

He paused briefly before continuing.

"I was once the Ruler Of Xathia, and i never dealt with any other Kingdom in bad faith. I intend to maintain that relationship as I bring this continent to the heights it's meant to be at. A continent even the gods will envy…"

"Any Kingdom i find absent on my day, will be considered not just an enemy of Dragonhold, but of the entire continent."

With that, Oberon turned and walked away from the table, with the Grand magus following behind him.

This Ultimately brought the meeting to an end.

——-

Much later after the Rulers had dispersed…

Oberon stood, staring out through the window. His hands were clasped behind his back.

Thamoryn could see how unsettled he was.

"You handled that well, Your Grace" she said quietly.

"Those imbeciles Mock me," Oberon said flatly.

"They feared you by the end."

"Because of Aiden." He turned to face her, his expression even more annoyed. "Not because of me. Because of a boy I can't control."

Thamoryn said nothing.

Oberon stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Tell me you've found a way. Tell me you've found a way to significantly weaken him somehow, should it ever come to that."

Thamoryn met his gaze steadily. "I haven't."

Oberon's eyes flashed with anger. "What?"

"I've tried to study as much texts as I can on dragons," she said evenly. "Some texts suggests that these creatures predates even creation. How could we possibly find a weakness to that"

"We still don't know for certain that he is a Dragon. Since when have we ever heard they could take human forms?" Oberon still countered that Aiden could possibly be a dragon.

He had refused to wrap his head around that fact for the past thirty days.

"Your Grace, even if he isn't. His power still grows faster than what is possible for a human." Thamoryn said.

She added, "Ridiculous as this sounds, he has recently come under my tutelage, and I can tell you for a fact that his magic power has currently exceeded what it was when he defeated Mumbleton and the Captains"

"So what are you saying?" he asked coldly. "That I shall remain powerless against this boy?"

"I'm saying," Thamoryn replied carefully, "that the best course of action is to keep him as an ally. Use him. Let him believe his interests align with yours. He's powerful, yes. But he's also young, and can be can be guided."

Oberon turned away, his hands curling into fists. "I didn't claw my way to this throne to be held hostage by a bastard boy."

"You're not a hostage," Thamoryn said. "You're a king.

Oberon said nothing for a long moment. Then, quietly, "And if that changes? What if Aiden suddenly gets the idea that he wants to rule?. You also saw what happened at the meeting today, and this title only holds meaning if these rulers don't stray any further."

Right now, Oberon's paranoia was getting the best of him and he had no possible way to deal with it.

Thamoryn was also silent and could not offer any more counsel.

Oberon exhaled slowly,

"Leave me," he said.

Thamoryn bowed slightly and left the room.

Oberon stood alone, staring at the crown on the table.

….

The restructuring of Dragonhold in the last thirty days had been swift and, by most accounts, surprisingly smooth.

The guilds of Xathia were split. Five guilds remained in Xathia under the continued supervision of the new Grand Magus, Daylor.

The former Captain Of the guild, Crimson Dawn.

Three other guilds were relocated to Dragonhold. Fractured Stars, Crimson Dawn and Ravens Grave.

These guilds were selected based on their strengths as powerful guilds.

Fractured Stars and Crimson Dawn had the merit stars to back it, but Aiden was most reason why Raven's Grave was moved to Dragonhold.

Generally, it was a calculated move. Oberon needed to assert control over Dragonhold's magical infrastructure by integrating his own mages into the system, while being able to keep an eye on Aiden as well.

Three guilds from Dragonhold were disbanded, the ones considered the weakest and the rest of their members were made to join the other guilds.

New Captains were also appointed for the other existing guilds of the Kingdom without Guild Masters.

And although most of them were younger than their predecessors, they were still the strongest mages of the time.

A Crowley had also been appointed as part of these new Captains.

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