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Chapter 18

Cordenth's claws found purchase in one of the uniter's many spires that adorned its armored walls. He took a deep breath of the night air, stone mixed with magic treated his nostrils, sending a shiver down the dragon's frills. There was magic here, so much so he could taste it, old and ancient, waiting for it's master to return. He clambered around, eyes alight with delight, only darkening as he spotted the mold and moss that seemed to be crawling up the walls, desperate to consume the castle in it's wake.

Hard and sturdy, the keep and towers seemed to be, built from the finest granite the dragon had ever seen. Great windows adorned ever surface, large enough that gryphons and adult dragons might find comfort in them, strange he thought, for a place constructed by mortal hands. His tail curled as he settled against a wall, kneading the stone below his claws. Perhaps his mother's cohorts had a claw in constructing this place, either way, it didn't matter, by the night's end, it would be his, ushering in a new era of dragon-mortal relations, with he and Lyndis at the forefront of history.

Down below he caught sight of a mighty courtyard, filled to the edges with stagnant water. He spied broken crates and discarded sacks, each bearing the seal of a rampart gryphon, Lumara's. There must have been a battle here, his frills fluttered as he spied the sight of discarded weapons, poking from the water's surface like little arms. He imagined the clashing of steel, twang of bows, now silent except his breathing. Across the walls the dragon strolled, admiring the carvings of dragons within the architecture. Vines as thick as his forepaws littered practically every surface, hardly done away by even a dragon's claw. They clung to the stone as if it were their only purpose, pulling it down into the much so that it might never see the light of this earth again. He glared at these simple things, when he gained control of this place, he'd have to find away to rid it of such irksome eyesores.

Across the water's surface, game the ghostly flickers of white lights, taunting, teasing, beckoning the dragon from his perch to grace the waters below. He beheld them with a tilted snout, the tales his brother and he shared coming to mind, of ghostly sirens meant to lure men and woman to their deaths. He doubted what lay instore could end a dragon, but he'd not be swayed by such an obvious trap. Scoffing, he drifted his eyes to the keep's entrance, a vast stone door that seemed to rise like a guardian over this place. Beneath his scales he could feel the summons of the pheonix within.

He swooped low with the sound of leathery wings, landing before the door in but a breath. The structure was practically overgrown with vines, these seeming to pulse like a heart before his eyes. Unlike the others these were covered in a thick, blackened bark, hardly peeling off when he scraped them with a claw. Here their strength must have been at it's strongest, desperate to get in, or keep whatever lay within from escaping? He wheeled around, surveying the courtyard, his heart stilled. Had the unicorn been lying to them of its peaceful intentions? No wonder it didn't want him inspecting the uniter, the stupid horse wanted this thing for it's very own!

"Wasted, that's what it would be." He snorted, swishing his tail. Whirling around he returned to the door, ridding his mind of such a foolish beast. Once he'd tamed this place, little insignificant creatures like that wouldn't matter to them anymore. The vines would be the first to go, with a swishing paw he let magic flow through him, hot and terrible. Vines may have had strength, but fire was always their weakness. Blue flames exploded with his final hiss, vaporizing what stood before him in a shower of colors.

What remained was nothing short of beauty given form, of a swarm of dragons in flight over a vast landscape below. In reverence on the hills were mortals of every sort, offering gifts to their benevolent lords as was their place. In return the dragons would gift life to the lands they tilled, maintaining a balance of order. High above this was a castle of no equal, the uniter if he were to guess. Rays were raining down from it's pristine walls, a guiding light to all who beheld it. There was peace, prosperity, it was his dream given shape.

"And he would have kept you from this world." Cordenth whispered, resting a paw against the surface. "A way to unite dragons and mortals in peace once more, like eons long since past. And now, with my return, it shall happen once more." With a grunt he cracked open the door.

Cerulean lights flared into existence across this grand hallway, easily made for dragons larger than he to leave their wings fully extended. The pillars that lined this hall all had ropes of water flowing from base to top, all colors of the rainbow winking across their surfaces. Tapestries lined the walls, dragons of every color, each standing proud, regal as the creatures should be remembered. The air smelled of vanilla, mixed with cinnamon as an enchanting music wafted all around them, of Cordenth's favorite symphony.

He had no words for what lay before him as he took his first step, warmth seeming to radiate all around him, wrapping him tight in it's comforting embrace. Is this what they were trying to keep from him? This bright and beautiful place? The dragon wrinkled his snout, this place was so beautiful! He stopped to admire a bust of a dragon, plates of gold that lined it's snout, gleaming in the light. When the doors shut behind him, he could only rumble in response, good riddance the atmosphere outside, hello this delightful ambience around him.

"Darkness indeed." He scoffed, "What other lies have graced my ears?" He thumped his chest with a grin, "I knew my instincts could be trusted...Now we just have to find the control center of this beast, and show it that it's master has returned home."

At those words, a wall shimmered to life. From it sprouted a translucent pheonix, with gold and crimson feathers. Flames followed it as it swooped high above, releasing a keening cry, one of welcome. As Cordenth rumbled and sat upon his haunches, the bird found a perch molded into the wall.

"Welcome Cordenth, son of Ossai. We've been expecting you for such a spell, we'd feared you'd gotten lost."

"And how is it you know my name?" He asked with a raised brow.

"I know many things young dragon, your name is just a speck."

"And who are you to know such things? How could you summon me from such vast distances?"

"I am the spirit of this fortress, you can call me Tiamat." He flared his wings to the halls that surrounded them, "Its an emergency call, one that only dragons can hear. Mortals can use this place, but they are ill equipped for the task."

"But why me? There is a dragon vampire that has been trying to get here before I."

"The Queen of Eternal flame." The pheonix shook his head, "Not really pure dragon now is she? Her mortal shell in which she was bound was corrupted by undeath. Besides." The pheonix seemed to smirk, "Your blood we know is of greater value than hers."

He rumbled at the compliment, "Then you truly are wise."

"Now, we can talk along the way. This place has slumbered for so very long, it's time that it truly awoke." The pheonix gestured, shooting from it's perch with a flare of it's wings.

Though doubt flickered across Cordenth's mind, he could sense this creature meant him well. He knew they had just met, but there was a familiar sense this beast was as close to him as a treasured friend. He leaped to the air and followed in his wake, chasing after Tiamat's golden tail feathers.

"How long have you been in this place?" He asked as they swooped past rows upon rows of suits of armor, some made for mortals, others clearly meant for dragons. Each was more wonderous than the last, made from the finest of metals, their value of no equal on this earth.

"Since it's construction." Tiamat replied, "When dragons ruled this earth with nobility and honor, before it was held in the clutches of greedy men."

"My brother would love to be here." Cordenth rumbled, "Happy as a wrymling on hatch day I imagine, he'd spend years cataloging and asking you questions."

"Is that so? I've been meaning to get some intelligent conversation; I do have the time to spare after all."

They circled down before another vast door, this one with a golden dragon carved into it's surface. It sat upon a throne of sparkling gems, each the size of the dragon's paws. Twin whiskers wiggled out from it's regal snout, rays of magic reaching down to grant gifts to the mortals kneeling below. Cordenth rested a paw upon the stone, seeing himself within the eyes of that great dragon.

"The entrance is through here young Cordenth." The pheonix tapped the stone, easily cracking it open.

Out swept a terrible stench for but a moment, clutching at the dragon's nostrils and demanding he gag. It was of rotted flesh and decay, a stark contrast to what surrounded him. But soon as it came it was gone, ending the moment Tiamat landed beside him to ask if anything was wrong.

"Nothing, nothing." He waved a paw, eyes watering. "For a moment...It smelled of death."

"But how could that be?" Chirped the pheonix, extending a friendly wing, gesturing to what lay within the hall.

Inside was a startling side, and that was saying something from the hall. Long tables lined this place, equal amounts for mortal as it was for dragon kind. They were made of oak, hardly scratched, pristine as the day they'd been forged. Candles were already lit, thousands it seemed, floating, and bringing comfort to this place. High above were perches with enough room for dragons or gryphons to dine on their own. At the head of them all was a place set for a king. Five glass panes loomed over it, each of a different colored dragon. Red, Green, Teal, Gold, white, each a color of the children of the Emperor.

"So, they did help built it." Cordenth growled, eyeing the regal form of his mother given glass form.

"And yet she wanted to keep this place from you." The pheonix rested on his back, shaking its head. "She never wanted this for any of us, she'd rather play her little game with her subjects, keeping dragons hidden in mountains or forests."

"When we could have been for all to see and love."

"Indeed." The pheonix danced upon the air, swooping around the candles, and guiding the dragon to one of the far walls. At his presence, stone began to shake and churn, revealing a hidden entrance.

"Tiamat?" Cordenth stilled before the darker corridor, lacking the lights of this hall. His snout swiveled to the pictures of humans and dragons caught in song, enjoying one another's company. "If things were so grand before, what made it all crumbling down?"

Tiamat sighed, landing on a perch. "The same story that's repeated throughout history itself, greed, power, and the envy of what others have. Mortals wanted what we had, deciding to take it for their own, so unsatisfied with what they were given. They brought their backstabbing, their cruelty, slowly eroding away what dragons had worked to achieve. They murdered your kind, slaughtered wrymlings out of safety of fear, proclaimed themselves the heroes in their stories."

Flashes of what Tiamat described bubbled to Cordenth's mind, their screams practically inches from his ears. He stumbled, head spinning, barely catching himself with a paw. He saw their cruelty, the malice, the drive to take all that dragons had. All the while he saw Bahamut herself, the grand platinum dragon not defending her own kind from the rising problem, but aiding them in the destruction of dragon society.

"What...What was she doing?" He choked, standing on four shaky paws, "How could she? After they killed wrymlings? After such restraint was shown for them?"

"That is the true tragedy of it." The pheonix drooped, "Their actions were justified, but retribution for their crimes was condemned. But hopefully, with you standing here, we can fix the mistakes of the past. Set right the crimes of all their forefathers."

He hesitated as he eyed the corridor, spying pipes sprouting from the stones, running the base like metal snakes. "But everything we've been told, Bahamut...She helped in our destruction?"

"The truth seems stranger than fiction and hurts twice as much. But cast away your doubts young Cordenth, in time there will be merriment again. The sun will shine on your people once again, justice finally being done."

What choice did he have? He followed without a thought, drifting back to the innocent days of his youth. Where they were blind to the terrors their people had experienced, the extinction they would face. When he was unburdened by glorious purpose. Deeper into the vast structure they went, the air getting hotter and more humid as they went. There was a pulsing now, like that of a powerful heart in his ears.

"And if you've been here since the beginning, why did you help the mortals."

Tiamat turned back, landing upon the moisture slick stone, a red light flickering across him. "I was foolish if you believe it. That the mortals of this time had finally moved on from their barbaric ways. They found me, wandered across my surface with such wide eyes, I thought I might teach them better. But alas, I was mistaken, they'd turned my teachings into war, profit and violence, starting a new empire in their wake. But I suppose that's the way of mortals, one you must face in the days ahead. That at their core they are wicked and vile, and only by the guiding wings of dragons, can cast off such weights."

He nodded, but caught himself. "But that's not true." He wrinkled his snout, "I've known plenty that have aided me, found comfort below my shadow, enjoyed my company. They would never seek us harm."

"Then you've found gems within the excrement young Cordenth, the evidence is plain as day before your eyes. Take this structure for example." Tiamat waved a wing to the walls, where blue magic started to flicker and gather, forming shapes out of sparks. There were twin cities, the ones Lumara had destroyed. "The uniter, a construction meant to amplify magic a magnitude equal to that of the gods, something that could bring great joy and comfort to many of beings that cry out for it. What do these mortals do instead? Did they create food and water so people would not go hungry, no. Did they heal the unwell, putting an end to sickness and injury, no. They wielded it like a cudgel, fixing their sights on their enemies and destroying thousands of lives in the blink of an eye. I knew then, mortals could never get control of this place again, only dragon paws would do. _They_have the wisdom and strength to use this place."

"My paws." He breathed, drooping his head out of respect for the lost.

"Right young one, cause with your help we can rise again above this swamp, sharing our light upon those greedy, selfish mortals."

As they neared the control room, the pristine visage that held Cordenth in awe began to wither away. The walls grew duller, claws scraped across its surface. Debris littered the halls, blasted apart, making him watch his step as to not skewer his paws across jagged points. He spied the bodies of Lumarian soldiers, humans, and gryphons alike. Dried blood painted their broken forms, faces drained of color, frozen in pain looked upon him in an accusing manner.

"What happened to them?' He shivered, noting the warmth he'd come to know had faded, "The crash?"

"Not so much." Tiamat scoffed, "They sought to destroy this place after they could not repair it. They would have obliterated all my knowledge, all my work, just to deny others a weapon they feared would be used against them. So, I turned their constructs against them. Their resistance was little more than a footnote, ended within a manner of hours. Don't mourn for these people Cordenth, they don't deserve it. Not one of them blinked at the destruction of Drenedar's cities, their deaths were the _least_of what they deserved. Have you a problem with that?"

He might have, perhaps before knowing of what this place had done. But he shook his head, haunted by the phantom screams of thousands of souls crying out, then being silenced. "You'll find no pity within my bones for these vermin."

The pheonix offered him a beak parted smile, "I like you Cordenth, I think you're going to be just what this world needs."

The final door was hidden within a dead end, yielding for him in a symphony of grinding gears. Inside was a control room of moderate size, clearly meant for a dragon and those that he deemed trustworthy enough to sit at his side. Before these alcoves were control panels of levers and knobs meant to work the ancient machinery. The air was cold and thick with fog, stinking of oil and steel. Cordenth took his first step, feeling a weight settle between his wings. There was power here, great, and terrible, his paws trembled at the prospect.

"Before you is the beating heart of the uniter. My shining fortress meant to bring the peoples of this world together." The phoenix's golden light shimmered through this space, winking of the metal, and whispering of greater days ahead.

At the center of this control room was a floating crystal, bolted to the floor as if it were an animal. It's jagged surface glimmering like a pool of wet ink. It was here that the fog spawned from, slithering down from the crystal-like thousands of little snakes. Tiny icy claws dragged down Cordenth's neck, whispering of the terrible power contained within. It was here that the pheonix landed fluffing it's golden wings.

"And that? Some sort of power source?" Cordenth scoffed, "It doesn't look special, just bigger."

"It is not just any power source, but the greatest one in all of Lumara."

As if it had ears of its own, the pitch-black crystal shook, a resounding crack echoing through the room. Golden light tore through its blackened prison like claws, igniting the air with it's fire. What was left of the blackened shell shuttered, splintering as rivers of gold devoured what remained of it's landscape. It screamed out in agony as it was consumed, but no one answered it's cries. By the time Cordenth took his next step, the crystal was a pulsating gold, a floating heart to behold.

"And I take it, this is what will give me control of this place?"

Tiamat nodded, leaping upon his shoulders, "Its alright to be scared." He whispered as Cordenth shuttered, "Just as you once learned to fly, you must take the first step."

So he did so, his eyes the widest they'd ever been. Here was everything he wanted, the power to forge the future of his dreams. His daughter, Lyndis, they were all just waiting for him beyond the surface of this crystal. The cold that had been within this room dulled, replaced by a comforting warmth that slithered into the depths of his soul. He rose a paw and reached forward, pausing mere inches above it's surface.

"What's wrong?" Asked Tiamat, "Gryphon catch your tongue?"

"This place, why haven't you flown it till now?" He peered back to the pheonix with a curious eye. "You speak of this awesome power, but it can't be used?"

"That's where you come in Cordenth. With your help, we can use it to repair itself."

"And you couldn't do that with the humans before?" He lowered his paw.

The pheonix sighed, "We did try, but the crystal requires the blood of a god to function properly. The humans...They tried to use it, to explosive results, most could only get out a single spell before being consumed by the crystal's vast power."

"And how are you sure this won't happen to me?"

"Did you not hear me Cordenth?" Chirped the pheonix, "You've got the blood of a god in you! This place was built for you, it is your duty, it is your birthright! Can you think of anyone better?" He gestured to the hallways beyond, "You can repair this place, have it fly upon the winds again, bring light to this darkness filled age. You can help guide those flawed mortals, rid them of their selfish desires and greed, see them unite with dragon kind as they always should have."

There was a pause as Cordenth mulled over what the pheonix had said, a smirk eventually forming upon his snout. It was as he said, this was his destiny, no one else was suited for the task. He rose his paws and flexed his digits, relishing the weight on what he'd do. Today was the beginning of a new age, one of prosperity and peace, one where dragons were not hunted for sport or fear. He would guide mortals as they were unfit, their souls too often corrupted by darkness and greed. With a mighty rumble he seized the crystal, letting its warmth fill him as a light like that of the sun filled the hall. It burned away fear, it cast away doubt, and it heralded a returning king, nay, an Emperor.

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