On their right, there was a long line of honor guards from the Dragon bloodline who wore a ceremonial black suit of armor. Each one of them held a long pole flying Leegaain's gold and red banner.
On their left, there was an equally long line of honor guards from the Phoenix bloodline who wore a ceremonial red suit of armor. Each one of them held a long pole flying Salaark's silver and black banner.
Under Faluel's group feet there was a long red carpet that led to the Council Hall and to make matters worse, their Gate closed the moment they crossed it, meaning that the Gate had been set up exclusively for them.
'Is it me or are they making a big deal out of this?' Lith asked via the mind link.
'No shit, Constable. Now turn this off. Everyone here can see a mind link, making it a very rude gesture.' Faluel replied while walking through the hallway with the bearing of someone who wasn't just used to such a treatment, but who felt entitled to it.
The Hydra was actually worried sick, yet she couldn't afford to show any weakness until she understood what was going on.
The members of the honor guard were so surprised at the sight of Friya's hair that some of them even widened their eyes a bit. It was barely noticeable, but still considered an unforgivable act of rudeness for someone of their upbringing.
Faluel and her apprentices followed the red carpet, unaware of being watched by the Council through a surveillance spell. It was usually meant to gauge an ambassador's strength and prepare contingency measures in the case a mediation with the guest's faction was impossible.
During her first visit, Xenagrosh had received the same attention, allowing the Council to estimate her strength and that of her equipment. In Lith's case, however, it had been used simply to allow everyone to take a good look at him.
There were too many Awakened and if he had to meet them one by one, it would have taken days. Also, it was a form of respect towards his alleged ancestors who were both attending the meeting.
Tyris was there as well to congratulate Salaark in person and make sure that no one attempted funny business. Having the three Guardians of Garlen assembled in the Council was a rare event, made even more extraordinary by the appearance of a hexa-streaked human.
People moved their display from Lith to Friya non-stop, not knowing where to look.
"This Awakened Academy of Faluel proves to have one more merit." Lotho the Treant and Plant representative said. "Not only did she find and nurtured a new hybrid species, but she also discovered a white crystal in the rough."
"Well, yes." Feela the Behemoth said with a nod. "But it's too soon to talk about academies of our own. The others are just unremarkable Awakened and Faluel might have just been lucky."
"They are still young." Lotho shrugged his massive shoulders. "I consider the fact that they have yet to jump at each other's throat a success."
Lith was already the topic of many conversations, but Friya's appearance had triggered a heated argument about Faluel's proposal of following the fake mages' example and open academies for Awakened.
Raagu, the human representative, had a lot to say about it but she was too busy not drowning in her own bile to speak. Keeping a calm appearance required her sheer willpower and she was seconds away from snapping in outrage.
"What a story. First, you missed the opportunity to get the offspring of two Guardians on your side and now the beasts also rub a hexa-streaked human in your face. Isn't it tiring being always wrong?" Inxialot, the Lich King and alleged undead representative said while patting her shoulder.
Many incredibly rude words flashed in Raagu's mind. Words that would have crushed the Lich where he stood and that would have made hundreds of years old creatures blush in embarrassment.
Words that might have even triggered a war. Yet she kept her lips sealed and threw Inxialot a glare with enough killing intent that even his phylactery hidden dozens of kilometers away shuddered.
'This is odd. My pick-up line was supposed to make her understand that I empathize with her failures and that I offered her my shoulder to cry on, yet she seems to have taken it like some sort of insult.' He thought.
'Have social rules changed so much while I was locked in my lab for my research or am I doing something wrong? I was quite a player back when Valeron was establishing the Kingdom. Can I have lost my edge during these last few days of isolation?'
"Dad, you managed to screw up in more than one way this time. Why did you deny that Lith was our brother just to shoot yourself in the foot?" Gentor the Golden Dragon said.
"F.u.c.k you, that's how!" Leegaain replied from under the pile of cigars and blue ribbons he was buried under.
Also, hosting so many people of different species required much more space than the Council Hall could offer, forcing everyone to shapeshift into a human-sized appearance and making the Father of all Dragons look like a mole.
The Phoenixes, instead, didn't like Lith's total lack of feathers and of any bird-related feature. They grumbled a lot about their blood being drowned in Dragon's, but before voicing their doubts they would wait for the Blood Imprint.
'Little f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard.' Xedros the Wyvern belonged to the Dragon species, yet he was more pissed off than any Phoenix. 'Lith failed to hide his omni pocket from me but he managed to fool me nevertheless.
'I thought him to be a lesser Dragon as well, otherwise I wouldn't have ever let him go. By killing him while he was still just a Ranger, I would have gotten his omni pocket and learned the gods know how many secrets from his body.'
The envy at the idea that Lith might not belong to a lesser species but be part of a new powerful bloodline burned Xedros's mind with the heat of a hundred suns. On top of that, the fact that the Wyvern had lost a lot of precious materials with the bet about Lith's origin added insult to the injury.
Faluel's group had reached the antechamber of the Council Hall when they were forced to stop by an equally numerous group walking in the opposite direction. They all wore formal robes typical of the Blood Desert except for the woman leading them.
Salaark had the appearance of a stunning woman in her mid-twenties about 1.76 meters (5'9") tall. She had silky black waist-long hair, emerald eyes, and a bronze tinge of skin so clear that it seemed to emit a gentle radiance.
She wore an emerald green robe, the Blood Desert equivalent of a c.o.c.ktail dress, that left exposed her fair shoulders. Whenever she stepped forward, her slender legs appeared from the dress' side slits.
"Overlord Salaark, this is against the Council's protocol." Yet Faluel kneeled anyway, dragging her apprentices down with her and making sure they kept their eyes on the ground.
