“Freeze!” Not even the sight of a Guardian or his peaceful attitude could stop the Forgotten from performing their duty.
The now Awakened mindless soldiers raised their enchanted spears at the intruder, activating the enchantments and charging them up until the air around them started to crackle.
Even though they had lost their sanity after thousands of cycles of death and rebirth while trapped inside the Golden Griffon, their bodies still recognized the threat at hand and became covered in cold sweat.
“Seriously?” Leegaain said with a scoff. “If this was an attack I wouldn’t be walking in my human form and you would be dead.”
The alarm resounded throughout the lost academy and many Emperor and Divine Beasts rushed to the main gate. Unlike the Forgotten, the moment they looked at the intruder with Life Vision, they dropped their weapons.
The only thing that a fight would have achieved was another cycle in the rebirth chamber and the loss of another sliver of their self-awareness. Their survival lay in the lost city being able to stop the Guardian or in the hope that Leegaain wouldn’t dare to destroy it and kill millions of innocents in the aftermath.
“Finally, someone with a brain. Tell my son that this is a courtesy visit.” Leegaain said.
“Yes, Grandpa.” Ufyl had once been a Hydra, but after undergoing Thrud’s treatment he was now a Seven Headed Dragon.
“Don’t call me that!” Leegaain snarled while his descendant called Jormun via the communication amulet. “You lost that right the day when you sacrificed hundreds of your siblings and exposed yourself to Forbidden Magic just for the sake of power.”
“I did no such thing!” Ufyl said in outrage. Even in his human form, he spoke with seven voices in unison, making him sound like a choir of angry gods. “Xedros killed the members of our kin for his crazy experiments.
“The True Queen simply took the ambrosia after his death and used it on those like me to enhance our abilities. Throwing it away would have meant wasting their sacrifice. This way, they live inside of me and I carry on their legacy.
“I’m not doing this for power but to create a better world for everyone!”
“Do you even listen to yourself? You may not have killed them directly, but their blood is on your hands nonetheless. That power is cursed and by accepting it, you became no better than Xedros.” Leegaain replied.
“History will judge us. Yet while at least I have the guts to do what I believe is right, you keep doing nothing. If you were really worried about your lesser offspring, you would’ve stopped Xedros.
“His experiments happened inside your turf, under your responsibility. You let him do it so you have no right to judge me!” Ufyl transformed into his real body ready to challenge his forefather.
“I didn’t let Xedros do anything nor did I consent to his experiments.” Leegaain calmly shook his head. “But you are right about one thing. I failed him just like I failed you and all those he sacrificed. And for that, I’m sorry.”
His words struck at Ufyl stronger than any spells could. The shock shapeshifted him back into his human form and made his anger fade.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Dad.” Jormun said. “It was my choice to come to the Golden Griffon centuries ago. It was my hubris that led to my imprisonment and everything that came out of it.
“In the same way, it was Xedros’ choice to use Forbidden Magic and Ufyl exploited the fruits of such a bloody labor of his own will. Our choices define us and no matter how bad the outcome, if you hadn’t allowed us to make them, we would be even worse for it.”
The Emerald Dragon’s human form had the appearance of a handsome man about 1.78 meters (5’10”) tall, with emerald shoulder-length hair and purple eyes with a vertical pupil to look like his father. He wore a white silk shirt, brown pants and shoes.
“Please, come in.” Jormun gave Leegaain a small bow and accepted the bouquet with both hands. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“I’ve come to visit my grandchild. If you’ll allow me, of course.” The Guardian said.
“Really? After this long, I had imagined that you had disowned me and the little Valeron.” The Emerald Dragon’s eyes went wide in surprise.
“I’d never disown you!” Leegaain replied in outrage. “I simply disagreed with your choice of siding with… Thrud and I knew that any attempt to talk you out of it would have ended up hurting us both.
“But you are right about the child. Until a while ago, I refused to consider him as a member of my bloodline.”
Arthan the second had been born with the perfect fusion between the human, the Dragon, and the Griffon bloodlines instead of a hybrid thanks to Thrud using the Madness on him while he was still in her womb.
It had allowed the child to take the best of the three life forces but at the same time, it made Valeron a product of Forbidden Magic.
Jormun was aware of that and grateful to Leegaain for referring to his spouse by her name instead of a slur.
“I didn’t side with Thrud, but with my son. I’m only here to protect Valeron and I took no part in his war. What made you change your mind about him?”
“Can we talk about this inside and in private?” Leegaain waved at the growing number of soldiers surrounding them.
“Depends. Do I have your word that this is just a courtesy visit and that you won’t exploit it to study the Golden Griffon?” Jormun asked.
“I promise you that I won’t search for a way to destroy this place and that I will share with no one anything I might discover by chance. I can’t turn off my Dragon Eyes and you know it.” The Guardian replied.
“Fair enough. It’s good to see you again, Dad.” The Emerald Dragon hugged his father and the two men patted each other on the back.
“Same. Where is the little rascal?” Jormun replied by snapping his fingers and Warping them in the nursery, where the baby was fast asleep.
On the one hand Valeron the Second was the descendant of the Mad King and potentially the future tyrant of the Griffon Kingdom. On the other hand, he was Leegaain’s flesh and blood.
“Of course.” Jormun gently lifted the child with Spirit Magic, handing him to his grandfather. “Can you tell me now what made you change your mind about my son?”
Leegaain rocked the baby, talking to him in Dragontongue while a mind link shared with Jormun the vow about protecting Lith’s child and the time he had spent with Kamila.
Valeron the Second instinctively shapeshifted into his Divine Beast form, cooing at Leegaain and burping small puffs of deep red Origin Flames.
‘He’s going to have a daughter? And Awakened in the womb at that?’ For a moment, Jormun was overwhelmed at the idea of their bloodlines merging in the future, but reality snapped him out of it.
