Sun Fueled Rage

by PhotonicCyclone

Two years after the Battle of the Storm Spire, Azymondias has taken on the role as King of the Dragons and together with Ezran, has been helping relations improve between the two halves of the continent. However, no change is without opposition, and trouble begins to brew when a certain Sun Dragon begins to take action against the growing unity. Alternate Universe: Older Zym

1. Building Bridges

The sky was dark as a cool morning air drifted throughout the environment, sending a chill through anybody outside. The morning dew accumulated on the grass and all over the Storm Spire. The moon hung over the area providing a faint pale glow. The stars were visible out on the clear night, flickering, providing a scenic display for those keen enough to catch it. A peaceful silence spread throughout the land, only occasionally being broken by the chirp of a cricket or the gusts of wind that riffled through the vegetation. Most people were still asleep. Who would be expected to be awake at this time after all?

The Storm Spire at this time, however, was not asleep.

At the summit of the spire, above the silent night, in the middle of a nest fashioned out of various types of herbs that almost gave the room its own glow, sat a light blue sky dragon, completely awake and aware. He had an annoyed frown on his face and constantly seemed to be on the edge of rolling his eyes. A large female sky dragon sat beside him, looking at him with a slightly amused expression as one dragonguard attempted to tie a braid into his mane.

The sky dragon took a long, annoyed deep breath and closed his eyes before he spoke. "I still don't see why I need this." He took a moment to let out a slight chuckle "It's not like I'm trying to go talk to some people that I've never met before, I basically know everyone there at this point and have had plenty of peace meetings with them where I didn't need to wear this."

The larger sky dragon beside him simply shook her head and let out a sigh. The wear of this conversation now evident on her face. A quick chuckle of her own was let out as she tried to explain again. "Azymondias, For an event as big as this I'm not going to let my King Of The Dragons go in not looking his best."

Azymondias's face scrunched up as he averted his eyes from his mother, finding the spire wall much more interesting. He didn't even supply the mercy of a warning to the dragonguard who was then met with a face full of dirt as they lost balance from his sudden head turn, pulled by the hair that they had gripped on to. Azymondias turned his head suddenly to glance at the accidental small scene of chaos that he had caused. A small smirk formed on his face as he assessed the damage. "Whoops" was all he could say, desperately trying to hold back laughter.

The dragonguard looked back up at him after he pulled his face out of the dirt. His face and uniform was stained and an unimpressed look was shown on his face.

Azymondias began to think to himself. As much as he hated to admit it, his mother was right. This was going to be more important than his typical visit to Katolis. Arguably the most important document in a long time was going to be signed today by both King Ezran and King Azymondias. After the long, grueling threat of war, peace was finally achieved when Azymondias, who was then only The Dragon Prince, was returned to his mother, Queen Zubeia. For the next two years, humanity and Xadia have been able to live in relative harmony, and relations began to steadily improve. The old times began to be denounced by almost everyone and were now referred to as "The Dark Days'' A time of almost universal suffering and hatred for everyone involved.

During the time of Zubeia's reign for the first one and a half years, Azymondias began going through a massive growth spurt and had completely blown up in not just size but also mental maturity.

Azymondias had a length of around 8 meters and had reached the maturity of a typical 16-year-old by the time his explosive growth spurt came to an end. Having not grown enough for a Dragon's deep, thundering, earth-shaking voice, his voice sounded indistinguishable from a typical adult male.

After the initial one and a half years under Queen Zubeia, it was decided that Azymondias had reached the age required to take the role of King of The Dragon's himself. Being the first coronation of a Dragon King that humans were actually invited to, it attracted a far greater audience than any previous Dragon King coronation. People from around the continent came to see the coronation of the Dragon whose primary motive was going to be continuing to break out of the old cycle and maintaining stable peace.

For the last 6 months since this coronation, Azymondias had been working together with Xadia's closest human kingdoms both in relations and physical distance: Katolis and Duren. This was done in an effort to help heal the scars of the past. The other three kingdoms were also opening up a lot more than they had at the start. However, Azymondias couldn't deny that he had slight favoritism towards working with Katolis since the one in charge of that kingdom, King Ezran, was still his best friend and would continue to be so. Their rather unique ability of a telepathic bond allowed for extremely easy communication between the two so that necessary actions were accomplished quickly and thus they would only really need to see each other in person for bigger, more formal events.

The continued peace talks and the cooperation between Xadia and Katolis finally created the decision between Azymondias and Ezran to form an official alliance between the two nations. The document sealing this alliance would be signed today in the throne room of the Katolis castle. This action would hopefully also coax the other nations to join in on the alliance and achieve the next step for the peaceful future.

Considering all of this, Azymondias decided to simply suck it up and take the style choice of a braid in his hair, even if he thought it would be completely unnecessary.

It was nice that his early morning preparations and the upcoming signing of the document were the only things that he had to worry about right now. Despite the new peace, there had been an uneasy atmosphere in Xadia early on. After the Battle of the Storm Spire, Viren's body went missing. People looked everywhere around the Storm Spire for the body but it was nowhere to be found. This had everyone on edge as people wondered whether or not he was alive, and if he would come back for some form of revenge.

Azymondias still shuddered when he thought of that man. A person who had been so eager to drain his entire life source when he was just a baby. He still remembered the feeling of this ordeal, it was as if his soul was slowly leaving his body. He had steadily lost feeling in limb after limb as his body began to slowly shut down. The absolute fear of knowing that your own essence was being stolen and your feeble attempts to get away weren't doing anything was a feeling that Azymondias wouldn't wish upon anybody.

Relief finally came when a member of the search party stepped into the Storm Spire one day a couple of weeks after Azymondias was returned, and declared that they had found Viren's body. Oddly enough though he didn't seem to have died from the fall. His body was in a cave, still intact when it should've been completely shattered. Descriptions of the body revealed him having a massive stab wound in his chest. The cave that they had found his body in was left in absolute carnage. Stones and rocks were displaced, as if they had been thrown about the cavern, Viren himself lay in an awkward position close to the back wall of the cave. Dried blood was covering his clothes. Next to him hanged the remains of what looked like a purple cocoon. It looked as if it had been violently torn apart, underneath it lay the remains of a body that seemed to be part bug, and part Startouch elf. The pieces of the bug body overlapped with the pieces of the Startouch elf body, forming a jumbled mess that made the body unrecognizable. Nobody else was in the cave with Viren. And Claudia was still unaccounted for.

Despite the initial shock of the evidence that Viren had most likely somehow survived the fall, the mysterious half-bug body that was found in the cave, and Claudia's location turning up to be inconclusive, the knowledge of Viren's death was just the news people needed to slow down and breathe for a while.

Azymondias was taken out of his thinking session by a sound emanating from the entrance of the spire. A familiar screeching noise that he had become well accustomed to now as a monarch.

The distinct screeching of a Hawk.

Azymondias glanced towards the open entrance of the spire and saw the silhouette of a blue, sparkling hawk quickly approaching. It stuck out like a sore thumb against the darkness of the outside. The hawk, once it had entered the spire, swooped down and landed directly in front of Azymondias and quickly dematerialized, leaving only a letter which bore the seal of Azymondias' border officers in its wake.

Azymondias looked at this letter with curiosity as one of the dragonguard who weren't currently busy trying to get a braid in the dragon's hair against his will, rushed to pick up the letter. As the dragonguard broke open the seal and began to read it, a disappointed frown materialized on his face.

"It's a report about a complaint from the border," the dragonguard said. "Sol Regem has caused more trouble."

That was it, the trigger that finally caused a loud sigh from Azymondias as he rolled his eyes.

"Of course he did," Azymondias snarled.

Sol Regem had been a massive pain in the backside to Zubeia during her last one and a half years in power and continued to be a massive pain to Azymondias for the past 6 months. Apparently, Sol Regem wasn't exactly happy with the idea of peace between Xadia and humanity and decided that he had to go and complain about it every time he got the chance to. Unfortunately, this usually meant harassing humans at the border who were just trying to cross over after the ban of humans from Xadia was lifted. Azymondias had already received countless complaints of a similar nature. On occasion, Ezran would even contact him to inform him of events that had occurred with Sol Regem. Due to all of these constant reports, Azymondias was beginning to approach the end of his patience.

"I guess I'm gonna do a quick pitstop on my way to Katolis and have a little chat with Regem," Azymondias said with a hint of annoyance and boredom in his voice.

Azymondias had been addressing Sol Regem with the nickname "Regem" for a while. The removal of the word "Sol" from the name was a deliberate omission. According to Azymondias, since Sol was another word for the sun, it was supposed to symbolize the shining, warm light that the sun produced. Azymondias, however, never saw any light in Sol Regem.

Zubeia looked at Azymondias. Her eyes had widened and her lips were curled into a frown. It was the characteristic look of a worried mother. "Azymondias, I ask you again to please be careful. Remember, he has already almost killed you once." A small tear began to roll down Zubeia's cheek. "My entire world was destroyed when I believed that you had been killed before, I don't want that to happen again. I'd much rather be your advisor and someone you can look on to for support rather than have to take power myself again." Zubeia said with a slight choke in her voice.

Azymondias looked at her sympathetically. He had been there, after all, to witness her grief when he first arrived in the spire. He remembered the comatose dragon queen that did not wake up even when he tried his hardest to get her to do so. The heavy air left by this comment and the mood of the spire pierced through Azymondias as his emotions began to feel heavy. The only thing that Azymondias could do at that moment was to comfort her and reassure her that he would be ok. Azymondias' lips curled up into a slight smile as he said "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Whether or not he was actually going to follow through with this remained to be seen. Azymondias didn't care how angry Sol Regem was, Azymondias still had authority over him. Since the incident that happened the first time he had met Sol Regem, a lot had changed. Sol Regem, while he acted like a brat most of the time and refused to accept the peace, hadn't been violent toward humans or anyone since the peace had begun. He had made threats, sure, but none that he had actually followed through with yet. Azymondias had also confronted Regem numerous times. These confrontations had never become violent in the past and mostly just consisted of them arguing. Azymondias was also more confident in his own ability to defend himself should worse come to worst.

Azymondias quickly realized that nobody was working on his hair anymore. Unfortunately, the braid had been completed. He let out a bothered sigh before saying.

"Alright, so, are we done here then?" Azymondias asked plainly.

Zubeia, with a smile and an exhale of air replied, "Yes, we're done, you can get going now."

Azymondias smiled. "Finally!" Azymondias exclaimed, "I'll see you tonight when I am finally able to take this thing off."

Zubeia simply shook her head and chuckled. "Oh, my sweet Azymondias. What am I going to do with you?"

Zubeia and Azymondias shared a quick nuzzle, an enjoyable moment of mother and son love which also had the slight side effect of proving to everyone that they had, in fact, not grown apart. No matter how disinterested Azymondias sometimes acted. Teenagers will be teenagers after all.

Azymondias slowly walked to the exterior of the spire. He smiled, filling his lungs with air and exhaling it slowly while closing his eyes. The cool morning wind was ruffling his mane. A faint orange glow was emanating from the horizon as the land around the spire began to slowly become brighter and brighter. The world around him was beginning to wake up. He thought of contacting Ezran to tell him that he was on his way but decided he would let the kid sleep. It would be a couple of hours till he was in Katolis anyway. Azymondias slowly spread his wings out in preparation for the flight ahead. His smile grew into one of heroism and determination as he took one last look into the horizon, then with a mighty flap of his wings, he became airborne and disappeared from view around the spire.

---

The sun was now already above the horizon by the time that Azymondias had reached Lux Aurea: The first pitstop that he was making on his way to Katolis. It was still a massive sight to take in as the huge city popped up over the horizon. The glowing Sunforge in the middle was now glowing brighter than it had in a long time. Its inhabitants were still busy, repairing all the damage that Viren's attack had left. This process was finally almost complete, and Lux Aurea was once again becoming the shining city in Xadia that it always was.

Azymondias wouldn't be here long. He was just here to quickly check up on the progress and to provide possible assistance if it was needed. As Azymondias approached the Sun Nexus, he began to engage in a dive, rapidly losing altitude. He smiled confidently as the wind from his rapid increase in speed began to hit his face like a brick. All that Azymondias heard in his ears was an extremely loud rushing noise as the ground grew bigger and the environment around him blurred.

During Azymondias' rapid descent, he had spotted that an elf he had never seen here before had caught sight of him and began to point in his direction with an alarmed expression on his face. Azymondias, as he got close to the ground, suddenly spread his wings. The air that was rushing towards him got caught, unable to move any further, dramatically increasing the resistance and slowing his wild descent down as he made a precise, albeit firm landing by the nexus.

The Sunfire elf that Azymondias had seen earlier who had been caught off guard by this ideal began to stutter as he spoke. "A-ah, greetings your majesty, what brings you here."

The others were behind him, snickering, trying to hold back laughter.

"Oh, you know, just checking up on things. Wanted to see how the Sunforge was coming along. From the looks of it, it's going along pretty well. Also, please do not call me 'your majesty' It's really not necessary with me," Azymondias responded.

The Sunforge was glowing significantly brighter since Azymondias had last seen it. Almost all the blackness that once swallowed it and turned the sky a blood-red was now gone. It was still glowing dimmer than it did normally however, displaying the minor amounts of corruption it still had left.

"Very well, should I send for Queen Janai?" asked the Sunfire elf who had now recovered from his mini heart attack.

"Yes, that would be a good idea, I just wanted to ask a couple of questions then I will be on my way."

The elf bowed and walked down the stairs leading away from the nexus. The other elves who were standing behind him couldn't hold it in anymore and began exploding in laughter, presumably at the expense of the person Azymondias had just startled. Azymondias, in response, gave them a cheeky smile and with a light chuckle said "Is he new here?"

One of the elves who had finished laughing spoke, "Indeed he is, just got the position here around a week ago." She began chuckling again. "We were all waiting for him to witness your unannounced visits for the first time," She stated while wiping a tear from her face.

Azymondias chuckled, "Cruel," was the only word that came out of his mouth.

A couple of minutes passed until the Sunfire elf returned with Queen Janai. She and Azymondias exchanged greetings and went right to the topic of the Sunforge. Azymondias asked her some questions about the Sunforge, standard questions, just to get a better idea of how well the city and the Nexus were doing. Finally, after a couple of minutes of questioning, when Azymondias was satisfied with his assessment, he began to part ways. He finished off by telling Janai that if Lux Aurea needed any more resources then they knew where to find him.

With that, Azymondias once again spread his wings, pushed off the ground, and departed into the clear day.

---

At the Katolis castle, morning preparations were already underway. The staff had already been up for quite some time, preparing everything they'd need for the celebration of the formation of a new alliance. The castle was in an organized pandemonium as the sun rose higher above the horizon. In the kitchens, the cooks were frantically cooking, trying to prepare everything they would need for their massive guest list. Others were running from one end of the castle to the next, setting up decorations and other necessities. Barius, down in the town, was hard at work making one of the biggest batches of jelly tarts that he had ever created in his life.

Through all of this chaos, it was a miracle that Callum and Ezran were still able to sleep. That sleep would not come for long however. Rayla being the light sleeper woke up almost immediately through all of this and grunted as she rubbed her eyes and had a glance at the light outside. Listening to the castle hard at work, she stepped out of bed. Once she had gotten ready for the day, she strode over to her door and immediately jumped back as she opened it. She was greeted by the blur of a man running directly past her room holding a tray. What a way to start the day. She thought to herself.

She entered the hallway and began to walk down to Callum's room. Everyone was already used to her presence in the castle. Her proven loyalty to protect Callum and Ezran plus the growing strength of the peace between the two halves of the continent and the impending signing of the alliance document meant that she had no trouble walking around the castle.

Upon reaching Callum's door she did a quick knock to alert him that she was coming in. She got no response. Slightly frustrated, she followed it up with another, slightly harder and faster knock. Still, there was no response from Callum's room.

Dammit Callum, if you're still asleep…

She sighed in frustration realizing that she was probably going to have to wake him up.

"I'm coming in, whether you like it or not." She said really quickly before gripping the door handle and turning it. As she suspected, Callum was completely passed out on the bed next to the door. What am I going to do with this Prince? She thought to herself as she walked over to the bed. She tapped his head, trying to summon him forth from the realm of unconsciousness.

"Up," she commanded.

All she got in response was a muffled sound from Callum grunting in his pillow as the bed began to creak from his movements. Rayla rolled her eyes, this prince would be such a hassle if she didn't love him. "Come on, Mr. almighty prince today's not a day to sleep through," she said.

Callum finally sat up, while rubbing his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I'm up." He said with a half-conscious voice in return. "Not everyone has a sleep schedule like you, you know?"

"Callum, it's 9:30 in the morning, as far as I'm aware this is a completely standard time for anyone to get up."

Callum blinked and then his face became flushed out of embarrassment. "Oh."

Rayla sighed, "It's no big deal I just got up as well anyway."

Rayla took a moment to consider something and then said. "Listen, you go get dressed, I'm going to go wake up Ez. If you're not awake yet then I doubt he is."

Callum chuckled in response. "That's probably a safe assumption."

As she exited the door she took one last look at Callum and gave him a cocky smile. "Ah, what would you two do without me?"

"Oh, well, you know me and Ez still fared quite well before we met you." Callum responded

"Shush." was all she said back before leaving Callums room and closing the door behind her.

Rayla navigated her way from Callum's room to the king's chambers. Every time she had to make this walk she sighed at the design. Why does this castle have to be so huge? She thought to herself. The king's chambers were located on the complete opposite end of the castle from Callum's room. Walking there required one to cross the outside courtyard and then climb the tower. As she got into the courtyard, the morning summer sun was already beginning to beat down on the land. It was the greatest example of picturesque weather that everyone always hoped for. Oh well, a little fresh air never hurt anyone she thought to herself.

Reaching Ezran's chambers, she found the normal Crownguard blocking the door which included, of course, Soren.

"Sorry Rayla, but I can't exactly let you pass right now, the king is still sleeping," Soren said with a smile on her face.

It took all the effort in the universe for Rayla not to implant her own face into her hand. Despite Soren not being that bad of a guy, he could still be quite the annoying one sometimes, even if it made him fun to hang around with.

"Aw, gee really? I had no idea," she said while rolling her eyes. "It's not like I was coming up here to wake him up or anything."

Soren began to chuckle nervously. "Ah, I see, well I guess you can go ahead," Soren said with a nervous smile on his face.

It didn't go too far beyond that. Rayla was one of the people that Ezran had permitted to enter his room during times like this. He trusted her more than enough to offer this kind of thing. As Soren moved aside, Rayla gently opened the massive double doors leading into the King's chambers and walked into the darkness. A warm smile came on her face as she entered the room.

As Rayla had predicted, Ezran was still asleep, in a bed that looked way too big for his size, cuddling with the glow toad which was emitting a faint light that traveled throughout the room which dimmed as it got further and further from its epicenter. Rayla slowly moved up to him and gently patted him on the head. "Wakey, Wakey," She said softly.

Surprisingly, Bait woke up first and delivered an annoyed groan while Ezran began to slowly shift, and groaned similarly to Callum. He finally glanced up at Rayla, his eyes half open and his hair in disarray. His groans suddenly came to a shocked yelp as Rayla opened the blinds letting a flood of sunlight into the room. "Rayla! I can do those myself!" Ezran half-whined.

"Well, I decided this would wake you up faster so I guess I stole from you the overbearing responsibility of opening the blinds."

"Mmm, I swear Rayla if you keep waking me up like this, I'm gonna cancel the alliance."

"You wouldn't." Said Rayla with a knowing smile. Rayla then began to ruffle Ezran's hair which evoked some giggles from the young king.

"Ok, I wouldn't, your right" Ezran chuckled.

"Anyways, I suggest you get ready, Zym is probably going to be here by 2:00 and you should be there because you're the one he's signing the document with and all. You don't want to keep the King of the Dragons waiting do you?"

"Knowing Zym, I doubt he'd care too much," Ezran said thoughtfully. "Plus, 2:00 is still a couple of hours away Rayla."

Rayla then thought to herself before saying "Well, you probably also have a lot of fun kingly preparations to do before he gets here."

Ezran's grunt in response told her all that she needed to know. She did feel sorry for him, he was only twelve after all and already was tasked with the responsibility of ruling the whole kingdom. To this day, she still felt shame for her part in that situation. Harrow had seemed like a great father, and her team had ripped him out of this world and had every intention of doing the same to Ezran. Those were days Rayla did not like to think about.

Rayla shook herself out of her train of thought and began walking out the door, leaving the King of Katolis to his business for the day.

As she walked out of the castle doors she once again took in the warm sun. The stellar weather was a sign of things to come. By the end of this day, Katolis and Xadia would officially be allies marking the very first human and Xadian alliance, with the other kingdoms hopefully soon to follow. The light was finally washing away the last of the Dark Days and she couldn't have been happier to be a part of it. Today was going to be a good day.

---

Zym was approaching the border, keeping his eyes out for someone very specific. Zym's second pitstop was his chat with Sol Regem. Zym had deduced that the most likely place Sol Regem would be hanging around was the border. Specifically the part of the breach that had been bridged over following the ending of the Dark Days. Where there was once an impassable canyon, now stood a grand stone bridge that stood over the breach, seeing regular traffic. He saw the glow of still-hot magma rising from the crack in the Earth in the distance. A continental scar, something very obviously completely unnatural. Born out of hatred and serving as a reminder of horrible times. Sol Regem seemed to have a habit of hanging around here based on what Zym had heard.

Sure enough, as Zym got closer he found the outline of an enormous yellow Sun Dragon. Zym also noticed something else. Sol Regem wasn't alone, he was looking down, talking to somebody below him. Talking wasn't the right word however. Although Zym wasn't able to make out what Sol Regem was saying, the tone of voice sounded very aggressive. As Zym pulled his eyes over to see who Sol Regem was talking to, he found what looked to be two humans. A mother and a child.

Zym grunted. Guess I'm catching him red-handed. He thought to himself as he began his descent.

Zym landed firmly in front of two humans, facing Sol Regem. The firm landing made his presence known to both parties including the blind dragon, and the "conversation" that had been ensuing came to a close. A couple of seconds of silence passed before Zym became the first one to speak. In a very annoyed and tired voice as if he was completely done with this already he looked up at the Sun Dragon and said "What is it now Regem?"

Sol Regem snarled, learning who had just landed in front of him. He slowly moved his head to the source of the noise till Sol Regem's face and Zym's face were mere meters apart. This did not phase Zym at all who continued looking at him with a tired expression. Sol Regem finally spoke, "These humans, cannot be trusted over the border Azymondias, I'm simply doing my duty and protecting Xadia."

Zym sighed, he glanced back at the human family who was just trying to cross the border. They were just now calming down from the terror of the gargantuan Sun Dragon speaking down to them. They didn't seem to have a lot with them so most likely their visit was going to be temporary. Tourism purposes probably. Zym's look turned to one of sympathy, especially for the child who was now hiding behind his mother with a fearful expression on his face. Zym's gaze then greeted Sol Regem again with the same old tired expression that he had before. "They seem pretty harmless to me," Zym replied. "Why exactly do you think they're untrustworthy? What crime have they committed? Existing?"

Sol Regem did not answer.

"You don't have a reason, do you? You just decided to harass these guys because they were human right?"

Sol Regem finally responded. "I have told you before, Azymondias humans cannot be trusted over the border."

"Oh, grow up Regem," Zym said sharply. Silencing Sol Regem as an expression of hatred grew on his face. Zym then got a mean-looking smile on his face and began to snicker. "This is embarrassing. I am a two-year-old dragon, and I have to tell a dragon who is over a thousand years older than me to grow up." Zym paused for a moment and then began to speak again. "Here is a fun fact about time, Regem. Time, as I'm pretty sure you know, moves, and when it moves, things change, and they change a lot. If you don't change with time, you will get left behind."

"If you had seen any of what I have seen within your lifetime Azymondias, you would share my viewpoint. Humanity is full of dark mages and beings that only desire harm for the people of Xadia," Sol Regem retorted.

Zym's eyes widened for a moment. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were just trying to protect innocent life," Zym said with a sarcastic tone and smile. "Let me go and inform the people of Elarion right now about how big of a fan you are of protecting the innocent." Zym made a motion like he was preparing to leave and then stopped, went into a mock thinking face, and then looked back up at Sol Regem with that same confident smile, completely sure in the words that he was about to deliver. "Oh wait, this is interesting. I don't seem to remember seeing Elarion on any Xadian map, much less seeing it in person." There was a moment of silence as Sol Regem's mouth went into a snarl and he began to growl subtly. Zym's sardonic smile only widened however. "Would you happen to know something about this Regem?"

Sol Regems growling became more intense, it seemed as if he was about to roar out in anger before he spoke with a tone of hatred and contempt. "The people of Elarion got what was coming to them. I had given that dark mage a chance to abandon the practice of dark magic and he refused."

Zym rolled his eyes and a tired expression began to form on his eyes again. "And so in response, you decide that it is a great idea to burn down an entire city filled with people who haven't committed any crime other than living out their daily lives. This seems like a very justified response to me," Zym stated. A bit more contempt forming in his sarcasm.

"I thought as someone who the humans had tried to use for dark magic, you would understand more. However, I was wrong, you're still young, naive, and foolish," Sol regem spat back.

Zym did the closest a dragon could do to raising an eyebrow and said, "Am I saying Viren was innocent? No, I'm not. The things that Viren did were horrible, but Regem-" Zym took a moment to sigh and shake his head before he went on. "-And I can't believe that I have to tell you this again, but not every human is a Viren." There was a moment of silence before he followed up with, "Honestly, it seems like we go over this every single time we meet. With you being and wise, I thought you would've gotten this through your stubborn, annoying head already."

Sol Regem, tracking the sound of Zym's voice slowly moved closer and closer to Zym until their faces were just inches apart and then he said in an almost whisper, uncommon for Sol Regem. "Just you wait, they may act innocent now. However, once the next blood moon rises in a couple of months, the humans will most certainly use it to invade, and everything I said will be proven."

Zym knew what the blood moon was. It was one of the lessons that he received from his mother. On certain days, the moon would become fully eclipsed, blood red, for an amount of time that varied each time it happened. During the period that the moon was red, dark magic could be used without any spell components. Dark magic spells that centered around the enchantment of a spell component would seemingly generate an artificial version of that component during the blood moon. It was uncertain as to why during this night dark magic was completely free, but the world worked in mysterious ways. The next blood moon was set to last for 80 minutes which made for 80 minutes of completely free dark magic usage. As for Zym, he honestly didn't know how to feel about it. Sure, it was very likely that people would perform dark magic on a blood moon. However, the fact that the blood moon completely removed the need for spell components didn't make it seem that bad. After all, wasn't the thing that was so bad about dark magic the killing of the magical creatures that it required? Without that, wasn't dark magic just another type of magic? Also, Zym doubted that an invasion of Xadia during a blood moon would be supported, even if the idea was brought up due to how well relations had been recently. Especially with people like Ezran on the throne of Katolis.

"Do you honestly think that the second the blood moon rises, humanity is just going to drop everything? All the progress humanity and us have made in the last two years, just to invade Xadia?" Zym paused to think for a moment. "I fail to see your logic Regem. What kind of motive would they have to invade Xadia during these times? I don't think you understand the fact that an invasion needs a motive." Zym took a moment to consider something and sighed. "If they do invade then it will be dealt with, but at the moment there is no sign that will lead to this happening, it just seems like more ideas that you're desperately trying to grasp at." Zym then finally closed off his speech on this topic with one more line. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder if a little school time would benefit you." Zym snickered, imagining Sol Regem in a classroom with a bunch of kids while the teacher taught them the basics of the world.

Sol Regem snarled, "Humans are lesser beings, incapable of anything other than blind hatred and destruction, they've never had anything productive or of value to bring to the world. They are born lacking the most basic abilities of magic. The only thing they have is the useless addition of a fifth finger."

Zym's sardonic smile returned in full force. "Oh gee, that statement about being incapable of anything other than blind hatred reminds me of someone else Regem." Sol Regem's snarl deepened as Zym went on. "Oh, and by the way, it turns out that humans can do primal magic, no thanks to you. I happen to know one who has that ability, it is one of the people that you tried to kill, along with me. And sure, humans may not be born with a connection, but hey, this allows them to choose the magic they want to specialize in which I'd say is a big advantage." Zym's smile turned into a full grin, showing his teeth as he said, "I find it interesting how you decide to come at the humans and call the fifth finger useless when you have that crown structure on your head which doesn't really serve any purpose other than to just give you extra drag while flying."

Zym then went into a mock realization and gasped before saying, "Hey wait, come to think of it, maybe that's why you're a slow flyer. You're not a very aerodynamic dragon Regem." Zym said as he began to snicker again.

That seemed to set off Sol Regem. He roared and spoke in a tone that was very close to yelling. Going on a rant that Zym had heard plenty of times before which could be summed up as Zym being an immature, uneducated, naive, and foolish dragon that would bring Xadia to its fiery end.

Zym let Sol Regem finish, not phased by any of the insults being hurled at him. Once Sol Regem had finally let it out of his system, Zym gave one last cruel and confident smile before muttering something to Sol Regem in draconic.

The family behind them, watching this whole event unfold had no idea what Zym had just said, but from the reaction of pure shock he got from Sol Regem, and the fact that Zym had said it in draconic instead of common as if he didn't want the others to hear it gave them a good idea of the nature of what he had just spouted to the Sun Dragon.

"To close off," Zym started. "Just because someone is human, elf, or dragon does not decide the type of person they are. There are good people on both sides and there are bad people on both sides. Xadia has its fair share of bad people as well." Zym paused for effect before stating, "You're living proof of that Regem."

Another silence began as nothing except for the occasional wind gust became audible. This went on for a couple of seconds before Zym said softly, "Now, get out of here Regem. Unlike you, I have somewhere important to be, and don't let me hear another report of this again."

Sol Regem snarled and growled but finally spread his wings and did as he was told but not before he muttered one last thing. "It's a shame Azymondias, I thought I would be able to save you before it was too late." With that, Sol Regem lifted himself in the air and flew out of sight.

Zym rolled his eyes. "I think we're mixed up on who needs saving here my friend," he muttered to himself before turning around to face the human family that had just witnessed this entire confrontation. They were still standing there, faces frozen, in awe of what had happened.

"Hey, I'm sorry you had to go through that, I promise that not all of us are like that. Regem is just a little…. Ugh. You know?" Zym said, a friendly smile on his face. He paused for a moment before asking, "Are you guys ok?"

The mother spoke up first "Y-yeah, you know that dragon really scared me and my son" she said with mild anger and frustration in her voice.

Zym looked at them sympathetically and then said "Yeah, I understand but he shouldn't bother you anymore."

Zym eyed the kid who was still hiding behind his mother. Poor guy, he thought to himself. He put on a warm and compassionate smile and talked in the most gentle tone he could as he addressed the kid. "Hey there, you don't have to worry, he's gone now, he can't hurt you."

The kid took a small step out from the safety of his mother but was still definitely cautious. The kid then spoke out in a very worried tone, "Y-you're not gonna eat us are you?" The kid asked with some genuine fear in his voice.

Zym was taken aback at first by this question but quickly regained himself and chuckled in response before saying "Nah, humans aren't really part of my diet plan." His tone then once again became a lot warmer and compassionate as he said "I'm not going to hurt you. Ok?"

The kid seemed to be easing up slightly but was still apprehensive. Zym eventually decided on something to hopefully make him see that there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Hey, I've got an idea, why don't we introduce ourselves? Have a proper introduction so you don't have to look at me as 'the big scary dragon that is standing in front of you.' I'll go first alright? My name is Azymondias but my friends just call me Zym," Zym said with a friendly tone and a bow.

Something had just clicked in the mother's head and the mother spoke up again. "Wait, Azymondias? You mean the Azymondias? King of the dragons?"

Zym looked at the mother with wide-eyed surprise for a second but then began to smile confidently. "The one and only," He replied.

"Oh, your majesty, I'm so sorry, I had no idea how it didn't click sooner I-" The mother had tried to continue but was immediately interrupted.

"Stop," Zym interjected. "You don't have to call me 'your majesty', in fact, I would prefer it if you don't. I'd much rather keep it casual." Zym stated.

"Yes, my apologies Azymondias. I've heard a lot about what you and King Ezran have been doing. I just wanted to say that I'm grateful for everything you both have done. You have been making the world a better place for everyone. Thank you for everything."

Zym smiled, "Well, there's no need to thank me, as you said King Ezran and a lot of people were behind it as well. I'm just another piece of the puzzle." Zym looked at the child again, "Now then, back to you there, what was your name?"

The kid looked unsure for a second but seemed to relax when his mother placed a hand on his shoulder. This dragon, unlike the first one he had encountered, had been so kind to him. If his mother trusted him then he guessed so should he as well. "I-I-my name is Calvus." The boy stated while stuttering. The boy followed up with, "Thank you for getting rid of that other dragon Azymondias. He was scary." Calvus grew an uncomfortable expression on his face as he began remembering the incident with Sol Regem.

Zym chuckled, "Yeah, you know I used to be scared of him when I was a small hatchling? So I can understand that he can be a little scary." Zym paused for a bit before stating, "Also, I think you made a mistake there buddy. I said my name was Azymondias but I also said my friends call me Zym."

The kids' faces lit up. "You mean you consider us-"

"Sure! Why not Calvus?"

Calvus cautiously approached Zym. As he was doing so, Zym got down to eye level with the kid. Smiling. Calvus then did the best hug he knew how to do with a dragon who was multiple times his size which more or less became hugging Zym's face. Zym, in response, closed his eyes and gently nuzzled against the boy while smiling. They stayed like this for a moment before separating.

---

Zym was now enroute to the castle of Katolis. His route took him over a border town with a moderate population. Sensing the opportunity Zym decided that he would put on a little show for the townspeople below him by pulling some stunts. This was not uncommon behavior for Zym, and the towns he did it over always enjoyed the spectacle.

Zym smiled and started off by going completely vertical, he felt his airspeed begin to decrease as it became harder and harder to provide momentum as he got higher and higher into the clouds. Zym stopped flapping. The airspeed flowing past his wings eventually became too low to support continued flight as he entered a fully intentional stall. He felt himself begin to spin faster and faster as he released all control. He felt the true feeling of freedom that he always craved when doing high-thrill flights like this. It was just him, and the air around him, playing in perfect harmony. And if Zym was able to make someone's day with the show this was creating? Even better. The air rushing past him became faster and faster as the ground began to quickly approach. After a few moments, Zym had reached terminal velocity. As the ground became closer, Zym finally began to take back into control of his falling body, he began to orient himself into a dive causing himself to fall faster but in a much more controlled fashion. As adrenaline shot through his body, his confident smile grew. Just as he was about to crash into the ground, bringing his show to an unfortunate end, he finally spread his wings and created a mighty flap as he oriented himself to pitch back up causing him to quickly gain altitude.

The rest of Zym's stunts became a variety of spins - some of which spinning so fast that the people would begin to wonder how Zym wasn't vomiting from dizziness - and flips in the sky. He then finished off his spectacle with a low, high-speed flyby of the town. At this point, he had the eyes of everyone on the ground. The townspeople began to applause in response to what they had just witnessed.

Two years ago this same display would definitely have a ballista arrow being fired at him. However, today, nobody batted an eye at dragons flying over the towns as it had become a common occurrence by this point. There was also the fact that most humans had warmed up completely to Zym. Out of everyone, he was the dragon that humans had trusted the most as they had known for a while that he had no ill intent towards them. It was he who had delivered the Xadian side of The Grand National Apology after all. The Grand National Apology was an event that took place shortly after King Azymondias was crowned King of the Dragons. To further improve relations, both sides delivered a formal apology to each other for the wrongs that they had committed and delivered a promise to move on. The apology not only improved relations by having both sides own up to their wrongs, but it also stood as a reminder that in The Dark Days, no side was truly good or evil and both sides had hurt each other in horrible ways.

It sprouted a good feeling in Zym, to have this kind of trust from people who would've been sworn enemies if nothing had changed. A trust he hoped would expand and spread further once the official document sealing the alliance between Xadia and Katolis was signed. With that in mind, Zym set his sights on the horizon as he began to fly closer and closer to the Katolis castle.

---

"Alright, That includes your examination Ezran" Iris concluded.

Iris was the castle's doctor. She had worked her way up over the years and was able to take the position to work in the castle pretty soon after Ezran had returned. Iris had dark brown hair which ended in a red gradient. She wore the standard white coat that all doctors in Katolis wore and also almost always wore red leggings and brown boots.

Iris had called Ezran in before Zym's arrival just to make sure that Ezran was in good health before the event. Wouldn't want Ezran suddenly getting sick right as the signing started after all.

"If there's nothing else that you would like to bring to my attention then I think you're all good to go," Iris said.

"Thank you, Iris, I- don't think there is anything else. Just nervous for everything I guess- I-don't think I've ever done anything this big before," replied Ezran as he grabbed bait and got up to leave.

"Well, I'm not a therapist so I can't do too much about that, but it is natural to be nervous for a time like this. Just remember you have a lot of great friends who will have your back through this, including the person that you are signing the document with. If it helps." Offered Iris.

"Yea, I guess. I think I could really go for some jelly tarts after this is all done." Said Ezran innocently with that childlike hopeful expression on his face as he walked out of the office.

As Ezran walked out the door to leave Iris's office he heard a quick call of good luck coming from behind him as he walked out into the hallway. He began to prepare for Zym's arrival, it was two hours into the afternoon and Zym was due to arrive. On top of that, he had also let Ezran know he was almost there which, of course, was the more firm confirmation. The others were already in the courtyard waiting, so he would be the last out. He began to hurry to the exit of the castle, making sure not to trip on his red robe which still seemed too big for him. Of all the things that could happen, he did not want to be late despite what he had said to Rayla earlier about how Zym probably wouldn't care if he was.

Ezran finally made it out of the castle and into the courtyard a couple of moments later where he was met with the castle guards, Opeli, Amaya and Gren who were now staying at the castle due the standing battalion no longer being needed as much at the border, some other bystanders, someone who was prepared to marshal Zym in for a landing, and of course Callum and Rayla, who embraced him in a hug as he stepped into heat of the sun.

"You're gonna do amazing Ez." Said Rayla.

Callum was quick to follow up, "Yeah, I can hardly believe it, my baby brother is all ready to sign alliance documents."

Amaya soon followed up with another crushing hug. A tear rolled down her cheek as she signed about how proud she was of her nephew while Gren translated for her.

Ezran smiled in response, the weight of the importance of the moment, and the simple fact that he was still a child expected to uphold all of these responsibilities was almost crushing to him. He didn't know what he'd do if he didn't have everyone around him. "Thanks guys," he stated with a smile of his own. A few moments went by before Ezran suddenly heard Zym's voice in his head.

"He's here," Ezran announced.

Everyone in the courtyard craned their next towards the sky and sure enough, a Sky Dragon, quickly approaching the castle, was spotted. The marshaller hurried to guide him in for the right landing spot as Zym began to descend. Everything seemed to be working well until the marshaller and gave the signal for Zym to slow down. Zym wasn't slowing down, he tried again to signal the dragon to slow down again but the dragon wasn't having it. As Zym rapidly approached the courtyard, the marshaller was almost flailing at this point trying to get him to stop and land, an expression of sheer panic on his face. Finally, he shrieked in terror and jumped to the side rolling on the floor as the dragon finally landed with a wide grin on his face.

Most people chuckled at the display while Opeli was mildly annoyed at the unprofessionalism.

"Uhh, did you forget how this whole marshaling thing worked? Or did you just do it to torture the poor guy?" Said Rayla as the marshaller began to slowly stand up from the courtyard floor, an unamused expression appeared on his face as he slowly dusted himself off.

"That is something that I shall never tell," Zym announced, a mischievous look on his face.

Callum turned to Rayla, "See, I keep telling you, you should stop hanging around Zym. Your personality has clearly rubbed off on him," said Callum before receiving a playful elbow to his side in response.

"Hey Zym!" exclaimed Ezran, with a look of joy on his face. Zym returned a confident smile, "Hey Ezran."

They formed an embrace of friendship the best they could which mostly just involved Ezran hugging Zym's neck while Zym took a spare claw and used it to return the hug.

Rayla chimed in again, "Nice braid Zym."

Zym turned his head over to Rayla, a smile still on his face "Shut up," he said in a calm, friendly, joking tone.

Rayla held her hands up in surrender in response.

Opeli, seemingly finally having gotten past the frustration of the initial display, put on a formal smile before walking up to Ezran and Zym as their embrace broke. "Welcome back King Azymondias, we are honored to be seeing you here again in Katolis," She stated as she bowed.

Zym knew that trying to get Opeli to talk informally was always going to be a losing battle so instead of trying, he just smiled. "Likewise," were the words that he offered up.

Callum,Ezran,Rayla and Zym and a few guards were hustled inside by Opeli soon after. The main event was still some time away so none of the spectators were here yet. As the group walked through the castle, Zym started the conversation.

"So, Ezran, how has everything been?" Zym asked.

Zym and Ezran had agreed not to talk too much about informal matters over the telepathic connection. They quickly found out the hard way that they then really quickly ran out of things to talk about when they saw each other in person.

"Ok? I think? I mean, I'm getting more and more used to being king now so I guess it's going well."

Zym chuckled in response, "Ah, well it's a similar story here" having only been a king for six months, he could definitely relate to what Ezran was saying.

Ezran still missed all the things he used to be able to do that he simply didn't have time for anymore, like run around the castle, eat jelly tarts all day, and explore this castle's hidden network of tunnels. Thinking of this though he suddenly remembered something.

"You wanna know something Zym?" Ezran asked

Zym hummed in the form of a question as a way of telling him to go on.

"I've been king for two years and I'm still finding new things about this castle. I just recently learned there is an entirely different network of tunnels for this castle that are underground instead of in the walls."

"Really," Zym said in a way that sounded like it was more of a thoughtful statement.

"Yeah, I can't explore them though, even if I had the time for it. They were sealed off a while ago. The animals who usually show me this stuff didn't even know they existed." Ezran said with a bit of a disappointment entering his face.

Callum suddenly spoke up, "You should've seen the throne room when these tunnels were mentioned for the first time, the entire castle staff was confused at why Ezran, given his past track record of exploring, and his status as king, was so bewildered that these tunnels were here, they thought he had known about them for a while now."

Ezran hid his face in his hands at the embarrassment. "Ughhh, please don't remind me of that," Ezran groaned.

Zym chuckled.

Ezran pulled his face out of his hands, took a deep breath, and then addressed Zym, eager to change the topic."Anyways, I heard you met with Queen Aanya in Duren, how did that go? I think she's nice." Said Ezran.

Zym smiled thoughtfully, "It went pretty well, she called me an 'interesting character' whatever that's supposed to mean.'"

The whole gang let out a chuckle for a moment. Zym began to think before speaking again, changing the topic. "Hey Callum, How's your magic coming along? It's been a while since I heard from that."

Callum seemed to light up at the prospect of talking about magic but also had a hint of disappointment on his face. "I mean, I haven't been learning many new things recently, I've been busy helping around here since I am needed a lot. And I don't have anybody to really learn anything from here."

Zym hummed thoughtfully. He thought for a moment before he spoke again, "I mean, if we have some time after all of this, I could teach you a few things."

Callum's face lit up again. "Really!? You'd do that!?"

"Sure! Why not? I can't demonstrate the usage of spells in front of you because dragons aren't really mages but I know a few that could be useful. Also, I could teach you some things about sky magic in general if you want."

Callum's face became giddy as he tried to contain his excitement. On top of the fact that he considered magic to be his calling and thus always got excited when talking about it, He really hadn't learned anything new in the past two years so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Rayla nudged Callum in the shoulder, "Well, look at you loud mage. Learning magic from none other than the King of the Dragons himself."

A couple more moments of small talk and conversation passed until they reached the room they were heading towards. A room fitted for important meetings like these. Opeli urged everyone inside and the doors shut behind them. The gang all got seated around a large table. Azymondias, not needing a chair, simply stood next to Ezran. Opeli was the first to speak up.

"Alright, before we begin I would like to congratulate everyone on the formation of the alliance. This is a major step in the path towards better times." Opeli paused for effect before she continued. "A few years ago, this peace would've been thought to be impossible, what you have been able to do is extraordinary and I can imagine there are a lot of thankful souls today because of this." Opeli paused again and took a deep breath, "That being said, there are still some issues and conflicts going on that make the peace unstable in some areas. While most people seem to be accepting of the new times there are still some people on both sides who won't accept change."

Zym's face tightened as he began thinking of a very specific individual. Ezran had an uncomfortable expression on his face as he began thinking as well.

Ezran spoke up, a very visible sad expression on his face. "We've gotten some reports that visitors from Xadia would occasionally be harassed by certain groups of people." He paused. "Although the other townspeople sometimes intervene to stop it, it keeps happening. I-I've tried to convince them through multiple speeches and educational measures but it keeps happening." Ezran's voice choked as he said "I-I don't know what to do anymore."

Zym looked at him sympathetically before saying, "Hey, Ezran, relax ok? None of that is your fault, there are just some people in this world who are stubborn and don't want change even when there is absolutely no reason not to. We'll figure it out." Zym thought for a moment and then chuckled "It's not like this issue doesn't exist on my side of things either. In fact, just recently before coming here, I had to stand up for some humans who were being harassed by our favorite Mr. Regem."

Opeli cleared her throat as she began to speak again. "This actually brings me to my next point, We've been getting increased reports of Sol Regem's harassment of humans as they cross the border." She paused for a moment. "Although we've never had any casualties, these events seem to be increasing in frequency and severity. Just before you arrived, we received reports about a few more incidents that were happening this morning. We decided to wait to discuss them until this meeting."

Zym face twisted into a slightly confused expression. A few more? Today? Zym's face hardened and looked extremely annoyed as he said with a sigh, "Alright, guess I'm going to have to have another chat with Regem." He said while rolling his eyes.

Ezran looked depressed again, "I'm sorry there is not much more I can do to help. I don't know what I'd be able to do here."

Zym made eye contact with Ezran while wearing a determined smile on his face. "Hey, don't worry about Regem ok? He's my business. You just go ahead and try your best to address the problems on your side, I'll handle Regem."

The meeting continued as they went over more topics and issues that could potentially harm the peace and possible solutions to the issues mentioned while deliberately avoiding the topic of dark magic. Dark magic was still a sensitive subject for both sides. Ezran and Zym feared that if they addressed it too early, the decision could open up old wounds. Therefore, they decided to put the topic on hold until the peace was more stable, but not for too long so that people on the Xadian side of the border wouldn't become aggravated. Eventually, the end goal was hopefully to reach some sort of compromise on the matter, something both sides would be able to accept.

---

The peace meeting concluded after about 2 hours and Opeli began to escort everyone to the throne room for the main event that the entire day had been building up to. Both Ezran and Zym felt both nervousness and excitement build up inside them as they slowly traversed the corridors while Rayla and Callum smiled at each other. Opeli who was in the front stopped right in front of the doors of the throne room and turned around to face the gang.

"Remember, smile and stay close together, you four are the symbol of peace." Opeli paused for a moment and said one more thing before turning around, "Wait here for the doors to open after I announce your arrival."

Opeli walked through the massive double doors. While the doors were open, the gang could see parts of the crowd that had gathered. The doors closed and they could hear Opeli behind them with the sound of cheers and clapping. The doors then opened in front of them.

"Oh, sweet glory," Zym murmured as he finally saw the full vast size of the crowd that had gathered. It was obviously smaller than the crowd that Zym had for his coronation but still. One often underestimated the number of people that the throne room could hold. The two slowly walked in followed by Callum and Rayla while the guards walked at the gang's sides as the cheers began to erupt louder and louder. The sound of clapping and cheering echoed through the room, bouncing its way off of every wall. The crowd was a mix of humans and elves all standing side by side and smiling. Like with Zym's coronation, some of the guests had traveled miles to see this event unfold. Lining the walls of the room, barely visible behind the crowd, were tables decked out with food and a variety of pastries all perfectly laid out and presented. Ahead of them, right in front of the throne lay a table with the document declaring the alliance between Katolis and Xadia resting on it. It was neatly unrolled with a line for Ezran's signature and a small thin metal plate right under that line where Azymondias would engrave his signature using lightning. Both Zym and Ezran had helped write this document together and had read it multiple times before this so they already knew what was on it. Now all that was left was to seal the deal.

It was discussed for a while how Azymondias would sign the document with the absence of hands to hold a quill pen or any writing tool with. One of the proposed solutions was for Zym to dip his claw into paint and then press it onto the document, almost like a handprint. However, it had eventually been decided that he would engrave his name on a steel plate using a lightning breath so that there would be a proper signature.

It had taken a lot of practice to get it right, after all, moving your head to write something properly isn't exactly an easy feat. After a long time however, Zym eventually got the hang of it and it was just simple muscle memory to him now.

As they approached the throne, Opeli then motioned for them to come to a stop and then signaled for the crowd to settle down. Slowly the eruption of cheers and claps quieted as a strong silence overtook the throne room. Opeli wore a formal speaker smile as she began to speak. "We have all gathered today to celebrate the end of war, the end of suffering, the end of hatred and the building of peace, the building of bridges, and the building of a union. Never in my life had I imagined that I would be standing here, giving this speech, to such a crowd. A crowd that stands together like friends, when just two years ago blood would be spilled if a crowd like this formed." There was a moment of silence before she continued. "And it is all thanks to four individuals'' She gestured to Callum, Ezran, Rayla, and Zym.

Bait groaned unhappily, "Five individuals," Ezran corrected, which drew a chuckle from the audience.

Opeli even got an amused smile this time and nodded, "They Had the strength to look past years of hatred, suffering, and death and made the choice to do what was right, it is to them that we owe this moment." The crowd erupted in cheers once again as the group looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

Once the cheering died down Opeli started again, "Without further delay, it is my honor to commence the signing of the treaty that will seal the union between the two nations. King Azymondias and King Ezran, please step forward."

Ezran and Zym looked at each other for a moment. Zym wore a confident and determined smile while Ezran had more of a childish, excited one. The two then stepped forward and approached the document, stopping a small distance in front of it.

Ezran went first stepping right in front of the table and grabbing the pen that was placed neatly next to the document. With a nervous hand, he dipped it in the ink and then guided the pen along the paper, signing his name on the first line. The crowd clapped and cheered as he put down the pen, Ezran sighed in relief, and walked back next to Zym.

Zym then stepped forward and approached the document. He took a moment to pause for effect until the throne room became engulfed with the sounds of cracking electricity and lighting as Zym proceeded to engrave his name into the steel plate. Precise bolts of lightning shooting out of his mouth as the beam glided across. Once Zym was finished, silence briefly overtook the throne room again as the sound of electric crackles died down and all that was heard was the simmering of the red hot, glowing name now engraved into the metal. The crowd once again erupted in applause and cheers followed by Zym going back and standing next to Ezran. The two then walked back to Callum and Rayla who were both beaming as the cheers of the crowds continued.

It was done, the document was signed and the alliance was sealed.

---

Shortly after the signing of the document. Festivities were well underway. The document had been cleaned up at this point and put into a secure location while everyone else began to socialize. A live musical performance began playing in the far end of the throne room. A group of human and elven teens were in the front corner of the throne room, near the entrance. Talking and laughing as they told each other stories from their lives and their home, getting to know their new allies. Callum and Rayla spent the festivities mostly just walking around with each other while occasionally speaking to others and sharing the occasional hug or kiss. They had danced once during the night, however it ended with Callum in complete red-faced embarrassment and Rayla in unstoppable chuckles as Callum struggled to master the art of dancing.

Ezran, naturally, was drawn to the jelly tarts and was glued to that station for the majority of the evening. He occasionally had to be thrown out of his jelly tart eating to shake hands and accept the congratulations of all the people wanting to speak to him however. Zym, naturally, received the same amount of formal attention. In fact, during the festivities, he had once practically leapt over to Ezran and begged him for help in a half-joking manner because of how people kept trying to be formal with him much to Ezran's amusement. Ezran, similarly to Zym preferred it when people spoke casually to him but eventually got used to it, as he concluded that some people just simply couldn't be swayed.

Ezran and Zym both stationed themselves near the jelly tarts a little while later after Ezran had practically begged Zym to finally try one of them with that puppy dog eye expression on his face. It seemed that even Zym couldn't stand up to those, he made a valiant effort but finally collapsed under the pressure and gulped one down with Ezran handing it to him.

"You know," Zym stated after swallowing the pastry.

"You're lucky that human food isn't poisonous to dragons like some of it may be to some other creatures. Or else you would've just been the one to seal my fate." He said with a smile.

Zym, noticing Ezran shift to an uncomfortable, fearful expression, quickly followed up, "Relax Ez, I'm not that irresponsible. I know what I can and can't eat."

Ezran's beaming expression returned and he asked excitedly, "So how are they? Do you like them?"

Zym, amused by his childlike interest responded, "They're good, I guess I can see why you like them so much."

The two continued to socialize eventually reaching the topic of and subsequently laughing again about an attempt that was made to disturb the peace two months ago. Somehow, someone managed to get a hold of Ezran and Zym's seals and used them to send forged threatening letters to both parties, declaring a fake war. Apparently whoever had done this had forgotten that Ezran and Zym could easily communicate with each other through their telepathic connection and thus never really sent each other letters. The connection had also made it really easy and fast to disprove the validity of what was sent, as all it took was a quick conversation where both sides affirmed that they didn't send anything. Regardless however, both their seals were quickly changed after the incident.

In the middle of the socializing, a Sunfire elf group had walked up to Ezran. Their leader seemed to be a tall man who wore the typical Sunfire markings on his face. His golden armor glistened as he walked. There were five others in the group, with 3 of them being females, and 2 of them being males. The entire group had friendly, beaming smiles on their faces as the leader spoke. "Greetings your majesty. We apologize for the interruption but we wanted to ask something of you. My name is Pyrrhos. Before I say anything else I must congratulate you for the alliance you and King Azymondias have forged."

Ezran bowed in response while Zym smiled and nodded his head.

"Nice to meet you Pyrrhos." Ezran began. "Thank you for your kind words."

Zym snickered silently, he doubted that he'd ever get used to formal Ezran, especially considering how informal their own conversations were.

Pyrrhos began to speak again, "We understand that you are probably busy right now King Ezran, but if it's not too much to ask we would love to see more of the castle here. This is our first time on this side of the border and we have great interest in seeing the landmarks on the other side."

Zym and Ezran glanced at each other for a moment, both taken aback by the sudden request. However, after a moment Ezran spoke up again and smiled. "Of course! I would love to help show you around!"

"Excellent." He replied, smile growing wider on his face

"Hey Zym, could you let the others know? In case they wonder where I am."

Zym smiled, "No problem Ez. I'll tell 'em"

Zym watched as Ezran and the group of six Sunfire elves headed out of the doors to the throne room and the doors closed behind them. He figured this would allow him to teach some magic to Callum once he was done informing everyone of Ezran's whereabouts.

---

The air outside cooled as the sun began its descent towards the horizon. Just outside the castle, in the woods, stood Callum and Zym. The former experiencing excitement building up inside him. "So, uh, now that I'm learning some magic from you, should I call you Master Zym? Or…" Callum said.

Zym laughed in response. He hadn't expected this to be the first thing to come out of Callum's mouth once they began and found it quite hilarious. "No, No. Just Zym is still fine," Zym said with laughter dying down. "Now then, let's begin," Zym continued.

There was a brief pause. Zym was actually unsure of where to begin. After a bit of thinking, he decided it was a good idea to start with just getting a reminder of the level that Callum was at with sky magic thus getting a better idea of where to begin with him. "You know what Callum? To start, why don't you just do some magic in front of me? I need to see where you are with this whole thing."

Callum raised an eyebrow in response, "Really, so just any spell? Or, uh, should I do multiple?"

Zym hummed thoughtfully before responding, "I guess just do what you can."

"Alright," Callum said, complying.

Zym watched with focused interest as Callum performed Aspiro, Fulminis, Ventus Spiralis, and Manus Pluma Volantis in front of him. It seemed that he knew the spells well but had essentially skipped a step when learning sky magic. It was a basic step that anyone connected to the sky arcanum learned early on. Although, due to Callum's different situation he wasn't surprised that he never picked it up. "Alright, I can see what we need to work on," Zym stated. "It seems you know the spells, but you are not using the magic efficiently."

Callum raised an eyebrow and got a slightly confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

Zym chuckled, "You're magic could be quite a bit more powerful if you use the arcanum's power source, in this case, the sky, to its fullest potential." He thought for a moment on how to best state his next words, "There is a lot more energy in the sky than you are taking advantage of even on a relatively calm day like this. An arcanum connection is more than just connecting to the arcanum and then doing magic. You need to fully become in tune with it. The air around you can only help you as much as you let it."

Callum thought for a moment, "So, I need to strengthen my connection to the sky arcanum?"

Zym shook his head, "Well, no, not exactly, it's more like, use more of the connection you already have. Take Aspiro for example. Do that spell again for me, but slowly, and really try to pay attention to the environment around you as you do it and tell me what you feel."

Callum closed his eyes as he prepared the Aspiro spell. Slowly but surely he began to trace the rune with his finger like he always did. Similarly to the first time he did magic after connecting to the sky arcanum, he began to notice the sky reacting to what he was doing. The wind curved around him, spirals that ruffled his hair. He paid close attention to it this time. The first time he felt this, he didn't think much of it, but now he saw that there may be something deeper going on as he felt the energy in the air whizzing past him. He then finished the spell by blowing as hard as he could causing the vortex of wind to happen as usual and closing the spell. After he was done with the spell he looked at Zym with a hint of shock and disbelief and a lot of excitement while Zym merely smiled at him.

"I felt it! I felt the energy in the air!" Callum said, flabbergasted how he never took note of this.

"That was all energy that you didn't use." Zym paused for a moment before continuing, "Even on a clear day, you felt that there was much more energy than you were using. This is part of the reason why creatures connected to the Sky Arcanum get stronger during a storm, there is so much more energy in the air that you usually wouldn't be able to use if you didn't know about it."

"So, uh, how exactly do I use it?" Callum responded.

Zym thought for a moment, "Well, that's a difficult thing to explain. I guess… I guess the best way I can put it is you need to really be in tune with the environment around you. You've already completed step one which is knowing that the energy is there, now you have to grab it. Imagine the sky as something that's alive, and that you two are communicating. It sounds weird I know, but try to somehow get the energy that is whizzing past you to focus into you. It's almost like asking the sky to lend you some more energy."

Callum hummed for a moment and then proceeded to try again. This time really trying to get in tune with the air around him and to communicate with it. He tried desperately to funnel the energy towards him as it whizzed past him. For a moment it seemed like it may work, some of the energy seemed to be slightly diverting its original course. However, a short while later, that energy stopped and continued to ignore him. Frustrated, Callum closed the spell and Zym eyed him with interest.

"I think I had it for a moment, but I lost it. The air seemed to respond to me for a short while, but it never truly funneled into me." Callum said.

Zym gave a short hum in response as if he was thinking before he spoke again. "Alright, well try this. To get more in tune with the sky arcanum, you need to get more in tune with the air around you. Try breathing deeply and evenly. Really try to feel the air and the energy in the air entering your lungs and then being cast back out. Also, try to pay attention to the energy around you even before you start the spell, this can help you become more in tune with it. Also maybe try going back to the fundamentals of the sky arcanum, what it all means for example."

Callum closed his eyes in preparation for another spell. Before he traced the rune for Aspiro, he did what he had done the first time he ever did sky magic. He stopped and felt the air around him, idling, barely moving. He breathed and felt the air filling his lungs and then felt it leave as he exhaled. As he began to trace the rune he felt how the dead air all of the sudden came to life and began to move and shift irregularly. Just like before, it began to whiz past him as he drew the rune.

Breathe in.

Some of the active air entered his lungs. He felt as it collided with the inner workings of his body.

Breathe out.

The active air was pushed back out of his mouth, he felt the lack of energy as it left. He began to try and reach for the energy again, trying his best to funnel it towards him. It was reacting a little more this time, almost fully diverting off of its original course towards him. He began to think back to the first time he had uncovered the secret to the sky arcanum.

The whole world is like a giant primal stone…

He imagined the walls of the stone all around him.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

He imagined the endless motions of the captured storm swirling around him, twisting and shifting. In the middle of everything, was where he stood.

I'm inside sky magic…

He tried calling out to it again, the magic that moved all around him at all hours of the day. The ever-present force that most people never took notice of, the magic that he and everyone else was inside of. He began to feel the energy around him shift more and more. Eventually, some of it finally went off course and headed straight for him.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

The energy he was breathing in began to interact with his body, charging it as it travelled through. Some of the other energy was being absorbed straight into him. The rune began to glow brighter than it did before as Zym's smile grew. Callum tried to maintain his focus, but eventually, he couldn't do it anymore, it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate and still, only a little bit of the sky magic was being absorbed. Before Callum lost touch with everything completely, he finally closed the spell producing a slightly stronger wind gust than what had been done before.

Zym was the first one to speak after this. "Nice." was all he said.

"Really? Because I really only got a little of it to funnel into me, not nearly as much as I would've hoped." Callum said slightly disappointed

"It's a start," Zym replied "You may have only gotten a little bit, but remember that this was only your second try. The important thing is that you know the technique now. Keep trying and keep practicing, eventually, you won't even have to think about any of this. It will just come to you naturally, and you can start creating spells at the speed you used to. That will take time and practice to do, however." Zym continued.

They practiced this a few more times, each time with Callum being able to gain only small amounts of primal energy before losing his focus and closing the spell. The sun was on its way down below the horizon once Zym stopped him. "We can take a break from this if you want to, this could get quite exhausting after a while."

Callum sighed. "Alright, so do you have anything else to teach me, or was that it?"

"Well, there is one more thing that I could teach you in the interest of time. I noticed in the spells you performed, you never did the rain spell." Zym replied.

"Oh, well..." Callum stammered "I - Don't know that one yet. I-is that bad?" Callum continued.

"No, not at all, it's just one of the spells you should learn. It's one of the basics next to Aspiro. I obviously can't demonstrate the spell myself though, since again, dragons aren't mages, but I do know the rune and incantation for it."

Zym began to draw the rune into the dirt with his claw. The top of it resembled the top of the Fulminis rune just with it being a lot smoother and curvy, looking more like a cloud while the bottom appeared to be three long raindrops. The leftmost one being the shortest and then getting longer as they went to the right. Each raindrop was curved with an opening of the curve facing to the left. Callum began to draw the rune into his sketchbook so that he wouldn't forget it.

"The incantation for this is 'Pluviam' which is the draconic word for rain. Why don't you try it out real quick?"

"Uh…" Callum said, a little concerned. "Is this gonna soak us?"

Zym chuckled in response. "Not exactly, you're really just summoning a small rain cloud which will drizzle a bit, you may get a few drops on you but that's really all it is considering it won't materialize right on top of you. You're not actually making it rain. As much as some people believe the opposite, Sky mages or dragons can't actually control the weather. They can come pretty close or maybe give off the impression that they are, but at the end of the day the actual weather doesn't change, it simply does its own thing." There was a moment of silence before Zym spoke again. "This is why you can't cast a rain or a storm spell to give yourself more primal energy, you're using primal energy to cast it and the amount of actual primal energy in the air stays the same." Zym laughed to himself as he considered the prospect of being able to fully control the weather. "Trust me, if that worked, Sky mages would have been using it for a long time already to give themselves some extra power when they needed it and the sky would be full of storms basically 24/7."

"Ah, alright," Callum said as he began to trace the rune.

As he said the incantation a small rain cloud materialized in the sky, slightly ahead of them and quite a bit lower than clouds usually sat. A moment passed before drops of water began to fall from the cloud, slowly but surely. Callum looked at the cloud with a satisfied smile.

A short while passed before the cloud fizzled out, "Now, don't forget, if you optimize the magic usage as you learned earlier you could make that rain stronger and last longer." Zym said.

The practice ended after a few more attempts to get used to the rain spell and to strengthen it using the techniques that Zym had taught Callum earlier. At this point, the sun was already well below the horizon and the two couldn't even see the rain cloud once they had conjured it anymore so they decided to head back to the castle. Everyone was probably waiting for them at this point anyway.

---

The festivities continued well into the night, containing events like a bonfire in the courtyard where more dancing and socializing occured. However, at this point, most people who could drink were completely drunk and knew that they would feel it in the morning. Eventually however, Zym had to finally split from the group, citing that he needed to get home in a timely manner. There was a long and warm moment as everyone said goodbye to Zym and bid him safe travels. Before leaving however, Zym stopped to talk to Ezran for a brief moment.

"Hey Ez, you know, I just remembered that you haven't really seen Xadia yet. Right?"

Ezran looked slightly confused. It was true, really the only part he had seen of Xadia was the Storm Spire since he mostly missed out on the Xadia part of the journey when returning Zym to his mother. However, he didn't know why Zym was bringing this up now. "Uhhh, yeah? I guess," Ezran responded.

Zym smiled with his signature determined smile and said "Next time you visit me, for whatever reason, if we have any free time, remind me to take you on a flight around the different landmarks."

Ezran looked at Zym with childish excitement "Yes! Thank you! That would be amazing!"

The conversation continued, the air ignited with Ezran's childlike excitement. Finally, the two shared a tearful goodbye. This definitely wouldn't be the last time they saw each other, but goodbyes were always hard regardless. With the goodbyes out of the way Zym spread his wings and departed East. With everyone waving and cheering behind him, he disappeared into the blackness of the night.

---

As much as Zym wanted to head straight home and turn in for the night (or day, as it would likely be when he got back) he remembered the conversation about Sol Regem that he had at the castle before the alliance document was signed. Zym had enough of it at this point. He wouldn't let Sol Regem's drama ruin the alliance that he had set up.

After a little while, looking around the border between the human kingdoms and Xadia he finally found the yellow Sun Dragon, sleeping. Zym landed right in front of him and spat Sol Regem's nickname, making his presence known. A low growl emanated from the dragon as he slowly rose from his slumber. He stretched his wings as he slowly began to stand. He took a deep breath, turned his head to the direction that Zym's voice was coming from, and then, he began to smile.

"Ah, greetings Azymondias. I must say your visit is unexpected at this hour. What can I do for you." Sol Regem said calmly.

"Uh-" Zym stuttered in response. Of all the things that he was expecting, this was not one of them. For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence in the pitch-black night, nothing but the occasional whoosh of wind through the canyon. Once Zym had finally gathered himself he continued. "You should know why I'm here Regem, I got word of what you did today it seems that you were quite busy today at the border, before I spoke to you."

Sol Regem's smile faded for a moment as he said, "Ah yes, my dearest apologies Azymondias. It appears I lost myself during that. How did the signing of the document with your pets go anyway?"

Zym snarled in response, "You, Will not, refer to my friends, as pets Sol Regem. I'm sorry I have to do this but for the safety and security of the alliance and the people who are entering Xadia, you are hereby banned from ever coming near the border. My officers will be instructed to inform me if they ever see you near here in the future."

Zym expected this to be the trigger to finally cause Sol Regem to lash out and start screaming at him in rage. Going into his typical speech about how Zym was going to cause the downfall of Xadia and everything that Zym had already heard a thousand times before.

But that didn't happen.

Sol Regem merely nodded. "I guess, I have no choice."

He then paused and before flying away he grinned and said one last thing, "Good luck with the alliance, Azymondias." He spread his wings and flew off, heading straight East, directly away from the border, following Zym's instructions.

Zym sat there for a moment, in complete stunned silence. He didn't know what to make of the interaction that just happened. He figured that he would discuss it with his mother once he got home. For now, he shook it off and began to continue his flight towards the Storm Spire. Right as he took off though, he noticed something in his peripheral vision. It was, what looked like a figure, standing in the distance, wearing a mask, watching him. He couldn't get any more details about it in the split second that he saw it though. Zym quickly stopped midair and looked for what he had seen, but there was nothing there. Whatever was there had either left, or Zym was just sleep-deprived and had imagined that whole thing. Either way, he had to bring this up as well when he arrived back at the Storm Spire.

---

The following day was quiet. It wasn't really until sunrise when the night's festivities at the castle finally concluded and the final person left. Everyone in the castle during the day walked around with distinct drowsiness except for some of the guards who had turned in early to make sure that they would still be fit for duty. The elves who had attended were all on their way back home. Zym had made it back to the spire in one peace and was finally able to take the braid out of his hair. Upon discussing his odd encounter with Sol Regem and the person in the mask, it was agreed that an investigation should be launched into both.

Search teams began searching Xadia for the person in the mask that Zym had seen but no sign of them was found on day one. The investigation into Sol Regem was turning up with similar day one results. Sol Regem was interviewed and was cooperative during the process. Those interviews didn't reveal anything however, and the investigation was currently in the process of being furthered for the following days.

Callum, Ezran and Zym were all unable to sleep throughout the day due to their duties and Rayla stayed awake with Callum and Ezran in the castle for support. That night, they all turned in early to be able to recover from the day before. They all slept as the sun crept below the horizon and the blackness of night returned. Darkness capable of concealing anything that anybody did if they played their cards right.

---

As the sun rose higher over the horizon the following morning, almost approaching noon. Rayla was awoken by the frantic turning of her door handle. "Rayla! Rayla! Come on! wake up!" A frantic and panicking Callum said.

At the sound of Callum's panic, Rayla jolted awake instantly and was met by a worrying sight of Callum. He was sweating and breathing rapidly. Rayla stood up and put her hands on Callum's shoulders and gave him a calm but worried look in his eyes to try and steady him. "Woah, Woah, Woah. Relax Callum. What's going on?"

"Rayla-" Callum said while a tear rolled down his cheek. He coughed and took a deep breath as he calmed himself down before saying, "Rayla. Ezran is missing."