They could see the palace from a distance. It was dome like in structure and seemed to be made of many shards of glass, which protruted outwards.
Sol Regem descended well ahead of the palace. They walked towards the palace entrance. The dragonguard saw Sol Regem and greeted. When they saw Zym they realised who he was. They saw the moonshadow elf and thought nothing of it. When they noticed the human, their weapons were immediately drawn.
Sol Regem breathed a fire and stopped the elves from attacking. They hesitated a moment before one of them ran off. Soon a black dragon emerged. The dragon looked at the human and immediately became enraged, he roared and charged. Sol Regem stepped forward and collided with the black dragon.
"Sol Regem," the black dragon roared, the earth around them vibrated "What are you doing?"
"Calm your anger, Terra Voss. The human is with me," Sol Regem tried to placate the other dragon, "I have brought the Dragon Prince to see his mother"
Terra Voss was about to charge again, when he realised what Sol Regem had said. He blanked for a moment and took a close look. He remembered what Sol Tae had told him. Everyone present was looking at Zym. Being the center of attention suddenly made Zym very shy, he hid behind Rayla and Callum.
"Human," Terra Voss roared, "get away from the Dragon Prince." He prepared to charge again. Suddenly lightning danced across the clear sky, struck all around them. The black dragon froze and looked behind. There was a pale blue dragon at the entrance. It stood gazing at them a moment before its eyes went wide and it took to the air. It landed behind them all, with grace Callum didn't expect from a creature that size. A low melancholy roar emerged from the blue dragon, as lightning danced all around them. Callum could feel his skin tingling. It didn't hurt. Zym looked around the lightning, and suddenly felt very comfortable. The lightning gathered where the baby dragon was and enveloped him gently. The lightning gathered under Zym and lifted him off the ground and carried him to his mother. He felt very comfortable and soon nodded off. She walked into the palace not paying anyone else any mind as her lightning carried her child in a comfortable embrace while rocking the sleeping dragon gently.
Callum was flabbergasted to say the least. Rayla had never seen the lightning of the Dragon Queen before, who was said to be the most gifted being when it came to lightning, and considered herself blessed. She could brag for the rest of her life.
The black dragon didn't seem too interested in Callum anymore. He followed the Queen. Sol Regem gestured at Callum and Rayla to follow him. They followed close behind. Callum didn't want to give the dragonguard time to collect themselves and attack him.
The palace was really more of a humungous room. Callum marvelled at the way the crystals of the palace ceiling glistened. Actually he wasn't sure ceiling was the right word as there were no walls.
Sol Regem led them to a small corner, where they waited. Callum enquired what had just happened.
"She is passing on her lightning to her son," the dragon replied, "If Cae Ventus was here, he would have passed on his magic too.". When Callum asked who Cae Ventus was, the dragon replied that was the name of the Dragon King. He also added, the Dragon Queen is called Cae Fluae.
They waited for some time before a dragonguard came to see them. She escorted them to another area under the dome. She offered food to Rayla and Callum. She bowed to Sol Regem and left. They waited so long Callum and Rayla dozed off. They awoke to find Sol Regem gone. They considered leaving to find him, but given the hostility Callum incited amongst everyone here, they decided it might be better to stay put.
Sol Regem returned later. He looked at them and gestured them to follow. He led them to the Queen. Rayla greeted the Queen by placing her hand on her heart and her body glowed with a faint moon shine.
"My Queen," she began, "I have returned from the mission you gave us. I discovered that the humans had not destroyed your child but had stolen the egg. I was helped by the human princes, who helped recover the egg. Prince Callum returned with me to Xadia to right the wrong the humans had committed. On the way we could not protect the egg and it fell into icy water," she did not intend to hide anything. Those present gasped, Rayla continued, "Fortunately Prince Callum had in his possession a Sky Primal stone which contained a storm, we were able to hatch the Dragon Prince and save his life."
The entire time the Queen had not reacted. Callum almost thought she was apathetic about the whole situation. Lightning emerged from her.
"He calls himself Zym," the Queen said.
"Princ... I mean King Ezran named him as such," Rayla replied nervously, "They were very close, the young King and the Dragon Prince, inseparable," she laughed nervously.
The Queen's eyes narrowed. She looked like a raging storm about to erupt. She would think about a solution for the connection later. But the expression was gone as soon as it came. Rayla suddenly had a bad premonition.
"Tell me everything," the Queen commanded.
Rayla proceeded to recount the story. She left nothing secret, from her reluctance to kill the human patrol guard which almost jeopardised the mission to Callum's connection to magic. Those who heard about Callum were shocked.
"It is not an archanum," Sol Regem said to quell the worry and fear that was about to rise in the audience. He wished the elf had explained properly to begin with.
Once Rayla finished her story, the Queen remained quiet. After a while she looked at Callum.
"Why did you choose to save my son?" Rayla translated the Queen's words.
Callum hesitated. He felt his throat dry up. His legs felt wobbly. He remembered what his mother told him. He breathed and slowly calmed himself.
"My father, King Harrow, did a terrible thing. He led the humans to kill the Dragon King and stole the Dragon Prince. I cannot undo what my father has done, but I can return the Prince. I do not wish for war, " he said.
"If you did not wish for war, you shouldn't have started it" spat an elf. She wore a fancy headdress and had a staff atop which a small sun rotated freely. "You took the Dragon King's life, and expect no retaliation?" she mocked.
"You killed my father. He has paid for his mistake, with his life. There is no reason to waste more lives by meaninglessly going to war," Callum argued.
"What is the life of a human to the King of Dragons?" the elf sneered.
"You cannot compare the value of one life to another, all life is equal and precious," Callum rebutted.
The elf seemed surprised. "What do you know of our ways, human?" she snarled, ready to attack.
Sol Regem suddenly growled and stepped forward.
"This human is under my protection, those who wish to harm him must go through me," his whole body was covered with multicoloured fire.
Everyone was shocked, then they noticed the flame atop Callum's forehead which had diminished to near invisible, suddenly flare up with the same multicoloured flames which covered Sol Regem.
The Sunfire elf was shocked, "You pledged to him?" she asked, incredulous. The Queen seemed unperturbed and simply observed silently.
"His life is my life, if he dies so do I," Sol Regem said calmly.
The dragons and elves in the audience were shocked beyond measure.
"This human must be a dark mage," accused one.
"He has twisted the mind of Sol Regem," concluded another.
Sol Regem said nothing and simply waited. The audience did too for the Queen. Lightning emerged and she asked, "Why did you pledge to the human, Sol Regem?"
"Because I see hope in this human, hope for permanent peace between humans and Xadia." he explained, "I cannot allow that hope to be extinguished."
"Explain," the Queen commanded.
"Humans have always sought knowledge of magic. We observed them passively as they fell upon a darkness they could not escape from. Dark magic took hold of them and has not released them even today. Banishing them has not solved anything. Humans still perform dark magic on their side of the border. I propose we help humans escape from the clutches of dark magic. Long ago we knew of the second path humans could take to learn magic, it was a path that always resulted in the human mage's death. We let those precious few who sought to free humanity from their dependence on dark magic die off. If we had acted differently back then, there would be no dark magic today. We must find a way for humans to do magic without archani," Sol Regem said.
There was a moment of silence before the whole gallery exploded.
"Sol Regem have you gone completely mad," shouted Terra Voss, "you want to teach those vile creatures how to harness magic. Look at what they do with dark magic, they'll poison the primal sources with their evil," he shouted. The other dragons agreed.
The elves too seemed firmly opposed to the idea.
A red dragon, who Callum now realised was the dragon they had seen before said nothing and simply observed. Every so often it would look at Callum deeply.
"Its not even possible, we have tried ourselves. To touch the primal sources without an Archanum is to court death," spoke a Skywing elf, "it is thanks to our Archanum that the first researchers didn't perish but were only badly injured. Humans don't have an Archanum to protect them and would naturally die, there is no way to help them. Magical research on this had been very thorough and it concluded there is no way for any being to touch the primal sources safely without an archanum." the elf concluded.
"Callum, cast Aspiro," Sol Regem instructed. The audience members were surprised, but most of them sneered. They couldn't wait to see this human be torn apart by the magic.
Callum calmed himself. He thought of the Sky. He was slightly afraid of the magic and gathered as little as possible. As he had done before he, traced out the rune, spoke "Aspiro", and breathed a gentle breeze emerged from his mouth and blew across the palace.
There was silence. They were looking at him as if they expected him to explode. When he didn't they stared at him with even more determination. It felt to him like they thought they could cause him to spontaneously combust through their gaze.
"Impossible," shouted the Skywing elf.
"I'm aware of the research elves have done in the past," Sol Regem began, "they tried to touch other primal sources with their Archani. An archanum is meant to connect to a single primal source, none other. We have never tried to connect to the primal without Archani because we cannot comprehend such a thing. But this human, who was born without an Archanum couldn't imagine doing it any other way. He has accomplished something we never could, I suspect, because he is human."
The gallery was quiet now. They were thinking about the revelation and its consequences. Sol Regem decided to strike while the iron was hot.
"There is much we could learn from him. Imagine a day where we aren't bound by our archanum, but can touch and manipulate all primal magics as we wish," he paused for effect, "when a Sunfire elf can soar through the skies like a Skywing elf or a Startouched elf can bask in the moon like a Moonshadow elf. A day when we dragons can connect our magic to any source we like and live closer to each other in harmony, not isolated from each other for centuries at a time. The once separate primal sources may even be combined to create magic we have never seen in Xadia," Sol Regem said passionately, "if you could connect to another primal source, what if we combine combine the two sources, what kind of new magic might form from that? And why stop at two, we might even learn to control all six primal sources at once."
The audience was panting. They were blown away by the possibilities. The Skywing elf in particular looked the most passionate. Callum only had an inkling of what was said. Rayla however was similarly blown away.
Perhaps only the Queen noticed the smirk that had formed for a moment on Sol Regem's face, before it disappeared. She had to admit he made a very compelling case.
"And in return for his help in uncovering the mysteries of the primal, what does the human prince wish for in return?" the queen asked.
When Rayla translated, Callum immediately replied, "I wish for the war to be averted." Sol Regem was slightly annoyed at the boy's naivety.
"You must be mistaken Callum," spoke the dragon, "you returned the Dragon Prince and the elves took the life of the human king, there are no more grudges to be paid. There is no justified reason for war, thus there can be no war. You cannot ask for something that cannot be given, young mage." Sol Regem admonished.
The Queen's eyes narrowed and it took everything in Callum's power to not run away at that moment. Sol Regem looked unperturbed as if he hadn't noticed the Queen glaring at him.
"Well what does he want then, Sol Regem?" asked the Queen.
"Whatever methods we learn from him about safely connecting to magic must be shared with him, he must be provided with magical tutelage from experts of all primal sources, tomes on magic, food and lodging for the time he is to stay here, his safety in the time he is to live in Xadia, personal expenses, and the same freedom granted to every other inhabitant in Xadia," listed the crafty dragon. When they thought he'd finished, he added "would be a good start."
"Why don't we worship the ground he walks on while we're at it?" spoke an incensed elf.
"I don't recommend it, but if you wish to I wouldn't stop you," Sol Regem said nonchalantly. The elf grinded his teeth but said nothing.
"And is he allowed to teach his fellow humans, the ways to safely use magic when he returns to the human kingdoms?" asked the Queen.
There were quite a few elves and dragons who'd rather the human stayed in Xadia in perptuity.
"Of course," replied Sol Regem, "otherwise the whole thing is meaningless."
"I need to think about this," replied the Queen. Sol Regem nodded. She left with her advisors.
(Author's note: Sol Regem pushed up his glasses which flashed with light as he lawyered like no one had ever lawyered in Xadia before.
I think I'm going to stop here. I have to do other stuff, and this is as much time as I can spare on this project. I had plot threads planned for Aaravos and his schemes to escape the mirror, the league of dark mages of the pentarchy who were working for Aaravos who sacrifices them to further his own plans, plots to assassinate Callum after they figure out how to do magic without Archani, of course how archanum-free magic would work, The shadows released by Viren and the resulting war, Claudia's disillusionment with her father and dark magic, Soren's demise, etc, etc. I'm sure the real season 3 will be even better when it comes out in a few months, I might be back for season 4 speculation if I have anything interesting to write. Until then Sayonara. Thank you for reading and commenting, its been a blast)