Well, here we are in October. To be honest, I'm finding it a little hard to believe that the year has flown by so quickly. So many things have happened so far and yet we still have so far to go before the year ends.

Now then, onto the story.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OR ANYONE IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE. ONLY MY OCS.

Chapter 54: An Aura of Light

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For Coralis, nothing in life could be better. The waters were warm, despite their proximity to Tellanos, a nation whose northern half suffered from extreme snowstorms this time of the year. His group was currently swimming about, using their natural sonar and bioluminescence to communicate and check the waters around the Allied fleet. Unlike the other dragons of the Dracocorps, sea dragons were able to hunt while on patrol.

He had caught himself a couple of large hundred pound tuna and an even larger shark. He was thoroughly sated and he took the time to allow the current to move him through the water. Occasionally, he caught a glimpse of another of his group somewhere in the distance.

Sea dragons, unlike their land brethren, had a unique series of glowing stripes along their bodies, similar to other creatures of the deep. Just by glancing at a set of stripes, Coralis could tell which dragon in his group was where. Far to his left, a series of eight broken stripes told him that Tidus, the youngest of his group, had strayed from his assigned area to pursue something the young one thought 'interesting'.

Coralis sent out a sonar pulse that returned and, to his experience, the wave told him that a school of fish, likely Tellanian red-belly trout, was nearby. A pulse from another dragon reached him and he heard an echo sounding like whales swimming at deeper levels. He made a note that once the patrol was over, if none of the young ones had caught much to eat, or if their airborne brethren were particularly famished after returning from battle, to swim to this deeper water with two of the veteran swimmers, likely Angelus and Pearali, and catch one of these great creatures.

Since the practice of whaling was outlawed over one hundred years ago, the numbers of these giants had been steadily on the rise. As a law of the sea, if a sea dragon decided to take a whale for prey, they were to harvest only one whale from the group, or pod, and that nothing from the body was to go to waste.

In fact, one of the terms for sea dragons allying with humans and their land-dwelling counterparts was in fact a complete stop to whaling. Whale meat, and for a matter of fact, the blubber, was important for younger sea dragons. The meat was packed with nutrition and the blubber helped them bolster their own to better handle the cold at deeper depths.

It was why their species of dragon nested, hatched, and spent the first twenty years of their lives in warm tropical waters.

This period of time was just long enough to put on enough insulating blubber to keep their own bodies warm while they explored the depths in search of prey or, if the humans contracted them to do so, sunken ships.

During the Imperial Age, some few hundred years ago by human time, a massive armada sank in the middle of the ocean in a week-long hurricane. Twenty ships, all carrying gold, silver, jewels, and other luxuries and trade goods were lost. It wasn't until the famous (to both humans and sea dragons) privateer Captain Geoffrey de Launces, of the warship Dauntless, first made contracts with them that they took a keen interest in salvaging human wrecks.

To them, it was a fair trade. Sea dragons absolutely adored things that shimmered and sparkled in the sea. In return for gold, silver, and other metals such as bronze, iron, steel, and brass, which would tarnish underwater, the sea dragons were allowed to keep the gemstones and the wrecks of wooden vessels were remade into artificial reefs, hunting grounds for young dragons to practice, and a myriad of other purposes.

It was the sea dragons who, along with Geoffrey de Launces, found the sunken treasure armada off the coast of a small island and, over the course of several months, raised, salvaged and transported the majority of the valuables. Coralis, was in fact, a descendant of one of those dragons.

Around his neck, he had a special collar that, within, was set three magnificent blue diamonds. It had been a gift from Geoffrey de Launces to his grandmother for thanks in not only salvaging the largest of the armada wrecks, but also for saving the Dauntless when they had suddenly come under fire from Callinar pirates. According to the tale, she had used her water element to create a whirlpool under each of the pirate ships, sinking each in a spectacular fashion.

He'd had tried to have the collar appraised by a human before but the man had simply gaped at the collar and never gave him a real estimate.

The feeling of satisfaction after an... 'overly' successful hunt, coupled with the warm waters of the tide, the gentle ebb and flow of the waves did well to make him entertain the thought of taking a slight doze. His eyes had just slid shut when a frantic sonar burst from Tidus jarred him awake.

Like human code, sea dragons used sonar pulses to communicate from long range and flashed their stripes for close range. The urgency of the pulse was clear. Coralis sent out his own pulse and felt the reverb from others doing the same. He detected Tidus, going deep and swimming fast. He also felt the sea move similar to when humans drop depth charges. Moments after he fired the pulse, it returned, broken in several places.

His stripes lit up with alarm and he fired off a burst of sonar telling the others to return to the dragon carrier.

Tidus had chased his lunch right into an enemy fleet of thirty or more vessels; and of those vessels, six were larger than any other ship Coralis had ever sensed.

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(On board RNV Leviathan)

If the spectacle hadn't been so rare, Galere, the youngest dragon with Gojani's group, would have been offended that for the first time since she hatched, no one was admiring her. Gojani had told her that her vanity was a weakness but to be honest she preferred to be visible. She liked having both human and dragon males nearly fall over themselves whenever she was near. It was almost as if the light from the sun reflected from her red and orange scales somehow hypnotized them. Most interesting to her were how the sea dragons absolutely gawked at her whenever they were near. The only one close to her age, Tidus, had been particularly enamored.

A few other dragons had been looking forward to seeing how their enemies, the Rotarian human soldiers, pilots, and the Griffon Corps behaved and reacted while they were on a Syllian vessel. More than one had actually wanted a fight to break out. However, the humans were too enamored with the young silver griffon baby before them to cause trouble and the few scuffles that did break out were quickly stopped by the griffons themselves. The participants then thoroughly chastised to the extent that even the dragons felt sympathy for the brawlers.

Upon his landing, Voss was greeted by both the ship doctor as well as the Dracocorps physician who, despite a lack of knowledge in the area, checked the young griffon for injuries. Voss was wisked away below decks to be checked as well as cleaned up. Later, when a griffon actually carrying a Griffon Corps physician arrived, the two set aside that they were former enemies and set about doing a complete physical upon the little one.

With the exception of her haggard appearance (which many griffons disapproved of) she was in perfect, or near perfect, health. Once the physicians were clear, a female griffon walked up and started to actually groom the young one much like a mother would brush a daughter's hair. A few times she used her beak to snip out a piece of matted fur and used her foreclaws with amazing dexterity and care to brush through the little one's mane and see that her fur was finally proper. Then she had set about on the feathers.

Once she was done, she had fallen back with her group and admired the youngling from afar, occasionally murmuring something to another.

A proper bath would have made her a proper showing but, as she was, preened, groomed, and cooing softly at every new thing she was seeing on the flight deck, it was clear to the Dracocorps that the Griffon Corps wasn't going to perform any hostile action. In fact, upon watching the little one for a while, many of the griffons and their human riders eventually broke down and began sobbing quietly. Rather than chastise their comrades, the Rotarian pilots, respectfully, averted their eyes.

Once Voss reemerged, dressed in his casual uniform and not a flight suit, he was warmly congradulated by his Rotarian comrades. Even Dieter and Wolff who, days before, had been the worst traitors in the world, were now being cheered for what they had done. The sight of young Werner, also appearing on deck, and running to his long lost little sister was enough to make even the stone-faced earth dragon Terros crack a smile and a little 'aww'.

Elder Tivars was among those stoic enough to speak with Voss and the ranking griffon and human members of the Griffon Corps. The discussion was obviously an important one. Voss was the first to speak.

"The little one needs a name." A male griffon turned, astonished to Tivars.

"A name?! Elder, with all due respect, what in the Abyss have you been calling her all this time? Youngling? Little One? She is a silver griffon! Her parents should have named her the moment she was hatched." Tivars sighed as the other griffons answered in affermative to the complaint.

"Aye, but the dread griffons saw to that before they had time to announce it to the colony. She was barely out of the egg before that bumbling Kavel, may his feathers turn to stone and his fur fall out, discovered her and nearly all but kissed that dread griffon female's tail end when he relayed what he had seen. There was no time to plan a naming ceremony."

The female griffon who had groomed and preened the little griffon, cast a kind eye towards Werner and muttered something in griffonspeak to him. To her astonishment, Werner nodded and said something back to her.

"I believe we have an answer. Werner's parents told him what they were naming his sister: Ayura." If there had been any other way to get every single griffon's attention, it would not have had the impact this statement had. Every griffon, and a few of their riders, went completely wide-eyed and still as stone. Tivars looked to Werner and then to the others and spoke in griffonspeak. Voss translated for those humans interested who did not speak the language.

"Ayura is griffonspeak for 'Aura'. It... It was the name of the Queen Mother, one of the brightest, noblest, and wisest of all silver griffons to ever take the Rotarian throne. To have a little one named after her... It is not only a high honor, but it is also a blessing." A Griffon Corps soldier nodded at that when he heard Voss.

"Indeed. However, now we have another problem. We have the silver griffon, essentially the heir to the throne. Yet, there has to be a coronation. Heirs were coronated upon their hatching and here we are without any sort of scripts or knowledge about such things. We can forgo the royal treasures since they have been lost since the fall of the empire but we absolutely must have a Rotarian high priest." The griffons all looked downcast until they heard someone clear their throat.

Every head turned and almost every jaw dropped. There, on the flight deck, stood Wolff, flightsuit gone, in its place was a cream-colored priest's robe, a red sash, and a copy of the sacred texts. Voss looked to his friend in confusion.

"Wolff, I thought you were no longer-" Wollf silenced him by raising his empty hand.

"That I was no longer part of the church? Well, yes and no. Yes, I have not attended the proper rites since Mechanos took power and drafted me into the military. No because, unlike others, I prefer to believe that everything I do has a purpose. Before the draft, I had finished my trials and my seclusion rites. I am now, and have always been, a fully ordained priest." He looked to Dieter and shrugged.

"I just haven't had reason to drag these old things out of my suitcase for a long time."

Almost immediately every man and woman to had said a profanity in his presence was silently muttering an embarrassed prayer of forgiveness. Even the griffons and dragons were taken aback. Wolff glanced at the griffons.

"Now, to be clear, the ancient rites say that any priest may perform the coronation ritual. A high priest just makes the event a little... flashier. Is this acceptable?"

Dumbfounded, the griffons, comically, nodded in unison as did their knights. Wolff turned to Josh.

"As ritual dictates, for a coronation, witnesses must be present. Captain, as you are also Syllian royalty, you count as a witness. We also need witnesses from Praetoria, Espan, Anozira, and Tullinar, if possible. The reason is that Rotiart is now divided. There are those who will remain loyal to Mechanos and those who will, once they hear of it, pledge their loyalty to our cause." He gazed around the deck, noting differences between Syllian and Rotarian uniforms.

"Our allies need to know that Rotiart no longer is a solid foe. We have gone from being three defectors to almost an entire brigade, counting the pilots, griffons, soldiers, and the army still ashore." Anne looked to him curiously.

"I also happen to know that someone on board has a camera. You know, one of those large cinema types? If it's not objectionable, I'd like to get him on deck to record the event." Wolff saw the griffons about to protest when he raised a hand to silence them.

"The recording of a coronation, generally, is not allowed. Yet, in a time when our homeland needs to know the truth, a recording shall prove extremely valuable. Those loyal few here are just the ones who overheard our exchanges on the radio since, apparently, we somehow crossed the frequencies, and heard we had found a silver griffon. There will be those who want to believe but they are still in range of Mechanos' propaganda machine." Josh snapped his fingers in realization.

"If we record this event, send it back to Syllia and make copies of it, and then distribute them all over Rotiart via air drop or Resistance, we can surely bring about a swift end to the war. There's only one problem. The proper equipment to copy this type of film properly without cutting important things out is in Launces, which, may I remind you, is still occupied." Wolff nodded solumnly.

"As the high priest where I was taught used to say: 'Never take more than one step at a time'. Let us film the event here, then, once we are secure in our lines, we can set about trying to free Launces. In the meantime, word of mouth and witness are our best tools. Soldiers on Rotarian broadcast channels can openly broadcast the coronation to anyone with a radio. Mechanos can do a lot of things but he surely cannot confiscate EVERY single radio in the nation." As the griffons nodded at the plan, the discussion was shattered by an alarm from the dragon carrier nearby and a series of lights from the bridge. Josh immediately became grim.

"Sea dragon coming aboard! Clear a spot!" No sooner had he said this than a long serpentine shape slid gracefully from the water. One of the dragons on deck gripped the sea dragon's foreclaws with his own and started pulling him up onto the deck. His expression was grave as Josh approached, recognizing him.

"Coralis, what happened?"

"While on patrol, one of the younger members of my group almost surfaced in the middle of a Rotarian fleet. It consists of no less than thirty ships and has six ships the size of which even I've never seen before." Kronan immedately approached, his face grim.

"Was he able to get a look at it?" Coralis, after recovering from the shock of seeing a Rotarian pilot, nodded.

"Aye, he said it was roughly the length of the Leviathan here. Probably about twice as wide, and looked to be armed with cannons that could blow a battlecruiser to kingdom come with a single broadside." Josh turned to Kronan.

"You know this vessel?" Kronan nodded.

"The RPS Titan and her five sister ships are part of a new battleship Mechanos originally designed for the Callinar Navy but cancelled the order when they surrendered. She's a Titan I-class battleship using the latest techniques in armaments, armor, propulsion, maneuverability, and many other factors. Mechanos bragged that it would take three of your William Greagor-class battleships three days of non-stop bombardment to sink even one of the Titans." He sighed.

"Plus, Dieter wouldn't have known this but he's also got backups for these vessels. The Titan II and Titan III-class superbattleships. These vessels have the same dimensions as the Titan I but are seriously overhauled. For example, it would take a cannon shell of roughly thirty inch diameter to even dent the armor of the Titan 3 and that's at nearly point bank range." Josh frowned.

"What about deck armor?" Kronan shook his head.

"They are bristling with enough anti-air weapons to equip six brigades. It's a gross overabundance but after losing not only the Whirlwind but also the Neu Horizont and the Gigantic, Mechanos isn't taking any chances. We'd basically need either a V1 or V2 rocket or a very powerful bomb..." Kronan suddenly looked up with shock.

"Now why didn't I think of it sooner?! My groups aircraft are equipped with special munitions. We were experimenting with a 'remote-guided bomb' when we broke loose to assist Voss." Josh looked confused.

"A remote guided bomb? How the hell does THAT work?" Kronan pointed to his plane.

"The F12m is equipped with short range radar capabilities for a night fighter, we also have a second seat for the operator. Now, that second man has a device that, upon arming and releasing of the weapon, he glides it down into the enemy ship and it blows up like a regular bomb... although, these are equipped with warheads capable of shredding a battleship. I believe it's a two-thousand pound payload charge." Josh nodded but then thought of something.

"What's the catch to them?" Kronan nodded, acknowledging his foresight.

"The trick is that the plane deploying the weapon MUST remain nearby otherwise the bomb will lose contact and simply drop. This in turn makes the plane rather vulnerable to attack. Likely, Mechanos has ordered two or three carriers to join the fleet as well. He is a man who takes risks but even he will not risk six battleships without proper air cover. We must also be ready as before we took off for our practice runs, the base commander was bragging that we may not even be needed as Mechanos was ordering the Olympia into the area. She's the Gigantic's sister ship." Josh paled.

"Is there a chance of getting them to surrender?" Kronan shook his head.

"Perhaps if Captain Lightoller was still in command we might have a chance but I have no idea what happened to him. I heard his brother was found out to be a Resistance operative and was hung as a traitor. The fallout from that had quite stained his name and his career. I doubt he was left in command of one of Mechanos' two remaining prize submarines." Josh turned back to Coralis.

"When will the fleet arrive?"

"Tomorrow, early at best."

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Alright everyone. So, for those of you unaware, I based the Rotarian Titan-class designs on the Japanese Yamato-class. Because my information was limited when I made the tech guide, I will go ahead and say that Syllia, Tellanos, and Praetoria will get another class of battleship.

I was thinking of the Bismarck-class for Syllia, the Hutten-class for Tellanos (mainly because I have absolutely NO idea where to find Russian warship types or photos), and the King George V and Lion-classes for Praetoria, and the Iowa-class for Tullinar. If you like these selections, please PM me, or review me, and let me know!

Also, I've decided to deploy the second of the three Olympia-class super subs. Can the allied fleet overcome the threat?

Next Chapter: The Titans of Rotiart Part 1