Draconia Offline vol. 1

69.2. Loyalties - Part 2

When I'm walking the corridors again, Celestials are bowing and staring as usual, except now they wouldn't dare to touch me without my consent. It seems my telepathic scolding did the trick, but I hope I won't need to use it too often. I love my race and it's hard for me to express anything but that.

I got used to the fact that, for some reason, I deeply love all my subjects, even though I still don't know where it comes from. I doubt it's just because I'm the race ruler. Is it connected to my telepathy perhaps?

"Maybe a combination of factors?" Gotrid answers my unspoken question. "You're a race ruler AND an empath AND it's in your lore."

"Other race rules don't feel the same?" Erik gets curious.

"I don't think so," I shake my head. "Emi felt responsible for her pack and keeping her people in line, but I didn't perceive overwhelming love for every single Clawfang. Deminas keeps to himself in Russia and has little interest in the Dragonkin all over the world. As for Twyla and Werden, they focus on building their community, but they aren't set on every single Earthborn either."

"Well, other races were never keen on centralising," Liana points out. "Lore-wise, only Celestials live in one place, flocking around the embodiment of magic."

"You had a flying city ingame, right?" Erik asks. "What was it like?"

"Assiath was a marvel to behold," Liana says dreamingly. "To be honest, I really miss it. It was a safe haven for all Celestials and so beautiful. Living in a skyscraper is good enough, but nothing beats a flying city. And palace. How I miss the palace!"

"Sounds wonderful," Erik agrees. "Love, can you imagine us living in a real palace? Too bad it's just a fantasy."

I don't reply. The moment Liana mentioned Assiath, I got overcome with nostalgia all of a sudden. Our own city, flying in the sky. A safe place for my people and, possibly, more freedom for me? It does seem like a fantasy, but maybe in future... what if... yes, that could work... and we could try... crystals would provide energy... and level 50 transfigurations for levitation... and then also...

Gotrid freezes and makes me stop as well because we're holding hands.

"My love, you're seriously considering it?" he asks, his mouth open wide.

"Considering what?" Liana turns to us, confused. She moved to discuss another topic with Luviael because she thought our small talk was over.

"Well," I say very slowly, still thinking it through. "Theoretically, I mean purely magic-wise, if we had crystals big enough and thousands of them, then level 50 levitation spells should be able to hold pretty much anything. Even a city."

For a moment, I'm afraid that I said something incredibly stupid because now everyone freezes, including the guards and random Celestials we're passing.

"Okay, forget it," I say quickly. "I was just pondering that maybe..."

"My Emperor!" Gotrid cries and hugs me tight. "You think it's possible? Really?"

"Theoretically?" I repeat, a bit startled by everyone's reaction because I feel careful excitement and hope.

"Aefener, and if we had those resources?" Liana's eyes widen.

"Then... sure?" I shrug.

I don't know what they would like to hear. It's one thing to make a big crystal float and build a platform on it. But we're talking about thousands of crystals and thousands of platforms perfectly interlacing. Where would we even get so much material? Not even Liana would be able to finance building a whole city from the scratch.

"So you mean to tell us," Liana takes a deep breath. "That building Assiath in the real world is possible?"

"Yeah?" I shrug again. "If it's just a matter of enchanting crystals with a levitation spell, we can do it once we level up. However, it would take a tremendous amount of resources and that's the main problem."

"Dammit, Aefener," Liana is starting to go a bit crazy. "Do you even realise what you've just so casually said? That building Assiath isn't a dream anymore!"

"How can you be so confident about it, love?" Erik doesn't understand. "A flying city in the game is one thing, but in real life?"

"Confident?" that takes me aback. How indeed? "I just... know somehow?"

"If our embodiment of magic says it's possible, then it's possible," Gotrid grins. "Sorry, Erik, I know it goes against all logic, but it's exactly that."

"I just instinctively feel what's possible when it comes to Celestial magic," I try to explain, even though I don't fully understand it myself.

"Meteor superior?" Liana tries me.

"Not possible," I shake my head. "Conjuring a huge meteorite out of nothing? Nope."

"Lightning?" she tries again.

"Possible," I confirm. "Sorry, I don't know how I'm doing it."

"I believe you, love, it's just hard to digest for me," Erik caresses my left wing and gets anxious. He always does when he encounters something inherently Draconian that just eludes him.

I continue walking to the conference room, but the mood of my companions stays exalted. I suspect they won't let it go easily. Yes, building a flying city is theoretically possible, but the costs of such an endeavour would be astronomical and the project would take decades. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I don't want to give them false hopes.

"Your Majesty, Your Excellency, Royal Consorts," the Dragonkin artisan team is overjoyed to meet us. I recognise all of them from the recent battle of Prague—they are those over-zealous Dragonkin who were peeling the heligorr chitin instead of helping the injured. But I don't let dislike show on my face, I need to accept that some Dragonkin are like that.

Instead, I focus on their work. The samples are spread on the tables and I can tell the Dragonkin feel really proud about their achievements so far.

"They are lighter than I expected!" I weigh a prototype arm protector in my hands. "Not quite something a Celestial could wear, but lighter nonetheless."

"Heligorr chitin has unique properties," one of the artisans, a huge stout Dragonkin with grey scales and bent horns, explains proudly. "It's light, easy to bend, yet very firm. We could start mass-producing armour made of chitin right away, but we don't have enough material. One adult heligorr is enough for three sets only. We need tens of thousands."

"Oh, where's Haldis?" I realise they aren't here only now.

The Dragonkin are suddenly looking as if they ate something sour.

"Not part of our research team," the huge grey Dragonkin hisses irritably.

I stare at him for a moment, analysing his emotions. The Dragonkin perceive the world very differently from Celestials, but what I'm catching from him is obviously disgust. I have never really studied Dragonkin society in detail and Fefnir never had any problem with my sexuality, but... is it possible that the Dragonkin aren't keen on accepting other genders and sexual orientations?

"We would love to cooperate with Celestials from now on," the grey Dragonkin continues as if nothing happened. "Our craftsmanship is the best among all Draconian races, but enchanting pieces of armour would strengthen it tremendously."

"We'll gladly cooperate, of course," Liana answers for me because she notices I'm rather hesitant to deal with these Dragonkin.

The Dragonkin bow to me and leave, making sure they take everything with them. They came here to boast, not to share.

"That was quite... cringy," Erik comments, confused. "And did you notice how they reacted to Ryuu mentioning Haldis?"

I clutch my fists. I was kidding myself, Draconians aren't any better at acceptance than humans. We're so different, yet the same in certain aspects. I know that Fefnir and many other Dragonkin aren't like that, but these artisans are total bigots. Poor Haldis. First shunned by their human family, then rejected by their own race. No, I just won't have it!

"Luvi, can you contact Ingri and tell her to bring Haldis?" I ask my adjutant. "I wish to speak with them."