Kingdoms of Ohm: The Lonely Dragon #1 ✓

These Wrathful Elders...

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This was the worst thing that could've happened.

Elderly dragons were yelling aloud like hatchlings without leashes, flapping their wings in annoyance when their disapproval was imminent. Here I was, a lonesome, armored guard, standing mere feet away from the king on his left, his queen Vicaya on the right, and while the two of them were mostly strained from this constant backlash neither of them said a word. Xikori stared at the ground, shaking his head as the elders shrieked and screamed over his thoughts, all while Vicaya nibbled her cheek, awaiting their eventual pause.

Even my own soul was being tormented by this endless agitation.

After a couple long minutes passed, Xikori stood up, lumbering over to me and tapped the edges of my metallic horn with his massive wing.

"Do you mind if you could just-?"

"Not at all, your majesty," I nodded, standing up quickly. I didn't hesitate to react, given that I too was growing a bit annoyed by the helpless scene ahead. As Xikori backed away, I took a steady stance, pushing one paw forward and one hind claw back. My tail tensed up, claws unsheathed and firm. After I gathered enough of a breath, my chest puffed, my head lifted backward, and my eyes slammed shut. And with one quick jolt forward, I opened my jaws, swinging my wings out wide.

And shook the mountain with a mighty roar.

I felt it, tearing through the ground, crumpling the wind, even rocking like a quake in my throat from whence it came from. My voice rippled around the room, snapping the attention of all the elders in an instant. And as I clamped my beak, I opened my eyes, only to shrivel back anxiously as their beady eyes suddenly fixated into my soul.

"Roar a little louder, baboso," snarled the elder, Grim. "And I'll personally fly down there and rip out your pathetic little throat."

"Mrrr, I would love to see that," another female elder grunted, winning a gulp out of me. "A elder warrior against a pitiful guard? It would be quite the spectacle."

"I... wish not to cause discomfort from that," I called aloud, trying not to whimper from that violent warning as I sat back down. "But the king and queen require your attention. I suggest we silence our maws, and-."

"Silence?!" Grim snarled. "Hah! The guard is demanding me to silence!"

"No I—"

"Maybe I should shred his wings off instead?"

"Now, now, Grim-" Xikori spoke up before I cowered myself into his shadow. "Let's not turn the tides of this meeting-"

"It has already turned, Xikori!" Biz'hark, a third elder to the far right, growled in dismay, "Why have you brought a royal guard into this mess of yours? His fins do not deserve to hear such nonsense."

"Vaanku stands before you as a mere observer, one that I fully trust," called Xikori out to the others. "Aside from being the finest fighter in this kingdom, his corazon is strong and his will is even stronger. He's much more than just a guard that defends my life, and more than a simple dragon beneath Az'hark's ancient shadow. I trust him as I trust you. He won't speak again, I assure you all, but he will listen. That is all I ask of him."

"You are just scared to accept an elder's perspective," a fourth elder named Auliza spat harshly. "You do not have to be ashamed to admit it, now."

"Perhaps an elder's perspective is not what I need," Xikori snarled back to him. "Perhaps someone who actually makes sense, and isn't condemned by his war-torn insolence!"