Chapter 84: Chapter 83: Fulfilling Promises
Carl excused himself with that, he wanted to get to work and he had a fair bit of travelling to do.
The first thing he did was approach Rhea and ask what they wanted to do, after a bit of thought, Rhea finally answered indeterminately. "I’m not opposed, but I would like to come and play with the children from time to time."
"Okay, I guess I’ll need to settle on diplomatic ties with Gaia. Well, I guess she was so taken with you this might be an easy sell."
"Would you like me to go with you, I wouldn’t mind seeing her again, I’ll take the blessing candidates and stay with them so that you can be on your way." Faylorna shrugged, though Klaire seemed a bit annoyed her training was halted.
Carl apologised, then agreed with Faylorna and they soon found themselves on Faylorna’s homeland once more.
Gaia appeared without being called, kneeling down to fuss over Rhea immediately. "Have you come to get these humans blessed? Well I’m grateful you brought my little Rhea to say hello."
"Actually, I awakened to the ability to release little Rhea to your care this morning. I asked what Rhea wanted as we discussed and he said that he wasn’t opposed, but wanted to be able to play with the children again."
"Oh, don’t you worry little one, I wouldn’t stop you visiting every now and then." Gaia fussed, Faylorna had a look of astonishment on her face.
"My word, what happened to you?" She grunted eventually.
"Simple, I got lonely, my closest friends either joined Margo as his villains or young Carl recently. I mean honestly Faylorna, you didn’t even say goodbye, I just looked in one day and you were gone!"
"Stop being so melodramatic. You can still invite me over, I only have my heir to train. As for the others, I’m sorry, I guess you would be sad that little Pandora was locked away." Faylorna huffed before gradually empathising with her loss.
"Well then, why not just enter an alliance with my faction, I’ll leave Faylorna to iron out the details. If you do that, you can bring Rhea to visit, make more friends and maybe even help teach the faction’s children about being kind to Earth."
Gaia looked at Carl, her general disdain for humans preventing her from agreeing lightly. "Gaia, why don’t we simply cut out the need to make this lengthy? A full peace treaty on a three strike system."
Gaia continued to hum and haw. "It isn’t that easy I’m afraid, I sense you aren’t telling me something important."
"Master, forgive me, but maybe you should allow lady Gaia a trip to Haven, where the others might be able to enlighten her as to the rewards you received... Particularly the skills."
"Good call Aegis, I appreciate the input. How about it Faylorna, Gaia? You accompany them back to Haven after the blessing, give them a lesson and learn what you want to know, though I will need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement."
"Hmm, yes that sounds agreeable, but why won’t you be accompanying us?"
"I have to go make a dragon a bath..." Carl sighed, the casual tone he used to air such a ridiculous statement, made everyone laugh. "No, I’m serious, I promised to make her a Tiamat sized bath, in exchange for permission to create my youngest son Tiamutael."
"Why would you need her permission to create a son?... Wait, you didn’t..." Gaia gasped at the scandal Carl’s vague phrasing eluded to.
"If he did, my air would have feasted on his soul and everyone else’s, in terms of sheer destructive force, I haven’t met many with her potential. Carl, why don’t you call the little one so he can accompany us, I’ll entertain your guest."
"Thanks, you to Lady Gaia... I’ll leave you in Faylorna’s care. Rhea, I release you from your bond to me, live freely and happy and please come and visit before Ki-ko pranks me to death."
"Will do Carl, I’m more worried about what she will do to me though."
Carl summoned Tiamutael, then after asking him to keep Rhea company while Faylorna and the others talk, he opened a portal to Omedra.
When Carl stepped through, he found himself in the middle of a dragon battle.
"What!? Dad! Move!" Whilst Carl was busy trying to figure what was going on, Aegis transformed in a flash and blocked both Omedra and the dragon she was fighting, who quickly became a little too heated for either Aegis’ or Omedra’s liking.
"What gives a human the right to enter Lady Tiamat’s domain!?"
"Talk to my dad with more respect lizard!"
"Master, might I teach the rude one to respect you properly?"
"Okay, Omedra, Aegis, you two need to cool off. Omedra, didn’t I send you here as a diplomat? What would Mum say if she knew you were out here fighting?"
"If I had to guess, "Make sure they don’t get up." That seems about right."
"Yeah, it kinda does... Look, just step back you t-"
"Human! Don’t ignore me!"
"No. Don’t embarrass me." A voice echoed from somewhere before the ground started to shake. "Carl, why not release that aura of yours and teach this whelp some manners?"
Carl shrugged, then released his aura with astounding control. Unlike what Tiamat had experienced before though, this was his post-reward aura that enforced his will. In that moment, the only thing Carl wanted, was for him to stop being so high and mighty.
The moment the aura release reached the dragon, it was slammed into the ground, as though gravity had been multiplied exponentially. "Oh, sorry, I guess I need to be more specific with the new way my aura works. Still, handy though."
Tiamat laughed as she approached, now in human form. "It seems your control has improved dramatically, but I was expecting you to rob him of his pride, not the ability to stand. What happened to that aura of yours?"
"Oh, I got my rewards all at once this morning, I didn’t like the way my aura was so the system changed that. Now it is an extension of my will, I can probably still make him ask for belly rubs if you want...."
"No, but I think I will need to show you off for my children. Omedra, bless her, has been putting whelps like this in their place for insulting you often. None of them have managed to scratch her yet, now it seems you went and made a monster in a league of its own..."
Carl introduced Aegis and explained his pedigree and position.
"Why would Mum want you to have a bodyguard? You did something stupid again, didn’t you?
Carl decided to just glance over that bit, distracting her with the blessing, he gave her a hug. "Bestow greater blessing. Omedra, try to talk things through before you put it to use though."
Carl followed Tiamat, glad to be able to take in the sights of the world.
It wasn’t at all what Carl had expected a world of her’s to look like...
The world consisted of sprawling grassy plateaus, dragons bathing in the warm sun and even a few eggs being guarded by brooding parents.
"Omedra, I expect you to fight further away from the eggs at least..."
Omedra almost swallowed her tongue. "It’s his fault Dad, we were plenty far way until he tried to run away..."
"She isn’t wrong, that’s why I gave you leave to rob him of what little pride the whelp had. Making someone so clearly superior then fleeing like that, simply disgraceful."
Tiamat ranted for a while, the shame the dragon had brought her was clearly significant. Luckily for everyone, they reached the land Tiamat had decided on before she could stew too much.
"Now, I hereby sign over this plot of land over to you, for the purpose of constructing an embassy and diplomatic facilities."
"You want a hot springs resort... I want it too, let’s not mess about, let’s just make something we can all enjoy."
"You’re no fun Carl, one as young as you should enjoy the subversion a bit more."
"Why? I can just make a massive bath and enjoy that..."
Tiamat laughed, with enough ferocity to shake the earth beneath their feet for a moment. Only when she was done did Carl begin, though the moment he did he was immediately lost.
His expanded list of options was so vast he couldn’t find some of the ones he needed. "Oh for crying out loud this is ridiculous. Just show me what I need to back the greatest hot spring resort in existence!"
[ SYSTEM NOTICE: YOU COULD ASK A BIT NICER CARL. FILTERING OPTIONS RELEVANT TO STATED GOAL. ]
"What? Oh, ugh, sorry. I didn’t realise you had grown so much lately..."
[ SYSTEM NOTICE: I KNOW, I’M SURE YOUR WIFE UNDERSTANDS THE FEELING. ]
"Hey! Low blow, anyway, I really am sorry okay? I’ll just ask the next time I need help." Carl got to work on the hot springs, then waited for Tiamat to start applauding it.
"Truly, splendid, though the "male only" section over there was hardly necessary. We dragons aren’t shy about our natural forms, that is actually a solely human trait, though the elves do take it to the extreme sometimes."
"Noted, I’ll tell Mum that Dad can’t go to see them alone."
Carl sighed and looked at Aegis. "Don’t worry Lady Omedra, I will inform her, it is my duty to keep your father alive and that seems pertinent to that end."
Aegis’ words simply left Carl feeling exhausted.
"Anyway, Omedra, see you at the family dinner and no more fighting around the eggs. If they run, let them live in shame until they kill themselves. Lady Tiamat, before I go, could I trouble you for a couple of scales. I’m trying to help Alysse make a weapon that can handle massive energy influx and if it’s made from you, it shouldn’t be able to harm you."
"Hmm, very well, since this masterpiece pleases me so... I do have one request, I want one of Omedra’s kind to become my heir, raised by me from egg to apex. I want to know that if anything happened to me, then you would feel some personal attachment to my lands and offer them sanctuary."
Carl was stunned, the words he was hearing would usually be a stain on a dragon’s pride. "I would offer sanctuary to any wanting it and you know that, be honest, what you want is for them to seek me out and submit to my authority..."
"You are sharp, yes... If not, the splinter groups would seek each other out and any who did seek you out with Omedra, would draw them to their demise when your creations stepped in. I want my children to find salvation in my absence, not oblivion."
"Why so pessimistic? I’m amazed such a request even came from you."
"Simple, Bahamut and I are ten-start creatures yes, but the weakest of them. We are barely able to compete with the likes of Lillim, when the real villains step into the fray, we will surely perish if targeted."
"Then just join me! Join my faction and don’t fight them alone!"
"Alas, we can’t, if we did those creatures would certainly notice. If you grow strong enough before the end, I swear now I will join you. I can only do that however, if you are ready to meet them."
"Fine then... I have another thing to do. Scales please, then we’re going Aegis."