Chương 1247: 1277 - Reunion I

It astounded Leon just how quiet millions of people could be when they wanted to. He stood above Bennu, the Phoenix struggling to move, barely able to suppress his gasps of pain, while the Lords of the Nexus watched on, speaking softly amongst themselves if at all. There were some exceptions, of course, mostly among the ranks of the Storm Lords, who Leon was coming to learn were more than happy to cheer one of their own after a public victory against any 'other'.

It was markedly less than what Leon and Ingrid had received after defeating Mikaela, and Leon knew why: he'd revealed quite a few of his hidden powers, any one of which might elicit such deafening silence amongst the spectators. How were they to take the danger of his Stormborn bow, or his transformation ability—which itself might inspire doubt that he was even human—and especially his use of Doomfire…

Leon's golden eyes swiveled around the stadium, gauging reactions, hopes running through his head that if he made any enemies today, they might make it obvious. When he turned his eyes toward the part of the stadium where his friends and followers had occupied after leaving Anushirawan's box, he could see plenty of them doing their part, too. The Jaguar led the elders and Chiefs among Leon's retinue in cheering and stomping their feet, while Anzu and Leon's Paladins, though more reserved, joined them.

Their cheering, however, paled in comparison to Gwarim's, who looked set on deafening Archelaus, Nuertis, and all the other nearby Storm Lords they sat amongst. Their reactions were expected, and though he reveled in them, they weren't what he was looking for. So, his eyes turned first upon Anushirawan's box, where some of the strongest mages attending the Games were watching…

Watching others fight for her amusement was one of Deianira's favorite pastimes. The only thing that made her happier was in those rare times when her father returned from ruling the Sun Lands or his personal domains and actually had time for her. He could barely make the time, but there were no shortages of others who would spill blood just for a glance from her. Indeed, it was an almost universal trait: her status was such that nearly everyone wanted a piece of her time.

Those who didn't usually found themselves the target of her ire. Case in point: Bennu. A pleasant enough man, but so utterly infatuated with a dark-scaled lizard so prideful that she wouldn't even give him the time of day, that he saw Deianira as nothing more than a friend.

'Friend,' she scoffed, a pleasurable tingle running up her spine as she watched the Phoenix fight with the Thunderbird.

'Fool could've had me, and he wastes time with the dragon bitch.' Serana was hardly the only bitch present, though: Miuna, the holder of the Thunderbird's leash, whether or not he realized it. The watery cunt had tried to denigrate Deianira's newest consort by claiming Leon was a dual-bloodline mage.

'What lunacy! As if such mages are so common!' Leon had made such a poor impression on Deianira, thanks in no small part to Miuna, that she honestly didn't know which fool she wanted to win: the one owned by her soggy rival, or the one who had long ago spurned her affections. While the small part she'd played in instigating this duel warmed her heart, it didn't mean that she wanted Bennu to win outright.

If anything, she was happy that the toasty chicken was having such trouble, as it just meant more entertainment for her. So immersed in her own thoughts was she that she all but ignored the rest of the box. Hundreds of powerful mages, however, couldn't be ignored forever, especially not when they throw all decorum to the wind and demand attention.

"Deia," Esmerelda whispered as she set the seat her father had prepared for the flighty wench next to Deianira's place of honor.

"How does it feel to be part of the gallery?"

"All is as it should be," the Sun Princess responded.

"These two fools fighting, all while we watch…"

"Is that where your perspective ends?" Esmerelda asked, leaning over with a shallow smile on her face.

"You have no aspirations to move from gallery to stage?"

"The actors act for me, not I for them," Deianira shot back. The Gale Queen smirked as she leaned back, her eyes turning back to the duel. In what felt like an abrupt change of topic, especially since the woman clearly hadn't picked up on just how little Deianira wanted to talk to her, the Gale Queen asked, "Have any thoughts about who might win?"

"I don't care overmuch," replied Deianira sweetly.

"These fool boys always need to fight each other to feel better, I'm just happy that they're getting it out of their system in a less destructive way." Esmerelda's smirk turned mysterious, as if she were privy to things Deianira could only guess at.

"I'm expecting a twist or two from Leon. He's—" Power spiked in the stadium as Bennu formed a bird out of golden fire around his body. It was Leon's response, however, that sent a ripple of shock through the spectators. His body practically exploded into a vision of the Thunderbird—markedly different from depictions of the ancient winged beast that Deianira had seen—and fought Bennu from what seemed to be a superior position.

"Well now…" the Gale Queen whispered with intrigue as she leaned forward with practically glittering eyes, " that's more like it! Now we have a show!" Deianira herself couldn't respond as she fought a wave of revulsion; it seemed the man had hidden the fact that he was an Ascended Beast from everyone, which automatically ruled out his claims of kinship to the Thunderbird as far as Deianira was concerned. That he'd ensnared the hearts of other women, including Miuna, only reinforced Deianira's scorn.'

This is the man you wished to parade around me?! I hadn't realized you were so into feathers, Miuna…' Deianira spared the Ocean Princess's box a derisive sneer before continuing to watch the duel in silence. Several minutes later, however, when Leon displayed his use of Doomfire, she couldn't turn her eyes away. Such power, held by him, stunned her into silence and ejected all other thoughts from her head.

She was so stunned that she was barely aware of the Gale Queen rising to her feet and watching the sands with great interest…

With the eyes of the Gale Queen upon him, even from so great a distance, Leon almost felt like an ant before a boot; her wide eyes and unabashed smile gave him nothing but anxiety, and he was thankful that Anushirawan was here, if only to deter her from doing something foolish. Regardless, he hoped he'd have little dealings with her later… He turned his eyes to Miuna's box. He knew where it was and that his wives had joined the Princess.

He hoped that they were doing fine in there, especially since Miuna had been forced by propriety to allow her friends to join her.

Miuna smiled as Elise and Cassandra held each other, both practically sobbing with relief as Anushirawan's announcement of Leon's victory echoed throughout the stadium. Valeria and the quiet one, Naiad, looked on more stoically, but even they couldn't hide their elation as wide grins forced their way onto their lips.

A glance to the side told Miuna that her friends were stunned into silence; Leon's performance had, by itself, been so stellar that any doubts they may have had about his worth had been erased, and that was before he revealed his Doomfire. She herself watched gleefully, her eyes rarely leaving Leon for long—his victorious form, even armor-clad, was far too handsome to go unappreciated for any length of time—but when they did, they found their way to the dragons' box.

They'd made a big enough stir on their arrival that Miuna knew where they were, even if Leon might be unaware. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! She didn't know what was going to happen there, but she knew for a fact that her friends, at least, were going to shut up about Leon going forward, and that was an enormous win in her book.

Throughout the duel, Serana busied herself with other things. She had no interest of any kind in Bennu—she was sure he was a good man, but her heart belonged to Artorias already. Jennifyr, her beautiful azure sister, allowed herself to be used as a distraction as Serana told a few stories of her adventures so long ago. She could tell that Jennifyr was only putting on an act, but steadfastly ignored all of her gentle attempts to turn her attention to the duel.

Two men fighting over her hand when she'd never offered it held no interest to her. And then she felt it: a particularly large bolt of lightning whose silver-blue light flashed into the box, and whose power struck her directly in the heart. She froze, unsure if what she'd felt was real. Her head turned to the projected window and saw the power that the more armored man used was… identical to Artorias'. Everything else fell away, and she barely realized that she'd risen from her seat and approached the window.

No words of anyone else in the box reached her; her attention was fixed solely on the man using the very same lightning that she'd seen her husband and his family use…

'Artorias?' she silently wondered, her eyes analyzing the armored man's every movement. His aura was so much more potent than Artorias's that she knew it would be unrecognizable, and with his face-concealing helmet, the way he moved was the only way she could see if he was who she thought he was. Almost immediately, her eyes widened in recognition. She and Artorias had sparred countless times; they'd met when she, on a whim, joined a small tournament being thrown for a noble back on Aeterna.

She was intimately familiar with the fighting style of House Raime and knew for a fact that the man wielding her husband's power was also using her husband's fighting style. Her heart almost stopped as she realized who was fighting against Bennu: her husband had finally caught up, he'd broken the bonds tying him to Aeterna, and he'd finally come for her. She imagined him overhearing Bennu boasting about his intent to court her and angrily challenging him for unknowingly insulting their marriage.

She imagined him easily crushing Bennu before revealing his face, locking eyes with her even though she was in a private box, and then whisking her away to some private corner of the universe that they could make their own. Though her golden eyes stayed locked on the armored man's body, absorbing every detail, his every movement reinforcing his identity in her mind, she projected her magic senses, hoping to find her son.

There were countless private boxes, so she wasn't put out that she couldn't locate him immediately, especially since she didn't know how strong he might be or even what he looked like, but she kept her— The armored man transformed before her eyes, taking the form of an enormous white bird with a crest of long blue feathers, and she found herself utterly transfixed, the beauty of the form mesmerizing her.

Silver-blue lightning and golden fire clashed before her eyes, and she knew that soon, her husband would defeat Bennu and dramatically announce their marriage before the entire universe. When Bennu immobilized him with his chains, terror lanced through her mind. When the armored man broke free, she nearly had a heart attack. He'd used black fire, not silver-blue lightning, powers that she knew on sight. For a long moment, she froze, her preconceptions warring with this new information.

The armored man won the duel, and Anushirawan declared him the victor. He spoke his name aloud, and Serana had to bring a hand up to keep her mouth from falling open in shock.

"Leon…?" she whispered in disbelief, uncaring as to whether or not her fellow dragons could hear her.

"My… Leon…?" A hand fell upon her shoulder, jerking her away from the window. Finally, her eyes were torn from the window and landed on the hand's owner: her father, who glared down at her despite the other dragons making a loud fuss.

"What is this?" he demanded.

"Who is that?!" The force of his question silenced the others in the room as all eyes turned upon Serana. Instead of answering, however, her eyes turned back to the window and beheld a sight that burned itself into her memory. The armored man took off his helmet as Anushirawan engaged him in conversation. The Sun King seemed wary, but Leon looked calm. More than that, he looked so much like Artorias that Serana found herself doubting everything that she was seeing now and had seen during the duel.

And then she saw his eyes, which glimmered in the same shade as hers did. Another hand found itself on her shoulder: Jennifyr's, the Blue Dragon lending her comforting presence to Serana.

"My everdark sister," Jennifyr whispered, "We are with you. We will support you." Serana was speechless, her tongue turning to lead as her brain froze from emotion and information overload. But she registered her father's hand on her shoulder falter, and she took a deep breath, summoning her draconic grit. She turned back to her father, meeting his glare with one of her own.

"Leon Raime is my son," she declared for all to hear. The box nearly exploded.

"Your son?!" Tiir shouted in disbelief.

"My sister," Ianu said as he walked over to her, "is this a joke?"

"How have we never heard of this?!" Kallon demanded, the Red Dragon Patriarch shifting focus from Serana to her father.

"Secrets are unbecoming of you, my everdark brother," Prasinos stated as he joined Jennifyr at Serana's side.

"My dear niece, go to your son, make sure he is who he says he is."

"My radiant brother," Fargrim hissed, "matters of the Great Black Dragon Clan are mine to handle."

"My everdark brother," intoned the taciturn-to-a-fault Patriarch of the Great Gold Dragons, Rayos, "a public matter has presented itself. We must deal with it." He nodded to the window where Anushirawan was tending to Bennu, and Leon was flying to one of the private boxes. If they dallied much longer, he was going to get away.

"It might be for the best that we, for the moment, ignore—" Merenni began, but Serana's fire was returning as her mind began turning again. Without a word, she seized upon her father's distraction and forced herself past him. He almost grabbed her as she passed, but Jennifyr smoothly interposed herself between her and her father.

"Let's go!" her azure sister said, and so grateful was Serana that she didn't even spare Ryker a dirty look as she passed. In fact, she didn't even look at him at all; she had eyes only for her son and where he was going. Pushing out of the door, Serana and Jennifyr left the box and shot into the hallway beyond. Any trace of dignity was abandoned as they tore through the halls, leaving the rest of the dragons behind.

Fortunately, none of them followed the two women out of the box, leaving them relatively unmolested as they shot through the halls and markets buried within the stadium's structure.

"Where do we go?!" Serana asked, her heart now racing as panic set in, the reality of what was happening crashing down upon her.

'My son is here! Where is he?! How do we get there?!' She was still aware enough of what was going on around her that she controlled her tone, but the halls were far from deserted, with thousands of mages, guards, and especially servants and stadium staff coming and going. Jennifyr wasted no time taking the lead.

"To Princess Miuna's box!" Through the halls they shot, and anyone in their way was forcibly removed. Fortunately, they didn't encounter anyone strong or high-ranked enough to present a meaningful obstacle. When they arrived at the antechamber to Miuna's box, they found it heavily guarded, and while those guards weren't expecting a pair of dragons to arrive, neither did they shy away from presenting a unified front.

They were ignored, however, as Jennifyr pulled Serana down to the red carpet leading to the box's door. With sisterly hands, Jennifyr smoothed out the wrinkles in Serana's black robes and helped her to ensure that her hair was in order. Serana nearly fought her until she realized what her azure sister was doing: making sure that her first meeting with her adult son went exactly as she wanted it to.

"Ready?" Jennifyr asked once Serana had been made presentable, both continuing to ignore the guards even as their leader demanded something of them.

"I… dreamed of this countless times," Serana whispered, the question of just what and how Jennifyr knew what she did not occurring to her when her son was just beyond that door!

"I… don't know what to do, though… What should I say? What should I…" Jennifyr didn't waste another breath and simply took Serana's hand.

"As with everything we do, my dear sister, we'll do this together. Come." Turning to face the guards, Jennifyr's tone instantly shifted, and she declared, "I am Jennifyr of the Great Blue Dragon Clan! This is Serana of the Great Black Dragon Clan! Remove yourselves from our path, or you will be removed!" Several of the weaker guards, their faces exposed by their helmets, visibly blanched, but the stronger ones held firm.

Their leader, however, indicated that he would ask the Princess, and knocked on the door to the box. Serana watched with bated breath as a female servant answered the door and relayed the message further in. Moments later, the door was flung open, and several female servants ushered her and Jennifyr in. The guards parted, as was only right, and with the pride of dragons, Serana and Jennifyr walked into the short hallway beyond.

Only once the door behind them was closed was the next door opened, and Serana's breath hitched. But regardless of how hard her heart was hammering in her chest, she walked into the box with her head held high. Confronting her and Jennifyr was Leon, standing proudly across the room from the door, several women beside him.

But Serana only had eyes for her son: his looks were so akin to Artorias's that she could hardly believe what she was seeing, but when she made eye contact with him and saw the same fear, excitement, and so many other emotions there, she knew everything that she needed to. This was her son. Without a word, and ignoring everything else around her, she walked across the room and threw her arms around him. For the first time since that fateful night two and a half centuries ago, her son was back in her arms.