~Tyron’s P.O.V~

I stepped out from the shadow of the cave and into the sunlight, with a large relieved breath of air. The ancient city of the Helvaria stood before us, the white marble castle gleaming like a gem, the tall spires nearly reaching the tops of the mountain peaks. Though cracked and decayed, the castle seemed to glow in reverence as people finally began walking the streets once more.

Sitting like a sentinel to the side was the massive form of Kingston. The green dragon wasn’t immediately recognised by the people. But as he turned his head and shuffled his wings a number of screams echoed behind my back. The crowd hesitated, stopping when they saw who was standing there.

“Don’t worry!” Blu, who had been walking next to me called out, “He’s friendly!”

They didn’t exactly hear him, and began to push back, now fearfully, away from the large dragon. I saw Kingston let out what looked to be an annoyed sigh. I rumbled, looking at the people again. I was pretty sure we had told them there was going to be a giant dragon waiting at the other end. Obviously they hadn’t gotten the message

“Everyone, STOP!” I roared out, and almost instantly everything went silent as they turned to look at me. I smirked and glanced at Blu, whispering, “That’s how you get people’s attention.”

He chuckled, shaking his head before looking at them once more and turning to the people, “This is the dragon we told you about. Kingston. He’s allowing us to stay in his home, and will help protect you while we are here.”

They hesitated, still not quite convinced at the massive form that was ahead of them. Kingston rumbled softly, seeming surprisingly nervous, before he began to shrink down. Eventually he stood in his far smaller anthropomorphic state, arms crossed and wings folded neatly behind his back. Inside I thanked the dragon. It was a hard decision but he knew it was necessary.

The effect was immediate. People began to exit the cave, murmuring amongst themselves as they glanced the way of the green dragon. He watched them just a curiously, though with a much more sturn glance, causing most to turn away and hurry on. Blu and I paced up to him, sitting down on our haunches and watching as the crowd meandered into the lost city.

“Thank you for that,” Blu said with a bob of his head.

“It was necessary. But they’re gonna’ have to get used to my other form soon. I ain’t gonna’ stick like this just to avoid frightening them,” he grunted.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to,” Blu smiled.

“You must be Kingston!” Aaron made his way over to us with a smile.

He was wearing a long blue flowing cloak that reminded me of water. Malcolm's staff was in his hand and he seemed strangely refreshed, though there were still bags under his eyes and his feet dragged ever so slightly. There was a smile on his face though.

“That I am lad, and who might you be?” asked the green dragon.

“I am Aaron, the royal arch-mage and prince of Teleran,” responded Aaron.

Kingston tilted his head, “You’re rather young for an arch-mage.”

He chuckled nervously, “Um yeah. I'm the youngest ever to achieve such a title."

Kingston snorted, “Too young if you ask me.”

At this Aaron narrowed his eyes, “Well I am considered the most powerful mage in Teleran, and I have experience in leadership positions as well.”

“Your kingdom must have low standards for power then.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I quickly spoke before their argument went any further, “I’ve seen him wash away an entire army of ghouls and goblins by his lonesome, nearly flooding an entire valley as he did. It’s the most impressive piece of magic I have ever seen, and I have seen some pretty impressive displays of magic.”

Blu nodded in agreement. “That's right and he held up against a army of demons for Goddess knows how long.”

“An entire army ey?” Kingston seemed a little more interested this time, “Impressive, for a human I guess. But back in my day, an archmage was a master of all sorts of magic. Not just one. And while I can sense the raw power inside you, you have far from mastered it.”

“Even so, you can’t expect us to be that impressive,” grunted Aaron, “We’re the remnants of a once mighty empire, just like you're the last of your empire.”

“Are you calling me not impressive boy?” Kingston growled softly, though a part of me thought there was a light humour in the dragon’s tone.

“Calling a two thousand year old dragon not impressive? I hardly believe that, most dragons that were studied didn't last three hundred years. But looking around, you can hardly say that this place is as impressive as it was two thousand years ago,” Aaron replied.

Kingston barked a laugh, “Well said. I cannot argue against that. There may be hope for you yet.”

“How have you lasted so long?” I suddenly asked, the question bugging me slightly.

“Like any normal dragon, eat well, sleep long, stay strong,” he laughed, “But really, dragons can live a very long time if given the chance. I’ve spent most of my years sleeping and conserving energy. In fact, the only reason I woke up was because you and the girl were making so much noise.”

Blu looked at Kingston in awe and wonder, “So I could live as long as you?”

“You very well could, though most dragons have a four to five hundred year lifespan, either succumbing to dangers, sickness that is rife amongst our kind at old age, or some other phenomenon. A lucky few manage to make it to where I am now. In fact… I do not remember another dragon that has lived as long as I have,” he boasted proudly.

Blu’s tail began to wag slightly in excitement, “That’s so cool!”

Kingston puffed out his chest in pride. He seemed rather jolly, at least more so than what I had noticed before. His once tense wings and a barely held snarl had now loosened and he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. It was difficult to think that he had been alone for over two thousand years now. It was probably a relief to be with others again. To be admired again.

“So, emperor, what should we do?” I asked Blu with a slight grin.
He glanced at the large broken yet beautiful marble castle, “Well… for now let’s check out the castle.”

Aaron nodded his head, “You do that. I’m going to make sure everyone settles in alright.”

“Okay,” Blu nodded his head before turning back toward the castle again.

~Blu’s P.O.V.~

The castle gates loomed before us. The white marble was full of cracks and shattered pieces. The left side of the gate had been forcefully torn, and was now stuck open, leaning against the wall of the castle. Part of me was thankful; the gates looked far to big to move otherwise. We walked inside, me leading the way. Tyron was a step behind me and Kingston came last, seeming a little hesitant. He was still in his two legged form.

The immediate hall was even more impressive than the gates. It stretched high above them, easily big enough to fit even Kingston in his normal form. It cause a deep shiver to run down my spine as I looked around, marveling at the size of the place. The massive marble pillars rising alongside us, with massively round corridors curling up and around as they disappeared elsewhere into the castle. It was a place built for creatures as massive as dragons.

As we explored the castle I felt a slight sadness coming from within. It was Hannah.

“You ok?” I asked her mentally.

“Yea, I'm fine Blu.” I heard her reply. “It's...its just that I haven't seen this place for two thousand years. Last time I was here was when I argued with ma and pop and then that attack happened. So I'm not exactly thrilled to be back.”

‘Oh, shouldn’t we have come?’

‘No… no, just reminiscing is all,’ she replied before falling silent.

I sighed softly and continued walking. It didn’t take us long to find the first dragon skeleton. It looked quite young, barely larger than me, with a caved in skull. Once again I felt that deep inner sadness from the dragon princess, though this was honed even more by my own. Tyron bowed his head softly toward the remains before moving onward. Kingston’s eyes couldn’t be torn away, but as we kept moving, more skeletons were found.

As we entered the throne room I couldn’t help but let out a gasp. There were at least a dozen of the massive skeletons, intertwined with many smaller ones. The dragons that had fought for the last stand in the throne room. Up near the actual seat was a rather strange sight. It looked like a dragon curled around the remains of a human, the human wearing a crown on its brow. The golden gems shining in the light.

Suddenly an overwhelming sense of loss overcame me to a point where a single tear escaped my eye and slowly dribbled down to the ground. At this I was slightly surprised, but when I found the source of the sadness I couldn’t stop a small well of pitty to grow inside me. The dragon and the human had been Hannah’s parents. She recognised them, even if it was only their skeletons from two thousand years ago.

Kingston had knelt down and was bowing his head, whether to hide his own tears or out of respect I couldn’t tell. Tyron was still in stock silence, his teeth lightly bared and an anger in his eyes, likely coming from the dragon inside him, much like my emotions were influenced by Hannah. I slowly sank to my haunches, looking around the area in monotone.

‘Momma, papa.’ I heard Hannah croak.

“I haven’t been in here in a while,” Kingston said softly, rising to his feet, “I keep forgetting about the carnage that was left here from that time.”

“What happened here?” asked Tyron with a rumble.

“It was the final defense. They cornered them in the throne room and killed everyone. From the amount of demons that were slain it had been a tough battle, but in the end numbers were the final decider.”

“And where were you during all this?” Tyron growled angrily.

I blinked at his tone, not expecting it from him, “Tyron…”

Kingston eyed the dragon with surprising patience, “I was on a diplomacy mission. Watch your tone boy. Don’t go about being angry at something that wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

He snorted and looked away, but I could see that he hadn’t completely settled down, though he did seem a little in remorse for snapping like he did. He caught my eyes, and looked away causing me to hesitate, before shaking my head and looking toward the bones again.

“We should give them a burial,” I said.

Kingston nodded his head, “Though dragons didn’t have burials. When we one of our own died, they were set alight and burned to ashes, so their soul may fly free forever.”

“That sounds nice,” I responded with a slight smile.

“Thank you, your highness.”

I turned around with a deep breath, Hannah silent in my mind, “We better keep moving, otherwise we’ll never see the whole castle.”

Kingston chuckled and nodded his head. Tyron only grunted, and we continued. It took us another couple of hours to go completely through everything, well at least everything important. There were still many unexplored areas but most of those were bedroom chambers, and other such things. Eventually I got tired of seeing the dead skeletons of dragons, and the others agreed. We began to head back down to the ground

“How badly damaged is the city and how long will it take to rebuild?” I asked, feeling a resolve beginning to run through me, part of it coming from Hannah herself.

Kingston seemed to think for a moment, “The outermost parts are the most damaged. But they’re probably the easiest to fix. You need to remember that most of this city was made by dragons for dragons. Much of the stone is melded and strengthened with dragon fire and magic. The towns people could do little more than hold it in place while we worked on it. With only three dragons it will take a very long time indeed.”

I thought for a moment, “Well we can provide the magic aspect. Aaron is quite powerful and the mages under him can do a lot as well. But we don’t really need to build the houses for dragons, do we? I mean, there is only three of us, and it’ll take a while for our race to rebuild anyway, so we have a lot of time in that. Be for now, we can just focus on making homes for the people that are already here. They don’t need to be big or extravagant. They just need to be enough to house people. And we don’t need to fix the castle immediately either; we'll focus our efforts on restoring the houses first.”

He seemed a little surprised at my suggestion, and a hint of a smile formed on his mouth, “That would work. If we don’t need dragon fire than we can simply work with the materials we have on hand. The more destroyed houses we can take apart for materials and move them to the ones that would be easier to fix. Human magic should be enough for that, even without dragon fire.”

I nodded my head, “Yes, and once we have that done we can start clearing space around the built up homes and start those places from scratch… with some smaller people in mind.”

Not all of those ideas were mine. Hannah was shoving me a bunch of images and messages on how our new kingdom would look like. I could see it as clear as day. The sun shining. Streets bustling with all sorts of different species. The buildings either rebuilt or brand new as they reached the outskirts. Everything was a little smaller as to make better accomodations for the smaller species. But there was also dragons, five of them: Blue, red, green, purple and yellow. The blue and red ones were the biggest of them. I smiled.

“And let's tell Aaron of our plan.” Tyron suggested.

I nodded, “Of course. We’ll need his help.”

I looked out over the city with a new found strength. We had arrived safe and sound, but now it was up to us to fix what was broken.