Suleyk screamed, a mighty blade tearing at his scales as he covered the wound with his one remaining hand. He looked up at the might group of warriors, their enchanted weapons in hand. His vision was blurry as blood seeped into his eyes, 4 of his own kind stood above him.

"Give up, we've beaten you. We will now rule the dragonborn." Said a childish voice.

Unable to hold his laughter in, Suleyk burst. The imaginary fight was over as he got up and the children pouted.

"Good one Drake, but your form is sloppy. Your family has a refined style that is both elegant and cruel, you need to make both of them work as one." Suleyk said, patting the little red dragonborns head.

"Amya, you need to practice your archery. You have the power down, but your accuracy and creativity are lacking. Work on those over power." He pat a small green dragonborn girl on the head, turning to a blue dragonborn boy and doing the same. "You, Leo, need to work on controlling the momentum of your warhammer. You have strong and accurate swings, but they mean nothing when you take too long to recover."

Finally, he turned to a small white dragonborn girl. She had her head down, looking nervous. Smiling, he lifted her up and put her on one of his shoulders.

"Nym, you're getting better at dual-wielding. You have to learn to exert more power at the right moment instead of sacrificing your speed altogether. All of you are going to be promising in the future. You may not be nobles, but you come from long lines of warrior families. Your strength is our race's strength-"

"And our race's strength is to protect our own." The kids said in unison, all smiling at him.

"Good. Now let's get you home." Suleyk said, putting Amya on his other shoulder and picking up Drake and Leo in his arms.

"Can we fly today?" Leo asked, Suleyk walking towards the forest from the small plain they were in.

"Not today." Suleyk replied, the kids all looking down. "Don't worry, we will next week. The wind is just strong today and I rather not risk anyone's safety."

They all nodded, looking around at the forest and animals. After a short walk, they came to a cave at the base of the mountain. Outside, two dragonborn stood. A tall male and an average sized female. Smiling, they watched as Amya jumped down from Suleyks shoulder and ran into their arms. Waving goodbye, Suleyk and the others went on their way towards the southern side of the mountain. There, they left Drake to his mother and father in the volcanic part of the mountain before heading towards the western side. On the western side, lightning would strike randomly yet never hit them. Here, they dropped Leo off with his parents. Now that it was down to Suleyk and Nym, they made their way up the mountain. After an hour of walking and talking to some other dragonborn, they arrived at a large cave near the peak. Drovaghn and Vera were at the edge of the cave, smiling brightly. Next to them, a female white dragonborn with light blue on her torso stood.

"Mother, Father, and hello aunt Nfya(In-Fee-ah)." Suleyk said, Nym jumping down and running to hug her mother.

"How was their training?" Vera asked.

"It was going pretty well, till we started playing Overthrown again." Suleyk said, chuckling.

"You're soft on those kids." Drovaghn said, chuckling.

"I figured I'd let them have fun around me after they make some progress, they can't be soulless warriors after all." Suleyk said, smiling. "I have to show them the happiness they'll be protecting in the future."

Immediately, Vera's eyes started sparkling before she jumped onto Suleyk and hugged him tightly with a large smile.

"Look at how wise my son is! Oh I can't wait to see how wise your speech is next year!!" Vera shouted excitedly.

"That's right, Suleyk turns 18 next year!" Nfya said, her eyes now sparkling as well.

"Will there be anyone you're going to invite personally?" Drovaghn asked.

"I'm planning on inviting the friends I made at the tournament." Suleyk replied, smiling a little bit.

"Even Silk?" Vera asked, looking up at her son who sighed as his smile disappeared.

"Yes, we need to talk on some unfinished businesses." Suleyk said, his eyes narrowing a bit.

——————

The mountains were covered in gleaming gem like scales, dragons and dragonborn alike covering them. Drakes, wyverns, wyrm, all of the draconic races were here to witness the growth of their future king. Many of the other races rulers and important figures that could trusted were invited as well. There could even be a certain group seen walking into the main mountain.

"That is rather intimidating yet beautiful." Silk said, her eyes sparkling.

"I hope you keep those thieving thoughts reserved, the prince may still not be happy with you for whatever reason." Fure said, huffing.

"Aye, the lad seems to have some bad blood with you." Gorn said, chuckling.

"Qwi would like to see that fight." The orc said, chuckling lightly.

"Could be interesting in all honesty." Eric said, scratching his chin.

"I'd find the bottom of a bottle more interesting than seeing that kid massacre somebody again." Toran chimed in, everyone shuddering.

"You act like that was his worst." Sahqo said, walking up to the group.

"You're saying he's done worse?" Eric asked, physically paling.

"Yeah, he could've raised it all to a wasteland if he wanted to." Sahqo said, shrugging his shoulders. "Not that he would."

"By the gods that boys starting to sound scarier than the demon lord." Gorn said, shaking his head.

"Meh, my cousins basically a big teddy bear on the inside when he's around the younglings." Sahqo said before turning around. "Follow me, I'll show you to the meeting room."

Following Sahqo, the group navigated the maze like caverns of the mountain. After a few minutes, they came upon a dead end. Sahqo raised a hand, knocking slightly on the wall as it slid down to show a hallway with a dragon covered in brown and yellow scales that seemed to be blind.

"Enter young Sahqo and guests." The dragon grumbled, it's voice seeming to be unused for a long time.

"Is he ok?" Gorn whispered, leaning toward Sahqo.

"Ole Er is fine, lost his hearing and sight to a group of adventurers in his younger years. He was one of the more rambunctious of his generation." Sahqo said, waving his hand.

"And what a glorious time it was, man feared us and the others basked in our glory. A shame that they had the sense to band together." Er said, his full eyes seeming to brighten a bit at the memories.

"How can he hear us and how did he know who you were?" Fure asked, raising a brow.

Sahqo continued walking, the group following behind as the wall rose back up behind them an Er continued to bask in his memories.

"He can feel vibrations. They bounce off the walls nearby him and he learned to sort them into talking, footsteps, among other things. He's memorized everyone in the kingdom by their heartbeats and footsteps. Occasionally a hopeful couple will go to him to see if he senses another heartbeat in one of them women's wombs." Sahqo said, the entire group shocked by the information.

"How far can he sense?!" Eric shouted.

"Whispers are usually within 30 feet, normal volume is 500 feet, shouting is about 1000 feet. When it comes to heartbeats, it'll be around from one end of the kingdom to the other. Footsteps are about the entire continent but they become muddled and unidentifiable by individuality due to the spread focus." Sahqo explained, the group beginning to sweat.

"How is this even possible?!" Silk asked, looking beyond horrified.

"Dragons are the only beings of flesh closest to magic, our souls are basically intertwined with magic compared to the others who touch magic with their souls. Some conditions can deepen this bond, like with Er. Why do you think the mountains that were literally volcanoes a millennia ago haven't erupted yet?" Sahqo asked.

"You mean that you all are literally giving nature a magical middle finger?" Toran asked.

"Think of it as guiding nature somewhere else." Sahqo said, shrugging lightly as he tapped the new dead end.

Once the wall slid down, the group was met with Suleyk covered in younglings as little dragons and dragonborn of different colors wrestled to get onto his shoulders as he sat there and laughed.

"Qwi is confused." The orc said, looking at the soon to be man she remembered as a being of pure strength.

"Like I said, my cousin is a big teddy bear." Sahqo said, walking over to the small mountain covered in younglings.

"I'm sitting next to Nym! She's my best friend!" A youngling shouted.

"No she's mine!" Another shouted.

"No mine!" A few shouted.

"Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" All of them said, trying to shout over each and giving Suleyk horrifying flashbacks to a certain movie his kids liked to watch A LOT in his past life.

Finally noticing his friends and cousin, Suleyk got to this feet as the younglings all collapsed and quickly scrambled to their feet.

"Now little ones, my friends and Sahqo are here. Go back to your parents and be nice to Ole Er on the way." Suleyk said, smiling as all the younglings made their way out into the hall. Turning to Nym who was in his arms, he puts her on her feet and crouches before her. "Now little cousin, go make sure they don't cause any trouble or bother Ole Er too much."

"I will big cousin! I love you!" Nym shouted, running out before jumping a bit as magic gather in her feet and she slowly started sliding across the ground with a slowly disappearing trail of ice behind her.

"I love you too Nym!" Suleyk said, a complete smile on his face as he watch her leave and the wall close up behind her. Turning to his friends, Suleyk stood to his full height as his eyes glowed a bit. "Hello again, my friends."