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Firion was slowly walking up to the castle, both proud and nervous to be meeting the king. The night before he had stayed up speaking with the Guardians, trying to keep them from interfering with their meeting. All but one of the Guardians had promised to stay away, surprisingly it wasnt either the Fire or Death Guardian, instead it was the Guardian of Life herself. As he continued walking toward the castle, various scenarios of the meeting rushed through his head, from just a regular conversation to all out chaos in the room. He quickly shook his head of the thoughts and kept walking.

Within minutes he had reached the group, just in time to hear Sierra insult his Guardians, "I have spoken with them last night, they had promised not to interfere with our meeting." he said plainly, although there did seem to be a slight hiss toward the female.

Vestakia folded her arms in front of her chest. "he's not holding us out here, I was waiting for you lot." she stated matter of factly. she reached over and ruffled up Hunter hair again after he just smoothed it out. she looked to Sierra and gave her a small nod. "I'm sure with a little convincing he will, you lot come from over the borders of our lands, if he sees that the Demon King's reach is starting to expand he might finally do something about it. just tell him where your from, but no life stories, being a warrior once means he wants facts not opinions and tears not that I’m really expecting any from some of you." she said uncrossing her arms and glancing at Sierra for a moment before they flicked to Firion. "And everyone is right Firion, keep the Guardians in check there might be priests of the Goddesses nearby and we want to stay in their favour, we need the support of the temples as well as the king if we are to gain some help. Healers are just as Important as Warriors."

~~~

Zanth shifted quietly beside Vestakia, he was nervous about meeting the King, he had hoped to join the group after they talked with the Dragon who would be able to tell instantly that something was amiss with him. he just hoped the king was in a good mood and would show him mercy if he found out why Zanth was really there, surly he would take pity on him for having to suffer under the Drow's hand. lucky for him the others in the group didn't see his as much of a threat, in fact they paid little attention to him at the moment, probably thinking he would be useless in a fight but they didn't seem to object with him 'tagging along'.

Vestakia sighed and shook her head at Kisuke as he finally arrived but she gave him a small smile before turning away from everyone heading for the entrance. she turned her head and made a small sound towards Zanth, he jumped a little, lost in his own thoughts she assumed and gestured for him to stay near her, she seemed to take on a protectiveness around the creature. when they entered the Castle a few of the guards, all of them were-bird creatures with huge black wings, turned to stare at them, but for the most part continued doing what they had originally had their focus on before. Vestakia took a deep breath as she made her way down the long entrance hall the white marble shining brightly as the sun entered through the stained glass windows reflecting off the walls and the red carpet that rested on the floor, muffling their footsteps. To the right the hall had many doors lining the walls, to various parts of the castle, but at the end were two large gold trimmed, cherry wood doors that look polished enough to shine like metal.

Vestakia stopped in front of the doors, and after a second they were opened, revealing that they were about foot thick and extremely heavy by the way they creaked open. Two large Dragon-born Guards pulled them open, unlike most of the Dragon blooded Wild-Born that walked the streets, or like Firion, they resembled Centaurs but instead of a horses body, it was the lower half of a dragon and wingless their skin pale almost white until it faded into their lower halves the scaled shining bright silver, their eyes and long braided hair matching in fact they were possibly twins, even their armour matched, which only was made up of a single blue and gold shoulder guard on the left shoulder and matching Armour plating on their Dragon bodies.

But Vestakia paid little attention to them, she had seen their kind enough, her eyes were locked on to the Figure directly in front of her. Instead of a throne sitting directly up the short rounded marble staircase, there was a large carpeted area, and resting on top of it, was a great golden Dragon with matching gold eyes and claws, and giant wings that were tucked tightly against himself, even in the huge chamber he wouldn't be able to open them, his head was even lowered to keep from smashing into the glass ceiling, the large golden horn on his head nearly scrapping the glass above him, at least the room was wide enough. "Ah, Welcome young ones. forgive me for not rising, but as you can see, that would end in a rather poor outcome." Vestakia had to hold back the roll of her eyes, he could always shift to his humanoid form, he was just showing off, but she held her tongue and stopped Zanth from following her as she took a few more steps forwards and bowed on one knee shifting to her true form and lowering her head hoping the others would follow her lead, she saw Zanth drop to his knees out of the corner of her eye.

((Long post is long, I’m going to split this up to give your guys a chance to have your chars say stuff and participate in his decision, I actually have two scenarios planned out depending how it goes))

Firion only stood there, his arms crossed. He didnt want to reply to the others when they spoke of his Guardians, but as long as the Guardians themselves didnt take over he was alright. He only grumbled to himself, then the doors slowly opened. He walked in behind Vestakia, paying no mind to the draconic guards, but when the sight of the large golden dragon came into view he quickly dropped down onto both knees, his gaze toward the ground. This is the king? Well... I have to admit, I am surprised. he thought. He placed both palm onto the ground and lowered his head until his snout almost touched the floor.

Kisuke knelt down next to Vestakia and remained quiet, until king spoke of him being arrested and calling him a little teeth. Gritting his fangs he sighed, "Yes my apologies, I did my have my reasons but it was no excuse, I promise you, I wont repeat my actions from the past, thank you for being so kind." He said in a calm voice. He figured he had to give his best behavior since this was important. After that he let Vestakia talk and heard the dragon bring up something about Vestakia's escape, and he remained quiet.

Sierra had followed silently along with the others, she had also nodded, though brief, to the guards they had passed. When the great doors opened to reveal a large room, the first thing her eyes settled on was the great golden dragon before them. Like the others she walked into the room and knelt down on her knee in a sort of bow in respect to the king. When the king spoke to her she looked up, what he said was true and he was one of the few who seemed to recognize this. Sierra was lost in her own thoughts a moment til Hunter spoke her name and she looked up at him. At the mention of their, deceased, friends her armor hand shifted into a fist in anger in the manner of which they had died, she mumurred, "They were good warriors," Her fist clenched a bit tighter, metal scraping a bit against metal. "Fighting against an impossible foe."

The Dragon King nodded slowly as he listened and let out a long deep sigh filled with burden. His form began to shrink and a golden light filled the room before fading away to show a tall elven figure standing before the group with long white hair that touched the ground and was streaked with gold a set of golden horns still adorned his head and his golden eyes still remained locked on the group before him as he adjusted the white robes around his lean frame, his pale face held a few wrinkles of age here and there, but he still had a certain youth about him still even if his eyes looked very old. "A Jackal, another race that broke off from us many years ago...a group of them came to me a few weeks ago, looking for help to find one of their warriors, if what you say is true, then I will have to send them grave news." He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "To many of my own people have gone missing, but I could not just attack without knowing if it truly was the cause of Tal'rukk." His head slowly looked up out the glass ceiling. "I Have let this go on for to long now, and I am ashamed to say that the death of your friends might have been my fault for just sitting idle for so long, But if I take action more lives could be lost as well..."

"And if you don't make that sacrifice then you will have the weight of the fall of the Kingdoms on your shoulders as well! Please you must do something before more creatures are left to suffer!" This time it was Zanth that spoke up, he had sat silently behind Vestakia and the others, but he couldn't continue to be silent, he was a spy for the Demon King, but it didn't mean he wanted the Drow to succeed. when he had spoke, he sounded angry and hurt, the fur on his tail and hair had stood on end with his outburst, but slowly realising he had spoken out, interrupting the king, he took a step back and hung his head looking down at his feet.

The King stared at the goblin for a long moment, studying him his eye narrowed, something was off about the small creature, he carried a small amount of darkness that only he could feel but he said nothing on it before nodding slowly. "You all have my support then,but I must take this up with the council and I will discuss it with the other Kingdoms, I will summon you again when we have come to a full agreement it will take a little while to convince the other Kingdoms, they have not suffered as many losses being as Argnons' borders have kept them safe from Tal'rukk for many years, they still think they are safe." He said waving for the two guards to open the doors a signal he was about to dismiss the group. "But for now, if you can, try to relax I should have word to you on the day of the Festival in a weeks time."

((sorry it took a while, I have a friend over and i was working on the front cover of my novel.))

Vestakia brought a hand to her face and suppressed a groan as Hunter yelled at the King. her eyes shifted to the guards at the doors, but they did not move, they looked a little shocked, but it seemed that they were only there for decoration really, the King could handle himself.

The Dragon King kind expression changed in a instant, instead of looking like someone who was scolded, his demeanour changed to that of a warrior and as her moved his head just slightly the light from the sun through the glass ceiling showed many scars adorning his skin, if they had looked close enough while he was in his Dragon form they would have seen them sooner if his gold scales hadn't reflected so much light, hiding them. "Do you think that I like to deal with politics? that I enjoy having to run around dealing with the other Kings and Political figureheads that have never seen a battle in their lifetimes! I cannot just get up and go to war, unlike the Dark King, I cannot summon the undead to my aid, creature who don't have to eat or sleep, who don't have worries that their families will be okay without them. Yes lives have been lost, you have seen Two of your friends die, I understand your pain, but I and seen Hundreds of my own die in wars long forgotten. And think about it, if I cancel the Festival under declaration of War, it will cause people to become uneasy and it will take away my warriors last chance to spend time with their families before they are sent off into the front lines to face an enemy that we have no idea what they are capable of. Don't you dare accuse me of only caring about my own comfort or livelihood I was not made King because I was a senile old man!" The King's voice echoed around the great hall and behind his word were hints of growls here and there, one he was repressing.

"Tell me Hunter, you seem to think that even if I do not speak with the other Kingdoms for aid that I can just pack up and go immediately, Here is a lesson for you *Chiik'aran, to Keep my warriors healthy and strong I need to gather enough food and water for them to survive out in those barren lands that will take days as I must contact the farmlands around the Kingdoms, I also must send word to the villages to rally their Warriors and then send me an list of how many have volunteered so I know how much food I will have to ask of the farmlands, oh yes and don’t forget about armour and weapons for those who have none, I will need money for that, meaning Taxes will have to be raised, and something like that will cause unsentimental around the Kingdom and then their is a matter of placing a new figurehead upon the throne while I am away, someone the people will trust and I can leave behind without worrying I will come back to a broken Kingdom." The entire time He spoke his eyes blazed with anger at the young wild born before him. "You never thought of anything like that did you? You just think that its easy to raise an army, fight, and come back victorious without thinking of that fine details. it does not take hours to do something like that, your lucky I gave a week, and that was only to see if the other Kingdoms would aid us and the same rules apply to them, if they more swiftly then we would be able to have armies ready to march on Tal'rukk within the month, But it seems you only think that everyone will be willing to just Starve out there and just leave their families without so much as a hug goodbye and go into battle with just a loincloth to protect them!" He nearly roared, the walls of the room shaking slightly but then he calmed down taking a deep breath and looking over at Vestakia. "Tell me Vestakia, for I know you have your own voice, as someone who has been inside the Castle herself and seen the Dark King face to face, are you so eager to return without any time to prepare yourself, or a moment to feel like nothing matters in the world, before you are thrown in a battle where there is a chance that you will not be able to return this time around?" He asked, but the kindness returned to his eyes as he spoke to her.

Vestakia stared up at the King for a moment, and then glared at Hunter her fist clenching and unclenching, she had warned him repeatedly to hold his tongue and he had spoke without thinking, she truly wanted to punch him now but she held back knowing she had to answer the King. "I never wanted to return there...I wanted to leave it in the past those who were taken to the Arena had it better then they thought...but I wasn't so lucky...but I know I have to face it again at any cost...but I would like to enjoy myself one last time before I have to go, to be able to act as if Tal'rukk didn't exist, that I wouldn't have to see His face again." she half whispered. "I can only speak for myself, I do not wish to sound like I do not care, but they were not my Friends that I lost, they are only Heroes in one of many tales that are part of a larger book and I do not feel the need to throw myself out their immediately to avenge characters who I never knew nor had feeling for. I wish only to fight to protect those who are not gone now, and to avenge myself." she answered truthfully, though she stared down at the ground hoping the others would not think Ill of her. she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked down at Zanth who nodded his head, as if in reassurance and agreement, she already knew his story was the same as hers even if the others didn't know, but he had managed to escape at least almost fully sane.

((long post is long 0-0))

*Small Child