After another four days, which flew by as Carl worked himself into the ground, he finally received the message he'd been waiting for. He, the dragons, Noah and Blaine had been sorting through the beasts needed to get the original ten their long overdue pets.
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KYUBI : WHEN THE PORTAL OPENS, BRING EVERYONE WHOSE COMING AND COME THROUGH LAST. ]
"I'll have to leave you guys to it, Noah as soon as you have theirs sorted you can head out. We'll forward the others later. I could be gone a while remember, hold down the fort and no parties or guests while I'm gone that aren't vital to stop a death."
"Yes dad."
"Shut up, Kitsunoko, Omedra, Squidge. let's get going. Equinox, Lydia, Kon, your in charge." As he finished a portal swirled into life, setting off the the incursion alarms that Blanc quickly shut off.
As they stepped through the portal, they found themselves in the centre of an army of banshee, some tearing away at dragon-kin souls.
"I guess we know why Bahamut was so flustered..." Omedra smirked, Carl had come to realise that Omedra was not a fan of other dragons in general, though he wasn't sure if it was just who she was or whether it stemmed from Tiamat's attempt to implant memories.
"Not really the reason we're here..." Carl laughed before they reach the three waiting for them. "Grandma Lillim, Kyubi, I missed you two... Sorry, but I have a lot to catch you up on as well, I did my best but I think I want your opinion on everything. Oh! Sorry, you must be Lady Faylorna... Sorry, I don't know what to do or say, Klaire never told me if there was any kind of etiquette."
"Even if there were, I am apparently in your debt young man. Now, please stop being so polite, a relative of this demon showing courtesy is disarming." Faylorna said as she stood from the shadowy table the three of them had been sat at and approached him.
"Sorry, is there something I can help you with?" He asked awkwardly as she seemed to visually inspect every inch of him.
"No. Just curious."
"Stop it woman! Your damn curiosity caused enough trouble already did it not."
"Fine... Now why don't you make introductions before the little fox-girl wets herself."
"I won't! I'm a big girl!"
"Adorable. On the matter of foxes, good work resisting the lecherous one sitting at the table, I would be eating your soul if you hadn't, anyway, introductions."
"Sorry, I forgot that bit, I feel like I've introduced everyone alive to everyone else after the last few days... This is little Kitsunoko, daughter of me, Klaire and Kyubi. She is also the first of the new fox-kin, they seem to have some temperament differences to the originals.
Then we have Squidge, who is hiding around here somewhere, honestly he is so good at hiding the only reason I know he's here is because coming meant seeing his mum.
Finally the new member of our family, mine and Klaire's newest daughter Omedra. She apparently has a bad opinion of dragon-kin, but will be acting as our emissary to Tiamat, which makes me think a bit of animosity is a good thing."
"Don't even mention that stupid lizard and we will be talking about aura and how readily you listened to that cretin's words later." Lillim snarled from the sidelines.
"I guess that bring things back to me..." Faylorna muttered as she gestured back to the table, which grew to accommodate the additional numbers. "During the Howling, I looked into Klaire's memories, I saw you both die and that is what caused the attack on the dragons.
Though I guess you figured that out and it isn't an issue anymo-"
"Actually it is, between us that is. I understand why you did it. Still though, your actions nearly got all of us dragged into it and with our only actual contenders against them here. If Nergal hadn't given us the immortal tratises we would all be dead. He hid it well, but I could tell he was prepared to end us before we were a problem."
"You would let them go without punishment?" Faylorna's tone had lowered dangerously though Lillim didn't react and Kyubi was too busy making up for lost time with her darling daughter.
"No, I intended to deal with it when the time was right. I wasn't going to let it go, not ever, not after I watched them burn... What you did, was take that from me and force me to pander to him instead." Carl's tone had also dropped dangerously and was finally enough to get Lillim's attention.
"Enough of this farcical conversation, why don't you explain where that shadow in your eyes has come from." She finally said, immediately putting an end to the staring contest the two had been engaged in.
"Our new member Sophie... She's a half-vampire so far removed she appears as human, but she suffers from sun-sickness. She was put through hell by her supremacist family and if it wasn't for Bahamut telling me about the real leaders of the committee, we would already be moving against them..."
"So bold all of a sudden, but tell me Carl, since when have you been so bloodthirsty?"
"I'm not, I'm just angry, sick o-"
"Don't lie to me Carl, I can smell your desire for violence, I can see the flicker of murderous rage beginning to ignite."
"I can see the darkness clinging to your soul too. It casts a large shadow when backed by such brightness." Faylorna added.
"Can you blame me, I want them gone already, I want my mums to be free and for my friends to stop suffering. If I just killed them I co-"
"Could inspire another war as the human supremacists rise up and get completely slaughtered by the new equality movement?" Lillim finished his sentance with the worst case scenario.
"By all means, I will gladly help you slaughter those abominations, I'll lose some daughters I'm sure and we'll probably lose some of the faction worlds, but if you arm each one with something of Equinox's level over the next few months we can bring an end to them by the new year."
"I'll gladly help too of course, it was those mutant humans that betrayed me all those centuries ago, so I'm quite looking forward to it myself."
"I'm not particularly concerned, they never actually hurt my kin, but they did rob Danielle of her place in our clan and they have seen several generations of them relegated to second class citizens. Why not, I have wondered occasionally what their souls taste like."
"If you're all so eager, then why haven't you?" Carl mumbled the question, he knew he must be missing something vital still and his ignorance was what was truly fuelling his desire to end it as quickly as possible.
"He finally asks the obvious question!" Lillim cheered the sentence sarcastically. "We can't without killing every human, they are holding the entire race and many half-breeds hostage. That is why we immortals have stopped, why we settled for the territory contest."
"What!? How can they hold the entire race hostage?" Carl's shock was all-encompassing.
"Simple, when they first appeared and united, we had diminished humanity down to its last dregs. Then they united everything that was left, of course they were still not enough, but they realised something... That we wanted humans to survive as a species.
Our goal was simple, push humanity to the brink, drag them into the natural order, we never sought extinction. When they realised that, they threatened to wipe out the humans entirely. that led to the contest, when that was done, they demanded to be recognised as the leaders of humanity and gave up the rest of the earth aside from key points.
They then forced every human child that went through their IDCs to sign a contract that made them follow their ideals, it was a genius who thought of cross-breeding, noticing my daughters were free.
The real reason they have tried to "purify" the species is because that will result in their renewed control."
"So, how can I free them then? There has to be a way."
"There is, one they don't even know, one that hasn't occured naturally in eons, when Samael achieved it. You have to get ten stars, every five pluses gives you a star, at five stars a creture becomes an awakened form of their species and an immortal. At ten stars you become the unquestionable ruler of the species."
"Is that why they didn't take me in the end? I already had a plus and a bond with a half-breed. They figured I was more likely to be a threat to them, if I reached ten stars."
"No. They know you will be a threat to them at five, the first to reach ten becomes the undisputed ruler or god of that species. Some however, like the committee leaders or the dragon gods are what's called variants. Born with stars but unable to cultivate new pluses or stars.
The lizards are actually twin variant's both born with ten stars.
The human leaders, are variants of five stars, they are not able to advance further thankfully, but they have plenty of contingency plans we can discuss when the time is right."
"Indeed, I think we have chatted for too long as is given the way time works here. I have no desire to taste Klaire's wrath any further, so why don't we all go and join them in the misty village?"
"I thought you didn't leave Faylorn?" Carl asked the question before he had realised.
"I do, on rare occassions. I think joining your faction is a pretty damn-good reason to." Faylorna chuckled, all three of the immortals saviouring his apparently delicious bewilderment.
-----Author's note----
Don't think anyone actually reads the note section, so just wanted to say a massive thank you for everyone reading this far.
Any notes, comments or reviews are greatly appreciated and I'm sure you have some by now, but honestly just reading along is greatly appreciated, hope you're enjoying it!