Chapter Text
Lumera sighed as she took her place at Lythos castle’s resplendent white council room. She looked around at her luminescent blue haired and blue eyed brethren taking a mental roll call. The Divine Dragons loved humanity and it was only that love which united her and her brethren. Where they disagreed on was the method of love. As she stated to her father, Idion, that everyone was present, she began to prepare her usual argument to the council once again. Her stomach churned as she contemplated the current state of affairs. Her world, Elyos, had never known strife; had never known conflict but that was only because of a cruel stasis. “Lumera, our charge only needs simple shelter, a few places to gather, and a temple to remind them of their place.” The memory of her father’s words disgusted her. They had only managed to keep humanity like this through artificially limiting their life expectancy at birth. 25 years was paltry; no one could possibly truly live a fulfilling life in that time and the means at which they did so was horrific. A particularly gruesome memory of a crying woman in a farm she once visited came to her mind. “Why? Why did he suddenly perish? My brother was fine just yesterday! Divine One please answer me!”
Lumera strained herself as she forced herself to lie “I do not know my child. But please, you must not give into despair.”
“My brother was everything to me, Divine One! If he’s gone then let death take me too!”
The next day, the woman also perished as both she and her brother were buried. A young girl aged no more than 5 came up to her “Divine One, where is auntie and dad?” With a guilty conscience, Lumera comforted the poor child telling her that they were in a better place. That memory and that day was but one of many but it was the one that finally pushed her over the edge. She needed to do something, anything to help them. She took solace in her past victory in convincing her brethren to let her look over the humans who they called “ambitious malcontents”. Lumera did not view them that way. In her eyes, they were simply people who wanted a better life; a future for themselves; and the ability to watch and see their children grow. Yet, they were banished to a frigid region in Elyos, Elusia where their chance of survival was slim. For all of her brethren’s insistence at not enforcing a death penalty, she thought that this effectively might as well be one. Lumera guessed that her brethren provided her this opportunity to break her. They clearly did not know her very well.
It was the latest in a long line of justifications they made to her about this being the only way for a peaceful world. She did understand where they were coming from as she remembered the many doomed advanced worlds that she saw along with her brethren and their allied Mage Dragon tribe. Everyone except her concluded that each world was brought to ruin because of humanity’s ambition not unlike the now extinct Fell Dragons of the past. Past a certain level of knowledge and society, humans kept desiring for more and hungered for more power. Humanity would always pursue further comfort and security until they grew jealous of each other and even their benefactors, the dragons. Her brethren would have none of it.
Lumera did not see it that way. Her brethren focused too much on their end; their power; their security. It was oddly selfish and she could not help but think that her brethren thought more like Fell Dragons than Divine Dragons. Even if they were slaughtered or forced to leave the world in humanity’s hands, shouldn’t her brethren be proud of how far their children, humanity, have come? All things must come to an end. If a child has to leave her mother’s flock, then the mother should not despair that her role has ended but instead rejoice that the now independent child was truly alive. That was what her love for humanity meant to her. With all of that in mind, she began the meeting arguing in earnest “What good is it that we keep humanity from reaching their potential? Don’t you see that our precious followers die a miserably early death? In other worlds, the average lifespan of a human grows up to even 70 years. Is it not needlessly cruel of us to deny them the healing magic to prolong their lifespan?”
The eldest among them, Idion Divine Dragon Monarch, simply glared at his daughter. With a cold expression, he chastised her “And what good is that lifespan for but prolonging suffering? I would think you better than this Lumera.” Lumera rolled her eyes at that statement. Her father clearly had not been paying attention over the many years they’ve argued. He ignored her provocation and continued his argument. ”Do you not empathize with their despair of losing someone early?” I can ask the same to you father, thought the Divine Dragon Princess as she begrudgingly resisted the urge to interrupt. “Our limitations on age also limit their grief. The family who has lost a son at 12 now does not grieve as hard as a family who has lost the same son but knowing that son could have lived much longer. It is a difference of half a fulfilling life versus a paltry fifth. As you must know, potential is poison. Lumera, why do we even entertain your thoughts every time we convene?”
Matching his glare, Lumera countered “Yet, what a difference it makes to have a tripled lifespan. Our people have never known the joy of grandparents or even their own parents. Aren’t you all ashamed? The joy a child feels when his grandma tells him an embarrassing secret about his parents. The rush of embarrassment coming to the child’s parents as they object to the story. We deny a simple interaction like this and for what?”
Idion simply scowled as the argument pressed ever onwards. He brought up the ugly side of their charge likening them to murderers and narcissists. Lumera countered that even those humans were capable of redemption and remorse. She painstakingly detailed how one such former murderer turned into an orphanage director and how one such narcissist learned to appreciate his friends. Idion protested by calling them statistical anomalies to which Lumera soon pointed out the paragons of humanity: a hero akin to a Divine Dragon who used her immense power to protect, a doctor discovering a cure for a disease that had even stumped dragonkind, and the many teachers who gave hope and knowledge to future generations.
It was as if the argument would never end when suddenly a transmission from another world was detected. Idion’s tone softened as he frantically turned towards the Mage Dragon receiving the signal. He spoke plainly “Apologies Lumera, we can resume the debate another time.”
Lumera acquiesced. It would not do for Elyos to be shown signs of infighting towards Divine Dragons of another world for that would be antithetical to their projected harmony. She similarly softened her own tone and signaled to the Mage Dragon present that she was ready. The Mage Dragon, seeing both of them quiet down, then proceeded to answer. Two images came before the Divine Dragon council. Two images resembling Divine Dragons. One of them was in humanoid form. His pale white body was covered in scales and he wore a white suit emitting a divine light. His height was not much higher than six feet but his own eyes radiated an air of authority. The other humanoid female dragon was in a white iridescent dress with a crown attached to her neck much like Lumera’s own. It seems these two were the royalty of their own world.
The woman began to speak with a gentle but regal voice “I am Incandesca and the dragon with me is Brightrace. We see that this transmission has reached you well, Divine Dragons of Elyos.”
Unflinching, Idion proudly replied “I am Idion, I am the Divine Dragon Monarch and speak for the Divine Dragons of this world. To what business do I owe the pleasure of receiving you two today?”
Brightrace spoke with a hearty chuckle not too unlike a doting father “King Idion, we are humbly requesting to exile the last Fell Dragon of our world to Elyos.”
Idion grimaced. This was not a laughing matter. A Fell Dragon in Elyos would threaten to undo the peace that he has long since cherished. He inquisitively asked “And why choose our humble world for this exile? Are there no other suitable places or better yet why not just execute him?” Lumera was shocked upon hearing such a remark and hoped that shock was not reflected on her face. This was wholly unlike her father to be saying so. For as long as she could remember, he had never been one for the death penalty in Elyos. She wondered what brought about such a strange statement but nevertheless continued to listen. “If he's anything like the Fell Dragons of our world he should be an ambitious hungry tyrant.”
Lumera eyed Incandesca and could have sworn that there were tears of compassion in her eyes. She began to intently listen to her similar counterpart who passionately interjected “This Fell Dragon is not like the others. He has lost the will to fight, insisting that we kill him for his life has no meaning. You might ask, was it a trap? We suspected as much but even after we left ourselves vulnerable, he did nothing. I-... I couldn’t believe such a Fell Dragon existed. He did not wish for conflict with us anymore but even if we could spare him, our humans would not. For us this conflict is but a blip in the radar in our many years but to humans, it is but ages in their short lives.”
Brightrace put his hand on Incandesca’s shoulder comforting her as he added “So to avoid his slaughter at the hands of our faithful, we would have him exiled to a world similar to ours. One of peace and tranquility with no Fell Dragon brethren to corrupt his ideas further. In that sense, yours is the ideal world. If you refuse, we will have no choice but to leave him to a gruesome fate… Please for my daughter, Incandesca's sake, can you give us your response now?”
Lumera wondered what was going through Idion’s head at this moment. She awaited his difficult decision with anticipation. After a brief silence, Idion broke it with a declaration “Very well, send us this Fell Dragon. I have never heard of a Fell Dragon who has lost the will to live. I feel that he will be a perfect fit for our static society.”
Brightrace and Incandesca both glimmered. They thanked Idion and Elyos in unison and left. Lumera was surprised at Idion’s mercy. She was almost certain that the Fell Dragon would have been left to his fate. Her father must have seen the surprise plain on her face as he simply stated “For all of our faults, we have never been one to endorse the death penalty.” But weren’t you insisting on putting him to death earlier?, thought Lumera. She resisted the urge to tease him for his slip up as she continued to listen to his reasoning. “For his crimes we shall host him in Elusia, the land of snow and winter, your domain I might add.” His tone became gentler as he patronized his daughter “You are still too young, Lumera but I am confident that you will be able to identify evil for what it is. A Fell Dragon drained of his potential should be a prime example to show you how futile your preaching for humankind’s potential really is. His despair is a reflection of the potential despair you invite on our charge.”
And here she was beginning to have hope for her father. Lumera nonetheless finished adjourning the meeting with her father. While she couldn’t get it through their thick skulls that they were wrong, she was quite frankly incredibly interested in the Fell Dragon. It was only proper that she welcomed him too for that was her duty as Divine Dragon Princess.