System Change

They, unfortunately, were not up in the air by the end of the day. The problem wasn’t in how long it took Edward to contract with the amphithere; it was in how long it took for the dragonkin to evolve. It seemed like it teetered on the cusp of evolving just like Lyra had—which most likely would have brought Edward’s class rarity up a notch and rewarded him with some stat points just as it had Avery—however, it didn’t quite get there.

The amphithere, who Edward ended up naming Volt—much to Derek’s dismay, as he had suggested to call it Spark or Sparky—had grown, though. It was already big for one of the lesser amphithere, and after the evolution, it was almost the same size as Lyra. It ended up being quite the beautiful winged serpent.

Volt’s scales had all turned a shade of dark blue trimmed in the vibrant blue of Edward’s lightning element, causing each scale to look as if it was glimmering in the sun. Its body and feathers were a majestic silver, and it all culminated with the amphithere’s sliver-blue crown. All in all, it was fitting for a crown prince of lightning.

And, since it wasn’t too much smaller than Blitz and Lyra, it wouldn’t be easy for others to tell that it was actually of a lesser rarity than them. Everyone would compare Edgar and Edward, which now included their respective dragonkin. The two dragonkin being almost similar in size would allow Edward to save a bit more face than he would have. Though not many people would disrespect someone with a dragon—at least, that’s what Derek thought.

So, during the time it took for Volt to evolve, Derek and the others loaded up all the dragonkin back into his Time Prison. He couldn’t put them in any of the cells because of the cooldown, so he just put them inside and shut the door. After that, they all went over to make sure that the pure magic wyvern was still trapped with no problems. Tyron and Rocky opted to stay with it while everyone else invaded Astrus.

Finally, they all waited, and it wasn’t until late in the night that Volt had evolved into the beautiful creature he currently was.

“Great,” Derek said. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll come too, just in case you need some support,” Tara said. “Trent, you take your new companion and go back home. I’m sure everyone’s waiting to see why I had you rush off so suddenly.”

“Yes, mother.” Trent nodded and left. His drake had also evolved, but it hadn’t grown in size. It was still the same, but it changed to a light blue color—indicating that it had also taken on some of the illusion properties that the young elven man had. Derek couldn’t help but wonder about the skills the previously non-elemental drake would now have.

“Ready?” Derek asked everyone and received a nod from them all. “We’re off, then,” he said to Tyron. “You two take care.”

“Hurry back,” Tyron said. “I’ll be working on a decent pair of gloves for you. Looks like you don’t need boots anymore.”

The group soon made it back to the capital. It was quite a sight, seeing the wyvern and two amphitheres flying in formation over the city before landing and taking up so much space in the palace courtyard. Even though it was the middle of the night, and the guards were prepared, it caused a great commotion. Luckily, many of the people already knew of Blitz and Edgar, so they weren’t too panicked with the arrival of more dragonkin.

The fact that none of the beasts made any moves to harm or intimidate any of the citizens didn’t hurt, either. The children were more curious than anything after getting to know of Blitz, and many of them were awakened by the excitement and ran out of their homes to see the spectacle.

This time, Derek had opted to ride on the back of Alanah’s contracted wyvern instead of Lyra, as the wyvern was in the front of the formation. The earthen wyvern didn’t have the human-like intelligence that the amphitheres had because it wasn’t a bonded beast, but it behaved well and did whatever Alanah asked it to do. Even if they weren’t bonded, the contract was still binding.

The five people jumped off the backs of the dragonkin and made their way into the palace, where Edwin and the others were still up and waiting. Soon, they were back in the Great Hall.

“Is Blitz still not back?” Derek asked Edgar, who had been chatting with his father.

“We’ll meet him on our way to Indria. I teleported to one of the cities he was close to and got within range of him and told him of the plan. He was a little disappointed that his rest and relaxation was cut short,” Edgar replied.

“He’ll be able to rest as much as he wants once this is finished,” Derek said. “What about you?” He looked at the king. “Are you ready? Are you sure you want to leave the capital?”

“Of course!” Edwin said with a smile. “How often does a king get to invade an enemy country while on dragon back? It will be the perfect end to my reign.”

“Whatever.” Derek shrugged, then pointed at Tara. “Tara was retrieving her dragonkin for her son and wanted to come. We thought it’d be a good idea to have a decent support class with us, just in case.”

“That’s fine by me,” Edwin said. “It is nice to see you again, Mrs. Perez.”

The elven support mage bowed slightly. “It’s nice to see you, too, Your Majesty.”

“I take it Natalie’s staying back?” Derek asked.

“Ms. Savannah has gone back,” the king replied. “She said she has a lot of work to catch up on.”

“Well, then it looks like it’s just us,” Edward said. “Is everybody ready?”

Receiving no complaints, the crown prince led everyone back out of the palace and back to the courtyard. The place was already surrounded by a medium-sized group onlookers—not unlike how it had been when they fought there previously. Vanessa’s skill had drawn a lot of attention back then, but not as much as the trio of dragonkin was now.

When the three royal family members came out of the palace, the group cheered.

“Do they know what we’re doing?” Derek asked from behind the three.

“No,” Edgar answered. “But it’s not hard to sense that something’s going on.”

Derek shrugged, then he and Silvi jumped onto the back of the earthen wyvern alongside Alanah. Next, Avery and Tara jumped to the back of Lyra, then finally, the royal trio, in their full battle gear, leaped onto the back of Volt. When the royal family all mounted Volt, the cheers of the crowd increased. Even though they didn’t know what was happening, the citizens, with all the tension that had arisen over the last months, gave them a good and proper send off—even if it was in the middle of the night.

Edward walked forward until he was standing on the top of Volt’s head, then motioned with his arm for the crowd to quiet. Derek nodded. The man was going to take over as king soon, so this was the perfect opportunity for him to make a showing. Even if the crowd wasn’t nearly as big as an official gathering would have been, it was big enough to spread the word throughout the kingdom.

“Everyone!” Edward projected his voice out where it could be heard by all around the palace. “I am proud to say that the war with Indria is over and we have made peace!”

With that, the group cheered once again. It was possible that announcing what was going on right now would lead to Astrus getting wind of everything—if they already hadn’t—and preparing for their arrival. That was fine by Derek and the others. If Astrus prepared a force to fight against their small retinue, then their position would be all the more solid once they took care of it.

After some time, the crowd quieted once again. “Now!” the crown prince shouted. “It is time to end the war with Astrus, with my royal family leading the charge!” Everyone cheered again. Then Edward nodded to the entrance of the palace, and a group of guards walked out, escorting the captured Duke of Astrus. Seeing the new addition, the group of people—which was steadily growing in size due to the uproar—quieted and began murmuring among themselves.

The guards quickly brought Duke Terrin atop Volt, and Edgar took him off their hands. After that, the younger prince brought the duke to the forefront so the group would be able to get a better look in the lantern lit night. From behind them, Derek noticed Edwin smiling like a kid in a candy shop. He was enjoying the show his sons were putting on.

“Many of you may not know who this is, but no doubt, some of you do,” Edward motioned to the duke, who was beside him being held by Edgar. “This man… is Duke Terrin of Astrus.” The murmurings grew louder after that, and half the crowd looked on in shock. “Many things have happened over the last few days. In particular, we have executed King Tevarian and his general, captured Duke Terrin, and made peace with Indria.

“With Tevarian Sinclair, the King of Astrus, gone, and his brother soon to be executed, we, with the aid of the elves of Indria, will end this war with Astrus and replace those in power. Our people will soon know peace once again, and Cydaria will be the foremost kingdom of our continent!” Edward pumped his fist in the air.

The gathered crowd cheered once again, but this time, Edward didn’t bother quieting them. Edgar took Terrin back down to the back of Volt and secured him.

“Tonight!” Edward shouted over the loud crowd. “We go into battle! Expect great news in the upcoming days! Volt! Let’s go!” With his final shout, Volt flapped his wings and the winged serpent lifted off the ground.

Derek soon felt himself being lifted into the air on the back of the earthen wyvern, then he looked back at Avery. The archer rolled his eyes, but Lyra soon joined the other dragonkin in liftoff. The dragonkin trio shot straight up into the air with the cheering crowd below them—their cheers continuing even while they were pelted with the intense gusts of wind created by the wings of the beasts.

Because of how fast and how vertical they had risen, Derek had to reach down and grab onto one of the wyverns spikes to ensure he didn’t fall off. When he looked ahead of him, he saw Edgar doing his best to hold both Edwin and Duke Terrin in place. The man was a Dragon Rider, after all, so he had perfect balance on the back of any dragonkin, not just Blitz.

When Derek looked back, he saw the comical sight of the elven support mage holding onto Avery’s arm for dear life. No part of her body was in contact with Lyra. If not for the archer holding her, she would have already fallen. Soon, they leveled out, and everyone made themselves more comfortable.

“Was that really necessary?” Derek yelled over to Edward. It was hard to speak over the distance between them.

“I thought it best to give the people a spectacle to be excited about. I think it worked, don’t you?” Edward yelled back.

Derek shrugged. “We’ll see…” he said to nobody in particular.

They had one last stop to pick up some extra firepower in Indria, then, they would head straight to the capital of Astrus. I wonder how much more powerful Osian is than Ryven. That… will be interesting to see.