While Adaline stayed in the Bunker the portal closed behind Adam and he walked to a chair and sat down. His mother, Adjra, was on his left, and Fenris was on his right.
“Did you get everything taken care of?” Adjra asked.
“I did, thank you. Did the two of you have any issues coming to an arrangement?” Adam asked back.
“I have one concern,” Fenris said. “I believe the information you have accumulated, while accurate, will lead to the genocide of the colored dragons and could even spill over into attacks on the metallic dragons.”
“Not an issue,” Adam states matter-of-factly
“How is it not an issue Adam?” Adjra asks.
The airships, flying squadrons, and weapons they utilize, while formidable, are all of a technological nature. With a thought, I can nullify them, retarget them, or just simply have them evaporate. They are a non-issue.” Adam explained.
“You have that much power,” Fenris asked.
“Since I left, I know you tried to contact a few of your fellow dragons to ask them to stop. Each has ignored your call.”
“How did you know that? You were not in the room and I would know if I was being scryed upon,” Fenris asks questioningly.
“As I said, not even a contest, now watch,” On the opposite side of the table nine holographic monitors appeared in mid-air, created by his nanites which had fully saturated the planet at this point. While they were not invading biological entities they were in every piece of inorganic matter and could morph to create holographic projectors and keyboard interfaces with a thought.
In each of the nine monitors, a different person appeared. Through observation over the last 24 hours, Adam knew that each was a dragon in their humanoid form as they often transformed when crossing the city, they controlled. Each looked up to the monitor that had appeared directly in front of them.
Aeris 2nd in command, Dravis, a Black Dragon who sat in the middle holographic screen looked up and saw the three of them before he addressed Fenris, “Fenris, is that you? How are you doing this?”
Before Fenris can respond, Adam alters the outgoing image so that it zooms in on him and answers, “Perhaps if you’d responded to the six different communication attempts Fenris attempted you’d now be in a better position to know what’s going on.”
“Who are you?” Dravis asked.
“Since you’ve asked so nicely. I am Adam, son of Adjra, who sits beside me. I control the monitors that you’re looking through and I have called this meeting so that you can listen to Adjra and Fenris. I strongly suggest that you pay attention.”
“I don’t have time for this,” Dravis exclaimed as he tried to wave his hand through the monitor to destroy it.
Adam opened a portal behind him and stepped through into the room Dravis was sitting in. It is a large room that can easily hold Dravis in his Dragon form if he decides to transform, which Adam doesn’t allow. As soon as his Portal closed behind him, Adam released his aura, his full aura focused directly at Dravis who froze like a deer caught in headlights.
While Adam wasn’t transferring his aura to the other eight leaders of the dragon sanctuaries he’d made sure to alter the camera angle so they could watch him step in and see Dravis’s reaction when he looked up and his eyes went wide. Adam spoke in a low tone, which carried throughout the room and was picked up for everyone watching to hear, “If you shift to dragon form you will be dead within a half second of that choice, do you believe me?”
“Yes,” Dravis stammers.
“What was that?”
“Yes,” Dravis repeats.
“Very good,” Adam says as he walks up to Dravis’s desk and stands off to his right. “I expect what Dravis was going to complain about is that for the last day or so the prey in your hunting grounds seems to be getting away and you can’t figure out how.”
Dravis nods quickly
“Well, the reason is simple, I didn’t want you to. As your little hunters closed in, portals opened when they were outside the angle of this or that watcher or camera, and your prey stepped through a portal to another part of the hunting grounds. I could have released them, but where would the fun have been in that? Also, I kept them fed with energy bars and drinks so no they weren’t going to get caught. Shoot, even when they were sleeping they were still being portaled around to other parts of the hunting grounds.
“Why would you do that?” Klimas, a white dragon, asked.
“Well, I was busy and Adjra and Fenris had yet to come to an agreement.”
“You know when Aeris finds you she is going to kill you?” a female Green dragon by the name of Waystral says as she interrupts Adam.
“If she can come back from where she died, she can try?” Adam quips back.
“She’s dead? An older red dragon by the name of Pyro asks before he teleports into Dravis’s room and starts to transform into his red dragon form which evaporates as soon as he comes into contact with Adam’s aura, which Adam had not withdrawn, “So powerful,” Pyro stutters as he drops to his knees.
Adam is a little surprised, he wasn’t even directing his aura at the red dragon.
Before any of you think of doing what Pyro just did, here’s a taste,” Adam said as he had a very small portal open right next to him which opened into each of the rooms where the other seven dragons were sitting. The small portals allowed his aura to expand into their rooms. Adam only held the portals open for a second before he closed them. Next, he opened a portal and sent Pyro back to his office. Next, he opened another portal and stepped back into the office with Adjra and Fenris.
The nine dragon leaders all looked shaken as Fenris and Adjra both looked at Adam questioningly, Adam shrugged and answered their unasked question, “I let them feel the full weight of my Aura.”
“The full weight?” Adjra asked.
“Yep,” Adam answers. “Enough of this posturing though. Now that I have your attention, please watch the following video which will play on the monitors before you, while you all do that I’m going to talk with Adjra and Fenris,” Adam said as he started the information video. He also silenced their feeds so they couldn’t hear Adjra, Fenris and him talk. Adam leaves the monitors on so he can keep an eye on the nine dragon leaders.
“You shook them up pretty well,” Adjra commented.
“I did, I needed them to know that fighting me was pointless. Otherwise, I’ll have to kill one of them and I don’t want to do that. While I don’t like what Aeris did or the society they created it is a society where humans and dragons are thriving in their own way, even if it’s a bit twisted. “
“You were going to explain what you want to do?” Fenris asked.
“Easy enough”, Adam answers. I’m going to release the information, make a statement to the world, and then enforce it while you two keep your dragons in line. I’ll probably leave my human family on the planet to support both of you and level while I head back and address a wrong that was done to me.”
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“How are you going to get back there Adam? Also, if you’re going to try to do what I think you going to try to do, isn’t that person a God of some sort?” Adjra asked.
“Yes, and it’s not going to matter,” Adam states flatly.
Adjra, noticing the steel in Adam’s gaze for the first time, nodded and dropped the subject. Adam ordered a drink and some snack food from his nanites as both Fenris and Adjra did the same.
“I’d love to know how you’re creating everything without magic?” Fenris said as he took a drink of wine from his goblet.
“Without a serious technological background, it would be really hard to explain,” Adam says seriously.
“Try me?”
“Very well. I have created robots, lots of robots that have been shrunk to a size that we cannot see. They are doing all of this.?” Adam explained.
“What’s a robot?” Adjra asked though Adam could tell Fenris was also curious.
“Think of a robot as a technological elemental that will only do what its creator tells it to.”
“What can tiny elementals do?” Fenris asked.
“Quite literally, build worlds,” Adam said as a holographic copy of Earth II appeared in the air. “Of course, it takes a lot of resources and some time, but it can be done.” When he was done speaking he dismissed the image.
Fenris nodded to himself, obviously thinking about something.
“Why would you need to build a world?” Adjra asked and then paused as something flashed through her thoughts. “Oh, rocks that fall from the sky?” she asked.
“Interesting, I must have shared more information with you than I had thought,” Adam said.
“I believe you did, but it’s just a jumble of information that I can’t make out very easily.”
“There is a lot of knowledge stored in my mind, much more than I shared with you. But your statement is accurate, the reason that you might want another planet or alternate plane to go to is that in material planes where planets orbit the suns and gravity follows specific rules in three dimensions, there are very large rocks made of rock, ice, and metal. If those rocks hit planets they can kill all the life there if they’re large enough. If they're large and fast enough they can even destroy planets.”
“I see,” Fenris said.
“Probably not, and hopefully you never will,” Adam said with a smile.
Fenris shook his head as he looked at Adjra, “How does your son know so much? How is he so powerful? How…” he said trailing off.
Adam smiled, “Fenris, I may have been born from Adjra’s egg, but I remember my previous life where I learned quite a bit.”
“Still, you must be blessed by the gods themselves to have such knowledge and power,” Fenris said.
“Or cursed,” Adam said as he checked on the other leaders and noticed that the video was just about over. As the video ended Adam made it so the leaders of the dragon sanctuaries could see the three of them again and inclined his head to the screens.
Dravis was the first to recover as he cleared his throat, obviously waiting to be acknowledged by Adam.
Adam addressed all of them, “You have felt my aura, let's keep things civil and proceed,” Adam said.
Dravis nodded and asked, “The video does not paint us in a very good light, nor does it allow for the continuation of what we have set up, which will cause an uproar.”
Nods of agreement came through the other monitors.
Adam also nodded before he said, I do not know my mother's views on this subject but I, and my mate, are of a more neutral tone. So long as you are not mercilessly killing all the humanoids of the other sentient races and you have worked out a quid pro quo with Adjra and the other good dragons I will not interfere.
“Adam, how could you say that?” Adjra said.
“Because I do not plan to micro-manage, see to every single little detail, of the management of this world. I’m sure there will be criminals and such that will need to be put to death, even you would agree that is so, wouldn’t you Mother?” Adam asked.
“Well, yes.”
“Then I leave it to You, Fenris, and the other nine elder dragons and whoever you bring in from your side, mother, to set up a way for dragons to continue using the sanctuaries while not warring with each other. There are too few of you right now. As for the metallic dragons coming back into the world, I have two ideas.”
“Two ideas?” Adjra asks.
“Yes, Well three actually but I discounted the third idea which would have had the metallic dragons coming up to the Sanctuary cities. My first idea is to open a portal from where you are into the plane Aeris used to use so you can fly in the open skies. We could set it to open to one of the land masses floating there so the dragons could land and rest before returning “home”.
“And the second idea?” Adjra prompts
“The second idea is for me to find a place in one of the oceans of this world, or two or three, and create islands for you to act as sanctuaries for the metallic dragons. The first way allows for mostly hassle-free open flying, but it’s not truly a world. The second way puts you back into the world which would open you to adventures seeking you out and interfering in your lives again.” Adam explained.
“Adventurers were already trying to seek us out. Some even found us and have remained our guests for quite a while. Now that our existence is to be known again, we can release them to the surface.” Adjra said.
“Of course, others found out you still existed,” Adam said.
Adjra smiled as Fenris broke into the conversation and asked, “Aeris plane, you say you can open portals to it?”
“Yes, why?” Adam asked.
“How much of it did you see?”
“Not much, maybe 30 miles and however far the clouds let me see from there, so maybe a hundred miles or so. It felt like I was on an elemental plane, one composed of air,” Adam said.
“You were, but it has gravity because if you allow the gravity to pull you there is a large plane of earth below it with mountain ranges that goes on forever,” Fenris said wistfully.
“So, it abuts the Elemental Plane of Earth?” Adam asked.
“And water though I never saw where all the rivers ran off to. They seemed to enter into lakes and seas surrounded by land, but the waters never overflowed. I think the Elemental plane of Water was beneath it.” Fenris said.
“That doesn’t sound like any dimensional setup I’ve ever run across before, is it artificial?” Adam asks.
“I wouldn’t know, it has been there since before I was born,” Fenris said.
“Me too,” Adjra agreed. “I remember an expanse of mountains that went on forever. My father took me there once. I was born here though, in the caldera you flew into to find me,” Adjra said.
“Could you make a portal for us to get there as well?” Fenris asked.
“I can. Why don’t the eleven of you talk for a bit and I’ll check and see how far it is to the planer interface,” Adam said as a portal opened to the Plane of Air, and Adam stepped through. He began his freefall toward an island below him and transformed into his Adamantium Dragon Form before he angled his trajectory to miss the island and continue past and below It.
Adam increased his speed but kept it relatively, for him, slow at about 2,100 miles per hour, or Mach three. That way he could dodge islands as they appeared out of the clouds. A few times he came upon layers of clouds and had to use his ability Molded Chaos to create a ping to see what was in and below the cloud layer. To utilize the ping effectively he slowed down to about 350 miles an hour because using a sonar ping while traveling faster than the speed of sound would have been pointless.
Every once in a while he opened a portal back to Gemma and checked to see how the talks were going with his mom, Fenris, and the others with his nanites. It seems that if he could verify that this was indeed the home of dragons, all of them would be very interested in coming back here permanently. Living among the humans, while fun was “unnatural”, Dravis’s words. Adam wasn’t sure how that would work out because of their alignments, but if it's an actual plane there should be room for them to find a place to reduce the natural conflict between the two sides.
Just then a roar from below issued forth and a shadow in the clouds broke through to reveal a dragon that was at least twice as large as his mother. Adam slowed and allowed himself to scent the air. There was a familiar smell, not unlike his mother but not his mother. He noticed that the giant dragon was doing the same before its eyes squinted and it bellowed, “Where is Adjra?” in draconic.
Adam flared to a stop and used his dragon ability to lock himself in place before the Old Wyrm, as he looked into the old Wyrm’s eyes, “Mother is in the world of Gemma.”
The Old Wrym landed before Adam and locked himself spatially just as Adam had and reached out with a claw to scar Adam’s cheek. From Adaline’s memories, Adam learned that this is a show of Dominance among the family. Adam has landed and not shown his submissiveness to the old Wyrm. As his giant claw reaches forward the old Wyrm casually batted at Adam as he said, “Know your pla….CRACK” as the tip of his claw breaks against Adam's scales.
Before the old Wyrm could react Adam said, “I do,” with a toothy grin and then asked, “Grandfather, I believe, would you like to see your daughter?” Adam said as he opened a portal to the room Adjra was in.
As soon as the portal opened, there was a pause And then Adjra bolted out of the portal and jumped into her father's arms as he shifted into his humanoid dragon form to catch her in his arms.
Adam shifted to his Human form while he used his ability Molded Chaos to create a floor he could stand on and walked over to the portal. He peered through to Fenris and the others on the Monitor, “It would seem that Adjra has found her father. I’m going to leave the monitors fixed to their current position so you can all talk if you want. Fenris, when you want to leave just ask for a portal and it will return you to where you came from. This might take a bit so the big reveal is postponed, and I can almost guarantee that this is the Dragon realm though Grandpa is huge and I’m betting that you all will have to talk to him before he’s going to let you come home. I will ask though,”
“Thank you, Adam,” Fenris said as a look of shock which turned to consideration crossed his face.
Adam nodded and the portal closed as he turned and saw that “Grandpa” was still hugging his daughter, while every once in a while he looked over at Adam, then shook his head and hugged his daughter again.