Faris stomped down the hallway towards the library to meet Dragonis and Xander with something disagreeable on his mind. Aulder was upsetting the balance and he was going to be blamed. This was not going to go over well. None of this was. He walked into the library and saw Dragonis and Xander bent over books that were not his.

"What's this?" He motioned his hands toward the books.

"My collection," Xander said slowly, "We can not let Aulder know."

"Ah," Faris said understanding full well the kind of collection Xander had brought, "A little warning next time friend? I didn't know you were a collector."

"I wanted to be prepared," Xander smiled.

"It seems the more we head into this the less we can prepare," Faris sighed, "So, what have you both found?"

"The grimoire of the Necromancer God's High Preist," Dragonis said as Xander held the dragon skin bound book aloft for Faris to see.

"I am not touching that abomination," Faris said with his face contorted in disgust. Xander put the book back down abruptly and then looked as though he didn't know what to do with his hands for a moment.

"I assume you did?" Faris looked at Dragonis. He nodded while looking a bit sick.

"I have found that Itzal is not the god the necromancers follow." Dragonis started off, "They follow and worship The god of Death, and call him Nidhuggr. I have confirmed this with Hima."

"The High Dragon? You found him?" Faris was excited. He knew the remaining dragons and dragonborn had lost contact with him a long time ago. Hima's daughter had become extremely reclusive and did not search him out.

"His soul is in the boy from the college who suffered a breakdown. He confirmed the most troubling part. The God of Death now inhabits his body, which is how he has gone undetected by the Gods. Itzal was merely a distraction," Dragonis said leaning on the table then he sat down and looked at his hands now resting in his lap.

"How..." Faris didn't understand how a god could inhabit a body that wasn't his.

"Because Hima's magic was in both his soul and his body. Hima was a descendant of the Old Gods from Paeran, the world the dragons came from," Dragonis acted as though this all left a bad taste in his mouth. Faris could not agree more.

"So, we are losing magic native to this world, we lost the conduit, the necromancers are making a comeback and follow a god wearing a dragon suit. This is fantastic," Faris sighed but knew he couldn't keep the other bad news from his friends. Politics were going to be interesting from here on out, "To top it all off, Aulder is breaking the accord, and means to clutch."

"Clutch? As in more than one child?" Dragonis was alarmed. 

"They mean to give birth to their own personal army against the necromancers. Aulder mated with the newest storm traveler." Faris saw the fear and fascination mingle on Dragonis' face. The accord was to keep the balance of power between dragons and their children by promising no more to be born to tip the balance to any dragon's favor.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"The Queen will not be happy," Dragonis hissed through a stressed and clenched jaw. 

"It will not be just the Queen we will need to worry about," Faris sighed. The remaining dragons would be angry as well. They might even invoke a council. 

"Would the people follow us if we seceded from the Crystal City's rule?" Xander asked.

"Who knows. It isn't like the Queen sent help to handle the Shadow invasion," Faris was still bitter over the lack of resources from the crown, "I doubt seceding successfully will settle any grudges, but only serve to make them bigger. It seems for the moment I will have to keep secrets. Lots of them."

"And this also means we have no idea what Itzal is wanting from all of this, and what role he is currently playing," Xander pointed out, "It might benefit us to court him. It could not hurt to have a God on our side that takes a more, ah, active role?"

"And risk the wrath of the other Gods?" Dragonis was shocked, "While they do not demand worship, they do have a dignity we should not dare insult."

"Remember they did banish Itzal on behalf of the Dragons and their children," Faris agreed.

"I just thought that he would be a boon," Xander said offering a rationalization.

"I know," Faris said appreciating Xanders passion and resolve to think outside the current convention.

There was a slight tone that sounded in the room. Xander pulled out his new compact mirror and rubbed his thumb across the surface. He saw in the mirror Kenna and her expression was extremely troubled.

"Xan, I need help, we have a problem," Kenna said with a voice that sounded close to breaking out of her whisper.

"Where are you?" Xander was worried.

"At my mom's. And so is The Queen's nephew. Heir Apparent Prince Ban," Kenna sounded stressed, "He was snooping around the place we found the storm traveler. Was very interested in finding him. My mother can not keep him distracted from coming to see Faris for longer than a day or two. This isn't good"

"Oh, you have no idea," Xander nearly laughed at the absurdity of the situation. 

"Kenna, Keep him there as long as you can, I will arrange a great banquet, and sweep some things under the rug. What do we do with Elda?" Faris suddenly worried for her safety as well.

"Put her with the other pages. She will be learning and look no different than the other children," Kenna said.

"Stroke of genius cousin! Give my regards to Aunt Gemma," He said calmly.

"Of course," Kenna paused, "I still couldn't find Hin. Any news from Terren?"

"No, but that is normal. It takes a while," Xan sighed. He clenched his teeth in worry.

"I have to go, I love you, be careful," and then her image was gone. The men were left looking at one another and Faris was wondering how exactly they were going to keep this from going any further sideways that it already had.