Path of Dragons 18 - Chapter 29 - Everyone Wants a Piece (Patreon)

“So,” Elijah said, standing in the center of the platform.  He resisted the urge to wring his hands as he looked around at the hundreds of people staring down at him.  He knew some of them, but most were strangers – which made their expectant expressions all the more surreal.  “Orveth Kaal.”

The word sent a ripple of excitement through the crowd. 

And rightly so.

Isaiah had spent the past ten minutes explaining how valuable it was to Earth’s development.  He droned on and on about the advancements his people had made, the progression experienced by thousands of men and women over the years.  And he’d ended his speech with an introduction to Elijah, who really needed no such thing.

They had clapped politely.  Some went beyond that mark and into jubilation.

It appeared that Elijah had plenty of fans, even among the world’s elite.  And they were that.  The collective power combined in the Chamber was daunting to witness.  If Elijah hadn’t spent the past few decades surrounded by dragons, he might have been impressed.

As it was, he knew that Earth had a long way to go.

“It is my planet,” Elijah stated evenly.  “Or it will be soon.”

That sent a ripple of unease through the gathered crowd, but it was one Elijah chose to ignore.  When he’d agreed to come to the meeting, he’d quickly decided that bluntness was the right tactic.  He couldn’t afford to beat around the bush.  Instead, he needed to set out the rules in such a way as to leave no room for erroneous interpretation.

And Orveth Kaal was his.  He’d internalized that the second he’d chosen to claim it.  There was still a lot of work to be done to usher his possession into reality, but as far as Elijah was concerned, that was just a rubber stamp waiting to be applied. 

He would take it.  There was no doubt.  The only question was what he would do once it was his.

That was where the rest of Earth came in.

This wasn’t a one-off trial.  Elijah intended for there to be a constant, ongoing presence.  With that, they would learn to extract opportunities from Orveth Kaal.  For some, that would be easy.  Once the planet was Elijah’s, it would revert to something more normalized throughout the multi-verse, gaining towers and Primal Realms. 

Those would be invaluable, both for leveling and for resource procurement.

But the planet was more than the system spaces to which it gave access.  It was also a treasure trove of natural resources, many of which were more magical than anything on Earth. 

Harvesting those was necessary, but Elijah wouldn’t allow it to get so out of hand that it harmed the environment.  Establishing rules for that was the first order of business.  The second was to lay down the law when it came to how Earth’s people would interact with the orcs.

As savage as the orcs could be, they were also experts when it came to living on Orveth Kaal.  Some of the details might change, but that would not.  In addition, they guarded access to the Star Forge, which was one of the biggest assets offered by the now-ancestral world. 

That meant that humanity had two choices.  Either they could establish peaceful relations with the orcs, or they could conquer them.  Elijah wasn’t certain they could even accomplish the latter, and they’d already proven the viability of the former.  So, the path seemed clear.

Elijah took hold of his disdain for public speaking and laid the situation out for the gathered leaders.  He didn’t intend to allow just anyone into Orveth Kaal.  Instead, access would necessarily go through Ironshore. 

Or more specifically, through Sara, who’d already set out a plan for governing who was allowed inside.  As Elijah understood it, she would restrict entrants to those who enjoyed a positive relationship with Ironshore and the Hartwood Grove.  The two entities were so intertwined that they were practically one.

Elijah didn’t so much care about the details.  He trusted Sara to govern it well enough to prevent most problems.  And for all the others?  There were plenty of people who could step up to solve any issues.

Pointedly, she didn’t intend to let anyone buy their way in.  Not directly.

As far as where the planet would be located, Sara had already consulted with teams of Scholars specialized in that sort of thing.  They were a bit like astrophysicists, but with ethera added into the mix.  Fittingly, they were called Ethereal Physicists, and they could map and predict how the flow of ethera might change with the introduction of a world like Orveth Kaal.

Thankfully, the dragons had already implemented measures to seamlessly integrate the world into physical reality, rather than occupying a bubble of system space within the void. 

Elijah only barely understood it, which was quite a problem, considering he would be the engine that brought Orveth Kaal closer to Earth.

That meant he’d been studying a lot since returning home.

Which sounded great until he recognized that he’d only been back on Earth for less than a week.  That seemed like a short amount of time to understand such a complex subject. 

But his speech didn’t cover any of that.  Instead, he focused on the big picture benefits Earth could experience.  That was enough for most, but by the time he’d finished the short presentation, there were still plenty of people who were either displeased or clearly had questions.

Elijah hoped that someone else would answer them, because he was quickly reaching his limit for social interaction.  That was especially true after what he’d done to Vinnie.  He hadn’t taken those steps lightly or without consideration. The actions themselves had happened very quickly, but Elijah was confident that he’d made the right choice.

After all, Vinnie was a vile man who led a vile organization.  The world was better off without him in it.

In any case, the presentation wasn’t really meant to convey information.  Rather, it was supposed to give people hope for inclusion.  That, according to Sara, would put everyone on their best behavior.  At first, she’d worried that it would backfire, and people would plan attacks against Ironshore or Hartwood Grove, but after Elijah’s demonstration with Vinnie, that was less of a concern.

If everything worked out the way she hoped, then Earth would become a more peaceful place, if only because people wanted access to what amounted to a planetary natural treasure. 

Elijah wasn’t sure that Sara understood human nature as well as she claimed to.  But he hoped that her plan would work, largely because he didn’t want to play the role of enforcer.

Not that he minded it. Instead, it was just another distraction from the real work.

Once Elijah had finished his speech, he gave way to Sara, who covered some of the details.  Then, someone else took her place.  And another after that.  Soon enough, they moved on from the main topic – Orveth Kaal – and began to discuss other issues. 

Elijah found his attention beginning to slip.

He didn’t care about trade routes.  He didn’t care about petty wars between city-states.  And he definitely didn’t care about taxation. 

But he sat in his seat and pretended to listen all the same.

As he did so, he devoted most of his mind to the problem at hand, going over and over his plans for Orveth Kaal.  He’d already established the basic parameters of his intentions, enough that he could get started.  However, there were plenty of details left to hammer down.

And sitting in the Chambers for almost three hours was a good opportunity to do just that.

Thus occupied, Elijah endured the meeting until, at last, Isaiah announced the end.  Or so Elijah thought.  In reality, it was only meant to be an hour-long break for lunch. 

Containing a groan, Elijah followed Sara and Okar to a lavishly decorated sitting room.  When he asked about it, Sara said that it was theirs – as in, dedicated to the use of the delegation from Ironshore.  There was another meant for the Hartwood Grove, but no one ever used it. 

“So, this is like the United Nations, huh?” Elijah asked.

“I don’t know what that is, Elijah,” Sara pointed out.  “Dragon, remember?”

“Oh.  Well, the United Nations…”

He went on to explain that multi-national entity, detailing its uses as well as its obvious shortcomings. 

“The League of Harmony has a standing military, so it’s far from toothless,” Sara stated.  “Still, it’s only as strong as we allow it to be, so perhaps there are similarities.”

“Where’s our normal delegate?” Elijah asked.

“I sent her home for the duration of these meetings,” Sara answered. “She hadn’t seen Ironshore for a couple of years, and with us here, her presence would have been largely superfluous.”

“Look at you with the big words.”

She glared at him. “Shut up.”

“Superfluous,” Okar said, already sampling from the nearby sandwich platter.  With a full mouth, he added, “It is a fancy word.”

She glared at him, too. 

Elijah decided to change the subject, asking, “So, is my part finished here?  Should I fly around the city reminding everyone that I’m a dragon?  Or can I go?”

He was well aware that he sounded a little petulant, like a child.  But he chose to ignore that.

“No one is forcing you to be here, Elijah,” she sighed.

“Yeah, but you’d never let me hear the end of it if I left early,” he countered.

Sara just looked at him.

“So, I’m staying.”

“If you want,” she said in a casual tone.  It was a trap, and one Elijah refused to fall victim to.  Which meant that he was there for the duration of the meeting. 

As it turned out, that meant he had to stay for the cocktail party afterwards as well.  In the end, he didn’t get out of there until three days later, well after he’d grown sick and tired of hearing about taxes and other petty issues of governance.

Sure, Elijah recognized that it was all necessary.  He even applauded the people who concerned themselves with such issues.  He just didn’t want to be one of them.

At the end of that third day, Elijah had refamiliarized himself with quite a few of Earth’s most powerful people.  More importantly, he’d reaffirmed his decision to let everyone else worry about the mundane details of ruling the planet.  That left him descending the steps abutting his hotel and heading out into Seattle proper. 

For the first time since arriving, he had no real obligations.  No minders.  No sister to guide him to an important delegate from halfway around the world.  It was just him and the city.

Eventually, his wandering led him to a commercial district where cell phone shops stood next to Alchemist laboratories.  It created such an odd dynamic that he repeatedly found himself doing doubletakes. 

The juxtaposition of new and old, of technology and magic, also reminded Elijah of how much the world had changed.  Sometimes, it didn’t really feel like that much time had passed since he and the rest of his family had visited Seattle for one even or another.  His father particularly liked taking him to Seahawks or Mariners games, and Alyssa made a habit of sneaking into the city to enjoy one underground band or another.

But now?

The football stadium was still there, though it had been renovated for gladiatorial fights.  The Space Needle still existed, but it was comparatively small when held up next to the city’s newer, gravity-defying buildings. 

At least some things hadn’t changed.

Like the city’s commitment to coffee culture.  Elijah followed his nose to a café and took a seat.  He’d discarded his fancy suit for more casual attire, which he had only just come to realize made him seem like an oddball hippy amidst the more modernly dressed patronage.

He hadn’t even worn shoes, which earned him a few odd looks.

Elijah stood in line, just like everyone else, and when his turn came, he ordered a café mocha with an extra dollop of chocolate.  Amusingly, the café sold Crying Dragon coffee.

After taking his cup, Elijah retreated to a back corner of the café and did his best Strider impression.

That was how she found him.

“I’ve been looking for you,” the woman said, sliding into chair opposite him.

“I shouldn’t have been that hard to find.  They’ve been parading me around like a…well, I don’t know what.  But you get the picture.”

“You should have come to see me.”

Elijah shrugged. “Probably,” he admitted.  “Definitely.  In my defense, you know how I am.”

She sighed. “I do.  Regrettably.”

“So?  How’re things, Lucy?”