>>5755496“I will not live that long enough to equal you, without SOME ritual,” you note, a little sourly. “I do not even know that I will reach the end of my own NATURAL lifespan, with the Gods turned against me.”
“Young One” the Red Dragon King addresses you then, “MOST kings and priests hear from the Dark Gdos rarely, if at all. I MSYELF ruled my kingdom from these mountains for centuries, and I only heard the voices of my creators a dozen times across a whole millennium. You told your mate the truth of things, yet you do not seem to accept this truth yourself: you do not NEED the Dark Gods’ constant interference to rule, or to win wars, or to be Dragon King.”
“But what punishment might they inflict upon me, and my line, my kingdom?” you lament. “I have failed them, and angered them—at least some of them. And my enemies mass against me—or will, soon enough, will they not? I need to be ready to defend my family, my people, my Beloved Ones! I NEED power to do this!”
“Power,” the Red Dragon King rumbles thoughtfully. “Victory. Dominance. Destiny. You chase after these things, but you already know you are made of softer stuff. If you REALLY wanted these things, wanted them as a TRUE Dragon would, you would seize them!... But you do not. You relinquish them, again and again, for the sake of others, and for the sake of that heart.”
“You sound like the Dark Gods,” you grumble, “or like the Novice… I mean, the Serpent Queen. Or like her father, for that matter.”
“The difference is,” your ancestor says, “you do not need to OBEY my advice, or your mate’s, or her dead father’s. You are a DRGAON KING, are you not? My heir? My successor? Or you CLAIM to be. Yet I CONSULTED with the Gods, and did not always heed them. I championed an Age of Dragons, and paid them tribute, but I was SOVEREIGN.”
“Because you were a TRUE Dragon,” you sigh. “A demigod. That’s why—”
“No!”
