MakiaVi: The Frozen King - Chapter Fifteen

 
Elise yawned as she walked towards her assistant’s desk. “Good morning master Flaman.” the griffin said in a cheerful voice. Using a thick cloth to protect her hands, the assistant held out a piping hot mug of coffee to her boss.
Elise grabbed the cup by its sides, ignoring the handle. “Thank you Leez. Anything big today?”
The assistant flipped through a few notes. “Actually, today is pretty relaxed. A bit of paperwork and a few signatures but that’s it. You can probably leave by noon.”
“Glad to hear it.” Elise took a sip from the steaming mug. “A little cold.”
“I’ll bring it up to four hundred degrees next time.”
“You’re the best!” Elise took another sip as she walked to her office. The floors were made of oak stained black. Red tapestries with black dragons etched on them hung on the walls. She sat at her desk that matched the floors and shuffled through a few papers. The sun started to rise over the horizon. “Best part of the day.” She whispered to herself. She took her mug, stood up and turned around to look out of her new floor to ceiling windows. 
Her eyes widened and jaw dropped. Her mug fell from her grasp and shattered on her new floors. The cup reformed with a faint glow. The usual amber glow of the sunrise was blocked out by hundreds of Dragons lead by Edion, flying towards the deployment center.
Edion tapped on the window. “I have a few new recruits here. Are you busy?” He said with his voice muffled by the glass.
Elise reached behind her with her eyes still locked on the group. She fumbled until her hand found a crystal orb. “Leez, we are going to have to push back that paperwork.”
Edion stood in Elise’s office with his and Brakon’s team. “And then we recruited some of the townspeople and came back here.” He explained. “As King of Zekul, I would like to formally open up cooperation between us and would like to request an outpost within our province.” 
Elise gathered herself from Edion’s tale. “I humbly accept your offer and would be honored to build an outpost in your lands. Now that the formalities are done.” A fire sparked in Elise’s eyes. She slammed her palms onto her desk. “Are you kids insane!? You are all lucky to be alive!”
“But, we did make it out alive.” Zan said with a grin. “That has to count for something.”
Elise’s gaze darted to Zan who recoiled back a few steps. Her face relaxed. “It was my fault. I misjudged the danger. Given the circumstances, this was definitely a class-B threat. Had I known Zekulian customs, I would have sent a team to escort Edion to take over the throne.” She sighed. “However, I must admit, you all did an… adequate job with what you had to work with.”
“Does that mean we are not in trouble?” Bellatrix asked.
Elise turned around to look out the window. “The overall outcome of the mission was positive. A stable province, new members and no casualties. Regardless of my own feelings, I believe it would be unjust of me to punish you for a job well done.” The team breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“Done well enough for a promotion?” Edion asked.
“That’s not my call. The trials are coming up in about a month. Assuming you all want to participate, you will have that time off to prepare. Brakon will teach you what you need to know.”
“It is my job after all.” Brakon said with a smile.
“Now if we have no other business, I have about five hundred new applications to go through.” Elise said.
Edion stepped forward. “Actually, can we speak for a moment. Alone.”
“I suppose.” She shooed away the rest of the group. They shuffled out of the room and closed the door behind them. Elise began signing papers. “What’s on your mind?”
“My father told me some things.” Edion hesitated. “About the west.”
Elise froze. She put down her pen and leaned in a bit. “What exactly did he tell you?”
“That they do not only kill us. They use us as food and decorations. He told me that you knew about it.”
“There are few things I don’t know.”
“So you did know.”
“It is a bit more complicated than you think.”
Edion took a seat. “Please. Enlighten me.”
“Sometimes during a storm, you will want to turn your ship around and save those who fell off along the way. If you keep turning around, eventually the storm will swallow you all.”
Edion gritted his teeth. “I know it’s a risk but we can’t just let innocent people die!”
“Would you prefer our species to go extinct? There are slayers out there so powerful that even I would have trouble with them. Our job up until now has been to extract as many dragons as we can and defend the ones we have. We just haven’t had enough support to do much else.”
“Maybe now we do.” Edion said.
Elise chuckled. “Maybe. But right now, you should focus on the trials.”
“Fine. We will talk more about this later.”
Elise scoffed. “I look forward to it Your Majesty.” 
Edion walked out of the office and was greeted to his entire team. “What was that about?” Zan asked.
“Just politics.” Edion said. “Nothing important.” He looked around the lobby. “Where is Brakon?”
“He is gathering everyone else.” Riza said. “He wants us to meet them in the garden to talk about the trials.”
“I guess we had better not keep them waiting.” 
They flew together out of the deployment center and to the garden next to the class-D housing. Leon, Burlik and Tereen stood in a half circle next to the fountain with Brakon in the middle.
“There you guys are!” Brakon cheered. “Circle up. There are a few things I need to tell you about the trials.” Edion and his team completed the circle and gave Brakon enough space from its walls. “The trials are a test of your strength, skill and endurance. After a few preliminary evaluations, you will all be put into a tournament bracket with the rest of the class D members that make it. The focus of the tournament is not to win but to show off your combat skills. If the moderator sees enough and believe you are ready, you will be moved up a rank. However, if you do win, you are guaranteed to rank up to class C. Being in the top five does not hurt your chances either. On the rare occasion that you absolutely blow out the competition, there will be an extra round with a member a rank above you to see if you can skip ahead but I have only seen that happen once. Any questions?” Riza raised her hand. “Yes?”
“You said there would be evaluations. How exactly will you test us before we even fight?”
“Excellent question.” Brakon put a hand on his longsword. “One such test is viren resistance. Your opponents will produce powerful auras when they battle and you must be able to counteract it with your own or else you will easily be defeated.” Brakon unsheathed his blade. “Let me demonstrate.”
Brakon took a deep breath. He started a soft battle cry that increased in volume with each breath he took. The rocks on the ground started to shift. Even with his enchanted jacket, Edion felt the air heat up around him. Little embers danced around Brakon as he continued roaring towards the sky. Edion’s clothes dragged him to the ground as if they were made of lead. He fought to stand against the force pulling him down but it only got stronger as time went on. 
Brakon’s students began to shake at the legs as the energy radiated from their teacher. Edion struggled to breath in the presence of Brakon’s power. “You kids alright?” Brakon asked. His usual snarky tone was gone. They all let out quick grunts and nods as they all concentrated on combating the force pulling them to the floor. “Good, but that’s only about twenty percent.” 
The students traded horrified glances as Brakon let out an ear-splitting roar and was engulfed in a storm of flames. Edion slammed to the ground with the rest of his friends. The grass felt like a bed of needles as his body pressed into it. The pressure on his back expelled the air from his lungs and prevented any more from entering. He couldn’t lift a finger or even cough in protest of the power. His lungs screamed for air. Stop! He thought. I can’t breathe! If he keeps this up, we’ll die! 
Brakon seemed to hear his prayers. He released them from the weight of his strength. The students rolled around in the grass, gasping for air. “That is the power of a class C dragon.” Brakon said. “You are all expected to not only withstand that, but fight in it as well.”
“How the hell are we supposed to do that?” Bellatrix screeched through her coughing.
“We have training rooms to help you all get used to stronger auras.” Brakon said.
“Why didn’t we use those when we came here?” Edion asked.
“If you had set foot in them back then, even at the lowest setting I guarantee it would have killed you. At least now there is about a sixty percent chance you can handle it. I do recommend having a spotter though.” 
The students slowly stumbled back to their feet. Edion’s muscles screamed in pain but yet somehow felt a bit stronger. Simply being in the presence of such power was a workout in and of itself. “Of course the trials are not mandatory.” Brakon said. “There is no shame in backing out now.” The students all stood silent with a determined look in their eyes. Edion thought Leon would cower from the challenge but when he looked over to him, he shared the same fiery gaze that the rest of them had. “Alright then. I’ll take that as a no. You all have one month to train. Go about it however you wish. There are plenty of paths and resources for you to use. I expect great things from you all.”

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