Dragon Unity, page 1
part #12 of Blood of the Ancients Series
DRAGON UNITY
Blood of the Ancients Book 12
DAN MICHAELSON
D.K. HOLMBERG
Copyright © 2023 by ASH Publishing
Cover art by Damonza.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Author’s Note
Series by Dan Michaelson
Similar Series by D.K. Holmberg
Chapter One
SERENA
The palace felt different.
It had always been her home, and as she grew up, she felt its essence permeating the walls and filling the rooms. She connected with that essence, but now that she had raised to dragon soul and then subsequently to dragon blood, she felt the power in a very different manner.
Whatever Rob had done, which had 'forced the effect of the unity,' as he liked to call it, redirected some of the power there away from her mother and into Serena. She could feel it flowing out from the palace. It was connected to her; in a way, it felt like it was flowing for her and meant to be found by her.
She walked through the main corridor and paused, casting a worried glance at the entrance ahead.
Serena had never worried about the soldiers before, but ever since the palace had turned on her, she became far more concerned about what the soldiers might do and how they might react to her. Although lately, the soldiers have only been watching, as though they were waiting for her command. She could feel the energy of the soldiers and the way that it manifested, as though, a part of them simply existed for her.
They now stood guard inside the palace, no longer lining the walls.
She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Serena was late, and though she hated being late, the others were going to wait on her behalf, and Serena wasn't even going to feel bad about that.
"Where are you?"
The voice came from inside her mind, the dragon mind connection that bridged her and Griffin together.
"Am I making you wait too long?" she thought with a smile.
Griffin huffed.
"You know I don't care for this side of things."
Serena rolled her eyes, as she continued walking.
"You never cared for anything other than fighting uncle," she replied.
She imagined her uncle grunting at this point. She knew where he was, even if she didn't have the dragon mind linked to him. She could feel him.
When Rob forced the unity of essence, she became more aware of the power inside the palace and what she could do with it. She could feel the energy that existed, and her unique form of essence created ripples in the wave of energy that flowed through the palace. Those ripples allowed her to detect where they were, what they were doing, and, when she really focused, how they were using their essence.
She breathed out and hurried down the hallway until she reached the great hall where her uncle was waiting with the rest of the council. It was far too long for her to have been away, but she had been busy with other things. Not the least of which was dealing with her mother. And now they had to deal with the consequences of that. It was time for her to reveal the truth to her people, even though she had wanted to have a council and did not want to rule.
Something that Griffin said stuck with her. Even though she might not want to rule, some people might want it from her. A dragon queen has led those living there for as long as they can remember. The palace was a marker of power. This meant that Serena may have had to choose to lead, even if it was to defray some of that.
The door opened before her outstretched hands could grab the brass handles. A pair of soldiers dressed in maroon uniforms, with curved swords strapped to their waists, stood on either side with their heads bowed as they waited for her to enter. Once she stepped in, they marched alongside her.
Serena stopped and gestured for them to remain as they were while she continued to the table at the center of the room. Griffin was already seated, shaking his head as the soldiers returned to their position beside the doors. The others seated at the table were all at dragon-mind level, none having progressed any level higher than that. Griffin was the only dragon soul present.
Her father could have been here but chose not to attend, having been far more intrigued in returning to his research. He also felt as if he'd lost his place in the city, and no longer wanted to spend any time ruling, nor did he want to spend time around her mother. Serena didn't blame him for that and was perfectly content with their current arrangement.
"Thank you for giving us your time, Serena," Griffin said, getting to his feet and speaking aloud.
She could sense his amusement through his dragon soul connection to her. Ever since Griffin had raised to dragon soul, the connection he'd formed had changed into one that shared some aspect of emotion with her. Serena wondered if she had done the same thing to him.
She knew what she did to Rob, through the existing conduit, which also made her feel his emotion. Though these days, the emotion she felt from Rob was a bit more constrained, partly because he'd progressed to whatever he was now and had gained unimaginable power. Serena had seen him using that power, 'the unity of essences,' and knew that it was something impossible. He had remade his essence.
The simple idea was so hard for her to fathom, and she still struggled with what it meant. When she was around him, she tried to gauge the type of power he possessed and what unity meant. Yet each time she tried, she failed to identify it. All she knew was that Rob possessed something far more drastic and powerful than she'd ever experienced.
She bowed her head and looked around at the others seated. She had brought the massive, circular table from some deep part of the palace. This was once the throne room, though it also had not been used in that manner for quite some time. Her mother hated welcoming guests into the palace, so they didn't need a throne room. Her mother never welcomed anybody.
Serena's mother was rarely ever present in her life when she was younger. Her mother's presence was only felt in manifestations of power, which was her way of being there without being there.
"Thank you for asking my advice," Serena replied, nodding at Griffin while pushing aside the thoughts that crept into her mind. "I do appreciate you being here."
She strode over to Griffin, nodding at the faces she passed as she made her way to the other side of the table. There was Garthena, who was watching her with a slightly amused expression. An expression she often worn around Serena, lately. She still had an earthy quality, and was surprisingly powerful, despite not having a traditional type of fire essence. Still quite powerful, Garthena was incredibly skilled with her essence. Although Serena hadn't seen the extent of Garthena's essence, she'd seen enough to know that it was quite extensive, even for a dragon mind. She was one of the few people Serena thought she could help progress to dragon soul and was now trying to figure out what that would take. Her essence was quite different from Serena's, so Serena knew that she was going to need help with that.
Rob had a way of modifying essence, but she had never done it herself, and though she understood that life essence could transition and transmute other types of essence, she didn't know what that was going to involve for someone like her.
The other council members were high-level dragon minds and had been living in the realm for a long time. Many of them had been enemies at times, but Serena had taken it upon herself to work with them, knowing that she needed to find a way to piece together a measure of trust, even though that task was particularly difficult.
Griffin tried to help and coordinated much of it, especially since he knew that Serena had been targeted by many of them. He tried to protect Serena, even though she was much more powerful than him.
Relthorn watched her with his hands clasped on top of the table. Though his features were unreadable, she knew that if she used her dragon ability, she could reach into his mind, take some of the thoughts that were there and peel them away. But she didn't want to dive into his mind, because she agreed with Rob that such a thing was a violation, even though there were times when she thought that having access to somebody's thoughts and what they were planning might be beneficial.
Then there was Jamial, an older leader of a once minor sect. Serena had offered copious amounts of essence to him and his people, which helped raise more of them, along with her standing, until they became far more formidable.
She walked past Alison, a young woman who raised to dragon mind faster than most of her sect. She was on the fringe of the sand sect until Serena started an alliance with her. She then took over as leader within her sect.
The rest seated at the table were members that Serena hardly kn
She took a seat.
The others looked at her, and each had a sense of deference that radiated from them. Serena understood and accepted that it was because she was now the dragon queen in their mind, even though she didn't feel like the dragon queen.
"What is the purpose of this meeting?" Relthorn asked, leaning toward Serena.
She knew him the longest. At one point, Relthorn thought that they could be more than friends, but then he proved himself to be underhanded. Then again, he was trying to serve his sect, which was what her mother had trained her people to do.
She looked at each of them.
"The purpose of this meeting is to talk about my mother."
She felt the change in energy from the room. Uneasiness radiated from each of them, even though their faces remained unreadable.
"Why do I have to do this?" she asked through her dragon mind link with Griffin. He simply laughed at her.
"Because you are Serena," he replied.
"At least you're saying that I'm Serena, not the dragon queen."
She turned and settled her hands on the table, before leaning forward. She looked authoritative. She was authoritative. She had far more power than any of them. She was dragon blood, or whatever that meant. She controlled the essence that none of them could imagine. None of them knew what it took to be a dragon soul.
But she had to make them find it.
Rob had stressed its importance many times before. They had to find a way to help the others progress quickly so that everybody had the opportunity to understand the power that existed, and, more than that, so that they would be ready to fight. For so long, they believed the danger was coming from the Netheral, but it was an outside force, and they didn't understand and couldn't understand the power that this outside force held.
This time, she spoke aloud and with essence. It swirled around her and radiated toward the others. She needed them to feel the essence and hear her words.
"My mother has betrayed the realm," Serena said carefully. "And I've decided that it's time for the others to be aware of what my mother has done, and realize that the world has changed."
Murmurs erupted around the table as uncertainty radiated from their essence.
Serena waited, letting them have their moment. she focused on her own essence, letting it sweep out from her and touch each of them. Each time she did it, she felt the ongoing irritation they radiated.
But it was more than that.
She added different types of essence through the link, touching upon ice, life, earth, storm, water, and thorn. One after another. She didn't link or form them into a unity, but she wanted everyone to know her power.
The connection startled them.
"That was you?" Garthena muttered.
Serena nodded.
"Power continues to change the world. And I've continued to progress, learning about the power and my place with it. At this point, I am known as a dragon blood."
Relthorn perked up.
"Is that like your mother?"
"My mother could be," Serena replied, with a shrug, "but she has failed to see the truth in the world. She's been fighting the world's changes and has decided that she wants to have a different role in it. And so, she will be marginalized."
Laughter erupted around the table.
Serena turned her attention to those laughing and focused her essence on each of them until they fell silent.
Her mother used her essence to press down on others until they were overwhelmed. Something Serena had felt many times before, and she promised she'd never repeat. She wouldn't torment those working with her. She wasn't her mother.
If anything, she needed them to be comfortable with her role as leader.
Maybe I should bring Rob.
Rob was very powerful, and having him present might be enough, but…
At the same time, if she were to bring Rob, it would weaken her own standing. And she didn't want that. She wanted to keep strength and prove that she belonged. She wanted to have that power on her own without using Rob's manifested power. She was going to be Serena. Not the dragon queen.
"My mother has endangered us. She has endangered other realms. And she has sided with the one that we think attacked us. She is the reason that we've not progressed."
She looked at each of them in turn. Some of them had hunger in their eyes as they listened to her words. As a dragon mind, most of them thought it was impossible for them to reach the dragon's soul. There were quite a few dragon minds, and there had only ever been one dragon soul.
Growing up, Serena was told that there was no possibility of anyone else becoming a dragon soul unless the existing dragon soul were to pass on. For Serena, this would've meant her mother disappearing from the realm of leaving and dying.
Now they knew that this wasn't true.
"Progress," Serena continued, as her essence expanded outward, "That is what we're talking about. We must all find a way to progress."
"You would see us as dragon souls?" Jamial asked.
Serena turned to him.
An older man, Jamial had been a dragon mind for several decades. So, to him, reaching the dragon's soul after so long would seem impossible.
"I will try to create as many dragon souls as possible. And as you can see," she said, looking at Griffin, "we know the secret. We aren't going to withhold that knowledge. But we do need to make sure that those who progress to dragon soul are capable of helping and are willing to take what we offer and use it for the betterment of the realm."
The implication was clear, at least as far as Serena was concerned. She wanted them to know that it wasn't about just taking power and having power; it was about serving. That was the purpose of the power she and Rob had been chasing. They wanted power, and they wanted to progress, but they wanted it for a specific purpose so that all of them would be able to benefit from it.
It was different than what many others wanted for themselves.
Serena understood that, and she understood that there was far too much to the idea of progression that had been difficult, but she also understood that if they were to do this the right way, it was going to involve doing something that had not been done before.
"Why did you come here to talk with us?" Relthorn asked.
"Because you need to see."
"See what?"
Serena looked over to the door. It opened, and her mother was dragged inside.
Chapter Two
SERENA
Serena's mother had always been powerful.
Even now, as she stood, bounded in bands of a different essence, bands that Serena had placed and Rob had confirmed were secured, she still looked powerful.
She held her head high, her eyes fierce, and her hands curled into fists. Given that she was dragon blood and had entered the nexus with Rob and the others, it was possible for her to use some of the essence's bands. However, this would require her to attempt to use that type of essence and comprehend what had been given to her. Her mother had refused to learn about that essence, as she had wanted nothing more than to take the palace's power away from Serena.
A dozen manifested soldiers joined her, dragging her into the room.
Before, manifesting for the soldiers would be nearly impossible, as they were an extension of the palace, an extension of fire. However, now these manifested soldiers were drawn from the new power within the palace, the power of unity. Serena felt that power through the palace, the soldiers, and everything around her. It came from the link that she shared to the palace itself. That link allowed her to become a dragon soul, eventually leading to her ability to become dragon blood. What bonded her to the palace had continued to manifest and change for her, becoming something much greater.
