Chapter 183: Legends and Seals
Other legendary beings?
Riley’s head turned slowly toward Kael, then to the dragon lord’s parents, and he shuddered.
Now that he had witnessed and experienced things most people would’ve thought impossible, he was certain that the existence of such beings was downright terrifying.
Not that he hadn’t reached the same conclusion before—he had, back when all of this was just a distant fascination in books and records. But as an idealistic student who didn’t know any better, he used to think it all sounded cool.
After all, the history, the lore, the endless discoveries surrounding them had always been his passion.
But what do you know? Sometimes knowing too much wasn’t a blessing. Because now that he had seen what "legendary" really meant, he was sure that studying such beings was nothing like standing in front of one.
What cool exchange of magical abilities? What massive scale of their battles?
Sure, those things sounded impressive—provided he wasn’t the idiot stuck in the middle of them!
Just thinking about how there were once more beings like Kael roaming around made his stomach twist.
How unfortunate would anyone have to be to live during that kind of era?
Well, apparently, extremely unfortunate—if King Arlen’s bitter expression could be used as proof.
In truth, it wasn’t something Riley would’ve cared about before.
Yes, he loved the subject, spent sleepless nights learning about it, but back then, it had been just that—a passion. Something safe and distant.
In a sense, there was a point in time when he didn’t think his interests could bite him in the ass like this.
And how peaceful that had been.
As mortals who wouldn’t live long enough to see such battles through, as people who could never stand in the middle of raging titans, what was the point in worrying about it?
Ha. Ha. Ha.
If only his past self knew.
Because now, even King Arlen’s cryptic words were enough to unsettle him.
The Elven King kept muttering under his breath about "the shifting of the tides" in Eryndra.
At first, Riley thought it was just part of the man’s year-long sulking. But soon enough, the muttering turned into something sharper.
"The tides are changing," King Arlen said, his voice carrying just enough to draw attention. "And yet, instead of building bridges and forming alliances, someone out there is busy burning them."
Every head turned slightly.
It wasn’t hard to tell who he meant.
At this, Riley smiled that polite, professional smile that had probably shortened several lifespans throughout the week.
"Your Majesty," he said lightly, "if there’s something you’d like to report, please do so. We wouldn’t want to repeat that whole situation, would we?"
King Arlen scoffed, clearly catching the bite behind the words. "I don’t know," he said curtly. "But if even I can feel something brewing, how could others not? For someone who kept insisting that nothing good would come out of that crime ring, shouldn’t you be more familiar with the possible threat?"
That was an interesting statement. Maybe even a warning. But before Riley could respond, the man suddenly went quiet.
Because a shadow had appeared in front of him.
A small one.
"Your Majesty."
The King froze as a young voice cut through the tension.
Finnian stood before him, hands on his hips, face serious. "That’s very unbecoming," the boy said firmly. "You said it’s improper to talk like that."
The entire hall went silent.
Riley finally understood what was happening and nearly choked trying not to laugh.
Since the Elowens had been granted permission to see their son—on the condition that Finnian agreed—the young prince had been nothing short of terrifying.
Every time his father opened his mouth, Finnian was there to correct him like a one-boy disciplinary board.
"You were the one who told me."
"You said that’s rude."
"The rule says you shouldn’t talk like that."
Each reprimand landed with the precision of a well-aimed spell. One by one, the royal family had been reduced to quiet, chastened by a child barely up to their waists.
It was glorious.
But just as Finnian turned to leave, King Arlen muttered under his breath, "Then if he ever does something wrong..." His eyes flicked toward Riley. "...if his actions bring trouble to Eryndra, you should be fair and scold him too."
Riley rolled his eyes at that. If the elven king wanted him to feel guilty, then he would really have to try harder. Because how could this possibly be his fault when, much to no one’s surprise, King Arlen had chosen to retain his own magical abilities while the rest of his family—save for Finnian—were set to have theirs sealed?
Classic.
And yet, according to Kael, it just highlighted the king’s most pressing priority. Because had he been focused on maintaining their position in Eryndra, then he would’ve made a different decision.
"Why?" Riley asked, curious despite himself.
Kael didn’t look up from the parchment he was reviewing. "Because a House is only as strong as its next ruler."
"But because he didn’t do that, then he must really be concerned about something else."
Oh.
Well, it wasn’t as if the concept didn’t make sense to him. It was just... not something he ever thought he’d need to think about.
Still, after working as an aide and seeing the inner workings of these supposed continental powers, he could understand the sentiment.
After all, For as long as he had known about them, King Arlen had never been one to show himself for most things, sending his children to anything he felt was beneath him.
Official business? Send Rowan or Darin, the diplomat.
Military affairs? Send Elira, commander of the knights.
Public relations? That was Lina Elowen’s job.
But this time, he actually kept the magical abilities, knowing he would likely have to do all the work.
So what was he concerned about?
And why now, out of all times, was the king pointing fingers at him?
Was he nuts?
More importantly, had the king already forgotten that he had nearly helped a group of criminals get exactly what they wanted—Kael’s blood?
The same blood Riley had been receiving for the past few days, by the way.
Although, if he were being honest, there had been moments—well, several moments—when he had started to question the effects of dragon blood altogether. Because the reference materials they had been reading all made it sound like a single drop would cause the reckoning.
And yet, there he was, several doses in, and the only thing he’d noticed was that his blood pressure had developed trust issues.
What could’ve possibly gone wrong?
But before he could spiral any further into that thought, Lord Karion began the sealing ritual.
And Riley nearly choked.
__
To be completely fair, it did look like a demonic summoning ritual and definitely not the grand, glowing ceremonies described in the text about most rituals.
Runes etched on the ground floated in the air almost eerily so. And only the sound of the low hum of mana and the faint drop of blood falling into the runic circle at Lady Rhiannon’s feet could be heard.
Well, at least not until Riley’s surprise slipped out of his mouth.
See, the main component of the ritual was as usual, dragon blood.
For one human mortal, Riley had a feeling he could be listed as a record holder when it comes to the amount of dragon blood he’s seen and consumed. While the "seen" part was debatable, the "consumed" part was probably guaranteed.
But even through all that, Riley still wasn’t sure about the capabilities of dragon blood that seemed to refuse to work properly around him.
Until today.
The air shifted.
It was as if the air was folding in on itself. Lady Rhiannon swayed slightly, her face pale as the seal began to take hold. The glow spread from the rune circle to her skin, crawling upward in intricate lines before disappearing beneath the surface.
The result was rather immediate.
Her beautiful silver hair dulled, losing its luster in a slow wave until it turned pale ash-gray. Her once-bright blue eyes faded to a darker shade, suddenly more familiar, almost human.
Huh?
Well, it wasn’t like Lady Rhiannon was fine to begin with. In Riley’s mind, she had been unhinged for a while now, but today, she’d been reeling from Finnian’s reaction toward her rescue tactics. But even then, she looked like the High Elven Lady that she was.
But now, if not for those familiar ears, Riley would’ve assumed she was human.
"..."
King Arlen, however, didn’t seem as shocked.
He turned toward Riley, a bitter smirk twisting his face. "What? Isn’t this what you wanted? Now they’re not so different from you. If not for their cores existing before the seal, they’d be just like mortals—short-lived and powerless."
Riley blinked.
Wait. What?
He had to take a moment to process that because when he first suggested using seals to the dragons, he’d been referencing the dragon archives. And well, the text didn’t exactly have accompanying notes with it.
King Arlen scoffed when he saw Riley’s genuine surprise. "What, did you really not know?"
"What are you talking about?" Riley asked slowly.
"Didn’t you spare Finnian because he’s still developing his core?" the King pressed, voice dripping with mockery.
Riley frowned. "No! Finnian wasn’t spared because he didn’t need to be punished at all!"
The words came out sharper than he intended. "Just because he’s an Elowen doesn’t mean he should be lumped with everyone else. He’s a child who did nothing wrong—he deserved to be rewarded, not punished!"
His brows were drawn tight, his expression one of visible confusion. He wasn’t just angry now; he was genuinely thrown off by the revelation.
He turned toward Kael instinctively—because surely, surely he would’ve known about this.
But the dragon lord’s expression was unreadable. There was something odd in his eyes, something like mild surprise mixed with faint annoyance.
He knew, of course.
Kael knew what would happen to beings whose abilities were sealed like this.
It was just that on this rare occasion, he couldn’t believe that poor excuse of an elven father would have something remotely useful coming out of his mouth.
Sealing children.