*******content advisory: self harm*******
I wonder if mother liked my parting gift, I didn't know her for long but it would have left a bad taste in my mouth if I didn't give her a proper farewell.
"My lady, the vassals are gathered in the reception hall."
"Did everyone make it?"
"Well of the 12 families, only 7 were able to make it " 7 of 12 that should be good enough.
"Get father, I will introduce myself to them for now"
The moment I stepped into the hall 7 pairs of eyes were on me. They stood up and bowed.
"Greetings heir of ruhan. Its an honor to finally meet you"
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I am robelia armand the successor of ruhan. Although today isn't the most ideal for an introduction, I couldn't let you all leave without an audience. "
"Greetings my lady i am count grey filo, please will the duke be in attendance today. I noticed he wasn't at the funeral" he looked to be in his 60's, he was a well built old man with a cane.
"Unfortunately his grace, was unable to attend the funeral as his health has taken a turn for the worse. He will make a brief appearance in this meeting as he has something important to pass along" they all looked like they had lots of questions but the door creaked open as father and Stefan walked in.
He looked disheveled with wild hair unkempt beards. His eyes were sunken, his lips were blue, he was sweating bullets even in this room that wasn't hot. His eyes were darting from left to right as he started to panick.
All the vassals looked confused unable to discern what to do next.
"I'm sorry but I'll be handing over control of the duchy to my heir. I am too sick to continue, so my successor will act as the acting head till she comes of age." He had his head down the whole time.
"Your grace what do you mean handing over....." he turned around and ran out the door before they could form a sentence. Everyone was in shock.
"As you can all, see his grace is too sick right now and with the death of the duchess no one knows how much worse he will get" I could see their judging eyes, they must be thinking that they don't want to serve under a child.
"What ails the duke, my lady?" The only lady in the crowd finally spoke and the noise and whispering died down.
"Unfortunately I cannot divulge the personal information on the duke's health. All this must be a shock to you all too, so let's put this meeting on hold and pick it up another day. Thank you all for coming." I could hear them complaining but I didn't stay long enough to hear it.
I need to go answer the call from the forbidden library.
"Stefan, find the previous maids and head maid that used to work in the castle. I will retire for the night"
"Yes your grace. Have a great night"
Just standing on this side of the door I could feel an immense power coming from the inside. The door opens and shuts once I step in. It was an empty room with only one open book hovering in the middle. I could hear the book calling out to me.
Only one word was written on the open pages boldly.
"Ancinian" that means 'ancestors' in dragonian. Wait.... why do I know that.
The book suddenly starts flapping as the room shakes. Everything went black with only the light shining out from the book.
I reach out to grab it and everything turn white with the book nowhere in sight.
"Welcome to the realm of dragons descendant of armand" I could hear the voice loud in my head. He wasn't speaking the normal language but I could understand every word.
"Who are you?" A small ball of light floats down from the sky. It transforms into a small creature with wings and horns. It looked so cute.
"Are you a dragon?"
"It seems that history has been lost. I am the founding dragon armandilion." That name! It's like a variation of ours Armand.
"This place is an archive of knowledge. It contains the history of every descendant of the Armand family. You must be wondering why a great dragon like myself is protecting such an inferior place"
"Not really"
"Such a rude descendant, 500 years ago before the founding of the empire, I was the last and greatest dragon." It huffed and puffed with its small body
"Ahem all the dragons had passed on and they left me with their powers and their legacy. I lived for thousands of years protecting the world from being overrun by monsters, but after doing that for so long i realized why all the dragons decided to pass." He keeps flapping around, i almost want to swat him down
"Hey, I heard that how dare you try to swat down the great black dragon. Ahem... after living for so long, life became meaningless and that was when I met Oscar. He wanted power to help a friend start an empire and I needed someone to protect the world from the monsters. So I shared my powers with him, making him half human and half dragon and he promised that his descendant will take over monster subjugation with the powers they inherit, this way any child from him will only take half of his dragon side and the human side from the mother. I gave him the name armand, and I was able to pass on peacefully."
"But how are you here right now, what about this dimension"
"Tsk,tsk,tsk what an impatient descendant. This body of mine is just a fragment of my remaining powers. It maintains this archive and records the life of every armand. But for the last 350 years I have waited for you impudent descendant but no one came. Do you know how lonely it was?" I could see the smoke coming out of his mouth and ears.
"But why did the descendant stop coming, if you were recording their lives you must know why they stopped taking pride in their dragon side"
"It was because of the third descendant. " it was suddenly eating something it picked from nowhere.
"The third descendant fell in love with a woman and they got married, when she gave birth to the next descendant she realized he was not human, so from then she began calling both of them monsters."
"Stupid human calling the great dragon power, the power of monsters."
"So? She called him a monster how did that change history?" He turned around to look me straight in the eyes
"She went crazy, because of that the descendant hated himself thinking he was a monster. So he taught his child to be scared of his powers. The child grew up thinking they were a monster and should be kept away from people. The child never learnt about the forbidden library so he didnt know what he truly was. On the child's 15th birthday the wife committed suicide and 3rd descendant gave up on his life and passed on. "
"That was how the tradition was born, each descendant would teach their child to fear their powers and on the 15 birthday the previous head of house will give up on their life."
"How utterly despicable just because he was in love he ruined the lives of countless descendants"
"Descendant of armand, will you continue my legacy? I have lived in isolation for hundreds of years and now i want to rest for eternity."
"How can I help you do that?"
"I will give you the rest of my powers, including this dimension to use as you see fit. All I ask is that you continue to protect the world from the monsters."
"What about the library? Would it dissappear?"
"No the archive will be moved to the physical realm because my powers will become yours. Also I will give you the legacy of the other dragons, it comes with their lairs too. Lots of treasures, books and rare items in there"
The room changed into a forest and it pointed to the entrance of a cave. We walked in, it looked like a regular hallway with 10 doors.
"Each door has the lair of a dragon, once you accept my powers this dimension becomes your with the lairs" it's not a bad deal, i'll receive more power in exchange for setting him free.
"Will I remain human once I accept your powers?"
"Well... you will be human but mostly dragon, like 90% dragon but you have nothing to worry about. It will not change your physical form... from what I can see you have already accepted your dragon side and have very good control over your powers." So that's why I could use magic and understand dragonian without teaching.
"Fine, if it means setting you free I'll be happy to." He flapped around happily.
It placed its forehead against mine and I could feel my mind getting clear. A name echoed in my head 'daphne'
"Thank you descendant" its body disappeared as the forest changed back into the library. It was no longer empty as it was filled with tall shelves with books. So this was what he meant about the records coming to the physical realm.
The black open book was still in the middle of the room glowing. Written on its open page was the word 'ARCHIVE'