After reaching an agreement with the three Dragon Kings, Rowan Mercer and Vexar followed the spatial passage left behind by Mara Vale and arrived directly inside the core chamber beneath the Eastern Sea.
What greeted Rowan was a hellish landscape.
Rivers of molten rock flowed like living veins.
Towering stone pillars rose from the magma, each one carved with dense layers of arcane sigils.
Coiled around every pillar were massive dragons, channeling their power into the formations embedded within the stone. Together, they sustained an enormous suppression network.
At the very center stood a single colossal pillar.
Wrapped tightly around it was a golden-scaled dragon whose presence dwarfed all others.
Aurelion.
The Eastern Sea Dragon King.
The heart of the entire prison system.
Rowan's eyes lingered on the pillar beneath Aurelion.
Something about it felt… wrong.
Not wrong in a bad sense.
Wrong in the sense that it was far more than a structural support.
"That pillar," Rowan muttered. "It's a relic."
Aurelion's eyes opened.
"Why are you here?" he asked, puzzled. "You should be overseeing the standoff at Chentang Pass."
Vexar stepped forward and explained everything.
Archsage Solarian's scheme.
The attempt to frame the dragon race.
The aborted massacre.
And Rowan's proposal.
When Vexar finished, silence settled over the chamber.
Aurelion exhaled slowly.
"So the path I chose… has truly failed."
He had once believed that surrendering, submitting, and enduring humiliation would eventually earn the dragon race a future.
That illusion was gone.
"They want us gone," Aurelion said quietly. "Whether today or tomorrow."
He lifted his massive head.
"Then we proceed with your plan."
Rowan felt a subtle weight lift from his shoulders.
"Thank you."
Aurelion shifted, shrinking into human form.
He stepped down from the pillar and bowed to Rowan.
"For what you've done… you have my gratitude."
This was no small gesture.
Not from the Dragon King.
Rowan met it with a simple nod.
"There are still matters outside," Rowan said. "The other three… will need you to make certain concessions."
Aurelion closed his eyes.
"I know."
A moment later, Aurelion's true body passed through Mara Vale's spatial passage and emerged above Chentang Pass.
The moment he appeared, the three freed Dragon Kings stiffened.
Hatred flickered across their faces.
A thousand years of suffering did not vanish with a few words.
Aurelion didn't try to justify himself.
He didn't explain.
He didn't argue.
Instead, he walked forward.
And knelt.
"I was wrong."
The battlefield fell silent.
The Dragon King, supreme ruler of their race, knelt before his siblings.
"I believed surrender would save us. I believed patience would restore our future."
His voice was steady.
"I betrayed you. That truth doesn't change."
The three Dragon Kings froze.
They had prepared sarcasm.
Insults.
Rage.
None of it found its way out.
Mara Vale's hands trembled.
"You don't get forgiveness," she said hoarsely. "Not in this life."
Aurelion smiled faintly.
"I don't deserve it."
He looked at them with calm resolve.
"I only ask that we fight together. Against Solarian. Against the Iron Front. Against anyone who would erase our people."
Silence.
Then Mara Vale turned her head away.
"We'll cooperate," she said stiffly. "Not because you're our brother. But because we refuse to die quietly."
Aurelion bowed his head.
"That's enough."
From behind the spatial rift, Rowan watched quietly.
"Your brother is still your brother," he murmured.
And for the first time in a thousand years…
The dragon clan stood on the same side again.
...
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