Part 1. Chapter 5: In the Hall of the Dragon Queen

                                                                     [Soul Realm]

                                                                Throne of Dragons

“You realize that to ask me, the Queen of Dragons and leader of one of the five kingdoms, to stand with you in this would be a betrayal of my entire lineage? But, here you are, asking.”

“I think that you understand that it is not as simple as that. Otherwise, the Council of Kings would be threatening me with removal from my position. That means either they all agree with me, Sagarrara, or you didn't tell them about our earlier discussion.”

“What do you want, Aomamtis?”

“You know what I want. I want the same thing you want, whether you are willing to admit it or not. I want the same thing that we all want. It has gotten so bad that your own daughters, royals of the dragon line, have anchored themselves to Beings. They want the same thing I want, and they want it so badly that they have degraded themselves -”

“You WILL leave my daughters out of this! I WILL NOT have you speak of them in such a way!”

“You are right, Sagarrara. I spoke in a way that I should not. But my point does not change. They wished to escape this waste. Just like we all do. Most so badly, that they accept slavery as better.”

“Watch it, Mamtis!” Sigh. “I do NOT like the way you speak, but your words are not wrong. Still, the Superiors signed this treaty at the cost of their own lives and left it to us. It would be a betrayal to-”

“Left it to us! That is exactly what they did. That truce was based on a lie. We were to have equal existence. Two existences sharing one world. Instead, we got two worlds, and they are anything but equal. Do you think the Superior Ones would be okay with that? Or with us graveling and agreeing to be slaves just to experience a world that should be ours as much as theirs?”

“Very well, Aomamtis. I will grant you this: that I agree with what you say. But you have brought nothing but hopes and empty promises, regardless of how reliable your adviser is. If you hope to have my support, I will need more. At the very least, I need the identities of these 'keys' that you put so much faith in. Show me that you have a real plan, and I may side with you. You came here with it as your argument, so it is obviously not a secret that I disagree with my daughters' choices.  But you have to bring me more."

“Thank you, Sagarrara. I will work to bring you the evidence you need. Then, we can all be free of this.”