"Now, it's my turn to be that Wyrm for Lith and you. Who knows, maybe in the future Lith will do the same for our younger brethren and one day this stupid cycle of Dragons ignoring one another until it's too late will be broken."

"Thank you, Gentor." Valtak wanted to say more but he failed to find the right words.

"Don't mention it. Even at the lowest interest rate, I'd say that after two thousand years I owe you way more than what you're asking me." Gentor zoomed the hologram out, showing off his palace, riches, and the many Golden Wyrmlings tussling among them playfully.

"Now, before we get all sentimental, I need to ask. Are the Ears of Menadion the real deal?"

"Yes." Valtak's voice came out hoarse, forcing him to clear his throat.

"And it can be used by anyone as long as its owner allows it, correct?" Gentor had changed the topic on purpose after noticing how moved the Elder Wyrm was.

"Correct."

"What does the Ears do, exactly? The stories are very vague. They range from listening to Mogar's very voice to turning you into a god of the battlefield."

"I have no idea." The Father of Fire replied in embarrassment. "Lith just pulled them out and I didn't think about trying them myself. It's one piece of the legendary set of Menadion, for the gods' sake. It's bound to be very powerful."

"But its magic is outdated by 700 years." Gentor tutted. "Do your research better, old Wyrm, and then make a second round of calls. Who knows, maybe you'll have better luck with your pitch if you actually know what you are selling.

"I'm coming as soon as I can. Gentor out."

As the hologram faded, Valtak smiled and then sighed deeply.

'I appreciate Gentor's concern but the fact that he is the only one who asked questions about the Ears means he's the only one who took my request into consideration' He thought. 'Even if the Ears were a modern masterpiece, it would make no difference unless I promise to give it to a specific bloodline.

'It would guarantee their help and make Lith lose the help of the Organization, Gentor, and even my Fire Dragons. Dragons don't do charity unless there is at least the pretense of getting something in return.'

The Father of Fire checked his contact runes to make sure everyone had answered his summon. There were many who had ignored it but one in particular pained the Elder Wyrm's heart.

Valtak pressed the unblinking rune, deeming it a personal call.

"What do you want, old Wyrm?" The voice on the other side was cold and detached. The only emotion it betrayed was annoyance.

Unlike in the previous conversations, old Wyrm wasn't used as a term of endearment but as an insult.

"I just wanted to speak with you, son." Valtak looked at the skeletal figure in front of him. "This might be the last occasion we have to mend our relationship."

"Please! You've said those words…" Bony fingers flipped through the pages of a thick diary filled with the ramblings of a mad dragon trying to hold on to his sanity. "Thirty-four times already yet we are still here."

"This time I'm serious, Armak. I'm old and I'm about to embark on a dangerous mission. I-"

"You are wasting my time!" The Fire Dragon Lich roared in annoyance.

Armak was one of Valtak's lost children and the only one who had turned his back to his family to the point of resorting to undeath to ensure his survival.

"You were a fossil the day I was born! You were always ready to help everyone but me! The great Father of Fire could make time for everyone but his own gods-damned son." Only bits of skin and cartilage remained on the Lich's skeleton.

The once lustrous ruby scales were now black and green with mold and rot.

"Again with this nonsense?" Valtak tried to remain calm but an edge insinuated in his voice. "Why do you always talk about the past like I abandoned you, Armak? You lived in my lair until adulthood.

"I taught you everything you needed about magic, Origin Flames, and our bloodline abilities to build a life of your own. Your siblings and I cleaned your messes time and time again until I couldn't take it anymore.

"I ordered the Fire Dragons to stop helping you because you never learned your lessons. You were brash and arrogant, a bully who hid behind his family name and acted cocky only because you knew we'd come to your rescue.

"I only wanted you to grow up and learn to stand on your own!"

"And I did, old Wyrm!" Armak snarled. "Look at me and tell me you like the consequences of your actions. I dare you!"

The young Fire Dragon had considered being cut off from the family not like a punishment but a painful betrayal. The illusion that no matter what he did, his father would be by his side had shattered on that day and so did Armak's heart.

He matured too quickly and bitterly, going from one extreme to another. From being immature and clingy to a cold loner. Not trusting the Fire Dragon Brood anymore, Armak had gained Awakening first and then sought Lichhood.

The original plan was to become immortal and indestructible to show everyone that he didn't need anyone's help anymore. Alas, the breaking of the soul following the heart had unintended consequence.

After becoming a Lich, all the things that Armak considered important had become insignificant and annoying. He had never returned to his family, not even to rub his success in their faces.

The Lich Wyrm had exploited his newfound immortality to acquire everything he needed for his magical research and got lost in it. Every day he learned new things and forgot old ones. Without his diaries, Armak would have forgotten his own name for ages.

The only thing he couldn't forget was the rage toward his father. It rose every time he heard Valtak's voice and burned whenever the Lich Dragon saw his face.

"My actions?" The Father of all Fire Dragons scoffed. "I didn't ask you to become an undead. Even if I were responsible for everything you blame me for, the first and final choice was still yours. You abandoned the Brood of your free will."

"How can you say that after what you did?" Armak snarled, his withered heard bursting with fire that spread throughout his hollow skeleton, filling it. "You abandoned me yet took care of Gentor!

"You left me to die in the hands of powerful creatures and yet here you are, babying this Verhen guy you've known for what? Two months? You made it clear that I wasn't a priority to you and I would never be.

"I left because you made it clear there was no place for me!"

"That's not what happened, you idiot!" Valtak snarled, his body shapeshifting back into his real form in outrage. "I warned you I was done saving your sorry ass from the problems you instigated yet you kept acting like an idiot.

"If I didn't uphold my boundary, you would have thought mine were empty words like usual and learned nothing!"