N/A - N/A : Sector 8J of the Moon

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"So you want to reduce me to the mere slave of a dragon? I, the son of Hræsvelgr?!" The oversized dove tensed his body with a rasp in his voice as I slowly crushed him against the ground.

"Truly.. how do you not realize the situation you're in..." *CRACKLE* Cracks spread around us as I pressed more of my aura onto him. "I'm not giving you a choice, and you aren't strong enough to say otherwise."

"Tch-" He clicked his tongue before averting his eyes. "Stupid fucking dog..." *CRUNCH* His beak cracked as I dug my claws into it and forced him to look me in the eyes.

"I explained the situation and gave you every chance to earn mercy, yet you seemed to take it for weakness..." I felt an unbelievable familiarity in my anger as the hint of a memory came to mind. "You really are just like your father, refusing to recognize mercy until I wring your neck like a fucking chicken."

Almost instantly, all emotion drained from his face.

"I had originally planned to let you serve Hera on your own whim, I didn't even plan on using a rune, but now I won't only force you to serve her but your entire race as well." *Vwoom* A huge glowing sphere of runes lit up at the base of my paw as I looked into the reflection of his eyes. "I hope in your time serving her with your brothers and sisters descendants that you can come to recognize the missteps you have made. I hope the hate you receive from them opens your eyes."

*tap* Pressing my paw into his cheek just below his eye, I started hooking up the oath rune before he opened his mouth again. "There will come a day that I kill you..." His voice and eyes oozed a pure bloodlust. "I don't care how long it takes.. and I don't care how it's done.. but one day, I will watch the life drain from your eyes."

"Good for you," I spoke bluntly before looking straight into his eyes, unwavering, "because, in a second, you'll forget what the concept of revenge is."

Matching his gaze, his chest started to glow. Deep in his body, he was preparing a spell that would reduce not only him, but a huge section of the moon to hydrogen in an instant.

But I just lifted my paw and gently moved a large stone under it. "I commend you for trying." *WHAM-CRACKLE-VWOOOOM* Vector-flipping the stone, I hurled it into the void before using the sudden, colossal blast of mana to clear the aura out from around his reserve, giving me the chance to drain the lake of antimatter in his crop with the void.

Watching the consciousness behind his eyes fade as his reserve was punched with a beam of liquid mana, I wanted to scoff. -Dumbass...-

It had been a couple hours since we originally started talking at that point, but almost nothing ended as I wanted it to.

To attempt to summarize, his name is Acanthis, the current god of the thunderbirds, a race reduced from a population of upwards of a million to less than four thousand by none other than Nott at the end of the war.

Colloquially known as Lord Pouli in Delphi's legends and mythology, he was quite a well known being around the world following The Fall, the societal collapse following the final battle of the Great War, helping recover not only his own race, but others as well, going as far as to be worshipped by not only the thunderbirds, but other sentient monsters and even humans throughout the Western Continent.

Unfortunately, like most other thunderbirds, he didn't remember too much before he evolved to gain sentience about half a millennia after he was born, so I wasn't able to pry out nearly as much information as I wanted about the war, even if I did get some good details.

However, among the details I did get, the greatest was about the indescribable hatred between the dragon race and the thunderbirds.

When the conversation started, things went somewhat reasonably. Perhaps driven by fear, he answered everything I asked quickly and thoroughly, and even seemed like he would willingly come to my side and maybe willingly serve me, but the moment I mentioned him serving Hera, everything went to shit. -I don't know if him being interested in coming under me was just a guise, but perhaps his hatred for dragons is just that deep...-

As far as I originally knew, thunderbirds had a similar affinity to dragons in that they would make friends with or serve those stronger than themselves, but because they were on a similar level to dragons, they were seen as rivals, enemies, and opposition. Little did I know until that conversation, the hatred between the two only compounded through generations, and back during the Great War was so bad that the idea of Hræsvelgr siding with the Aesir to kill Bahamut did more than cross my mind.

-But for Nott to nearly wipe out their entire race... I really have to wonder if it was just Hræsvelgr that tried something...- I honestly felt like I was missing something. -But for now.. lets just focus on taming his hatred with this rune...-

While I planned to also bring the rest of the thunderbirds under Hera's wing, I had honestly begun to question if it was something within reason. -Maybe they'll willingly follow Acanthis under Hera...- That was more than a stretch though.

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"Haah..." -Worst case, I'll move them under Lief...- Finally finishing the oath rune on his brain, I pulled my paw off him and looked up into the dark yet colorful night sky. -All I can do is hope things go smoothly... Hera might have to work some magic, but I'm sure she'll be able to make use of him.-

*Vwoop* Quickly wrapping up, I jumped back into the void before darting back to the planet's surface and returning to the embrace of the bright blue sky. *vwoop*

*fffwwwooosh* Acanthis's body immediately began falling without my support, but being directly above the Elder Hall, I simply let it happen.

"Seems like he's back." Hera's voice echoed through the hall as my aura finally encompassed the ground.

"What about Lord Pouli?" Grandmother spoke curiously before looking toward Hera.

But rather than responding, she just closed her eyes and tilted her head down.

"Huh?"

*CRUNCH-CRUMBLE* As Grandmother tilted her head in confusion, the ceiling crumbled to bits, and a huge bird almost a hundred and fifty meters tall fell through, sprawling its wings over the raised seats of the hall and nearly crushing Haris in the process.

"F-FATHER?!" Haris immediately started freaking out before darting up onto him, immediately noticing the strange mana leaking from a relatively small hole in his chest and his broken beak. "F..father?"

"He's alive." Finally descending behind him, I glided over to my seat in the hall and sat down with a cold air around me, remaining silent until Hera slowly opened her eyes to look at him. "His real name is Acanthis, and he was born right at the end of the war... Unfortunately though, that age didn't bring him wisdom..."

"Thunderbirds are characteristically dense relative to their age," Hera spoke coldly as she looked down at Haris.

-That explains a lot...- "Anyway, I put him under my oath rune, but I'm not sure how he'll serve you... His hatred of dragons ran so deep I couldn't block it all without seriously interfering with his memories." -It ran deeper than his hatred toward the one who killed his father...-

But Hera didn't seem to care. "As long as the oath stops him from running."

I gently nodded as Ilios came back over to me, rubbing himself on my leg like a cat before laying back down under me. -Seems like I didn't miss much...- But there was one thing. Upon looking back up, I was met with the gazes of four Elders I didn't recognize.

Noticing my inquisitive gaze, the largest of the bunch, a towering 74-meter-tall emerald-scaled elder, stood up before formally bowing to me. "My name is Theóratos Prásinos, you may just call me Prásinos if you wish. It is an honor to meet such a mighty god in the flesh." His voice was extremely deep but smooth. "I am one of the current heads of the Elder Hall, although that seems like it may be changing soon."

-He's really big for an Elder...- "Is that so?" Glancing at Hera, I wanted to ask what he was referencing, but she already knew.

"I'm planning some major reforms, one of which is to allow ancients to serve within the Hall, but they can be voted out by the people, or me, at any time. If you've read about it, it was the system Bahamut used called The Cabinet. In summation, it's a group of advisors and assistants to help keep Bahamut and I in check.. although I never used it."

-Ah.. I think I did hear about that at some point...- Although I didn't know much about it, I did know that there wasn't any age limit to who could be voted into a position. -But it seems like Hera has some people in mind...-

"Unfortunately, most of us will be voted out almost immediately." A softer voice filled the room as I looked over to see a rather spikey light brown dragon attempting to move Acanthis's wing out from over him. "The few I could see surviving the reform are Miss Ragnarok, Pluto, and myself. Pluto being the financial advisor, and I being the resource and mining advisor."

-How interesting...- His scale colors made me think he was a half breed, when he was actually totally pure. "And you would be?"

"Ah, pardon my rudeness." *crunch* Finally getting the wing off him, he bowed deeply. "I am Gi Akatharsía, a dragon from the Southern Mountains. I oversee most of the mining families there."

"Oh, are you familiar with the Chalkos family?"

"Of course. I was Vounó's teacher when she was young, learning how to manage her family's assets."

"If you get the chance, please tell Amara that I hope she is doing well." -I should find some time to meet with her...-

The other Elder's immediately went wide-eyed and tilted their heads toward me before Gi lowered his posture with a polite smile unbefitting his rugged body. "I wasn't aware that you knew each other."

"We met in Siratha a few years ago. Anyway, I hope you can continue to assist them."

"Of course." He happily smiled as if realizing his position in the cabinet was cemented.

Finally turning to the last two elders, I prepared for their introductions, but before they could speak, Haris yelled out, "How can you all talk so casually?!" He seemed quite upset.

But I think rather than them talking casually, it was them attempting to jump at the opportunity to form connections with the mightiest of the mighty.

-I can't imagine those who genuinely climbed to this position with their own effort are stupid... Of course they'll jump at such a glaring opportunity.- And I didn't mind them doing it in the slightest. "Kid, unlike your father, these people understand what an opportunity is... You should take note."

Eventually turning my attention back to the elders, we continued speaking, catching me up to speed with Hera's plans and welcoming other powerful figures as they continued to arrive.

And, before we knew it, a day had passed, countless influential figures had arrived, and the man of the hour finally made his appearance.

*Fwoooosh* *Fwoooosh* *Fwoooosh* Huge gusts could be heard outside from each flap of his colossal wings as he flew over the hall before stopping, blotting out the sun with his massive body.

But he didn't even have the chance to show his grand new appearance before Hera simply looked up at him. "Get down here pipsqueak. You're the last to arrive."

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Added note: The ‘crop’ of a bird isn’t the stomach, its a food storage area at the base of the throat

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