First Light of a New Age

Chapter 153: In The Air Tonight With A Valkyrie

The New World, First Civilization Zone, Draconic Empire, Floating Capital City of Avalon, Chamber of Silence.

4th Year of God, Wednesday, 4th Week, 7th Month of David.

Beneath the floating capital city of Avalon, deep under its layers of enchanted obsidian and beyond the reach of common court or public eye, lay the Chamber of Silence, a place reserved for trials, punishments, and decisions that must never see daylight.

Tonight, it reeked of shame.

Dragon General Vorthar stood tall, though his stature seemed slightly less than usual. His crimson and gold armor was cracked across the chest and gauntlets, charred at the edges from the blast that had nearly killed them all in orbit. Dried black blood stuck to one of the plates where it hadn't been cleaned yet.

His six commanders stood beside him in a straight line, silent and uneasy. Some bore fresh injuries still healing through magic, others simply wore the weight of discipline. No one spoke.

All eyes, however, kept drifting toward Commander Velgram, who was kneeling in the center of the chamber.

Shackled by thick rune-inscribed chains embedded into the floor, his body was hanging limp and his arms were trembling just from holding himself upright. His snout dripped blood steadily with long gashes covering his back and side and scales flaking off around burned skin.

Hovering across from them, with the stillness of a predator that never needed to roar, was Vael'Thruis, the Emperor's personal butler, and executioner when necessary.

In a white suit that somehow remained untouched despite the destruction he had just unleashed, he looked more like a curator than a killer. His bone-white mask covered his face, smooth and expressionless except for two glowing blue eyes that never blinked.

Not once did he not move when he spoke while his voice glided through the room like cold water over steel.

"You disobeyed the Emperor's command," he said calmly. "All of you should've known that his words were not merely a suggestion."

Velgram opened his mouth to speak, but only a wet rattling sound escaped as his jaw was misaligned with one side of his mouth too swollen to form words while his clawed hand twitched weakly before falling limp.

General Vorthar stepped forward, answering in his stead in a respectful but not submissive voice.

"We interpreted the command within context. The Emperor told us not to interfere with the humans on the ground. These ones were not on land, they were above it, in our sky, orbiting directly over our territory. That made them a strategic threat, and therefore, it was a security concern."

Vael'Thruis tilted his head slightly. "And did the Emperor give you the right to interpret his command?"

He let the question hang. No one answered

"You are soldiers," he continued coldly. "Not philosophers or rulers."

Commander Rhaziel, dark-scaled and sharper-tongued than the others, couldn't hold back and growled slowly.

"We couldn't just let them hover above our territory and do nothing, it was reconnaissance, possibly spying. And more importantly, they destroyed their station rather than surrender. That alone proves..."

"Spying?" Vael'Thruis cut in. "Not that they attacked. Their instruments were primitive and their recordings suggested they didn't even know where they were. They had no idea what we were, and yet you thought it wise to slaughter them like beasts?"

"Velgram acted on his own," Vaethyr added, reluctantly. "We attempted to restrain him."

"Which you failed to stop," the butler said, finally moving.