Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3557

"What was once a united front, broke down into hundreds of small factions unwilling to cooperate with each other.

"While the Hydras have the power and authority to enforce their will on the Kingdom and the Council, Mogar looks at us with disdain. Our cousins are considered among the weakest of the Lesser Dragons, yet they are the ones on the path to Dragonhood."

Ufyl being spared and taken under Fyrwal’s wing was public knowledge and so was her intention to study his life force to uncover the secret of evolution for the Hydra bloodline.

The Harmonizers’ existence and Baba Yaga’s involvement, instead, were still a secret.

"And do you know why that is?" Ghirslak took a long pause to let his words sink in.

"Because Hydras stuck together through thick and thin despite their differences. Because they exiled only criminals and those who refused to learn their lesson, whereas we almost made a sport of it.

"The slightest insult, be it real or perceived, turned into a centuries-long enmity between two Wyverns and was considered reason enough to disown our youths. Even if Thrud had turned one of us into a Dragon, we couldn’t have taken him in our ranks.

"The Council would have turned our request down because no one trusts us. To be honest, I don’t fault the Council nor would I have asked to spare our hypothetical brother in the first place. Not because I don’t want to become a Dragon, but because we can’t.

"We Wyverns are incapable of working together and one of us alone would never be enough to accomplish such a glorious task. Even worse, we lack both the resources and the numbers for the task. Look around."

The exiles and the Wyverns on the stands turned their heads, trying to understand what Ghirslak meant.

"What you see here are all the Wyverns on Mogar." The patriarch’s words made everyone freeze in horror.

Their eyes went wide and their pupils narrowed as they tried to get a rough estimate of their numbers. There were hundreds of Wyverns but less than a thousand.

"Unless we take immediate action, our bloodline dies with us. That’s another reason I called you all here. Because I knew you wouldn’t have believed me unless you witnessed our ruin with your own eyes."

"How is this possible?" Elder Runblir asked. "There’s never been a census but I’m sure there are thousands of us!"

"There were thousands of us." Ghirslak corrected him. "Until we focused on our research so much that we disregarded making children not to waste time taking care of them. Until we became so belligerent that we engaged in mortal fights for the pettiest reason.

"Until Thrud came and Xedros the Traitor followed her." A chill ran down the Wyverns’ spine as they realized something they were supposed to know but had ignored until that moment.

"Our previous patriarch sacrificed dozens of our youths to become a Dragon." Ghirslak snarled in outrage. "Thrud helped him kidnap our children, grandchildren, and cousins.

"Then after the Traitor died, Thrud stole everything that was supposed to be ours. Xedros’ treasures, books, and artifacts are gone, setting us back of centuries. We’ve lost more than our people.

"We’ve also lost their memory, our traditions, and our bloodline legacy. Thrud then sacrificed hundreds of our youths for her accursed experiments. She turned her generals into Divine Beasts and even nurtured her accursed son at our expense!

"Yet what disgusts me the most is that we didn’t even notice! Leegaain help me, thousands of us died yet we are so self-centered that we didn’t notice. Your very sons and daughters died but you didn’t know because you never bothered taking their contact rune!"

A violent burst of bright violet Origin Flames erupted from Ghirslak’s body in a brilliant pillar that reached the hundred meters (330’) high ceiling.