"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. The assembled Wyverns took out their communicators. Most of them noticed no change in their contacts, but those "more" attached to their families found them dreadfully clear. The room fell into an uproar as Dryna too took her amulet out. She had few friends left in the family and most of their runes were gone. "How could I not notice?" Her eyes welled with tears. "I’m a monster." "You’re not." Haug consoled her. "You’ve got a new family at my tavern and everyone you love is always there. When was the last time you used your amulet?" Dryna had a hard time focusing while holding back her emotions, but when she finally did it, she realized it had been over a year since she had looked at her communicator. "That time I forgot the grocery list and asked Taavi to send it to me." She replied. "That was almost two years ago." Haug caressed her wing. "Awakened go in seclusion for months if not years at a time. Not hearing from them in a while is normal, especially if things between you have gotten ugly." "I thought they were just avoiding me." Dryna hiccupped. "That they had chosen to abandon me like everyone else. I-" "Do you understand your crimes, now?" Ghirslak’s voice cut her short and made Dryna recoil in fear. Then, she noticed the patriarch wasn’t talking to her but to all the Wyverns. "Do you understand why I have called you here? To save the Wyvern bloodline from extinction, we need to change and the change starts here. Today." Ghirslak said. "All our disowned children are welcome to return to our ranks, if they want. "I won’t ask for your forgiveness, but only because I wasn’t the one who wronged you and I’m not the patriarch who allowed such nonsense to take place on his watch. I expect the Elders who supervised your cases to do it." A fierce glare of the patriarch made the old Wyverns swallow their objections along with their wounded pride. "That said, if we want to be a family, we must start acting like one. For this reason, all privileges and positions inside the clan are revoked with immediate effect." Another uproar started yet Ghirslak ended it with a single roar. Stay tuned for updates on freewebnovel "Here’s how things will work from now on. Only those who contribute to the family will be entrusted with power and responsibility. If you fit the criteria, you’ll keep your current position. If you don’t and have a problem with it, feel free to challenge me and replace me as the patriarch." A long, awkward silence told Ghirslak no one had the confidence to take him on or the will to shoulder the burden of the role. "There are only two things that count as contributions. One, knowledge. Again, look at the Hydras. They have become the most powerful clan of Lesser Dragons because they share all their major discoveries among them. "You are entitled to keep your life work or any special branch of magic you uncover for yourself, but things like Light Mastery spells, Origin Flames, arrays, and dimensional spells should be shared. "These are the disciplines of which we Wyverns are masters and on which we should work together as a clan. "Two, children. We need to grow our numbers and do it properly. I expect you all to fully devote yourself to nurturing, raising, and training the next generation of Wyverns right."