Wielder Of The Dragon Flame

Chapter 26

Someone whispered, the words carrying in the suddenly tense atmosphere.

"Yeah, it must be him." 

Another voice responded, slightly louder. 

"Who else would it be? This is the Xavier mansion, after all. He's the heir."

"But he has no flame!"  

A third voice cut in, sharp with confusion and perhaps a hint of derision. 

"Everyone knows he failed the crystal test. He's flameless. How can someone lead an entire clan of flame wielders without wielding a single spark himself? It's absurd!"

"Maybe the mask is hiding something? Maybe he awakened his flame after all?"

"Don't be ridiculous. If he'd awakened any flame, especially the Xavier flame, it would be all over the empire by now. News like that doesn't stay secret.”

The masked figure seemed unbothered by the speculation swirling around him. He reached Elder Morvain's side and stopped, standing perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back in a formal at-ease position. 

The dragon mask stared out at the assembled clan leaders with those empty eyes that somehow felt alive, judging, weighing.

Elder Morvain raised his staff and tapped it twice against the floor,sharp, commanding sounds that cut through the murmuring like a blade. Silence fell gradually, though the tension remained thick enough to taste.

"Esteemed leaders." 

Morvain said, his voice taking on a ceremonial quality now.

 "I present to you the new leader of the Xavier clan. As is tradition, he wears the Dragon Mask of Leadership, passed down through generations of Xavier clan heads, a symbol of authority and…"

"Let us see his face.”

 The leader of the Sunset Clan interrupted, her voice clear and firm. She was an older woman, perhaps in her sixties, with hair that shifted between gold and orange like a perpetual sunset.

 "Tradition is one thing, Elder Morvain, but we have a right to see who we are being asked to acknowledge. Remove the mask."

"Yes." 

The Storm Flame leader agreed, his grey beard bristling as he leaned forward in his seat.

 "Show us his face. We need to know who stands before us."

Other voices joined in, a chorus of agreement rippling through the assembly. Elder Morvain glanced at the masked figure, who gave a single, slight nod.

"Very well." 

Morvain said. 

"If the assembly wishes it."

 He turned to the figure beside him. 

"Please, remove the mask now."

The masked figure's hands came up slowly, deliberately, grasping the sides of the dragon mask. 

For a moment he held there, letting the anticipation build, and then with one smooth motion he lifted it away.

The face revealed was young,perhaps twenty-two or twenty-three,with sharp, aristocratic features. High cheekbones, a strong jaw, dark eyes that held intelligence and ambition in equal measure.

 His hair was black with distinctive red highlights that caught the light, giving him an almost supernatural appearance. His skin was pale, like someone who spent more time indoors than out, and there was a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth,not quite smug, but definitely confident.

The hall exploded.

"He's a half-blood!" 

Someone shouted, the words cutting through the air like an accusation.

Eyes widened all around the semicircle. Clan leaders who had been leaning back in casual attention now sat bolt upright, staring at the young man with expressions ranging from shock to outrage to calculating interest.

"A half-blood cannot be a clan leader!" 

The leader of the Crimson Blaze Clan declared, his face flushing red with indignation. The flame in his walking stick flared brighter, responding to his agitation. 

"It's against tradition! Against the very foundation of clan law!"

"This is outrageous." 

Another voice called out,the Azure Flame representative, a middle-aged man whose blue robes rippled as he stood.

 "Elder Morvain, what is the meaning of this? Since when do we allow half-bloods to lead pure flame clans?”

"He cannot possibly understand the Xavier legacy." 

Someone else added. 

"How can he honor traditions he wasn't raised in? How can he command respect when his very blood is mixed?"

The young man's smile didn't falter. If anything, it grew slightly wider, as if he'd expected exactly this reaction and found it amusing.

"Where is Asta Xavier anyway?"  

A woman's voice rose above the others,the Obsidian Flame leader, her silver-streaked hair catching the light as she stood. 

"He's the legitimate heir, regardless of his... condition. Where is he? Why isn't he the one standing there?"

"Yes! Where is the true heir?"

"What happened to Asta Xavier?"

"Is he dead?"

"Did something happen to him?"

The questions came rapid-fire now, overlapping, the hall descending into chaos. Clan leaders were on their feet, some shouting questions, others arguing with the

ir neighbors, voices rising to fill the vaulted ceiling with noise that echoed and multiplied until it was almost impossible to distinguish individual words.