Ash smiled.
"Now… shall we negotiate?"
The Prime Humans looked at him in a new light—favorable, wary, and undeniably intrigued.
The meeting had begun.
Ash stood calmly before the dais with a sly smile, wings folded neatly, bronze skin catching the light from the open ceiling. The throne hall was alive with tension—pillars of crystal refracting the blue sky into rainbows, the air scented with blooming light-flowers and the faint hum of ancient runes.
"I am Ash Originat, Leader of the Unrated Originat Clan," he said, voice steady and resonant.
"Nice to meet you."
The Patriarch nodded slowly, his Sixth Calamity aura like a distant storm. "I am Thorne Astral, Patriarch of the Galactic Astral Clan. This is Matriarch Elara, and our heir, Elias."
Raven and the other two raised a brow at this, sharing similar thoughts as they exchanged glances.
'An entire Galactic Clan was locked away?'
Polite murmurs rippled through the elders, but their gazes held doubt.
Ash continued.
