Chapter 96: Family Part 7: Organized Chaos

Sora set up for a council meeting the following week after his party added two. Sasha offered her seat to Lionel, but he politely declined.

Everything in the mansion seemed off. Xander kept opening portals whenever anyone was having the slightest bit of an argument, which made it awkward for everyone to watch.

After Athena visited Leila in a dream and told her, "the key to the rebirth of dragons is finding the right soul. Sometimes, you don’t have to look very far."

Baffled, Leila didn’t even know if this was possible. She immediately returned to the ruins with Sora to see if Lox was there, but he was nowhere to be found. This frustrated her even more, although he did mention she could see someone else. She just didn’t know who.

That was until Xander reiterated what he mentioned when Lionel joined the party, "Auntie lele likes wevi’s brother."

There was an undeniable attraction between the two, and it opened the door for Levi to give his brother a hard time.

"I remember when Sora’s biggest weakness was a party member he liked! I can’t wait to watch this kid make you squirm!" Levi boasted.

Sora felt like a complete jerk when he finally asked Leila to join the council.

"I’m sorry this took so long to ask, you’re a dragon, obviously you should be on the council. I feel like an asshole. Would you like to come to our meetings?"

"Doesn’t that mean I have to have a partner or something? That’s kind of hard for me at this point in my life..."

"I’m pretty sure no one would mind. I used to go solo! But your input is invaluable and I think you should come!"

After weighing it over, she finally agreed. The council’s expansion was good for knowledge and planning. At the meeting, they simply went over Xander’s powers and what Azazel and his team were doing.

"So you mean we’re going to have peace on Exteria for some time? Shouldn’t we make an announcement?" Jackson asked.

"No, we shouldn’t. That’s exactly what they’d want us to do. Make an announcement that everyone’s safe then come back and ambush us suddenly. Thanks to Xander, we know their plans and we know there’s a new Wrath." Brie said with her usual bubbly charm.

"We’ve been meaning to ask–Johnathon, our oldest. He just turned 23. He’s a SS rank and wants to join your party. In his words, ’he’s sick of being a head guard errand boy."

"Well, what do you think? That puts us up to 18 other people that will power you up Sora."

"I think the more the merrier. If they’re going to go out of their way to destroy planets, I just wish we had a way to stop it."

"As long as you’re ok with it babe, then I’m good with it."

"Absolutely, send him in." Sora said with a smile.

Jonathan came in and bowed. Sora made the seal with the same conditions as Sasha and watched as the seal illuminated on his left hand.

"Welcome to the team! We’re going to have a full house these days! I remember when it was just me in the mansion..." Sora was interrupted by Xander teleporting and plopping on his lap.

"Hey little buddy. What’s up?" Sora asked.

"Want meet dada and mama fwiends. Why dada and mama have so many good fwiends?"

The room was touched by the sentiment.

"Well what a polite young man you are, my name is Elizabeth and I’m a human!"

"Hi liz liz. You mama of John John?"

"Yes and you see this handsome fellow, that’s his father, Jackson!"

"Hi Jaxy! You two good. Xander can tell. Ewevyone here good. Not like bad zaza."

Xander walked around the room and touched everyone’s hands.

"Your son has a way with energy. You’ve noticed, right?" Lionel asked.

"Of course! Athena even said hi to him in his dreams and visited Brie to talk about his magic. He’s going to grow up quickly!"

"They always do, trust me!" Jackson smiled.

*****

Xander opened a portal to Azazel’s lair, and the main meeting room was empty. Sora and Brie grabbed Xander and slowly walked through the portal. Unfortunately, Malphas was sitting in a room designed for war and screamed, "what the hell are you doing here!"

"Sorry, Xander opened a portal and went through it. We were just tracking him down. Sorry for asking, but where is everyone?" Brie said politely.

"Like I’d tell you. Get the hell out of here before I kill the lot of you."

"You can’t hurt dada or mama even if you twied." Xander scoffed.

"Manners Xander!" Sora said.

"I understand you feel that way Xander but you can’t tell that to other people, even if they’re mean or you think they’re bad. Always treat people with kindness. That’s what my dad and the King before me taught me!" Sora said proudly.

"That’s right sweetie, we’re glad you’re proud of our strength but we don’t know who else he has back here and we don’t want to get attacked. Always try to strive for peace!"

"Otay Mama and Dada. I wuv you."

"And we love you too."

"Listen, I don’t want any problems. I’m already dealing with angry werewolves and that’s a headache in itself. Can you please just leave?" Malphas said. Sora noticed how over-tired he looked.

’Wasn’t Malphas his right hand man, always? Did so much really change when Eris was released from Athena’s prison?’

Sora and Brie teleported the three of them home and Xander started reaching for his mom.

Brie laughed, "I swear this kid is always hungry."

"Let me get him some squashed green beans too. He doesn’t solely need to be on your breast milk if he’s aging this rapidly."

The mansion, although full with members, never seemed crowded. Sora still had at least 20 bedrooms. He really couldn’t believe how much space his parents left him.

"You ok Sora?" Luna asked when Sora walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, Xander opened a portal to Azazel’s lair, Malphas looked really tired and he said he was dealing with angry werewolves. What would piss your parents off so much that they’d lash out at Malphas?"

"I’m guessing what we all saw from Xander’s portal is true. I’m guessing Azazel and his goddesses have their army of titans destroying a planet for all the souls and lifeforce. It’s a shame we can’t do anything."

"I know, I really wish we could but it’s not worth risking Exteria. All of us can’t beat a horde of titans and they don’t want Brie and me dead because they know how much power we could potentially hand them. I say we take this time of peace as an opportunity to train, get stronger, and build our relationships as best we can."

"You make a great King. You really do. Brie is also an amazing Queen. You know there were days I’d be jealous at first, but those feelings faded quite quickly. You two make it really easy to like you," Luna admitted with a kind smile.

"Thanks Luna, now we have one more wedding and hopefully nothing goes crazy at this one."