Helios didn't earn the moniker of 'The Golden Dragon' solely based upon the color of his scales.
He was called golden for his dignified and regal aura, as well as his tastes.
It wasn't a bias that he was aware of, but after thousands of years of ruling as king to the most powerful nation in Dola, he had grown accustomed to only experiencing the best.
And now, as he stood in front of the place where Hajun had told him to meet, he felt for the first time in a long time a feeling of absurdity.
'This place is beneath me...'
Helios was staring at a small, greasy looking diner.
It didn't look like any sort of reputable establishment, nor did it seem dignified by any stretch of the imagination.
But he could already sense those who he had come here for inside.
Suddenly, the door was flung open and a man came outside smoking a cigarette.
He was a dragon around a few thousand years old, who had chosen to show traces of his age in his appearance while still keeping himself upright in a dignified manner.
Judging by the smell of food on him, he was clearly the cook here.
"Man, that empress sure can eat... and the other one drinks more than any man or woman I've ever seen..." Eventually, the man finally noticed Helios standing outside.
"Oh hey, you must be the emporer's guest, right? Go on in, they're all in there but I think they started partying without you." the man cackled.
"Right..." It had been so many years since the golden dragon had been talked to with such informality.
It was jarring.
Helios finally stopped standing outside to gawk and ventured inside of the building.
Once he opened the door, he could clearly hear several different streams of laughter filling the air.
When he stepped into view, he was met with a series of cheers and excitement.
Darius: "He made it! I was worried his old ass wouldn't be able to follow the map on his phone!"
Jasmine: "I never doubted you for a second, gramps!"
Hajun: "Get on over here and grab a drink with me!"
Within the empty restaurant, a medley of faces were already sitting down occupying multiple booths while they waited for him.
Abaddon was sandwiched between two women who Helios already knew fairly well, but he wasn't expecting them to also make an appearance.
"...Traditionally, grandson, when someone requests a meal with you, they do in fact mean just you." The Golden Dragon felt as if maybe that point was not properly made clear before.
Abaddon smiled bashfully. "This all just sort of happened at the last moment. Here."
Miraculously, the large dragon suddenly appeared outside of his seat and standing next to his grandfather. "We're going to step back here for a moment. Valerie, keep Bekka away from my plate if you don't mind."
"Sur-"
"We're married so what's yours is mine, sweet husband!"
Bekka snatched up the two sausages resting on Abaddon's plate and gulped them down like they were... well, sausages.
Secretly seething and plotting revenge, Abaddon led his grandfather to an empty booth on the other side of the restaurant.
As they walked, to the back, Helios couldn't help but glance at every minute detail of the establishment.
"Why have you had me meet you in this hovel..?"
Again, Helios was left stunned into silence by his grandson.
He so much resembled Yara in how he behaved that it was scary.
They were both unwaveringly kind people.
Where Helios was born, dragons are not particularly 'nice'. Not even to their own sometimes.
Kindness is seen as a luxury that they simply do not have.
The belief was that to survive, they had to be ruthless, dominant creatures that forced their way to the pinnacle by whatever means necessary.
Only when you are great and untouchable do you have the luxury of being 'kind'.
Because nothing else remains that is capable of hurting you.
The problem is that climbing the ladder like that takes a very, long time.
And once a dragon becomes full grown, they get stuck in their ways and find little reason to change- with the threat of betrayal being to great a concern.
Helios was no exception.
Perhaps that reason was why he was so enthralled by his daughter.
She was born with an innate desire to show compassion, and it was a trait she passed down to all three of her children.
It wasn't something Helios understood, but it was something that he sometimes wished he possessed.
It truly was an odd thing to look at your own descendent and see everything that you wanted to be.
Should he be jealous?
Or maybe even possess a feeling similar to being left out?
No... perhaps it was best to just feel a bit of pride instead.
"...So? What is it you want to ask of me?" Abaddon asked again.
Helios snapped out of his small moment of reflection and came back to the present.
"Right... You have already given me my darling Rhea back. And you have brought me back to life with my family as well.
By all means you are not required to ever do a single thing for me ever again, but I fear I must shamelessly ask you for more.
If your vision for our people is the same as mine, and you also wish to enact divine vengeance upon those who would call themselves our conquerors, then I ask you, Abaddon... help me bathe the whole of Visoleer in the glow of our divine fire."
Abaddon had heard a little bit about his grandfather's homeworld from his granddaughter Gabbrielle.
While the concept of dragon slayers and dragon riders is not exclusive to that world, it is particularly brutal there.
It was the kind of thing that Abaddon couldn't let stand, even if Helios hadn't asked him to help.
He was just in need of a little push to get him started.
"...It will take time." Abaddon said seriously.
"I've waited several thousand years already. I can wait a bit longer if need be."
"I don't half-ass my wars. This will leave your old world entirely uninhabitable."
"Is there any other way to conduct a war against hated adversaries?"
Abaddon smiled to himself; for the first time realizing just how similar he and his grandfather may have been.
"No... There most certainly is not."