The dragon's harem

Arad’s eyes opened wide as his shadow shifted back from Shi to his. It was then that he felt it, a massive surge of pain rushing up from his foot to his spine. With a contorted face and a deep frown, he fell to the ground, unable to move with blood pooling beneath his skin. Half of his body soon turned blue, and he could feel his vision growing darker and darker.

The force Shi pulled out of the ground was too much for his body to endure, and the bones of his right leg and spine all cracked, the muscles ripped apart, and his blood vessels burst open.

Before he could speak, his mind fell silent, his vision faded away, and he slipped into peaceful oblivion. In the next moment, he was sitting alone in a vast, dark, and calm sea with a single blackhole silently looming over his head.

Arad sat up, still in pain, but his eyes immediately spotted the strange thing in front of him. A large black silhouette of a man sitting in a campfire, feeding the black flame with more black branches of wood.

The only source of light here was the blackhole’s Accretion disk, bathing the whole world in a faint, humming orange light. “Who are you?” Arad asked, and the man looked at him. Several moments passed without a word, and then the black silhouette sighed.

“I’m dead…again.” The black silhouette threw another branch into the fire, “But it’s the good kind of dead.”

“Didn’t answer my question, who are… what are you?” Arad approached the campfire and took a seat on one of the stones surrounding it.

“Only crazy people talk to themselves…” The black silhouette giggled, “Those are the best people.” He then lifted his head and looked at Arad, “So? What do you think?” His head shifted to the side, and the massive body of a dragon was there, asleep. It opened one eye and looked at the man, “Shut up.”

The black Silhouette was silent for a while and then sighed, “Time’s up.” He stood. Arad did the same, “Right.” And even the black dragon cracked its neck and rose up, “And I was just about to take a nice nap.”

Arad suddenly opened his eyes with a gasp. His eyes were staring at the bright blue sky, his head resting on a strangely soft pillow. Looking up, he could see Merlin’s face looking down at him, barely visible from behind her large chest.

“What?!” He gasped and sat up, looking around with a confused face. “You’re finally back.” A voice came from behind, and when he looked, Neige was there, with Ombre beside her.

“It’s been a week since you fought that nightmare.” Merlin looked at him with a smile, “The nightmare almost killed you, but at that moment, Shi tried to take over your body. She managed to kill the nightmare…” She looked at Neige and Ombre.

Neige, one of the ones to speak next, “Your body got crushed thanks to how much power she drew out. Thankfully, you were healing rapidly… unaturally.”

Ombre was the one to speak after her. Her face albeit shapeless, Arad could sense a lot of worry in her voice. “When you are fully healed… You were a woman. A tall, muscular woman with long brown hair and glowing golden eyes.”

“Shi took over your body anyway and made her way up the labyrinth in an… unorthodox way. She transformed into her half-mutated tarrasque form and climbed the towers, dug through the sky to the floor above, ignoring all rules.” She looked at him, and Arad could see Neige’s terrified face.

“I know my true form is scary and disgusting, but I never imagined I’d see such a bloodied monster come out of you.” She shook her head, trying to erase the horrid image from her mind.

Arad shook his head, trying to remember, but he couldn’t think of anything. But what he managed to see was Doma and Shi inside his soul, arguing about something.

^Doma! So I’ve got my powers back.^ He called to her and she looked up with a large smile on her face, {Arad! You’ve got me and Merlin to thank; otherwise, this barbaric woman would’ve taken over your body.}

As she spoke, Shi was trying to bite her. Arad looked a them for a moment and then turned to Merlin, “Doma says you helped…”

“I managed to take control of the labyrinth, inside it I’m an omnipotent goddess. I simply made sure you aren’t allowed to die in it. Doma then ripped Shi’s soul out of your body and replaced it with yours. As for details, all I did was allow her crazy curses to be used. Apparently, they are nerfed outside where the other gods rule.” She looked at Arad’s face with a grin. “Does this mean I’ve won?”

“Yeah.” He smiled.

^Doma, how is Shi doing?^

{Alive and well. Believe me, she should remain dead inside your soul. Outside, she’ll only be tormented by the tarrasque’s insatiable hunger. And…she took over your body because you were about to die. A human isn’t supposed to survive the damage done to you.}

Arad looked around; they were now on the uppermost floor, 1001. Merlin’s paradise, a vast land of green fields, flowers, forests, and a massive tower that serves as her lab.

“How did you control the labyrinth?” Arad asked, and suddenly a foot landed on his face. “I helped, of course.” It was Yog. He tried to throw her away, but even with his massive draconic power, he wasn’t able to move her a single inch.

“Get off my face.” He growled, but she just kicked him on the nose. “Listen to me. Your soul is quite shaky of late. Two deaths in a row have left their mark, you can’t keep letting that happen to you.”

The first death was when Aella nuked him with the oxygen destroyer, and the second one was here in the labyrinth.

“It’s not like I do that on purpose.” Arad sighed, and she looked down at him with a large grin on her face. Her teeth resembled those of a shark as her eyes flashed with blue magic, radiating madness.

“Short version, don’t die. Otherwise I’ll find all of your wives and rip them open from the arse.” The mad smile on her face looked threatening, but Arad understood better than anyone. Yog isn’t evil, she is just…rough.

“Why specifically that?” He asked, and she flew away from his face, laughing. “I don’t know, ask your mother. That’s what she said she’ll do to me if I let you die again.”

“Knowing what I know about you.” He looked at her, “You have a way of helping me. And may I ask, where is my mother? I want to ask her as you suggested.”

“Merlin would help you, not me. And about your mother, she said she’ll show up when you have a grandchild for her.” Yog started flying around Merlin like a bee.