The dragon's harem

Arad stood at the base of the mountain, looking deep into its heart with his burning purple eyes as the rain and hail pelted him like they were going for his life. But the mighty dragon didn’t even flinch, standing still like an unmovable statue.

Faint purple glimmer pulsed beneath his skin, soon turning into pure darkness. The rain droplets started evaporating the moment they got close, and Arad’s body contorted. As if sensing his presence, the storm grew stronger, striking him with a lightning bolt to the head.

Arad didn’t seem to care as his body kept transforming, and soon a massive black dragon was there, slowly walking toward the mountain while being stoned by the storm and lightning.

Merlin was standing at the mountain’s peak, Zephyr’s cube floating in her hand. The first stage started, Arad must get into the mountain and reach the overgod’s dead heart. But that’s easier said than done.

The way the heart was sealed consisted of several layers of protection. The first was Hati’s eternal barrier. That surrounded the heart itself and sealed its power away from the outside world by making it take an eternity for its energy to cross the barrier. It was like twisting space and time, the same way Merlin almost lost herself to Hati’s dance.

If the barrier were still up and working, it would take Arad until the end of time to reach the heart. The closer he got to the heart, the slower time passed and the longer space extended, making it impossible to reach. But now, Hati had lifted her barrier.

The second barrier was the mountain itself; while the outside looked perfectly normal, the heart was encased beneath several layers of thick stone enchanted with magic. Not even Earth magic can dig its way through, and it was one of the very few things that the Tarrasque’s Earth Glide can’t pass through. Arad now has to find his way to the inner chamber where the heart is.

The third barrier was the storm itself. It only shows up if any of the first two barriers deteriorate or disappear. Its purpose is to scare any fool who tries to approach the dangerous heart, and it worked perfectly against anyone who isn’t Arad.

There was one last thing protecting the heart, but Hati didn’t know what it was. The overgod said that he had someone put it in there; he didn’t cast it himself. Hati made sure to warn Arad and stress that the last unknown barrier might be the most dangerous of them all. If the overgod didn’t tell her what it was, then it’s probably something she’ll get mad about if she knew.

Arad did ask what could make her mad, and she confidently replied that as far as she knew, the overgod can’t do anything that’ll get her mad. For a moment, Arad was about to feel relieved that it might not be that bad… but he quickly realised that it would be something far, far worse than any nightmare.

Merlin looked at the cube floating between her hands, lightning hitting the massive spherical barrier protecting her, illuminating the snowy peak with deafening thunder. “Don’t worry, you’ll be out soon.” And as if replying, the wind around the cube hummed, quickly getting washed away by the turbulent storm.

Far away, standing where Hati was dancing, Betty looked at the mountain, her body glowing with a faint white glimmer. Several meters behind her, in a small hut. Hati was getting bathed by her daughters, all her muscles hurting and sore from the elaborate dance.

One of Hati’s daughters looked at Betty, who stood in the rain with a worried face. “Get inside! There is no need to stand there.” Betty seemed to ignore the comment, her eyes still fixed on the mountain, looking at Arad’s back with a large grin on her face.

“Fliana.” Hati said with a tired voice, “Look at her feet.”

Fliana looked at her mother, “I’m not into them.”

“Stupid, when I say look, you look.”

Fliana did what her mother said, her eyes quickly pulsing and turning into a long slit like those of cats. They almost immediately opened wide, “Wait… her feet are clean and dry? Even though she is standing in the mud and rain?” Fliana then looked at Betty’s whole body, noticing that something was off.

A lightning bolt fell from the black clouds, almost blinding Fliana as it fell straight on Betty’s head. But… the halfling didn’t seem to budge or even be bothered, as if it didn’t hit her at all.

“What is going on?” Fliana gasped, looking back at her mother.

“Lightning is two thousand five hundred times slower than her. Barely 0.0004 of her speed.”

Alone in the rain, Betty wasn’t standing still. She was moving, dodging each droplet of rain, each hail, and not even the lightning was fast enough to hit her. The faint glimmer that covered her body wasn’t her light magic, but it was her limbs moving at the speed of light. Her feet remained clean and dry since the mundane water and dirt couldn’t withstand moving at such a speed.

Betty was worried about Arad, too worried that she couldn’t wait. To make sure she isn’t late by even a fraction of a second, she is now maintaining her top speed, with how fast she is moving, one second felt like decades, decades with her dodging the still droplets of rain, keeping eyes peeled for any danger.

Not many people understood how stupidly fast and powerful Betty was. Hati’s daughter heard about her speed, how she doesn’t need teleportation magic, and how she can suddenly appear and disappear. “She can make several laps around the whole world in a fraction of a second. If anything of harm targeted Arad, she’ll probably cleave it in half before even Arad could notice.”

Arad reached the mountain and lifted his front claw, touching the wet and muddy stone. He could feel it, a powerful magic that seals it all off. To reach the heart, he must dig his way through this thick stone; There is no way around it.

As Arad lifted his claw and swung it down, his claws shattered, making him recoil. The shattered claws flew through the air, disappearing as if they never existed.

He has never felt something this hard, not even Kayden’s barriers. He has to find a way through the barrier, and fast.