The dragon's harem

The chaos ended, and inside a large cavern, a massive black egg rested. Almost twenty meters tall, it rolled on its side and nested on a massive pile of radiant, green ore. From the depths of the darkness, a tall, muscular woman walked toward the egg, dragging a massive cart full of more of those green ores, and threw them at the base of the egg.

She stood there for a while, staring at the pile of glowing ore with a large grin on her face. “Your mom might not be here, but I’ll take her place. Everyone calls me Mother Earth for a reason.” That woman was Gaia, the Earth Spirit Queen. She had been gathering Uranium ores from the depths of the plant and had built a nest for Arad with them.

Based on what Gojo told them, ideally, eating the ore would be best. But what they need is the death curse radiating from the ores, not the ores themselves. Building a nest like this where the curse can bathe Arad’s evolving body, was better than nothing.

And… out of everyone, Gaia was the only one capable of both locating the ores and carrying them safely. As Gojo expected, the curse can’t even hope to pierce the Mother Earth’s chiseled body, let alone harm her.

Gojo wanted to take on this job, but he wasn’t spared after the deadly battle with the abomination and was currently resting in Lucy’s temple. Gaia had seen the little girl, Isdis’s little sister, who now looked as presumptuous and alluring as Amaterasu, but still a child and a brat at heart, and a gluttonous one at that.

Speaking of care… Arad’s wives wanted to visit him several times, but they weren’t allowed, simply because the radiation was enough to kill anyone who wasn’t Gaia… except Altair, who came every now and then to check on him.

At first, they wanted to let Arad evolve inside the mountain where the overgod’s dead heart was, but with Gaia intending to bring him more urnaiom ores, they decided to change the location so the people of the beast lands won’t be harmed by the radiation.

After a while, they decided to move him to the only place where the radiation can’t harm anyone, the desert where he hid in the past to recover after the battle with Vorvadoss.

Gaia also liked the idea, saying it’s fitting for his pale older brother had settled in the pale snow of the north, Arad should have settled on the brown and black Hamada desert of the south.

Humans and dragons love to put their names on the lands, claim kingdoms and territories. But when Mother Earth speaks, no one dares to go against her words.

****

Back at Hati’s house, a large glass mirror stood in the middle of a dusty room, shimmering with light. Not far down the hallway, the murmur of water could be heard. Inside the bath, three of Hati’s daughters were bathing their mother, rubbing her back and arms, their eyes covered with a thick black cloth.

Something was off; they’ve seen their mother naked many times, caring for her was their job. But today they weren’t alone; a guest was with them in the bath. Beside Hati sat a blinding orb of light, so bright that it’ll blind anyone who dares stare at it, except Hati, who somehow could withstand the bright light.

“So it is over.” The orb of light spoke, and she was luminous, Betty’s grandma.

“It is indeed, well, one at least,” Hati replied with a passive face, a slight glimmer of light flashing in her eyes. “The seed had been planted long ago. I wonder what will happen.”

Luminous looked, shook her head, “Not even the gods can guess what will happen next. Only that brat knows. And she doesn’t tell anyone.”

Hati sighed, “I lived with her for thousands of years. I might know her better than myself… but Yog always hides more than she tells. Getting an answer from her would only lead to more questions; it never ends.”

“She knows too much, that’s it.” Luminous looked up with a smile, not that anyone could gaze at her face to notice.

“Yog knows too much, isn’t that the same for you?” Hati looked at her, and Luminous giggled, “My knowledge is nowhere near hers.”

“Mother Mirror, the blinding radiance. Is that how we used to call you?” Hati sighed, “You could’ve helped in the fight.”

Luminous giggled, “The world is too weak to gaze upon my radiant body; both my beauty and presence are too much for the minds of mortals.” She reached forward and touched the wall in front of her with one hand, turning it into a mirror.

Hati took a look. The mirror should’ve been blindingly bright, trying fruitlessly to reflect Luminous’s bright body, but something else was showing instead. A small fairy was sitting on a large table in the middle of a magnificent dining hall of a castle, gorging herself on a feast fit for ten kings and their families. On the other side, an elf was sitting, looking at the fairy with a happy smile; those were Aella and Zephyr.

Zephyr suddenly stopped eating and looked, her eyes gazing toward the Luminous and Hati. Suddenly, both of them started suffocating, unable to breathe.

Zephyr leaned forward and grabbed the wine bottle at her side, and glared at it with a large smile, “Why spy on me, Mother Mirror? I’m not even naked. I’m pretty sure I paid you for my mirror.”

Zephyr waited for an answer and then sighed as her eyes went blind. “Right, you can’t talk without air.” She flicked her fingers, and both Hati and Luminous could breathe again. Zephyr could also see again. By this time, Aella had already noticed that something was off and approached.

“You’re really violent, aren’t you, Zephyr. I just wanted to check on you.” Luminous took a deep breath, rubbed her throat, and then looked past her at Aella, “Glad to see you doing well, child of winds.”

Zephyr grabbed a chicken drum, shoved it whole down her throat, and then bit the bone off. Her eyes then shifted back to the wine bottle. “Don’t change the subject. You never call without a reason.”

“Then I’ll get down to it. I want you to build a mirror hall in Arad’s castle.” Luminous said in a calm voice, and Zephyr chewed what remained of the bone and then turned toward Aella, “She basically wants me to build a dragon layer for Betty beneath Arad’s castle. This awkward drakaina rarely talks to people, so she is approaching me since I’m an old friend and happened to know you, the first wife.”

Aella sighed, “I don’t mind that… in fact, I already got a room spared for Betty. But a whole lair, building that won’t be easy, especially when Arad isn’t around.”

“I’ll supply you with everything,” Luminous said with a smile. She lifted her hand and touched the mirror she created with one of her fingers. Soon, a pile of precious gems as tall as Aella exploded from the back of the wine bottle.

“The change is yours to keep. See you later.” Luminous then closed the call.

Zephyr sighed and looked at Aella, “I didn’t say it, but a mirror layer isn’t that simple to build, and I have a hunch that she doesn’t just want Betty to live with Arad and marry him.”

Aella thought about it for a second and then shook her head, “What else could it be?”

“She wants us to help Betty turn into a full dragon. She must’ve seen her performance in the abomination battle and decided that she could do it.” Zephyr stood and sighed, “But first… we have to deal with Nina.” She looked back, and a sad face appeared on Aella’s face.

Deep underneath Arad’s castle, in a lonely cell, Nina sat, chained from her arms, legs, thighs, torso, neck, and head. A large muzzle covered her mouth with a thick steel bar gagging her mouth. Even with all of that, she was sitting with a calm face, albeit drenched in sweat.

Only one sound could be heard, a deep rumble, the loud growls of her empty stomach.