The dragon's harem

Inside the inner rooms of the Rakshasas, there were no chairs, only large soft pillows to sit on. The air was cold and refreshing, the walls were clear and decorated with silver, and precious stones and gems made the floor sparkle with alluring light.

Matilda found herself confused.

The difference between the harrowing outside and the beautiful and serene interiors of the Rakshasas city was like night and day. If she woke up here, she’ll never suspect that this place is hell.

Even Sara found herself getting a bit worried. She had never had the chance to enter the Rakshasas’ city before. They aren’t exactly on friendly terms with the devils and would usually kill each other at sight. That enmity was the reason the rumors about Asmodeus and Maharaja started, so the two could insult each other, but somewhere in the middle, neither one of the two lords seemed to care or deny the horrifying rumor.

Right now, the Rakshasas seem to be ignoring the enmity for the sake of the Maharaja’s will, and Sara didn’t want to do anything to break the negotiation. They already got a seer, but they must get a Rakshasa that can see in true darkness.

To their surprise, the Rakshasas’ representative, a woman who looked like a lizard woman, seemed quite friendly. But for some reason, her sweet words seemed to be getting under Gamond and Lunara’s nerves.

Of course, Sara doesn’t have the senses that those two wield. They can see past the mask of friendliness and pristine beauty of those fiends. Gamond could hear the faint, pained wails in the distance, muffled by the thick stone walls. Lunara, on the other hand, heard more reports about those repulsive fiends that her ears almost bled.

Those Rakshasas are man-eating fiends, and they enjoy nothing more than a screaming and agonized poor soul on their plate. Sinner who end up captured by the Rakshasas are eaten alive, over and over, as their flesh regenerates. They hunt both the sinner, devil, and nameless abomination of hell for fun, and capture their prey alive to feast on it.

The white stone their city is built from is made from the bones of the Titanic abominations they hunted, the water they made is extracted from their blood, and the blue sky is maintained by a hive of still-alive sinners suffering countless nightmares under great magic.

The hospitality, the generosity, and extravagant splendor they are showing them is nothing but a mirage of their true selves. They show it to the sinners to give them hope, respite before munching on their terrified bones.

Soon, the conversation reached its end, and the Rakshasas granted the group a powerful Night Stalker. A black goat Rakshasa with glowing golden eyes, long twisted horns, and a maddening gaze.

The black goat was called Solace, a name unfit for the fiend, but the group didn’t have an option but to take him with them. Without eyes in the darkness, even their seer is unable to peer through its secrets.

The expedition group was now complete.

The two Minotaur-devils, Gorigore acts as vanguard and Flabrony as the rearguard.

Haru is the group’s oracle and hand at the future, doing her best to predict any attack or disaster. Solace is her eyes and ears in the blinding darkness and deafening silence of the land they’re going to brave.

Sara is the group’s healer and leader, Matilda is her reliable helper and the connective tissue of the whole group, delivering messages, scrolls, and anything between the members.

Gamond and Lunara are the heavy hitters, standing in the middle of the group, ready to kill anything that dares get close to them. But even their powers pale compared to the horrors that dwell in the forsaken land where the vile corruption of the world is punished.

The Archdevil that Merlin sent with them remained hidden inside Sara’s necklace, a trump card that’ll strike anything that manages to breach their defences.

But neither of them understood the dreadful land they were walking toward. They walked into the darkness, and the tether between the archdevil and Merlin shattered, obscured from all watchful eyes.

The seer flinched, looking back at the darkness surrounding them. “Something… is gone.” She said in an even tone, her face grew paler as she slowly turned to everyone. “Someone was watching us. I didn’t sense them, but now I sensed them when their watchful gaze faded.”

It was then that Sara gasped, quickly pulling the necklace and trying to summon the archdevil. She could still feel her inside, but the archdevil wasn’t responding. Slumbering into deep sleep that nothing can pull her from beside death.

After several moments of silence, Sara decided that they might’ve gravely underestimated this area and that they should turn back. Everyone agreed to retreat, and they did just that, turned back and walked the same way they came from. Seconds passed, then minutes, then hours. The darkness surrounding them never gave up.

It had just been half an hour since they entered the darkness when Haru noticed Merlin’s gaze fade away, but now they spent hours walking back and couldn’t get out. They are lost.

“Goat head! I thought you could see through the darkness!” Flabrony roared at the goat headed fiend, and the latter didn’t take it silently. He growled back, “You’re the one who is supposed to watch our backs.”

Sara jumped in and stopped them before the two could start killing each other. Just like demons, devils were prone to violence, and spilling blood is in their nature. She then took a step forward and stopped on the ground, her whole body burned with divine magic.

The darkness surrounding them was forced back a few meters, and Sara could feel an immense pressure on her. “Heavy!” Like being at the bottom of the ocean, she could barely breathe and felt her whole body being crushed.

Everyone looked at her and then got closer so she wouldn’t have to suppress a big area of the darkness. Then in a twenty-meter of illuminated land, they were stuck. Their only beacon of light was slowly consuming her energy.

“Something! Something huge is moving in the shadows! Solace, close your eyes!” She shouted, and the goat fiend immediately plucked his eyes and threw them away with a splash of blood. He then let them regenerate and heal while closed.

“What is it?” He glared at Haru, and she shook her head, “I don’t know! But we shouldn’t see it. It’ll drive us mad!”

The goat stared at her, “Don’t scream here.” He whispered, but she froze, looking at her own hands, then closed her mouth, terror seeping into her bones. She already saw it.