The dragon's harem

The storm titans rarely changed their leader, their king. The title was called the Eye of the Storm. That title, akin to the role of a king, was usually granted to their strongest and wisest. For the eye of a storm is both the calmest point and the source of all of the storm’s power.

A storm without its eye would soon dissipate into mist and fall apart, and so the storm titans never spent a year without a leader.

Zeus was the Eye of the Storm, but his son, and Tyal’s father, Gale, decided to overthrow his father and take the title. Of course, Zeus was elated, his son finally felt that he was powerful and wise enough to challenge him. He almost threw a party, he could finally retire.

But his son wasn’t up to the task. He was still bested by Zeus in both combat and wisdom, he lost spectacularly that even Zeus felt ashamed. But… that was expected. Zeus, not many people reached his power.

But… there was one aspect in which Gale surpassed his father. Treachery. He conspired, planned, and cheated to defeat his father. Zeus saw through it all; he could’ve easily exposed his son’s misdeed and destroyed all of his vile plans. But he didn’t.

If Zeus exposed his son, the storm titans would’ve been enraged. They would’ve demanded that Gale and his family be erased. If the Gale was a treacherous fiend, then his wife must’ve learned from him; his sons and daughters are the same. Zeus didn’t want to see all of them die, so he lost. Gale didn’t have the power to kill his father; he failed to even achieve that, and so Zeus ended up being secretly imprisoned on the mountain, to be forever forgotten.

Zeus looked at Tyal with a frown, “Do you understand what this means? What does it mean that Arad pulled me out of that mountain under everyone’s noses, that no one even sensed him?”

Tyal looked at Zeus and then back at Arad. Her face slowly twisted as she realised what her Grandfather meant. “A storm is approaching.”

“And he is that storm. Your father… is more than just incompetent; he is far outclassed by him. This is the danger of the world I’ve been trying to teach him about. We storm titans are massive compared to other races; we’re powerful, even a baby could wipe out a human city. But… There are powers out there that treachery can’t defeat, absolute tempests of wrath that sweep the lands.” Zeus’s eyes shifted to Arad, “If he decided to attack the storm titans or occupy them, then your father won’t stand a chance.”

Zeus remained silent for a few seconds, staring at his Granddaughter’s face, and then sighed, “So he sent you here to forge a friendly relationship with Arad, that was smart. But he forgot to mention that you should’ve accepted any position given to you. With your father’s power, you’re lucky to be taken in as a maid. And more, once Arad found out about what happened to me would’ve ripped your head off and flown to burn your father to ash.”

Zeus pulled a chair and sat down. “You two are so lucky he found me first.” He looked at Arad, who leaned on the wall in the back, looking at them with clear purple eyes.

Arad finally spoke, “And you can’t show your face now since even the fact you’re alive would make all of the storm titans seek Gale’s head.”

Zeus nodded and added, “And his whole family, Tyal is included. They’ll raid his home to rid the clan of the filth before it bears offspring.”

Hati stood with a gentle smile on her face as her nine tails danced behind her. Everyone could hear a chime ringing somewhere, but no one could tell from where. She stood silent for a second and finally spoke in a calm, measured tone.

“It means Gale dug his own grave. And his family’s grave.” Her gaze shifted to Arad, “You can’t just storm in… pun intended, and blow him away, that pun also intended.”

“It is a delicate matter.” Mary, the queen of the metallic dragons, sighed. “We can mediate… but that would mean we’re trying to use our power to suppress the storm titans’ traditions, which say he dies.”

As they were speaking, Doma walked out of Arad’s back and yawned, “Why are you wasting time? Just have the lass kill her dad and be done with it. She might hide it, but I can see her power as clear as day. And you ask well, Zeus.”

Everyone stared at the witch silently for a few seconds, and Lola, the chromatin queen, sighed, “You witches always try to get royalty into bloodshed.”

Doma giggled, “Sorry, but I don’t care about the means. What I care about is that she might be one of Arad’s wives, or concubines, whatever it was. It would be quite nice if she were a queen with enough power to be helpful.”

Doma’s gaze shifted to Arad, looked at him for a few seconds, then turned to Zeus. “Her reason can be simple: her father didn’t defeat Zeus. So she’ll kill him for the treachery and clean the bloodline from his evil influence.”

Arad looked at Zeus and then at Tyal, “Zeus’s soul shines brightly, and so is Tyal’s. I’d say she is four-fifths of his power.”

Zeus laughed, “You’ve got some sharp eyes. I’m level 1000, I’ve lived enough to max it. My lovely Tyal here is level 812. Her useless father is around level 500.” But Tyal immediately spoke, “I’m level 821 now, father is level 530.” Her gaze quickly shifted to Arad. “What about you?”

Arad remained silent for a while and then replied in a neutral tone, “None. I’m not bound by the system, so you might as well say I’m above level 1000.”

Everyone remained silent for a few seconds, and then Hati spoke. “The same for me, and those two old hags.” She pointed at the draconic queens.

Zeus thought for a while and then smiled, “Well, it might not help much, but my build is quite strong. I’ve got twenty classes in Fighter, ten in Lightning Wizard, and twenty in Wind Wizard.” This meant that he stacked 400 levels of fighter, 200 levels of lightning wizard, and 400 levels of wind wizard.

“Fitting for a storm titan.” Arad looked at Tyal, “You don’t need to explain your build. It doesn’t matter anyway, as Zeus said. We’re not going to fight.”

Tyal frowned, “So? You’ve got a plan?”

Arad nodded, “I’ll go with you to the storm land and see how it is with my own eyes. Also, the matter of marriage and that stuff? Forget it for now, at least until we solve this problem.”