The dragon's harem

It was cold, frigid, and unwelcoming. But Gojo knew this feeling too well.

“I know this beach!” Gojo started running up the beach, and Arad followed behind him. Arad just realized that running on sand was harder than running on solid land, which took him by surprise for a second, causing him to fall behind Gojo.

“Wait for me!” Arad shouted, seeing Gojo rushing forward with ease. Unlike him, Gojo’s kingdom had bigger access to beaches and shores than Arad’s empire did, and he probably spent more time on sand as well. Arad’s only experience with sand was in the dead desert, which didn’t feel special since he had all of his draconic powers to flex.

As the sand ended, Gojo jumped into the air and created stairs from barrier magic, using them to climb as fast as he could to the peak of a nearby hill.

His legs sank knee-deep into the snow, and he exhaled, a cloud of smoke rushing out of his purple-blueish lips.

He landed and looked at the expansive, pale white land. The ice, the snow, the massive oak trees, the cold wind, and the blinding sun.

Arad finally caught up with him and looked over the hill, beholding the endless snowy tundra; he, too, had the feeling that he had seen this place before. It felt awfully familiar.

“She is a real monster, isn’t she?” Gojo laughed and stretched his arms. “Do you see it? It’s the same.” The first and biggest problem he was worried about was solved.

The two had found themselves on a land that looked pretty similar to the frozen Arctic; in fact, it was a one-to-one replica to the very minute details. Gojo had lived there for a while and had flown over his land a lot, so he could tell that every tree was where it was supposed to be, even the snow looked the same.

They’ll never get lost, he knows where all the caves are, where berries grow, where the best places to fish are, where to find firewood, shelter, and areas that are safe from monsters.

“Did she just copy the Arctic kingdom, or did she teleport the whole thing here?” Arad covered his eyes with a hand to protect them against the blinding reflection of the sun. He couldn’t believe his eyes at all.

“She didn’t teleport it. Yog isn’t that crazy enough to do that, possibly killing everyone on the land. She copied it.” Gojo looked around with a large grin. “Her magic is really amazing. I wonder if that book she left for me has the magic needed to copy land like this, or is that something I have to work out myself.”

Arad looked at him for a second and sighed, creating a massive cloud of white mist. It was too cold around and they should start finding shelter soon, but the two of them couldn’t easily shake the awe of seeing what Yog did.

“Don’t say her name too much; she’ll show up again. Making land for us is great and all, but I can’t help but feel like trusting her is wrong.” He knows that while the results might be good, her methods are always somewhat shady.

Gojo looked at Arad for a second and shrugged. “It doesn’t make a difference. Do you know what a god is?”

“What do you mean?” Arad was a bit confused by the question. He was certain that his brother didn’t want a direct answer, but a deeper explanation.

“Besides what’s known. Are you asking about how they embody a concept or something, like the sun or murder?”

Gojo nodded with a smile.

“Gods are their elements. Amaterasu isn’t an arrogant woman who flies around and looks down on people. She is the suns, the stars filling the universe. Each one of them is a part of her great body. That’s why she is always looking down on everything and everyone, because that’s what the sun always does.” He waved his hand and conjured a spell.

“The mere fact that we have mana in our bodies and can cast magic it means that Yog’s eyes and hands are already touching us. Mana and magic are extensions of her body.” He looked up at the sky.

“You don’t need to say her name to draw her attention. She is already looking.” Yog is the very mana and magic.

All of the mana of the world, all forms of magic and ancient scrolls and tomes, all of them pulsed and twitched, invisible eyes and ears faintly observed, ever awake, ever watchful.

“Didn’t you notice? Whenever she appears, she doesn’t teleport to you. She just manifests from the local mana.” Gojo said with a smile, and Yog appeared sitting on his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his neck and pressing her hips tightly to the back of his head.

“He is right. I never left.” Yog sat her arms on Gojo’s head.

“I’m everywhere and nowhere.” Another Yog appeared at Gojo’s legs, one hugged him from the back, and another one from the front. In seconds, he was engulfed by more than ten of her.

As Arad gasped and took a step back, shocked by the revelation, he bumped into another Yog, turned, and saw trillions of her all standing, masking the endless land to the horizon like an army.

When Arad blinked, all of them disappeared as if they never existed. The only one remaining was the one sitting on Gojo’s shoulders. She wrapped her legs around his neck and started squeezing with a bit of force.

“So, you can tell. This body you’re seeing isn’t real. It’s just an inflatable bubble of mana. It looks very similar to me, but I bet it looks a bit different to you than how it looks to Arad.”

She wasn’t using that much force, so Gojo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had to focus. This Yog was made from mana, all he needs to do is reject it, block all of his senses to it, and she should disappear.

Suddenly, Yog’s legs clipped through his neck, and she fell down, landing on a single foot, but her toes didn’t sink into the snow; she just stood on its surface like a ghost. “Hoo! You can reject my mana just like that?” She shifted a bit with a blush and a grin. “I like that a lot.”

She licked her lips. “You’re one smart and beautiful specimen, unlike that blood-hound buffoon over there.” She looked at Arad, pinching her nose. She still saw him as a werewolf vampire hybrid that looked nothing like a refined mage like Gojo.

She pointed a finger, and a second vestige of her appeared in front of him and punched him in the nuts, dropping him to the ground in a single hit. Her fist felt like a steel sledgehammer.

Unlike Gojo, Arad wasn’t able to reject Yog’s mana. For him, she felt as real as everything else in the world. It was as if her image was being projected right out of his very own mind. Too real to be dispelled, the pain radiating through his body was proof of that.

Yog approached Gojo and looked at him with a smile. “I’ll always be watching over you. Especially here in Entropy’s jail.” She jumped up and landed on Gojo’s shoulder, sitting back up and rocking her head back and forth, causing Gojo to stumble and lean on the trunk of a tree, looking at one of the countless frozen icicles dangling from the branches.

In the reflection, he could see himself as a frail old man barely able to stand on his own, yet Yog kept riding on his back like a pesky bug. He blinked, and he was staring right at the reflections of his bright blue eyes.

“How long do you want to use me as a chair?” Gojo growled, and she smiled, wrapping her legs tightly around his neck.

“As long as I want to. Besides, it feels great.” She shook her hips a few times then disappeared, letting him breathe with ease. But he knew she wasn’t gone, only turning invisible for the time being. Now that he is aware of her presence, he could still feel her weight on his back and her hands resting on his hair.

Whenever he casts magic or senses mana, he could feel her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him.