The dragon's harem

Chapter 1297: Keep Your Mouth Shut

”Mortal souls are all made the same, just with different colors, specs, and intensity. The brain hosts all of the memories and functions of the body, but the soul always has a backup, a copy of all the data thatʼs stored inside it. Based on how it is extracted, that data might be damaged or even fully lost.” Damnation jumped up in an instant, ”All I do is change the plugs of a soul to fit the vessels Vulkanʼs power can make so I could outsource the control of that body to the soul.”

Arad looked at her with a passive face. He couldnʼt understand a word of what she was babbling, but he had a feeling that she wasnʼt lying. She couldʼve made a better lie, and even while trying to read her thoughts, she had never lied since he started talking with her. She was at least honest.

”Meaning?” He tilted his head, and she gasped. ”You donʼt know? How could that be? No, it doesnʼt matter.” She waved her hand, and a wave of fire escaped her rid fingernails and turned into the vague shape of a human.

”Each soul and body are connected with more than just the silver chain. Theyʼre compatible with each other like a key and a door. Each soul has one body that it can work with, and each body can only host one soul. Under normal circumstances, of course.” She smiled, ”I can directly edit those things, like changing the lock on a door so it can fit my key. The body is the door, the key is the soul, and the lock is what I change.”

Damnation looked at the fire body that she created. ”This is the door. I donʼt have a soul here to use, but I should be able to just do something like this.” She looked at the body, and she fell to the ground, dead.

The flame moved and twitched. She then groaned and looked at Arad.

”This fire body is the door. I changed the lock so my soul could open it and get inside. Here am I. Catch, it feels like shit. Iʼve got no silver chain to this body. Iʼm always dying.”

Then she returned to Vulkanʼs body, ”This one feels much better, albeit my ass still burns like hell from that smack of yours. You could be a bit more gentle to ladies. Not that Iʼm one, but you get my meaning, right?”

A Void Creature walked out of Aradʼs back in the shape of an elvish woman. Doma had made herself a body of the void to get out and take a close look at what Damnation did.

”{That was a form of necromancy, but one that looked more ancient and primative}” Domaʼs voice came cold and unimpressed. She then looked at Damnation and smiled.

”{Letʼs say we have a soul that needs a body. What could we do? What is the easiest way?}”

Damnation paused for a second, ”Have him make a body.” She pointed at Arad.

”{Not an option, whatʼs next?}”

Damnation tilted her head, ”Not an option? Not my problem, I guess. Find that soulʼs parents and get them to make another baby, then rip the fetusʼs soul out and put the soul you want inside. The soul will be aware from birth and might have some mental problems because of that, but it should work.”

Arad frowned, and Doma sighed, ”Not possible. Got another option?”

Damnation started to notice that something was odd, ”Then find the closest relative, as close as you can, and do the same. The more different the cells are than the original, the harder it is for the soul to stick.”

”{Relatives? That might work, but it might be too late as well. Do you have another option that doesnʼt include killing a fetus?}”

Damnation looked at Arad and then back at Doma, ”Is this by any chance to make you a body? He should be able to do it.” She pointed at Arad.

”Thatʼs the problem, I canʼt.” Arad sighed, and Damnation tilted her head. ”You can control the void, matter itself. Just take her genetic image from her soul, or find her bones somewhere and create a body from scratch.” She then sat back down and crossed her legs, scratching the back of her head.

”But first, can we postpone my imminent demise for a few minutes at least?” She looked at Arad, and he sat down. ”Youʼre awfully cooperative for an abominations.” He sighed, and she smiled.

”Not just me. All the abomination wants is a place in the universe. The problem is we already killed many worlds, and we know that if we live in this universe, weʼll kill in a few thousand years.” She looked at him. ”All of us canʼt live in the universe, but a small few? We might just fit in. Iʼm trying to be in that small few.”

She then looked at Doma, ”Iʼm not even trying to make a bargain. I know itʼs futile. The blood feud between us is already too deep to forget.” She smiled, ”But Iʼm Damnation, and Iʼll be damned if I donʼt try. I would even live in the ninth layer of hell as the worst sinner if I could. Anything is better than the nothingness of the outer void. Iʼm sure youʼll understand. An immortal existence of nothing but darkness and silence, the damnable, maddening silence.”

Arad blinked, ”How old are you?”

Damnation giggled, ”Asking a woman about her age? I thought the people of this universe frowned upon that, not like the one before. I should be in my fifty-six megaannum.”

”Whatʼs a megaannum?” Arad asked, and she blinked with a confused face. ”A unite of time? What else. In this worldʼs time, it should be around a million years.”

”{Youʼre fifty-six million years?}” Doma glared at her, ”{Want me to believe that?}”

”We abomination never truly die. We always exist as long as Nyar exists. He is ancient, old, and unfathomable. I mean, youʼre....” She froze for a second and held her head. ”Damn it, why?” Her head started throbbing, and she could feel the world crushing down on her soul, trying to kick her out. She cleared her mind and relaxed her body. Soon, the pressure faded away.

”Are you...” Arad was speaking, then froze in place. Everything did. The flames stopped mid-dancing, and even Doma seemed to turn into a void statue.

Damnation blinked and shat herself, painting the ground red with lava. Another Arad was standing between her and Arad, looking at her with a passive, cold glare.

”Damnation, I shouldʼve known. Youʼve always been the bitchiest of them all. You always know how to condemn yourself to trouble.” He glared at her, and she couldnʼt even breathe.

”Who... is he then?” Her eyes shifted to Arad in the back.

”Me?” The standing Arad replied, ”Weʼre as different as the I and Myself.” He approached her, ”What you should be asking is what is going on, and Iʼll tell you. Your kind is a disease that eats universes alive, and Iʼm not going to sacrifice billions of billions of lives to let your kind have a home for a couple of thousand years.”

He smiled. ”But you, you arenʼt useful at all, the opposite, youʼre a pain, a menace. One last warning. Speak too much, and Iʼll rip you into pieces so badly that even Nyar would cry. If you want to live in the world, prove to me that you arenʼt like the other abomination, that you arenʼt here to cause trouble.”

”Speaking too much now is causing trouble?” She gasped.

”Until Arad meets the Fates, you gotta keep your mouth closed.” He sighed.

”So? You are, AO? Werenʼt you dead?”

”Dead? I created death. Donʼt you think that notion itself is wrong? Thinking of me like a mere mortal or a god? I donʼt blame you.” The standing Arad pointed at the sitting one, ”This is all you needed to hear. Iʼm taking that knowledge away anyway.” He flicked his finger, and Damnation gasped.

”Iʼm what?” The sitting Arad asked. The one who was standing had already disappeared, and Damnation couldnʼt even remember seeing it. Just the dreadful feeling of meeting something remained lingering in her mind. She decided to trust her guts and kept her mouth shut.

”A Void Dragon, your kind fought us long enough. Have you never seen any war records?”