The dragon's harem

Arad’s eyes shifted toward the priestess. He couldn’t see her eyes, but could feel her sharp gaze. She heard the Terror speak, “Let’s speak inside the private quarter.” She turned around and started walking away.

Seeing her, Arad scratched the back of his head. ^Merlin said she’ll help, so let’s see what she can do.^ He started following her. But the Terror immediately grabbed his wrist, “You trust her?”

“I trust Merlin,” Arad replied with a smile and started following the priestess. The Terror scowled and followed him. Soon, the two found themselves trailing behind the priestess in an increasingly darker and darker hallway.

It didn’t take them more than a few seconds to start walking in pure darkness. With each step Arad took, he could feel something brushing over his skin that felt as soft as cotton or feathers. His whole body felt as if it had been submerged in warm water, and he slowly lost sensation of the ground beneath his feet.

It felt like he was floating in the void without gravity, and soon he heard the priestess’s voice, “We arrived.” CRACKLE! She ignited a match and reached down to an oil lamp.

When the first flame of the lamp illuminated the room, Arad looked around. They were in the middle of a locked room without a door or windows, as if they had been teleported into it.

“Set up a nest beneath the temple of the goddess, aren’t you a bold one?” The Terror stood in front of Arad and glared at the shadow Terror.

“I built this place.” The priestess replied, “But that’s a story for another time. The goddess ordered that I help you reach her, that I obey orders, and that I submit.” She lifted her hand, waved it, and two shadows appeared on the table, one resembling her and one faintly resembling Merlin.

This was a recorded shadow of her conversation with Merlin.

***

“It’s high noon, time to eat…” The priestess’s shadow mumbled, and soon Merlin’s shadow approached it. The voice that came belonged to Merlin, “Been pretending to receive teaching from me for a long time, haven’t you?”

The priestess’s shadow froze, clearly terrified.

“Don’t worry, I know no one was harmed. So here is your punishment, a man will arrive with terror soon. You’re to help him reach me, and make sure to obey all of his orders without question. Always strive to please him, for if he is displeased, you’ll never have a peaceful end. For food, you can feed on his shadow. The darkness inside him is too vast for you to finish, just don’t get greedy and just nibble at it.”

The priestess’s terrified shadow trembled in place and soon fell, growling from a painful headache. Merlin’s shadow faded away and left her without a choice.

***

The priestess looked at Arad, “Mind if I taste your shadow?” She extended her hand to him. Even though the black gloves, Arad could sense a vast magic swirling inside.

“Since Merlin said you can.” He extended his hand, and the priestess put her hand on his shadow and closed her eyes.

“Huh?” She gasped, her eyes opening wide. “What is this?” She gasped and soon started choking. She fell to the ground, unable to breathe. Arad tried to smack her on the back, but it didn’t seem to be helping.

The Terror sighed and lifted the candle. Illuminating the priestess face seemed to help. After resting for a few seconds, the priestess finally stood, “I see… I’ve never seen such pure darkness before. It’s as if I’ve sunk into the oblivion of nothing.” She flicked her finger and all of her clothes disappeared, leaving nothing but a floating sphere of pure darkness. This was her true form.

“I’m a shadow blob. I don’t have a physical form, so I’m immune to all physical damage. I can freely merge into shadows and control them, and unlike common belief, I’m not weak to light; in fact, it makes me stronger. I’m a shadow after all, not pure darkness.” She floated in place, and Arad looked at her with a tilted head.

“How are you supposed to help?”

The priestess thought about it for a second, “While we can’t sneak past the boss and reach the next floor, I can help sneak close enough to make a sneak attack. And then, as long as you can return to me relatively quickly, I can help you hide again for another sneak attack.”

“That sounds like a plan.” Arad smiled and gave her another glance, “But you can’t come with me looking like that, can you?”

The priestess flew back into her clothes and soon returned to how she looked before. The Terror looked at her with a smug face, “So all you can do is hide?”

“Said the muscle brain.” The priestess glanced at her and then returned to Arad, “So now, if you’ll please. Can you give me a name?”

“A name?” Arad looked confused for a second and looked at the Terror, “She is… Terror…”

“When I was alone, calling me Terror was fine. But now that there are two of us, you should give us names.” The Terror seemed to agree with the priestess.

Arad thought about it for a second and then looked at the priestess, “What did the monks here call you with?”

“Ombre.” She replied, and he nodded. “Then that’s your name.” He turned toward the Terror. “What about you? What did the people call you?”

“I never met people before you. So either Terror, as you called me, or harlot, like the people in the villages did.”

Ombre looked at them and then spoke, “How about we call her Neige? Since she is all white like the snow.”

“Fine by me.” The Terror nodded, and from that day she was called Neige.

When the three walked out of the room, all the monks were awaiting Ombre to inform them of what she had decided. And as sad as it was for them, Ombre had decided to fulfill her duty and make sure Arad reached the goddess.

While Arad and Neige headed back to the magic items shop, Ombre remained in the temple to gather her things. They’ll leave in an hour, heading straight to the nightmare.