The dragon's harem

As Arad’s body inside the cavern sat down, his incarnation in the Titan’s capital had reached Tyal, who was with Zenia’s corpse in the snowy hills of the mountain range.

“It’s over, we should go now. I’ll explain later.” He reached down and touched Zenia’s head, immediatly sucking her into his stomach alongside a mountain of ice.

“What did happen down there? What was all of that… shaking?” Tyal looked at the shattered mountains and raging volcanoes caused by whatever clusterfuck Arad caused in the chasm.

“I’ll explain later, the Titans are coming. Just say that you didn’t defeat Zenia. That she got swallowed by the shattering ground before your fight could finish.” And with that, he looked back. Gale, Tyal’s mother, and several of the Titans’ royal guards were already rushing toward them.

“TYAL! TYAL!” Tyal’s mother rushed ahead of everyone else to check on her daughter. Gale was calmer as he halted and looked around, “Is the fight over? Is that monster dead?”

“I don’t know.” Tyal barely managed to stand. “We both ran out of mana and were reduced to brawling beasts. Then that happened.” She looked at the raging volcanoes, the cracked ground, and the falling ash. “She got swallowed by the ground. Thank the gods the ground didn’t crack beneath me instead.”

“So the monster is lost, not destroyed.” Gale looked around and glared at the royal guards.

“Scout the area and find that thing. We’ll finish it off while it is still injured.”

Tyal’s mother helped her stand and looked at Arad.

“You’re fast. Must be a blessing to have powerful wings.” She then looked at Tyal and smiled. “Carry her back home. Her wounds need tending.”

“I’ll stay here.” Gale pulled his spear and looked around.

“We’ll be back once we find the monster. Or when the night falls upon us.”

Arad lifted his hands, and Tyal and her mother started floating, carried by his gravity magic. “I’ll take you both home.”

Before Arad could fly away, Gale looked at him.

“Want to join us later? Hunt the monster with us?”

Arad remained silent for a long moment, then looked at the cracked ground, the raging volcanoes, the returning blizzard, and the monsters coming out of the chasm.

“I’d suggest you go back and check on the capital. The violent earthquakes must’ve damaged it. Monsters will rush out of the chasm to escape the fiery lava. We might as well be facing a stampede soon.” He pointed at the chasm.

“Forget about the Cronos Raptur, dead or alive, you’ve got more important matters to take care of.”

Gale laughed, “You think this is enough to endanger my kingdom? I didn’t take you for a coward who’ll escape from a fight with a wounded monster.”

Arad looked at him with a somber face. “I’ve got wings, and you don’t. My wives are in the castle, and I’ll stay with them to protect them. But you, you’re a failure as a king, as a husband, and as a father.”

“What?” Gale gasped.

“Your kingdom just survived a disaster, and you’re here fooling around chasing a wounded monster. Your wives are trapped in a city that might crumble and might get overrun by monsters soon, and yet here you are, wasting your time. Your daughter just survived a deadly battle, and instead of checking on her, you’re going around to chase the monster she failed to kill.”

Arad sighed, expanding his wings. “Zeus was indeed wiser, he was indeed stronger, and he was the better king.”

With a single flap of his wings, Arad took Tyal and her mother and flew away to the Storm Titan’s capital.

The royal guards looked at Gale, baffled just as he was. Is it worth it? To risk the lives of many for the chance to revive one? No, won’t this revival go back to Arad and not them? If he didn’t want to chase it, why are they here?

Should they really be here? Wasting their time to finish off the Cronos Raptur, get the revival potion, and give it to him? For what? To make Tyal a true wife and not a concubine? Would that even work in the first place? Arad is a dragon, and he cares more about what Tyal herself can achieve and not what they achieved for her.

Arad’s words hung in the air for several minutes, leaving all of them silent. Soon, Gale growled and lifted his spear.

“We’re heading back; we’ve got a city to protect.”

They started rushing back to the city. Not that long after, they could see a wave of monsters rushing out of the chasm behind them. A flood of horrors, some of them burned by the lava and some not, some thirsty for blood, some just trying to escape the heat and reach the cold snow.

One of the royal guards looked back with a pale face. “Your majesty! We can’t outrun them!”

Gale growled, everything had gone wrong today. “Then we stay and fight! No use giving them out backs to claw at!”

Gale and the royal guards got into formation and were ready to challenge the wave of monsters, but a deafening roar boomed across the heavens. A blinding flash of light illuminated the sky, and before they could understand what happened, a violent shockwave rattled their bones and knocked them down.

As they barely managed to stand, their ears still ringing from the loud explosion, one of them screamed. Gale could barely hear him, but he managed to make up what the royal guard said.

“Princess Tyal is back!”

Among the clouds, Tyal rode on Arad’s neck, charging with him into battle as they led the Storm Titan’s army to flank the monster’s flood. Claug was already rampaging in the horde of monsters while Alice remained at the city’s plateau, firing spells from far away like a missile launcher.

While her father was busy wasting time here in the snow, Tyal had taken control of the kingdom in his absence and was now leading the army against the monster’s flood to protect the Storm Titan kingdom.

To Gale, this was a very bad day. To Arad, everything was going according to plan.