The dragon's harem

They camped outside, and Arad took a nap to allow his wounds to heal. Even he needed rest from time to time, and for a dragon, a few hours of sleep were nothing more than a man closing his eyes for a few seconds. What he needed wasn’t sleep, but the time of silence and calmness, the quiet that let his body relax.

Sprawled on the ground beside the campfire like a dead bear, Arad’s wounds slowly closed beneath his bandages.

Mathilde approached Cerilla and the rest, “The situation is good around us. We won’t face another spatial disaster anytime soon. But we should move.”

Grace glared at her, “He is asleep. You’re not waking him up. Not again.”

Merida was already standing behind Mathilde, and before the angel could notice, she was surrounded from all sides.

“I’ll carry you all on a disk of light and take a safe route, he’ll sleep soundly, and I’ll be able to make sure we stay on a safe route.” She looked back, “We met the last disaster because I’ve wasted time fighting Arad instead of carrying everyone away.”

Mathilde lifted her right foot, set it on the ground ahead of her, and spun around, drawing a circle. The circle flashed with golden light and formed into a massive disk. “Take a seat, we should move.”

It wasn’t like Grace or Merida could do anything about it. They didn’t see the threads of space, and their only way of navigating the maze of branches was following Mathilde’s guidance.

Everyone got onto the disk of light, and it started to silently fly through the air, following the branches and climbing upward. Mathilde was at the helm, guiding the disk through the maze, avoiding all dangerous monsters and space disasters.

“Was Arad always like this?” Mathilde asked. “I mean, jumping head first into the fire.”

Merida looked at her for a second, sighed, and then turned away, “Always was. I don’t know if he doesn’t understand the concept of danger, but he always plunged first and thought about it later. Especially if any of us were in danger.”

Merida looked at her sword, “All it’ll take is one call, and he’ll wake up. No, he might not even need us to call him to sense when we’re in danger.” Merida looked at Arad, “He looks asleep, but believe me. He’ll get up.”

Cerilla approached and looked at Merida, “Do you remember Jordan and what was the other’s name?”

“Karon? The lesser god of gluttony and the demi-god of greed.” Merida looked up, “Arad showed up out of nowhere and killed the demi-god. He then fought Karon with Gojo.”

“I’ve heard of that fight. I have to say, it’s not mortal’s place to fight and kill divines, but Arad could do it.” Mathilde looked at Arad with a smile, “Now he has two demi-goddesses as wives. And Kali.”

Jasmine smiled, “Your info is outdated. Isabelle is there as well, and he has multiple portfolios stored.”

Cerilla smacked Jasmine on the head. “Why are you just telling her that?”

Jasmine almost cried, feeling her skull on the verge of cracking. Even with how fragile and soft Cerilla looked, she actually could hit like a hammer. As expected from a warlock.

“Why? Isn’t she the archon of your goddess? Telling her has to be fine.” Jasmine cried, and Cerilla smacked her again.

“Precisely! If Sylph didn’t tell her, then you don’t. Neither of us knows what Sylph thinks.” Cerilla sighed and waved her hand, forming a wooden chair, and dropped down with a loud thud. “Look, for now it doesn’t matter, but it might matter a lot in the future. What does Elis teach you all? Nothing?”

Jasmine frowned, “Elis teaches us a lot. How to sing, how to dance, and how to walk on water.”

“You don’t have to worry about knowledge.” Mathilde looked at them as the golden disk flew away with them across the countless green leaves. “Yog, the goddess of magic, is the one dealing with all the knowledge of the world. As long as you aren’t talking about her, everything should be solvable.”

D frowned in the back, “Don’t bring her name, she’ll listen. The last thing we want is that mad woman turning her gaze on us.”

Mathilde looked at her for a long moment. D didn’t seem to know that Yog was already watching since Mathilde and Arad’s fight started. That goddess won’t miss such an interesting event even if it kills her.

In this case, it’s probably better not to tell D about Yog; she’ll become even more paranoid than she already is.

Dalla walked toward the disk’s edge with Plum sitting on her shoulder. She looked down at the zooming branches and leaves, spotting countless tiny monsters flashing by.

“At this speed, not many monsters can attack us.” She said, and Plum shook her head. “You aren’t seeing it, but I can. They aren’t even moving to catch us.”

Mathilde replied from behind them, “They are afraid of my divine magic. They won’t even dare attack. But there are many monsters that are stupid enough to try, and I’m avoiding them all.” Her eyes shifted toward Arad, “We can’t have anything disturbing his rest.”

Plum stood on Dalla’s head, looking down at the branches. Her emerald eyes burned with magic, glowing and sparkling with light. Her leaves’ robe fluttered, and the flowers decorating her shoulder bloomed. The air around her moved, and her long hair started to dance with the wind.

Plum saw more than her eyes could see; she felt the place even more. She and the World Tree were similar, but not quite the same.

Yggdrasil was ancient, old, wise, and all-powerful. Plum, on the other hand, was just a tiny seedling, blooming in her first years without much power, influence, or authority. A tiny plum tree gazed upon the titanic lemon tree, unable to fathom its size and power.

But if Plum knew anything about herself, it was that she was spreading, growing, and getting stronger by the second. One thing was clear: she was encroaching on the World Tree domain. Should she be ready for a fight? Probably not, the World Tree would’ve killed her long ago if she wanted.

Plum understood one thing, and that she won’t have an easy time when meeting Yggdrasil. Spirits had a hard time when meeting their queens, especially she who was a half breed between earth and water spirits. The Water and Earth spirit queens rarely met her, and it wasn’t that personal, even. The queens were too busy to care, but when they did care, it was usually important.

To give Undine credit, she was the one queen who treated her the worst, but was also the only one who cared to listen to her. The Earth Queen never agreed to meet her once, but Undine agreed to meet her more than once, even though she rejected most of Plum’s needs at the time, she at least listened.

The World Tree is giving her a strange feeling, as if the Earth Queen invited her in, and that can’t be for anything good. She had seen how powerful Dendron was, and she was just a guardian, a spirit queen born from Yggdrasil to protect her.

“It won’t be easy, would it?”