The dragon's harem

“Another abomination had been hiding in the mortal world, and right under our noses. This one was the Lord of Time, and such a thing shouldn’t have happened.” Death talked as she sat on her chair on the great round table, and quickly threw a glance toward Sylph, the goddess of the elves.

“And I heard that he enslaved a sapling of Qliphoth alongside its moon elves. Those guys shouldn’t exist in the mortal world, so I doubt they were there for a long time.” She looked at a flower pot with a tiny bonsai tree, a replica of the world tree Yggdrasil.

The bonsai tree replied with a rumbling voice. “The barrier the abomination created shook time and modified it. While that village existed for probably tens of thousands of years, it had only been beside the moon elves for the past three thousand years, and even then, something else must’ve prevented us from detecting them.”

Amaterasu sighed, “Shouldn’t Qliphoth have seen through it?” She threw her glance back, “Am I wrong, lovely?” Right beside Amaterasu sat a tall and toned rabbit woman with long white hair and glowing eyes, she was Seluna. The former goddess of the moon.

The former goddess of the moon took a deep breath and then looked across the table at her daughter. “Luna! How did that monster slip away? What is Qliphoth saying?”

Seluna’s daughter looked just like her mother, but younger and with a sharper face. After a single flinch, she poked the tiny bonsai tree in front of her.

“Don’t blame me. It was like having one of my limbs numbed and cut off, and I have millions of billions of branches and saplings. I can’t notice if one went missing.” Qliphoth replied with a tired voice.

“When AO first made the universe, he allowed the abominations in as they approached him as refugees asking for shelter. He knew they were bad news, but still granted them a chance. Of course, they stabbed him in the back. He gave them one chance, and they wasted it.” An eye appeared on the tiny bonsai of Qliphoth, “And, since that time, they have had countless dormant sites and hidden pockets of time and space they control. They are a disease, one that is very hard to completely eradicate.”

“Indeed, those pockets were created and sealed when AO himself still walked the universe. There aren’t that many ways for us to detect or discover them.” Amaterasu leaned back on her chair, “Except, there are a few tricks we can use.” She threw a glare at Yog.

Yog sighed, put her legs on the table, and shrugged. “So what? I know where all those pockets are, how to disable them, and even a way to completely erase the abominations from the universe.” She pointed at Amaterasu. “But, none of them is easy to achieve, or works in our favor.”

All of the gods glared at her. “And, why do you keep such vital information secret? Shouldn’t we discuss it in detail?” The one who spoke was the god of respite, the one who blesses those who rest and recover.

“Sorry, boy.” Yog made an X with her fingers, “It won’t work. What I’m saying is that destroying some of those pockets is bad. I’ll give you a recent example.”

“If I told you about the moon elves in the mortal world, then Arad wouldn’t have been able to find and save them, and he wouldn’t be able to get a time world tree growing inside him.” Silence fell for a second, and then Qliphoth growled.

“What in hells are you talking about?” She was furious and Yog just smiled.

“Well, since your sapling died, I took the liberty to speak in her voice and I managed to get Plum to rebirth the spirit into a world tree inside Arad. They should be working on it right now. No need to thank me.”

“You did what?!” Both Luna and Qliphoth cried. Amaterasu face-palmed, and the other gods looked both shocked, appalled, and terrified.

“I can confirm the inception.” The Mother of All Life nodded and gave a thumbs-up to Yog. “New rare life unlocked, good job!”

Death Herself joined them with a smug smile. “Well, death is looming over the universe.” She threw a glance at Yggdrasil, “You could also feel it. That why you allowed Plum to exist and sent her to Arad’s inner world.”

Yggdrasil sighed and spoke, “Indeed, the universe that we know is already a corpse; it’s very unlikely that Arad Orion would reuse it. He might consume it for energy to build a new body, but that might be as far as the universe is used.” She pointed at the Mother of All Life with one of her branches. “So, a new universe would be born in the form of his stomach.”

Sylph stared at them, “Wasn’t that supposed to be a last resort? If the abominations invaded and destroyed most of the universe, then the survivors would take refuge in Arad’s inner world and flee to rebuild a new life somewhere else in the void.”

“Depends on how we go about Arad’s growth.” Yog jumped to stand on the table. “If we took our time, and Arad had enough time to develop, he would be able to swallow the entire universe at once and merge it with his inner stomach, creating a whole new universe for us to still exist in. But, if we didn’t give him enough time, then he’ll have to face the war while unable to absorb the universe, meaning we’ll die with the old universe, as those who took root in his inner world would survive.”

Amaterasu smiled, “Eris would take my place as the divine goddess of the sun inside the new universe, so I’ll either die with the old one, or retire if Arad managed to get enough time to grow.” She leaned back on her chair.

“Old soldiers are fated to either die in battle or silently fade away into obscurity.” She leaned on the table and rested her chin on her hands. “Our end is near; the old pantheons of the gods won’t last for another million years. I’ve lived for a few hundred billion years, so that is like telling me I’ll either die or retire in the next hour.”

“Don’t worry.” Entropy smiled, “As long as I keep getting power, the universe’s expansion won’t stop, and it won’t die.” She threw a glance at Death Herself. “This last meal you got me was a rich one. It’ll extend the universe’s existence by a decent amount.”

“I see…” The god of respite finally understood, “So, we have to leave those pockets of abominations for Arad to kill and feed to Death and Entropy, that way the universe would exist for longer, and Arad would get more time to grow.”

Yog smiled, “Indeed, we have to manage fuel on top of having a war to deal with. The abominations are both our enemy and a precious resource.” She sat down and smiled. “Did you think the abominations are the only ones who eat other universes?”

She pointed down at the table. “We of AO’s universe can do the same; we can also feed on the abomination through Death to support our existence. It’s eat or be eaten, and I can’t have you gods waste our reserve food.”

All of the abominations hiding in the endless worlds of the universe, while they were hidden cells for Nyar to attack with, in Yog’s eyes, they were only pockets of fuel that she could later use. They were a precious resource, so eradicating them all at once is wasteful.