The dragon's harem

”Depends.” Morena looked at her. ”If you want to become a bodyless soul, lichdome is literally a safer and more grounded way than whatever she is having you go through.” The conversation had quickly changed form how Amber was training to what Zaleria was and if it was at all possible to become someone like her.

It was then that Nyar’s avatar spoke inside Arad’s head. ^Zaleria died close to our father, so what happened to her is clear. Her body got destroyed, and since her soul was far away from the universe, it had to adapt. The heat left by her death gained consciousness and merged with her lost soul, reviving her.^

^So... what is she?^ Arad asked, and Nyar’s avatar needed a second to respond. ^She is now a seed of something greater. Her soul would slowly crumble through billions of years, and when it finally fades away, only the consciousness of her heat would be left, she would become an infant, a newborn existence like you and Father.^

Arad threw a glance at Zaleria for a second. This drakaina might be far more impressive than anyone had ever thought.

^Can Amber do that as well?^ As Arad asked, this time, Nyar’s Avatar answered quickly. ^No. With her current elemental power and willpower, she would just perish. She would need a lot of elemental energy, a diamond will, and to be outside the dominion of any other greater being. Meaning outside the universe and not dreaming.^

So, the clear answer was no, and if Amber kept training in the same way with Zaleria, she would end up dead, as all other disciples did. Arad sighed and looked toward Zaleria. ”If it isn’t proven, then forget about it. Teach her something meaningful and get her firepower up. If you really want to find out if someone can achieve what you did, won’t it make more sense to get them as strong as you were before trying anything else?”

Everyone stared at him for a second, and out of them all, only Death and Kossuth realised that Arad must have figured something out. It was clear from the shift of his voice, the air around him, and the pulses of his very existence that his standing had sharply changed. He was now certain that Amber would die if she kept training with Zaleria, and so his hostility was quickly rising.

He won’t let Amber die, even if it means fighting everyone here all at once. Can he even reasonably stand up to all four of them? Death, Kossuth, Zaleria, and Morena? In the next second, both Zaleria and Morena picked up on Arad’s rising hostility as he waited for an answer, and Eris was the last one to notice. Poor Amber couldn’t even tell the difference.

Sensing the rising tension, Eris immediately called Merlin. ^Arad is acting weird again; he will attack them all at once. I’m talking about Kossuth, the goddess of flame, Death Herself, Zaleria the war hero, and Morena... whoever she is.^

The first one to speak was Kossuth. ”Come on, Arad. Can you drop the hostility a bit? No one is here to harm you or your wives.” She then poked Death herself. ”Say something.”

Death herself looked around, and Arad’s shadow was talking to her in sign language. ”You better have washed your ass.” He wasn’t even going to be reasonable. ”Neither do I; I’ve already caused you enough trouble with Arlo.”

Morena laughed. ”Well, color me surprised. I’ve lived long enough to know not to mess with the crazy. If you can see the four of us and still think you can win, then I’m not about to risk it. Sister, if you want to antagonize him, then go ahead.”

With Kossuth, Death herself, and Morena backing up, Zaleria was left alone, and she sighed. ”Fine, change of plan. I’ll train Amber to have stronger and hotter flames, and only when she is powerful enough to burn a higher abomination with ease would we go back to trying to get her to evolve.”

She then threw a glance toward Amber. ”Sorry, girl, your husband got in the way. You’ll have to wait longer to evolve.” She tried to get Amber herself to convince Arad, but what she heard almost made her burst into laughter.

Blinking, she looked at them. ”No... I’m more surprised that he can negotiate with you all like this...” She then looked back at Arad. ”How come the undefeated Goddess of Flame and Death herself just backed away?”

Death didn’t talk, but Kossuth laughed. ”Have you seen just how powerful he is? And he is still just an adult dragon that has lived for a few years.” She leaned on the table. ”At least for me as a drakaina, I would rather drink his piss than argue with him now. One day in the future, if I were to look for a mate, he would be my only and best choice.”

”You realise I’m his wife, and she is as well...” Amber pointed at Eris. ”You say that in front of us?”

Kossuth smiled. ”Well, I’m lonely now, and I doubt he has anything against someone a bit older like me.” She almost pointed Merlin out, but then cleared her throat. ”One day, when he becomes an Elder Void Dragon and all of his powers reach their peak, I bet he would be even stronger than his mother.” She pointed at Arad, ”Look, he is her spitting image.”

Arad looked down at himself. Indeed, in his Nymph form, he looked very similar to his mother.

”In this form.” Amber shook her head. ”They do look the same, and Mother Violet is scary. She is always calm and nice, but I know she is nothing but gentle when she needs to.”

Kossuth smiled. ”You are right. She is nasty and has no problem burning down entire worlds, torturing someone for thousands of years, or even turning the entire universe against her.” She then threw a glance at Zaleria. ”Treat the lady here well, or we won’t just have him raging at us, but his mother as well.”

Zaleria stood. ”Fine, I’ll take her training slowly and make sure she is safe all the way through.” She then looked at Amber. ”What are you waiting for? We’re going back to the palace to begin the new training.”

Amber threw a glance at Arad before standing. ”What are we going to do exactly?”

”I’ll have you use your flames until you’re fully out of mana, then let it refill slowly in the pool of Crimson Flames. That way, your maximum capacity would slowly increase. When you have much more mana, we’ll try to get your flames pale blue as a base.” She smiled, ”Your current goal is to burn me, and when you can muster that, we’ll try fighting some abominations until you can take down a greater one.”

”Sounds like a decent plan.” Arad smiled. ”If you feel anything going wrong, just call me.” He tapped Amber on the back and she flew away with Zaleria.