IX- When the waters calm down…

We all snapped our heads at him, rather shocked at the question and somewhat perplexed, though it wasn’t without a hint of happiness on our part. Sure, having him would be very nice, but… well, what was the cause of this change of mind?

“Karassus, I know this may sound stupid, but did you make this decision before or after, ehm, coming here? Just answer please.” I had to ask him now, and I was pretty sure that it was on Jo’s mind as well. He gave me a puzzled look before answering.

“Oh, before. Why?” I sighed in relief, the weight on my chest gone as fast as it had come.

“Nothing, nothing, just asking. You see, I have this tendency to change people’s minds when I ehm, let loose. I wouldn’t want you to choose to come with us just because my scent got to your head before you realized. It happened with Krissie before.” She swatted my back lightly, shaking her head.

“You know that it’s not true, hon. I already wanted to stay with you forever.”

“Yeah, and me masturbating in my room without removing the pheromones had nothing to do with it, right?” She huffed, displeased that I’d think that the only way she was with me was because of some stupid hormone cocktail. “I know you love me. Sorry.”

“Hmmm, forgiven. Hey, big guy, why would you ever want to live with us after what I told you? You can’t be interested in taking Aidan… or being taken by him…” Karassus blushed and smiled awkwardly, shifting his bulk to make himself more comfortable, which made Krissie chuckle, evidently entertained with herself.

“No, it’s something else: the kids told me that they are going to get out of the house, now that the war has ended, travel the world and maybe come back in a couple of years. I have gotten so used to having company that the thought of being alone scared me. I don’t really have friends that I can invite over and no interest in taking on a new female.” He shrugged nonchalantly. That was curious.

“So, you came here to ask to live with us because you don’t want to feel lonely? How sweet of you, dear. Aidan, could you let him stay? Please?” Johanna batted her eyelashes and licked my face, cooing and purring. Karassus was still not used to this behaviour on her part and looked at us with a curious gaze, trying to figure out how we acted around each other.

“Of course he can. Feel free to stay as long as you like Kar.” He smiled and Johanna leaned on for a kiss, forcefully grabbing the huge head and placing her equally large mouth on his own. Some of me must have still been in her mouth because he moaned and wrestled with her tongue for more of what she had stealthily given him. Krissie raised an eyebrow, pleased with how eagerly Karassus was tasting the residues of my seed.

“What on earth is that? It’s like… nectar or something…” He smacked his lips several times, rolling the taste on his tongue, shamelessly going for yet another kiss with his former mate to get more.

“Well, it’s definitely that tasty but it’s no nectar, hon, just Aidan.” It was Krissie who made the revelation. He stared at me, jaw open in surprise. “All of him tastes just as good.” As proof, she lowered her head and prodded my slit with her tongue, lapping up all the remaining scraps of seed and saliva that Jo had left behind. The pearly white stuff coated her nose and she licked her face or tried before Kar made a dash with his own wet muscle and collected the last drops.

“R-really?” The two females nodded strongly and Karassus swallowed loudly the contents of his mouth, licking his lips. “How can this be so good?”

“His body was quite literally designed by god to make him appealing to everyone, males, females, dragons and humans. It’d be weird if you didn’t like it. He’s got strength, care, taste and most importantly, he never runs out of it. It has been hard on us not to be with him for the past days but I wanted to know whether production and taste were different after leaving him alone for a bit.”

“What a tease you two are. Is there any difference for you?” So this was why they had been a bit distant.

“None that comes to mind.” Jo looked at my first mate and she shook her head, agreeing with her. I sighed. “Shall we keep going?” The question was directed more at Karassus than at me, since it was the usual for us to get a few more rounds in before even calling it satisfying.

“A-again?” Karassus was rather surprised. “I don’t think I can. It’s, ehm, been a while for me and I am not sure I can last long.” The embarrassed dragon was shuffling around, trying to get out of the situation, but the raging erection between his legs was not something that he could have even thought of hiding.

“Aidan… could you, you know, help him get in the mood? I’d like him to take you.” Now, this was something that I hadn’t thought of yet. The idea was extremely appealing, since I had yet to find a male worthy of taking me.

“Wh-what? Him? In front of his mates? Is that even right?” The black dragon blushed even more, his eyes shifting from me to Jo and Krissie each second, shocked and, judging by the drops of pre falling on the ground, very aroused at the idea as well. His scent was reaching even me now and I wasn’t sure I could say no or accept a no from him in a couple more minutes.

“Oh, we have been waiting for him to decide for a good male as we told you and you, Karassus, are the best one in this whole place: you are big and strong, virile as no one else, well, except him. Take him and make him moan like a bitch in heat for me…” Karassus was clearly a male of more timid disposition, who like tranquillity and peace, surely not one to take a male in front of two females even less if they were all mates for life, but I knew he was falling, both for Johanna’s words and me.

To make things better for him, I got on my knees and spread my legs and vent, pushing some of my scent towards his nose with magic. He sneezed and locked his eyes of me and his sweet, sweet prize, moving forward slowly. I leaned back on the ground, head resting on a rock and waited until I felt a big and strong tongue prod my lips and spread them with ease, teasing along the edges of my folds, inching inside before pulling out. He moaned and grabbed my legs with lust, forcing them further apart, burying his large muzzle under my tail, male and female musk assaulting his mind like an unending barrage of sex.

He was ready to go again moments later, his scent spreading around the place with incredible intensity, that made even me flinch and my body ache to be filled. Nothing like this had ever happened before: Hel was nice and enticing but this male, he had something raw and powerful to him. I was beginning to see why Johanna had taken him. With one last spell, I had to isolate us as the realization that his cock would make me yell was beginning to dawn on me. The area was sealed, nothing going in or out, which, in retrospect, made the musk coming from us all the more dense, almost palpable.

He moved over me, his strong forelimbs latching on my smaller body and with one titanic thrust, he impaled me on himself. The haze in his eyes told me that his mind was swimming in pleasure and I was beginning to think that this male would make me lose mine. He hammered at my backside with unbelievable intensity and speed, his haunches a blur of black scales and slopping fluids. Beneath me, my members throbbed and leaked pre like faucets and Krissie was not one to let it go to waste, despite her swollen belly, slithering between Karassus’ belly scales and mine. After a few good minutes of pounding, I let myself go and moaned like the girls did when I took them, my tongue lolling out and wings open in the vain attempt at cooling down that unbearable feeling of heat. Karassus, uncaring of my condition, kept plunging his member deep inside me, stomach bulging out in an obscene display of raw lust and debauchery. God, he was really making me lose my mind. When his climax came and he flooded the very core of my being, my mind went blank and I came as well, painting Krissie white until she was little more than a woman covered in spent seed.

Then, I felt something swell inside me, grow and grow along the bulge of my inflating womb. Oh, the feeling of being so full I was bursting with life was addicting. How could females not be all over this male’s cock all the time? His size? His excessive strength? That only added to the fun!

When he bit me on my shoulder, drawing blood for the first time of my life, I lost it all and gave myself completely to him. I had chosen. He had to be mine forever!

“Breed me until I am full of eggs, Karassus. If you stop I’ll kill you.”

As if I had given him a command, he resumed pumping his growing cock inside me, still coming and still making me come like nothing before. Oh, how could have I missed on this before? It was simply the best thing in the universe.

In the sex induced haze, I barely registered something bump on my vent at each one of his thrusts, threatening to split me open and never let me recover. He roared as his knot began to swell and his movements became even rougher as he tried to push it deep inside me to ensure that the egg forming inside me, poking at his tip, would be fertilized properly under the lustful gaze of my other two mates.

In the depths of my being, two more eggs formed and travelled each to one of my cocks, blocking the flow of pre and cum, bulging out one more part of me obscenely. Krissie and Johanna rushed to our sides, each tending to one cock as the eggs moved inch by inch towards the tips. Karassus ignored them, too engrossed in his changes and his lust as he let out another volley of seed in me, knot slamming across my vent with one last push before it lodged itself and swelled until I could make out the outline of it in my lower body. He roared and humped faster, drawing out girlish moans in an unending stream of orgasms that backed up in my cocks and finally erupted when the eggs were expelled with the last contractions, plunging deep inside the two females waiting mouth who ate them happily.

My one thought was that I had wasted two perfectly good eggs that would have made for beautiful children, but the prospect of the life within me, swimming in a veritable sea of seed, was more than enough to make me forget them. Johanna and Krissie writhed in pleasure, orgasms rocking their bodies as the eggs dissolved inside them, granting them more power and who knew what else. Karassus grew even more, muscles bulging out as a second set of wings sprouted with cracks and pops from his back, folding on top of the other one, tail growing spikes of bone that lined up towards his neck, forming a line of dangerously sharp protrusions.

For once, I felt my own body change, becoming more receptive, bigger and stronger, my hands more agile and new knowledge flooding my brain, immediately pushed deep by one last orgasm of the dragon that made me his bitch for the night.

I collapsed and my belly cushioned my fall, seed sloshing around me, knot making sure that none would escape. Karassus fell to his side, panting and moaning as well, his head resting on Johanna’s stomach. She didn’t notice that, and neither did Krissie, both fainted in the throes of a rapid series of orgasms as power swelled inside them. The scent of sex now was so thick and dense that it could be felt on our scales and skin, sticking to them like tar, fluids making the ground wet and probably permanently marked by out lust. Hel, from the lone, drunk spot he was in, was still affected and moaned throughout the entire second round, sucking on his cock with a dazed look in his eyes, not entirely asleep and not entirely awake, drunk with wine and pleasure. He spilled several times in his muzzle, seed overflowing from the seal of his lips and falling on the floor, some long and thick spurts reaching me and my mates. I tasted him as one landed on my snout, bringing me to even new heights just before the insane pleasure short-circuited my brain and sent me to sleep, just as the other three around me.

We four, no, five, laid there, sleeping until the next morning. When I woke up, it took me a moment to remember why I had a gigantic cock lodged deep in my vent and why I was so damn full of seed and pre, but when the egg moved, when I felt it move within me, I knew what happened.

I had to slap Karassus awake and he jerked up, the new strength he had making him jump with me still attached to his member, which, by the way, still had to deflate after ten hours of sleep. Damn, it felt both uncomfortable and good at the same time.

“Ehm, Aidan… why are you stuck to me like that? Why do I feel different? Oh, oh shit… four wings?” It took him a couple of good long seconds to register the new changes and even process the events that had taken place the night before. He sniffed and licked tentatively at his own wings, shuddering with a mix of fear and surprise as he felt that they were real indeed. The changes had made him even more of a stud, even more perfect if it was even possible.

“Yeah, we you fucked me silly last night and you may have knocked me up for good.” I patted my swollen form to highlight my words, shocking the poor dragon yet again. Surely he was getting tired of being surprised by every little thing by now.

“What???” His shout was loud enough to make the other three in

“Yeah, you were so fucking good I lost count of how many times I came, not that you were anything to scoff at. Look at me, I’m a damn balloon of seed!”

“What do you mean with ‘knocked up’??? You weren’t in heat!”

“I don’t need to, as long as I want to get pregnant, and you, bug boy, fucked me so good I felt like not wasting all this seed. Sorry, but you’re going to be a daddy again, my love.” He was shocked, embarrassed, proud, scared and a number of other emotions… He unconsciously flexed his member and I felt every single muscle move inside me, tip poking out of the scales. “Could you, get off me? You have been lodged inside my vent for the whole night and I really need to pee.” Wait, nevermind that. He flexed another time and it hit my bladder enough for me to lose control of it and wet myself in a very embarrassing display of kinkiness. Both cocks, still out and still hard as ever, erupted in a golden stream that splashed on our bellies, my vent joining on the fun as well, coating the few inches of cock outside it with my waste. Karassus purred as he felt the warm liquid on his belly scales, rubbing against me in a new and unexpected fetish, licking the urine that flowed around us.

“What? It feels nice. Here, let me get you off.” He grabbed my arms with his hands, hands not paws, and yanked me off his dick. A small waterfall of seed gushed out of my nether regions, bathing the cooling cock one more time. He shuddered at the weird feeling of sudden cold and looked amazed at his new size, knot and girth, which erupted in relief as well, showering me in warm stuff. He moaned and shuddered, leg raised and swinging his member around like a kid with a hose. A couple of wet minutes later, he stopped and stared at his new equipment with amazement. “Holy fuck! I’m way bigger than before! And I’ve got one of those… what do you call them?” After asking, he craned his neck and curled his tongue around his cock, tasting me and all my products as well as his own on the throbbing length.

“Knots. I’ve got them too, though not this big.” I got on my knees, pushing out the remaining seed and cleaned his cock in the meantime, savouring both me and himself on the now one and a half metres of tool. He had gotten thicker and the knot, albeit reducing, was still the size of two two-litres coke bottles side by side. By the miracle I was, my vent was not horribly deformed and looked normal as always. Karassus licked it and collected what was left of his seed and my fluids, shuddering at the taste.

“Oh, so good.”

“What are you two doing over there? I hope nothing fun…” Jo pretended to wake up just now, stretching her limbs and looking at us. Karassus blushed heavily and removed his snout from my private parts, the strands of seed and saliva on his scales betraying his activities in case it wasn’t obvious already.

“Just, ehm, cleaning honey.”

“Oh, then it’s super fun, make way Kar!” Krissie got up, wobbling a bit and threw herself on his cock, cleaning the rest of the seed with a tongue that had become unnaturally long. Johanna herself had changed and had put up more muscle and I knew that her scales were stronger and harder than before. She had a new charm to her, grace infused with brimming energy and raw strength, not unlike Karassus. Krissie had changed little from yesterday but she was different for sure, we all were.

“That, hon, was a night to remember forever.”

“Believe me, you will.” I patted my stomach and her eyes lit up with glee. Krissie got the hint as well and hugged me with all her body, her belly filled with life against mine.

“This is incredible news! We’re pregnant! Is it one or two?”

“One, and it’s big, very big.” She put a hand on my stomach and pressed, giggling when she found the hard shell of the egg. “I’ll need to make the house several times bigger now, put safety rails for the babies, spare bedrooms and beds. Oh, we’ll need cribs and maybe even an ambient heater if the eggs come out intact! Oh, I don’t have enough time!” Now all the worries I had put aside came crashing down on me all at the same time, making me suddenly anxious and nervous. How would I have to modify the tree to make space for everyone? How would I go about the new changes? When would I give birth? Fuck, fuck, fuck!

“Hey, hey, calm down, Aidan, I know you are excited and worried, but the eggs won’t come out now, we have a few weeks at least. Relax, breathe and sit down. We are here to help.” The two females, especially Johanna, wrapped their bodies around mine, sharing a bit of their natural instincts with me, which helped a little, just a little.

“But… the house, I need to make it bigger, or Kar won’t be able to fit!”

“We will think about that later, now, could you please clean up and get the scents on a more… manageable level before removing the barrier? We’d cause a massive orgy if even the smallest hint of pheromones got out. Can you do that sweetie?” I looked in Johanna’s beautiful eyes and waved one of my hands, cleaning the stains on our bodies and scales, disinfecting the area and only then, open the barrier. A gust of fresh air invaded our lungs and cleared the sex fog. “Hmm, so nice. shall we go and get breakfast?”

“Good idea, I’m starving.” The only one that didn’t agree immediately with us was Kar, of course, as he was not entirely fond of what others might think of him now, especially his children.

“D-do we reaaaally need to go?” He shrunk in his frame, wings draped over his body in a pathetic attempt to hide the massive dragon that he was. We all chuckled at the sight.

“Are you afraid of people looking at you, dear?” Krissie patted his snout, coaxing a purr from the new addition to my harem. He seemed still shocked and surprised at the idea of being mine now, though I’d say that I was now his, although mostly in body. “We’re here for you, just as we were for Hel and Thomas.”

“What? Even they, ehm…” Karassus looked at the still sleeping Hel, now in a new light. Guess he hadn’t noticed that little detail before.

“Not as you, I was the one doing the work in their case but you, you are special.” I kissed him on the nose and then on his lips, he stuck a bit of tongue out and pushed it in my mouth. “Hmm, I’d love for another round but I am starving. Maybe I should start eating for two.” Johanna scoffed and slapped my ass.

“You already eat for three, idiot. Let’s go.”

She opened her wings and took flight, jumping immediately to a hundred metres high with a scream of joy at her new strength and then stopping in the air for a few moments before diving. Krissie thought for a moment and then jumped when she had reached thirty metres from the ground, and although Johanna was not prepared, she caught the incoming body with ease. I jumped as well and joined Jo as she flew over to the camp, leaving the poor Karassus alone. He ran after us for about a hundred metres and then tried to jump, beating his wings with little grace or technique, fell and tried again until he got the hang of it, beating the lower set before the other one.

When he settled beside me he was smiling wide and loving his new body, tongue out like a hatchling that had just learned how to fly, not that it was incorrect. He experimented for a little while before we all had to land at the centre of the large camp, attracting as much attention as the nobles had at the moment, being not so early in the morning. Pembroke was out and waiting for us in the clearing between the tents.

“There you are, we thought you drank yourselves to death last night.” He gave Karassus a good look and smiled knowingly, but the dragon in question didn’t know why the king smiled all of a sudden while looking at him if it wasn’t for his new look.

“Dad!” Shia and Nara trotted over and stared at their father and how different he was now. “What happened?” His children, now my, nieces? Step children? Cluttered around him, snout going wild and taking in his new scent and looking with curiosity at his appearance, confused and scared.

“I went to talk to Aidan yesterday and since you wanted to go and explore the world I thought of spending some time with your mother. One thing led to another and Aidan granted me some new strength as a welcoming gift.” The two kids were shocked and tucked their tails between their legs, evidently ashamed of something. Being a dad, he knew they had done something wrong. “Now, I don’t know if you two have gotten in trouble but if you did, I trust that you are old enough to deal with it. You wanted to get out of our home, right?” He was a pretty good dad, hitting the mark.

“We only said that because mother was here.” Oh, the shame! Oh, the drama. Where is my popcorn when I need it?

“I thought that since she was fine now, she’d take you with her somewhere so I convinced Shia to lie to you and pretend we wanted to leave. We thought that you’d…”

“That I would run after you and beg you two not to go? Is that it?” They nodded, still refusing to look at their father and mother. Johanna scoffed at this childish display of jealousy. “Gods, kids, what did you think I am? Some kind of lifeless piece of furniture? I have desires too you know? Have you thought that maybe I was happy that you were leaving, now that the war is over?”

“We’re sorry.” Karassus slapped their heads and gave them that dad look that makes everyone tremble in fear. Jeez, he was good. Our children would come up perfectly.

“You are two rascals, are you that jealous of your mother that you’d lie to get me away from her? How dare you treat the one that laid your eggs this way. You’d better apologise now or else.”

“We’re sorry mother.” Jo scoffed again and turned away. The two seemed hurt and regretful. How old were they? Five? “Mother?”

“She’s angry at you. How could you think that I was not proud of you for wanting to leave?” They stared at their father in surprise. “Of course I felt proud of you for that, you rascals. This is unprecedented! You could have really left and explored the world…. You still can.”

“But, what about you?”

“Me? I have done what I had to and raised you for the past twenty years, kids, I want to rest a little bit, spend the time that I lost with your mother and her new family. They are your family too by the way so be respectful.”

“We understand dad.” He sighed and gave up on doing the bad cop. “Are you angry?”

“I am a little. Lying to me… I thought I taught you better than that. You could have just talked to me and asked me what I wanted to do, it’s not like your mother is some kind of monster…”

“But… she’s different and acts nothing like she did before.”

“Well, Nara, dragons live long but they can change too. She met Aidan and fell in love, she was the same when we paired up, you know? All giddy and happy, humming when we ate together, eager to go and do anything with me… she’s happy and that’s that.” He stopped talking for a moment. “Do you want to leave home for real?”

“I… don’t know, maybe.” The two looked at each other, hoping to find in the other an answer that they clearly didn’t have just yet.

“Yes or no?” That was a tone that didn’t take no as an answer. The two nodded after a long few minutes of pondering. “Then you can go and do that, you are old enough to understand the consequences of you choices. But, you have to remember one thing: your mother and I will always, always, love you, regardless of what we look like or what we say or do with other people, never, ever forget that, got it?”

“Hmm.” The two young dragons hugged their father, craning their long necks over his with some difficulty now that he had grown. They shed a tear, whether it was guilt, sadness or happiness I wouldn’t ever know. They left soon, giving Johanna one last awkward goodbye and disappeared in the distance. I leaned in and patted Karassus.

“I put a spell on them: if they ever get hurt, I’ll know where they’ll be. They will be safe and not in danger.”

“They are clever ones, they won’t do anything stupid, other than lying to me of course.” He sighed and his head dropped low. “They’re gone, aren’t they? Living their life without me.”

“They’re not gone you stupid lizard, just away on a journey. They’ll come back one day.”

“Yeah, I know, I know. I acted all high and mighty like a dad should and now I only want to run after them and give them one last hug before the trip. I won’t do that though, I understand they need to go about their business.” He shed a tear and wiped it away. “Who wants to eat lamb? I’m smelling some over there.” Putting on the tough guy act was not something that suited him at all but we let him do it anyway.

His voice was quivering but we didn’t point it out and followed our noses to a stand of roasted lamb and took some for ourselves. Many dragons came and asked Karassus why he was now in possession of an extra pair of wings and muscle to boot, and even his charm had gotten a boost as many females came by and cooed sweetly. The relatively old father was not used to such attention and this number of flirtatious dragonesses was almost equal to the sum of the past thirty years together and although he was pleased, all those females were driven away from mine.

“Alright, I’m stuffed, what about you guys?”

“I’m fine. What are we going to do now? Have some more fun? Go for a stroll in the capital?”

“Oh, I like that one!”

“I am afraid I am not in the mood for anything like that. I just want to go home.” I hate being the buzzkill of the group but I wasn’t really in the mood for anything like that. “I’d like to get home and prepare the house.”

“Ah, fine. You can go, we’ll stay here and have some more fun.”

“Alright, have fun then, press the button when you want to get back.”

When I teleported home I immediately crashed in the workshop and took out all the scanning instruments I had at my disposal and disassembled each one of them. There was something new in my brain, another ‘gift’ from god as per its usual and just as usual, I didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad one. There was a blurred line when involving that thing.

Using the new stuff I knew, I made something that could have only come out a sci-fi movie: a crystal clear tablet that glowed slightly. I put it on my stomach and on the screen I saw the egg inside, the small life growing slowly and hanging on to its destiny. My hearts jumped in happiness as I saw it and my breathing quickened. Immediately, the baby in the egg moved.

“I’m sorry honey, I’ll try to stay calm for you.” My god, it was beautiful.

I stayed like that for a while. Why was I so fucking happy to be pregnant? What this why Krissie was always so giddy and in a good mood when she let me touch her belly? God, I was getting to know why, it’s addictive.

But I couldn’t keep looking at the egg forever, I had stuff to do. Refitting the house, growing extra room, putting in a nursery, playgrounds, babyproofing the entire fucking tree. The spiders were so confused when I asked them to put a net just above the roots in case the babies fell over. The queen just gave up on trying to understand me and made the net double thick.

After the minor adjustments to the house, I began working on a few prototypes of tools and runes and pumped out a couple of interesting gadgets just to pass time.

Three hours later, the ‘recall’ button was pressed and I teleported the other three here. Karassus was obviously shocked at the size of the tree and the house, now big enough to let Johanna stand on her legs inside, not everywhere but in a few areas, covered in soft stuff and useful items, most important being the bath. I had made the bathtub so big it was bordering a small pool, just because I wanted to take one with all of us inside at the same time.

Although Krissie was happy to see the remodelling, she was more interested in the scanner and stared at her babies for a long, long while, sometimes giving it back to me so that she could look at mine. Oh, how weird a thing to say. My baby, in the most literal sense.

That night when we went to sleep together, I couldn’t almost fall asleep and stared at me and Krissie, wondering about all the things that would happen now that the two races had began to work things out by themselves. I had done so little I was feeling guilty to be called and Envoy. But who cared about the rest of the world when I had two magnificent dragons and an even more beautiful human wife.

“Why aren’t you sleeping, Ai? Is something wrong?”

“Is it normal to fear that if I sleep on my stomach I’ll crush the egg?” Krissie stared at me in the dimly lit room, speaking softly as to not wake up the other two.

“Oh, you silly thing, it’s ok. The egg is not that fragile and you’ll just need to be careful when the bulge gets bigger. Just, calm down ok? I know it’s a big deal for you.”

“It’s not big, it’s bigger Krissie: I was born a man, ok? I was not supposed to come here, become a hybrid, find you, Johanna, Karassus and much less get pregnant after a night of hot, passionate drunk draconic sex, because a god decided to go a little but further and make me half woman.”

“I know, sweetie, calm down. We’re here for you, always.”

“Thank you. I love you and I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She kissed me and helped me get to sleep for the first of many nights as the egg grew inside me.

Weeks passed in the calm everyday life with my mates, sometime we’d get out for walks, sometimes we’d receive an invitation from the king though the tablet I gave him, sometimes we’d find Evan strolling around the kingdom and Hel coming for lessons or just to talk.

Thomas was too busy to come to us so we always had to go to him when we were in the capital and help him around, keeping the incidents low. He was good at his job, damn good, never letting any situation go out of control. The capital had not yet seen any major interspecies fight or issue under his supervision, though misunderstandings and squabbles because a dragon knocked something off a stall with their tail were rather commonplace. Hel was there to help too and I was seeing in his eyes a different kind of look when he stared at Thomas, beyond those of a friend. The dragon denied anything and brushed off my words and offers with haste and embarrassment.

At the two month mark after the feast, Krissie was getting big and I mean big. It had been more than three and a half months, maybe even four, since I had put my eggs in her and she was spending more and more time each day looking through the scan at the babies or patting her belly. Karassus was always giving tips on how to raise dragon hatchlings to me and her and Johanna tried to help but it was clear she had not had as much practice and mostly limited herself to nod or say a few words. If their experience was applicable to us, then it wouldn’t be long before Krissie approached the time to give birth or lay the egg, since smaller dragons needed but a few months of pregnancy to be ready, whereas Johanna had to carry her eggs for over a year before she laid them and then a couple more months to see them hatch. Regarding me, well, no clue whatsoever. The egg had not gotten bigger or showed any change in these months at all, and although it was clearly healthy and not in danger we didn’t know what would happen in the future.

Today was a rainy day, clouds covering the sky and sprinkling water all over the place, the usual stuff but for some reason I was feeling worried and anxious. I brushed it off as being nervous as Krissie had woken up with nausea and craving for berries, a… rather unusual occurrence. Karassus had no idea of why would this happen as dragons didn’t get sick that way and definitely didn’t get cravings like humans but when we asked Mrs Fyr, always willing to talk to us, she said it was normal to get nauseous this far in the pregnancy, though since she hadn’t been before was a little outputting.

I wanted to go and ask some doctor in the capital if they could maybe help when I got a call from the king himself around noon.

“Speak of the devil, I was wondering whether I could borrow one of your doctors for medical advice. Krissie has been feeling a bit nauseous as of today.”

“I am sorry to hear that, I’ll see if there is someone available, but I have a more urgent matter to ask you to oversee. Today one of my guards came after having arrested a large group of people in weird clothing.”

“How is that urgent?” Weirdos were nothing uncommon. “Was it a theatre troupe that got drunk?”

“No, unfortunately not, else I wouldn’t have called.” He sighed from his end. “They claim to come from another planet and they have guns on them.” I got up from my seat, heart pounding.

“Guns?” My throat felt parched. Could he be wrong, god please, let him be wrong…

“Yes, like the ones that you showed me a few days ago: semi-automatic, black and ehm, with torches mounted on the grips, was it? Anyways, I have them here with me in the hall, could you come soon?”

“Give me a moment and I’ll be over there.” I hang the conversation and went to Krissie in the bedroom and found her reading a book. She blew me a kiss and moaned as she shifted her legs.

“Ugh, I’m feeling like some kind of water balloon with legs…”

“I know you are not feeling well and that the others are out buying some spices and food, but something came up at the capital and I need to go. I’ll give you the emergency bell, the baby bell and activate the service drones. It’ll be quick so please hang on without me here, ok?”

“Oh, I am not stupid, I can be for a couple of hours alone, you know?” She smiled and kissed me on the nose. “Go, I’ll wait. The babies will not come out without you here and if they do, I’ll push them back in until you come.”

“Good. Rest and wait for me to come back.” I patted her belly and teleported to the king’s location in the capital. As per usual he was in the large hall where he conducted meetings and examined some of his subjects’ more pressing troubles. He bowed to me, something he had began to do lately for some reason, which left me shocked every time I saw him do it and pointed me in the direction of the group of ‘otherworlders’. I one glance I saw that the weird clothes they had were in fact military uniforms, American from the looks of it and their guns were American too. The men and women of the group raised their guns at me and unlocked the safety. I doubted they would do as much as leave a scratch on my scales but I wasn’t going to tempt them. I raised my hands and stood calmly in front of the group.

“Relax, I won’t hurt you.”

“You can talk?” One of the men, a captain if I wasn’t wrong, spoke with a very much surprised tone and lowered his gun, the others doing the same a few moments later.

“Of course I can, why wouldn’t I? I’m not a dog or a chair.” I moved closer to them and gave the closest one a sniff and stuck out my tongue, tasting the air. “Americans correct?”

“How…”

“Oh, it’s a long story. Why are you here? How did you come here?” I asked them and they talked between themselves before the man in charge spoke for the others.

“We are here on a rescue mission as well as a… exploratory one.”

“Rescue? Did one of you get lost in an experiment of some sort? Isn’t this a bit too… B movie?” Bet they were shocked…

“No, we are here to rescue some young man that got sucked in some portal a while back. It took the world by surprise and months of hard work to reopen it. We believe it was this world that took him and we’d like cooperation between our worlds to find him.” HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!! They were here for me???

“Alright, tell me one thing first: was the name of the man Aidan and did he disappear at the site of an art exhibition?” When I asked that all of the soldiers opened their mouths in shock, but one woman, one who was in the back, pushed the others to the side and marched forward. She was wearing the same outfit but it was clear that she was no soldier.

“Where is he? Where is Aidan? I need to tell him that I am sorry! It was my drawing that took him in this world! Please, tell me that he is alive….”

“Jo-Johanna?” She took a step back and stared at me. “Why would you be here?” In the corner of my eyes I saw Pembroke’s eyes shoot open and his jaw drop as he clearly understood what was going on here. I had told him a lot about what happened before I came here and he must have reached the conclusion on the spot but that didn’t stop him from being shocked.

“How… how do you know me? Wh-what’s going on?” Oh, god… how am I supposed to tell her? Oh, god, oh god! Ok, breathe in, breathe out, in and out and… fuck it.

“Ok, Johanna, what I am about to tell me is going to freak you out a lot, don’t panic, don’t scream, it’s all going to be ok, you got me? Breathe and keep calm, can you do that for me?” She nodded but she clearly didn’t trust me. “First of all, Aidan is not dead.” She relaxed ever so slightly and I kept talking. “He is fine, healthy and not injured.” I took a deep breath and then looked at her straight in the eyes. “Second: I am Aidan.” She took a step back, confused and scared of me. I didn’t move and waited, trying not to make any weird movement.

“Wh… are you making fun of me? There’s no way…”

“You invited me to a dinner and a movie before I disappeared, we talked about how I was having a block and couldn’t draw anything since I had to put in violence in my drawings on the side of the building. You wanted to meet but something came up and we delayed the meeting so I stayed a little more and got sucked in a drawing… ehm, Markus was there beside us painting as well…” she put a hand on her mouth, trembling.

“What is his favourite food?”

“Pizza with onions and tuna, second comes pasta and then pistachio ice cream with hazelnut on top.”

“Favourite movies?”

“Revenger, Donna Light, Clockwork criminals.” Great movies by the way.

“Where did he live?” Our weird encounter was making the entire crowd watching us feel weird I suppose, judging from their looks of confusion. I couldn’t blame them, I barely believed this was happening myself, and I had been through weirder stuff.

“A shabby apartment in the outskirts, a month late with rent and a drunk neighbour always complaining about trash in the driveway.” Her eyes swelled with tears and she hugged me, crying under the confused expressions of the soldiers and whoever else was in the hall. “It’s ok, I’m fine.”

“It’s really you… I thought you had died!”

“I didn’t.”

“But… what happened to you? Why are you like this?” Her eyes now looked at me in a different light, not like a monster anymore but clearly still shocked. I felt her hands run on my chest and my scales, feeling them with her heart beating madly. The rest of the party seemed to relax just a smidge now, though still wary, still not entirely sure of what was happening to them.

“It’s… it’s a very long story… why have you come here? It could have been dangerous!”

“I was the one that made the painting don’t you remember? They wanted me to remake it and when I did, the portal opened again so we all came here to rescue you immediately. It took a lot of effort and I had to do it over ten times just to get results, not to mention all the work that came after…” She rubbed her palms, fingers stretched, something that she did when she had worked for a whole day and they hurt a lot. They must have had her painting around the clock…

“Oh, ok. Well, as you can see, I am fine and feeling better than ever before. I’ll tell you later what happened to me.” She broke the hug as the captain marched forward and held his hand for me to shake. I extended my lower right hand and he shook it with some reserves on the texture it seemed.

“Nice to know that you are alive kid, you’ve been here for a few weeks and the whole world was worried you died in a foreign world.”

“Weeks? It had been over five and a half months for me.” The expression or relief disappeared from his face, replaced by one of pity and sadness. The others were somewhere on that line as well.

“What? Shit, that must have been hard on you kid.” One of the soldiers behind spoke for the rest of them, soliciting many nods from the soldiers. Pembroke sighed, knowing full well that he had a lot to do with the hardships I had been through… not that I held any feeling for that part, now that it was behind us.

“It was at first but I got used to it, I wasn’t alone though and I found someone to help and support me in these months.” I gave Pembroke a quick glance and he smiled wryly, his mind realizing what I meant to say without words. We had started on a very bad foot but now we could have been defined friends at the very least. “It’s been a long journey.”

“So, now that we are here, will you come back with us? Back to Earth?” Another soldier voiced his thoughts and that put me in a bad spot, one that I didn’t think I’d find myself in, not so soon at least.

“What? No, no, not for all the money in the world.” Johanna seemed surprised as were the other soldiers. “Don’t get me wrong but I have a new home here and these people need me. I have a duty to uphold.”

“What duty? Who even are these people?”

“Well, this man is King Pembroke, ruler of the humans of this world, all of them and my duty is to make sure that they do not start a new war with the Dragon race after I went through a lot of pain to end it.” I waited for some kind of response from them but nothing came out of their mouths, though they were open yet again. “Listen, I told you that it’s all very complicated.”

“Can you at least begin with something? Give us a few clues and then we can start.” The captain rubbed his temples, probably in the attempt at getting rid of the headache that was coming for him.

“Alright…” I was about to say something when two clear high-pitched sounds echoed in the hall. Many covered their ears and tried to filter them out. “What??? No, no, no, no! Not now!”

“Aidan! What’s happening? Isn’t this the emergency call?” Pembroke rushed to my side and asked me why he was hearing what I had told him to be something that should have not been heard under any normal circumstance.

“Krissie is going to give birth! Now!” His eyes went wide and so did the other’s, though the reason was different. My heart was racing madly and I didn’t know what to do. I froze until the old king quite literally slapped my face. It hurt more for him than me but it helped get me back in track.

“Oh, then go you fucking idiot! Go to her!”

“I can’t leave them here though.” I gave the soldiers one last glance before I decided what to do with them. “I’ll teleport us all to my home.”

“Fine, call me when she’s done.”

“Wait! Who’s Krissie? Why do you need to go now?” The captain asked for the rest of the otherworlders.

“She’s… ehm, my wife, so to speak.” I guess they were… surprised? Still… I had something to do.

I didn’t wait for their response and teleported all of us, except the king, to the inside of my house. They were scared and confused but I could be bothered with them right now and rushed to the bedroom after giving them the customary ‘do not touch anything’ and ordered one drone to keep an eye on them. Krissie called for me and rang the emergency signal again.

“I’m here, I’m here! It’s all right, I’m here sweetie.” She was on the huge bed, sweating profusely, panting and searching for my presence in the otherwise empty room. Karassus and Johanna were still not here. Fuck, I needed them…

“Oh, gods, Aidan, it’s like they are all trying to get out at the same time! Can’t you do something?”

“Let me see…” I took the scanner and put it on her belly, checking on the status of the babies: they two in the placentae were slowly moving downwards, heads pointed her the goal while the egg was still there, lodged in her. “Is there a doctor here?”

“Me! I’m a doctor!” A woman came inside and stared at Krissie, stunned for a second at her appearance. “When did the contractions started?” She asked her and put a stethoscope on her chest not finding the heart. I put it where the left one was. “Two? Oh, lord.”

“Maybe, three minutes ago. I thought it was cramps but then they got worse.” Krissie managed to speak to the woman clearly enough to make things easier for her. She nodded.

“With how much she’d dilated, it’s impossible to have started this soon. How far in the pregnancy is she? Seven or eight months?”

“Four and a half actually.” Was what I said. The woman took the scanner from my hand and looked at her, examining the patient just as Krissie grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard, making me wince in pain.

“An egg? Fine, I give up. Let’s just get her comfortable and see what I can do for you. Now, breathe and exhale slowly, deep breaths and relax.” The doctor stroked her hand and inspected her vent, trying to make out some basic resemblance with a human female. “Damn, I wasn’t trained for this.” She uttered softly enough for Krissie not to hear her, but loud enough for me. I hoped that she’d not fuck it up or the queen downstairs would have a new source of food for the next couple of days.

“How am I supposed to relax with three babies trying to get out at the same fucking time?” The doctor was taken aback as Krissie’s eyes thinned and became slits not unlike mine but kept her calm just enough not to run in fear. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, just listen to me and relax. It’s going to be fine.”

The rest of the soldiers peeked around the door frame until the doctor pushed them outside except for Johanna who stayed with us. I fetched some towels and took a bowl of water and warmed it up. The two women were too engrossed in taking care of Krissie to be impressed by the magic I performed just now something I was grateful for.

“Ai, could you give me something to squeeze? I don’t want to hurt you…” well… given how badly it hurt a few minutes ago I couldn’t let her break my bones…

“Ok, sweetie.” I left her side for a moment and took the steel bar she used in the morning for her exercises. She yanked it from me just as another contraction arrived.

“A steel bar? She needs something soft!” Just as the doctor complained she squeezed the bar and the sounds metal creaking and deforming reached the room next to us. The doctor at this point didn’t know whether to cry or be fascinated by this woman or me or, well, everything else quite literally. “Well, the first baby is coming down. Could you start pushing?”

“I can try.” Krissie flexed her muscles and the slight pack of abs she had became more defined. “Was that ok?”

“Excellent dear, just a few more pushes, slow, one every minute or so.”

“Is this the standard procedure?” I wasn’t sure whether I could really trust her now, but did I have any other choice?

“Not really, her biology is completely different from what I have ever seen. Had you asked for a veterinarian it would have been the same or better. I’ll do what I can.”

“Thank you.” She’d better, or else.

And then, the fun began. With the help of the doctor, Krissie contracted her inner muscles in a regular rhythm rather than let herself be at the mercy of her own body. I watched with my hearts pumping so hard I could feel them in my throat, but I could do little more than that.

About ten or twenty minutes later, my first son was born and I hurriedly took him in my arms with a towel, wiping off the remains of amniotic fluid from his cream coloured scales. Just as he was born, Krissie felt his sibling move down as well. I wanted her to hold him but she was not in the right state of mind so I kept him for now. He was small, probably a bit smaller than normal human babies but looked as healthy as he could have been. Behind him there was a small nub that would likely grow to be his tail and all over his little body I could see those creamy scales that Krissie had but so much softer and lighter in colour.

He was breathing softly but steadily and I wrapped him in the towel, holding him in my top set of arms, leaving the bottom one free to prepare the milk I had gotten before and stored with spells in the fridge, warming it up in case he got hungry. Around the one hour mark, his sibling was born and immediately cried, waking up the other one. His scales were of a pale red, almost pink and he had a very small hint of horns on his forehead, this one taking it more from me than Krissie.

I took both in my arms and rocked them back and forth. Krissie looked at me with pain as she couldn’t take them in her hands just yet and moved on to trying and get the egg out. She cried and bent the bar even more, turning it in a piece of contorted metal.

“It’s ok, just one last push and you’ll be done.” Krissie breathed in and pushed one last time. The bright blue egg was the size of an ostrich’s one and I quickly gave the exhausted woman her twins and cleaned the egg before putting it in the incubator in the room and then turning on the heating, keeping it at her body temperature level.

“Oh, they are beautiful! I could look at them forever.”

“You did a good job, Krissie, I am so proud of you.” She looked at me with teary eyes, not of pain but happiness and kissed her. The twins stopped crying as soon as she took them. “Look, they are happy to be with you.”

“I see. Gods above this one has your scales and this one mine!”

“Yes. Have you thought of their names?”

“Oh, I had almost forgot! I had a long list but I forgot. Let me think, ehm, how about the one with the cream scales will be Hale and his twin Yule? They do fit, right?” I had something else in mind but hers were so much better than mine… Hale and Yule… I liked them. I nodded.

“I love them, what about the egg? Shall we wait for a little bit more?”

“Yes. Hey, I’m feeling very tired, could you hold them for a moment longer? I want to sleep.”

“Sure thing, rest and I’ll take care of them myself.” She smiled and when I took them in my hands she fell asleep, snoring a little. “Damn, she was tired.”

“I think she did a great job, never heard of a woman with such self-control, nor strength for that matter. Just one question: was she born like that?” I sighed.

“No, it’s my fault: when we chose to be, well, partners and slept together for the first time, she changed due to the properties of my body. It’s complicated and she was not the only one that ended up changing because of me.” I put the babies in the cribs I teleported to the side of the bed and switched on the monitoring system. “Does anyone want some tea or coffee? I have some the king gave me, it’s supposed to be the equivalent of kopi luwak, without the poop part.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll have some.” The doctor agreed and I offered some to the rest of the soldiers.

About half an hour later I had told them all of the story and what happened to me and my mates, among the stares of all the soldiers and the conflicted expression of Johanna. She seemed to be the one most affected by the choices I made and hurt in her feelings for some reason though I knew she understood why I made those choices. I felt sorry for her and what she had been through.

“Whoa, that is one, one hell of a story Aidan. I feel sorry for you and… a bit jealous if I have to be honest.” The captain seemed like a good guy, and one that didn’t really mind the whole situation as much as the others did, which was good. There were some weird expressions in their group but nothing that made me worry too much.

“I do not recommend to feel any jealousy for what I have right now: although I am capable of a lot of things but had it not been for Krissie, I would have ended on a bad path and who knows what would have happened then…” The mere idea of never meeting her was scary enough for me. How would have I ended up without her support? Would I have still found the strength to not fall into the darkness?

“She seems a nice woman.”

“She’s the pillar I look for when I am in doubt, my first ray of light in this world and I love her with all my heart, just as I love my… other partners.” My words felt a little too sweet, almost out of a poem from a seventh grader but they came from the bottom of my heart and they could have not been more true than this. Johanna frowned visibly and looked at the two sleeping babies on the monitor floating beside me.

“You mentioned these other two partners and I think they are nice people as well, could we, ehm, meet them? Are they going to come back soon?”

“It’s almost lunch time so they’ll be back with the ‘grocery’ soon.”

For about an hour, I kept talking with them until I heard the thump that accompanied the landing of the two dragons that lived with me. With the dozen men and women in my house following me with their hearts thumping, I went upstairs to the landing pad and welcome back Johanna and Karassus. The humans were scared at first, fearing that the two of them would attack out of the blue but as nothing special happened, they seemed to relax.

I gave the two dragons a kiss before presenting them to the group of now puzzled and flabbergasted humans.

“Everyone, these are my partners, Karassus…” He nodded and folded his wings. “… And, ehm, Johanna.” The woman in question looked at me when I mentioned my mate’s name. Oh, boy…this was going to be hard. “No, her name is Johanna.”

“Nice to meet you all. Who are they? Friends of the king? Oh, did you invite them for a play?” Her voice rang like a bell, happy to see so many people in our home. It was rare for strangers to come, only Colin and the rest of the village, with some exceptions had seen our home from up close, and even less had entered it.

“It’s complicated honey, they are from my world.” She raised her eye ridges and flicked her tail in surprised. “Yeah, and they have come to, well, rescue me but we have gone over that part. The important thing is that, this woman here, is the Johanna I talked to you about.”

“She’s me? Marvellous!” My Johanna extended her hand for her double to shake. “It’s incredible to meet myself in human form. I’d be a black person, huh? Weird.” She lowered her snout and sniffed at human Johanna, making her stumble back. A soldier got in the way and prevented her from falling on her ass.

“What do you mean with that? I am not you!” She seemed to pick up on what she meant but she was still not convinced or even sure that this wasn’t a joke. I had no way of helping, it was all on her right now. My Jo sat on her haunches and stared at the poor human in front of her.

“We both like jogging, exercising, you like walking on beaches when the sun sets and I like flying till it goes down, we both enjoy stories that do not end well for everyone, as a perfect ending is not real, we both feel like we can make a difference in this world and we both love Aidan.” She blushed when my Johanna said that and laughed at the embarrassment of the woman. The rest of the humans were getting tired of being shocked by now. “It’s ok if you don’t believe me, but please trust yourself when I say: don’t keep hiding and tell what’s on your mind.”

“Alright, Jo, you two have finally met, now come downstairs, I have a little surprise for you. No, actually, it’s three”

The two of them realized soon what I meant and rushed to see the babies, walking as softly as their humongous bodies could afford to and basking in the joy of the new lives they were looking at in that moment.

“I can’t wait to see what your egg will look now Aidan. I bet it’s green or red as your scales.”

“I hope so, Kar. Should we keep the shell when it hatches?” Jo gave the twins a nudge and they latched onto her snout, or tried to at least, their little fingers failing to get a grip on the sleek scales.

“What kind of question is that? Of course we have to! I still have tiny bits from Shia and Nara’s eggs, though when they were little they ate some parts. I had to put them in a box high enough.” In that moment, the twins woke up and demanded food to which I provided happily after warming up the milk and adding some extra proteins and vitamins.

“What now Aidan? Won’t you really come with us back on Earth?” The Captain spoke for everyone and Johanna, who was silently watching from the side-lines. I could not bear myself to look at her without feeling some form of guilt that I knew it had no reason to be, but was there nonetheless.

“How could I? I have a new family over here, children and friends that I cannot just abandon like this. I’d be alone there…” I realized a bit too late what I said. “I didn’t mean to say that. It’s just that… ugh, here I can share my gift with people, life is easier: no taxes, no work, no stupid rules and less noise. I just want peace and quiet. Imagine the mess that will come when I arrive on Earth looking like this… it’s going to be chaos, scientists will want to prod me, politicians will debate whether I am a danger, some will question my very existence and belonging to the world I was born in and many will try to kill me because I have literally met god and it is not theirs. Yes, I met god, that I didn’t tell you. That ball of light is not such a great guy all things considered as it literally thought that I’d sacrifice millions just to have one race survive. I’m… I’m sorry, Johanna, I still love you as before but, I can’t leave this place, not yet.” She raised her head and looked at me with eyes that revealed the swirl of expression within her mind.

“I… I get it, you have her which is basically me but… better. Of course you don’t want me, a weak and useless human when a dragoness is loving you, not to mention Krissie. I… know I am asking a lot, but can’t you do that, for me? For what we were meant to be had god not put its hand in our business?” The audience fell silent and I joined them. Her words hurt a little and the whole situation made it very hard not to step into dangerous areas. I had to think about my response for a long while, which made it all harder for me to say it.

“It hurts a lot to say this, Jo, but no, I cannot leave this world that is now my home just for you. Why don’t you stay instead? I think you’ll like it here.” Now it was her turn to be silent as she thought it over, though she only needed a minute.

“No, Aidan, I also have a family remember? Just as you, I can’t leave them thinking I have died here just to follow some… someone else!” She slammed her hands on the table and the cups and mugs shook, spilling some of the leftover coffee.

“Johanna!”

“Don’t call me by my name! Don’t think that I am like her! You chose her over me!” She pointed her finger at the dragoness who was peeking from the bedroom.

“I didn’t choose her over you, Jo, I chose her because she is you. I don’t care what she looks like.”

“Then why can’t you love me instead?”

“What does that even mean? I-I love you both, how can you ask me to love someone who is you more than you? It… it doesn’t make sense!” Why was she saying this? What was going on in her head?

“Johanna, listen to me…” my mate reached for her and tried to get in the conversation and help me calm her down.

“NO! You won’t speak to me like you are me! You claim to be me but we are different: you are a fucking dragon and I am not, you can fly and I can’t, you can do whatever you want and I cannot, you, you…” She dropped on the chair closest to her and cried. “You have him. I just… I just wanted to love someone that loved me back for once, just this once and then god throws everything into a dumpster like the rest of my life. I stole my own love from myself, isn’t that ironic?”

“Jo, you know I love you for what you are, because you are sweet and charming and determined, not for what you can do or how you look. For all I care, you could be a rock and still have the same personality and I would still love you.”

“Ok, then, tell me this one thing: if I were to live here, would you share the time for loving me between your three other partners of would you stay with me more? Because that’s what I love. I like having one man, not four different partners. I want to cuddle with you, alone in a house that is not made out of a tree, I want to grow old with you and not live with a century old dragon! I want you to come home with me and me alone! Can you do that, if you love me?” I stared at her, horrified. Jealousy was a real bitch when it peeked its ugly head from the hole it crawled in.

“Jo, I… I can’t.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll go back alone. You stay here and get fucked by some dragon that you love just as much as me because obviously I don’t have any more value than him!” After that, she stormed off the room and sat alone on the porch until someone else went to console her. Johanna was confused and sad at the same time.

“I don’t understand… we are the same, parallel version of the same person, why did she react like that?” The doctor took of her glasses and put down the cup of tea I gave her, sighing.

“Maybe because she is a human and has lived a different life. Sure, you may have the same tastes, but your lives are different, similar maybe but not identical. Parallel universes cannot be identical otherwise they would not be parallel and they’d be the same, she is like you, but she is not you. Maybe you thought that since you were so similar, that she’d react the same way, but you made a big mistake, not that I resent you. Boy, I am sure that you have changed a lot, it would be stupid of you if you didn’t, but she cannot live with someone that has changed so much. Let her digest this and then we will go back.”

“How will you do it?”

“We have set a return mechanism: once some time passes for us, regardless of how much has passed on the other side, we’ll return home. We just need to get back to where we arrived earlier.”

“And then what?”

“We’ll tell the world you have died or that you cannot go back, make some lame excuse and then be done with this whole mess.” The captain chimed in, head hanging low. He knew he couldn’t force me to get back with them, not by a long shot, so he’d be forced to lie.

“But what about the rest, making contact with this world?”

“Aidan, America has spent close to several hundred million dollars’ worth of tax money to get here as a sign of goodwill towards your nation but more as a political statement. They are of course interested in trading and refining this tech to travel, but so far, only Johanna has managed to open it by some stroke of luck after she repainted the dragon several times. There might be some psychological thing involved or the god that you talked about but this is as far as we go. We’ll take some souvenirs and then leave it at that.”

“Do you have something that might interest Earth, aside from magic of course. So that the trip won’t be wasted after all this effort.” It thought for a few minutes and then decided to find something in the workshop.

“I do. Wait here for a moment then.” I teleported to my workshop and grabbed a few loose chunks of ore and crystals, the weakest ones I had like low purity adamantium and discarded mithril, just to be sure that they’d not get their dirty hands on anything powerful. America was not known for being gentle and giving when it came to resources or power and pure adamantine steel was not something that was I going to hand over. I went back upstairs and gave the man who had the largest backpack the ores. “This is some of the best metals I have, rare stuff, make sure that nothing gets out of a lab.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. What are those rocks by the way?”

“Adamantium and mithril. Like the fantasy metals.” I bet all the nerds in the group would fawn over the mineral I was giving them, I know I did and some looked like they planned to do so in a moment.

“Cool.”

“When will you be leaving then?” The captain looked at the tablet he had in hand and sighed. “Soon?”

“The deadline was designed to keep us safe and was set to twenty hours at the very most, after that we’d lose whatever connection the scientists have set up for us. It may be a bit on the low side but they wanted us back and hopefully alive. We have already spent quite a while here, mostly in getting to the capital and the king once the initial mess was cleared. We may have two or three at the very best.”

The group was clearly saddened at the prospect of leaving so soon, but with a deadline coming over they had to. Some wanted to stay and live here with us, which caused internal strife and forced the captain to get his men in line again. Karassus holed himself in the bedroom with Krissie and the kids, while my Johanna went for a long, long flight somewhere up in the clouds, planning on staying there for a while if I knew her well.

I made sure that the humans would know when to leave and then I’d teleport us to the meeting point and say goodbye, but there was one thing I had to deal with first. I approached Johanna as she looked below the tree, leaning on the branches that made the rail guard. She didn’t say anything.

“Why are you so angry at me, Jo? What have I done to you that makes me deserve this?” She threw me a glance and then her attention went back to the scenery. “I have children here, one more coming, I… I can’t leave.”

“Then why are you talking to me? I think we are done discussing this.” I grabbed her shoulders and yanked her off the rail guard, forcing her to look at me in the eyes. “What?”

“You expect me to leave my family just because you ask me to?”

“I wanted you to choose: me or them.” She scoffed and her eyes filled with jealousy. “I don’t share, I don’t like the idea of living with dragons and sleeping with them…”

“Do you even like me anymore?” I feared the response she might give me, whatever it might have been. She was silent for half an eternity. “Can you at least forgive me?”

“I still like you, or maybe I like the old you, the gentle man I fell in love with.”

“I’m still here you know? Under the scales and the extra organs and limbs…” If she couldn’t get past that, then we were done, forever. I couldn’t change and if she could not accept the new reality, well…

“I know that, believe me.” It seemed that she didn’t. “But you are too different now, I don’t think I can get on board with such a different life, Aidan.” I think my heart broke just a little. The captain peeked his head from the inside of the house, telling me that it was time for them to go.

I begged Jo to at least forgive me, but she fell silent once again. I teleported the whole group back to the clearing and watched them disappear into a hole much like the one that took me here a lifetime ago and with that, my old life was gone, permanently. I wondered whether they’d come back one day, maybe they would but for some reason, I thought that it was highly unlikely. Only Jo could open the portal as far as I knew, and she didn’t seem like she would be interested in doing that again. I went back home and Karassus greeted me with a consolatory kiss.

“She didn’t even say goodbye…”