Shadowborn

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Bathing with Dragons

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Bathing with Dragons

By the time we made it to the bath, Noelle was dragging me along. I fought back a laugh at her sudden eagerness, completely in contrast with her completely straight expression. What exactly had her excited, I could only guess at, but feeling the faint echoes of her happiness through our Link made some of the tension in my chest unravel.

When we arrived in the smaller bathing room connected to the master bedroom, Safina had already joined Rhallani in the steaming waters. It wasn’t as large as the ones downstairs, but it was plenty big enough to fit my entire harem and then some with room to spare. Someone must have prepared the baths for us on our return. I’d have to figure out who and thank them, even if the servants under my care seemed averse to letting me do just that.

Rhallani’s clothes had been stripped, but Safina still wore hers. Soaked, they clung to her body, but she seemed unbothered. In fact, she looked to be having the time of her life. She was currently in the process of washing Rhallani’s hair with a wide grin on her face. Rhallani, on the other hand, was near unresponsive. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and her mouth hung open while Safina aggressively massaged the bubbles into her scalp.

Noelle wasted no time in shedding her own clothes. I helped with her shirt since she was still getting used to dealing with her regrowing wings. They were still nowhere near big enough to even slow her descent, but they had finally grown to the point where the joint was discernible. The feathers coating them were jet black and silky smooth, and I’d caught her on more than one occasion wiggling them as much as she was currently able with a small smile on her face.

I pulled my own shirt off and tossed it into the bin with the rest of the dirty clothes then kicked off my shoes, but I paused before shedding my pants. Safina was so absorbed with Rhallani she hadn’t even noticed us, but I didn’t want to just strip if it was going to make her uncomfortable.

I cleared my throat and her cobalt eyes shot to me. They lingered on my face for a half second before drifting down to my bare chest. Her delighted grin faded a little, replaced with a look that I was fairly certain contained a bit more heat than I’d expected.

“You’re welcome to remain clothed if that’s what makes you comfortable,” I said, undoing my own belt and watching her face closely for any reaction, “but bathing tends to be easier without them.”

It was difficult to misread the way her tongue darted out, wetting her lower lip while her gaze was locked on the belt in my hands. Her own hands had paused, giving Rhallani enough of a reprieve to focus on me. At an encouraging look from her, I dropped my pants and undergarments in one go and tossed them in the bin as well.

If her expression had been heated before, the current look on Safina’s face should have boiled off some of the water. Her throat worked and her cheeks darkened, and I could see the willpower it took to redirect her gaze to the Arelim in her lap.

“Right. I know that. I just...” She rinsed Rhallani off while Noelle slid into the water next to them. I entered a bit further down, sinking into the near-scalding water with a sigh while I waited for her to finish her thought.

“When I was collared, I never really had much choice on what I wore,” she explained, still focused on Rhallani. “Or when I wore it. Sometimes I’d get stuck in my armor for days because whoever I’d been loaned out to would tell me to suit up and forget to allow me to change. Sometimes I forget I can change whenever I want. Especially when I get... excited.”

Before I could respond, she stood. Rhallani whipped her head around so fast I worried for her neck, her wide eyes locked on the Half-dragon that now towered above her. Safina shot a hesitant look at me, but the fact that I was watching seemed to put her more at ease than anything else. She took one more breath, then peeled the soaked shirt off her body.

Her muscles weren’t as clearly defined as Jack’s, but her body still rippled with power as she tossed the shirt aside, leaving her in pants and a tight wrap around her chest. My body’s reaction to her muscled midriff and biceps that looked like they could crush my skull made me glad I was halfway submerged. The sapphire blue scales on her arms trailed all the way up to her shoulders and across her back, as well as along the sides of her ribcage and down towards her waist. Their contrast against her pale skin, helped along by the water trickling down her body, was gorgeous.

The wrap followed next, freeing her chest. Safina was well endowed, but with the size of the rest of her I often forgot that meant she had tits the size of my head. They spilled out of her wrap, her nipples already hardened. They were a darker pink, but they had the slightest blue tinge to them matching her scales.

Her pants went next, earning a small whimper from Rhallani as thighs like tree trunks moved easily through the water to toss her clothes out of the water as well. With her back to us, I could finally see her scales in their entirety. After going up her arms and over her shoulders, they met at the nape of her neck and trailed down her spine. They flared out to cover her sides, then tapered inward until they met her tail. There they flared outward again, covering her hips and going down her thighs, though they didn’t go any lower than her knees.

Left only in a set of low hanging undergarments that, in their soaked state, hid very little, Safina paused. She glanced at me over her shoulder while I took in her muscular back, toned hips, and thighs that Rhallani was no doubt imagining being crushed between. Not that I was any better. It was my turn to wet my own lips, and that small involuntary motion was all Safina needed.

With her back still to us, she made a show of stripping off her undergarments, bending over but keeping her tail in place to hide her most private parts from view. For a beat, the only sound in the room was her tail slowly churning the water from where it swished back and forth nervously while Safina watched me watch her, both of us apparently unsure of exactly how to proceed next.

Rhallani didn’t have that problem.

“Oh, I know that look,” she said after tearing her eyes away from Safina only long enough to glance at me. “He likes what he sees.”

Safina’s cheeks darkened further, but I fought the urge to roll my eyes lest she take it the wrong way. “She isn’t wrong,” I said. “You’re beautiful from horns to toes, Safina.”

This time the flush took over everything from her neck to her hairline. She dropped like a stone, dunking her head under the water until only the tips of her horns peeked out. Then a steady stream of bubbles rose to the surface while we watched.

“Fuck she’s hot,” Rhallani breathed. Then shook her head. “And adorable. It just isn’t fair.”

The bubbles stopped, but Safina didn’t re-emerge just yet. Instead, those two horns started to move. They trailed over towards Rhallani, completely ruining any attempt at secrecy. I fought back my laughter slightly more successfully than Rhallani did, but her giggles turned quickly into a squeal as Safina breached with enough force to send a small tidal wave across the baths and pounced on her.

“Zaren, he—” was all Rhallani got out before Safina dove back under the water with her. She came up sputtering as Safina carried her out of the bath and to the washing area, which was little more than a set of benches in a depression in the floor with troughs of water running between them. Of all the changes to the world in the last thirty years, the improvements of indoor plumbing had quickly become my favorite.

“We weren’t done,” Safina said in a sultry voice.

“Oh please!” Rhallani cried out in obviously fake distress, “don’t press me into your giant, sexy body! Anything but that!”

Safina grinned, crushing Rhallani into her chest with enough force to make the Arelim wheeze blissfully. She rose enough to sit on the edge with Rhallani still in her arms, then grabbed some of the washing powder and started working it into Rhallani’s body.

Noelle climbed out, grabbing some of the powder as well, and stood behind Safina to start working it into the Half-dragon’s hair. Now it was Safina’s turn to shudder as Noelle massaged her scalp. She started to work the soap into Rhallani’s skin again, but her hands moved with uncertainty this time. I wasn’t sure why until her gaze flicked to me again.

Well, I suppose it was a little strange for me to just sit there and watch. I dunked my own head, then climbed out of the bath and made my way towards them. Safina’s hands came to a stop while both she and Rhallani cataloged every drop of water running down my chest.

“Safina’s hands are busy,” Noelle said, a hint of amusement just discernible in her normally flat tone, “and mine are so small it would take all night for me to clean her. Perhaps you should help, Zaren.”

A shudder ran down Safina’s spine and her pupils narrowed to slits, but from the way her breathing picked up and her chest began to heave I didn’t think she was against that in the slightest. I coated my hands in the bathing powder and sat on the wall next to her. I stayed away from her erogenous zones at first, running soapy hands across her arms, back, sides, then stomach. Her body was just as toned as it looked, and every touch seemed to make her breathing pick up more and more. It wasn’t long before her hands were barely washing Rhallani any longer.

To my surprise, her scales were softer than I’d anticipated. They had a bit of give, closer to leather than to the harder, more armor-like texture I’d been expecting. And when I went from running my fingernails along her scaled sides to pressing into the much softer flesh on her stomach, a quiet moan slipped out of her lips.

Well fuck, if I wasn’t hard before I sure was now. And, since I was no longer submerged, it wasn’t long before the only one of us with her hands free wrapped her fingers around my shaft. Rhallani started stroking me with slow, long pumps, which didn’t go unnoticed by Safina. She gasped, arching into my touch, her breasts heaving.

It was Safina who broke the silence first. “Can we go to bed now?” she asked in a small, wavering voice.

Frowning, I forced myself to sit up and look at her, worried she might be regretting what had just happened. One look at her face banished those worries. She stroked Rhallani’s hair absentmindedly with a wide smile on her face. It faltered a little when she saw me, but more out of worry of what I thought than anything else. She gasped a little when I slid free of her pussy, but with our height difference that was the only way I was going to be able to lean up and kiss her forehead without her leaning down to meet me. “Of course we can. I’ll go grab us some towels.”

She hummed happily while I stood to do just that. She forced herself to sit up with some effort and had stood on unsteady feet, stretching towards the ceiling when I got back. She dried herself off, looking at the pile of clothes someone had left behind at some point, biting her lip. “Would...” She swallowed. “Would anyone mind if I didn’t wear anything to sleep? I don’t... my whole body still feels sensitive, and the thought of clothes right now...”

“Fuck no we wouldn’t mind,” Rhallani said excitedly. “One of the rules of the master bedroom is that clothes are always optional. Are you going to mind a little more fucking going on tonight?”

Her eyes widened. “More?” Her hand lowered to rest on her lower stomach. “I’m not sure if I...”

Rhallani patted her hand. “Don’t worry, you can just watch. Or not, there are private areas you can sleep in if you want as well. I just ask because Zaren here usually doesn’t go down after just one orgasm, and after he spent the night getting teased by a sexy Elf I’m sure at the very least me and Tiana will be sleeping well tonight. Serena too, probably. Maybe the twins. Noelle if she’s feeling more than her usual cuddles.”

I scoffed. “Good gods, the list is getting longer and longer.”

She grinned. “You’re complaining?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Safina’s eyes had widened, and one of her incisors was sinking into her lower lip. I put a hand on her hip. “Does that bother you? That there are so many others?”

She shook her head adamantly. “No! Not at all! I just... I was a little annoyed I’m already tapped after just doing it once.” She huffed, gathering her hair and pulling it over her shoulder. “And here I thought dragons were supposed to have crazy stamina.”

I wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze. “Tonight was your first time having real sex. Hells, Rhallani basically passed out after our first time, and now look at her. There’s plenty of time, and apparently plenty of me to go around,” I said, gesturing towards my already-hard-again cock.

That seemed to appease her. She wrapped her arms around me and the next thing I knew my world was being eclipsed by her bosom. “How do we divvy out cuddling rights?” she asked.

I heard Rhallani chuckle. “Usually it’s a bit of a first-come-first-serve kinda thing, but with how big the harem is getting we might have to actually come up with a system. But first timers always seem to get dibs, so you won’t have to fight anyone else off tonight,” she said, laughter in her tone.

Safina’s arms relaxed, but she didn’t let me go. “Good. And maybe watching him go a few rounds with the others will get me ready for one or two more.”

Gods help me, I thought. Did Allura know what I was going to get into when she gave me a magic cock? Without her boon, I very much doubted I’d be able to keep up. As Safina and Rhallani dragged me back into the bedroom where all the others were waiting for me with Noelle bringing up the rear, not a stitch of clothing between the four of us, I realized I really needed to figure out whether I was going to thank her or yell at her when next we met.

But, as I sunk into Tiana’s embrace with Serena’s lips peppering kisses across my shoulders while Safina pinned down Rhallani and began torturing her with her fingers and tongue, I figured that was a problem for tomorrow. Along with about a million other things.

# # #

Objectively I knew I was dreaming, just as I knew something was off about it. The dream was too realistic. Too vivid. I’d say too colorful, but there was no color in it. Just gray. For miles and miles and miles. At first I thought I was walking through snow, its color just a byproduct of whatever this dream was, but I quickly realized that was wrong.

Ashes coated the ground as far as my eyes could see, thick enough to go nearly to my knees. It fell from dark black clouds above, adding to the layer of death that fought against my every step. It sapped all sound from the world, leaving behind a silence that pressed in on my ears as if trying to break through to my mind and drive me insane. There was no wind either, just a painful stillness in the air.

I trudged forward through the ash, each step a labor to my exhausted legs. My shoulders were hunched, and my body threatened to fail with every foot I traveled, but I needed to see this through. I had to know for sure. Had to see it with my own eyes. I had to be certain.

I wasn’t sure if I walked for minutes or hours or days. I tried to count the steps, but I didn’t even have it in me to do that any longer. When the ground started to drop away I realized I was walking up an incline. A steep hill that was only just beginning to level out. I was almost there. Almost to the end of my journey. Almost to the answer I knew would destroy me.

When I got to the top, I stopped. My breath caught in my throat and my body sacrificed the last of its moisture to the tears that trailed down my face, cutting through the ash and grime. On the other side of the hill, the world stretched out for miles. Further than I could make out. An entire kingdom, visible from the perch I’d walked so far to find.

And it was all gone.

More ash was all that remained. Where there should have been towns and cities and villages, forests and lakes and farms and grassy plains, there was only an unending gray. The sky which had once been so bright and beautiful was nothing but angry black clouds. Everything was gone. Everything was dead.

Ash was all that remained.

I fell to my knees and shattered the silence with a scream that tore itself out of my throat. My very soul calling out for vengeance. For retribution. I could feel the lingering death in every breath. Taste the decimated souls filling my lungs. I screamed and screamed and screamed for the millions I’d failed. For the genocide I’d been unable to stop. Everything was gone. Everyone I’d ever loved. Every place I’d ever called home. There was nothing left. Nothing but me.

The taste of blood was a welcome change as I screamed my throat raw. A reprieve from the taste of ashes that coated my tongue. Eventually I ran out of screams. I knelt there, letting the ash slowly build up, ready for it to bury me. To become nothing just like the rest of my plane, even if I knew that fate was one I’d never get. Even without food or water, I would endure. It was my blessing turned into my curse.

I felt a ripple of something. Heard the crunch of someone else’s footsteps on the ash, but I didn’t turn. Didn’t look. It didn’t matter who it was. What they wanted. There was no righting this wrong. No putting the world back together. We had lost the war, and our realm had paid the price.

The pain of loss turned into a searing agony as a blade sprouted from my chest, slick with my blood. Crimson liquid on the crimson metal of a blade I knew all too well, even if the eyes I was dreaming through didn’t. My host laughed at first, ready to tell their attacker that a blade wouldn’t kill them. Then that laughter died in their throat.

Something was wrong. The blade was pulling. Drawing me in. Tearing something integral out of me. No, tearing me out of the body I inhabited. I scrabbled at the blade, trying to escape it, but it was too late. The edges of my vision blackened and the ashes slowly got further and further away, like I was being dragged down a dark tunnel. I tried to claw my way back to the world that had been my home, even if there was nothing left for me, but the pull of the sword was too strong.

The ashes faded away until there was nothing left. Nothing but darkness that was somehow worse than the ashes. Something lurked on the edge of my peripheral, but it always lingered out of sight. A familiar magic I knew would show me no mercy. Allow me no respite. No escape. The darkness was all encompassing. There was no sound. No sight. Nothing to touch. Just me. And time passed. An eternity, it seemed. Then another. Then another. Time held no meaning here either, and loneliness and insanity slowly stripped away what little was left of me. I let it. There was nothing left in me worth fighting for. Just pain and suffering. The darkness took and took and took until there was nothing left.

Until Ash was all that remained.