Dragon Core

by Sain Artwell

  Both of the Great Den’s ascended dragongods were visible now.

  Voidwalker had crossed halfway from Farmoon to Great Den. Corecrawler’s serpentine body of bedrock and magma had burst in the horizon with fanfare of a dozen volcanoes, right next to the stargod, which slowly rose towards the heavens.

  All that the Fivewyrm Ascendancy was anymore, if it was anything at all, was a grappling pit for the gods. Dust and chaos billowed as they tumbled, blotting the sky. Lightning, dragonfire, and flashes of starry lights lit the clouds.

  Alron sat on a prickly reef branch, three women by his side. They all watched, enraptured by the cosmic battle.

  “Since we are just dawdling about, how about some fun before death?” Fei suggested.

  Oqhizt shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll join you shortly.” Alron stared at the battle, unable to accept his predicament.

  “Maybe…” Sofi began cautiously. “Maybe we could trick them, so that the dragongods won’t find you when they’re done?”

  “No.”

  “But it might be possible?” she insisted.

  Alron let out a breath, fixing her a tired look. “These are dragongods, mature, ascended dragongods. I caught glimpses of Voidwalker’s mind. They view me as an anomaly, and as long as I refuse to ascend, I am a threat to their hatchery. If they cannot find me, they will wipe out the entire world and re-seed it.”

  Sofi paled. “Okay. Tricking them is out.”

  “Could we not negotiate with them? Hold the current generation of wyrmkin hostage with our knowledge?” asked Fei, now groping Oqhizt’s muscled thighs.

  “Generations are blinks to them. Only the worlds have value to them.”

  “Tsk.”

  “So, we kill them.”

  Alron, Fei, and Sofi looked to Oqhizt. Hands on Fei’s tits, she nodded confidently at her conclusion. “Don’t see better options. Do you?”

  An earthquake trembled the nearby puddles of seawater.

  “Really? We chickened out fighting one god. Now you want to take on all three? There are easier ways to die.”

  “So be it.” Alron stood, ready to go.

  Fei nearly fell from Oqhizt’s lap. “Really?”

  “To face a god in its prime would be foolishness, but Oqhizt’s suggestion is not without merit. Between the four of us—counting Apocalypse—we just may be mighty enough to bring down one wounded god.”

  Oqhizt began to grin. “Hahaha! Yes! Let’s go. Let’s slay some gods.”

  “Four? Can’t I help?” Sofi sounded disappointment, but there was little she could do—

  “You can.” Fei interrupted Alron’s thought. She drifted to Sofi’s side, tilting the girls’ chin. “Of course you can dearie, isn’t that right, Alron?”

  He met her gaze, preemptively set on curbing her suggestion, but paused. Right by Fei, Sofi gave him a look of determination that he could not dismiss.

  “She speaks of bonding with me,” Alron said.

  Sofi nodded. “I gathered as much.”

  “The process is not without its perils. It is no mere act of submission. You must be in utter control of your dragon-core, and yield that control to me. Submission is not in the nature of dragons, and your vestiges will fight you throughout this process. Failure, as many of my former lovers learned, can lead to a loss of self and permanent dragonization into a miserable state of half-being and eventual death. Risks may well be greater yet to one who has not awakened their dragon-core. Knowing all this, are you truly prepared to risk Mlevanosk’s legacy?”

  Alron could see the battle of doubts on her shifting expressions.

  Sofi tilted her head, lips in a firm line. “But bonding with me could help, couldn’t it?”

  “It would be a tremendous boon.” Mlevanosk’s claw turned vis into pure heat and shielded one who mastered it from high temperatures. That alone could prove vital for surviving a battle against the likes of Corecrawler.

  “Remember,” Fei chimed in, “Voidwalker won’t be here until tomorrow. And who’s to say how long a battle of such beings lasts? Carrion Scourge resisted us for months. Sofi has time to master more vestiges, perhaps even to awaken a dragon-core.”

  Immediately, Alron’s eyes darted to Carrion Scourge’s corpse sitting on Bronzebeard’s boat. Just as swiftly, he dismissed the idea. Though powerful, memories within those vestiges would destroy Sofi’s mind.

  Alron nodded. “True. But this war is one of an insect against an army. What Mlevanosk gave you may be more valuable than our victory.”

  “Well. The way I think it, if the dragongods see you as a disruptive force worth erasing, then I’ll be scrapped for certain. And… honestly. Don’t think I can do this alone. Maybe if I was a century old awakened master, but I’m not. My city’s gone, my mentor is gone. The only wyrmkin alive I know are you.” She chuckled nervously. “Is it really that bad if I want to be with you? Apologies, if it is, but I like you. You’re ruthless, but I think you’re a good man to your people. Let me be one of them.”

  “You already are.”

  “No. Let me love you. Let yourself love me. I won’t die in the bonding.”

  “You cannot know for certain.”

  “I swear I won’t!”

  Alron gave her a soft smile, caressing her cheek. “I’m attracted to you, incredibly so. Your spirit and resolve are the sort that I yearn for in my women. I’ve not yet fallen for you. It takes a long, long time for a jaded soul to warm to new love, but I need no foresight to know that if life was kind, I would fall in love with you. But know this, there is no undoing the bond, if you regret it.”

  “I’ve dedicated myself to a cult worshipping a once in a lifetime genius, helped destroy my home city, inherited knowledge that will change the world, and seen the gods do battle. Amidst all this craziness, there’s only one man who could anchor me in some semblance of sanity.”

  Fei almost said something snarky, but Oqhizt gagged her with a deep kiss.

  “Then I shall allow it. Though I do wonder, how many stars had to align for me to earn women such as you?”

  He gathered Sofi closer, giving her a small kiss, which she cherished.

  “You wonder why we’re here besides your chin, physique, determination, fierce gaze, hair, scent, sexual prowess, protective instinct, dominant disposition, and undying loyalty to your loved ones?” Fei asked, grabbing Oqhizt’s prehensile tongue before it could kiss her again. “For me personally? The ruthlessness with which you slew your enemies. And”—her tone turned weighty—“the love you showed for our precious girl.”

  Oqhizt moaned, struggling to free herself.

  “Now then…” Alron picked up after a relative quiet of earthquakes and cosmic thunder. “Let us find vestiges for Sofi, and bond, whilst the gods rape the world.”

  “After sex?” Fei proposed.

  “I’m afraid this takes priority.”

  Both Oqhizt and Fei groaned in frustration.

  They left Bronzebeard’s boat behind and flew over the drained ocean. All manner of secret chasms and abysses were laid bare. A great number of aquatic draconic beasts lay stuck on the seafloor, dead or dying. Scavengers fled Alron’s presence when he landed by the corpses to extract vestiges.

  Late evening of the following day, after a brief rest, the group studied their findings in a cavern with a view of the cosmic battle.

  “Another thew…” Oqhizt tossed an abyss-blue mesh of strings into the corner of rejected vestiges.

  Close to a hundred vestiges lay about the floor of dragonized coral. Their dim luminance cast the cavern in shades of algae and azure.

  Fei inspected a spherical vestige coated in pink bumps. “An emitter of some kind. Alron, would you mind?”

  She handed it over. Alron closed his eyes and dove in. He watched the last moments of a floating gardener—a majestic beast akin to a floating reef. It had died raging against the fleeting seas, shooting beams of boiling water like a confused fountain.

 
; Alron tossed the vestige in the rejected corner. “Taming that much rage would take too long.”

  “How about this one?” Sofi presented Alron with a spiral vestige of dull emerald hue. “I tried channeling vis into it. Pale dust appeared, and I felt it push on my hand, but nothing else.”

  “Let us see.” Alron inspected the memories within the green spiral.

  Scenes of the creature’s death were ageworn tapestries with faded details. In one moment, Alron glimpsed a sea-creature resisting the abyssal currents, and in the other a wyrmkin sailor battling a leaping bone-shark. In both sets of memories, the owner of the vestige drew on it to conjure a harmless beam of dragonfire, which propelled them forward at great speeds.

  “A promising find.” Alron placed it by the one other vestige that passed his requirements. “The beast had acquired it recently, so the memories are weak. The power itself is similar to a dustjet, which propels the mantadrakes of Dustwing.”

  “Whoa…” Sofi’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I could fly?”

  “Most likely.”

  “Oh, but I guess that wouldn’t benefit you. You already have wings.”

  “Speed is everything when battling foes the size of continents,” said Alron sagely.

  “Ah, right.” Sofi picked up another vestige from the diminishing unsorted pile. “I’ll enslave that one then, unless we come upon something else to enhance your speed.”

  They didn’t. In addition to the spiral seajet, the only viable vestiges of note were a carapace heart, which could restructure and create bones, and a scintillating eye, which granted surprisingly advanced foresight. If Sofi had had any experience with oracular vestiges, Alron’s choice would’ve been the eye, but alas. Her final choice was the seajet.

  And so, all preparations were done. In that dragonized cavern lit by the abyssal bounty, beneath a broken sky where gods bled liquid light, Alron stripped off his armor.

  Hunger glimmered within the three gazes scanning his war sculpted frame. He gazed back, just as hungry.

  Each woman was gorgeous, erotic. Fei’s was a beauty of hard-edged elegance, flavored by an inner madness. Tallest and strongest, Oqhizt’s one of martial strength. And Sofi’s one of comforting softness. If Oqhizt was a majestic beast and Fei a predator, then Sofi was a tiny prey, delightful to tease.

  “Might I make a suggestion?” Fei cooed, pressing her breasts to his side. “Since this may be our last time in a while, I’d love to help take these two.”

  “Granted.” Alron dragonized a piece of coral into a toy with two ends and tossed it to Fei. Every fold of Fei’s wet hot sex translated to him, when she, rather gingerly, slipped it inside.

  “Mnnnhh… Now, which of them shall we ruin first?”

  Alron rubbed Fei’s neck, calming her. “Do not rush. Come closer, you two, and touch where and who you please. This may be our last chance, so let us take a slow beginning.”

  The four became a slow tangle of limbs. Soft hands and careful claws caressed Alron. Tongues and lips left wet spots on his skin. For the longest while, all three focused on his cock, groping each other for his delight and their own pleasure. They took turns to climb on his lap and get kissed.

  Bodies grew slick with sweat and spit, glistening. Excitement built up slowly, for if this was to be the last time, they all wished to relish every flicker from buildup to finale. Grinding and groping gave way to tender sex…

  ***

  A snug collar pressed against her neck. Her leash was tied to the wall, forcing her body to press against the cold, slimy coral. Fei was behind her, helping them prepare a surprise for Alron, whilst he… Sofi’s eyes erred to catch a glimpse of him plowing Oqhizt with thrusts that might shatter a lesser woman. The two groaned like beasts.

  “Ready? Hold steady now, and keep your pucker relaxed,” Fei whispered to Sofi’s ear. She startled, eyes snapping back to the woman behind her.

  Fei slipped a smooth pebble, which Alron had dragonized, into her mouth and licked it wet. Hands of solid flames traced Sofi’s backside with silken fingers, gaping her rump, as Fei knelt behind her.

  “Here we go…” Fei murmured.

  A finger pressed into Sofi’s anus, releasing a trickle of Alron’s seed onto her thighs. She sucked in deep breaths through a ring which forced her jaws wide, and relaxed as best she could, as the cold hard pebble pressed against her, widening her oh so delightfully wide, until… Plop; it slipped inside. Sofi moaned. Some drool slid down her chin.

  “Good little slave,” Fei cooed, rewarding Sofi with attention to her nipple. “Now the next…” She picked up another large pebble, coated it, and slipped more slippery balls into Sofi’s backside.

  All filled up, she was led on a leash to the foot of Alron’s makeshift throne—a dragonized coral platform. His gaze passed over her, and the beads sprang to life. If not for all the solid fiery hands holding her up, Sofi would’ve stumbled at the sudden assault of sensations. Cheeks burning with shame and arousal, she struggled to meet Alron’s piercing gaze. A dollop of drool fell from her tongue to her breasts. Alron looked away and resumed breeding Oqhizt. He must’ve thought her absolutely shameless, a pathetic mess of a slave not worth fucking.

  Fei leaned by her ear. “Do you want his cock?”

  Sofi nodded, eyes locked on his erection.

  “We have a game for you to earn it. You like these games, don’t you?”

  Sofi nodded again, breathing harder as she longed for her prize.

  “I asked a question, slave.” Fei’s sultry whisper sharpened with an edge of danger. Fiery fingers rolled over Sofi’s clit. “What does a slave do, when asked a question?”

  “Ahhehh…” Sofi spoke through her gag, shivering as burning bright eyes turned to look at her.

  “Good. There you go. You’re a smart slave, aren’t you?”

  Drool slipped all over her breasts and tummy as she slobbered. “Ah ahha hahhh have…”

  “Good girl. Now answer. If you want it, you’d best beg.” Fei’s finger pressed into Sofi’s slit, nearly triggering her orgasm. “Beg his cock.”

  “Come then, let’s hear it,” said Alron.

  Sofi came a little. A horny buzz droned where her thoughts should’ve been. They all watched her, listened to her piteous gurgling of syllables and gasps, and looked at her with sneers. She wanted them to step on her, to spit on her, and laugh. She tried to say it, but of course, gagged as she was, none of it made sense.

  In the end, she was made to watch as the others fucked, and creamed the floor in Alron’s precious seed. Like a dutiful slave, she licked it clean, finally earning herself a taste.

  His hands wrapped around her horns in a vice grip and led her to his crotch. Sofi could not close her mouth, only swallow. The choker tightened. Beads vibrated in her ass, and Fei’s fiery hands roamed her sex, whilst keeping Sofi’s hands pinned behind her back. Like a good little sex toy, she gulped and gulped on his cock, hoping for nothing more beside her Master’s satisfaction.

  Distracted, deep in the headspace of a sex slave, surrounded by pleasure, Sofi didn’t even notice the vestige being implanted. At one point, she stirred to find herself ungagged and without the beads in her ass, catching her breath on a slab, while Alron and Fei shared Oqhizt between them.

  Erotic though it was, the sight didn’t hold Sofi’s attention for long. Deep inside Sofi, a new vestige drank greedily of her source vis. This time she didn’t have a purified source of vis to lean on to master it, but she did have help.

  “Um… Hey. I’m awake.” The others glanced at Sofi.

  “Well hello, dearie, sleep well?”

  “Lemme know if any of the healed spots feel funny.”

  “Thank you, they are all good. I mean. Nothing feels out of the ordinary. The vestige is there.”

  “Congratulations,” said Alron, thrusting once more into Oqhizt’s sex. “Are you ready to begin mastering it?”

  “I kind of have to be, right?” Sofi flashed a small smile and earned one in retur
n.

  Having finished inside Oqhizt, Alron detached from her and let the large woman slump atop Fei, who’d been using her rear. The two resumed sex, whilst Alron wiped his brow from sweat and brushed his hair back.

  “Then let us begin,” he said, joining beside Sofi. “There are many methods of vestige mastery, each with their advantages to optimize vis consumption against vis generation and maximum strength. The method we practised among Knights of Myrwing emphasized a balance, with slight bias towards endurance.”

  “Okay. How do I do it?”

  “Very simple. You starve the vestige of vis by feeding it to your other vestiges. The vestiges will fight you throughout the process. It is not pleasant. But it is swift.” Alron seemed to hesitate.

  Sofi caught on. “But not swift enough?”

  “It takes years. And we do not know how many we have to spare.”

  “Hmm. So, a dragon-core is required for bonding?”

  “A dragon-core unifies your vestiges. Without it, there would be friction during bonding.”

  “Okay. So, disregarding any other benefits of mastering techniques, couldn’t I master them with the fastest one? Right now, we need me to master my vestiges, not to become a great warrior who can actually use them in battle. All I need to do is make my vestiges submit to you by proxy of submitting to me.”

  “Careful with any ideas that seem too easy. Cunning minds have spent generations refining vestige domination exercises.”

  “Good point. Hmm.” Sofi tapped her chin. “This may not sound like a smart idea. I wouldn’t have access to my own vestiges, but what if you mastered them for me? You can manipulate vis already, it should be no hurdle to manipulate mine; if I surrendered control to you, you could master them as you please and build my dragon-core.”

  Alron frowned. “Its power would be forbidden from you.”

  “Okay. And? Apologies, but I don’t see a downside here. You could tap into it. Heck, Mlevanosk was one of the most powerful women I knew and she was a brain in a jar. I don’t need a dragon-core to try to be as badass as she was.” Sofi tapped her head, grinning. “She left me knowledge of the myth and enough schematics to build flying battleships. Between all that, I won’t have time to practise sword swinging.”