The dragon's harem

Merlin grimaced as she flew over the mountain, the violent storm pelting her with hail the size of fists and rain as thick as oil, half-frozen, frigid storm raged, growing stronger by the second.

She looked down, sending a wave of her magic deep into the layered stones of the mountain. The insides felt like a thick book, each layer telling a story of its own. Merlin's magic struggled to penetrate them, growing slower and weaker the closer it got to the mountain's heart.

It was then that Merlin realised the nature of the seal Merlin cast on the overgod's dead heart, and why they needed its power to break the seal on Zephyr. The heart itself rejected death; it was the overgod's first heart, and so the stronger he grew, the more powerful the heart got. Soon, the heart had developed an innate magic, drawn from the overgod's countless spells and enchantments.

The heart refused to be approached by anything and anyone besides its owner, always conjuring a destructive wave of reversed gravity. It doesn't beat, but with each faint nervous pulse, ungodly waves of gravity burst out of it, pushing anything and anyone away. Those pulses would then pull everyone closer, and throw them away again, shaking the fabric of their being.

Hati's seal worked by creating a space between the heart and the outside world, making the time needed for the gravity to reach the outside an eternity.

The prison cube works similarly; it uses powerful waves of gravity and space magic to push the target to its center, making it impossible for them to reach the walls and escape.

Any attempt to break the seal would cause the cube to implode and kill whatever was inside, that's unless someone can use an equally powerful repulsion power like the one the overgod's dead heart has. The problem, even if Arad absorbed the heart, it might take him years to master that power.

That is why he needed Merlin, her job is to coordinate with him. Have Arad swallow the overgod's dead heart and send him inside the prison cube at the moment a repulsion wave is about to explode, and then use magic to crush the cube after him.

If Arad made it in time, he'll be able to reach Zephyr, swallow her into his stomach, and then survive the cube's explosion thanks to the overgod's repulsion. But a lot could go wrong. If Arad failed to get inside the cube in time? He'll explode from the inside out.

If Arad got inside and failed to swallow Zephyr in time, she would get crushed.

If Arad got in too early and swallowed Zephyr? He'll explode from the inside out alongside Zephyr, who's inside him.

To make sure that Arad's timing is perfect to the millisecond, Merlin was now flying all around the mountain planting several time spells, space barriers, and powerful arrays that help her coordinate everything. The whole thing hangs on her not making a single mistake.

Seeing the sparks of Merlin's magic in the distance slowly decorating the mountain like a Christmas tree, Aella stood and looked at it with a worried face. What if this all fails? Would she lose both Arad and Zephyr?

"You're worried?" Behind her stood Eris. She looked at the mountains, "You know it's Arad and Zephyr we're talking about. They'll make it happen."

Aella looked at her, and Eris sighed, "It's not Arad and Zephyr that you don't trust, it's Merlin. That hiccup with the labyrinth still bothers you?"

While Arad trusts Merlin's abilities, most of his wives still think it is a risky move to have her be the one coordinating everything. But…they know that Merlin is their only option. Aella made it clear to Merlin that she is still worried about the small chance of her failing, and Merlin admitted that there is a possibility of her failing.

At first, Merlin wanted to move the whole mountain with her spell [Merlin's Move Mountains] into the labyrinth where she has more control, but the overgod's heart can't be moved against its will, and that thing is already dead to have the will to move.

Of course, someone else vouched for Merlin and vowed to help. Betty, Merlin's old teacher from her days at the university, stated that she'll do her best to pull Arad and Zephyr out if something fails.

Aella and Eris could see her. Betty was in Hati's backyard wearing a skin-tight yellow body suit, barefoot, and stretching, her sharp, crystal toenails sinking into the soft soil, shining with a glittering light. The large, smug smile on her face never faded, only growing brighter and brighter the more vicious the storm above the mountain raged.

By doing this, Betty was risking her life. If she managed to get in and failed to get out before the implosion, she'll end up dead with the two of them. The wives warned her, saying that she doesn't have to do it.

But Betty had another thing in mind, to lighten their mood, she proudly claimed that if Arad and Zephyr needed her help, and if she helped and saved them, then she would have as much lovey-dovey time as she wanted with Arad. And that the wives can't argue.

The other wives seemed to be powerless with such a mission. Except another one who secretly snuck outside and made her way to Hati's dancing platform.

Casually walking forward, Hati's daughters tried to stop her, but they soon recognized her and got out of her way. She checked the area and went to hide inside the mountain beside the heart. Sena, her presence is bound to calm the dead heart a bit.

Lastly, Arad, who sat alone inside the room, looking at Zephyr's cube with a longing face, full of worry, determination, burning passion, hatred for failure, and indomitable arrogance that could burn a hole in any catastrophe.

If he fails, it's not just that he might die, but Zephyr would also face her end. He can't let that happen. So he was now slowly but surely creating several layers of Vorvadoss's space magic, ready to at least teleport Zephyr out of harm's way. Arad has already died two times, he didn't mind dying a third time to give Zephyr a bigger chance of survival.

But in the room beside his, Kayden had just finished sharpening his blades. Not to slay Arad if he went berserk after consuming the heart, but to slay anyone who would dare get close to him. His daughter, Kali, had finally found a husband that she loves… so even if it meant killing Zephyr, he'll drag Arad out alive.

Everyone was preparing their own plans, but no one knew how fate would play.