I left the security of the castle and what was left of the empire to Kratos and Chlorophylle. I had to recruit troops by going out and finding them myself. Heroes would present themselves and in some cases we would have to fight them.

I was flying towards the volcano and the view was magnificent.

All that red! All that salt! What beauty!

Un lac acide d'une beauté inouie et des figures comme pétrifiées comme au lac Natron, sur terre [https://img.wattpad.com/107345e5cf83e5cfe660662e6bf4b7c50f721f51/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f64457a795834364566377a6a52773d3d2d313334373335333038342e313736336136666633376539643837333630383139343434393836302e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

An acid lake of unprecedented beauty and figures as petrified as at Lake Natron, on earth.

Un lac acide d'une beauté inouie et des figures comme pétrifiées comme au lac Natron, sur terre [https://img.wattpad.com/7d366136d201abfb2ef2bad886ec89ab69214b9c/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6e306d31333132617464687671513d3d2d313334373335333038342e3137363361373135633132643964663238393336303638323330332e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Animals and all sorts of petrified creatures.

It would have terrified me but I knew I was immune to all kinds of acids.

This is the "dragon", or the "basilisk".

A concentration of acid mist sufficient to kill you instantly and petrify you on the spot with crystals.

For me, it was a kind of dead painting, but it was important because no one would come looking for me here...

"MIRRROU!!!!!"

"Huh?"

Blanche, Krii and Kraa jumped on me and we crashed on the acid beach.

"Save yourselves! the gas will kill you!!! Hurry!"

But Kraa dipped his wing in the acid

"Great, that's it! The temperature's just right!"

I wanted to rush to save my favourite wyverns, but they too were immune. What dragons!

I breathed a sigh of relief. Then the 3 females came towards me like furious ganders.

"Mir... Mir... you're spending too much time with these humans... you're neglecting us!"

"???"

Blanche rubbed her neck against mine and rubbed her belly scales against my chest.

Krii and Kraa did the same.

"Brother... you know you're a beautiful dragon! and... I... love you too".

"But you're crazy! You're my sisters! "

Krii also rubbed her cheek against mine.

Kraa: "Mum's not here any more... we need affection, cuddles... we can't take it any more...".

Krii: "I want to see Daddy!

Blanche: "I want Mummy too!

I opened my wings and the 3 wyverns stuck close to me and cried as they licked my horns.

Their tongues ended up against my mouth and the next thing I knew, our tongues were crossing in our mouths.

Blanche lay down in front of me.

"Mir. I need you... Come!"

I looked to see that no one was there, neither orc nor shaman, and I was torn between taking the plunge and my mission. Then I thought about the violence of our lives, the possibility of being killed at any moment and that maybe with the war, I'll never have an intimate moment again.

"Blanche. I'm scared too... I'm Demon Lord / Dragon Lord and..and I didn't ask for anything..I'm in over my head. What if we have little ones? Could they be demonic?"

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She turned, "Mir... come on... I haven't laid my eggs yet, so there's no risk, not today."

She could smell the female and my instincts began to kick in hard.

I wedged myself against her and we felt our bodies rubbing against each other with our scales. They tinkled like xylophones and my sisters watched, interested.

We rolled onto our backs, caressing and licking each other to discover each other's bodies and their details.

White contrasted with my black and there was a certain harmony. Then nature took its course and I covered my beloved, my cheeks against hers and our movements and breathing synchronised.

I also thought about Dad's 'advice' and Blanche let out a little cry of surprise, then wept with pleasure.

She fell asleep, or rather fainted with pleasure, under the mocking gaze of Kraa and Krii.

Krii was pushed towards me by her sister.

"Mir... I love you too... I haven't laid eggs and I have needs."

"I'm sure you'll find a beautiful dragon one day or a gorgeous wyvern."

"Nah! You're the handsome one!"

And she jumped around my neck to kiss me while Kraa busied herself with something else, sending me into a fury of excitement.

They had been asking for it and they too were trembling with happiness.

Seen from above, it looked like a four-leaf clover, each leaf made up of the open wings of the 4 Wyverns lying on their backs...

Then I came to my senses and shame invaded my head, but the wyverns looked content, as if happy, fulfilled. In a way I had confirmed the fact that they were female wyverns and that we were first and foremost animals - intelligent, but animals.

Human taboos and barriers no longer applied, not even to me.

I was a wyvern with the knowledge of a human, not a human in a wyvern's body.

I took to the skies again, de-stressed and grinning from ear to ear.

It was certain. The acid lake would be our romantic destination!

I saw the shamans waving at me from the other side of the crater and they were coughing, others protecting their noses with cloths. It was no use.

They saw concretions of red acid salts on me and exclaimed: "Your majesty! you are petrifying".

"Oh, no, the acid lake is really comfortable, it dissolves all the little imperfections...

But I stank of pungency and my mere presence was terrible without even auras.

The cart was ready and I took with me, in my hind legs that were as prehensile as hands, the ropes that held a gigantic wineskin, open at the top.

"The acid will melt the leather... you'll have to pour the wineskin into the glass tank here!"

My orders were absolute and the shamans couldn't believe I wasn't using any magic.

I knew I was in danger of being observed and my previous session must have disgusted the Enchantress. And that was true.

My bestial lovemaking must have irritated her to no end. And this lake was as inaccessible by magic as it was dangerous.

The 3 other wyverns returned to the castle while I filled the tank.

I flew to the edge of the lake, then dropped the weighted open wineskin, which must have been 1m3, i.e. 10,000 litres each, well filled.

At the end of the day, we were within sight of the capital and, without asking for a second thought, I dived into the moat of the medieval city to rinse off all the stinking salt.

When I entered the palace, the smell of sulphur and rotting cabbage marked my presence.

During the night, the carts with the precious liquid would return to an annex managed by my wyverns and the monsters.

I knew that monsters would keep secrets even under torture, better than the most faithful of humans.

But this whole crowd could turn on me one day... I didn't trust anyone and, above all, I knew that there were other Demon Lords who would be after my place when the time came.

Not only did we have to fight to keep our place, but we also had to compete to become Demon King or even a deity of evil.

But I didn't give a damn about any of that.

I didn't think about it and I talked about it even less. I was afraid of the 'System' and the evil it represented. For some, it was the royal road, but for me, it was a divine intrusion into the rules of nature. An aberration!

One hundred years earlier, at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

A huge shuttle was ready for take-off.

It surpassed everything mankind had ever built.

It was the ARK, an ark that would join a megastructure in orbit.

It would hover like an aeroplane, pushed by detachable thrusters and then hook onto a mega-cable of the new orbital lift.

As the mission captain took his place on the podium, hundreds of children hugged their parents in a heart-rending farewell.

Maxime and Sacha were among them. Their family had disappeared in the civil war when they were babies, but their foster family and the orphanage were present.

It was also a celebration, a strange celebration because a piece of humanity was going to risk its life to explore the unknown and discover a new world.

Tranner: "Dear citizens of the new world 'Panthalassa', the super nation created through the joint efforts of all nations, our future is now brighter!

Our work in space has enabled us to avoid the famines we've seen in recent decades, as well as all the social inequalities. It's true that there are still wealthy people who have taken refuge in well-known nations whose names I won't mention, but we mustn't let that stop us from building a better world.

This generation, here, will not be sacrificed, but on the contrary, will serve as the basis for the survival of our species, of what we are and of our values. One incongruous space event and billions of years of effort and evolutionary struggle could be lost forever. So it's with the Ark of the ARK project that we're sending the best but also the most missed to live another life in another world. And so we hope, for generations to come, to be able to have a sister planet in space, friends and family somewhere. So we won't be able to say "we're alone".

He continued his speech, answering without flinching all the questions from parents, families and those who still doubted the need for this mission.

Of course, behind the honey of a better world, there was the thirst for gain, for treasures and riches to be exploited and above all a replacement planet for the 'haves' who saw in Alpha a paradise and perhaps a kingdom to rule, independent of Earth.

Money flowed in and billions poured in to complete the construction of this mega project.

The funny thing is that there were Alpha, Betas and X versions of the project in the pipeline.

The night was short both literally and figuratively when the Ark lit up the sky and joined the megastructure engine that would take everyone to Alpha.

The megastructure was like a city, with its built-in factories and all the equipment needed for a dangerous journey into the unknown.

The journey would take at least 35 years, but was expected to last 75 if energy was conserved. Those who left and returned would certainly never see those they had known again. And the messages, broadcasts and shows would all be shifted in time at some point. For example, at the halfway point, it would take 17 years to get an answer.

The secret mission was also to find the orbital laboratory and recover any notes, traces or anything else! And to find out what had happened to Professor Brillant!