“This is starting to get really disorienting.” Tina groaned as she sat up, or rather down considering their current position.
They were literally on the ceiling, pushed into the bottom of the white structure from below by eerie spiritual pressure.
“Then we should wrap our business here quickly and leave this place,” Selene replied, coming closer to her to help the Summoner girl up.
“How come this building hasn’t dropped to the bottom of the hole?” Miria tilted her head cutely at Asterios. “I couldn’t have been heavier than this whole thing. Right?”
A few chuckles answered her as the ladies smiled mirthfully. She pouted at them, pinching her sides a tiny bit. Asterios shook his head and crouched to place his hands over hers and lead them over her smooth stomach.
“You are perfect, and you know it.” He placed a fluffy kiss on top of her nose. “And no, you certainly don’t and haven’t weighed more than this facility. Something else must be happening here that keeps it anchored at this specific position.”
“It might be the cluster,” Abyss chimed in. “From what I can see, while the walls and formations survived the blast, they didn’t escape its might unscathed. There is damage here and there, some of the sealed energy leaking through the cracks, interfering with the characteristics of this chasm.”
“That would explain why the building is not going up or down,” Althea said thoughtfully. “Not enough of the cluster’s mana must have been present in the first minutes after the incident, causing the facility to drop. Then, it coated the structure with a layer that reacted to the surrounding force, slowing down the descent until it completely ceased.”
“Well, thanks to that we don’t have to dive any further,” Silvia commented. “Now, how are we going to get inside? It looks like the complex is in the right position, which would mean the entrance is somewhere on the side. It might be risky to peek past the edge but at least we have the rope.”
“You said that the defenses are damaged, yes?” Asterios turned to Abyss.
“I did,” she confirmed.
“Do you think we are able to penetrate them in their weakened state?” he asked.
“And if we do that close to the cluster chamber, that would save us a lot of time,” Althea added, receiving approving nods in response.
“Under current circumstances, you might still have some issues destroying these walls,” the mocha-skinned lady answered. “You could manage it if you went all out, but that might attract unwanted attention and possibly disturb the spiritual state of things, affecting the anchoring.”
“Bummer.” Miria clicked her tongue. “I’m still too weak.”
“You have grown greatly, do not disregard that,” the all-powerful goddess reassured her with the usual neutral tone. “Besides, there is no need for you to waste your energy on this. Like with the first one, I shall lend you a hand. This is a piece of external influence and I don’t mind affecting it.”
“Great.” Asterios got up with Miria, stumbling a little from the weird upside-down feeling. “Do you think we can dig straight into the cluster’s resting place or will that trigger something? That way, we could make it a quick in-and-out without having to explore the entire labyrinth.”
“The cluster itself should be the final safety measure as you have all seen before, so that sounds like a viable option,” she replied. “Follow me, then. I’ll be able to find the correct place without an issue.”
“Just watch your step, everyone.” Tina chuckled wryly. “I don’t want to have to repeat this entire sequence.”
The opinions on that were fairly split, but no one dared to ruin the plan just for a bit more fun. Grouping up, they walked carefully behind the floating lady. Seeing her nonchalantly glide through the air the same as usual made them realize that it didn’t matter at what angle and position she was. Abyss didn’t have to care about things like gravity or other external forces and could hover upside down whenever she wished to.
For a while, the image of her doing that under normal circumstances filled their heads and they couldn’t stop sending each other silly smiles. That notion certainly fit the bizarre woman and her tendencies.
Since they had landed at the edge of the structure, Ast’s group had a bit of distance to cover. It didn’t seem like the cluster was put anywhere near the outer areas, which was logical. At first, they simply walked ahead over the surfaces of rooms and corridors, but soon it became obvious that this facility didn’t have just a single level, similar to the previous ones.
From that point, progressing forward became a bit more troublesome. Thanks to the vine they were linked with though, they managed to slowly bring themselves to different floors, using the upwards draft and the rope to swing one person into the correct position and then join them one by one. The spaces separating the levels were big enough for a person to walk between so at least that wasn’t an issue.
This facility felt different than the other ones from the outside. During their first infiltration, Abyss had to penetrate through quite a thick obstruction, but there was nothing like that here. The walls definitely weren’t thin, but the sizes were incomparable. Either every structure was partially unique or the protective shell had been blown into pieces by the unimaginable blast.
Nevertheless, that didn’t matter much besides the fact that it made their job easier.
After about twenty minutes of moving through the tangle of white chambers and passageways, Abyss finally stopped. They arrived beneath a massive room, which had to be where the cluster had been placed. There were no other similar sites anywhere around and they had taken a few peeks past what had to be the middle of the hidden complex.
“To not disrupt the connections too much, I will create a hole wide enough to fit a person,” the mysterious woman announced. “That should be more than you need to slip inside.”
“Can you do it as close to the fake sun as possible so that the path to escape is decently close if something goes wrong?” Tina queried.
“I can try,” Abyss replied. “My judgment should be fairly accurate but I’m still operating from the outside so there might be discrepancies to my detection capabilities. You will need to be ready for the orb to attack instantly if I miss.”
Waiting a moment for everyone to prepare themselves, she did what they should have expected she would. The girls did their best not to laugh at the amusing sight of the serious and collected person in front of them suddenly rotating their body by ninety degrees just to arrive face-to-face with the floor. She then extended her finger and began tracing an empty circle.
Ast’s party observed her intently, curious about the technique their powerful ally would be showing them. It didn’t look like the all-consuming sphere again. Finishing the shape, Abyss placed her palm in its middle and the ring around it flashed purple. Her fingers phased through the white stone and curled in as if grabbing something. She didn’t push further than her wrist.
Then, she rested her free hand outside of the circle and twisted her immaterial one. With an audible scraping, the wheel turned. Bracing herself, Abyss yanked her phased arm back and pulled a long column out of the spot she’d cut into judging by what was going on. The chunk of marble or similar mineral was three times as long as she was tall and about half as wide. Casually letting it pop out of the hole, she let go of it and the big stick spun a few times in the air before getting sent towards the opening of the chasm.
Everyone waited with bated breaths but no attack came from the opening she had created. Things were quiet and steady. To further confirm that, Abyss bent herself forward and stuck her upper body into the cavity, surprising them a little. It looked even more comical from the outside but they bravely held back.
When their dark-skinned friend retreated and rotated into the correct position, she gestured at the hole. “There seem to be no complications. The cluster is not responding and I saw no creatures in the hall. You should be safe to move inside. I’ll remain here for obvious reasons.”
“Yeah, there’s no need for you to be anywhere close to that light,” Asterios agreed and looked at his lovers. “Same for all of you. I can handle it from here and come back to you in a flash. No pun intended.”
Miria giggled adorably but stepped closer to him with a worried expression. “Are you sure, Master? Do you need my help with it again?”
“I’m sure it’s still too early for you.” He kissed her forehead. “This is not something you can interact with so often. I promise I’ll be alright. I’m your True Dragon mate, am I not?”
~Allow Althea to join you,~ Tia spoke to him in his mind. ~It shouldn’t cause any problems for her and the energy might prove to be at least slightly beneficial. Plus, I would like to meet my old friend while in my own body, even if not made of true matter.~
~I’ll gladly fulfill your wish,~ Asterios replied warmly. ~I want to practice bringing people into the Ancestral Plane as much as possible so I welcome your help with it. Do you think it will take me long to be able to move everyone at once?~
~Unfortunately, yes. It’s not a simple feat. And not something True Dragons really do willingly so there is not much known about the process. I’m glad I can influence it from the inside and assist you with it. Maybe Althea will be able to provide us with some insight after experiencing it once besides what she has already taught you about entering here,~ his Dryad partner answered.
Nodding to himself, he turned to his beautiful mentor. “I changed my mind. If Althea is willing, I would like her to accompany me. She does share some affinity with this energy, and I would like to see if bringing a Lesser Dragon into myself has any effect.”
“That’s a great idea, Master!” Miria beamed at him. “We’ll make sure nothing disturbs you, then!”
“Very well.” Althea walked up to them and gently patted the panthergirl’s ears. “I admit such an opportunity makes me at least a little excited.”
The ladies took positions around the circular opening and watched the duo wiggle out of the vine so they could jump inside one after another.
“Woah!” Asterios waved his arms in confusion and quickly recollected himself.
He should have expected that the conditions inside would be pretty much untouched by the pressure surrounding the facility. So, he hastily flipped himself over before the sudden change caused him to crash into the surface he’d passed through just a second ago. With Althea following shortly after him, he caught her in mid-air before she too experienced the confusing switch.
Although, that meant he now held her upside down around the waist.
“Are you enjoying the view?” A ladylike chuckle reached him from below his waist.
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Asterios couldn’t help but grow a little warm at his mentor’s teasing remark. In the end, their clothes now once more followed the correct rules of gravity, and thus Althea’s cape and lower dress hung down her overturned figure, which graced him with the intimately close view of a plump behind and a rather seductive piece of dark green underwear protecting the lady’s decency.
Clearing his throat, he helped her stand upright and received an amused grin, spotting a fair deal of rosiness over his beloved teacher’s delicate face.
“You could have taken your time, you know?” Althea said with a tiny smirk.
He rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. “Since when were you such a temptress?”
“Even I like to be a little playful towards my mate when no one is looking.” She pressed her lips to his. “Thank you for the save. You can treat that tiny peek as your reward for being such a gentleman amongst True Dragons.”
Shaking his head, he reciprocated the kiss and they turned to look at the glowing sphere. It had a comparable spiritual presence to the first one they had encountered. The spacious chamber looked intact and there were no signs of monsters making it inside. Exchanging one more glance, the pair moved as close to it as possible and assumed a meditative position, repeating the same steps for the third time.
※ ※ ※
Asterios and Althea opened their eyes at the same time, finding themselves in the same places but with a different background. Happy about their success, they smiled at each other and started standing up.
“Althea!” An adorable voice reached them from the side.
A brown blur smashed into the Dragon lady as the mischievous Dryad came in like a blur. She let out a delicate laugh and allowed herself to be embraced, stroking her old friend’s back in return. But then, something made Althea pause, sensing Tia’s palms longingly caressing her skin too.
“Why am I naked?” she asked with a raised brow, withdrawing a bit to better see the frivolous plant girl.
The obvious perpetrator giggled impishly, especially since Asterios still wore his usual clothes.
“Why, do you ask? Have you any idea how much I missed admiring your gorgeous figure in person?” Tia replied, tracing her fingers over the contours of Althea’s sides as she took her sweet time to marvel over everything in between. “And, really? A quick glimpse at your panties is considered a reward? Maybe if you didn’t stubbornly wear any it could have been called one, but sister, you are letting our mate down way too much.”
They both looked at Asterios, who stood with his hands on his sides as their exquisite bodies pressed firmly together.
“See how unamused he is out there?” The lascivious Dryad pouted. “Instead, he would have already been in the middle of mating with one of us if you hadn’t failed to arouse him.”
Well, depending on how one looked at it, Ast’s expression could be interpreted as either amused or unamused.
Sighing softly, Althea extracted herself from Tia’s affectionate clutches. “You are being too much. I’m happy to see you in person again too, but we didn’t come here to fool around.”
“Of course!” Tia batted her eyelashes at them and still hugged Althea’s arm to her side, putting both of their figures on intentional display. “I’ll prepare a group ritual in a blink—”
“You are not going to trick us into a threesome.” The Dragon lady rubbed her forehead.
“Why not?” Her captivating friend whined needily. “Don’t you want to experience the feeling of having him embrace us together? We’ve always shared a connection. Yet, none of us expected to ever share the same mate. This is such a stroke of good luck.”
“Okay,” Asterios joined in before his mentor replied, snapping his fingers to bring her clothes back. “I’m slowly starting to understand Tia’s language. It might sound like all she wants is to indulge in the pleasure of the flesh, but that seems to be her way of suggesting things that might be of help. Isn’t that right?”
Tia’s caramel cheeks darkened visibly. “Maybe I’m simply just as insatiable as your demon girl…”
He walked up to her and caressed her lower back until his hand rested on her dainty backside. “So, what do you have for us this time?”
“You are way too observant for a male…” She grumbled under her breath, making both Asterios and Althea smirk faintly. “I was wondering which would be better, using this cluster on you or her.”
“The answer is obvious,” the draconic lady stated. “We should do everything we can to strengthen our mate.”
“Sure, it might have been obvious before, but now it’s different,” the foresty woman countered, becoming a bit more serious. “As I said, we share the same mate. You are now connected not just to a True Dragon but also indirectly to an Arch Dryad. Our bond is stronger and deeper than it ever was as friends of heart. Our affinities further align. I feel like there’s another path that’s been opened to us now, one that we haven’t previously considered, one where we intimately work together to achieve greater results for our beloved master.”
That got his mentor thinking for a while and Asterios wrapped his arms around both women. “Honestly, I’m still kind of out of depth here, but why not take a quick look at this place first? It’s Althea’s first time here, right? We can always come back after a brief tour to pick up where we left off, or even continue anywhere else since it’s not like anyone is going to interrupt us.”
Tia showed an eager smile and turned to her sister-mate. “Well, what do you say?”
Althea chuckled gently and met her eyes. “He speaks wisely. Almost. It would have been perfect without that noticeable hint of desire near the end.”
“He offered to take care of your heart and then your pussy and you are still complaining?!” The giggly girl looked positively offended. “That’s it. I can tolerate only so much. You are getting no dick today.”
She scoffed cutely while pushing her adorable nose into the air and wrapping herself around Ast’s arm, starting to guide him towards the exit. Asterios let her lead him while taking a glance over his shoulder, where Althea shook her head behind them with a disbelieving smile.
The duo stepped outside and she joined them a moment later. “So, this is what a True Dragon’s Ancestral Plane looks like… It feels incomparable to those scenes I witnessed through your memories…”
“Small correction. A double-hearted and one-sourced True Dragon’s Ancestral Plane. I don’t think they can usually boast with two sides to it and a giant tree between everything.” He snickered.
“Still, it’s as impressive as in the bits from our legends and stories,” Althea shared. “May we take a look from the air?”
Asterios left Tia with a peck on the cheek and stepped aside to transform. He ended up turning into an Onyx Dragon and both ladies hopped onto his back. Rising into the air, he made slow circles over the central land so that they could easily peer into every region.
“So many volcanoes,” his Lesser Dragon lover commented in slight awe. “Just one look makes it obvious that you are the descendant of one of the progenitors. Or two in this case.”
“Really?” He glanced back at them with his fierce head.
“The humongous mountain over there belongs to your father and is considered your origin.” She pointed at the crimson colossus. “Every True Dragon can peer into their lineage starting from that point onwards. It’s impossible to go backward though, that’s why it’s in the very center and everything extends from it. All the other volcanoes are his descendants. Yours is not only directly connected but even placed in the first line of succession, which simply means he deliberately brought you to this world.”
“That means if I had children who inherited the lineage, they would see my volcano in the center?” Asterios asked, trying to understand properly.
“According to our stories, yes.” Althea nodded. “Some theorize that it’s because every True Dragon is capable of developing its own bloodline, becoming kind of like an independent progenitor. In any way, I’m aware that you have correctly guessed most of the inner workings of this before so there’s no need to go over everything again. You can see however that your black volcano is much farther from the middle of that area, almost at the edge, but still directly connected to it.”
“Which means you haven’t been conceived intentionally through blood, flesh, and of course semen, but you still possess the qualities necessary for succession of the bloodline,” Tia added with a suggestive giggle. “This is actually a blessing in disguise as it allows you to claim pretty much any Onyx Dragon without having to worry about blood relations. Not that such things would stop these bastards. It’s not exactly rare for sons to challenge their fathers and take their mothers from them just to humiliate and crush them under their heel.”
“Stealing your mother from your father sounds so great.” Asterios huffed with incredulity.
“Different mindsets. Don’t try to think too deeply about it.” His mentor stroked his scales affectionately. “Anyway, do you think you could take us to one of your volcanoes or would that be too much to ask?”
He let out a deep chuckle. “Your Lesser Dragon instincts are showing, my love. I will show you everything you want.”
“Can you really blame her?” Tia laughed lightly. “This place is brimming with so much draconic authority that the first thought one has is to submit to the core. It’s only thanks to the fact that you care for us so strongly that we aren’t affected more by it. Though, sometimes I feel a slight urge to listen to its demands.”
“Of course, you do.” Asterios puffed out a deep breath, aware of the way the Dryad’s supple hips were moving back and forth atop him.
Diving towards the ground, he decided to bring them to the black one since it ended up being closer. Plus, he interacted with it much less in general. Flying through the opening from above, he slowed down their descent with his wings as the dark lava receded and revealed an ominous platform with a fierce throne. As the ladies slid off him, he transformed back.
“To think that a thing of such beauty belongs to the most vicious race in the universe,” Althea whispered in wonder. “The commanding presence it emanates is no joke. I’m glad I can feel the slightest relationship with it.”
“I guess I can’t exactly feel the same way because I’m its owner,” Asterios thought out loud, coming closer to brush against the onyx stone. “I wonder if anything will happen when you sit down on it instead of me.”
“I can’t,” she immediately replied, making him glance back at the pair.
“Why?” He frowned lightly.
“I simply… can’t,” Althea repeated, staring intensely at the monument of his power. “It’s like my very existence rejects the idea. When I think about it, my body doesn’t follow. Instead, it wants to do something like this.”
Both she and Tia slowly approached him and rested their palms on his chest, peering deep into his eyes. Observing his precious mates closely, he let them push him back without much force or intent, like they never intended for it to be more than a faint suggestion, and properly sat down on the throne.
The women he respected and loved kissed his cheeks at the same time and lowered themselves to one knee before him. Their faces were directed up to meet his gaze falling upon them from above. As they all stared at each other in such a position, it suddenly felt right. But, at the same time, it seemed wrong, and Asterios knew it was his human principles speaking up.
Yet, the three of them shared something.
A connection.
Between him, them, and something else.
He didn’t need to consult their bond to know that they were aware of it too.
Opening himself fully to the bubbling sensation, he straightened his back.
“Tia, can what we have previously done be conducted only inside your Tree?” Asterios asked with an authoritative tone.
The Dryad before him lowered her head dutifully. “No, My Lord. Any place will do with enough preparation.”
A pang of worry surfaced in his heart at acting so commanding, but his sharp eyes caught on the shadow of a smile on his mate’s exquisite lips before her gorgeous visage faced the ground.
She wasn’t disappointed. Quite the opposite.
Turning to his other lover, he met his wise mentor’s anticipating gaze. “Althea, are you willing to work alongside your sister for the sake of growing my might?”
She followed suit. “It will be my pleasure to assist your growth, My Lord.”
This time, he caught the tiniest hint of a shiver from the female Lesser Dragon, but recalling what Althea’s true desire was, he allowed himself to smile proudly at such a reaction.
“Very well. I am delighted by your unwavering devotion. You bring honor to my family and our name,” Asterios announced with dignity. “Now, rise, my beloved. We have a lot to arrange if we are to properly utilize this opportunity.”
He didn’t need to say anything more as the understanding passed between them naturally and the ladies immediately got to work. Making a quick cut on his wrist with a transformed claw, he extended it to the side and let his blood drip onto the floor. Althea and Tia dipped their fingers in it and began drawing a complex but familiar array together while Asterios watched their every move, falling deep in thought and focusing on that connection.
Splitting the energy from the spiritual cluster between the two of them?
Yes, he could definitely do that.
But why when he could simply take it all for himself and therefore make his whole peerage stronger as he was the one they drew their power from?
In the end, light existed to be consumed by darkness.
And he was sitting atop a primordial source of it, just waiting to be unleashed.
His smile grew more fierce as he witnessed his plan gradually unfolding at the hands of his capable mates.
There would be nothing left behind when they were done.