Chapter 423 – A Mountain Joins the Ceremony

Nanoka had to teleport my wives up to the cliff. Eterna really is saying she can't carry anyone in this form. She can hardly fly, apparently. I think she just doesn't want to let my hand go. I'll need to keep Nanoka from doing all this work, as it isn't exactly fair to have her constantly teleporting everyone around.

Quite a crowd has gathered below the cliff. It's a bit hard to see the numbers with how high up we are. Are they even going to see Elo put the crown on me? I guess it doesn't really matter; it's just a bit weird. I would've thought the dragons would be a bit more flashy than this.

I guess the flight is the time to show off.

"Ready?" Elo asks.

"I guess," I say.

"Please," Elyne says. "I'm not meant to be on a cliff this high."

So that's why she ran away from the edge when she got up here. Most are a little scared. Shimmer and Elora are next to Elyne in the back of the pack. And Mommy is pregnant. Zarzi and her wives are the only ones who are close to the edge, but I guess Geta isn't too far back either. Can Valkyries fly?

"Like I said, there isn't much to the ceremony, my Queen. Most of that happens in the fight before this," Elo says. A gold crown appears in her hands, then I bend a little, and she slips it over my horns and onto my head. "You're officially the Queen. We're a bit too high up, but I promise they're clapping and cheering. I'm sure they're all excited to have better rulers than my daughters and me. Raise your kids better than I did. Our realm needs to get back on track."

"I'll do my best," I say.

"That's all we can ask for," Elo says. "Congratulations. I know this has been a long and hard journey for you. Fly to your castle and rest for a bit before the boring court, Your Royal Highness. We'll meet you there."

"Thank you," I say. My wings unfurl, and I jump off the edge. I'm sure Elyne is closing her eyes right now. I can kind of make out the commotion below me, and they do seem excited, so that's nice to see. I hope I don't disappoint them. I don't really know anything about being a Queen, but I will be nicer than their previous Queens. That should count for something.

A powerful roar shakes the air and even my heart, and then a massive golden claw appears and grabs me with another roar."LET MY MATE GO, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Eterna shouts.

"Quiet, chicken."

"Eterna, you're pregnant!" I shout into the wind.

"We aren't going far," the true dragon says. "I have business with this new Queen. I'm happy the chicken decided to play; it makes things easier. Just settle down. You know you can't do anything to me. I'm not here to hurt the Queen. The Goddess would smite me if I did that."

I see Eterna swoop around, but the dragon just keeps flying like Eterna's just a nat.

This is the third time I've been kidnapped. But I can't really blame this one on anyone. Maybe I can blame Dragon for it? The rest of my wives are too weak to do anything, and Eterna doesn't seem to be capable of freeing me.

Geta! She'd better be following or making sure nothing happens. She should be able to do something. I refuse to believe that Yzzorres is stronger than Geta. They have to have made a deal for this to happen.

It takes just a few minutes for a cave to come into view. The true dragon is too big to fit inside it, but we're heading right towards it, so somehow, it's going to work. She can't be both that stupid and this old.

I get tossed inside, and I can see Shimmer out of the corner of my eye before Eterna catches me and Shimmer together.

"So you really did just want to hold my hand," I say.

"Perhaps," Eterna says, staring at something behind me.

I turn around and see a very curvy, naked woman walking towards us. Her golden tail is dragging across the ground, and patches of her body are covered in gold scales.

"Now," Yzzorres says. "Time to get to work. I want to sleep."

"What do you mean?" I ask. "You've scared my wife, my mate, and put my child in danger! You could've just asked, and I would've come."

"That takes time," Yzzorres says. "Plus, the little chicken here wouldn't have come after you. If you even came here at all. I know you had a date with the chicken that was promised before, and you found a reason not to show up for that. So why should I expect you to show up for me? Besides, I hardly care enough to be doing that right now. Do you think I want to wait around and do it later? No. It was now or never, and Dragon made it clear it couldn't be never. So bring the chickens, and follow me."

"I'm not a chicken!" Eterna says. "Just because I'm not marked by a random Goddess or as old as you doesn't mean I'm not powerful."

"You're just a chicken," Yzzorres says. "Someone I didn't even care to mate."

"Shimmer, are you alright?" I ask. Hopefully, Eterna doesn't get Yzzorres mad at us.

"I- Please. I don't want to die. I'm your mate. Why would you do this? You- I- I'm sorry. Please, oh please. Not with my kid right here? Why did you bring her? I'm sorry."

"Shimmer, you're fine. I didn't plan this. You'll be fine," I say. Not that I can promise any of that, but I really should've let her stay in the other realm.

"You can't stop me," Yzzorres says. "I can do what I want. I'm the strongest being left in this world."

"You aren't," Geta says. "Normally, yes, you would be, but Alzi has given birth to several Goddesses, and I'm here. Right now, you can't do what you want. Maybe if you put more effort into becoming a Goddess, you could, but the lazy can't complain."

"I thought something was too divine around Alzi," Yzzorres says. "Then, how was she ever abused with you around? And I wouldn't be so sure about your power. I'm working to become your better, and I may already be there."

"I've made mistakes," Geta says. "But you're in the wrong form to try to do something to me."

"This is just easier to talk in. I can change back if you like. But you know what I'm going to do, and there's no reason to stop me. Death doesn't care."

"Alzi may care," Geta says. "But yes, so far it's just a scolding for not talking things through. You're safe, Shimmer. If Alzi can keep it together, then you should be able to."

"She is carrying my child in her arms and womb," I say. "But what is it that you keep talking around?"

"Making you a true dragon," Yzzorres says. "I don't care to be stuck in this form like the chicken. So I have to make you into a true dragon."

"I'm not fucking you."

"Didn't ask you to," Yzzorres says. "This way."

Shimmer must've put our kid to sleep, as Shimmer is the only one crying now. Well, either that, or royal dragons are just fine with the true dragon doing whatever she wants to us. I could see Dragon doing that. I am kind of calm about this, but that could be her mark's fault.

I kiss Shimmer on the cheek and start to follow the asshole.

"Is that a pile of gold?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Why isn't it coins? Wouldn't that be worth more?" I ask.

"You think I care how much it is worth? I'm the strongest non-divine being in the lower realm. Why would I care if my bed was worth more money? Do you think I'd want to go down to the city and ask some idiot to smelt down my gold and cut it into coins so they can steal some of it?"

"Well, they use coins in the castle," I say. "I was just asking. You've been alive long enough to have been weak before."

"You're bold," Yzzorres says. "Just shut up and follow me. I want to go to sleep in my pile of gold that I collected myself, and I don't care what others think about it."

"I've said worse to Goddesses," I say. "So don't think you're special."

"You get a crown for one second, and all of a sudden you need to be better than everyone," the asshole says. "I hate the Queens."

"Yet you helped them."

"Like they could've done anything to you."

"They almost..."

"Almost isn't worth anything to me. I gave you a chicken as a gift. I've paid you more than you deserve. Now shut up, and get over here."

Why does she have a cauldron? Is this really what she needs for everything? Why is it just in the middle of the room? Her temples are going to be confusing if she ever becomes a Goddess. I would think after all her years, she would have decorated this cave somewhat, even if by accident. But her bed of gold is the most she has. It's just a regular network of caves. Maybe she has everything deeper in the mountain, or she really has spent too much time asleep."Your mates, as well."

"Why?" I ask.

"I need their blood. What do you think they're here for? Move faster. I need to get this over with."

"I doubt you have anything going on."

"Would you like me to schedule a feast? I have some chickens here that would make a fine meal."

"Dragon would kill you if you tried that."

"I'm a Champion of Power."

"The same way I'm the Champion of Power."

"No, I'm an actual Champion. I've been her Champion for thousands of years."

"Yet, she just got a temple, so I think she may regret that choice," I say. "I've done more for Fertility than you've done for Power over thousands of years. Did you forget I have people supporting me? You can't just do whatever you want."

"Alzi, don't taunt ancient beings," Geta says. "Yzzorres, you kidnapped a Princess and her child, a pregnant Queen, and took a pregnant true phoenix on a trip. You have to earn their trust and not just demand things here. I can put you down, even while pregnant."

"So you could've handled everything," Yzzorres says. "Why did they struggle in the war? You could've just killed them all."

"Then Justice and Nature would've sent their angels down, and we would've had a holy war. I don't think Power would send anything if I defended Alzi."

"This is more trouble than it's worth," Yzzorres says. "Just give me the blood of the true phoenix and the Princess, and we can all go our separate ways."

"Be gentle," I say. "Both are pregnant, and one needs to be safe to breastfeed."

Eterna moves first, while Shimmer's a bit scared to give me our kid, or maybe just scared of letting Yzzorres get close to her.

Eterna drops the blood into the cauldron herself. I guess she knows exactly what needs to happen for this, just for someone to be turned into a true phoenix. I wonder if that's what they're going to do when I visit Eterna's Mother."Shimmer, let me hold her," I say. "Just for a few seconds. Eterna was just fine."

"I knew coming here was bad. You were..."

"Do you think I'm happy? I'm kidnapped, too, right next to you. I'm protecting you. You're safe. Eterna, can you hold our child? I'll walk up with Shimmer."

"Yes!" Eterna says.

"I'm not blaming you," Shimmer says. "I'm scared to lose to our kid in this realm. I wanted us to raise her. I've done most of the work, and I know you have so many kids. But I promised not to take the kid from you, yet I feel like I have to do that to raise her, and now she's a dragon in the dragons' realm."

"Eterna isn't going to leave our kid in this realm," I say. "She's ours." I need more bodies. It's a greedy thing to say, but I need them. I have spent time with Shimmer's kid, just when she's asleep or the little time when she isn't around, though that's probably a bad way to do that. But now isn't the time to fight her about it. Just get her to the cauldron so the lazy asshole can go back to sleep.

Things can never go as planned.