THE DRAGON'S HAREM

“What was that?” The Terror growled, leanded back and fell on her butt, cracking the wooden floor beneath her. She had never felt such a thing in her life, it was as if her whole body got pierced by a thousand blades, pinned to the ground. She couldn’t even breathe, her eyes went blind, and her mind refused to think.

Arad glanced at the old man, “Go bring her some water.” The shop owner rushed away as fast as he could. Arad needed this time to talk with the Terror.

“That was Merlin, the one you call the goddess of the labyrinth. She thought you were a threat to me and almost killed you.” Arad sighed, “But she shouldn’t try that again.”

The Terror shock her head and rubbed her eyes, “Damn it. Wasn’t she in trouble? She got that much power left?”

“She is winning.” Arad looked up, “But I can’t be sure for how long. She said the temple people could help us deal with the nightmare.”

The shop owner was too fast and he just returned with a full jug of cold water. He reluctantly gave it to the Terror, who gulped it whole in a second, ice and all. The old man looked at her with a terrified face. Some of the ice chunks in there were as large as an egg, and she swallowed them whole. His eyes shifted to Arad, ^Make sense^

“What?” Arad noticed the owner’s strange look and asked, only for the old man to slightly panic and point at a pile of items on the shelves, “Want to check more items?”

“Yes and no.” Arad looked around, “I’ve got something to take care of now. I’ll be back later. I’ll come back later to look for defensive items.”

The old man replied with a large smile, his hand to his chest, “You can count on me.”

Arad and the Terror looked at each other, stood, and walked away. They headed straight to the temple and quickly reached it.

Arad and the Terror approached the temple. The massive stone building looked like an ancient Aztec temple, all covered in vines and overgrowth. Standing at the top of the stairs, a bald monk with thick eyebrows, green eyes, and wearing a green robe engraved with gold. He looked down with a stern face.

The monk’s sharp glare fell on Arad and Terror, his face shifted into a frown. A large, muscular man who’s bigger than a human with a woman who barely covered herself. Without moving his eyes or head, he focused on his preferred vision; all of the pilgrims had left the temple.

^Should we really do this?^ For a moment, he could feel a rush of blood flowing to his head, but he couldn’t act upon it. This was the goddess’s order; she finally spoke to them for the first time in decades. And he is a monk; worldly worries, emotions, and desires shouldn’t stand in his way.

The monk threw everything into the back of his head and cleared his mind. He sighed, closing his eyes for a second and then looked at Arad and the Terror once more. They were really here.

The monk lifted his hand up, and a word came out of his mouth, “The guests have arrived. Lock the temple.”

When Arad and the Terror reached the top of the steps, the monk was standing there, waiting for them. “The council awaits, honorable guests.” From the frown on his face, Arad and the Terror could quickly guess that whatever Merlin did or told them, they weren’t exactly pleased by it.

The Terror only scowled at the cold treatment. She expected a warmer welcome now that the goddess of the whole labyrinth had sent them. But she had enough patience to ignore, unlike someone.

“Monk, what’s the problem?” Arad’s sharp gaze burned a hole in the monk’s back. “I’ve seen that stare before, the one right before you stab someone in the back.”

The monk froze in place.

“You looked at us, and then I sensed your gaze shifting to our surroundings. Both your breathing and heart rate increased for a moment. It was clear from how fast your chest moved. I guess wearing nothing but a simple robe worked against you.”

Faced by Arad’s glare, even the Terror in the back got worried, fearing that Arad would end up ripping the monk’s head off without following the goddess’s orders.

“You’re observant, one. Aren’t you?” The monk stared at Arad with a calm face. “Indeed, what you stated is true. But I wasn’t trying to harm you. I was simply frustrated at what order we got.” The monk looked back, “You’ll understand when you go inside. It’s not my place to speak, that’s the council’s duty.”

Arad studied the monk’s expression once again, but this time he couldn’t read into it. The monk was either honest or hiding his emotions well this time. Since it won’t matter anyway, Arad put on a smile. “I get it, sorry for jumping to conclusions on my own.”

“It’s not your fault.” Arad and the monk walked in the front as the Terror trailed behind them. “You need such sharp and confronting extinct to be able to survive. Both humans and monsters are deceitful, evil, and manipulative. Being paranoid is better than being naive.” The monk looked forward with a distant, sad look on his face.

“That depends. I didn’t live enough to know, but I’ve seen my share of the world.” Arad smacked the monk on the back, looked back at the Terror, “Excuse us for a moment.” He dragged the monk aside.

“What?” The monk gasped and Arad snuck a look back at the Terror and then felt the ground with his feet to sense if anyone was approaching. No one was around, “I can tell the goddess to cancel whatever she ordered. I do need help, badly too. But I don’t want it if it’ll put others in trouble.”

The monk smiled, “You’re a good man. But it’s me who can’t let go.” He patted Arad on the shoulder and walked past him, “Come, let’s get this over with.”

Inside the large council room, Arad and the Terror found themselves standing in the middle of what looked like an arena illuminated with torches, causing hundreds of shadows to dance around them with each flicker of the flames. Twenty masked monks were looking down at them, mumbling to each other.

From the large front door, a woman who covered her whole body in black clothes approached. Each step smaller than the one before, as silent as a cat, and as straight as a ruler. Arad, for a moment, thought she floated toward them instead of walking.

He tried to peer into her face, but the thick black veil proved to be doing its job well. Arad could barely tell she was a woman, let alone how she looked beneath all of those clothes.

The moment her eyes fell on the priestess, the Terror’s face paled.

The priestess spoke, “The goddess had wished for me to travel with you two. The council above has no intention of opposing the goddess’s will, so here I am.”

Arad approached and whispered to her, “So, you know the bald monk with thick eyebrows?”

“That’s my foster father,” she replied, and Arad sighed… “Arad…” The Terror pulled him away, “Get away from her… that thing is a shadow Terror.”

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