The dragon's harem

The Elemental Plane of Fire was hot, burning hot. It had no air, just burning gas that engulfed the entire plane and gave an ominous crimson glow. Just a few kilometres in the sky, a burning white star drowned everything in its flaming heat, and that was the house of the goddess of fire, Kossuth, the Holy Nova Drakaina.

Right beneath that burning star, a second palace stood as tall as the mountains, with keeps of gold and brass that mysteriously withstood the searing heat. The pools were filled with liquid magma, and the vegetation was just metallic overgrowth of molten tungsten and charred ancient demonic bones.

Sitting on the edge of the molten magma pool, a beautiful woman relaxed on a foldable chair, looking at the blinding white star above as an entourage of horrifyingly beautiful Djinn maidens oiled her oak skin and massaged the rolling muscles resting on her frame.

In the molten magma, Amber was doing her best to resist the searing pain and soak in the molten inferno. To her, this felt like a really, really hot sprint that was enough to boil someone alive. "How... long do I need to stay here?" It had already been five hours of her staying there, and by now, she could barely breathe.

It was really embarrassing to think about as a fire spirit, but she might really have a heat stroke here. She had a Fire Elemental Bloodline and a Fire Spirit body, yet could barely endure the heat of Zaleria’s swimming pool.

Zaleria opened her eyes and looked at her with a grin; her green eyes flashed with light, and her black hair started smoking as if it were made of burning embers. "Until your material body melts away and only your soul is left. This pool’s main function is to help you transition without needing to die."

Zaleria then showed Amber her toned leg. "As you can see, I’m just a soul that is powerful enough to create a body with my own flames. I’m not a living being, but heat given consciousness. Even red dragons and fire elementals can still be burned if they faced a fire hotter than theirs by a lot, but I cannot be burned, not even by mother’s flames."

One of the Djinns gave Zaleria a transparent glass filled with white liquid fire. "And I grow stronger by consuming heat endlessly." She was much like Isdis when it comes to temperature, but unlike how Isdis is limited by how much heat her body can store, Zaleria can store an unlimited amount of heat, and she had been doing that for thousands of years now.

So while Isdis can use temperature magic to infinitely cool things down to Absolute Zero, Zaleria now wants to make Amber able to infinitely raise the temperature of her flames, as long as she has the energy for it.

"When Nar said she’ll bring me here, I thought that I would be learning spells and ancient magic... not doing this." Amber growled, and Zaleria laughed. "That’s how mortals train, and I don’t play their games. I’m trying to turn you into a monster that’s worthy to stand beside Arad, not just be a dead weight sucking on his wealth."

Amber sighed as she extended her arms forward and conjured a massive fireball of blue flames, trying to keep overcharging her fire magic beyond its limit. That was the key to slowly wearing down her spirit body and evolving into something stronger.

She was first a human, then became a fire spirit, and is now going to try to achieve something higher. For a while now, she had been feeling left out, with most of Arad’s wives growing stronger than life, and eventually some even became gods.

"I wish this would end up quickly."

Back at the frozen Arctic, Merlin had just learned that Amber is probably training under a war hero who can even cripple Nyar, and she probably doesn’t even know the magnitude of that. "Does she even know how powerful Zaleria is?" She growled, and Nar shrugged.

"Yeah, I told her she is the second strongest fire user in the entire universe besides the goddess of fire, which is her mother." Nar flew around Merlin’s head and then smiled. "She won’t find a better teacher."

"Won’t find a better teacher? Yeah, probably, but are you sure that Zaleria can hold down enough for Amber? For a Fire Spirit?" Merlin growled at Nar, and Nar shrugged. "What? Are you saying that Amber is too weak to be trained by someone as powerful and great as Zaleria?"

Merlin immediately caught Nar in her fist and shook her. "CAN SHE EVEN HOLD BACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?!" With that shout, Nar had to look away. Merlin’s concerns were warranted, as Nar knew for a fact that Merlin could even burn her to ash. It was horrifying to think there was someone out there who could use flames hot enough to burn a fire spirit queen, and it was even more terrifying to have them train just a spirit.

In fact, Zaleria’s power didn’t end there. Even if she had weaker flames than her mother, the flame goddess, Zaleria was known to be the strongest fighter of the two and the most aggressive. While the goddess of flames acted more like an angry and disappointed mother, Zaleria was a violent and aggressive drakaina.

Without wasting a single second, she sent two messages out. One reached Eris and immediately ordered her to go up to the moon and get ready for a deadly mission, and the second was sent right into Arad’s sleeping mind.

^Arad! You know that Nar took Amber to train in the elemental plane of fire, but that wasn’t the whole story; she got her to train under someone called Zaleria, a powerful drakaina. Go there with Eris and make sure no harm comes to her.^

Arad’s draconic eyes opened up, and a shiver ran down Altair’s spine, who sat above his massive back. He moved just a bit and growled right back through Merlin’s call. ^You woke me up just for that?!^

^Yeah, I did! You’re conscious, so keep those draconic impulses under control. Making sure Amber is safe takes priority. That place is too hot for anything to survive in it, but I just don’t want to send Eris alone.^ Hearing Merlin growl back at him made him smile. He might not be able to take a humanoid form now or control his draconic impulses that well due to the lack of his human soul, but nothing prevented him from still acting.

A second later, a titanic purple drakaina landed beside her, and she was both massive and horrifying, with radiant purple scales, burning eyes, and enough power to make even Altair jump back. That was Eris’s draconic form in its full glory.

As Arad and Eris were ready to set off, Merlin gave Nar a sharp glare. "The goddess of flames is one thing since Kali and Amaterasu have authority over her, but a war hero like Zaleria can slip beneath them both." Kali also only approved of Kossuth and never mentioned Zaleria ever. "I’ll have Zephyr tan your hide."