The dragon's harem

Merlin watched closely as Isdis’s control did its job. It didn’t work like any normal magic, but was far stranger. She didn’t directly control the star, but highjacked Eris’s divine magic with her own will to influence the sun. Isdis’s divine magic worked like an imposter, taking others’ will and then mimicking it to take their place.

To the sun, Isdis looked no different than Eris. Control didn’t just give the power to dominate and order things and people around, but it gave Isdis the ability to influence, mimic, and trick anyone into following her will. When Isdis commands someone to do her bidding, they aren’t seeing her, but someone they respect, care about, or love.

The people of the empire already loved Isdis as she was their favourite princess for so long, so she didn’t need to mimic anyone else to exert her control over them. But if she wanted to control a stranger who didn’t know her, she would appear to them as someone they knew and attack their weaknesses directly to force them into obedience.

But this was the point where Isdis lost Merlin. Everything past that didn’t make any sense. Isdis’s will, her divine magic, in reality didn’t need to adhere to all of those limiters if the target she wants to control is weaker than her. To anyone weak, Isdis was their most loved, most divine patron that they would die for. They directly contract themselves under her will.

Merlin only noticed when Isdis let her, and what she found was both horrifying and surprising. Eris had already gotten out of the bath to divert the sun away so the world inside Arad could have a stable day and night cycle, and Isdis and Merlin herself stayed in the bath. All without Merlin realizing that Isdis had already broken her slavery contract, or thinking what she was doing was weird. What was she doing? Sucking on Isdis’s toes for almost half an hour before realizing she was under Control.

"That was a really painful bath. I hope you’re happy, aren’t you?" Isdis gave Merlin a smug grin, and Merlin growled. "Damn it! When did you?" Even though she realized she was under Control, she kept gleefully sucking Isdis’s toes, and she was even offended when Isdis tried to pull her foot back. It was like a painful itch that you can’t help but scratch, and the more you scratch, the itchier it becomes.

A whole storm burned inside Merlin’s head as two forces fought for dominion. One was her own will, and one was the will tainted by Control. To her now, sucking Isdis’s toes felt as important as breathing, and she couldn’t even slow down. She knew that she should be fine, that nothing bad would happen if she stopped. But the moment she even slowed down a bit, she felt like she was having a panic attack and Isdis’s toes were the cure.

"I’ll break this..." Merlin growled as she looked at Merlin with a furious face. "Just sit and watch, Arad." She confidently growled, and Isdis couldn’t help but smile. "Yeah, of course. Do you know I’m not Arad? I’m Isdis, and you’re sucking on my toes. Don’t you feel any shame?"

Merlin could see Isdis clearly, and she knew exactly what both she and Arad looked like. But somewhere in the chain of thought, she was mixing the two. The blond, blue-eyed woman in front of her was now her husband Arad Orion, and the titanic black dragon asleep on the moon was Isdis.

"What are you talking about?" Merlin looked up at her with a confused face. "You and Eris just almost blew Arad’s stomach with that stupid stunt." She stood and rested her fists on her hips. "That’s why I’m here to make sure you two don’t repeat the same mistake."

Isdis smiled. "So... you’re punishing me by sucking on my toes?" She shook her head. "And Eris isn’t even here; she left to take care of her heaven." She then tapped Merlin on the face with her foot. "Care to explain that to me?"

"You and Eris almost blew Arad’s stomach, so I’m here to punish you. You’re Arad, and a good way to make you understand how dangerous that stunt was and make sure you never repeat it is for me to suck on your toes, which in turn makes both you and Eris understand your mistakes." She said with a large grin on her face. "Is something of what I said weird?"

"Of course. You’re under my control now, and I’m messing with everything you know and believe." Isdis told her directly, yet Merlin was still confused, unable to figure out which part was controlled and which wasn’t. "Are you sure it’s working? I sure don’t feel anything strange."

Now, Isdis had to think carefully. Her powers are scary, and she needs to figure out if Merlin can break free or not. It doesn’t seem like the absurdity of what she makes her do matters, and Merlin herself now cannot even see the same reality as her.

"Yes, you’re under my control, and you can’t even tell the difference. For example, sucking my toes is a thing you’ll never normally do. And you were here to yell at Eris and me, not do this. Can you at least try to break free?" Hearing that, Merlin got even more confused. Since when sucking toes was weird? It’s a normal thing... of course, no one would do it... But now it’s normal...

She looked at Isdis’s foot for a second, and then started looking back at her own memories. Isdis was right; it should be weird. But not now, not for her, and not for Isdis’s toes; this was perfectly normal. Even though the contradiction was right there in front of her, she couldn’t see it.

"Ok, I’ll assume I’m under control. I’ll compare my past memories with the current ones through an external spell and see if anything wrong pops up, and I’ll then rectify that." Merlin pulled a tiny wand and swung it around, casting the spell on herself. Immediately, she started getting hundreds of warnings that something was manipulating her senses and perception of reality and her own thoughts. The spell was precise to the point it even could clearly tell that the interference was divine in nature and that it was coming from Isdis.

Merlin looked at all of that, and then smiled. "See? Nothing."

Isdis rubbed her face. "What do you mean nothing? The spell clearly says that I’m controlling you... Look, everything is flashing red." But even when Isdis pointed it out directly, Merlin just sighed. "What are you even talking about? Those signals are normal."

Seeing that, Isdis was certain that Merlin wouldn’t be able to break free any time soon, so she flicked her fingers and cancelled her divine magic. At that moment, Merlin blinked several times, looked at the red spell fading away, then at Isdis, at her feet, and then cried. "AHHHHHHHHHH! What was that... no, why?!" It was right there in front of her, yet she couldn’t tell reality from fabrication.

"Calm down, it’s over." Isdis waved her hand at her. "Do you think this would work on Arad?"

It didn’t take Merlin long to calm down. "It’s so confusing... But if you’re asking about Arad... no, I don’t think it will work on him."

"Why?" Isdis asked, and Merlin looked at her directly in the face. "Because he doesn’t think in the same way we do."