There hanging above the battlefield, Arlie spotted one of the most fearsome beings in the world. In front of her, the beast she’d just been fighting was groveling, its tail between its legs, its head bowed. The whimpers were pitiful, it was hard to believe she’d just been fighting such a fierce beast, or imagine the thing as fearsome at all.
Her heart only beat faster as she stared up at the rge form, bigger than a house, as it just hovered suspended in the air. They could only be described as majestic, an armor of scales covered their huge body. Each scale was colored various hues of silver, blue and green forming incredible patterns like the light shows she’d read about in the north and these same scales coated the wide wings extending the pattern across them. The entity regarded them with a fierce angur head, they had piercing azure eyes, huge teeth and majestic horns that formed a great silver crown. Only one word could describe the being looking down at them; Dragon.
Suddenly she felt weak and found herself slumping to the ground. Idly she noticed the twins were just as frozen as she was, not that she bmed them. There was no running from a dragon, no fighting. Dragons were flying tanks, few were the heroes who could face them and fewer still were the people that could fight one alone. All they could do was pray for mercy from the great being before them.
The dragon huffed and fire rained from the sky, like streaks of light. Each beast was pierced by the burning beams of fire, their shrieks filled the air moments before the smell of ash reached her nose. Nothing was left of them but piles of ash, she gulped as the Dragon descended.
Its great bulk settled onto the ground with a grace that belied its size. The great dragon gred at the strange rock, then huffed again. The earth itself rose up and speared the rock shattering it. Then fire rained down to melt it into nothingness, leaving nothing but melted rock behind. Arlie shrank a little, hardly noticing as the bite of the cold air became less.
A feminine voice suddenly filled her mind, “I was rather hoping we could speak, but it doesn’t seem that now is a good time. For now, you shall rest, I’ll talk to you in the morning young dy.”
The eyes fshed, and her world turned dark.
Children pyed all around her, spshing in the water and building castles in the sand. She smiled as she watched them. A young boy ran down the beach, a piece of cloth waving in his hand, while a pair of girls chased him.
Glowing lights flitted about, providing a magical feel to an already lovely day. A girl settled beside her, “Sometimes I wonder, why we can’t always have lovely days like this.”
She didn’t reply, words came to mind but she had no voice. For some reason that didn’t bother her.
Thunder cracked, the sky split. Terrors spilled from the sky.
Darkness flew from the cracks, swallowing the light.
Screams filled the air. Beside her the woman spoke again, “Darkness comes, it shall swallow all.”
Thunder cracked, fire rained down from the sky.
More terrors spilled forth, rising up from the sea to chase the children. A young boy was caught. The terror melted into him, and from him sprouted a new terror worse than the st. He jumped upon a girl frozen in terror.
Thunder cracked, new beings spilled forth glowing with light, they engaged the terrors of darkness. Spells flew, and more screams filled the air.
The ocean turned to blood, the skies darkened further. The dead walked the ground, gone was the sand and the castles, only blood and dark earth remained. The children and their mothers nowhere to be seen.
Thunder cracked, wings beat, and a voice boomed, “AWAKEN!”
Arlie shot up, the covers slipping from her small form. The slight chill of the morning air bit her skin, and light spilled from her window. Beside her, a form shifted, “Just a little longer, Mom.”
She blinked, when did she get into her own bed? Her gaze turned to the form next to her, it was Lily, nestled against her still sleeping and on the other side she found Rose. Her mind crashed as it tried to connect the dots, why were they sharing a bed!? What!? Was this a dream? It had to be didn’t it? Yet it felt so real.
For a moment she just sat there not sure if she was still dreaming or not, then memories of yesterday surfaced. Her heart beat faster as she recalled the dragon, then her mind bnked. What happened after that? How did she end up in bed with the twins? For that matter, when did she even get home? Looking around she saw her room, the desk in the corner, the nightstand with the magic mp, her familiar wardrobe. Over by the door in their usual spot were her boots. Gncing down at herself she found no sign of her wounds either. When did they get treated?
The body next to her shifted, drawing her attention to Rose. The girl smiled, “Morning Arlie!”
“Uh, Morning, um Rose? When did...”
The girl suddenly moved forward, pressing her bare breasts against Arlie’s bare side and kissed her cheek, “Last night was fun!”
Arlie blushed and sputtered.
Rose giggled.
What was she missing?
Lily shifted, “Rose? Stop teasing Arlie.”
Rose giggled some more, “But it’s so much fun!”
Lily pressed against Arlie, as she gred at her sister, “Rose. Bad Rose!”
Arlie looked between them, her mind still trying to connect dots as she felt a warmth form in her belly. This felt kinda nice, but what was going on? “Lily? When did we get back?”
Lily shrugged, “Don’t know, the st thing I remember is a big dragon nding and a voice telling me to sleep. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t help but obey.”
Suddenly a voice echoed in her head, “Girls! Time to get up, breakfast!”
Her stomach rumbled suddenly reminding her that she’d skipped dinner. Sure she didn’t eat much in the first pce but it wasn’t pleasant to skip a meal. Then she blinked when she realized she was walking naked out of her door. Realizing she needed to go back to get her clothes, she tried to do that. Only her body ignored her commands, beside her, the twins were walking along as well. Just as naked.
“Um? My body isn’t obeying me.”
“Join the club, I feel like a puppet,” responded Rose.
“Hey? We can speak!” replied Lily clearly happy about something.
“Small victories,” commented Arlie as Rose opened the door to the main room and they filed in. Her gaze quickly fell on the figure standing by her table, a rge pot in hand. The figure was female and incredibly beautiful, with long silky bck hair that cascaded loosely down her back and framed a sharp regal face. A silver crown studded with sapphires sat on her head. Her eyes were a piercing Azure that seemed to see right through her. A dusting of scales sat on her cheeks which only added to her exotic allure.
From her back sprang a pair of wings, coated with feather-scales much like those seen in depictions of gods, or more like those of dragons. Swaying behind her butt was a long sinuous tail armored in the same scales. More scales ran up her arms forming the impression of gloves and her fingers were tipped with short cws.
The woman sat the pot down, and came around the table, allowing Arlie to take in her legs and torso, she was fit, very fit. Her muscles could be seen roiling under her scale covered skin, but it wasn’t too much, just the perfect amount of muscle. The scales on her legs were like socks running up past her knees only to stop short of her thighs. Around her fleshy pussy she had a dusting of scales to frame her sex, more scales dusted across her belly in alluring patterns. Her bust was quite rge, yet seemed to defy gravity, scales cupped the underside of her breasts like hands trying to support them, yet didn’t cover her fat juicy nipples.
Arlie gulped as she took in the sexy dy, for a moment her brain was frozen. Not sure what to do. After far too long, a thought finally occurred to her, who was this? How was she in her house?”
The woman giggled, “Morning Arlie, been a few years, hasn’t it? Surely you haven’t forgotten me?”
Her mind just bnked. Rose was the first to speak, “Um? Who are you?”
The woman sighed, “Right sorry you were still rather small st time I was here. Introductions are in order. I am Aurora, one of the twelve Dragon Gods worshipped in the south. I’m also your guardian, and used to babysit you as well. Of course, based on st night, I might need to start doing that again.”
Arlie blinked, her mind racing to process that, “Dragon god? Babysitter? What’s going on?”
Aurora giggled, “Come, sit, you girls eat. Then we can talk. I didn’t come here just to pull your asses out of the frost, but we shouldn’t discuss things on empty bellies.”
Lily settled into a chair, and said, “So you’re the big dragon that saved us?”
Aurora grinned, “Sure did!”
The dragon suddenly pulled the back off a chair with a pop. It just came free as if it was meant to, leaving no sign the chair ever had one. She tossed the back towards the wall and it flew perfectly, nding as if she’d just propped it against the wall. Then she sat down in the chair and pulled herself up.
Arlie took a chair as well, happy she could move again. Nearby Rose sat down as well, “Nice to be able to move again.”
Aurora looked sheepish, “Sorry about that, but as a dragon mind magic comes very easy and I needed you three out here before the food got cold.”
Arlie gave her a look then grabbed a pte as she looked around. Even with that one question solved she had so many more leaving her rather lost. What was a dragon doing in her house of all pces? What did Aurora mean about being her babysitter? There was also that thing about being her guardian. There were just far too many questions and not enough answers, her belly rumbled again. She felt blood rush to her face again, and turned to the food.
On the pte before her was some kind of thin ftbread, Aurora had scooped a thick looking... stew? Into it, she wasn’t sure. It was brown like stew, with chunks of meat in it. There also seemed to be potatoes or something like it, but she wasn’t sure where the red tones in the brown sauce came from. It certainly wasn’t a dish she was familiar with. Touching the edge of the bread, she found it folded easily. Was this even bread? She wasn’t so sure anymore.
No utensils were given, so she looked to Aurora, she’d wrapped the bread? around the filling and was eating it from one end. Figuring that was the right approach she copied the dragon girl. Taking her first bite, fvor exploded upon her tongue. What was this!? It was incredible. She took another bite feeling the fvors wash over her tongue. It was warm, juicy, and fvorful. Quite different from her usual selections.
Aurora smiled, “Gd you like my cooking.”
Between bites, she asked, “What is this?”
“Interested are we? Well it's not really common in these parts but you should travel the world. Different regions have some interesting dishes. This one is a type of stew that you serve on a ft wrap called a tortil.”
“So it is a stew, how’d you get it this color?”
“Tomatoes tend to add the reddish tones you see.”
“What’s a tomato?”
Aurora produced a red fruit, “This is a tomato. They grow primarily in Southern Dragonsreach, east of the Drona’s Teeth mountains.”
Arlie, recalling her geography lessons, commented, “The elven nds?”
“Not all elves live around there but you aren’t wrong that it is elf territory.”
“I see,” then she let out a breath, the earlier subject coming back to mind, “What did you mean earlier about being my guardian?”
Aurora turned serious, “You my dear are the Bykuru Kinsara of the Contrey cn, do you understand what that means?”
Ria had called her that before but honestly no she didn’t. She shook her head.
Aurora sighed, while the twins just looked confused. “The Contrey family has a long and storied history. I was hoping you got to that point in your lessons, did Ria at least tell you about the family blessing?”
“Auntie Ria may have mentioned something about that, more than once. Not sure she thinks about it as a blessing.”
Aurora giggled, “I’m aware she might get more annoyed than you do about being mistaken for a kid, she wasn’t as blessed in the chest department and she’s a bit shorter than you.”
Rose smiled, “Hey I think they are both pretty cute!”
Arlie blushed a little, while Lily just sighed.
“Anyway, onto the important thing, the Contrey family was gifted powerful magic, but no member is more uniquely blessed than the Bykuru Kinsara. There is always one in the family, and currently that is you. As the current Kinsara you are the holder of the High God’s Blessing, a great gift that when the conditions are met lets you use power beyond your means and cast any spell. In addition, you are more gifted in the magical arts than your already gifted kin and more importantly you have a special connection with time itself, which brings me to why I am here.”
All three of them asked, “What does a connection with time have to do with you being here!?”
“As Kinsara Arlie dear can perceive time itself in a fashion most of us cannot. She might not be aware of it, but Arlie can peer into the future and see what will be before it occurs.”
Arlie blinked, “That’s silly, I can’t do that.”
“Not consciously no, you’ve never been trained. Normally I would train you in that upon your fiftieth year, but that is no longer an option. You have been having troubled dreams, yes?”
She nodded, “That doesn’t mean anything though.”
“Actually it does, let me help you.”
Suddenly Aurora touched her, Arlie’s vision exploded in a swirl of colors, then she was elsewhere. All around her she saw double, the branches of a tree stretched outward, the leaves decorated one glowed with light, peace and serenity, the other depicted war and darkness.
Words flowed into her mind, and she spoke each word with the weight of a god giving judgment. “Darkness spreads across the nd consuming all that is good. Monsters stir in their dens driven by the fires of war. Hearts waver as a false god rises seeking to overthrow the dominion of all that is right and evil chafes at its chains. Champions shall rise, and heroes will be summoned but they will ultimately fail lest the Last First Lord return to challenge the false one.”
Silence rained, then Aurora spoke breaking it, “The Kinsara has spoken and so shall it be.”
