Blessed by Night

Though this place appeared to be sort of somber at first glance, closer inspection would confirm it to be a place beautiful beyond description.

Mal found it very similar to the forest in the movie \'Avatar\' at night.

There was only one building here, and that was a lakeside manor that was even nicer than the kind you would see on home improvement shows.

But there was something that was preventing Mal from enjoying the scenery.

The pressure.

It was even worse than Zeus\'.

Not only Mal, but Luna also felt if they made even the smallest move or breathed improperly, they were going to die.

And nothing could save them.

*Sniff, sniff*

Mal contacted Luna telepathically. \'Babe... did you-\'

\'J-Just a little bit! I couldn\'t help it, so don\'t say anything or I\'ll murder you!\'

Malachi was about to laugh at Luna\'s little incident when he suddenly heard two of the absolute loudest roars he\'d ever heard in his life.

His and Luna\'s ears bled immediately as they doubled over, and Mal\'s serpents promptly shrank under his shirt to protect themselves.

Out of the corner of his eye, Malachi saw two great creatures doing battle in the sky.

One was a charcoal gray dragon with a western style build, but a much more slender and bony body.

The other looked like a mix between a phoenix and a dragon, and was encased in burning blue flames bright enough to mimic the sun.

Both creatures roared at each other defiantly as they did battle.

The first dragon summoned a large lance made entirely of black thunder, and it\'s counterpart drew two swords made of eternal flame.

They swung their weapons in wide arcs, and generated turbulent winds even before their collision.

Thea: "BABE! STHENO! Stop fighting, you\'re scaring my new friends!"

As if the two were never in a heated struggle, both dragons stopped and turned toward the lake where the trio of smaller beings stood.

Underneath the weight of the dragons\' gaze, Malachi and Luna\'s legs turned to jelly.

They would have fallen over into the water, were an outside force not holding them upright. (Thea)

Almost on cue, both dragons flew towards the lake where they stood.

The closer they came, the bigger they realized that they were.

From faraway they looked like they were the size of a small building at most, but in truth both of them were closer to 90 meters.

When they landed on the surrounding lakebed, the dragon made from flame shrank, while it\'s more slender companion stared at them ominously without saying a word.

The dragon who transformed was revealed to be even more beautiful than Thea. (As crazy as it sounded.)

She was her same height, but she looked to be of Asian descent and had long, fiery red hair.

Like Thea, her body was toned, yet still very feminine and awe inspiring.

Her bright amethyst eyes were made only brighter by her blinding white smile that was present as she ran towards Thea with her arms out.

As she puckered her lips for a kiss, Thea clasped her hand over her mouth to interrupt it.

\'W-What are you doing, babe!? You know we aren\'t supposed to appear like normal in front of them!\'

\'R-Right, I forgot!\'

The red haired girl quickly turned her back and tried to make some small \'adjustments\' but the damage was done.

When she turned back around, she found Luna huddled over the lake as she traced her fingers in the water.

Malachi was rubbing her back as he consoled her.

"Darling... I-I\'m not ugly, right?"

"Of course not, Emi. To me, there is no one more beautiful than you and the girls."

"LIAR!"

"I-I am not!"

Emi hadn\'t been insecure in years, but as of right now she felt like she was in her pubescent body all over again.

She grabbed her stomach and despaired over the last bit of baby weight that she hadn\'t quite gotten rid of. (Her imagination)

"T-That\'s it, we\'re going on diets..."

"Eh? But you don\'t need to do that."

"I said WE\'RE going on diets! All seven of us!"

"Be serious..."

"I need your support in this trying time, so stop cooking so much!"

"Fine, you wanna be the one to tell Anna and Jo they can\'t eat meat and sugar whenever they feel like it? They are already having a hard enough time doing without potato chips and hot pockets."

Luna thought about it for a moment before still nodding, uncaring of the danger.

"I-I\'ll tell them... Maybe I\'ll lose a little weight when they punch a hole in my stomach..."

Mal rolled his eyes.

"We should also have more sex for excercise."

"I have absolutely no issue with that and am behind you 100%."

"With our eyes closed though... I don\'t think I want you to see me naked anymore."

"I\'m taking back my support."

"HONEY!"

Mal could only shake his head as he kissed Luna on the temple and rubbed her shoulders.

"Umm... hello there."

Looking up, Malachi and Luna stared into the face of the goddess from before and were briefly confused.

She was still extremely pretty, but she wasn\'t quite \'Oh my god, have sex with me now\' pretty.

\'Maybe it was just the lighting...?\' the couple wondered.

"I\'m Thea\'s wife, Jasmine. It\'s nice to meet you two."

"Wife? Weren\'t you just flirting with my sister and Aisha?!" Mal said sharply.

"Remind me, how many partners do you have again?"

"You\'re right, I\'m gonna mind my business."

Thea suddenly had one of her cheeks grabbed by Jasmine, who was now wearing a smile that was not a smile.

"Babe… who is this Aisha person? We agreed only on Nyx\'s daughter."

"W-Well yes, but she has a girlfriend that we didn\'t see! And trust me, she is exactly our type, but she seems to have a very cute shy and bubbly demeanor to her!"

Jasmine actually did look intrigued, but much to Thea\'s dismay she had yet to release her cheek.

"…We\'ll discuss it with the others. And I wanna go back with you to meet them!"

"Yes!"

"You\'re not off the hook though, princess."

"Aww…"

Malachi smiled wryly as he tried to ignore the heavy gaze of the grey dragon that was still breathing down his neck and staring ominously.

It seemed to have sucked in its pressure out of respect, but it\'s presence was still a heavy one.

"A-Ah, Thea..? This wouldn\'t happen to be another of your wives would it?" Mal asked as he pointed over his shoulder.

"Oh? Sorry, that\'s Bell-Bell\'s fiancé, Stheno. She\'s a little quiet and shy."

"Si mi ti shy." The dragon finally said. (I am not shy.)

When she finally spoke, her voice rattled around in the brains of the couple beneath her like nothing they had ever heard.

Their brains felt like they were about to turn into jelly.

"Hey, can you come back down to our size and speak in English? You\'re gonna make them pee themselves again." Thea asked the large dragon.

Luna\'s face went as red as her now slightly wet underwear.

There was a sudden burst of light, and the large dragon was suddenly replaced by a woman.

And briefly, Mal could have sworn that she was N\'Kai.

They both had deep, black skin and black sclera paired with glowing irises.

Only hers were red.

At 6\'4, she was even taller than Thea and Jasmine, and she had an even more cut and chiseled figure.

Her only clothes were a sports bra and a very tight pair of leggings that highlighted every muscle and curve along her lower half.

Her long metallic silver hair was tied back in a ponytail, but still crested all the way to the back of her legs.

"Apologies. As monster-kin, I thought you could bear the burden."

"You\'re a general, Sthen." Thea reminded. "There isn\'t a whole lot that can withstand your pressure."

Stheno folded her arms across her chest.

Her facial features were a bit robotic, but she almost seemed to be rather proud of herself.

"I forget that. I am rather potent, aren\'t I?"

No, she was definitely proud of herself…

Mal smiled wryly, as his snakes slipped out of his shirt.

"Nice to meet you…I know that I might look a little monstrous, but I\'m actually a kind of alien… though this kinda mistake happens a lot."

For some reason, Stheno\'s eyes narrowed.

"I don\'t make mistakes. My master is the origin of all monsters, frightening or cute, furry or scaly. Do you think I cannot recognize an i-"

"A-Alright! So what do you guys think?!" Thea suddenly interjected in an over the top manner.

While Mal was left a little stunned, Luna did all the talking.

"Thea.. what exactly is this place?"

"Fufufu.. Shall I tell you? This is… ah, wait. I never gave it a name… uhh, g-give me a second." Smoke was coming out of Thea\'s ears from thinking so hard.

"It\'s her personal world." Jasmine shrugged.

"Babe!"

"You\'re overthinking this, cuteness. Just call it Thea-Land and keep it pushing."

"Eh?! I don\'t like that one, I want something cuter and more mystical!"

"You\'ll survive, pookie."

"Stop giving me pet names and help me!"

"No can do, thickness."

"O-Okay, well I don\'t hate that one…"

Luna rubbed her temples as she tried to prevent herself from falling over.

"I\'m sorry… are you telling me that this is an entire planet..? And you are its sole owner?"

"Only a small one, around three quarters the size of earth I think. My dad\'s is a lot bigger."

"How much bigger…?"

"Infinite?"

Luna\'s jaw fell open and Thea smiled proudly.

"So what do you guys think? There should be more than enough room here to deal with your overflow, right?"

"I-I… yea, but where would they stay?" Mal asked. "That house is nice, but it doesn\'t look big enough to hold all of them."

"Oh no, that\'s where the rest of my family and brothers\' wives are staying. I\'ll create something new for the refugees!"

""…Excuse me?""

Once again, Thea smiled proudly as she held out her hands.

"We told you, this is my world. And that means that I can create almost anything here. Shall I show you?"