As I returned to my family, well, they had not exactly expected me back. Maybe my bones, depending on the state they were in, but considering where I had spent the last twenty years? There are some annoying things to being Isekei'd you see, as the worlds tend to run the gambit of possibilities, and on this one? Well, it was a fantasy one yes. There were all the standard races you would expect in a generic western fantasy, and wouldn't you know it, but humans were not on the top of the totem pole. Hell, outside of a few areas, neither were most humanoids, and I was no dwarf.
Rather, in the Gleaming Empire, all us lesser races had to prostrate ourselves before our draconic overlords. Some of which were a touch different than the usual, the royal lines. One of the differences was that while they were a great deal stronger, they also had eggs far less often, with perhaps only one or two viable eggs in that clutch. And so, the birth of a royal prince or princess in the realm you happened to be living in, to say nothing of an imperial child? That might happen once every two or three human generations. And then there was a call for a tribute of companions.
Sure, dragons could eat anything, and once they matured? They rarely ate any of their subjects. At the same time, when they were young? When the instincts were wild and they tended to be at their most impulsive? Yeah, they grew out of it in a decade or two, but it was pretty much expected that all of a royal/imperial's humanoid 'youthful companions' would be sending up in their stomachs. Because this was a fantasy world, and the only rights you had were those granted to you by multi-ton flying magical reptiles.
To be entirely honest, it was also a temporary visit, as I checked in on the family of my youth on one of my rare days off. And there was the fact that Imperial Princess Syphassa had read something in a book on the care of humans and had me go out here instead of being able to to simply return to my foundry. Granted, it could be an excuse for her to snoop around, or at least talk with some of her other companions. But... I looked at my eldest brother across from me in the tavern.
Granted, we had already exhausted the small talk, and I'll admit that I was not sure what else to talk about, as there was no companionable silence, but an awkward sort of absence that stretched between us.. "So... how's the farm?"
Bert of Applesgrove By-The-River
Now, he was by and large considered to be a brave man, even if he was just a farmer and not a solider. Granted, the last month had been an experience, ever since the courier dropped off... THE LETTER. Seriously, he had to take it to the village shrine just to have the priests chant over it, darkness and evil radiating from it along with the scent of spilled guts and brimstone. The ink seemed to actually bleed darkness, oozing a sort of malevolence that stained the very world around the parchment.
It was a simple letter, almost innocent in the words, if not for the fact that something about it made you want to puke just reading it, something staining your soul as you dared to look on the profane. Something, that said that the younger brother that had been offered was stopping by the village and wanted to reconnect a little with the family. Innocent. Harmless. Until the words somehow conjured images of the skeletons dancing their way out of his families bodies, still alive and screaming as the bones danced and convorted in unnatural ways such as they did in the big cities.
But, if they did not meet with the one, with what had to be a Dark Lord of some infernal plane (such as Alice was always on about if they sinned and would be destined to if they lived in wickedness), well, what if he took offense and did something to the village? And so, Bert met with the stranger that could have been his moody and bookish younger brother, with a boy given up as tribute, who they never expected to live... or remember were he came from if he lived.
Which resulted in sitting across from a figure made of brass and gold who seemed to have been forged by the gods as a monument of pride and vanity, a towering figure that drew the eye and raised uncomfortable questions of his own sexual leanings with every twitch and movement. You know, something to distract them from the fact that the animals had been trying to flee, that the fish had vacated the river, that the birds had screamed of his coming... as every exposed candle turned a sickly green, a hint of yellow not quite an eye at its core, the wind stilling as the temperature rose and the clouds formed strange sights that spoke of doom and ruin even to those that could not read the script.
In addition to the thousand other things that screamed at him that this was no mere mortal, but a prince of the apocalypse. Granted, the almost draconic horns with a crown of viridian flames floating between them demanding the utter submission of all that saw him may have also played some small part in that. And this walking avatar of corruption and ruin was taking a sip of cheap beer in a way that was both obscenely sexual and awkward wanted to ask him about the farm.
He wanted to laugh until he fell unconscious. Or just get up and head over to the shrine and hope his little brother, who was nearly ten feet tall, would not follow. But, he would speak, plainly. "Its fine Matt... but what happened to you?"
At the very least, he seemed to be embarressed? Maybe? Or was that an attempt at seductive lounging and why the HELL was he thinking this, as the other... man spoke. "Well, you know how it is. Sometimes a dear friend decides to drag her other friends into a portal into an infernal abyss and you do such a good job of brutalizing and terrorizing them that they surrender to you." He took another drink, as Bert looked at him, feeling at touch empty. "Yeah, and I can safely say that was not the strangest or most traumatizing thing that happened in the last twenty years. Top five though."
Just what the hells did they get up to in the Imperial City!
Imperial Princess Syphassa Hellreaver
She giggled, as Lakiss shared a tale of what some of the elves had gotten up to, and that there was a genuine Chosen Hero being anointed to combat the 'rising tide of darkness' due to the presence of a Dark Lord in the world. Really, so long as the little people knew their place, it was all good, even as she brought up the channel on the Vision Orb, and a war drama was just the thing to watch in the coming years. Really, it was one of the best things that Matt had made for her, as he was her best male friend ever. He was even, as she confided to her wing (consisting of Lakiss Glimmerlake, Midhaes Moonsong, Gioldriel Greenwing and Zessirarth Duskwhisper), something she would be planning her hoard around. Which was embarrassing, as she relaxed with the girls.
Just her, the four dragonesses and some of her minions minions (and she was watching those succubae!) doing their claws and applying oil and crushed gold and gem powder to their scales as they had a little spa day. Really, Matt was lucky that he was not a noble and did not have to deal with the tedium of empire and management. Still, he deserved a day off, and she wanted him out from under claw for a bit. And of course, as she grinned, she would have to make sure to polish him thoroughly later.
Still, now for the great and terrible task of deciding what to watch as her friends bickered about suitors and trade deals, as she slipped another damned soul into her maw, one stuffed with these delightful ghost peppers before they were coated in near boiling sort of cheese that actually had some bite to it.