I woke up bright and early the next morning, even though yesterday had been bad I felt refreshed and happy, hopeful about the future. Lubus lay next to me with Rulan sprawled over his chest and Sikhez on his other side clutching his arm. I watched them all sleep for a moment feeling content until worry started to seep into me. Many of my sisters had been injured in the fighting, losing entire limbs to the cold. Hopefully Red and Lubus could do something about that, but regrowing an entire arm seemed a difficult process. What if they couldn’t be helped, what would become of them? They would, of course, be accepted and loved, but would they see it that way? Having only one arm would make it hard to wield a spear and even harder if not impossible to shoot a bow. Someone like Almamu could help teach the young hopefuls, but everyone couldn’t become a teacher not everyone would even want to.

I have an idea, a suggestion.

Red’s words hovered in my face, he could read my thoughts so he must be talking about the injured Naga.

Yes, what I have planned will help me help you better.

Red had always seemed distant before, almost cold. Now it was more like a conversation like I was talking to a real person. Well, I wasn’t talking exactly, but still.

I have been thinking, you might say, a lot. Being around you, being bound to you it has influenced me. I have seen what you have seen, felt what you have felt, it has made me grow. This island is extremely rich in mana, ridiculously so, it would be an excellent place to start a dungeon.

That made alarms go off in my head, did the core want to start another dungeon. That would only cause more problems, pose another threat.

Not just an ordinary dungeon mind you, through our already existing bond your people could ally themselves with me. I could heal the sick and injured, even make weapons for you.

That was the whole reason I had brought the core here, to help us fight, but I didn’t want to be dependant on Red. Besides, my people wouldn’t take to living in some cave deep underground. They had managed with the home cave, but that was out of necessity, we needed to come out in the sun eventually.

There is no need for that, with my help we could make it safe to live on the surface. I could build houses for you, defenses, a wall. You won’t have to hide away in caves any longer.

It was a tempting offer, but we would cripple ourselves if we let the core do everything for us. What did Red get out of this anyway? Dungeons, to my knowledge, wanted to lure mortals into their depths so they could absorb their life force.

Fine, I could provide the raw materials and teach you how to build houses and defenses, even how to forge weapons. I’ll only make the first buildings, so you have something to fall back to while you learn.

That sounded better, but it still didn’t answer what Red got out of this.

Besides setting up in one of the most mana-rich environments I have ever come across. I still want to learn, absorb new creatures, categorize them and the rate at which monsters mutate and change on this island is fascinating to me. I wouldn’t need adventurers exploring my depths to sustain myself, first of all, I get a certain amount of energy from your people living within my boundaries, secondly, I absorb power from the environment and thirdly I want to study the effects of mana on the wildlife.

Mana was what he got, it wouldn’t be a dungeon, not really, just a self-aware area that could make things out of mana incredibly quickly, it would be invaluable to our survival. It wouldn’t only affect me though, I would have to discuss it with my sisters and Lubus, see if he could heal the injured by himself. At first, though, we had a burial to prepare.

I don’t think he will be able too, Lubus has a lot of power now, but he is an entry level mage at best. You can’t just regrow an arm by casting a healing spell at it, it will close the wound sure, but nothing else. You need to actually take control of the spell and keep it throughout the whole process. You also need incredible knowledge about how an arm actually works and how it looks inside. I don’t have such problems, I can see inside everything, and I can just make an arm from scratch, but I need a connection, or I won’t be able to attach the arm to the body.

These were things I needed to think about, but after everything was taken care of. I leaned up and gave Lubus a deep kiss on the lips, he kissed me back as he slowly woke up.

Good morning, Lubus sent through the kiss, our tongues wrestled a bit more before I broke away from him.

“Good morning yourself,” I said, giving him a cheeky grin. Rulan was apparently not as asleep as I had thought, for her lips replaced mine as she leaned up to provide Lubus with an equally deep kiss. Lubus was startled at first, and I giggled as I sent him feelings of encouragement, and he relaxed into the embrace.

I could get used to this, I heard Lubus think as the kiss ended and he smiled up at Rulan and stroking her cheek with one hand, she turned away shyly, and I swear I could see her cheeks blushing. It was Sikhez’ turn next, she was wide awake by this point, waiting for her turn. Lubus took the initiative and put a hand behind her head to pull her lips to his, the kiss was sloppy but no less passionate, and I could feel my loins heating at the sight. I pulled Rulan around towards me to give her a morning kiss as well.

“Did you have fun last night?” I asked as the kiss ended, grinning madly.

“Oh yes, such pleasure I have rarely felt as I feel with that cock inside me. He’s the best thing to happen to this island in a long time, we should share him with our sisters, they could use some cheering up, especially after Vista died,” I nodded my agreement, even if last night hadn’t been tragic I would gladly let my sisters have a go. It would have to be done slowly and gradually to let him get used to all the attention.

What are you to conspiring about back there, Lubus sent as he sat up from his makeout session with Sikhez to look at us.

“Nothing important my love,” I said as I slithered over to them and leaned down to plant my lips against Sikhez in a morning greeting. We were all still naked, so I could practically feel Lubus’ eyes devour the display in front of him as I reached up to give Sikhez’ nipples a playful twist. She moaned into my mouth, enjoying the attention, but I broke off before we could get carried away. It was just as well because Rulan’s lips replaced mine, my Naga sisters kissing each other deeply.

I could get used to that too, Lubus sent as I helped him stand up, running my hands over his muscled body. I couldn’t help myself.

“You had better, or you will never fit in among us,” I said and gave his balls a gentle squeeze, my hands suddenly froze in place as Lubus stepped out of my grip, the invisible force moved my hands, so they were stuck to my sides. Lubus stepped back to, our bodies nearly touching, as he gently stroked my cheek and kissed me on the forehead.

I’d say I’ve adjusted pretty well, he sent along with a cheeky grin, what a tease. We don’t have time for this though, you have an elder to bury. He was so right, but his control over me only served to excite me even further, and I squirmed as I tried to calm myself.

“It would help if you could let me go, you know I like it when you take charge,” Lubus looked at me skeptically for a moment like he expected me to jump him if he released me. He sighed as the bands around my hands dissipated and I was let free, his customary robe appeared on his body hiding it from my view. I was beginning to see the benefit of clothes now. Rulan and Sikhez were still going at it, but they calmed down growing serious when I reminded them of Vista’s death. We donned our armor and exited the tent only to be stopped by a glaring Lilian.

“Is this how it’s going to be every night?” She asked, gesturing around at the tents and slowly waking Naga.

“I grant you that my people are slow risers, but the sun has barely risen, so I wouldn’t blame them,” I answered with a shrug as my sleeping companions exited the tent behind me. Rulan and Sikhez went off to see to their duties while Lubus joined me at my side.

“I’m not talking about their sleeping habits,” the girl said and blushed, “I’m talking about what they get up to at night, every single one of you who didn’t have guard duty.” I wonder what it is about mainlanders and their many hang-ups about sex. Was it just a way to reproduce for them, having children put certain responsibilities on you that we Naga hadn’t experienced. Maybe they had worn clothes for so long that they grew too shy, or perhaps they are too many so they are very guarded about who they sleep with.

“You are talking about sex,” I said, Lilian blushed a deeper shade of red, but nodded none the less. “I told you that you would have to get used to it, what’s so upsetting about it to you?” Lilian was about to say something but stopped and seemed to think about it for a moment.

“You know I’m not sure, I was out dream walking, trying to see where all the goblins had gone. I found something strange in the forest, but when I woke up to tell you about it everything seemed so wrong,” Lilian said in confusion as she clutched at her head.

Something’s not right, Lubus suddenly sent, ask her about what she saw in the forest.

“What was it you saw exactly in the forest?”

“I don’t know, it was something important, but I can’t remember, and then when I woke up I was so irritated about the sex that was happening around me. I mean I knew what was happening, I even peeked in on a few of you,” she blushed before clutching at her head again, moaning as if in pain.

Something must have happened to her while she was out there, her memory has been tampered with.

“That doesn’t matter now Lilian,” I said as I went down to her eye level, “Try to remember what happened in the forest.” Lilian looked into my eyes, I could see realization spreading there before there was a flash and I suddenly became exhausted. We both fell asleep in a pile right there on the ground.