Ren Duskbane had always known the world was cruel, but he never thought it would end like this.
Rain poured down the filthy alley where his blood ran across the cobblestones. The stench of rust, garbage, and wet stone filled his nostrils as his strength slipped away. His so-called "friends," the ones he'd trusted for years, stood over him with cold smiles and greedy eyes.
"Sorry, Ren. Nothing personal," one of them said as he wiped his knife clean.
Another chuckled, kicking his shoulder as if he were nothing more than trash. "You should've known better than to trust us."
The last thing Ren felt was the sharp burn of steel sliding between his ribs, and the laughter of betrayal echoing in his ears.
So this is it…? Dying like trash, forgotten by the world…
His vision faded to black.
But instead of nothingness, he opened his eyes to endless light. The rain, the pain, the cold—all of it vanished. He found himself standing barefoot on a floor made of glass, suspended in a vast void where stars burned and shattered like sparks of fire. The air was still, yet it pressed against his skin like invisible weight.
Confused, Ren turned in slow circles. "Where… am I?"
And then he heard it. A chorus of voices—seven of them—melodic, haunting, and suffocatingly sweet.
"Found you…"
"Our king…"
"Our beloved…"
"You're finally here."
Ren's body tensed as shadows stirred around him. From the nothingness, seven figures stepped forward—women, yet not human. Their beauty was so inhuman it bordered on terrifying. Eyes glowed like jewels, scales shimmered faintly beneath flawless skin, and each carried an aura so heavy it crushed the air from his lungs.
Dragons.
No—dragon women.
They circled him like predators admiring prey.
The first had crimson hair that blazed like wildfire, her eyes molten gold. She smiled, sharp and hungry, as flames curled around her fingertips.
The second was pale as snow, her silver hair flowing like icewater, lips tinted blue. Frost clung to her breath as she leaned close, her eyes soft yet possessive.
The third's laughter cracked like thunder, wild storm clouds churning in her gaze. Her dark skin glistened with faint sparks, each step shaking the void itself.
One by one, they revealed themselves—shadow with eyes like bottomless voids, radiant light with wings of brilliance, earth with moss-green hair and skin like polished stone, and chaos with shifting colors that bled and twisted around her.
Seven dragon wives, each embodying a different power.
Ren stumbled back, his heart racing. "What… what is this place? Who are you people?"
The crimson-haired dragoness tilted her head, golden eyes glowing like suns. "People? We are not people. We are dragons. And you…" Her clawed finger pressed against his chest, right where his heart had stopped beating. "…You are our King."
The others closed in, their voices overlapping like a maddening hymn.
"Our husband."
"Our treasure."
"Our only one."
"From this moment forward, you belong to us."
Ren's throat went dry. The heat of their gazes seared into his skin. He wanted to deny it, to run, but the void itself bent under their will. Chains of light and shadow coiled around his wrists, not to bind—but to mark.
A burning sensation seared into his skin. He looked down to see intricate sigils glowing on his arms and chest, each shaped like a dragon's eye. Seven marks, seven brands, each pulsing with a different elemental glow.
His body convulsed as raw power surged through him. His veins burned like molten fire, scales flickered across his skin before vanishing, and his breath steamed with draconic energy. His blood roared, his vision sharpened, and a crushing aura radiated from him strong enough to shatter the glass floor beneath his feet. The fragments fell into the void, swallowed by endless darkness.
"What… what did you do to me?!" Ren gasped, clutching his chest. His heart thundered in his ears, each beat louder, stronger, more monstrous.
The icy-haired dragoness leaned close, pressing her lips to his ear. Her whisper was soft, but it chilled him to the bone.
"We gave you what no mortal could ever possess. The blood of the Dragon King."
The storm-haired one smirked, her sparks dancing around his shoulders like chains. "But power comes at a price."
The shadow-haired dragoness caressed his jaw, her voice silken and low. "Your soul is ours."
The seven voices overlapped again, weaving into one command that echoed through the void like a divine curse:
"You are ours. Our husband. Our King. Our obsession. Until eternity ends, no one else shall touch you."
Ren's heart pounded as their words sank in.
Seven wives… seven dragons… all claiming me as theirs…?
The crimson one kissed his chest where his heart once stopped, and flames seared into him like a brand. The others followed—frost, lightning, shadow, light, earth, chaos—each leaving their mark until his body glowed with seven overlapping seals.
The void shattered. Fire, ice, storm, and shadow tore reality apart, swallowing him whole. His soul was dragged into the mortal world again, chains of seven colors tethering him to the dragon women who had claimed him.
Ren's scream was lost in the collapse of light.
His new life had begun.