Well, as promised, 3 chapters, it took longer than expected, but it's finally here.
(1/3)
--x--
In the year 2818, Smaug's second child was born, a girl.
As he thought, Hera was fine and the child was a normal human baby size.
Smaug's features were more pronounced this time, the black hair, the still yellowish slitted eyes, the horns on his head, the strong claws and canines, and his scales were more visible than his brother's.
Honestly, she hardly looked like Hera, the woman noticed this, but didn't care, she held the child with love and care.
Smaug named her Hela, daughter of Smaug.
At this point, her first child was still barely crawling and speaking only a few unintelligible syllables. Elves grew very slowly, taking 100 years for what other species did in twenty, and dragons weren't much better.
It was annoyingly slow, but at least he didn't need to drink milk anymore, it finally made him go back to partying with Helena.
But now it was Hera who was unavailable, well, she couldn't take much anyway, but he had to be even lighter, or she wouldn't even be able to go breastfeed.
Tauriel also seemed a bit rushed at this point, she came first but two of his children were already born and neither were hers, this made her angry for a while and she almost, almost managed to beat Helena's time.
Smaug lived a happy dragon life.
It was also at this time that he was thinking about invading Moria, the orcs became smarter and hid deep, the spiders were also decreasing a lot, this made Suuron send scouts everywhere, so he had not hunted for some time.
Thoughtfully, he decided to go to Moria first, he didn't say anything to his wives, that is, he said he would go to Moria, but his destination is actually below Moria.
So he flew away after kissing his wives and children.
He went through the moon gate, he just had to say friend in elvish and that was it, he entered.
There had been no one here for a long time, the air was slightly stale, he snorted and moved forward, transformed into a bat and flew away, using his echolocation to guide himself and move forward.
He found some good stuff, like Mithril weapons and equipment.
He kept some, using the rest to strengthen his defense.
He didn't find any Orcs for a long time, but finally he found something, it was big, very big, it was moving, and he went towards it, until it stopped and transformed into a form that was still humanoid full of scales, with an appearance of a black dragon mixed with a troll, this form was only about ten meters, but it was still taller than the fire being in front of him.
As soon as he looked at it, his eyes shone, so much corruption! It looks... delicious!
The Balrog also noticed Smaug, he was not afraid, he roared and advanced, a fiery whip appearing in his hand, Smaug let the whip hit, nothing, his fire resistance insane, enhancement by corruption and Mithril, the whip didn't even leave a mark.
The Balrog paused for a moment, confused, but Smaug did not stop, he advanced roaring, opening his mouth and biting the Balrog, not hard enough to break, but to fix himself.
Then he sucked, the Balrog roared in pain and punched him, trying to make him let go.
He didn't, he could feel it, his magic, his power, his fire, everything seemed to be constantly being washed and strengthened.
He had never encountered something so corrupted and filled with power before, the Balrog grew weaker, and weaker.
His body was shrinking, basically a corrupted fire spirit, the stone shell around him falling away, in the end, he stopped, the corruption was over, there was still energy to absorb, it felt different, but still good to him, but he didn't absorb it, because he was shocked by the being in front of him.
It was made of pure fire, it barely took on a humanoid form, but from its contours it was possible to see that it was a female, its flame flickered, lit without wood, fallen to the ground unconscious.
-What the hell is this?! Is this a Maiar? It doesn't look like it, shouldn't she become a shadow trapped in the world? - He was confused, looking at the two-meter creature, much smaller than before.
"It seems... I only absorbed the corruption, so does she still have a form in this world? Did she take the form of fire? What is she now? Some kind of fire spirit?" Smaug shrank in size and looked at the spirit with interest and confusion, but then his eyes shone.
-She's a Maiar, so she's very strong, she was just unlucky to meet me, if I give her a physical body... - He licked his lips, looking at the fiery figure thoughtfully.
-How do I give it a physical body...? - Confused, he bent down and tried to put vitality into the fiery form.
The fire grew, she seemed to have no limits to absorb, so he continued to give, he had enough after all.
Soon the figure woke up, she looked around, confused, still in the form of fire, turned to him and asked. - Who are you?
-You don't remember? - He asked confused.
-I... who am I? - The figure wondered. - Aluna... yes, that was my name, Aluna, the war and... Melkor!
The figure flickered brightly, fire rising, he watched curiously as the being seemed to be searching for things and slowly finding them.
"You... what did you do to me? I feel so... full." The figure wondered after a while, finally remembering enough, but the memories as Balrog were blurry, she barely remembered part of it and didn't want to remember the rest, so she stopped.
-I put vitality into you, I wanted to make you take on a physical form, but I couldn't. - Smaug spoke sincerely.
The figure paused for a moment and then spoke, "I can take physical form, but I have to want it."
"Then do it." Smaug said with a smile.
The figure didn't, nor did he answer, but paused for a moment, thoughtful. "I can't go home, I can't feel him... I..." Desperation was heard in his voice, the fire fading rapidly, the energy dissipating.
Smaug's eyes widened, "Hey, my future general! Don't go away now!"
Smaug placed his finger on it again and put vitality into it, preventing it from dissipating.
-Stop! I don't want to live! - The figure shouted angrily.
-No, first, I saved you, you owe me, second, what's the point of dying? Waiting like a shadow for the world until the end of time, isn't that boring? - Smaug tried to reason.
-...thank you, but I still prefer to go. - The figure sighed wearily. - I did very, very wrong, I deserve it, all those lives...
"Hey, I'm not the best person to say this, but if you do something bad and run away, you're not apologizing to the victims. If you want to make up for the harm you've done, you should do something about it, not regret it for eternity." Smaug didn't care at all now, he just used her guilt to keep her alive.
The figure stopped losing vitality, it soon received enough energy, it stood there for a while, its fiery face fixed on him. "You look like a creature of Melkor, but you don't act like one, what are you?"
"I was once one, a dragon, now I follow my own path." Smaug shook his head and explained, taking his finger out of her fire.
-And what is your path? - The figure asked curiously.
"I've freed myself from corruption, but I'm still not good. I see myself somewhere in between. I don't do evil unnecessarily, but I also don't do good out of pity." Smaug explained. There was no point in lying now; she would find out quickly and go against him.
-It seems very pragmatic. - The figure commented.
-I am just another creature of this earth and I see myself this way, with desires, with interests, I do not seek to enslave the world, but I have no interest in being enslaved, so I will fight against Melkor's lieutenant, Sauron still lives. - He pointed.
The figure remained silent, it took some time until the fire began to change, fire was converted into flesh above his surprised eyes, a woman appeared in front of him.
Fiery red hair, orange eyes that looked like flames and a slender, curvaceous figure, making his throat dry quickly, luckily his rod was stuck over her scales, or he would be embarrassed, even more so since she was completely naked.
She was taller than Helena, but her breasts were smaller, like Tauriel's, her curves were slim but inviting, his eyes couldn't leave her.
-What are you looking at? - She asked confused, not that she didn't know about reproduction, but that she had never been looked at like that before.
"Oh, sorry." Smaug sighed and spoke without taking his eyes off her. "Your body attracts me, it's hard to look away."
The woman looked down and nodded, a thin orange dress covering her, leaving him feeling a little irritated for speaking now.
-Okay, now, what's your name? - She asked.
-Smaug. - He said calmly.
-Smaug, I agree with your words, my actions cannot be erased, but I can atone for my sins by doing good, I thank you, furthermore, for saving me, I am willing to help you, but know that if I saw evil coming from you, I will not only leave, but I will fight against you. - The woman spoke with a serious look.
Smaug looked at her and began to think about the fourth wife, then nodded quickly in agreement.
-Well, what now? - She asked, looking around.
-I was going to the abyss where you came from, is that Utumno? - Smaug asked, his body shrinking and returning to his standard half-elven form.
She looked at him in slight surprise, but didn't comment. "Utumno... yes, I left there, I hid when they came, when they pulled him from the depths and took him away, time passed, I don't know how much, I slept, until I woke up, then I killed again."
-What's down there? - He asked.
-Corruption, Melkor's creatures, their successes and their failures, those who survived, devouring each other... - Aluna explained calmly, eyes heavy as she tried to forget what she saw, without success.
His eyes lit up and he smiled brightly. "Well, that's what I came here for, to cleanse that corruption." The dragon smiled.
"Cleanse? There is no way to cleanse Melkor's corruption, not by us." The woman sighed.
"Yeah? How do you think I saved you?" Smaug sneered and walked past her, heading towards the distance where he felt the crack.
Her lips parted and stopped, her surprised eyes widening, looking down at herself, she turned her gaze to Smaug who had returned to his ten meter form.
"How did you do that?" She asked, following him quickly.
"I can devour the corruption and cleanse it," Smaug said lightly, still moving forward.
"Devour corruption?!" She was confused, but looking at his sinister appearance, she became worried. "Doesn't that corrupt you even more?"
-No, I can convert corruption into clean energy. - He raised his finger and pure magic came out of him, she felt it, there was nothing impure, he seemed very contradictory.
She shook her head blankly and followed him.
Reaching the bottomless crevice, he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders, then jumped, using his wings to slow down.
The woman didn't think much, she just held her horns and looked at the darkness that consumed them in fear, but she didn't leave, she just held on tighter.
It took almost an hour of slow falling, his lips trembled with the madness that Melkor did digging deeper and further, it was no joke.
But the further he descended, the more he could feel the corruption, half an hour ago, he could already absorb it from the air, so he did, when he got down there, there was no light, Aluna raised her hand and the fire illuminated the darkness of the cave they descended into.
His mouth was still open, sucking greedily.
"There are many tunnels here, dug straight from the rock by slaves, it took a long time, but he had enough slaves, it would take months to go from one end to the other," the woman commented.
He didn't hesitate, marking the place with his scent, he sailed inside, the rot didn't just come from the air, it came from the place itself, but he didn't care, in a few minutes he achieved what would take months outside.
He advanced, devouring everything from the air, until he found them, with blind eyes, they looked like bats, but humanoid, they came at him, with greed, he roared and transformed into a complete dragon, swallowing them, be it their corruption or vitality.
Feeling that if the air was like salt, this was like a piece of meat full of corruption.
He roared happily and charged forward, Aluna still on his back, she was shocked by the transformation and even more shocked as he devoured, he ate everything he could, but soon he discovered that there was more than corrupted beings here, Mithril!
Veins in the walls, full of it. - Melkor ordered them to dig behind it. - Aluna said.
Smaug ran to the wall and bit stone and everything, sending it to his inventory, the amount was not much per stone, but there were many veins.
An excited smile split his dragon face, but soon more monsters came, drawn to the light, to the life, to the flesh, and he ate.
Time passed, he continued to delve deeper, never too far, sometimes chewing Mithril, sometimes eating corrupted creatures, he was getting stronger, very fast.
Aluna was numb, if it weren't for seeing that he hadn't gone crazy, she wouldn't have believed it.
He explored only a small piece, but the harvest was great, too much.
Now he feels he can fight Sauron head on with the One Ring!
Well..., he still doesn't have much confidence, so he continued eating.
After two months of not seeing the light, although his strength had grown immensely, he was feeling a little heavy mentally, it was because of Aluna talking to him that he was able to endure so much, but it didn't help that she made him excited and he couldn't do anything with her.
Another thing that happened is that his life seemed to change a little, if before his vitality decreased like anyone else's, now, just like the elves, it does not decay, but it is not fixed either, it can grow indefinitely.
It was worth it, he went back and chewed more Mithril, he should have tens of tons of pure Mithril inside the storage, but he was using them slowly, so as not to lose combat power here due to the pain of the process.
His scales were now so black that they seemed to suck the light, not even Mithril could make them shine anymore, he didn't care, if he wanted, he could make the scales fall off, eat them and make more scales grow, they would probably be as silver as Mithril, but he liked black, so he kept them.
In his half-human form, he held Aluna in his arms and she hugged him tightly as he flew out of the abyss.
She didn't fall in love with him or anything, it just felt natural to her, like a handshake.
Smaug really hates this world, because only Helena fell madly in love with him? The others were the result of half-forced, half-agreed, maybe that's why he likes Helena more, yes, it has nothing to do with wild sex.
Looking at the girl who closed her eyes and enjoyed the flight, he sighed tiredly.
"Aluna!" He asked, magic preventing the air from obstructing his voice.
-Yes? - She asked without opening her eyes.
-Can you Maiars fall in love? - He asked curiously, after all there was only one example of that.
-... yes, although I don't know much about it, there have been several cases. - She opened her eyes, looked thoughtful and answered calmly.
-Yes? - Smaug also became thoughtful.
"You better give up on that idea," the woman said calmly. "I have no interest in that."
Smaug smiled. "Funny, two of my wives didn't either." He chuckled lightly.
-Yes, I remember the story, they hated him now they love him deeply, although I doubt it a little, I can't say it's impossible, but there's nothing you can use against me, you greedy dragon. - She laughed lightly, amused.
"Aren't you afraid I'll force you?" Smaug asked, smiling.
-From what I've seen and heard, no, I don't think you would, and if you try, I'll transform into spirit form. - She laughed at the end, winking at him.
He grumbled, but also smiled. "You're right, Aluna, but also wrong. Middle-earth is a corrupted place, not just by Morgoth, but because in this life, everyone has desires, or if they don't, they'll eventually find them."
-So, what do you think my wish will be to make me give in to you? - She asked curiously.
-Who knows, there are 5 Maiar wizards sent to Middle Earth today, two missing blue ones, one white one, one gray one and one brown one, do you want to hear about them?
-Speak. - She was curious.
"Radagast the brown forgot his mission long ago. He fell in love with the fauna of this land and now lives to protect it. Saruman the white still acts as if he cares, but he has long been interested in power. He hides his desire, but his dislike for everything he considers beneath him is evident. He has also forgotten his mission," Smaug began calmly.
-The blue wizards, long time no see, so let's not talk about them. Gandalf the grey, he is the only one who continues on the mission, he wanders from one place to another solving "fires" in Middle Earth, but I think he is just constantly running away, afraid to get attached to something or someone, always trying to complete his mission, so he can go and end the storm. - Smaug concluded.
-They seem... interesting, what would their mission be? - She spoke thoughtfully.
"To help the people of this land against Sauron," he explained calmly. "To do this, they must use their heads more than their powers, so they have some difficulty."
-I see... looks like I need to be careful with this world then. - The woman sighed.
Smaug smiled and did not answer, soon they came out of the abyss, from there, he left Moria quickly, when he saw the sun and the grass, he threw himself on the ground and groaned comfortably.