Chapter 382: Blessing of Fire
"If anyone is worthy of receiving the blessing of the Dragon Gods, then it is you. I would be honored to bless you."
Jason smiled at Riyala’s words and he turned to see that Gina was looking up at him with a big smile on her face. It was obvious that Gina was excited about it, and she hugged his hand tight and nodded to tell him that she wanted to do it! Jason huffed in amusement and he decided it wouldn’t be so bad. Riyala smiled once she saw that they accepted her offe,r and she turned to speak to her father and tell him that they would be leaving. The king immediately wondered why they were leaving so quickly since he was still in the middle of handing out the medals, but Riyala just told him that they had to finish something. Riyala decided to keep the truth about Jasonna dGnia’s engagement to herself until they were willing to spread the news themselves.
Jason went to tell Luthor and the other superhumans that he would be back soon. The superhumans already planned to return to Earth once they were done with this ceremony, so Jason was going to leave multiple dragon subordinates here that would carry them to the Dimensional Portal later. Luthor nodded and told Jason that they would be waiting for him at the portal.
"I also have a few suggestions regarding possible trade deals with Radagan. Are you okay with talking about this later?"
Luthor brought up the topic of trade between their two worlds and Jason just nodded. Jason knew that something like this would come up sooner or later, so he wasn’t surprised. The most precious commodity in Radagan was the dragonstone, so there was no doubt that this was what Luthor wanted to trade for. Luthor thanked Jason when he saw him nod before he watched as a large mature dragon appeared from the horizon.
The dragon’s arrival was met with screams and cheers from the people of Radagan. It wasn’t common to see a mature dragon in the open like this, so whenever the people saw one, they always took it as a sign of good fortune, and they would cheer and pray to it like it was a god! The dragon was the same red-scaled dragon that had attacked Riyala when she came to the forest for the first time, and although it still had a terrifying look on its face, it had also gained a calm aura around it since it had accepted Riyala as one of its own. The red dragon landed a good distance away from the crowd to make sure that it didn’t crush any of the puny dragonborn that were cheering for it, and it huffed some smoke towards them as a greeting before it lay down and waited. It didn’t take long for Riyala to appear from the shadows with Jason and Gina. The three of them got on the dragon, and it beat its large wings and blew out a massive gust of wind before taking off!
....
A few minutes later, Jason found himself being carried through the illuminated forest alone by the dragon, and he was awed when he saw the large dragon nests in the middle of the forest. Riyala had taken Gina away to prepare, and Jason was going to wait for them in the nest. Many of the dragons and wyverns turned to look at him curiously, and Jason saw many small dragons poking their cute heads out to stare at him. Jason smiled at some of the baby dragons that tried to roar at him and he came down from the dragon’s back after it landed and stood in the middle of hundreds of dragons. Jason could tell that many of the dragons here were stronger than he was, and he couldn’t help but think about how useful they would be if they were part of his Legion. But Jason knew that killing this many dragons was a fool’s dream, so he just turned away.
’You could probably defeat them if you took my offer to learn my techniques.’
Jason heard a voice echo in his head, and he hummed in surprise. Jason almost forgot about this bastard.
"You’ve been silent for a while."
’Don’t you remember, you demon! You shut me out yesterday when you were about to lie with your woman, and you made your stupid subordinates attack me this morning! I can’t believe I missed all that action! I could have had a front-row seat to raw, unfiltered, toe-curling intercourse if not for your bullshit! You have to compensate me for this loss!’
Jason huffed with an amused smile. Jason had cut Esdath off completely last night because he wasn’t interested in hearing the bastard’s voice when he was with Gina. Still, Esdath had come back earlier this morning to complain, but he was immediately taken down by Ragnar, and that was why he was only showing up now. Jason didn’t bother to respond to Esdath, and he tuned out the idiot’s rambling and continued waiting with his hands behind his back.
Jason stood alone for a few minutes, but it didn’t take long before he saw a large dragon appear through the forest. This dragon had black and red scales, and there was an intelligence in its gaze as it looked at him, and Jason immediately knew that this was Riyala! Jason was shocked! How in the world was she able to transform into a dragon!? Jason knew that Riyala didn’t have this ability before, so he was sure that she had only gained it recently! Was it one of the benefits that came with being the Priestess of Fire? The other dragons all recognized Riyala once she appeared, and they bowed their heads in respect as she passed them. When Riyala reached Jason, she leaned down and huffed a breath of hot air in his face, and Jason smiled as he rose a hand to pet Riyala’s nose gently. She was smaller than Ragnar since she was so young, and her body was also thinner since she was a female, but Riyala’s scales were an absolute work of art, and Jason couldn’t help but appreciate them.
"You look very beautiful. I didn’t know you could do this."
Jason didn’t know if dragons could blush, but the red hue he could see on Riyala’s scales made it obvious that she was shy about his compliment. Riyala quickly shook her head and moved to stand behind him, and Jason turned when he heard another figure approaching.
Gina came through the foliage like an ethereal creature born from the forest itself. She was still wearing the Radagan ceremonial gown, but now there was a long green coat made from leaves hanging off her shoulders. There were blue lilies in her hair that made her red eyes shine like sapphires, and a veil had been used to cover her hair, and it was dragging over the ground behind her. Oh, so this was what a faery looked like.
Jason took in a shallow breath and released it in one long sigh when he saw Gina. She looked absolutely breathtaking, and Jason smiled when he saw her giving him a shy look. So this was what they went to do? Jason had to admit that it was more than worth it. The dragons were all watching the ceremony curiously, and Jason stretched his hand out to Gina and helped her forward so she was standing in front of him.
"You look breathtaking."
Gina’s cheeks reddened from Jason’s compliment, and she muttered a shy ’thank you’. Gina didn’t think that Riyala would suddenly offer to give her a proper Radagan ceremonial dress, so she was very shy about how it looked on her. She was just glad that Jason liked it. Jason squeezed Gina’s hand in support, and she looked up at his smiling face. Jason smiled at her and her faace burned even bighter as she felt a surge of pure love rising frmo deep insind her. The two of them could have stood there forever, simply gazing at each other, but they had to turn when Riyala spoke.
"I am Riyala, the Priestess of Fire and mouthpiece of Rumunaga, and I stand here as the representative of the gods themselves to speak over this union. May your marriage be blessed with many children, and may you find peace and love in one another all the days of your life."
Once Riyala finished her short speech, the dragons all around them let out a loud, resounding roar that shook the ground and forced the trees to sway from the intensity of the sound! Jason and Gina looked around them in shock as all the dragons seemed to celebrate them, and at the next moment, the dragons turned towards their position and let out fire!
ROARRRR!
Gina flinched once she saw the flames, but Jason held her close and shook his head to tell her not to move. Gina trusted Jason enough to listen to him, and she relaxed against him as the fire washed over them! But instead of burning them to ashes, the flames simply surrounded them in a massive typhoon! The fires took on various colors of the rainbow and danced around them like a tornado, and Gina felt her eyes widen in awe as she looked up at the hundreds of different colors swirling around her. Jason’s eyes were fixed on Gina’s face as he watched the multiple colors over her eyes like a beautiful painting. He reached for Gina’s veil and took it off slowly, and before Gina could even ask what he was doing, he leaned forward and kissed her gently. Gina’s eyes immediately closed, and she leaned into the kiss fully!
They both lost themselves in the moment, and neither of them noticed the dragon-shaped rune that formed on their bodies. Gina had a small rune on the back of her hand. This was a mark worn by every woman blessed by the Dragon Gods. It showed that she was a taken woman, and it boosted her stength and her resistance to fire to ensure that childbirth would be easy for her. Jason, meanwhile, had a larger rune on the right side of his neck, and it granted Jason the same boost to strength and fire resistance, but it also showed that he was now a man responsible for taking care of a family. This signified the bond between the two lovers, and as they kissed under the blessing of fire, they both knew that they had made the right decision in each other.