Chapter 16: A Big Dragon Family

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Surtr, the Fire Dragon King, Ruler of Muspelheim, and the “last son” of Muspel, the Primordial Fire Dragon Mother. Among all the dragons who visited today, he is believed to be the only one who can nearly rival the Divine Dragon King, my great-grandfather.

His powers are vast beyond measure, and so is his strength. I have heard he is feared throughout Yggdrasil; whenever trouble arises, he resolves it swiftly. He is also renowned as the Greatest Blacksmith, having surpassed even the Onyx Hammer Venerable ten thousand years ago.

Despite his overwhelming power… he is an incredibly laid-back man who spends most of his time at home with his family, quietly overseeing both the world and Muspelheim in particular.

But why is he in his dragon form? I don’t know. I designed him as a character, and I’m fairly certain he can assume a Dragonoid form.

“Surtr, that’s enough. Why stay in dragon form when you’re causing such a mess?” one of his wives asked, visibly annoyed. She was a tall, muscular, red-skinned Fire Giantess with long white hair and golden eyes, crowned with horns.

“Heheh, sorry about that. Our husband can be quite the airhead sometimes—he just loves showing off,” chuckled his second wife. She was much leaner and carried the air of a magician rather than a warrior.

Both women radiated powerful fire divinities, their heat carefully restrained. Their children, half-dragon, half-fire giant, exuded the same overwhelming presence, if not stronger.

“What’s wrong with staying in my dragon form? I’ve grown so used to it—I’ve spent most of my life like this!” Surtr complained.

“Just do it, Dad. Don’t be boring,” his daughter sighed. She strongly resembled her mother but bore scales, dragon wings, a dragon tail, and sharp golden-red eyes.

“Ugh…”

BOOOM!

In a burst of flames, King Surtr shifted back to his Dragonoid form, suddenly appearing smaller than both of his towering wives, who stood over three meters tall.

He was… around two meters? Compared to everyone else here—who were all so tall—he was the smallest, only comparable in height to my mother.

Unlike his wives, his Dragonoid form looked far more human. Tanned skin, long red-gold hair, and red scales covered his muscular yet slender, athletic frame.

He had large claws, an exceptionally long dragon tail, blazing wings, and a crown of dragon horns adorning his head. A gentle, almost fatherly smile graced his face.

This was King Surtr’s Dragonoid form—wow. I had never seen it before, and aside from one of his wives, I hadn’t designed anything else about him.

It’s so amazing to discover there’s so much more I never imagined!

“Is this more presentable then?” he laughed. “Nice to meet you three, Louis, Mirai, Elizabeth. I’ve been itching to visit Earth for a long time. I just reunited with my sister after ages apart, it felt wonderful to see her again after we parted so long ago. I still remember when we couldn’t return to Earth because this world was too weak—I mean, it lacked sufficient Mana and everything else.”

“Huh?” I turned to him and my father. “What does that mean?”

“Back then, this planet wasn’t fully hospitable to beings as powerful as Surtr,” my father explained. “Not because they couldn’t breathe here or anything like that. It means their sheer strength could shatter the entire world and potentially mutate it into a corrupted Fantasy Realm.”

“Yeeeah, it was really boring,” Surtr nodded. “But now that these two kids saved the worlds, we can roam relatively freely! Though the Divine Dragon King’s presence might still damage the planet a little. Earth will need to expand at least ten times over to properly accommodate him. I’ve heard that now that he’s finally allowed to leave Yggdrasil and travel, he accidentally destroyed three uninhabited planets just by landing! Seriously, what is he doing?”

“Great grandpa is that strong?!” I gasped. “And can’t he control his power or reduce it?”

“He should be able to, but… he’s grown lazy over the years, I’ve heard,” Surtr laughed heartily. “Well, whatever the case, Earth has officially begun evolving into a Fantasy World now. There really was no other option, right? The Dimensional Labyrinth was attempting something similar, but in a forceful, destructive, and corrupt way, it would have eventually swallowed the planet whole.”

“Oh…” I nodded, absorbing incredible new lore I hadn’t known before.

“So what your parents did was seal that damned Dimensional Labyrinth, destroy most of it, and then rewrite the Fantasy Dimension,” Surtr continued. “They didn’t do it alone, though, we all helped. We created a world where you can finally roam freely: visit Yggdrasil, Spiritias, Zipangu, or even wander the Cosmic Sea! Alien civilizations have recently been discovered, and there’s even a Galactic Alliance that your great-grandfather now oversees alongside many other cultures. Really fun stuff.”

“Ooh! I wanna go to space!!!” I exclaimed with excitement.

“Believe me, it’s not that exciting, my daughter,” my father said. “It’s mostly empty space—you have to travel so long to reach anything worthwhile that it’s hardly worth the effort.”

“Eeeh, I think it might be fun, Dad!” I replied. “Also, I wanna walk—let go of me…!”

“Fine,” he finally released me from his arms. I stood on the grass and looked up at Surtr’s towering family.

“Waow, you have a big family, mister,” I said.

“Hahaha, I really do, don’t I?” he chuckled. “I have way more kids, but only my two eldest decided to come… the rest… well, erm, they didn’t care much about this. Sorry.”

“It’s fine!” I said. “Nice to meet you two! What are your names?” I asked innocently.

The two half-fire-giant, half-dragon siblings smiled and knelt, gently petting my head together.

They were both muscular and powerful—and, most amusingly, taller than their own father.

“I am Mirtr, son of Surtr and Mina!” the man declared in a loud, rumbling voice. He had long red-and-white hair and was… very handsome, just like his dad.

“And I am Sudiartr, daughter of Surtr and Nadia. Nice to meet you, sweetie,” the woman said. She was as beautiful as her mother, with long red-white hair and golden eyes.

“Ohhh, are you strong?” I asked.

“We are!”

“We can even wield Dad’s Origin Flames if you’re interested.”

They opened their palms, conjuring beautiful white-gold flames that radiated an almost celestial essence, very similar to Harmony itself.

“Wow…”

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If I could learn from these flames, I wondered whether I could wield Harmony in a different way. They seemed highly compatible.

“Can I touch them?”

“W-What?”

“Wait—no, it’s dangerous!”

They quickly pulled their hands away before I could reach them, leaving me a little disappointed. But then I felt those flames calling to me again.

“Wait… maybe I can do this!”

“What?”

“Wait—what are you doing?”

As they stared in confusion, I raised my small palms and drew the flames directly from their hands into my body.

“Ooohhh!”

A surge of blazing power coursed through me. Harmony reacted instantly, absorbing the flames and briefly turning them white.

“Cool!”

I conjured a small white flame of my own, as though I had copied the Origin Flames.

“W-What?!” Surtr gasped. “D-Did she just… copy the Origin Flames?!”

“Is that even possible?!” Nadia asked.

“I didn’t know?” Mina wondered.

“E-Elizabeth! Are you okay?” my father asked, worried.

“Are you really alright?” my mother insisted.

“Eh? I’m fine!” I nodded. “I just felt like those flames were calling to me—they’re compatible with Harmony.”

“Is that so?” Surtr mused, rubbing his scaled chin. “Interesting… she truly has unseen potential! Hmm… I’ve wanted to stay on Earth for a couple of years anyway, so… why not? Once this is over, I’ll give you a test, little one. If you pass it, I’ll become your Fire Magic tutor. How about it?” he smiled.

“Really?!” I gasped, nodding eagerly. “Yes, yes, yes!”

My parents panicked, they clearly hadn’t made this arrangement yet, and with someone of Surtr’s stature, it couldn’t have been easy to convince him. Or perhaps they hadn’t even dared to ask?

Whatever the case, he was willing to teach me personally.

“Hey, you’re not the only one good at it,” his wife Mina said.

“I can teach her a little too!” Nadia added.

“And us as well, right, sis?”

“For sure!”

Even his eldest children seemed excited about the idea. I also noticed their grandchildren hiding shyly behind them with their parents, both fire giants.

“Wow, you’re Elizabeth, right? Did you really wield Origin Flames?”

“I saw her…!”

The two grandchildren of Surtr ran toward me. They were utterly adorable, around my age or perhaps a year or two older, with long white hair, fiery gold-red eyes, red skin, and golden horns on their foreheads. They had fewer scales than their parents, only a bit around their hands, legs, and neck, and tails but no wings.