[Cehlya's palace]
Squeezing through the portal with the expectation of arriving in another large hall, Darganth flinched back when his head struck the ceiling as he tried to raise it into a more comfortable position. Raising his gaze toward the ceiling with a low growl of frustration, he shook his head in disappointment.
Whoever of Cehlya's subordinates designed this obviously didn't fully think the task through, he thought to himself. To station the department that manages the draconic afterlife in a building whose entrance hall couldn't even account for a dragon's full adult form was a clear oversight. He could certainly understand not accounting for the theoretically infinite size his kind could grow, but there were clear patterns and limits to a dragon's size at adulthood.
As this thought crossed his mind, Darganth's internal tirade abruptly paused. Though it had taken a moment, he slowly realized that it wasn't necessarily because the designer hadn't taken dragons into account, but rather because they hadn't taken him into account. Both an assumption about the unlikelihood of him ever using the portal from the hall of judges, as well as a lack of knowledge of just how much larger than even high tier dragons he was, were understandable reasons for this.
With this in mind, Darganth's frustration calmed rather quickly. And though he did so begrudgingly, he accepted that it was easier to adapt to these circumstances. Transforming, he shrank his body by almost a hundred meters, reducing its size to that of an average high-tier dragon's adult form before finally turning his attention toward the purpose of his visit.
Raising his head, this time without hitting the ceiling, he scanned the room. It was only then that he truly noticed how empty it was. Apart from the slight bump in the floor where the lines of the spell formation for the portal were engraved, five of the six surfaces around him were entirely flat and without any furniture or anything else standing on or hanging off them.
The lone exception to this was the double door immediately ahead of him. Opened wide, it gave him a clear view of the room beyond. There, a circular podium that almost stood at eye level with his current form towered at the center. Around it, stairs formed a shallow slope, with each segment being slightly larger than the one above it and retaining the round shape of the podium. This created a structure that perfectly conformed to the equally circular room it stood in, with a uniform distance of maybe twenty meters being left between its base and the wall.
Lying atop this and staring at Darganth with wide open eyes was a dragon. Coming in at a respectable hundred and seventy meters in length, making it quite large for a mid-tier species, its body was curled up on the uppermost level of the podium. Faded, almost transparent scales covered it from head to tail, with pale blue skin filled with glowing red lines visible beneath. On its head, two horns curved forward on both sides. A fifth, shorter but thicker one grew out near its nose, curving backward in a similar way to a rhino's horn.
As Darganth met the dragon's gaze, its head dropped in reverence.
"Your highness?!" The dragon exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and excitement.
"Nadia." Darganth answered with a fond smile.
"How are you here? And how are you alive? Or, well, dead, but alive in here. Even if it takes longer, shouldn't you reform?" Nadia asked, panic creeping into her voice as she began making assumptions about the implications of Darganth's presence in the realm of the dead.
By the second sentence, worry and fear rose from it, causing her to jump to her feet and move toward Darganth. Pushing aside the dragon-sized writing utensils before her, she descended the stairway in two leaps, arriving before Darganth just as he held out his claws in a calming gesture.
"Calm down, I am actually alive again. I'm here with my physical body and all, not just as a soul." He said.
"You are? You are!" Nadia shouted, practically jumping with joy as she confirmed his statement.
Excitedly flaring her wings, she didn't waste a single thought on the gust of wind that scattered every paper in the room as she celebrated both with and for him, "I have to tell the others, they're going to be overjoyed. And her highness. I don't think she has been truly happy even once since you went missing, so probably her first."
"That's actually why I am here." Darganth said.
"Of course, why wouldn't you when you're already here." Nadia exclaimed in response, inwardly shaking her head over not having assumed that on her own. "If you give me a moment, I can open a portal into her throne-room."
"That was what I hoped when I had the judge at the gate bring me here. On that note, maybe consider recommending him the next time a higher position opens up, he did do quite well." Darganth said.
"Will do." Nadia said while keeping her head facing Darganth for a moment longer as she already turned the rest of her body around. Despite this short answer, she firmly engraved the request into her mind, already going through a few of the open positions before turning her attention toward the portal she was preparing.
Within seconds, this effort was completed. Stepping aside as the maelstrom of gray energy formed before her and watching Darganth walk toward it, Nadia felt happiness for him and Cehlya in addition to satisfaction and pride for having helped their reunion.
Halting just before stepping into the portal, Darganth turned toward Nadia and asked, "Are you coming too?"
"I'm not going to miss such a happy occasion, so of course." Nadia said.
"Just wanted to make sure. While I mainly came here to reunite with Cehlya, we also have a few millennia of catching up to do." Darganth said. In fact, there were quite a few people he hoped would be present or arrive during his stay in Cehlya's palace. Not just to see them again and confirm that they were well, but also because he couldn't imagine how many interesting and entertaining stories had piled up over the years he had been away.
But while that thought lingered in the back of his mind, his main focus remained on Cehlya as he stepped into the portal.
Immediately being transported into the exceedingly familiar throne-room of the goddess of death, Darganth felt the world around him slow to a crawl as their gazes met from across the hall. In that moment, nothing but the two of them existed in his mind as he took in the sight of his wife.
With it, the longing and desire in his chest burned stronger than ever as he finally laid eyes on her once more. Not even the surprising discovery that she was hiding which species she belonged to behind a clearly vampiric-inspired transformation could dampen this. Whether it be the long, black hair, the same ashen gray skin, or her unchanged facial features, they all were enough for him to fall in love with the sight of her all over again, with the addition of fangs and lack of some other features of her kind barely even registering to Darganth.
Simultaneously, nostalgia welled up within him as memories of the past flashed in his mind. Days spent in exotic universes, evenings of festivity, and nights together all replayed once more as the joy and relief of finally seeing Cehlya again started to settle in.
After the initial moment of surprise melted away, these feelings were mirrored inside Cehlya. With them, a sense of euphoria came crashing down on her, leaving her speechless and in awe as Darganth reared up to his full height with his wings spread wide.
All of these emotions then exploded into action in an instant. Dashing forward, she unfurled her wings, causing a total of six small limbs to emerge in a row that stretched from shoulder to shoulder. Each one consisted of a roughly twenty-centimeter-long scale that formed its base, with those further in the middle slightly overlapping over the outer ones.
From under each of these, one wing grew downward. They consisted of a membrane that stretched between two flexible protusions that flared outward. Reaching all the way to her knees, these formed a curtain of leathery wing membranes behind her back. At the bottom few centimeters, these wing segments then became covered in feathers, each one capable of hardening and launching off at Cehlya's will.
With these wings spread wide, she shot across her throne-room in the blink of an eye, appearing before Darganth's snout with one hand already resting against his scales.
"I missed you, my love." She said, still slightly in disbelief that she could touch Darganth once more, even as she leaned forward to place a kiss on the tip of his snout.
"I missed you too." Darganth answered, affectionately nudging against her with the side of his head as he spoke.
For a few blissful moments, the two of them simply remained like that, with Cehlya leaning onto his head and gently scratching his scales. Looking at her throughout this, Darganth hummed joyfully in response to her happiness.
However, while Cehlya wished for this moment to last days, a part of her guessed that Darganth didn't have that time. Thus, to prevent him from being the one to cut their reunion short, she pulled back some time later, with Darganth taking this as a signal to transform into his humanoid form.
Unfurling his wings and floating toward her, Darganth, unaware of the reason why she pulled back, pulled Cehlya into an embrace. With his arms around her lower back, he leaned in for a kiss, one she happily reciprocated. Taking in her fragrance as their lips connected, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her skin as Cehlya placed her palms against his cheeks.
"I never want to let go of you again." She suddenly said amid this embrace, not wanting to risk losing Darganth ever again.
"I'd also love to stay like this. Maybe rather in your chambers than in the middle of your throne-room, but the point stands." Darganth said, pulling slightly apart from Cehlya to give her a mischievous smirk. After a short pause, he regretfully added, "Sadly, that's not possible right now."
"Would probably also get in the way of a lot of things to stay like this. Though judging by the shocked expressions of some of my court, you should sit in on my audiences regularly from now on to demonstrate what a perfect husband I have." Cehlya said, glancing toward the portion of the room that stared at them with terrified expressions.
Following her gaze, Darganth shook his head, "You could achieve the same effect if you wanted."
"I could. But I'm a neutral arbiter of the afterlife, so I have obligations and a reputation to uphold. No matter how much they annoy me with their ceaseless squabbles, damaging that reputation is not worth it." Cehlya said.
Raising her voice so that she was audible throughout the entire throne-room, she added, "However, a few small incidents? Especially ones that happened to involve anyone who might delay my reunion with my husband with their stupid request? Let's just say that I can't prevent every fight and that for some, I might not be all that invested in finding the perpetrator."
Darganth wasn't the only one who finally understood what she was getting at with those words. As a small grin flashed across his lips and he nodded in understanding, the souls that still had petitions for Cehlya instinctively thought back to his draconic figure from moments before and paled.
Most were then smart enough to recognize that it might be better for them to bring their request to Cehlya on another day. The previously silent and practically frozen hall thus quickly became filled with movement as hundreds of souls made for one of the three exits, not willing to test how many souls would try and use this opportunity to gain Cehlya's favor.
Those that remained were almost exclusively this second group. Looking around the now surprisingly empty sides of the hall where souls had previously lined up in five rows that stretched out before the walls, they soon started to recognize this fact. The handful of souls that were still willing to present their petition despite the threat went overlooked amid this.
As the first members of the crowd then turned to leave, accepting that their plan wouldn't work anymore, this second group stealthily joined them. With this, the number of souls abandoning the shared idea was inflated, creating a group dynamic that soon led every last soul to leave in defeat.
"That surprised?" Cehlya asked as Darganth watched the throne-room empty in stunned silence.
"Yes." He admitted.
Not just did Cehlya take her duties seriously, she approached them with far more professionalism than she did just then. A method such as the one she had used to clear out the room was far more in line with how she acted in her free time, where she showed her true self, so seeing it while she acted in her role as administrator of the afterlife was strange.
"Though I'm not complaining." He added after a moment.
"I would hope so." Cehlya said with a light laugh. Because while she valued duty and professionalism highly, family always came first for her. It's why Darganth's surprise was limited to her approach and not the decision overall.
However, in the past, she had always stayed professional in how she canceled on her duties when they conflicted with plans they had made. Though considering how unusual the current situation was compared to then, Darganth thought, he shouldn't be surprised that Cehlya took some more extreme measures.
"Now then, where should we take this reunion tour first?" Cehlya asked after this.
"I think we both have the same idea." Darganth said. To convey what he thought that idea was, he simultaneously leaned forward and kissed Cehlya on the side of her neck while pulling her closer against himself.
"Wanted to ask anyway."
With these words, Cehlya then teleported the two of them into the wing of the palace that served as her living space.