First Demonic Dragon

Whether humanity directly thinks about it or not, death- and by extension the underworld, are practically the fulcrum of the higher mythological order.

This wasn't originally by design, but over the ages humans started thinking about death more and more.

Some feared it, others begged for it.

One person mourns deeply the loss of a cherished family member and wishes for them to see only the most blissful of rests.

Others celebrated the death of adversaries and prayed that they wound up in the foulest hell as they urinated on their graves.

All of those thoughts, wishes, fears, or sentiments can all be converted into prayer for the death gods- fueling the dead kingdoms that they rule and making them quite formidable.

It is perhaps the reason gods of death are so widely disliked in the heavens associated with their various pantheons.

Even Hades, handsome though he may be, is often met with feelings of skepticism and mistrust whenever he ventures to Olympus.

Because to everyone else he is no less unsettling than the place that his power comes from.

Just as Pangea was once the unified super continent of earth, Tartarus is summarily every conceivable underworld.

He has no true 'body', but the best way to reach the 'root' of all that he is would be by literally traveling through the gates of Tartarus itself- in the deepest recesses of the greek underworld.

Reclamation of Tartarus meant that even biblical hell would be firmly within Abaddon's grasp.

And thus, so would Lucifer.

The same power that Abaddon exerts over Tehom would also extend to not just hell, but all underworlds.

He could speed up time, or firmly stop it.

His control over the lands inside, as well as any souls or armies, would be absolute.

And the gods against him would loose a very vital source of their strength in only a single night.

If the other deities knew what he was planning, they might all shit their pants and throw every available guard they had at the gates to protect them.

If they hadn't already…

How odd it was that as of now the chances of the plan being put into action at all hinged on the attitude of one single woman.

Nyx and Abaddon had moved to the balcony where the two of them stood overlooking the vast purple sky and the flying dragons in the far distance.

The two of them had been sitting here for quite a few minutes already and they were discussing her 'conditions' for her permission.

…It was the strangest instance of child custody hearings to ever take place.

"...I want visitation rights."

"Naturally."

"A-And he has to know that I'm his mother too! I raised him the first time after all."

"None of the children have ever forgotten their lives prior to rebirth, so that will not be an issue."

"...I'm going to end up moving here too."

"I figured that, since your home will be residing in my stomach."

"No, I mean I want to move in here. In this house."

"Oh... I mean I'm sure that Demeter wouldn't mind making room for you at the templ-"

"Don't be like that, you brute dragon! You mean to tell me you can't accommodate one extra person in this giant house??!"

"...Fine, but I'll be putting a lock on our door too."

"Now why do you need something like that?" Nyx said with large innocent eyes.

"I've got a mother-in-law pining after me (Karliah), a crazy aunt (Lusamine), and now you. There's no way that I get through my nights un-raped if all of you are working together."

"...You could always bring us all in and-"

"A nice thought, but no." Abaddon smiled innocently.

Nyx rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to punch him in his perfect white teeth.

She turned her gaze back towards the distant horizon and fell into silence as she admired these lands absentmindedly.

Even though they were deep within the woods, Nyx could see far into the city.

Her friend truly had built such a beautiful place.

"I've always wanted to ask you... Why did you choose to disregard a currency system when you built this place?" she asked.

"What brought that on?" Abaddon tilted his head.

"Just simple curiosity. I don't often see civilizations like the one you and the girls have built."

Abaddon followed Nyx's gaze far out into the horizon, and he became slightly reflective.

"I just felt as though it made the most sense on multiple fronts. I wanted my people to truly be evolved not just physically and magically, but intellectually.

I didn't want to see my people scrutinizing each other over material things like who had more and who had less, and I certainly didn't want to see anymore people going hungry after falling on hard times.

I wanted to champion those who worked earnestly in pursuit of their ideal vision of happiness.

If they want to laze around in castles all day sitting on meaningless hordes of treasure, that's fine.

But it means nothing to anyone here. They value the hardworking, no matter if their contribution is big or small.

I suppose if I must say honestly, very little of this was actually my own doing.

Most of the credit must go to the dragons who continue to make this thing function everyday. Their selflessness is the true secret... everything else is circumstantial."

Nyx carefully listened to all of Abaddon's explanation without interruption.

At the end of his speech, she rested her head against a nearby wall as she stared at Abaddon out of the corner of her eye.

"I can tell that you value this place a great deal. So if you have plans of living a full immortality and seeing this place flourish under your guidance one day, then I would advise you seriously to not underestimate Lucifer just because he is in your palm."

Intrigued, Abaddon leaned forward to show Nyx she had his full attention. "Go on."

"He is not like his siblings... he was to be his father's replacement one day. His power will be vastly superior to theirs in every way. It is why they have to be unified against him."

Usually, Abaddon would have taken a warning such as that one with all of the seriousness in the world.

And though it wasn't correct to say that he had dismissed her concern... it did seem as though he wasn't nearly as worried as he once might've been.

Instead, all that he had left was an unexpected emotion that he hadn't experienced in quite some time.

"Would you believe me if I told you I was actually... excited?"

-

Over the course of the next two days, Abaddon's family was still in the midst of a rather rigorous debate that had practically split the house into two.

After he told them about his invitation from Shiva and the supposed meeting, opinions were divided first over whether he should go at all, and secondly whether he and the girls should go without aid at their backs.

Abddon and his wives wanted to go alone.

Only Asmodeus, Yara, and Imani were on board with this decision.

Every else in the house called them massive fucking idiots and told them in no certain terms that they would superglue themselves to the thickheaded group of lovers if need be.

More colorful language was used in the process, but the message was properly conveyed all the same.

The Tathamets were not the perfect family by any means and though they did have their individual spats from time-to-time, this was the first time that things had ever devolved into full-scale warfare.

At this time, the only ones who were still unaware of he invisible conflict going on around them were the children- who were intentionally kept out of the ongoing debate.

However, that didn't mean that they were entirely oblivious to the fact that something odd was going on.

Currently, Lailah was walking through the hallway with Courtney's hand in her own.

Together, the two of them were heading to the library for the human princess' daily lessons.

As they were heading towards the library, the two of them passed Lailah's actual mother in the hallway.

Sei had begun teaching advanced level magical studies at a fairly well acclaimed college in Tehom, and with her daughter's access to different cultures and ways of life via the observatory upstairs, she was able to constantly learn about new fields and methods of using magic 24/7.

This also made her class one of the most highly acclaimed in all of Tehom with a waiting list tens of thousands long.

Even now, she was walking out of the library with a large stack of text books and ample lecture notes to go along with it.

"Good morning, Nani!" Courtney said excitedly.

"Aww, good morning my little jellybean." she smiled warmly. "Are you about to start learning with your mommy?"

"Yea!"

"And what are we learning today, dear?"

"Counting and writing sentences!" Courtney said proudly.

"Oh my! Well then be sure to do your best and listen to your mommy, okay? If you can do that then you'll already be smarter than her." she smiled eerily.

Lailah felt a vein bulge in her forehead as she also showed a rather venomous smile.

"A-Alright now, Courtney baby, let's not linger with this tired old woman, eh?"

"Ack!" Sei's claws inadvertently dug into the hardcover books in her hands and pierced them like they were made of toilet tissue.

Lailah walked past her mother smugly with Courtney still close at her side.

But Sei, mature pillar of wisdom that she was, couldn't let it go.

"...Hardheaded bimbo." she whispered under her breath.

Lailah's body tensed up so harshly that she had to stop herself from crushing Courtney's little hand in her palm.

"Cantankerous old harlot..!" she hissed back.

"You're starting to get fat."

"WHAT!?" Lailah finally snapped.

This was the first exchange that Courtney had actually heard, and needless to say she was bewildered by the sudden nature of it all.

Only the oldest children knew about just how bad Lailah and her mother's relationship used to be.

Such was the amount of effort that they had put into repairing it and coming together as family.

So for Courtney, who had never known them to behave like this, there was very little that could have caused her greater confusion in that moment.

'What is going on...?' she wondered to herself.

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