First Demonic Dragon

"Look, it's the new prince!"

"He's so adorable…"

"And look at the princess! I think my heart is going to explodeee!!!"

On a crowded street, many people were staring at the young prince as he passed by.

Though he wasn't walking under his own power.

Courtney was proudly carrying her brother through the streets, holding him up proudly for all of the people to see.

Bash had never felt so humiliated, but he was no longer struggling.

Perhaps this was because he was less inclined to fight now that the girls had freed him from his cute little onesie.

In lieu of his red striped pajamas, the young boy had been given his usual red skirt to wear, along with a dignified bit of face paint to mark the occasion.

He almost looked as regal and godly on the outside as he felt on the inside.

But alas, there were still… problems.

"Miss Xie! Look at my new baby brother! His name is Bashy and he's a cranky boy!"

Courtney held out Bashenga in front of a dragon-headed woman working at a street food stall.

"Oh my! You both are very adorable, princess."

The woman dropped down into a bow as a greeting.

Bash looked about as haughty as one could look within the arms of a five year old, which admittedly wasn't very much.

"…Your greeting passes for acceptable, woman. I permit you to kiss my feet."

"Fufufu, I would be honored."

Courtney made a disgusted face like she was going to be sick.

"Eww, feet are nasty, Mrs. Xie. I don't understand why you and my daddy like putting them in your mouth and-"

"A-Alright there, Courtney!" Abaddon suddenly intervened. "Let's just get a couple of fried apples and go, eh?"

"Okay!"

Mrs. Xie giggled and blushed slightly before bowing slightly in front of Abaddon.

She glanced at the empresses out of the corner of her eye, and their perfectly manicured toes.

'…Maybe my husbands would like it if I..'

Abaddon just pretended that he couldn't hear his follower's thoughts at the moment.

Once the family had their confections, they resumed their walk through the festival.

Bashenga kept his eyes open and his head on a swivel for the duration of their adventure.

Everywhere he looked, there were magical streamers and balloons within the air. Paired with the smell of various kinds of street cuisine.

There were banners with his face drawn on them and streets full of people all clamoring to see his exalted form.

They were jovial for some reason… but as for why, he didn't really have an answer.

Perhaps the alcohol was too strong and it was distorting their ability to think rationally.

"Bash, are you having fun??" Courtney asked with powdered sugar all over her mouth.

"If you'd like, we can take you to one of the children's districts and let you play a bit." Bekka suddenly asked; also with powdered sugar all over her mouth.

…And ketchup.

"You both remember that I am not an actual child, yes..?" By this point, Bashenga seemed exhausted from having to repeat himself so many times.

"But you're my little baby!" Bekka smiled.

*Sigh*

Bash had finally reached the final stage of grief. Acceptance.

Eris finally slipped over to save her newborn son from being smothered to death.

"Alright, you two. I think we've babied him enough for today, don't you?"

""No!""

"Well I do. You aren't going to keep making things difficult for him, are you?"

Eris is the most soft spoken member of the entire family, but she is also the one that holds the most power over everyone.

No one wants to dissapoint her or make her sad, so most everything she asks is done without question.

This scenario was no different.

Courtney and Bekka pouted just a bit, but eventually they did place Bash onto the ground so that he could stand on his own.

"There. Now everyone can see just how handsome you are without us clinging to you." Eris smiled.

Bash felt a sense of gratitude towards his mother that he didn't know how to identify initially.

This woman was good at manipulating others without even meaning to be. She does the slightest things and suddenly it is as if someone is filled with the desire to do things for her.

In that regard, it could be said that she wasn't much different from Abaddon, but the feeling Eris illicited was much more pure and sentimental rather than passionate and lustful.

Whether that made her more or less dangerous was really anyone's guess.

But if Eris' personality was affecting even the curmudgeonly Bashenga, then she might have held the edge over her husband.

"…Thank you."

Eris smiled beautifully as she kissed him on top of the head.

"Now, tell me, my son. What would you like to do? This day is all about you afterall."

Bashenga almost blurted out that he wanted to go back to bed.

But as he looked into the eyes of the mother in front of him, as well as the others looming behind her, he could almost physically see their desire for him to enjoy himself.

Honestly, he wasn't sure why they cared about such a thing.

So, he rationalized the decision he was about to make by saying that he was just sparing himself from a headache that was no doubt bound to come later.

"…I desire only to walk around for a bit on my own. You all are encouraged to leave me to my own devices for a while."

Much to his surprise, Eris put up no objections.

"Oh? Well if you're sure, then we will not impede you. Call for us at any time if you need anything, okay?"

"…As you wish, Sixth Mother."

"Just mother is fine, dear boy. You don't need to make any distinctions between us like that. It's not as if we have some kind of rank."

"But if we did, I would be at the top of it." Audrina poked out her chest.

"Don't you mean at the bottom, pillow princess?" Valerie rolled her eyes.

"N-Not in public!"

Bashenga decided to walk away while his parents continued with their weird argument.

His destination wasn't something that he particularly had in mind, so for now, he just wanted to walk and clear his head.

-

Bashenga strayed far from the festival. Extremely far in fact.

He ended teleporting away into the farthest reaches of Tehom; towards the wilderness that had yet to even be explored by most.

Out here, there are a few dragons running around.

There are some in Tehom civilization that do not like living in houses or engaging in what they see as 'mortal' behaviors, so they live out here. Free to live as the grandest of all beasts who were deeply connected to the most exquisite nature.

But just because this branch of dragons does not dwell within cities or towns, that does not mean that they do not recognize the blood of their maker when they see it.

Bashenga was calmly walking up a large mountain peak with both of his hands clasped together behind his back.

On opposing sides were a row of dragons bowing in an arch as he passed them by.

Once he reached the tip of the mountain peak, Bashenga sat down on a large flat rock overlooking the wilderness.

"You all may go."

Fierce gusts of wind kicked up as the assembled dragons flapped their wings and soared into the air.

When he was alone once again, Bashenga took in the view stretched out in front of him with a vaguely robotic expression.

"The abyss is… much different from the last time I peered down here. I suppose this must be the kind of thing the mortals would call beautiful." He surmised.

"Well thank you. Your mothers and I worked quite hard on it." A new voice said.

Bashenga instinctively narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Since I felt my newborn son suddenly leave from his own birthday celebration and appear out here."

Bash started to think that he should have atleast left a duplicate back in the city or something.

"You don't seem to be adjusting well to your new home."

Bashenga scoffed but said nothing.

"You may speak freely, son. You will not upset me."

Bash didn't know why, but he reluctantly decided to take the plunge.

"…You've done something unnecessary. I do not require any of these soft things that fill your society. I am above all of this weak and feeble sentiment."

"And why do you think that?"

"It is who I am. I fill my ears with the tortured wails of the wicked and the destruction of universes, not the laughter of young children."

As soon as Bashenga finished speaking, he waited to hear Abaddon say something about his answer, but there was nothing.

Instead the air overlooking the cliff shifted, and Abaddon came to him.

Though, not in a way that Bash had ever seen before.

He was a massive dragon that filled his mountain peak view of Tehom.

With the return of his ninth head, Abaddon stood on two legs even in this form. Though they were backwards jointed; almost like a canine or a flamingo.

His feet were massive, with three clawed toes directly in the front, and two on his heel.

Abaddon's body wasn't so much as muscular as it was armor plated.

Practically every inch of him looked completely indestructible and dangerous. Even his knuckles had spikes now.

His scales had become a swirling mixture of red and black colors; almost making him look like he was adorned in tattoos with two kinds of ink.

At first glance he didn't appear to have wings on his back, but the twin jagged protrusions there seemed to promise differently.

However, his heads were the most eye catching think.

His snout had disappeared and his pair of eyes had grown larger; making him seem like more of an intelligent beast than one who wanted to end the world.

But still, seeing all of those heads assembled was truly frightening…

He held out a single finger over the mountain peak and gestured for Bash to climb on.

"Walk with me."

-

The sound of Abaddon's thundering footsteps carried on for miles.

Bashenga sat upon his shoulder in his adult form; watching the sights and waiting for his father to speak.

Dragons circled them overhead as far as the eye could see; all following their divine ruler as if he was about to bestow them with some sort of wisdom.

"You know… I believe divinity and knowledge make gods wasteful." He finally said.

"Hm?"

"We become so enamored with our divinities and our role within the creator's grand plan that we neglect to branch out.

And we Primordials may be the most guilty of this.

We think 'I embody this, so it must be all that I should have an interest in'. And as a result, we overlook all other parts of existing.

What if I denied myself love and children just because I am sex and sexuality?

What if your mother neglected her needs as a woman because she was solely focused on raising you and your siblings? (Eris)

Or if your other mother focused solely on study and ignored the fun, simple hobbies that she enjoys? (Lailah)

The same goes for you. How will you ever understand the significance of the worlds you destroy if you never stop and live in your own?

Learn what it means to create instead of destroy.

Accept your family's warmth even when you see it as beneath you.

You are going to be alive for forever, my son.

Discover as much about yourself as you can in that time. So that atleast then you can say that it wasn't wasted."

Abaddon's words left Bash with much to think about.

And because he seemed to need as much time as possible, Abaddon made no further comments and allowed him to work things out internally.

For the next few hours or so, the only sound that passed between them was the thudding of Abaddon's footsteps on the soil; and the gentle flapping of the dragons overhead.

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com