Apophis strode into the garden casually, but he looked a bit different from his past appearance.
His hair that previously closely resembled his father's was now a deep, rich purple, and his formerly green eyes were now a bright red.
Jutting out from the sides of his head were two long dark horns that seemed to be eerily similar yet different from a dragon's horns.
"Apophis...?"
"Son... what happened to you?"
"My baby boy has become even more handsome!"
Apophis could not escape the smothering embrace of Lailah, and Helios used that moment to explain his great grandson's transformation.
"Right... Since your son is made from your blood alone and not polluted by inferior DNA, he was also able to undergo a transmutation but he failed in his ascent to become a true dragon."
Abaddon cleared his throat and tried to ensure that his words came out properly this time and weren't in Dovhazul.
"What... what do you mean he failed?" he asked with minor difficulty.
"Transmutation is a rather difficult process that not many can undergo successfully. Evidently, his soul and body could not bear the burden of the ascendance and he has become something called an imoogi."
Abaddon nodded in understanding, and analyzed his son carefully.
Even though Helios had described his ascension as a failure, Apophis' power had taken a rather substantial boost just like his mothers and father.
"I... am sorry." Apophis said as he lowered his head. "You presented me such an amazing opportunity, and yet I was unable to fully reap the benefits due to my own inadequacies."
Apophis' failure was something that weighed on him particularly heavily.
He was his father's only son, as such he idolized him and felt a sense of duty to follow in his footsteps.
To know that he had failed to become a bit more like him... it was heartbreaking.
Abaddon could feel his son's disappointment flowing off him in waves, and he immediately stood up and placed a hand upon his shoulder.
"What a silly son I have raised. Why would you feel a need to apologize to me when you have done nothing wrong?"
Apophis felt like he could not meet his father's gaze nor answer his question, and remained silent while keeping his head down.
"You're being much too hard on yourself. You thought because you could not become a dragon I would be disappointed? How laughable.
I am proud of all of my children no matter what, and I certainly will not place blame upon your shoulders for something that was largely out of your control."
Abaddon still had a lot to learn about being a father, and he was learning more everyday.
But he was absolutely sure that he never wanted his children to feel like they had to hold themselves to some unnecessary standard or follow in his footsteps.
They were their own people, and they had to live for themselves and their own happiness before anyone else's.
Behind Abaddon, each of his wives nodded silently in agreement, and the young prince could do nothing but smile wryly at his earlier foolishness.
"I see... I will take your words to heart, father."
At the table, Helios and Asmodeus were still seated, each having very different reactions.
The nephilim was sniffling and wiping away his own tears, while trying his best not to cause a scene.
'My son is such a good father! The sight is almost too much to bear!'
At his side the golden dragon was watching carefully, and playing back his relationships with his son's in his own mind.
'How did it take him a single year to grasp what I failed to see in hundreds...?'
In that moment, Helios could not decide whether he felt more impressed or ashamed.
Apophis soon joined his mothers and father in their discussion with Helios and the discussion soon turned to Abaddon's own origins.
"Are there any legends of a dragon called Tathamet?"
Helios made a confused expression as he scratched his chin.
"As I've already explained, we are capable of sharing the memories and experiences of our kin, provided we know exactly what we are searching for.
We possess an unfathomable depth of knowledge that spans across almost all of recorded history and yet... I have never heard of this name that you speak of. Whatever you were... it is very very old."
"You're being strangely helpful." Lailah suddenly said to Helios.
"It is already alarming that you have been told a great deal, but even more so that you seem to be accepting it all in stride." Audrina agreed.
Helios could not say that their reactions were unfounded and as such he took no offense.
Instead, he held unwavering eye contact with Abaddon and seemed to be staring into his very soul.
"I am only telling you these things out of respect for our maker, and because it has been quite a while since I have been able to converse with my own kin. "
Valerie: "...you're lying."
Bekka: "He's totally lying."
Seras: "My king, you could atleast be truthful..."
Helios felt like a vein was going to explode in his head, and he felt like incinerating this entire garden.
He was certainly not lying!
Maybe he wasn't telling the full truth though...
But he wasn't going to tell them that!
"Hmph! I see that my kind gestures were unwelcome. To think I do something out of the goodness of my heart and this is how I am to be repaid."
Helios stood up and began walking away before his body was enveloped in a column of fire and he disappeared.
As Asmodeus watched the golden dragon leave, he could not suppress the small smirk that formed on his lips.
Helios' motives were painfully easy for him to read.
All true dragons hold massive respect and praise for the dragon gods, and for the more warlike members of their race it is every dragon's dream to confront them in honorable battle.
In his own way, he was discreetly pushing him to get stronger as fast as he could.
All in the hopes of having the most glorious battle imaginable.
-
After the meeting, Abaddon and his wives were told to by Apophis that Thea and Mira were feeling a bit down in the dumps.
Like the loving parents they were, they immediately dropped their plans of heading back to the bedroom and instead made a beeline for the girls' room.
They found the two sisters nestled together in bed, with all of the curtains drawn shut and wrapped up in blankets like caterpillars in cocoons.
When they heard the sound of the door opening, they were relieved to see that their family was okay, but their faces showed only a minor elevation of mood.
"You guys are okay... that's great, we were really worried about you." Thea said with a forced smile.
"Mmm. Mira was worried too."
Abaddon and his wives climbed into bed with the two girls, while Apophis leaned silently against the wall.
"So, do you girls want to tell me what's wrong?"
Both sisters flinched and made secret eye contact with each other as if they were unsure if they could say how they felt.
Because they knew that their parents would not let this go, they eventually caved and decided to spill.
"We... were just feeling a bit left out I suppose." Thea began. "You all got stronger together all of a sudden, a-and even Apophis was able to become more like you but... we didn't."
"Because we aren't daddy's real daughters..." Mira said sadly.
Both girls had puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks, indicating that they'd already spent a great deal of time crying about this.
Abaddon admittedly felt a bit blindsided.
In all of his wildest dreams, he could never have imagined that his daughters would feel left out over something like this.
From the beginning, he'd always done his best to make them feel like they were loved just like they were his own, but he began to feel like maybe he hadn't done a good enough job.
'No... the girls know that they are loved.' He thought as he shook off that silly thought.
The reality was that both girls already knew that Abaddon and his wives loved them dearly, but this wasn't necessarily about that.
It couldn't be easy to see most of your family suddenly share power in the blink of an eye while knowing that gift could not be shared with you.
It was no wonder the girls were feeling down in the dumps.
Abaddon searched his mind for comforting words or even an amicable solution, when a lightbulb suddenly went off in his brain and he thought of something even better.
"Then... do you want to be?"
"Huh...?"
"Uwah?"
The girls weren't alone, and their mothers were all looking at Abaddon like he had just said something crazy as well.
As a response, Abaddon lifted his thin arm and dug his claws into his forearm, allowing his deep red blood to flow.
"Do you remember how when we were in the dungeon, I explained that my understanding of blood control allowed me to remove the poison in your bother's body?"
"Y-Yes." Thea said with a slow nod.
Abaddon's blood began to float upwards, and it circled over the girls' heads.
"What I am proposing now is something similar, yet much more complex. " He explained.
"I would be using my blood to rewrite your DNA on a cellular level. By telling my blood to treat the DNA from your biological fathers as an impurity, I can attack it and then replace it with my own."
Both girls' eyes became wide as saucers, as they listened to this fantastical solution that seemed too good to be true.
But after a moment, Thea remembered what happened to those with her father's blood in their body, and she was curious about what would happen to her.
"Father... will I become a demon? Or a dragon?"
"Do you want to be?" Abaddon asked as he tilted his head.
Thea thought about it for a moment before she shook her head no.
Maybe if you'd asked her when she was younger she would have said yes, but Thea had actually come to like herself as she became older.
Her family nor anyone around her had ever judged her for being human, and so she no longer saw it as something she needed to change.
"Then no. I should be able to make my traits more recessive so that those from your biological mother are not lost. You will still be human, and it will not make you any less of my child."
A huge smile appeared on Thea's face and she threw her arms around her father's neck in a desperate hug.
"Thank you thank you thank you!"
Not wanting to be left behind, her younger sister also joined in the hug so that she could express her thanks as well. "Mira wants to hug father too!"
After they separated and the girls prepared to undergo the ritual, Abaddon looked both of them seriously in the eye before they began.
"Even though we're doing this, I want you to know that this will not change anything. Whether you had my blood or not, you two have always been my daughters and I have always been your father. "
His heartfelt words earned smiles from both girls as they lay motionlessly on the floor.
"We know... but we want it to be official."
"Yea! Official!"
Abaddon chuckled when he saw that the girls really weren't going to change their minds and he waived his hand to begin the ritual.
His blood traveled into an open wound on each of their palms and the girls began to get slightly dizzy.
"Then I'll see you when you wake up... my daughters."
Thea and Mira lost consciousness not long after their father's words left his lips, and their bodies were encased in a fleshy egg-like sac where they would complete their metamorphosis.
As he stared absentmindedly at the eggs containing his children, Abaddon could not help but think of the name that he'd heard in his vision two days ago.
'Tathamet, huh? ...Might make a good family name.'
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