Chapter 492 First of Many Flights
Straga elicited quite a fair bit of 'Awws' when he stepped up to the podium to bring his parents their rings.
He looked back over his shoulder to see if Monica was one of the ones infatuated with his cuteness, and his tail wagged a bit more happily when he realized that she was.
Giddily, he stood in front of Papa Legba and allowed the old loa to lift the rings on the satin pillow.
"May these eleven rings symbolize the connection that already binds your mind, bodies, and souls; your past, present, and futures. As well as the cherished bond between each of you."
Papa Legba held the pillow out in front of Abaddon and Ayaana, and the girls finally split.
Each of the girls had on the same white dress as before, with their hair adorned in different cultural styles.
One by one, Abaddon placed a ring on each of their fingers, before Lailah placed his on herself.
The rings that the wives wore were somewhat special.
On the traditional ring finger, they each had a large ring made out of some kind of magical black metal and a precious gem the color of their choice.
But on their other fingers, they wore smaller, silver rings that were more like friendship bracelets.
One for each of their sisters.
When they came back together as Ayaana, the silver rings disappeared and left only the black one behind.
Abaddon's ring also split apart; becoming one when his wives were unified and splitting into ten?again whenever they were apart.
Because after all, they were still their own individuals.
With the ring gifting now out of the way, it was time for the part of the ceremony that the loving couple had been anxiously awaiting since the beginning.
"The couple has decided to say their vows in private." Papa Legba explained.
"So with that out of the way, I ask you, Abaddon Tathamet. Do you take Lailah, Bekka, Lisa, Valerie, Audrina, Eris, Seras, Lillian, Tatiana, and Erica to be your lawfully wedded wives?"
Abaddon smiled and answered without hesitation.
"I do."
Papa Legba had to admit, it was strange to se the dragon all wide eyed like this.
"Now girls, do you take Abaddo-"
"YES!"
Unable to resist any longer, the girls uncaringly shoved Papa Legba aside and threw themselves at Abaddon; kissing him passionately.
Unsure of exactly what to do, the loa decided to just let them have at it.
"Ah.. I now pronounce you-"
"Hooray!"
"This is beautiful, just beautiful!"
"Congratulations, my liege!"
"So jealous..."
"Of which one?"
"Both of them."
The cheers of thousands of dragons and spirits erupted into the cold, snowy sky.
The dragons exhaled flames of all different colors above their heads to mark the beginning to a monumental celebration, and Abaddon and Ayaana alike were suddenly besieged by all off their children.
For that brief moment, they seemed like nothing more than a normal family; with an abundance of love and security binding them all together.
Their brood wasn't even fully complete yet, but when it was, there would be no family who could say they were closer than them.
With one arm around his wife and another holding the hand of one of his twin daughters, Abaddon turned his attention to the rest of his people, and for the first time he seemed rather bashful.
"Ah.. apologies for doing things a bit out of order, my friends. We were a bit overly excited."
Ayaana blushed, but she didn't look the least bit ashamed.
"Our zeal aside, my wives and I hope that you will join us for our most cherished ceremony. The first flight."
Visible excitement showed up on the faces of all dragons in attendance, while the gods from outside made confused expressions.
Abaddon wrapped his arms around Ayaana's waist, and the two of them swayed over to the ledge lovingly.
The girls wrapped their arms around his neck while he rested his hands on her large and supple butt, and the two of them leaned over the ledge and plummeted from the sky.
"Eh? Dual suicide?" Discordia questioned.
"I don't think everything we've seen today would have that kind of end to it, mother..." Alethia said exhaustedly.
"Indeed not!" Camazotz said loudly. "All of you should take your communion, friend gods! You are most certainly going to need it!"
Shrugging, the gods reached inside of their pockets and pulled out an item delivered to their homes before the ceremony.
It was a little plastic cup with a drop of golden blood inside.
The gods new to this realm pulled back the film and drank the blood inside without much thought behind it.
And not seconds later, they knew what it was for.
A large gust of wind shook the world with vigor as a shadow drowned the entire rooftop garden in darkness.
For the first time ever, Discordia didn't feel like picking on Abaddon anymore, and At? didn't feel like trying to be a home wrecker.
The most horrifying abomination they had ever seen had filled the sky everywhere they looked; drowning the world in it's malevolent regality.
It was a beast like anything they had ever come across, with the lower snake-like half of an eastern dragon and the powerful chest and upper body of a western one; complete with arms and even posable thumbs.
It's underbelly was a red swirling mass of galaxies and stars, likely born of his spacial divinity that was second to none.
A large demonic eye sat in the middle of his powerfully muscular chest that made even the foulest evils of Tartarus look like masses of baby vomit.
The seven heads upon his faces had multiple bone-like masks to protect him from harm, and four eyes sitting on each side.
The multiple pairs of wings coming out of his back somehow made the 300 meter dragon seem even larger, and several gods could have sworn that they were going to pee themselves.
Even the dragons in the air had to take a rather large step back once he took his rightful place in the sky.
This beast was so abysmally horrifying that it defied description, triumphed over comparison, and abandoned logic or reason.
But for yang, there is always yin!
In the clutches of the horrifying dragon was another that was his polar opposite, yet his same height.
It was one with a purely white body, and scales that seemed to produce a luminescent color like shimmering rainbows.
Four pairs of wings came from their slender back.
One was draconic.
Another was vampiric.
The third was like that of a white phoenix.
And the fourth pair was like that of the most glorious butterfly.
Their entire body was serpentine in nature, and they wrapped their tail around their husband's matching lower half.
Unlike the black dragon, this one had ten heads with horns and antlers alike.
Each one had eyes of a different color, and a red marking on the top of their heads that was quite similar to the one they bore on their individual bodies.
Their faces were beautiful, even in this powerful form.
Dragon or not, they could illicit a lust from men and women alike that could rival that of their chosen mate.
The two of them flapped their wings in tandem, as they started their first flight as 'newlyweds'.
Judgingby the way that they seemed to be totally and completely in sync, it was hard to tell which of them was carrying the other through the sky.
But in the grande scheme of things, something like that was a testament to their relationship.
They soared together, no matter how or why.
Should one of them falter or not be strong enough, then one will carry the other.
It was as simple as that.
Starting with Thea as the lead, the children jumped off the ledge to follow their parents one by one.
Though the eldest princess only had the faintest bit of dragon genetics in her DNA, she had at least learned to mimic one for special little moments like this one.
The bracelet around her wrist started to glow with a faint blue light, and she was suddenly covered in an abundance of liquid metal.
The substance cooled and shaped itself until Thea was encompassed in a large otherworldly shell.
Her appearance was now that of a large silver eastern dragon, with rows and rows of blades and broken swords running down her spine.
After her came Apophis, then Mira, and so on.
When they were trailing behind their parents, the grandparents finally decided to join in the fray.
Imani had been practicing with her new body all week in preparation for just this moment, and she quickly proved herself to be a natural flyer.
After family came friends, like Darius, the Rabisu brothers, Lusamine and Zheng.
The gods were able to get the hang of it not long after, and they also took to the skies through their own divine power instead of flight. (Save for Ryujin.)
Finally, the sea of dragons and spirits watching the ceremony began to follow behind their sovereign and his family; each of them basking in this beautiful moment while secretly pining to get as close as they could.
In the lead, Abaddon and Ayaana finally separated, and they flew over and under each other continually like trained choreographers.
They could not begin to take their eyes off each other no matter how hard they tried, and eventually they merely gave up and let themselves be fully encapsulated.
But of course, Ayaana's minds were elsewhere.
'Honey, we are all so happy… but this-'
'Don't think about it, my loves. Leave unpleasant things like that for tomorrow. For now, just let yourselves relax and focus on our union. Tehom can wait to burn.'
The girls smiled in their draconic form, and Abaddon knew that he had done a good job at convincing them.
The two of them continued their flight for another thirty minutes before dismissing their entourage and finding their own private cave that was large enough to hold at least their seventy meter forms.
Here, was where the most intimate part of their day would occur…
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