Chapter 521 Injured?
The door to Abaddon's bedroom had only barely closed before he started going after Eris like a man depraved.
Because they had been so busy transforming Tehom for the past week, Abaddon hadn't had time to attend to all of their needs the way they had grown accustomed to.
But tonight, he was planning on making up for the agonizing hours that he had to spend outside of their bodies.
Starting with Eris!
Or at least that was the plan.
Before Abaddon could get his or his wife's clothes off, there was a knock at their bedroom door.
Abaddon flopped face down onto his bed; depressed from the sudden blue balling.
Erica chuckled and opened the door for their late night visitor.
Surprisingly, the one who had come to visit was Gabbrielle.
"Gabby? What are you doing here, darling? And why are you... smiling?"
Erica couldn't help but be floored by the sight of her daughter standing around in a full, toothy grin that she had never displayed before.
It took her more than a few moments to blink away the surprise.
In that time, Gabbrielle bolted into the room and jumped on top of her father's back happily.
"You're hurt!"
"Hm..?" Abaddon lifted his head out of the confines of his mattress and stared at Gabbrielle in surprise. "How did you... Well I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."
Abaddon didn't realize it at first, but the damage he suffered when Jaldabaoth ate his heart was not as minuscule as he thought.
While his physical body was fine, something was wrong with his powers.
The aether and nether in his body that was continually refining and purifying itself to grow stronger and more potent had suddenly stopped.
His powers weren't growing stronger day by day anymore.
He tried meditating and even a bit of magic to heal himself, but nothing seemed to really work.
He told his wives to keep the state of his body a secret since he didn't want to worry anyone, and he wasn't actually dealing with any discomfort.
He never anticipated that Gabbrielle would have found it out on their first meeting.
Or that she would have been quite so joyful to see him hurt...
'Is she upset with me for something? Have I been paying too little attention to her since she's so independent...?' He wondered.
"How did father get injured?" Gabbrielle asked excitedly.
"Ah.... In my battle with Jaldabaoth, there was a moment where he caught me unawares and ate my heart. He stole no power from me, but I felt something 'breaking' as he consumed me."
Gabbrielle's eyes seemed to shine even brighter than before. "Perfect, just perfect..!"
Bekka ran her fingers through Gabbrielle's curly hair as she smiled wryly.
"Peach pie, why are you so happy about your father's injury?"
Gabbrielle smiled at her mother happily as she wrapped her arms around Abaddon's neck.
"Because his spark has been damaged! This means we can tell him everything now!"
"Eh? I'm not following?" Lailah admitted.
Gabbrielle finally seemed to realize that she may have been getting just a little bit ahead of herself.
"The spark father has been given by Asherah has been damaged, and that means that he cannot become an Aeon until it's healed, but healing the spark after it's been implanted takes tens of thousands of years!"
"...My what now?" Abaddon asked.
"And that means... he cannot become an aeon in that time." Lailah slowly realized.
"I don't want to be anything else, I like being a dragon just fine..?" Abaddon muttered. "...What's an Aeon?"
Bit by bit, the the rest of the girls started to catch on and and their eyes began to show the same level of excitement as Gabbrielle.
Lisa tackled Abaddon cutely and planted a huge kiss on his cheek. "Honey! This means we don't have to lie or keep secrets from you anymore!!"
"Are you about to tell me you've been faking it all this time?" Abaddon placed a hand over his chest like he was pretending to be hurt.
"No, blockhead! And stop making dirty jokes in front of our babies!" Lisa bit Abaddon's ear off hard enough to draw blood, but he just laughed it off.
"She could have thought that I was talking about you pretending to love me though?" He joked.
"I do not." Gabbrielle said soullessly. "I am aware you are talking about intercourse."
All of Abaddon's wives blushed and looked away while he just laughed.
"You may consider that repayment for not telling me what you are talking about when I asked."
Gabbrielle placed her head on her father's bare back and nodded thoughtfully.
"Right... well, listen carefully to what I am about to tell you... and please don't be upset with me."
-
Gabbrielle took several minutes to explain to her father exactly what an Aeon was, as well as a fabled spark.
He sat and listened to everything that Gabbrielle had to say carefully and while barely breathing.
At the speech's end, Lailah returned the memory of how to isolate a space from the flow of time to him.
At the end of Gabbrielle's speech, she waited carefully for her father to make some kind of response.
As she feared, he was upset.
But it wasn't with any of them.
"Haa… who told them to do something like give me a power with that much responsibility attached to it..? Old bastards didn't even bother to ask me first..."
Gabbrielle took several seconds to blink away the surprise from her expression.
"You… aren't upset with me?"
"Not you, but I may have words for Asherah next time I see her…" he muttered.
"But I've been lying to you… you could have been much further along magically if I had told you the truth and didn't slow down your lessons." Gabbrielle said sadly.
Abaddon shrugged and laid his head back down.
"Nothing is more important to me than staying here with your brothers and sisters and our family. To that end, I can sacrifice a little bit of magical knowledge."
Gabbrielle's earlier smile returned in full force and her little white tail wagged happily behind her back.
"Thank you, father… I really missed you."
At this, Abaddon finally rolled over and gave his daughter the biggest hug of all.
"I missed you too, peach."
As Abaddon planted a small kiss on his daughter's forehead, a glimmer of recognition suddenly shone in her eyes.
She reached inside of her storage ring and pulled out a notebook that was chock full of ideas.
Gabbrielle shyly held it up for her parents to see, and for a second she seemed like your average young girl instead of the former embodiment of infinity.
"I know that you all are waiting to resume normal nightly activities, but I finished my third manuscript and I was hoping to quickly get your thoughts on it..?"
Before Abaddon could respond, he felt a gust of wind blow his hair into his face.
Faster than the eye could see, all of his wives had changed into their respective nightgowns and gotten under the covers for bed.
Audrina repeatedly tapped an open spot left for Abaddon and Gabbrielle to slip into. "Come on, you two! Don't keep us in suspense!!"
As they smiled, the pair climbed into their spots and Gabbrielle flipped to the first page.
Once she started reading, Abaddon couldn't help but realize just how content he felt in this moment.
However, he also felt his mind wander towards Asherah, and the fabled spark sitting in his soul.
He wondered why Asherah and Yesh had given him such a thing without even mentioning it.
Was it because they pitied him?
Was it because they favored him..?
Either way, he didn't know if he was the kind of person who should be trusted with a responsibility like this.
In his mind, beings like the creator should care about everyone equally, and Abaddon heavily favored dragons, monsters, and small groups of humans.
Besides, he wasn't necessarily after more power, he just wanted to be able to defend himself and his family if need be.
'Surely they know that, so why did they give this to me…?'
-
Abaddon's eyes fluttered open after what felt like a brief moment.
But much to his surprise, it was already morning.
He found Gabbrielle sleeping right beside him, curled up in her infant form while unconscious in Seras' arms.
'So cute…'
"Isn't she?"
Looking up, Abaddon found that Tatiana was already awake and smiling beautifully.
Once they made eye contact, she crawled over the sea of bodies in their bed until she came to lay directly on top of his chest.
She gave him a dangerously long kiss that woke up both of their unattended instincts from the night before.
"Our bed is occupied…" he whispered between kisses.
"The bathroom isn't…"
"It's not soundproof either." Gabbrielle said without opening her eyes.
Abaddon and Tatiana froze in unison as they slowly turned to face her.
Both seemed to be clearly embarrassed as they immediately tried to change the subject.
"A-Ahem, good morning, darling. Are you hungry? Shall we make you breakfast?"
"Anything you want, my daughter. Just name it."
Gabbrielle finally opened one of her eyes and stared at both of her parents.
"…I want muffins."
"Oh? Surprise, surprise." Abaddon chuckled.
Gabbrielle crawled from in between Seras' breasts and into Abaddon's arms, and he carried her and Tatiana out of the bedroom.
The three of them had just started to head towards the kitchen when a door opened down the hall.
Abaddon smiled fondly when he saw his eldest daughter carrying her second wife on her back like a panda bear.
"It's good to see you two up so early. I wanted to hear how your battle went as commanding officers."
For reasons that Abaddon did not understand, Jasmine looked quite excited to tell him how things went, but Thea looked like she was forcing a smile onto her face.
He could feel so much anxiety flowing off of her that he immediately feared the worst.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om