𝒪𝓋𝐥xt.𝗰𝔬𝔪

“…WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COULDN’T GET IT?!” Hades roared. 

In his office, he was staring at three figures in completely black robes with hooks for left hands. 

These beings were more like living specters, and they acted as the keeper of the most famous prison in existence; Tartarus. 

“We have told you…”

“Her soul already belongs to another….”

“None other that one may lay claim to it…”

The reaper-like being spoke in fragmented sentences as they finished each other’s words, a testament to the hive mind they shared between them.

To their credit, they had found Lillian rather easily and approached her without issue as she slept alongside the rest of her family. 

And yet as soon as they tried to take her soul, they were met with an impenetrable barrier the likes of which no being could hope to crack. 

“We have never seen anything like it…”

“Even you with your crown would be unable to break their connection…”

“And if you felt the sense of danger emanating from it, you would not even want to try…”

Bang!

Hades vaporized the table he was sitting at and stood up like a man overcome by rage.

“Do not trifle with me. No matter what he may have been, that dragon is not-“

“Dragon…?”

“We do not speak of a dragon….”

“We refer to the soul who has become an unseen anomaly…”

By now Hades’ anger had given way to utter confusion. “That woman? She is nothing.” 

“She may have been…”

“But now that is no longer the case…” 

“We lack the vocabulary to properly define her new existence, but one thing is for certain…” 

“””She and the seven bound to her are aberrations that should absolutely not exist…”””

By now, the god of death felt like he no longer had any clue what was goin on in the world. 

The Tartaruchi are ancient and fearless keepers of Tartarus and had seen just about everything, so for them to behave this way in front of a mortal soul was an insane turn of events.

“As if he wasn’t bad enough, the women at his side are just as odd…” He muttered.

A silence fell around the room as the oldest of son of Kronos reached a deeper conclusion. 

‘What am I doing… Why should I even care about all of this nonsense..? If the creator doesn’t care about such a calamity resurrecting then why should I?’

Hades fell back into his leather chair as he finally gave up on interfering with Abaddon or his family. 

Whatever the outcome of the future would be, he would stay out of it and let reality survive or perish on it’s own. 

‘The endwar is sure to be noisy… I’ve never been so grateful to be stuck down here before.’

–

“I’m exhausted, I can’t go on anymore!”

“One more time love, then I promise I will give you a break.”

“Come on, sister! If you do one more husband and I will reward you properly~”

“Reward?”

“I-Ignore her, Gabbrielle.”

Valerie collapsed on the deck of the ship with her muscular body covered in a thin layer of sweat. 

Sitting crosslegged nearby were her husband, Lillian, Eris, and her youngest daughter Gabbrielle.

This was the first day of their voyage to the dwarven continent of Apeir, and Abaddon had decided to use this time to test out some of the new powers he and his wives had awakened.

Valerie was so exhausted, even the coaxing of sex was hardly an effective motivator, a dilemma that she had never even encountered before. 

Eris suddenly touched her hand and transferred the clean and pure energy of nature into her body, alleviating her physical exhaustion but not so much the mental.

“I know it’s taxing, my wife but just one more time and then you can call it quits.” Abaddon said. 

“I can’t… I want a beer… and a nap… and for somebody to lick me… I won’t be picky about the order.”

Abaddon and Eris glanced at each other as if they were both having the same dirty thoughts at once. 

“Lick?” Gabbrielle asked in confusion. 

“P-Please just ignore the things your mother says, she’s just tired and woozy.” Lillian said as she pulled her innocent daughter into her chest. 

Abaddon and Eris embarrassingly cleared their throats as they realized they had gotten carried away. 

Finally, the dragon sighed and realized that he would have to play the card that he had to use as a last resort when his wives became particularly lazy.

“My daughter?” 

“Mmmf?” (Yes, father?)

“I’m thinking of cutting my hair. Would you mind bringing me some scissor-“

Bang!

Before Abaddon could finish, Valerie tackled him like a pro linebacker and possessively placed her hands over his head.

“Don’t you dare! It’s my second favorite part of you and if you take it away from me I’ll be crushed!” She complained.

When stressed, Valerie often requested to sit in Abaddon’s lap as she wrapped his hair around her neck like a scarf. 

The scent and softness always did wonders to ease her mind.

Abaddon smirked inwardly as he continued to put on his best aloof act. “I don’t know, love. I like it but it can be a lot of work to maintain, you know?”

“Bullshit! Your body stoped getting dirty after you evolved for the second time, so your hair always stays perfect! This isn’t funny, Abaddon!”

Contrary to what Valerie felt, her husband was finding this entire scenario downright hilarious and it was requiring herculean efforts not to laugh. 

“I guess I could be persuaded to keep it but… only if you’ll give your powers another try.”

Valerie grumbled some unflattering words under her breath and stared at her husband like she was considering giving him a headbutt. 

“…I don’t like you.”

“I love you too, my dear.”

Valerie rolled her eyes and bit her husband’s lips aggressively as she punched him in the ribs.

Finally she sat up and took another deep breath before closing her eyes to concentrate. 

The group continued to sit in silence as the minutes ticked by, none of them wanting to disturb her concentration.

After ten minutes, Valeries body started to glow white. 

Gabbrielle raised a brow in surprise as she watched her mother hold out her hands and a small item was formed from the particles of light. 

It was a thin metallic box in the shape of a rectangle with a glass screen and no buttons. 

When the light faded, all of the strength left Valerie’s body and she collapsed on top of her husband, the cellular device still in her hand. 

“You did great, my love… I could not be more proud of you.”

Despite her exhaustion, Valerie still found the energy to smile sheepishly as her eyes fluttered to a close. “Thank you… but the hair stays and you better eat me like your life depends on it.”

“Eat?” Gabbrielle asked. 

“O-Okay, my daughter, let’s play the hold your ears closed game!” Lillian said in a panic. 

Valerie fell asleep not long afterwards, her horns pressed into her husband’s neck and a fistful of her husband’s prized red hair.

Abaddon held her firmly yet gently as he picked up the phone from the ground. 

While it did come on, it contained nothing but a functional camera.

Even though Valerie was able to remake this device through Abaddon’s shared memories, she still didn’t understand the complexities of coding and microchips so it wasn’t a fully functional model.

She would have to take it apart and study it carefully before she could have a hope of replicating the tech.

‘Never thought I’d hold one of these again… it feels so unfamiliar after all this time.’ He thought fondly. 

“Father…. what do you know about mother’s parents?” Gabbrielle asked in a hushed voice. 

Abaddon wasn’t prepared for such a question, and to make matters worse he didn’t have an answer. 

“Your mother has a very complicated past, my child… She has no memory of her mother or even her father for that matter.”

Gabbrielle’s gaze slightly hardened and everyone around her realized that her mind was working overtime. 

“Is there something the matter, Gabbrielle?” Eris asked. 

“…Destruction and creation are not abilities that mortals are capable of possessing. They defy the laws of physics at their very core, making it so that only the most powerful beings have a chance of awakening them. 

The fact that mother Valerie is truly in possession of this element… her background cannot be small, and there is no way that she is the union of a simple human and a dwarf as we had thought.”

All eyes drifted to the drooling demon woman who had her face resting on her husband’s shoulder. 

“Is there a chance that she could have inherited this from husband?” Lillian asked. 

“Not in the slightest. As father’s name implies, he is a being of destruction at his core. The chances of him possessing creation magic are zero.”

By now everyone’s curiosity had been sufficiently peaked, but there was no way to investigate this story further. 

Valerie had already killed all of the mercenaries of empryium who would have known her as a child.

“We’ll have to figure this out another day.” Abaddon said with a sigh.

The girls nodded, and then it was Eris’s turn to test her new powers.

Touching the wooden planks on the deck of the ship, a warm green energy left her slender fingertips.

When her family saw what was happening, she was showered with compliments and praise. 

“It’s beautiful…”

“Quite impressive…”

“It is as lovely as you are, my wife.”

In the blink of an eye, Eris had created a true vision on board the ship, and a miniature flower field sprung up across the entirety of the deck.

“After receiving this power from the qlipoth, my control over nature is now high enough that I can do this with anything organic, living or dead.”

Eris could now magically grow plants in any environment, and mutate them so that they fed off the nutrients of whatever was available. 

She had not told her husband yet, but she was currently practicing in the hopes of recreating man eating plants from those video games he had told her about. 

‘I think I would like a proper garden… I should talk to sister Valerie when she wakes up.’ 

Eris finally sat down and took her youngest daughter into her arms, giving Lillian the freedom she would soon need. 

“Are you sure about this, beloved..? I do not want to hurt you for my sake.” 

Abaddon smiled warmly and beckoned her closer despite her hesitation.

“I no longer feel physical pain, so you do not have to worry about me. Besides, it is not just for your sake. It is so that our family as a whole can become stronger.”

“Alright… I will do my best then.” 

She crawled over to Abaddon rather seductively, and once she was close enough, she placed her lips on his collar bone and opened her mouth wide to take a bite.