First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1167: Minds For The Taking

The Tartaruchi held an impaled watcher on their metal claws.

The tormented creature thrashed and bucked against the spirits holding it, inadvertently worsening it’s own wounds.

A sinister green light poured out of the watcher’s body and bathed the room in it’s twisted radiance.

Abaddon thought he recognized the feeling echoing out of the creature’s body. But he couldn’t be sure.

“Hold him down!”

The watcher stopped screaming when it heard him yell out.

It pointed a long, spidery finger in his direction and spoke in a trembling voice.

“You… It’s you…!”

“Man, this is some scary shit..” Satan backed away timidly.

Zahara called the big red demon a wuss under her breath. Just this once, he didn’t seem to have anything to say in retort.

The watcher suddenly began to shake violently.

It’s head suddenly twisted a full 180 degrees. It’s featureless face stared holes into Abaddon with a hint of clarity.

Abaddon could no longer ignore his hypothesis.

“…You’re here, aren’t you?”

The watcher released a laughing noise that mimicked the hissing of air.

“Wise Abaddon, vengeful Abaddon, beautiful Abaddon… oh, but not patient Abaddon, no, no, no… You couldn’t even wait until I was ready to come find you; you had to run to find me first. Oh, how desperately you must have… missed me…!”

Abaddon’s eyes sharpened. “Oh, very much. I get anxious when things aren’t where they’re supposed to be.”

“Oh, but I am everywhere and nowhere, frienddd… I am exactly where I’m supposed to be. In your face but beyond your grasp. It must… frustrate you.”

“If you know that then make it easy on a so-called friend. Tell me where you are, Yog-Sothoth. Why have you taken the strigori?!”

“Oh, because I’m… charitable in that way. You couldn’t hear them, Abaddon. You couldn’t have known what they needed. Their minds were so lonely… their necks were so cold with no one to hold their leash.

I was the one to give them purpose again. Oh, and they are grateful for it, so grateful. They do what I ask without complaint in the hopes that I will give them just a crumb of praise..

Oh, the god of light is so wonderful and irresponsible. To create such a wonderful race of feeble-minded wretches and leave them all for the taking. Oh, I should thank him. What is that thing the mortals do… pray? Oh yes, I should pray to him and offer my thanks…”

“Don’t bother. I doubt he’d feel much from someone going around and playing kidnapper.”

“Oh… kidnapping..? No, no, no, friend. My guests are but a resource. A necessity if you will. When doing business, one has to have something of equal or greater value to that which the other party possesses.”

“The Ogdru Hem are conducting business deals now. I shudder to think of what you could possibly want.” Abaddon rolled his eyes.

“Oh, do not shudder, Abaddon. Rejoiceee..! I have undergone painstaking efforts, all for you. You should feel honored.”

Abaddon raised a brow. “Me?”

“Yes, you. You want your gods back. I want to be free to live freely away from your boot and untouchable by your dreadful sister’s blade.

To do that… I require a generous offering.

You will duplicate your body and give it to me, completely detached from yourself. Your sins, your virtues, your divinity, I will require all of it.

In exchange, you may have your little godlings back. And a promise from me that our paths shall never cross again.”

“All of your years of hiding have made you a delusional wretch.” Zahara spat venomously. “Did you actually believe we’d agree to such bullshit terms?”

The watcher turned it’s head towards her with a sickening crack.

“… I do not recognize this one. You are new. I wonder, will beautiful bags of flesh also defend me so fervently? Oh, how wonderful. I can always use more aids to serve me well.”

“It is far more plausible that you will see me tear your heart out of your chest first.”

The watcher threw back it’s head and laughed in a demented manner.

“Oh, poor deluded goddess. I am not like my lesser brethren! I have no heart to crush! No brain to bash into paste. That is… not yet, anyway. But the moment may very well be soon at hand, isn’t that right, Abaddon..?”

Zahara and Ayaana looked towards their husband.

They were baffled to see a look of deep contemplation on his face.

“You’re not actually considering this, are you..?” Ayaana was horrified.

As much as he may have wanted to give her an answer that would put her at ease, Abaddon could not do so.

And Yog Sothoth seemed to find all of this overwhelmingly amusing.

“He can’t help himself.. That’s just the kind of creature he is. Oh, there are so many stories about you, father of dragons. My new little friends tell me a great deal of them.

They shriek of your terrible form and your anger that burns all it touches. And yet, there are also a few who sing your praises and confess that in you, they have found friendship and even love.

Surely, the Abaddon that they speak of would not abandon his closest friends..?”

Abaddon’s jaw set in place. Yog-Sothoth’s voice had become an echo interwoven with others that did not belong to him.

He could hear them. Aphrodite, Ares, Papa Legba, and even Demeter.

All seemed to be calling out for him desperately.

Yog-Sothoth could produce auditory illusions. Most, if not all, eldritch horrors could.

But this felt so very different from that kind of parlor trick. It was as if he had held up a microphone to voices that were already there, not created something that didn’t exist.

“They’re waiting for you, Abaddon… if they wait for you too long, I might have to start finding a way to entertain them myself… And you wouldn’t want to leave her alone yet again, would you..?”

Ayaana finally snapped.

She ripped the watcher’s head clean off it’s body.

It’s black-tinted blood was like acid against the marble floors. As a foul stench crept into everyone’s noses, a disembodied laughter filled their ears.

“Ahh!! PAIN!! Such a novel experience! I hate it! And yet, I feel as though I could grow accustomed to it! Such an enigma!!!”

Ayaana dug her claws deeper into the watcher’s head.

As more blood filled out, his laughter became louder and louder.

“If you’re willing to accept my terms, all you need is to drift, Abaddon! I’ll do the rest, I assure you! Come alone, or I’m not sure what I would end up doing-”

Ayaana crushed the watcher’s head in her hand.

Instead of more blood continuing to spurt throughout the room, the creature broke down into a glittering black smoke that resembled airborne sand.

The sun had just started to rise over the outside world, illuminating the living room.

But even though things looked brighter on the outside, the mood was darker than it had been in years.

Zheng slowly stood up and began walking towards Abaddon.

“You’re not actually considering agreeing to this, are you?”

Abaddon waved his hand over the floor to repair it. “It’s dead last on a possible list of options. There are many things to consider first.”

“That’s almost what I wanted to hear. How about we try ’No, never’ instead?”

“…If it came down to it-”

“No matter what it comes down to, this is not an option. You are the single most destructive being in our entire Aeon. If you gave Yog-Sothoth a body exactly like yours, with all of your powers, we no longer have any chance of caging him. Who knows what he would do with that kind of power?”

Abaddon fell silent. Yog-Sothoth was usually a quiet sort. Just hiding should have been enough for him.

And yet, for some reason, he was not only taking antagonistic action towards the gods, but to Abaddon himself as well. It was beyond uncharacteristic.

Did he feel the walls beginning to close in on him…? But Kanami and the euphrates were not even looking for him currently, so how could that have been the case…?

Abaddon indeed did not know why Yog-Sothoth had changed so much. There existed a small possibility that this may have been his true personality all along.

But whether this was a revelation or a deterioration did not matter. In Yog-Sothoth’s current state, Abaddon could in no way say that once the horror received a duplicate of Abaddon’s powers and his body, that it would only use them as a nuclear deterrent and he would only fuck off to a dark, greasy corner of space instead.

So, since Abaddon could not be certain, the correct decision was to refuse the trade.

But then Yog-Sothoth would keep the gods. And if he hadn’t already started to torture them, he would certainly begin if Abaddon refused for long enough.

Abaddon did not want to repay the kindness that his friends had shown him with cruel indifference. But was letting them suffer the lesser of two evils..?

He could not reach a concrete answer. And not knowing what to do nearly drove him insane.

“…Call a meeting. Here.” Abaddon sighed as he began to walk away.

“…Fine. Who do I need to call?”

“Everyone.”