First Demonic Dragon

When Sif observed the humans more closely, everything that her wife had told her just now did not seem that far-fetched.

Their faces were noticeably gaunt and tired. Not one of them had hair that was devoid of some patch of gray, yet none of them looked like they were much older than thirty.

That could have been due to the weather, malnutrition, or even just the stress of living through the apocalypse.

However, Sif could see beyond the problems of the flesh. The flame of life that existed inside every human was barely a flicker within them.

Except for one among them.

“…Why’s that other girl unconscious?”

One of the nevi’im grabbed a young woman by the ankle, holding her in the air. She didn’t wake or even stir. Rather, the girl continued to drool down her face and into her hair.

“…That’s Raciel’s daughter, apparently. It seems she doesn’t like lizards.”

Bayle rested his head on Izanami’s shoulder sadly.

“Oh, it’s alright, sweetheart. Everyone can’t appreciate what a handsome man you are.”

Strangely, Bayle seemed to feel a little bit better.

Sif looked back and forth between the woman, the restrained gods, and the golden masks lying scattered across the battlefield. “And they ended up here fighting with the celestial court, how exactly…?”

“Accidentally, it seems. The kings were going to take the humans and the witch into their care, and you can imagine how the witch’s coven reacted.”

After thinking for a few moments, Sif suddenly turned to stare at her wife with a wide smile. “Darling… You didn’t happen to see where to find the witch’s little hideout, did you?”

Izanami showed her a measured smile. “I…have somewhat of an idea, yes.”

She faced north to direct her wife’s attention.

“We’ve had everything outside of our territory surveilled for days now. Our dragons have steadily been moving outward in a ring, so haven’t you wondered how two of these sizeable forces managed to get past all of them?”

“I…” Sif honestly hadn’t. She was just so mad about being interrupted earlier that everything else sort of just slipped her mind.

“Remember. Our husband said that space and distance here aren’t fully synchronized yet. Right now, this place is more similar to the nightmare realm than anything else.”

Sif nodded slowly, understanding. “So… they fell through one of those unconnected spots and ended up here then. Which means they are still far beyond our grasp.”

Izanami looked at her watch. “Perhaps not… We’ll have to move quickly if we want to get there before this new reality stabilizes.”

“That settles it then….” Sif nodded with a solemn look. “Seems like there’s nothing we can do for now.”

“…Sif.”

“Better that we head home, wait for these four idiots to wake up, then go back to our room and-“

“Sif.”

“I’m sure we won’t even miss anything, it’ll probably be more like-“

“Sif!”

“Damn it, fine!”

Sif stubbornly kicked a patch of earth beside her, causing a small seismic event.

Rolling her eyes, Izanami pulled out her phone and began dialing a number.

A small squeal escaped her lips. As she held the ringing phone up to her ear, she took Sif’s hand and kissed it excitedly.

“This is going to be so exciting, don’t you think?? Oh, I never really do anything like this! Should we call one of the others for backup maybe??”

Sif would have loved to say that she was paying attention. In fact, she probably should have been.

But Izanami had the habit of moving around a bit when she became excited. And with her clothes still rather open….

‘Eternity…’ she prayed tearfully. ‘I’ll give you whatever you want if you just stop time for me right now..!’

–

Soft giggles arose from a bed inside some rather futuristic quarters.

Ayaana lounged onto her back, slowly inching away with a mild fear in her eyes. She bit her lip in anticipation.

Abaddon loomed above her, the glow of his eyes matching his own.

“You’ve been staring at me like that all day. I can hardly be blamed for not remembering my manners at this point, can I…?”

Ayaana feigned a look of innocence as she watched her husband remove his shirt. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about… Can’t a wife just be nice to her husband?”

“You can… I just hope you aren’t expecting me to be nice in return this time. It’s been too long for that.”

Ayaana grinned as she hooked the tip of her tail in her husband’s waistband.

“Promises, promises… don’t keep me in suspense, honey, I-“

Mira abruptly kicked open her parents’ door with Entei and Camazotz at her back.

“MOMMY, DADDY, your wonderful daughter is here, and she is seeking your love and attention!”

Mira blinked at the sight of her mother on the sofa, reading a magazine while her husband lay with his head in her lap.

“You guys are so borrrring…! We’ve got a whole spaceship to play in, and you’re just in here doing the same stuff you’d be doing at home!”

K’ael lifted his head from the back of Entei. “If they aren’t groping each other, I would say that’s an improvement.”

Abaddon knit his brow into a frown. “Why are you little rats-“

Ayaana covered her husband’s mouth with her book. “Now what your father means to say, kids, is that we like our alone time… ALONE time.”

Mira shrugged as she tossed her body on top of her father’s. “You know what I always say! If you want alone time, you shouldn’t have had kids!”

“And fifteen at that…” K’ael climbed down from the mount as they all entered the room. “One could almost say that you got tired of being alone.”

“We had fifteen of you because we like being alone so much, boy.”

“”Eww.”” K’ael and Mira had no visible reaction as they invaded their parents’ space.

The older child picked up the television remote and switched it on. “TV here is crazy, it’s like that scientist show that Bell is always watching. It’s like TV from every reality or something. What do you guys wanna watch?”

“”Out.”” Abaddon and Ayaana pointed.

“What if we watch The Originals but with Samuel L. Jackson as Niklaus?”

“…”

“…”

Abaddon and Ayaana looked at each other momentarily. Sighing, she put her book away as her husband shuffled into a more comfortable position in her lap.

“…Just one episode.” He grumbled.

“And give me the snacks, I know you brought some.” Ayaana held out her hand.

While Camazotz placed two bags of chips and a twelve-pack of cola in her lap, Abaddon retrieved his phone that had just begun to ring.

Answering, he spoke warmly into the phone as Izanami very excitedly told him about all they’d learned while he was away.

“I see… I don’t think any of the armies are particularly close to you at the moment. It might be faster if I had the creatures I made converge on your location… Hang on.”

Abaddon leaned his head between his son and daughter. “Either of you want to help your mother skin a greedy fucking witch from the top of her head to the soles of her feet?”

“Not today.” K’ael gnawed on a stick of Pocky.

“I lost my skinning knife sometime ago, and Gabbi won’t help me look for it. I tried to get mom (Valerie) to make me another one, but she said I need to be responsible and keep track of my toys. Even though she complains about losing hers all the time…” Mira grumbled the last part, but it didn’t stop Ayaana from flicking her in the middle of her head.

Abaddon snorted as he leaned back onto Ayaana’s breasts.

“Never mind, love, they’re being lazy.”

“”We’re busy!””

The dragon could only roll his eyes.

“As I said, lazy. Would you like me to… Oh. Haha, well, if you’re sure then. Give them hell, my darling. Make sure you leave enough behind for us to mount on a wall.”