In a nice, medium-sized family home, a single dragon man was preparing to go to work first thing in the morning.
He patted down his pockets to search for his keys, and frowned when he couldn't find them.
"Damn it… why do I even bother locking up the restaurant anyway..? Now I'm going to be late…"
He scoured his kitchen table for the keys to his shop, and frowned when he found two unfamiliar pieces of parchment sitting there instead.
With only a single glance, he was able to confirm that these were official documents from the royal family.
Just before he had a chance to start reading, the phone inside of his pocket began to vibrate.
Pulling it out, he saw that it was his adult daughter calling and he answered without a second thought.
"Dad! Do you have spapers on your desk from the emperor too??!"
"Gubba!"
"Ah, Jae-woo says hi." The man's daughter held up a hatchling dragon with bright yellow scales and tiny wings.
He appeared to be only a few days old, as the baby teeth in his muzzle were still the size of pennies.
The old man chuckled as he held up the notice. "Hello, you two. Yes, I just found them. What's all this abo-"
"Read it, read it!!"
"Rara!!"
Finally, the old man chuckled as he began looking over the letter, which seemed to have been written by their god himself.
Not two seconds after reading, he felt his brow lift up on its own.
One document was labeled 'Relocation Consent Form.'
The other said 'Genetic Alteration Consent Form.'
"Oh..? Isn't this interesting…"
The first form basically asked if he was satisfied with his current abode, or if he would like to move to the new world where the emperor himself would be spending the rest of his days.
According to the Uma-Sarru, his fourth wife had done her best to improve upon every architectural aspect of their current lives and was waiting for them to see.
The old man wasn't really sure how that would be possible, but he trusted goddess Valerie nonetheless.
The second form was something he didn't quite understand.
It asked if he consented to be changed into something called an 'Abyss Dragon'.
The paper explained that he would have the opportunity to have a very old and eldritch power fused into his DNA, but it listed stipulations as well.
The man was a bit older, so he didn't understand all of that writing about alternate reality restrictions and stuff like that, so he didn't spend too much tlooking over it.
"I'm gonna sign it."
too! Think we'll be neighbors?"
"It'd sure be nice… that is if you were-"
"I'm not getting a divorce, dad!"
"Then no, I do not wish to be neighbors."
"Philip and Marco are good men!"
"Uh-huh."
"God, it's been five years, stop being like this!"
Ignoring his daughter, the old man grabbed a pen from the counter and sighed his non the DNA consent form.
Not a second after he signed it, two vials appeared in place of the paper.The first vial contained a colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe king's own poison.
The second vial contained a thicker, golden liquid with an oddly pleasant smell.
The king's own blood.
"Eh..? Which do I drink first?" He wondered as he scratched his cheek.
"Mmph?"
Once the old man saw that his daughter had downed the venom, then the blood in quick succession like she was taking shots of alcohol.
'I knew I shouldn't have let her hang around those loose party girls when she was young...'
Leaving his regrets aside, the man followed his daughter's example to the letter.
A total of two seconds went by before both of them collapsed in unison; their metamorphosis already underway.
-
The father and daughter woke up at around the stime, still on the phone with each other.
They didn't yet realize it, but their auras had literally exploded in their sleep and blew giant holes in the roof of their homes.
"Ugh…"
"I feel all tingly…"
"Nessa..? You alright?" The old man grabbed his phone to check on his only child and was extremely surprised at what he saw.
And the feeling was mutual.
"Eh? Nessa, you look like a sunflower!"
"Dad? You look like a less handsversion of General Asmodeus!"
"…Why did I have to be less handsome?"
"You know why."
The man finally got around to looking at himself in the mirror and he had to admit, his brat was right.
His skin had been dyed black, and the horns on top of his head were now sharper and longer.
The short silver buzz cut and goatee combo, along with a physique that professional strongmen would kill for made him seem like a drill sergeant from hell.
But he was just an ordinary baker who frosted little drawings of mice onto cupcakes.
But despite his fearsappearance, he was an unbelievably charming older man.
A woman's ideal version of a 'dilf' one might say.
But his daughter was much softer, and more enchanting.
Unlike him who had black skin, his daughter Vanessa had bright yellow skin, the scolor as a sunflower.
Her dark raven hair contrasted beautifully with her radiant skin and made her look like a mythical fairy.
Her beautiful green eyes were now encircled by black sclera, and her ears had beceven longer and pointier.
This likely had something to do with the fact that she was half elf before drinking the two serums.
"Well, if the gains are this great, I can't wait to see what signing the other document will bring!" The father said excitedly.
"Let's do it!"
In unison, the father and daughter pair signed their names on the paper, and they were immediately teleported from their homes to somewhere unknown.
-
"Alright, is everyone ready?"
"YEA!"
Abaddon forced a smile onto his face as he stared at his family.
He took one of the twin's hands in each of his own and then opened up another crack in the dimension.
Using his telekinesis, he carried himself and his entire family to the space in between.
Unlike the first the ventured into the abyss, the journey was not nearly as long; likely due to Abaddon's control over the space beyond the light.
He pulled everyone into his domain immediately, and soon they were hovering several hundred feet in the air over the new Tehom.
Mira: "Waaah...!"
Gabbrielle: "This is incredible..."
Valerie: "I have outdone myself, eh?"
Eris: "Wehave outdone ourselves. Try not to take all the credit, dear."
"Eris is right... you have both done wonderfully." Abaddon said honestly.
To tell the truth, none could deny his claim.
The world beyond light, beyond death, beyond reality, had suddenly gained smuch neededluster.
The sky above had been dyed a nice pale purple color, similar but lighter than their first hin Luxuria.
Decorated throughout the sky were the forty odd empty planets that Abaddon was still trying to figure out what to do with, so for now they were largely just ornaments.
Twinkling lights shone brightly from buildings and street lights that seemed to cfrom a far off future, and pay homage to a respectable past.
Though the buildings looked to be very technologically advanced, the architecture, streets, and roads are lined with precisely cut grey stone that didn't even seem capable of getting dirty.
In addition to this, the businesses and shops that were already opened in Sheol had locations here, and they were much spacier, nicer, and impressive.
But just because there was a lot of technology in these lands didn't mean that they had neglected the most important thing.
Nature.
Surrounding every city, there was an abundant forest that seemed to go on for miles.
They were followed by thick, rugged mountain ranges that spanned thousands of kilometers, and expansive oceans just as large. And only at their end would another city be visible.
Each biwas already filled to the brim with wildlife.
However, none of it was like what one would be used to seeing earth.
Perhaps duet the nature of where they lived, literally every 'normal' animal either died or mutated right off the bat.
Which was why the type of wild gout here were things like manticores, cyclopses, and demonic looking cockatoos.
And don't even getstarted on the 'fish'...
In the middle of being awestruck, Apophis noticed something odd about the forests in this realm, and the very atmosphere surrounding them.
"There is no air here... but I feel like there is such refreshing breath in my lungs. And those trees... Qlipoths? How is this possible??"
At this, Abaddon and Eris smiled proudly.
"What you breathe in is the miasma produced by the trees, and the aether and nether I circulate throughout the realm. Dangerous to outsiders, but to those with my blood, it's just a refreshing chilly wind."
"Father-in-law helpeduse my divinity to recreate the tree that once loomed over our home." Eris explained. "Besides a bit of nostalgia.. I hope that they will strengthen this place, and all of the lives within it."
The group nodded in awe and understanding, while Mira suddenly started to spin her head around rapidly.
Her eyes settled on a building that seemed taller than most and stood a few kilometers away.
It was particularly bright and shiny.
"Is that our new home?? It has to be, right!?"
"Nope, that's an entertainment studio, sweet pea." Lailah said as she patted her hair. "The industry has been booming since Queresha made her debut."
Unanimously, Belloc and Stheno blushed and tried to look away from everyone.
"Awh! Then where is our house? I wanna see it!" Mira said excitedly.
"Alright, alright. But it's a little ways away though. In a corner of the world that is all our own."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmLailah pointed off into the far distance, where there was a forest with trees so large that they could have easily been mistaken for buildings.
"...I will race you all there."Abaddon murmured.
Immediately, it was like a bolt of lightning shot through the air.
Abaddon's children, in-laws, and even his pets stared at him with an unbelievable fire in their eyes.
Apophis: "You don't want this work for real."
Hajun: "You think because I'm old, I'm slow? I got something for you, bitch boy. "
Thea: "Loser makes dinner!"
Lusamine: "AND does dishes with no powers!"
All : "AND NO INSTANT MOVEMENT, ABADDON!"
"Tch.."
In an instant, the sky was filled with large dragons of several different colors.
Of course, Abaddon was the largest of them, even though he had chosen to remain in his one headed form for greater speed and mobility.
A countdown was held by Yara and Imani, who were entirely uninterested in this silly game.
As soon as they reached the count of three, the group took off like bullets towards the forest in the distance.
But as they were flying, Abaddon felt Valerie rub the scales on his back as she lay on her stomach.
'You don't have to pretend, you know..? The others may not be able to tell when you are forcing yourself to be normal, but we certainly can.'
As he stole the lead right out from underneath Asmodeus' nose, his eyes suddenly beca lot sadder.
'...It hurts.' he admitted. 'After everything we have tried to do, and after all of the love we have given to her, why would she ever think that we would take that away? Dream or otherwise.'
Valerie wracked her brain for the words needed to make her husband understand.
'Honey, I love you, but you are taking this far too personally. You are forgetting how we found Thea in the first place, the condition she was in.
She lost her mother before she ever knew her, and her father was an abysmal shell of himself because of it. Then a few years later, the first woman she ever loved left her too.
Can you understand why she fears losing us now?
Trauma like that... takes tand patience to get over and an abundance of it.
You know that she is your daughter, and she knows that as well. Just continue to love her as you have been, and be there for her at every turn, big or small, comfortable or uncomfortable.
Eventually, she will no longer remember what she was afraid of, but she will know that she has a family that will never abandon her. There is no greater remedy for her heart than that, my love.'
Abaddon listened to every word.
The musical sound of Valerie's voice in his brain comforted him, but also held up a mirror.
He felt like he had been so self-centered.
He took Thea's fears as a negative commentary on his parenting, and as such allowed it to bruise his ego.
Typically he was above such things, but his children… his wives… he loved them so much that he wanted to be perfect for them.
And in the moments where he inevitably faltered, he sometimes didn't know how to handle it.
But perhaps... this was also because he felt threatened by the mention of Thea's birth mother.
The one who was supposedly long dead.
It brought up no small amount of questions that he felt only one person could answer.
'Valerie, my love... I think I am going to go on a trip once we get our family settled. Will you accompany me?'
'O-Oh, I don't mind it, but..'
'We're going to have sex first.'
'Then hell yea, let's go!'
Abaddon found himself laughing out loud like roaring thunder as he closed in on first place.
Though he admittedly started this day while faking, his current smile was anything but a facade.