First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1129: I Killed Her

Lucifer saw his mother die.

He saw himself impale her with his sword immolate her body and everything around them in a sea of fire.

He witnessed her form crumple over and die as the crystal that acted as her heart finally slipped out of her burnt form.

Lucifer saw his mother die.

He saw the hole in her bloodless body and recognized that he was the one responsible.

Their eyes met as he stabbed her, and the love and disappointment she had for him did not go away.

She wasn’t tormented by the direction things had gone in, nor was she terribly inconvenienced by the pain.

If anything, the lingering ghosts of her past decisions brought her more grief than any sword could have accomplished.

Before her body went up in flame, she lifted her arms slowly as if she hoped her son would embrace her one last time.

Lucifer saw his mother die.

And knowing that he was the culprit fundamentally changed something within him.

Because if he could kill the woman who loved him, even when he was wrong, then maybe his flaws went deeper than just emotional instability.

“Asherah!”

Suddenly, Lucifer blinked, and a man stood between him and his mother.

He was stocky-framed with a beard of flame. Lucifer could feel his powers swirling within him at the sight of their original owner.

“What the hell are you doing here, golden boy?! Your mothers already got enough to deal with and she don’t need-”

“It’s fine, Gulban.” Asherah placed her hand on the back of her friend. “We were just talking. Really.”

Gulban looked around at the scorched garden.

The once beautiful flowers were now reduced to heaps of gray ash.

Lucifer himself was still billowing with smoke. Even a two-year-old could have put together what happened here.

“Don’t take up for this zealot, Ashy! He don’t deserve that kind of charity from you after all he’s done.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, but his jaw remained tightly closed.

“I see you’ve gotten yourself a new look… fancy yourself a real pinnacle of demon kind, don’t you? Well, it’ll be the most useless makeover of all time, because when my daughter gets her hands on you, she’ll make you look like one of my used wet wipes!”

“Okay, Gulban, that’s enough…”

Gulban leaned in to Lucifer’s personal space threateningly. “Shitty! With a concerning amount of blood!”

“You should really change your diet around if you’re experiencing things like that…”

The dead, scorched grass underneath their feet suddenly began to shine.

Vibrant, dark green grass began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lucifer barely turned his head to glance at the floating child pointing a charged spell at the back of his head.

“Say the word, Blue’s Clues. I’ll give your fat-headed son a new hole to piss out of.” Yggdrasil said firmly.

Lucifer was unamused. “A lofty goal for a talking tree.”

Yggdrasil grabbed Lucifer by the back of his collar.

“I’m like the sperm of a fertile deadbeat. I don’t miss when it comes to giant pussies.”

“That’s quite enough.” Asherah intervened. “No one is going to attack anyone.”

“”But he’s-“”

“I know exactly what he is… but I’ve made my decision and I don’t feel like repeating myself again. Stow away the hostilities. Leave everything that has happened here in the soil.”

Neither Gulban, nor Yggdrasil looked all that happy about what Asherah had asked for. But what could they do?

No one wanted to further upset the very old and very powerful goddess who was already having a hard time with the absence of her husband.

Even Yggdrasil could not justify being that crass.

“Doesn’t matter. I was just leaving anyway.”

Lucifer slapped away Yggdrasil’s hand and started to leave the now overcrowded garden.

He got no more than ten paces away before Asherah called after him.

“Are you sure?”

Lucifer paused.

His body became as rigid as a board. Gulban silently hoped he’d continue fucking off and Yggdrasil was planning to trip him if she didn’t.

Luckily for them, Lucifer didn’t turn back. He didn’t feel he deserved to.

He did, however reach inside of his chest and pulled out a glowing ball the size of a fist.

The devil chucked the sphere over his shoulder, uncaring of who would catch it.

When it landed in Asherah’s soft hands, she stared at it for just a moment, her expression permanently marred by disbelief.

“This… thank you..!”

Lucifer’s ears bled at the sound of his mother’s thanks. No well-intended words had ever been more debilitating on the spirit.

Lucifer did not want her thanks. Hd did not believe that he deserved to hear them.

Because he had seen himself kill his mother. And the fact that he could harbor that thought to begin with meant he was already beyond saving.

–

Michael felt sick when he first woke up. Or at least, that was his initial belief.

He realized that he felt sick because he couldn’t breathe. Asherah was holding him too tightly for blood to reach his brain.

“M-Mother… I-I see the light..!”

“O-Oh, my sweet boy, I’m so sorry!”

Asherah quickly let her son go and he collapsed onto the floor while coughing.

“Mighty warrior of heaven. Can’t even stand a hug from mommy.” Yggdrasil shook her head with her body stationed sideways in a chair. “Demons are going to get diabetes from eating all your candy asses during the end war….”

Yggdrasil looked down at herself, then turned to Asherah.

“Got any cereal in this bait shack?”

Asherah could not find it in herself to say anything to the ancient tree. She simply handed her a bowl, some milk, and a box of cornflakes and hoped, nay, prayed that they would keep her quiet.

“Sweetness. You’re the tits, big blue!”

Sometimes, even gods do not get everything that they pray for.

“I am… free?” Michael held his trembling hands to his face once he finally recovered.

Asherah kneeled beside him and embraced his torso much more gently than before.

“Yes, you are, my son. Your brother has done us both a kindness and set you free.”

Gulban snorted. “Only fifty billion more good deeds and he finally won’t be a miserable sack of-”

Asherah made a clenching motion with her hands and suddenly Gulban was without a mouth. For all of her wisdom, she couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t thought to do that sooner.

“So… he actually did it.”

Michael’s disbelief was only overshadowed by his confusion.

His brother had set him free. If you had given him twenty years’ worth of guesses and a lifetime’s worth of money to gamble on, he would have lost everything before he ever suspected this turn of events.

Michael knew his brother like the back of his hand. And yet, he didn’t understand him at all.

He was grateful to be freed, but he wished there could have been some sort of conversation between them about why exactly he was being let go.

“…Where’s father?” Michael suddenly asked.

“At my roots.” Yggdrasil answered with a mouthful of cereal. “His wound needs near constant cleaning if he’s ever going to wake up and stay that way for longer than an episode of Orange is the New Black.”

Asherah placed her hand over her son’s.

“I’m afraid you just missed the opportunity to speak to him a few days ago when he was awake… but we can still go and visit him. I’m sure his recovery will improve if he feels your presence.”

Michael smiled at her weakly. “Just give me a moment to catch my breath and we can go. I don’t want to be struggling to stay on when I kneel and pay my respects.”

“My word.” Yggdrasil seemed exhausted. “Usually when a family has a tradition of the kids kneeling in front of them they get therapy and a doll they have to point to in a courtroom.”

Gulban nodded in solidarity.

Michael slowly blinked and turned to his mother while pointing at the two of them.

“…Why on earth are they here?”

Asherah was beginning to question that herself.

“We’re moving in for the time being.” Yggdrasil revealed. “Gonna have to spruce up the place a lot though…. I need a minimum of 10,000 thread count in my sheets.”

“”…Pardon?””

“It was Lillian’s idea. She thought we should stay with your mother a while so she doesn’t get depressed and kill herself or something.”

Asherah was appalled. “I-I would never!”

“You sure? Not even when you spend so much time around those freak dragons?”

“What do they have to do with anything?!”

“I mean, if I were a wife with a bedridden husband who couldn’t get a hard-on, I’d be ready to kill myself if I spent all my time around a couple who don’t give a shit about pda or obnoxious pet names.

I feel like if I had to step into their house I’d have to wear some non-slip boots and earmuffs so I don’t hear someone’s bagel getting buttered at two o’clock on a random Tuesday.”

Yggdrasil suddenly turned to Gulban.

“Gotta admit, can’t really blame ’em sometimes. Your daughter is a real hot piece of ass. My boobs don’t look like that even in my adult body.”

Gulban seemed to die a little bit on the inside with the memory of his daughter’s long-lost innocence.

Asherah looked like her expression was about to crack. She looked more annoyed now than she did when Lucifer was here.

“I’m sorry… where exactly are those twelve right now?”