First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1226: The Warning

Abaddon appeared within a church outside of America.

It was an old, run-down cathedral filled with dust and cobwebs.

Sunlight poured in through a cracked stained glass window. The color of the room was distorted into a reddish-blue hue.

There is a figure kneeling at the altar. A woman.

Her form is covered only by a white shroud.

Abaddon can see a tanned hand using a single candle to light others on the altar.

Abaddon shuffles his feet. The woman finally hears him.

“…I knew that mortals found prayer to be a scary task. To wish to be heard so desperately, yet unsure if one is even being listened to. I knew, yes, but… I think experiencing it for myself has shed new light on the matter. It is most frightening indeed.”

The woman stood and turned around.

She was elderly. In both spirit and flesh.

Her wrinkled skin was not without its own grace and elegance. Bits of her black hair seemed to peek past her headwrap.

Her eyes were tired, yet full of emotion and compassion.

Abaddon found his eyes nearly watering at the sight of her.

“Asherah…?”

The woman smiled at him bitterly.

“Be still, your heart. There is no need to find sorrow within me. Everything that has led to this point is of my own choosing.”

“But Asherah, you…”

“I have fulfilled my role, Abaddon. As was always intended. I stand before you again, after such a long time apart. Is that not cause for celebration, no matter how brief…? In the days that are to come, I assure you that such chances may be rare…”

Abaddon could only nod. He lowered his head from view as he bit his lip.

“Come. Let me look upon you as when you were young.”

With heavy feet and heart, Abaddon moved to stand in front of Asherah.

He kneeled in front of her with his head lowered and babe still in his arms.

Gently, one of her withered hands reaches out to touch his cheek.

His head is lifted, and he meets the familiar, yet entirely new face of the woman he has known since birth.

“You’re wearing your hair short again? It looks good on you. Your handsome face must be the wonder of all who lay eyes upon you. But I suppose that you are hardly unused to such a thing, no?”

“…My brides enjoy it. Their opinions are all that matters.”

Asherah smiled at his words. She had always loved the relationship between Abaddon and his wives. He was the reason their hearts beat in the morning. Just as they him.

“After all this time, you are still so loyal… But that is hardly something unexpected.” Asherah chuckles. “I will be thrilled to see them again.”

Abaddon stares into the weakness of Asherah’s face. He feels the frailty radiating through her touch and knows instantly that she is practically human. A bad fall would surely be her demise.

“…” Abaddon starts to open his mouth.

Asherah shifts her hand from his cheek to his lips and keeps them closed with her palm.

“I am as I must be. I do not require your power to fix me or reverse what has been done. This form, while less powerful than my old one, is no less my own. You need not offer me a new one.”

Asherah’s smile widened until her eyes appeared closed.

“Am I no longer as eye-catching as I was when in my youth?”

“I would never say that. I was only concerned with…”

“My weakness, I know. But I do not mind it. It is a novelty for me. I have lived and seen much. And yet I have never been so mundane. I must touch the world around me more gently, and hope that it pays me the same courtesy. There is an intimacy to that, don’t you think? A level of poetry even.”

Abaddon swallowed.

“…I do not disagree.”

“But you do hold worry.”

“As is my nature.”

Asherah laughed. The sound was gentle and full of humor.

“Oh, Abaddon. It is good to see that your concern for me has not waned, and your compassion remains like a wellspring. Though you could stand to… what is the phrase… lighten up?”

Abaddon could only snort.

Finally, Asherah removed her hand from his cheek and leaned down to inspect the groggy bundle he held in his arm.

“Now… who is this adorable little miracle…?”

–

Odessa seemed only to hear the constant tick of the clock in her classroom.

The sound echoed around in her head incessantly. So much so that she found it impossible to focus on the sheet of paper in front of her.

She swiveled her gaze back and forth between the clock and the window outside.

Everything was still normal. But for how long…?

Maybe her family had gotten it wrong.

She had expected the sky to start turning red or something. Maybe it would even rain cats and dogs.

There was only a light drizzle. And the weather app on her phone said that it would clear up within the next five minutes.

Odessa hadn’t noticed it, but her foot was beginning to shake.

She couldn’t sit still no matter how hard she tried. Her head felt like it was pounding.

“Hey, Odessa! Mind giving me a hand with this worksheet?”

Another student moved his desk beside Odessa’s, brandishing a sheet of paper and a bag of chips.

“I’ll make it worth your while..! Come on, if I get one more bad grade, my mom is going to turn into Hannibal Lecter or something.”

Odie smiled nervously as she typed on her tablet.

I’m having a bit of trouble myself… don’t really know if I’d be much help.

“Aww, I don’t believe that. You’re like the smartest in the class.” The boy smiled. “Tell you what, I’ll make it two bags, and…”

Suddenly, the boy leaned in and inspected Odie with a curious brow.

“Youre sweating a lot, dude… Are you okay?”

Odie nodded, but she hadn’t even noticed that she was sweating in the first place.

Just a little warm. She typed.

“You’re sweating a lot for ’just a little warm’… Maybe you should go to the nurse or something.”

That won’t be necessar-

“Hey, Mr. Mackelroy! Odessa’s not feeling good! I think she got the rona!”

“Fred, shut up.” The teacher sighed.

He took one look at Odessa and agreed that she didn’t look good at all.

“… Ms. Williams, do you need help getting to the nurse’s office?”

Odie shook her head as her fingers typed away.

I’m fine, really. Just a bit warm is all.

Their teacher glanced at the thermometer in the room.

It was sixty-eight degrees inside.

“…I know you insist you’re fine, but I really think you should go see the nurse for a bit. Come up here, I’ll write you a pass.”

Begrudgingly, Odessa rose from her seat.

She could feel all of her classmates’ eyes upon her as she moved toward their teacher’s desk.

It took a great deal of her concentration to abstain from trembling. But she was sure that she wasn’t doing a good job of it.

How many of her classmates were going to die today..?

Would they even live to see midnight? 5 o’clock traffic?

Was there truly nothing that Odessa could do to save them…?

Were the laws of her family, of the entire divine realm, truly so set in stone…?

She didn’t want to see that happen to them. They were kids just like her. Her teachers, while sometimes gruff, should still have their lives preserved.

As Odessa took the slip of paper from her teacher, she found herself unable to hold in her silence anylonger.

’Actually… I’m not alright. Nothing is alright today.’

Her teacher was so baffled he threw back his chair and pressed himself against the wall.

He heard a voice that he had never known before, and in his mind no less.

“H-How did you do that..?”

’I-It’s not important! I just need you to listen to me!’ Odessa turned to her classroom. ’All of you have to listen to me right now!’

Screams and cries of shock erupted in the class as the other students jumped out of their desks.

’The apocalypse is coming! Today! You guys have to get on the phone right now and warn your friends, warn your families, warn everybody! T-The apocalypse is coming, and everything is going to be…’

Odie paused.

The room’s occupants were completely frozen. All of them, wearing the same shocked expressions that they had donned mere moments ago.

Odie felt a lump forming in her throat.

’If you love me, please let me do this…’

Odessa felt a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders. Strands of golden hair fluttered in the corner of her eyes.

“I love you so immensely that it hurts, little sister. Hence, why I would not see you stand trial for revelation.”

Thea gently turned her sister around and held her face in her hands.

Tears rushed down Odessa’s face faster than Thea could wipe them away.

“Do not fret, sister… You have yet to learn that if you want something, just say it. Our family will obtain it for you by flame or by trick. But it may not come how you expect it to.”

Odessa sobbed messily. ’I-I just want everyone here to be safe..! Can you do that for me, please!?’

Thea nodded as she held her sister tightly.

“I promise… it will be done.”

Odie wanted to hug her sister back. To thank her from the bottom of her heart.

But she couldn’t.

Before she could even get the words out, Odessa’s head was pounding with the sound of hooves beating against stone…