Abaddon had done a lot of insane things before, but this would by far take the cake.
Even though Asherah had told him that this was the best course forward, he still did not know if what he was attempting was actually possible.
He didn't bite this tree and stab it with his claws because it owed him money.
He did it because he was trying to absorb the world inside, and make it his own.
Instead of having the spirit realm be tied to the tree, he would be taking it inside of himself and carrying it around with him wherever he went.
Abaddon pumped as much of his venom and blood into the bark as he possibly could.
With his venom focused on breaking down the tree enough to loosen it's connection to the spirit realm and his blood acting as a catalyst to absorb that connection, he had all of the keys necessary to complete this monumental task in front of him.
Even though it was difficult, he sharpened his mind again and again by repeating his objective in his head.
'It is mine, I will take it...'
'This cannot stop me, nothing will stop me!'
'My wives, my children, my people, they will all be safe here!'
Bekka and Eris could naturally feel how hard Abaddon was trying, and they felt their stomachs tying themselves into knots.
"H-He can do it, right?" Eris asked worriedly.
"The mother goddess would not have given him this task if he was incapable of doing this.... But It would not hurt for us to send him all of our support in the meantime." Bekka said.
Eris nodded and the two practically began sending their prayers to Abaddon despite him not being able to utilize them yet.
Eris noticed the elven king still watching them out of the corner of her eye and she thought of Abaddon's recent revelation.
Turning to Eris, she reflexively took her hand and began speaking directly to her mind.
'Darling said that these lands are yours, and they are your true home. Do you have any sort of feelings about being here..?'
The dark elf gave her sister a hurt look that nearly tore Bekka's heart into two.
'How could you say that to me..? My true home is with our husband and our children! W-Why would you-'
Bekka reflexively pulled Eris into her arms and apologized softly.
'I didn't mean it like that, dear. I just wanted to know if you were upset or had questions or...?'
'No! Why would I be interested in a place that wouldn't have accepted me o-or a family who was probably ashamed of me? I already have everything I could have ever wanted, I'm not interested in a life I could have had with anyone other than all of you!'
Bekka started to feel just a bit silly for even asking the question to begin with.
How could she not know how Eris felt when she was exactly the same way?
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIf she had suddenly discovered new family that she'd never known about before, she likely would not care very much either.
After all, what she, and they, already had was so perfect that they couldn't even be bothered to think of anything else.
Least of all a long lost family of bigots.
Crown or no crown, she wasn't interested.
Bekka gave her sister an apologetic hug and a small kiss on the forehead in an effort to save her own skin.
She could only imagine the heat she would catch from the other wives if they found out she had hurt the feelings of their golden baby Eris.
Her punishment would range anywhere to going without dinner to not being able to participate in sex for one whole night.
It was hard to make a decision on which outcome was worse for her mental state.
Whoosh!!
A gust of wind blew throughout the dark forest and tousled the hair of both girls.
Looking up, they found Abaddon wrapped around the tree and looking slightly uncomfortable with himself.
Both girls easily recognized his face, as it was the same one that their daughter Mira made whenever she ate too much. (Which didn't seem to show up often.)
Abaddon removed all five of his mouths from the tree and made a small grumbling noise before he opened his mouths and produced a surprising sound.
*BURP*
A gout of sinister black and red flames erupted from his mouths and into the air.
Had this been an intentional breath attack, the entire forest would have gone up in an unholy blaze that would have burned this entire place down in minutes.
On the ground, both Erica and Bekka had open mouths and wide eyes as they stared at their overgrown husband without an ounce of fear in their eyes.
"You know... I think mine are still louder." Bekka said.
"That's not a good thing, sister." Eris reprimanded. "... But you would be wrong, Valerie's are still louder than yours."
"You take that back!"
Eris rolled her eyes as she continued to look up at her husband who was still intertwined with the massive tree.
"Do you think that means he's done it..?"
As soon as she asked the question, the leaves atop the once great tree started to wilt and die, before they fell to the ground all around them.
"Yea... I think he did it." Bekka admitted.
- 7 hours Later
Asmodeus and Yara were both dressed to the nines as they strode through Abaddon's new castle in Antares.
Both of them had on dark red robes and dresses paired with small golden crowns atop their heads.
After becoming a true dragon, Asmodeus was more handsome than before, but still a bit far below his son's level.
Just like with Bekka, Abaddon had also offered to heal his father's face and return his arm to him.
However, he also refused for two very simple reasons.
For one, he was capable of making an artificial arm out of solidified darkness that functioned almost as well as his old one.
And for the second reason, Yara seemed to like his scarred face.
After the wounds healed up and were no longer as heart wrenching as before, Yara realized that Asmodeus now resembled a character she'd read in a dirty a few years ago.
It was about a ruffian bandit who'd lived a hard life and the young girl he kidnaps with the intent to sell her off, but the two end up falling in love instead.
It was like role-play but without the need for terrible costumes and bad acting, and it excited Yara to no end.
A fact that Abaddon had once again learned against his will.
"Why must they all be so depraved? I know that they hadn't seen each other for a few days but this is seriously too much!"
Yara's worry stemmed from the fact that neither Abaddon nor his wives were anywhere in sight, and his coronation was due to begin soon.
"Can you blame them, dear? The girls thought they may have been about to lose their lives that day. Things like that have a tendency to make one rather... energetic."
Yara ignored her husband's sultry tone that threatened to pull her into the depths of depravity.
Keeping her stone face on, she kept walking through the labyrinth like castle as she focused on her destination.
"Be that as it may, there is no excuse for-"
"Grandmother!"
Yara immediately froze in her tracks and her unfriendly scowl melted away as she heard a voice that always warmed her heart.
Mira and her siblings were coming down the hall in a large group, along with the wives of the eldest two siblings as well as Sabine, Tiamat, Rita, and Tita.
Erica was also here alongside her two daughters, also dressed up and looking equally as lovely as everyone else.
After their transformation, the three of them now had bright red horns curling out of their heads, and their figures were noticeably more lean with slight muscle definition.
Thea and Apophis were quickly beginning to understand why their father had developed a fetish for women with abs.
"Why're you here, Erica?" Asmodeus asked. "Shouldn't you be in the crowd with the rest of the rabble?"
Erica folded her arms as she gave the handsome chimera an unfriendly glare. "I believe I'm close enough to Abaddon to be beside him on this day. After all, our children are wed."
"That they are, but.. do you think the people will reach that assumption? You might look like a concubine to them."
If Asmodeus' intention was to break down Erica with his teasing, he was in for a rude awakening.
He had utterly underestimated just how badly she wanted his son, especially after taking his blood.
"Good, hopefully I'll look like one to him too."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmClaire and Jasmine suffered critical damage from her unexpected declaration and both of their faces turned green as if they were about to puke.
"Mother, please..."
"Do not be so shameless, our stomachs can not take it..."
Erica shrugged as if she didn't understand what the big deal was and casually flicked her hair out of her face.
"You girls are being so childish. I am a woman with needs too you know?"
"Please, you NEED to stop talking about this!" Jazmine pleaded.
"Why are you like this!? I cannot take much more torture!" cried Claire.
Erica prepared to offer a retort when she noticed a malevolent gaze on her back.
Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she found the oldest of the triplet sisters staring at her with an unkind glare that seemed to want to tear her head off.
However, Erica merely found her amusing.
'Oh? Another competitor this close to him? Well I do not mind, it will only make my victory all the sweet-'
"Umm, Auntie Erica? I don't know what a concubine is but my mommies say that daddy is not allowed to have them or they'll turn him into a... what was the word again?" Mira wondered.
"Eunuch, sister." Thea reminded.
"Yea! A eunuch!"
She did not know what it was, but her assumption was that it was some kind of fish.
After all, it sounded kind of fishy, right?
Yara fought the urge to chuckle in Erica's face and instead focused on her current objective.
"We're on our way to get he and the girls out of bed, and I'm sure we could use the help of all of you if we have difficulty separating them."
Erica's face became slightly red as she remembered the last time that she was in a bedroom with Abaddon and one of his wives.
That scene had somehow burned itself into her mind, and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it no matter how hard she tried.
And... she really really wanted to see it again!
"W-Well it cannot be helped then. Let us go and-"
"You don't have to, you know? The rest of us can-"
"I-I said it's fine, Asmodeus! Now let's not waste anymore time!"
The group could tell that Erica was suddenly acting a lot stranger than before, although they admittedly weren't sure why.
Eventually they merely shrugged before following in her footsteps towards Abaddon's bed chambers.
Little did they know, they were in for a scene that none of them were expecting once they opened the door.
-------------------------
Picking up my third The Fallen Vampire again soon so if you haven't then please go check it out and see if you like it!