Alex sighed. “Why are you so defensive about this, Xaila? It’s your sister!”
Xaila, as Alex had noticed lately, was twisting her ring nervously as she looked in the distance above his shoulder. “I know that, but she’s… indisposed. I don’t want to interrupt her in the middle of important work.”
“She could be in danger,” Alex said, rubbing the sides of his forehead. “You know that there’s rumors that there’s an Abyssal in the Elven Kingdom. That’s the last place- why do you look like that?”
When Alex had mentioned the Godforsaken Abyssal, Xaila had winced slightly. She looked at him before looking away nervously.
Hold on…
“Xaila… do you know about this?”
The cringe from Xaila told him everything he needed to know. “Look-”
Alex grit his teeth. “Xaila, how long have you known? Is this ‘work’ the reason why you didn’t even attempt to send an invitation to the wedding to your own sister?”
Xaila seemed to be thinking quickly. However, she quickly gave up on thinking, letting out a sigh.
“Well, there is an Abyssal,” She started, her voice low.
“Yes?”
“And Treia has already met him.”
“What?! Is she okay?”
Xaila looked slightly apprehensive as she continued. “Well… she’s okay. But… we were a bit wrong about Abyssals, to say the least.”
Alex tensed. “What does that mean?” he inquired, suspicious. “Are you sure Treia’s okay?”
“Oh, she’s definitely okay. If she wasn’t we’d have heard either that half the capital of the Elven Kingdom is destroyed or that there’s a rampaging Draconic Serpent.”
“Wha- is she with the Abyssal?”
“...In more ways than one-”
“WHAT?!”
~~~
It took nearly an hour for Xaila to explain, and afterwards, Alex had completely deflated.
“So, to sum it up, this Abyssal Prince turned your sister into… whatever a Voidling is, proceeded to… court her, completely destroy the ecosystem by ripping apart a Dungeon, go to the Capital for the Academy, and race of to the Elven Kingdom on a Dragon?”
Xaila gave him a flat look. “Why does it sound like you’re more concerned about the Dragon than the Abyssal?”
“It’s a Drago-” He cleared his throat at his fiancée’s glare. “I mean, what in the world could an Abyssal want with the Elven Kingdom? It’s such a mystery!”
Xaila groaned. “Nevermind, you sound too much like him, the damned Prince.”
Alex suddenly frowned. “I think I understand… a little. But why would Treia ever even…”
“Don’t ask me. I hadn’t realized until it was far too late. Hell, I don’t even know who initiated the relationship,” Xaila grumbled. “It’s baffling to me, but Mom seems to completely understand. ‘Sometimes the worst sounding relationships become the best ones.’ Makes me wonder if there was something between my mom and dad.”
Her mother… really is something, Alex thought sullenly. “But, are you really okay with this? Your sister? With an Abyssal?”
“Do you think I would be if he wasn’t a nice person? He’s perfectly fine, though he does have the slight problem of having a very needy Bond…”
“Really? Wait, is the Dragon his-”
Xaila smacked the back of Alex’s head, obviously annoyed with him.
***
Armindaene let out a large sigh, shaking off the annoying Abyss Mana. That young dragonet had certainly done quite a number on the castle in her frantic escape with her new Bond. She vividly remembered when a strange block of ice had dropped into the area where all the other Dragons were kept, freeing them. Daene had immediately recognised the Mana signature of the young, yet large Lightning-Ice Draconic Serpent who had been unnecessarily attached to her, a fire Dragon.
Hm… maybe, sometimes, even the coldest of beings need some warmth. Daene thought. Then again, the reverse is true as well. I do miss those ice cold scales sometimes.
Her core, which churned away in her body, seemed to shiver as a familiar presence descended upon her.
“Oh, you must be joking,” she growled in Draconic. “This damned-”
A large, serpentine, head poked its way into Armindaene’s cave and stared at her. The sheer amount of Ice Mana radiating off of the gigantic Elemental serpent was baffling, even to her.
How in the layers of hell did this damned thing grow so large? And is that little Miana going to grow this large as well?
She let out a sigh. “Oh, great Serpent, what wisdom doth thee have for this one now-?”
Daene was interrupted by a chuck of ice bouncing off her skull.
“Oh, stop your blathering. Have you gotten any information on that daughter of mine?” The Ice Serpent snapped, her eyes somehow burning with annoyance, despite being literally made of Ice crystals.
“Well, of course not. She escaped to the Overworlds. How am I supposed to get information on that?”
“You act like you haven’t gone a few times. I can taste the Void Mana lingering on your scales,”
Armindaene’s tail slapped against the ground as she stood up, her bones creaking in protest. “Fine, mistress.” Another chunk of ice flew at her, but Daene blasted it out the air with an orb of fire. “Come on then. I know you can fit your oversized self in her. And I know you can change size. Why do you insist on being so oversized?”
The giant ignored her, squeezing her way into the cave as Armindaene walked further in, to an orb that lay on the ground, radiating Void Mana that she’d figured out how to gather after meeting a Void Dragon. He’d been… nice. She considered meeting him again, just to see if her instincts were correct about him-
She shook her head rapidly.
We’re worrying about a Serpent, not mating. Get your giant brain into the game.
Daene lifted a foot and pointed a talon at it. “I was partially able to get a reading on her before you threw yourself here for the first time, worried over your force of destruction. Miana is relatively safe, to say the least. By the way, you’ll love how well her regeneration is. It’s even able to withstand {Corruption} eating away at her body.”
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She then cringed when the huge amount of power built up behind her.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!”
Ah. Damn me.
~~~
“I… am slightly impressed that she’s even holding out. But her own Bond attacking her?” The large serpent seemed to muse for a few seconds, though, when Armindaene looked over, she only saw confusion on her face.
“I don’t even know how one can regenerate that fast. Her Bond must have done something.”
Daene studied the exploding- pimples, she guessed- that were appearing all over the Dragonet’s body before exploding in the face of her Bond with icy shrapnel. She frowned as the scales formed back over perfectly with a few sparks of lightning before beginning to warp again.
“Hmm, it’s coming from inside her,” the Elemental Serpent grumbled. “It’s a problem with her Bond’s Soul. But, it’s slowing down, if not by a fraction of a percent. That means whatever’s wrong with her Bond, it’s slowly being resolved. But, there’s something else… that floating eyeball.”
Daene narrowed her eyes. “It’s… familiar, in a way. The way the pupil’s just barely in the shape of a gear…”
The two oversized reptiles shook their heads in unison, the larger one’s head hitting the side of the wall. Neither could figure out what was familiar about it.
“Hm… maybe I should go and make sure she doesn’t die,” Miana’s mother mused. “Should I do it in a human-ish form? Or should I do it-”
“Maybe they can deal with it themselves?” Daene said, already worried for the livelihood of those there.
“Are you trying to convince me to leave my daughter there, dying slowly?”
“Don’t you have, like, ten more daughters and a few sons?”
“She’s clearly the most successful. Most of the others got themselves killed somehow. Of course I value her.”
“Most successful what? Experiment?”
“Of course.”
This serpent… By the gods, does she have any clue how to properly take care of Dragonets?
***
Alex struggled to deal with many things. Namely…
“Oh, Jason? That idiot Abyssal sure knows his way around Runes, blowing things up every other time he uses them,” Xaila’s mother said, tossing a paper onto the stove, which suddenly ignited.
“Mother, that’s not Rune Safety Etiquette-” Xaila began.
Her mother tossed a pan at Xaila, who simply let it levitate slowly into her hand. “Who cares about ‘Safety Etiquette’? The best thing about Runes is blowing up, Xylophone.”
“Don’t- Why are you-?!”
“Because. It’s creative,” her mother responded.
Alex looked between the two of them, baffled. “Why aren’t you wary of him? He’s an Abyssal-”
He was silenced by the annoyed glance from the Queen’s sister. “He’s courting my daughter,” she said simply.
Xaila blinked. “Is that your reasoning?”
“Yep.”
“I swear, I’d be his daughter if he appeared a generation earlier,” Xaila grumbled, shaking her head.
Her mother seemed to think for a few moments, which said a lot. Xaila, however, noticed this. “Mother, did you just imagine your entire life over again if he’d been the one you’d-”
“Of course not, Xaila. Why would I ever think about that?” she responded, unconvincingly.
“Why would you even think about that?! I do not need to think about Jason being my father instead of… Father!”
What is it with this Jason? Alex pondered. If even she’s fine with him… What could that possibly mean?
“Wondering what type of person Jason could possibly be if I even respect him?” The Kia’s mother asked.
Alex yelped as his thoughts were exposed. “Er… maybe?”
She sighed. “Look. He’s a boy who, outwardly, looks completely fine, along with a loving Bond. A bit too loving for my tastes, but not the point.”
“I don’t think that last part’s true,” Xaila grumbled. “You sure are the one who wants her to-”
“Shush, I’m telling a story,” she snapped at her daughter, who rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I used to know someone like him. He looked fine when you saw from the outside, a pretty loud and annoying person, but after about a year, I heard he’d killed himself. Something to do with ‘repressed memories’ being awakened. My point is: I’ve seen Jason working on Runes throughout the entirety of nights, sometimes never sleeping for days. And you know where all those Runes are?”
Xaila blinked. “Didn’t… he give most of the scripts he worked on to Sister?”
Her mother nodded. “I’ve looked at a lot of them. Most have enough power to vaporize Level 70’s, but they’re all meant to protect the one who has the Scripts at all costs.”
“Wait, you’re saying all those Rune with the explosive power to level half the mansion are meant to protect someone?”
“It won’t level half the mansion. Maybe a twentieth, though. But yes, they’re meant to protect Treia. She also has a few more, like this metal plate in her cloak that will just blast whoever tries to harm her with a giant blast of Abyss and Void Mana, which I tested and nearly got my arm taken off. It’s insanely powerful.”
“So, moral of the story: don’t fuck with Jason’s Runes. Got it,” Xaila affirmed, getting a slap on the back of her head in response.
“Obviously. You’d have to be one lucky bastard or pretty high Level to not get completely obliterated by something he made.”
I think this story may have slightly gone off track.
***
Armindaene growled at the idiot Abyssal who’d wandered into her cave. She was followed by another, taller Abyssal… no, High Abyssal. And behind her…
Ah. The new Queen of the Abyssals. Jasmine, was it? Why does she look so… defeated? I’ll assume it has something to do with that fiery one. I can smell the Fire Mana on her.
Said Abyssal looked up at her with a frown. “Do you know anything about a… what was it again?” she started, not even giving Daene honorifics.
The Queen sighed. “Lightning-Ice Draconic Serpent.”
“Ah, right. That. Do you have any clue about something like that? My brother is her Bond and I need a decently easy way to get out of the Abyss to find him. I think you know a way out by using her Mana or something?”
Armindaene frowned, taking a moment to remember to speak Common. “You know of Miana?” She rumbled.
“Miana, huh… Yes, I do!” the girl called.
The Dragon stared at the yelling girl before letting out a sigh. “Would you not be so loud? I can hear you perfectly fine.”
“I told you that,” the young Queen muttered. “Damned idiot.”
“And I heard that as well,” the Fire Abyssal female snapped. “I think you’d be the idiot here-”
Half a dozen spears of Lightning suddenly appeared out of the air and pointed at the Abyssal. The Queen gave the girl a cold look.
“Shut. Up,” she hissed. “You’re being immensely disrespectful.”
The other girl, clearly surprised, snapped her mouth shut. The High Abyssal however, seemed to not have noticed the other two’s arguing and was simply staring around the cave in muted awe.
Is this girl just lost? Or is it something else…
“Fine. You talk then, Ms. Lightning spears. No need to threaten me,” she grumbled.
With a reluctant sigh, the spears disappeared and the Queen of the Abyssals stepped forward before bowing down. Armindaene’s tail moved slightly. Finally, some respect, I see.
“Great Dragon, we have a request for you to consider,” she started before waiting a few moments.
Daene’s tail twitched again as she responded. “Continue.”
“My…” the Queen’s face contorted momentarily. “Cousin is Bonded with a Draconic Serpent by the name of Miana and we wished to know if you could find them and if there was a way for you to transport us near their locations in the Overworld.”
Armindane didn’t want to admit that she was closely watching their location and status and made a show of thinking. Dragons always seemed so wise to little Humans and other humanoids, while, in reality, they spent literal days wondering what to say to them when they did come. Some Dragons went mad trying to imagine conversations with them. Then, there was the Dragonborn…
She let out a sigh. “Yes, I can find out about their location and status, but I will need help from… an outside source to transport you. However, what would be in it for-”
The other girl rolled her eyes and pulled out some sort of core-
Armindaene nearly choked on her tongue as the Fire Attuned Abyssal pulled out a Fire Evolution Core that radiated swathes of Fire Mana. Daene gulped.
“I… will get on it.”
~~~
“So… this will show us their current status? Like ailments and whatnot?” The fiery girl, whose name was Hylla, as Daene had learned.
“No. It will show us how they currently are now.” I hope that they’ve sorted out the Corruption issue. I don’t think a sister would like to see that.
“That’s… good,” Queen Jasmine of the Abyssals grumbled.
Armindaene ignored her, as she seemed like she didn’t want to do anything. “Yes, obviously. Anyways, I’ll open up a connection to Miana’s Mana to see what she is currently doing.”
After a few moments of trying to remember how the controls worked while making a show of using the damnable orb, she established a connection.
“And this should be-”
Immediately, a corruption pore on Miana’s scales exploded and the three girls stared in horror at the {Corrupted} Abyssal battling a flaming woman, very much ahead.
As some of these tiny people would say, “well, shit.”