FIRST DEMONIC DRAGON

Lailah was by far the least known face at the table.

She was one of the wives who didn’t really come out of the house a whole lot. Meaning she left Tehom even less.

And even when she did deign to show her face, she was usually snugly tucked away somewhere inside of Ayaana.

And yet, despite her lack of appearances over the eons, Lailah was somehow instantly recognizable.

Descriptions of a bronze-skinned goddess, whose skin glittered in the sunlight like morning dew, were hard to mistake.

But more than anything, it was her unthinkably cold and domineering aura that really clinched her identity.

The way that her sharp, uninterested eyes cut through the assembled deities was more scathing than any knife.

Three beings appeared in the wake of her arrival. Each of them were wearing black armor with three different colors woven into their armor.

They, like Lailah, boasted quite the intimidating auras themselves. The man clad in black felt particularly dangerous.

His helmet was a simple, blank slate of metal, leaving one to wonder about what kind of horrible monster could’ve been lurking underneath the surface.

The only one here who didn’t seem like they were going to bite the heads off whoever spoke to them was the younger-looking woman whom Ra and the feline sisters knew very well.

“Princess Ammit.” Sekhmet beamed, then furrowed her brow. “Or should I say…”

“Either is fine, I can assure you.” Nubia smiled back. “It is good to see you in good health, Lady Sekhmet. Lady Bast. And you as well, Lord Ra.”

Ra began smiling just a hair too hard for Lailah’s liking. “You’re too kind, Princess! I fear I owe the fact that I am sitting here undamaged to your eldest brother. Please thank him again for me.”

“I will, though I am sure he will not take it.” Nubia confessed. “He is selfless like that.”

Lailah’s eyes flickered, but she didn’t say anything.

True, Apophis’ unceasingly selfless nature was something that she both admired and disliked about her son.

Lailah was a much harsher and colder person than her eldest son was. She would have rather he let everyone around him die rather than come home with a single injury.

It was so perplexing. Because she was also certain that if her son had been the kind of man who was cruel and leveraged his power against others, she would not know what to do with him.

She loved her son with all of her heart. But his desire to be a beacon of hope for others irregardless of the cost to himself was bad for her heart as well.

“So the dragon doth not cometh after all. Are we too far beneath his notice for him to bother?”

Lailah’s eyes sharpened drastically again.

Kronos pushed aside Azrael’s scythe and sat down in his chair with an obnoxious gait.

Lailah took one moment to glance at Kronos and knew immediately why and how we’d gotten worse.

‘So it’s time after all.’

“And can you make this singing stop?” He asked in exhaustion as he rubbed his head. “I can’t even think straight with this prattle in my ears.”

“Because that is such a big change from usual.” Izanagi snorted.

Kronos very clearly had more that he wanted to say. But due to a Nevi’im-sized reason, he held his tongue.

“Where… is this sound coming from?”

Itzamna, the chief of the Mayan deities, stood up reverently.

Tears streamed down his face as he held out his hands to the sky.

When was the last time he had been this… moved?

*Speaking Ch’olti Mayan* “Such a beautiful sound… yet sung with such sadness that it tends the heart… Where does it come from?”

He wasn’t the only one getting misty-eyed here.

The stands in the Colosseum were all weeping for reasons they could not explain. Even Uriel had shed a tear. Azrael, though, seemed remarkably stone-faced.

Lailah cracked a small, amused smile for the first time since arriving.

The very song earning such praise and adoration was a sad song about the army’s longing for war beside their monarchs.

Perhaps reactions would be significantly less mushy if they knew that her people were basically pleading with them to cause an interdimensional incident.

“How many… are here…?” Uriel spun around in wonder as she turned her gaze towards the empty air.

Lailah found such a question to be unbearably amusing.

“Enough.” She smirked.

She tapped her claw against the marble table in front of her exactly one time.

The singing died down almost immediately. Much to the disappointment of Tehom’s non-natives.

“If you’re all ready to begin?”

Those at the table nodded as they opened their ears.

Lailah turned her head towards the stands. “Can I ask those of you who were present that day to come before us?”

Several sun and day gods appeared before the table of deities.

Lailah reclined back into her chair, gently taking her daughter’s hand without even realizing it.

“Where do I begin… I’m sure you’re all aware of the prolonged absence of Lucifer and Michael. They’ve been gone what, a few billion years now? Along with most of demonkind.”

Several of the angels sucked in their teeth at the mention of the Lightbringer.

Given that angels have a relatively high capacity for trust when it comes to one another, being betrayed by one of their own just stung in a way that they never really recovered from as a society.

Questions surrounding his disappearance had plagued them for several millennia. Everyone feared the day that he would simply pop back up with a vengeance. Either here, or… on Earth.

“Let me assuage your fears right now…” Lailah said with her eyes closed. “They’re both dead.”

The collective sound of jaws dropping from the angelic faction would have been comical if the subject matter were not so intrinsically morbid.

“They’ve been dead for a very long time now. Approximately two years after the rebellion and close to a few months after that business in the garden.”

“And exactly how long have you known this?” Kronos interjected.

“Did I seem as though I had finished speaking?”

Lailah’s tone was short, sharp, and lacking any change in octave. But she may as well have berated him in a mocking, thunderous voice.

It was just as demeaning.

Of course, Nubia had heard many stories about her mother and her less-than-personable personality. But seeing it was another thing entirely.

She was very cold. Ruthless even.

And Nubia could not help but wonder if there were even more sides to her mother that she did not know.

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Kronos’s whole body shook. His skin was turning so red that it was reaching a new shade of purple.

He gnashed his teeth together so hard that they started to crack. By this point, biting his tongue seemed like the next logical step.

Lailah cracked open her eye and stared at the unfairly large titan.

“Your gaze would indicate that you have some sort of a problem. I do hope that isn’t the case.”

Kronos’s thick neck twisted itself to stare at the split table in front of him. He said nothing, but if one listened closely, they could hear the sound of blood vessels bursting somewhere inside of him.

“…No.”

“Pity.”

Lailah went back to shutting both her eyes again.

‘If he refers to you without your title again, I will take both of his hands, Empress.’ Kirina said telepathically.

Lailah fought the urge to smile again.

‘Be patient, mother-in-law. Something tells me your time may not be far at hand.’

Kirina involuntarily tightened her grip on the very large sword she was carrying against her shoulder.

Lailah was realizing that Seras may have inherited more from her mother than any of them originally thought.

“Do you know how they died..?” Uriel suddenly asked.

Lailah nodded. Kronos could’ve screamed at the obvious disparity in treatment.

The magic goddess reached inside of her sleeve and pulled something out.

A small, white snake with hypnotic pink eyes.

Its eyes briefly glowed, and suddenly, the world went dark.

Suddenly, everyone inside could only see the silhouette of a man in dark clothing and unnerving goat-like eyes.

Lailah’s voice echoed through the darkness. Giving chilling clarity on what the divine eyes were seeing.

“Lucifer sired a child before he fell. On the day the child was born, it was already fully cognizant of its purpose and personality. He slaughtered Lucifer and Michael mere moments after his birth.”

The creeping darkness faded away instantly, and the world returned to normal once more.

Only this time, every deity assembled looked like they were about to be sick. Or as if they had just heard a ludicrous lie.

Lailah could scarcely say that she blamed them.

“This… cannot be.” Azrael said, clearly stupefied. “I felt nothing. I was sure that he had to be locked away in hiding.”

For the first time, Lailah spoke to someone here in a bit of a softer tone. It was almost familial.

“I fear our Lilli did not know either, Azrael. Lucifer’s child was not only capable of killing him but absorbing him as well. We suspect that may have something to do with his ability to evade detection.”

Lailah heard the sound of water droplets striking the table.

She looked up to find Uriel teary-eyed and holding her head in one hand.

“My brothers… both gone… and I didn’t even know it.” She whimpered.

The relationships between the first archangels was… complicated. Eternally so.

They are mortal enemies by difference of opinion. And though they have fought, clawed, and cursed at each other, they have never not been family.

Uriel loved her brother. She was heartbroken when he rebelled.

And though she personally took up her spear against him, it was the hardest thing she had ever done.

Despite everything that she knew to be true, she hoped, she prayed that maybe one day he would repent and come home.

But now, he would never get the chance.

And that… broke something inside of her that she would never be able to repair.

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