First Demonic Dragon

-South Africa...

A long-dormant pathway was seeing new exploration after thousands of years.

Two snakes, one black and one slightly purple, slithered through tiny cracks and crevices in the bedrock to arrive within an underground cavern.

Once their surroundings opened up, the serpents' bodies expanded and took on two entirely different shapes.

Walking together in close quarters, Abaddon and Audrina made their way deeper into the cavern with an unusual silence persisting between them.

Audrina wasn't necessarily a chatterbox, but she did like talking. She shared interesting things, dirty jokes, and hummed soft, beautiful tunes from worlds already dead and buried.

The fact that she hadn't said anything for a while meant that there was something she really wanted to say.

"Drina."

"Hm..?"

"If you stare at me any harder, you're going to put holes in my back, darling."

Audrina smiled wryly as she lowered her head. "I'm sorry… I hadn't realized I was staring."

"You don't need to apologize." Abaddon insisted. "Though I would like to know what you're finding so much more interesting than normal."

"Well, the fade is really doing something for me." She shrugged.

"Drina."

"Right, right...It's just... Have you talked to her recently..?"

"Who?"

"Our Lilli." Audrina nudged.

Abaddon lifted a felled boulder out of the way so that Audrina could walk past it unimpeded.

She paid close attention to his face as she walked past. He didn't seem to be particularly troubled by her question if she was honest.

"Not much outside of texting her in the morning and at night... Why do you ask?"

Audrina shrugged. "Oh, I don't know... You know how she is, she's sensitive. And I think with the whole Kanami getting hurt thing, she may be feeling some of that responsibility."

Abaddon almost stumbled over a large rock. "I don't blame her though... If anything, I understand why she pushed me to invite her. It was the right thing to do for my family."

Internally, Audrina released a sigh of relief. But evidently, her relief was not as 'internal' as she would have liked to believe.

Abaddon suddenly grabbed her by the waist from behind and turned her around.

"Were you concerned that I would be upset with her..?" He asked genuinely.

Audrina found it hard to look up at her husband for a bit. "Honestly... I didn't know. You've been so hard to read lately, my love... I don't know if it's this Earth, or your people, or if it's Percival, but it feels like it's causing you all to put a wall up with us."

Now, Audrina was beginning to see those trademark signs of complication on her husband's face. Her words, while not intended to hurt, were piercing.

Audrina suddenly looked up at the dark room they were in, and her expression became noticeably intrigued.

"I... think we're here?"

Now, it was Abaddon's turn to look up at their surroundings.

True to Audrina's words, they had reached the focus of their journey. An ancient, underground structure that looked to be around 4,000 years old.

Primitive paintings were inscribed along the walls in front of the temple. Telling an age-old story that had largely been lost to the masses.

"Yeah... we're here." Abaddon sighed.

Audrina thought that Abaddon was going to go inside and maybe poke around a bit to look for a particular object.

She was shocked when he suddenly held up his hand, and a singular pulse of energy left the tip of his fingers.

The temple and all of the history within it, were instantly atomized and reduced to nearly nothing.

"Why would you do that?" Audrina panicked. "That was your history!"

Before Abaddon could stop her, Audrina was borrowing Valerie's power of creation to put the temple back as good as new.

"It's fine. We can't risk Percival getting his hands on this place or anything that could be inside. Better it's all gone."

Abaddon destroyed the building again.

...And Audrina put it right back up.

"You don't need to destroy it, let's just take it..." She pinched his side. "We can put it in a museum or something back at home. Those of the first generation will be thrilled to see this place again. It's invaluable to them."

For the second time in only a few minutes, Abaddon had been bested by his wife in terms of logic and forethought.

He had forgotten that the Red Wanderers were not the only tribesmen that he had. They were just the only ones who had chosen to stay behind on Earth.

He still had living, thriving subjects from back then who would fall into tears if they saw this place again.

And he had almost taken the opportunity from them without a second thought. Just because he was too deeply ingrained in his own mind.

Abaddon couldn't do anything but concede defeat and allow her to take the structure into her shadows.

Audrina turned around to face him and stared at him for a long time without saying anything. Her gaze was patient. Her eyes full of love.

She would stand here for as long as she was physically capable while waiting for him to talk to her.

Abaddon became noticeably bashful as he looked away while rubbing his neck. "...Stop staring at me like that."

"These are my eyes, I'll do what I want with them."

"..." Abaddon wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry.

"...Have you always been so much smarter than me..?" He asked.

"I like to think so." Audrina flipped her hair over her shoulder.

She was a lot of things, but humble was never going to be one of them.

Her antics led to a small smile forming on Abaddon's face as he shook his head. "I'm sorry, I just... I think I'm rushing to do everything right by everyone. In my haste not to make any missteps, I seem to only be making more of them."

Audrina smiled softly.

She interlocked her arm with his larger one and rested her head on his shoulder. "That's why we all decided to get married, right? Having people to walk with makes the journey easier."

"Yes, but-"

"Now look, you need to stop being such a prideful old man and learn how to say: Loves of my life and reasons why I get up in the morning, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, and I am desperately in need of your divine guidance."

"..." Abaddon pursed his lips. "Oh, yeah? And what will the rest of you say when you need my help?"

Audrina placed her hands over her chest and made her eyes big and innocent. "Well, I certainly don't know, because the word mistake isn't in my vocabulary, but I'm sure Bekka or Sif could-"

"Didn't you set the kitchen on fire a few years ago?"

"Never happened." Audrina swiftly denied.

"I have a video of you crying from that time when Odie had a blowout on your night gown."

Audrina's mask of vanity shattered instantly. "You lied to me, I knew you were recording! Give me your phone, now!"

Abaddon started putting some distance between himself and his wife. "I have no idea what this 'phone' you speak of is. Sounds like a concept too advanced for my old man brain to comprehend."

Audrina proceeded to call Abaddon every name in the book as she chased after him.

He phased through the walls of the cavern and flew from underground with her still hot on his trail.

As he was greeted once more by daylight, he felt the smile he had been trying to suppress spreading freely.

For a moment, his mood showed some noticeable improvement.

However, not even a full minute later, Abaddon returned to his unsightly scowl.

A rather large peach pit flew just past his face.

It came from the ground below, and Abaddon followed its trajectory towards an older man sitting underneath a tree with a fruit basket next to him.

When Audrina finally caught her husband, she prepared to raid his pockets for his cellular device, but noticed that he wasn't putting up a fight any longer.

She followed her gaze towards the tree more than two hundred meters below them, and her expression became equally unpleasant.

"What is he doing here..?"

A peach pit flew through the air like a demonic fastball. Abaddon caught the seed before it could hit him in the chest. "...Evidently, he's trying to get our attention."

Audrina sighed. A sentiment that was shared by her husband.

Together, the two of them blinked out of the sky and reappeared on the ground beneath the tree's shade.

When they revealed themselves, the older man sat up instantly.

He appeared to be around mid-forties, with a messy haircut but a handsome face.

His clothing was a pair of black slacks with a white shirt completely unbuttoned to reveal his lean and muscular physique underneath.

A circular pair of glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, and his feet were covered in simple sandals purchased from a stall.

Beside him sat a small brown cane that looked like it was going to break at any moment from the slightest gust of wind.

He sat up and scratched the hair that had grown on his cheeks, but not his chin.

"Holy shit... You two were actually here? I can't believe it... score one for the big man yet again." The asian man murmured as he bit another peach.

Abaddon remained unamused as he folded his arms across his broad chest.

"I'm sure I'm going to regret asking, but... What are you doing here, Wukong?"