Abaddon tilts his head, sowhat surprised by his descendant’s refusal to be returned to life, especially after dying in such a painful and frightening manner.
However, he could sense so lingering emotions deep inside the young spirit that he wasn’t addressing.
"Do you have no loved ones? No kind faces that you would wish to see again?"
The ghost’s expression becos lancholic.
"...I do, my lord. But... they can go on without . I... have no right to stand beside them."
Before Abaddon can press him for further answers, Kanami steps to his side. "Brother, I’m sensing humans in the area. A considerable amount."
Abaddon notices the ghost tense up at the ntion of them.
"...Bring them to . Unhard."
In an instant, all of the euphrates vanish.
As the ground rumbles from Gandora’s clash, Abaddon takes a seat in midair, his legs crossed and his chin resting on his knuckles.
When he looks upon his descendant, his patience is noticeably less than it was a mont before.
"Do you know what the easiest emotion to sense on a deceased spirit is, Caron?"
The spirit lowers its head. "...No, I do not, my lord."
"Guilt. And at the mont, you completely reek of it."
Trembling, Caron drops into a full kowtow, his body trembling unconsciously.
"F-Forgive , my lord... I have committed a grave sin! I’m not worthy of your power, and I have dishonored my entire lineage!"
Abaddon’s voice hardens. "Spare the dramatics. Speak plain."
"..."
Caron bore all of his sins in front of Abaddon. And much to his surprise, they were worse than he had expected.
In the dangerous new conditions on earth, humans were simultaneously at the bottom of the totem pole and the prize everyone seed to want.
In comparison, as Abaddon had guessed, the inhumans had thrived.
They had whole cities as their own, territories where they lived relatively well.
Caron was what they called a ’famrer’.
He went out into the world, tracking down other humans in isolated encampnts and luring them to the lands of the Inhumans.
"How foolish..." Abaddon barely suppresses his imnse distaste. "Why would they leave a shelter they already had in order to follow a vagabond they do not know...?"
Caron pauses. "That... so witches have taken to setting up wards that inhumans cannot enter. They form these colonies, but... they are often in places that have poor conditions.
I... attempt to lure them in with promises of better food, soft beds... a simple bath. They usually succumb pretty quickly once I wave around a candy bar or two...When I take them back, the vampires take them and... breed them like rats, but-"
"Enough."
Caron begins to float in midair. A somber black and red fla appears over Abaddon’s head.
"...I am usually unfond of humans. And it is precisely for their tendency to betray and cut down their own that they have held my ire since their creation."
Abaddon’s face had begun to take on a slightly inhuman visage. His divinely good looks had begun to fade in favor of a nightmarish apparition.
"Tell ... why should you be spared from the punishnt after all that you have done?"
Fear was evident in Caron’s eyes. His voice barely escaped as more than a whisper.
"A-As I said, I do not deserve your favor, my lord...Death is what I deserve for-"
"I see the elders have yet to properly educate the younger generation about who and what I am..."
Abaddon’s third eye opened to a dangerously large degree.
"Do you honestly believe that death is the worst fate that can befall you?"
Caron’s heart was seized by fear. He wanted to cry, but his eyes produced no tears.
"M-rcy, lord..."
Abaddon snarled in response.
At that mont, Kanami returned with the rest of the euphrates. As well as fifty humans with tape around their mouths.
When his sister saw the fla hovering just in front of one of their cultists, her eyes noticeably sharpened.
"...Do I even want to know?"
Slowly, Abaddon’s face returned to normal. "...No. I can assure you that you do not."
The dragon glanced at the humans suspended in thin air. All of them appeared frightened. So had even soiled themselves.
They raked their eyes over his obsidian horns and skin, and so instantly mistook him for a demon. If they weren’t at least partially right, he might have been offended.
"Relax, little lambs. No one here is going to hurt you."
At that mont, the rumbling drew closer as Gandora bounded towards her master.
When she reached him, she dropped the head of her adversary at Abaddon’s feet. Afterward, she sat on her haunches as her tail wagged like a bladed propeller.
Her body was covered in scratches, and she was bleeding for what Abaddon realized was the first ti in a very long while.
He was pissed that soone had actually dared to hurt his precious companion, but because she seed happy about the exercise, he could not find it in him to lash out.
Instead, he forced himself to smile at her and beckoned her forward. "There’s my precious girl. Co here."
Gandora shrank down to a more diminutive size and rushed into her master’s arms.
Abaddon healed her wounds as he nuzzled her, smiling lovingly as he placed kisses upon her snout.
"That’s my strong girl. Soone’s earned herself a few tons of griffon steaks for dinner tonight."
Gandora beca even more excitable, licking her master’s face with zeal.
"Ugh.., you’re getting your teeth brushed too."
Gandora no longer licked him and switched to giving him big, sad eyes instead.
As Abaddon scratched under his pet’s chin, his voice suddenly shifted in tone. The Euphrates knew instantly that he was finally addressing them.
"...Take the humans back to the city. Get them to Thea, she’ll get them properly settled."
The Euphrates bowed their heads before they started to move.
"Wait."
Standing up, Abaddon’s eyes glow in their three unique colors.
He swept his eyes over all of the frightened humans present and looked past their physical vessels. He perceived the essence of their very souls.
Raising his finger, Abaddon points out fifteen individuals.
"Leave those where you found them. I’ll not have their ilk in my domain."
The humans’ eyes widen as the Euphrates go to take them back into the wild. anwhile, Abaddon goes back to stroking Gandora.
"Anything else before we go?" Kanami asks.
Abaddon pauses for only a mont before nodding.
"Yes. Bring our brother here."
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