First Demonic Dragon-Chapter 1242: A Shocking Reception

""Woaaahhhh...!!""

Askari and Reken’s eyes sparkle as they take in the sight of their very first throne room.

"Since when do we have a castle!?" Askari turned to his grandfather in bewilderment.

"We’ve always had one, little man. We just use it for business. Your grandma brought it over from home."

Reken climbs into Abaddon’s throne and sits in it upside down."How come we don’t live in this place??"

Zahara chuckles as she lifts her grandson by his shirt as she sits on the throne beside Abaddon’s. "Well, there’s nothing intimate about living in a castle. Don’t you like living at home with all of our family right there for each other?"

Askari and Reken glance at each other.

"...We wanna live farther away from Uncle Satan."

"He farts a lot, and he calls our mommies mean names."

Zahara couldn’t even say the boys were wrong for how they felt. Satan was famously difficult for most people to swallow. Nevermind children.

"How about this..."

Abaddon takes his throne with Yggdrasil under one arm. His granddaughter seems not to care for their new surroundings and instead finds greater interest in trying to grab at his necklace.

"If you guys sit quietly during this meeting, we’ll shoot your uncle Satan into the sun for you. How does that sound?" Abaddon smiles.

The boys’ grins were as wide as the Grand Canyon, and twice as bright.

As Ayaana take her seat, she steals a glance at her husband before looking away.

But not before he catches her.

"...What’s that look for?"

"Nothing."

"Fib."

"It’s not a fib!" Ayaana huffs. "Just make sure you’re on your best behavior."

"Why would I not be on my best behavior?" Abaddon frowns.

"No reason... no reason at all, my darling."

-

Thrudd’s powerful wings beat against the air as she flew at a slower speed than she was used to.

Her large, reptilian eyes sparkled like gemstones as she admired the changes her family had made in the brief time they’d been away.

It was almost like home had been brought right there to Earth.

She felt so alive.

Dragons began to surround her as soon as they noticed her arrival. Some were excitable, and the others were just a little bit drunk.

"It’s the princess!"

"Princess Thrudd, glory be upon you!"

"P-Princess, I have this tattoo of you on my chest and I would be honored if you would bless it!"

Thrudd gushed at all of the attention she was receiving.

She blew a kiss at another dragon in her massive, scaly form.

That dragon clutched his chest as he plummeted out of the sky, hearts spinning in circles in his eyes.

’Wow... you’re pretty popular, Thrudd.’ Odessa whistles.

"Ehehehehe... At least some people around here are aware of my charms."

Odessa’s natural personality shone through as she crawled on top of her sister’s finger.

She waved at the dragons around her and sent her voice as far as she could.

’Hello, people! Welcome to Earth!!’

The reaction was immediate.

"It’s Princess Odessa!"

A rising ball of fire was shot into the sky.

When it exploded into a shower of orange fireworks, Odessa’s very adorable likeness could be seen for miles on the ground.

Thunderous cheers shook the entire city as drinks were raised in honor of the youngest princess.

Odie giggles adorably as she waves to her adoring fans.

All the while, Thrudd has somehow developed a rather bitter taste in her mouth.

Thea sighs and flips back the hair that she doesn’t currently have. "Well, I suppose I should say hello too, and-"

"Hell no, you stay where you are!" Thrudd flicks her sister with her egregiously large finger.

"H-Hey! I should be allowed to say something!"

"Shoulda coulda woulda."

"You are so childish!"

Odessa’s friend Zoey lingered rather close to her- amazed and bewildered by all of the bright lights and fantastical creatures that filled her vision.

"This is... really cool. They really seem to like you, Odie."

Odessa blushes bashfully. ’M-My dad says it’s the dimples...’

Stars shone in young Zoey’s eyes as she pulled her friend in for an affectionate nuzzle. "And he’s soooo right! Our Odie is just the cutest patootie that ever did live!"

Thrudd could not help but agree. She had been bested by a superior enemy.

Thus far, the humans she carried had been doing well at containing their fear and awe.

However, when Thrudd began approaching their family castle, they couldn’t help but let a few gasps slip out.

In fairness, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand. Their family’s castle was grand even by ordinary standards. Valerie’s eye for design had created quite a beautiful spectacle.

Thrudd had to make herself large enough to carry a few hundred people in just her palm, so she was too big to land on the platform.

Instead, she brought her hand beside the ledge and lifted all of the dainty little humans to safety.

"Alright, mortals... this is the last stop on the dragon rider express. Wake your relatives up so that they’ll stop drooling all over themselves!"

Odie lands on the ground with her sister’s help and turns back for Zoey.

Her young friend was busy holding on to her mom, older brother, and grandmother.

’Come on! I’ll show you guys around and then we can-"

"I’m sorry, Princess. But your father has requested that the visitors be brought to the throne room immediately." A new voice says.

Odessa, Thea, and even a very scaly Thrudd all stiffen and have the very same reaction.

Standing on the long bridge with two maids at his side is an older gentleman in a butler’s uniform.

He smiles at the girls gently, a wave of underlying sentiment in his gaze.

""’Duke!’""

The girls rush to hug the old man all at once and he laughs as he embraces them back.

"My, this almost brings tears to this old man’s eyes... come, let me look at you."

Duke holds the girls at arm’s length, his eyes watering.

"You’ve all grown so well before I even noticed it. Nothing could bring me greater joy than this."

Duke stares at Thea curiously. "Although I must admit, I do not quite understand the... fashion choices that you kids make these days."

Thea almost dropped her disguise until she remembered the reason she was wearing it in the first place.

"T-There is a good reason for this, I assure you!"

Duke laughs deeply. "Hahaha, I cannot wait to hear it! But business first, hm?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Duke steps past the girls and faces the crowd of humans with a neutral gaze.

"Everyone. Please follow behind me in an orderly manner and do not touch anything. My lord has requested to see certain individuals first, so I will need all of those to come front and center..."

-

Duke pushes open the giant doors to the throne room and makes way for the girls to enter first, with the large crowd of humans trailing behind them.

"Hi, mommy! You look weird!"

"Whoaaa... lotta people."

Thea flew towards her children with her arms outstretched. "I’m back, my babies! Did you miss mommy?"

Neither Askari nor Reken moves from the laps of their grandmothers.

"Y-You’re going back out to have adult fun still, right..?"

"So we can stay with Grandpa and Grandmas..?"

Thea was so baffled by her children’s unwillingness to come with her that she dropped her disguise without realizing it.

"I... w-well, I might step out for a little bit but it won’t be long, so-"

Tears well in the eyes of both boys.

"It’s alright, my little darlings." Zahara holds Reken closer and wipes his eyes. "Your mother’s just joking. She’s going to go out and have fun and not come back until the morning. And we’ll have all our fun without her."

Both boys breathed out sighs of sweet relief.

Thea frowns at her mother. "How much sugar did you promise them?!"

"I don’t believe that’s any of your business. Step aside now, please, so we can attend to our guests."

Thea grumbles something under her breath as she takes a seat on the armrest of her mother’s throne.

Thrudd does the same with Ayaana, meanwhile Odie comes to sit beside her father.

Though not before she grabs him by his cheeks and pulls.

’Be nice...’ she glowers.

Abaddon can only roll his eyes. Why did everyone in his family think so little of him?

"Is... that really you, Coach?"

Odie abruptly releases her father’s face and steps to the side.

Abaddon comes face-to-face with the dozens of young men he had come to know very well over the years.

He suddenly feels strangely sentimental.

When Abaddon finally speaks, his English is underlined by a very unique accent. His voice is powerful and regal.

"You don’t recognize me? It hasn’t been that long for you kids, has it?"

The boys shuffled around awkwardly.

"Well, nah..." One says.

"But the angel people said that you don’t really look like that..."

Abaddon taps on the armrest of his throne thoughtfully.

"..It was my intention to make you all more comfortable using an appearance you were familiar with. But I digress..."

Shocked gasps ripple through the crowd as a pair of twin colored eyes slowly open.

"We have enough time for me to reintroduce myself..."