First Demonic Dragon-Chapter 1263: The World is Choking

K’ael felt the wind rushing through his hair with a true ferocity. It was tough even to keep his eyes open.

The world passed by him so quickly that he only had time to witness a split second of it before he was miles away, looking at something entirely different.

"Ah... such a nice breeze, don’t you think?"

K’ael was grateful that no one else was around to see his sorry state. His head was sandwiched between his oldest sister’s breasts as she held him in her lap.

He made the conscious choice to sit in her embrace because of her rather persistent pouting.

Telling himself that she was simply making up for lost time had done little to ease his embarrassment.

They sat atop Bashenga’s back as he raced across the clouds in the sky.

K’ael tried to distract himself from his embarrassment by paying better attention to his brother.

Bashenga was a dragon unlike anything he had ever seen before. His canine-like appearance was relatively unique among their family. Even Bekka had more dragon-like features the last time he checked.

Thea suddenly nuzzled her brother in the back of his head. She obsessively inhaled the scent of his hair as if he were a living bouquet of roses.

"So, my sweet bro-bro. Got anyone you like??"

K’ael blinked with no real thought behind his eyes. "Umm... like?"

"You know, like anyone you find attractive? Anyone you want to be in a relationship with?"

K’ael became so warm so quickly that steam rushed out of his ears.

"N-No! Why would you even ask me such a thing??"

’Our sister has a penchant for inserting herself into our business.’ Bashenga said telepathically. ’The sooner you accept that as an absolute, the better off you will be.’

"I can hear you, you know!" Thea dropped her fist on Bashenga’s scales.

’My intention was never to conceal the truth.’

Thea rolled her eyes as she returned her attention to her less cantankerous, still impressionable young brother.

"As I was saying... You’re a handsome young guy, you know? I was just wondering if you ever met someone who you had some thoughts about that you might not necessarily want to tell our parents about, and-"

"Nii-san, is it too late for me to go home...?"

’Yes.’ Bashenga answered. ’I’m sure father’s already told you, but our ability to warp is experiencing... impediments. It is my recommendation that you follow Belloc’s example and cover your ears with headphones.’

"I can hear you both, you little runts!" Thea growled.

’As I said, my intention was never to conceal anything about...’

Suddenly, Bashenga’s voice trailed off. Thea felt her brother tense up through his scales. "Bash..? What’s wrong?"

’She... is in distress. Though I fear I do not know the source.’

Bash didn’t need to know exactly what was happening to be concerned. Knowing that Gaia, or her reincarnation, was in trouble, was more than enough reason for him to kick into high gear.

’Thea, make sure we don’t lose him.’

"Sure thing." Thea wrapped her arms more tightly around her brother.

Before K’ael received an opportunity to ask what was happening, Bashenga’s body slowly broke down into a single streak of light.

No longer racing across the clouds, he was shooting through them. As a streak of pure light, he moved faster than most any living thing could have ever dreamed of.

This was K’ael’s first time moving at lightspeed. He hadn’t worked very hard to learn the craft, given just how difficult it was for someone like him, who wasn’t very good with shapeshifting to begin with.

But now that he was experiencing it firsthand, it was absolutely terrifying.

The wind whipped into his face so hard that his lips would no longer stay sealed. He considered it a miracle that his skin wasn’t peeling off his face. However, that was very likely due to his sister’s power.

With the ride apparently far from over, K’ael was beginning to wish that he had made himself harder to find when his father came to ask him for a favor.

-

Bashenga’s landing nearly created a seismic event. Had he not chosen to hover above the ground at the last moment.

However, the wind pressure generated by his abrupt stop singlehandedly cleared all the grass in his nearby radius.

When his heavy paws landed on the ground, there was a small rumble, and Thea leapt off her brother’s back with K’ael slung over her shoulder.

With his hair red and his face turning green, he looked like a handsome little Christmas cookie.

Thea ordinarily would have allowed him to puke his guts out as needed, but it seemed as though they wouldn’t have time.

"What... are these things..?"

Bashenga had not landed within any old clearing.

He landed in the middle of a rather spacious forest grove, teaming with glowing grass and thick trees nearly as tall as the sky.

At the center of the grove, there was one impossibly large tree. Even for a supersized Earth.

The dragons had been around long enough to recognize a World tree when they saw one.

However, the one before them was... wrong. Sick.

A black, tar-like substance oozed from the powerful wood like sap. Long tentacles of the same fluid were wrapped around the tree from the top to the bottom.

At the base of the tree, there was something that certainly did not belong. A large glowing eye, nestled inside some sort of demonic-looking clamshell.

It’s slit pupils darted all over the place as it took in the sight of the three dragons who had come from the sky and disturbed it’s rest.

Along the ground, it’s tentacles spread, first resembling roots, then they began to pool together to form an inky lake.

Thea pulled her younger brother behind her and drew her sword.

K’ael had already recovered from his motion sickness and didn’t understand why he was being sidelined. "Nee-chan, why-"

"Brother... Listen to me, no matter what you do, do not let that stuff touch you.. Just looking at it is making me feel gross and-"

Suddenly, a series of bubbles began rising to the surface of the tar.

Thea and Bashenga readied themselves for whatever was to come, charging up magic without waiting to be attacked.

But then figures began to rise out of the tar. Some were humanoid, others were so far removed from it that they were barely recognizable.

They were all covered in that same odd, black goo and had even odder glowing crystals growing out of their bodies.

Anyone could look at them and tell that they weren’t right.

The sight of them offended Bashenga so much that he opened his mouth to raze the entire lot to the ground.

The flames had nearly left his maw when he heard an abrupt metal clang.

Looking down, he found his sister shaking, her eyes wide and full of disbelief.

She brought her hands to cover her mouth as bitter tears spilled down her cheeks. A single word escaped her lips as she choked back a sob.

"Master..?"