First Demonic Dragon-Chapter 926: Faces Long Gone

- South Africa: 4,000 Years Ago

The sun shone down on the world without obstruction that day. It cooked the entire continent of Africa like an oven for nine hours straight with no noticeable dip in temperature.

The heat was relentless. But so were the humans who lived under it.

Three pairs of eyes could barely be seen hiding among the tall, tan grass.

They were attached to three figures, all of them possessing large and unnaturally impressive physiques.

The first was a young woman. No more than sixteen or seventeen years of age.

She had a warm chocolate complexion with the most unique silver hair. It was bound into neat twists that dangled freely around her shoulders.

Ordinarily, they would have been decorated with seashells and bits of gold. But her siblings had forcefully made her take them out before going on a hunt today.

Sitting next to her in the grass was a much wilder-looking woman.

She had a slightly darker complexion than her sister, and a leaner physique to boot.

Her bright red hair was messily strewn across her face and barely even left her eyes visible.

She panted slightly not from the heat, but rather from the excitement of the trial before her.

Her teeth had been filed and sharpened to a series of deadly points. She claimed that it made her feel better about herself somehow.

*In Xhosa* "Stop breathing so hard, sisi. You will scare the meat away."

The sisters glanced at the third member of their hunting party.

He was a tall man whose size would have been a serious disadvantage if he hadn't chosen to lay flat on his stomach.

His complexion was the darkest out of both his siblings. His physique was packed with perfect muscles from his thick neck to his powerful calves.

By far, his most noticeable feature was the series of scarification all along his body. Representing patterns, stories, and even some phrases.

His hair was a sight to behold. Long and powerful locks of deep burgundy hair were forced into exactly two dreadlocks that dangled all the way to his ankles.

All three siblings were very attractive. Even for the modern age, they would have been head-turning.

Their clothing though was rudimentary. The girls wore waist beads and skirts made from the hides of prized animals. As their civilization had less sexual dimorphism, their chests were bare.

Their brother was dressed in an animal skirt as well, but he also wore the hide of a lion as some sort of covering over his back.

The siblings were admiring their soon-to-be prey from afar. A pride of lions monopolizing a watering hole roughly 60 yards away.

There were exactly six of them there. Five females and one male.

The siblings clutched their weapons made from bone and sharpened stone. Crude, but they were very effective.

"The children want to see if we can make it home without a scratch, eh? Let us give them something to cheer for." The brother's voice was deep and soulful. His smile was prizewinning.

But neither of his sisters were swayed by it like the girls in the village were.

"I don't know why you promised them something as unnecessarily difficult as this, M'anari. You did not even let me bring my bow!" The silver-haired sister complained.

"I am also against this plan." The feral sister added. "Scars are what immortalize our battle in our flesh until the ancestors call us home. We should not try to avoid them."

M'anari rolled his eyes as he crushed an ant that had wandered into his view. "You do not need a bow, Valani. Our father's gifts ensure that we need not fear anything under the sun."

Valani, the silver-haired middle sister, remained upset that she had to leave behind the most precious item that she owned.

"I think that we should at the very least allow our prey to get the first strike as a sign of respect." The youngest sister clenched her fist passionately.

""Good thing we didn't ask you what you thought, Siani.""

"Mother of goats…" The young girl banged her fist against the ground and cursed.

""Shh!"" The duo scolded.

M'anari and Valani rechecked their prey's positions.

As they expected, their little sister's outburst had alerted the pride. The lions were staring in their general vicinity already.

"…My mistake." Siani apologized.

Both of her siblings just shook their heads exhaustedly.

"Well… Looks like we may not return home entirely wound-free." M'anari sighed.

"Now are you regretting your choice not to let me bring my bow?" Valani narrowed her eyes.

"The thought is beginning to cross my mind, yes." M'anari lowered his head.

"We could always use.." Siani raised her hand and produced a whisp of solidified darkness.

Valani almost immediately slapped her hand down.

"Father said no. We're not supposed to do anything like that without him watching us."

"Besides, we can't exactly leave wounds that hard to explain on the body, can we?" M'anari reminded. "Plus we will ruin the pelts."

Siani just sighed and nodded.

"So we are all in agreement then."

"Yep."

"Yeah…"

"Perfect. Don't die."

The siblings clutched their weapons and began moving into position.

-

"They're back!"

"Oooh!!"

"Look! Look!"

In a village that was very large and very advanced for its time, a cacophony of young children rushed towards the wooden gates that protected their homes.

Entering the gates were three individuals all carrying beasts far bigger than themselves.

In the middle, M'anari carried two adult lions on his shoulders and a third under his arm.

When he and his sisters saw the children approaching, they immediately dropped their prizes on the ground in one big pile.

"Woahhh…!"

"They did it! They really did it!"

"But look at Lady Valani!"

"She's hurt!"

The children pointed up at Valani and their eyes began to water.

The most beautiful maiden in the village was sporting a series of brand-new scars across her face. They had just barely missed her eyes.

Valani had tried to clean off the blood in the watering hole before they came back. She hoped it would make her wounds look less serious.

It didn't.

"Oh, mother of days…"

An old woman was hobbling towards the trio of siblings with a pitying look on her face.

M'anari and Siani slowly tried to put some space between themselves and their sister, but they couldn't get far enough away before she lashed out again and hit them both with her walking staff.

"Shame! Shame! You two thoughtless bison will be the deaths of your sister! Why would you go out and hunt without taking her bow?"

Siani rubbed the back of her head while her eyes watered. "We thought it would be fun..?"

"Eh, I'll give you fun!" The old woman raised her staff again.

Luckily for the youngest, Valani stepped in front of the attack that was intended for her.

"Elder Ambessa. There's no need for you to get upset on my behalf. Especially not when your healing balms can fix me right up."

The old woman paused for a moment. She rubbed the series of golden rings along her elongated neck with a thoughtful expression.

"Well… this is true." She admitted. "But why you want to give me more work to do, eh?"

Valani smiled as she interlocked her arm with the old woman. "Perhaps I just wanted to hear more stories, Elder. Somehow they seem to get better every time."

Appealing to Elder Ambessa's vanity was the quickest way to make her forget her wrath- thereby sparing her siblings from receiving another stick to the back of the head.

"…This is why you are my favorite of the chieftain's children." The woman grinned and revealed a smile with a few missing teeth. "Come. This time we make you much prettier than before."

"Well, I don't know if I need help to that extent."

"You better take my help as long as I'm around to give it, girlie." The old woman pinched her butt.

"Fufufu, I understand, Elder."

-Present Day…

"Malenia… Malenia."

Malenia felt a gentle hand settle upon her shoulder and bring her back to reality.

When she regained control of herself, she realized that she was still holding onto the face of the human named Clayton.

To make matters worse, at some point, she had begun crying without even realizing it. Her face was slick with her own tears.

Saying that she felt embarrassed didn't even begin to fully cover how she felt.

She finally allowed Abaddon to pull her back after trying for some time.

Her cheeks became warm from the embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry… I was just-"

"You don't need to apologize for a thing, my lady." Clayton gave her hand a light squeeze. "I'm happy this leathery old face of mine could bring you some semblance of comfort. I can tell whoever you're seeing must've meant a great deal to you."

Malenia wiped her face and smiled sweetly. "She was like family. It was nice to see her again. More than I could put into words."

None of the humans could really explain why, but for some reason they found themselves becoming misty-eyed. Their souls felt so full that their tears ran free without obstruction.

Clayton wiped his own face before he held out his arm for one of the humans behind him.

"You all must be weary from the trip up. This here is Emmanuel. He's got a nice big house in the city and he'd be delighted to put you all up during your stay."

Emmanuel's eyes sparkled like pools of jade. "I know my place might not be anything like the palaces you're used to, but I promise to do my best to make you all comfortable."

Abaddon smiled wryly. "Actually, we don't really need.."

Emmanuel deflated like a lead balloon.

Abaddon's brow twitched uncontrollably before he sighed and conceded.

"…Thank you for your hospitality."