As instructed by Cypress, Abaddon took a bit of the blood from his corpse and started to paint strange symbols on the tree.
He was no Picasso, but when he finally finished drawing the symbols, he was somewhat proud of himself.
Especially since they started to glow a few seconds afterwards.
“You have done it. You’re free to enter the spirit realm at your leisure, but be warned that time runs differently in there. One day inside is comparable to one hour out here.”
Abaddon and Thea paused as they realized what that meant.
Depending on how this journey went, they might not see their loved ones for a long time.
The heartache would be more one-sided, but shouldering something like that would be a lot for anyone.
“My daughter, if you like you are free to return home and be with your wives. I cannot ask you to be away from them for a potentially long time.”
Thea smiled softly as she interlocked her fingers with her father’s.
“It’s okay, the girls will be there when we get back. But since the two of us started this journey together we should end it the same way.”
Abaddon knew that his daughter loved her wives nearly as much as he loved his own, so he was more than a little touched by her willingness to accompany him this far.
‘Honestly… what could I have done to deserve such kind children?’ he wondered.
“Alright then. Try not to change your mind, daughter.”
“I won’t!”
Before heading inside, Abaddon looked at the floating soul that he was still holding in his hand.
Glancing at the body lying off to the side of him… he realized that it might be quite useful to have a puppet ruler in his pocket.
The last thing he did before passing through the tree was tossing Cypress’ soul back into his body, and injecting a fair amount of his mana inside.
–
Entering into the spirit realm caused Abaddon and Thea to be met with many strange sensations and sights.
For starters, the two of them had appeared high in the sky, where they could see a myriad of strange and mysterious lands that seemed to go on for miles. 𝚘𝚟xt.𝑪𝑂𝗆
There seemed to be sections for every aspect of nature.
One stretch appeared to consist of nothing but rivers and streams, another was a rough and rocky terrain that was barren of any greenery, and beside it there were molten lands that smoldered with red flame.
But Abaddon had only barely gotten to identify his surroundings when he started to feel a little woozy.
“Father?”
Thea noticed that Abaddon was having trouble maintaining altitude and quickly supported him with her own body.
The two of them descended slowly to the lands directly underneath them, a stretch of vibrant grasslands that made even the elven forests look like a trailer park.
Or at least it did.
The second Abaddon collapsed on a patch of grass, it started to wilt and die.
But Thea was largely unconcerned about this for now, as she was more worried about her shivering father.
“What’s going on!? What are you feeling??”
Abaddon didn’t quite know how to describe what he was feeling.
As soon as he came here it was like there was an additive within his genetic makeup that made him incompatible with this place of tranquility.
The blend that made up his being was having a hard time in this environment.
He had to become a spirit dragon quickly, or he was unsure what would become of him.
Rustle.
Suddenly, an older woman emerged from the bushes.
She had rich brown skin, and long green hair that came down to her butt.
The long white dress she wore trailed behind her voluptuous figure, and her bright golden eyes contained a great urgency.
Thea had only been stunned by a woman’s beauty twice in her life before, yet running into this individual had created a third scenario.
She would have had more romantic inclinations on her mind, had she not watched this mysterious woman raise her hand and summon a tidal wave of thorny plants.
“Abomination, you do not belong here!”
She let her hand fall, and the thorns immediately started rushing towards Abaddon with urgency.
“Wait!”
Thea rushed out in front of her father and held out her hands in a protective manner.
The strange woman halted her attack mere inches away from Thea’s beautiful face.
She waved her hand and the thorns pointed at the two intruders retreated, if only a short distance away.
Thea and the strange woman finally came face to face, and she inspected her with a curious eye.
“You are not of elven descent. How is it that you have come here, and why is it that one touched by the divines protects one who clearly is an abyssal existence?”
Thea took a deep breath as she held out her hand to the strange woman with the beautiful appearance.
“First things first, I am Thea Tathamet. Can I know your name?”
The woman did not seem to know the meaning behind Thea’s gesture, as she hesitantly poked her palm with a dainty finger.
“I am Sabine… Higher spirit of nature.”
Thea nodded and kneeled beside the still recovering Abaddon.
“Sabine, this abyssal existence is my father… I know he must feel like quite the frightening being but the truth is that he is a very gentle and compassionate man.”
Abaddon finally lifted his head from he ground and met Sabine’s eyes for the first time.
The nature spirit searched his eyes for any sign of malice or veiled threat, yet she found only a mutual suspicion.
It was difficult to tell if Thea’s claim was true from that alone.
“As you say… Irregardless, he does not belong here. Take him and leave.”
“We cannot do that.” Abaddon said wearily.
He moved slowly so as not to alarm the spirit and sat crosslegged on the ground, while holding his abdomen.
“You will die if you stay. If your being does not unravel, then one of the other higher spirits within these lands will kill you first.”
“Ha! If I cannot accomplish what I have come here for then a worse fate will await me. Seems to me like I have no choice.”
Even in this condition, Abaddon wasn’t oblivious.
He could feel that there were several more nature spirits surrounding him out of sight, but there was no point in being afraid.
Dying was easy, but a fate where he was endlessly tortured and separated from his family was much more depressing and hard to deal with.
Sabine looked back and forth between this father daughter pair like she was unsure of what to make of them.
Weighing her options in her mind, she decided it would be best to kill Abaddon as she had first thought.
And she probably would have, had the words of her sisters in the bushes come trickling into her mind before she could act.
‘Sister, you’re going to help him, right?’
‘H-He may be abyssal but he doesn’t seem like a bad person!’
‘I-If I say that I will be responsible for him, then we can let him live, right?’
Sabine suddenly felt a vein begin to bulge in her forehead.
‘What is wrong with all of you!? This is why none of the other spirit tribes respect us, you are always swayed by the first pretty man you see!!’
‘Y-Yes, but…’
‘This one is… very, very, very pretty.’
‘I have never seen any man that even vaguely comes close to him in terms of attractiveness.’
‘It should make it that much more okay for us to make an exception, right??’
‘NO!’
‘Well too bad, you’ve been outvoted!’
‘If you don’t want to help him, then I will!’
‘Ooh, sister should take his clothes off and check him for wounds!’
‘Gotcha!’
‘Wait, wait!’ Sabine was trying to regain control of the situation, but it proved to be meaningless in the end.
Poof!
A new woman suddenly appeared in front of Abaddon and Thea.
Like Sabine, she had rich chocolate skin that glistened warmly in the sun, and a curvy figure in a white dress.
But her figure was a bit smaller, around 5’4 with butterfly wings stemming from her back.
Her long hair was a bright purple color, and her green eyes were simmering with mischief and lust.
“Hello~! I am Charlotte! My sisters and I have decided to help you so just leave everything to me, okay?”
Both Abaddon and Thea were easily able to recognize the look that the overly friendly nature spirit was giving him, and they let out twin sighs of exhaustion.
‘What will you do, father? We need her help.’
‘…I will put up with it for now. But the moment she tries to touch me inappropriately I want you to cut her hands off.’
‘Kay.’
His mind made up, Abaddon lowered his head just a bit as a gesture of respectful greeting.
Although he didn’t introduce himself, as he wanted to avoid conversing with her as much as possible.
“You don’t look well, are you wounded? Do you need healing? You should get undressed so that I can-“
“My father isn’t wounded physically.” Thea said.
“Oh… Are you sure? Don’t you think we should check and-”
“For the love of nectar, stop disgracing yourself!” Sabine cried.
Smack!
A hard slap on the butt sent Charlotte spiraling on the ground with her hand clutching her bruised behind.
“Ow! Sister, why!?”
“You’re embarrassing yourself, and me by association!”
Apparently Charlotte had not learned her lesson as she crawled towards Abaddon like a wounded animal.
“Mister demon, my butt hurts a lot..! Would you mind rubbing it for me…?”
However, her flirtation only caused her sister to stomp her head into the grass, thoroughly silencing her.
‘This place is funny.’ Thea thought.
‘Only because you aren’t being harassed.’ Abaddon said with a sigh.
“You.”
Abaddon casually looked up at Sabine, as if he was still exhausted by this whole ordeal and wanted to go home.
“What is your goal in coming here? Why should my sisters and I help you??”
“My goal is simple. I wish to become a spirit dragon, a being of the same class as you.”
“…”
“…”
Dumbstruck, Sabine turned towards Thea as if she was hoping for her to clarify all of this.
“He… He jests, no?”
“Not in this moment.” Thea answered with a shrug.
Sabine opened her mouth to say something else when Abaddon suddenly winced and clutched his chest.
It was clear that whatever was wrong with him was being further exacerbated the longer he stayed here.
“Sabine, please help him!” Thea begged.
Stepping off her sister’s head, Sabine kneeled beside Abaddon and placed a hand on his chest.
But despite her investigation, she realized the problem was exactly as she had thought.
“The composition of his body and soul is breaking down. He is a being that is not meant to be in this world, and his inferior spiritual affinity can not protect him.”
“How do we fix him?!” Thea was on the verge of tears as she looked back and forth between her father and Sabine worriedly.
“We cannot. His being is deteriorating, and as of now he has only a few more minutes before he implodes.”
“No!”
Abaddon was listening to the best of his ability, and he knew that his outcome looked terrible.
Despite what Sabine was saying, he knew that there had to be a way for him to save himself and accomplish his goal, otherwise it wouldn’t be a condition.
‘Wait… the balance in my body…?’
An idea started to form within Abaddon’s mind, but he didn’t know if it would work.
But since he literally had nothing else to lose, he decided to try it anyway.
After a minute of some of the most intense focusing of his life, his body began to shine with a bright white light.
Thea reflexively cover her eyes to protect them, but when she lowered her hand she thought they might have been damaged anyway.
The scene in front of her was just that unbelievable.
“What… the … hell…?”