Zeus waited and waited, but no one seemed to have an answer for the question he’d posed.
It infuriated him to no end to watch the gods and higher beings assembled before him looking around at each other like clueless idiots.
“I don’t know where he hails from, but I do know he looks good!” One goddess joked.
“Indeed! I’ve already set it in my mind to capture him and have him warm my bed for the next few millennia.”
“I am unsure of which would be more fun. To break him underneath me or have him break me!”
Unsurprisingly, the women were taking this situation the lightest out of everyone.
With his charm that had ascended past all reality and common sense, the black dragon had ingrained himself into the hearts of these vain goddesses who only cared about beauty.
Besides, his promise was to annihilate every GOD, not goddess.
Surely they were going to be safe, right?
And once all of the men around him had been culled by his purifying flame, they would be alone with only him.
Just him!
Normally, these delusions would not have been quite as terrible as they were now, but Abaddon’s physiology as the embodiment of desire was like a drug to these ancient nyphomaniacs.
Even the goddesses of love and marriage were not immune, and they were actually the ones falling the fastest and hardest.
Abaddon’s power of desire is rooted in sin.
Therefore, the more love you hold for a supposed partner, the easier it is for your eyes and mind to wander towards Abaddon, until he fills your dreams and every waking moment.
At first, the things that their husband or lovers used to do to excite them will no longer seem to be enough, and their minds will continue to drift towards the memory of Abaddon’s face.
They would feel shame for a while, of course. But they would not be able to stop it from happening.
And as they had to live with this new burden in their lives, they would eventually come to accept it, and eventually find a pleasure like none other within it while conversely becoming repulsed by the touch of any other.
After all when it comes to lust, it is an emotion that is the most delicious when at least one of the participants knows it’s wrong.
It’s how Eris fell for him too after all.
Interestingly enough, this effect also worked on men or anything else with a brain and genitals, but because the gods were more worried about being killed by Abaddon than anything else, they were slower to notice.
But eventually, they were bound to figure out something was happening to them but there would be no point, as there was no way to remove the craving they felt once they got a taste of it.
This was by far one of Abaddon’s most dangerous passive abilities, which is why he usually has to expend a small amount of effort to keep a lid on it.
If he didn’t, the divorce rate among his precious citizens was likely going to skyrocket.
“Is now the time for your childish jests!?” Zeus yelled with a booming voice. “A threat has been levied against all of our lives, yet your only focus lies on pleasures of the flesh!”
“That is quite rich coming from you.”
Zeus’ eyes drifted towards the section of the colosseum where the angels sat.
The one who had so rudely interrupted him was heaven’s current highest ranking member; Michael.
“How many women have you violated to satiate your flesh? Now you lecture others on the topic of which you hold the greatest infamy?”
Zeus clenched his fists so hard that his bones could be heard breaking.
He stared at Michael with eyes filled with blue lightning, insulted by his words that held irrefutable truth.
“How dare you! My proclivities are of no importance today when we are on the verge of a siege!”
“Careful, olympian. Were I you, I would not forget which of the two of us is above the other.” Michael reminded.
Zeus ground his perfect white teeth together until they cracked from the pressure applied.
It was true that he was not more powerful than the true archangel, but if he backed down here in front of everyone he would surely look weak!
No matter what, that couldn’t happen!
Luckily, another face appeared in the domain of the greeks that would give him an opportunity to direct the attention away from himself.
“Why am I not surprised to find you like this?”
In the seat beside Zeus, his brother Hades had finally appeared, holding a dark cane and wearing an exhausted expression.
“I am in no mood for games, brother!”
“I had thought this meeting was called to discuss Apollyon’s coming, but it seems you would rather use this time to pick fights you’re bound to lose.”
Zeus’ ears twitched and he stared at his brother like he’d just alluded to having some knowledge they weren’t privy to.
“You know something about that monster? Speak then and let us hear it! Who is he?!”
Hades sighed as he searched amongst the crowd.
His red eyes immediately picked out Anubis who sat with the egyptians, Hel who was among the norse, and Yama alongside the Hindu.
“Not one of you cared to say anything? You would leave all of the work of explaining to myself?”
Hel: “I just want to return to my domain.”
Anubis: “My interest in speaking about this matter is nonexistent.”
Yama: “Your brother irks me. I would not answer a question of his even if I were about to die.”
Hades stared blackly at three of his counterparts in death and he fought the urge to just go home himself.
But by now literally everyone in the colosseum was staring at him like they were in dire need of answers, and he knew that there was no getting away.
“You’re all terribly annoying…” The god of death reached inside of his pocket and pulled out a simple black stone.
Crushing it in his palm, he blew the dust outward and allowed it to float in the air of the colosseum, and a magical viewing screen was created.
“You always ask the wrong questions, Zeus. Instead of wondering who he is, you should ask what he was.”
An illusion started to play from the cloud of magical dust.
It showed a creature, so huge and terrifying that it made even these gods who were well accustomed to monstrosities fall over in fear.
The beast swallowed whole realities like they were tic tacs, seemingly desperate to satiate an endless hunger.
But the oldest of the gods knew better than that.
This creature was not one that fed for simple sustenance.
It fed out of a deep seated need to cause destruction and return everything to total darkness.
It was a true monster in every sense of the word.
“What.. is this, Hades..?! We are not here for jests or tricks!” Zeus muttered.
“Do I look like Loki to you?” Hades asked in irritation.
“You’d be lucky if you did!” The trickster god cried.
“Shut up.”
Hades ran his hands through his black hair as he started to explain.
“This is the first heavenly dragon or… a mutated aberration of him. He is the third being to come into existence, but our records do not tell us how he became this… thing.
Needless to say, the creator slew him in battle, and separated his remains so that the supposed immortal dragon would not come back to life. “
“This is has to be a lie!”
“How is such a creature back and breathing?!”
“If he was killed by the creator that should have been the end of it! He should no longer exist!”
Hades simply shrugged off the upset cries of the gods and goddesses as he absentmindedly polished his cane.
“Somehow, his soul was not destroyed in the battle and he has even obtained a new body. Last I saw him, he was dwelling in the world of the mother goddess and was no stronger than a low-level demigod.”
Before Hades could continue his explanation, his brother grabbed him forcefully by the collar and lifted him up.
“YOU KNEW A THREAT THIS GREAT WAS LURKING IN THE SHADOWS AND YOU SAID NOTHING!?!”
“No, I just said nothing to you, you walking talking testicle. Myself and the other highest ranking death gods held a meeting, and attempted to correct the problem before it could worsen.”
“THEN WHY DOES HE STILL BREATHE!?”
“Stop yelling and put me down. Annoying me does not make me want to answer you.”
“HADES!!!!”
The death god rolled his eyes and tried to calm his ringing ears.
“I do not know. Azrael traveled to the world after he cut his power in half but he never returned. I’ve no idea where he’s gone.”
Now, everyone was looking at the forces of heaven for answers, and Michael had no choice but to reveal some upsetting news.
“I sense that he has not perished, but… he is at the tree.”
“Ah, so he ran away then. Wonderful.” Hades said with his eyes rolled.
Zeus dropped his brother onto the ground forcefully and directed his rage toward Michael once again.
“You pigeons and your cowardice never cease to impress! At the first sign of trouble you run behind the backs of the creator and your mother!”
“You try my patience for the last time, Zeus! Azrael is no coward who runs from plight so if he is at the tree then he must be there for guidance! He had to have seen something that didn’t make sense!”
“Excuses!”
“You dare!?” Michael’s entire body became embroiled in golden flame and it seemed like an inevitable conflict was going to break out.
“Something he couldn’t understand, hm…?” Hades meant it as a whisper, but everyone heard him and stopped to look at him.
“That makes sense I suppose… when I met him, he was certainly mind boggling to me as well. And then there’s this new personality… He was powerful before, but… he did not hate me just for being a god. Something’s changed… no doubt Jaldabaoth finally went too far.”
“The mad god??” Zeus asked.
“The one and the same.”
From then, small pieces of the puzzle started to connect.
Almost all of the gods knew about the bounty that Jaldabaoth had placed on the head of a young man in the world of the mother goddess.
But he wouldn’t tell anyone the reason for doing so, just proclaimed that he would offer an entire world for services rendered.
But the reason no one thought this information could be related is because the name of the man he wanted killed wasn’t Abaddon.
It was Exedra.
“Is there a possibility that he can be reasoned with?” Zeus suddenly asked.
For the first time, Hades fought the urge to snort. “By you? Absolutely not.”
“And why is that!?”
“You stuck a piece of him under a mountain.”
“I what!?”
Hades suddenly smacked his head as if he’d made a small blunder.
“That’s right, I neglected to finish my explanation. See, when the creator separated the dragon, his remains held too much power and thus they could not be properly disposed of or put to rest.
They took on their own lives and personalities and became some of the most terrible horrors of the worlds high and low.
Ouroboros, Niddhogr, the Trihexa, Ammit, Leviathan, Tartarus, and… Typhon. Not only is he the father of all dragons, he is the source of all monsters. And you think he’ll want to listen to you?”𝒩𝓞𝑣xt.𝐂𝐌
Zeus’ face became as white as the robes covering his junk, and he nearly fell over as he wrestled with the weight of this revelation.
“”YOU LIE!!””
High in the stands of the greek pantheon, two women stood up.
One had pale skin and long black hair with a dress made from stars, and the other had dark brown hair with a dress made from leaves and mud.
Gaia: “How dare you insinuate that my child belongs to him!”
Nyx: “I and Erebus are the only ones responsible for the birth of Tartarus, and no one else!”
Even though he was thoroughly outclassed by these goddesses in terms of power, Hades remained calm.
“Then the two of you must remember delivering either of them, yes? Down to the very minute of the day?”
Both goddesses growled at Hades and prepared to scream out firm confirmations when they realized that pieces were missing.
“Of course I… what…”
“T-This… no…”
As the goddesses clutched their heads in horror and frustration, every other higher being in the colosseum sucked their teeth.
The power to manipulate the mind of a primordial goddess like this… no one had it.
Except a very old couple who were literally responsible for creating life around them as they knew it.
“Imagine that? I actually did know what I was talking about.” Hades said.