First Demonic Dragon

"Look at this sad state of affairs…" Zeus grumbled.

Currently, the thunder god was shaking his head pitifully at the sight of a near empty meeting hall.

Over 400 gods from various pantheons were assembled for the 'last stand' against Abaddon.

But now, in the aftermath of the battle, there were less than a hundred, and almost all of the armies that were brought had been obliterated.

This was a catastrophe.

The gods would eventually come back to life in time, but the loss of most of their armies was a major issue.

It put them in a bad position for the start of the endwar.

The Hindu, Nevi'im, and Hell's factions still had their full armies waiting at the beck and call of their rulers.

Making things exponentially more difficult when the actual meaningful fight began.

And everyone seemed to know that already; so they wasted no time pointing the finger at Zeus.

"You said that this would be the end of it and that we would be able to abolish the evil dragon with minimal losses if we combined our efforts! And now what do we have to show for laying eyes on that monster?!"

"Do you know how many members of our army we have left?! Two!!"

"I thought you said the sword would work! Not only did it fail to incapacitate him, but it made him stronger!"

Zeus, who was completely unused to being talked to like this by those who he considered beneath him, began to get irritated quickly.

White lightning crackled along his arms and fingertips as he glared at the insignificant gods who had dared to talk to him so casually.

"Hold your tongues, fools. While I am still of the mind to spare your lives and-"

"Who. Fucking. Cares?!? At this point, you are free to kill all of us if you want! What's the difference between you doing it, and Abaddon?! Atleast if he kills me I'll die with a hard on!"

"How are you going to atone for the loss of our armies?!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you orchestrated this on your faction's behalf and now are secretly in a better position when the war begins!"

"That's right! Leave it to a Greek to pull something conniving like that!"

"Hey now, let's not be pantheon-ist!"

"Chew my balls, Loki!!"

It seemed more and more like the meeting hall was going to devolve into a full on bloodbath, with insults and accusations flying everywhere like confetti.

"Well… I can't say this wasn't expected." Hades muttered to himself.

Zeus ignored his brother and prepared to start smiting gods left and right with holy lightening when suddenly he heard an announcement ring out that made his blood run cold.

"The King of Olympus is arriving!"

The gods within the hall fell silent as their gazes turned toward a pair of double doors on the other side of the room.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

Everyone could see twelve menacing figures over eight feet tall entering the hall in sync.

There were six men, and six women.

They closely resembled Greek Olympians, but their physiques were significantly bigger and more muscle packed.

There seemed to be a clear leader among them, as he was the largest and seemed to command the greatest respect.

He had curly, timeless gray hair and unstable white eyes containing no small amounts of madness.

He strode up to Zeus while ignoring the rest of the rabble as if he didn't even consider them to be living.

Both Hades and Zeus alike lowered their heads all the way to the ground and started trembling as if they were lower than dogs.

Zeus felt the man stop in front of him without saying a word and he silently cursed his fate.

"Look. Up."

Begrudgingly, Zeus gritted his teeth as he lifted up his head to meet the man's gaze.

"Useless." With no warning the man proceeded to jam his finger into Zeus' right eye and nearly blinded him in front of everyone.

Zeus hit the ground screaming and clutching his eye socket in immense pain.

However, his wailing was inevitably cut short when a large foot landed on the back of his head and drove his face into the ground- cracking it underneath their combined weight.

"One simple request… I make one simple request of you to handle the matter of this dragon on your own and yet you still proceed to fail me.

How you managed to fail when you held the advantage in both numbers and power is beyond my understanding. I should have left you inside my stomach where you would have proven to be of better use."

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

With every rise and fall of the man's leg, more and more of the marble flooring was splintered by the aftershocks and more brightly colored blood leaked from Zeus' forehead.

He continued to step on Zeus' head to the point that it was downright excessive and lacked any purpose or reasoning.

But no one in the hall dared to interrupt; for fear that they would share in his fate.

Hades in particular had determined to make himself seem as small as possible to avoid suffering at the hands of the man who he knew all too well.

Finally, the thundering sounds of stomping ceased and the man wiped his brow of imaginary sweat.

With Zeus laying on the floor in a near-death state, the man finally paused momentarily to stare at Hades next with an impatient expression.

"Your brother has yet to apologize. I hope you aren't going to be so rude as to follow in his footsteps."

Hades swallowed dryly as he stood up from his seat at the table.

He dropped down to one knee timidly as he he lowered his head in apology.

"Please… forgive us for our inability, fa-"

A loud cracking sound rang out in the hall as Hades' body was kicked hard enough to send him flying like an empty soda can.

His body struck a marble pillar over a hundred feet away and cracked it from the sheer force.

"I suppose it is true what they say. If you would like something done right, it is best to do it yourself."

-

"Dad, stop cheating!"

"Hm? I've no idea what you are talking about, peanut. Perhaps I am just that good."

""We can hear you talking to them!!""

On a small wooden dock overlooking a dreamy crystal blue lake, four individuals could be seen seated on lawn chairs overlooking the water.

Abaddon, Helios, and the twins each had fishing rods between their legs and metal buckets behind their chairs.

Helios and the twins only had one bucket each containing 3-4 fish.

But Abaddon already had four, with nine in each.

"…Maybe I'm just better than you?"

Yemaya: "Cheat!"

Yemaja: "Big cheat!"

Helios laughed audibly at the antics of his grandson; even going so far as to slap his knee.

He wiped a small running tear from his eye and showed a smile that Abaddon was getting more and more used to seeing.

"I must say, boy, you remind me immensely of myself in my youth. I thought I had to be the best at everything, including this simple pastime of mine.

I don't have to tell you that eventually your father-in-law and Darius began refusing to accompany me on these little excursions…"

Helios' line was suddenly tugged at from underneath the waves and he expertly began reeling it in like a time-honed professional.

An enormous Goliath tiger fish broke through the water and sailed right into the arms of Helios without much struggle.

He turned to Abaddon with a large proud smile on his face and held out his prize.

"Do you see? There is more virtue in allowing fate to act as it may. Sometimes the results are less enjoyable than the actual process."

Abaddon was once again left stunned by his grandfather's enormous change in behavior.

If anyone ever had any doubts about the love of a good woman being transformative, they need not look any further than him for an example.

'But perhaps there is more to it than just that..' Abaddon thought.

Unburdened by the crown and more focused on family, the dragon was noticeably more relaxed and carefree- as if he felt no outside pressure to remain distant and militant.

He was a free man, and one who was more than happy to dump all the responsibility of leadership onto someone else.

Abaddon held up his hands in defeat as he vowed to stop cheating.

"Alright, alright… I'll stop manipulating them by promising an enormous amount of bait if they bite my line."

""That's what you were bribing them with?!?" The twins cried in unison.

"Mhm. Is that wron-"

""YES!!""

Helios fell into another laughing fit as the girls scolded their father on ethical hunting practices.

"Excuse us, you guys."

Looking up, the group found Ayaana standing on the dock looking more beautiful than could be described.

Since the bonfire at the lake was already in full swing, the girls wore a simple bikini top with a simple black skirt covering her bottom half.

For Abaddon who hadn't seen his wives for a full day due to their little errand, the sight of them was almost too stimulating.

Everytime that he saw them, he never failed to fall in love all over again.

"I'm sorry, but can we borrow our husband for a moment?" She smiled. "We missed him quite a bit afterall."