First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 771: [Bonus Chapter] A Secret

Bashenga didn't know when he was going to get used to Tehom.

Ten years had already gone by since his incarnation into this world, and yet it still didn't feel like he was any closer to settling in. At least not to him anyway.

Things like earlier just seemed to keep happening. No matter how long he stayed here.

Someone was always touching each other, giving out cute pet names, or just blatantly sexually harassing one another.

But maybe that wasn't why he was so upset today. He had already gotten used to witnessing public displays of affection.

Maybe it was being the focus of these acts for a change that was the problem.

Bashenga ran across rooftops in a much, much smaller version of his real form.

He had no real destination in sight, he just wanted to keep running until he hopefully ran right smack into a wall.

However, he ended up stopping just before something like that happened.

His senses directed him towards another busy street just across from him.

Just outside of a public park, he saw Thea and her wives were conversing with an unsurprising trio- Nyx and the human girls; Aubrey and Aisha.

Bash didn't know why, but for some reason he decided to eavesdrop.

He swallowed every ounce of pressure within his body and erased everything that made him identifiable.

And to Bash's credit, he did a fairly good job of staying undetected.

That was, until he heard something he considered unsavory.

His disgust, while brief, was like a creaking floorboard.

Thea and Nyx's heads snapped in the other direction on a dime, but Bash was already running in the complete opposite direction. In that incredibly short timeframe he was already an entire ten miles away.

And yet, that still wasn't enough space to adequately get away from his sister.

Thea appeared on the same roof he was running across and held out her hand.

"Stop."

Bashenga slid to a halt. He only barely managed to avoid running into his sister.

"...What?"

"You were spying on me??" Thea frowned.

"Don't over-inflate my interest in you, sister. I assure you that may happening upon your meeting was purely coincidental. I could have easily stopped down the street to watch children eat the food they dropped on the cobblestones."

Thea actually seemed flustered and embarrassed, which wasn't at all like her.

"...How much did you hear..?"

"I heard nothing at all."

"Don't lie to me, Bash. I've never asked you for anything before but I am begging you to tell me the truth now."

Bashenga reverted to his normal appearance and loomed over Thea menacingly. Though she didn't look the least bit afraid.

"...I don't understand why our parents would want to have more children. Never mind why you would want to start."

Thea actually seemed to deflate like a lead balloon.

There was a moment where Bash wanted to take back his words, but he didn't know where to begin. He didn't even really understand what he had said wrong.

Thea's voice became small and meek as she looked at her brother with obvious vulnerability. "...Do you know what it was like for me when I was born..?"

Bashenga found it hard to meet her gaze and averted his eyes. "...I've heard the stories."

"Well I can promise you that they're worse than you heard. Being a fate goddess isn't easy, you know?"

No one needed to tell Bash that. It was a miracle that his sister wasn't insane like the fates.

"Our parents could have given up on me and let me figure things out on my own, but they didn't. They saved me no matter how bad the voices got, or how much I cried from the visions...

They gave me every ounce of care and affection that they had and they made sure that I knew how to control myself.

I idolized them for it. And for the past few millennia... I've wanted to give what was given to me to someone else.

Not to humanity, not to my younger siblings, although I will always care for you all immensely... but I want to give to something that will only belong to the family I made on my own. Not the one I was born into.

And we put it off for a long time because I told myself I was busy, or I just wasn't mature enough yet, but I... we have all that we need now. We're not going to wait anymore and I'm really...."

Thea became choked up, and for the first time in his life -Bashenga saw his sister start to cry.

He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

But Thea had been so paranoid about this whole thing that now that the flood gates were open, she couldn't restrain them.

"You're the first person who knows, and... I'm really, really freaking out about it, so I just... I need you to not give me shit about a decision I made just this one time... and tell me that you're looking forward to being an Uncle instead... Please?"

Bashenga would forever remember this moment.

The first time that his sister ever claimed that she needed something from him, and even pleaded with him for something greater than a gift wrapped with a bow.

It was the day that she needed simple reassurance.

And he, despite all of his hidden desire to do so, could not give her the very small thing that she asked him for.

"...I don't like children. Being an uncle... it probably wouldn't suit someone like me."

Bash felt like he heard his sister's heart break. It was the loudest noise he ever had the displeasure of listening to.

It was so loud that he couldn't stand to be here, in this space, staring at all of the pain he had caused her.

So he left.

His body ascended up towards the heavens, beyond the boundaries of the abyss.

Thea would have ordinarily watched him go, but... she couldn't this time. Chapter Explore:

She was exhausted. Betrayed. And above all else, she had to confront the upsetting possibility that she was making a huge mistake.

Because if her own family didn't believe that she could do this... then what did she know?