First Demonic Dragon

Ayaana was currently lying on the table while Sei was standing over her jotting a few notes down.

As an avid researcher and studier, Sei had long been bored with nothing else to truly pique her interest.

She had no idea that the most interesting field of study for her would be hanging around right underneath her nose.

The wedding crests that Asmodeus passes down through his bloodline.

She had spent her time tracing the origin and stability of the markings and came down to one theory that she just kept running back to.

Sei slipped her phone out of her pocket and started dialing a number.

When the phone connected, she put on her warmest and politest voice possible.

"I'm not bothering you, am I..? Great. If you have a moment, I'd like to give you a little medical exam if that's okay. And bring her too. Thank you, sweetie."

Sei hung up the phone just as the door to her lab crashed open.

She hastily covered Ayaana's exposed lower half with a sheet so that the unwelcome interlopers would not accidentally see something that they weren't meant to.

However, because they were fiercely intertwined, Sei was almost sure they wouldn't notice anything anyway.

"Ahem!" She cleared her throat angrily.

Darius and Igrat slowly pulled apart from one another, with their embarrassment finally starting to show.

"What the hell are you two deviants doing in my lab?!"

"Scientist role play…" Igrat answered like it was obvious. Darius even had on a white coat and carried a stethoscope around his neck.

There were very few words in the moment that could have properly articulated Sei's current level of annoyance.

However, she realized that this may have been exactly what she needed at the moment.

"Igrat, come here."

"You wanted to watch?"

"No! Keep yourself decent and come here."

"Well, what do I do?" Asked Darius.

"Fuck off." Sei just pointed towards the door.

Darius left, but only after he called Sei several variations of a she-beast.

Sei shut the door on him and turned back to find Igrat skipping around the room while touching as many things as she could get her hands on.

"What's this?"

"Please don't touch that."

"What does this thing do?"

"Or that either."

"This kind of looks like-"

"For the love of god, don't put that in your mouth!"

Igrat was forcefully made to sit down while Sei got a few things ready. The ancient demoness let her feet dangle off an observation table as she stared at Sei from behind.

A smirk formed on her face as she began to get a sneaking suspicion.

"You don't like me very much, do you?"

"Now I wonder what might've given you that impression..." Sei replied without looking back.

"You've just kinda got this whole bitchy thing going on that's really-"

"I wasn't actually curious."

Sei turned around and revealed herself to be holding a small metal instrument that was freshly polished.

"If you must know, I'm not wholly fond of what you did to Asmodeus when he was a child. If you were a man, someone in this house likely would have killed you already. Imani and Yara mostly, but they would certainly have a line behind them."

Igrat almost looked offended. "I can assure you that he was most certainly a willing participant."

"Most children would be for their parents' affection. If that were the only barometer for what was right and wrong, we would be in a very different place as a society, but it isn't, and thankfully, we are not."

Igrat folded her arms across her chest. "You don't get to judge me. It was a different time and-"

"That manner of relationship has been outlawed in Tehom ever since it's inception. I'm rather unwilling to give any grace to the other realms in light of that."

Igrat's eyes narrowed. "As I said- You don't get to judge me. I've heard about your relationship with your daughter many times over already. We've both done things that were unacceptable."

For a moment, it seemed like Igrat had won. She'd actually managed to get the last word in and was clearly pleased with herself.

But then Sei suddenly smiled at her, and took the old demoness completely by surprise.

"Congratulations. You've discovered why I don't like you. You remind me a hair too much of my old self for my liking."

Igrat's mood soured.

"So you're the only one who's allowed redemption?"

The former witch queen shrugged. "No... I'm the only one who's actually worked for it."

It was clear that after that last response, Igrat didn't actually want to talk anymore. Sei couldn't have cared less about what she thought, though.

She walked over to the hold demon and struck her on the knee with her device as if she were administering a simple reflex test.

However, as soon as the chime was released, a pink light emanated from Igrat's body like a supernova.

Through this blinding pink aura, all manner of symbols and sigils started to float out. Igrat recognized them instantly.

"These are my spells... what do you need with them?"

Sei turned up her nose as she recognized some of the spells from their characters alone. "With most of these..? Nothing. I'm only looking for one."

She picked out a glowing ball from the floating cluster. This was clearly the only creation she felt comfortable enough to touch without gloves and hand sanitizer.

"...As I thought." She muttered.

"What?" Igrat tilted her head.

"Nothing, you can get out." Sei gave Igrat all of her spells back, save for the one she had picked out.

After everything that had already been said between the two, Igrat wasn't too keen on sticking around either.

She disappeared in a cloud of glittery purple smoke just as the door opened a second time.

Gabbrielle and Daphne walked in hand-in-hand, making Sei smile after a formerly unpleasant conversation.

"Hello, Grammy," Gabbriele said in her usual hollow voice.

Sei's mood just improved even further. "Hello, my dear. Can I get the two of you to come sit down for me?" She patted an empty table that Igrat hadn't sat on.

The girls obliged without hesitation and both sat down on the table together.

Sei put away her device and placed Igrat's original sigil in a jar where it remained perfectly visible.

"Alright... could the two of you show me your marital sigils, please?" She asked politely.

Gabbrielle held out her hands, and a wispy glowing ball appeared before her, bearing a much brighter blue color rather than Igrat's bright pink.

Sei immediately grabbed her notepad and began scribbling. "Fascinating..." She said without realizing it.

"Is there something of interest about them?" Gabbrielle tilted her head.

Sei finished drawing and looked up at her daughter as if she wasn't sure how she was supposed to explain it.

"Yes, quite so... It appears as though the wedding crests in this family have gone through three separate mutations."

She grabbed Igrat's jar so that she could show it to Gabbrielle. She gestured to certain lines in the sigil that represented characters.

"You see here? The marking Igrat and your grandfather Asmo share has these lines for subjugation, power transferal, linked minds, and subservience. But you don't have these. Your mother doesn't either."

Gabbrielle's eyes started to get wider from intrigue.

"On the flip side..." Sei held up a sketch of what Ayaana's markings looked like.

"Your mothers and fathers all look like this, or at least I believe they do. I'll have to confirm it with them later, but do you see here how they have these characters? Power sharing, total infatuation, linked minds, linked hearts, linked souls, but there is no mention of-"

"What is this one supposed to be..?" Gabbrielle pointed.

Sei looked at the mark a second time and realized something staggering.

She didn't know.

When it came to magical circuitry, lines were not just simple lines.

Every mark was meant to symbolize something or another to paint a greater picture when combined. Like letters to words.

Sei thought her knowledge of magical characters to be absolute, but perhaps it wasn't... and that alarmed her for a number of reasons.

"I..."

"You think that's the one the old man put on them? You know he tweaked their markings a bit himself." Daphne offered.

"Yes... and Chaos did as well." Gabbrielle noted. "She's the reason my mothers can fuse."

Sei nodded. "I've already accounted for Yesh's corrections in my study. He's the one to give your parents their linked hearts, minds, souls, and total infatuation. He's also made the bond stronger, so that there is nothing that could interfere with their relationship."

"Then it is Chaos..?" Gabbrielle shuddered.

Sei thought about it for a long time before eventually shaking her head.

She then took out her phone and began texting another number.

"I don't think so, but... I still need to rule everything out." She said.

By now, Sei wasn't sure whose heart was beating louder. Hers or her granddaughter's.

Ten seconds later, the door opened for a third time, and Gabbrielle's younger brother, Bashenga, walked in, carrying their youngest brother, K'ael, in a harness on his chest.

"For what reason have you summoned me to this place? I've been led to believe that medical examinations are wholly unpleasant."