Shadow of the Abyss

Arsene did not know what to say to the woman about to blow his son's deepest secret. If he could laugh, he might have, but nothing about the situation was funny. If anything, he felt a greater sense of anxiety for Altair than his other two. Vesyrn and Izalith were about to be able to control causality, but Altair was a bit slow when it came to getting a grasp of his power, though it had a lot to do with the regulation of the Myriad Heavens versus Arcadia, a lawless paradise.

"Mr. Snow, you look as if you've licked a toad," Lilith said as she stood at a standing mirror, tinkering with her ceremonial robes. He growled at how tight it cupped her sinuous figure. It was honestly a crime how tight clothes were becoming nowadays. "Altair will be fine. I'm doing him a favor."

"I fail to see how that is the case."

"Well, when we were his age, we were fighting for our lives against two Prince of Hells, or did you forget? I was tortured while you went on a killing spree in Midgard."

"I think you're messing up our ages. I think I was… a hundred something."

"Is there a difference?" She answered, tilting her amethyst eyes towards him through the mirror.

Reluctantly rolling out of her bed, Arsene sighed. There was indeed no difference. If anything, Altair had significantly more help than he had received from Zariel. He even has a Master, unlike him, who spent the majority of his life without one until he reawakened his lost memories.

"You're scowling again," Lilith reminded him, shifting her eyes back to herself, to the regalia she wore. "Altair will be fine. He could use the challenge. He is, after all, one of my fragments."

Fragments? "What does that mean? You've mentioned it before, but I don't really understand."

"Altair has mentioned the Black Moon, right?" Lilith asked, suddenly turning to face him. He nodded. That was the case and had become something of a religious doctrine for him. "Our other son, Vesyrn, is the Black Sun, another fragment. Guess what Iza represents."

There was a sharp shudder that ran down Arsene's back as he forced himself to speak. "Chaos"

"Bingo. And with chaos comes madness. That ought to explain her recent actions in Arcadia, alongside her actions with Mephisto." Her smile could freeze hell, the way it chilled their chamber. "But that's something we have to correct later. As for the Abyssal Fragments, each represents a part of me that is a bit difficult to control in the Myriad Heavens.

When she turned to him, his heart quivered, the same as it did when he first saw her back on Midgard, having escaped the False Incarnation of Sitri. "To give you a reference to how powerful these fragments are, you can say Zariel's ability to manipulate the Weave is granted to him by a Myriad Heavens Creator, which is an Almighty Fragment of the One."

Arsene felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Zariel was the only person he ever knew who had a twenty percent chance of killing just about anyone at any level of cultivation. His ability to control the Weave granted him nigh Omnipotence. That was especially true now after his recent breakthrough into the realm of….

"Wait! Wait Wait! Are you telling me Zariel is in possession of the Ones Fragment? Thats bullshit! Do I have the Abyssal? I'm literally fucking the embodiment of—"

Cold sweat blistered from his brow at the swift nut shot that nearly took his manhood away. Few things could turn his bones to water, but a deadly nut shot was one of them.

"Woman! We are trying for a kid!"

"Oops."

"Oops! Is that all you've to say!" Blowing a heavy breath of air, Arsene glared at her leg, lowering itself from between his legs. "Bloody Hell!"

"Speaking of, I've got a meeting with Ariel after this. She is giving me a check-up. Wanna come?"

It always puzzled Arsene how the woman could change faces so quickly. Especially nowadays, after it was revealed that Altair was his child, he truly didn't have a clue what she was thinking.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to miss something like that. All that time sealed, you'd better be pregnant."

Despite how old she was, Lilith blushed like a maiden, cupping her cheeks, "I hope it's a boy. Ves was so cute, completely lacking you're need to put his dick in everything that walks."

Arsene had the grace to blush, though he did so pridefully. "Well, I don't want to toot my own hat, but I did bag the baddest of them all. I even married her."

She shot him a sly look before saying. "You will stand by my side while I reveal Altair's identity. The boy has it too easy." Explore more stories at empire

For a second, Arsene's smile slipped away. "You really hate him, don't you?" He had suspected as much but couldn't really fault her. Altair's birth was not something he thought would have occurred after one night, or was it two?

"I don't, truly." She stopped, lowering her head before a sigh escaped her. "I'm angry with you and Tenebre but not Altair. The boy looks too much like you. But that isn't why I'm doing this. Have you ever wondered why Zariel accepted his role as Protector to the Father, the One?"

The question stunned Arsene for a bit, and he nodded. Zariel was a man who enjoyed his freedom. For him to attach himself in such a way to anyone was rather odd to him.

"It's because the Heavenly Fragment he is in possession of wills it or at least persuaded him to. I'm not exactly sure how much Heavenly Fragments Zariel is in possession of—a man ought to have only one, or so was the agreement between my true body and the One—but his position is so revered that even Archangel Micheal must bow when Zariel is on official business."

"What are you trying to say? That Altair will bow before you?" Arsene calmly asked. It wasn't a bad deal for the boy, but…

"Yes and no. To put it plainly, the Abyss is Altair's true home. In many ways, he is part Abyssal. Sooner or later, he will start to feel the call. The need to return to his rightful place. The very Fragment he represents, the Shadow of my very being that governs Primal Death, will compel him to return to the Vale."

Arsene gave a snap, fully clothing himself as he stared into Lilith's amethyst eyes, slowly turning a shade red. "Will you—"

"I've no intention of ruling over him; however, you must know the Abyss belongs to Vesyrn and Iza. No matter Altair's state of being, he can never overpower those two. Not when they work together. Even one-on-one, I don't see that happening. And honestly, I can't really imagine anyone hating Iza. The girl is just too loveable. Ves… well, we'll have to see. That could be an interesting dynamic."

"I'll have to talk to Zero about this," Arsene decided, releasing a sigh. "I don't want a war to break out if it's avoidable. But—"

"There is always a probability." Lilith finished and smiled. "Of course, I won't let that happen. But I'd suggest you go to Zariel first. There is a reason he makes all the major decisions for the Order of Chaos."

That had caught Arsene off guard. "You know something."

"Of course, I know something. I'm all-knowing of everything within the Abyss. And that Silver Devil had been here a few times, you know. I know so much more than you can imagine."

"But you won't tell me any of it." Arsene snapped.

Lilith's smile was so innocent it almost hid that acrid evil oozing from that grin of hers. There were many things she did not tell him about regarding the Abyss. And to be fair, there were many things he didn't want to know about. There were times when they were in Pandora's Box when she would wake covered in sweat, muttering something in an ancient language that wasn't Abyssal.

Zariel had appeared to understand but said nothing of it, only appearing grim, if not pale. He had no doubt now that it had something to do with the Abyssal-Myraid Fragments, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth. In the Abyss, the closer she was to her true body, the Abyss, the clearer the picture of causality she saw.

Many times, she had said, 'It was a good thing she was sealed,' before fainting. That was always the hardest part. Watching her wake, speaking in some foreign language that made his eyes bleed, despite reaching the peak of cultivation, before fainting.

"It's not like I don't want to, but there are things that should remain secret. Armaments that need to be returned to the Vale or the…" She forced a smile, shutting her mouth.

Truly, Arsene did not want to know. He had enough anxiety worrying about his current kids; he did not need Lilith's troubles. So long as she did not ask for help—which he would always give—he wanted to be left alone. Ruling over hell was already stressful enough.

"Enough about that stuff. Let's go."

"You're actually coming?" Lilith said happily.

"Of course. I haven't screwed over my kid yet. So let this tell everyone he's also comes from my balls."

"... Stop saying that."

"Nope!" He laughed, pulling his wife into his arms.