“What’s up? Is it about Raphael?” Carmen asked, sitting down across from Lilith.
“N-no, it’s…about us.” Lilith muttered, looking away.
Carmen tilted her head to the side. “Why bother with all this, then? Just send me your feelings and we’ll talk it out.”
“That’s the problem!” Lilith said, “I can’t just keep going on like this!”
Carmen walked over and put her hand on Lilith’s shoulder. “Get a grip! If I’m that troublesome, just put me away when I’m not tending the gardens. We’re not in a situation where I’m particularly useful, so if I’m causing you stress just don’t deal with me. It’s not exactly rocket science.”
“No! No, no, no!” Lilith shouted. “I can’t just treat you like you’re a thing! You’re a living, breathing person with emotions and everything. You think, therefore you are! I can’t just “put you away”, that’s awful! You’re not a tool for me to exploit!”
Carmen facepalmed. “Ah, so that’s it. Let me guess, you don’t want to share your emotions on this because you don’t want to influence “my” thoughts on it. Well, I don’t have any such hang-ups, so let me just put it like this. I am you.” She said, punctuating the words with a spike of emotion. “Like it or not, I will eventually return to you. As such, it’s ridiculous for you to not communicate emotionally, it’ll happen eventually, and we’re probably going to be on a similar wavelength anyway, so all you’re doing is hindering communication. Look, I’m thrilled to be “out” more, but all you’re doing by agonizing over this is –”
Their conversation cut off as both of them got a pop-up.
You and an alternate personality have decided you both wish to coexist. Parallel Processing Trait unlocked. Parallel Processing Parallel Processing has been folded into the Avatar skill, gaining the following effect: |
“Well…” Lilith said. “I guess that solves that?”
“I’d say so.” Carmen said. “Could you disconnect our senses, though? It’s disorienting.”
“Yeah, I was just about to do that. We should probably let mom know about this, though. I’m sure she’ll want to be informed.”
And, when she was told, Siph was delighted.
“Score!” She cheered. “Two daughters for the price of one!” She hugged both Lilith and Carmen. “This is great news, though! It makes you just that much safer! Create another avatar ASAP and just store it somewhere out of the way, it’s important!”
“Does that mean I can fight with you and Carmen?” Lilith asked
“Nope! That’s still way too risky! I don’t want those negative side effects from dying, so you’re going to sit tight if we get attacked. Now hop to that avatar creation!”
Roughly a week passed in a similar manner. Lilith’s daily routine became one of going out early to hunt with Siph (Assimilating most of the prey and leaving one or two for the kids to eat), and then training with her and Carmen for the rest of the day, before relaxing with the other adults in the evening. Siph drilled the two in fighting together, often forcing the two to share senses, forcing them to get used to it. From time to time, people would pop in to watch. Most of the time it was Raphael, but occasionally Thiala or Emily would stop by for a bit before leaving to go about their duties (food preparation and cleaning, but they did end up with a lot of free time now that they didn’t have to actively search for food).
However, one day Emily lingered longer than usual, eventually walking up to the three while they were taking a break between drills. “Forgive my intrusion,” she said, “but I’ve received a communication from councilwoman Kali. I have her on a magical line, would you like me to let you into it?”
“It’s fine.” Siph said, looking at the two. “This is important, we’ll break for lunch after you finish talking. I would like to be included in this conversation, though.”
Lilith nodded. “Alright, can you patch us all in?”
“Of course, mistress.”
A moment later, they heard Kali’s voice in their minds.
Finally! She said. A few days ago, we finally managed to repel the Society and fix the damage they’d done, but you can imagine our surprise when we found out you all had gone missing. We figured out a way to get in touch with Emily, so we just want to make sure everything’s OK while we work on getting you all back. How are things?
We’re all safe. A dragon took us in, so we’re pretty well cared for at the moment. Lilith said.
And I suppose you are one of the ones responsible for losing my daughter? Siph interjected. Not that I’m ungrateful for having the chance to meet her, but you’ll have to forgive me if I’m less than pleased with how easily you lost track of her, considering how important she is.
There was a long pause. Uh, what? Kali replied. Who are you? Lilith’s parents are currently sleeping in the other room, so you'll have to forgive me if I’m a little confused.
This is Siph. Carmen said. She’s the dragon we were talking about. It’s a long story, but she’s also our mom now. Anyway, what’s your progress on getting us back?
We’re pretty close. Now that we know your location, it’ll be a couple of days tops while we work on getting a two-way portal open.
Well, at least you all can do that right. Siph said. However, I will be coming with my daughter. This is non-negotiable. I understand that it would be unfair to keep her here with me, but I am not willing to part ways with her so soon. I assume there are no problems with this?
There was another long pause before Kali spoke again. The other Council members have given the go-ahead, provided you are willing to let me mentally scan you to prove there will be no threat to anyone.
That is acceptable. Siph said.
Wait, Lilith said, just a bit earlier, did you say my parents were in the other room?
Yes. Kali replied. We’ve taken them here to protect them from the Society. We’ve given them a brief rundown of the situation, but we’ve chosen to let you explain the specifics. They know about your transformation and the Society, but that’s about it. Anyway, now that we know you’re safe, we’re going to cut this communication and focus all our efforts on extracting you. See you soon.
With that, the mental communication dropped. “I’ll take the liberty of getting everyone ready while you and your mother train, mistress.” Emily said, quickly exiting the room.
Lilith looked nervously at the portal in front of her, fidgeting slightly as she waited. They had been taking the group in one at a time to ensure that there was nothing bad hitching a ride back with them. Lilith, Carmen, and Siph were the only ones left at this point in time, having opted to stay behind while everyone else was checked.
“Hey, mom, are you sure you’re alright with just leaving this place behind?” Lilith asked.
Siph shrugged. “I don’t really have anything worth keeping here. I was driven out of my old place during the war, and there isn’t exactly anywhere I could get things now, so this place is barely more than a cave. I’ll be moving to a more comfortable place now, so whatever. Not a big deal. Just relax, it’ll all be fine.”
“Alright, Lilith and Carmen we’re ready for you!” Kali’s voice came from through the portal.
Lilith wavered for a second, but Carmen pushed her through the portal before jumping through herself. Awaiting them was Kali, Tunem, and Elenoa, as well as an assortment of magical tools.
“Man am I glad to see you two again.” Kali said, picking up one of the tools. “This’ll take a couple of minutes, but it shouldn’t be uncomfortable at all.” She quickly began to prod Lilith and Carmen with the tool, while Tunem fiddled with a few more at the side of the room. Only Elenoa did nothing, looking at Lilith with a displeased expression.
“I believe we need to talk about your punishment.” She said, folding her arms and tapping a foot against the floor. “What you’ve done to my grandchild aside, I don’t believe for a second that you didn’t do anything to those children.”
“Oh, lay off it, Elenoa!” Kali snapped, stopping her examination and turning to face her. “We’ve been over this! I gave Carmen express permission for Raphael, and I’ve been extremely thorough with the rest of the kids. They can leave Lilith’s influence any time, and they just want to stay. Simple as that.”
“You are well aware that Lilith potentially could have an ability that would be undetectable by you. There’s no reason for them to wish to remain connected to Lilith in such a fashion now that they’re here, so it’s odd that they do.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow. “Are you familiar with my abilities? They’ve got instant communication with any of their friends, and they’ve already begun to share mana between each other for convenience’s sake. It doesn’t affect them negatively at all, is convenient, and they’re used to it. I don’t think it’s that surprising. Look, if they want –”
“I’ll let everyone I can go for now.” Lilith said, cutting Carmen off. “I have no wish to dominate any of them, so it’s no big deal.”
Elenoa snorted. “That doesn’t mean anything. It won’t remove any of your mental tampering, so they’ll just ask to be let back in.”
“Then I’ll say no. What else do you want from me?”
Elenoa frowned. “That’s a start. For the rest …”
She trailed off as the portal behind them flared up, and Siph stepped through. “That’s enough.” She said, glaring at Elenoa. “You’ve no ground to stand on here. My daughter has done nothing to merit this treatment. You’re just trying to exert some measure of control over her to try and bring her down a peg.”
“That’s right!” Kali said. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the expert on mental manipulation, not you. It’s innocent until proven guilty, and we don’t even have probable cause, let alone evidence.”
Elenoa looked over to Tunem. “As the third Council member here, it falls to you to solve this dispute.”
Tunem tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Have Lilith remove all the children from their contract but let those who wish to return do so. I’m afraid Kali is right; we don’t have any reason to doubt her right now.”
Kali returned to checking Lilith with the instrument, and Lilith began to release each of the children from their contract. A minute or so later, Lilith nodded. “Alright, they’re all out.”
Elenoa sighed and nodded. Another minute later, Kali stepped back from Lilith and began to scan Carmen. After she finished, she straightened up. “Alright, you two are good to go. Your parents are waiting in the room behind us, go catch up with them while I get Siph cleared.”
Lilith proceeded towards the door, hesitating before she opened it. She quickly transformed into a human (having gained the ability to do so from making a contract with the children) and turned to Carmen. “Hey, I think you should wait here for a minute. I don’t want to overwhelm them.”
“Yeah, I think that’s fair.” Carmen said. “Just let me know when you’re ready for me to come in. Let me share your senses, though. I want to see this.”
Lilith nodded, opening the door and stepping inside. Beyond was a small room with a couple of couches, one of which her parents were sitting on.
They both were in their late 40s and were looking rather worried. Her dad, Mike, was a short man with dark blue eyes and a stern face. His hair had long since given up its brown color and was now a dull grey. Her mother, Jessica, was slightly taller than her husband, with short black hair and brown eyes. They both were wearing their everyday clothes and looked warily at Lilith when she came through the door.
“Hey, mom and dad.” Lilith said. “Long time no see.”
Her dad stood up shakily. “L-Lucas…?” He whispered.
“Yeah. It’s me.”
Both her mom and dad ran over, embracing Lilith tightly.
“Sorry,” She said quietly, “I know this is a lot for you to take in.” She gently pushed the two away and motioned for them to sit back down. “We…have to talk about me. I’ve changed. A lot.”
Her mom snorted. “You’re still our kid, girl or not.”
Lilith moved over to one of the couches but didn’t sit down quite yet. “I don’t know how much they told you, but…I’m not human anymore. I mean, technically I am, but not really.” To emphasize her point she returned to her base form, prompting a small gasp from her father. “This is what I look like if no magic is affecting me.” She said, sitting down.
“I…think I understand.” Her mom said. “They were talking about you being…everything at once? I guess we can just be glad it’s not any more than that.”
Lilith smiled glassily. “Yeah.”
Her mom sighed, eying Lilith. “Alright, spill it. Judy specifically told me not to freak out, and you were acting weird when you said that.”
Mike gave his wife an odd look. “Isn’t this plenty to freak out over? There can’t be more…right?”
Jessica gave a smug smirk. “Judy and I messed around with the occult when we were younger. We’ve seen some weird stuff. She knows this isn’t enough to scare me, given what we’ve learned recently.”
Lilith smiled weakly. “Well, that explains a lot about Judy. She never seemed especially fazed by all of this. But…are you sure you want to see? It’s not pretty.”
Her dad shrugged. “I always say it’s best to rip the bandage off quickly.”
Lilith looked to her mom, who nodded in agreement. “Alright. Just…prepare yourselves, alright?” After waiting a moment longer, she stood up. A mass of squirming tentacles erupted from her back, dripping in toxin. Another moment later, they were chitinous scythes, the next insectoid wings. As they continued to shift between unnatural appearances, eyes and mouths surfaced along Lilith’s body and appendages, shifting locations wildly. After a few seconds of this, Lilith retracted everything, leaving her in her base form. “There’s a possibility I’ve become an eldritch abomination. I can just sorta…do that.”
Her dad was looking pale, gripping onto the seat of the couch while his wife stroked his arm soothingly.
“I’m not going to lie and say that wasn’t frightening.” Jessica said, looking Lilith squarely in the eye. “But, horror from beyond or not, you’re still our kid. It’ll take some getting used to, but I’m sure we can figure things out.”
Lilith nodded hesitantly. “There’s…more.” She said. “Not anything like that, but…”
Her father gave a hollow laugh. “I thought the metaphorical bandage was off, but I guess not. Lay it on us.”
“It’s not nearly as scary, I swear!” Lilith said quickly. “It’ll just be surprising.”
The door opened and Carmen walked in. “Hey. Name’s Carmen. And the bundle of nervous energy over there forgot to tell you that she’s going by Lilith now. Anyway, it’s a long story, but for now just know that I’m basically Lilith’s second body piloted by an alternate personality. For all intents and purposes, we’re the same person. Tell things to one of us and both of us will know.” She winked conspiratorially. “Well, unless you want us to keep it a secret from the other. I’m sure we’d be willing to cooperate, provided it won’t hurt us. It’ll get out eventually, but I reckon I could keep it a secret for at least a few months.”
Her parents stared at her. She laughed and walked over to Lilith, sitting down next to her. “So, want us to keep ripping?”
“Go ahead.” Her mom said, smiling slightly while she looked at Carmen.
“So…” Lilith said slowly, “I got an ability that connects members of the family. It lets us share mana, communicate telepathically over distance, makes us stronger when we’re near each other, lets me make you immune to my mental attacks, that sort of thing.” Lilith said, hesitating slightly. “But there’s another feature. All people in the ability see all other people in the ability as different kinds of family, depending on how they’re related to me. And…” She trailed off.
“And…?” He mother said, motioning for her to continue.
“What she’s saying is that we accepted the dragon we met as a sort of mother, and the ability automatically strengthened our feelings and the dragon’s feelings, while changing Judy’s.” Carmen said. “We would like to let you in, but if we do, you’re going to be affected as well, and we don’t know what that will be like for you.”
Her parents had a brief conversation before her dad turned to the two of them. “Alright, we’ll do it.”
A moment later, Lilith’s parents were connected to Familial Bond. A lewd smile spread across her mother’s face as she turned to Mike. “Well, dear. Looks like we got a new wife to play with.”
Mike turned to his wife, also smiling. “I didn’t know you were into girls.”
Jessica licked her lips. “I wasn’t. Not until that ability opened my eyes, anyway.”
Well, I knew I’d be getting some relation to you two, Siph said over the mental link, but I don’t think I was expecting this. I’m going to enjoy this.
Lilith winced internally, her parent’s behavior embarrassing her to no end. “Alright, that’s everything really important, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted with Siph, I’m going to take a nap.” She said, standing up.
Carmen grinned mischievously, looking at Lilith. “I’m not tired yet, so I’ll wait here for mom to finish being examined. I’ll make sure to get you caught up after you wake up.”
Familial Bond just created possibly the most interesting title to a memoir I've ever come up with, (a sentence I never thought I'd ever type TBPH,) My son became a Chimera and I somehow obtained a dragon wife.
This one deserves a like.
@skiterz A future New York Time's best seller
Ok. That happened then. I think it went well. Usually when humans get exposed to the eldritch, their brains melt.
Fus Roh Da!
There, someone had to say it
Not sure how i feel about the whole add another mother and his parents become a threesome. I basicily veiw my friends moms as second mothers but they have not real relattion ship with my own parents. It just feela wierd the way it come up and just a tad force. Same with the lilith becoming a girl when it was stated that it was thire party interference . It made more sense when it was stated that it could have been a side effect of the wish remove all the old domains and the copy paste of vithi's, who has been kind of put on the back burner. She has been one of the most devolved characters at the beginning but since the school arc started kind of got left behind
I won't deny that some of the events feel a tad forced, but at the end of the day I'm not exactly a professional writer and it's the story I wanted to tell, so it is what it is. These events will be touched up in the rewrite to bring them up to a better standard, but the broad strokes of the story will remain the same.
And I'm afraid that, yeah, Vithi hasn't gotten as much attention as she deserves. Part of the problem was her personality and that I felt like she would usually prefer to be elsewhere, doing her own thing, and she just sort of...fell to the wayside. I have made attempts to give some of the more...neglected characters more screentime, but they're not quite as much in the spotlight as they potentially could be. I feel like it's a side effect of introducing as many characters as I have, and it's something that I am struggling with and trying to fix.
Mike turned to his wife
Mark turned to his wife
Oh goodness I just realized I somehow mixed up the names from this chapter forward and somehow it never got caught >_>
I'll go back and edit it in the previous chapters to be Mike, since it's Mike from this point forward and there are only like three references to him as Mark
Well, at least Lilith's parents were happily married. That copy-paste might not have gone so well if it had been one of those 'doesn't really love eachother anymore but still stick together because they are married' kind of relationships.
yikes, that could have sucked. imagine if the dad was beating the mom, but the mom was still hopelessly in love with him? the relationship would copy paste, and a human beating a dragon? that would NOT go over well, unless it made some changes to her instincts.......... DRAGON INSTINCTS typically do not let them submit to lesser beings
@joary Instincts did indeed get changed around. As Siph views the people in Familial Bond as blood family in a way, she sees no difference between them specifically and dragons. Academically she knows they're not dragons, but she doesn't really care. Now, I'm not sure how long she would stay in love if he was actively beating her - while the relationship between Lilith's parents was used as a baseline, feelings are liable to change. The mental effects of Familial Bond are one-and-done, so things would get pretty ugly pretty fast in that scenario.
Also can't believe I forgot to reply to the parent comment as well, it is indeed fortunate that the relationship was good. In general (ignoring edge cases like marriage), the mental changes are based on what the new addition perceives their family as. Someone who killed all their family for the fun of it would have no hang-ups killing anyone they're connected to via Familial Bond, so it does have the potential to be more of a hindrance than a help. Will such a case ever appear? No clue, but I'm leaning towards probably not. I'm not a huge fan of betrayal in general, so such a thing is unlikely (well, unless some really juicy opportunity comes along. It most likely wouldn't be with the current people in Familial Bond, though).