Lilith awoke to a message she wasn’t quite expecting.

You have accepted Siph as a follower. Dragon (acid) transformation gained. Traits, Skills, and Aspects gained are listed below.

Lilith ignored the rest of the messages for now, choosing instead to send a message of her own.

CARMEN! What did you do?!

I offered to give Siph a bit of a power-up and she graciously accepted. Problem?

Lilith groaned mentally. Yes, “problem”! I don’t appreciate you trying to take advantage of her like that!

She knew what was going on. Now, I’m busy making a farm, so go ask her about it yourself. She should be in the link now.

Lilith sighed, and sent Siph a message. Alright, what’s going on? I thought my explanation was pretty clear.

It was. And I decided it was worth it anyway. As long as you don’t activate Horrid Fascination near me or try to charm me, it’s perfectly acceptable. Now, quit your whining and come talk to me face to face. I’ve got lessons for you, young lady.

What are talking about?!

Don’t talk back to me! You’ve got to learn respect for your mother!

There was a long, drawn-out silence. Excuse me?

You heard me! The way I see it, you just got access to your dragon side from me. And I’m currently watching over all of you. And I’m going to teach you how to be a dragon. So, let’s tick off the boxes. Given life? Check. Fed in infancy? Check. Taught how to fend for herself? Working on it. Sounds like a mother to me!

But you didn’t give life to me, and I’m not an infant!

Despite being a room away, Lilith was still able to hear Siph’s snort. Your life before doesn’t count. You’re in touch with your dragon side now, and that’s all that matters. Besides, you’re what, 40?

23!

It doesn’t make a difference. You’re not even considered a child until you’re 100, and not an adult until 1000.

I’ll die well before then! You can’t apply that timeframe to me!

Siph laughed mentally. What makes you say that? You got everything I have, inherited everything from multiple long-lived species, your alter-ego’s an archfey, and to top it all off you became some sort of eldritch being. Kid, the only way you’re dying right now is if someone cuts off your head, and I’m not even sure that would do you in.

Look, I’m flattered…I think, but I’ve already got a mother.

Siph was silent for a moment. You can have two. Please? Even if it’s just in name only.

Why does it matter?

Do you know when the last dragon was born? Over 500 years ago. As creatures that begin life with a theoretically infinite lifespan, dragons can’t make children easily. And now that the world’s so big, it’s hard to even meet another dragon, let alone find one willing to mate. You might well be my only chance to rear a child.  It’s…lonely.

I…oh.

Please? I promise I’ll do my best to get along with your other family.

Uh, well, I guess that’s…fine.

A new textbox immediately popped up in Lilith’s vision.

Siph has been recognized as your mother. Dragon whisperer has become Dragonborn. King’s Knowledge has detected a contract between the user and Siph. Contract has been updated and fused with Dragonborn to form Familial Bond. King’s Knowledge has detected a contract between the user and Judy. Contract has been updated and added to Familial Bond. Familial Bond (Root) Combination Origin: Magical All attributes are increased while working with a family member and increase further based on the number of members working together. All family members can ascertain the position of any other family member on the same plane and can mentally communicate with those on the same plane. Family members may be “whitelisted” on any other family member’s mental effect, stopping it from affecting them so long as the owner of the effect wills it. Upon entrance into the family, any being will consider others in the family to be their relative if they did not already do so, and those relatives will likewise consider the new entrant to be a family member. New additions to the family are marked as “Branches” and can only be added by the “Root” seeing them as family. In this case, the user must simply wish for them to be added to Familial Bond, and the new Branch must accept the “invitation”. The exact way any given family member sees the others depends on their relationship to the Root of the family, although if they already view others as family this is not updated accordingly. For example, a brother to the Root will see the Root’s father as their own father. For the purpose of abilities, all Branches are considered magically in servitude to the Root

There was a silence as the new information was processed.

 Lilith, Judy asked, why are Siph and I sisters now?

Siph laughed. I’ve never had a sister before. This is gonna be great!

---

While Judy and Siph got to know each other, Lilith took a look at the abilities she received. Aside from various physical enhancements and a massive increase to her fire and acid resistance, Lilith received these abilities:

Overflowing Strength Trait Dragon Domain Origin: Magical While the user is in a humanoid form, 20% of their dragon form’s strength and health is added to the humanoid form’s strength and health. Eye of the Dragon Trait Dragon Domain Origin: magical Greatly enhances the user’s eyesight while flying, allowing them to pick out prey from far away even while flying at high speeds. Breath Weapon Trait Dragon Domain Origin: Magical The user can expel a cone of a number of substances based on their race. Intensity, length, and other properties are dependent on the mana used to activate this trait, as well as the user’s age. Fine control becomes possible with practice. Currently available elements: Fire Acid Breath Weapon has been folded into Eldritch Abomination, gaining the following effect: Breath Weapon may be activated from any of the user’s orifices, including those made on an appendage. Breath Weapon can only be activated from one orifice at a time. User can use Breath Weapon with any secretions they know and can secrete any element they can use Breath Weapon with. Intimidating Presence Skill Origin: Magical User appears more frightening to other beings. The more damage the user deals to an enemy, the more powerful this effect becomes. This Skill may be toggled on and off at will. Intimidating Presence has been folded into Horrifying Fascination, gaining the following effect: The more afraid of the user a target is, the more powerful Horrid Fascination’s charm effect becomes. Humanoid Transformation has been folded into Dragonborn, becoming Dragon Mantle, which has been folded into Eldritch Abomination. The following effect is added: User can turn themselves partially into a dragon. This manifests as growing a layer of scales across all exposed skin, hands and feet gaining claws, teeth sharpening, and the growth of wings and a tail if the user does not currently have them. Mana is drained while Dragon Mantle is active. Dragon teeth, claws, and scales may be grown on appendages.

Make sure you listen to your mom while you’re out, you hear me? I don’t want you coming back injured. Judy said sternly.

Sorry, what was that? Lilith replied. I was looking through the new abilities I got.

I’m taking you out hunting. I have to teach you how to handle yourself while you’re a dragon, so you don’t do something stupid and get yourself killed. Now, get over here, we gotta go.

Lilith obediently moved into the next room and was greeted with a surprise hug from Siph. “Ah, I’m so glad you accepted my offer! I love you!”

“Love you too, mom.” The words came out automatically, and Lilith was somewhat surprised to find that she did love Siph. It would appear that Familial Bond’s effects weren’t a joke.

“Now, go ahead and change into your dragon form, it’s time to leave.” She watched as Lilith did so and clapped her hands. “Ah, you’re so cute!” She squealed.

Where Siph was the size of a large house, Lilith was only about as big as a horse, albeit one with lustrous green scales and wings.

“Well, this is…different. I’ve never been a quadruped before.” She said, shaking one of her legs. “This is going to take some getting used to.”

“Well, once I’m sure you can handle yourself like this, I’ll let you just activate Dragon Mantle. But, for you specifically, it’s vitally important to know how to fight in many different forms. One of your greatest assets is your ability to shapeshift as you please. I’m not going to be satisfied until you’re good enough to shift back and forth without missing a beat in a combat situation. And then we’re going to work on getting you familiar with more forms. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go, our first hunt together!” Siph vaulted onto Lilith’s back, prompting a surprised yelp.

“If I go out in my normal form, I’d scare off anything that would be worthwhile for you to hunt. Besides, this way we get to be closer! Now get going, time’s a-wasting!”

Siph had Lilith fly west, chatting idly with her as they went. About an hour and a half into the journey, she stopped Lilith. Down there. One of those big cats. Remember what I taught you and go for it.

Lilith nodded, swooping downwards and striking at the cat. It managed to dodge the brunt of the strike, but Lilith’s claws still left a nasty gash in its side. The thing roared, an arc of electricity rushing out towards her, but it dispersed harmlessly on her scales. As the beast was off-balance from its attack, Lilith rushed in and took a large bite out of its front thigh, followed up by batting the cat’s head with a claw, decapitating the thing and bringing the short, brutal combat to an end.

Lilith looked down at her kill with satisfaction. “Good, the kids will be happy to have some meat again.”

“Wrong! You’re Assimilating it. We’ll get the kids better food later.”

“But–”

“No buts, missy. We’re well out of my territory by now, so finding things that are actually good to eat won’t be hard. When we find things like this it’s more important to raise your capabilities, so eat.”

“Yes, mom.”

Hearing those words, Siph smiled and wrapped her arms around herself. “Did I mention how much I love you? Because it’s a lot!”

Lilith put a claw over the body and activated Assimilation, flinching slightly as the flesh beneath her claws rippled, flowing into her. She’d never tried to Assimilate anything this large before, and it took her a minute or so for her to fully digest the thing. As soon as she finished the last portion of the body, she was greeted with a textbox showing the abilities she had received. Among the standard physical buffs, she got minor electric resistance and the “Electric Spines” ability.

Electric Spines Trait Large Cat (Electric, Unnamed) Domain Origin: Magical User can discharge electricity from the spines growing on their back. Intensity and range of the electricity is proportional to the amount of mana put into activation. Electric ability detected. King’s Knowledge has analyzed the ability and added electricity to the elements usable with Breath Weapon Electric Spines has been folded into Eldritch Abomination, allowing for the growth of Electric Spines.

“Alright, back up into the sky, we’re going to keep looking for stuff to kill. If it’s not good to eat, you’re going to Assimilate it. If I determine we’ve got enough for now, you’re going to Assimilate it. We need to pack on the mass, that’s directly related to your combat capability. Let’s go!”

---

A few hours later, they had caught twelve more animals, most of which belonged to a large, moose-like species that seemed to be common around here. Aside from that they got another two cats and a bird the size of Lilith. Everything aside from two of the moose were Assimilated, granting further physical enhancement to Lilith. To her surprise, she also got a “Mount” Skill while flying around, making it easier for her to keep any riders on her back. When they got back, Carmen was waiting for them.

“Hey, mom. Finished that garden. The kids are harvesting it now.”

Siph hopped off of Lilith, running over to Carmen and hugging her. “Nice work! Go take a rest, you’ve earned it.”

Lilith dropped the two corpses she was carrying and changed back into her regular form.

“Not quite yet, dear.” Siph said, letting go of Carmen. “I still have to teach you how to fight.”

Lilith frowned. “Isn’t that why we were hunting?”

Siph smiled. “Yes. But that was all against opponents you outclassed. This time I’m going to teach you how to fight against something you can’t just overpower with raw differences in your abilities.”

Carmen tapped Siph’s shoulder. “Mind if I watch while I rest? I’m not exactly tired and this sounds interesting.”

“Sure thing, honey. Both of you follow me…”

And so, a harsh training session began. Siph made Lilith fight in a variety of situations and forms, often requesting her to switch to a certain form partway through a scenario. This carried on for a few hours uninterrupted, until Raphael suddenly barged in.

“What’s going on in here?!” She yelled, and Carmen quickly walked over and quieted her. “Siph’s training Lilith. Don’t worry about it.”

“But…” Raphael trailed off, looking at the scene in front of her. A humanoid Lilith was facing down Siph in her dragon form, completely unarmed. She ran in towards Siph, who let loose a fire breath. Undeterred, Lilith jumped, rocketing through the fire and onto Siph’s head.

“Good, now switch!” Siph ordered, and Lilith obediently morphed into one of the large cats she had taken to calling “Thunder Pumas”. It wasn’t a terribly creative name, but it was better than “those cats”, so she went with it until she could find someone who actually knew what the things were named. Naming aside, she laid into Siph with her claws, ripping and tearing until she finally pried a single scale loose. Naturally, Siph wasn’t staying still, thrashing about in an attempt to throw Lilith from her back. Lilith responded to this by sprouting several large, sucker-covered tentacles which latched onto Siph’s back and anchored Lilith firmly in place. Lilith charged up lightning on her back before Siph called for their little bout to end.

Lilith jumped off of Siph, returning to a humanoid form and sitting down in front of Siph, who also shifted back to a humanoid form. “Alright, so, if you were me in that situation, what would your next move be?” Siph asked.

“Well…I would try to crush whatever was on my back by rolling over or something.” Lilith responded.

“Good. Obviously, I didn’t do this because I didn’t want to actually hurt you, but let’s say that’s not an option at the moment. What then?”

“Shift into a different form and try to get away?”

“Correct again. Great job, sweetie!” Siph said, giving Lilith a hug. Her gaze fell on Raphael, and she quickly let go of Lilith. “Do you need something, child? I’m rather busy, so if you don’t have anything you’re doing, leave me alone.” She said coldly.

Raphael shrunk back. “N-no, mam. I just woke up and was wondering what all the noise was…I thought maybe we were being attacked and I could come help…”

Siph snorted derisively. “Kid, if there was an intruder that Carmen and I couldn’t handle, you wouldn’t be of any help.”

“Hey!” Lilith protested, “I can fight too!”

“Absolutely not.” Siph said. “First, Carmen doesn’t need to be actively in harm’s way to fight. She can just activate Horrid Fascination and sit back while it does the work. Second, if Carmen dies, you can just remake her. There’s no way I’m putting my only daughter in harm’s way, so if the time comes that we need to fight, you’re going to be with hiding with everyone else.”

“Um…” Raphael interjected. “What do you mean daughter?”

Siph glared at her. “What part of that is unclear?”

“Um, well…you two met for the first time like…yesterday. And…if Lilith was a dragon before, wouldn’t her tail and wings be a dragon’s?”

“Yes, and yes.  But she got her dragon parts from me, so we’re family now, and that’s all that matters. Now leave, you’re bothering me.”

“Wait a second,” Carmen said. “Let her watch the training, I’ll keep her quiet.”

Siph was silent for a moment. “If you insist. But if she makes unnecessary noise, I will have her removed, alright?”

“No, wait, I…” Raphael trailed off as Siph glared at her again.

Carmen walked up and grabbed her arm, dragging her over to where Carmen had been watching Lilith and Siph train. “Listen,” She whispered, “you’ve always wanted to see a Perfect Chimera in action. I could tell from the way you talked about them in class. So, I’m giving you the once-in-a-millennium opportunity of watching a Perfect Chimera develop their fighting style. Be grateful.”

Bewildered, Raphael whispered back. “Wait, how did you know how I talked about them? That aside, what’s your angle, here? I highly doubt you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart.”

“Lilith and I make it a point to share memories before we sleep to get us caught up on everything. As for the second point, Lilith needs someone to talk to. Someone who knows what she’s going through. You’ve been pretty hostile, but your worries should be pretty much gone by now, right?”

“No, look, she might not be a spy, but I can’t exactly bury the hatchet just like that. You know how she treated me! Sure, I attacked first, but she still treated me like a toy when we fought!”

Carmen smiled deviously. “What are you talking about? She never laid a finger on you.”

“But…” Raphael trailed off as she thought about it. “Wait…that was you? How…?”

“Does it matter? Point is, Lilith’s a sweetheart. She’s already forgiven you for what you did, heck, she feels like she should be apologizing to you. So, again, once in a lifetime opportunity, go make friends with her, get the chance to get close to one of the things you idolize.”

“…Fine. Again, though, why do you care? What do you get from this?”

Carmen laughed. “You misunderstand once again. I am Lilith. We are the same person, just with different personalities. Anything that benefits her benefits me, at least indirectly. So, I’ve taken it upon myself to do what she’s too afraid to do; I’ll reap the rewards whenever we share memories or whenever she decides to put me away.”

“What do you mean, put you away?”

“I’m just one of her skills manifesting an alternate personality into an artificial body. Whenever she wants, poof, I’m back to being a part of her.”

“And you’re ok with that?” Raphael asked.

Carmen paused. “It’s not a big deal, I’ll be back out eventually, so I just want to make my time in her as comfortable as possible.”

Raphael fell silent, digesting this as she watched Lilith fight. Carmen was content to keep the silence, and it ended up stretching out for another half an hour before Carmen stood up. “Hey mom, let me switch with Lilith. She’ll be getting tired, and I’d like to get some exercise.”

“As long as she’s fine with it.” Siph replied.

“Yeah, that’s fine by me.” Lilith said, making her way over to Raphael and Carmen. Carmen smiled and walked over to Siph, where she began to stretch.

“H…hey.” Raphael said shyly.

“Uh, hey.” Lilith replied awkwardly, sitting down.

“Um, I…wanted to say sorry. I was wrong about you. I don’t really have an excuse for what I did, I was too caught up in wanting to be a hero to pay any attention to what was going on.”

Lilith sighed. “No, it’s fine, I understand. If I thought there was something fishy going on, I would want to take care if it too. More importantly, how are you doing? Do you need me to get Carmen to change you back? We’re safe now, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to do so.”

Raphael shook her head. “No. I deserved this. I ignored all the facts that were staring me in the face. So, in an attempt to build a bridge, I’m going to stay like this until you can get yourself changed back.”

“…That might be a while. Nothing I’ve tried has worked, so I’ve given up for now. Survival’s more important, and I honestly don’t even notice anymore. I appreciate the gesture, but there’s really no need.”

“Alright, I understand. Give me a few months then, at least. I want to really know how you’ve been feeling, learn some empathy like grandma wants.”

Lilith gave her a worried look. “Are you sure? You might end up like me, thinking it’s more trouble than it’s worth to go back.”

“Ending up like you is the point, I think. It’s just a few months, and if it ever becomes a problem there are half a dozen people that could change me. But…can we talk about Carmen?”

“Yeah, I know she gave you a pretty tough time. Do you need me to talk to her about it?”

“No. It’s just…is it true that you’re just going to end up “putting her away” as she said?”

Lilith frowned. “I’ll be honest, I kind of want to, but I just can’t bring myself to, not unless she does something really bad. It just…feels like she’s her own person now. I don’t want to take that away from her.”

“She seems to think differently.”

“I haven’t shared any of these emotions with her. I’m pretty confused about it myself, and I don’t want to influence her behavior.”

“You two should sit down and have a talk about it. She’ll find out eventually, so you might as well just air things out. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Lilith sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll do it after we finish up here, whenever that is.”

Raphael twiddled her thumbs. “One other thing…why are you being so nice? I was being kind of a bully, so I…well, I just don’t get it.”

Lilith shrugged. “You’re, what, 10? You were just trying to look cool in front of your friends, and I get that. You saw a problem and tried to solve it. Sure, it probably could have been solved better by just going to the teachers, but it’s an honest mistake. I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Raphael pouted. “I’m 88, thank you very much.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow. “Really? Could have fooled me.”

“Yes, really! Sheesh, you think you’d be able to tell.”

“Fine, fine, I get it.” Lilith said, raising her hands in defeat. “I just didn’t think you’d be older than me. Guess I should get used to things like that now.”

“Wait, how old are you?”

“23. Still in my prime, I guess.”

Raphael giggled.

“What?”

“Sorry, but your prime is kind of a long time. Like, I’m pretty sure it’s literally forever. You’ve got access to pretty much every single anti-aging Trait there is, so you gotta stop thinking in human terms.”

“Oh, right.” Lilith looked oddly sad at this but shook her head and kept talking. “Why are you still here, anyway? It can’t be that exciting watching me get destroyed over and over again.”

“Well…Carmen was right. I always wanted to watch a Perfect Chimera fight, so this is a good opportunity to do that, even if you do end up losing most of the time. You can do some weird things, you know that?”

Lilith laughed. “You’re preaching to the choir, kid. You’ve got no idea how weird the past few months have been for me.”