Our Demonic Spawn

27

"Appa!" Paro whined. "My feet hurt." She pouted.

Ajax didn't say a word as he stopped walking. He squatted down and waited for Paro to skip towards him. She jumped on his back before he stood up and gave her a piggyback ride. I impishly looked at Nyx who rolled her eyes, but relented. Nyx squatted down and allowed me to get on her back. I yelped when she stood and matched Ajax's stride.

Paro and i playfully pushed against each other. Ajax snapped at us to stop, but we ignored him. He then huffed in defeat as Paro began gently slapping the top of his head. Paro demanded he walk faster, so Ajax increased his speed to appease his daughter. Paro laughed as Ajax whizzed past Neal.

"Ken, we need-"

"Guys!" Paro yelled at us. "There's a small cabin we can stay inside." She jogged towards us.

"Where's my brother?" Nyx placed me down.

"He's checking the interior to make sure it's safe."

"Let's go." Ajax approached us. "It's clear."

We followed Ajax inside the small abode. Ajax stated that since it was daytime, we should hold off since we could easily be spotted. He advised us to rest a bit since we'd be on the move again once nightfall hit. Ajax wanted to assess the distance between Delja and the country house.

I entered the living room and had a sneeze attack from all the dust. I think I'm going to get a lung infection from this place. I heard the door open again, so I assume the kids left as well. I flopped on the couch and had a hackathon from the dust entering my lungs.

"Ken, I need to speak- you okay?" She quickened her pace, but then began coughing.

"Yep, it got you too." I started sneezing.

"This place is absolute filth." Nyx got her coughing under control.

"Tell me about it."

"Ken, is that kid my son?" I froze at the question. "He is, isn't he?" She sighed.

"Nyx-"

"I've been such an ass to him." She covered her face and groaned. "And that explains why you're so close and affectionate with him. Why didn't you tell me?"

"He didn't want to you to know." I whispered. "He didn't want to disappoint you."

"Well, my previous actions sure weren't easing his fears." She groaned. "Dammit!"

"Nyx, you didn't know-"

"How'd this happened? Tell me the truth."

"Lily got taken, so you and Ajax went looking for her. You guys hadn't returned and Paro was getting antsy. She was terrified and I was also getting worried because you guys had been gone for a while. They broke the rules and left the realm to search for you guys. However, they were ambushed by a group of demons outside the realm. In a panic, Yu transported them here. And they don't know how to get back."

"He must've been terrified."

"He was, but it's more like guilt. He's scared that he can't bring Paro back to the correct timeline."

"He should've told us sooner, so we could help him. We've been wasting time launching an investigation when we should've been bringing him home." Nyx stated.

"We'll get him home-"

"Ken, you don't understand how serious this is." Nyx urged.

"Nyx, I get that he needs to go home and-"

"No, that's not it!" She shook her head. "The assassins are after him. They're trying to kill the baby version of him. If they know, that the adult version of him is here... they'll slaughter him. I'm not sure how he's hidden his aura, but this is a big deal. And we're about to walk right into Delja with the person they want."

"Nyx-"

"I can't lose him." She panicked. "I can't lose my son."

I was about to speak, but a loud popping was heard followed by a chair smashing against the wall. We turned to see a shocked Paro. She awkwardly laughed while chewing her gum.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I was trying to slip out and then popped the bubble and... I'll give you two some privacy-"

"How much did you hear?" I asked.

"Not that-"

"Paraskevi." Nyx spoke.

"Okay, all of it." She groaned.

"You were to have left."

"I was, but Appa wanted me to actually carry stuff and I'm like that's more of a Neal issue than a Kevi issue." She shrugged and sat next to me. "You can continue gossiping about us."

"You and my son are stressing me out." Nyx ran a hand through her hair. "I felt more responsibility finding out you are my niece, but knowing he's my son... that complicates things."

"Just think of it like taking us around your home." Paro proposed.

"That was not our home, Kevi." We turned at Ajax's voice. "Nyx and I were never raised there. Our mother was born and raised there."

"They're the reason our family was broken up and we were hunted. Our father died by their hands and then our adoptive-"

"I get that they're radicals, but there must've been even the slightest curiosity as to what the place offered. Or your extended family." Nyx scoffed at Paro's words while Ajax remained silence. "Certainly, not all of them could've been against your birth. Some probably sympathized, but were powerless to fight the decree."

"Are we the curious ones or are you?" Ajax approached her. "What do you know?"

"I don't-"

"Kevi, don't lie to me."

"Okay, I was curious to know more about our family and had gone to Delja before-"

"We." Neal cut in. "We went." He held her hand in support which resulted in a grateful smile.

"We went around and heard all the negative stories about Deja. How they're secluded and believe everyone is beneath them. We wanted to understand them better and then wanted to know more about our family history-"

"And you found that our grandparents ordered the murder of their daughter." I looked at Ajax in shock. "Nyx and I, like you two, had been curious about our past. We went digging and found answers we didn't realize were more harmful than good. We stopped researching our family after that."

"What if you see them again in Delja?" I questioned.

"We won't." Ajax stated.

"How can you be so sure?"

"They're dead, Ken." Nyx spoke. "Call it mutiny."

"There's a lot of in-fighting for power there. Those at the top want to remain there. While those below have ambition to reach the top of the mountain." Ajax removed his cloak and placed it around Paro's shoulders. "Remember those people we spoke to at Delja? The ones you blew up on?" I nodded at him. "They're distant relatives."

"Extended cousins and uncles and aunts." Nyx smirked. "We have no ties to them except family blood."

"To understand your mother would be to walk in her shoes. Find out why there's such a deep hatred for demons, so that we can combat it." I spoke. "This could help us unify all the light angels." Nyx and Ajax made a face at that.

"Unification would solve a lot of issues. There's already a complex relationship between angels and elves in this realm. The last thing you need is for more angles to break off into their own groups." Neal spoke. "You already have differentiation amongst elves. We don't need that occurring in this realm as well."

"What's it like in the future?" I wondered.

"It's-"

"No." Ajax and Nyx stated. "No knowledge of the future."

"Keep forgetting that." I cursed.