The New Chimera

Lilith gripped Siph’s hand nervously as the two stood in front of the cave. They were out deep in the wilds of Havens, where Siph’s parents had made their home. She was looking for relatively safe places to put up the portals connecting Haven and Earth, and the area around a dragon’s home was just such a place. Any truly dangerous monsters would have long since been driven away, if not by the dragons themselves, then by the lack of suitable prey for them to eat.

Siph squeezed Lilith’s hand gently. “It’ll be fine.” She reassured. “Dad may give you a bit of trouble, but he should settle down once he realizes how strong you are. And I’m sure mom will love you, so it’s fine.”

She faced forward and called out in her family’s private language. “Mom, dad, it’s me! And I’ve brought a guest!”

There was the sound of shuffling from the cave, and then two young-looking people walked out.

The woman rushed over to Siph and caught her in a hug. She was the spitting image of Siph, and the two looked like they could be sisters. Benefits of not aging, Lilith assumed.

“It’s been so long!” The woman said, clearly delighted. “What have you been up to? And who’s this?” She let go of the hug and turned to face Lilith, then stopped in her tracks, tilting her head in confusion. “Lilith?” She asked.

“Yes, mom, this is Lilith, the daughter I was telling you about.” Siph said hurriedly, giving the woman a meaningful look.

The woman paused for a moment as she appraised Lilith. She frowned deeply, taking a step or two closer to Lilith. “As I thought.” She said gravely. “You’re adorable.” She reached up and pinched Lilith’s cheek, frown morphing into a huge smile. Letting go of Lilith’s cheek, she turned to her daughter. “And I thought the day would never come. Who’s the father? What’s his race? Obviously, he’s a hybrid of some sort, but I’m dying to know who produced a cutie like this.”

Siph smiled happily. “His name’s Mike, and he’s a human. He’s the sweetest thing, though, and–”

She was cut off as her father forcefully dragged her away, and Lilith was only able to hear the beginning of what he said, a hushed “What daughter?!”

Lilith’s grandmother looked back to Lilith, raising an eyebrow. “Oh?” She said inquisitively. “If that’s the case, does that mean that Siph didn’t give birth to you?”

“No. She’s still my mom, though. It’s…complicated.”

Her grandmother snorted derisively. “It’s really not. You say she’s your mom, she says you’re her daughter, case closed. I’m really happy she taught you our language, though. It means she’s serious about this. What happened to your birth mother?”

“She didn’t teach me the language. And my birth mother is married to Siph and my dad. Again, it’s a bit of a long story.”

Her grandmother threw a glance at her husband and Siph, who were clearly beginning to have a fight. “They’ll be a bit, we have time.” She pulled Lilith into the cave, leading her into a small room that had some simple furniture in it. She dragged a couple of chairs around so that they faced each other and sat in one, prompting Lilith to sit in the other.

“I haven’t really introduced myself, sorry. My name’s Tiamat, but you can call me Grandma!”

Tiamat? That was, by her recollection, the name of a very old and very powerful dragon, perhaps the most famous of her kind. Slightly more nervous now, Lilith spoke. “And I’m Lilith Clements. Nice to meet you.”

Seeing Lilith’s expression, Tiamat laughed. “I’m not that Tiamat, it’s just a common name among dragons.”

“Oh.” Lilith replied. “That’s…good to know. Um…so, how’d you know my name? Mama’s dad seemed pretty confused about this, and I thought mama hadn’t talked to you in a bit, but she also said she told you about me?”

“You can just call him Grandpa, it’s fine.” Tiamat reassured. She paused for a moment longer before continuing. “And as for talking with Siph, I reached out to her a while ago and she mentioned something about having a daughter named Lilith.” She looked a Lilith for a moment longer, eyes lingering on her wings. Then, understanding of a sort dawned on her face. “Ah, that’s where I had seen you before, you’re the one from the broadcast, right?”

Lilith nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”

Tiamat gave her a smile. “In that case, tell me everything. I believe in the broadcast you said you were a human living on Earth, right? Start from there.”

And she did. They talked for upwards of an hour before Lilith actually reached meeting Siph, as Tiamat was very interested in what her life on Earth was like before she was introduced to magic. Several times Lilith had to explain what something was, usually leading into tangents as she explained other things.

Eventually, though, they did reach meeting Siph and the circumstances surrounding Siph’s entry into Lilith’s family.

“That’s a wonderful Skill you picked up, dear.” Tiamat said once she found out about Familial Bond. “Could you add me too? I don’t want to be left out.”

Lilith nodded. “Yeah, as long as Grandpa agrees to come in too. I don’t want to cause a fight between you two.”

Tiamat rolled her eyes. “He’ll agree, but he’ll probably complain about it first.” She paused, then gave Lilith a worried look. “He’ll probably want to fight you. Can you handle that? I know you seemed pretty strong during the broadcast, but he’s no slouch either.”

Lilith laughed. “It’ll be fine. Let me get through the rest of the story and you’ll see.”

And so, they kept talking for another hour. They finished Lilith’s story after another thirty or so minutes, briefly discussed what to do about Tiamat’s husband, and after that was done, they just talked to get to know each other better. They would have talked even longer if Tiamat’s husband didn’t storm in furiously.

“You.” He barked, pointing at Lilith. “Outside. Now.”

Tiamat stood up and walked over, placing her hand on his arm. “Kirdin, honey, shouldn’t you talk to her first? She’s a lovely young lady and I think if you listened…”

He brushed her hand off. “No, Tia. Siph’s gone too far this time. I want that girl out of my house, and then I want her to watch and see as I beat some sense into our daughter. After that, I’ll make her understand that Siph is not her mother, no matter what the two of them might think.”

Lilith stood up and walked over, giving Kirdin a cold look. She didn’t want to greet her grandfather like this, but it had been her grandmother’s suggestion, so she went along with it. Besides, he was threatening to beat her mother, and she couldn’t let that slide.

“I won’t accept that.” She said frostily. “Mama has done nothing wrong. If you want to fight anyone, you’re going to fight me, understood?”

Kirdin glared at her. “Watch your tone, missy. I don’t want to have to beat a child, but I will if you keep acting like this. Siph’s clearly been too soft on you.”

Lilith snorted. “As if. You couldn’t beat me if you tried, old man.”

“I’ll give you one chance to take that back, and then I really will beat you.” He growled.

“You can keep that chance, you don’t scare me.” Lilith replied levelly, locking eyes with Kirdin.

“Fine. Have it your way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Tia, make sure she comes outside.” He said, turning and stomping out of the room.

Tiamat smirked and patted Lilith’s arm. “Told you he’d be like this. Go teach him some humility, will you? He hasn’t lost in far too long.”

Lilith followed her outside, to where Kirdin and Siph were staring daggers at each other.

Kirdin pointed to the entrance of the cave. “Siph, go stand next to your mother. You’re going to watch while I discipline this kid for you.”

“Make me.” Siph retorted. “I’m not letting you lay a finger on her, got it?”

“It’s alright, mama.” Lilith called out. “I was the one who wanted to fight him.”

Siph shot her a look. “Are you sure?” She asked, concerned. “You really don’t have to, this is between me and him.”

Lilith smiled. “Don’t worry about it. This is, in a real way, my fault, and I’m pretty sure I’ll have an easier time of it than you.”

“Trust me, she’s a lot stronger than he is.” Tiamat soothed. “The only one getting hurt here will be him.”

“Alright.” Siph conceded. “I’m going to step in if it looks even a little dangerous, though.” With that, she stepped over to Tiamat, and the two began a hushed conversation while Lilith walked over to Kirdin.

For his part, Kirdin took a step back and shifted into his dragon form. Unsurprisingly, he was even bigger than Siph, and absolutely towered above Lilith, who didn’t even flinch as she stared into an eye that was as big as she was.

In response, she sent him a Geas.

There was a low, gravely rumble as Kirdin chuckled. “That the best you can do? No chance.”

Lilith smiled as she saw his HP tick down, confirming that he had ignored the Geas. “Not even close.” She said. “I just wanted to make it that much more convincing.” A Geas counted as a direct order from her, and disobeying it meant that her stats were now doubled for the purposes of fighting him. So, she strode confidently towards Kirdin, who lashed out with a claw.

Lilith raised a hand, shifting her palm into a set of scales as she caught the claw, stopping Kirdin’s momentum entirely. She looked up, flashing Kirdin a smile as she let go of the claw. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” She asked. “I’ll give you one more chance before I get serious.”

In response Kirdin jumped back and let loose his acid breath, which Lilith absorbed with Zoan’s Barrier.

“The hard way it is, I suppose.” She responded, flexing her wings and taking off into the sky. And, in a flash, she was up in his face, sprouting tentacles which entangled Kirdin’s legs, wings, tail, and neck, then unceremoniously flipped him onto his back. Lilith flapped above him lazily, watching as he thrashed in a vain attempt to free himself.

“Give up.” She said. “I haven’t even used most of my Skills and you still can’t do anything to me. This isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

He didn’t respond, choosing instead to continue to struggle. Lilith tightened her grip, immobilizing him. “It’s rude to ignore people.” She said.

“What are you?!” He panted.

“Oh, did mama not tell you?” Lilith said sweetly. “I’m a Perfect Chimera, and also probably the strongest thing alive at the moment. Did you not watch the broadcast?”

“Why bother?” He retorted. “That’s just politics, and I can figure this new system out myself.” He shifted back to a humanoid form in an attempt to break free of Lilith’s grip, but she was ready, tentacles constricting around him.

She began to squeeze as she landed and walked towards him, changing a hand into a razor-sharp scythe on the way. When she reached him, she put the limb at his throat, giving him her best smug smile. “Don’t make me try any more than this.” She warned. “I can’t guarantee I won’t hurt you.”

Kirdin began to shift to his dragon from again and Lilith let him, letting go of him as he leered down at her. In response she simply raised the scythe and swung it down, neatly severing one of his claws before she stepped in closer and swung once more, this time taking off a thick sheet of his scales. “I can do this all day.” She said. “Let me know when you’re done.”

Kirdin stopped, then shifted back into his human form, clutching a large wound that had appeared on his forearm, the skin having been peeled off. “Fine. I can recognize when I’m beat.” He said. “You’re strong, I’ll admit that.”

Lilith smiled, healing him up with Kindness’s Kiss. “Good. I really didn’t want to hurt you any more than that.”

Tiamat and Siph reached them at about this time. Siph was smirking triumphantly, and Tiamat just rolled her eyes. “I told you to listen.” She scolded. “Now, are you going to come listen to our granddaughter’s story or not?”

---

“Sorry.” Kirdin mumbled. “I was being overprotective again.”

They had just finished explaining everything to him, and he was sitting in his chair looking rather sheepish. “I just…it’s never, um, not usually a good idea for dragons to fall in love with humanoids. They’re almost always looking for something from us and even if they’re not, our lifestyles aren’t really compatible. So, when I heard my baby was with a human I got upset.”

Tiamat raised an eyebrow. “Really? I’ve got several friends who are happily married with humanoids, and there haven’t been any issues there. Are you sure it’s not just personal bias?”

Kirdin huffed. “I just don’t want her making the same mistakes I did. That’s all.”

“Alright, so, you’re going to let Lilith add you to Familial Bond, right?”

“Yes, dear.” He replied, looking down.

Lilith let Familial Bond prompt the two, and they accepted. Kirdin scratched the back of his neck and slowly began to speak. “Uh, I really am sorry, kiddo. You’re a good kid, you know that? I’m really happy that you wanted to protect your mama. Will you forgive me?”

“Yes, Grandpa.” Lilith replied.

Kirdin brightened immediately, reaching over and rubbing her head affectionately. “Good to hear. I don’t want to be on bad terms with my only grandkid. Now, is there a reason you two came over or are you just introducing yourself? And why do you lo–”

“A twist of fate.” Tiamat said quickly. “No real reason she looks like she’s a hybrid between an angel and a demon, just a quirk of her transformation.”

“That’s not –”

“Anyway, what are you doing here?” Tiamat asked. “I really appreciate the visit and all, but I don’t think you ever got around to telling me exactly why.”

“Ah, right.” Lilith said, straightening. “I was kind of hoping you two would let us put one of our transfer gates here.”

“Of course!” Tiamat said, giving her a happy smile. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“What?” Kirdin asked, confused. “What gates?”

“I told you, you should have watched the broadcast.” Tiamat said, giving him an exasperated look. “She talks about it there. She wants to make some permanent gates between Earth and Haven.”

“Right.” Lilith said. “We’re putting one where mama used to live, and we’re going to ask some other dragons too, as well as clearing out some hostile, equally powerful monsters and placing ones there. Since strong things tend to avoid places where much stronger things live, it makes those places perfect for the starts of new settlements.”

“I’m not sure I want a bunch of humanoids living near me.” Kirdin said slowly. “That’s begging for trouble, especially if they’re from Earth and aren’t familiar with dragons.”

“You’ve got a point.” Lilith said. “Um…you could come live with us, if you wanted. It’s mostly humanoids there, too, but we’re all used to this sort of stuff so no one should give you any trouble.”

“I couldn’t live somewhere my grandkid made for me.” Kirdin replied. “I like to feel like it’s a place I earned myself, you know?”

While Lilith thought this over, Tiamat started to talk with her husband. “Are you sure you can’t give this whole gate thing a try? If we have any issues, we can always have Lilith be a mediator for us and the people. It’ll be nice to be able to have access to more things again, and I’m dying to try some of the stuff Lilith’s been telling me about. Come on, if worst comes to worst, we can just move somewhere else. It’s not like this place was hard to make.”

Kirdin sighed. “Fine, we’ll let you put a gate. Just make sure people know not to mess with us, alright?”

“Thanks!” Lilith said brightly. “I really appreciate it! I have to leave soon since it’s been longer than I expected, but do you two want to come see the place? I’d love to introduce you to everyone!”

“Of course, dear!” Tiamat said. “Lead the way!”