A door opened in a dark hallway and a steady stream of visitors walked out.
Malachi couldn't help but do a double take when he stepped into Thea's home for the second time.
Because it was nothing like the last time he was here.
*Whistles* "Hell of a lot of renovations going on here... If I didn't feel underdressed the first time that I came here, then I sure do now." Aisha looked around in wonder.
"D-Don't be like that." Thea nudged her. "You look perfectly fine... more than fine. Actually, if you wanted to-"
Mal: "You are all making me violently uncomfortable."
Serana: "I like the way my sister-in-law thinks! Where's your room, handsome?"
Apophis: "Right down the-"
Mal: "Dog, I'm not gonna say it again. Violently uncomfortable!!"
Everyone seemed to smirk at Mal as if they found the irony of him being the one to complain amusing.
After everything he had ever forced them to sit through, he had such minuscule room to complain that it was embarrassing.
"Come on, he should be this way." Thea relented.
Aisha actually looked moderately disappointed that she was no longer being harassed.
Suddenly, a door opened down the hallway and a small child walked out rubbing his eyes.
For a moment, Malachi mistook him for N'Kai due to his black skin and sclera.
"Baby bro! Come meet our friends." Apophis called.
The child looked their way, and the visitors unconsciously stepped back at the sight of his swirling red eyes and unnatural cold demeanor.
Even more horrific was the fact that he without a doubt had the deepest voice they had ever heard.
"I find it unbelievable that either of you were able to convince anyone to be friends with you. I'm aware that mortals often scrape the bottom of the metaphorical barrel for companionship, but they have outdone themselves by standing beside you plebeian children."
Malachi and the girls' jaws dropped. Meanwhile, Thea and Apophis took it all in stride as if this occurrence was normal.
"Aww, did someone miss their nap today?"
The young child lowered his head to the ground. "...Yes. Gaia would not stop pestering me."
"Nubia's room is free, buddy. You can hide from her in there."
"...Thank you, brother."
The small child vanished in a puff of smoke and left the stunned group behind.
"What... or who... was that..?" Aubrey sputtered.
"That's our brother Bashenga. Isn't he cute?" Thea gushed.
Aubrey didn't know if she was joking or not, but that little boy was the single most terrifying entity she had ever laid eyes on in twenty years of life.
A huge sectional sofa was placed in front of a movie screen with a televised game on.
The score was 42-12. No wonder everyone in here was mad.
Horned men say with their backs turned to the entrance. Their bodies tensed up once Apophis gave his warning.
One by one, they started to turn around, but only one figure stood up.
He was massive.
Without exaggeration, he must've been close to nine feet tall.
His body was somehow overcrowded with muscles, and yet they fit perfectly within his body to make him look like an immaculate divine statue.
But Malachi could see and feel it clearly. This man was more impossibly dangerous than any god he had ever met in his life. Perhaps even more than his mother too.
The man had deep black skin that was even darker and more ominous than his own. Shining gold tattoos literally moved across his entire body from the neck down.
His hair was tied behind his head in a single ponytail- and it was equally as unique as the rest of him. Half of it was dyed white, the other side was pure black.
His three golden eyes were encircled with ominous black sclera- and his simple gaze was heavier on one's back than the entire weight of the world.
And the large one in the center of his chest was too disturbing to even look at for long.
His presence was so imposing and regal that for a while the duo didn't notice that he only wore a simple hoodie and sweatpants like a secret NEET.
Albeit a very, very, frightening one.
"O-Oh... You found your jacket, huh?" Thea scratched her cheek in embarrassment.
"After I fished it out of your closet."
The visitors felt their vision become slightly blurry. The man's voice stroked a certain pleasure center in the mind and just kept rubbing, and rubbing, and... it was very nice to listen to.
Finally, the unit realized something that they had sort of skipped over at first.
This man was impossibly handsome. Aisha almost started liking men, and she had never done that.
"I was planning to return it at some point, dad." Thea apologized.
"Oh, I'm sure." Thea's father rolled all four of his eyes.
He pulled a burning cigar from between his thick lips and smiled at the group of foreign young humans.
"I'd say nice to meet you all, but... I probably know you better than you know yourselves by now." He laughed.
Thea elbowed him lightly in the stomach. "Dad, ease up on the all-knowing monster thing. You're freaking them out..!"
Thea's words were an understatement. They were absolutely terrified.
Aubrey suddenly fell back on her butt as she stared at Thea's father.
Her eyes had turned fully black and lost their shine, while dark murky tears ran from her face.
"Am I... going to die...?"