Untamed Chroma

Chapter 30 - The Plaguing of Asmodeus

"And like, no matter how much I try to reason with him, he refuses to bargain. I've never met anyone so stubborn" King complained. They were both on their bed, it being late at night. They usually had strict sleep times, but every now and then, they enjoyed each others company and stayed up a bit longer

"No one said this was going to be easy, Yan, you know that" Shangdi replied

"But like everyone else is easy to handle, even Dianmu, she's bold but listens to reason. With him its like talking to a damn brick wall" he replied as he sat on Shangdi's lap, who chuckled

"It's actually wholesome, seeing how Lei blushes around her, she makes him ecstatic"

"Anything makes Lei Gong happy, it's nice to see him after a day of dealing with Zhurong, pretty refreshing"

"Damn is he giving you that much trouble" Shangdi asked

"I'll have to go harder on him. Y'know what? I'm gonna ask Mazu" King said as Shangdi raised an eyebrow

"Mazu? Ask her?"

"She's like the only one I've seen who managed to get him to listen to something, I wanna know how she does it"

"Reminds me of us to be honest"

"WHAT?!" King yelled as he blushed

"I'm the only one who can make you-"

"SHUT UP!" King yelled as his black face was mixed with hues of red

"What? You're shy here too? We're alon- wait... no we're not" Shangdi said as he slowly looked to the side of the room, and then shuffled and got off the bed

"What? Who is it?" King asked as Shangdi listened for a moment then raised his eyebrow.He went up to the front door of their house. He opened the door, seeing Nüwa and Sheji at the door, with Nüwa's fist up, as if she was just about to knock on the door, but Shangdi opened the door beforehand

"Oh- oh... sorry Shangdi we didn't mean to interrupt" She said

"Why are you two awake. It's way past your bedti- wait" Shangdi said as he looked at Sheji. Her eyes were... watering. Her face was flushed, and she was sniffling "Woah woah what's going on here...?" He asked as he put his hands on her cheeks looking at her eyes with his eyebrows frowning, before pulling her in for a hug, caressing her hair and comforting her as she silently sobbed

"Sheji had a very very bad nightmare. She... couldn't sleep. She's very scared" Nüwa said as King also joined them. Shangdi's eyes frowned, seemingly getting more serious

"What did you dream about...?" He asked her, and she looked at Nüwa before tearing up again

"She told me that's she dreamt our group was attacked, by... an outsider, or something, and we were disbanded" Nüwa nervously said. Sheji then faced her and told her some more things in sign language "Oh yeah, she also said that you got very sick"

"Me?" Shangdi asked as Sheji shook her head then pointed at King Yan

"Very, very sick" Nüwa added

"Sheji you're sticking to your diet right? Are you sleeping properly?" King said

"No no- King this is... much more serious than you think" Shangdi added

"What? Why?"

"Sheji is highly connected to trees, and with trees as old as the ones in the reserve near the estate, she's able to use the trees past memories to predict future events, based on patterns that occurred around them" Shangdi said