I Was The Only Omega In The Beast World

Taika let out a low chuff that might have been laughter. The tiger stepped closer, lowering his broad head to sniff at the kitten. The shadow-baby mewed again and batted weakly at Taika’s nose with one tiny paw. The Shadow Lord’s pale eyes softened visibly.

[I need a name,] the kitten said, voice sleepy now that the dramatic entrance was complete. [Something that fits both what I was and what I have chosen to become.]

Alex sighed, exhaustion settling into his bones, but a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. He looked down at the small bundle of living darkness nestled against him. The threshold continued to shimmer behind them, a grand, multiversal gateway that had just witnessed one of the strangest adoptions in any pocket reality.

"Shadow seems a bit on the nose," Alex muttered. "How about... Eclipse? Or Nyx?"

The kitten purred louder, the sound vibrating pleasantly through Alex’s chest.

[Nyx,] it agreed. [I like that. It means night... but also the beginning of new light.]

Leo pressed a kiss to Alex’s temple, golden eyes warm. "Welcome to the family, Nyx. Try not to give your mother any more surprise pregnancies for at least a few months."

The group’s laughter—relieved, disbelieving, and undeniably fond—rose into the caldera air. The flowers around the threshold bloomed brighter in response, as though the multiverse itself approved of the chaos.

Alex cradled the newborn shadow-kitten closer, feeling the new, tiny bond thread itself into the existing web of family and fealty. It was absurd. It was ridiculous.

It was perfect.

As they began the slow journey back toward the sanctuary—Alex carefully carried by his mates, Nyx purring contentedly in his arms—the grand threshold pulsed once more, its light steady and welcoming. The House had gained another unpredictable room. The shadow had gained a place to belong.

And Alex’s ever-growing, ever-defiant family had just added one very small, very ancient kitten to its ranks.

By the time they reached the sanctuary ridge, the snakelings’ excited voices could already be heard rising to meet them.

The snakelings hit them like a wave.

Jade reached them first—his dark deep green eyes sweeping the group with the practiced efficiency of someone conducting damage assessment. He examined each face, each posture, each emotional microexpression, and his gaze landed on the bundle in Alex’s arms with the specific stillness that meant he was working very hard to appear calm.

"That," he said, "is what?"

"A small kitty," Alex agreed.

"Where did it come from."

"It’s complicated."

Jade looked at him. Then at the kitten. Then back at him. "You’re still in labor recovery. You’re exhausted. You have stardust in your hair from whatever happened at the threshold. And you’re holding a kitten."

"That is an correct summary of current events, yes."

Ripple materialized at Jade’s shoulder, their green scales catching the afternoon light, expression caught somewhere between delight and concern. "Can I hold it? Is it friendly? Is it magical? It looks dark but pretty? Why does it look like it’s made of night sky?"

"Because I am," Nyx said.

Ripple froze. Then their face broke into the widest smile Alex had seen in weeks. "It talks."

"I am aware that I talk," Nyx said, with the patient tone of someone who was already composing a list of grievances.

Siddy came pelting around the corner at full speed, nearly colliding with Lucas, who sidestepped with the reflexes of someone who had learned to anticipate Siddy-shaped chaos. Sterling followed at a measured pace that was only slightly faster than dignified. River was last, unhurried, but his blue eyes had already found the kitten and hadn’t moved.

"WHAT IS THAT," Siddy demanded, nose practically pressing against Nyx’s tiny face.

Nyx blinked. Its charcoal eyes considered Siddy at extremely close range with the gravity of an ancient entity deciding whether or not a given stimulus warranted a response.

"Loud," it said.

"I’m Siddy."

"I know." A tiny pause.

Siddy pulled back. Looked at Alex. Looked at the kitten. "Wait. Is that—"

"Yes," Alex said.

"Wait. Is this the black thing from the valley?"

"Yes."

" The thing that took away your stones and uncle system? "

"Yes, Siddy."

Siddy stared at the kitten for a full three seconds. Then they turned to Sterling with an expression of profound vindication. "I told you the caldera felt weird. I said that. From the beginning."

"You said it felt like something was watching you eat your roasted meat," Sterling said.

"And I was RIGHT."

Sally was waiting at the sanctuary gate.

She had the look of someone who had watched four mates carry her brother home from the direction of a mysterious light show, noticed that he appeared to be in post-labor recovery again, and was now rapidly constructing a theory she wasn’t sure she wanted confirmed.

Her eyes dropped to the kitten in Alex’s arms.

"Alex," she said.

"Sally."

"Is that a baby?"

"Define baby."

"Alex."

He shifted Nyx slightly so his sister could see the small, star-dark face and the unblinking charcoal eyes. "This is Nyx. He was, until approximately an hour ago, an ancient primordial fragment of shadow and chaos sealed in the caldera for three thousand years. He has now chosen to be reborn as my child. I did not plan this."

Sally side-eyed her brother then stared at Nyx for a very long time.

"Okay," she said at last. "Okay. That’s—okay." She pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose. "So ancient deity suddenly become my brother’s another baby. A three thousand years old deity. Who can speak as soon as he was born. Of course. Another normal day of my life. "

"I’m not a deity but an interdimensional entity but okay," Nyx supplied helpfully.

Sally looked at the kitten. The kitten looked back with ancient, patient eyes.

"Right," Sally said, with the composure of someone who had been in this world long enough to recalibrate their definition of normal at least seventeen times. "A human giving birth to ancient entity. I’ll get the good blankets."