Beautiful starlight flashed amazingly through the gaps of moving darkened clouds above as almost deafening silence intruded the scene below.
Sidikat, stood unmoved staring sharply to Peirce distance away from her front, shortly after, Lazarus appeared along the two little beast being girls walking behind with side looked eyes.
"Excluding my daughter, who are those two boys… sons of your friend?" Asked Sidikat.
"No. I—" Lazarus stuttered.
"I know everything alright, I'm just—" She zoomed to Peirce, clawed her fingers tightly around Peirce's neck.
She was so fast that none of them couldn't move even for Lazarus.
"Now tell me the reason why I shouldn't claw out your wide pipe right at this very moment, destroyer of worlds?"
"Windpipe?! How dare you!--" Node yelled strained grunted exacting with all his strength to stand upright.
"Stupid. Trying really hard to look tough. Look around, I'm really getting annoyed with that attitude of yours, boy with long hair-- among my daughter and this very thing here you are the only one who suffers, the one who's dying. If care is not taken you won't survive the next day." Sidikat revealed.
Peirce's eyes widened. Node turned to Lazarus screaming.
"Hey! Old man! Do something?!"
Lazarus fidgeted, swallowed. "Cutest—"
Peirce and Node were surprised why Lazarus was behaving abnormally and also did he just called her 'Cutest?'
"That's-that's—She is my wife…" Lazarus hesitatingly gave in then a relieved exhale. 'Finally'
"What in the---" Node coughed, cleaned the blood from his mouth sneakily feeling dizzy.
The old man actually had a wife, I'd thought he was just lying.
"I'm dead, damn I haven't rehearsed what I wanna say to her yet." Lazarus blamed himself clearing his throat shakenly.
"You got guts Lazarus, after ditching me for how many years, the first thing you did when stepping your dirty feet here after a long while is to bring the one who will cause havoc to the world right at my very home??—"
Sniffia immediately sniffed. "Mommy…"
Sidikat blinked, glanced back to her daughter. "Yes, my child,"
"I'm starting to remember… After all these years why haven't you look for me. Seeing you are safe and sound and now with this perverted old fool—"
"Hey! Cutest! Do something!" Lazarus screamed.
"Where is Daddy, my brothers, everyone?" Sniffia asked.
One could see her watery orange eyes filled with various questions of doubts, dissatisfaction and yearning to know the very truth.
Sidikat sighed. "Unfortunately, Trinity. The chaos that happened ten years ago took everyone-- don't you remember?—"
"Who caused it?! Tell me?! Is it the Dragons?! I will kill them all!" Sniffia squinted her venomous little orange hardened eyes, nostrils flared, jaws twitched, fingers clenched.
Her mother remained calm didn't say a word but turned back to Peirce as though the mother was avoiding her daughter's aching questions.
Sniffia noticed did nothing but ran away in rage, the two little beast being girls followed her immediately.
"Chai… for goodness sake she is your daughter!" Peirce yelled.
"--I know, fool. However you should be more worried about your own life not my daughter's. What truly is a family to uphold when you will one day destroy every single thing we hold dear. Now, destroyer of worlds. Answer this, why should I let you live when I know this world destruction is at your mercy?"
"Well, well, well, what a great reunion," Dante clothed in monster hides surprisingly was at the midst of everyone, "However," He bowed. " Lady Sidikat. This isn't what we discussed."
"—I've said this countless of time and am still saying. Leaving him alive, is really-really a bad idea. Killing him now before his full power could be manifested is something the world needs right now, speedster."
Node scoffed. "Spoiler alert! I've being with him the longest here so, Ma'am. How sure are you this so called power of his isn't fully manifested yet? I've seen it all. A destroyer of the world? That'll be an understatement."
Her sharpened fingers pressed deeper and tightly into Peirce's neck, visible blood slowly flowing down under the moonlight with every heard drops hitting the ground. Peirce, didn't reacted only staring deeply into the eyes of Sidikat's deadpan face.
"Oh, not afraid, are you? That's given."
"Stop there, Cutest." Lazarus told leaning forward, puts his hand on his wife's right shoulder. "Let Peirce go. Look for your daughter we both know, things could get messy."
Sidikat side looked her husband for a while. Then removed her blood stained fingers one after the other from Peirce's neck immediately the teenaged boy's neck healed in glowing green semblance.
"For now. Just for now, I will grant you back your life. However, if I perceived an ounce of your destruction power slipping into the world. I will hunt you down no matter what and I won't mind if everyone's against it." She told. "... Lazarus, thank you for bringing my child to me."
Lazarus fully smiled weirdly murmuring to himself with thumbs up. 'Not at all. I know all along what am doing.'
Sidikat nodded, zoomed to the direction her daughter ran to while telling the Humanes boys to stay behind.
"Well, that happened," Dante zoomed to Peirce. "Sorry for that. I believe this is yours," showed him a book filled with the teenaged boy's drawings. Peirce's eyes widened, he shockingly took it from Dante thinking how is it in his hands.
"Leaving the world to be destroyed by you in the future aside."
Dante pointed at a specific labelled drawings in the book.
"Could we discuss more on what we have here, Peirce… a flying ship?"
--Suddenly, they all heard groaning sounds echoing around as though they were surrounded by despicable monsters.
Node and Peirce scanned around at alert concluding many monsters were coming at them any moment from now.
At the far end shaded corner where the moonlit couldn't reached, glowing eyes were seen in the dark.
Node poked Peirce to look at what he just saw both marveled as the thing approached them, the creature's scales glowed in stone blue magically brightening up the scene with a missing right antler and a single large and long left antler on the head.
Upward flowing of fluffy-curly daisy colored manes and beards.
It—it's a 'Kirin' from the legends--Grandma told me! The teenaged boys wildly recognized such magnificent creature then looked up to the lady mounted on the Kirin.
Pamela's two different colored iris gazed down at them destroying whatever admirations they have left.
"Whatchulookingat!" Pamela raved.
--
Meanwhile, Sniffia stood at the tip of the largest tree's top staring up to the dark sky, she could see the twinkling of stars winking back at her in a consoling manner, the two little beast being girls were below doing nothing but with gloomy stares.
"Once the heart gets too heavy with pain, people don't cry. They just turn silent. Completely silent, Trinity." Sidikat voice was heard behind standing on the another tree's tip.
Sniffia side looked then looked to the glittering moon.
"Trinity… Am truly sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most. I know you are hurt, questioning everything, like where was I? Why didn't I look for you?... all of these should give you every reason to hate me. But I never stopped loving you, never stopped thinking about you—it's just I can't bear to see you suffer once more knowing you are living well under the Divine Humane of Air."
--Then a flashed back that happened years back between the grieved mother and her little child--
Cloaked Sidikat, right at the very heart of the kingdom of the Humanes, stood staring straight to little Sniffia nicely dressed while holding onto a melting-popsicles occasionally running from Jared's grips to explore the large city whenever they were approaching the market square, one could hear Jared yelling Sniffia! with concern in the background. However, the little girl couldn't remember her mother's face staring back with those big innocent yellow eyes of hers.
Sidikat, tightly squeezing her cloak on her chest area in much pain perceiving her child must have lost her memories due to the trauma that happened to their kinds days before.
--
Back to the present. She raised her arms emotionally.
"Come my child. I've missed you so much." Sidikat's once dead pan face suddenly contorted into teary face with smiles.
Sniffia turned also without second guessing, flew into her mother's arm passionately feeling her warmth she had so much longed for.
"I always here for you, baby. I'm not going anywhere. " Sidikat gently reassured.
They both smiled as roll of tears flown down their cheeks.
Sniffia burying herself deep into her mother's arms while being stroke gently on her white hair.
"Mommy…" Sniffia uttered the single word slowing manifesting a child's longing, recognition and desiring for connection and reunion.
A simple yet powerful expression of deepened emotional bond by the child to her mother that endured despite separation and time apart.