Second Saga 080

So here you guys go 6000 words D:  Well, the main author’s note will be at the bottom so I hope you guys truly enjoy this chapter *fingers crossed*

“… You’re the [White Winged Tree]?!”

“Mhm!  Aren’t I amazing?!  Well even if you praise me big brother I won’t give you anything!”

As Aspa said that she stuck out her tongue in a playful manner.  Hydra was, for the most part struck speechless.  He couldn’t imagine that an ancient tree like the [White Winged Tree] would have such a…. vibrant personality!

Noticing that Hydra wasn’t answering, Aspa crept forward with an sad expression and spoke out.

“Can it be… that you don’t like me calling you big brother?!”

As she spoke her final words she wore an expression that looked as if her world had ended.  Seeing the unhappy expression that Aspa was wearing Hydra immediately waved his hands back and forth and awkwardly denied her words.

“No no no, it’s okay you can call me big brot-”

“Yay!”

Before Hydra could even finish speaking Aspa jumped into his arms knocking the wind out of him happily hugging him tightly without any intentions on letting go.  Meanwhile Pan was staring with envy at the affection that Aspa was receiving from his master.

Letting the little girl have her wishes Hydra allowed her to hold onto him for a few minutes.  If what she said was right she had been trapped with no communication with the elves for numerous years and without a bout that would be a lonely time, thus he let herself be spoiled a bit.  When he noticed that she looked satisfied enough, he crept back and bit before kneeling to her height and spoke out.

“Are you okay now?”

“Yup!  Thanks big brother!”

“Good!  can you tell me what happened?”

“….I.. I can’t!”

“How come?”

“It’s embarra.s.sing!”

“I promise I won’t laugh!”

“You promise?”

“I promise!”

As he said that Hydra lifted his hand and extended his pinky finger, noticing Aspa’s confused expression Hydra explained.

“Where I am from, we make promises that will never be broken by interlocking our pinkies!  If we do no matter what the person has to keep their promise!”

“Really?!”

“Really!”

“Really, really?!!”

“Yes!”

“Okay!”

Aspa without any more hesitation like a energetic child quickly interlocked her adorably small pinky with Hydra’s  As he shook his hand to lock in the promise he smiled towards her.  At this Aspa took a big breath in as to explain the entire story at once.

“I found a cute flower and it was holding that bug and I didn’t realize it and it latched onto meeeeeee!”

Aspa’s words flowed out like a stream without pause and when she finished, her entire face flushed red.  Clearly she thought it was incredibly embarra.s.sing, on the other hand Hydra couldn’t help but think to himself.

‘That’s it?!’

He figured there might be some huge force behind this incident but instead it was due to a chance encounter with a parasite attached to a flower?!  Listening to this he couldn’t help but sigh, as the entire situation and disaster to the elves sacred place was merely due to a bad chance of Aspa collecting a flower with a parasite.  Clearly Hydra couldn’t blame anyone instead he found it better to hurry back and report the completion of the quest.

“Well Aspa, I better get going.  Be good to the elves alright?!”

“Wait!  Big Brother, there is one more trial for you to complete!”

“But I already saved you and aren’t the trials for the elves?”

“Nope!  My trials can be taken by anyone especially you who saved me  big brother!  Now come come!”

As she said that she dragged him towards the middle of the room.  After waving her hand a red light appeared on the floor, next thing Hydra knew a tiny pink lily appeared and bloomed the next instant.  As it did Hydra could feel the energy radiating off of it and before he had any chance to react he felt himself lose consciousness!

——————

“…Where am I?!”

Hydra awoke up in a white world where nothing existed other than himself.  However just as he a.s.sumed nothing existed in the distance something appeared.  It was a certain something that made Hydra wide eyed as he rushed towards its direction!

As he strode up to it without hesitation he started to fill his pockets.  In his hands were ma.s.sive piles of gold coins!  In front of Hydra was a mountain of gold that he couldn’t even climb without getting tired!  It was simply too amazing if he had all this gold couldn’t he easily pay for the children’s’ school fees!?

Because Hydra’s goal clouded over all reason he simply didn’t imagine that it was odd for a giant pile of gold to appear in a white world!  Had he been thinking normally and not cared so much for his family members how could he not think of this situation as strange?!

However in the next moment all the gold in his hands, pockets and the mountain disappeared!

“Where did it go!?”

As Hydra started to worry, another pile appeared in the distance!  This time instead of gold was a pile of numerous loot!  As HYdra rushed over he started to drool!  Once again without thinking anything was strange Hydra started to collect the gear and put it into his bag.

It wasn’t long before like the gold that the loot disappeared just as fast as it had appeared.  His mind was clouded by his greed, however it wasn’t a greed that was represented his own selfish desires, it was greed that would allow him to share the happiness with others.  Thus how could he not be a little ignorant of what was happening. However in his stead Aspa staring of fin the distance couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

“Wow.. Big brother I didn’t realize you were this greedy.  Well by now I can already tell you’ll fail but I might as well give you one last chance.”

As Aspa said that she pulled out the same red lily that bloomed in front of Hydra.  Although Hydra had no time to identify this flower, Aspa without even needing to knew it was a [Soul Flower]!  A flower capable of entering one’s mind and showing their inner desires! It was a truly precious object that would allow one to see one’s true self.  The only problem was, although not as rare as the [Mirror Tree] the [Soul Flower] was still nearly impossible to find!

After Aspa waved her hand once, the scenery in front of Hydra changed once again.  This time instead of a white world, Hydra noticed he was in Yorula!  He stared blankly around until he eyes met with the gaze of a person he knew all too well!  It was Irina!  She was standing with the skeleton guards at the edge of the pathway for the ‘Drop of Salvation’!

“Hydra!”

A voice was heard from behind him, when he turned around he could see that Cline and the others had appeared with numerous amount of bags over their shoulders faces full of smiles and pride as Cline stepped forward and spoke out.

“Quick Hydra!  We grabbed all the loot and gold, while they are occupied with Irina let’s go and live like Lords for the rest of our lives!”

“Who are you?”

With a serious expression Hydra spoke out towards Cline.

“Hydra?  What are you talking about let’s go we got the gold!”

“What about Irina?”

“Her sacrifice will let us live happily for the rest of our lives who cares about one death?!”

“As I was saying.. Who the f.u.c.k are you?”

“Ah!”

At this moment Irina at the outer edge of the pathway screamed.  When Hydra turned he realize that she had been pushed off the edge!  Hydra without hesitation bolted towards the edge and ignoring the calls from behind him he jumped into the abyss after Irina.  He even used the [Shadow Walk] mist to allow him to propel forward and quickly was able to catch up to Irina.

As he caught up he grabbed onto Irina, although because she was unconscious she didn’t had a faint bit of pleasure covering her face, although even if she did it wouldn’t matter as instead of her falling, it was now the both of them!

But just as Hydra tightly hugged Irina as they fell into the abyss the moment he blinked his eyes and reopened them, the scene from before had disappeared!  Instead Hydra was back in the middle floor with all the red leaves!  And when Hydra looked around he noticed that Aspa was staring at him with a confused expression, who couldn’t take it any longer and asked Hydra a question.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you save that girl?  Clearly our companions had grabbed enough gold for you to live happily for the rest of your lives big brother.”

“What is gold at the cost of sacrificing others?”

“Haha!  Big brother you are simply too weird!”

“What!  Why?!”

“You drooled over the mountain of gold and equipment, but the moment a friend was involved you treated it as if it was less than dirt!”

At this Hydra awkwardly scratched his cheek.  He realized that the entire thing now was a dream and that it was the trial itself!  He also knew that his actions didn’t really make sense, as on one side he was filled with greed yet on the other hand he cared about the lives of his friends enough to look at riches as if it was dirt?  Who wouldn’t think that was strange?  After all Aspa would simply be unable to know the reasons why Hydra was gathering money in the first place!  Naturally the situation would look strange to others and clearly realizing that Hydra didn’t argue.

“Well, even if you are a little bit greedy big brother you are still very kid, with that I announce that you have barely pa.s.sed the fourth trial: [Trial of the Soul]!”

When Aspa finished speaking a messaged appeared in front of Hydra.

Ding!

Congrats!  You have Completed the fourth trial!

Ding

You have successfully completed the final trial!  As the first player to overcome the [Trials of Aspa] you have been awarded one [Skill Mastery Point], +2 to all stats!  Also your name will now be imprinted on the leaderboards for the trials!  With every compet.i.tor that competes and you continue to stay ranked number 1, you will receive another [Skill Mastery Point]!  Time to complete [Trials of Aspa]: 9 hours 47 minutes!

‘[Skill Mastery points]?  Wha-’

Before Hydra was able to click on the item he just received Aspa broke his train of thought and grabbed onto him!

“Big brother I have something I want to show you!”

As soon as Aspa said that a giant branch latched onto him and rushed towards the top of the tree!  Because the speed was so incredible Hydra was unable to keep his eyes open, and the next thing he knew he was released from the branches grip and when he opened his tightly shut eyes he was shocked at his surroundings!

Right now Hydra was standing at the very top of the tree, and instead of being inside he was now outside of the tree!  His gaze rested on the giant white branches that stretched into the endless sky. On the branches were beautiful white leaves similar to feathers on a swan that stretched out fully fluttering from a slight breeze.  If Hydra didn’t know this was a giant tree he might think that the branches were preparing to take flight!

Although he was amazed by the wings of the tree and stared for quite some time, until he realized that the cloudy mist that covered the surroundings no longer hindered his view he stared into the distance! As the front of the tree faced Mt. Myriad, he was able to see the giant floating islands above, although the tree was already a height that would shock others, the mountain still climbed enough for Hydra to even bend the neck back slightly.  One could imagine the distance that still needed to be climbed to reach the very heights!

The the left of the mountain was a giant ravine that was clearly wide enough to swallow the base of the [White Winged Tree], stretched endlessly into the horizon.  What existed on either side was not life, but a desolate desert.  On the right of Mt. Myriad was a mountain range that extended also into the horizon.  This time the [White Winged Tree] was on a higher elevation and Hydra could see over the mountain range and knew that beyond existed the forbidden lands of the monsters he had heard from Cline.  He was unsure what kind of dangers existed beyond, but as he thought about it Hydra clenched his fist tightly and promised deep within his heart that he would take all the treasures that existed over there!  If there was a large difficulty it just meant that the rewards would increase and for Hydra this was the most important factor!

If he wanted to obtain enough money he would need to dive into the most dangerous of places to conquer and loot! It was some time after when Hydra heard a slight cough beside him, that startled him.

“Big brother, what do you do think of the view?”

“It’s beautiful!”

With a simple nod Hydra whole heartedly believed what he had said.  It was simple to say it but his expression was completely serious as he stared into the distance before gazing upon the wings of the tree again.  It was a magical sight and his expression showed complete bliss even Pan at his side was unable to cry out as he too was captivated by the sight in front of him.

Enjoying the peace and quiet as the wind blew past his face, it was a time spent doing nothing, but it was completely blissful.  However just as it seemed it could go on forever Aspa once again spoke up.

“For saving me big brother, I have two things for you!”

“Really?!”

Hydra’s eyes immediately lit up.  At this sight Aspa giggled happily, although she knew he was slightly greedy seeing this she couldn’t help but find it a bit funny.  However she didn’t waste time and with a wave of her hand, one of the white leaves broke apart from the branch and flew towards Hydra!

“Here!  Although you are not an elf and the leave will not form natural armor for you, you should be able to find a person capable of making this into armor!”

Without hesitation Hydra grabbed onto the leaf and identified it!

[White Winged Leaf] (Sacred Material)
A leaf born from the [White Winged Tree], as a legendary existence that far surpa.s.ses that of even G.o.ds, its leaves are treated as sacred objects!  Although thin and light its toughness and durability far surpa.s.ses that of any other material and only legendary materials are able to compete with it.  [Trans.m.u.te] can turn this into a piece of armor to the user’s desires, however because a recipe will not exist the user will be required to have level 7 ,mastery or higher to attempt.

As Hydra was about to jump in joy he was stopped by the sudden flash of lgiht from Aspa’s hand.

‘What is that?’

Curiously he stared at the object Aspa was about present to him.  As she noticed his curiosity she explained.

“Big brother, although this item might never be of use to you, it has the potential to be of the most use to you in this world.  I do not know whether you will have to use it or not, however you must promise to always keep it with you!”

At this moment Hydra, full of confusion took the bright object and noticed it looked like a gem, except it had a familiar feeling to wood.  It was translucent but the light deep within made it impossible to see completely through it, and as Hydra tried to identify it he was shocked.

[Descendant Soul Gem] (???) ???

“Aspa, what is this?”

“Even if I tell you, you wouldn’t understand thus, I will not.  However it is time to say good bye big brother, I hope you will come to see me again sometime!”

As she said that to Hydra still wearing a face full of confusion she jumped in front of him, and…. pushed him off the side of the tree!

“What?!  I’m falling?!  Again?!”

Right after pus.h.i.+ng Hydra off Pan stared in shock and with a face full of dilemma it looked back and forth to where Hydra was falling and Aspa.  On one side Pan definitely didn’t want to fall, on the other hand Pan wanted to help its master however even if he jumped together he couldn’t do anything!  Unfortunately, Aspa made the decision for Pan.  As Aspa picked Pan up and also threw him off the tree!”

“Aroooooooooooo”

The cries of the panda resounded throughout the entire sky.  It was then that Aspa spoke out.

“I know you’re there come out, before I kill you.”

The atmosphere around Aspa, changed at that instant.  Instead of the friendly, cheerful girl, she radiated fierceness that wouldn’t back down to the strongest foe.  If Hydra was here he would think they were entirely different people, however Hydra didn’t realize that Aspa was not stupid or naive, she had existed for a long time and knew the dangers in life, and knew how to treat friend from foe.  Thus as she turned around she was already prepared for battle.  However the moment she saw what appeared she eased up and spoke again.

“You must be the new G.o.d right?”

“That’s right, Lady Aspa, please call me the Bread G.o.d!”

——————————————–

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The two squeals could be heard between the both of them however as they were currently falling from a terrifying height there would be no one else who could hear them, thus they screamed to satisfies themselves, although it wasn’t going to help it at the very least made them feel a bit better.  However during his screams Hydra couldn’t help but think to himself.

‘I swear I’m going to be afraid of heights after this!’

Time pa.s.sed and although nothing could be done, to Hydra and Pan it was infinitely long, although unfortunately for Hydra this was his second time falling from such an incredible height but that didn’t make him feel any better but instead worse!

Just as his mood was worsening he realized that the tiny landscape had now turned huge and the ground was nearing within seconds!  In fact he was falling in the exact location that everyone was waiting for him!  He could see the tiny figures of people that soon turned into not so small figures and at that point they started to noticed Hydra as well!

“Look!  It’s Lord Hydra!”

“Why is he falling!”

“Oh no!  Everyone Catch him!”

As though nothing could be done even if they caught him, the sheer amount of force behind Hydra’s fall would kill him regardless, everyone saw the imminent death of their Lord, making sounds of gasping screams of horror, or shocked to the point where they couldn’t even move.  They all tried their best and just as Hydra was about to make contact with the Bread followers attempting to catch him, a weird thing happened.  Hydra’s speed all of a sudden slowed instantly, and instead of having a negative impact on him it instead gently allowed him to touch the ground safely!

“Safe!”

Hydra clearly not knowing what happened didn’t really care and made an exaggerated landing pose as if he knew it was already planned.  While most people saw the fear or heard his screams, they pretended to be ignorant.  On the other hand the bread followers saw another miracle by their Lord and their fanaticism only increased!  The direction that Hydra’s Bread Order was heading might be in the wrong direction but at the very least he would be a terrifyingly strong force!  After finis.h.i.+ng his pose Hydra didn’t even have time to call anyone out before Irina rushed to him and hugged him.

“I- Irina?!”

Shocked Hydra was unable to react as Irina clung to him tightly as he could see some tears well up.  His heart started to beat a little faster as he felt grateful and hurt at the same time.  Clearly she had been worrying about him, and now that she saw him alive and well all her happiness and worries rushed out all at once.  Although as time went by it only became more awkward until Lixiss walked over and tapped her daughter’s shoulders as she spoke out.

“Sweetie.  You have a responsibility to fulfil.”

“Bu-”

“No!  You absolutely do not have a choice in this matter.  Now please, don’t make this any harder for anyone and go.”

Irina let go of Hydra and without any energy walked towards the doors of the [White Winged Tree].  Because Hydra wasn’t sure what was going on he couldn’t help but watch with complicated feelings as Irina opened the doors.

“Is something going to happen?”

Hearing this question Laxiss only unhappily looked towards the ground and nodded after pondering for a few seconds she spoke up.

“Do not worry, lil Hydra!  Your darling wife will come back safely to you!”

“What are you saying!”

“Come on now, don’t be like that!  Come now, call me mother-in-law!”

“No way!”

Seeing this sight everyone started to laugh happily in the background a t Hydra being teased.  Even though the Bread followers wors.h.i.+pped Hydra, they also knew he was still human and thus joined in the laughter!

——————

Time pa.s.sed and the golden ball in the sky had already hid behind Mt Myriad, one could see the stars on side and the ever changing burning sky on the other.  It was a beautiful sight to behold.  However now the only people here were Laxiss and Hydra.  The others had already been sent away by Laxiss, as the time it took to complete the [Coming of Age Ceremony] would be similar to Hydra.  However as it would be completely safe unlike Hydra’s attempt everyone left with happy expressions and prepared a feast back home.

Although when Taye was about to leave, he turned back towards Laxiss a face full of complicated feelings, who were returned by his mother.  Hydra didn’t notice the gazes between these two, and even though no words were exchanged between them, Taye himself wasn’t very talkative.  Thus everything he needed say was spoke with his fulls full of meaning.

After Hydra remembered the sight he saw on top of the [White Winged Tree].

‘How amazing this sight would be there.’

“Did you like the view up there?”

“Huh?  Oh… Yeah it was amazing up there.  I almost want to go through all of trials just to see it again!”

“Haha, indeed it is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.  As even if you were on the floating islands of [Dragonic Isle] you would not be able to see the wings of the tree!”

“Why are the hidden?”

“Hmm would you like to hear a tale Hydra?”

“Sure!”

“This is the tale pa.s.sed down generation to generation, although even when we ask Aspa she does not deny or confirm its truth.  However once upon a time, there existed a small tree.  It was a tree so small, it was overshadowed by all the others being bullied and teased by all lifeforms even the shrubs looked more lively than this tree. However even with all the bullying, teasing, the tree’s failed to cover the entire sky.  Because that frail small tree could see the sky from time to time it would see a bird fly freely unhindered by roots that shackled the tree down!   And every time that small tree would gaze upon the beauty of the birds wis.h.i.+ng it could one day have the freedom that they had.  But, because the tree was simply weak it could not grow, forget about being free, if it couldn’t grow anymore it wouldn’t take long before it withered into nothingness! Thus the small tree decided to take a risk, instead of joining the other trees, it decided to descend into the earth!  No one knows how much time pa.s.sed, however one day that tree emerged from the ground. When the overshadowing trees saw this they were preparing to happily tease the tree about how frail and small it was.  But the moment they were about to say something, a strange lgiht covered the small little tree!  Then without a moment’s notice they tree expanded until it became the largest tree to ever exist!  And following the thing that the tree admired most, it grew a pair of beautiful white wings.  And from then on the [White Winged Tree] was truly born into the world!”

“So?  what did you think?”

“Now I truly want to know if that story is true… And if it is, what did Aspa find down below to make her become that strong?”

“No one know if it is true, thus it’s better not to think too deeply into it.  However it shows that with great determination one can achieve anything, just like you Hydra.”

“What do you mean?”

“Haha, you might be strong naturally, however what truly stands out about you is your determination to achieve your goal.  That can be obvious by the fact that you fell from the tree.  If Aspa, didn’t let you reach the top how could you fall from there?  Thus you must have some goal that must be achieved that not even Irina knows about.”

“….True..”

“After all is said and done Hydra, I just hope that you can remember your promise.  I’m not saying you have to stay with Irina all the time or bring her everywhere, just when she needs that shoulder to lean on, can you be that person?”

“Of course you can count on me!”

Seeing that Hydra agreed so readily, Lixiss smiled happily.  However that happiness soon turned into a serious expression as she spoke to Hydra.

“Hydra, did you grow up without a mother?”

“..How?”

Shocked, Hydra could only speak out a single word in response, however Lixiss nodded and continued.

“I noticed you had a look of loneliness every time you saw Irina, Taye and I together.”

“Yes, it’s true, I was raised by foster parents and I have no idea who my true birth parents are as they pa.s.sed away as I was young.  However it wasn’t like my foster parents weren’t nice to me.  They treated me along with everyone else that they raised with effort and love.”

“At first I thought you raised yourself, I’m so glad to here you have some sort of family, but Hydra, you know you could always treat us as your family as well.”

“….”

Seeing that Hydra was unable to respond Lixiss continued with a slight smile.

“I don’t mean through marriage, I’m serious.  Even if we aren’t related by blood, as long as one firmly believes one to be family, that’s all you need.  Thus even if you wanted to call me mother I wouldn’t mind, hehe.”

Witha cheerful giggle Lixiss, teased Hydra who couldn’t help but turn a bit red.  It was obvious that Laxiss struck a weak point from Hydra and knowing that he was somewhat envious of Taye and Irina, she couldn’t help but tease him for it.  However, at the same time Hydra knew that her feelings about being family were true.  Although it might not necessarily mean mother and only the meaning of being close enough to be family Hydra treasured the thought greatly.

It was then that the doors finally opened.  As Hydra and Lixiss looked towards the figure walking out Lixiss muttered softly under her voice.

“….It’s finally time.”

When Hydra saw the figure walking out he was surprised.  Although he knew it could only be Irina, she was now wearing armor fully clothed in the [White Winged Leaves] and her hair was now platinum blonde like Laxiss!  The biggest change however, was the sorrow filled face that accompanied her as she walked out.  As Hydra was about to speak and congratulate her, Irina rushed over towards Lixiss and hugged her.  The next moment she started to bawl her eyes out.

Hydra stood there unable to move, he was unable to react, and he was even unable to think of anything.  Right at that moment his entire mind went blank as he was only able to watch on as Irina continued to cry, sobbing in her mother’s bosom.  Laxiss as if nothing else in the entire world mattered more at this moment stroked her hair.

However the moment Laxiss’ hand made contact Hydra noticed a change.  It was only slight at first, however with each pa.s.sing stroke the skin on Laxiss’ and became noticeably more wrinkled.  Soon her beautiful sterling platinum blonde hair started to fade into a blonde colour.  Shocked, Hydra now awoke from his stupor and his mind started to move as fast as possible, even though it was the only word he managed to squeeze out was “Why?!”

Seeing Hydra’s scream Laxiss looked over with a smile, a smile full of love, a smile full of fatigue.  Such a smile to Hydra caused him to be incredibly anxious.  However as more time pa.s.sed the skin on Laxiss’ once pale and beautifully smooth became fully old and wrinkled.  Her face still contained the once pure beauty however it was severely aged.  The blonde hair had now turned completely white.

Without a word between mother and daughter, Irina, who was still crying in grief, helped carry her mother towards the [White Winged Tree].  As they reached the base, unknowingly Hydra had followed right behind them, Irina leaned her frail mother against the tree.  It was then that Laxiss finally decided to speak.

“My sweet daughter.  I have given you a burden I had never intended to pa.s.s on.  I hope you can forgive your mother.  As having you and Taye were the greatest moments of my life.”

“Mother!”

Irina was unable to voice anything other than her emotion behind the single word.  Her emotions overwhelmed her refusing to allow her to speak the thousands of things she wanted to say.  The tears dripped endlessly, and she knelt beside Laxiss and tightly held her hand.  As for Hydra he clearly knew what was happening, however he had no idea why it was happening.  In his heart he refused to believe the sight in front of him, however his mind was showing him the reality of the situation.  Just earlier they were talking normally and she was teasing him, and now, she was dying?!

As if Laxiss saw straight through Hydra’s state of mind she spoke up to him with a tender caring voice.  One that she always used, full of elegance, that sung every word beautifully, easing the troubled hearts of those around.  However even with that beautiful voice she was unable to ease Hydra’s current grief.

“I, thank you, for everything Hydra.  I meant everything I said, I truly believe that you are family to me now, and from now on I leave my… promise…. to you.  Irina, Taye, Hydra, I love you.  I… must go… your father… has missed me greatly…. Dear…. I’ll see… you.. soon.”

A deep beautiful smile covered her face at that moment, as if nothing could cloud the happiness that she was feeling at that moment.  It is said that the moment a person felt happiness in their last moments they would be unable to hold back death’s call and would accept it willingly.
Her final words were spoke with feeling igniting the last bit of her lifeforce, with all her love behind it.  However as her words reached the end, the grip in her hands loosened, until finally Irina, could no longer feel her mother’s squeeze no longer.  She very well at this moment her mother had pa.s.sed out and she leaned against her mother screaming in a pain indescribable by anyone.  Hydra as well deep within his heart he was screaming in pain.  He never experience of losing someone important, sure his parents pa.s.sed away, however he never truly got to know them.

Now, someone close to him, right in front of him had pa.s.sed  and he couldn’t even do anything to stop it!  Even if he wanted too his state of mind absolutely did not allow him to think of a solution!  It was then that the screaming nearly made him mad, that the vines of the [White Winged Tree] grew and started to cover Laxiss’ body.  Seeing this Irina, unwillingly pulled herself away from her mother.  However Hydra was unwilling to see this and knelt down and viciously grabbed the vines, tears started to drip from his face as he ripped them apart screaming!

“No!  NO!  I won’t let you!”

Vine and vine Hydra ripped them apart, however they grew back, much faster than Hydra could rip them apart, however the vines didn’t even need to wait for Hydra to lose in the long as Irina screamed towards Hydra.

“Stop!  Please… Please let my mother rest!  She has suffered all these years enough… Hydra I beg of you please let my mother rest.”

“Irina!  What’s going on! Tell me!”

Hydra rushed up and grabbed Irina, the both of them crying endlessly, the pain in their hearts were great.  It was then that Irina, through her own sobbing and tears managed to speak up.

“During the time of inheritance from the [White Wing Tree] we are able to live past our normal life span.  It allows us to fulfil our duty for the thousand of years to protect our people.  Even still my mother knowing how painful it was for her own mother and herself, didn’t want for someone to go through that.  Thus she decided to stay the as the Queen.  Thousands of years pa.s.sed, and my mother’s heart had turned cold from loneliness.  It was then, that my mother met my father.  Knowing fully that my mother was in pain and lonely, every day he would bring her a different flower.  At first, she didn’t accept them, however as it became a routine for years, she slowly started to look forward to the flowers she would get every day.  It was one day that they stopped entirely.  Worried my mother ran out to look for my father incase something happened to him.  However to her surprise he was waiting for her, back at her place with a bouquet of flowers, and it was then that he proposed to my mother.  At that moment my mother’s heart felt warmth she hadn’t known for so long and thus she agreed.  This is why I know, I know it’s painful, and I didn’t want to lose her too!  But how could I keep her from my father who sacrificed so much for us!  I want her back!  But I don’t want to see her being lonely anymore!

After this Irina, broke down sobbed.  Memories flashed through mind as she remembered her childhood with her mother.

——————–

“Mom. What does that lullaby mean?”

“Oh my sweet Rin Rin, whenever you miss someone, whenever you want them to be safe wherever they go, whenever your heart aches from missing them.  You just need to hum this song, and no matter where they are, your feelings will be able to reach them!”

“Truly!  Will Father be able to hear it too!?”

“Of course!  It will be even better if we both do it together!”

“Okay!”

————–
“Hmmm. Mmmmmm. Hmmmmm.”

At this moment Irina, hummed a beautiful soft lullaby to herself, although he crying never ceased, warmth filled her and Hydra’s hearts.  Hearing this, even though he wasn’t sure what it truly meant, he could feel that his heart was starting to calm down, he started to see reason.  He knelt down beside the vines and spoke out softly.

“…..It might have been short, but the time we spent together was some of the happiest moments of my life.  I will keep our promise, it will become the vow that binds us together between the life and death.  Farewell… Mother.”

Chapter 80: Farewell

End Of Volume 4:  The Wings of Life

So I hope I managed to deliver the emotions to everyone.  If I did I am very thankful for that.  As I’m not able to perfectly articulate what I’m trying to express to you guys, it would be a shame if this didn’t make you feel anything.  Personally it took me over 5 hours writing this chapter, I cried, and cried to me this was a emotional chapter,

I know some won’t like it however, I had always intended for this to happen since the very beginning of this volume, thus I hope you can forgive me if you hate it.

I actually have so much I want to say but now that it’s time to say everything I feel like I’ll just let you guys think about this chapter.

Until Next Ciao Cubs

PS: t.i.tle of Volume 5: Rise of the Pigperor!