" YOU BUNCH OF MORONS!
You think you have the power to stop me! "
The mer-queen had finally opened her eyes. But it was nothing like her ordinary self. It was .
The barrier around her was broken. She ought to have been vulnerable but she became more .
Her elite guards were gone. She was all that was left of them.
" Back off! "
She commanded killing a number of mer- witches at one jolt.
" They all die if you take a step closer! "
She was now creating a hostage situation.
" I am doing all this for you. Can't you understand! It's the only way our population get to live and ... "
" NONSENSE!
You are just too engrossed in pleasing your darkness. The way to our future is not by killing our kind. It's the way Crystal showed us.
She was a true queen even after she gave up her throne to save a single life. His life! "
Jade pointed towards Anjana. She looked furious.
" Crystal gave up her life but showed us how we could coexist. Look at her daughter. Her son- -law. Her step-children. All gathered here selflessly trying to save her grandson.
That is what families do for each other. That is what our lesson was. This is how we can keep lineage without having to succumb to the occult.
Get out of there now. I am not having any more deaths in my presence! "
Jade walked right into the Queen's trap. The moment she entered the circle, the Queen . With just a twitch of her neck Jade was inside the sacrificial circle.
" Noooo! "
Ruby tried to jump in but Anjana held her back.
Lin, Xie and Roe were drowning. With Jade gone, their air pockets had snapped.
" What do I do! "
Ruby panicked, trying to get the air bubble around them again. But as she had confessed . She was weak.
" Don't worry I am here! "
" Mia! "
Her smile could not be contained as Mia swam inside.
She quickly wrapped the three back. They were still coughing and spitting water inside the air .
Anjana came smiling at her too and the little mer-boy wrapped his arms around her.
Mia looked at Lin smiling at all the warm greetings.
" Congratulations my Fox in a wolf's hide. You are now a father! "
Lin laughed like an idiot at her pun and swam towards her. Roe made a sulky face as Xie in another direction.
Lin planned his lips on Mia's. It was a weird kiss. Like kissing through a membrane. Mia popped head inside the bubble so Lin could actually taste her impatience.
" ENOUGH! "
The Queen sent off a blast of heated current. It stung them like magma.
" This one dies if you all don't immediately surrender! "
She lifted Jade up above the crowd to make her presence obvious.
" Nobody is surrendering today, my Queen. I had entrusted you with my child because I thought had changed your ways. But your bloodlust seems to have gotten inside your head. You no are worthy of spending a dignified life! "
Mia closed her eyes, concentrating on the energy around her. She slowly pulled it in, unleashing dual inheritance inside her.
She now was transformed into a mer-wolf.
It was a spectacle in itself.
" Lin, get our boy!
Roe, Xie pair up with the mer- men.
Ruby, get Jade out the moment I give the signal! "
Mia went straight for the Queen's neck. Lin went for their child. Roe and the mer-boy covered side as Anjana and Xie covered the front side of the mer-witches.
" No... No... You can't. You can't stop this chain now that it has started. You have no idea what happen... "
" As a matter of fact I do. I do know you will die if your ritual abruptly ends. "
Mia pulled the Queen out from the center and threw her below the pedestal.
" NOOOOOO.... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! What have you done! "
The Queen got busy wiping her nose that had started bleeding.
As the queen bled and scurried here and there, one by one the remaining mer-witches began back to normal.
However the scene that met them was too much for most to handle. Chaos ensued. Roe and
Xie had a hard time restraining them and Anjana and the mer- boy pacifying them.
Lin held their little prince , tight and warm in the security of his arms.
The little baby was fast asleep. Oblivious to all the commotion.
" Jade! Jade are you alright? " Ruby could not have enough of her sister.
" Mer-witches, mer-men and my fellow immortals. "
Mia suddenly called out, drawing all their attention. The commotion stopped.
The Queen had by that time been transformed into a living fossil. Her life force sucked out her eyes and her body turned into stone.
" This is the final destination of those chasing greed. This is where selfishness takes us! "
Her statement was met with total mum and shush.
" Is this the mer- kingdom that all of you dream of? Built on our family's corpse? "
" No! Not true! "
"The Queen tricked us! "
" Are the ones always oppressed! "
" We just want to live and not die out! "
" Please spare us! "
There were several levels of opinion coming.
" Silence. Your Queen is gone. And so has her close forces. You have been blessed with a king a prince here. She pulled Anjana and the mer- boy forward. My mother gave up her throne for some psychopath to take over. She wanted you to show that it is possible to live and without killing. Look at me. Look at me son. Are our lives not worthy enough? "
There were a series of murmurs. Everybody tells the other something.
" I hope you will be wise enough to sort this grave issue of your kingdom between yourselves.
We will need to head back up right now on the surface. I left with a war raging behind."
Her family needed no more cues.
They knew what might be happening back there. They swam upwards leaving Jade and Ruby .
But suddenly Xie swam back without following the others upward.
He came straight for Ruby.
She looked a little puzzled.
"I hope we can talk after all these get sorted ! "
He looked at Jade too, implying something before swimming back up.
*********
Other world
" Look, Lin and Mia are back! "
" So is our grandson along with his uncle and aunt! "
Xie and Roe carried the baby as Lin and Mia walked arm in arm.
It looked like a storm had just passed over the place.
Bodies scattered here and there. Blood and flesh fill the air with its dirty stench.
They saw Nanako, holding hands with a handsome young male, chaining down the beast by its and tail.
" Uncle Jin... " as she ran.
" Stay back Mia! "
He yelled before she got too close for the beast. It snapped and licked from its bondage.
" Lin! "
Nana exclaimed as he too caught up with them.
" Does this mean it's over? What do you do now that you have caught this thing? "
Lin asked.
" Dang! We missed a good fight! "
Roe stamped her feet. Xie hit her on her head. " You just returned from getting drowned. Don't small heads! "
" My Roe... Roe....! " Boshu ran towards her, throwing away his helmet and sword. He was tk hug her when the glaring Wolf King made him settle for a back slap, " Are you alright ? "
She went ahead and planted a kiss on his cheeks turning him all red. " Alive and kicking! "
She pulled him in a tight embrace.
" Uncle Jin, Father... What do we do with this thing? How long will these chains restrain him? "
The wolf king too came forward. " Tell us brother. I have no idea. "
" These chains restrain him as long as this essence of me is breathing. Which is not very long! "
" What do we do then? What should be our next step! "
Jin smiled.
" This is my mess. My shame. My problem. I will be taking it along with myself. I will forever be to you Mia for giving me this opportunity to rectify past mistakes. "
" Where will you be taking it? The land of the Tree of Knowledge? "
Mia asked innocently.
It was Nanako who smiled this time-
"
This is about the last part.
............The question you ask, the truth you seek, might leave you startled, unable to speak.
Look carefully, look inside to cope, when home seems like a distant hope....
The home for all. Our Primordial Home. Our final abode.
You are planning on absorbing this and taking it along with you. Aren't you? "
Her eyes touched Jin with a soft wink.
" Take me with you. "was her next statement .
" Nana... "
" Nanako! "
Erupted a series of protests.
" You know it will be unsafe to just let them merge and leave them unchecked.
The beast can over power Jin's consciousness again.
Even he knows that too well. "
Nana's fierce reply shut them all at once .
" I need to make sure they pass through the divide between this world and the next. These eyes ached for centuries. The turmoil that our love story created , we have been blessed to see reversed.
Mia and Lin brought the kingdom together. There is nothing else that I wish for. It was time I too my well deserved rest! "
Before anybody could say or add anything more, Nanako used the pendant to open a portal mid .
Everybody watched in dismay.
Mia found the place it opened to resemble the land of the Tree of Knowledge.
" Thanks for looking after our people so well little brother, I always believed in you! "
Jin smiled a farewell goodbye at Mia's father before hitting the beast's head with his fist.
The same silver white light that radiated from the pendant pulled the beast inside.
" Now! "
Nanako held Jin's hand as both disappeared beyond the portal.
The opening to the other world, closing behind them.