Seeing the mysterious golden fire flickering about from time to time, Hei Long could feel the power hidden within that flickering light, but Hei Long wasn’t stupid enough to not know that it was beyond precious. Just by the aura it emitted, even the dumbest person in the world would know and recognize, after seeing it first hand, that it was a precious thing—and to be given something like that? Hei Long wasn’t shameless to do that. He declined it without hesitating.
“Boy, what are you saying?” Hei Long gave the little boy a strange look in askance, and then pointed at himself. “Me—in danger? Me? Are you sure? Besides, this thing’s very precious—anyone can tell just by looking at it—and you shouldn’t give me something like that. It would make me look and feel bad.”
Of course, Hei Long knew that he was always in danger, and never had such a thought that such thing would drift afar from him. Danger was always sticking close to him, never leaving him alone, and accompanying him throughout his life. Without it, he wouldn’t be Hei Long.
“No!” The little boy shook his head, looked him at his eyes, then at his surroundings. “The worlds around you are the ones in danger! Not the other way around! And this not that precious, just a rare treasure—it will help you solve some problems. Please, accept it for me!”
The little boy looked at Hei Long with his big doe eyes, begging him to accept the gift he offered.
Hei Long body shook, his eyes widened. He knew the boy wasn’t saying nonsense for he always had this kind of feeling every time he blacked out for some reasons god knows.
“Then why do I need that if I’m not in danger?”
“Cause you’d be hurt whenever you destroy something innocent. There was a time—oh, yes—I remembered the time when you got so riled up because one of us—your precious little ones—got chased by a group of bandits, and got lost in the middle of the forest, wandering without anyone to rely on. By the time—”
“What happened to them?” Hei Long’s eyes widened. “Are they alright, did they got hurt?”
The little boy smiled. “Yes, and no, big brother, they’re okay. Actually, no one got hurt besides the hoodlums that chased them.”
Releasing a sigh of relief, Hei Long looked at the sky above.
“What exactly happened to me, and what’s happening right now? How could I forget such important things. It’s making me worry,” he thought.
Hei Long looked at the little boy, who looked like a little angel who was sent from above to make him felt various emotions—worry, confusion, and happiness at the same time.
“Little angel, please stop making me worry, okay?” Hei flicked the boy’s forehead, making it red.
The little boy covered his forehead after being attacked, and puffed his chubby round cheeks. “Aiya, big brother’s bullying me again. Hmmp!”
Hei Long laughed as he poke the boy’s cheeks while appearing awestruck. “Wow, you can also do this? Let me see—hehe.” Bright light appeared in Hei Long’s eyes as he gave out an evil laugh. Then his hands started to tickle the little boy. “Aiyou, this is for making me worry.”
The two of them tumbled, laughing, and rolling along.
The little boy’s laughter was full of delight. “B—big brother, stop!”
Hei Long thought that it was time to stop the torture, so he laughed. “Any more tricks, boy?”
After stopping Hei Long from “torturing” him any further, the little boy squinted his eyes at him while his body trembled after thinking of such torture. He had a look like he was seeing a devil, not his big brother, which made Hei Long’s indifferent face smirk. As if seeing the evilest smirk of all, the little boy took a step back, and then pointed at him.
“You evil being! Get out of my brother’s body! If not, I-I-I will let you feel the power of this golden light.” The little boy gave him a look don’t-you-dare-get-close-or-else.
Seeing the naivety, and innocence within those eyes, he sighed once more as varying emotions flooded his heart and mind.
Before waking up in this world, the only thing he had in mind was to meet his family—his deceased family to be precise. Because the last thing he knew, and remembered before waking up were—the great tree that towered through the sky, his death, and nothing more. He didn’t remember having this little angel as his family—no, he didn’t remember having kids around him. If he did, he wouldn’t leave them to fend for themselves—that would be horrible. And he wasn’t able to imagine doing such thing— he was sure of that.
Hei Long was a person who longed for familial love, but never had a second chance to feel it again after his family left him behind because of death. Or so he thought. Although, there might be some times that he might not look like one, but he was definitely 100% sure that he was an emotional, and a protective kind of a person. So doing such as leaving the kids behind would cross his bottom-line.
“How could you leave them behind, Hei Long? They’re kids for god sake! But since the kid’s here, this time you can’t let it pass. You need to make up for the time you were away from them through him, before thinking of a way to regain back your lost memories.” Hei Long thought as he convinced himself while muttering to himself with,’yes, you can definitely do it’.
Thinking about his perfect plan, Hei Long couldn’t help but smile as he tried to get close to the little one. “You don’t have to be afraid—”
“No!” the boy cried. “Bring me back my big brother! I wan’t him back!”
Out of a sudden, the little boy’s antics stopped, and his face became serious. He looked at the golden fire lying dormant on his tiny hands with indifferent face, then a golden ray of light burst out of his eyes as his voice turned into something ancient. “Take this light. And let this light bring luck, warmth, and peace to your new world!”
“W-what—”
The world around them rumbled as the vast sea underneath them rippled, sending massive waves from their very spot. The golden light dazzled more brightly, bringing the world more light and comfort.
Humming sound resounded from the little boy’s back.
The little boy’s wing shook as it grew bigger and bigger, tearing the white toga apart, and spreading behind his back. By the time the wing stopped growing, various light, and sound started to emit out of it. Then the fully grown white wing started to suck the excess energy around them, which earlier was sent inside from the outside world.
“God’s bestowal—Gather!” the ancient voice rang throughout the world within, leaving Hei Long frozen. He then saw the wing spread out in the open air, sucking something from the surroundings, which later formed a small vortex—whirling and humming about before entering the wing.
In truth, the wing was actually gathering the excessive scattered energy, which the golden fire wasn’t able to receive earlier, before transmitting it to the golden flame in order to make it more pure and powerful.
After a few moments, the wing slumped down, the vortex of whirling energy gone, making the chaotic world at peace for quite a moment. Finally, the wing stopped gathering the massive amount energy around.
With his wing slumping behind his back, the little boy’s left hand hovered over his chest, and then the ancient voice rang. “Energy condense!”
The slumping wing hummed, it was as if the wing received the command. The light that the wing gathered inside the chest of the little boy burst forth, making the wing dims a little bit. Then the little boy started to transform the stored energy within the wing, and channeled it to his chest into a white ball of blazing light—which was similar to the golden flame but was smaller in terms of scale, and weaker in terms of power.
The left hand of the boy took the white ball from his chest.
“Yes, finally!” the ancient voice said. “This wing has finally produced its final product, which would be used to strengthen the golden flame—making it more lustrous and powerful. The next step is— “
“Hey!” Hei Long moved closer to the boy with arched brows. “What happened to the little boy? You didn’t possess him, right?”
“Possess?” the little boy laughed, but his voice was still that of an ancient, coarse and rough, similar to a thunder rumbling about. The little boy pointed at his head. “He’s here.”
“Is he fine?” Hei Long asked. “What exactly did you do to him?Y-y-you old man!”
After saying the magical words, Hei Long sworn to every kind of god in existence, that he saw the little boy’s delicate forehead twitch. “It wasn’t a vein, was it? Aiyo, I might have made the old man angry.”
The little boy laughed as he stared at Hei Long, his “gentle” laugher rang throughout the the world.
As meeting an old friend, Hei Long also began to laugh, though, it was a bit forced. “Laughing is still laughing” he thought. At that time, Hei Long knew that he got himself into trouble without even trying.
Finally, the little boy stopped laughing, and so did Hei Long.
With indifferent face, the little boy said, “He got scared by you—thinking that you might be possessed—so he called, and told me to cleanse you.” The little devil grinned at Hei Long. “He-he, now that I look at you. Uh-huh, you might really be possessed, don’t you think so?”
“Well,” Hei Long said, “I don’t have time to joke with you, whatever you are. But since this is my place, please introduce to me who you are, and what you are doing here collecting that mist. Please.”
Hei Long had never thought that the scared kid would be frightened by his joke to the point of being possessed out of nowhere. “What kind of mouth did that kid have?” Hei Long though as he grimaced with tsk tsk sound. Although, the current little boy right wasn’t the original little boy, Hei Long still didn’t felt that he was in danger being with this little boy even after it was occupied by another. Strangely enough, he felt secure and anxious at the same time, which was contrast to one another.
The little boy smiled at him. “No need! For the time will come when the Will will arrive, bringing you your long lost friend buried underneath the white land!”
Hei Long frowned, and ask, “Will will—what?”
“The time will come, and Will will come. And by then, you will know who I am!”
