CHAPTER 428: A MOTHER’S DUTY

ZINA’S POV

"In the past, I was without a name. But now you have given me a name so I will bravely answer to it—It is Brynn, Zina."

Zina was stunned.

Rendered speechless in the most horrible way.

And this familiar world she had found herself in seemed even more stranger than it originally was.

She staggered back, staring at the little girl. Once upon a time, she believed the girl was a strange albeit younger version of herself. The younger version of herself who once believed she had a family to protect in the form of the WolfKnight’s.

The girl who thought she knew about love, only to realize that she had been in fact quite delusional.

But the knowledge that the one who stood before her was Brynn. The same child she believed was a daughter whom she lost under the cruelty of Rowan and his Master was astounding.

The girl smiled. "After everything that has happened, is that so hard to believe?"

Her lips wobbled—a tear jerking reaction as tears filled her eyes.

No. After everything that has happened, it wasn’t so hard to believe. But nothing had prepared her for that strange twist.

"Thank you for giving me a name," she said, "as an aimless spirit from long the time of your ancestors, I’ve had no choice but to wander as an unborn spirit. Subject to the curse of miscarriages. But you’re different. Even though our bond on earth eventually lasted for a short time—you still cherished me the way one would a real child. But now, I stand merely as your guardian, goddess."

Her tears fell down rapidly one by one as she stared at the girl with a mix of fear and awe. "This curse you speak of must have been the same that plagued my mother. Right?"

The girl smiled, then nodded. "The very same. You’re the most fortunate of us—but that much is to be expected of the reincarnation of the goddess herself. I myself have wandered like this for thousands of years. I have lost count."

"What... what kind of vicious curse is this?! Are you saying that even if I lived, I might never have had a child with Daemon?"

"Why worry so much about what might have been and what might never be. You only ask for heartache."

Zina sniffled. Perhaps it was better that it all ended like this. Daemon was a supreme Alpha with a line to protect. If she were unable to hear a child for him, then he would have to—

She didn’t finish that thought. Couldn’t finish that thought. The girl stared at her amusedly.

"However I can’t deny that I would have been most fortunate to have been born as your daughter. And to answer your question, you’ve always been fortunate Zina. You might have not only bore a child, but two, or even five. Even now, you’re still most fortunate." She added wistfully.

The words sank in slowly. "Why tell such a terrible joke," she said, wiping her tears away with vicious motion, "there’s nothing fortunate about my situation."

The girl smiled slowly just as a burst of light glowed behind her. "Is that so, goddess?"

Zina blinked in confusion, staring at the burst of light. That was until her mother materialized from it like a summoned thing.

She startled at the sudden company, staring panickedly between the girl and her mother who suddenly joined them.

"Mo... mother?!"

Her mother rushed to her quickly, gripping her by the shoulders. "Thank the spirits." She gasped out, tears streaming down her face.

Zina on her part was nothing if not confused. "Mo...mother, what are you doing here?"

Her mothers caressed her face tenderly, examining her like she was searching for any signs of injury which was strange because Zina had long become spirit. Even the stab to her heart was not visible in this form.

Yet something about their current situation rang familiar. It reminded Zina of the projection she had when an assassin wolf was sent after her. The same projection where her mother had managed to freeze time and they met for the first time.

From what Zina understood, the Runes of the Screamers Pack possessed the power to bring about such projections to life. Part of the Runes was inside her dead body, and the other should still be back at the Cave Manor or in her mother’s custody. So could that mean...?

But instead of answering her, her mother hugged her tightly, weeping in a way that Zina never thought the stern woman was capable of.

The act brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes, and she found herself hugging the woman back.

"Mother, this is no place for you." She said tenderly, patting the woman on the back, "I have cut your chains. So now, you should be living a good, peaceful life. With Zelkov, remember? I might no longer be there, but Zelkov has been waiting for you for a long time. So you must return and never come back here."

Her mother tugged herself back, resting furious wet eyes on her. "How foolish you are!" She growled in a visceral voice that echoed and rebounded, "How foolish you must be to think that taking your life is the best decision! To think that everything can end with your life!"

Zina tilted her head up, pretending to be strong. "I understand your grief, mother. But the decision I made was not for myself, but so that the world will be at peace."

Her mothers furiously tugged at her ark even as tears streamed down her face that was set in raw grief. Zina tried to look away from it, to remain unaffected by it, but how could she? Especially when she had come close to being a mother herself.

"Your death will not end the Deformed." Her mother gritted in a shaky voice, "I told you it is the Runes that have the power to banish them permanently."

"But they fell and were petrified did they not?"

"Yes! But that’s only for now! Should another tyrant find a Medium of power like yourself, this whole cycle will start all over again!"

Zina refused to be daunted by that information. "You have the runes, do you not? Do what you must. At least, I have bought peace for sometime."

Her mother chuckled, caressing her face with a strange expression in her eyes. An expression that resembled something Zina had seen in her own eyes the moment she had made the hard decision to take her own life.

But it felt so good to be held like this by a mother’s warmth. To be reminded that she was never abandoned. That there was a woman out there who loved her even while bound in chains.

"I will do that, Zina. This started with me, so I will end it of course."

Zina smiled through glassy eyes. "Thank you mother. Please...return for now."

But then her mother’s tender smile morphed into something unrecognizable. "But I will do something else too," she said in a voice like stone, "I will finally do my duty as mother to you."

Zina realized belatedly that the girl—although silent ever since—was smiling with a pedantic expression, and the Runes, now fully formed, was dancing in her mother’s hands like runic texts clashing against each other.

And before she could say a word, her mother slammed it into her chest until it burned so much she felt she was dying all over again.

The white flowers around them wilted. Dying instantly. And Zina felt herself being plunged into another world.

Belatedly, the girl’s—no, Brynn’s—earlier words echoed to her.

"Even now, you’re most fortunate."

And then she blanked out. Totally blacked out in a way that no spirit should.

It made her wonder... was she still a spirit?