Family

Feeling the warm and gentle hand ruffling the top of his head, the boy closed his eyes with pure bliss present on his face.

"He-he." He gave out an angelic laughter, smiled, and shook his head while his wing flapped back and forth. Anyone could see how happy the boy was when Hei Long ruffled his hair to a mess and fix it again.

'What a cute child,' he thought. "Child, are you still there? Hey, can you hear me?" He shook the child up.

The child woke up, and wiped the smile on his face, and tried to put a funny face, but he couldn't really hide the happiness exuding from his body. So he blushed with shame.

"I can hear you! I can hear you—"

"Then what did I ask you?" Hei Long asked. "Where was I—Oh, why are alone here with me? What about our other siblings? Why aren't they with you?"

"Oh, they?" the boy asked. "They're fine and happy—oh-oh, I almost forgot." Smiling foolishly, the boy said, "Thanks god, big brother asked me that, or else I would have forgotten."

Feeling a sense of urgency, Hei Long said, "Quick, tell me."

The boy looked down at the sea beneath him while playing with his toes.

"I-I-I tell brother, b-but brother has to agree that he won't be angry with me. Okay?"

"Okay, so tell me quickly." He didn't have the time to get angry with him cause he didn't really know whether the kid was his real sibling or the child might had just made some story up. But he didn't throw out the possibility that the kid might be telling the truth, and he might be just the kid's long-lost relative.

The child took a deep breathe, relaxed himself, and looked at Hei Long in the eyes. He could see and feel the profound worry hidden beneath those colorful eyes, which made him more resolute.

"They're fine and happy—"

"You've already said that part, so what exactly happened to them?"

"Nothing happened to them," he said. "Before I left our house and everyone to find you, I told them the truth behind my sudden actions. I told them I would look for you. But many of them disagreed, they said that they should come with me, and that I shouldn't be selfish..."

"I-I what did I lose?" he muttered as his body subtlety shook. He tried to hide it from the person in front of him, but the kid noticed. He was always observing him, so his subtle movements were detected by the kid before he could even hide it from him.

"Continue," Hei Long said. "Don't stop please."

"Yes, I will." The boy gave him a nod.

"I tried to reason things with them, but they all looked at me as if I was the most horrible thing in existence. They always emphasized that I should bring them away, and then look for you for good. But when I told them that it's hard to bring all of them with me. And I need to pay certain prices to travel in order to look for you."

"Price?" Hei Long asked. "Come to think of it, how did you find me in the first place?"

"Big brother, let me finish first, okay?" The boy said while puffing his rosy cheeks. "I'm almost done, the story's almost done. Big brother, hmmp! You never let me finished! Not in the past, and not today either."

"Okay fine," Hei Long ruffled his hair, and gave him a warm smile. "You don't have to pout, okay?"

"Hmmp! But since big brother said so, I will reluctantly agree." The boy's wing flapped back and forth as he felt his favorite spot being ruffled by Hei Long. "Where was I—oh, oh, everyone didn't say much because they already know that you already knew how much you mean to us. Everyone said that you need to take care of yourself, and that everyone will always wait for you to come home."

After hearing that, Hei Long's mind went blanked. Somebody shouted, "B-b-big brother?"

Hei Long vaguely heard any of it. He felt great pain coming from his head. So he grabbed the ends of his hair, stumbled down, and crouched on the surface of the solid water while bearing the pain that was wreaking havoc in his mind. At that moment, it was as if he saw some fleeting images of some kids—running along a narrow road, laughing, smiling, and their faces were full of bliss—as they walked with him along the road toward a big shabby house then the images vanished like it were made out of bubbles. He had forgotten. Yes, he had forgotten something. He had never dreamed that some part of his life would be removed by something, and what he couldn't accept was that the only memories he had about his family would be lost without him knowing. He felt like his heart was being gripped by an invisible hand and was being torn to pieces. It was so unbearable that it made him cry but tears didn't rush out of his eyes. It only made his eyes blanked similar to the eyes of a dead fish.

He had always thought he was impervious to any kind of suffering, and that he was immune to any of its kind. But the pain he felt at the moment wasn't something within the realm man could bear and forget.

Under the gentle rays of the blazing object above the vast sea, he climbed his way up, knelled down on his right knee, and grabbed the boy who wore a worried expression while helping him up.

"Please, child." He begged. "Please tell me everything I should know. You seem to know something. I want you to please tell me everything that I should know."

With a slumped head, he said, "Big Brother, please don't beg me. The first time I saw you, I've always wanted to tell everything straight away, but certain actions need certain cost. And one of the conditions I promised someone in order to find you were to never, ever, let you know certain things that might ruin the things that you planned for us and yourself."

"Planned?" he blanked out. "I planned this? When? Who told you this?"

"We never saw day after day of waiting, but we still kept the hope hidden beneath our hearts. You will certain come back home—like you always do. We were certain. We waited, and waited." The boy screamed in his heart. "But you never came back!"

After a moment of silence, a sound went zzzzt, zzt, zzzzt, zzt as the boy's hand went incorporeal for moment.

The child's countenance went pale. "I don't have much time, Big brother."

Hei Long frowned. "Where are you going?"

"I going nowhere," he said with a smile. "I'm going to do something. Please, don't disturb me.

The boy performed some kind of ritual: he slowly stretched his arms wide, drew his arms close to his chest, crossed his arms across his chest. Hei Long felt temperature suddenly rose high for some reason. Suddenly, the child gentle, and slowly took something out of his chest, making the temperature higher and it made the sea churn.

Outside where the physical body of Hei Long lies, powerful energy surged from the surround forming a giant whirlpool of energy. Hei Long flew 20-meters up from the ground, and the whirlpool of energy above him, which was forming a giant vortex of pure energy, gradually came closer to his head.

When it touched the golden-tear shaped on his head, the giant vortex of energy was sucked into the forehead of Hei Long, and through the golden-tear like a tattoo. The vast energy was brought forth into the hidden world of Hei Long. Sucking the energy endlessly, Hei Long, who was floating midair, shook as the energy was too much for him to absorb. And because of that, the excess energy was stopped by Hei Long's subconscious mind from sending more energy inside his body. Unable to move forward, the giant vortex of pure energy started to disperse, and ended up forming a giant ball of energy, placing him in the center of the ball of excess energy. It made him like a nucleus of a cell.

In Hei Long's sea of consciousness, the boy slowly but gradually pulled a golden colored object from his chest which was absorbing the energy around the sea of consciousness. But because the energy inside this world was abundant beyond measure, the golden object continued to feed from the surrounding energy making its form clearer as the time passed by.

Soon enough, it felt full, and so it stopped its feast. Hei Long at it, he was sure that it was a golden flame. The golden flame came out of the child's chest. After a long time of pulling it in and out, it finally came out.

"A golden flame?" Hei Long muttered. "What is that supposed to be?"

The child with the golden flame place on his palms presented it to Hei Long. Hei Long tried to touch it but it seemed to have some barrier making him unable to touch it. Although he couldn't touch it first hand, he can feel the warm heat exuding from it. It had a different feeling from the first time he felt it when it was initially summoned—now, however, it was gentle yet strong, making him feel comfortable.

"Take this," the boy said. "This is the only thing that could help you suppress the Devil living inside of you, which is your volatile emotion!"