Blue Moon

C H A P T E R 25

AKÌ

ARRAH

The earth shook and the winds roared with it. If I wasn't floating, I would have tumbled and fell. Deep back into the cold dark waters where Mayari met a painful and tragic end. Upon its surface, only a part of the Bakunawa was visible. Silver slitted eyes, beautiful glowing scales glittering under the night sky, two pairs of wings - one pair smaller than the other, and fangs that tore through villagers and villages; Baku was one humongous and marvelous beast. A murderous beast.

The sky turned red and, as if crying, a tumultuous downpour fell. Baku was in a rage. That earthquake earlier and this torrential rain would trigger a landslide that could kill all other survivors. It needed to stop but its anger was not dying out, if anything, it only grew.

Out of corner of its vision, a spear came hurtling towards it. Twisting its serpentine body, it narrowly escaped the sharp tip of the spear but the pressure from the force of the whooshing spear scraped its neck. It was the exact same spear that pierced Mayari and as quickly as it appeared, it vanished the moment it passed by the raging creature. Snapping its head towards the direction the spears came from, it bared its fangs and snarled.

At the edge of the cliff from where Mayari fell stood Haliyah with her right arm raised towards the heavens with several summoning circles hovering behind her. Her golden mask covering her face and her silken clothes plastered on her body as it continued to rain; her eyes, filled with coldness and a hint of sorrow, looked down on the angry beast with indifference. The moment their eyes met; a flurry of huge golden spears fell.

Despite its attempts to dodge, seven spears hit Baku's coiled body. Its resounding roar brought the rain to halt but it again shook the drenched land. It screeched in anguish. The spears exploded and scattered into golden orbs. Once free, Baku's tail hit the waters and sent waves in all directions. Haliyah was about to raise her arm and attack again but Baku sent water daggers in her direction.

'I will have your blood, Haliyah! The next time we meet, I will bathe in it!'

Having uttered its promise, Baku changed into water. A huge creature such as Baku generated an equivalently gigantic wave as the water it turned itself into came crashing down the lake. This time I might really drown.

Then I find myself transported inside a burnt and burning house where a baby laid sleeping. Sleeping? In this heat, flames, and smoke. The rain must have put out the large fire but it did not quell all of it. The baby, Mayari's child, was in peaceful sleep. Too still.

Was she?

I walked to her but stopped when a woman of otherworldly features appeared beside her. This woman's hair was white and long. The lush hair covered her length as she leaned over the seemingly lifeless child. Reaching for the baby, she caressed the child's left cheek.

'She has left us... I tried to make her stay but she... she wished to go. But you... do not leave just yet. Stay with me, Akì.'

The woman was that serpent dragon Baku? Appearing weak, she was severely wounded by Haliyah. Faint lines of scales covered her pale arm. A forefinger tracing the child's plump face. Her fingernail protracted; the sharp end she used to mark the child on her small chest. Baku drew blood then the child breathed and cried.

'Remember her by the wound that heartless moonlight goddess gave...'

Mayari's child opened her eyes and Baku smiled bitterly. Glowing water swirled around it until her body joined and became one with it. Her silver eyes morphed into the water and charged inside the child's left eye until there were no traces of Baku save from her eye and the scar she gave the child. Her anger lingered and lived through this child.