Zenith earnestly followed the middle-aged monk to reach the western side of the shrine, where there was a giant black hematite rock placed in the middle of a floweryard. This was the spot where the family mbers would hold prayer etings for their lost ones.
Reaching that place after a very long ti, Zenith’s heart grew heavy with grief as he felt very guilty for not fulfilling his liable duty as Zorina’s son until now.
But now he was determined to fulfill all of his duties and beco the kind of person his mother would be proud about.
Just looking at the surroundings, it was pretty clear that countless devotees must co to that mountain shrine every day to offer their prayers in front of the haematite rock. It had a unique polishing shimr under the glistening sunlight, which was also said to hold spiritual powers. It was decorated with thousands of candles, and colorful flowers, and on small paper plates, ripped persimmon fruits were offered to the rock, which seed to be a ritual of offering to the demised ones by their families.
While Zenith was staring at his surroundings, the monk collected a few ripped persimmon fruits for him on a paper plate and handed it over to him, before conveying in a gentle voice, "You should pray for your mother’s eternal rest here, my child. Offer her these fruits and tell her to eat well, and sleep well. Go."
For a brief mont, Zenith felt it too hard to believe he acted like the kind of arrogant scum who brutally bullied any student in the Academy who used to hold any firm belief in deities as well as the divine Moon Goddesses. He never wanted to believe in these kinds of spiritual existence, since his inner darkness had completely numbed his emotions deep inside.
But being together with Kylian had finally opened his eyes, teaching him the true aning of finding eternal solace in soone who didn’t approach him seeing his power and worth, but just a simple person.
By now, Zenith felt very peaceful after coming back here to fullfill the last rites for his beloved Mom who perhaps had never rested peacefully until now. He humbly knelt down before the Haematite rock and offered the fruits as he was old, as well as lit up a few candles.
The monk started chanting the prayers aloud, sprinkling holy water all around the area while Zenith kept his eyes closed, folding his palms for the prayer.
"My child! Look at that!"
Suddenly when the monk shrieked in an excited voice within a few minutes after he started the ritual ceremony, Zenith blinked open his eyes with a quick jolt. He was awestruck to see the beautiful black haematite rock had turned deep reddish brown in color under the shimring sunlight, with a mild breeze wafting past him.
Strangely for a second, Zenith felt as if that mild breeze was similar to a warm embrace from soone, making his emotions well up deep down his throat. Without realizing it himself, his big onyx eyes started getting wet when he continued staring at the big haematite rock changing its color before the monk uttered in a jovial voice.
"This is truly a divine blessing! It is the first ti in 15 years that the sacred rock changed its color during a prayer et ritual...and do you know what it ans?" Wafting his gentle gaze towards Zenith’s tearful eyes, he spoke in a low, soft voice, "That ans your Mother has accepted your offering, my child. She must’ve been waiting for you all this ti here...and...she has truly blessed you."
Hearing the monk’s humble revelation, Zenith couldn’t stop his tears from streaming down his cheeks, as he lowered his head down. He didn’t fail to realize that the warm embrace with the wind which he experienced a mont ago was truly his Mom’s embrace...which he had lost years ago.
That ant her soul still waited for him eagerly all this ti.
"Mom...(Hic)..." His words shuddered from the tears welling deep down his throat as Zenith forced himself to say his sincere prayers, "Mom...I am sorry for being so late...A-And...thank you for waiting for ... I love you...(Hic)...and I will beco a good son for you...I will fight for all the false allegations that...were put on you after your death... I will bring your glory back...
"And...I am sorry for living my life recklessly until now...But...I am truly at peace now... P-Please bless my Kyle too...I...I love him very much, Mom... And...I will definitely protect him with my life. So...please...rest in peace now...Eat the persimmon and watch from above there...Okay..."
When Zenith finished his prayers, the rock illuminated with a bright red glow of light, which made the monk’s eyes swell with tears as well, as it was the pure indication that finally after accepting Zenith’s last ritual, Zorina’s soul could be at peace.
Throughout the ritual, Zenith couldn’t stop himself from sobbing but before he could speak again, a soft small pair of hands wiped Zenith’s tears with a silk handkerchief, making him wince hard and lift his face up to look at the approached tiny figure.
It was a cute little girl with a round face, around 5-6 years age who tried to wipe Zenith’s tears with her small hands. Before Zenith could figure out what was happening, soone ca rushing towards them with a soft masculine voice heard in their direction, "Jinni, what are you doing? I told you not to run off to strangers, right?"
Averting his gaze towards the direction from where the voice ca, Zenith saw it was a young pregnant male oga with a huge round belly as if his due date of delivery was quite near.
The oga boy was petite looking, but he quickly rushed towards that little girl and caught her hands, before bowing to Zenith and asking for an apology, "I...I am very sorry for my girl’s rudeness, sir. She has a habit of running off towards strangers...despite I keep telling her not to do so..."
"Momma, I only run off to handso strangers. Look, isn’t he also very handso and beautiful?" Quite boldly when the little girl pointed her fingers towards Zenith who had stood up from the ground, watching his giant and majestic figure made the oga guy pretty nervous as he scolded her, "Jinni, I am never going to bring you outside if you keep up with your bad habits, don’t you know it is a very dangerous world for us ogas? And..." As if he had already sensed Zenith’s strong pheromone, the oga guy retreated a few steps back with his girl, sounding anxious from his mumble, "And...I told you not to run off to Alphas too, didn’t I?"
Until a few days ago, the only emotion Zenith could feel towards ogas was pure disgust, no matter what situation they were in. But now, looking at that young pregnant oga’s fearful expression while he was scolding the child, the only emotion he felt was pity...
In fact, he felt it a bit too hard to digest, how harshly the world must have always treated the ogas, to the point they even find it scary just to bump into a pure stranger Alpha.
Thus, with a heavy exhale, Zenith marched a few steps closer to them and knelt down before the little girl who was still keenly gawking at him, lifting her round face. Pressing a cordial smile on his lips, he urged, "Little angel, are you an oga too? Just like your Momma?"
"Yes, that’s why he keeps telling not to go near the Alphas... He tells that Alphas are bad and scary...and they will do cruel things to hurt us..."
The little girl’s bold confession flinched the male oga as he hurriedly tried to silence her, fearing she might hurt Zenith’s pride as a dominant Alpha, which he had imdiately sensed just from a whiff of his pheromones.
But strangely Zenith didn’t show any sign of getting agitated and tenderly patted the little girl on her head when he muttered, "Do you find scary too?"
"No, you’re very handso."
"Haha, thank you." With a soft chuckle, Zenith exhaled a big sigh before he calmly narrated to her, "Well, your Momma isn’t completely wrong either. I agree that the world is dangerous towards the ogas, but also, you shouldn’t perceive the thought that all Alphas are bad. There are Alphas like , who don’t think about hurting the ogas anymore...because I have found the oga whom I wish to treasure for my whole life."
’Anymore? Then does that an...he used to hurt ogas before?’ The quick thought stirred inside the male oga’s mind but before he could say anything, Zenith continued further with another gentle pat on that girl’s small head.
"But still, you should always listen to your Momma. Because...once you lose him, there won’t be any turning back...no matter how much you will cry or beg to et her one last ti. Rember, he’s the one who loves you the most in this whole world.
"So, cherish your Mom’s words and instead of growing up as a fragile girl, beco a strong oga who can protect your mother, okay? Just like my own beautiful and bold Kyle..."
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Author’s Note: Thank you my lovelies Jennifercross44, and Leon_Cruger for the GTs and gift, I am quite unwell now due to my stressed situation but I hope to recover and be back with dual updates. Please keep loving and supporting :)
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