Blessed by Night

But even though those powers are dangerous enough on their own, they have more within their arsenal.

Like their animal traits, they gain special abilities upon being born that make them even more of a scourge than they already were.

These powers come in various different types and uses all the way from god-like flame production to geokinesis.

"And you are saying... munchkin's ability to teleport is one of those bloodline powers?"

"Mhm."

Mal looked down at the small baby in his lap who seamed to be rather unconcerned with all of this.

"Although I would wager... 'munchkin's' ability to teleport is likely a sub-power of some sort of spacial talent. Simple teleportation is too limited for a Highbreed of the N'Kai." Tsath added.

Slowly, Mal and Cami turned to face each other with clear surprise in their eyes.

Needless to say, they were both stunned silly by the potential fact that Camille could have such a powerful ability hidden within her tiny body.

This was the first time that Malachi had ever felt slightly jealous of his daughter.

"Munchkin... do you want to trade powers with daddy?"

"Ada! Bu!"

"...What if I give you real apple juice, and not that watered down stuff Sei and Luna have been giving you?"

"Ma."

"...Anna's already been giving you some huh?"

"Hehehe.."

"...Bianca too?"

Camille turned away from her father and started staring into the dirt as if she'd fund something interesting there.

Sighing, Malachi turned his attention back to their waiting instructor and continued listening.

"You need not feel jealous of your spawn, K'horror. You are already extremely special in your own right."

"How so?"

"Have you conveniently forgotten that you are in possession of powers that originate from one of this world's higher beings? And you have even managed to assimilate the abilities of another as I understand."

"Is that significant..?"

"Very! We are not supposed to be compatible with energy from higher planes. What do they call it again...? Divinity." Tsath informed.

"Wait... what?" Malachi asked.

From that point on, Tsath revealed a peculiarity about their race that the pair of them had yet to learn.

Essentially, N'Kai were a mortal race.

Alone they had nothing really special about them, and they even have a rather short lifespan of around 40 years.

However, the changes come when they start to create their own hives.

Their lifespan, strength, and size, and physical abilities are all determined by the amount of beings they had within their webs.

Once they crossed the one billion mark, N'Kai were essentially gods themselves, but with one crucial difference.

Since they do not actually POSSESS divinity and cannot assimilate it, they are still susceptible to it.

At that moment, Malachi frowned and he realized he was coming dangerously close to asking a question that he wasn't sure he wanted to hear from Tsath.

How did the gods know about the existence of the N'Kai in the first place?

Why weren't they just sieged immediately with no time to prepare and really capitalize on a surprised and vulnerable human race?

Surely that would have made things easier.

"...The questions you have..." Tsath began. "Would you care to hear them from me, or the one that you have chosen as your mother?"

Malachi felt his jaw get tight as he clenched his fists.

"I want to hear it from her."

"Very well then."

Tsath truly did not seem to care either way, as he soon went back to teaching as if he hadn't been interrupted.

Although, both he and Camille could not help but notice that Malachi was not listening quite as intensely as before.

-

A full eight hours went by before Tsath decided that the father and daughter pair had learned everything that he could teach.

While they were not fully fledged prodigies with their powers yet, in time it seemed as though they would be a monumental threat to the world.

As of right now Cami was instructed not to play with her potential spacial powers until she was a bit bigger, and Malachi was still trying to learn what his bloodline skill actually was, if he even had one.

Currently, night had fallen and Malachi and Camille were staring at Tsath as he looked over the cliff of their home.

"K'ho.. No, Malachi. I would ask you one simple question."

"Go ahead."

"What will you do with this world when we are no longer here within minutes? Will you safeguard them from themselves, or do you only intend to do so from us?"

As always, Tsath's line of questioning was less accusatory and more so genuine curiosity.

But that didn't mean that it made it any easier for Malachi to answer.

"I'm going to leave them be." he said honestly. "Whatever may come of that is just out of my hands and has nothing to do with me."

"...Do you not consider that to be selfish?"

"What?"

"If you consider to absolve yourself of any sort of responsibility despite possessing the capability to help these earthlings, are you not just being selfish?

You could end all of their wars, discrimination, and acts of disharmony that plague these creatures... though I am unsure if these treacherous creatures are worthy of the gift that is living without fear."

"I can't just take away their emotion like that. Fear and sadness are not pretty but they are just inconveniences that are all a part of life."

"The idea that suffering is unavoidable so nothing should be done to try to prevent it from occurring is almost a uniquely earth based concept.

Inconveniences are getting caught in an acid rain without proper protective measures, not being mugged on the street by a man who is so desperate for a way to feed himself that he is willing to take a life to do so."

"...Does our homeworld have acid rain?"

"Yes. Now stay focused, Malachi."

Mal ran his hands through his dreadlocks as he tried think of a way to weasel out of this conversation.

His alien cousin was so damned straight forward all the time that it was relatively difficult for him to get him to focus on anything other than the current awkward conversation at hand.

"Tsath, look… I don't know how to make you understand, but I just can't see myself subjugating this entire planet. There has to be a better way towards understanding."

Tsath was silent for a long time before he turned around to stare at Mal with a pained expression.

It was the first time the young nightmare had ever seen his family like this, and it hurt all the more.

"How I pity you, Malachi… You have so little understanding of just how different humanity will be from your perception of them.

And when that day comes that you learn the truth, I hope you become the very same corruption that they already fear you to be, and the sole force that is capable of saving them all from themselves."