Forest near Oakville, Canada
SRDO base
In the evening, when dusk had fallen for a few minutes and the groups of guards were preparing in the courtyard for the usual night patrols, Ben had brought Sarah back to their private apartment, located on the top floor of the main building. While still unconscious after the magical effort, Sarah had been taken to the base infirmary to undergo several medical examinations, but fortunately, apart from a very heavy expenditure of energy, nothing serious had been detected in her body.
Now awake, the teenager was sitting on her bed, dressed in her nightgown and her blanket over her shoulders for warmth. As she watched the snowflakes fall outside, Ben came over to her, bringing her a mug containing hot chocolate.
_"Here, sweetheart, drink, it will do you good." he said, handing her the steaming cup.
Sarah thanked her father silently and took a small sip of the warm, pleasant brew. She winced though, a slight headache having taken hold of her skull moments earlier. Ben checked that she didn't have a fever.
_ "Look, Sarah... Maybe you should stop practicing for a few days. Look at yourself. You're tired all the time, and that worries me."
_ "I can't, dad..." she replied. "I've progressed so much in these three years, I can't stop now. Since harnessing these powers on my own, I finally feel like myself."
Ben still had trouble realizing that his daughter spoke like that, he who had always known her with this autism that had left her stuck in a wheelchair. But in the end, this severe autism was only a surface manifestation of her exceptional gifts.
_ "Sarah... You don't need these powers to feel alive." said Ben. "You can be whoever you want, with or without powers."
Thanks to her empathic abilities, Sarah was able to sense and sense the emotions of people near her, and this was the case for her father.
_ "You say that because of the other children in the world, born with powers? I know what you're thinking, dad. You think I wouldn't be able to be happy in this world as a meta-human."
Ben sighed, rubbing his hand over his face and taking a few steps into the bedroom before answering.
_"If you imagine that I blame monsters, you are wrong, but you have seen the situation well... Of course I am worried and scared to death at the idea that my daughter must live in a world where she will be perceived and persecuted as a monster... Mankind was not ready to accept monsters in its world, nor will it be for humans endowed with powers."
_ "If they can't accept us, that's their problem." Sarah got angry. "We owe them nothing. Humans have forgotten that evolution is part of life. All they do by rejecting this evolution is dooming the future to death!"
_ "So, what do you want to do? You can't force all humans to evolve like this." Ben added.
_"I'm not saying force, dad..." breathed Sarah, tired. "I'm just asking to be accepted for who we are. Is it really that hard to ask for a chance to live like we are?"
**********
Meanwhile...
Fearing neither the dark night nor the winter cold, Awa and Ox had decided to walk a little as a couple in the forest. Like the others, they had been made aware of the incident with Mr. Lordi, Emily and the two hunters earlier in the day, and would therefore be more cautious in the future. But as they walked holding hands, another topic occupied the couple.
_"I heard that young Sarah has made progress." said Ox. "That's awesome. You must be proud to be the very first teacher to one of the first meta-humans."
_ "Yes, of course I'm proud of her." Ava replied. "But...I'm afraid of the reactions it might elicit when it gets out, and it will get out if I ever had to train other meta-human children to master their powers."
_"What do you mean? Explain yourself." Ox asked, seeing her very concerned.
_ "To many humans, we monsters love war, and it is even claimed we were born for it." Awa explained, remembering the words to the White House assembly. "The media could take the scoop and loudly proclaim that we are training the young meta-human children to create a new army and impose our domination on the earth. This would only create more tension and conflict, and I don't want that."
_ "But... you still want to help them, don't you?" said Ox. "I know you, Awa. You have a big heart, and you can never bring yourself to give them up."
Awa sighed, nodding and rubbing her hand over her face. She felt like she was balancing above an ever-widening chasm, which would force her to choose which way to leap, to make a choice. Give up or continue? Fortunately, Ox was there to comfort her, kissing her forehead and letting her snuggle up to him.
_"I'm here, Awa. You won't be alone to manage this." said the minotaur.
_"I know, my great and strong hero." Awa replied in a loving tone and came to kiss Ox on the mouth to thank him for his unbreakable support.
But suddenly, as the couple were about to kiss again, a noise broke the peaceful silence of the forest, attracting the attention of the couple, who immediately recognized what it was... crying... baby crying!
Suddenly, Awa felt it thanks to her spirit, not far from there... sadness, distress, but also deep mental pain... Crossed by a bad feeling, Awa began to run towards the origin of the cries, immediately followed by Ox.
A few minutes later, they came in sight of a small bridge on a lonely road in the middle of the forest. Under this bridge was a river. But what caught the attention of the two monsters was the presence of a parked car, headlights on. A human woman, aged in her thirties, her face sunken with sadness, had approached the edge of the bridge, and holding in her hands something that she was about to throw into the river. A crying baby, wrapped in a blanket!
_ "No, stop, don't do that!" Awa yelled as she stepped forward.
The woman, surprised and terrified by the two monsters standing about twenty meters away from her, stepped back, holding the baby in her arms.
_ "Don't come near me..." moaned the weeping and trembling woman.
_ "Look, I don't know what you wanted to do, but it won't fix anything. So please calm down, we'll talk." Ox suggested calmly.
The woman, mentally broken and in great distress, then looked towards the child she was holding, looking at him with sadness, but also fear.
_ "I...I didn't want that..." she moaned, strangled by her distress. "I didn't want to give birth to this... This... This monster can't be my boy, I refuse him... It's you again, isn't it? You, the monsters... All... All those children who are born abnormal... It's you! You've cursed us all!"
These accusations filled with hatred and sadness shook the heart of Awa who could feel it a hundredfold because of her spirit.
_"Never... I didn't want that..." sighed the countess sadly.
_"I refuse to live in such a world..." breathed the woman, mentally damaged. "And my son will never live it too!"
On these words and under the horrified looks of the two monsters, she threw her baby over the bridge. Awa reacted immediately, levitating at full speed and came to catch the baby in her arms before he fell into the icy waters of the river.
_"Shhht, it'll be fine, you have nothing more to fear..." Awa said softly, cradling the crying child to calm him down.
Pulling aside the blanket that covered him a little, she discovered why the woman had acted like this. He was a human baby, but his eyes, nose and teeth were those of a wolf. His ears were even slightly pointed at the tips and small claws were on his hands. Awa was amazed. A half-man, half-wolf baby. After the Power Manifestations, it seemed that now some meta-humans are being born with physical transformations.
_"Awa?!" Ox called, still on deck and leaning down to look down.
_"Everything is fine." Awa told him to reassure him and showing him the child in her arms.
Ox sighed, relieved. But when he turned around, he saw the mother, standing in front of her car, looking at him with contempt, and holding a pistol in her hand. Ox then gently extended his hand towards her.
_"Madam, wait, think before you do something stupid." said Ox.
"I hope you're proud of you ..." she said. "You got what you wanted, so take this world, and watch it burn!"
_"NO!" yelled Ox, wanting to intervene, but too late, a single detonation sounded and the woman collapsed on the ground, the smoking gun in her hand and a trickle of blood flowing from her temple.
Awa levitated, returning to the bridge with the baby in her arms, to witness the horrible tragedy that had occurred, Ox kneeling beside the woman's body. He looked at Awa and shook his head, letting her know it was too late. The countess sighed.
_ "I'm so sorry..." she said sadly to the baby in her arms.
_"What shall we do now?" Ox asked, completely overwhelmed.
Awa looked at Ox, then at the meta-human baby in her arms, and spoke with determination.
_"We will do what we have always done. Help those in need."
************
At Lordi's Mansion...
Once back at the mansion, Emily went to the large bedroom she shared with Mr. Lordi. Leaving her fur cape and her black and scarlet Victorian dress, she had dressed for the evening in her white silk dressing gown with slightly puffed shoulders, and still keeping her ruby pendant around her neck. Once dressed, as expected, she activated the webcam of her laptop, and her parents appeared on the screen. It was now their only way to see each other and communicate, no longer having the right to enter into direct contact following the laws proclaimed between monsters and humans. They and Emily knew they only had a few minutes to talk before the call was traced.
_ "Hi, sweetheart." Emily's mother said, her husband sitting next to her. "Is everything okay with you?"
_ "Let's say it could be better, mom." Emily replied with a sigh. "I have no complaints about my life with Mr. Lordi, on the contrary, I'm more than happy with him, but it's...the mounting tensions between monsters and humans are becoming a real problem. Again today we had a dispute with two hunters who had entered our territory illegally... And you, on your side, are you all right?"
_ "It could be worse..." confessed the mother. "But it's true that a lot of our neighbors in the neighborhood are suspicious of us now, knowing who our daughter is."
_"I'm sorry." Emily huffed hearing that.
_ "Don't be, sweetie." her father said sympathetically. "We know very well that it's not your fault. We miss you very much of course, but as long as you are happy and safe with the one you love, we are reassured."
_ "We love you Emily." added the mother.
_"I love you too." Emily replied, her throat tight.
The video cut off, leaving Emily in front of her laptop, rubbing her face in her hands and taking a deep breath. She resented these absurd laws that cut her off from her family and her town. She decided to join Mr. Lordi and left the room.
As she walked down the large upstairs hallway, she paused for a moment in front of the large painting that depicted a troll woman, Mr. Lordi's mother. He had painted it according to the vague memories he had of her, the latter having died giving birth to him. Emily would have liked to meet her, she admitted it, and wondered above all what she would have thought knowing that her son would one day marry a human woman.
_"Your son is truly an exceptional person, and I love him with all my heart... Wherever you are now, I hope you have found peace, and that I have your blessing."
Emily had spoken, as if expecting an answer from the painting, but of course nothing came.
She descended the spiral staircase, crossing the path of several spear-wielding gargoyle guards who saluted her respectfully as she passed them. She guessed easily where her husband was and pushed open a large door leading to the eastern part of the mansion, in a large room resembling a thermal baths, and containing a large pool of hot water. In this same pool was Mr. Lordi, seated in the water and having put his armor and his cape aside.
_ "Yes. I thought you'd be here. You always come here when you're worried." Emily said with a loving smile.
The Monsterman returned his smile and came to place a kiss on her hand.
_ "Now that you're here too, why don't you join me?" he said.
_"With pleasure." Emily answered.
Without taboo and knowing that Mr. Lordi had already seen her naked, Emily undid her dressing gown, letting it slide on the tiled floor and entered the warm and very pleasant water, coming to sit beside her husband and resting her head on his shoulder, their hands joigning under the water.
_ "So... were you able to talk to your parents?" asked the Monsterman, aware of the webcam calls.
_ "Yes..." Emily breathed thoughtfully. "Fortunately they are physically fine, but mentally they are suffering from this forced separation, and I understand them. They remain my parents."
Mr. Lordi sensed the hint of sadness in his wife's voice and was sorry, knowing that it was hard for her in that sense. To be rejected by his own people was a most difficult ordeal, she who had fought and suffered to protect them.
Silence fell between the couple for a moment, but Emily guessed Mr. Lordi's concerned and pensive look.
_"You still think about what happened today, with the hunters and the wild pig, right?" said the young woman. "I also think about it... I see their gazes full of fear, but also of contempt towards us. Their words full of venom... They feared us, but even more, they hated us."
_ "It's not just that..." Mr. Lordi confessed darkly, looking down at his clawed, wet hands. "I didn't say it before but... After they shot on you, when I stood in front of them and ordered them to leave... I clearly felt it, deep inside me. This anger that I thought I had buried in my heart... I wanted to kill them... I held it back, but I felt this dark and voracious desire..."
He was talking while looking at his hands as if he no longer recognized them, as if for a second he hadn't recognized himself.
_"For a very short moment, I was scared, Emily..." added Mr. Lordi lost in his dark thoughts. "Afraid of becoming again who I was before... If I hadn't met you, what kind of monstrous and merciless lord would I have become, consumed by his own darkness?"
Mr. Lordi was still tortured by his own nature, being after all born from the infamous rape of a demon king on an innocent female monster. This demonic part that lived in him, he had to be constantly on guard, so that it does not take over. Emily, seeing him torn between his two inner natures, sits on his knees, wrapping her arms around his neck and gazing at him lovingly.
_ "You should stop underestimating yourself, my love." Emily said sincerely. "I was certainly the light that revealed the path, but it was you who made the decision to take it and save your heart. You have more will, strength and heart than any other between us and that is what makes you a worthy lord, the one that all have chosen to follow in battle, to guide them... And the one that I have chosen to love with all my heart."
Mr. Lordi listened and smiled tenderly at these words filled with wisdom and love from his dear and loving wife. Gently wrapping his strong arms around her slender waist, he caressed the soft skin of her back.
_ "Despite your young age, you speak with the strength of the oldest queens, Emily." Mr. Lordi said. "You may be the first Lady of Lapland of the human race, but you already possess greater wisdom than most."
Emily chuckled, knowing he wasn't just saying that to make her blush. He really meant it. The atmosphere being finally more relaxed and having chased away the dark thoughts, the noble couple indulged in a few intimate moments. It began with a series of loving kisses accompanied by sensual fondling. Emily giggled in pleasure as she felt Mr. Lordi smooch her neck, nibbling gently at times without hurting her. She liked to touch his dark hair, his rough yet desirable skin. With his clawed hand, Mr. Lordi caressed one of Emily's breasts without tearing it, making her moan with pleasure.
Then, keeping Emily astride him, Mr. Lordi gently entered her. Emily gasped in pleasure, clinging to him even more. Although they never had children despite their many nights of love, their relationship had never tarnished. Thus, the Monsterman and his Lady of Light made love, in this pool of hot water, thinking of nothing but savoring every second of the present moment.