Galaxy Pirates

Chapter 44: The Last Herminoid

When the Crimson Diamond Shark Tooth arrived on the scene, the main battle was already over: on one side, the terrified Reptiloids groveled over the Divine Emperor's corpse dissipating in the fading light – the energy he once bore within; while on the other side the Shark Tooth Pirates mourned the approaching death of Captain Sinbad, who still had little consciousness left within him.

"Hihi!" Maluma jumped onto his ship and dropped to her knees beside him to desperately infuse her divine energy within his chest, while his feet had already begun to dissipate in the fading light. "Hihi, hang in there!"

"It is... futile," Sinbad mumbled in Herminese, coughing out shreds of divine energy, "Mama, I'm dying..."

"No! Don't say that!" glowing tears gushed off Maluma's eyes, hearing he had begun to call her 'Mama' – the Herminese nickname her mother and the other Herminoids referred to her as, in those old happy days. Since it often stirred up the painful memories of her long-lost beloved home, she urged Sinbad to cease calling her so, for the rest of their lives. Him getting back to this nickname meant that his life had indeed approached its end. Him breaking the rule, she too, out of the anguish that had begun to gather in her heart, broke her own promise: "Don't leave me, Hinael! You're the only one I've left of Planet Hermin! If only I'd come here sooner..."

She desperately tried to infuse as much as energy as she could into his body, but all she was able to do, was to prolong his lingering life for some more minutes.

Both of the crews had gathered around the dying captain and cried hot tears: Jasheen and his brethren, as well as the Imperial Shark Tooth crew, had hung their heads, while Roderigo watched his tearful wife with sadness and compassion. The Hawthorne family were no less perturbed: Gunther shared the common grief, while Marie, Ellie, and Violet had given in to their tears. Violet began to see Sinbad in lighter shades now that he had disposed of his own twin brother just to let the universes be in peace (which, in fact, included the peace of those very 'Gaian Worms' he so often mocked). Marie mourned the death of her saviour, for it was indeed Captain Sinbad to have saved her from the misery and bring her back to her family, while Ellie just couldn't hold her childish big heart from bursting into sobs.

The two grieving the most were Diyuma and Maluma, for they both had deeply loved Captain Sinbad for different reasons: the one as a sweetheart, and the second – as a cousin and a friend.

"Mama, my queen, do not cry. It was the best way for me... for all of us. Let me go. I am to rejoin our brethren at last. Your being here is already enough of a blessing to me, do not waste your powers on me..."

"Shut up!" Maluma sent an even larger amount of energy inside him, "Shut up, for Great Hermin's sake! You've no idea how I've loved you, Hinael! You were blinded to see my feelings, and now you fail to see my pain! Waste my powers on you?! For Hermin's bliss, you are my brother! How could I ever ignore your troubles when I am near?"

"B... Brother?"

"Yes... I've always known you had chosen to look at me as a sweetheart, but I could not return your kind feelings the same way, because I had already defined you as something else," her tears fell unto his astounded face, "Since ancient times, if the Herminoids were born to be cousins, they could choose two options – to swear each other siblinghood, or to become lovers. Since the time we three were little, I had already begun to define you as my brothers, so when the day came, I was unable to accept Koriel's offer to be engaged. That was the primal reason... yet either of you, due to your darkness, was able to see through my feelings! We were destined to be torn apart because we were unable to complete our bond – how can a sibling ever dare become a lover?!"

While she was thus weeping onto his chest, his warm palm weakly caressed her hair to show his undying love, since his own dying curls could no longer form connections. Glowing tears fell from his eyes as well:

"This wretched life of ours... Misunderstanding is a sin no Herminoid could ever be forgiven. It seems we brought the destruction upon ourselves on our own".

"Uncle..."

"Aya," Sinbad moved his gaze towards his nephew knelt beside him. A bitter but tender smile shone upon his countenance. He grabbed the blue shark tooth necklace given by his father Erniel, and placed it into the tearful young man's hand: "This is to be yours now, Aya. The original Shark Tooth ship Mama and I sailed with, was created by our parents Prince Erniel and Queen Jallanne, while the crimson diamond to guide its path was added by Uncle Yuuh. These two necklaces were formed by the queen and the prince as well, to be given to us as the keys to the Shark Tooth captainship. Now that I am to fade away, you are my next heir as the male captain. Maluma will, later on, choose her female heiress on her own. Hold onto this, Aya, and you shall never lose your course".

Arubah clutched the necklace into his fist, tears streaming down his cheeks in a cascade. Sinbad now glanced over at Diyuma, who was silently whimpering, and softly caressed her on the nose.

"Diyuma, sorry for all the trouble I've caused you... Now when I'm at my death's door, I've come to clearly see your eyes hold a lot more than just some respect of a subordinate or even the feelings of childhood friendship. I've failed to behold I had a staunch friend in you. Please, take on the role of the captain on my Shark Tooth vessel and continue to aid my dearest nephew, and, to somehow repay you for all your kindness, I am to give you a parting gift..." he sent a great power charge into a tiny piece of his purple hair, then tore it off and attached it to the stupefied pegacorn's mane, "When she's born, name her Dahlia, as you've always wanted... after our Herminese incantations, was it?"

Seeing the playful smile and twinkling eyes she had never beheld upon him after their parting back on Planet Hermin, more tears gushed down Diyuma's cheeks:

"Hinael!"

"One more thing, before I... pass..." Sinbad began coughing again for his chest too had started to fade away. His death was inevitable, and the time Maluma had granted him was about to elapse. "Violet..."

Violet glanced at him with sorrow – what did he want to tell her, out of all people, at his death's door?

"Aedaman mon aenn na..."

(TRANSLATION: Herminese. Means "humans aren't worms").

He let out his last breath. His head too dissolved in the light which slowly faded and rejoined the universal divine energy. He was no more. His last words left all of the Herminese speakers smitten, while Violet fell to her knees sobbing heavily, to be embraced by Arubah's sturdy arms and be pressed to his chest – Sinbad had finally confessed, that humans weren't worms. With that placid yet sorrowful voice, it sounded like an apology from the part of the divine being – an apology to her and the whole humankind.

Those were the final words of Prince Hinael man Herminn – the last Herminoid of the Seven Universes.