Tribal

46

"D-Dad? Wh- huh? We thought you were dead!" Hollow exclaimed

"I was. But it seems I am no longer deceased. Now I must ask you, who do you think you are giving orders like that?" Wyrm spat, with a malicious undertone to each word.

Hollow stuttered over every word, barely coherent. He had always sought his father's approval, but having Wyrm confront him like this turned him into a mess.

"Well? I am waiting for an answer." If looks could kill, Wyrm would be a murderer. He always gave such hard stares at people he disliked; currently, Hollow was one of them.

Ghost did not care nearly as much as Hollow did about their father's opinion, so he spoke up instead.

"Someone had to take over after your colossal failure Wyrm." Ghost spat back.

"What did you say to me?" Wyrm looked at Ghost, shocked that he spoke up.

"You heard me Wyrm." Ghost stood his ground, not stuttering or acting nervous in the slightest.

"You dare address me like that? You are a vessel. I am your creator, you are beneath me!" Wyrm's voice was beginning to rise.

"You are our creator, but you are not above us. Not in the slightest." Ghost countered.

"Let's see you talk like that after you're laid on the floor!" Wyrm charged at Ghost, readying a magic blast in his hand.

Just as the two were about to clash, white-thorned roots wrapped around the two. Root's voice echoed out through the room.

"If you two plan on making fools of yourselves, do it somewhere you won't break anything. Wyrm! These are your children! You should learn to respect them! Ghost, respect your father! Both of you sit down and behave!" Root commanded all parties to do as they were told.

"Yes, mother." Ghost said as he and Hollow sat down

"Apologies, love." Wyrm sat down across the table.

"Now, we will talk like civilized people. We are a family, we will solve this as a family. Now, dear, explain why you were doing what you were doing?" Root glared at her husband.

"The vessels were meant to trap the radiance, not rule over my kingdom." Wyrm shot a hateful glare at Hollow and Ghost, making Hollow squirm in his seat a little.

"Dear, they are vessels no longer. The void is no more, they are normal bugs now, just as you and I," Root said.

"Impossible, the void is eternal, It can not end. Such a thought is absurd." Wyrm looked at Root as if she had spoken in a different language.

"It is true darling, you may go check the abyss yourself if you want. The void energy is gone, surely you feel it?" Root said.

Wyrm sat and closed his eyes for a moment, and when he had opened them, he had a shocked look on his face.

"You're right, the void is gone. How? That shouldn't be possible." Wyrm looked at Ghost and Hollow.

"We destroyed it. The void's eternal darkness is no more." Ghost spoke up.

"You... I can't believe it... but the void is gone, so it must be true. You will have to inform me of how you did so at a later date." Wyrm said, becoming very interested in his children all of a sudden.

"Now Ghost, why were you being so disrespectful to your father?" Root looked towards Ghost.

"Because he has no right to judge us. He tossed us into the abyss for being normal, and when his plan, which was dumb in the first place, failed, he got his ass killed by the void, so someone had to step in and make sure that this kingdom didn't fall apart. And Hollow is the best choice." Ghost leaned back, crossing his arms.

"I had to keep my kingdom alive, the Radiance was far too big of a threat to ignore. Something had to be done." Wyrm retorted.

"And the solution just had to involve forcing void energy to infect every single one of your children and tossing them away when they weren't your 'perfect vessel'. You are cruel, prideful, and an idiot. And frankly, I'm surprised that Mom and Hollow still give half a shit about you. Because I sure as hell don't." Ghost stood and placed his hands on the table.

"Darling, calm down." Acacia placed a hand on Ghost's shoulder, resting her head on the other shoulder.

"Who is that?" Wyrm asked quizzically.

"This is Acacia, my wife, and mother to our children." Ghost said.

Wyrm sputtered, stumbling over his words. Surprised that his children had kids of their own, despite vessels supposedly supposed to be infertile.

"What? She's your what? You... I- you- what!?" Wyrm couldn't form a full sentence.

"Oh no, I think you may have broken him, my child," Root commented.

Ghost just laughed at his father's confused face.

"Cat got your tongue Wyrm?" Ghost said through his laughing.

"I- I am... happy for you," Wyrm said, shocking everyone in the room.

"W-What?" Ghost looked at his father confused.

"Hopefully you can be a better father than I was." Wyrm bowed his head.

"What's with the sudden change? You were trying to tear my head off just a second ago." Ghost said, extremely confused.

"I suppose... I realized that despite my hand in your birth... you will go on with your life with or without me, and I'd rather be in your life than be excluded from it." Wyrm had a small tear forming in his eye.

"Wyr- sigh Father, I..." It was Ghost's turn to be confused, watching his father cry at the thought of missing out on his children's lives, even though Ghost thought he didn't care for them at all in any way besides them being his vessels.

"I'm sorry... my sons... both of you. I've had my guilt buried so far down that I thought I could just push you back down... I realize how wrong I am now... please, forgive this old man for being stuck in his ways." Wyrm held his head in his arms.

"Of course, we forgive you Father, all we want is to be a real family," Hollow said as he stood, hearing his father apologize for his actions, revealing that he'd been bottling up his feelings of guilt for how he treated them made Hollow forgive him immediately.

"What will you do sweetheart?" Acacia asked Ghost.

"I- I suppose I can forgive him too." Ghost walked around to the other side of the table, and embraced his father with Hollow and Root.

"Aww, what a sweet reunion." A powerful voice boomed from behind them, and in a bright flash, the Radiance materialized behind them.