Blessed by Night

Malachi watched as the commets approaching from the north drew closer and closer to he and Tsath's position.

Just as it seemed like they were going to barrel into the mountain, the group of four stopped on a dime and floated down gently from the sky.

Mal got a good look at a group of black skinned, robotic looking beings with various inhuman features that betrayed their identity loud and clear.

Unlike Tsath, these actually looked like adults.

They were not egregiously beautiful beings, but they all possessed distinctive webbed hands with dark claws and various odd protrusions coming from their bodies; such as tentacles, spidery legs and the like.

They displayed a unique array of glowing eye colors with black sclera- ranging from the already seen red to the eerily pale blue.

"Is this the one?"

"He seems small. Malnourished."

"Remember, he is part human."

"Strange… so very strange."

Malachi allowed the newcomers to circle him like an animal at a zoo.

Though it wasn't really as if he had all that much choice in the matter, since every single person here could just tear him into two like he was a sheet of paper.

*snap!*

Suddenly, the sound of a twig snapping rang out from the clearing behind them, and Malachi saw something that made his heart stop and his blood run cold.

Bianca had woken up at some point, wearing her usual black sports bra and baggy grey sweatpants.

However, her arms were filled with their sleepy yet adorable looking bundle of joy in a bear onesie.

As soon as Bianca saw the swarm of inhumans surrounding the fiancé she had come looking for, her heart briefly became caught in her throat.

"What the f-"

"Ada!"

In an instant, Malachi appeared right in front of his fiancé and child protectively and held out his hand to stop any of the other nightmares from moving.

"Don't… touch them."

Just like that, Mal forgot all about his own weakness.

Power differences aside, he would fight tooth and nail to prevent so much as a hair from being out of place on either of the girls' heads.

"…Your interpretation skills need work. I have already told you N'Kai do not harm other N'Kai. May we see the baby now?" Tsath said with a somewhat irritated voice.

"It has been ages since I have seen a highbreed child.."

"She is very… what is the word… cutie patootie?"

"Her cheeks are like dumplings…"

"…" Mal had never felt so embarrassed in his entire life.

Like extended family at a barbecue, all five of the N'Kai swarmed around his fiancé while clamoring to get a look at the baby in her arms.

"W-What the fuck is going on?!"

"Bu! Uwah!?"

When Cami suddenly woke Bianca out of her sleep with her crying, she was alarmed to find her charming fiancé missing from the bedroom, but one of his portals was hovering above their bed like it was waiting to swallow them on a dime.

And when she came up here to look for him, she found him surrounded by a bunch of alien looking creatures that looked like fucking robots!

What the fuck was going on?!

"Why did you ask me if it was possible to leave a parasited one's ego intact when you have already done it?" Tsath suddenly asked.

"I..what..?" Malachi asked.

"Your lowbreed. She has autonom-"

"The fuck did you just call me?!" Bianca said as she started to heat up the air in the atmosphere.

"…This one makes me feel scared." One N'Kai said as it backed away.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Malachi had no choice but to put his hand up to his temple as if he had just gotten a massive headache that could nearly knock him over.

He turned around and cupped Bianca's face in his hands gently.

"Love… you could understand him just now?"

"Yea! Who the fuck is he calling a low… Oh..!" Finally, Bianca's eyes went wide as she realized that everyone had been speaking in some weird language ever since she showed up.

And she had been so preoccupied with what she perceived to be an insult that she didn't even notice.

"Can you… please explain what is going on?" She pleaded.

-

"So… nightmares are actually a race called N'Kai?"

"Uh-huh."

"And they are separated into Lowbreeds and Highbreeds..?"

"Correct."

"And their goal is to travel from world to world to eliminate strife wherever they find it by forcing them to either join the hivemind or be eaten..?"

"Seems like it, yea."

"But they aren't going to hurt us because they don't harm each other no matter what?"

"Crazy shit, huh?"

"But why am I considered a N'Kai too..? I haven't absorbed any…"

It was then that Bianca remembered the certain 'injections' that she was receiving on a nearly nightly basis.

They thought that they were getting stronger from sleeping with Mal because of his status as an Avatar.

It never occurred to them that it could have been the other part of his makeup.

"Holy shit…"

"Yep…"

"Bu…"

The group of N'Kai stared at the family of three as they sat in a circle on the ground and went over everything that they had learned tonight.

They did not exactly understand why they seemed to be so perplexed by all of this, but they were going to attribute it to the unique circumstances behind Mal's birth.

"May we begin your culmination day celebration now?" One of the nightmares asked.

"His what?"

"My birthday party." Mal responded.

"…Your birthday is in December, babe." Bianca pointed out.

Mal shrugged and another of the nightmares in the shape of a woman stepped forward.

"We celebrate the day he was born as N'Kai highbreed. Our fertility rates are terribly low you see. There are only five hundred of us on our home world, making the birth of new blood a very special occasion."

"We are… sorry that our festivities are so poor. Normally, you would be beholden to a ceremony that is multiple days long and attended by every member of our race."

"But since we are away from K'n-Yan, such a thing is not possible…"

"A pity too, as the birth of not one but two highbreeds is a sure cause for a grand celebration…"

The N'Kai let out a unanimous sigh and Malachi got a good look at what it meant for an alien to be depressed.

He actually started to feel a little bad, but he wasn't one for big parties anyway.

"Umm… ceremonies, huh? What kind?" Bianca asked.

The assembled N'Kai regained their sense of life when they heard her question.

"All N'Kai pool their blood together and allow the newborn to bathe in it freely, giving the child the great privilege of having their cells energized and strengthened by their forebears." One explained.

"And then, gifts are presented from liberated worlds, as a way to remind them of N'Kai's grand purpose." Said another.

"Finally, the child is allowed to ask for one wish that must be granted, no matter what it might be." Added Tsath.

Malachi's eyes nearly twitched so hard that they shot off of his body.

With an incredulous expression, he stared up at his extended family like they had just grown second heads. (Which in hindsight would not have been strange for them.)

"You would grant… any wish of mine?"

"And the baby's." Tsath reminded.

"Bu?"

"Yes, you."

With a thumping heartbeat, Mal asked the question that was at the forefront of his mind.

"Then… if I asked you all to leave earth with your lowbreeds and let me take care of the planet myself, would you?"

As a result, all of the assembled highbreeds stared at him like he was stupid.

"""""Of course."""""