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That day was another day when Kinich went out to hunt down a Saurian that had gone berserk and attacked people, as per a commission. However, what he received in return wasn’t just the agreed-upon payment. He also gained a large, green-spotted egg, about the size of a human child, now resting in his hands.
The Saurian he had been tasked to hunt that day had been corrupted by the power of the Abyss, losing all sense of reason. It attacked both humans and other Saurians that came near, causing many injuries before Kinich arrived to put an end to it. He also saw for himself the reason behind this indiscriminate rampage.
Despite having lost all sense of self, it used the last of its maternal instincts to protect its unborn child until its final breath, allowing no danger to approach the egg.
The burdens that Saurian hunters have to bear aren't just sending the souls of these poor creatures to the Night Kingdom. They also have to face the consequences of taking the lives of those Saurians. Therefore, since Kinich was the one who had taken the mother away from her child, he had to take responsibility and care for this orphaned Saurian egg until he could find someone ready to take over.
At his small house, far away from the tribe and nestled in the mountains—a home for a young Saurian hunter and his Saurian partner—a new member had been added: a large egg, occupying the bed that once served as its nest. Meanwhile, the owner of the house sat on the floor, intently studying how to care for a Saurian egg, with his partner circling around and occasionally interrupting with distractions.
“You can barely take care of yourself, yet you trouble yourself to look after an egg too? Do you think you're some kind of hero or what?”
“I’m no hero. But I’m not the kind of person who would ignore the price that I have to repay, either.”
Caring for this egg was the price he had to pay for taking the life of its mother in exchange for money.
Kinich studied the details of egg care until he felt confident he understood them well enough, then closed the book and started following the steps he had just learned. From providing warmth with a thick blanket, cleaning dirt and dust off the eggshell, to reading storybooks or even giving it gold coins—but the egg remained unresponsive.
“Why don’t you try singing a lullaby for it?”
Kinich looked at his Saurian partner with a suspicious gaze, as if asking what kind of mischief was being planned. He was met with a loud complaint, filled with logic that somehow lacked logic at the same time.
“You green-spotted lizard! Here I am trying to help you, and you repay me with that look? No wonder the little worm isn’t responding to you! It just lost its mother, and now it has to live with an unfriendly human like you. It’s not like it can trust you right away!”
Kinich thought about it and found he couldn’t argue. Though he wondered if Ajaw could really understand the voice of a Saurian still in its egg, he decided to set aside the unimportant question.
“Why should I sing it a lullaby?”
“The little one said its mother used to sing lullabies whenever it felt scared.”
After hearing this, he understood why Ajaw suggested singing. However, there was still one problem...
“What’s wrong, Kinich? Why are you so quiet—wait, don’t tell me... you don’t know how to sing?”
Seeing him go silent, Ajaw jumped to the conclusion that he didn’t know how to sing lullabies and then burst into loud laughter, taunting him with many mocking remarks.
“I can’t believe someone like you actually has something they can’t do! Haha! How pathetic, Kinich. But since I’m a benevolent and generous master to a faithful servant like you, I’ll sing the lullaby instead!”
With that, Ajaw began to sing a lullaby that was unfamiliar to him. Yet, the tone was inconsistent, without any rhythm. Sometimes loud, sometimes soft—so off-key that even the unhatched egg started to sway back and forth as if trying to escape the auditory assault.
Kinich had to end the torment by holding Ajaw’s mouth shut, and the egg finally returned to a state of calm. To keep Ajaw from continuing his singing, Kinich reluctantly explained why he couldn’t sing a lullaby himself.
“I don’t not know how to sing. I just don’t know how to sing a lullaby.”
“As if your mother never sang you any lullabies.”
Kinich didn’t reply immediately because he didn’t have an answer.
His childhood memories of his mother were hazy, like the dim glow of a dying fire. He vaguely remembered that she was both strong and gentle, always showing him love and care. But everything changed when his father lost everything to gambling, even selling their house to pay off debts, forcing them to live far from the tribe in this dilapidated house.
Since then, the relationship between him and his mother had become distant. The more she was hurt and the more he could only watch helplessly, the deeper the cracks between them grew until, eventually, those cracks turned into a complete rupture.
She left, going far away on her own, leaving him behind with a father who drank from dawn till dusk, never looking back.
That was the price Kinich paid for his childhood weakness, for failing to protect his mother from his father.
Because of this, Kinich couldn’t remember if his mother had ever sung him a lullaby. Perhaps she did when he was too young to remember.
He forced himself to dig through the memories clouded in thick fog, searching for fragments. Finally, he found something close enough to be called a lullaby.
It was a memory from when he was three years old, gravely ill and bedridden for days with a high fever. The one who nursed him and comforted him when he feared the creeping shadow of death was his mother, who sang lullabies to soothe his fears. And it always worked.
He hoped it would work again this time.
Kinich cradled the large egg in his arms, recalling the melody buried in his memory, and began to hum softly.
The egg started to move in rhythm with the lullaby, a good sign for Kinich. But the longer he sang, the more his heart felt heavy, filled with a deep, squeezing pain.
He didn’t want to understand—but his heart knew the source of this constriction.
Emotions that he had ignored and buried deep within were now surging up, like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
His voice grew hoarse and unsteady as he struggled to swallow sobs, one after another. Heat seared his eyes, making them burn, and his vision blurred with tears.
He felt like he was drowning, but was pulled back by the touch of a tail coiling around his neck and a weight pressing on his left shoulder. Turning, he saw his Saurian partner resting comfortably on his shoulder.
“Keep singing.”
Ajaw’s voice was unusually calm, unlike the usual outbursts. The emerald-green eyes behind the dark glasses, staring into his, had an oddly soothing effect.
Kinich continued the lullaby until the end, but this time, the pain and discomfort were gone.
All that remained was the warmth spreading through his heart.
As the song came to an end, a large crack appeared on the eggshell, revealing a pair of innocent, bright green eyes peering through the split. The little Saurian finally emerged from its cracked shell.
“Grah!”
A gentle smile reached the young man’s eyes, though he seemed unaware of the expression he was wearing. Kinich held the small, newborn Saurian in his arms as if it were the most precious thing, filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
“Thank you for waking up to this world, little one.”
Welcome to this world.