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The rest of the drive back, I just stuck to the window clinging myself to the sights outside, saw the concrete jungle give way to greener pastures as we took that same familiar exit out of the city.

Shrubs, greenery, thick clumps of forestry foliage, and distant hills made out most of the horizon. It wasn't long before that too cleared way for another familiar sight. 

The lake in the distance looked bigger going in than it did going out. Tried catching another glimpse of that thin slab of metal drifting along in serene tides, but by the time my eyes looked through the glare of the scorching sun, the shimmer of ocean-blue was gone before a proper look could even be made.

Us going in, was much faster than us going out. The turns taken were sharp, the whirrings of a strained motor could be felt as tremors rumblings beneath our feet, and the outside started blending into a murky blur of colors.

But it was soon that we were starting to slow. There were no more turns left to be taken, the shakes and quivers started to fade into a mild hum… outside, the blacks of asphalt, the silvery greys of paved cobble, reds, blues, and whites of a flower bed lightly swaying.

We pulled up just outside the driveway. Nobody said a word. Nobody had to. There would be plenty of chances to speak later… and it was a later that was fast approaching. 

Ash was the first out, Irene pulled out the key and left second. I should have been the one most eager, the one with his hands at the handle the very moment we screeched to a stop. 

Yet there I was… taking my sweet time lowering my feet onto the sidewalk. Movement so slow and drawled, you could have sworn I had a shell of hefty size stuck to my back and that I was steadily crawling on all fours.

By the time I'd entirely left the vehicle, I expected to see both Irene and Ash far ahead of me already standing by the porch - they weren't though, they waited. 

It was only once I stepped a limping foot onto the pathway that they continued on, keeping the same pace as I, actually, it was more like they fell back behind. Guess I was getting first dibs. 

I knew that was them being considerate, but I would have really preferred if I was trailing along behind someone else's back instead. Maybe if I turned it into a race, last one at the porch is a rotten egg, they'd start picking up the pace.

Even then though, I don't think they'd mind being rotten eggs anyway. 

It's only been a few hours since we left the house, somehow those 3-4 hours gone felt like years of eternity apart. So much has happened it was hard to think otherwise.

Got up to the steps of the porch, there, it felt like I've entered a whole different world. Soon as I heard the creak of wooden floorboards, it was like something was swelling inside of me. Like an extra pocket of air in my lungs, an extra beating in my heart. 

Was I worried? Scared? Nervous? Truth be told, I didn't know what that feeling was. The only thing I knew was that it wouldn't leave my system no matter how much I tried to breathe it all out. Hell, I get the feeling that it won't ever go away until I finally swing that front door wide and open.

And so I did.

Wide and open.

I don't know what I was expecting, really. What I was bracing for. For some reason I thought the moment I stepped foot inside the house, it'd just dawn on me right then and there - like somehow everything would be revealed to me, that everything would start making sense. 

But everything was just the same still. It was the same old hallway, same old entrance, same old living room.

Okay, guess there was one thing that was different, and I wasn't the only one that noticed it either. I felt my nose wrinkle, and following along the same lines, Ash took an audible whiff of the air beside me. 

Irene made a frown, turning at me for a brief glance. "Chocolate?"

It was a sweet smell, musty sure, overpowering yes, but it was a warm smell too, a familiar smell.

"My, my, my," A familiar dainty voice, a familiar light tone. "Just can't resist, can you?"

The kitchen was in direct line of sight from the living room, and in turn, so was she. How long has it really been? When was the last time my eyes saw such a scene?

All of a sudden I was a kid again. Those vague memories of the countryside, chasing an energetic little sister through mounds and fields of grass. My shoes were always dirty, and I'd always come back sore and limping, trekking mud and dirt in the hallway.

But I couldn't help myself back then, could I? Just couldn't resist. That sweet musty overpowering warmness wafting its way from the kitchen oven. I'd be there on the table, eager-eyed… I remember.

And she'd always expect me there, smiling that same smile, saying those words.

"My, my, my… you just can't resist, can you?"

It was so long ago now. 

What was your everyday yesterday, becomes a distant memory of your tomorrow.

That sight before me now was my everyday. 

Wearing the same white apron, the same navy-blue shirtdress, with its end-curls befitted with floral patterns of white. I didn't even know she still had that dress. 

I remembered I always had the impression that she was frozen in time or something. Because even though I grew up, I noticed that she never did.

Always the same, even now.

Before I just thought our family simply age gracefully. Little did I knew that was only a small portion of the truth.

Her hair still retained its sleek brown, nary a hint of grey in loose strands, still kept in that ponytail swaying at shoulder-length. The downward slant of her raven-black eyes always made her look like she was glaring, just a glance away from admonishing you for something you did wrong, but when she smiled, those eyes were the kindest.  - I would know, cause I got those very same eyes from her, at least that's what people say.

Most of my features were also hers. The same slim short-tipped nose, the same pale wide lips, how we both slanted our heads slightly when we smiled was also the same.

Like mother, like son, I guess…

She was slender… but she wasn't tall. I was fifteen when I realized I had to tilt my head down to look at her. But even then, she still towered over me in ways beyond the physical.

By all accounts, she was your typical everyday mother to your typical everyday son. No different than any other. There to cheer you when you smiled, there to comfort you when you cried, there to berate you for your wrongdoings, there to hug you for all your rights.

As if to affirm that belief, there she was, her hands in oven mitts, carrying a tray with a chocolate layered cake atop of it, just as she had done so many times before in those everyday years.

How could she be so different? 

I'll tell you how.

She was still smiling.

Someone ordinary wouldn't be. 

Ria continued to slumber peacefully on the couch, her hair still ablaze in a feeble smolder. Someone ordinary would have questioned it, would have done a double-take.

Yet my mom didn't even bat an eye - not at Ria, not even at Ash.

Because the unordinary was her ordinary.

Y'know some small minuscule part of me still refused to believe it. My mom. A Goddess that brought the demise to countless millions. A being of immense power that none could match. It's one thing that she was simply that, it's another that every story involving her was always entwined with suffering and fear.

This was the same person that bid me a teary farewell when I left for the city, the same person that giggled and cooed over countless love comedies. 

How were they the same person? Just how was it possible.

So yeah, that little adamant part of me held out for the hope that she wasn't, she couldn't. After all, she was my mother. The one that taught me to be kind to others, to always help out those in need, to always see the best in people and not their worst.

Seeing her place the tray by the wayside as she walked by Ria, seeing her nod away at Amanda slumped baffled over at the dining table… seeing her walk towards me, seeing her eyes… my eyes…

Suddenly I couldn't find that part of me anymore.

Terestra the Vile… My mother Lilith… they both reached for my cheek and gently spoke.

"Welcome home."