Chapter 55: Return

Everything felt like a dream as Emery stared at the blue canvass of the sky while observing the flocks of birds flying freely. The cool breeze hit his face along with the tiny splashes of water from the river beside him. He got up and made way underneath a full-grown tree that provided shade from the scorching sun. Looking back at the river again, Emery watched as the little salmons swam against the rushing flow, which was a sign that autumn was near over the horizon. 

It was a refreshing feeling as some birds overhead flew down and landed on Emery's shoulder. The past seven days indeed was just surreal to consider, however, the almost transparent circle with a vertical strike-through line on his palm told him otherwise. He focused his thoughts on the symbol and what happened next confirmed everything had indeed happened.

[Emery Ambrose]

[Battle power: 16 (11)]

[Spirit power: 30 (20)]

[Restriction spells added]

He remembered Gwen's coming of age was in the early summer and the fateful night was the next day. After returning though, it seemed like a couple of months already passed or maybe a year? He didn't know but he would surely have to ask someone later. Emery finally noticed his clothes, it was still the same clothing he had worn before he had been transported. Oddly enough though, it was squeaky clean.

Taking his mind off irrelevant questions, he followed the river upstream, passed through the grove of trees and arrived at whatever was left of the burned down Ambrose estate. There were some structures barely standing, but all that was left were rubble, and soot and ashes. The whole place was deserted except for the black crows and burned corpses of the peasants who were being consumed by terrible insects.

Emery didn't cover his nose nor hide his face. He vowed to remember all of this and paint it deep in his mind. He walked past where the smithy, the bakery, the inn, and the stable should've been. Finally, he arrived at the elevated portion where the Ambrose estate had stood proudly. And like the others, it was burned to the ground. 

The rubble were everywhere; Emery passed by the burnt and rotting corpses of his family's servants, guards, and knights totaling twelve people. At the section of the house where the cellar was, a burnt pillar blocked his way. That didn't stop him though from putting all of his strength and successfully moving it to the side enough for two people to fit. There, he saw it. The remains of his father surrounded by a couple marauder's corpses. 

They were unburned but rotting. The stench tried hard to overpower him but he moved forward and kept his face as straight as he could, taking everything in as he neared his father's corpse. He knelt on one knee before his father's body, which he now barely recognized. His heart was screaming, begging to let it all out but biting his lips and clenching his knuckles until it was white was all that Emery had done.

In silence, Emery picked up a cloth from the cupboard where he had hid and wrapped his father's rigid body with it. It took Emery a couple of minutes before being able to successfully make sure every part of the body was covered. Then, Emery carried him with his back, taking small little steps and making sure his father's head wouldn't hit the pillar he had moved earlier. He got out of the cellar but was already sweating big droplets from his forehead. Emery didn't care though as he continued heading toward the yard not far from where the house was. 

In that quiet place, a headstone already stood. It read:

Dearest wife, Mother of Ambrose

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Emery slowly put down his father's corpse before the headstone. He said, "Mother, I believe father is by your side now… He had missed you a lot. Whenever he talked about you, his eyes glowed. I remember him telling me you were the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and when your eyes met for the first, he had known it was you he wanted to be with forever. He loved you so dearly and the result of your love for each other bore fruit through me. I — don't blame you. Here I am right now, before you, wishing both of you eternal happiness with your reunion."

He hadn't noticed it but tears were rolling down on his way here. Emery lifted the shovel he had dragged from the cellar and started digging a hole beside his mother's headstone. He went into the hole first before pulling his father's body and making it fall on him. He crawled out of the way and climbed back up careful not to step any part of his deceased father. Slowly, Emery filled the hole and buried his father.

"Father… I will make you proud. You and mother are watching over me from the beyond and I hope both of you will see that I am not that weak boy anymore."

Emery then placed a pile of smooth rock he had found by the river on top of his father's burial ground. After that he again dug twelve more holes in the side yard and began burying the bodies of the residents of the Ambrose estate. Even though they might be just servants, in Emery's eyes, they were like his uncles and aunts, and friends and teachers.

The sky on the horizon was turning orange when he had finished. He knew he couldn't stay in this place, but he looked for whatever was left in the burnt mansion and found a small axle and a knife. Nothing of value remained in the rubble, otherwise.

Emery was getting ready to leave when the hooves of horses started getting nearer. He didn't move on the spot though and waited for it to arrive. 

Two horsemen approached him and one of them said, "Ha! That's the boy all right!"

"I told you he's still alive!" the other said.

Emery had his back facing them but he could recognize these two were the marauders chasing him that night.

"So, little boy, care to tell us where you've been? Prolly hiding with the damned chrutins, weren't you?"

"Kekeke, we've waited too long but the boss will be happy."

"Come on, let's not waste more time. My crotch is itching for the newly arrived whores."

Emery turned to face them and took out a wooden axe from his waist. His eyes, cold.

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