Chapter 77: Chapter 66 – To Bury, or to Raise? That is the Question

"I was raised to view life as a gift from the Deities, and that while death was to be feared and grieved upon, it was but a natural thing, for when man's time ended, their souls would return to where they came from.

 

That was how most people in Vitalica were raised as well. In truth - and I would probably be tried for blasphemy if I said it out loud - I felt that not even great grandpa, the pope himself, truly believed in those words. It helped keep the people united, true, and also helped cast our former masters as heretics who defied the natural order, but I felt that's as far as it ever went amongst my family. A useful tool, not a belief.

 

Now that I had seen how the people in Ptolodecca lived, I realized just how different their view of death is from ours. These people revere death. They worship the Deity of Death, and while partings would still cause them sorrow, they would find solace from it sooner. Often from the raised skeleton of their own departed loved one. In a twisted way, the common practice here to raise the dead into undeath, helped keep memories of the departed for those left behind, and the people embraced it wholeheartedly.

 

Meanwhile, those who served in the military here, claimed that they did not fear death, lest it be a useless one. To sacrifice their life for the sake of their duties, and then to be raised to fight again beyond death, was something considered an honor amongst the soldiers here. Not too surprising, I guess, considering uncle Diarmuid's Death Guards had often exhibited similar views, though not to the extent of getting raised as undead to fight on." - Diary of Maebh Fiachna, circa 61 VA.

Tohrmutgent, Ptolodecca, seventh day of the second week of the eleventh month, year 61 VA.

 

It was a solemn afternoon when they gathered in Tohrmutgent's cemetery to bury the deceased templars on the seventhday. The entire Fiachna family was present, as was the Bone Lord, Mimia, Clovis, and Seriz.

 

Also present were the surviving Templars and Death Guards, families of the departed, and some members of the militia who had either fought with or were indebted to the departed. It was a large crowd for the sparsely filled cemetery, but there was plenty of room for everyone, as Ptolodeccans very rarely bury their dead.

 

An elder priest who had joined them when they left Vitalica performed the last rites for the departed which the Bone Lord was fine with. Despite how the majority of Ptolodeccans were worshippers of Tohrmut, the Deity of Death, smaller temples for the other five deities were also present in the city, and the local priests of Vitalis had happily lent the old Vitalican priest whatever he needed to perform the last rites.

 

One at a time, younger templars gently lowered the sixty or so coffins into their graves, and covered them with soil afterwards, simple gravestones already prepared for the departed in the past few days. It was a solemn procession, which took the better half of the afternoon on its own.

 

After the solemn burial ended, the crowd paid their last respect, then headed off to the Palace of Bones, where the Bone Lord had deigned to personally preside over the raising ritual for the departed Death Guards.

 

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There they found the bodies of the thirty-five departed - clad in their armor with their weapons in hand - arranged in five rows of seven, on a massive raised altar of bone and ivory situated right in the center of the grand cathedral itself. The crowd seated themselves on the benches arranged around the altar, while the Bone Lord headed towards the podium at the end of the room.

 

Once he assumed his spot, he raised both arms, and a thick dark fog of pure death magic enveloped the bodies of the departed. The crowd were unable to peer inside the fog, but they all heard a sizzling noise from within, and many looked on with trepidation.

 

"In life, you have served with your all, performing the ultimate sacrifice in the name of your sworn duties," intoned the Bone Lord from his perch on the Podium. "Now, you are granted the chance to serve on, beyond death, beyond mortality, until time grinds your bones to dust at the end of eternity. Your bravery shall never be forgotten, and so I say, arise!"

 

First one, then another, pristine white skeletons, their jet black armor seemingly fused to their bones, and their weapons firmly in their bony grasp, rose from within the fog. They stood up where the bodies were placed, until all thirty-five had risen, and the fog dispersed to reveal nothing left beneath them.

 

Just from the emanations of power she could feel from them, Aideen would tell instantly that the Bone Lord had not skimped at all. The departed Death Guards were raised not as simple skeleton soldiers, but as much prized, powerful death knights, every single one of them.

 

The way the watching crowd reacted varied. Some were surprised at the gallant figures of the death knights, while others showed clear signs of being appalled - like the old priest - but did not deign to make their dislike known. A few others actually gave an appreciative whistle. Aideen wasn't sure from whom the whistle came, but she was sure it originated around where many of the younger Death Guards were seated.

Leave it to the impetuous youngsters to appreciate their seniors being raised as undead, indeed.

 

Then again, Aideen could understand why they felt that way. Many of the Death Guards were of the Death affinity, or an affinity derived from it, and thus with the rising sentiments at Vitalica, was often discriminated against.

 

They likely would feel more at home in Ptolodecca instead, and as such, their acceptance of such sights no longer felt as odd. Whether they like it or not, Ptolodecca was home for the foreseeable future, probably until the end of their lives, even.

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