Chapter 45: Chapter 44

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As we marched through my domain, a twisted thought entered my mind. The sounds of the undead behind me marching as one reminded me of a character from a movie series I loved watching. The march of a fallen paladin of light, as he marched on his former temple with an army of the church’s warriors, now turned traitor. Such a strange thought to enter my mind, but one that made me chuckle nonetheless than we marched on. I even hummed the tune as we walked on, though I knew it was highly inappropriate for the situation.

A few brief minutes later, the stronghold appeared through the thick fog. Its walls, while short, were a bit menacing to behold through the fog. Today it seemed a little thicker than usual, and I couldn’t even see the sky through it. Just vast swatches of deep, impenetrable fog so far. The only reason that I was navigating everything so well was the map I had tucked away in the corner of my vision.

We slowly marched around the outer wall and a few undead came into focus on the outer wall. Their forms were hard to distinguish through the fog because of the camo that I made for them. Thankfully, I had a minor road built into the area surrounding the stronghold, which helped guide me to the front gate.

Brown ichor stained the road, and all the bodies were now gone. All that was left was the stench of death and puddles of blood that have long since congealed. My mood was already wavering. This was just too much. I bit my cheek and kept marching into the stronghold, my mood already soured.

In the middle of the courtyard, a large wooden construct that was tiered and held dozens of compartments. In each compartment was a body of the undead, and a few empty ones that I think were made for the incorporeal that perished. Small torches topped with red flames sat on each corner and flickered in the foggy air. All the undead were in a tight formation, each led by a warrant officer, and broken into tiers based on the weapons in use.

The air was deathly quiet outside of the sounds of undead that marched in behind me. To maintain that silence, I sent a sliver of will towards the formation behind me to break off and join their respective elements, while I kept walking forward to my three bosses, who were standing next to the wooden construct. The captain was staring at the now perished undead, his face as impassive as ever, though I felt his pain.

“Hello. Captain, I have brought reinforcements, along with a few changes in the ranking structure. However, that will wait till after the Ceremony.” The towering zombie gave me a quick bow, and I turned my attention toward my companion.

“Hello Kharon, thank you for doing this.” It meant a lot that he did. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to do something like this. It would have hurt too much.

“Anytime, my lady. “ I pursed my lips as I watched the undead shuffle forward into the formations. We all stood in silence as we waited. I adjusted my hood and mask as the air felt heavier than before. I reached into my cloak and pulled out the piece of paper that I had written the eulogy on. The paper felt like it weighed a ton and seared my palm.

My heartbeat was heavily in my chest as I tried to shove down the emotions that were swirling through my chest. All my actions set the tone of the domain. So I wanted this moment to be a call for mourning, yet I wanted it to be a call for celebration as well. As I stood there; I realized that the undead have long since finished filling into formation. Now it was me they were waiting for. I let the silence hang in the air for a little longer, out of respect for those that had fallen.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Asteria, I thank you for your service to the empire, and for repelling those that wished to take our stronghold. It was a hard-fought battle, though it wasn’t without loss.” I stopped there for a moment, letting my words hang in the air before I walked towards the pyre. “Now, we honor those that fell in battle, defending their empress and their empire.”

I reached out and placed my hand on a corner and let it rest there for a few heartbeats. “We will always remember your sacrifice and your courage on this day. We will mourn your loss and hold your memory close to our hearts. Yet, we also celebrate your passing, for you have achieved that which we all seek. Enjoy your last rest, dearest undead, and may your soul rest eternally and never be reawakened.” I reached out and grabbed the torch and placed it on the pyre, and stepped back.

The captain stepped forward along with Aaron and Alessia and each set a torch down. Kharon stepped forward with his violin in hand and played a soft tune. The notes were soft and tugged at my heartstrings as a wave of heat blasted into me as the pyre roared to life. Flames shot into the sky as the tune shifted from sorrow into a steady lull. We all stood and watched as Kharon played his song for the now resting undead. Usually, I would just consume them, and move on, but then it was far different. They fought and died with the idea that they were protecting something dear. So I would grant them their last peace and let them have their rest.

The fire shifted from a roar into a peaceful burn as the wooden embers burned away long-dead flesh and charred white bone. I could feel warm trails run down my face as I watched the fire consume their forms. So this was the cost of a crown. I would have to send them to die for me, and they would accept their fate. I truly wished that it didn’t have to be this way. With each passing day, I was falling more into this role, and I never realized how hard it was. I wasn’t ready for the adventures to come. I didn’t want them to die. They didn’t deserve any of this. Hopefully, twisting their thoughts and telling them that at the end they would finally get to rest would blunt the guilt I would feel.

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A soft gray energy built swirled around all the undead before branching off into tendrils that danced through the air before connecting and vanishing in a pulse of light. I reached under my mask and wiped away the tears there. It was done. My greatest lie yet has become their reality. Hopefully, one day, it too could become mine.

“Are you alright Calixa?” Kharons voice tore me from my thoughts, and I glanced towards him and shrugged.

“I’m not sure. This is all harder than I thought.” It weighed me down and tore at my heart. This is why I worked as much as I did, so I didn’t have to feel anything like this. It was something to take my mind off of things.

“Everything will be alright. You’re not alone anymore. We will face everything together.” The flames flickered as they too died, leaving piles of ash that were getting caught in the wind.

He was right; I wasn’t alone anymore. I held my head high as my resolve built. We only had a few weeks of training left before my domain opened up, and we still had a lot to do. “Thank you Kharon.” I saw Rikard approach us from the corner of my eye, and I gave him a quick nod. “Captain.”

The zombie grunted, and kharon translated for me. “He said he received your message about training and he would be happy to train with you when you are free. He also thanks you for the reinforcements. The change in command structure helps immensely.”

“Thank you, captain. I’ll get with you after I discuss some more things with Kharon.” The captain replied with a bow and walked over to the direction of Aaron and the new centurions. Once he was out of earshot, I turned towards my companion. “Anyway, the ceremony was perfect. I appreciate the effort that you put into it.”

“Thank you, mistress. I also saw that you unlocked a new soul aspect. Along with all your current skills, I have to say, you scare me with the raw potential that you have.” The skeleton bobbed his head as his eyes remained dimmed.

I mean, it reassured that he said that. “I wasn’t sure what I was doing with it all if I was going, to be honest with you. I was just messing with a bunch of things to see what fit. Mostly out of the fear of becoming a jack of all trades. What are your thoughts on the matter?”

“Well, from the looks of it, you will still suffer from being slightly behind other classes. Mostly because of the widespread proficiencies that you have. But if you can bring them up to the next tier before you hit your class milestone, you will have some very solid picks. Staying focused on a hybrid class isn’t exactly a bad thing, you just have to be careful.” His eyes lit back up into his familiar scarlet orbs as he finished.

I see, that makes me feel a lot better. I glanced at my menu and saw that my protection window was still quickly fading, and I still had to get the training done, along with finishing up the domain. “Alright, so with that being said, we are running out of time. Can you have everyone work overtime on building up the area? I will have plans sent to you for the docks and a few other places I want to be built. I’m going to focus on training and doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work.”

“Very well. I’ll get them to work. You keep training. Get with me a day before we open, so we can do the last few things we need to make sure that we open smoothly.” I nodded my head and cast one last glance towards the pile of ashes, and tried to convince myself of the lie that everyone else believed. It was time to work overtime and get everything finished. No rest for me until a day before we open from here on out.

 

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