Chapter Seven: Like Never Before
Fourth Tower Year 4765, 3.2.10
The Republic of Mevitra, Clearwater
Marc opened the cabin door and entered. It had been months since he had last been here, but everything was exactly as he remembered it. He sat at the table and waited.
The door opened and his teacher walked in. She looked at his face, then silently she sat at the table facing him and waited for him to speak.
They sat that way for several minutes. Marc didn’t know how to start. He couldn’t say the words. He needed to tell her, but he couldn’t open his mouth. In frustration, tears started to fall down his cheeks.
She said nothing, she simply waited for him to calm down and let his tears fall. Finally, Marc took a deep breath.
“Grenn. Grenn is dead.”
The calm on her face broke for just a moment, but she quickly recovered.
“The city, it was sieged by beasts. We thought it was a surge, but it was a stampede. They were chased to the city by a Calamity. A super beast. It attacked the city. Everyone tried to fight it off…” Marc let the story fall out, the words pent up for so long now coming out like a stream.
“He was outside the wall. We didn’t know. Kira couldn’t see the Calamity, it had too much Mana, and she was blinded by it. When it got to the city it jumped over the shields and the forces and attacked the supporters. Ba’eth was there, but it was too much for her to handle. It…” He took a deep breath. Now he couldn’t stop.
“She was badly hurt. It took her arm. It was going to kill her and everyone. Then Grenn…” Frozen, he finally hit a roadblock. He couldn’t say the words.
“He pulled a Grenn.” She said in a whisper.
Marc looked up at his teacher. Then nodded.
“That fool.” She said, a tear forming on her eyelash.
“He saved them! He gave them time. Meservi flew to them. He killed the beast himself. They said he became a monster. He tore it to pieces.” Marc’s voice was raising now in frustration.
“I see. Do they know what drew the Calamity to the city?” She asked.
“What?” Marc screamed. Suddenly he was angry. He didn’t know why, but now he was furious. She had cried too pitifully then Johvi had died. But now barely a tear for her own adopted son? Who cared about why the beast was there? Grenn was dead.
“Don’t you care? Grenn is dead!” He yelled.
She saw the fury in Marc’s eyes and took his hand. Immediately Marc felt a calming wave fill his body. The blood seemed to leave his vision and he started to breathe again. He didn’t remember stopping, but the oxygen reached his brain and gave him some clarity. At first, he tried to fight it. He knew what magic she was using. But after his burst of rage was spent, he let the anger dissipate. Closing his eyes he dropped his head onto the table, tears pooling under his face.
“I will grieve, in my own way, in my own time. Marc, what I shared with you before was more of myself than I have ever shared with anyone else. But I feel that it was too much. Grief is hard to share, especially with one who is already carrying a heavy burden.” She gently ran her hand through his head.
“Marc, it was not your fault. There was nothing you could do.”
Hearing those words, the walls that had kept Marc upright for the past few days crumbled. He couldn’t talk to anyone. Meservi had been busy coordinating everything in Ba’eth’s absence. He could hardly face Keri and the family. He had just been hiding in the Guild Hall.
“I didn’t do anything. I just sat in the city, safe. Everyone else was fighting to save the city. Meservi had to stay inside to watch me, to keep me safe while-“
“Marc, it was not your fault. Grenn was a fool. A fool and a hero. He did what he did to save you, to save Keri, the children, and everyone else in the City. That was who he was. His whole life. You surviving, is what he staked his life on. You and everyone else he has ever met. That has always been his Path.”
She moved and sat next to him, putting her arms around him.
“Grenn lived a hard life. He suffered more than anyone should have. He started with nothing, he sacrificed everything. Did you ever hear him complain?” She looked at Marc.
“Never. Not once.” Marc looked up at Rynan and answered immediately, almost without thinking.
“He was an orphan, he had no talent for Magic, did he give up and take a simple life?”
“No. He worked hard every day.” Again Marc replied immediately.
“He gave up his oldest son. For the sake of others. He had given up his own blood, and the blood of those most precious to him, all for the sake of others. How did Grenn die?”
“Protecting others,” Marc replied. Tears came back to his eyes. Then he added.
“As he has always done.”
“To walk the Path is to accept your nature and your place. Doing not what you want, or what you can, and sometimes not even what you think you should, but what you must. Grenn knew his Path and never wavered from taking that next step. Who was he?”
“A hero,” Marc answered firmly.
“Yes, What else?”
“He was not a fool.”
“No,” His teacher clutched his hands again.
“No, it was cruel of me to say that… But I am so angry at him now.” Marc looked into her and saw the always calm face he always came to for guidance. But behind her mask, he could see her sadness. He understood with that simple glance through a crack the depth of sadness and regret this woman had carried through the years.
They sat there for hours in the space created by the Catalyst. He could not sleep there or feel hunger or any physical discomfort, but he suffered in silent anguish. The fears and doubts of the last few days were finally released by his teacher. She sat there beside him, holding him in silence as they both mourned their lost family.
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In the days following the attack, the City was like a damaged ship at sea, limping back to port.
Ba’eth was critically injured and had still not woken up. The best healers in the city were working tirelessly to heal her as best they could.
In her stead, Meservi took over the duties of Guild Head. Marc rarely saw him, and when he did, the Elf was a changed man. His face was a mask of stone, with no smile or smirk. Meservi and Torren worked non-stop to make sure that damage was repaired, all remaining beasts in the area were eliminated, every aspect of the attack was investigated, and the casualties were cared for.
Funerals were held for the many who had lost their lives in defense of the wall.
There was a park atop one of the hills inside the city where memorials took place. From the peak, you could see nearly the entire city. Families and friends would climb the hill and stand silently as a pyre was burned.
For days the park had been constantly full of mourners, each person carried a light stone, one of the small ones carried by workers in the low levels of the underground complex under the city. The family of the fallen would stand at the top of the hill by the pyre as each mourner climbed to the top of the hill and presented the light stone. Soon the hill had giant piles of stones lighting the night sky.
When it was Grenn’s turn, Marc was allowed to stand near the family, along with Meservi, a position reserved for close family friends. He had spent each night since the attack with the family, helping Keri with small chores and cooking. Not that she had needed any. She had not slowed at all, rather she seemed to bury her grief in taking care of her family. Still, she had never pushed Marc away when he offered to help.
As Grenn lay in repose, crowds began to gather in the park. It was dusk, and Marc saw now the hundreds of people making the climb, dim lights creating a carpet of light.
As it got darker, the crowd continued to grow. People quietly waited in line to stand before his family. Marc now saw tendrils of light branching from the part throughout the city.
Grenn had saved and fought for the city countless times. He trained many of the greatest hunters the city had ever seen. He had fallen while saving the lives of countless people. He was a hero to every person in the city.
The procession lasted for hours, Marc moved over and offered to sit with Safan and Keri nodded her thanks. Meservi continued to stare at the pyre with a frozen visage, but his grey eyes were a bottomless sea of grief.
Finally, it was impossible for people to move, the stones had been piled up into high walls now. The pyre was lit and Marc could hear crying and sobs from every direction.
He turned as he heard a loud gasp at his side. Meservi was on his knees holding his face in both hands. The stone mask had finally cracked.
Marc gave Safan to Sateem and rushed to the side of the fallen Elf.
“Thank you, my boy. I’m fine.” Meservi choked the words out as Marc offered his shoulder to help the man up. Putting his arm around Marc’s shoulder, Meservi continued to stare at the burning fire.
In a whisper, he heard the Elf whisper what sounded like a poem. He recognized that it was in Anatra Fuul Keyt, the language of the Elves.
“My heart. I gave to you.
I could not walk beside you,
but though you did not know,
with each step my heart was always with you.
For as long as I walk this world,
I have no heart left.
May it stay with you until the next world.
May it guide me to you until we meet again.”
Marc looked at the hanging head of his friend. He looked so small now. So fragile. This was the man who had flown over the city wall and defeated the Calamity. His speed and attacks had removed the head of a monster that no one else could even break through the hide of. Now he was so weak and vulnerable that Marc held him in his arms as the two of them wept silently while the flames reached higher into the sky.
After they left the hill, Marc, Meservi, and a few others escorted the family back to the apartments. In the public space near the bathhouse, many families were gathered and there was food and drink as the grief, tension, fear, and other emotions of the past few days were slowly excised from the residents.
As they arrived, many neighbors came over and greeted Keri and the children. They made space for them at a table and brought food and drink.
While the ceremony at the hill was silent, the gathering here was loud and festive. At times someone would stand and tell stories and anecdotes of those they had lost. Some were long, some were short, some sang songs of old battles or loves, and others recited poems. All were happy memories that brought cheers and laughter from those gathered.
After a while, Marc looked at Meservi, urging the Elf to stand and speak. He knew Meservi must have a thousand tales of Grenn’s bravery and humanity. This was where the crazy man was in his element.
Instead, Meservi looked down for a moment, then shook his head. He looked Marc in the eyes, his broken heart on full display. He looked over at Keri and the family, then with a sad look shook his head again.
“I can’t. Marc, I can’t…” He took a deep breath, the exhaled slowly.
“My boy, would you do a favor for this old Elf? Could you speak for me? Just this once, be my voice? This one,” He put his hand on his chest. “It doesn’t have the strength right now. Can you do it?”
Marc almost recoiled in horror. He couldn’t stand in front of these people? He had never been able to speak in front of groups. He knew he could not do it. But Meservi gripped his hand tightly, his eyes pleading.
Marc looked over at Keri and the children. Safan was cheerfully eating some meat skewer. He caught Marc’s gaze and waved at him to come over.
“Marc! Play some rockinroll!” the boy repeated his favorite request.
Marc looked at the boy and shook his head.
“Sorry, the sound will be too small outside. We can listen later in your room okay?”
The young boy pouted. It had been a long and likely confusing and traumatizing time for him Marc knew. He wished he could help somehow.
He looked away to avoid the sad expression on the child’s face. As he turned his head, he noticed a turmair on a nearby table. It was a small, six-string instrument, similar to a ukulele that one of the old men had been playing earlier. He walked over and picked up the small object. The owner nodded encouragingly at him.
“Play! Play something for us Marc.”
Marc looked at the instrument in his hands and strummed the strings with his thumb and forefinger.
“Kira? Do you think?”
【SKILL ACQUIRED: MUSIC - TUMAIR [1]】
“Thanks, can you also disable translation?” He asked his interface.
《You want to sing in English?》
“No. I’ve been working on my Tashtalik. I’d like to do this in my own words.”
After a few moments of hesitation, Kira responded.
《Okay. I’d say it was your funeral, but… Use this. It should help.》
【SKILL ACQUIRED: PUBLIC SPEAKING [1]】
Marc smiled and thought his appreciation to his interface.
He made a few more practice strums with the instrument. He had played a bit of guitar when he was in high school in a misplaced plan to integrate somewhat with his peers. It had not gone well.
Now, he could instinctively hit the notes he wanted. It wasn’t easy, and he wouldn’t sound like a pro by any means, but it should be enough for a simple tune.
Looking at Safan, Keri, and finally Meservi he knew what he wanted to perform.
“I’m new here, my words are not good. This is a song from my home. My feelings for my family here.” He had been working quite diligently on improving his language ability over the past few years and while he was far from eloquent, he felt confident with basic conversation in Tashtalik now.
This of course would be pushing things harder than he had ever attempted before.
He sat next to Safan and started to play a tune. The performance skill helped to calm his nerves and keep his mind focused on both the music and the song as he did a karaoke-worthy rendition. It was an Earth song, sung on another world, in another tongue.
I won’t cry anymore for you
the sun is shining for you
This is what it feels like to be with you
It’s okay, I know it’s right
I would give the whole world for you
I’ll never be cold to you
Because this is how I feel when I’m with you
It’s okay, I know it’s right
The birds are singing
like they know the song
I love you, I love you, I love you
Like I never could before
I wish you all the love in the world
But most importantly, I wish I could do it on my own
The birds keep singing like they know the song
I love you, I love you, I love you
Like I never could before
Like I never could before
As he strummed the last few notes the neighbors all cheered and some came over to pat him on the back and shoulder.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Elf sit next to Keri and give her a hug, which she returned with tears in her eyes.