November 17th

Harry, Scarlett and I were dressed in black as we stood in the ballroom. Gruma was wearing what I assumed to be some kind of Taraxian funeral attire. It consisted of a white ankle-length skirt that was parted down the middle along with a white chest wrap. She walked in front of the coffin and opened it up. Inside laid Malgorth’s lifeless body. All his wounds were covered, and he was dressed in the finest robes. It was what his people considered formal dress. She placed a hand on his head and another on his chest.

“We have come here to mourn the death of Malgorth,” Gruma said as she looked at us. “While he was only with us for a short time, we were the closest thing he had to a family. He helped us get the funds to continue. He fought against the Qarri when they tried to enslave us. He was a life of the party and shared it with us. And finally, he sacrificed his life to save sixteen innocent children from being enslaved or killed.

“Malgorth may have not been a great warrior. While smarter than me, he wasn’t that bright. He pitched in where he could. He would confide with me that he sometimes felt worthless. Almost as if he was dead weight.” Harry looked like he was about to tear up when that was said, but he held it back. Gruma continued, “I told him that I felt the same way. You three did most of the planning which led us to victory. I, meanwhile, was dumb muscle. Easily replaceable. However, I knew how much everyone cared for me. Not just Harry, but also Quentin and Scarlett. I told him that though he may think his life was meaningless, he meant a lot to us.”

Gruma started to tear up as she looked at the corpse. “Somewhere out there, I’m sure he joined his ancestors. His final act of sacrifice marks him as an honorable man. Honor isn’t just for when you take lives. It’s also for when you save them too.” She sobbed as she wiped away her tears. “I’ll let the rest of you give your own speeches.” She walked over to Harry and leaned into his chest. He stroked her back as he looked at the sky.

Scarlett walked up to the coffin next. She wore a conservative black dress with sleeves. She looked at Malgorth’s body before facing us. Her eyes were red. She took a deep breath. “In life, Malgorth and I weren’t exactly on friendly terms. We often got on each other’s nerves. He would tempt me with some vice, and I would nag him about it. I was a jerk to him. But it’s like they say. ‘You never know what you have until it’s gone.’ Now I can empathize with it.

“Malgorth taught us that sometimes you need to unwind and have fun. He was easy-going and always smiling. Little did we know the deep scars that smile hid. His parents died when he was five along with his siblings. They died in a civil war fought on his home planet between two generals. While the orphanage cared for him, he couldn’t forget those images. I would sometimes hear him at night crying and saying the names of his father, mother, and baby brother. When I asked about it, he just brushed it off and said it was nothing. I only found out when clearing out his room after his death. He wrote everyday in his journal on his computer. He wrote all about the traumas and emotional scars that made him hide behind a façade.

“When I look at him, sometimes I wonder if God took the wrong one. Sometimes I feel like I should’ve died instead. I was assigned to protect those kids originally, but my stupid ego made me put Malgorth in that position! I was supposed to die that day, not him!” Scarlett sobbed as she ran back to me. Once she was close, I hugged her tightly as she rested her head on my shoulder.

After a minute of her crying, I broke the hug to walk up to the coffin. When I looked at Malgorth’s corpse, my mind briefly flashed an image of my younger brother. It flashed back to normal, but the hit was already done. Would I have sent my brother the same way I sent him? No, I wouldn’t have. While part of that was due to his age, it was mostly familial ties. Why then was it okay for me to treat him like that? It wasn’t.

I looked at the crowd and said, “Malgorth always flew under the radar. Unlike Zalex, he wasn’t a troublemaker. He was a happy-go-lucky man. We’d joke around a bit and play a few games of pool. He wasn’t as close to me as you three are, but he was still one of us. A member of the Earthborn crew. While a friend to us, he saw us as much more. He saw us as his brothers and sisters.

“We often wish we could go back. Back to when he was alive and well. I feel that way. If we had those months together again, I’d reach out to him and treat him like a brother. I’d help him with his addictions and try to make him feel like he belonged. Unfortunately, we cannot change the past. If we were able to meet again, I’d apologize for always overlooking him and treating him like he was dumb. Neglecting him was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“With his dying words, he imparted that the meaning of life was love and family. Not just the love between romantic partners, but that between friends and family. I would add another love to it. Love of all people. The children he sacrificed himself for weren’t his relatives. They weren’t his friends, and they certainly weren’t his lovers. They were human, and he was Beliathan. But he saw them as people equal to himself. He saw them as worth laying down his life for. He sacrificed himself for the lives of innocents, and died happy knowing they were safe.

“Ultimately, it was my fault he died. If I wasn’t such a boneheaded simpleton, I would’ve thought twice about sending him into enemy fire! We are brothers and sisters in arms, and yet I didn’t think it through! I wouldn’t have sent my biological brother on such a suicide mission, and yet I did it to him! I don’t deserve to be here! I’m a monster!” I was about to run off crying, but Gruma held me back.

She turned me around to face her. She had a frown on her face as she said, “Malgorth took the task knowing all the risks. You even said he died happy and didn’t regret a thing. Don’t make us lose someone else too.” She then took me over to Scarlett before walking back to Harry’s side.

Harry was the last one to walk up to the coffin. He sighed before facing us. “It’s hard to believe he’s gone. The day before he died, we played beer pong, but with water. He said he needed to start cutting back.” He looked at the covered bar. “We were drinking buddies. We would give each other dares as we tried to see who could drink the most. Sometimes I won, sometimes he did. Days like those were a joy.

“We were good friends, even if I didn’t know it then. We watched sports together and would just hang out. When we watched movies, he always wanted to watch an old classic from his home planet. I think it was called Fearless. It was a typical action movie, but it had a very deep scene.

“When the heroine was at her mother’s funeral, she said it was the small things that made all the difference. We often tell stories about the funny or crazy things in life. But it’s the small things that make death hard to accept. Not having someone greet you when you enter the lounge. Not having a friend to watch the latest match of Crexball. Not having someone to talk about your day with. That’s what why it hurts. It’s like what Scarlett said, ‘you never know what you have until it’s gone.’

“Whether or not there’s an afterlife, I can’t tell. But I can say that Malgorth has found rest,” Harry finished before closing the coffin. He looked at it and said, “Goodbye, my friend. And thanks for all the moments we had together.”

As he walked back, Gruma walked back to the closed coffin. She explained, “I’m going to do an ancient High Taraxian funeral rite.” She grabbed a wooden staff and moved it over the coffin. “Uma ras na tul. Uma ras na tul. Melenay gunta roon. Hadagan ras ne kun. Hadagan ras ne kun.” Once she was done with the chanting in her native language, she explained, “Any evil spirits nearby have been chased off.”

Scarlett then went up and sat down at a piano. Or at least an instrument that looked like one. She tested the keys before playing a familiar funeral hymn. Once she finished with her musical number, she walked back to my side.

With the rite and song out of the way, we surrounded the coffin and picked it up. We were all pallbearers since we all had the strength needed and were the only ones there. We walked out of the lounge and walked towards the airlock. As we walked through the living room, we could see all the children staring at us. We didn’t want to tell them what happened, but in a way, they probably knew. They started crying.

We entered the airlock and locked the door behind us. We placed the coffin in the escape pod Malgorth died in. The escape pod was laid lengthwise. We put on our spacesuits and returned to surround it. Harry looked down and said, “My friend left some notes for what he wished to do with his body.” He sniffled. “He wished to have his body sent into space, traveling to his home planet. He wrote that even though it would take millennia, that was how he wanted to be treated.”

After those words, the ship reoriented itself, so the airlock faced Malgorth’s home planet. As the airlock’s outside door opened, we pushed out the escape pod his body was in. As the escape pod entered space, it peacefully cruised by.

The airlock closed again once Malgorth’s escape pod coffin was out of sight. We changed out of our spacesuits and headed back into the living room. I was going to head to my room when Scarlett put her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go to my room for a bit. There’s something I want us to be alone for.” I nodded back.

The two of us walked through the living room silently and went to her room. Once inside, Scarlett locked the door behind us and knelt by her bed. Seeing where it was going, I knelt down next to her. She held my hands and bowed her head. She then said a prayer aloud. I bowed my head as well and listened. I wasn’t a very religious person, but it gave me some peace. If there was a heaven, that was where Malgorth would be.