The funeral procession marched down the hill outside the city of Jewelston. The procession was longer than any in the history of the city. Nearly every soul had come out to pay their respects to the great warrior that had fallen in the battle against the shadows. The body was carried in the largest casket I had ever seen, it took over fifty guards on each side to carry it to the final resting place, which had to be outside of the city due to the size of the burial needed. The casket had been made by the craftsmen of the city with loving respect. It was beautiful for something of its size and the speed with which it was built. Ornately carved with battle scenes, and a dragon flying overhead raining fire down on the enemies. It was made with the finest woods the craftsmen could get. When the procession reached the grave, they lowered the casket onto hundreds of straps that had been laid over the hole in the ground to lower the casket into the grave that had been dug the day before. Even more men and women were ready to help with the straps and they gently lowered the casket into the ground. The mayor spoke to the people in attendance.
"We are here today to lay to rest the greatest hero that I have ever had the privilege to meet. The strongest warrior, the most powerful ally, and the truest friend to us all. Al'Doran was a dragon of great power, but also with a big heart. He took in any who needed help, and always had an answer to a question asked of him. He showed us a kindness by helping to create a space in which we can work to repel the shadows that threaten to engulf us. He could have stayed hidden away where he had been for hundreds of years. Instead, he came to us with Callan Ryder to aid us in our time of need. Many here today would not be here, were it not for the training that he had given to Callan. And Callan would not be here were it not for his sacrifice."
That statement drove a dagger into my heart. I knew I was the hope of the world at this point, but that made me feel as though this was all my fault.
"Al'Doran was as wise as he was kind. He taught me that while I have the power to do what I can for the city, I do not have the power necessary to save it and the realms around us. But we can stand with those who do and we will fight in his honor to ensure that this world stays free! No one here will ever forget Al'Doran, nor the sacrifice that he made for all of us here. We are safe, we are stronger because of the things he did for us. And for that I say, thank you, A'lDoran. Thank you for being a light for us. FOR THE LIGHT!"
Thousands of people came by to lay a flower on Al'Doran's casket. One by one they filed through and gave me platitudes, or told me what he meant to them. I did my duty and stood there receiving them all with humility and grace, while inside I was dying. Rutherford, Vokin, and Tristan did their best to comfort me, but the only one who knew my true pain was Aeolith. She stayed with me at all times. I could actually feel her fear to leave my side through our bond.
Rain fell that day, and marked the saddest day of my life up to this point. I had never really lost someone I felt close to before now. There had been family members that had died and I had gone to funerals for them before, but I hadn't really known those people. All of my immediate family had been alive while I was on earth. Then again I might not feel that way because of the part of my mind that had been exchanged during my reincarnation, but I felt as though I would have at least remembered feeling this sad at some point. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut, and I couldn't catch my breath. I wanted to be sick over and over again, and I couldn't get the tears to stop falling from my eyes no matter how hard I tried. No matter how much I told myself there was nothing I could do. That it wasn't my fault. But it was my fault, wasn't it? I left the town that day. I didn't stay to relax like I had been told. I could have played it safer. I should have seen the signs. I let the hunt for the Shadow Beasts cloud my judgment. This could have been prevented.
Now, here I stood, next to a large burial sight, having just watched the internment of the one being who had the answers to so many questions I now couldn't ask. The one being who had taught me more about survival in this land than anyone else. The one who had saved my life, and lost his in the process. I threw a flower, the florist had called it a dragon lily, onto the freshly shoveled dirt over the grave marked currently with only a large headstone. The mayor promised to have a statue built in his honor and to memorialize him forever. I couldn't help him. I was right there, and I couldn't help him. My puny healing spell healed twenty-five points of damage at a time, but his bleeding was so extensive that I couldn't even hope to keep up. I cast it so many times that I leveled up the spell to level three. I chugged mana potions to recast and tried to give him my health potions. I might as well have been trying to cure the pain from a severed leg with a child's ibuprofen for all the good it did.
How could I have been so stupid? I knew something was wrong from the beginning, but I let my desire to just wipe out the Shadow Beasts cloud my judgment of the situation. I fell to my knees, feeling as though my legs could no longer support my weight, and wept into my hands. I didn't care that my armor was getting dirty in the mud. I didn't care that I was soaked to the bone in the rain that continued to fall and seemed to reflect my mood. I could do nothing but blame myself for the way that this happened. I should never have gone there without resting and clearing my mind first. The town wasn't even under attack yet, they had been fine and didn't need me to go in guns blazing to root out the problem. That was my own selfish desire and hatred causing me not to be level-headed.
Aeolith curled herself around me and lay down in the dirt. The rain washing off her face made it hard to tell if she was actually crying as well or not. Could dragons cry? I knew the pain she felt as well at this moment. She had spent even more time with him than I had. Al'Doran had taught her how to be a dragon. He was the last of her kind. She was literally alone in this world now with no other dragons. I had other humans, but she was the last member of her race that anyone knew of. The responsibility on her shoulders now was immense. How could we have let this happen? Before his passing there had been a possibility that they could have made more dragons, but now that hope was lost.
I felt lost as well. Where do I go from here? What do I do with the limited knowledge that I have to help save people? I was basically charged with saving the world, but I barely knew how to defeat the foes I had encountered. I found two Shadow Beasts in one place and almost died. What would happen if I found five, ten, or a hundred of them? What if the last Shadow Beast was right about my level of power? What if I couldn't kill the stronger ones? So many doubts plagued my mind now and I had no idea how I was going to go on. Sitting here near his grave I could still feel close to him. Could still feel like I had him with me. I had hope for a short time. Though this would fade when I eventually had to leave. There were still things that needed to be done. I knew that, but I just couldn't bring myself to care right now. All I wanted was to see him again. To hear his voice speak to my mind, and tell me that everything was going to be ok and that I had the strength to go on. Right now, I didn't have that strength. I had gone from a powerful Dragonrider, with all the confidence in the world to take on the challenges ahead of me with his guidance, to a scared little boy with a dragon playing hero with his friends.
Sandra had asked if I would say anything at the funeral and I had refused, knowing I would not be able to utter a single word if I got up on that stage to speak about him. I barely held it together during the endless procession of well-wishers that had come through. Once everyone had finally left was when I broke down. I had cried while I laid over his body in the warehouse as well. Because of Al'Doran's arrival, most of the city guards had been tasked with keeping people away from the warehouse. This led to no one coming to help me with the healing. When he had closed his eyes for the first time and his breathing became labored I had rushed to Rutherford and lifted him bodily from the place he had landed, crumpled on the ground, and brought him over to Al'Doran. He still hadn't woken. I slapped him across the face multiple times, even going so far as to use Shocking Bolt on him to see if I could bring him back. He came back around an hour or two later, but by then it was too late. He awoke to me laying over his face, crying my eyes out. When he got his bearings he had nearly lost his mind with grief as well. Tristan had been the next to come to and I sent him to get the mayor and anyone they could find that might be able to help. Vokin woke up last as he had been hit the hardest. No one could do anything. Rutherford said he knew of a revival spell, but it wasn't meant for dragons. I made him try anyways. He had gathered as much power as he could for the spell and used every last drop of mana he had, but it wasn't enough. He fell over with a mana headache when he finished casting it, taking damage from the spell backlashing into him when it couldn't take hold. We didn't try again.
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Eventually, the mayor had come as well. He had brought the best healers in the city, but even they were of lesser ability than Rutherford was, so there was no hope they could do anything. They had basically stood there completely helpless and I screamed at them for having not had people come in to help. I was wrong to do that, but it was all I felt at the time. I couldn't stop myself. It just all rushed out in the anger I felt at that moment at losing him. In the anger I felt at myself and my failure. For his part, the mayor didn't say anything. He had the good graces to look ashamed and apologize. I would need to go back and apologize to him eventually. But not now. For now, all I wanted to do was sit here and feel as close as I could one last time.
The rain began to let up and I laid down on the ground, cuddling close to Aeloith. She curled herself around me closer to hold me while I lay there and cried. Eventually, all my tears seemed to dry up. My body wanted to continue to cry and it felt like I was, but no more tears were coming. I hugged Aeolith and just shared emotions with her across our bond. No words were used, just our raw and pure emotions being shared at that moment. I heard footsteps approaching from the town and Aeolith looked up to see who was coming. Tristan was leading Vokin and Rutherford out to the grave site. They walked over to where we were and sat down in a circle next to Aeolith. Without saying a rod they began to build a fire and bring out bottles of mead and set up a spit to begin roasting a large piece of meat.
"You feel this is the right time for a party?" I asked a little bitterly.
"We sure do. What better way to remember someone as great as Al'Doran than to celebrate the life he lived and the things he did for us?" Tristan said.
My heart began to soften at that. Tristan and I had grown closer and I knew he was trying to help me feel better at the same time. I sat up and moved over closer to the fire. Aeolith moved to lay around us on the outside of the fire. The warmth felt good since the sun was going down, and I was still soaked.
"We also brought these," Rutherford said holding up a bottle and tossing it to me. "It really helps with the emotions during this beginning time."
I smiled slightly at what he was getting at. I shrugged and popped the bottle open and downed it all in one long swig. They all stared at me with wide eyes.
"A man after me own heart," Vokin said, nudging me slightly with his elbow.
We all chuckled at this. We spent some time in silence before Tristan decided to try to break the silence again.
"We know he meant the world to you Callan, but remember that we are still here for you too. We can never replace him, but we are with you til the end."
"Thank you, Tristan. That means a lot right now. I know that this isn't the end of the world, well not likely anyway. But I am going to have a hard time with this for a while. I'm lost now. I don't have that guidance, that surety that Al'Doran had of what needed to be done. There are so many things that I don't know, that I have no idea how to learn. Not to mention Aeolith is now the last dragon on this planet that we know of. I feel like any move I make could be the wrong one. I'm lost in a sea of unknowns."
"That is a tough place to be in," Rutherford said. "This is an unprecedented event that you have been placed right in the middle of. We know what kind of man you are though and we are here to follow you unto the ends of the earth."
"But this was my fault! I caused this, I was reckless, I was the one who insisted on taking this job on and not waiting."
"That is exactly the wrong attitude to have laddie. There wasn't anything ye could have done differently to change that. We were there, we fought with ye, and we didn't see the trap either. They be cunning beasts. If anyone be to blame it be the Shadow Beasts. They could have taken a note and died off centuries ago, but they be back and they be the ones that are truly evil."
I didn't respond to this.
"For now, let's focus on the celebration of the life that we had with Al'Doran. Let's remember all the good times we had and tell stories about him. I know we didn't know him as long as we would have liked, but I felt like we had known him our whole life." Tristan offered passing more of the mead around.
We took turns telling some of the stories we had and remembering the training that he had put us through while drinking the mead and taking turns turning the meat. We drank and ate and talked until the night grew short. Eventually, we decided to walk, mostly drunk, back to the city together. My companions said farewell to me and went back to the Dragon's Nest where Patsy would welcome them to the room they had designated for us. I went to the roost with Aeolith and stayed with her, not wanting to leave her side.
"You know Aeolith," I said still feeling the effects of all the mead we had consumed. "Vokin was right."
"About what?" She replied in my mind.
"About who is to blame. It's the Shadow Beasts. We need to pay them back for the deed they did. We should really begin to take the fight to them directly."
"Callan, we need to think about what we do next."
"And just let them get away with murdering Al'Doran?"
"The one who killed Al'Doran is dead. He got what was coming to him."
"But the others aren't. They are still allowed to slink around, wreaking havoc. Remember the town of Edgeville? They are killing mindlessly and we just didn't have to feel the effects until it was Al'Doran they came for. I can't just let that happen."
"You also cant just let your emotions get the best of you when trying to decide what to do."
"So you think we should just let them be?"
"No, of course not. But..."
"But what? We are the only ones on earth that seem to be able to do anything to stop them. We are the only hope that these people have left. So let's give them more hope and start destroying them."
Aeolith didn't say anything to that.
"You know I'm right. And we can begin to right the wrongs done here by irradiating them one by one."
Some of my anger must have seeped over to her across our bond because I could see a fire light in her eyes.
"Fine. We will go destroy them. But promise me we will be careful."
"We can't afford not to be careful. We can really only cast the spell that kills them once before we would need to retreat. We learned that last time. And we need the team to go with us. We will do things right, but we will kill them."
"Very well. Let's make them pay. For Al'Doran."
"For Al'Doran."
I had been putting this off since Al'Doran had died, but I finally looked at my character sheet. The smaller Shadow Beasts hadn't been much XP, but the big guy at the end had been worth plenty. Wach little guy had been worth about twenty-five thousand XP, give or take. The general, as he called himself, had been worth five hundred thousand XP. Twenty times that of the little guys. I'm sure that was because of the level difference between me and him as well, but it would help make me stronger. The more I leveled, the harder it was to get XP enough to level up. So this was really helpful. It was only one level, but each level was a precious thing. So I had five attribute points and four skill points. For my attribute points, I went ahead and assigned them to Strength to bring that stat up to forty-five. The skills I needed to review later, so I would carve out some time when it wasn't so early in the morning. Looking over my sheet I felt good about my decisions.
Name: Callan Ryder
Race: Human
Class: Dragon Rider
Title: Estel - Hope
Level: 31
HP: 420/420*(+20 Necklace)
MP: 490/490 *(+20 Ring)
Attributes:
Unused Attribute Points: 0
Strength: 45 *(+12 Title, Items & Skills)
Constitution: 40 *(+7 Title & Skills)
Dexterity: 45 *(+7 Title & Skills)
Endurance: 40 *(+7 Title & Skills) Intelligence: 47 *(+12 Title, Items & Skills) Wisdom: 45 *(+7 Title & Skills) Charisma: 22 *(+7 Title & Skills) Luck: 17 *(+7 Title & Skills) Unused Skill Points: 4 Non-Combat Skills: Combat Skills: Inspect: Beginner 9 Unarmed Combat: Beginner 9 Dragon Spirit: 1/5 Spears: Beginner 3 Dragon Scales: 1/4 Short Blades: Beginner 5 Dragon Armor: 1/5 Swords: Initiate 33 Stealth: Beginner 5 Dragon Slash: 1/5 Dragon Breath: Novice 17 Dragon Shield: Novice 11 Thrown Weapons: Beginner 7
We touched foreheads and I lay down against her side. Aeolith curled herself up around me and soon we were both fast asleep in the hay in the roost.