Since he first reawakened all of those months ago, he never thought to see himself where he was now. Even as bad as things were and can be, there was still plenty of good to be found. He knew this to be true because he found himself surrounded by truly joyous people and those willing to have exceptional lives. It wasn’t something he would’ve thought possible when he was stuck wandering for months out in the wasteland.
Things were turning out a lot better than he would’ve ever expected. Considering where his new life began, he thought it humorous, to say the least.
Today was one such day that made him truly happy and blessed to live the new life he possessed. He might still not have all of the answers to his past that he wanted or answers to the other many questions he had, but he found it difficult to complain. And at least for now, all he wanted to do was to enjoy the rest of the day’s festivities with them.
For now, however, Della led him away from the others dragging him through a large crowd. “Where are you taking me?”
“Just over here. I wanted us to share this moment.” For what moment exactly he was to experience, he wondered only to know he’d soon receive an answer.
It was mid-afternoon around this time and the cloudy sky opened up just enough to allow some sunlight to flood out onto a great open square where tons of people in the city had been migrating towards for the last dozen or so minutes. Snow fell a little bit but did so only slightly.
People motioned by them within the large crowd as he held onto Della’s right gloved hand. Hundreds if not thousands of people gathered for some purpose he had yet to figure out.
“What’s going on?” Kiran asked.
She smiled at him. “We’re all going to sing a song together to celebrate another year of survival. We may all have our differences and disagreements, but this is a way for us all to unite and show our willingness to be together when it truly matters most.”
There was something beautiful in that. Every single one of them was in this together in some way and having a moment in which they all collectively recognized that was rather touching even to someone like himself. Even the city guard joined with the growing crowd not wanting to be left out.
Horrific circumstances and terror had a way of unifying people. Every single one of these people in attendance knew they were lucky to be alive and if it weren’t for Liall and its pillars, humanity within this domain would’ve long ago all died out.
After several more minutes of the crowd growing in size, the people all gathered there began to sing a song together. He wished he had known the lyrics for he would’ve sang with them. For now at least, all he could do was listen as they all sang it together.
While he stood there holding Della’s hand, her own voice as she sang along with the crowd was calm and as perfect as a voice could be. He gripped her hand more tightly and she looked towards him and smiled as she lifted her voice up higher in tandem with the others.
The song carried its way through him leaving chills down his spine. Her own voice mixed with all the others sparked immense happiness inside of him. What he would give to experience this wonderful moment and day for every next hour in his life, he couldn’t even imagine how much he would sacrifice to have that.
But for one reason or another, this wonderful peace and love shared amongst this united people that existed out here in the open square full of cheerful people was like for many things: ephemeral and nothing more than that.
The crowd continued to sing but a voice began to penetrate into his ears.
“Kiran!” Lar said telepathically. “Kiran you have to run!”
He found it hard to concentrate on their words due to the loudness of the singing all around. “Why, what’s wrong?” he said telepathically to his panicked companion.
A sickening chill ran down his spine. Della kept singing as he frantically began looking through the crowd struggling to see any danger. When he twisted his body around to look behind, he spotted what looked like Lar trying to forcefully motion through the large mass of people to reach him.
Before he could make any further moves himself, his companion managed to reach him and then threw themselves at him causing him to fall several meters away from Della with Lar over and on top of him.
He had a moment ago held onto Della’s hand, but he released his grasp the moment Lar suddenly threw themselves at him. It had happened so fast that Della simply looked at him confusingly as she still stood there singing.
He wanted nothing more than to grip that hand of hers forever. He wanted to stand by her, join her in song and remember this beautiful moment forever. And he wanted nothing more than to settle down with her and maybe even start a family with her forgetting all about this nonsense revolving around his new existence.
Yet, this was a cruel world, wasn’t it? He had come to be aware of it from the moment he gained this new life.
It was not a world that would give Kiran what he wanted.
No, he was not to be afforded such a simple request.
Instead, he had no choice but to lay there on the ground with not enough time to react, and simply watch as Della’s confused and beautiful face turned into a red mist along with the rest of her body that collapsed into the ground turning into a mangled mess.
His body blew backwards along with Lar as an explosive force blew out all around them. The ground cratered, and the crowd all around who had managed to avoid the sudden blow were of course the lucky ones. They stood in shock as a giant pile of mangled-up corpses with blown-apart faces and blown-apart limbs covered the sudden cratered area.
Kiran coughed out blood due to the impact of the force exerted on his body. If not for Lar’s choice to throw themselves at him distancing him away from the direct impact, he would’ve been just another mangled body.
As he lay there on his back staring up at the sky, Lar pressed their palms against the broken ground around him with her face hovering over him. She began coughing out blood as well struggling to keep herself from collapsing on top of him. Blood ran down her chin and her eyes were noticeably reddened.
While Lar appeared ready to move off of him, her body suddenly flew out of his sight as a heavily armored figure standing directly ahead of him kicked her off of him.
Steam rose off of their silver plate armor. Their multi-angular helmet hid their face but he thought he could sense their disdain towards him. Their armor and two-handed sword that they wielded in one hand reflected off the many dozens of corpses around them.
Without even a chance to react to this intimidating armored figure, their giant sword went straight into his heart.
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He gasped and pressed his hands along the broadsides of their sword. His hands quickly fell to his side as their sword slipped free from his body. Blood gushed out of his chest and the light of the world dimmed rapidly.
Why?
Why is this happening?
The memory of his previous life’s death came to greet him again. He remembered how that death felt and how his life had been taken from him. Now he was to die once more.
Why? Why? Why? That was the only word he could come to ask within that mind of his as his life spilled out of him.
His last passing thoughts went towards Della and how she had fallen victim to this sudden unfathomable assault and how she nor anyone else deserved this fate. If anyone needed to die, it should’ve just been him.
A warm liquid continually poured out of his chest spilling out all around him. The end was coming. The end was nigh and this new life given to him was over. He hadn’t even been given the chance to say goodbye or to fight.
As the world went dark, he thought he could begin to hear a voice reach out to him. “I’m…I’m not letting you die just yet!”
The voice came from his companion whose body was once again over on top of him. Light flooded his vision and he could begin to see once more. His companion grasped tightly to his body and energy began to pour inside of him.
All of the pain, all of the blood seeping out from that critical wound to his heart, ceased to be. His companion through some miraculous act likely due to their souls being bonded together would deny death from having its grasp on him once again.
The power that entered his body stopped at a certain point. His companion struggled to even open their mouth to try to speak to him. But he understood their intent completely. Take this opportunity I’ve given you and strike at the one who did this!
He carefully put Lar down on their side. They were in a dire state, but willingly sacrificed a part of themselves for him. He knew this even without them saying this to him. So without further delay, he pulled himself up and stared down the imposing figure who walked away thinking they accomplished their primary goal of killing him.
With their back turned to him, he thought he knew full well of the one who was walking away with that royal green cape running down their back. It could be only one person.
That person was her majesty, Queen Luvia Aenveld.
As the crowd continually fled in a wild frenzy, Kiran began to summon his sword. It manifested fully allowing him to begin to grip it with his right hand. He tightened his grip and began rapidly running through the cratered area that was covered in bodies and bits of flesh that had been blown off from the initial impact.
His body came closer and closer to the queen who kept walking away. He took advantage of them thinking him dead to drive his sword through the portion of the back helm that didn’t completely cover their nape. As he leaped into the air and sent his sword forward to hit that more exposed portion, the queen quickly turned forcing his sword to instead hit hard against the side of her plate helmet.
The helmet flew off her head and they took up a defensive position as he breathed heavily in and out.
The queen’s face was a youthful one. For a woman supposedly older than a century, she looked no older than someone who was twenty years old. She looked down at him in a confused and surprised manner. Her green eyes were sharp and wary of he who managed to strike her all of a sudden.
“You’re supposed to be dead.” The slightest bit of fear exuded from the words she muttered aloud to him. Him being alive had come as a shock to her and that concerned her.
He began attacking her with every ounce of this newfound strength he had been given by Lar. He had been in a daze and a pained state after having survived their sudden attack towards the crowd of people and himself. But now, he was healed and capable of fighting with all of his being.
However, that didn’t change the fact that the queen was like fighting a statue that could somehow move at the exact perfect time. She blocked every attack with a basic motion of her sword and repositioned herself with precision.
Come on. All I’ve got to do is drive this sword straight through her exposed head!
“Enough!”
His body blew back forcing him to stand at a distance. Steam emanated from her armor again and she still held onto that angry and fearful gaze. He hadn’t known how she looked at him when she had that helmet on before. But he thought it must’ve not been this same fearful look she now possessed. She was unsure of things now since he had somehow survived what normally would be an unsurvivable attack. Good, be confused. Be fearful of me. She had attacked him in an unexpected manner. But now she could not be afforded that luxury. She had to face him directly and be forced to work towards killing him if she desired that end for him.
The queen went and picked up her helmet. She put it on her head and then chose to retreat rather than fight him. He would’ve gone after her but she had left in such a fast pace, there was no way he was going to be able to catch up to her. After all of this, she just runs away?
With all the fighting over, it became clear that there were very few all around. Everyone had either fled or died in the initial sudden assault.
He found himself looking towards all of the mangled bodies from behind. Many of the faces on their bodies were in such a ruined state, there was no making out their former facial appearances. He struggled to find Della’s body amidst them all, but he then recognized one mangled body with her winter outfit, and star necklace strewn around her mangled neck.
It had not hit him fully yet due to all that had just transpired. But now he found himself tearful as he went to his knees before her mangled body. Her head had been brutally shattered and ruined to the point of horror.
Why? That word came back to mind once more. Why did this have to happen? If she wanted me dead, surely it could’ve been done differently. Was the queen that desperate to attack in a surprising manner, that she would do something so cruel and evil? The apparent answer was yes. His mind struggled to make sense of her actions towards him and everyone else who fell victim to this senseless attack.
Kiran grabbed one of Della’s hands. It was still warm to the touch. He gripped it tightly with both hands and felt the hot tears run down his face.
“I’m sorry Della,” he said with quivering lips. “You nor anyone else here deserved this.”
She was caught amid a brutal assault meant to some twisted end that the queen wanted to enact. The queen saw this moment of joy shared by her people as a moment to take advantage of. Kill them when they were least expecting an attack and use the crowd as a way to give a false veneer of safety. Lower your guards and embrace the civility or illusion of it that exists within Liall and then drive a sword straight through the heart when fully exposed during this moment of willing vulnerability.
He almost wanted to laugh realizing how twisted the queen’s actions were.
“Kiran,” Lar said from behind.
“What?”
His companion was barely able to stand up from what he could tell. They held an arm to their abdomen and tons of drying blood covered them from head to toe. Their eyes were straining to stay open. “We need to leave this area quickly.”
What am I supposed to do now Della? He kept gripping onto that palm of hers. What am I supposed to do? This should not have happened. None of this should have. He felt helpless at this moment. Dread settled in and misery took whatever place the happiness had occupied earlier.
He should’ve never joined the Human Familiar Coalition. He should’ve pushed back against his companion and just lay low with the two of them on their own. It likely would’ve kept Della alive. And even if it meant they couldn’t be together for one reason or another, he would’ve preferred that to this. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how her family will feel once they find out what has happened to her. They won’t even recognize her or retrieve hardly any semblance of a body if they’re to be afforded that opportunity.
His heart, much like the weather all around them, felt as if it got colder. He released his grasp from Della’s palm and chose to take the necklace from around her mangled neck that he had given to her. He gripped the star necklace tightly in his palm and stood up gazing down at her.
“Goodbye Della,” he said aloud knowing she could not hear him.