I sat inside a quiet chapel. It reminded me of the churches of my old world, with its solemn environment, and the detailed paintings and ornaments that decorated it inside. Right now, I was dressed in black clothes; ones that Nicole helped me pick up for this occasion. Everyone else was dressed in similar clothes. Apparently, it was customary in this world to send the dead off while wearing all black.
Next to me, Nicole kept wiping tears off her eyes and cheek as she kept her face down. Victoria, David, and Reeta, however, didn’t carry that same attitude, as they just looked sad. Reeta in particular seemed to go from sad to frustrated to regretful, and then repeat the same expressions. James, instead looked completely infuriated, as he kept clenching his hands and glaring at the air.
The person that we were sending off was none other than Steven, who—according to the information that was given to us—died in a robbery near the place that he lived. It was quite the… unexpected event, but one that I wasn’t feeling particularly mournful like everyone else appeared to be. Death had become a common thing in the days of the Final War, where people I knew for years, and knights that I had trained side by side, died as if they were nothing.
Still, I decided to keep a somber attitude just to not offend the people close to me.
A priest dressed in a white robe walked over to be in front of the coffin that contained Steven’s body. I couldn’t be sure if that was him since it was closed, but I wasn’t going to question it nor make sure about it myself.
The man gave us a few words based on a common faith of this world, one based around someone they refer to just as God, making the being sound like an omnipotent existence that was all caring for every soul… but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that it couldn’t be that nice, since the very Gods that I used to serve were also spoken about in a similar way.
Once he was done, music played to send off the young man, and a middle aged woman walked over to the lonely coffin. She was quietly crying, looking just as lonely as the young man up there, since it appeared like there was no other family that came to send off Steven or accompany the woman, making it so the only people inside this chapel were just us, a few people from the Academy, and some other friends of Steven—though not a lot it seemed.
Seeing the lonely woman crying near the coffin, Nicole determinedly stood up and made her way over to her. Once she was a couple of steps behind the woman, she hesitated to walk over, but after a handful of seconds, she placed her hand on the back of the woman, who turned both surprised and in pain to look back at Nicole.
I couldn’t hear the words that were exchanged between them, but I could see the tears that were shed and the hug that Nicole offered to comfort the woman.
“This piece of shit country,” James said, grinding his teeth. “I didn’t care for that guy much, but it pisses me off that he gets killed just like that, and nobody bothers getting the people responsible.”
Everyone else around him kept quiet, since it didn’t feel like the right place to get into an argument. However, I seemed to recall seeing something about it in the news. “The police said that they were on track to getting the ones who did this.”
James scoffed, shaking his head. “That’s just bullshit that they spout to save face, when in reality, even if they capture the ones responsible, they’re just going to let them go later due to ‘lack of evidence’, ‘improper procedure’, or some stupid protection like that.”
I frowned, since I couldn’t agree with him. “But that person killed a student from this Academy? Wouldn’t it be good for them to show that those sorts of things don’t go unpunished?”
He clicked his tongue in response. “Those sorts of things always go unpunished here. Criminals are let go all the time because of that, and even dangerous groups still get to do whatever they want, like those assholes from the Believers of Leyfall—or whatever they’re called—who only got a slap on the wrists and let go after some negotiations.”
I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows, since I didn’t know that. “What? I thought that they were captured a few months ago.”
I infiltrated that place, killed a few of them and captured others when trying to save Mirlaneth, and I was sure that the police leader was there to see it happen.
“Yeah, but like always, lack of evidence, messy deal, and getting a convenient benefit from the ‘Total Peace’ program let a bunch of those assholes go,” James said, frowning deeply as he looked at Nicole consoling Steven’s mother. “Honestly, whoever did that should’ve just killed everyone inside and then the cops for being useless motherfuckers.”
“Wouldn’t that be far too extreme and create innocent victims if not done properly?” I asked, since going somewhere and killing everyone without thinking about it already caused a lot of destruction in Arretia.
“Who cares about that? What’s important is letting those animals know that they can’t just kill and hurt people for the sake of—”
“That’s enough,” Reeta interrupted, a somber shadow hanging on her face, “I understand that you’re angry—I am too—but this is not the right place to be having those sorts of discussions. Right now, we’re here to say our goodbyes to Steven.”
“Ugh,” James grumbled, before standing up and leaving the chapel in quiet steps that didn’t quite match the anger that still remained on his face.
With a heavy sigh, Reeta shook her head. She still had a couple of bandages on her head from our spar, but she looked to be already healed despite that. “It’s such a shame to lose one of our students like that.”
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“Yes,” I replied with a nod.
I personally didn’t get to know Steven that well from the time I met him, since at most we would just be in the gym doing our own thing, and it would be the same thing whenever we were ‘hanging out’ with everyone else.
“The boy was such an idiot, but he had good intentions, and most of all, he had a strong desire to improve. He probably wasn’t ever going to get to your level, but even then, he could’ve gone out to do something good,” Reeta said, her arms crossed under her chest.
“Hm…” I considered her words for a moment without replying to her.
Starry eyed knights and fighters like Steven weren’t rare, even in my world, but they were usually far too naive and weak to actually do all the things that they claim they’re going to do. It wasn’t rare for them to end up dead, just like Steven. I didn’t know the exact details of what happened to him, but from what I know, he died trying to stop a thief.
I half-turned to look behind me, at the back of the grumbling James that stood somewhere outside the chapel, and then I turned to look at the crying mother with Nicole. There was a desire to do something similar to what James wanted; to go out there and personally find the ones responsible, but… the rules of this world were different, so I couldn’t just do that without having a special protection like the ones that Asteora has.
She could probably do as she pleased in this world, but I don’t think she cared about someone like Steven. I couldn’t even be sure that she even knew his name to begin with, and I don’t think she’s going to use her power to get around any issue that might arise from this.
With a sigh and a shake of my head, I decided to put that idea behind me. Right now, all that I could do was regret the loss of the young man, and continue forward with whatever Asteora wanted me to do; which was to get a passport and a visa, and then travel to the Holy Leyfallan Empire.
* * *
A few hours later, I was back at my room. It had a few more decorations in it, mostly from Nicole insisting that I needed to have more things inside, so there were a couple of flower pots, a new table with nice chairs, an actual bed for the mattress, a couch for people to sit on for whenever there were visits, and a TV to watch movies, which was currently stuck on a wall, giving it the appearance of a black painting.
I was currently with Nicole and Asteora in the room. There wouldn’t be an issue with me being with the others, but Asteora insisted that I spoke alone with her and Nicole, so after spending some time with Victoria, David, Reeta, and James near the Academy, we came back here.
Nicole still carried a crestfallen expression as she looked down to her hands, resting on her lap. Her eyes were red, and the edges of the sleeves on her jacket were wet from wiping her tears.
I found it somewhat strange that she would be this impacted by Steven’s death… but perhaps I had just been so used to seeing people die in the battlefield, that being told someone I knew died simply didn’t shake me that much.
Asteora on the other hand was completely unconcerned about what had happened as she ate a mango, but still, she didn’t say any encouraging words nor put Nicole down by telling to just get over it, at least, so far.
“Such is the life of people who fight,” she said, breaking the silence between us. “One day, it might be one of us that happens to leave this world.”
Nicole didn’t react much, besides tightening her lips. They weren’t the best words one could share when these things happened, but I couldn’t say that I could do any better. The only thing I could do was to just let Nicole mourn Steven’s death and give her time to let it pass.
“Maybe…” Nicole said, her voice rasping. “Maybe if Steven didn’t try to be a hero, he would still be alive…”
“Perhaps,” I said, walking around to sit next to her on the couch. “But, we can’t know. We’ll never know. Thinking about the things that we could’ve done will only distract us from the now, and the things that are.”
“But… but, you once were a Hero, and you’re trying to become stronger to fight again…” she said, turning her face to look at me. “It—it could be you next time! It could be David, or Victoria, or, or, even James, despite how much of an annoyance he is, I wouldn’t want him to die! None of you!”
“Are you getting doubts about what we’re doing?” Asteora asked, putting aside the mango she was eating.
Nicole quickly turned to look at Asteora. They sustained a look for a moment, before Nicole looked back down again. “I… I’m not sure…”
“So you are,” Asteora said, standing from the chair she was sitting by the table and walking over to be in front of Nicole. “None of us here is forced to do what we do. Althea, or any of those kids aren’t doing these things because they’re chained to do so. Not even I have to do the job that I do. In this world, most of us can choose what we want to do.”
“But…” Nicole started, but trailed off, as if waiting for Asteora to continue.
“I won’t force you to fight or be with the other kids, but if you’re so scared of that, know that you’ll have to also forget about this—about all of us—and never even think about us again,” Asteora continued, her face serious as she looked down on Nicole.
Nicole raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes slightly once she heard what Asteora said, turning to look at me after a moment and then back up to Asteora. “But, what if… what if I convince the others from continuing? What if I can… force them to—”
Asteora shook her head, which caused Nicole to quiet down. “Force them? Would you rather your friends be chained to your will? And then what?”
“No! Not chained to my will, but…”
“Nicole,” I finally interjected, seeing how she was getting flustered. “Asteora is right. You can’t force any of us to withdraw from our chosen path.”
Nicole tightened her lips again, then opened and closed her mouth a few times, seeming trying to force words out but being unable to find them.
“You know who I am, and you know what I’ve set myself to do. It’s just a matter of time before we’re forced to fight, so it’s better for us to continue getting stronger, while as for you…” I trailed off, creating a ball of fire in my hand and presenting it to her. “You’re a special one. You can use those talents that you have and try to make sure that what happened to Steven doesn’t happen to us.”
She looked at the fireball in my hand, and with a slow movement of her finger, she took hold of it, bringing to her front as she looked at it for a moment. “I… how could I do that when I can’t be at all places at once.”
“You can’t. None of us can. But you can work to create a world where good and innocent people don’t have to suffer the same fate as Steven’s,” I said, giving a soft smile. “If anything, trying at least is better than worrying all day in a room, wondering if something like that might happen again.”
After a moment, the fireball floating on top of Nicole’s finger transformed into a small bird, and with a flick of her finger, the bird chirped and flew out of the window, before disappearing in a few motes of fire.
She sighed and forced a smile. “I guess… I should then do as Steven wanted to do, and try to make a better world with the powers that I have, hehe.”
“Hm…” Asteora replied, shrugging afterwards. “Oh well. I guess this is good enough.” Saying that, she brought over a chair from the table, making it float until it was right where we were so she could sit down on it. “If we’re feeling better, I think it’s time I talk about what we’re going to do next.”