Kazius and the others decided to give Alice and Remus some alone time. After all, they were the last remaining members of their family. Still, Kazius did feel a bit impatient.
He wanted to warn Remus of what he had seen, but he knew he likely may not be too fond of looking into the future due to his history… But it was necessary to bring it up, even if he may react negatively.
He did feel happy for Alice though. He didn’t know what it must have been like, to have to flee while your whole family got executed. Kazius never had a family, but even he knew that finding out she wasn’t alone was likely quite relieving. From the few times Alice mentioned her family, it was clear she adored them.
Losing everything you didn’t even know you could even lose… Kazius understood at least that much. In multiple ways. He had no family to lose, but he had friends that meant the world to him… More than anything his fellow knights had been to him… And a woman he now realized he had grown to adore.
Of course, it wasn’t like he truly had no family. He knew of his birth father thanks to Vind, but he had no intention of meeting Seselis. Whoever he was, he meant nothing to Kazius. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about his mother though.
While he was deep in thought, he would notice Azanor had left. He looked shaken, miserable even. He said no words, but just walked away to be alone.
Azanor clearly had gotten emotional over speaking of the past. Back when he admitted to Kazius that Eve was his wife, it had looked like it had been tough… But now this… Kazius understood this conversation had likely been very difficult for him.
Kazius of course understood why he was feeling emotional. He had betrayed his people for the sake of friends that were ungrateful. Due to this he even lost what he valued most. Sure, Eve was still around, but she didn’t remember him nor their love.
For someone like Azanor, who was always known for his devotion to his wife to the point he got made fun of for it by Zelphar… It was not hard to realize that there was no worse personal Hell for him.
The fact he left to be alone showed this more than anything. Usually, he waited till Eve was asleep or with someone else. He never left her behind like this. Eve herself seemed to notice something was off, she was left looking quite confused at not having him by her side.
She looked almost lost, “Is he okay?” Eve would question Kazius and Damon. The giddy airheaded woman actually frowning, looking more than upset. Something Kazius couldn’t remember her ever doing.
‘Should I send her after him? The fact she doesn’t remember him seems to hurt him so much… So would sending her make him feel worse? Still, memories or not, it seems Eve had grown fond of Azanor to some extent… At least enough to miss his presence and worry about him. Maybe this could bring them closer…’
“You should go after him; he is quite sad… You heard him, didn’t you? He was hurt quite badly.” Kazius admitted to her.
Eve at this would frown, “Oh no! I will go cheer him up!” She would exclaim, looking quite determined as if cheering herself on mentally. “and then I can figure out how to make whoever made him sad suffer…” She would mumble, having quite the dark expression on her face for a second she would look cheery again and run off after him.
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‘I still can’t make heads or tails on her mental state… What was even done to her? If a Demon with as much power as Azanor couldn’t fix it… It really was uncertain if she would ever remember their past together… Sometimes though she says things that… Maybe those are glimpses at her original personality? I do trust the two. While the two do things that at times worry me, I think they mean well… I think Azanor has suffered enough due to friends that don’t trust him. No matter what, I will make sure I believe him. He has earned that much.’
He would look at Damon, the Werewolf also seeming to be deep in thought.
“You seem pretty calm about all the dead and everything happening. Does it not bother you?” Kazius questioned curiously.
Damon would simply grin sheepishly, shrugging, “Buahaha! After what we both have seen? Are you really asking me that?” he joked.
“True.” Kazius laughed out slightly, “So what do you make out of all this?”
“I don’t understand a lot of it, to be honest. I understand enough though… I am curious though. I almost wish Caleb had come… Zelphar was friends with Azanor, right?” Damon would trail off, in thought. It was understandable why he seemed to dwell on that so much. After all… Elves were effectively immortal unless killed… Zelphar ran off from his kingdom after living there for so long…
“I do wonder too… I feel like it is likely he found out the truth, that Azanor was not a traitor… If he had that long to think about the events… 3 Kingdoms and a Church built on lies… Such a façade can only last so long… Took a few generations for the Layton Royal Family… But with Zelphar, he had firsthand knowledge of what things should be like and what happened.” Kazius admitted, this cemetery too… If one was heading to the ruins of this town… Ending up in Vargstam accidentally made sense… Had Zelphar come to look for Remus? Or maybe to find something here? It was impossible to tell.” Kazius sighed out.
“All I know is that I am ready to pummel anyone from The Church! No one hurts my friends!” Damon boasted.
“After The Battle of Vargstam, I do think we might be ready… But we can’t get overconfident.” Kazius warned, knowing the price of such a thing was not one he was willing to pay.
With that, he began to walk with Damon. The undead did not seem to care or acknowledge their presence. Some seemed to be mindless, while others seemed to have higher functionality and seemed to be going about their day like people.
The graves drew their attention. They were clearly very old, but well maintained. Despite their age, the names were readable. There was on grave area that did call his attention though. Rather than a stone, there was a glass dome with bones and a preserved Rose inside. There was no name anywhere. It was easy to guess whose bones they were though… Ratier’s mother, Remus’ deceased wife, Rose.
It was arguably strange to have her bones on display like this instead of in the ground, but Kazius had zero room to judge. After all, in the unfortunate future, he keeps Alice on a bed on display. Maybe Remus was strange, but that would be like the pot calling the kettle black.
Kazius would reach out curiously, but before he could even touch it, a skeletal hand grabbed his, stopping his firmly with quite the force. He nearly jumped, having been caught off guard. Damon too seemed startled.
It was Remus in his real form. He looked far from happy. The lights in his sockets growing dim.
“Don’t.”
Remus stated firmly, his tone almost frightening.
“S-Sorry.” Kazius managed out, actually stammering. He was caught quite off guard.
Remus at this would calm down, clearly, he did not allow anyone but himself to touch the display.
“We didn’t mean to.” Damon assured.
“It… It is alright… Just… No one touches it, okay? I finished my chat with Alice. We caught up some, I showed her where she could put away her things… Then I came looking for you to make sure no one in town was giving you trouble… I am glad to see they are behaving though.” Remus trailed off, “The mindless ones do take after me after all.”
“I… I see…” Kazius stated, struggling to find his words. “I just… The bones reminded me of something.” He admitted, “Damon and I have been wanting to talk to you.” Kazius admitted.
Remus seemed to study Kazius, staring at him intently before sighing despite his lack of lungs. “I suppose I should hear out what you have to say.”