Chapter 35 – An Insult of Survival

With his short fingers, Oliver pointed at the hieroglyph on the pedestal in front of him. “At first, I didn’t recognize it as Ziecherhein. You don’t see its grand Starwing Grove or the Menhir League at all, eh? But I think these swirly patterns on top depict that green aurora effect in the sky above the ruins.”

Adam nodded, the nightmarish tree-like shape that reached towards the clouds was one of a kind.

Oliver pointed to the depictions which appeared to be black walls, covered in text and crowned with a statue of Aves flying towards the heavens. Oliver didn’t need to explain what it depicted: the Tomb. After the mysterious disaster, right before the end of the war, all buildings in Ziecherhein were reduced to ruins. Dangerous ruins. All who entered the area fell down and died within hours due to unknown causes. Soon after, the Starwing Order deemed the area to be irreversibly corrupted by a combination of the Pure’s devastating sorcery and the Forbidden Arts.

To protect the people from the ruins, Dorenland’s king ordered the ruins to be completely encircled by massive, black walls without an entry gate. After a monstrous effort from the kingdom, the corrupted ruins were hidden behind the mass of stone which would be nicknamed ‘the Tomb.' A statue of Aves was placed on top of the walls as a reminder of the holy place Ziecherhein used to be. As the Starwing Grove there was said to be the place where Aves ascended to the heavens, the unique statue depicted Him flying upwards.

Just like the pedestal with Catherine’s hieroglyph, getting close to this pedestal filled Adam with strange emotions that felt like they weren’t his own. It was like a deep melancholy for a better time. A bitter sadness and mourning for something lost forever.

“It would be useful to go to that Node!” Oliver continued, with a hint of excitement. “Adam, you performed your research within the Menhir League of Ziecherhein, right? I’d wager Caine wanted to learn all about it after his talk with Agatha, so maybe we can find info about your research in this Node. Also…” Oliver’s eyes shifted to the hieroglyph again. “No one, including practitioners of both kinds of sorcery, could explain the disaster of Ziecherhein. And as the Prophet was involved, who most likely used memory powers to create the Pure, I’d say it’s likely that memory powers were used to cause the disaster.”

“Oh, yes that makes sense!” Emily said. “Especially since most of those Invocations and patterns of memory powers are green for some reason! But, the scale of destruction in Ziecherhein was immense… If memory powers were used to do it, maybe Caine is capable of something similar?” Emily shuddered. “We should definitely look into this.”

Adam nervously rubbed the scars on his wrists as he stared at the pedestal. The resemblance of the hieroglyph to what remained of Ziecherhein was unmistakable. He did agree with Oliver and Emily that a lot of useful knowledge could be gained at that Node. However, he’d rather fight another round with Desdemona with two hands behind his back than visit that damned place.

Oliver cleared his voice. Adam looked back with a tired expression. By the look in Oliver’s eyes, Adam already suspected what Oliver was going to ask.

“I know that during the trials, people asked you endlessly about it,” Oliver said. “But this is too big to ignore. You were there when the disaster happened, and you survived! And we’re glad you did.” He smiled. “Could you please tell us what you remember? Every little detail might be relevant. And I know, I know it’s a difficult subject. But we are your friends. And even if there are aspects of the story you didn’t want to say in court, you can trust us with them. We’ll support you, and we won’t judge you for anything.” Oliver gave a welcoming smile, although there was something else in his eyes that Adam couldn’t quite place.

Adam looked at his friend. Hmm, did he rehearse this speech? He might’ve been aching to ask me again for a long time... He sighed. “I have nothing new to tell you, I’m afraid. I was stationed on Ziecherhein’s walls to defend the city, and when the Prophet came with his army, I fought.” Adam closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed. No matter how often people had asked him about it, no matter how often he had to tell the story, he still hated every single bit of it.

“It was a gruesome, bitter fight. The sheer scale made the siege of Eulenschloss look like some insignificant street brawl,” Adam said. “For months our grand army had prepared. We had reinforced the walls and defences, and we trained and strategized without end. But it made no difference. The Prophet himself led a colossal army that outnumbered us by fourteen to one at least. And he didn’t just bring the lower-ranked Pure, oh no. To take down Ziecherhein, and rip out the beating heart of Aves’ religion, the Prophet brought the absolute elite units of his army. The ground trembled under the march of all the giant constructs of war. The War Temples, the Enigmas, the armistherium chariots, the Bridge of Heaven—all were there.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Adam gave a barking laugh. “Many soldiers prayed to Aves for Zachalynn and her army to hurry and save us. I didn’t, no army can march over 200 miles in one day. Neither did Aves himself come down to protect the holiest site of His own religion, no matter how hard everyone prayed. No. There was nothing we simple mortals could do, no way to change the outcome. All of us were damn sure we wouldn’t live to see the sun rise again. So, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, all of us fought to our last breath. With the bitter determination to give one last middle finger to the Pure. In our last stand, we vowed to take as many of them down as we could.

Adam bared his teeth, shivering in old anger. “When the Pure came for the walls, it was like a sea of Pure soldiers outside. The walls trembled under their furious assault. The airborne horrors the Prophet had brought blotted out the red sun. No matter how many Pure we struck down, more of those bastards would take their place. But I fought. On the walls, near the gates, on the roofs, in the gutter, I fought tooth and nail wherever they needed me. I was fighting on the spires of the Silver Library in the Starwing Grove when I got hit on the back of my head. And that’s where my memory gets truly blurry.”

Oliver fiddled with his bottom lip, hanging on Adam’s every word.

Adam squinted. “I remember falling, buildings collapsing over me, and me crawling my way out of rubble and debris. I’m not sure what happened. My guess is that the whole Library collapsed due to the Pure’s siege weapons. Due to a stroke of luck, I wasn’t squished like a bug between wooden beams, massive stone blocks and all the debris. What I remember then, is that intensely bright blast of green light, not unlike that aurora, which appeared out of nowhere. It shone through stone, flesh, and everything around me. I shielded my eyes with my hands, but the light was so bright I could see their every bone.”

Emily gave a sad nod. “I spoke with witnesses who had seen the light as well. From a hundred miles away at least.”

Adam puffed out his cheeks. “I’ve never seen anything like it, nor do I want to see anything like it ever again. When that ‘Invocation’ came, or whatever you call something like that, I blacked out and was sure it was the end of me. But… for some reason, it wasn’t. I crawled out of the rubble. I remember stumbling through the broken, deathly silent streets in wild confusion. The same roads we had had so many good times on were filled with the lifeless bodies of combatants, defenders and Pure alike.

Staring blankly in the distance, Adam continued. “Good people died there, people I cared about. Good old Alef wanted to use his inheritance to start an orphanage, remember? To house kids that had become homeless during the war. He’d promised me he’d teach me to carve animals from wood, just like he always had.” Adam shivered. “All too often, I wake up, seeing his dead blue eyes as he lay in a puddle like a crumpled puppet.

Adam sighed and stared at the ground. He felt old. He’d had his fun, his prime, and even his last stand. Maybe the man he used to be had died that day. Now, he was an empty shell that should’ve been dead, but still walked for some reason. Like a miserable, breathing insult to the brave people who did lose their lives in that siege. “I’ve been asked so many times why I survived, but I’ve no damn clue. People like Alef deserved to live a lot more than I did.” As the cold, familiar knife of survivor’s guilt twisted in his gut, the scorched brand of Schultora on his heart flared up. “It was later that I heard the Prophet survived as well. I heard Zachalynn had her holy epiphany, becoming Aves’ true representative in this world, and how she wrought her miraculous victory over the Prophet and his army. However, the whole of Dorenland still longed for a scapegoat for Ziecherhein’s destruction. And soon after, Jeremiah rigged the trials, accusing me of the disaster. And the rest, as they say, is history.”

The three of them were silent for a while. Oliver gave him an encouraging smile. He kept looking at him, with that deep pity in his eyes, as if Adam would say more if he just kept smiling. Slowly, he averted his eyes, although Adam didn’t miss the small hint of disappointment that Adam didn’t remember more.

Emily took a few steps closer. “It is… horrible. I’m so, so sorry this happened to you.” She awkwardly held out her hands as if she wanted to hug him, but retracted them again, and scratched her head. “I… ugh, damn it. Sorry, I’m not good at this.”

Adam laughed, he didn’t care the least about the awkwardness, he was more touched to see Emily being so earnest. She remembers, she knows what all of this did to me. “Thanks, Emily. And don’t worry, finding the right words can be tricky sometimes.”

Emily chuckled softly, cocked her head to the side a bit and looked into his eyes. “Right you are. You really didn’t deserve it, though. For all of this to happen.”

Adam startled a bit when Oliver laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s dreadful,” he whispered, shaking his head. “But we are glad you’re here. We’re glad you survived.”

Adam widened his eyes, too stunned to return the gesture. He swallowed. They… still care about me. Somehow. They really do.