On the way back, there wasn’t a lot of talking. All of us walked in silence, and most were carrying the corpses of the fallen mercenaries along with them. In total, including Kaisel, there had been twelve deaths. The number of deaths in the last few days meant that the entire band had whittled down to nearly half its strength when compared to when I first joined. I had no idea how many people there had been in the band when it was at its strongest, but there couldn’t have been many more than that. This whole incident had been a huge blow to the morale and strength of the group.

We moved much slower than before, and took many more breaks. There was no hurry to get back to the camp, after all. A lot of people had been severely injured in the fights, which meant that Sylvia needed time to heal them before it was too late. The ones who had been carrying the bodies needed some rest too. Typhen was the one who had been holding Kaisel’s body the entire time. Sylvia did not move too far either, unless it was for healing one of the mercenaries.

I considered trying to bring up my injuries to get her to talk to me, but that seemed way too cowardly to do. My wounds were not nearly as bad as the others, and I personally did not want to use such underhanded methods to muster up the courage to speak. If I was going to do it, then I would rather walk up to the girl and ask her how she was doing. That wasn’t easy, though. Especially when she never really left Kaisel’s side. It would probably be insensitive to ask her about something like that at such a place. Thus, I gave up on the plan and continued to walk in silence along with the others.

Jillesha’s fate still weighted heavy. I couldn’t know how many others felt that way, but Ginzari would definitely have something to say about it. That was another person I needed to know the thoughts of. He had said that he had never heard about anything like my case, but now he would surely have a different perspective on his days with that man. There must be something that he would be able to remember. Thinking like that made me sick, but it wasn’t something I could run away from. There was a chance that Hess had been mistaken about everything, and I needed to keep that in mind, no matter how bad that made her feel.

On the way back, she refused to interact with anyone in any manner. Despite not speaking much, the others were still conversing. Whether it be to ask people to help out, or to pass on any information that Ginzari gave. Hess wasn’t taking part in any of that. She walked alone, away from everyone else, and always carried a somber expression. I could see that she was thinking something, because her face was always stressed, but she never shared it. If she even intended to, was a different question. Because even if someone asked or told her something, she wouldn’t reply. It was almost like the entire band, and her, were supposed to be invisible to each other.

Prince had been shocked to hear everything that happened, and he seemed terrible too. He had been happy to be released from the cage they had kept him in, but his mood had paralleled ours very soon. Now, he kept to himself too, and only helped out anyone who he thought needed it. There was nothing he ever asked for. Maybe he thought that the operation had been carried out for him, and that was why so many people were dead. Ginzari had said something about him being strong enough, but I couldn’t see any of it right then.

Eventually, we reached camp once more, and seeing that it was close to night, retired to our tents.

The next morning, I woke up stage directions to attend the funeral. It stung to see that once more, so close to the last one, but all I could do was stop thinking about it. The one notable thing that I needed to focus on was that the story name had disappeared. It had been marked as finished, and all of the torture was over for now. The few days which I had spent like this had been peaceful, so all I hoped for right now, was a retread of that. There was nothing that I wanted more than that. I believe that the sentiment extended to every single member of the band.

I dressed myself in the simplest clothes I had, and got out of the tent. The sun was shining brightly, which made the mood even more depressing. There was a sweet, cool breeze too. Only two or three people were roaming around the camp, talking to each other very softly and doing some menial work. Prince had returned to the kitchen to do his duties, and was now rushing from one place to another to prepare for the meal that we would have after the funeral. Ginzari was standing in front of the training grounds as two other mercenaries moved the equipment away to set the pyres.

Apparently, Wellath’s funeral had been different because of the request of his family. They wanted a more traditional send-off for their son, which took hours and hours because of the different rituals that needed to be completed. That, however, wasn’t how the mercenaries usually did their funerals. The dead bodies were kept on wooden pyres before the people who they were close to came to the bodies and put their favorite weapon on top of them. Then, all of them were burned together. It signified us sending a large part of ourselves along with them, to keep them company in the afterlife. Even now, when the concept probably wasn’t as romantic as before, they still did it. The idea of being willing to part with a weapon you highly cared about was, in itself, a concept that held significant weight.

The time passed as the preparations went on. The funeral would be held late in the evening, so there was some time left. I saw a lot of people I knew sitting around too, but still did not feel like talking to them. Hess hadn’t come out of her tent yet, still refusing to interact with people. Sylvia and Typhen were sticking together, moving from tent to tent to ask the mercenaries if they needed anything. A lot of the other members had gathered into a small circle and were sharing the stories of the ones who had died. That was the only place which had the smallest hint of laughter once in a while. Maybe one day I could sit there with them. Or rather, hopefully not.

Soon, the quietness passed and the sun started setting. The preparations soon ended and everyone gathered near the training grounds to finish the funeral and bid farewell to the dead. All of the bodies had been put on their respective pyres. Kaisel’s body had a cloth covering the area above its neck. That had been brought down and held by the wood to make sure it did not fly off in the breeze that wasn’t letting down. Once all of that was done and the sun dipped under the horizon, a few of the mercenaries stepped forward and whispered something under their breath. The ceremony began.

One by one, all of the mercenaries walked forward to the bodies that they had been most close to, and put a weapon on top of them. There were a variety of them, and almost all of the bodies ended up with multiple. Kaisel had people I still did not know the name of, respecting him like that.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Prince ended up putting a sword on his body, which confused me a little. Typhen kept the one dagger that he still had remaining, while Sylvia kept her gloves with a smile on her face. That made me feel a little better too. Hess was called, but did not come. Eventually, my turn came, and I put one of my swords on his body. As I did, my eyes landed on the gloves. Ideally, that’s what I would have wanted to keep. That was what he would have liked to see. But that wasn’t possible at a time like this. After I stepped back, Ginzari moved forward and put up the axe that he had used all of this time. There were a few whispers here and there, but that was the only thing that he could have possibly done to adequately bow down to the man. He had touched the hearts of a lot of people here, and it showed.

By the time all of that ended, the night had set in and it was starting to get difficult to see properly. Three mercenaries then stepped forward with torches in their hands, and lit the pyres. They didn’t do the same for Kaisel, though. Instead of them, Sylvia used some magic to light the wood under his body on fire. The flames danced for a bit, making beautiful patterns that illuminated the night sky, before settling down on his body and starting to eat through. We stood there for some time before Ginzari took a few steps back and went away from the training grounds. A lot of the mercenaries followed. Some stayed back. Typhen was one of the latter people, but surprisingly, Sylvia gave him a quick smile and went away as soon as the event was over.

After that, was dinner. All of the mercenaries ate together, but neither Hess nor Sylvia came for it. I asked Typhen about it, but he just said that his sister claimed she needed to rest for some time. She had been helping out with the preparations of the funeral from early in the morning, so that made sense. I thanked him for the information, which he brushed off and told me not to thank him for simple things. I smiled and left him alone.

The flames on the pyres kept going for a very long time. Kaisel’s, in particular, had been supplied with flames that did not burn very efficiently. That meant that his body still burned brightly as the night kept moving. Time kept going and going, and I was mesmerized by the licks of fire in the sky, the embers as they rose and vanished into air, the smoke that swirled up melancholically. A lot of people were looking at the scene from afar, but none closed the distance. We were apparently not supposed to disturb the bodies once they had started burning. And looking at them counted as such.

That was how things went.

Until there was a drastic change. From far away, the fire suddenly roared for a quick second. All of the mercenaries got up to their feet to see what was going on. The flames which rose after that roar were bright red in color, almost like blood. Ginzari came out of his tent to see what happened, and so did Typhen. Almost all of the camp was outside, other than Sylvia. Someone was doing something in the training grounds. With an angry face, the leader stomped his way there, and the others followed.

Once we got there, waiting for us was a sight that I had expected to see.

In front of Kaisel’s grave, Hess’ silhouette glowed. In the burning grave, there was a sharp shine towards the edge. As we got closer to her, I recognized the hilt of that sword. That embroidery was still as beautiful as it had been the first time that I saw it. That was her brother’s sword.

After all of us were close enough for it to be obvious enough to her, she started speaking.

“Can you breathe, Ginzari?”

“Hess.” He replied, “Glad to know you’re fine.”

She turned, a smile decorating her face, “Can you breathe?”

“Can’t you?” He asked.

She shook her head, “I can’t, Ginzari. And I want to know if there are other people who can’t, after yesterday and today.”

The mercenaries started whispering amongst each other.

“My father made weapons. All types of them. He was a genius.” She turned back towards the pyre, “He got orders from all around the kingdom, just wanting to hold a weapon he had made. They paid millions and billions to buy these weapons from him. And yet, he never allowed the patrons to pay what they wanted. There was a fixed prize, and that’s what they would pay. Their names would be put in a queue, and they would get their weapon once it was made. That made a lot of rich warlords and landowners angry, because they needed their orders to be completed first. Because he kept refusing, they burnt his workshop down one night. The very next day, all of the villagers came together to rebuild it. Three days later, he was back to working like normal.

“I asked him once, that why he couldn’t just take more money and finish orders faster than normal. The other blacksmiths and crafters did it, and they thrived. If we were the same, his skill could take us all the way to the capital, and we would live in luxury. He smiled and told me to get some sleep instead of blabbering nonsense. Of course, we got into a fight, and he kept telling me that he would never do it. It was a matter of honors and ideals. So, I asked him why he was such good friends with one of the blacksmiths who had made it to upper society using those methods. He laughed and told me that it was because they were both humans. He had chosen a different path, and his friend had chosen a different one. It didn’t matter which one was right or wrong. What mattered was the fact that they had moved forward and worked on making their dreams come true. That was all he cared about, Ginzari. That we were human.”

“Your father was a good man, Hess.” Ginzari smiled.

She laughed, “Yes, he was. He was the best human I ever knew. So good, that in the end, he made me promise that I wouldn’t kill the people who had attacked our village. That I would run and hide, and be a coward, but not kill anyone. We were all humans who had decided to walk on different paths, and that was respectable. Influenced by the stage directions or not, as long as they took action, they deserved to live. I agreed and ran away. Eventually, things happened and I realized that I couldn’t live like that my entire life. It wouldn’t work in this world. But his words never really left me. When I met a person I admired, I would tell them, even if they were on the opposing side of the fight. They deserved that.”

The camp was silent. Her voice echoed in the trees. The unmonitored time had started without us even noticing.

She continued.

“Yesterday, I learned not to blame myself for things out of my control. Jillesha decided who he wanted to be, and I couldn’t do anything about that. And that made it so that that wasn’t my mistake. But then Sylvia read that diary, and my brain couldn’t keep up. Was Jillesha really at fault? Why had he gone down that path? What was right, and what was wrong? I kept thinking and thinking about whether he was a good person who had been tortured that much, or just a bad person with a power-hungry attitude. The blame can’t be determined anymore, can it? Because there’s a no proof for anything now. That man I loved…is nobody today.”

She turned back, “Then, my father’s words came back to me. Who is right and who is wrong does not matter at all. What matters is that we all chose a path, and that makes us human. That was why I couldn’t erase all of my love for that man. In the end, he had decided on being someone, and I respected him for that, no matter what he had done. But that…doesn’t exist anymore. He’s nobody. Whatever path he chose has vanished. The entire proof of him being a human itself, was stolen. And there is someone we can blame that on, can’t we?”

“Hess.” Ginzari warned.

“He can kill my father, he can kill my brother, he can kill the man I loved. He can break me, over and over and over again. He can torture me until my brain breaks and I’m unable to live anymore. He can do whatever he wants to continue this sadistic play of his. But stealing someone’s whole identity is where I draw the line, Ginzari. It doesn’t matter who he chose to be, but Jillesha chose. He did something with his life, he got somewhere. And there is no way to know the reality of it anymore. He just stole all of it. For a cheap trick. That’s not alright. That’s not someone I can ignore anymore.”

As the embroidery of the hilt melted in the flames, they crackled and rose higher than ever.