When we arrived, a lot of the town was covered in smoke from buildings that were on fire or still burning a little bit. The whole town was in ruins, and there were a lot of wounded and dead demons. I tell Sky, "Search everywhere. We must find Thultu and Rhixl." Sky immediately goes to search, and Lysara and I immediately start helping the people in need. We ended up naturally splitting up to cover more ground in the heat of the chaos to help more people. Whoever attacked this town is already gone, and now all that is left is the aftermath.
There are a lot of people trapped in collapsed buildings with broken bones, lots of people with missing limbs, and many more with burns, while others are impaled with vines. I go around freeing and healing everyone I can while I wait for Sky. Lysara is utilizing her whips to hold rubble up, so she can lift wounded civilians to safety. We take all of the corpses to the town square and line them up so their family members can put them to rest. There was a lot of panic at first, but as we were healing people, those we healed would then start helping as well, while telling the wounded to seek me out. They were also taking corpses to the town square as well and there came a point when the panic stopped, and there were just people helping and lots of grief. Lots of mourning everywhere, of people clutching their dead loved ones tightly. People I recognize from previous visits who are now lifeless.
As we are helping people, I hear murmurs of locals who changed their appearance and wore masks, betraying Entre, joining the ones who brought this destruction. I can't believe some of the locals of Entre would betray their own like that. That pisses me off. Sky comes to me and says, "I found Rhixl, but he is dead." I replied, "Was Thultu anywhere near him?" Sky shakes his head, "No, I looked everywhere in the nearby area and couldn't find him." I then say, "Take me to Rhixl." Sky then flies in the sky, and I run full speed (full-half speed since the sun is out obviously) following him.
We get to Rhixl, and he appears to have been murdered.
I start crying, "FUCK!" I yell as I cling to Rhixl's body, "Why did you have to die?!"
I clutch him as I continue to cry, "Sky, have you searched all of Entre for Thultu?" Sky replies, "Yes, I couldn't find him." I then say, wiping some snot coming out of my nose from all the sobbing, "Check the forest near town. If I know Rhixl, he probably would have told him to run and hide while he stayed to buy him time. He is probably terrified and waiting for Rhixl." More tears escape my eyes as I mourn my friend. Sky replies, "On it, Ari." He says as he flies away.
I want to honor Rhixl's corpse and put it to rest, but I want Thultu to have a chance to say goodbye first. I take Rhixl to the other dead townspeople, and while I am on the way back to the square, I run into the tiger skewer lady. She is in bad shape and is trapped under some rubble. I gently put Rhixl down, and I went to lift the rubble off of her. When I do, blood starts shooting out of her. Apparently, she lost her arm from the rubble falling down, and the pressure of it on her was keeping her from bleeding out. I throw the rubble aside and I ask, "Do you know where your arm is?" She shakes her head, "No, I have no idea where it is." I say frantically, "SHIT. SHIT. SHIT.If I heal it now, I won't be able to reattach your arm later. Though if I don't heal you now, you will die at this rate." She reaches out to me with her right hand, and says in a reassuring voice that doesn't match her ashy and severely bloodied appearance, "I'll be ok, just heal me now." I do as she says, and I heal her as her words stop my panicking. I ask her after I heal her, "Is there anyone else nearby that needs assistance that you know of?"
She shrugs, "I am sure there is. It was just chaos since those dreadful humans and traitors attacked us. Is there anything I can do to help?" I then say, "We are just rescuing people as we see them, and I have been healing them along the way. We have been taking the dead to the town square for easy identification for family members." She takes a look at Rhixl's corpse, "Oh no. That was the little one's father. He is going to be devastated." I replied very worried for Thultu, "I just hope he is ok. We are still searching for him. He hasn't come up among the dead, thank the goddess." She replies, "Thank the goddess, indeed. I don't believe we were properly introduced before, priestess. The name is Keylira." She says as she reaches out to shake my hand. I replied, "Ari."
Keylira chuckles and releases my hand, "Everyone in Entre knows of you, priestess. You were very funny-sounding with that curse when you first arrived in our town, and very memorable, along with being very helpful. We were so grateful for all of your help then and now. Those foul separatists were demanding we return you to them so they could kill you. Though it seemed some of them were searching for you just to capture you. I think the ones that wanted you dead don't like your new look." She says while gesturing to my hair as she continued, "They came via the mountain pass because they had intel that you tamed the King, so they knew they would have safe passage."
EVERYTHING IS MY FAULT?!
I sat down on some rubble, tears streaming down my face, DEVASTATED, and said, "This nightmare you guys experienced was because of me and my choices?" If I hadn't befriended Kenji, ALL of these people would still be alive.
IF ONLY I DIDN'T EXIST.
Keylira shakes her head, "You can't control the actions of others. Therefore, you should never bear the responsibility of their actions either. We know it wasn't your fault. You are our saint. We love you." She approaches me and wipes my tears with her remaining hand, "Let's get back to it. More people need help." I nod, "Yes, you are right. What am I doing sitting down at a time like this?" Keylira offers me her hand, and I take it and stand up. I go back over to Rhixl and pick up his body, and we continue going back to the town square.
Once we get to the townsquare, I place Rhixl gently down alongside the other deceased. I ask the people near if there is anyone who needs healing, and apparently, there are a lot. They were congregating in the town square, waiting for my return. I heal the crowd here, and they go out and start helping the others. By this time, Sky has returned, "ARI! I FOUND HIM!" Without even saying a word, I jump up onto a rooftop that is still standing using my jump off the side of an adjacent building trick and then start running full speed following Sky to Thultu while Lysara stays and continues to help the townsfolk.
We arrive at Thultu, and he is shivering cold. I go into my bag, grab a warm blanket, and go up to him and wrap him up tight and heal him. I pick him up and I head back to town, walking now, so as to not wake the now sleeping Thultu. We arrived back in town, and I went straight to Lysara since she was worried sick about Thultu. I arrive where Lysara's at, and she reaches out to him and gently strokes his sleeping head, "Oh my precious. I am so glad he is ok. Any news of Rhixl? I haven't seen him yet since we separated to try and help more people." I shake my head and whisper, "He passed on."
Lysara puts her hand to her mouth and whispers while tears come out, "No. What are we going to tell Thultu?" I replied after feeling a range of emotions from grief to rage at the current situation, "The truth. That his dad is no longer with us, but he died a dignified warrior's death. He deserves a chance to say goodbye." By now, Thultu is stirring awake, "Miss Ari? Miss Ari!" He says as he hugs me through the blanket. He says very pitifully with those sad adorably big eyes of his, "Papa told me to hide in the forest when the mean people came. He said that he would find me when it was safe. I have to go back so he can find me." I shake my head and pat him on the head with one hand. I hold back the tears welling in my eyes trying to be strong for Thultu and tell him, "Thultu, I have some bad news. We found Rhixl, but I am afraid he passed on." Thultu was confused by my words and asked, "Passed on? What do you mean? He said he was going to meet me." I started crying even though I was trying to be strong, "I am sorry, Thultu. The goddess decided it was his time. Do you know what happens when we die?"
Thultu shakes his head, and I continue, "The goddess takes our soul from our bodies and puts it somewhere in a faraway place in a newborn baby to live out a new life. At night, when you look at the night sky, he is probably a baby on one of the dots in the sky?" Thultu asks, "How can he be on a dot in the sky?" Lysara chuckled slightly through the tears, joining in, "Well, you see, those dots in the night sky are very big. They are just really far away, and it makes them look very small. In reality, they are probably just as big, if not bigger than our world. Can you believe that?" Thultu gasps, "Those dots are actually that big?" I replied, "Sure are, kiddo. Do you want to see your father to say goodbye?" Thultu starts crying and nods his head. Lysara stops her search for people temporarily and joins us as we walk to the town square.
Once we get there, there are countless families in mourning here. Those too young or too old and frail are mourning loved ones here. The ages in between are all out helping people who are trapped in rubble. The separatists who attacked this town had a powerful fire and earth mage among them. I could tell there were several people with water magic who used their magic to help extinguish the flames from the watery soot all over town.
I wonder if it was Tristan?He is a powerful fire mage. If it were, then I might actually kill him this time. There is no forgiving the atrocity he has committed.
Wait.
Before I start condemning him for no reason, let me get proof he was involved first. He might be innocent after all. I know nothing of the people who came other than that some wanted to kill the vampire or capture the saint, and the report from Keylira that she believes them to be separatists.
I carry Thultu over to where I placed Rhixl, and I tell him, "Your papa died a hero, Thultu. You should be proud. Is there anything you want to say to his spirit before we send it off in ceremony?" I put Thultu down, and he says tears and snot pouring out of his face, "I will miss you, Papa. I will grow up big and strong and be a man you will be proud of, and-and-and I will keep trying to be happy like you wanted me to be, Papa." I then say as I get a handkerchief out of my bag and wipe his tears and snot, "His spirit hears you. I am sure, Thultu. I know wherever his soul is right now, it is yearning for your safety and well-being. He loved you very much, Thultu." I am crying a lot now. I am not only mourning my friend, but also upset that Thultu is hurting. I don't ever want to see this face on this child again.
I stay by his side, not leaving him alone at all, and reach into my bag and get some travel rations. Thultu must be hungry. He is still crying, and I ask him, "Thultu, are you hungry?" He nods. I hand him some of our rations, "It isn't fancy, but it fills the stomach. Eat as much as you need, kiddo." I turn to Lysara, "Hey boo, can you start working on the return circle? The survivors could use tents and other emergency supplies and rations while they rebuild. We can teleport them through your circles." Lysara says while placing her hand on my shoulder, "Great plan, let me clear out space by the spot that everything will be arriving in. Don't want to spawn a bunch of things on top of someone's loved ones. We can put our tents up, one for incoming teleports and one for outgoing." I ask Sky, "Can you watch Thultu for me while I help Lysara set up these tents?" I put the blanket back on Thultu and leave him in Sky's care while I help Lysara set up the tents in her designated space. We have a huge mattress, so it only makes sense that our tents are also big. We have two because we got a separate one for Leo during our travels, so we wouldn't be outside for hours, keeping Leo trapped in a tent while we played for a long time. Or vice versa, keeping him out of the tent while we used the inside of the tent. He often would joke that we had sex more than his mother would during her heat cycle.
We set up the tents, and once they are up, Lysara partitions off an area in this tent and says, "Keep this area clear. I will be sending things to this exact spot. Anything that is there when I teleport things will be overwritten. If a person is there, whatever body part is where an object is, it will be erased." I hiss, "Yikes. Don't want anything to disappear. I will make sure to tell Thultu and Sky." We still have a lot of space left to maneuver, so it isn't like we are going to be cramped or anything. There is still plenty of room for our mattress, considering the large space that is cordoned off. I go back to Thultu, who is now cuddled up to his father's corpse, sniffling. I go over and pat him on the head.
I am taking this child as my own.
I have already decided the moment I saw Rhixl's body.
I tell Thultu, "Hey kiddo, do you mind if I go help other people. There are still lots of people I can help with my magic. Sky will stay here with you and guide you to me if you ask him to. Lysara will be in that tent for a while as well, but she might not always be there." He nods, "Ok." I pat him on the head again, and I let Lysara know before I head out.
I have been running in this heavy sun and I am very tired,but I keep going.
I run full speed, smelling for strong concentrations of blood and rescuing the townsfolk and healing them as I find them. I can't differentiate the smell of the recently deceased and the living, so sometimes what I think is a rescue mission turns out to be a recovery mission instead.
I keep going for a few hours, and then Sky comes to me with a crying Thultu. Thultu says, "I am lonely," while crying and doing the 'up' thing with his hands. He still has the blanket, so I pick him up and while he is latched on to me, I use the blanket to wrap over my shoulder and under my opposite arm to make a pouch for Thultu to lie in and support him while I continue helping people. He curls up in the blanket pouch and absorbs my body heat, similar to how Shiki does. I continue to go around rescuing/healing people, but I have a slower pace now since I have Thultu in tow.
It starts getting dark, and I go back to the townsquare where Lysara has several supplies already teleported in and is handing them out to people. She bought as many tents as she could in the capital, light magic torches, and travel rations since those would be most practical for emergency relief. Knowing her, she probably used her own money to pay for all of this. She is handing out torches to the demons who can not see in the dark. Adults and children who have not unlocked their magic potential can still use these torches, but they would need a small cut on their hand equivalent to a paper cut to turn them on with the mana in their blood.
She must have been doing this for a while because I see an array of tents set up already all over the place. Most people were respectful of space, so people could still maneuver around the wreckage. I pass Thultu to Lysara and whisper, "Can I get a little snack before I head back out?" She nods while still handing out supplies. I take the blanket and wrap it around Lysara like I had it, and she continues to do her thing. I go up behind her to not mess up her flow and nibble on her neck and get my snack. I heal her immediately and say, "Thanks, my love. I am going back out there. There are still people to save, and now I am my strongest." Lysara says, "Yeah, you might be right, but you were also helping people all day. Don't push yourself too hard." I kissed her neck, "Even if I stopped now, I wouldn't be able to sleep." Lysara says, in a nagging tone, "You punk, you know I can just put you to sleep, right?" I sigh, "I know. I know. It is just that I want to help more." She sighs an exasperated sigh, "Fine. Kiss me first." She turns her head, and I kiss her on the lips. She says, "I love you, Ari. Be safe." I replied, kissing her one more time, "I love you too, Lysara."
Then I set off full speed into the night, where I last left off on my search for survivors. I still feel exhausted from running and healing all day, but at least the heavy feeling of the sun is gone. I get to the spot I left off in no time and continue with this pace while smelling for blood. Being a vampire priestess has its perks because I can smell who needs me. Before, I probably would have lost my voice by now from yelling for survivors. I mean, I still have to yell a little, depending on whether rubble is interfering with a rescue, so I can communicate with the civilians. Just nowhere near the amount of yelling I would have had to do as a human.
I stayed up all night searching for survivors. I am having difficulty standing because I am so exhausted. As dawn creeps up along the horizon, I feel that I have used a lot of magic, and I am extremely exhausted and lightheaded. I start trying to head back since I know I am at my limit, and collapse on the way back to the square.