Diary
See disclaimer in Entry #1
SPECIAL INTERLUDE
For so late into the autumn season, it was a beautiful day in Elendia.
Most of the trees were starting to turn, and the brilliance of the sun made their red and gold and green leaves glitter beautifully with color. Birds, grown now and only returning to their parents for a visit, could be heard to chirp cheerfully back and forth, flitting like bright jewels among tree branches and thatched roofs. The chill of the impending winter had retreated, as well, and it was as warm outside as if summer had just ended.
But for all of that, there was no laughter in Elendia, no cheer. Silence, instead, pervaded the solemn air of the villagers, who stood in a broken circle around a thick block of white marble that was laid on the grounds of the old chapel on the edge of the town.
Among the circle stood four young women, possibly the most subdued and worried-looking of any of the Sprites standing in silence there. Whereas most of the Elendians kept their heads bowed, each of them kept sneaking anxious looks in the direction of the chapel.
The old church hadn't been used for several decades after finally falling into disrepair except as a home to those holding vigils for the dead.
For the past day, no one had dared to come near it. Those who had tried were all driven away by the horrible wails of raw grief welling up from within. The chapel's seclusion was enforced thus out of respect for the mourner inside, who already had it hard enough saying goodbye to their beloved lost without having to deal with trespassers.
The four girls—and the catlike creature sitting on the shoulder of the eldest—had come the closest and stayed the longest, for they and they alone had some inkling to what the one inside the chapel was going through.
For the first hour or so after Ein had locked himself inside with Ledah's body, there had been silence; then there came that awful, broken sobbing, which only got louder and more desperate as time went by. Without warning, the sobs had broken into angry, desperate screams—curses and pleas to the gods, to the Magi, to his friends, and to Ledah himself. After that there was more silence—and then further bereaved crying, as Ein had gotten his voice back.
It was now exactly twenty-four hours after Ein had gone inside, and the vigil was over.
Elendia turned as one when the huge doors creaked open at last.
The wingless angel was staring at the ground, letting his hair fall into his face to obscure his expression. Instead of his own Diviner, Einherjar, the crimson spear Lorelei was strapped to his back. In his arms, he carried Ledah's body.
While most of Elendia's Sprites preferred to dress their dead in their best, most beautiful clothes prior to a burial, Ein had left Ledah in the priest's robes he had always worn in life, torn and bloodstained though they were. He had, however, cleaned the blood from his friend's face so that the assembled Sprites would clearly be able to see Ledah's peaceful expression. Unlike Ein, this sterner Grim Angel seemed strange without his legendary black wings, which Ein's traveling companions said had dissolved upon Ledah's death. His skin, no longer lit with the motion of his blood, was a pure white that seemed torn between divine and almost profane.
Very tenderly, Ein settled Ledah's body upon the marble block, smoothing the dead angel's wild blonde hair and folding his hands over his heart. He paused, then knelt beside his friend's corpse and gently kissed his cheek before standing and walking resolutely to stand behind the narrow end of the block, facing the chapel he'd walked out of.
Ein sighed, took Lorelei into his left hand, and began to speak.
"None of you really knew Ledah like I did, but I want you all to know that this is the kind of end he would've wanted, as a soldier. That's what becoming a Grim Angel meant to him: That he was a soldier, twice sworn to our gods and the Magi representing them, bound to obey them by faith and by law.
"They tried to destroy his heart by destroying his emotions, as I'm sure you've heard by now. Hector would've seen his free will completely removed, would've had Ledah be only his tool and nothing else. And he came all too close to that goal.
"But Ledah was never just a soldier. He always believed very firmly in doing what the gods would say is the right thing, and in spite of everything that he'd been put through, that's what he did. He was a priest before he became a Grim Angel, and so his belief in the gods was everything to him. Like me, he pledged himself only to the gods in his services, and so when he realized what Hector was really up to, he followed his true beliefs and he paid the price in blood. He died to save my life not only for me, but also for this world that the gods deemed sacred and worthy of protection… I want you to know that, and remember it.
"Though you may find it hard to understand, even since he became a Grim Angel, Ledah didn't really change as much as you would have expected him to. He was still intelligent, strong, dutiful, devout… an infinitely warm and caring person. On my way to Riviera, he saved my life over and over, though he could've just left me to die. He was my friend and my partner, the only real one I ever knew before I was swept up in Hector's plots.
"Ledah was a victim of greater tides than any of us have ever had to face…"
Ein bowed his head for a moment, then continued.
"Odin, my father and my god, protect my Ledah in the land of the dead, and guide him to his place in the halls of Valhalla, where his soul will find its rightful rest."
There was silence for a few minutes; then Ein raised Lorelei, holding it out straight before him.
He sighed and began again, awkwardly. "In Asgard… in Asgard, it's not like here in Elendia. When one of the holy soldiers of the gods dies, he or she is given a choice." He swallowed, shook his head, and went on. "Right before he died, Ledah whispered to me what it was he wanted. He said to me… he told me to burn his body, and let his ashes scatter to the winds. I know that you no longer practice cremation here. But it was Ledah's last wish, and I'm honor-bound to fulfill it.
"If you don't want to watch… then leave. I won't think any less of you."
There was absolute silence. Not one of Elendia's Sprites moved.
Ein sighed and closed his eyes. A ripple of power ran through Lorelei, and tiny flecks of gold began to run over the Diviner's surface, dripping from the tip to bead on the grass and fade into steam in the unusual warmth of the day.
As Ledah's Diviner wept its own bitter tears, Ein began to speak, low and hoarsely, in Asgard's high language. Of the assembled Sprites, only few understood even a handful of words in the holy tongue's death blessing of flame. Ein's soft prayer went on, the cadence of his voice rising and falling, his throat miraculously free of the twisting of tears—though his companions suspected that this was only due to having shed so many over the past day.
At last, the light that had played over Lorelei's length swirled around Ledah's corpse, which began to blaze with gold and scarlet flames that gave off light and heat but no smoke. As the Sprites watched in mingled horror and fascination, Ein stood staring bleakly into the fires, silent tears sliding down his already-wet cheeks.
Within half of an hour, the flames had done their work. With nothing left to feed on, they slowly vanished from the marble bier.
Nothing—not even ashes—were left.
:TBC: