Book IX: Aegis

Chapter LXIV

https/youtu.be/wQDBTGhmh0A

"We've gathered here today, to say goodbye to our leader, and his leader," Aegaeon started.

It was a mournful experience, I had never gone to a funeral before. We stood around in Uraya's blue fields, surrounded by bright pink luminescent cherry trees. The petals happened to be falling today, and we were surrounded by a beautiful array of shimmering flowers, decorating the air as they danced in the wind.

"First we'd like to bring up Nia's family, will Silas please step forward and say a few words?"

I nodded and walked on the stage, looking over the sea of blades and drivers that had all looked up to Dromarch.

I couldn't feel the butterflies in my stomach through my grief, and so I decided to speak.

"I didn't know Dromarch well, but I knew his driver," I started. "She raised me my whole life, and it hurts to see her gone. For a long time she was suffering, more than I'd known, more than she wanted me to know. Living a life in solitude, living for hundreds of years longer than what could be considered humanly possible, having to grow, knowing you'd outlive anyone you made a relationship with, it had hurt her so bad…. I… only hope that she can rest now. And I know Dromarch, dying for her protection, wouldn't have had it any other way."

I realized I was crying at this point, but apparently I wasn't the first to notice, because Mythra had already come in behind me.

"You good?" she asked me.

I nodded, and she walked me down, before heading back up.

"I… would like to say some few words as well," she said, looking at Aegaeon. "Can I?"

Aegaeon nodded.

"Nia and Dromarch fought alongside me five hundred years ago, and those two… they made an impact on me I'll never forget," Mythra began. "Every single person who fought with me was strong, strong in their own ways. But it'll flood in the Scorpox Desert before I ever say I'm stronger than those two. They had a bond even before Rex resonated with me, and they did everything together. They relied on each other, knew each other, cared for each other, depended on each other… they were everything I wanted to have with my driver. And while it hurts to see them go, all I can do is continue living, living by the example they set. They embodied service before self and I can only hope that I leave a mark half as brilliantly as the one they left. Thank you for your time."

Mythra then left the stage and their caskets were lowered into the ground.

By the end of it all, two gravestones were left.

One said, "Here Lies Nia, Healer, Caretaker, and Loved by All."

The other said, "Here Lies Dromarch, Loyal Servant, Friend, and Leader."

I spent most of that day crying by myself, Mythra occasionally brought food in and asked me if I needed anything.

Eventually day turned to night and she entered one last time.

"I'm going to bed soon, do you need anything?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, but thank you."

Mythra smiled and gave me a hug. "Make sure you get some rest."

I nodded, "Ok."

After she had left, I laid down and eventually, I passed out.

...

"Are you ok?" she asked me.

"No, but I will be," I answered. "Sorry if I worried you Sarah."

"Serena," she corrected.

I had forgotten that she had told me who she really was.

"Oh… right, sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it," she responded. "I'm going to leave you alone for now, we'll talk again when the time is right."

...

I woke up and looked around, it was already past noon, and I wasn't even sure what time I passed out.

I got out of bed and gave myself a moment to rebalance myself. I began stumbling my way to the door, but realized I should probably get dressed.

I grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and sat in the hot water for a good thirty minutes. I didn't cry or anything, I just needed time to empty myself of all thoughts, and so that's what I did.

Once I got to the point where I was dizzy and couldn't breathe through the humidity, I turned the water and got dressed. It was time for me to face the day.

https/youtu.be/zLhP-8wy500

I made my way out into the living room, where everyone had just finished eating, Poppi was cleaning, and Mythra was holding a plate of food and talking to Acacia.

"Alright, yeah we'll talk later, lemme go check on-" she said while turning around, almost bumping into me. "Oh! Silas!"

"Good morning Mythra," I greeted.

"Are you hungry? I was about to bring you this plate," she pointed out.

I was actually pretty hungry, I looked around to notice that everyone was kind of staring at me.

"I could eat," I responded. "And you guys can stop worrying, I'm fine. I just needed some time to myself is all."

"So long as you're sure," Acacia stated.

"You can rest a little longer if you want chum, we're not going to stop you," Gabriel added.

I chuckled a bit, "Don't worry, I'm fine, really!"

Mythra smiled at me. "Well as long as you're feeling up to it. You wanna help me go shopping in Fonsa Myma?"

"Are we doing that bad on the grocery front?" I questioned.

"Do you remember us ever stopping to grab grub at any point since we picked you up?" Sonata pointed out.

"I guess not…," I answered.

"I'm getting so tired of leftover fast food," Kasandra whined.

"Indeed, we do not want to gain weight!" Sheba added.

"Alright, alright!" I laughed. "Grocery shopping it is."

"I was originally going with her, so if you're not feeling up to it...," Acacia mentioned.

I shook my head, "Don't worry about it! Unless of course you want to join us."

"Actually if you two are going then I'm going to take Malos and KOS-MOS with me and we're going to do some bonding," Acacia said decisively.

"I'm not so sure Malos is going to want to do that," I chuckled a bit.

Acacia crossed her arms and her face went stern, "He doesn't have a choice."

"Sonata, Kasandra, and I are going to do the same," Gabriel added. "I think some quality time with our blades would do us some good!"

"Oh, well Sheba, do you and Azami want to come with as well?" I asked.

"We are actually taking Azami to go get mani-pedis," she told me. "All this drudgery has been awful on our hands and feet!"

"I see, well that sounds as good of an idea as any!" I replied.

"We do require money, though," Sheba pointed out.

I sighed. "Well I guess I can't expect you to have any sitting in a water bath all day."

"No need, my amazing driver, I acquired some funds in our last outing," Azami interrupted.

"Well then, shall we all get going?" Mythra asked.

"Yeah, let's go!" I responded as we all headed out of the ship and towards Fonsa Myma.

Acacia did manage to drag Malos along, he seemed annoyed, but not uninterested. We made our way across the Urayan marsh until we finally made it to Fonsa Myma, where it was as busy as ever. Everyone headed their separate ways and Mythra and I went grocery shopping.

We bought pretty much anything that wasn't perishable, and pretty soon my hands were full. Luckily Fonsa Myma actually had accommodations for people shopping from the BAPHQ, and provided small shopping carts that you could drive back. After you removed all the groceries, the shopping cart would drive itself back to Fonsa Myma.

"Fonsa Myma was nothing like this five hundred years ago," Mythra commented.

Fonsa Myma had skyscrapers built in many areas, and all of the shops were inside buildings that were kept at constant temperatures using fire and ice ether energy. It wasn't quite as modern as New Torna, but it didn't feel very far off. We walked around for a few hours more, taking in the scenery and atmosphere of this brilliant city, but before long our stomachs were growling again.

"I'm hungry again," I complained.

"Yeah I could eat," Mythra added.

"Well if you take the third street down to the left, you may find yourself something you'll both like," a voice in my head stated.

"Oh great… another one," I mumbled. Had I grown too accustomed to having other voices in my head? Maybe I needed mental help.

"What was that?" Mythra asked.

I shook my head, "It was nothing, but I think I saw some food this way."

I went to the exact spot the voice told me and all that was there was some weird looking machine.

"What is it?" I questioned, but one look at Mythra and I was convinced she had just found a second Elysium.

"CLOUD SEA CRAB STICKS!" she shouted excitedly.

I jumped a little from the sudden volume. "Cloud what?"

"Cloud sea crab sticks!" she repeated. "This machine sells them!"

I took a closer look and the machine did have a list of different foods on it, and a slot to insert G.

"I don't know if I trust a machine to do it though, that just sounds plain weird," I pointed out skeptically.

She crossed her arms. "You're going grocery shopping with the world's most powerful weapon, nothing about your life isn't weird."

I chuckled a bit. "Fair enough, let's get some sticks."

I inserted the appropriate amount of G into the machine and selected Cloud Sea Crab Sticks. The machine made some mechanical noises and some frozen sticks were dropped behind a glass plane. Some bright red crystals began glowing and we watched the sticks begin to cook. After about fifteen seconds, a hatch dropped from below it and it was deposited at the bottom. I picked it up and handed it to Mythra.

She, without hesitation, grabbed it and began devouring it like it was her last meal. While she did that, I bought another one for myself.

Right before I grabbed it, she snatched it from underneath me and ate the second one too.

I chuckled nervously and then ordered yet a third one, which also mysteriously ended up in her hand.

"Y'know I would also like to eat, Mythra," I said, slightly agitated.

"So good…," she responded, clearly not paying attention to me.

I sighed and stood in a way that she could not grab another without somehow going through my body, and ordered yet another.

And still, she forced her arm around me and grabbed it as it dropped.

I was getting agitated. "Mythra come on!"

"You're gonna have to try harder than that," she said with her mouth full of food.

"Alright fine, we'll do this your way," I stated as I ordered another one, but I noticed a machine next to it that served ice cream. I grabbed some ice cream and waited til the last second before the Cloud Sea Crab Stick dropped. Right as it began dropping I threw the ice cream in the bottom hole right as Mythra went to grab it.

She jumped back and squealed. "COLD!"

"Serves you right!" I said as I grabbed the Cloud Sea Crab Stick and finally started eating it.

It was really, really greasy, but definitely not half bad. I couldn't imagine eating more than two of them though.

She then had the nerve to be agitated with me, but I ordered a couple more, and she ended up eating five of them.

"Where did you even put those?" I asked, shocked.

"My record is ten if I remember correctly," she stated.

"Her and I did get a little competitive once," the voice in my head spoke again.

"Waylon?!" I yelled aloud.

"Well yeah we got into a stick eating contest," Mythra explained. "But why are you so excited about it?"

I sighed. "It's… nothing. We really need to start heading back."

Mythra let out an extremely loud burp before going bright red with embarrassment, I then noticed people were looking her way.

"Oof my bad! Where are my manners?!" I said super loud.

She stopped before giggling a bit, and we started heading back.

It took us a while to get back, and the sun was going down as we finished putting away the groceries.

"Thank you for choosing the Urayan Shopping Network, your one stop shop for all your shopping needs!" a little speaker on our shopping cart said as it took off back to Uraya.

We went back into our ship and we realized we were the first back, but as I looked around I noticed traces of an unwelcome guest in the form of a letter on the table.

It was signed by Adonis.

Readability Level: 9-10th Grade

Time Taken: 2 Hours